"Last place...".
"Hikigaya Hachiman, zero votes!".
Hearing the result, Hikigaya sat in his seat and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
With Ichinose leading, Class B's cohesion was beyond doubt. At least no one had taken it upon themselves to change their vote.
Regarding this, Hikigaya was 100% certain.
However, the only worry was the fortress collapsing from the inside.
After all, there was no explanation.
Ichinose simply asked them to do it. It was indeed difficult not to feel shaken.
However, Class B did it.
Such mutual trust was truly rare and valuable.
Otherwise, Hikigaya would have had to sell his body and go to Horikita Manabu to borrow money.
"Sigh".
Hoshinomiya let out a sigh, her gaze somewhat helpless.
"First place—Ichinose Honami, zero votes".
"Second place—Shibata Sou, zero votes".
"Third place—Kanzaki Ryuji, zero votes".
"...".
Clearly, Class B had controlled the voting.
The core of this matter was to turn the completely uncontrollable external praise votes into something completely controllable.
A few minor errors didn't matter.
But at the very least, most of the external praise votes needed to be controlled.
Whether it was Katsuragi, Kaneda, or Kushida and the others, no one had unilaterally broken their promise or changed their votes.
After all, something with zero risk and only benefits was very easy to accept, and the cost of twenty million in breach-of-contract penalties was too high.
Since no one changed their votes, Class B was able to achieve the perfect result of forty people with zero votes.
Although it was successful, the gazes of Shibata Sou and the others were inevitably full of concern.
"Teacher, what happens next?".
"Really...".
Hoshinomiya put her hands on her hips and said with some grievance: "Didn't I already say? If you don't remember, you can ask me again. If you can't select an expellee, this exam will continue forever".
"Ten-minute break, then continue voting!".
Saying this, Hoshinomiya Chie tapped the podium with her clipboard. Changing her previous style, she hurriedly walked down the podium and said in a panic: "What on earth are you doing? Is there really no other way? Even if there isn't, you can't do this".
"It's not... we aren't very sure either".
Suddenly, everyone in Class B couldn't help but look at Ichinose, and then at Hikigaya. Shibata said hesitantly: "Hikigaya, what exactly are you trying to do?".
"Nothing".
Such an explanation would likely be hard to convince them with. Hikigaya raised a finger and said with a bit of pride: "Do you still know what this exam project is called?".
"Class Poll? What about it?".
"No...".
Hikigaya slowly shook his head.
Countless past experiences had taught him that words were meaningless.
Because of this, Hikigaya knew very well how to express his emotions without using words.
He didn't have the leadership charisma of Ichinose and couldn't make the whole class believe and follow him without hesitation with a single sentence.
He could only express it through this enigmatic, proud, and confident manner.
It was enough to convey that confidence.
He only needed Shibata and the others to know that he was fully prepared.
"What do you mean?".
Shibata and Kobashi Yume looked at each other, both confused. This exam was called the Class Poll.
"What Hikki wants to say is," Ichinose tilted her head, slightly confused: "could it be called the 'Supplementary Special Exam: Class Poll'?".
"Exactly".
"What does that mean?".
Kanzaki and the others also frowned.
It was just a name; wasn't it still called the Class Poll?.
"If you don't know, then forget it," Hikigaya said nonchalantly: "You'll know when the time comes. But whatever you do, don't listen to the teachers' instigations".
Only by keeping them hanging like this would Shibata and the others continue to firmly carry it out with a mix of doubt and expectation.
"Supplementary Special Exam" meant that this exam had never appeared at Advanced Nurturing High School before.
All the rules were newly established.
"What gives?".
Hoshinomiya Chie punched Hikigaya's shoulder with her small fist, puffing out her cheeks in dissatisfaction: "I hate it, I hate it! You aren't allowed to exclude the teacher. You have ideas and didn't tell me, how mean~".
"...".
Hikigaya raised his hands slightly to block. Although it didn't hurt, could this teacher please stop acting cute?.
It was really annoying.
If this continued, he might actually want to marry this teacher.
Isn't she way too cute?.
This day, the members of Class B spent their time in an infinite cycle of voting. However, the vote count remained at zero for everyone.
In fact, even if an error occurred occasionally, it wouldn't matter much.
As long as there weren't too many.
"Then..." Kanzaki took a deep breath and asked again: "Hikigaya, how much certainty do you have?".
"Ninety percent certainty".
Hikigaya nodded proudly, looking so smug that Shibata and the others really wanted to hit him. Why are you keeping us in suspense?!.
But at the same time, they felt that Hikigaya was very confident.
"That's good then".
Shibata breathed a sigh of relief and turned back: "Everyone, since we've come this far, we must persevere!".
"Don't worry, we definitely will!".
The people of Class B had serious expressions.
Since it had come to this, they could only grit their teeth and see it through.
After school, Hikigaya returned to his dorm with a tired body.
It must be said that simply voting repeatedly like this was enough to make one feel a desperate psychological pressure.
By the end, the eyes of the teacher supervising the voting room had changed.
Sharp and disgusted looks, as if telling them: "So you were such disobedient, bad students?".
It was amazing that Class B could persevere.
Hikigaya naturally felt somewhat apologetic for increasing the other party's workload for no reason, but he could only say sorry.
Lying on the bed, Hikigaya received a message from Sakura Airi.
[Sakura Airi: Hikki, the exam is over. Do you want to go eat ramen?].
[Hikigaya: Sorry, Class B's exam isn't over yet.].
[Sakura Airi: Eh!!?? What happened?].
[Hikigaya: Uh, I can't say. You'll know when the time comes.].
Next, he received messages from Karuizawa, Kushida Kikyo, Shiina Hiyori, and others. Hikigaya replied to all of them in the same way.
Presumably, the news that Class B's exam was not yet over had spread throughout the school.
Meanwhile, after school, Horikita Suzune stood in front of the bulletin board, which displayed the results of this special exam.
Expellees:
Class A: Totsuka Yahiko.
Class B: Exam Not Finished.
Class C: Manabe Shiho.
Class D: Yamauchi Haruki.
"Exam not finished? What does that mean?".
Horikita Suzune muttered to herself, her brow furrowing. She quickly took out her phone, wanting to hear Ayanokouji's opinion.
The call was quickly connected, and she immediately said: "Class B's exam doesn't seem to be over. Do you have any ideas?".
"No".
Ayanokouji's flat voice came from the other end of the phone: "It's already been a day. If that's the case, we can only infer that Ichinose and the others are intentionally manipulating the votes to tie, or that they are unable to select an expellee".
"Unable to select an expellee...".
Horikita Suzune pondered: "It's already been a day. The probability of that is too low. It should only be that they are intentionally manipulating the voting. What is the point of doing that?".
Originally, Ayanokouji didn't want to say too much to Horikita at this time.
However, he was equally concerned. If Horikita Suzune could provide another perspective, it wouldn't be a bad thing.
"Who knows," Ayanokouji's voice had no emotion: "As long as no expellee is selected, this exam will continue forever. There shouldn't be any mistake about that".
"That's true...".
Horikita Suzune was even more puzzled.
The school had clearly expressed this point.
She couldn't help but think of the contract Kushida Kikyo had them sign yesterday. That was likely the preparation Hikigaya had made for today's exam.
But what was the point of him doing this?.
If he thought that showing protest could make the school change its mind, it would be too naive.
That would only increase the school's dissatisfaction and would be counterproductive, potentially dragging even more people down.
This was clearly not something Ichinose would do.
It was probably a method thought up by that Hikigaya.
"Stupid guy".
Horikita Suzune couldn't help but shake her head.
The plan to shield Ichinose from rumors was indeed unexpected, but this time Hikigaya was truly being foolish