Chapter 133 You Should Strike Enemies with a Heavy Fist!
"Hikigaya!"
Horikita Suzune and Kushida Kikyo simultaneously locked their sharp gazes onto him. Even Ichinose Honami, who had been smiling a moment ago, now narrowed her eyes, which flickered with a dangerous light.
"Hikigaya-kun, you aren't allowed to hit on my Chihiro-chan, okay!"
'My Chihiro-chan~'
Shiranami Chihiro immediately wore an expression of incomparable happiness.
'Sorry, there are too many things to complain about; I don't know where to start!'
"Ichinose-san, are you two also here to drink coffee?" Hikigaya uttered a sentence that was the height of redundancy.
"Yes~ we just happened to run into Hikigaya-kun... as well as Horikita and Kushida-san."
'When you're addressing us, could you not put me first? It's very easy to cause unnecessary misunderstandings!'
Horikita Suzune and Kushida Kikyo seemed to notice this as well. The two, who had been at each other's throats, immediately ceased fire and looked at Ichinose Honami with wary eyes.
"Hee~ As expected, you two have a very good relationship!"
Ichinose Honami blinked her eyes and asked with some uncertainty: "But I don't know if it's an illusion, it feels like you both harbor some hostility toward me?"
"Our relationship is not 'good'." Horikita Suzune did not approve of the description regarding her and Kushida.
"How could that be? I actually admire Ichinose-san very much~~" Kushida Kikyo clasped her hands together and greeted her with a smiling face.
"Coming out together at this time, you two must be on a date, right?" Hikigaya said this partly as a probe, but also with a hint of teasing.
"Eh? No, that's not it!" Ichinose Honami quickly waved her hands in denial. Beside her, Shiranami Chihiro looked visibly dejected.
"Chihiro-chan and I came out to discuss matters regarding the special exam. If we're talking about a date, the three of you..."
'This girl... she's even learned how to use offense as defense?'
"If I said yes, would you believe it?" Hikigaya said, clearly joking.
"Eh? Really?!"
'Hey, don't look like you're taking it seriously!'
"Ichinose-san is joking. A date is a matter between two people; how could there be a third party?" Horikita Suzune explained with a straight face.
Listening to this, Kushida Kikyo found it exceptionally grating. She couldn't help but curse inwardly: Is this bitch subtly mocking me for being the 'third party'?
"We were also talking about the exam."
'Didn't you just repeatedly claim you refused to cooperate?'
Hikigaya sometimes truly admired a girl's ability to tell lies with a straight face.
"Perfect, then let's discuss it together!" Ichinose Honami's eyes lit up, and she proposed a "great" idea.
This statement made everyone present feel numb.
"E-eto~ Ichinose-san? We belong to different classes; it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss it together, would it?" Kushida Kikyo's expression was strange.
She wondered if this woman was truly "natural" or if she was a "pink-on-the-outside-black-on-the-inside" type!
"What's inappropriate about it? Didn't the sensei say that for this exam, we should step outside the circle of our classes and cooperate as a group?" Ichinose Honami spoke words that were undeniably "correct."
However, even the "smart-looking" Shiranami Chihiro understood that these were just the sensei's formal pleasantries. Anyone who took them seriously was a pure-bred simpleton.
Hikigaya's mind stirred, and he quickly understood her true intention: "Ichinose-san, you want to achieve Outcome 1?"
Ichinose Honami was stunned for a moment, then a brilliant smile appeared on her face: "The one who knows me best is indeed Hikigaya-kun!"
'Can you stop using such phrases so loosely? It's very easy to cause ambiguity, okay!'
Several of the girls at the scene were glaring over!
"I want to achieve Outcome 1. Is there anything strange about that? It's a result where everyone wins." Ichinose Honami's expression was serious.
"Theoretically yes, but achieving Outcome 1 is almost impossible to do." Even the highly competitive Horikita Suzune believed the difficulty was too high and there was no possibility of realization.
"How would you know it's impossible without trying? Even from the perspective of personal interest, no one wouldn't want to get points, right?" Ichinose Honami still held to her view.
"Class B and Class C might be able to do it. It's hard to say for Class A, but it's absolutely impossible for Class D." Hikigaya expressed his viewpoint.
The key to achieving Outcome 1 was the necessity of uniting the opinions of all four classes. If even a single member from any class betrays the group and submits an early guess, it leads to Outcome 3 or Outcome 4.
For Class B, relying on Ichinose Honami's personal charisma, integrating opinions wasn't hard. Class C relied on Ryuen Kakeru's violent reign. Class A was currently in a state of split, but it wasn't ruled out that under the crisis of having their points overtaken, the Katsuragi and Sakayanagi factions would temporarily unite.
As for Class D... no comment was needed.
"Hikigaya-kun, don't have so little confidence in your own classmates."
Ichinose Honami placed her hand on his shoulder and lectured him earnestly: "Uniting the opinions of the whole class might be hard, but uniting individual groups should still be possible."
There was some truth to that. Each class only had four people in the same group. Although Class D was "abstract," there were still a few normal people.
"Honami-chan is right. Everyone in our Monkey Group is quite friendly..." Shiranami Chihiro expressed her support.
"Monkey Group?" Hikigaya looked at Horikita first, who didn't react, so he had to look at Kushida.
'Why did you look at her first instead of me?' Kushida Kikyo seemed a bit annoyed, but she still provided the information she knew.
"The members from our class in the Monkey Group are Wang Mei-Yu, Mori Nene, Miyake Akito, and Koenji Rokusuke."
The first two girls were the "good student" types and should be easy to talk to. Miyake Akito was a rather antisocial boy who rarely spoke in class, a bystander type who just went with the flow.
The only variable was that "Beautiful Boy" who acted in a completely idiosyncratic way. Hikigaya even suspected that in order to get out of the exam early, that guy would just fill in a random name and send the answer. If that happened, the Monkey Group's exam would be declared over.
"If I remember correctly, Hikigaya-kun should be in the Tiger Group, right?" Ichinose Honami watched him with a look of hope.
'What is this inexplicable sense of trust?'
"Don't even think about it on my end. There are people in the Tiger Group from Classes A, C, and D who find me eyesore." Hikigaya asserted his refusal directly.
"If it's just a small conflict, why not take this opportunity to communicate properly? Wouldn't it be good for everyone to turn enemies into friends?" Ichinose Honami stared at him with watery eyes, looking like she truly wanted the best for him.
However, Hikigaya did not accept it.
"There is no need for that. Against enemies, you should strike with a heavy fist!"
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