Class 1-B.
September 1st, the new semester arrived.
Hikigaya used his left arm as a pillow as usual, lying on the desk, feeling truly exhausted.
During the summer break.
He spent most of his time in the dorm, occasionally going out for a curry to improve his diet, and when he watched movies, he would avoid the bottom right corner seat.
The biggest headache was.
Shiina Hiyori would ask him to give book reviews every few days. At first, Hikigaya didn't care much and shared those twisted thoughts.
But.
He didn't expect Shiina Hiyori would actually resonate with him.
The two had many things in common.
Both were alone, both preferred solitude, both had almost no social life.
Both weren't very good at communication.
Of course, Shiina Hiyori was slightly better than him, but if it were regarding work, Hikigaya didn't think his communication skills were a problem.
Although Shiina Hiyori liked mystery novels, she also liked "trash literature" like Farewell, My Lovely, and she had a longing for soulmates and love.
Being with her didn't require desperately searching for topics; even a silent atmosphere was comfortable.
The two got along quite well.
Thus.
For the remaining half month of summer break.
Every four or five days, they would meet once in the library to return books and discuss their reviews.
Since it was just reading anyway.
Hikigaya didn't have any objections.
It's just that Shiina Hiyori's enthusiasm was truly a bit overwhelming; occasionally, she would even appear at his dorm door to have him return a book.
How much does this girl love books?
Lying on the desk.
Hikigaya couldn't help but glance at Ichinose and the others who were chatting.
The class seemed to have accepted his existence by default; no one would easily come to disturb him during break time.
The familiar environment was reassuring.
Until the afternoon.
Hoshinomiya Chie walked into the classroom leaning against the wall, and the faint scent of alcohol filled the air.
"Hoshinomiya-sensei, you were drinking again yesterday, weren't you?"
Ichinose and the others looked helpless.
This person was in a state of hangover basically 60% of the time. The fact that she hadn't been fired yet meant the school's management was far too lax.
Hikigaya felt that after graduation, maybe he should just stay and work here.
He felt he could do a job like that too.
"It's okay~"
"I took a nap at noon, so there's nothing to worry about now~"
Hoshinomiya waved her hand, clearly still not quite in the right state.
"Alright, class is starting. From today, lessons begin again."
"From September to October in the second semester, for a period of one month, classes will be added to prepare for the Sports Festival."
"I'll hand out the new schedule and the data for the Sports Festival."
"Pass them from front to back."
"If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me~"
Hikigaya's face looked grim; he truly disliked the words "Sports Festival."
He still remembered the experience in middle school where, due to a lack of people, he was forced to perform gymnastics with a teacher; it was truly nothing to be happy about.
Soon.
The Sports Festival data and the schedule reached his hands.
Hikigaya took out a copy and handed the rest to Shirai (Xiao Bai) behind him.
Regarding Hoshinomiya Chie's "free-range" style.
The people of Class B had long grown used to it.
Everyone buried their heads in browsing.
The rules and grouping of the Sports Festival.
The Sports Festival is held with the entire school divided into Red and White teams for a head-to-head battle. The groups consist of Red Team (Classes A and D) and White Team (Classes B and C).
Point distribution for all-participation events (Individual competitions).
Based on the results, the school will award 15 points to the first-place student's group, 12 points to second place, 10 points to third place, and 8 points to fourth place.
From fifth place down, points are reduced by one point for each rank. Group events award 500 points to the winning class.
Point distribution for recommended-participation events.
Based on the results, the school will award 50 points to the first-place student's group, 30 points to second place, 15 points to third place, and 10 points to fourth place.
From fifth place down, points are reduced by two points for each rank (the final relay race will award triple points).
Effects of the Red vs. White outcome.
The class that loses in the overall grade-wide score will have 100 Class Points deducted from all classes in that group across all grades.
Effects of the grade-level rankings.
The class that takes first place in the overall score will be awarded 50 Class Points.
The class that takes second place will see no change in Class Points.
The class that takes third place will have 50 Class Points deducted.
The class that takes fourth place will have 100 Class Points deducted.
Rewards for individual competitions (can be used for the next midterm).
1st Place: Awarded 5,000 Private Points or 3 points on a written exam.
2nd Place: Awarded 3,000 Private Points or 2 points on a written exam.
3rd Place: Awarded 1,000 Private Points or 1 point on a written exam.
Last Place: 1,000 Private Points deducted (if holding less than 1,000 points, 1 point will be deducted from a written exam).
The student with the highest score in the competition will be awarded 100,000 Private Points by the school.
The top three students in each grade will be awarded 10,000 Private Points.
Other rules include things like a ban on violence.
Hikigaya took a quick look and immediately decided to give up.
The top overall ranks were definitely out of his reach, and he didn't need points for written exams.
His grades weren't great, but they were at a medium level.
He didn't have to worry about the risk of expulsion due to poor grades at all.
Therefore.
For him.
The Sports Festival held absolutely no attraction.
More importantly.
They and Class C were actually in the White Team.
Doesn't that mean they have to face Commander Horikita Manabu and that Vice President Nagumo Miyabi?
Both seemed to be the top elites of Class A in their respective years.
No matter how you thought about it, they couldn't win.
Might as well give up.
Next were the competition items.
All-participation items: 100-meter dash, hurdle race, pole-toppling (men only), ball-toss (women only), gender-separated tug-of-war, obstacle course, three-legged race, cavalry battle, 200-meter dash.
Recommended-participation items: scavenger hunt, four-way tug-of-war, mixed-gender three-legged race, grade-wide 1,200-meter relay.
"Ugh..."
Hikigaya's expression became even grimmer.
Even though it's a Sports Festival, this school actually forces everyone to participate. What a trash school.
Doesn't this.
Deliberately make people who aren't good at sports go up and lose face?
Wait.
If everyone loses face, it means no one loses face. Everyone just goes up to serve as "green leaves" for those who are good at sports.
That doesn't seem to be a problem.
If there was a choice, he wouldn't want to participate in even one, but Ichinose and the others probably wouldn't agree.
Although he thought about faking an illness.
But since it involved class interests, it felt truly bad to do so.
He still didn't want to cause trouble for the class.
"Everyone, do you have any questions~?"
Ichinose asked.
"It's fine, let's just leave it to Ichinose."
"Yeah, if there are any issues, just tell us later, Ichinose."
"I agree too~"
Several girls raised their hands, still leaving the full authority to Ichinose. Hoshinomiya Chie, seeing this, tactfully left the classroom, leaving the homeroom time to them.
Although Hikigaya was curious whether this Sports Festival was a Special Exam, since no one else asked, he didn't either.
After all, this question was truly insignificant.
Regardless of whether it was or wasn't, Ichinose's answer would likely be for everyone to give their all, so there was no difference.
Next was deciding the participants.
The only ways Hikigaya could think of were raising hands or ranking by ability.
"Next is deciding the participants."
Ichinose thought for a moment and looked around, her gaze finally landing on Hikigaya as she smiled:
"Hikigaya-kun, are there any items you want to participate in?"
"Eh?"
Hikigaya was stunned.
Me?
Why ask me all of a sudden?
However.
Feeling the gazes of many in Class B, Hikigaya quickly understood the reason.
Reasonably speaking.
Even if someone wanted to participate for the sake of Private Points, it wouldn't be strange.
But since all of Class B's Private Points were kept by Ichinose, such conflicts of interest wouldn't occur.
Which race to participate in.
Could be decided purely by personal preference, with Ichinose making the final judgment.
The only exception was himself.
"Uh..."
Feeling like he was the only outlier, Hikigaya said apologetically:
"Don't worry about me, I'll just fill in any gaps."
With his athletic scores.
He was only between 15th and 20th in Class B, let alone the whole school; he was likely just average.
It wasn't 100% impossible to get Private Points.
But it would likely require considerable effort and 100% motivation to have a chance.
As the ancients said:
"A journey of a thousand miles, turn back while you can."
Better to just give up.
He also had no interest in exam points.
Since he had to go up and lose face anyway.
Better to honestly be a "brick"—wherever needed, he would be moved there.
After all.
In the past, no one had ever come to ask for his opinion.
He was basically left until the end, filling in wherever there was a vacancy.
Now that he was making Ichinose and the others worry, Hikigaya felt truly embarrassed.
"I see..."
Ichinose, wondering what she was thinking, looked seriously at Hikigaya for a moment before saying: "I remember Hikigaya-kun's athletic scores have always been quite good, right?"
"No."
Hikigaya had a bad feeling and hurriedly denied it: "They always hover around 20th place."
After all, some people improve and some regress, and he occasionally wanted to slack off, so his scores were never fixed.
"That's fine then, similar to me. I'll decide."
Ichinose nodded with a smile and turned to look at the others.
"I think we should decide based on everyone's interests. If there are overlaps, we'll negotiate. What does everyone think?"
As expected.
Another wave of agreement from below.
It was completely different from the two methods he had thought of.
However.
Looking at it from another angle.
Someone who is interested in a certain sport.
Means they will put a certain amount of energy into it, so they must have some ability.
If they were always shot down.
It would be hard to maintain that interest. Ichinose making the participation list this way seemed good too.
Never discourage a child's interest.
It felt like Ichinose would make a good mother.
Just then.
Their eyes met. For some reason, Ichinose smiled and nodded at him, then continued discussing the participation list with the others.
What for?
Why are you smiling?
Don't you know your smile is scary?
Hikigaya inexplicably felt a chill.