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

"This must have been done by Nagumo-senpai. I'll cooperate with whatever Hachiman decides to do."

After complaining, Ichinose's tone became serious, which made Hikigaya feel guilty.

"Fanbo only needs to think about himself. At most, I'll just have my reputation ruined, and besides, my reputation wasn't that good to begin with."

"Saying those things will only make me angry, Hachiman."

With her right hand, she stroked Hachiman's cheek, turning his head to the side, and then Ichinose offered her pink lips.

As their lips met and their bodies writhed, Ichinose's body grew hot, and her exposed, snow-white skin was tinged with a captivating blush.

Needless to say, Hachiman, which was attacked, was already poised for action somewhere.

"Hehe, this is Hachiman's punishment."

"We'll deal with the lewd stuff when Hachiman satisfies me. Right now, you should figure out how to resolve the issue with the campus forum posts."

When Hikigaya skillfully touched Ichinose's warm body, Ichinose immediately got off him, jumped off the bed, and hid in the bathroom, her graceful and alluring figure disappearing without a trace.

Trying to calm his physical agitation, Hachiman looked up at the sky and sighed, "What's going on here...?"

It's impossible to salvage his reputation now. Although he could spread many exaggerated and obviously fabricated rumors about Nan Yun's romantic affairs to cover up the rumors, even romantic rumors require two protagonists.

Aside from Sakayanagi, he really couldn't think of any other girl he could comfortably spread rumors with.

Only a few exaggerated rumors could convince most students that the rumors released by Nagumo were all false, just like the ones that followed.

"Horikita, please inform the student council members that there will be a meeting in the student council room this afternoon." Hikigaya dialed Horikita Suzune's number.

"Huh? Hachiman, you can just notify them yourself."

"This is one of the responsibilities of the student union secretary. Also, please use your title when you are working."

"I understand, Chairman Biqugu."

After answering through gritted teeth, Horikita Suzune slammed down the phone, while Hachiman, who had been hung up on, began to think about what he needed to do that afternoon.

The first measure is to ban all anonymous accounts on the campus forum, allowing only those who post under their real names.

The second thing was to visit Sakayanagi, the chairman of the board, whom I hadn't seen in a long time.

Chapter 180 Never mind then

"Katsura, I'm leaving this matter to you. Meeting adjourned."

At the student council meeting in the afternoon, after Hikigaya criticized someone for posting defamatory content anonymously without regard to the facts, a plan for a full real-name registration system for the campus forum was developed and approved.

Back when he was still on the cruise ship, he would have had to figure out how to amplify the rumors to get the school or student council to intervene and stop them from spreading. Now, he can easily solve the problem by holding a meeting.

This is the allure of the power wielded by the student council president at this school, far surpassing that of a student council president from an ordinary student.

After the meeting, without bringing any student council members, Hikigaya went to the monitoring room where he and Ichinose had once been to control the surveillance of the entire school.

"I need to trouble you again, Chief Yamada." Hikigaya greeted the middle-aged man he had met before. "The student council needs to check the surveillance footage for evidence."

"Not at all, it's what we should do, Chairman Hikigaya."

Without showing any impatience after being given extra work, the head of the monitoring room immediately took him to the computer that could access all the surveillance footage and assigned him a skilled person to take charge of.

After having an experienced person teach him how to access surveillance footage from a certain location, Hachiman told him to go about his own business and not to bother him.

He's on edge right now; that old man from Yuecheng is putting too much pressure on him.

Although Tsukishiro seemed somewhat kind and gentle in the morning, all Hikigaya could feel was fear.

The only thing that gave him and Tsukishiro a similar feeling was the black gloves from the Yukinoshita family, the kind that could give someone a few stabs with a smile.

Recalling the time he met Tsukishiro that morning, Hachiman retrieved the beach footage from that period and searched for a while before finally finding a relatively clear picture of her face.

After taking the picture discreetly and deleting the retrieval record, he greeted Director Yamada and headed towards the office building where the chairman's office was located.

"Hehe, isn't this our proud student council president from the first year? Why do you need to ask me, a rule-breaking girl, to help introduce you to the chairman?"

"If you don't want to introduce me, that's fine. Just tell your father that I'm quitting. From now on, you and Ayanokouji can be as loving as you like."

The adorable silver-haired Arisu Sakayanagi, who lives downstairs in the office building, is petite and has a very endearing appearance, but she is also quite self-centered and troublesome, making her the kind of person that Hikigaya least wants to deal with.

"So be it?" Sakayanagi's lips curled up slightly, looking every bit like a spoiled child.

"let it go."

After calmly repeating what Sakayanagi had said, Hikigaya turned around and walked towards the school gate without looking back.

He wasn't just saying it out of anger or joking; he genuinely wanted to quit. He had come to Chairman Sakayanagi to learn about Tsukishiro's background and, incidentally, to request permission to leave.

He is no longer the live-in son-in-law and heir of the Yukinoshita family; he is just a child from an ordinary dual-income family.

Someone like Yuecheng could probably get his parents fired with just a word, and whether Yuecheng would lose face and retaliate against him was beyond his calculations.

He can't afford to gamble unless the probability is zero.

If Yuecheng takes power in the future and needs his cooperation, he will agree as long as it's not too outrageous or deceitful.

"Are you really leaving like that?! You're not playing anymore?!"

After Hikigaya's figure disappeared without any unexpected pause, Sakayanagi's smile froze.

She thought this was Hachiman's way of playing hard to get and trying to control her, but she didn't expect that Hachiman would just quit like that and that he would do nothing to defeat her class in the past few months.

In the end what happened?

Did she suffer all those beatings for nothing? By the way, did Hachiman know that she had approached Kinoshita to try and trick him during the sports festival? What strategy did he use to play the game of "boys vs. girls" with Class C?

After waiting for a few minutes with her thoughts churning and seeing no one turn around, Sakayanagi tapped the ground twice with her small cane before turning to find her chairman father.

I wonder if her dear father knows what happened that made Hachiman look for him and consider withdrawing.

........

........

After leaving the school, Hikigaya did not immediately return to his dormitory. Instead, he went to the Keyakizaka Center and found a small eatery that not many people frequented to extend an invitation to meet with Kohei Katsuragi, the leader of Class 1-D.

After idly waiting for over half an hour, Katsuragi's shiny bald head finally came into view.

"Is there some student council matter that needs my attention again?" After sitting down, Katsuragi maintained a straight posture, looking exactly like a shrewd and capable CEO.

This man is not only strict with his partners and quick to point out their mistakes, but he also has very high standards for himself.

He looks more like the student council president than he does.

"It's not a student council matter, it's a private matter, no." Hachiman paused, "It's also a public matter, I think Class B and Class D should form an alliance to fight against Class A and Class C."

"Huh?!" The serious image of Katsuragi's elite instantly shattered.

“I’m serious. I’ve lost all reason to defeat Sakayanagi, and I can guarantee that I will give advance notice if I want to end the alliance.”

Hikigaya understood why Katsuragi was surprised. Ever since the deserted island, he had been committed to eliminating the original Class A, and he was willing to give up the privileged students' exam on the cruise ship to suppress them.

Special exams for uninhabited islands, special exams for privileged individuals, and special exams for sports festivals.

In these three exams, Ge Cheng's class suffered terribly at his hands, losing so badly that the leadership team had to be reorganized twice.

The second and third graders all said it was terrible, saying they had never seen Class A suffer so much.

"To be honest, I was relieved when I heard you say you wanted to form an alliance." Katsuragi closed his eyes and then opened them again. "I never thought I would feel afraid of you. This is my dereliction of duty as the leader of Class D."

In that moment of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted, he realized that forming an alliance with Hachiman's Class B was now inevitable.

The mere fact that they've allied with Class B is enough to boost the morale of Class D, who were feeling utterly demoralized after their crushing defeat at the sports festival.

This left him with a sense of melancholy that he didn't know how to express.

"Then it's a pleasure to work together?" Hachiman extended his hand.

After Kanzaki became the leader of Class A, he lost contact with Class A.

As for the fact that Ryuen was tricked by him and failed to win the Sports Festival, it is estimated that the person in charge of Class C has changed to Ayanokoji.

However, even if Ayanokouji becomes the leader of Class C, he wouldn't mind cooperating with him. But if that happens, Class D of Katsuragi will probably suffer another crushing defeat in the next special exam.

Kanzaki Kageratsuki faced off against Ayanokoji, and Hachiman couldn't figure out how he could lose.

However, this would likely render Class D completely useless, which would be a dereliction of duty on his part as the student council president.

Chapter 181 The New Special Exam

The atmosphere in Class B classroom, where October was more than halfway over, became somewhat solemn after the class teacher, Chazhu, stood on the podium.

Today is the day the midterm exam results are released, and students of all grades, whether they are good or bad, are concerned about their scores.

Students who excel academically pay attention to their rankings, while those who struggle academically naturally worry about falling below the average score and being expelled, especially students who fall into the bottom ten in the sports festival and lose ten points in all subjects.

For example, the man from the outer village is currently shaking in his seat, staring intently at the white paper with his achievements written on it pasted on the tea pillar.

"You can set the passing score for this exam at over forty points." Chazhu turned to face the students.

The last person on the report card—from Wai Village.

I scored just over 40 points in all subjects, barely making it past the midterm exams.

"Great, everyone passed!" Hirata said happily.

"Yes, it's so good that everyone is safe and sound."

Wang Meiyu's twin ponytails swayed excitedly as she did so. Her grades had improved a lot compared to the first semester. If it weren't for the new student Yukino Yukinoshita, she would have tied for third place in the class with Shinmura.

The top two spots were naturally taken by Hikigaya and Koenji, Shiina ranked sixth behind Shinmura, and Horikita Suzune came in seventh.

Because they had to dedicate a lot of time to tutoring struggling students, Horikita and Shiina's academic decline was expected by Hikigaya. However, Horikita's decline was even more pronounced due to his additional student council duties.

However, thanks to their efforts, many students in the class improved their midterm grades significantly, with very few scoring below 50.

"Don't be too happy yet. The rules for the final exams, which will be held in a little over a month, have also been released, and the difficulty level has increased significantly compared to previous years."

Chasaki's gaze fell on Hachiman, who was resting his chin on his hand and seemed to be in a daze, but Hachiman did not react to Chasaki's gaze.

He is currently experiencing a low point in his life.

He has been alone in his room for over a week now, and it seems that Shiina and Ichinose have both conspired to give him the silent treatment.

Normal conversation is fine, but dinner together and any physical contact are out of the question.

"Just divide the groups directly. You can divide them according to your own ideas when you go on stage later." Hachiman lay listlessly on the table, looking at Horikita.

The special final exam is also known as the Paper Shuffle exam; "shuffle" can also be translated as "shuffling cards."

This special exam, which could easily eliminate the underachievers in the class, became even easier with Hachiman's added incentives.

What was originally a special final exam grouped by quiz scores was changed under his intervention to allow students in each class to form their own groups. The top three students received additional points as a reward, and the failing grade was also raised.

There are a total of eight subjects to be tested. Students who form teams of two will not be expelled if their combined total score exceeds 800 points, and their combined score in the same subject exceeds 70 points.

The exam papers are created by students in each class and then distributed to one of the other three classes. Each class can specify which class will take the exam based on their questions, and if there are duplicate assignments, the assignment will be randomized.

The total score determines the winner.

For example, if Class A takes a test that was set by Class D and scores higher than Class D, then Class A will steal fifty class points from Class D.

If the exam questions for Class D are also set by Class A, then Class A can steal another fifty class points from Class D.

This was a special exam where the outcome was almost entirely determined by the overall academic ability of the class.

"...The group assignments can be changed at any time, as long as it's before the exam starts." After calmly explaining the rules, Chazhu left the classroom, leaving the remaining class meeting time to the students.

She wasn't worried about any students dropping out of Class B this time, since Hikigaya himself had voluntarily increased the difficulty.

If an unexpected student drops out, that's something Hikigaya can do, and there's nothing she can do about it.

“Yi Ling! I’ll be doing the group assignments this time.” Horikita’s gaze was sharp as he stood on the podium.

When everyone thought it would be Hikigaya, the leader, who would take the stage to form groups, it was Horikita, who was not very popular, who stood on the podium.

"Except for Yukinoshita and Hikigaya being paired together, everyone else is paired with the last-place student and the first-place student. If both students are in the same subject and don't feel they can get a total score of 70, then they are paired with the student in front of them."

"Why not put Koenji in a group with me or Wang Meiyu? Koenji also got a perfect score, just like Hikigaya. And based on the midterm exam results, the class has the capacity to put together two groups to compete for the top three."

Yukimura stood up in dissatisfaction and shouted loudly. Since it wasn't Hikigaya on the podium, he dared to boldly express his own opinion.

The top three finishers in each grade group will be awarded one million, five hundred thousand, and three hundred thousand points respectively, which will be split equally between the two finishers in each group.

With Koenji's perfect score and his addition, he is confident that he can compete for a top-three finish.

"On what grounds?" Horikita's tone was icy. "What contributions have you made to the class that made me specially arrange this opportunity for you to strive for a top-three finish? Will you contribute the personal points you get as a reward to the class?"