Ti flew by, and the day of the quiz finally arrived. Ichinose had instructed the last few dozen students to only write their nas, while the others were to give it their best effort. Her plan was simple: the bottom ten would be paired with the top ten for the final exam.
Class B didn’t have to worry about the risk of expulsion if they failed, but Ichinose preferred to play it safe. The only thing that annoyed Hikigaya was how he wasn’t allowed to just submit a blank paper.
"Damn it, I want to hand in a blank paper too..." Hikigaya grumbled as he furiously scribbled calculations on his math exam paper. His grades were average, but because of that, he wasn’t allowed to slack off. It was so unfair.
If he could just hand in a blank paper and be paired with Ichinose, things would be so much easier. But no, Class B’s middle-tier students were too... average. Neither too strong nor too weak.
Being stuck in the middle ant he couldn’t afford to slack off without burdening the class. It was frustrating. Even when he tried to lie low, it seed impossible. Was this world bugged or sothing? Why didn’t he have the right to choose?
But as much as he complained, he couldn’t just give up.
The next day during the fourth period, Hoshinomiya-sensei cheerfully entered Class B’s classroom.
"Alright, everyone! The teacher will now announce your partners for the final exam~!" Hoshinomiya said, her bubbly voice accompanied by a cute gesture forming the letter K with her arms.
If she wasn’t so attractive, that pose would’ve been absolutely cringe-worthy. But sohow, her hungover appearance had a certain charm to it.
Hikigaya glanced at the blackboard where the pairings were posted.
Hikigaya Hachiman... Asako Okakura.
"Who’s that?" Hikigaya muttered to himself. The na sounded familiar, but not strongly so. She was one of the girls who often lingered around Ichinose.
He ranked 18th, while she ranked 22nd. Both of them were smack in the middle.
Hikigaya sighed in relief. If she was one of Ichinose’s followers, then her academic performance and attitude were probably solid. If their goal was just to pass the exam safely, there shouldn’t be any problems.
After school, while he was packing his bag, Ichinose walked up to him with Asako Okakura in tow.
"Hey, Hikigaya, are you heading to the club later?" Ichinose asked with her usual bright smile.
Hikigaya’s internal alarm bells imdiately went off. Anyti Ichinose approached him, it usually ant she was trying to rope him into sothing troubleso.
"I haven’t decided yet." Hikigaya replied ambiguously, trying to keep his options open for a swift escape.
"Then why not take Asako with you?" Ichinose said, nudging the girl forward. "Since you two are partners for the exam, and Asako is better at science but weaker in liberal arts, you can help each other out. Sounds good, right?"
Hikigaya fell silent. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of. Ichinose had clearly set this up in advance.
If it was just luck of the draw, then fine. But Ichinose probably spoke to Asako beforehand to make sure the pairing would be beneficial for everyone. Her thoughtfulness was suffocating.
"No, it’s better if I just study alone," Hikigaya tried his best to refuse. The more Ichinose tried to involve him, the more his self-esteem took a beating.
"How will you know if you don’t try?" Ichinose replied easily. "And besides, this pairing was a coincidence. It’s just nice that you two can complent each other. Think of it as helping Pockey-chan."
Helping Asako Okakura, huh? Ichinose’s way of phrasing things to make him feel like he was doing a favor rather than receiving one was irritatingly clever.
"If you’re not comfortable with that, how about joining our study group in the Wool Club? That way, everyone can help each other out," Ichinose suggested again.
Hikigaya quickly countered, "Shouldn’t we respect Okakura-san’s opinion about this?"
"I don’t mind at all," Asako Okakura replied with a smile. "I heard about your clever strategy during the preferential test, Hikigaya-kun. You’re really reliable. If you help with liberal arts, I’ll help you with science. But I’m not a genius or anything, so I might not be much help."
Hikigaya scratched his head, a little embarrassed. "It was just luck that ti. I wasn’t all that sure of myself."
"Even noticing sothing suspicious is impressive," Asako continued earnestly. "I thought what you did during the Dragon Group test was amazing."
What was this? Praise? Hikigaya was completely caught off guard by her sincere admiration.
"Alright, alright." Ichinose interrupted, placing her hands on both their shoulders. "You two should try tutoring each other for a bit. If it doesn’t work out, Asako can co back to the study group and Hikigaya can keep studying alone. How’s that?"
With no reasonable excuse left, Hikigaya nodded reluctantly. Asako seed fine with the arrangent, but Hikigaya couldn’t help but feel frustrated. His final line of defense had been breached.
anwhile, he didn’t notice that Hinoyuki had been glancing over at the three of them, her expression unreadable.
In Class A, half an hour earlier...
"Is it possible you were wrong, Sakayanagi?" Kamuro Masumi asked as she lounged on a desk, her arms crossed as she stared at the girl in front of her.
Sakayanagi Arisu sat in her chair with her usual calm expression. But despite her composed deanor, she was clearly irritated.
"That guy, Hikigaya Hachiman, followed us once and then disappeared. Is that all there is to him?" Kamuro continued.
Sakayanagi frowned. "No, it can’t be that simple. I confird with Mashima-sensei that Tenkaichi was officially opening for the first ti that day. How could a random student know its location without being inford beforehand?"
Kamuro raised an eyebrow. "Maybe it was just a coincidence? Maybe that guy was just out looking for ran and stumbled upon it."
"Impossible." Sakayanagi shook her head. "The timing and location were too precise. Hikigaya was definitely following us."
"Even if that’s true, what’s the big deal?" Kamuro replied. "Maybe Class B isn’t as united as we thought. Maybe Hikigaya’s just doing his own thing."
"Perhaps," Sakayanagi admitted, her eyes narrowing. "But even if that’s the case, I intend to test him. He can’t be allowed to make a fool out of and get away with it."
With that, Sakayanagi stood up, her cane clicking against the floor as she made her way toward Class B’s room. Kamuro followed behind her, curiosity piqued.
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