Chapter 391

Not to mention that all the money I saved was lost because of buying tickets from Ryuen, not to mention that I still owe a large sum of money, I can't borrow any more now.

Not many people have 20 million, or even if they did borrow it, they could pay it back.

As for the other students...

The other students were prepared for this outcome, and Yahiko was no longer a student in Class B.

"So--"

Because today's only task is the exam.

The exam results were announced, so the class immediately resumed free time.

Because they received information that some students would be dropping out today, the Student Council will continue to work as usual on Saturday, and some Student Council members have already posted the exam results.

First is the list of students who have dropped out of school.

No one dropped out of Class A, First Year.

Yahiko Totsuka, First Year Class B

Haruki Yamauchi, First Year Class C

Yuya Tokito, First-year Class D

There is also a list of those who were spared punishment and received a waiver of expulsion.

Class A, First Year, Honami Ichinose - The result of the Appreciation Vote minus the votes for criticism is 74.

The result of the Appreciation Vote minus the votes for criticism in First Year Class B Sakayanagi Arisu 104.

First Year Class C, Hachiman Hikigaya - 78 votes (Appreciation Vote minus criticism votes)

Ryuen Kakeru from First-year Class D - 39 votes (Appreciation Vote minus criticism votes).

Each of the above students has the right to be exempted from expulsion once, a right that is worth 20 million to them!

Because the exam was essentially a withdrawal exam, the results showed that all the students in the class were freed, except for Yamauchi, who was expelled and was crying. However, he had already been ordered to pack his bags and request to withdraw from school.

He then asked Hirata to help him use the points to buy a computer.

It seems they've truly accepted this outcome.

So.

His desk probably won't even be in the classroom tomorrow.

"The number of votes is terrifying."

Hachiman and Horikita arrived at the bulletin board on the first floor. Generally, important notices and class evaluation scores are posted there, and the results of this exam can only be confirmed here, since the teachers only informed their own classes and not the other classes.

Um.

They were all terrible answers.

Ichinose received over 70 votes, while Classmate Sakayanagi received an even more impressive 104 votes.

The students who won first place in each class, apart from Ryuen who seemed rather weak, probably not only received most of the votes from their own classes but also from other classes, which is why they seemed so formidable.

First is Sakayanagi Arisu. In Horikita's mind, Sakayanagi is a guy on Hachiman Hikigaya, so even if the number of votes is exaggerated, she thinks it's normal.

Even with her dark past, Ichinose still garnered a large number of votes, which is not surprising, because she is simply impossible to dislike.

As for Horikita, she actually wanted to vote for Ichinose.

As for Ryuen.

The Ryuen's class was one person short when Forestry Exam.

So, his number was probably achieved by coercing his class, Class D, to give him a full vote, and then a student from another class gave him a vote, bringing his total to 39 votes.

These are all easy to analyze.

"By the way, which class gave you those 78 votes? Was it Ichinose's class?" But Suzune Horikita was more interested in Hachiman. "There were probably more than twenty or even thirty people in our class who would give you votes."

"But."

"You also said that you didn't campaign for votes, or even spend any money."

"So, it was Class Ichinose that gave you the vote?" Horikita asked.

Um.

Hachiman received 78 votes.

Among the people in the large group he formed immediately after the exam rules were announced, no one should criticize him. Rather, some people should give him Appreciation Vote, and a few people who were observing and did not join the large group may also fill in his Appreciation Vote out of goodwill.

So Hachiman probably received 30 Appreciation Vote in Class C.

Therefore, the number 78 is quite noteworthy.

Judging from the numbers, it's definitely not just one extra class that got him.

It's very likely that an entire class from another class gave him Appreciation Vote.

"I can't tell you about that right now—and there are so many people here," Hachiman said.

Yes, after the exam, it wasn't just them who came to check the answers; students from other classes did too.

"By the way, the person who usually gets your food is watching you." Horikita suddenly looked up in one direction, where a girl with purple hair was standing quietly, but her gaze was fixed on this side.

Oh, I understand.

"See you later," Hachiman said.

Of course he knew this purple-haired girl, because she was Kamuro, the dog that Classmate Sakayanagi owned.

Although he felt a bit upset about Horikita's comment about Kamuro being the one who served food, Hachiman couldn't pay attention to her right now.

Because.

Kamuro arrived at a very opportune time, and he also happened to have something he needed to check with Sakayanagi.

Because he genuinely didn't spend a single penny on this exam. And the number of votes he received was truly suspicious.

Kamuro informed him that Sakayanagi was waiting for him at the usual place.

This old place is probably the cafeteria on the third floor.

Although it's quite early, some food has already been placed on the table.

Upon noticing this, Hachiman immediately understood.

That's why Kamuro had such a bitter and resentful expression when he brought him along.

The table is set with barbecue today.

A small plate contains only a few skewers of pork, seafood, and chicken—that's all there is to Japanese barbecue. Hachiman is quite interested in meat.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Hachiman noticed that Sakayanagi's gaze was on him quite often.

"This is enough for me." Sakayanagi's slender, fair fingers held a skewer of grilled meat that was emitting a fragrant aroma.

"..." Although a strange unease arose in his heart, Hachiman still picked up the chicken skewers.

He noticed that even though Sakayanagi had picked up her own portion, she seemed to still be watching him.

"..."

Is it because of the results of the voting exam?

With that thought in mind, Hachiman took a bite.

"...Hmm." However, Sakayanagi suddenly spoke up, "You ate my food, didn't you? Then please answer a question for me."

"Cough cough—"

Hachiman almost spat out his drink.

Really.

Classmate Sakayanagi's gigolo lifestyle isn't something you can just casually accept.

"Then ask away," Hachiman said with a stern face.

"Yahiko Totsuka received 36 criticism votes. I can manipulate the class's 38 votes, but he can't give himself Appreciation Vote. I know that Katsuragi gave him a vote of Appreciation Vote, so... did you give him a vote of Appreciation Vote and that's how this result came about?"

Sakayanagi said.

So that's what we were going to discuss.

"Isn't that obvious?" Hachiman said. "Although you said that Class B was planning to expel Katsuragi and remove him from Katsuragi, your methods are a bit strange."

"Is that strange?" Sakayanagi crossed his arms.

"Take the Ichinose incident for example. They arranged for Kamuro to come over, probably hoping I would save Ichinose. This time, they specifically targeted Katsuragi, but I can't imagine what benefit I would gain from protecting Katsuragi, so it's probably not that they want me to save Katsuragi. Therefore, suggesting expelling Katsuragi would be pointless. So I suspect this might be a feint; they actually want to target Katsuragi's follower, Yahiko. After all, for Class B, eliminating a useless person is still meaningful. At least it will make the students in Class B more cautious."

"I see. I knew I couldn't hide it from you." Sakayanagi got the answer he wanted.

Indeed.

When she was targeting Katsuragi, not a single person in the class suspected that she was really targeting him, until they received the message she sent 10 minutes before the exam today, and then everyone's expressions became strange.

This disappointed her greatly.

"Then the second thing," Sakayanagi said.

But Hachiman raised his hand, "I've already answered one of your questions, so if you still want to ask, then tell me. You rigged my 78 votes, didn't you?"

Hachiman said, "Because I did not campaign for votes at all."

Yes.

Just like his innocent expression when answering Horikita, he really didn't garner any votes for himself, and even told Yukimura's tutoring group that they could vote for him without hesitation.

"Indeed." Sakayanagi smiled slightly. "Yes, of the 78 votes you have, 38 are from Class B."

So let's calculate according to Hachiman.

His 78 votes came from 30 votes from the students in his class, and Sakayanagi himself said that he could control 38 people, so he could indeed get 38 votes of Appreciation Vote for him.

But.

There is still a gap in the numbers.

"Neither Katsuragi nor Yahiko would vote for me. The number 38 matches, but there's still a difference in the amount. You bought it from Ryuen at a high price, didn't you?" Hachiman said.

Ryuen directly sold tickets for 150,000 yuan each on the forum.

It looks very expensive, but Sakayanagi has said that she bought it.

In other words, Sakayanagi was taken advantage of this time.

I bought the remaining 11 votes for the Ryuen's class, excluding the 28 votes that Katsuragi bought.

"Yes." Sakayanagi nodded. "I'll give you 38 from my class and 11 from Ryuen's class."

"Are you surprised? Actually, this is probably a reciprocal gesture. Because out of my 104 votes, you also brought me 26, didn't you?"

As she said this, she looked gently at Hachiman.

Hachiman did not avoid her gaze.

Because they both knew the other was telling the truth.

Yes.

In this withdrawal exam, although Hachiman did not campaign for himself, he did campaign for Sakayanagi Arisu.

Or rather, the reason for forming that large group in the class in the first place was to obtain their Appreciation Vote from other classes for free.

He sent a group message to them before the exam started.

They made sure all the Appreciation Vote from other classes were filled out for Sakayanagi Arisu.

Thus, although the number of votes they garnered differed, neither of them did so without any prior notice to the other.

It's less about having a tacit understanding and more about taking out insurance for each other.

"This exam was very unusual," Hachiman explained formally.

P. S.: Waaaaa, I've reached 10k!