Hachiman's Meritocracy Classroom Chapter 49

Facing Karuizawa's questioning.

"If it's just the rules Chabashira-sensei listed, I've followed them all," Suzune Horikita stated calmly. "I can confirm I haven't lost a single point, but you all... frankly, it's surprising that you've managed to lose points like this in just a few days."

These words might have been her honest opinion.

But they were merely a display of her lack of social awareness, and yet, they were incredibly damaging.

"Hey, why are you saying that? That's too much, Horikita!"

"Exactly, Horikita, how could you say something like that?"

"I didn't really lose... I didn't lose any points!"

The other classmates, who had been quiet until now, suddenly spoke up.

They began to bombard Horikita.

But Suzune Horikita maintained her calm demeanor, her expression unchanged.

She was like someone standing in the rain without an umbrella.

This made Hachiman start to think.

Actually.

The key to uniting a group is the appearance of an enemy.

To attack this enemy, even a team that was not united at first will come together.

However, Hachiman hadn't asked Horikita to take on that role; he had asked her to help clear his name regarding the points deducted by the class.

He had also made preparations for how to restrain the classmates afterward.

But now, with just a few words, Horikita had completely positioned herself against the rest of the class.

Should I call her brave, or just lacking in social awareness?

It's just that, undeniably, she wasn't wrong.

The fault lies with this class.

Take Class B, for example. Even without knowing the rules of this school, after a few days they still had over 800 points left. This indicates that ordinary students should be like that.

Not like Class D, who lost several hundred points on the spot.

"Regarding this matter," Hachiman said, standing up this time.

"I also hope to have living expenses next month, and I hope to receive at least 400 points in class evaluation."

"So, I hope everyone will try their best to follow the exam rules and avoid losing points," Hachiman said.

"How is that even possible!"

Immediately, a classmate tried to refute Hachiman.

This was because the class evaluation points were currently only 480.

In other words, if they wanted to keep 400 points, they could only afford to lose 80 points over the next 25 days.

Seriously.

Losing a few points a day?

How could that be possible!

"Everyone, please don't argue!"

Hirata stood up again, trying to ease the tension.

He had already realized that while the class atmosphere had become lively, this liveliness was heading in a negative direction.

"Then let's make an agreement,"

Hachiman said. "We'll collect 10,000 points from each person."

"And then we'll put it all with Chabashira-sensei. We'll use it on the first of next month."

"Eh!"

"What does that mean?" The classmates were confused.

Even Kushida looked over with confusion.

Because from Hirata's earlier explanation, combined with Chabashira-sensei's confirmation, she had already determined that Hachiman breaking the camera or something was likely him discovering the true nature of this school and using this method to passively bring the class evaluation points to everyone's attention.

If viewed from this angle, Hikigaya was contributing to the class.

Then what he wanted to do was remind everyone that they didn't have many points left to lose.

So they needed to be frugal.

And work together.

However, at this moment, Kushida sensed something unusual.

"From today until the 31st of this month," Hachiman said. "Pay points to Chabashira-sensei to supervise, and then on the first of next month, she will announce each student's point deduction status."

"Because I can't trust you all," Hachiman said. "Those who have the most points deducted will be punished."

"Hikigaya-kun!"

Hirata's tone, which had just moments ago been supporting Hachiman, turned stern.

"We're all one group, so there's no point in not believing each other. Rather, we all believe in you," Hirata said.

But that's not necessarily true, Hirata.

Hachiman thought to himself.

"So, you're saying that since the incentive system can't be used to control classmates, it's become a punishment system."

At that moment, a blonde-haired boy sitting at the desk in front of Sakura, in the back row, suddenly spoke up.

"It's an interesting proposal. It might be useful."

"But I'm not interested."

This boy had a unique appearance, with a rugged, almost Western look, blonde hair, and red eyes.

His build wasn't so much muscular as it was perfectly toned.

He possessed a unique, sculpted beauty.

He was holding a small mirror and admiring his own reflection, seemingly captivated by his own appearance, quite narcissistic.

And it was almost as soon as he noticed this boy speaking.

Kushida, sitting in the front row, suddenly said, "Kōenji-kun, why would you say something like that? Isn't it better to cooperate with everyone?" Kushida said.

She had directly called out Kōenji by name.

After all, it had only been six days since school started, so it was normal for there to still be classmates whose names people didn't know.

So, some students were even unfamiliar with this boy who had suddenly spoken up.

But now that a classmate had mentioned him, everyone's attention turned to him.

It seemed Kushida didn't particularly like this Kōenji fellow.

Hachiman watched.

"I'm not interested in your so-called efforts to save on living expenses," Kōenji said dismissively. "If you have money, you should just spend it. If you don't, the school also offers some free meal plans."

"You can just eat those and be done with it."

"And as for your ambitions of preserving class points to aim for Class A, I think it's best to give up on them early."

"Horikita, Hikigaya."

Kōenji said, "I don't think you two can do it."

"After all, this class is like this."

Kōenji said, then proceeded to raise his small mirror to look at his face again.

"..." Hachiman.

Hmm.

This Kōenji fellow certainly has a unique perspective. He saw through the ploy of deceiving everyone to save on living expenses, realizing it was just a smokescreen.

The real intention was to preserve class points to aim for Class A.

But...

"Kōenji! What the hell do you mean by that! What do you mean 'this class is like this'? Aren't you a part of it too!"

Sudō, sitting to Kōenji's right, immediately voiced his displeasure.

But this displeasure likely wasn't new; it probably stemmed from yesterday's gym class, where Kōenji's swimming had outclassed Sudō, who prided himself on his physical abilities.

It made Sudō feel the gap between a cheater and a normal person.

So, Sudō remembered him.

But letting the situation escalate like this wouldn't be good.

So...

"Then, since you choose not to cooperate, Kōenji-kun, can you choose to drop out?" Hachiman suddenly stood up and said. "Or, if our class must have a dropout, can you take everyone's place and drop out?"

"..." x40

All thirty-nine students turned their attention to him, including their homeroom teacher, Sae Chabashira.

Chabashira felt that this year's Class D was different from the previous one.

She had misjudged them.

The troublemakers in this class were coming one after another.

And their offensive power was incredibly strong.

Even Horikita Suzune, who had initially looked down on the entire class, wasn't as conspicuous anymore.

Yesterday, rumors spread throughout the class, and they were even discussed in the class group chat.

The topic was the dangerous nature of this school.

Things like how eight classes of upperclassmen couldn't even fill one class, or how a large number of upperclassmen were expelled.

Of course, these rumors were hard to believe.

And Hirata even paid the price of joining the soccer club to obtain information from the upperclassmen.

As a freshman, enrollment here wasn't safe.

Students could be expelled during their time at the school due to various exams.

And today, after Chabashira-sensei explained the school's rules, everyone gained a more direct understanding of this.

Because there were special exams every month, wasn't that super terrifying?

So, what if Hachiman suddenly said that if a situation arose where someone had to be voted out, then... what should they do?

So...

The eyes of the classmates began to turn, shifting towards Rokosuke Kōenji.

Actually, from the moment he spoke up earlier, Kōenji had already garnered the attention of the classmates.

It's just that.

Now. These gazes clearly held different meanings. There was relief, and there was schadenfreude.

Heh heh.

"Why should I be the one expelled?" Kōenji leaned back in his chair.

"Because you don't blend in," Hachiman said.

"If everyone else works hard to complete the school's assessments, but you're the only one dragging them down, then everyone will have zero living expenses next month."