Chapter 3

Horikita Manabu POV

Name: Hikigaya Hachiman

Student ID: S01T004629

Age: 17

Birthday: August 8th

Gender: Male

Blood Type: A

Height: 172

Academic Ability: A

Intelligence: A+

Decision Making: A+

Physical Ability: B

Cooperativeness: E

Interview Notes: While the subject's previous grades implies that he has had difficulty in Science and Mathematics, he seems to have improved incredibly before the entrance exam. The subject's Intelligence and Decision Making are extremely advanced for his age, and while this is grounds for A Class, due to his past with Bullying and excessive Utilitarian and Cynical tendencies, we believe that placing such a student in Class B is a valid location to build up his empathy.

Manabu looked at the file in his hands regarding Hikigaya Hachiman, interest on his face.

It was truly impressive.

This student, when evaluated by the proctors, placed him above even Sakayanagi Arisu, yet he was in Class B.

There was nothing inherently wrong with Class B.

But it was still a surprise to see that this student wasn't in Class A.

He could be the student that's necessary to fight against Nagumo Miyabi.

But Hikigaya was a complete wild card.

With his personal abilities, he would thrive on Nagumo's regime of a pure meritocracy, but his possible urge to keep the status quo could net him a powerful ally.

He would have to investigate during the Club Interest Meeting to further investigate his personality, if he even attended.

—+—

I looked at my phone to see that Ichinose had texted me regarding the Club Interest Meeting.

[Hikigaya-kun, are you going to the club interest meeting today?]

[Yeah, but I'm going to just give it a quick glance before leaving.]

[Oh, are you planning to join any clubs then?]

[Not really, I'd prefer to do other things. What abt you?]

[I used to be on the student council back in junior high, so I was planning to sign up for it!]

[Good luck, I heard it was pretty hard to even get in. Piece of advice, be weary of the Vice President.]

[Huh? Why?]

[I heard he's pretty ruthless from the seniors at lunch. It'd be better to be on the President's good graces, or if you do get help from him, don't give him any leeway or blindly trust him.

You can probably ask the President for advice, he seems more trustworthy.]

[I'll trust you, Hikigaya-kun. Thanks for the advice!]

[Sticker]

[No problem, just helping fellow friends. I'm always here for advice.]

I looked up to see that she did the same, and we did the similar smile and nod. Passing Break hadn't ended yet, so I just put my phone down and waited for the teacher to come.

Ichinose's the type of person who'd actually trust the Vice President.

Well, Ichinose's the type of person who'd trust basically anyone with a sob story.

So all I had to do to mitigate that was to be first.

And by adding that I was always there for advice, with her personality, when she has something she can't tell the rest of the class, she'd probably go to me first before anyone else.

I call this strategy: Protect Summer Fairy.

It's better to do this extremely early. I was just lucky that I even had an opportunity to capitalize on her coming early today, when she knows less people.

She seemed like the type who values different class relations.

From what I saw regarding the situation in the student council, I trust the stuck up types more than what the fuck the Vice President was.

Might as well take the opportunity to ask about Ichinose regarding her entrance to the Student Council when I do ask him my questions regarding possible 'Events'.

There has got to be better names than this.

—+—

As soon as class ended for the day, I started my way to the club fair.

Once again, I passed the classroom of Class A, and when I glanced in through the windows, the lilac haired girl once again was looking at me as if she expected me.

This person's a threat.

Like a S Class threat to my High School life.

Like that expression does not spell any good things for my future.

The gym's pretty close, so that's a good thing.

I entered to see stalls already set up, with some seniors just entering to man their stalls.

If Chess, Go, or Shogi had anything about bets, I would have to take some.

Hoshinomiya took a quarter of my hard earned cash so I have to get it back somehow.

I walked around, before finding the Chess Club, and it looked like they were giving points for doing chess puzzles.

I walked up, watching as their expressions changed from anticipatory to defeated in the span of a few seconds.

"What's up."

I raised my hand in greeting.

"Don't "What's up," me you monster."

The person manning the stall responded.

"When's the President doing his introduction?"

He looked miffed that I ignored his statement, but I didn't really care.

"…In 30 minutes…"

"That's enough time, give me some puzzles."

The senior looked at me with resignation, before sliding a chess board across the table.

"How much for this?"

"30,000."

"If I fail?"

"…"

This guy…

"20,000…"

"You're really scamming these freshman, huh,"

"Hey! You can't be talking!"

He retorted.

I looked back down at the board.

After a minute of thinking, I solved it, so I moved the pieces.

"Next."

The senior wordlessly slid another.

After a similar process.

"Next."

—+—

"Next."

"…"

"Next?"

I looked up at the senior, who seemed to have brought over the Vice President of the Chess Club, if I remembered correctly.

The Vice President seemed to have more backbone. She looked at me, arms crossed, her glasses shining from the lights.

"There's no more."

Was that so?

I raised an eyebrow.

"You only prepared 10 puzzles?"

"No. The max is 10 puzzles for the grand prize. Can't have people come over and use the same puzzles from previous people."

That was pretty smart.

The Vice President looked at my expression of approval with an exasperated face, sighing.

"How much then?"

"…"

"How much?"

"500,000…"

I took out my phone to get the points, and the Vice President took out hers reluctantly.

"Thanks."

"You're free to come again once the month ends, Hikigaya."

I looked up at her with confusion, and it seemed that the original senior had the same thought.

"I didn't even get to play against you before you left."

That made sense. I just took the first 4 who agreed when I did it.

"Ah, then if you'll have me."

"Look forward to it."

I raised a hand for a deal.

She took it with a satisfied expression.

"Then I'll be heading out now."

"To the Go Club? Or perhaps the Shogi Club?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"How'd you know?"

"My classmates were complaining on how a freshman came into their club, stole some money, then left."

"Haha,"

That was pretty funny.

"I'll tell you right now, but the Go Club doesn't have any point prizes, and it's the same for the Shogi Club."

Damn.

"That's unfortunate."

She smiled wryly at my disappointed expression, before scoffing.

"Sure it is, Hikigaya, now shoo."

"I'll see you next month, Senior."

I gave a nod, checking the time on my phone before walking near the podium for the President's Introductory Address.

I watched as the President walked up, and I got the student council's names. Or rather the important member's names.

Horikita Manabu

Nagumo Miyabi

Tachibana Akane

They were probably the more important members of the student council.

Kiriyama Ikuto was probably under Miyabi regarding the 2nd Year class.

Looking at their dynamics, Tachibana and Kiriyama probably sided with Horikita. This meant that regarding majority, they had the advantage.

But If Nagumo was truly a threat, then he probably had more control over the 2nd Year class than I initially anticipated.

The contents of the introductory address were painfully generic, even if Horikita did have a surplus regarding charisma.

After they finished, I took the opportunity to talk to Horikita before the first years tried to apply for the student council.

Misunderstandings are the bane of my existence.

I walked up, getting the attention of both him and Tachibana, while it seemed like Nagumo was more or less walking around the club fair.

"Do you need anything?"

"How much money for an interview?"

Both of their eyebrows rose in confusion, before Horikita understood my intentions.

"None."

Then there was probably information that was banned by the school.

"Then can I start?"

"Go ahead."

"How many 'Events' are there during summer break?"

Both of their expressions went slack in surprise.

"How did you—"

"I can't tell."

Tachibana quickly tried to question me but Horikita quickly shut her line of conversation.

She had a face of realization as she saw her mistake.

There were multiple hypotheses I can generate from this newfound information.

First. The 'Events' truly existed.

Second. There would be an 'Event' during summer vacation.

Three. There would probably be multiple events.

I was confident on the first two, the third, not so much.

But I still had a few more questions to ask.

"Are we going to the wilderness?"

I looked more at Tachibana's expression, which went slack once more. Horikita on the other hand had a much better poker face.

In order to get a reaction, I probably had to think aloud a decent amount of my thoughts, so I could gauge their reactions even more.

"If we're swimming at least once a week, we'll probably do it on an island or private property,"

Tachibana's eyebrow twitched once more.

How easy. Thank god that Tachibana seemed to follow Horikita everywhere.

"Then we probably have another exam right before or right after the island exam…"

Another twitch.

She twitched at the second, so probably right after. If the first exam was on an island, and if I was the school, I would probably do it on the vehicle I took to the island. A vehicle that could hold 160 students easily…

"A yacht? Maybe a cruise ship?"

"What are you planning, Hikigaya?"

This person knows my name? Well he's the President, so I could lower my suspicions.

"Who knows? I was just asking some questions?"

Horikita looked at me with a blank expression, calling me out.

"Then I can assume you already deduced the S-System and the Class Competition?"

Tachibana looked at Horikita in surprise. I understood in a way. This information was probably supposed to be exposed after the first month ended.

I just gave a knowing look, and Tachibana once again looked surprised. Horikita on the other hand, wasn't fazed.

"You really exceeded my expectations."

Oh? This was probably some good information.

"Expectations?"

"Would you like to join the Student Council as a Vice President?"

Tachibana once again looked at Horikita in surprise.

"I'm good."

I don't want to do extra work. And if I do get Vice President, I'll probably get attention from Nagumo and other first year students.

"Why not?"

"You probably want me on cause of Nagumo."

This time, both of them had surprised expressions.

"I'd rather not gain the animosity of him, but I do have a request."

Horikita looked at me with intrigue.

"What do you mean?"

"A classmate named Ichinose Honami's probably going to come up and ask you about Nagumo. I want you to accept her and tell her about Nagumo. Better to put her in your faction than his,"

"Why?"

This conversation is getting more interesting by the second.

"How about 50,000 points for the entire story?"

Tachibana looked at me with disbelief in her eyes, with a hint of anger. I can guess that she has a crush on Horikita.

But to both Tachibana and my surprise, Horikita took out his phone to send me the points.

"For the entire story."

Ah, he doesn't want me to leave anything out. Well, there's nothing wrong with the deal, and it also gets Horikita's trust.

"Maybe I should have asked for more?"

I said in jest.

"Maybe."

This person is way too straight laced.

"I guess it's too late, isn't it."

"Yes."

We traded points, and I put my phone in my pocket and started explaining.

"I can assume that Ichinose's probably going to be the leader of Class 1-B. This isn't a random guess. From her traction and the rest of the class's mood, I can guess she'll be the leader by the end of the week."

"I assumed as much."

"But her personality is way too flawed in this school."

Horikita looked at me with interest.

"How so?"

"In game terms, if Ichinose's Charisma stat is at 100, then her Ruthlessness stat's probably in the negatives."

"So you mean she's the type to get betrayed easily?"

"Exactly. While this by itself isn't a bad thing, she has a flaw."

"A flaw?"

I looked at Tachibana.

"Any paper for a contract?"

"Why?"

"A confidentially contract."

"Is it that bad?"

"Yes."

Reluctantly, Tachibana took out a piece of paper, before handing me a pen and the paper.

I quickly scribbled the outline of the contract before signing it and handing it to Horikita.

He looked down at the paper.

Ichinose Flaw Confidentiality Contract.

Party A (Hikigaya Hachiman) will provide Party B (Horikita Manabu) with the flaw of Class 1-B Ichinose Honami.

Party B is required to keep this information a secret and will not spread this information.

If Party B fails to upkeep the agreement, Party B will pay both Ichinose Honami and Party all of their current Private Points and will be expelled.

Signature: Hikigaya Hachiman (Party A)

"There's no holes, just sign it."

After a quick glance, Horikita quickly signed it before handing it over to Tachibana.

We both ignored Tachibana's expression and continued the conversation.

"Back in Junior High, she Stole something or something similar."

Horikita's eyebrows rose.

"That's surprising."

"Not really. Anyways, if she tries to join the student council and gets rejected by you, that'll probably give Nagumo the opportunity to get his hands on her."

"I see, so that was why you asked me this…"

"Yeah. Also, Nagumo seems like the type of guy who'd ask for her secrets if she wants his help in getting in."

"You have a good read on his character, Hikigaya."

"It's pretty obvious. He probably has a lot of control over 2nd Year too, right? Which is why you asked me to join?"

"…That is correct…"

"It's only the second day of school, and I think I have Ichinose's trust pretty well, so I told her to be weary of Nagumo and just go to you."

"Just a question, but why do you care so much about Ichinose?"

That was a hard question.

I only knew her for 1 day, and this morning was my first interaction with her.

There were two reasons.

If Ichinose is stable, then Class 1-B is also stable.

The second… is that she is pretty attractive. Lookism, I know. But who cares?

But no one needs to know the second reason.

"If the leader is stable, than Class B will probably also be at a stable position. I only care for a relatively relaxing school life."

"I see… then I'll agree to your request, Hikigaya."

Nice, if he didn't accept, I was planning on saying that I'd help Nagumo instead.

I don't know what Nagumo's goal is specifically, but personally I didn't like his personality.

That was enough reason for me.

"Thanks. Then I'll be heading out. Don't tell anyone about me though."

"No issue with that. I trust Tachibana."

Tachibana blushed in response.

Young love. Must be nice to experience youth. I'm over here practically gambling.

But now that my primary goal was done, I just need to stop by the library and check out some books to read at home.

Meeting Ichinose today was an unexpected boon.

With communications with the class leader already done, I can scrap the extortion business and just rely on betting with the respective clubs.

Getting caught extorting students of their money would reduce my credibility with Ichinose, so that was inevitable.

But the game betting was fine. They looked like they didn't mind either.

But leverage over other classes weren't off the table.

Before the month ended, I need to get leverage over Classes D and C.

This was pretty difficult. While riling up Sudo Ken would be easy to accomplish, there was no particular benefit other than getting some quick cash and leverage over Class D.

Of course, this all depends on whether I risk getting caught.

But seeing Ichinose's personality, the class we would most likely create an "Alliance" with would be Class D, as Class C's personality was shit and Class A was our "Rivals."

I could probably determine a dynamic from Class A in a week, and Class C probably had a dictatorship.

Who would the dictator be? I had no idea for now, but regarding their class dynamic, it was pretty easy to conclude.

It would be better to gain leverage over Class C before their regime finalizes, and for Class D, while they still have both money and confidence.

So Sudo Ken was still on my hitlist.

But a disguise would be necessary. It removes my involvement and it also reduces the chance of a grudge happening.

I should probably disguise myself as a Class C student, as it increases possible conflict between the two classes.

While I did say that I wanted a relaxing school life, there was nothing wrong with a little action.

A/N: Writing this chapter I felt like it was way longer than it actually is, but no matter.

Once again, I apologize for possible grammar mistakes. I dont regret them though.