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

She always held a grudge that Hikigaya had once said that Yukinoshita was more like her brother's sister than she was.

"Time is running out."

Gazing at Horikita Suzune's still smooth and lustrous long hair, Hikigaya sighed and muttered to himself, making a decision in his heart.

A decision that may seem cruel to others.

"Rinne's cooking is still so delicious."

More than an hour later, the dining table in the Hikigaya dormitory was once again crowded with six people enjoying Horikita Suzune's cooking.

At this moment, Akane Tachibana, who had come with Horikita Manabu, was looking at Horikita Suzune, Horikita Manabu's younger sister, with a big smile on her face.

"Thank you for the compliment, Senior Ju."

Sitting next to Horikita Manabu, Horikita Suzune blushed slightly as she received the praise, looking at him with a seemingly expectant gaze.

Unfortunately, Horikita Manabu either didn't understand or was unwilling to join Tachibana Akane in praising her.

"I plan to entrust the special exam for Class A to Suzune completely." After finishing his meal, Hikigaya looked at Horikita Manabu seriously. He had already told Shiina about this beforehand.

He had already explained the matter between Tsukishiro and Sakayanagi to the others before dinner. Although they were somewhat dissatisfied, Horikita Manabu and Tachibana Akane had no way to deal with it.

This is not a struggle they can participate in.

"Rinne?" Horikita Manabu frowned slightly, a thoughtful expression on his face.

According to the rules of this special class election exam, one classmate must be chosen to be expelled from school no matter what.

It is obvious that Hikigaya would not voluntarily accept the punishment of expulsion, otherwise he would not have specifically made Horikita Suzune the person in charge of the exam.

In other words, Horikita Suzune must personally select a dropout from among her classmates to bear this infamy.

"I?!!"

"Yes, you are fully responsible. I will not blame you no matter what the outcome is."

Looking directly at Horikita Suzune, whose mouth was slightly agape in shock, Hikigaya remained unmoved.

Time is running out; this is the last special exam before graduating from Horikita Gakuin.

This is Horikita Suzune's last chance to gain her older brother's approval.

Chapter 223 Rejecting Him, Lingyin

"Rinne is no good, Hachiman, you don't need to go to such lengths."

While Horikita Suzune was too shocked to speak, Horikita Manabu made a cold judgment.

He could guess that Hikigaya didn't push Horikita Suzune into the position of person in order to make her take the blame, but this special test was very dangerous and very important for Hikigaya.

After being targeted by the acting chairman of Yuecheng, if Hachiman loses 20 million personal points, he will undoubtedly lose his only resurrection coin.

He felt that handing the exam over to his sister was not a good decision.

"How will I know it won't work if I don't try? Anyway, I'm out of options, so I might as well give it a shot."

In less than a second, Hikigaya rejected Horikita Manabu's opinion, which made Horikita Suzune, whose face had turned pale upon hearing Horikita Manabu's denial, look slightly better, and the fist she had been clenching under the table loosened.

“Reject him, Suzune.” Horikita adjusted his glasses and looked at his younger sister with a sharp gaze.

"......"

Horikita Suzune's shoulders began to tremble, and she lowered her head to avoid looking at her brother's seemingly cold eyes.

She knew that if she simply said "okay," her respected and admired brother wouldn't look at her like that.

But she couldn't do it, even though it was an order from her brother who most wanted her approval.

Although it's unclear why Hikigaya suddenly made this decision, and this decision seems to be pushing her to become the object of resentment among her classmates.

What should I do?

Torn between inner turmoil, Horikita Suzune quietly looked up at Hikigaya sitting opposite her, hoping he could give her some hints.

It doesn't matter what you say, even just nodding.

All we need to do is give her a hint so she can make up her mind to reply to her brother.

Unfortunately, Hikigaya neither answered nor spoke, but simply watched her silently.

Ichinose and Shiina, who were sandwiched between Hachiman Hikigaya, seemed to want to say something, but Hachiman Hikigaya held their shoulders down.

At the same time, Akane Tachibana's shoulders were also held down by Horikita Manabu, and her attention was completely focused on the hand pressing on her shoulders, so she couldn't care less about Horikita Suzune.

Under the guidance of Hikigaya and Horikita Manabu, Horikita Suzune is left to make decisions based solely on her own judgment.

Are you not listening to me?

Horikita's tone was full of impatience, which made Horikita Suzune purse her lips tightly.

The previously peaceful atmosphere in the room turned heavy.

"Hikigaya."

Unable to suppress her inner turmoil, Horikita Suzune weakly called out Hikigaya's name, her dejected and confused expression so pitiful that one couldn't help but want to help her immediately.

"Ugh."

Even though he had decided not to give Horikita Suzune any hints, Hachiman didn't expect her to call his name directly for help.

Is it that if you can't rely on your brother, you can only rely on me?

With this question in mind, Hikigaya pressed his right index finger twice hard against his heart, hoping that Horikita Suzune could understand his meaning and make her believe in her decision.

The fact that Horikita Suzune has not responded to Horikita Manabu's orders yet indicates that she does not want to refuse Hikigaya's proposal.

As long as it's a decision she made herself, Horikita Manabu will probably feel gratified and more at ease about her.

Referring to himself? Does this mean he wants him to believe what he means?

With her eyes closed and head lowered, Horikita Suzune began to ponder whether she should believe Hikigaya for disobeying her brother's orders.

Memories of Hachiman Hikigaya flooded her mind, and she realized that Hachiman Hikigaya seemed to have always indulged and let her have her way, never making things difficult for her.

His actions seemed to be guiding her growth.

Although she was somewhat dissatisfied with being given most of the work of the student council president.

"I accept Hachiman's request, brother."

In her memories, Hikigaya had never harmed her once, and Horikita Suzune decided to believe him.

Are you going to disobey my orders?

"I'm sorry, although I can't guarantee that I can meet Hachiman's expectations, I've decided to take on this task anyway."

Horikita Manabu's increasingly serious and heavy tone did not make Horikita Suzune back down or change her mind. She looked firmly into her brother's eyes.

"........."

A dozen seconds later, Horikita Manabu suddenly placed his hand on Horikita Suzune's head, and the coldness on his face completely dissipated, revealing a rare smile.

"Since you don't intend to go back on your decision, then let me look forward to your performance, Suzune." Horikita Manabu patted his younger sister's head. "I'll be watching you closely."

"Well, I will."

As her mood brightened and a smile blossomed on her face, Horikita Suzune shifted her gaze from her brother's face and secretly glanced at Hachiman.

After seeing him, he also showed a faint smile, just like his brother.

For some reason, Horikita Suzune felt even more delighted.

night.

The dinner party is over, and now only Shiina and Hikigaya are left in the dorm. Ichinose has been dragged out to play by her friend Amakura.

"I wonder if Suzune can win Horikita-senpai's approval."

Leaning back in Hikigaya's arms, Shiina closed the novel they had just finished reading together.

After they became a couple, she would stay in Hachiman's room until after nine o'clock almost every day before returning to her own dormitory.

Her favorite thing to do is for Hachiman to sit on the bed against the wall while she leans against him and he holds her as they read the same book together.

Turning the pages is left to yourself, who reads at a slower pace.

"Who can say for sure about these things? It's up to Suzune herself." Hikigaya hugged Shiina's incredibly soft waist and buried his head near Shiina's neck, taking a deep sniff.

The pleasant fragrance made him feel refreshed.

"H, Hachiman."

Feeling Hikigaya's faint breath on her neck, Shiina blushed slightly and turned her head to the side.

"It's because Hiyori is so tempting." Hikigaya lightly pecked Shiina's blushing cheek. "If any problems arise, I'll have to trouble Hiyori to help her out."

Horikita Suzune was made the person in charge rather than the leader, and on the surface, Shiina, the leader, was supposed to support her.

As for who Horikita Suzune should drop out of school, neither Hikigaya nor Shiina would give her any advice.

"I will, but is Hachiman really planning to do nothing?" Shiina pinched Hikigaya's thigh to stop him from being so presumptuous, and was a little worried.

With her discerning eye, she would naturally know who the most dangerous person in Class A was in this special exam.

If Horikita Suzune only focused on her own class, then Hachiman would definitely be the one to be expelled.

"You can't do anything."

Hikigaya held Shiina's soft, white hand that was pinching him and played with it carefully. He really couldn't do anything right now.

Choosing a scapegoat to drop out of school and save 20 million personal points is simply unacceptable.

With students from other villages already having dropped out of school, there are no more students in Class A who are preparing to drop out.

"temporary."

Their fingers were intertwined, and a smile appeared on Hikigaya's face.

Chapter 224 I Will Decide Who Drops Out

"I need to get to basketball practice, please hurry."

In the afternoon after school, Sudo, who originally planned to rush to the basketball club training, was kept behind by Horikita Suzune under the pretext of a class meeting in Class A's classroom.

"This time I agree with the red-haired boy's opinion."

"It will be over soon as long as no one causes trouble."

Leaving behind Koenji, who was admiring himself in the hand mirror, Horikita Suzune walked to the podium and sharply surveyed the students in the classroom. She didn't speak until the whispers in the classroom had stopped.

"According to inside information from the student council, there will be a special exam after the final exams next month, which will inevitably result in students dropping out. The selection of these dropouts can be controlled within each class."

Horikita, without batting an eye, told a small lie, which made the students in the audience turn their attention to Hachiman, the student council president.

Well done, Horikita, you've even learned to lie.

If dropping out of school can be manipulated internally, then it's not a special exam.

Hikigaya smiled slightly at the many students looking for answers. "Horikita is right. Hiyori and I both plan to entrust Horikita with full responsibility for the special exam next month. We support all her decisions."

"Then please choose one quickly, I'm in a hurry to go on my date with my senior."

"Then let's just pick you. You're the least sociable person in this class." Shinohara Satsuki looked at Koenji with some anger. "Your classmate is the one who wants to drop out. How can you have no sense of belonging to the group at all?"

"Yes, yes, Koenji didn't participate in the sports festival either."

"I will decide who drops out. You just need to listen quietly." Horikita's sharp eyes were directed at Hondo Ryotaro, who was speaking after Shinohara.

Shinohara Satsuki, Academic Ability D, Physical Ability D.

Ryotaro Hondo, Academic Ability D, Physical Ability D.

Determined to have the class graduate with an A grade, she naturally assessed the students' abilities based on the OAA standard. The intentions behind these two statements couldn't be clearer.

"The special exam will be held after the final exam at the end of the month. I will put the bottom three students on the expulsion list. The one with the worst physical ability among the three students will be the one to be expelled."

After Hondou hurriedly lowered his head and Shinohara's friends stopped supporting her, Horikita Suzune calmly stated her thoughts.

The simplest and most advantageous way for Class A to avoid the troublesome aspect of who to abandon and who to be friends with, and who to expel, is to select the weakest student to drop out.

Hachiman has repeatedly emphasized the supremacy of meritocracy in recent months, and he can only blame himself for falling to last place.

"That's too arbitrary. Hachiman once said that the OAA student evaluation has four aspects, and communication skills are an important part of it."