Chapter 142 Sakayanagi: I Have a Bad Feeling!
Another group's exam ended early, and the teachers quickly calculated the current score situation.
Class A: -350 points Class B: +250 points Class C: +100 points Class D: 100 - 100 = 0 points
After confirming the score fluctuations, Sakagami Kazuma turned his head toward Hoshinomiya Chie. His eyes held a complex mix of emotions—envy, jealousy, and an indescribable bitterness.
"Hoshinomiya-sensei," Sakagami's voice was somewhat stiff, yet he managed to squeeze out a smile. "Congratulations. This time it's another grand victory for Class B."
Hoshinomiya Chie was holding her milk tea cup. Hearing this, she tilted her head, her large eyes blinking, a signature airy smile appearing on her face.
"Oh my, Sakagami-sensei, saying that makes me quite embarrassed," she said in a light tone, carrying a hint of petty pride. She looked down at the milk tea in her hands, giving it a gentle shake. "But... it's true. Based on these scores, once the exam ends, Class B should be able to rise to Class A."
She paused, looking up as her gaze fell upon the screen—it was displaying the footage from the Dragon Group's discussion room. Hikigaya Hachiman was still slumped over the table, while Ichinose Honami sat beside him, her head slightly lowered.
"Even though I originally had no interest in class rankings," Hoshinomiya Chie said softly, her voice tinged with sentiment, "I'm only now realizing that Class A seems quite nice too."
Sakagami's facial muscles twitched. He wanted to say something but didn't know what. The status of being a Class A homeroom teacher—something he could only dream of or hope for—had been achieved so easily by the woman in front of him.
Seriously, why wasn't Hikigaya a student in his class?!
He looked back down at the numbers in his notebook and let out a soft sigh.
Hoshinomiya Chie moved her gaze from the screen to Chabashira Sae on the other side. Seeing Chabashira leaning against her chair with her eyes closed to rest, a sudden surge of pleasure welled up in Chie's heart.
"Sae-chan," Chie said in a light but cute tone. "Class D this time... seems to have gained absolutely nothing."
Chabashira Sae opened her eyes and glanced at her. To Chie's surprise, those eyes held no anger or resentment—only a depth of calm that was impossible to see through. Chabashira remained silent for a few seconds before slowly speaking.
"Chie," Chabashira's voice remained cold, yet it carried a rare trace of earnestness. "After this exam is over, I am giving up."
Hoshinomiya Chie froze. The milk tea cup in her hand stopped mid-air, and the smile on her face stiffened.
"Giving up?" she repeated the word, seemingly unable to comprehend it. "Giving up what?"
Chabashira Sae's gaze pierced through the monitoring room toward the endless sea outside the window. Sunlight happened to spill through the glass, casting mottled shadows across her face.
"Giving up on using the students of Class D to climb to the top," Chabashira said softly. "Giving up on that... long-cherished wish that I couldn't fulfill in the past."
Hoshinomiya Chie stared at her for several seconds, a complex swirl of emotions flashing in her large eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but found her voice stuck in her throat. It took a good while before she found her voice again.
"What on earth?" Her tone suddenly rose several notches, filled with urgency and confusion. "Sae-chan, what are you saying? Are you quitting being a teacher?"
Chabashira Sae didn't answer. She simply looked out the window in silence, the sunlight bathing her face but failing to illuminate the depth of her dark eyes.
A brief silence fell over the monitoring room.
Sakagami's gaze darted back and forth between the two women before he chose to keep looking down at his notebook. He felt like he couldn't understand a word they were saying, but he sensed the atmosphere was definitely off.
Mashima Tomonari leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the screen, his face expressionless.
However, his thoughts drifted back to a long time ago.
He, Chabashira, and Hoshinomiya were students of the same year. He had been a student of Class A, while Hoshinomiya and Chabashira's class was the lowest—Class D. But that Class D had fought desperately through one exam after another, climbing bit by bit until they even reached Class B. They were close—so close—to catching up to his Class A.
Mashima's eyes flickered slightly.
Just then, the phone on his desk vibrated. The alarm he had set went off.
Mashima Tomonari picked up the phone, turned off the alarm, and stood up.
"The group discussions have ended," he said briefly, his gaze sweeping over the other three homeroom teachers. "You can take a break."
Sakagami Kazuma quickly snapped his small notebook shut and stood up as if granted a divine reprieve, heading toward the door.
Hoshinomiya Chie, still holding her milk tea, also stood up, but her gaze remained fixed on Chabashira Sae, her eyes filled with complicated emotions.
"Sae-chan..." She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
But Mashima spoke up at that moment. "Chabashira, stay back for a moment. I have something to say to you."
Chabashira Sae looked up at him and chose not to leave.
Hoshinomiya Chie's footsteps faltered. She looked back, her gaze moving between Mashima and Chabashira, but ultimately said nothing and pushed the door open to walk out. The door slowly closed behind her.
Only Mashima Tomonari and Chabashira Sae remained in the monitoring room. The humming of the equipment felt exceptionally clear in the quiet room.
Mashima Tomonari walked to another window, his back to Chabashira.
"Chabashira," Mashima began slowly, his tone carrying a hint of reminiscence. "Do you still remember the expulsion exam near graduation for our year?"
Chabashira's body stiffened slightly. She looked at Mashima's back, a flash of complex emotion in her eyes.
"I remember," she said softly, her voice a bit dry. "How could I forget?"
Mashima was silent for a few seconds before continuing.
"At that time, my Class A chose to eliminate the student with the worst performance." His tone was somewhat heavy. "We did it. Except for that one eliminated student, everyone passed and graduated successfully.
But your class..." His voice held a complex nuance. "You didn't do it. And you were penalized with a point deduction."
Chabashira Sae said nothing. There was no anger or resentment in her eyes—only a sense of relief from having completely accepted the past.
"However, at graduation, I went to find your homeroom teacher at the time," Mashima continued with his back to her. "I asked him a question: If your Class B had also chosen to eliminate someone back then, would you have eventually had a chance to graduate as Class A?"
Chabashira Sae's brow twitched slightly. She waited for him to continue.
Mashima Tomonari fell silent for a few seconds, then spoke slowly.
"The homeroom teacher told me that your class didn't actually lose its chance at the end of that exam." His voice was low, carrying the weight of memory.
"He said you had already lost the qualification to graduate as Class A while the exam was still in progress. After that exam, during the remaining two months, the school was originally supposed to release more points for us to compete for. In other words, your Class B actually had one more chance, but the school had already decided not to give your class any more opportunities to climb up."
Chabashira Sae was stunned.
"So even if your voting expulsion exam had successfully gained points, the school wouldn't have recognized you. They wouldn't have given you chances in the following two months," Mashima continued. "Because your class representative chose to expel himself."
Chabashira Sae's breath hitched.
"I don't know what his real thoughts were at the time," Mashima said. "Maybe he wanted to set an example, to let the 'appropriate person to be expelled' step forward voluntarily. But the result was that most of the students in your class recognized and agreed to his expulsion."
He paused, adding weight to his words.
"This shows that most of the students in that class still didn't have the qualities of Class A students. To cast out a leader who was superior to everyone else at the final moment—that is the reason your class failed to gain the school's recognition."
Chabashira Sae fell into silence.
She stood by the window, the sunlight bathing her, but it couldn't reach her current complex state of mind. Scenes from that year flashed in her mind—the class representative standing at the podium with a calm smile, saying to the whole class, "I know everyone is in a difficult position for this exam, so I've decided that I will be the one to be expelled."
The scene where, after he chose to withdraw, every other student besides her agreed.
And then the scene where she herself was voted for expulsion by her own classmates in turn.
She had never imagined that, from the very beginning, they had already lost their qualification.
"I see," she said softly, her voice carrying a hint of relief mixed with bitterness. "So that's how it was."
She thought of Hikigaya's certain tone earlier in the library, saying that her long-cherished wish was impossible to achieve because all the regrets had already ended back then. Indeed, it had ended at that moment.
Everything was over.
Mashima Tomonari looked at her, waited a few seconds, then turned and walked toward the door.
"I've said what I needed to say," his voice remained steady. "As for the rest, think about it yourself."
He pushed the door open and left.
Only Chabashira Sae remained in the monitoring room. She stood there, looking out at the azure sea, motionless.
After a long time, she slowly turned and walked toward the door.
The moment she pushed it open, Chabashira froze.
Hoshinomiya Chie was standing right outside, leaning against the hallway wall. She was still holding that cup of milk tea, but it had already gone cold. She looked up, meeting Chabashira Sae's gaze, her large eyes shimmering with complex emotions.
"Sae-chan," Chie said softly, her tone urgent and confused. "Are you serious? Are you really giving up your ambition to lead Class D to Class A?"
Chabashira Sae looked at her and remained silent for a few seconds.
"Chie," her voice was calm. "You heard what Mashima said just now, didn't you?"
Hoshinomiya Chie didn't speak. But her silence was the answer.
Chabashira Sae sighed softly, her gaze landing on the far end of the hallway.
"He's right," Chabashira said quietly. "Our class was never worthy of rising to Class A from the start. Even if we had gotten the points in the end, the school wouldn't have recognized us. Therefore, they wouldn't have given us the chance to graduate as Class A."
As she spoke, she looked at Hoshinomiya Chie.
"So, I'm giving up now. It's time to give up."
Anyone could hear the relief in her voice.
This left Chie somewhat silent because it felt as if a goal she had been striving for was suddenly lost. She even felt that her re-entering this school was a joke.
However.
Hoshinomiya Chie stared at Chabashira for a few more seconds, then suddenly shook her head.
"That's not right." Chie's tone was firm, carrying a rare seriousness. "Even if Mashima's words seem true, Mashima's words aren't what's important. What's important is—what happened to make you, Sae-chan, suddenly change your mind? I think you had already made up your mind to give up before Mashima said any of this."
Chabashira Sae was slightly startled.
But Hoshinomiya Chie stepped forward, her large eyes staring straight at her, as if trying to see into her soul.
"You were so obsessed before, so desperate, even willing to use students to climb up," Chie's voice trembled slightly. "To suddenly say you're giving up now—there must be a reason. What is it?"
Chabashira Sae was silent for a few seconds, then gave a soft laugh. The smile was faint, but it held a complex meaning.
"Chie," she said softly, "I was wondering... why you followed me back to this school."
This time, it was Hoshinomiya Chie's turn to be stunned.
Chabashira Sae continued, "You clearly had other choices. Your academic ability was better than mine, the university you attended was better than mine, and with your conditions, you could have gone to a better school and done easier work. But you insisted on coming here, insisted on becoming the homeroom teacher of Class B, and insisted on... keeping your eyes on me. You were even willing to give up on Class B students, to discard Class B just to suppress me."
She paused, her tone tinged with guilt.
"I always thought you wanted to suppress my Class D because you couldn't forgive me. Because you couldn't forgive my choice back then, which caused everyone to stop at Class B."
Hoshinomiya Chie didn't speak. She just looked at Chabashira Sae quietly, her large eyes shimmering with complex emotions.
Chabashira Sae took a deep breath and continued.
"But recently, I learned the truth from someone else." Her voice became a bit softer. "Chie, you hate me not because the class didn't rise to Class A. But because back then, I chose to support the class representative. To keep that person from being expelled, I personally cut off the hope of everyone climbing up together. And you..."
Chabashira's voice trembled slightly.
"You were part of that 'everyone'."
Hoshinomiya Chie's body stiffened slightly.
A deathly silence fell outside the monitoring room.
Hoshinomiya Chie stood there, the milk tea cup in her hand shaking slightly. She stared at Chabashira Sae, a flash of blankness in her large eyes, along with a hint of... confusion.
After a long while, she finally spoke.
"Sae-chan..." her voice was somewhat raspy, "is what you're saying true?"
Chabashira Sae looked at her and said nothing.
Hoshinomiya Chie lowered her head, staring at the milk tea cup. Beads of condensation on the side of the cup slid down one by one, leaving a cold sensation on her fingertips.
She had always thought she hated Chabashira Sae because of that damn exam, because three years of hard work had gone down the drain. But now, hearing Chabashira say this, she suddenly realized—perhaps from the very beginning, that wasn't what she hated.
What she hated was the fact that her best friend chose someone else over her at the critical moment.
She, who was a two-faced person who could accept her own imperfections, would never find another friend who could accept her like Chabashira did. In the end, such an important friend suddenly wanted to give up her chance at Class A graduation for a boyfriend she hadn't even been dating for half a day.
She couldn't accept it.
"So that's how it was," Hoshinomiya Chie said softly, her tone carrying a hint of relief and bitterness. "So that's what I've been hating all along."
She looked up at Chabashira, her large eyes flashing with complex emotions.
"Sae-chan," she suddenly asked, "who gave you this epiphany?"
Chabashira Sae was slightly taken aback.
Hoshinomiya Chie stared at her, waiting for an answer.
But Chabashira Sae only gave a faint smile. The smile was thin, holding an unidentifiable meaning.
She didn't say a word.
Hoshinomiya Chie looked at her, and a thought suddenly popped into her head.
Who could it be?
Who could make someone as stubborn as Chabashira Sae, who had been stuck for so many years, suddenly realize all this?
She pursed her lips and made a mental note—
She had to investigate.
Should she look for Ichinose again? But she felt like approaching Ichinose again might not be a good idea. Then what about Hikigaya?
That guy... seems quite adept at dealing with adult women.
Chie's intuition told her so.
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And so—
This was the reason why Hikigaya Hachiman, after the group discussions ended and he returned to his dorm, received a message from his own class's homeroom teacher.
[Hikigaya-kun, do me a favor. I need you to investigate Chabashira-chan. Of course, the price is that I will no longer interfere with everyone in Class B, and I certainly won't bother Ichinose. I will properly fulfill my duties as a homeroom teacher.] —by Hoshinomiya.
"..."
So you actually understand things quite well, don't you?
Knowing that he would protect Ichinose.
A person like Hoshinomiya often plays the fool while being perfectly aware of the situation.
However.
Hikigaya Hachiman rubbed his chin.
"Understood, so it's about investigating something. If it's about Ayanokouji—"
On the contrary, the words Hachiman had just typed were read instantly, and a message sent with a speed comparable to Kushida's arrived from Hoshinomiya.
[Listen to me, Chabashira is very strange right now. She suddenly gave up on Class D rising to Class A. I clearly saw her paying attention to Class D's Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's file before, specifically picking out that file, but now, she suddenly gave up. Even though as a homeroom teacher, everyone wants to climb up.] —by Hoshinomiya.
Is that so?
Does everyone want to climb up? But you didn't.
Hachiman continued to complain in his heart, though he already understood. Now that the scores were mostly finalized, Chabashira must have started coming clean to Hoshinomiya.
"Then what is your request?"
[Help me investigate exactly who made her change her mind.]
Oh.
So that's it.
Hachiman looked at the screen again, confirming Hoshinomiya's intent.
She was asking him to investigate himself.
Eh?
Asking him to investigate himself—was he supposed to let her know that he used a voice recorder to threaten her best friend?
Meanwhile, on Sakayanagi's side.
Specifically in the Class A rest area, when the group discussion announcement broadcast went off, all the Class A students—whether their group had ended early via a correct guess or those whose group activities ended yesterday—gathered here.
And on everyone's faces... hung... a very obvious... mask of pain.
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