Class D Isn't in a Position to Be Thrown Under the Bus by the School-Unless! / My Poor Heart Can't Take This!

"..." Chabashira.

So this brat really had fallen for someone.

A quick plug for another big-name author writing about Meritocracy Classroom.

Chabashira-sensei had the capital, and Hachiman Hikigaya was willing to accept her employment.

He did not need to graduate from Class A. As long as he led First-year Class D in a successful challenge against Class A, even if only once, Chabashira-sensei would pay Hachiman Hikigaya anywhere from ten to thirty million yen in cash.

Note: One million points would be paid in advance as a deposit.

Due to the school's restrictions, Chabashira could not casually bring cash inside.

So the two of them drafted a contract both parties approved of on the spot.

Chabashira also took out her phone and loaded one million points onto one of the two point cards Hachiman had been preparing to return to her.

Of course.

"You little brat are trying to pull a fast one." As an adult, Chabashira immediately pointed it out.

Who ever heard of paying someone just because they had successfully led First-year Class D in challenging Class A?

And the minimum payment was ten million in cash.

What a sucker.

"I believe you understand just how terrible a situation it is to be assigned to Class D." Hachiman said.

"Besides." Hachiman paused. "The first month after enrollment is the Behavioral Guidelines Exam, an assessment of whether the freshmen's conduct is worthy of this school's outstanding students."

Then.

"And now."

"How many points do you think we have left?" Hachiman asked.

He had actually thrown out a little smokescreen here.

He had learned the specific exam rules from Sakayanagi Arisu, as well as the fact that the first month's Behavioral Guidelines Exam started all four classes with a base score of one thousand points.

And then.

The little blackboard on the first floor was blank.

Unlike the second- and third-years, whose class evaluation scores were publicly displayed.

However.

As the homeroom teacher and a staff member, Chabashira likely had greater authority, such as knowing how many points her own class had lost.

Only.

"..." Chabashira.

Chabashira-sensei actually fell silent.

Hey, hey, hey.

So it really was like that?

Today was only the fourth day since enrollment!

Had they already lost so many points that she could not even speak?

So they really had taken a massive deduction.

But that had only been his inner thoughts. Right now, he needed to bargain with Chabashira-sensei.

In fact, when Chabashira-sensei said she wanted to see and confirm whether Class D had the potential to challenge Class A, Hachiman understood.

Chabashira had been wrong from the very beginning.

Because.

Chabashira-sensei was fixated on how her class's dream of reaching Class A had been shattered in the end due to her failure.

But.

The reality was that so many years had already passed. There was no point in her still agonizing over it.

Chabashira-sensei.

Even if she bet on this year's First-year Class D now, she would only be treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

Because what she regretted was the past, not the present.

But some people would not turn back until they hit a wall. Only by showing her once, letting her witness it once, would she understand that this was reality.

Besides.

Hachiman needed money too.

And Chabashira-sensei had issues.

So this could count as her seeking treatment while he charged a consultation fee.

And Hachiman was still fairly conscientious. When the time came, demanding just ten million yen in cash would be enough.

As he was thinking that.

"That is rather strange." Sae Chabashira said. "How did you know the first month would include a Behavioral Guidelines Exam?"

Chabashira realized she had nearly been led around by him.

"I got the information from students in Class A." Hachiman said. "I am a Class D student, while they are Class A students."

"But Chabashira-sensei, do you know the difference between the two?"

"If Class D wants to climb upward and reach Class A, then it first has to defeat Class A."

"But on their first day of enrollment, they grasped the true nature of this school. When I consulted you about the school, their entire class split the cost of that information. So they learned about the school's assessments earlier than anyone else." Hachiman said.

"Is that so?"

Then that truly was rather hopeless.

By the way, was this year's Class A also this formidable?

Chabashira had thought a few students in this year's Class D were already practically cheating, yet Class A had received the same boost too.

"So you believe you cannot lead the class to graduate as Class A?" Chabashira asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Hachiman said. "It is not as though any useless trash can climb upward."

"First of all, the school is government-funded, and it needs to produce qualified graduates."

"And do you believe the students in our Class D can truly let the school confidently send them out into society to be tested?"

"Students like Yamauchi would represent the school's achievements when sent into society."

"What do you think would happen?"

What would happen?

It would probably be terrible.

The next round of government funding might not come through at all.

"So you mean that from the very beginning, you believed the school would not give Class D students an opportunity?" Chabashira asked.

"That is possible." Hachiman said.

"For one thing, everyone assigned to the classes had different baseline qualities from the outset. The lower classes were weaker than the upper classes in every capability, so once enough exams took place, they would still be weaker overall than the upper classes. Even in the school building, our class and Class C are separated from Classes A and B."

"Doesn't it seem like they are afraid we will disturb Classes A and B?" Hachiman asked.

"So that is... it."

Chabashira's brow twitched. Uncertainty entered her eyes as well.

"That is true," she murmured.

Chabashira found herself wavering.

Because it had taken the Class D of her year nearly three whole years to climb upward.

Then, in that crucial expulsion exam at the end, her class had lost two hundred class evaluation points.

And after that, there had still been one final special exam before graduation.

That exam had only been worth... only fifty points.

Even if they won, they could not overtake the others.

So could it be understood this way? Had the school manipulated the point values of the exams, deliberately denying them the chance to surpass the others and refusing to let them graduate as Class A representatives of the school?

"..."

She could not keep thinking about it.

Thinking further would only intensify her negative feelings toward this school.

"Besides, I do not know what past Class D students were like, but I think the Class D students in my class are dangerous." Hachiman said. "There are a lot of bombs."

"And aside from the bombs, there may also be students who are genuinely poor in every respect."

"Then they will drag everyone down."

"So even if we climb to Class A, we will not be able to hold on to it at all."

"Rather," Hachiman said, "just having the ambition to overcome the stronger class and rise to Class A is already impressive enough."

"..." Chabashira.

Fine, stop talking.

"Then is there no way to salvage this?" Chabashira asked.

"There is not." Hachiman said.

That was actually a lie.

Because there was still one way to earn the school's recognition.

Class D had a way to gain the school's recognition.

And it was a plan that would truly turn them into Class A.

Hachiman pondered inwardly.

Because Class D's greatest disadvantage was that it had too many problem children, along with a whole lot of dead weight.

But if the problem children were tamed so they stopped causing trouble and exploding, those problem children with strong base stats could shoulder the burden.

And what about the dead weight?

Three years could allow people to grow. Perhaps they could grow into what the school wanted to see, but the odds were very low. It would be better to focus on those problem children, letting them overcome the parts of themselves that could explode, and then they might still be presentable.

But the demands on ordinary Class D students were simply too high.

Some might not reach the school's standards even with another three years.

But there was another plan.

That was to remove those who could not meet the standards.

In other words, out of forty students, perhaps a third or even more would have to be removed.

But that was far too cruel.

Since this was a private meeting, and the two had spent quite some time standing here in the wind, Chabashira clicked away in her heels after confirming that Hachiman had signed the agreement with her.

Only.

"Beep!"