Chapter 028: I'm Waiting for Bonus Points; What Are You All Waiting For?
Hikigaya and Ichinose headed directly from the shopping district toward the Student Council office.
On the way, Hikigaya told Ichinose that he had found evidence of the male clerk at the electronics store surreptitiously filming girls.
Ichinose, being even more justice-oriented than Kushida, required almost no persuasion and immediately joined Hikigaya-kun in taking action.
The Student Council office was on the first floor. It was very close to the school's swimming pool; word was that a previous council president had moved the office here for that very reason.
Hikigaya mused that the purpose was likely to watch the girls' swimming lessons from up close without drawing suspicion.
An absolute beast.
Doesn't that just make one want to join the Student Council even more?
"How rare to see you today."
Unfortunately, despite it being the weekend, there were quite a few people at the Student Council.
For instance, just as Hikigaya and Ichinose arrived at the office door, they happened to see two students pushing the door open to leave, and the two parties immediately came face-to-face.
Hikigaya looked over and saw the tall Katsuragi Kohei and the somewhat scrawny Totsuka Yahiko.
The comment about it being "rare" had come from Katsuragi.
Katsuragi was a steady man with very calm eyes, and he looked straight at them.
"Hikigaya and Ichinose," Katsuragi said.
Hikigaya had never spoken to Katsuragi before, so it was clear that Katsuragi knew who he was because Class A students had already begun investigating the other classes.
In other words, under Katsuragi's leadership, Class A respected the class competition more than anyone else. At this point, they had likely already mapped out the situation of all four classes.
"I assume Class B is also here at the Student Council to report the Class C students for fighting?" Katsuragi said.
That was Katsuragi's second sentence.
Oh.
So, he had indeed noticed that Hikigaya had arranged for Kanzaki-kun and Shibata-kun to secretly film Class C's brawls. His phrase "also here to report" indicated that they had come to the Student Council for that exact reason.
It seemed Classes A and B had reached a consensus: both had decided to report Ryuen's Class C for fighting.
Of course, Katsuragi was a cautious man; he wouldn't just hand over information directly like that.
There was likely a trap.
Hikigaya also noticed that Katsuragi's left hand was in his pocket, and he seemed to press something while speaking.
Although Hikigaya had gone to the electronics store today to catch the stalker clerk from the original story, he had also paid attention to the items for sale. Through chatting with the clerks, he had learned that several freshmen had purchased voice recorders.
Classes B, C, and D didn't have that level of awareness yet.
So, the students of Class A had already begun moving into the stage of "spy games" and "voice recorder warfare," just like in the original story.
Given that, what was so strange about Katsuragi Kohei, the leader of the Katsuragi faction, owning a voice recorder?
His reflexes were indeed swift.
With just one look, Katsuragi had thought of a scheme to sow discord. He wanted to record Hikigaya saying something inappropriate so that Class A's report on Class C's fighting could be blamed on Class B, creating a rift between Hikigaya and Ryuen.
That would immediately shatter the already fragile B-C alliance.
From this perspective, Class A had truly begun to utilize the school's truths and rules effectively once they learned them.
However, the steady and broad-thinking Katsuragi wasn't the scary one.
Because as long as Katsuragi was the leader, Sakayanagi would eventually cause sabotage if he only commanded slightly.
The inability to unite was Class A's greatest flaw—a flaw even worse than those of Classes B and C.
Having realized this:
Just as Hikigaya was about to speak, he noticed Ichinose-san leaning in slightly beside him. She took out her phone and brought up the recording function.
Hmm.
Noticing Ichinose's movement, Hikigaya immediately understood. Clearly, Ichinose had sensed Katsuragi's move and guessed he was recording, so she was worried about their words being used against them.
Naturally, they had to be careful with their speech and actions.
Still, Ichinose-san, to realize he was recording just by seeing Katsuragi's hand movement—you're quite something.
Hikigaya found that an Ichinose-san who wasn't distracted by romance was truly reliable.
"What strange things are you saying?" Hikigaya spoke up, while Ichinose intentionally showed that they were also recording. He put on a confused expression in front of Katsuragi.
"Reporting? We're here to report Class C?
Please don't say such excessive things. Class C is our reliable ally. We hope they can help share the pressure; we would never do something like reporting them to the Student Council."
However, we are here to report someone. But we're reporting a bad person in the shopping district," Hikigaya said.
"As for Class A, coming all the way to the Student Council... surely you haven't already reported the Class C students? You Class A people really have no sportsmanship!"
His wording was airtight. No matter how Katsuragi tried to clip the audio, he couldn't make Class B look bad.
But...
"Of course we reported them!" Compared to the steady Katsuragi, his subordinate Totsuka Yahiko couldn't keep his cool.
"It's all because you Class B people keep trying to give Class C a hand.
Class C has been very aggressive these past two days. If they knew the rules of the conduct assessment, Ryuen could indeed manipulate the class to minimize deductions—he might even do better than Class A. But it's impossible for a class like that to keep their points and surpass the Class C's of previous years.
Students in my class filmed videos of Ryuen and the others fighting earlier. I'm sure this will drain Ryuen's hard work," Totsuka Yahiko said.
"Class C should go back to the treatment Class C deserves!"
The mention of Totsuka Yahiko's surname made Hikigaya think of another Totsuka Saika, but clearly, this Totsuka was far inferior.
"Is that so? Then you really are arrogant.
I hope that after Class A falls, you can continue to maintain that pride," Hikigaya said, then waved to Ichinose.
Clearly, while the phone recording was meant for self-defense to prevent Katsuragi from taking snippets out of context, now—thanks to Totsuka Yahiko's verbal contribution—it could actually be used to make Class C trust Class B even more.
As for the blame when Class C eventually finds they have 0 points, it could be successfully pinned on Class A.
This was truly pleasing. Hikigaya pushed open the door and led Ichinose inside.
"Katsuragi-kun!" Totsuka Yahiko was somewhat dissatisfied as he watched Hikigaya and the others leave.
"Let's wait a moment as well." Katsuragi frowned slightly, crossing his arms as he stood outside the office.
Because when Hikigaya and Ichinose went in, they didn't seem to have closed the door tightly, as if they wanted the people outside to hear.