Under the watchful eye of Sakagami-sensei, the shackles that had bound Class C for nearly a year were finally removed.
In their place, the beneficiary of the contract between Ryuuen and Katsuragi had now become Hikigaya.
"Hey, Sakagami."
Ryuuen, as usual, was utterly lacking in manners, addressing the teacher by name without hesitation.
"Don't tell those guys about this just yet. They'll figure it out themselves next month anyway. That's fine, right?"
"...If that's what you wish."
Sakagami-sensei hesitated for a moment before nodding.
He didn't quite understand Ryuuen's intentions, but as long as the request wasn't excessive, he would usually comply.
Despite his serious demeanor, he was quite protective of his students.
Hikigaya, however, had already figured it out—it was all because of this exam.
Ryuuen was probably using this opportunity to test his authority. In other words, even without the contract being revoked, he wanted to see how many people in his class would still willingly obey him.
Anyone who did would prove to be a useful pawn.
Thinking about this, Hikigaya couldn't help but comment sarcastically, "Hey, Ryuuen, are you sure it's a good idea to keep this a secret? Plenty of people in Class C probably hate you. Maybe they'll take advantage of this exam to get you expelled."
"Tch, you're giving those idiots way too much credit," Ryuuen scoffed with disdain. "Rather than uniting against me, they're more afraid of being betrayed themselves. In the end, all they'll do is overthink things and accomplish nothing."
He was arrogant to the extreme.
That said, he did have a point.
The students in Class C were likely no different from those in Class D—each person would prioritize their survival over anything else. Rather than going after someone as powerful as Ryuuen, they'd target weaker, more isolated students to protect themselves.
Even if many of them resented Ryuuen's rule, without someone willing to take the lead, they were nothing more than a disorganized mob.
No wonder he was so confident… Damn, that was kind of annoying.
"Speaking of which, instead of worrying about others, shouldn't you be more concerned about yourself?" Ryuuen suddenly sneered.
"What do I have to be worried about?"
"You've gone through all this trouble to prepare, but if you still end up screwing up against Sakayanagi, that would be hilarious. I'd have to pop some champagne to celebrate."
"Uh…" Hikigaya fell silent for a moment before responding seriously, "That wouldn't be allowed. Minors aren't supposed to drink alcohol."
"...Idiot."
Ryuuen muttered in irritation before turning on his heel and walking away.
That guy… Was he expressing concern in his way?
Wait, when did he turn into a tsundere?
Hikigaya figured he was probably overthinking it, but if that was the case… then Ryuuen had no idea how to express kindness.
If he wanted to show concern, shouldn't he at least treat someone to a meal?
After all, Hikigaya had just done him a huge favor. The least he could do was pay for something expensive.
Yet he hadn't even given a single point… Sigh, guess it's wild greens for dinner.
Rubbing his stomach, Hikigaya left the office, heading toward the cafeteria.
It should be pretty empty by now.
But after walking only a few steps, he suddenly stopped.
From the moment he'd exited the office, someone had been trailing him.
At first, he tried to ignore it, but the person's lack of skill was laughable. Or rather, they weren't even trying to be discreet—just sneaking along behind him, making it all the more obvious.
With no other choice, Hikigaya ducked into a corner and waited.
Sure enough, less than five seconds later, his pursuer hurriedly rounded the corner in pursuit—so sloppy.
At least try to suppress your presence a little.
"Manabe, do you need something from me?"
"Whoa?!"
That's right—it was none other than Class C's delinquent, Manabe Shiho.
Ever since the school trip, they hadn't spoken, and their previous dealings had already been settled.
Hikigaya had no idea what she wanted now.
Before he could ask, Manabe shot him a glare and immediately played the victim.
"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?! You nearly scared me to death!"
"…Humans aren't that fragile."
"That's not the point!"
Indeed, it wasn't. Which was why he wasn't about to let her control the conversation.
"Fine, I apologize." Hikigaya cut straight to the point. "So? Why were you following me? What do you want?"
"Who—who was following you?!"
Manabe stubbornly denied it, though it didn't seem like there was any deeper scheme at play.
Maybe it was just her pride.
"Someone as creepy-looking as you will start weird rumors if people see me talking to you! This is totally… uh… what's the word?"
"…Overly self-conscious?"
"That's it!" Manabe snapped her fingers, looking pleased with herself. "You're way too full of yourself! As if I'd ever follow you! Stop joking around!"
Hikigaya suddenly regretted telling her the phrase… Oh well.
"Since you have no business with me, I'll be leaving."
"Tch, go ahead! It's not like anyone's stopping you!"
Despite her words, her eyes kept flickering in his direction.
Hikigaya, on the other hand, simply stood still, completely ignoring her pointed glances.
Eventually, Manabe couldn't hold back any longer and spoke up, trying to sound casual.
"Hey, didn't you say you were leaving? Why are you just standing there like an idiot?"
"Aren't you also just standing there?"
"I was… Ugh, fine! I do have something to ask you!"
Looks like she finally gave in.
"I saw you and Ryuuen walking out of the teacher's office just now." Her tone was filled with suspicion and a hint of unease. "I don't believe that was a coincidence. Don't even try to brush me off… What were you two talking about?"
So someone had seen them, huh?
But she wasn't just here because of that.
As Hikigaya pondered her real motives, he casually replied, "Why don't you just ask Ryuuen? You're in the same class, after all."
"I-I can't do that right now!"
"Why not?"
Hikigaya blinked before suddenly realizing it.
"Is it because of the special exam?"
As a dictator, Ryuuen should have directly designated who would be expelled.
But from Manabe's reaction, it seemed he had taken a hands-off approach, letting the class decide for themselves.
That meant everyone was on high alert.
If someone openly approached Ryuuen, they might draw suspicion from their peers.
At least, that was how things appeared on the surface.
Hikigaya highly doubted Ryuuen was truly doing nothing—he'd likely already chosen a target in his mind.
"Of course, it's because of the exam! Everyone in the first year is freaking out about this mess! Whoever came up with it must have a screw loose!"
Manabe's frustration was evident, almost shouting in anger.
But rather than simple irritation, she seemed to be venting her anxiety.
…Ah, I see.
Hikigaya got straight to the point.
"You're acting pretty nervous. Are you afraid you'll be the one expelled?"
"Wh-what?! Don't be ridiculous!" Manabe flinched but refused to admit it. "I have a high social standing, okay?! People invite me out all the time!"
"Hmm, I won't deny that."
In Class C, Manabe occupied a similar position to Karuizawa—leading a large group of girls and acting as an informal spokesperson.
But recently, both of their positions had been weakening.
And they shared one other major flaw—lack of actual strength. Whether in academics or athletics, neither had much to offer.
If it were any other school—like when Yuigahama was at Sobu—she could have gotten by just fine despite constantly failing her exams. With her outstanding looks and social skills, she would have still thrived.
However, that wouldn't work in the fiercely competitive environment of Advanced Nurturing High School.
Here, grades were publicly displayed after every exam, making it obvious who the underachievers were.
And when it happened repeatedly, those ranked at the bottom would inevitably become the subject of silent ridicule.
Unless they contributed to the class in some other way, so-called female leaders like Karuizawa and Manabe were nothing more than replaceable figures.
To put it bluntly, even if they were expelled, the class wouldn't suffer any real loss.
In fact, compared to Karuizawa, Manabe was in an even worse position.
"Don't forget, you once betrayed the class. You, of all people, should be well aware of the consequences that come with that."
Hikigaya mercilessly pointed out the source of Manabe's unease.
Her face instantly went pale, but she stubbornly held on to her denial. "That… that was in the past! A-And Ryuuen-kun forgave me in front of everyone! No one else has the right to say anything!"
"Yes, it certainly seems that way," Hikigaya said flatly. "But this exam is different. Someone has to be expelled… In that case, choosing the person who already betrayed the class before would at least lessen the guilt, don't you think?"
"Guh…!"
Completely seeing through her fears, Manabe wavered.
She was worried about precisely this—no matter how many friends she united with in her class, she still couldn't feel at ease.
For the past two days, she had even begun to suspect that Ryuuen was deliberately doing nothing, having long ago decided in secret to expel her.
Looking back, all those times she had been tricked actually turned out to be valuable experience. She had become quite adept at dealing with such situations.
At this moment, Manabe couldn't afford to care about her pride anymore. She immediately put on a flattering expression and said in a sycophantic tone, "Wow! As expected of Hikigaya-kun, you're really so smart! You see through everything!"
"Uh…" Hikigaya was speechless. This woman was way too pragmatic.
It reminded him of the first time they met—back then, in order to keep him from discovering that she had beaten up Karuizawa, Manabe had used the same nauseatingly sweet attitude to cling to him.
And that time, she even had three others with her…
"Please, Hikigaya-kun, tell me how to get out of this mess. I'm begging you."
Manabe clasped her hands together in front of her chest, her eyes glistening with tears as she looked at Hikigaya with a pitiful expression.
Well, if nothing else, it was quite the sympathetic sight.
Too bad her acting was terrible—or rather, she was trying way too hard.
She even deliberately lowered her posture, tilting her head slightly upward, attempting to use the classic "puppy eyes" technique to charm a male.
Unfortunately for her, such tricks didn't work on Hachiman.
"Oh? So you're finally admitting that you're here to beg for my help?"
"I had no choice! It's not like I'm as smart as Hikigaya-kun."
While shaking Hikigaya's arm back and forth, Manabe even lightly bumped him with her waist.
This woman…
"No, don't try to flatter me." Hikigaya immediately pulled away and even took a step back. "Just to be clear, flattery won't work. This is your class's exam, and I have no intention of getting involved. Besides, I don't have any solutions for you."
"Don't say that~ I believe Hikigaya-kun definitely has a way. After all, back at the training camp, you easily got rid of a certain someone… isn't that right?"
There was an unmistakable hint of threat in Manabe's words.
But Hikigaya remained unfazed, showing no sign of giving in.
"It's useless. This time, you really picked the wrong person."
"…Hmph!"
Seeing that acting cute got her nowhere, Manabe immediately dropped the act and stared at Hikigaya with sharp eyes.
"In that case, since I'm going to be expelled anyway, I might as well spill everything… Tell me, Hikigaya-kun, you wouldn't want Nagumo-senpai to find out that you betrayed him, would you?"
"Who says I wouldn't? You can go tell him right now."
"You…!"
Seeing that nothing she said worked, Manabe stomped her foot angrily and shouted, "You heartless, ungrateful man! I took such a huge risk to help you before, and this is how you repay me?!"
"What do you mean 'helped me'?" Hikigaya gave her a deadpan look. "I paid you a huge amount of points, okay? 500,000! If you saved even a little, that'd be enough to last you three years."
Here, students didn't need to pay rent or utilities, and most goods were cheaper than outside.
Unless someone was excessively extravagant, that amount of money was more than enough to live comfortably.
"But if what I did for you gets exposed, not only will Nagumo-senpai come after me, but the school will also punish me! I could even get expelled! Compared to that, what's 500,000 points worth?!"
"Uh…"
Hikigaya had no immediate rebuttal for that.
To be fair, he had considered the risks back then, which was exactly why he hadn't asked Kushida or Matsushita for help but had chosen Manabe instead.
So… yeah, he might've been a little unscrupulous.
"Alright, alright, since you want my advice, I'll give you an idea."
"Mm-hmm!"
The moment Hikigaya finally relented, Manabe eagerly nodded like a pecking chick, looking at him with hopeful anticipation.
"Escaping this situation isn't that hard." Hikigaya said indifferently. "Even though you betrayed your class, you weren't the only one, right? It's just that Ayanokoji happened to contact you. But your two friends… I remember their names—Yabu Nanami and Yamashita Saki, right? Didn't Ryuuen catch all three of you that day?"
"…Eh?"
"That makes things simple."
Ignoring Manabe's confusion, Hikigaya continued, "All you have to do is pick one of them as a scapegoat and then team up with the other one. Secretly paint the chosen one as an even worse traitor than the two of you—basically, pin all the blame on her. That way, when it's time for your classmates to vote, they'll naturally choose to expel her instead of you."
"W-What…? T-That kind of thing…!"
Manabe's eyes widened, and her fists clenched unconsciously.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me you can't bring yourself to do it." Hikigaya deliberately provoked her.
At the end of the day, people were like this.
At first, they'd feign reluctance, citing things like friendship or morality. But when it came down to protecting themselves, they'd always find a way to justify their actions.
After all, self-preservation was the strongest reason of all.
Even someone like Yamauchi probably hesitated for a moment when facing Sakayanagi's proposal.
Not out of guilt—just because he didn't want to admit that he was the kind of person who would betray others.
Well, whatever.
Hikigaya wasn't interested in standing on a moral high ground. He just instinctively disliked seeing people like this succeed.
To put it bluntly, he had just handed Manabe a so-called "solution."
But in reality, it was nothing more than a one-way ticket to expulsion.
Oh well.
Even if he did nothing, Manabe was still the most likely candidate to be expelled from Class C.
After all, the one pulling the strings in this exam had always been Ryuuen. And that guy never hesitated when making a move.
"Alright then, if there's nothing else, I'll be—ugh?!"
Just as Hikigaya was about to leave, Manabe suddenly raised her fist and punched him hard in the stomach.
Since it came without warning, Hikigaya took the hit directly, doubling over in pain.
At least she hadn't aimed lower…
"Hmph! Don't look down on me with those dead-fish eyes!" Manabe snapped. "You think I want to stay in this damn school? I'd rather get expelled than betray my friends! It's just switching schools—what's the big deal?!"
"…Is that so."
Hikigaya took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, easing the pain.
What was this?
The delinquent's sense of loyalty?
Tch. Absolutely ridiculous.
"This was a mistake. I should never have come to you."
With that, Manabe turned to leave.
But this time, it was Hikigaya who grabbed her arm.
"Hold on… Since you don't like that plan, let's try another one."