Very quickly.
Hikigaya found Class 1-C in OAA and saw Sakurako Tsubaki's information on it.
Class 1-C, Sakurako Tsubaki.
Academic Ability: C-
Physical Ability: D+
Decision-making: D+
Social Contribution: D+
Her strength was indeed not great; except for academic ability, she was almost at the bottom.
Even being assigned to Class D wouldn't have been surprising. Hikigaya was even curious how she was assigned to Class C.
However, he didn't care.
He directly sent a team invitation to Sakurako Tsubaki. Hearing a chime, the Sakurako Tsubaki in front of him took out her phone half a beat late.
Quickly, the two teamed up.
Only then did Hikigaya put away his phone; he really didn't care much.
Otherwise, he would have continued using this as a bargaining chip to continue inquiring—answer if you can, and forget it if you can't.
"I heard you say just now that you planned to team up with Ayanokouji."
Hikigaya looked at the Utsunomiya before him.
Although the team was formed, Sakurako Tsubaki had only said one sentence so far; it seemed Utsunomiya had been speaking as the spokesperson.
"You should also be participating in that exam. How were you going to make Ayanokouji drop out?"
As co-informed personnel of this exam, this wasn't too difficult to answer.
Strictly speaking, if they were willing to share the twenty-million personal point reward, they might even have become teammates.
There were no unresolvable conflicts between second-years and first-years.
"The original plan was to have Tsubaki-san get zero points and then drop out together with Ayanokouji."
Utsunomiya explained with a frown.
In this exam, this should be the only way to ensure Ayanokouji's expulsion.
"Hmm?"
Hikigaya only then looked at Sakurako Tsubaki behind him and followed up: "Then if it succeeded, what would you have done afterwards?"
"Naturally, use twenty million personal points to cancel Tsubaki-san's expulsion penalty."
Utsunomiya explained nonchalantly.
These were indeed all minor questions; there was no need to hide anything.
Clearly, the first-years had already learned quite a bit of information from the school during the opening phase, and they understood the importance of personal points more clearly than the second-years.
"Then what's the point of you participating in this exam?"
Except Hikigaya was suddenly dazed.
Dragging Ayanokouji into dropping out to get twenty million, then spending twenty million to save a companion—equivalent to a wasted effort?
Bored?
"Although I don't know why that Senior Ayanokouji was chosen as a target, since it's an exam, it naturally must be taken seriously."
Utsunomiya shook his head and explained: "Moreover, this doesn't count as meaningless. Senior Hikigaya is one thing, but if other first-years were to get these twenty million personal points, it would also make our Class C more disadvantaged."
"Mhm..."
Hikigaya pinched his chin and said: "You want to make this exam disappear, to treat it as if it never happened?"
"Exactly."
It felt like Utsunomiya was somewhat like Kanzaki.
As long as it was an exam, they would take it seriously and wouldn't use classmates.
Rather than the goal of twenty million, they were more inclined to make it so no one else could get those twenty million personal points.
Even if they ended up with nothing, it was fine.
However, Utsunomiya was assigned to Class C.
Clearly, there was a decisive gap with Kanzaki.
It was likely his self-righteousness in telling clumsy lies just now.
After all, harming an unrelated person for personal points is indeed easier to do than to say.
Although understandable, essentially, Utsunomiya didn't care much about Ayanokouji.
Compared to this unrelated stranger, the class was more important, and they were more focused on preventing other first-year classes from gaining an advantage.
Of course, maybe Hikigaya couldn't see through his nature, and the other party was just using clumsy lies to mask his true nature.
However, Hikigaya didn't care much.
He thought for a while and then continued to ask: "Did you meet that Acting Director Tsukishiro before enrollment?"
"Hmm? No."
Utsunomiya frowned: "Senior Hikigaya, what does this mean?"
"Nothing. If you haven't met him, then forget it. Since everything is done, I'll head back first."
--- PAGE 11 ---
Hikigaya nodded and turned to return to class.
Tsubasa Nanase was clearly just a pawn Tsukishiro had casually set up.
Although he didn't know what kind of facility that White Room actually was, and didn't know if Tsukishiro had arranged for real assassins, Hikigaya was inclined to think there were.
Otherwise, a Tsubasa Nanase with shaky determination wanting to expel Ayanokouji was simply too childish.
There must be more formidable assassins, and these assassins were Tsukishiro's real trump cards.
You have to look at the master before hitting the dog.
He would inevitably get involved with the first-years sooner or later.
Hikigaya didn't want to do anything; he just wanted to keep as much distance from these assassins as possible and not be dragged in.
...
In the hallway, seeing Hikigaya return to class, the two also turned to leave.
"That's enough."
Riku Utsunomiya breathed a sigh of relief and said: "I didn't think someone with B- academic ability like Senior Hikigaya would stay until the end. By teaming up with him, we shouldn't have to worry about failing. The matter was simpler than I thought."
Originally, based on Hikigaya's academic ability, it was impossible for him to remain until now.
Utsunomiya also wondered if there was some inside story, and if he was waiting until the end to wait for a better price.
He was even prepared to pay some personal points as a price.
He didn't expect that just answering a few painless questions with no demands would make it much easier than imagined.
Hearing his words, Sakurako Tsubaki didn't feel happy because the pairing was successful.
Instead, she cared about other things.
"He seems to know a lot."
"Are you talking about him asking about Tsukishiro just now?"
"Mhm."
Sakurako Tsubaki nodded indifferently while licking her lollipop: "Perhaps there are still many things in this that I'm not clear about. It seems that Senior Ayanokouji becoming a target was not an accident."
"Then what should we do next?"
Riku Utsunomiya frowned.
During this time, they also gained a slight recognition of Ayanokouji's strength; at least ordinary lies were useless against Ayanokouji.
Clearly, teaming up shouldn't have been hard, yet they unknowingly were left speechless by Ayanokouji.
"Indeed."
"Let's test him once."
Sakurako Tsubaki took the lollipop out of her mouth, extended the tip of her tongue to lick the candy on it, and said somewhat listlessly.
It was completely unknown who that "him" was.
"Do you need me to do anything?"
Riku Utsunomiya frowned.
With Sakurako Tsubaki's communication skills, acting alone was truly a bit difficult.
"No need."
"It's just a test. If it's him, it should be very easy."
Sakurako Tsubaki seemed to be talking to herself, but the Riku Utsunomiya beside her was already used to it.
If Hikigaya were still there, he would probably have discovered with shock that the person holding the dominant position was actually Sakurako Tsubaki.