Chapter 068: Hachiman: Sakayanagi, do you believe in luck? Ryuen, one week suspension!
The examination month for behavior regulations assessment is here, and students' performance and conduct will be given more attention.
According to the notice from Chabashira-sensei.
One week later, the student council will conduct a trial regarding the demands for Class C. If the trial results in a loss, the class evaluation score will be deducted, and a direct punishment will be imposed on Sudo.
It might be a suspension.
However, the class evaluation score will still be deducted.
Moreover, Sudo's fighting incident, where he fought three people, is extremely serious, so the probability of punishment is quite high.
"So, is there any other way?"
After the first period ended, a student came over to Hachiman's desk.
This is from mother Yousuke. Alongside her was Kushida, a classmate who is cute and has a sweet smile, and is almost angelic in appearance. So, it's also fine to call her Kushida-chan.
Both of them came over.
Hmm...
Actually, it's not just them, even Horikita Suzune, who sits next to him, also looked over.
After all, if Sudo is confirmed to have hit others, Sudo himself will be punished, and the class will be affected too. Especially since everyone has now signed an agreement to reach 400 points or something.
Of course.
Mother Yousuke is likely worried about Sudo, while others are concerned about the class evaluation score.
After all, everyone has been making an effort to control themselves, and if Sudo loses a lot of points, most people will likely break down mentally.
However.
Hachiman glanced toward Sudo.
The class was over, and as the center of the incident, Sudo seemed to feel overwhelmed by being questioned by the students and just ran off.
So, Hachiman shifted his gaze away.
"As for this matter, I think there's no other solution but to accept the trial," Hachiman said. "So, try to find any information that could be beneficial to Sudo."
"For example, I believe Sudo is innocent."
"I think there's something wrong with the claim that Sudo hit those three," Hachiman said.
"But Sudo usually has a bad temper," a student chimed in.
"So, I think it's possible that he really did hit them," the student continued.
Hachiman looked at this student.
This is Yamauchi Haruki.
It made one feel a bit speechless.
Because ever since Sudo enrolled, although he appeared irritable, he quickly integrated into a small group.
It was just a small group with people like Ike, Yamauchi, and others, who weren't exactly the popular crowd and were somewhat disliked by the girls.
And Yamauchi was one of those in the small group, yet now he's not defending Sudo?
"Well, I still trust my classmates," Hachiman said. "I believe Sudo didn't just hit them for no reason. I think it was in self-defense, as he said."
"Hikigaya-kun! I also believe in Sudo!" This made Mother Yousuke feel a bit better.
She is probably the one who values classmates the most.
That's probably why she came to Hachiman after class.
On one hand, if the trial makes a decision, then Sudo's actions will lead to class point deductions.
No one wants to see that.
And Hachiman also has the goal of advancing to Class A, so class evaluation points are extremely valuable.
So, Hachiman and Hirata's thoughts were aligned.
They would do everything they could to defend Sudo, offer help, and reduce the point deductions, or even avoid them completely.
But...
Hirata is standing on the side of believing in his classmates, but does Hachiman also believe in Sudo?
This thought made Mother Yousuke feel reassured.
However.
That's actually not the case, because Hachiman witnessed the events firsthand.
So, he fully understands that Sudo was indeed set up and was forced to defend himself.
But right now, he can't say that.
The footage he recorded shows that Ryuen from Class C did indeed have some intention, and that intention is now becoming clear.
Ryuen clearly used violence, yet boldly applied to the student council for a trial, essentially challenging the school's rules.
Because.
Normally, it would be unrealistic for Sudo, alone, to fight three people.
And that's the general idea of ordinary people.
However, Ryuen was able to present this to the student council, meaning he had prepared enough to make the school believe that Sudo indeed went overboard by hitting three people consecutively.
Such behavior is likely a dirty tactic.
In order to achieve his goal, sometimes it's possible to harm oneself, and Hachiman believes that Ryuen might be willing to go that far.
However, Ryuen's actions resemble his, but also don't.
He is a dangerous person.
Class confrontation doesn't necessarily have to be fair and square, but if the opponent is that dangerous... the best course of action is to first take down this Ryuen from Class C.
But how to take him down? Now that he has voluntarily exposed himself, let him explode.
Thus, Hachiman looked toward the others.
"Let's find witnesses to Sudo's fight," Hachiman said as if analyzing the situation. "If we have witnesses, perhaps we can prove Sudo's innocence."
And regarding this.
Sitting at her desk, Sakura-chan still carefully stood her book upright and quietly looked at Hachiman.
Hmm.
She remained quiet.
This was very well-behaved.
But.
"This is possible," someone immediately responded to him.
Hachiman looked over, and the person who responded quickly had a beautiful golden single ponytail, delicate and cute features—this was Karuizawa Kei.
Among the girls Hachiman had seen at this school, she would rank second in terms of cuteness.
"..." It was actually Karuizawa, who had been on his grudge list.
And Karuizawa probably also disliked him.
So, Hachiman couldn't quite understand what Karuizawa was trying to do.
To his surprise, she was cooperating with him.
Since it was break time, most of the students were still in the classroom.
They had initially thought that if Sudo's fighting incident led to a deduction in points, all their hard work would be in vain, and next month's living expenses might be limited.
This was indeed critical—nobody liked eating that awful mountain vegetable set meal.
So, they wanted money!
But the only way to earn money was through the class evaluation scores related to every student.
If the score dropped to zero, there would be no living expenses next month.
That was a terrifying thought.
Because they had already eaten those awful dishes and spent money recklessly, the students could not even imagine a life with nothing next month.
Thus.
Although Sudo's situation had escalated.
If someone could prove that Sudo was acting in self-defense rather than fighting, wouldn't that mean he was innocent?
If so, the class evaluation score would be safe, and everyone's...
Thus.
Although they were speaking up for Sudo, they were also doing it for themselves. The first-year Class D students began to scatter in all directions, looking for witnesses.
However, that still didn't seem enough.
...
Student Council.
The student council president was on duty.
"So, you want to apply to use the bulletin board to recruit information?" said Student Council President Horikita Manabu.
As last time, Horikita Manabu was followed by Senior Tachibana Akane.
However, there was also a handsome vice-president with short golden hair in the office, Nagumo.
As before, he had the "Vice-President Nagumo" nameplate on his desk.
Whenever students came to the student council, they would inevitably notice him.
Having been at the school for some time now, Hachiman knew that this vice-president's name was Nagumo Miyabi. From information he got from Kushida, he learned that he wasn't a student from Class A but had previously been from Class B and then led his class to successfully advance to Class A.
He was an outstanding and successful individual.
No wonder he acted so arrogantly.
From what Hachiman heard from Chabashira-sensei, even in rare cases where Class B managed to break into Class A, it was an exceptional and uncommon achievement.
Moreover,
The other party was in the second year, meaning they had already achieved the feat of advancing to Class A in their first year.
In this way, Nagumo climbed up and secured a position in Class A, and was then valued by Student Council President Horikita Manabu, who invited him to join the student council and appointed him as vice-president.
However.
Hachiman also discovered that Nagumo wasn't the only vice-president; there was also a second-year student named Kiriyama.
This Kiriyama was once a student in Class A but was overtaken by Nagumo, so logically, the two Kakeruld be rivals. Additionally, Kiriyama was someone who had lost to Nagumo. Therefore, Hachiman wondered why, aside from Nagumo inviting him, Kiriyama was also invited and was given a vice-presidency position.
So.
Was President Horikita trying to be inclusive, or was there something in the student council that required balancing?
However, for now, it was better to deal with the immediate matter.
"Yes," Hachiman said as he and Hirata headed to the student council.
Their goal was simple: to pay points in exchange for information about the Sudo fight incident and search for witnesses. If any witnesses were found and were willing to testify, they would be rewarded with points.
After all, the trial was next week, so everything that could be done had to be done this week.
The entire class, or even the whole school, would have to band together to search for witnesses!
"President, I think our classmate Sudo is innocent, and it's unreasonable for one person to fight three. So, there may be some misunderstanding," Hirata quickly said.
"You'll have to wait for the trial next week to defend him," President Horikita responded calmly.
"I see."
Even though Hirata was rejected by the student council president, he didn't give up.
He decided to voluntarily pay the points in hopes of finding witnesses to the fight and posting the recruitment information on the bulletin board.
Of course, this required a fee.
But Hachiman was very clear that this search was meaningless.
Because he and Sakura were the witnesses.
However, Sakura was a good and obedient student, and she wouldn't step forward unless asked.
All of this was to show that Class D in their first year was putting in the effort.
Still, as Hachiman was making the record, he noticed a somewhat subtle expression from Nagumo, the vice-president.
"Is something wrong, Nagumo-senpai?" Hachiman asked.
"Heh... no," Nagumo shook his head. "The total cost is 20,000 points. Just scan the QR code here."
But Nagumo seemed to be chuckling to himself.
Yes, it made sense.
Because Class D had caused another incident—first, Hachiman broke the camera, then he printed the entire year's class roster to make friends, and now there was an incident involving one person fighting three.
In other words, Nagumo had witnessed all three events.
He probably just wanted to shake his head.
This year's first-year students were hopeless.
Nagumo thought to himself.
...
However, their efforts weren't completely over yet.
The next day.
After school, Hachiman had Sakura arrange for Ichinose Honami to meet with them.
The reason was simple: Ichinose was the representative of Class B, and now that Class D was in trouble, as an ally of the BD Alliance, Ichinose couldn't refuse.
This was also a test for the alliance between the two classes.
Thus, Ichinose's connections were now part of the effort.
The search for witnesses to Sudo's incident continued.
Thus, Class D, for the sake of Sudo, worked tirelessly, doing everything they could.
But.
It was extremely frustrating.
Because no witnesses were found at all.
The building where Sudo fought had no cameras, so everything fell into the worst possible scenario.
...
Thus, the day before the trial arrived.
In the third-floor cafeteria's private room.
"Thanks for the treat," Hachiman said.
Today's lunch was treated by Sakayanagi, with a set meal costing 2200 points. Normally, students wouldn't spend so much, but Sakayanagi had money.
And she was the one who agreed to order.
Moreover.
Hachiman didn't think the meal was free.
Because.
"Well, since you ate my food, Hachiman, you can now tell why your class is now involved in a trial for fighting," Sakayanagi Arise said. "Can you tell me the progress?"
"If you guys fall from here, it would be a bit of a shame," Sakayanagi continued. "After all, I just declared war on you, and now it seems like you'll be out of the game so soon."
First-year Class D students had started looking for witnesses for Sudo's incident.
Hoping for them to testify.
The situation became very chaotic.
So even other classes came to know about it.
Especially the A class, with its many eyes and ears.
Of course.
"We put in the effort of the whole class and even asked Ichinose for help, but we couldn't find any witnesses," Hachiman said.
"Oh," Sakayanagi Arise nodded.
It could be said that the students of Class D's search for witnesses had already spread across several classes.
But unfortunately.
No witnesses were found.
All the networks and resources were wasted, yet no witnesses were found.
For Class D, this was a terrible situation.
"If the fight is confirmed, your class won't be able to rise any further," Sakayanagi said.
Because if Sudo was involved in a fight, and it was a particularly severe case where he fought three people, it could lead to a 200-point deduction for Class D.
So, was this it for Class D, Hachiman?
"And Ryuuen's handling of the situation is very clever," Sakayanagi Arise continued. "The students in his class were genuinely injured. Your classmate Sudo really is a warrior."
Actually, that wasn't the case.
Hachiman understood that Sakayanagi was implying that Ryuuen from Class C was a meticulous person.
Normally, when Ishizaki and the others fought with Sudo, they likely didn't get injured during the fight, but afterward, they showed signs of injury, making the situation seem more serious.
From this, it could be inferred that Sakayanagi was likely a compassionate person.
Because she gave him a point of entry.
That was, the injuries of Ishizaki and the others in Ryuuen's class.
By retrieving footage of them before and after the fight, it could be confirmed that Sudo didn't cause those injuries, or at least, not as severely as claimed.
But.
Hachiman quickly looked at her.
"…Hmm." Sakayanagi Arise maintained her elegance.
As one of the representatives of Class A, she hadn't been involved in this incident.
It was actually Katsuragi's plan, executed by his underling, Totsuka Yahiko.
Originally, Sakayanagi had proposed a plan where Class A did nothing and still maintained their points.
However, Yahiko and the others felt that they couldn't let Class B get too far ahead, especially since everyone had already paid points to acquire tangible benefits from the school.
Now, not only did everyone know about the incident, but the behavioral exam was also continuing.
Other classes could now exercise self-discipline.
While it was impossible to avoid losing points, at least it would be fewer points.
For Katsuragi and the others in Class A, who wanted to solidify their position, the pressure was huge.
Thus, they had employed students from Class C for this mission.
As a student of Class A, Sakayanagi didn't want to sign the agreement that Ryuuen had brought, the one that promised long-term rewards for completing the task.
So, Ryuuen's plan was destined to fail, wasn't it?
However, while Hachiman and the others appeared to be looking for witnesses, it seemed they hadn't considered everything in preparation for the trial.
Which was somewhat regrettable.
But was that really the case?
Since the last time Hachiman had accidentally exposed the class evaluation scores by breaking the camera, Sakayanagi had realized that he wasn't just any ordinary student, and his methods were hard to imagine.
So she was slightly curious about his strategy for the trial.
And she had already hinted at a plan to him.
But.
"However," Hachiman said. "Sakayanagi, do you believe in luck?"
"Luck?" Sakayanagi frowned slightly.
"Yes, luck," Hachiman responded. "Ryuuen set up Ishizaki and the others to frame Sudo for the fight, and I just happened to record their conversation where they planned to frame him."
"…" Sakayanagi.
Alright, it was fine.
If you have evidence, then why waste time searching for witnesses across the whole school... everyone in the class participated—oh no, it seems this was all staged to give Ryuuen peace of mind.
It seemed that Katsuragi and his crew's plan had already ended before it even started.
Thus, when the trial day came, just after the hearing, Ryuuen Kakeru from Class C was notified that Class C had been penalized with a 400-point deduction for the accusation of fighting.
At the same time, Ryuuen Kakeru, Ishizaki Daichi, Komiya Kyogo, and Kondo Reo were all suspended for one week for intentionally planning a fight, falsely accusing others, and showing contempt for the student council.
As a result, Class C's evaluation dropped, and they were swapped with Class D.
Hachiman's class had moved up to Class C.
They became the first class in school history to be promoted in the first month.
...
"…" Nagumo Miyabi.
Student council members were responsible for updating the class evaluation scores.
After each special exam, the scores for Classes A, B, C, and D would be updated.
Nagumo was in charge of copying them.
But.
"Why?"
Nagumo Miyabi stood in front of the small blackboard with a piece of chalk.
Because.
Class D had been promoted to Class C.
This left Nagumo in a bit of a daze.
Because.
Did he misjudge them?
Turns out, the first-year Class D students were actually pretty impressive?