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

"Unless you, Shinohara, reach the level of Hirata or Ichinose, this won't be considered part of your strength."

"In short, I can't accept your reckless decision. Everyone thinks so, right?" Shinohara looked at her friend Sato, who was at the bottom of the midterm exams and felt certain that she would continue to be in the bottom three in the final exams.

"I think Shinohara..."

"Aren't you mistaken about something? Class A has never been about democracy." Horikita Suzune tapped the podium lightly, interrupting Sato's speech.

"Now, I'm the one who can make the decisions for Class A."

"Class meeting is over, you may dismiss yourselves."

With a flick of her long, smooth black hair, Horikita returned to her seat, picked up her bag, and met up with Yukinoshita before leaving the classroom together, despite Shinohara's angry expression.

As expected, after she left, the classroom erupted with insults directed at her.

"Hachigaya-kun." Hirata approached Hichigaya with a gloomy expression. He was carrying his schoolbag and preparing to head to the student council room like Horikita and the other two.

"impossible."

"Class A can borrow it as a whole first, and we'll pay it back in full each month..."

"Impossible, just give up on that idea, Hirata." Hikigaya shook his head.

Class A has over 1,400 class points, and the 36 students can earn over 5 million individual points each month without taking any points themselves.

It will take four months to raise 20 million.

He could have waited less than six months, but now that Yuecheng has his eye on him, he can't.

"how come--"

Lost and dejected, Hirata returned to his seat and sat there blankly. Hachiman ignored him and left the classroom to go to the student council.

Hirata wouldn't dare to act recklessly during this special exam, as long as he had a brain.

"Horikita, you can lie without batting an eye."

Hikigaya caught up with Horikita Yukinoshita, who had gone ahead, and the two struck up a conversation.

"Don't you even consider whose fault it is?" Horikita Suzune rolled her eyes cutely but didn't stop walking.

With just over ten days until the special exam on March 1st, after the students in Class A had subconsciously accepted the idea that Horikita Suzune had dropped out of school as one of the students with the worst final exam results, even if they discovered they had been deceived, few of the students would cause a scene.

They would silently cast their criticisms for those who had already been selected as dropouts.

“I talked to Katsuragi on the phone last night, but he didn’t intend to talk to me.” Horikita Suzune paused.

"He made it clear that Class D would cast all their criticism votes for you, Hachiman, and it wouldn't work even if they used personal points."

"Kansaki is the same as Katsuragi, but Ryuen from Class C contacted me and wanted to meet up."

Ryuen invited Horikita Suzune to meet? It's likely that Katsuragi or Kanzaki discussed it with Ryuen, or perhaps the three companies have already reached an agreement.

It's unclear whether it was Katsuragi or Kanzaki who facilitated the alliance.

Hikigaya stroked his chin and began to ponder why Ryuen wanted to meet with Horikita. Was it to find out about Class A through Horikita, or was he after the thirty-six criticism votes that Class A possessed?

If they take a liking to those thirty-six critical votes, then there's something to say about it.

"Horikita, what do you plan to do, see him or not?"

Knowing in his heart that this meeting wouldn't do any harm, Hachiman didn't make the decision for Horikita.

"Of course we'll meet, but you have to come with me, Hachiman. We're meeting in a private karaoke room. I'm worried Ryuen might do something reckless."

"Oh, I thought you, Horikita, were fearless and would dare to go alone."

Hikigaya smiled with satisfaction. If it were the old Horikita, he would have gone alone without considering his own safety, which was not good.

Unlike him, Long Yuan is ruthless when it comes to beating women.

Although the probability is extremely low, betting on a gang leader in a private room without surveillance is definitely not a wise choice, as he would never act recklessly.

"Whether you go or not is up to you. If you don't go, I'll go find Hirata-kun."

In response to Hikigaya's somewhat teasing tone, Horikita Suzune delivered a karate chop to Hikigaya's side, her delicate face showing a hint of annoyance.

"Go away, how can I let Horikita-senpai's cute little sister face a school bully like Ryuen alone?"

Looking at Horikita Suzune's delicate face, which was cute even when she was angry, Hikigaya's smile deepened.

Horikita-senpai is really ruthless to be so heartless as to distance himself from such a cute younger sister.

Chapter 225 Dropping out of Longyuan?

Shortly after the student council ended its work and disbanded.

"Oh ho, Hachiman is here too."

Sitting cross-legged in the center of the KTV room, Ryuen showed no sign of displeasure at Hachiman's arrival, who followed Horikita Suzune.

Besides Albert, Ishizaki, and Ibuki, who were Ryuen's old cronies, there was also a blond-haired Hashimoto in the private room.

"What? You're not welcome?" Hachiman followed Horikita and took a seat.

"How could that be? It's just that the person I'm talking to today is you or this Suzune beside me."

Picking up the glass that looked like it was filled with wine but was actually soda, Long Yuan wore a half-smile.

"You can just treat him like he's not there." Horikita Suzune wasn't angry at Ryuen's address and disdainful manner. "Also, please don't call me that so intimately. This kind of thug-like pickup line is outdated."

"You really dare to say that, Suzune."

“You’ve been looked down upon, Ryuen.”

Hashimoto teased, but Albert and Ishizaki seemed used to it and didn't react to Hashimoto's words.

Not long after he transferred to Class C, he had already established good relationships with the students in Class C.

"How many criticism votes can you control from Class A?" Ryuen's smile vanished as he stared intently at Horikita.

Although Ayanokouji had dropped out of school, the power he had consolidated was not weakened but rather strengthened under Kaneda's influence.

Ayanokouji's assistance in helping Hikigaya drop out of school led many neutral members of Class C to join Kaneda's faction, especially the girls, who, apart from Ibuki, only outwardly obeyed him.

The class vote, this special test, is as dangerous as Qigu, and even more dangerous than Longyuan.

Because he had already bought Hashimoto's transfer, he couldn't come up with 20 million personal points to save himself.

With 20 million personal points, Hachiman could threaten Class A students with retaliation afterward, but if he dropped out, he would really drop out and wouldn't be able to retaliate, let alone threaten Class C students.

"Around thirty." Horikita did not choose to exaggerate.

This class voting exam was completely anonymous; it was impossible to have absolute control over what votes each student cast and who they voted for.

If it were possible to determine after the fact who voted for whom, then Ryuen wouldn't need to investigate with Horikita.

"Name your price. I want to ensure that one of the more popular students in our class drops out."

To prevent Horikita from demanding an exorbitant price and to avoid exposing his inability to control his classmates during the class vote, Ryuen lied nonchalantly.

"Equal number of criticism votes."

"Impossible, the vote has already been decided for Hachiman." Even though Hachiman himself was in Ryuen, he stated the fact without any concern.

Voting for Hachiman was a consensus reached by Class 3. No matter how much they denied it, they were afraid that Hachiman would cause trouble like the Forest School did, and it would be better for everyone if Hachiman didn't have 20 million personal points.

"Then there's nothing to discuss?"

"Please."

When Horikita Suzune left the stage, Ryuen acted as if it was up to her to decide what to do, as if the thirty critical votes were unimportant to him.

Horikita Suzune didn't tolerate him. She stood up from her seat and walked towards the door without stopping. Seeing this, Hikigaya followed her without saying a word.

In the end, Longyuan did not try to retain them.

"What do you think of Hachiman?"

“Of course we’ll just sit and watch,” Hachiman laughed.

The two were sitting on a bench in the small square in the center of the beech tree area. They did not separate immediately after leaving the KTV.

No matter how much Longyuan tried to hide it, the two of them could tell that he really wanted those thirty criticism votes.

"Let's get down to business." Horikita glared at Hachiman. "My gut feeling tells me that Ryuen is lying. Something must have happened in Class C that we don't know about."

"You're mistaken. It's not that we don't know, but that you don't. I think I understand why Bailong Garden invited you to meet."

After recalling and analyzing every action and word of Ryuen from KTV, Hachiman felt he could roughly figure out why Ryuen wanted those thirty criticism votes.

It's a lie to drop out of school because you like a popular student; the real reason you drop out is because you can't find a popular student to be your friend.

The students in Class C no longer obey Longyuan's orders, and there are quite a few of them.

Ryuen is afraid that Class A will focus their criticism on him, and perhaps he is also worried that Katsuragi might turn against him.

After all, if Katsuragi wants to be promoted, he has to take down Ryuen's Class C first.

"I need to use some of the individual points raised by Class A."

"Whatever you want, just go and tell Hiyori."

"Okay, I have things to do, so I won't go back with you."

Suppressing the urge to ask Hikigaya for help and what information he had deduced, Horikita decided to use his own methods to investigate the current situation of Class C.

She didn't want to rely on Hachiman's power if she could avoid it; she wanted to gain the approval of her brother and Hachiman on her own.

She stayed by Hachiman's side, observing him and occasionally doing things for him.

Horikita Suzune believed she also knew a little about how to bribe people.

...........

...........

"Why are you back so soon?"

"Horikita is that kind of decisive and efficient person."

Back in the dorm, Hikigaya handed his backpack to Ichinose, who had come to greet him first, and then took off his coat and handed it to Shiina, who was pouting and had arrived a little later, and patted her head.

The two of them had been informed in advance about going to see Ryuen with Horikita Suzune.

"It smells so good! What did you cook today?"

Upon entering the room, a rich aroma of meat wafted into Hachiman's nostrils, growing stronger the closer he got to the kitchen.

"It's braised beef with potatoes, a new recipe I learned." Ichinose put Hachiman's backpack down, her eyes full of smiles.

She wasn't worried at all about a student dropping out of Class B during the special class vote, because Kanzaki had already reached a loan agreement with the wealthy Totsuka.

In exchange for a fairly generous reward, Class B and Totsuka borrowed over ten million yen.

The class voting exam started on March 1st and didn't end until the 4th. With the individual points distributed in March, Class B could raise about ten million.

Adding them all up, getting 20 million points wouldn't be a problem at all.

"Then I must savor it properly."

Feeling that he shouldn't show favoritism, Hikigaya patted Ichinose's head. After Ichinose happily went into the kitchen, Hikigaya sat down in the chair in front of the desk and began to think.

The leader of the faction in Class C who obeyed orders but not orders was likely Kaneda, since he had clearly sided with Ayanokoji back then.

Fearing being purged by Ryuen and in order to protect himself, he had no choice but to take Ayanokouji's place and continue to speak out for the academically gifted intellectuals, acting as their spokesperson.

Each student gets three criticism votes, so it's not surprising that, apart from a few die-hard supporters of Longyuan, other students in Class C secretly wrote Longyuan's name on them.

If he gives Kaneda a push and a little help to get him moving, and with the criticism votes from Class A, Ryuen has a very high chance of being expelled.

Chapter 226 Rooftop Duel and Hirata's Roar

"Congratulations, everyone has passed."

The A class meeting was held at the end of February. The final exam results had already been released and announced in the classroom by Chazhu.

Even though they heard that everyone would pass and there would be no dropouts, several students in the audience still looked very upset.

The third-to-last is Shinohara, the second-to-last is Sato, the last is Hondo, and their respective friends.

"I've been studying so hard," Sato said irritably, tugging at his ponytail.

Because of Horikita Suzune's stubbornness, most of the underachieving students in Class A worked hard for the past ten days or so in order to avoid being expelled. However, while you were working hard, others were also working hard.