Class A's consecutive losses were unexpected. In Hikigaya's view, it mainly came down to the event selection being highly favorable to him.
On the surface, it looked like one event from each class had been randomly drawn, but if the order had been reversed, the results might have been completely different.
If the first event had been the 100-meter dash, Class A would undoubtedly have sent out Shibata, while Class D would've had only one viable option to win—Sudou.
Hirata didn't stand a chance against Shibata when it came to speed, and that would've rendered Hikigaya's little schemes completely ineffective.
Without Sudou acting as a roadblock, Ichinose wouldn't have needed to test the waters during the second event—the basketball match—and could've confidently sent out her class's strongest lineup from the start.
But in the end, it was all just speculation—meaningless in the present.
As Hikigaya mulled things over, Ichinose suddenly spoke up from the opposite side.
"Sakagami-sensei, may I ask if students are allowed to talk to each other?"
"There are no rules against that. You're free to chat whenever."
"Got it, thank you."
...Wait, seriously?
Hikigaya had been expecting a more pressing question—not this.
Was she planning to... start a verbal skirmish?
As if confirming that suspicion, Ichinose spoke up again as soon as she got permission:
"Um… Hikigaya-kun! Congrats, winning two in a row like that. Looks like Class D really can't be underestimated."
"…"
Yup, so that was her intention.
Hikigaya couldn't help but fall silent. If given the choice, Ichinose probably wouldn't want to be making this kind of small talk right now.
But to pull her class out of a tough spot, she was forcing herself to take the initiative.
Most likely, it was a tactic to throw her opponent off balance.
To be honest… it kind of worked.
Even though Hikigaya didn't think he bore any responsibility for rejecting Ichinose's confession, that was purely from a rational standpoint.
Emotionally, it wasn't so easy to let go.
No matter what, he just couldn't be like Orimoto, treating rejection like it was some kind of joke.
"Ah, sorry, I guess you don't want to talk to me right now, huh?" Ichinose said, feigning surprise before letting out an awkward laugh. "Ahaha, sorry for making things uncomfortable. I can be a bit thick sometimes—please forgive me."
"…"
If it were the old Ichinose, the understanding and considerate one, she probably wouldn't have done something like this on purpose.
In a way, this could even be seen as a form of growth.
Hikigaya wasn't particularly annoyed. On the contrary, he could sense Ichinose's determination to step outside her comfort zone for the sake of her class.
Which meant… he had to respond properly, too.
"Your lineup for the basketball match had a major flaw, Ichinose."
"Eh, eh?"
She hadn't expected Hikigaya to reply so directly—or rather, to jump straight into that topic—so she froze for a moment.
But she quickly responded, saying, "Maybe so. I didn't expect Sudou-kun not to play. But Hirata-kun is still amazing. He's a great leader—a top talent in Class D."
"No, you're missing the point." Hikigaya didn't hesitate to strike back. "You should've started with Shibata. That would've put pressure on our class. If you'd done that, I wouldn't have dared waste someone as versatile as Hirata by leaving him on the bench."
If she'd structured things that way, Class D would've been forced to use their trump card, Sudou.
"B-but, there's a chance you guys might've started with Sudou-kun too."
Ichinose's rebuttal sounded more like a bluff.
But the more she explained, the more it revealed her lack of confidence.
"That's true. As long as we had Sudou, winning the basketball match would've been almost guaranteed."
Hikigaya first affirmed her reasoning, then swiftly changed tone, speaking with cutting clarity: "But in that case, we'd have no suitable candidate for the 100-meter dash. Even if you guessed I might use Hirata, your class also has someone who could rival him in both speed and mental strength… like Kanzaki, for example."
"Ugh…"
Her plan to shake her opponent faltered—in the end, Ichinose was the one who ended up rattled.
Just as Hikigaya had said, without Sudou, Kanzaki was more than capable of handling a track event.
Even if he wasn't as fast as Shibata, he was much more mentally composed and wouldn't be easily thrown off by external factors.
In other words, Hikigaya's little tricks wouldn't work.
If things had been arranged that way, Class A could've very well walked away with one win and one loss, instead of suffering back-to-back defeats.
As they talked, the third event was revealed:
[English Test]
Required participants: 8
Time: 50 minutes
Rules: Questions drawn from first-year curriculum. The total score of both classes will be compared. The commander may answer one question in place of a participant.
Though both sides had submitted English-based events, based on the number of participants and the rules, this one was submitted by Class A.
In the silent classroom, Hikigaya could faintly hear Ichinose let out a breath of relief.
Can't blame her—on the surface, a written test favored Class A.
...On the surface, anyway.
According to Horikita's pre-established strategy, if they drew Class A's English test, they would form a team of students good at English, led by Wang Meiyu.
However, that team didn't include Yukimura, Horikita, or others of their caliber.
That was to conserve strength for the possibility of facing multiple written exams.
And now that Class A had submitted a total of three academic tests, this decision seemed even more necessary.
Should they evenly distribute students to maximize overall win chances, or deliberately forfeit one event to go all-in on the others?
Unfortunately, Hikigaya had chosen a third option.
Win whatever you can, and worry about the rest later.
Even if the next two draws were both Class A's written tests, there was nothing they could do about it.
A win was a win—you couldn't afford to get greedy and try to swallow an elephant whole.
Without hesitation, Hikigaya moved his cursor and selected the eight students: Kushida Kikyo, Matsushita Chiaki, Wang Meiyu, Yukimura Teruhiko, Ishikura Kayoko, Higashi Sakina, Nishimura Ryuko, Sakura Airi.
This was Class D's strongest possible lineup, excluding only Horikita and Kouenji.
Kouenji went without saying. He could be ignored entirely.
As for Horikita, Hikigaya was considering the upcoming English and Japanese language tests submitted by Class D.
Those two events were based not on total points but highest individual scores.
In other words, as long as Horikita participated alone, there was a strong chance of securing victory.
Sigh… if only one of those two events had been drawn instead.
Hikigaya had laid a trap for both of them, setting the required number of participants at 19 and 20, respectively.
If either one was drawn, it'd create a situation where nearly every Class D student had participated at least once, allowing for a "reshuffle" and letting aces like Kushida or Sudou take the stage again later.
Weird… why does my thought process feel like I'm treating my classmates as chess pieces?
Just my imagination, right?
As he pondered that idle thought, Hikigaya was about to press the confirm button—but suddenly, his hand stopped.
…No, hold on a second.
Is it necessary to save Horikita for this written test?
"Hikigaya-kun, you seem hesitant. You were so decisive earlier," Ichinose said.
She must've already locked in her selections, and the screen hadn't changed, prompting her to say that.
"Could it be… you're planning to forfeit the English test? Or maybe… you're thinking of going all-in to decide the match?"
Yeah, giving up was an option.
To be honest, this current lineup was already quite strong. Hikigaya felt they might be able to beat Class A.
But might was all it was.
Class A's academic ability wasn't weak. Holding on to a hopeful mindset here would be incredibly foolish.
Class D was in the lead right now, and Class A would be fired up to catch up.
That unusually united class might just perform above expectations as a result.
Playing it safe wasn't necessarily a bad idea.
...No, that's not right.
Hikigaya quickly dismissed that idea. It'd be a waste to give up so easily.
More importantly, he believed this English quiz event was one they had to win.
That way, Class A—and more specifically, Ichinose—would be pushed to her limits.
With that thought in mind, he moved his mouse, dragged Sakura's photo out of the lineup, and replaced her with Horikita.
Forget about what comes next.
No matter what, as long as they win this round, even if they lose all the rest, they'd still end up with three wins and four losses. Class D would only lose 30 points.
Mm, doesn't sound too bad.
Maybe it was precisely because Hikigaya wasn't fixated on victory that he could so casually make such an irresponsible decision.
With Sakura gone, the weakest scorer in the lineup was now Nishimura.
The Commander had the right to answer one question in place of a team member—but there was only one earpiece available for relaying instructions.
In other words, only one person could be helped with a single question… What a useless feature.
Still, even mosquito meat is meat. By all logic, the earpiece should go to Nishimura.
But Hikigaya didn't pick anyone. He gave up on using the Commander privilege altogether.
The reason was simple.
He didn't want Nishimura to feel like he was the worst in the group. That kind of thought could lead to unnecessary mental pressure.
And also… Hikigaya's English wasn't exactly top-tier.
What if he was the one who got it wrong?
Basically, Hachiman just didn't want to get dragged into anything.
Once he finished selecting the participants, their names appeared on the large display screen.
As expected, Class A went with an especially strong lineup. Led by Tetsuya Hamaguchi, they'd sent out all their top scorers except for Kanzaki. It was clearly a "settle-this-once-and-for-all" formation.
As for why Kanzaki wasn't chosen… chances are, they had the same thought Hikigaya did a minute ago.
Fortunately, Class D wasn't about to lose either.
Especially with Horikita in the mix, Hikigaya had full confidence in them.
Of course, if they ended up losing, it would be their fault. Can't go blaming the innocent Commander-kun now, can we?
It was only then that Mashima-sensei finally spoke up.
"Hikigaya, you didn't assign anyone to wear the earpiece, so you won't be able to use the Commander function this time. Make sure to pay attention to the system prompts."
He probably said that because Hikigaya hadn't attended the explanation session.
Still, saying it after team selection didn't violate any rules.
"Oh, thank you, sensei." Hikigaya smiled slightly. "But it's fine. It's not that I forgot—it's just that I didn't think it was necessary."
"I see."
Mashima-sensei responded with a flat tone and didn't say anything more.
He likely caught on to the underlying message.
But even if he didn't want to disturb the exam environment, Hikigaya wasn't about to let it go.
"After all, everyone I put in has better grades than I. No need to answer in their place."
"..."
"And besides, one question's not going to make much of a difference, right? What, is the total score going to come down to just two points? If that happens, I'm buying a lottery ticket."
"...Keep your voice down. Don't forget we're in the middle of an exam."
"Eh? But Sakagami-sensei said we were free to talk."
Completely unbothered by Mashima-sensei's warning, Hikigaya didn't even glance at the exam footage on the screen.
"Surely that doesn't only apply to students talking to each other, right? Aren't teachers allowed to chat too?"
"I'm only allowed to answer necessary questions."
"No problem then. Just consider this as me talking to myself. I do enjoy a good monologue."
"..."
Mashima-sensei was at his wit's end with this kind of student.
He could tell exactly what Hikigaya was up to—showing a calm, composed attitude in order to exert psychological pressure on Ichinose.
Truly… a student capable of driving Sakayanagi to the brink of expulsion.
What's even scarier is that in the end, he didn't push her over the edge—he offered her a hand instead, using that to show the entire grade just how strong he was.
If it had been anyone other than Sakayanagi, they'd have been crushed emotionally.
Just as Mashima-sensei was deep in thought, Hikigaya's voice rang out again.
"Oh right, sensei. Can I play Spider Solitaire?"
"...No."
"But this exam's gonna last almost an hour. Just sitting here doing nothing is kinda dumb. Even though I enjoy spacing out by myself, there are too many people here. Hard to stay focused, you know?"
"…Just bear with it."
One thing's for sure—this student is smart, but way too annoying.
Mashima-sensei swore: if this were back in the days when corporal punishment wasn't such a big deal, he'd have smacked that kid upside the head.
But Hikigaya still felt that waiting like this was pointless, so he tried again.
"Then can I look at my phone… no, how about reading a book I brought? It's just a light novel, nothing related to the exam."
"Fine, fine. Go ahead."
Normally stern, even Mashima-sensei was losing his patience. He waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly.
Hikigaya didn't mind—his goal had been achieved.
Even through two layers of screens, he could practically feel how shaken Ichinose must be right now.
And in fact, she was.
Feeling more and more uneasy, Ichinose stared at the monitor with anxious eyes.
The screen could be switched at any time to show the students' answer sheets, so she hadn't looked away for a second—only moving to operate the computer when she needed to use the Commander function.
By contrast, Hikigaya didn't even bother watching. He pulled out his light novel from his bag and began reading happily.
Since the English quiz had already started, there was no point in paying attention. Whether they won or lost wasn't up to the Commander anymore.
But when it came to the next event, the psychological difference between the two Commanders could very well affect the outcome.
Sakagami-sensei also noticed this. Though he didn't say anything, he shook his head slightly.
Finally, after what felt like forever, the test ended. The teachers immediately began grading.
More accurately, the grading was all done by machine now, so the results came out in no time.
"Now announcing the results of the English quiz. Class A—721 points."
That was an average of around 90 points per student. As expected of Class A—impressive, no doubt.
Of course, the questions might've just been easy.
If that's the case, then Horikita and the others probably scored just as well.
"And Class D's score… 739 points. Class D wins."
Hearing the total score from Mashima-sensei, Class D had won by a narrow 18-point margin.
Mmm, things went even more smoothly than expected.
Hikigaya wasn't particularly overjoyed—he just stroked his chin thoughtfully, subconsciously analyzing his opponent's mental state.
Ichinose was probably thinking, If only I had sent in Kanzaki, maybe we could've won.
If that's really what she's thinking… let's just hope she can still make the right call going forward.
Unfortunately, that's going to be tough.
Because of Hikigaya's earlier remarks pointing out Class A's poor choices in the basketball event, Ichinose was likely feeling she'd made the same kind of mistake again.
But if she stopped to really think it through, she'd realize that even if Kanzaki had participated, it wouldn't have helped.
All the students in Class A sent this time were top scorers—no way Kanzaki alone could've made up an 18-point gap.
After all, the maximum score per person was only 100.
That's why the right strategy would've been to abandon this round, to hold back her key players.
Yes—Class A should've been the one playing it safe.
Ichinose's mistake wasn't just in her team selection—it was a fundamental strategic miscalculation.