Hachiman's Meritocracy Classroom Chapter 8

As the Student Council President left, the secretary senior quickly followed.

However, she looked back in surprise towards Hachiman and Kushida's direction.

Because.

This year's Class A students were truly rowdy.

But those were Class A students, after all.

However, were the students of First-year Class D this bold now? They directly impacted the class evaluation points, which were incredibly important to all students.

Meanwhile, on Hachiman's side.

After encountering the student council executive, the investigation came to a temporary halt.

Hachiman felt as though he had obtained some partial information.

However.

"Beep beep!"

At this moment, he received an email.

The sender was an unknown number.

It contained only one message.

[Congratulations, Hachiman Hikigaya. Your application to redeem points for cash in advance has been approved. The Board of Directors has voted to grant you this privilege.

You can visit the Chairman's Office at any time to apply for the service of exchanging points for cash.

The exchange rate is 1,000 Private Points for 800 yen. We will handle the deposit or mail the cash to your designated address.

However, please note that the minimum redemption amount is 1 million points. Therefore, you will need to accumulate 1 million points to officially redeem them.

Furthermore, you are not permitted to collect points through fundraising to help others redeem them, nor can you profit from this by acting as an intermediary.

We look forward to your development.

Advanced Nurturing High School Board of Directors.]

Although it wasn't a number he recognized, it felt like it was from the school.

Immediately after.

Hachiman noticed that their homeroom teacher, Chabashira-sensei, was calling.

Chapter 008: Chabashira: You think Kikyo Kushida has internal problems?

Almost immediately after receiving what appeared to be an email from the school, Chabashira-sensei's call came through.

However, since Kushida was still there, Hachiman didn't answer immediately. Instead, he declined the call and sent a reply stating he was temporarily unavailable and would contact her later.

After doing so, Hachiman turned to look at Kushida.

Kushida blinked softly, maintaining her cute demeanor. Although she looked at him curiously, she kept her distance.

More accurately.

She had subtly moved away when Hachiman was looking at his phone.

She understood very well how to gauge the appropriate distance when interacting with people.

"Where do you want to go next?"

Hachiman put away his phone and asked.

"Huh? Did you finish investigating the school already, Hachiman?"

Kushida seemed surprised.

"I'm planning to go to the Shopping Street to buy some necessities, and it's also time for lunch," Hachiman replied.

The time was 12:30 PM, indeed time for lunch.

"Also, I just discovered a school-exclusive app on my phone, the School Forum. It seems that as long as you enter your student ID for real-name verification, you can post."

"It includes regular students, student council members, and even some faculty and shop staff from the Shopping Street," Hachiman said.

"Oh, oh," Kushida nodded.

She quickly picked up her phone.

Then she opened the forum app.

She had been busy contacting people and saving their contact information, so she hadn't had time to explore the phone's features.

Watching Kushida's actions, Hachiman remained expressionless.

In fact, during his investigation of the first floors of all three grades, Hachiman had obtained more important information and had related ideas. However, until he could confirm them, he didn't believe it was something that needed to be disclosed or would be effective if disclosed.

Therefore, he only brought up the ordinary forum information.

For someone like Kushida, who was skilled at socializing, she would likely figure out the forum's purpose very quickly.

So, by bringing it up now, he was essentially giving her a gift, as compensation for accompanying him on his investigation.

"……" Hachiman.

Suddenly, he felt a little shaken.

"So, Hachiman, are you planning to eat first?" Kushida said after checking her phone.

"About that," Hachiman replied. "According to the GPS on my phone, it'll take about 10 minutes to get to the shopping street, but only 5 minutes to the cafeteria."

So, he's the type to choose the closest option?

"I see. Then, would you like to have lunch together?" Kushida extended an invitation.

"……" Hachiman.

???

On the way with Kushida, Hachiman had been trying to stay calm, to avoid being influenced by her.

He told himself not to waver.

Kushida wanted to be friends with everyone, so perhaps this stubborn, hard-to-please guy like him was also within her reach.

So, don't waver, don't waver.

And yet…

Kushida… you really seem to be trying to win him over now.

Are you that persistent, Kushida?

School Cafeteria.

It was both of their first time there, but they found it to be quite large, with many food stalls.

However.

"Hachiman, I've discovered something! Some of the food stalls don't require points," Kushida said.

"It seems you can just line up and get the food, without even needing to swipe your student ID."

"Heh heh, the school is really good to us students."

"Even if you run out of points, you can still get some help."

Is that so?

Hachiman had noticed this as well.

More than that, he had deliberately looked for it.

And.

Hachiman's attention was focused on the fifth stall.

The staff at that stall had put up a "[Sold Out]" sign.

This meant that the free meal there was gone.

This was the stall that a senior mentioned on the school forum when Hachiman was checking it in the dorms. It offered a free wild vegetable set meal that wasn't too unappetizing.

And now it was sold out.

This meant… there were many people in this school who needed to live on free meals.

And Class D had the largest number of seniors.

So, it was indeed as he suspected… the school's living expenses allocated to students were conditional and limited, and then… as a student of Class D, he would be in a dire situation.

The school food was delicious, but Hachiman felt like he couldn't taste it.

He knew the reason why; it was probably because he wasn't eating with a girl, and moreover, a rather cute girl.

However, after the meal, Kushida didn't continue to act with him.

She was also a busy person, similar to Hirata, but not to help out. Instead, she had been invited by some girls to go shopping for supplies.

So, the two parted ways near the fountain outside the shopping street.

Kushida wanted him to go in first, as she wanted to wait a little longer before entering the shopping street.

That's quite realistic, Kushida.

Are you worried about being seen with me?

However, Hachiman proceeded to the shopping street using the GPS map on his phone.

As Chabashira-sensei had said, the school required all students to live on campus, but it also provided the corresponding facilities to ensure that students wouldn't get bored even if they stayed there for three years.

From ordinary electronics stores, family restaurants, teppanyaki, Haidilao, to various shops selling goods, everything was available.

And except for one type of store, the Zelkova Shopping Center in the middle of the shopping street had more facilities for eating, drinking, and entertainment.

It was very popular among students.

Hachiman walked into the Zelkova Shopping Center. He didn't buy anything, just sat on a sofa meant for people to rest on and observed the students coming and going.

Sometimes he'd see students wearing their uniforms, but many were in their own private clothes.

By deduction, these were likely upperclassmen who didn't need to wear school uniforms on holidays.

However.

He also noticed that some of these upperclassmen were quite extravagant, buying very expensive items.

For example, gold pendants and bracelets.

Some upperclassmen couldn't afford to eat, while some upperclasswomen spent money like water.

It was a very interesting scene.

But for Hachiman, who came from Class D, it was a bit disheartening.

The more he observed, the more terrifying the realization became: just how terrible it was to be assigned to Class D.

As he thought this, Hachiman noticed over a dozen students coming up from the escalator on the first floor.

All of them were wearing student uniforms.

He counted.

There were sixteen students.

The one leading them seemed to be a silver-haired girl.

Her body might not have been in good condition, as she was leaning on a black cane with her left hand.

But she was very cute.

Her pupils were clear and lively, and her skin was fair and tender.