Hachiman Hikigaya, who returned from his studies after completing his training.

Page 9

"Alara, isn't this Shiina from Class C? I'm really surprised by how well Hikigaya-kun can flirt with pretty girls from other classes. Would you like me to introduce you to some cute girls from Class A?"

Sakayanagi put down his cane and leisurely sat down on the beanbag chair that Hikigaya had been sitting on. Another tall girl also unceremoniously picked up the last beanbag chair and placed it next to Sakayanagi. After introducing herself as Kamuro Masumi, she sat down calmly.

"Don't misunderstand, Sakayanagi-san. I'm just a regular friend of Hikigaya-san," Shiina retorted, putting down her book.

"Let's leave it at that then." Sakayanagi shifted his gaze from Shiina to Hikigaya.

"Could you please leave for a moment, Shiina-san? I have some private things I'd like to discuss with you, Hikigaya-san."

Chapter Twenty: The Adorable Hiyori Shiina

While beanbag chairs are comfortable to sit on, getting up from them is more strenuous than from regular sofas. As Shiina prepared to get up and take her leave, a hand reached out to her—it was the hand of her first book friend, Hikigaya.

"Thank you." Holding the book in one hand, Shiina grabbed Hachiman's hand, preparing to use it for leverage to leap up, but her foot got caught on Sakayanagi's cane, which she accidentally knocked off, and she fell into Hachiman's arms.

Hikigaya was stunned as his hand, which was holding Shiina's, was trapped between their bodies, while his other hand tightly hugged the waist of the girl who was about to fall. The girl's warm body temperature and her fragrance, which were completely different from Ichinose's, made his heart beat faster.

"N-no...are you alright?" Remembering that Sakayanagi and Kamuro were still there, Hikigaya quickly released his arms from Shiina's waist and took two steps back, and Shiina's beautiful blushing face came into view.

Shiina turned her head to the side. "I'm fine. I'll leave now."

"I'll see you out." Following Shiina out of the room, Hikigaya waved as he watched Shiina's graceful figure walk down the corridor. "See you tomorrow."

Just when he thought Shiina would leave without looking back, she stopped and turned halfway around. Under the incandescent light of the corridor, her rosy cheeks and shy purple eyes were breathtakingly beautiful.

"See you tomorrow..."

With a small hand raised and gently waved twice, Shiina slowly disappeared from Hikigaya's sight.

This child is so cute! Why is he so adorable? He's just as cute as my little sister! Ah! I'm going to die! Hachiman's heart raced again, but the thought of the little devil in the room made him a little depressed.

After closing the door and entering the room, Hikigaya lay down on the sofa where Shiina had just been sitting, like a lump of mud, and closed his eyes. Sensing that Sakayanagi would be in trouble, he wanted to make himself comfortable first, and the soft touch enveloped his body.

"It doesn't make sense for the host to close his eyes and rest while the guests are still here, Hachiman." The wooden cane tapped Hachiman's calf a few times.

"Guest? Who defined you? Let him come out and fight me for three hundred rounds." Hachiman didn't bother to open his eyes. "Speak quickly if you have something to say. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed soon."

I made a promise to Sudo tomorrow to help him, so Hachiman is really planning to go to bed early tonight.

"Heh, aren't you going to open your eyes?"

Just then, Sakayanagi's voice rang out, and Hikigaya felt two soft, warm objects on his stomach.

"Here's a small reward to get you to take things seriously."

Realizing what was happening, Hikigaya opened his eyes. The warm, soft object on his stomach was, as he had suspected, Sakayanagi's small, delicate feet. Her slender ankles and rounded toes were so perfectly white.

"You really do whatever you want, Master." Hikigaya quickly sat up straight, shook off Sakayanagi Arisu's two little feet, and looked at the taciturn purple-haired beauty, Kamuro Masumi.

"Who said she's my master? You dead-fish-eyed pervert."

"I'm sorry you had to see that I haven't tamed you yet."

"Huh?!" Kamuro glared angrily at Sakayanagi before turning his head away.

He dared not refute it. It seemed that Sakayanagi had something on him. Hikigaya made his judgment. He originally thought that Kamuro was Sakayanagi's friend, but now he realized that he was overthinking it.

Sakayanagi is still in the stage of being a willful and unruly brat. Katsuragi Kohei did the right thing by coming out to compete with her for the class leader position. If Sakayanagi is allowed to run wild, Class A will die without even knowing how.

That makes sense. After all, you can tell from her appearance that she's a young lady from a powerful family. The favors from Class A are as worthless to Sakayanagi as toilet paper. Katsuragi must have been afraid of that, which is why he came out to compete with her for the leadership position.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, can you tell me how much you know about him?"

She took out her phone and smiled as she zoomed in on the photo he had sent her at noon. In the photo, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji stood expressionlessly on the podium.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka..." Hikigaya drawled, sensing that Sakayanagi might know some information about Ayanokoji and he needed to figure out how to get some out of him.

The method to break through the midterm exam was not difficult, and in principle, it should not have attracted so much attention from Sakayanagi. Sakayanagi's arrogance was obvious. She had never taken her seriously before, and it was only because of Ayanokouji and the others that they had this second meeting.

"You're Ayanokouji's friend, right? He told me he knew you when he was little." Hikigaya said this while observing Sakayanagi's expression, but to no avail.

"Just answer my question, Hikigaya-kun." Sakayanagi's face was adorned with his unchanging, elegant smile.

Hikigaya sighed inwardly, realizing he had acted too hastily.

"Ayanokouji is a kind and warm-hearted person with an indomitable spirit and a burning fighting will. He braved dangers to retrieve the archaeological scroll from the upperclassmen for the sake of his classmates in Class D."

You have your clever plans, I have my countermeasures; he's also good at being unreasonable and argumentative. If Sakayanagi doesn't offer anything useful, he can keep arguing with her until curfew.

As Sakayanagi swiped his phone screen, a brand new photo appeared before Hikigaya's eyes. "Hikigaya-kun, what do you think would happen if I sent this photo to Ichinose-kun?"

In the photo, he is lying on the sofa with his eyes closed, looking very comfortable. The small feet on his stomach are clearly those of a girl.

"Ichinose is your girlfriend, right?" Sakayanagi asked with a smile.

“I am Ichinose’s boyfriend, that’s true.” Hikigaya paused, “But who are you to Ichinose? Go ahead and send me the message, and see if she believes you or me, you little brat.”

In Advanced Growth, only Hachiman can threaten others; no one else has the right to threaten Hachiman.

"Pfft, hahaha...you little brat." Sitting on the sofa, Kamuro couldn't help but burst into laughter, clutching his stomach, his long, shapely legs jiggling.

Seeing Kamuro's state, Sakayanagi immediately opened her browser and searched for the meaning of "female demon." Because of her poor health, she had been tutored since childhood, and her knowledge in some areas was still quite limited.

The school's internet speed was fast, and Sakayanagi quickly finished browsing the introduction of the female demon.

[The term "little devil" is used to describe younger female characters who always treat older individuals with arrogance, haughtiness, disdain, and mockery. They are initially arrogant and haughty, but become gentle and submissive once they are "taught a lesson."]

"Hehehe, Hikigaya, I admit you've angered me." The elegant smile that had been on Sakayanagi's face completely disappeared, replaced by Horikita's cold expression.

"We'll take our leave now, dear—Hachigaya-kun." Sakayanagi tapped Kamuro's thigh with his cane as he laughed. "Get up and let's go. If you keep laughing, I'll just leave you here to feed Hachigaya."

Chapter Twenty-One: A Mere Hachiman

"boom!"

In the classroom of Class D before the exam, a thin boy wearing glasses slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "Why do we, who have good grades, have to cooperate with those poor students to get low scores? And Mr. Chazhu never said that there would be any rewards for those who rank in the top few. If there were, what would we do?"

The failing grade for the midterm exam is calculated by dividing the class average score for each subject by two. This is a deduction made by Horikita Suzune based on the failing grade mentioned by Ms. Chabashira during the last quiz. Just to be on the safe side, she stood on the podium and announced it.

"You don't actually think the reward will be class points, do you? Every class has a first-place student, so it's obviously impossible." Horikita calmly retorted to Yukimura Teruhiko. "At most, it'll be a few personal points. Compared to the possibility of a classmate dropping out, I don't need to tell you which is more important."

"Isn't it their fault if they don't do well in school?" Yukimura insisted on his point of view. As the top student in the quiz, he discriminated against all those who didn't do well in school. "Is it my fault that I ranked first?"

"What's so great about you being a bespectacled idiot and doing well in your studies?"

"No wonder nobody wants to play with you. Are you depressed and talking nonsense?"

Horikita didn't tolerate Sudo and Yamauchi's insults either, saying, "You're the ones dragging the class down now. Instead of talking, you should memorize a few more questions."

"You're only pretty on the outside, woman," Yamauchi muttered under his breath before lowering his head.

Before Horikita could say anything more to the blushing Yukimura, Hirata Yosuke stepped forward and offered his solution. Since Yukimura wanted the possible personal reward, Hirata said that if there were any rewards for the top few, he would personally pay out of his own pocket to give the top few in the quiz personal points.

Horikita and Yukimura were both dissatisfied with Hirata's suggestion, but with the exam time fast approaching, they had no choice but to compromise and agree.

Shinmura was unhappy because Hirata's actions made him seem unreasonable, and the girls who admired Hirata looked at him with even colder eyes. Horikita, on the other hand, was unhappy with Hirata's excessive leniency towards Shinmura. He worried that if this continued, how could they possibly tolerate all the disobedient students in the future?

As the school bell rang, everyone could only calm themselves and focus their energy on the upcoming exam. Soon, Hachiman also received his exam paper.

He knew the answer to every question on the test paper, and controlling his score was incredibly easy. Since his name contained the number eight, he planned to get 88 points on all of them.

The morning exam ended quickly. After the teacher collected the exam papers, Hikigaya leisurely went to the cafeteria to have lunch with Ichinose before planning to go back to the classroom for a lunch break.

"Stop fooling around, Shiho."

After parting ways with Ichinose at the entrance of Class B, Hachiman walked towards him from two girls in Class C. The girl with brown twin ponytails was resisting the playful antics of a girl who exuded a similar gyaru vibe to Karuizawa Megumi. Since both of them were holding a drink without a lid, Hachiman chose to walk closer to the wall to keep his distance from them.

"I told you to stop making a fuss."

After passing the two people, Hachiman suddenly felt a heat on his back. Something hot must have spilled on his jacket. It was probably the drink of one of the two people he had just seen.

Because his school uniform jacket wasn't very thick, he still felt quite hot. He immediately took off the jacket, held it in one hand, and looked at the two girls who walked up to him.

"You need to be careful, it would be bad if someone got hurt."

"Sorry," said the girl named Shiho, whose bangs were clipped with a fuchsia hair clip, with a haughty expression. "We'll take it to the dry cleaners right away, okay?"

"No need, I can wash it myself."

"It's our fault, Hachiman-kun, let us make up for it. If we lose class points because of this, Ryuen-kun will beat us up." The girl with brown twin ponytails reached out and forcibly snatched Hachiman's jacket. "I'm Saki Yamashita from Class C, and this is Shiho Manabe. We'll return it to you soon."

Student disciplinary checks have always been conducted, and Yamashita said there was a possibility that his class points would be deducted. Hikigaya could only let the two of them take his jacket as compensation.

Coincidence?

Back in the classroom, Hachiman closed his eyes and slumped onto the desk. The expressions of Yamashita and Manabe from Class C didn't seem unnatural, and their logic seemed sound. However, since it concerned Class C, he decided he'd thoroughly check his jacket before retrieving it. When it came to unorthodox methods, Ryūgen Sho was quite the expert.

If, after retrieving his coat, an archaeological scroll is found stuffed inside and he is reported, Hachiman will be in serious trouble, if not dead.

Two minutes before the final exam, Saki Yamashita returned his dry-cleaned clothes to him, and a strong smell of laundry detergent wafted from the jacket.

After thoroughly searching his coat, they found only his room key card, not the cheat sheet they had imagined.

Is it really just a coincidence?

With some doubt, Hikigaya finished his last exam and walked up to Horikita Suzune. "I remember you cooked for yourself tonight, right?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Do me a favor. Buy some extra groceries and cook for me in my dorm tonight. I'm planning to treat the student council president to dinner after I finish my student council business." Hikigaya leaned down and whispered in Horikita's ear, placing his room key on her desk at the same time.

"Why so sudden?"

Horikita Suzune's expression was a mixture of anticipation and worry. She was looking forward to her brother eating the food she had made herself, but she was not sure if she could make a dish that would satisfy him.

"If you don't agree, I'll just treat the president to instant noodles, and maybe add a sausage for him."

"You dare!" Horikita glared at Hikigaya and took the key card from the table.

After settling things off with Horikita Suzune, Hikigaya immediately took out his phone and messaged Shiina, telling her not to eat dinner tonight and to wait for him. Thinking that the room was still missing a table and cushion, he also transferred 50,000 personal points to Horikita.

"The room is still missing a dining table and a few cushions. I'd appreciate it if you could go and buy them. You can have the table delivered by the supermarket. I've already transferred the points to you, so you can buy whatever you like."

"Don't get too cocky, you little Hachiman," Horikita Suzune said, giving Hachiman a hard punch in the stomach. "Consider this my reward."

Ignoring Hikigaya who was clutching his stomach, Horikita Suzune picked up her schoolbag and left cleanly and efficiently.

Hikigaya, who hadn't expected Horikita to make a move, bent over for a while before straightening up, his gaze meeting Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's indifferent eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"fine."

"That's good."

Without saying much, Ayanokouji walked over to the three idiots from Class D who were having a happy conversation and blended into their chat without any awkwardness. Even though the incident of being questioned by the three idiots about hiding his strength just yesterday had happened, he acted as if nothing had happened.

Chapter 1, Section 2 (Nine) - There is a traitor in Class D.

After finishing his student council work, Hachiman easily persuaded the siscon president to help his sister make friends; it wouldn't be right for him not to help with his sister's affairs.

After meeting up with Shiina in front of the dormitory building, the three of them walked into the dormitory lobby together. A short-haired girl with sharp eyes was leaning against the elevator playing on her phone.

After spotting the three of them, he only glanced at them before looking down at his phone again, as if he was waiting for someone.

"This is my classmate, Ibuki Mio," Shiina greeted her as she approached, "Good afternoon, Ibuki-san."

Like Horikita Suzune, Ibuki Mio has a slender figure but a strong physique, with long, firm thighs without any excess fat.

When Shiina greeted her, she simply looked up and nodded before looking down again, which made Hikigaya think she resembled Horikita Suzune even more.

After pressing the elevator button and waiting for it to come down and the doors to open, two people that Hachiman didn't want to run into came out: one was Albert Yamada, the muscular black man from Class C, and the other was Ryuen Sho, the leader of Class C.

Wearing sunglasses, Yamada followed behind Ryuen like a bodyguard, holding a black helium balloon that seemed out of place with his appearance.

The two swaggered out of the elevator and walked towards the dormitory building, with Ibuki Mio silently following behind.

After the little incident, the group went to Hachiman's room, where a small wooden dining table and several elegant gray cushions had been added. Busy sounds came from the kitchen.

"President, would you like to go to the kitchen and help your sister?"

“Actually, I can’t cook.” Horikita Manabu sat down at the desk and flipped through the books on his desk with interest. “Hachiman, your reading taste is far too mature.”

"What kind of books does Horikita-senpai like to read?" When it came to books, Shiina seemed to transform into a different person, proactively moving closer to Horikita-senpai to ask. Horikita-senpai turned his chair around and calmly answered her questions one by one.

When Horikita, wearing a gray apron, appeared from the kitchen doorway, what came into view was her brother's back as he talked to a pretty girl in the same grade while holding a book.

The beautiful girl with long silver hair spoke with joy in her voice as she naturally and pleasantly chatted with her brother, whom she considered aloof and never approachable.

A sense of emptiness washed over Horikita Suzune. The brother she remembered was so cold and strong and didn't need any friends. It turned out that this was just an impression she had imposed on him.

Her actions of chasing after her brother all these years have been like those of a fool.