Hachiman Hikigaya, who returned from his studies after completing his training.

"........"

Is this what you meant by treating someone to dinner? You're eating so well yourself, give me that tempura!

Despite their inner turmoil, everyone reluctantly picked up their chopsticks and began to eat with difficulty. It took them more than half an hour to finish the meal.

"Is the mountain vegetable set meal delicious?"

Hikigaya stood in front of the four long tables filled with Class B students. Judging from their expressions, they were not very satisfied with the meal, but they did not intend to say anything.

No one dared to speak out before they understood what he was planning to do.

"good to eat."

Just as Hachiman was about to continue, Karuizawa suddenly chimed in, which made him turn pale and give her a sharp slap on the head before returning to his seat to announce the group assignments.

After dividing the students into three groups based on the list Shiina created using the data, he also informed them of the rewards and punishments he had set.

The team with the lowest score in the sports festival will have to eat this mountain vegetable set meal for a month, and he will find someone to supervise them.

The group with the highest score will be awarded one million personal points, which will be split equally among the students in that group.

"do you understand?"

"understand!"

Now everyone understood why they had to eat this meal, and their eyes lit up with excitement.

Eating a mountain vegetable set meal that's so bad it's unbearable, and then splitting one million points among a group of people for a month—everyone knows which one to choose. Lu Yi Ni doubts (II) Dad (IV) Shrimp

Chapter 152 The Melancholy of Ichinose

"So many books," exclaimed the girl standing in front of the bookshelf.

The bookshelf, about 1.5 meters tall, was densely packed with books.

On Friday night of the first week of school, Shiina Hiyori's room received its first visitors, and there were three of them.

This excited her, and she kept smiling.

"What kind of books does Yukinoshita like? You can ask me for recommendations when you're looking for something to read."

"...Literature-related, I guess."

Shiina's enthusiasm, so different from when she was in class, made Yukinoshita feel a little uncomfortable, so she moved closer to Ichinose, who had invited her over.

After meeting at the gymnasium, Ichinose would chat with her from time to time. His gentle and kind manner made her unable to resist, and this invitation was no exception.

"That's the same as what Hachiman likes."

"Hachiman also likes to read?" Yukinoshita was a little surprised. Even though she didn't have any friends, she would occasionally hear rumors about Hachiman in the school cafeteria.

Dangerous, ruthless, and womanizing are his defining characteristics, which have nothing to do with being a scholar.

"Shiina's first book friend was Hikigaya, and the second was me."

Horikita Suzune unceremoniously pulled a book from Shiina's bookshelf, sat down on the bed, and opened it. Today's gathering was entirely organized by Ichinose, and she hadn't originally wanted to come.

However, she couldn't resist Ichinose's enthusiasm, and Shiina also seemed to be looking forward to it.

Upon opening the book, an antique-looking bookmark with a poem written on it appeared before Horikita's eyes. Judging from the handwriting, the poem was clearly handwritten, but it didn't look like it was written by a girl at all.

Judging from its quality, it wasn't written by someone who had practiced calligraphy, and it even gave Horikita a faint sense of familiarity.

"This handwriting looks familiar... Shiina." Out of curiosity, Horikita picked up the bookmark.

"I think I wrote it."

Standing next to Yukinoshita, Shiina glanced at the bookmark in Horikita's hand and replied that it was the same style of bookmark Hikigaya had given her.

That stack of blank bookmarks allowed her to make quite a few bookmarks with her favorite poems written on them, completely replacing the ones she bought.

"Really? But the handwriting doesn't look like a girl's."

"Ah." Shiina suddenly realized, "Those are blank bookmarks that Hachiman gave me, and one of them was written by him."

It wasn't her style to leave precious treasures unused, so she naturally made good use of the one written by Hachiman.

Unexpectedly, Horikita randomly drew the book with the Hikigaya bookmark.

"I'll see, I'll see."

As if appearing in a flash, Ichinose sat down next to Horikita, glanced at the poem on the bookmark, and silently memorized it. After answering Horikita, Shiina continued to ask Yukinoshita about her favorite author.

The atmosphere in the room was harmonious.

..........

..........

Meanwhile, Hachiman was panting heavily in his room, shirtless, jumping rope until the rope was almost invisible.

After applying both the carrot and the stick, the students' enthusiasm for exercise immediately increased, and he no longer needed to worry about them much.

The deadline for submitting the entry forms, which determine which group and competition a student will participate in, is from one week before the sports festival to 5 pm the day before, which is more than 20 days away.

The best time to poach second-year students is the day before they can submit their competition forms, and the students that the third-year C and D classes are tutoring are also busy preparing for the sports festival.

He suddenly found himself with nothing to do.

Do you want to vent some stress? I'm really free.

After finishing his workout and taking a shower, Hachiman realized it was only nine o'clock. He then texted his ace spy, and for some reason, he felt like he didn't want to stay in his room.

But going out alone means having nothing to do and feeling incredibly bored.

Kushida: [If you're free, go find your Hiyori. Aren't you two always together?]

Hikigaya: [Hiyori said there was a gathering today, so I left after dinner.]

Kushida: [Then go find your ex-girlfriend, Ichinose.]

You can't just look for that.

Hikigaya lay shirtless on the bed, holding his phone high. The incident between the two of them made him a little afraid to see Ichinose. He planned to wait a few days until he calmed down before taking the initiative to contact her.

Since Kushida showed no intention of venting his stress, he didn't press him further by asking about other matters.

Hikigaya: [How's the investigation on Yamashita and Kinoshita in Class C going? Have anyone around them noticed that they've suddenly become rich?]

When Hikigaya saw these two at the Beechwood Center last time, he assigned Kushida an investigation mission. This time at the sports festival, he was thinking about whether he could make use of these two.

Utilize whoever might be exposed; sometimes an exposed spy is more useful than one that hasn't been exposed.

Kushida: [I heard about Kinoshita from Takeko Nishino once, but not Yamashita yet.]

Hachiman: [That's all.]

Kushida: [Okay.]

"Kinoshita, huh?" Hikigaya put down his phone and lay sprawled on the bed.

Just like after his deal with Yamashita, he warned Kinoshita not to flaunt his wealth, but it seems Kinoshita didn't listen to him.

The enormous sum of three million personal points clouded her judgment.

The next step is to test whether she has been exposed to Ryuen.

"Click."

As Hikigaya was pondering how to test and utilize Kinoshita, the sound of the door being opened came from inside.

"Homura?" Hachiman called softly as he turned over in bed.

Shiina has a party tonight, so Ichinose is the only one who can come.

Isn't she afraid of being seen? It's past nine o'clock now, and there are quite a few people going up and down the student dormitory.

"Well, it's me."

With a somewhat deep voice, Ichinose appeared before Hikigaya.

She wore a black short-sleeved shirt with lettering, a gray pleated skirt with a bow, and her previously bare, smooth thighs were now covered with a thin layer of black stockings that outlined her very alluring curves.

Ichinose looked very alluring today, but her somewhat subtle expression made Hachiman a little scared.

"You must be tired from training today. Would you like me to give you a massage?"

Hachiman rubbed his hands together and went to grab Ichinose's hand, pulling her towards the bed. Ichinose didn't resist and obediently lay down on her bed.

Relieved, Hikigaya stood by the bed and began to massage her shoulders.

"What's wrong? You seem a little down." Hachiman asked cautiously after rubbing his hands for a while.

The feeling Ichinose has now is just like the way she went berserk when he hinted at breaking up with Ichinose before.

The intense resentment was so palpable that it was almost visible.

"Hachiman."

Yes, it is.

Hikigaya hurriedly replied. At this moment, Ichinose turned over and lay on the bed, staring straight at him, her resentment no longer concealed.

"You've never given me a gift before, Hachiman."

During the party in Shiina's room, after learning that the bookmark with the poem on it was a gift from Hikigaya, she intentionally or unintentionally led Shiina to talk about the gifts she received after entering the school.

Bookmarks, pens, hairbands, and even a few nice outfits.

These were all given to Shiina by Hikigaya.

But she didn't have a single one.

Chapter 153 Ichinose's Worries

Proactively giving gifts to girls...

Long-forgotten memories resurfaced in Hachiman's mind; it had been two years since he last gave a girl a gift.

Because of the lottery, he became the male class monitor, and in his work with the female class monitor, he mistakenly believed that she also had feelings for him.

I gave a gift and confessed my feelings, only to be rejected instantly and the gift was returned.

The whole class found out the next day.

Therefore, he has not given any gifts to girls since then.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault." Hikigaya sat down on the edge of the bed, grabbed Ichinose's hand, and intertwined their fingers.

Although I don't know why Ichinose is so resentful, since things have come to this point, all I can do is apologize first, and it's fine as long as I don't blame the two of them for their three-legged feat.

“I didn’t mean to blame Hachiman.” Ichinose hugged Hikigaya from behind. “It’s just that Shiina-kun received so many gifts while I didn’t receive any, which makes me a little jealous.”

“I can’t go to you during training on the playground after school every day.”

"More and more cute girls are surrounding Hachiman."

As Hikigaya becomes increasingly outstanding and becomes famous throughout the school for his participation in the student council president election, Ichinose feels proud but also begins to worry that Hikigaya might be attracted to other girls and leave her behind.

Kiryuin Kaede-senpai is tall, beautiful, and exudes confidence and elegance. She is ranked first in academic ability among second-year students.

The new transfer student, Yukino Yukinoshita, is so cute it's breathtaking, and she's also a top student who ranked first in her entire prestigious high school. She's a high achiever who could get into Tokyo University if she just takes the exams seriously.

Both of them came from wealthy families and were better than her in her most confident area: academic ability.

While she couldn't compare to others, she also couldn't openly get close to Hachiman because of her class.

The more Ichinose thought about it, the more worried she became, and she couldn't help but tighten her grip on Hikigaya's arm.

"It's too tight, it hurts so much—"

After making two exaggerated, strange noises to make Ichinose let go, Hikigaya decisively turned around, picked her up, and pulled her onto his lap.

After hearing Ichinose's words, he understood why she was acting so strangely today.

What merit does Hachiman Hikigaya possess to make the school's angel so anxious and insecure?

"I promise I won't leave you, Fanbo."

Hikigaya stroked Ichinose's smooth, long hair, and the closer he got, the clearer her captivating fragrance became.

Gazing into those gentle blue eyes, he captured her delicate pink lips, making Ichinose understand her charm.

Sometimes actions speak louder than words.