Kushida: So, Hachiman, You Did It for the Class! Part 2 (First Update)

It was the sixth day since enrollment, and after receiving the massive sum of 100,000 points, the students immediately began spending, spending, spending—buying, buying, buying.

It was not just the girls; the boys were the same.

All kinds of manga—buy!

All kinds of books—buy!

All kinds of light novels—buy!

All kinds of recommendation tickets and monthly passes—vote!

Then there were game consoles, computers, clothes, all kinds of food, and so on.

As a result, almost no one had much spending money left.

Thinking that another 100,000 points would be deposited next month, they had basically been spending without restraint.

Even Kushida the little angel had bought several different kinds of perfume.

She was probably not doing too well financially either.

And now—

They were saying that points would not be deposited until the first of next month, and it would not be 100,000 anymore, but only 48,000? It had been cut by more than half!

"By the way, didn't the bulletin board say that Hachiman had fifty points deducted?"

Ike suddenly said, "Kushida, you saw it back then, right?"

"Ah... yes." Kushida probably had not expected to be mentioned, and a trace of hesitation appeared on her face.

Because if she brought up the Student Council's announcement at a time like this, Hachiman might be attacked by the class.

After all, he had been deducted fifty points.

And those fifty points had come out of the class's total. They concerned every student in the class.

Yet he alone had caused fifty points to be deducted.

So was Hachiman about to end up in a deadlock?

That was what made her hesitate.

But after Ike pointed it out, most of the students turned their attention toward her.

She had been with Ichinose at the time, and she had also been... one of the first people to notice the Student Council's punishment announcement for Hachiman.

But given the current situation, there was nothing she could do even if she wanted to help.

So she could only nod.

Yeah.

Hachiman understood.

Kushida was unreliable.

Only Horikita was reliable. So Hachiman looked at Suzune Horikita.

Horikita caught his gaze.

She seemed to let out a soft sigh before putting down her pen.

"Regarding that—"

Just as Suzune Horikita was about to stand up and defuse the situation, someone suddenly stood up and spoke.

"I hope everyone will quiet down."

"First of all, Chabashira-sensei is still explaining the details."

"And..."

"I don't think we should drag Hachiman into this. He may have broken a camera, but if it had not been for him, would Chabashira-sensei and the others have told us the truth about this school today?"

As he said that, Hirata looked toward Chabashira.

Hirata was very popular in class, and he had helped many people during this time.

So both the boys and girls trusted him.

Everyone turned to look at Chabashira.

Chabashira nodded. "Under normal circumstances, you would have been informed on the first of next month."

Hirata seemed relieved, then continued speaking to everyone.

"So, if it had not been for Hachiman, we might still be completely in the dark."

"I think this is to Hachiman's credit. So we should not target him. After all, out of the original 1,000 points, all of us together have lost more than four hundred points in just six days," Hirata continued. "What we should be thinking about is what to do next."

Hirata's argument was perfectly reasonable.

At the same time, by pointing out that everyone had been losing points, he spread out the blame that might have led to Hachiman being attacked over the fifty-point deduction for breaking the camera.

And after Hirata said that, Ike, who had first brought up Hachiman's fifty-point deduction, seemed a little embarrassed.

But Hachiman noticed that the black-haired, fox-eyed girl seated beside him had been staring at him the entire time.

Her eyes were bright.

She seemed to be asking—

You already had someone ready to defuse the situation, so why did you notify me as well and make me do something unnecessary?

But—

That was not it.

That was the meaning in Hachiman's eyes.

Because—

Hirata really had not been arranged by him.

Chapter 56: Kushida: So, Hachiman, You Did It for the Class! Part 2 (First Update)

Hirata had indeed not been arranged by Hachiman.

Rather, it had been Hirata's own initiative.

In fact, when Kushida had been asked to spread rumors yesterday, Hirata had shown great enthusiasm. He had even gone to the soccer club himself to verify whether the rumors were true, and in exchange for joining the club, obtained the number of second-year and third-year students from the upperclassmen.

He had confirmed that many students had dropped out after coming to this school.

But he had also obtained new information.

Third-year Class A, Manabu Horikita's class, was the only upper-year class that had enrolled forty students and still had forty students by their third year.

No one had dropped out of that class.

All of that was information Hirata had obtained, and he had shared it with everyone.

The materials were all in the class group chat.

And now, Hirata had actually stood up to defend Hachiman when he was being attacked?

Still—

What a shame.

Being kind to others and helping people—

Those were all excellent qualities. But Hirata, you had been assigned to First-year Class D.

A place judged to be full of trash. So what was it in your past—something you had not mentioned—that had made the examiners ignore all your strengths after reviewing your information and assign you to Class D?

So although Hirata had stood up to help, what Hachiman felt was pressure.

Still, he should remember the favor.

Thinking that, Hachiman turned his gaze toward the girl seated to his left.

"..." Suzune Horikita.

Yeah.

Horikita's eyes were bright now, because it seemed there was no longer any room for her to speak.

According to Hachiman's plan, if the class had ganged up on him, or demanded that he personally compensate the class for the fifty points he had lost, Horikita would stand up and defuse the situation.

And her method would have been similar to Hirata's.

As the saying went, the law could not punish everyone.

But aside from Suzune Horikita, everyone in the class had done little things during lessons. Even Hirata was no exception.

So they would push the responsibility outward—everyone had been losing points, so why single out Hachiman's fifty-point deduction?

But Hirata had used that plan first, and it had worked extremely well.

Hirata was very popular. When he spoke about sharing the responsibility, no one objected.

Everyone withdrew the attention they had been directing at Hachiman Hikigaya.

But at that moment, Hachiman wondered: if Horikita had stood up instead—

Could she have achieved the same result so quickly?

First, she had no real prestige. Other than being excessively beautiful and possessing an aloof air—

Aside from Kushida fawning over her with ulterior motives, she had no popularity at all.

So it would have been difficult for her to make the class hesitate and agree with her the way Hirata could just by speaking.

"Next, I will announce the portions of the information that the school is permitted to disclose," Chabashira-sensei said after seeing that the students had quieted down.

"This is the first trial every new student faces after enrollment."

"The assessment period is one month."

"Each class is treated as a single unit. Every class begins with 1,000 base points, and points are deducted from that total for behavior that does not comply with the rules."

"The specific items include: no being late for class, leaving early, playing with phones, reading novels in class, sleeping in class, and so on..."

"After school, you are also not allowed to litter or damage the environment..."

"Fighting is a serious offense."

"Code of conduct—"

"..."

The students were left bewildered by what sounded like a set of behavioral rules.

But someone finally understood.

"Wait!"

A girl spoke up.

She was the blonde girl with a single ponytail sitting closer to the front.

She was a very cute gyaru, and she was also a classmate Hachiman had noticed several times and written down in his little notebook.

Kei Karuizawa.

Over the past two days, she seemed to have become the leader of the gyarus who hung around with her.

"Chabashira-sensei, are you saying that from today until the end of this month, we have to follow these rules of conduct for an entire month?" Karuizawa asked.

"That's right." Sae Chabashira glanced back at her. "Normally, the results would only be announced after you had completed the one-month assessment. This time, because of Hachiman's point deduction for breaking the camera, the changing score was exposed ahead of time."

"This is also the first time in this school's history."

"You are merely lucky enough to see the points already changing in advance, but the assessment itself has not stopped."

Chabashira-sensei was, in fact, speaking up for Hachiman as well.

At that moment, the gazes of the surrounding students, which had turned away after Hirata defused the situation, gathered on Hachiman again.

Kushida the little angel, who had explored the school with Hachiman on the first day of enrollment, looked over as well.