The next day.
Lunch break.
Hikigaya sat between Ichinose and Himeno Koyuki, preparing to eat, with Mako Amikura and Sayo Ando among others nearby.
The matter of the three dating was no longer a problem, at least within the class.
"Hikigaya, there are two first-years outside who seem to be looking for you."
Just about to open his lunchbox, Hikigaya glanced at the people beside him and nodded before leaving the classroom.
In the hallway, a boy and a girl stood by the window waiting.
Hikigaya had some impression of them; they seemed to be two people participating in the exam to expel Ayanokouji, but he couldn't remember their names.
Although he could have looked at OAA, accurately finding two people among 160 was also quite a hassle.
"Um..."
Hikigaya walked in front of the two with some hesitation.
The implicit meaning: I don't know you, I don't know your names.
Although being like this as a senior was a bit pathetic, not knowing names was even more rude.
"Oh."
The boy in front of him immediately reacted: "I am Riku Utsunomiya from Class 1-C, and this is my classmate Sakurako Tsubaki. Senior Hikigaya, we met in the Student Council last time."
"We have met."
Feeling like they were trying to get close, Hikigaya, who had a general guess, nodded and said: "So, why are you looking for me?"
"It seems Senior Hikigaya hasn't found a suitable partner yet."
Utsunomiya stepped aside, revealing Sakurako Tsubaki behind him: "I wonder if Senior Hikigaya could form a team with this classmate of mine."
"Her?"
Hikigaya looked at Sakurako Tsubaki behind him.
She was petite, with chestnut short hair down to her shoulders. Her purple eyes looked to the side, seemingly lacking energy, and she had the potential to develop dead-fish eyes.
Her hands were in her jacket pockets, and she was sucking on a lollipop.
She didn't seem to have any intention of wanting to team up.
"I can if it's fine."
Hikigaya nodded nonchalantly.
This was an exam targeted at Ayanokouji; it was the same no matter who he teamed up with.
"However, I have some things I want to ask. Let's change locations."
Now, he was the hot commodity the first-years wanted to team up with.
Rather than exchanging this teaming right for some personal points, Hikigaya still wanted to know if they had taken action against Ayanokouji.
Outside the school building, several people stood by a vending machine.
"We can team up," Hikigaya said indifferently, "but I want to know what actions you've taken against Ayanokouji."
"Senior Hikigaya, you seem to have some misunderstanding."
Riku Utsunomiya shook his head with a calm expression: "Although that matter is indeed very attractive, we don't want to cause groundless harm to others for the sake of some interests."
Hikigaya's mouth twitched.
He didn't expect the steady-looking Riku Utsunomiya to be so dishonest, while the actual person for the team, Sakurako Tsubaki, was just licking her lollipop and looking at the scenery.
"Then why did you look for me to team up?" Hikigaya asked, somewhat speechless.
"Hmm?"
Utsunomiya was slightly taken aback, then explained with some confusion: "Because among the second-years who haven't found teammates, Senior Hikigaya is the only one left."
"..."
Hikigaya stared at this first-year with dead-fish eyes.
He felt the other party had a self-righteous personality—did they think he was an idiot?
"Then what about before?" Hikigaya looked at Sakurako Tsubaki over there: "She might not be good at communicating, but with your help, just finding a suitable teammate shouldn't have been difficult, right?"
"Wasn't it dragged out until now because you had some ideas about Ayanokouji and only came to me after failing?"
In this exam, the first-years were at a complete advantage at the start, and Sakurako Tsubaki was also good-looking.
With Utsunomiya's help, finding a suitable partner for Sakurako Tsubaki wasn't hard, unless they were tied down by some plan until now.
Another possibility was that Utsunomiya only started planning to help now.
That was clearly even more impossible.
Otherwise, even if she didn't team up and waited until the last moment for the school to assign someone, it wasn't something unacceptable.
None of the remaining first-years had come to find him to team up, they didn't even send an invitation.
Remaining until now was enough to show that they were all loners who disliked socializing.
With a loner's way of thinking, they wouldn't want to cause trouble for others if they could avoid it.
Clearly, they put their energy directly into improving their academic ability, preparing to face the exam alone, which was also a method.
"This..."
Utsunomiya's face stiffened.
Facing this man, clumsy lies had no meaning.
Even if he showed nothing and seemed to have a very bad reputation in school, as the only second-year to participate in the exam to expel Ayanokouji, he clearly wasn't an ordinary person.
"I already said there's no need to team up."
At this time, Sakurako Tsubaki on the side murmured.
In fact, there really was no need to team up.
The exam itself wasn't hard, and failure was only three months without personal points; there was absolutely no need to worry.
What's more, the dominance in teaming up now was already in the hands of Hikigaya, the only remaining second-year.
As long as one was a person with a normal brain, they might use this to solicit some benefits.
Of course, quite a few first-years had previously demanded personal points from upperclassmen; this was simply too normal.
"No."
Utsunomiya pondered for a moment and shook his head, looking back: "Tsubaki, your academic grade is only a C-, which is very dangerous. Senior Hikigaya's academic ability is a B-, which is just right."
What's more, although the rewards were few, they weren't non-existent.
The main goal for second-years was to establish relationships with first-years, while the first-years' main goal was actually to increase class points or personal points.
"It's just some information, it doesn't matter. Senior can easily find it out if he wants to."
Saying this, Utsunomiya turned to look at Hikigaya and said in a deep voice: "Actually, we don't know much. We did want to team up with Ayanokouji before, but we were rejected, and that's why we've been dragged out until now."
"..."
Hikigaya nodded.
Finally willing to tell the truth.
"Regarding other aspects," Utsunomiya said in a deep voice, "I heard that Hosen from Class D has been looking for trouble with Class 2-D. We're not very clear on what exactly happened."
"It just seems Ayanokouji's hand was injured, and then the two classes reached a cooperation. That's all we know."
"I see."
Hikigaya nodded indifferently.
Actually, it had no value; he had already heard about this from Ichinose and others.
Ayanokouji's injury had indeed caused quite a topic.
After all, he heard the entire right hand was wrapped in bandages; such an injury wasn't common in school.
"Senior Hikigaya, this should be enough, right?"
"Mhm, enough."
Hikigaya didn't care in the first place; teaming up with anyone was the same.
Although a C- in academic ability was a bit of a drag, he had no interest in personal points to begin with.
"However."
Hikigaya pulled out his phone, and while opening OAA, he asked: "Before teaming up, can I ask you a few questions? Of course, it's fine if you don't answer."