Chapter 008 Sakayanagi: I'm going to buy him! If I can't buy him, then we'll go to him.
The private room fell instantly silent.
Facing Sakayanagi's revelation that Hikigaya was a "transmigrator" and her warning that Hachiman likely already knew their class's arrangements for the upcoming exam, a silence stretched out.
After a while...
"Doesn't that mean—" Kamuro paused, as if weighing her words, "that for this Sports Festival, no matter how we arrange Class B, it's like playing with our cards face-up to him?"
"Face-up." Sakayanagi repeated the phrase, but shook her head. "Not entirely."
Kamuro frowned. "What do you mean?"
"He knows the plot; I've never doubted that." Sakayanagi's voice was light, but every word was clear. "However—even if the rules of the Sports Festival are the same as the 'original work,' it doesn't mean the participation list is the same. We decide the participation list, not the school. Now that we have this information, we can make changes. Therefore, it's impossible for him to know in advance exactly who we are sending to which event."
In other words, as long as the class made changes, they could catch Hikigaya off guard?
Kamuro thought about it. It seemed logical, but something still felt off.
"But he's a transmigrator," Kamuro said with a scowl. "He knows the rules, he knows which events are important, and he knows which ones can be abandoned. He even knows the optimal strategy for every event. What about us? We know nothing. We can only stumble through on our own."
Sakayanagi listened quietly without interrupting.
Kamuro continued, "This holiday, our Class B trained every day. Running, strength, endurance—everyone practiced. I thought we could win that way. But now..."
She paused, her voice dropping lower.
"Now, I feel like that holiday training wasn't worth it at all."
Sakayanagi looked at her, silent for a few seconds. She understood that her "puppy" had lost her confidence.
"Kamuro," Sakayanagi began, "why do you think Hikigaya-kun has been able to win these past few exams?"
Kamuro blinked. "Because he's smart?"
"Intelligence is one part of it," Sakayanagi said. "But more importantly, he never relies on just one thing. For the Behavioral Standards exam, he used an open scheme. For the Desert Island
exam, he relied on deals and strategy. For the VIP exam, he relied on induction and deception. He isn't the type who only uses brute force, nor is he the type who only uses his brain. He is the type of person who—uses whatever is useful."
Kamuro fell silent.
Sakayanagi continued, "The Sports Festival is the same. He won't just rely on physical ability, nor just on strategy. He will use everything available to him. That is what makes him terrifying."
"However, even if the rules of the Sports Festival are the same as the original, the participation list isn't fixed. Since we know this, we can make changes. He can't possibly know exactly who we're sending."
So, as long as they changed things up, they could hit Hikigaya with a surprise?
The words were somewhat comforting, but Kamuro still felt something wasn't right.
"But being too relaxed would also be a mistake," Sakayanagi added. "First of all, Hikigaya-kun knows better than anyone that exams in this school are never won simply by 'knowing' things. If knowing the plot was enough to win, he wouldn't have needed to lay so many foundations during the Island Exam; he could have just followed a script. But he didn't. He calculated every move precisely and scrutinized every link. Why?"
Kamuro didn't speak.
"Because he knows that the true opponent is never the plot—it's the human heart." Sakayanagi's voice lowered. "He knows how we think, what we'll do, and how we'll respond. That's why he can set traps in advance, waiting for us to jump in.
This Sports Festival will be the same."
Kamuro was silent for a long time. Her finger traced unconscious circles on the table, her gaze fixed on her fingertip.
"So..." Kamuro finally spoke, her voice a bit dry, "are we still going to lose?"
Sakayanagi didn't answer immediately.
She picked up the empty black tea cup and set it back down. The movement was light, but the cup made a soft clink against the table.
"Not necessarily," Sakayanagi said. "But if we just follow our holiday training and treat our physical data as our trump card, we will likely lose."
Kamuro looked up at her.
Sakayanagi met her gaze and spoke slowly. "Have you heard of Tian Ji's Horse Racing?"
Kamuro paused, then nodded. "I learned it in middle school. Tian Ji used his inferior horse against the opponent's superior horse and lost one round. Then he used his superior horse
against their middling horse to win. Finally, he used his middling horse against their inferior horse to win again. Two out of three."
"Correct." Sakayanagi nodded. "That is the importance of strategy. Physical data is just the strength of the 'horse,' but how you arrange who faces whom is the key to victory."
Sakayanagi paused, pulled out a small notebook, flipped to a page, and began writing.
After a moment, she pushed the notebook toward Kamuro.
Kamuro looked down. The paper had a table drawn on it, densely packed with names and numbers. The students of Class A and Class B were divided into three tiers: Superior, Middling, and Inferior. Each tier was annotated with corresponding events and estimated scores.
"This is..." Kamuro's voice tightened.
"The physical assessment of our Class B." Sakayanagi's tone was calm. "I had Katsuragi compile it during the holidays. Everyone's strengths, weaknesses, preferred events, and disliked events are all on here."
Kamuro's eyes swept quickly over the paper. Kito Hayato's name was in the Superior category, noted with "Excellent in all strength events, exceptionally superior in speed." Kamuro Masumi's own name was also in the Superior column, with "Strong explosive power, strong endurance, adaptable to most events." Then, Shiraishi Asuka's name appeared in the Mid-Lower tier, with only a small note—"Ordinary physical ability, consider for strategy-based events."
Her finger paused on the "ordinary physical ability" note before moving on.
Kamuro understood that this was a miscalculation. Since Shiraishi Asuka was a White Room student and from the same generation as Ayanokouji, her physical ability couldn't possibly be ordinary.
But now wasn't the time to discuss Shiraishi.
"What about Class A?" Kamuro looked up. "How will Hikigaya arrange things?"
Sakayanagi leaned back in her chair, her finger tapping the edge of the table.
"If I were him, I would first figure out our participation list." Sakayanagi's voice was soft but clear. "Our Class B holiday training couldn't be hidden. Anyone can see who runs fast, who jumps high, and who is strong after watching a few times. He doesn't need our specific data; he just needs a rough ranking of our strengths."
"And then?" Kamuro pressed.
"Then, he will use the logic of Tian Ji's Horse Racing." Sakayanagi took a sip of water and set the glass down. "For example, if Class B sends our strongest person for a certain event, he will send his weakest person and give up that round. When we send a middling person, he will
send his strongest to take the win. When we send our weakest, he will send his middling person to take another win."
She paused, looking Kamuro in the eye.
"Two out of three. It will look like we have the advantage in every event, but in the end, he will be the one who wins."
Kamuro's fingers tightened slightly.
She thought back to those training days during the break. Waking up at 6:00 AM to run, going to the gym for strength training in the afternoon, stretching and recovering at night.
And now Sakayanagi was telling her that they had trained for a month only to become targets for Hikigaya Hachiman.
"Then..." Kamuro's throat felt dry, "what do we do?"
Sakayanagi was silent for a few seconds.
Then, she shook her head slightly.
"I haven't thought of it yet." There was a trace of helplessness in her voice that even she didn't notice. "Hikigaya-kun is not someone who plays by the rules. His participation list probably won't be finalized until the day before the submission deadline. Until then, it's very hard to guess his arrangements."
Kamuro leaned back against her chair, staring at the ceiling light. The light was blindingly white, but she didn't look away.
"So..." she murmured, "we can only gamble?"
"It's not a gamble," Sakayanagi's voice was faint. "It's a wait. We wait for him to show a flaw.
No matter how capable he is, he is just one person. No matter how strong Class A is, they have weaknesses. As long as we find that weakness and concentrate all our power there, we still have a chance."
She retracted her gaze, looked at Kamuro, and her lips curled slightly.
"Besides, we aren't completely without advantages."
Kamuro blinked. "What advantages?"
"The Red vs. White competition," Sakayanagi said. "We are the White team; they are the Red team. The total score for the entire school year is added up; it's not just a matter for our grade. While President Horikita of the third year is strong, the third-year White team has its own advantages. Though Kiriyama-senpai of the second year fell from Class A, he won't give up easily. After all, this is their chance to climb back up. The same goes for the third-year Class B. Therefore, the three Class Bs in the White group will become incredibly united. It might even extend to discussing how to handle the exam with the senpai."
Sakayanagi paused, her tone gaining a hint of confidence.
"So, this exam isn't something Hikigaya Hachiman can decide on his own. You don't need to give up here."
Kamuro looked at her and remained silent for a long time.
Then, she let out a soft sigh.
"Sakayanagi, you've really changed a lot."
Sakayanagi was slightly startled. "Changed a lot?"
"Yeah." Kamuro nodded, her eyes lingering on Sakayanagi's face. "Before, you would only say 'I will win,' not 'we still have a chance.' Before, you only thought Class A was the strongest; you wouldn't think about finding the opponent's weaknesses."
She paused, her mouth twitching slightly.
"The old you wouldn't have said things like this."
Sakayanagi was silent for a few seconds.
Then she let out a soft laugh. It was a faint sound, as if she couldn't help but let it leak out.
"Perhaps." she said softly. "After all, falling from Class A really made me think a lot."
Kamuro watched her but didn't reply.
She knew that the blow of falling from Class A was heavy for Sakayanagi. It wasn't just about the class ranking... it was that she thought she was clever enough to use Hikigaya's inner voice to pass exams, only to realize those voices were just bait he had released.
She had been played by a man.
Thinking of this, Kamuro's brow furrowed slightly.
"Speaking of which, Sakayanagi... did you hear Hikigaya's inner voice today?"
Sakayanagi's fingers stopped at the edge of the table.
She turned her head to look at Kamuro, her expression becoming serious.
"No," Sakayanagi said. "And you?"
Kamuro shook her head.
"None for me either. Actually... I ran into Hikigaya a few times during the holidays. In the library, the cafeteria, the hallways. We weren't far apart each time, but I didn't hear it once."
Sakayanagi's brow twitched.
"Not once?"
"Not once," Kamuro repeated, a trace of loss in her voice that she hadn't noticed herself. "In the past, even if I tried to avoid him, I could still hear his inner thoughts. But during the break, there was nothing."
"Oh."
Sakayanagi leaned back, her gaze drifting to the ceiling.
"Perhaps..." she began softly, "he has learned to control it."
Kamuro looked at her.
Sakayanagi continued, "During the VIP exam, he used his inner voice to transmit false information.
By then, he already knew someone could hear his thoughts. Since he knew, it was impossible for him not to take precautions."
At this, Sakayanagi's tone carried a hint of admiration.
"Perhaps, from that moment on, he began practicing how to control his inner voice. How to let what he wants heard be heard, and how to keep what he doesn't want heard silent."
This caused Kamuro to fall silent for a long time.
She remembered the events of the VIP exam. The things Hachiman had "said" in his heart—about the base on the island, about the patterns of the VIPs, about Class B having the most VIPs, about the VIP of the Sheep group being Matsushita Chiaki—every sentence landed exactly where they most wanted to hear it. At the time, she thought she was lucky to have captured key intel. Looking back, perhaps those words were meant for her from the start.
"So..." Kamuro's voice was dry, "the things he said before... weren't they all true?"
She thought back to the beginning, when she first met Hikigaya and he mentioned her being expelled in the second year.
Could that... actually be false too?
Sakayanagi glanced at her but didn't answer immediately.
After a few seconds, she spoke slowly.
"True or false, it doesn't matter anymore." Sakayanagi said calmly. "The important thing is that when he doesn't want us to hear, we hear nothing. However, he likely didn't know we could hear him from the very beginning, so the initial information about the 'original work' should be correct.
Furthermore, regarding the inner voice, I don't think there's a need to worry too much." Sakayanagi continued.
"It's possible he has controlled it, or it's possible it has disappeared.
This is a supernatural occurrence after all. It's normal for something like an inner voice to suddenly vanish."
Kamuro nodded in understanding.
After all, at the start, she thought she was the heroine of some novel world because she encountered such a supernatural thing, only to find out that the Hikigaya guy was like a public broadcast channel that anyone could hear.
It made her feel as cheap as a head of cabbage.
However, Kamuro's mood wasn't too terrible.
Because she already knew the future development of her own life—that she would be expelled in the second year. But because Sakayanagi had prepared a fallback and kept evidence of Hashimoto's betrayal of the class, she should be able to avoid expulsion.
So, that was a blessing in disguise.
But now the class had dropped from Class A to Class B. She thought there was hope for this Sports Festival, but now, it seemed difficult again.
Kamuro couldn't help but ask Sakayanagi again.
"Do you think... we still have hope for this Sports Festival?"
As someone who was originally assigned to Class A and hoped to graduate smoothly on that "Great Ship," Kamuro was incredibly concerned about Class B's current situation.
Sakayanagi suddenly realized that her "puppy" was actually the person most loyal to Class A.
But it made sense. Her academic ability was insufficient, so there was no hope of getting into a prestigious university through normal exams. She could only rely on graduating from Class A to receive the school's reward of a free, exam-exempt entry into her desired university.
Therefore, now that the class had dropped, she was the person who most wanted the class to return to the Class A position.
Only... this meant climbing back up, closing the 400-point gap between them and Hikigaya-kun's Class A. That task was truly not easy.
But why must one push forward against the odds just because it's difficult?
At this thought, Sakayanagi seemed to have a sudden realization.
She gave a soft laugh and looked at Kamuro.
"Kamuro," Sakayanagi said. "Have you ever considered that maybe we don't need to win?"
Kamuro was stunned and turned her head to look at her.
Sakayanagi explained, "Have you thought that maybe from the start, we chose the wrong direction?"
Kamuro was confused. "What direction?"
Sakayanagi's finger tapped lightly on the edge of the table.
"We have been thinking about how to defeat Hikigaya-kun. But maybe, winning against him isn't the only option."
Kamuro frowned, waiting for her to continue.
Sakayanagi pulled her gaze back and looked at her, her eyes burning slightly.
"Actually, there is a most direct solution." Sakayanagi said. "And that is—we buy Hikigaya-kun over."
Almost as soon as Sakayanagi finished speaking, Kamuro was completely dumbfounded.
Because, buying him over... yes, if they bought Hikigaya, they wouldn't need to win. Or rather, because they bought him, he wouldn't be an opponent, but... an ally!
Sakayanagi Arisu, you... are you a genius?
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