Chapter 263: Because You're Ugly
"Sudo, you used to be one of the bottom-dwellers too. How can you say something like that?"
Hirata Yosuke furrowed his brows.
"Why can't I?! It's precisely because I've been there that I know how pathetic I was back then!"
Sudo Ken retorted loudly, "Why should I have to take the risk of being expelled for losers like them?"
Hikigaya Hachiman rested his chin on one hand, his dead-fish eyes quietly observing everyone's reactions.
To be fair, he didn't think Sudo Ken was wrong.
The guy had climbed up from the bottom through his own hard work; he truly had the right to look down on other failing students. Of course, saying what was on his mind so bluntly also exposed the fact that Sudo Ken had very low emotional intelligence.
"Hey, hey, Sudo, that's way too harsh."
"What do you mean 'losers'? Is it a crime to have slightly bad grades?"
"Tch! Just because you've done a bit better on tests lately, you think you're something special?"
Unsurprisingly, Sudo Ken's words successfully drew the hostility of most people in Class D.
"As a student, studying hard is only natural.
Your grades are terrible, yet you won't let anyone talk about it?"
Yukimura Teruhiko spoke up in a heavy voice.
Rather than saying he was speaking out of a sense of justice, he was actually defending the dignity of the "honor students."
"Tch~ What's the use of just being a bookworm?
What right does someone who came in last in every event at the Sports Festival have to lecture us here!"
Shinohara Satsuki snapped back.
"..."
Yukimura Teruhiko was hit right where it hurt. His face turned bright red, and he was unable to refute her.
Just as she said, his physical ability was poor; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was as weak as a leaf in the wind.
"If I remember correctly, Shinohara-san, you didn't exactly win any prizes at the Sports Festival either, did you?"
Wang Mei-Yu muttered softly.
As a fellow honor student, her stance leaned more toward Yukimura Teruhiko.
"So, so what?
At least my ranking was way better than Yukimura's!"
A flash of embarrassment crossed Shinohara Satsuki's face, but she quickly shifted her target of attack: "I say, Wang-san, whose side are you on? Why are you speaking up for that weakling? Could it be that you like him?"
It appeared!
The classic rhetoric used by girls to attack other girls!
As long as you speak up for a certain boy, it must mean you like him.
"Ah? N-No..."
Wang Mei-Yu hurriedly waved her hands in denial. Between her thin skin and being a foreign student, she lost her words in her frantic state.
"Look, she's blushing. You're embarrassed, aren't you? Hahaha!"
Shinohara Satsuki, thinking she had gained the upper hand, laughed loudly.
"Uuuu~ I didn't!"
Wang Mei-Yu was practically on the verge of tears from frustration.
Yukimura Teruhiko was equally embarrassed. He wanted to say a few fair words for Wang Mei-Yu, but he was afraid the other party would seize the opportunity to spread further rumors. In the end, he could only respond with silence.
Under Shinohara Satsuki's unreasonable badgering, the Class D classroom became noisy once again.
"Airi, let me borrow your glasses for a moment."
Hikigaya Hachiman's gaze was cold.
"?..."
Sakura Airi was stunned for a moment, then she pulled a pair of brand-new black-framed glasses out of her drawer.
'Wait, aren't these a men's style?'
Hikigaya looked at her with a slightly strange expression. He had originally intended to just make do with the glasses she was currently wearing.
"I... when I was out shopping recently, I found a pair of glasses that I thought would suit Hachiman-kun very well...
I thought that maybe one day Hachiman-kun would need them... so I bought them."
Sakura Airi explained in a small voice.
For now, he'd just take her word for it.
Hikigaya didn't dwell on the details and put on the black-framed glasses.
"Hmph!"
A low, cold snort, carrying an inexplicable aura of authority, instantly caused the originally noisy classroom to pause.
"You startled me... I thought the Dean of Students had arrived, uh..."
Everyone looked toward the source of the sound. Seeing Hikigaya Hachiman wearing the glasses, they suddenly felt a chill.
"Keep talking! Go on! Weren't you all very vocal just now?"
Hikigaya's cold gaze swept across the room.
"Hikigaya-kun... this doesn't seem to have anything to do with you, right?"
If memory served, this was likely the first time Shinohara Satsuki had used an honorific with him.
Was it because he was wearing the glasses?
"It has nothing to do with me, but you're being noisy and annoying me."
Hikigaya reached out and adjusted the position of the glasses.
"What kind of reason is that? You're helping Wang-san so much, do you like her too..."
Shinohara Satsuki used her almost universal rumor-mongering formula.
Unexpectedly, Hikigaya didn't play by the rules at all: "So what if I do?"
"Eh?!"
Wang Mei-Yu looked shocked.
"!!!"
Several sharp gazes were cast his way from the surroundings.
However, he was used to it.
"Wang Mei-Yu-san is cute; isn't it perfectly normal for her to be popular?"
Hikigaya stated the fact with a straight face.
Hearing this, Wang Mei-Yu lowered her head shyly.
"Shinohara, you're just jealous of Wang Mei-Yu-san, aren't you!"
Hikigaya began his counterattack.
"I—how could I be jealous of her...?"
Shinohara Satsuki argued stubbornly.
"Because you're ugly."
"Where am I ugly!"
"Otherwise, can you find a girl in this class who is uglier than you?"
Hikigaya initiated his fatal rhythm.
"Wow!"
The entire class erupted in an uproar.
Even the other girls in the class began to look at Shinohara Satsuki with a hint of suspicion and distance!
They were terrified that Shinohara Satsuki would lose her filter and blurt out a name regarding "who is uglier."
"..."
"..."
Shinohara Satsuki was practically exploding with rage, unable to even utter a complete sentence.
In the end, she could only collapse onto her desk and start shedding "little pearls" (tears) by herself.
However, not a single person in the class went to comfort her. After all, anyone with eyes could see that Shinohara Satsuki had started the trouble herself—it was pure karma!
"Enough, are you all done arguing?"
Horikita Suzune looked around the room with an unfriendly tone: "The next round of special exams is coming soon. Do you really want us to be expelled as a group?"
She successfully pulled the theme of the discussion back to the exam.
Hikigaya also returned to his seat and took off the glasses.
"So, Horikita-san, what exactly should we do?"
Someone asked humbly.
"Next, I will explain my strategy for dealing with this...
First, for the ten students with the lowest scores: you only need to write your names on the test papers and turn them in blank.
It's just a mock test anyway; it won't be recorded in the S-System. Even if you get a zero, it won't have any impact.
Second, for the top ten students: please get as high a score as possible, at least above 90 points.
Finally, for the 17 people in the middle: you only need to answer one question correctly."
Horikita Suzune said a lot, but to summarize it in two words: Score Control!
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