Chapter 99

"Haha...I'm already tired."

"We'll be back in a little while, so do your best."

"Ah. Anyway, it's a silly challenge to run a relay race on a mountain road..."

I can hear such exchanges from near me.

We are now running on a mountain road. I have afternoon classes, and all four hours of this afternoon class are devoted to exercise.

The challenge is to actually run the relay race course that will be held on the day of the exam and be back in time for dinner.

The relay race course is 18km and our group consists of 15 people, so on the day of the test, each person runs 1.2km.

That's enough, but since we'll be running all the courses this time, it will be hell for students who don't have the physical strength.

Moreover, if you don't make it in time for dinner, you'll have less time for dinner.

This means that I will have less time to spend with Hiyori and the others.

I'm sorry for that, so I keep my heart strong and keep running without complaining about the fatigue.

As I was thinking, a group of third year students including Horikita senpai came towards me from the front.

It's amazing that the 3rd year group left at the same time as us and have already turned around.

By the way, the second year group was running behind us. Well, from what I've seen in the classes so far, there weren't many second-year students who had good athletic ability.

As I was running while thinking about this, I spotted Mashima-sensei, the homeroom teacher for Class A.

Since I had not seen the teacher before, this must be the turning point.

"This is the turning point. Please tell me your name and class."

Mashima-sensei told us so, so we said our names and classes and started running towards the training camp.

About 10 minutes later, I passed a second grade student, and about an hour and a half later, I finally arrived at the goal.

It was difficult to drive 18km on a mountain road, but in the actual race each person was 1.2km, so it should be plenty.

Feeling relieved at that, we entered the school building and were about to head to the designated place to meditate before dinner...

Gon

I bump into someone at a corner.

"Wh...I'm sorry"

"Ow!... It hurts, w-wait a minute it's Hikigaya-kun?!"

I heard an irritated voice, so I looked over and saw Ichinose lying on the floor, looking up at me with a bright red face for some reason.

As I was wondering what was going on, three of the girls behind Ichinose were also looking at me with bright red eyes.

Did I do something?

Although I had a question mark on my face, I reached out to help Ichinose up after she had fallen, but...

"Meow!"

Ichinose got up with great force, blushing bright red, and ran away without losing her momentum.

"Ah! Wait, Honami-chan!"

The three people behind me follow Ichinose impatiently, but the atmosphere around them is uncertain, and everyone here is stunned.

"Hikigaya. What did you do to Ichinose?"

"No, nothing in particular."

"Don't lie. Ichinose's behavior was clearly strange."

Katsuragi says in a stern tone. You might be able to doubt it based on my usual behavior, but this time I seriously had no idea.

Moreover, three of Ichinose's friends also turned bright red when they saw me, but I have no contact with three of them just like Ichinose...

Well, in any case, I'm not messing with the C class at this point, so there's no point in worrying about it.

Despite Katsuragi's questioning, I desperately tried to come up with an excuse as I headed to my private room to meditate.

30 minutes later…

"So, Hiyori. I don't mind seeing you tonight, but I'm tired today, so please just talk and be nice to each other."

"Of course it's okay. I'm satisfied as long as I can spend time with Hachiman-kun."

After zazen, I have dinner with my three girlfriends as usual and talk about my encounter with Hiyori tonight.

I'm pretty tired, probably because I ran a marathon today, so I wouldn't mind meeting Hiyori, but I'd like to refrain from getting too close to each other because it will affect me tomorrow.

"Still, it's tough for the boys. There is a marathon for girls, but it's only on the flat land around the school building."

"But it seems like the girls' group has a lot of problems with things like morality, so it's not like it's easier than the boys."

Arisu and Masumi say so.

"Both are the same. In any case, from my point of view, I don't place much emphasis on the exam itself. What's important is to understand which second-year students I should keep an eye on in the future, and to look into other players other than Matsushita who might become pieces.''

If possible, I would like to use D class students as pawns.

It's okay to use students from other classes, but if you want to use them as pawns, it's easier to collaborate with students from the same class.

"Is that why you stayed?"

"It's a bit tricky. A group made up of A class students is safe, but you can't see anything other than A class. Well, there's still time until you move up to second year, so there's no need to rush."

When I opened my mouth while saying this, the three of them stuck out their spoons and ate them.

After all, it's best to have your lover eat dinner for you.

However, this alone is not enough, so I want to go home early and pamper each other to the fullest.

After several hours...

"...Okay, let's go now."

Thirty minutes have passed since the lights went out, and after confirming that everyone in the room is asleep, I get up from the bed and leave the room.

Then, I walked down the hallway and when I arrived at the entrance, someone came from the entrance of the school building.

"What is it, Hikigaya? Are you also having a meeting with someone? Or are you meeting your lover?"

Nagumo was there. It seems that he had a meeting with someone.

"It's the latter."

"I see. It's okay to poke holes in the rules, but don't go too far, okay?"

Unfortunately, I have already removed it twice.

Well, I won't say it because I think people will laugh if I say it.

"By the way, about the bet, did you understand?"

"Yes. The expelled student is Igari-senpai from 3-B, and Tachibana-senpai is accompanying her, right?"

At that moment, a glimmer of interest flashed in Nagumo's eyes.

"Is it okay to have Tachibana-senpai as Igari-senpai?"

"If my hunch is correct."

"I see. Then I'm looking forward to the last day."

"Oh, wait."

Nagumo says that and is about to leave, but before he can, I stops him.

"President Nagumo is free to do whatever he wants, but if someone is expelled, please don't mention my name."

If my idea is correct and someone is expelled, the 3-A students will definitely turn against Nagumo as well as me.

Even though they're graduating soon, I want to avoid that.

"Wouldn't it be better if I mentioned your name instead? They might turn to violence against you, and you can use that to earn points, right?"

"I thought about that idea, but Kushida has precedent."

Kushida made me realize that if I pushed myself too hard, it would be dangerous.

If the bet Nagumo proposed to me becomes public knowledge, there's a chance they'll get mad and stab me.

"I see. I understand. No matter what the outcome is, you won't be exposed. Is this okay?"

"Thank you"

"It's decided. Then I'll go home, but don't stay up too late."

Nagumo said that and left this time. After seeing him off, I leave the school building and head to the kitchen.

Hiyori was already there, and when she saw me, she hugged me with a big smile on her face.

"You were late today. I was worried that you wouldn't come."

"No way. I just had a quick chat with Pres Nagumo."

While saying this, I hugged her back as well. It's a winter night, but the warmth I feel from Hiyori is so comfortable that I don't feel cold.

And then I kisses Hiyori on the lips. She looks up at me and smiles happily.

"Hachiman-kun's kisses feel so good...please give me more."

"I understand... hmm."

"Nn, tut...nnah."

I have no intention of going against Hiyori's pampered begging, so I shower her with kisses, and she kisses me back, panting.

It's so lonely that we can only spend 2-3 hours together a day. I hope the training camp ends soon.

With that in mind, I continued to kiss Hiyori for as long as time allowed.

_____________

One week of continuing study in preparation for various tasks at the forest school. The exam will finally end tomorrow.

To be honest, I was quite tired, but I was able to hang out just as I could because I spent every night with my three girlfriends.

"Okay. I have an exam tomorrow, how about that?"

"There's no problem at all. My group has many talented members, and they've been doing well in the second and third years of the large group without any problems. What about you?"

"There's no problem at all. Both my group and the big group are excellent."

Before dinner, I asked Matsushita about the situation with the girls' group.

"Besides, what about Tachibana-senpai?"

"She's definitely a target. Today, a member of Tachibana-senpai's group told her with obvious malice,  "It was because of your instructions that we made a mistake.''

This is definitely a way to bring down Tachibana-senpai.

"I see. Then you don't have to keep an eye on her anymore."

"Okay. Don't forget the reward, okay?"

"Don't worry. I've done some lucky naughty things, so I'll pay for it."

If it wasn't for that, I wonder if the reward would have been cheaper.

Well, it can't be helped that it's gone wrong.

"Okay. See you then."

Matsushita winks and leaves. After she was out of sight, I headed to the dining room as well.

When I head to my usual spot, I finds Hiyori and Masumi, but Arisu is nowhere to be found.

Even though I had doubts, I headed towards the two.

"Yo. What happened to Arisu?"

She has something to talk about with Ichinose, so she told us to go to the cafeteria first."

Ichinose? Is Arisu's personality akin to a declaration of war?

While thinking about this, I sat down and waited for Arisu, and after about 3 minutes, she came towards me, using a cane.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. Thank you for your hard work, Hachiman-kun."

"You're tired. What did you talk about with Ichinose?"

"It's just an innocent chat."

That's a lie. I don't think Arisu would go out of her way to have a casual chat.

Then, I found Ichinose near the entrance of the dining room, but the atmosphere was gloomy.

Arisu may have declared war on Ichinose after all.

Well, Arisu is free to do whatever she wants.

"No matter what, tomorrow is the last day, so let's do our best."

The three people nod at my words. If we get through it today, the four of us will be able to spend time together tomorrow night.

With that in mind, I ate dinner and thought about how to take the exam in perfect condition.

but...

(I can't sleep)

Maybe because I'm nervous, I can't sleep much. Even if I close my eyes, drowsiness will not come.

"I can't help it. Shall I go for a walk?"

Since it's before the exam today, I haven't made any plans to meet anyone.

In that case, the walk will be short and there will be no problem.

I turned my back to the sleeping group members, left the room, and left the school building.

Walking under a starry sky, it's just as magical as ever. Tomorrow night I'll be back under the less than beautiful Tokyo sky, but when I get married to Hiyori and the others in the future, I want to live in a place surrounded by nature.

To be honest, I'm not that interested in the life of a celebrity.

I think it would be fun to start farming in the countryside with the three of them.

While thinking about this, I walked around the perimeter of the school, and as I passed through the school gate, I felt the presence of someone in the center of the schoolyard, although I couldn't see it due to the darkness.

The other side must have noticed me too, but they're coming towards me...

"What? Dragon Boy and Hashimoto? What are you guys doing?"

The people there were Dragon Boy, the former leader of B-class, and Hashimoto, an A-class executive.

"I'll kill you. Were you fooling around with Hiyori and the others?"

"There's no way. There's an exam tomorrow."

Well, I ate Hiyori on the second day, Masumi on the fourth day, and Arisu yesterday.

"What are you guys doing? Are you planning behind the scenes even though you say you've resigned as leader?"

It wouldn't be surprising if Ryuen had a plan. In fact, Ryuen without a plan is not Ryuen.

"I just received a summon from this guy. I wonder if he really has resigned as leader so I want to find out the current situation."

In other words...

"Hashimoto. Do you want Ryuen to be the leader because you want a guaranteed seat in Class A?"

To say something like that to Ryuen is someone like me who is trying to profit from Ryuen.

In my case, it's a private point, but since Hashimoto is already in A class, there's a strong possibility that he'll be thinking about getting that spot no matter which class becomes A class.

Hashimoto applauds at my words.

"That's the thing. At the moment, it seems like you're planning to go to our class, but there's a possibility that you'll move to B class, where Shiina-chan is. Ryuen will return to the leading position, and Hikigaya will align with Ryuen. I don't know if my class will be able to graduate as an A class, so it's natural for me to cross over, right?"

In other words, he's a similar type to Matsushita. Well, I'm not going to blame you for that.

That's why I'll do anything to win.

but...

"You are free to take any action you want, but if you do something that causes great damage to Arisu and Masumi, I will ignore all considerations of profit and loss and expel you from the school."

My top priority is my three lovers. If you want to harm them, just erase them by any means possible.

"Don't make a killing sound in your flat voice. Don't worry, it's not like that."

"Then that's fine...huh? Someone came again, but were you the ones who called them?"

"No, the only one who I called was Ryuen."

While they were having this conversation, President Nagumo, Horikita-senpai, and the new and old student council presidents appeared.

"What? We've been meeting in secret for a year?"

"No. I'm just going for a walk, and these two are having a secret meeting."

My secret meeting will be over before dinner.

"I see. By the way, would you guys like to participate in a bet as an outfielder? Who will rank higher between me and Horikita-senpai's group? How about 10,000 a bite?"

"That's nonsense. I'm not interested in that kind of money."

"I agree. I don't feel motivated unless I get 300,000 yen per bite."

Nagumo burst out laughing at Ryuen and my replies.

"Haha. Well, you just got 3 million yen from Kushida."

By the way, Nagumo knew that Ryuen and I used Kushida to extort private points from Kushida's parents.

"Haha. You just insulted them and extorted money. You're quite the badass."

Hashimoto also seems to understand what we've done and starts laughing, but the one at fault is Kushida who stabbed us.

"Well, the bet is a joke."

Ryuen laughed at those words, and Hashimoto and I nodded and were about to leave.

"Horikita-senpai. The exam is tomorrow, please abstain."

He made this suggestion to Horikita-senpai.

"Abstaining? Are you serious?"

"I'm quite serious. If I don't ask my senior to abstain, I'll regret it."

Judging from Nagumo's words, the target is Tachibana-senpai. Otherwise, there's no way you'd say something like this in front of me while he's making a bet.

"What are you going to do? In some cases, it's not acceptable."

"I understand. The way to win is to not involve a third party, but as things stand now, I don't know who will win. That's why I want to win, and I'm doing everything I can to achieve that."

"Will that lead to a recommendation to abstain?"

"That's for the best. Can you read my strategy? No, it's impossible. There are no students in this school who can read my thoughts."

Nagumo says such things, but I'm not sure if he's saying this to keep my existence from being known, or if he's saying this because my thinking is wrong.

"Then Horikita-senpai's favorite… yes, I don't think even Ayanokoji would be able to do it."

Hashimoto, who doesn't know anything about Ayanokoji, is slightly shaken by those words.

Ryuen, on the other hand, had been defeated by Ayanokoji, so he erased the smile he had been wearing earlier and looked at Horikita-senpai for a moment.

"I'm sure Hashimoto was in the same group, right? What do you think?"

"No, I think he's just a normal student."

As someone who knows the situation, I don't think that thing's normal.

At this point, Horikita-senpai opened his mouth.

"That's an over-interpretation. When did I tell you that I was interested in Ayanokoji? Please refrain from making fun of the first years."

"I'm sorry. It's just a joke. You guys should go home soon."

Since I was told that, I had no choice but to go home and the first years of us entered the school building first.

"Hey Ayanokoji...what do you guys think?"

"Do you know anything about Suzune's goldfish poop?"

"There's nothing particularly noticeable about him other than being creepy and perverted."

Well, Ryuen and I know a lot of things, but I'm not going to say anything about it.

After all, Arisu wants to fight Ayanokoji without any interference from anyone.

"Creepy, is he gay or something?....." Hashimoto looked a little lost in his thoughts.

After Ryuen and I answered his questions as we walked, and when we arrived in front of my room, I gave them a nod and collapsed onto my bed.

The exam is finally over tomorrow. I won't be expelled from school, but I have to stay alert.