Early the next morning.
The last day of the school trip, and also the second free action.
Yesterday's attraction tour, a total of 20 groups.
Six groups achieved results of more than 20 points and obtained 50,000 personal points; naturally, they wouldn't have the mood to enjoy playing.
At this time.
Hikigaya came to the hotel to enjoy breakfast. Tokito and others were watching TV in the room, and he happened to run into Ibuki, Kushida Kikyo, and others.
The girls seemed to show more unity.
Although they didn't seem to chat much, they maintained collective action within the hotel where free movement was allowed.
"Haha."
Ibuki Mio stood in front of Horikita Suzune, her face full of pride:
"How about it, Horikita? This time I win, right?"
"Even if your group obtained free time, that is the collective credit of your group; it doesn't mean you are better than me, right?"
Horikita Suzune was eating breakfast.
Although she said so, her expression was not very good.
This time.
A total of 7 groups were disqualified because they failed to check in at six attractions or exceeded the time, losing the opportunity for free activity today.
Today they can only participate in the study session at the hotel until 3:00 PM.
And Horikita Suzune's group was one of them.
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Hikki."
"That fellow Ibuki is really energetic."
Hikigaya sat between Sakura Airi and Kamuro Masumi with his meal tray, while Tsube Hitomi and Kushida Kikyo sat opposite.
"That fellow has been like that since 597 this morning."
Kushida Kikyo said with some sarcasm: "I really don't know what there is to compete over; she's like an idiot."
"Well, Ibuki has a strong competitive spirit; there's no helping it."
The corners of Hikigaya's mouth revealed a smile; he didn't dislike it.
Although her attitude was still cold, Kushida Kikyo also began to join the small talk.
Just.
Trying to regain the trust of the people around her.
Was as difficult as reaching the heavens.
Interacting with Kushida Kikyo again, normal people would think twice before chatting, which is probably why she has such a flat attitude.
As for Horikita Suzune's side, Hikigaya naturally knew.
He had already learned from the people in Class B yesterday.
The main reason why 7 groups failed this time lay with Class D.
To put it more appropriately.
All mistakes were attributed to Class D.
Proposals would be accused of having no team spirit, and silence would be accused as expected of not considering the team at all.
No matter what they did, it was wrong.
If Class D people wanted to integrate opinions, the difficulty would be several times higher than before.
If they were like Sotomura Hideo, acting timidly.
It might still be possible.
But that was mainly because Tokito, Ibuki, and others were the types who were not interested in the affairs of the people around them.
Or if they were strong enough.
Being able to talk to the people around them until they were speechless would also be no problem.
However.
Horikita Suzune clearly did not have such power.
Most of the people in Class D did not.
Without top-tier ability, and unable to bow their heads when they should.
Failure is the inevitable outcome.
"Speaking of competitiveness."
Kamuro Masumi spoke teasingly while eating her rice:
"Kushida, you're probably not much different from Ibuki, are you? Didn't you act so obedient before because of your competitiveness?"
"Hmm?"
Kushida Kikyou raised an eyebrow, reflecting for a moment without offering a rebuttal.
Though she acted obedient out of jealousy, it wasn't much different from competitiveness.
"Maybe."
Kushida Kikyou curled her lips: "Perhaps everyone is the same."
In any case, she maintained an attitude of telling the truth and letting things take their course.
What could you possibly do to me anyway?
However.
Though he didn't know what had happened between the girls.
Hikigaya felt that this kind of atmosphere was at least much better than a few days ago.
On the final day.
Hikigaya and the others returned to the inn after skiing and shopping; the students who stayed behind had also just finished their study session.
Today.
Machida Kouji was a bit more enthusiastic than during the first three days.
Upon returning to the inn.
Hikigaya first contacted Nakanishi, one of the seven failed groups, and learned they had spent the entire day studying at the inn.
It couldn't be helped.
There were simply too many failed groups, and no one organized any activities.
Of course.
There was one major reason that Hikigaya could roughly guess.
"I see, thanks."
Hikigaya nodded and suggested: "There's still some time before dark, why not go out and play since it's a rare opportunity?"
"Hmm..."
After thinking for a moment, Nakanishi shook his head:
"I'll pass. Holding a study session all day is really exhausting. I plan to take a final bath. Do you want to come along, Hikigaya?"
"I'll pass. You go ahead and enjoy your bath."
Nodding.
Hikigaya turned and left.
He found Ibuki Mio in the lobby, sitting in a massage chair to relieve the fatigue of the past few days.
"Yo..."
"What do you want?"
Ibuki Mio's body jolted as she quickly opened her eyes.
She was clearly startled by Hikigaya's sudden appearance.
"Didn't you want a showdown with Horikita? Or have you given up on that?"
Hikigaya said with a light chuckle.
After all, Ibuki Mio hadn't caused much trouble for him yesterday, which was what they agreed on the day before.
But if Ibuki Mio gave up on her own initiative.
Then forget it.
"What are you planning to do?"
Ibuki Mio suddenly wanted to stand up in excitement, only to be firmly squeezed by the massage chair.
"No need to rush. There's still time, we can talk while you get your massage."
Hikigaya sat down beside her, turning on the massage chair to enjoy it as well:
"That depends on you. There aren't many activities we can do at the inn—mostly just board games or a snowball fight. What do you think?"
"Then let's have a snowball fight. I don't have any objections."
Ibuki Mio clearly preferred a snowball fight where they could duel.
"It's just that Horikita is not frank at all. How do you plan to convince her to participate?"
Hmm?
Hikigaya was somewhat surprised.
After all, whether it was to her or to Ichinose and the others, Horikita Suzune seemed like a very straightforward type.
In fact.
Aside from being beautiful, it seemed Horikita Suzune only had that one merit.
To his surprise.
In Ibuki Mio's eyes, Horikita Suzune was instead un-frank.
As expected, everyone has different perspectives and draws different conclusions when seeing a problem.
She probably felt that even though Horikita Suzune was willing to duel her, she would always decline several times before agreeing.
As for whether that was actually the case, it wasn't very clear.
However.
Getting Horikita Suzune to join.
In Hikigaya's view, it wasn't difficult.
"That girl seems to enjoy competing with me. I think if I just provoke her a little, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Then she'll only agree to compete with you. What about me? Are we going to do a two-on-one?"
"We'll hold an activity for everyone to join first, and then create conditions for the two of you and provoke her again. It's worth a try at least, right?"
"No problem."
Wrapped in the massage chair, Ibuki Mio became more excited, her face flushing red:
"This counts as the promise you made the day before yesterday, right?"
"Yeah, is there a problem?"
"Then I don't owe you anything anymore."
"Oh..."
Hikigaya nodded; he wasn't surprised by Ibuki Mio's dislike of owing favors.
"I thought you were just brushing me off and would act like nothing happened on the last day."
"After all, I had to consider the others in the group. I couldn't drag them along to cooperate with you."
"I see..."
Ibuki Mio nodded nonchalantly.
She was actually a bit surprised that Hikigaya had kept the promise in mind all this time, looking at him with a bit more respect.