Chapter 021: Entrapment, Naturally!
Hikigaya Hachiman made no deliberate effort to hide his tracks; consequently, the news that he had taken the initiative to find Ryuen Kakeru of Class C quickly spread.
On his way back to the classroom from the cafeteria, Hikigaya felt the gazes of students from other classes. Aside from Class A, the students of Class B noticed as well.
However, the "good kids" of Class B didn't have much to say against it. After all, Hikigaya-kun was the current class representative; therefore, many of his actions must surely be for the sake of the class.
All they had to do was cooperate.
Even Kanzaki Ryuji, who had harbored doubts when Ichinose resigned and recommended Hikigaya, was now completely convinced after Hikigaya had simply asked, "Is it possible that this month's special exam has already begun?"
Kanzaki realized he might not yet understand the rules of this school well enough, and perhaps letting the capable lead was the right path. Since Hikigaya-kun was acting this way, there must be a reason for it.
Thus, when Hikigaya returned, he found that although his classmates looked curious, none of them had any intention of coming over to interrogate him.
In fact, when school let out in the afternoon, some students were eager to help. They seemed certain he had a deployment in mind and looked forward to being assigned tasks, appearing quite enthusiastic.
Hikigaya: "..."
Such a scene was unimaginable at Sobu High, where Hikigaya used to study, or in the original Class D where the protagonist resided. Even Class C, his current target, could not achieve such unity.
This made Hikigaya somewhat understand why Ichinose in the original story refused to give up on a single student in Class B at any cost; this class was indeed hard to let go of.
However, if one sacrifices nothing, one can achieve nothing.
Because...
Helping each other, succeeding together, and being happy together is nothing more than an ideal. In reality, for someone to be happy, someone else must be abandoned; for someone to look glamorous, someone else must be covered in mud.
Although exceptions exist in this school—for instance, the third-year Class A achieved happiness for all members—that was because they had an all-around genius like Horikita Manabu who was willing to shoulder the infamy.
Hikigaya did not consider himself equal to an all-around talent freak like Student Council President Horikita Manabu, nor did he think he could sacrifice himself for the class to that extent.
After all, he wasn't a "nice guy."
However, he did indeed need the assistance of Class B students now.
"I have another arrangement that requires a few agile students," Hikigaya said.
"I'll do it," Kanzaki Ryuji, the vice-representative of Class B in the original story, responded immediately.
"I can too!" Shibata, sitting in the front row, quickly raised his hand.
Bypassing Shibata and looking at Kanzaki Ryuji, Hikigaya had other thoughts in his mind.
Because...
He had just said he couldn't sacrifice himself to that extent for Class B, but this Kanzaki-kun might be able to.
'I remember Kanzaki-kun opposed Ichinose's rule in the original story because Class B was suffering defeat after defeat, but he's actually a good person. During the class poll for the expulsion exam, when the Class B students were panicked because someone had to be expelled, he directly asked his classmates to choose him. He would take responsibility for the expulsion.
His family background is also very good; he's a "rich second generation." Even if he doesn't graduate from Class A, he has the option to go home and inherit the family business. Therefore, being expelled or not won't shake his future. Since he has such determination to be expelled for the class, when an unavoidable expulsion exam occurs, he can be placed on the expulsion list.
He can be "marked."'
Marked...?!? Expulsion list?
"Ah... um—Hikigaya-kun, is there anything I can do?" Ichinose-san said hurriedly.
Just now, while she was quietly thinking about what she could do, she had suddenly heard Hikigaya-kun's inner voice—hearing that if someone had to be expelled, he would sacrifice Kanzaki-kun—so she quickly cut in.
Having learned the truth about this school, she knew she could no longer be so naive.
At the same time, she had observed the situation of the upperclassmen; it seemed unavoidable that many expulsions occurred. Perhaps one day, Class B would also have someone expelled.
However, if someone in Class B absolutely had to be expelled, then she... would rather that person be her.
She had made mistakes in the past, so she had come to this school with the idea of starting over. She liked this class very much, and she liked everyone very much.
Therefore, for someone who had made such a mistake to be able to enjoy such treatment in this school and meet everyone, she felt it was already a very good thing. If someone absolutely had to leave and cry for it, she was willing to be the first name on the expulsion list.
"If it's Ichinose, you're too conspicuous," Hikigaya said.
"This involves something with a rather bad reputation, so it's not suitable for you to do."
"Mm." Ichinose blinked cutely.
This was the second time she had heard such reasoning. Last time, Hikigaya-kun felt her voice was very similar to his acquaintance Yuigahama, and felt that taking her to do something bad would be like arranging for Yuigahama to do something bad as well.
So, out of affection for the person she reminded him of, he wouldn't take her to do bad things. So now, this time, is it also... something bad?
Actually, it was indeed something bad.
Hikigaya hadn't gone to find Ryuen just to earn 500,000 points.
He appeared to have leaked the content of the conduct assessment, but he hadn't revealed the specific deduction details.
Ryuen was in a class with extremely poor self-discipline; after learning that the first exam was actually a conduct assessment, he would inevitably believe the class had already lost massive points, and if he didn't intervene, they would lose even more.
But if he simply told the students the exam topics, Class C would still lose a lot of points because the students wouldn't all listen to him.
Therefore, there was only one thing he could and would do.
That was to use his specialty—violence—to control the class, forcing everyone to follow the "Code of Conduct" out of fear.
Forcing everyone to be self-disciplined.
And what were those violent means? Naturally, fighting and brawling.
And what did the conduct assessment include?
"No lateness, no whispering at will, no arriving late or leaving early, no using phones or passing notes in class, no kicking trash cans, no littering, no fighting or provocation, no destroying public facilities, etc..."
Among those were fighting and coercion.
Therefore.
Hikigaya wasn't there to leak the questions; he was there to lure Ryuen into a direct violation.
Of course, judging by the fact that Ryuen could provide 170,000 points, he had already begun using violence to recruit subordinates.
But Ryuen wasn't stupid; he wouldn't commit violence openly under the cameras.
However, the exam lasted for a month, and the class was losing points every day. He had to take over the whole class as quickly as possible, so the next few days would inevitably be a high-frequency period for Ryuen's violence.
So, the task Hikigaya arranged for agile students like Kanzaki-kun and Shibata-kun was to capture video evidence of Ryuen Kakeru using violence and coercion against Class C students.
His high-profile visit to Ryuen was also to attract the attention of Class A students, drawing Class A into the evidence-gathering process as well.
After all, only with a high frequency of violations would the school feel Class C was beyond saving.
If this could lead to Ryuen being directly expelled or temporarily suspended, it would be beneficial for Class B... right?