Chapter 84: Who’s the Overconfident Trash?

  After school, Hikigaya called out to Sakura. Since everyone in css was focused on the past exam papers, no one paid attention to their conversation.

  “Sakura, I need your help with something tonight. I also need you to keep it a secret. Of course, I’ll make sure to compensate you in a way you’ll be satisfied with.”

  For safety reasons, Hikigaya needed an assistant for tonight’s pn. After thinking it over, he realized the only person he could truly trust was Sakura—someone just as unremarkable in css as himself. This was something he never would have expected half a month ago.

  Sakura didn’t hesitate to nod in agreement. Though she kept her head down as usual, a smile of Finally, I can be of help! peeked through her thick bangs.

  —

  At 9 PM, near a dimly lit, deserted alley close to the dormitories—the same pce where Hikigaya had been cornered by Css C students half a month ago.

  Hikigaya had been waiting for a while. He was certain that Ryuen, with his arrogant personality, would definitely show up. More than that, he knew Ryuen would be especially interested in what he had to say.

  Not long after, a figure with flowing red hair appeared in his line of sight.

  “Oh? You even brought a bunch of bodyguards. Looks like you’re a pretty weak leader, huh?”

  It wasn’t just Ryuen who showed up—there was also Ishizaki, Albert, and Ibuki. It seemed these were Ryuen’s true confidants.

  Hikigaya wasn’t surprised at the sight of Ishizaki and the others. In fact, he sighed inwardly—Ryuen, you really brought this upon yourself.

  Ryuen, with his hands stuffed in his pockets, his shirt unbuttoned at the colr, chewing gum, and his school jacket draped over his shoulders in a delinquent fashion—was trying way too hard to look cool… but failing miserably.

  To Hikigaya, Ryuen’s outfit was just painfully cringe. Who in their right mind dressed like that? And he cimed he wasn’t a chuunibyou case? Had he watched too many high school delinquent movies? Or had Tokyo Revengers brainwashed him?!

  Ryuen sneered at Hikigaya’s taunt. Behind him, the massive Albert instantly understood and stepped forward, grabbing Hikigaya by the colr.

  “Heh, as expected of people who can’t think—violence is the only solution they come up with.”

  Hikigaya showed no fear on his face. Instead, he kept mocking Ryuen.

  “Shut up.”

  Ryuen’s face darkened. At the same time, Albert’s fist nded solidly on Hikigaya’s stomach. Hikigaya immediately doubled over, clutching his abdomen in apparent pain.

  However, Albert’s expression flickered with a trace of doubt. When his fist made contact, something had felt off.

  "Who the hell said this giant dude only eats protein powder? That punch hurt like hell!"

  Hikigaya slowly straightened up, still holding his stomach. If he hadn’t been prepared, that punch might’ve made him throw up his dinner.

  “Oh? Didn’t expect a loser like you to be this tough?”

  Ryuen and his crew looked surprised—taking a punch from Albert wasn’t a joke.

  Oi! What’s with these chuunibyou weirdos always giving people random nicknames?! Damn it!

  “You’ll find out soon enough just how expensive that punch was.”

  Hikigaya shot Albert a provoking gnce before turning back to Ryuen. “Looks like you, the king of chuunibyou idiots, still don’t realize your situation.”

  “Hahahaha!!!”

  Ryuen ughed mockingly, taking out his phone. “Are you seriously trying to scare me with some bullshit like ‘the past exam papers are fake’? Who do you think you are? You think you can just make up a lie and I’ll fall for it? And you even have the guts to threaten me?! You must have a death wish!”

  Hikigaya was momentarily stunned. Then, he rubbed his forehead and chuckled wryly. “I thought someone capable of leading Css C wouldn’t be an idiot. But it turns out I overestimated you.”

  Originally, Hikigaya had expected Ryuen to realize the gravity of the situation the moment he received the message. But now…

  “You’re actually fooling yourself?!”

  “Oi! Hikigaya, what kind of nonsense are you spouting?! How could the past exam papers be fake?!”

  Ishizaki was stunned for a second before immediately shouting in anger.

  “Yeah! There’s no way they’re fake! After all, st year, the year before that, even several batches of freshmen before us all used the same test papers. They’ve never changed.”

  “Exactly! Hikigaya, you’re just talking out of your—”

  “But!”

  Before Ishizaki could finish, Hikigaya interrupted him with a smirk, his eyes mocking as he looked at Ryuen’s group. “Exchanging test papers like this is btant cheating. Once this gets exposed, none of you will get away with it! You’ll just have to sit tight and wait to be expelled.”

  “Oi, are you insane? What the hell are you even saying?”

  Ibuki, who had been silent until now, finally lost her patience.

  Hikigaya ignored her gre and instead turned his amused gaze toward Ryuen, who had remained silent. “Ryuen, are you still going to py dumb?”

  He then swept his cold gaze over Ishizaki, Ibuki, Albert, and Ryuen.

  “If I want to, I can expose your secret test paper deal right now.

  Not only will you be punished, but more importantly—the past exam paper you got will become invalid. No, more precisely, it will be voided.

  And if that happens, I don’t think I need to spell out what that means for you, do I?”

  “Wha… what do you mean?”

  Ishizaki’s brain struggled to process the situation. Meanwhile, Ibuki’s eyes widened in realization before she blurted out in shock:

  “You idiot! If the past exam paper is voided, then all the students in Css C who memorized the questions and answers will have wasted their efforts! And even worse… we have no time left to prepare for the actual test!”

  “Ah?!”

  Ishizaki finally understood. He froze in pce, unable to move.

  Without those answer sheets, the students in Css C—who had barely studied or prepared—would have no chance of passing the midterms.

  And to make matters worse, precisely because they had the past exam paper, most of Css C had spent the past few weeks not studying at all. Instead, they had been eating, drinking, pying around, and wasting their time every single day.

  Those students who were originally on the borderline and could have passed the exam with proper revision are now most likely doomed as well!

  At this rate, at least one-third of Css C’s students would end up failing, and then… expulsion!

  Everyone present finally understood the full weight of Hikigaya’s words. The thought of nearly a third of Css C falling into the failing range was nothing short of a disaster—a devastating blow to the css. It would mean a complete fall to Css D, with little to no chance of recovery!

  “Hahahaha!”

  Suddenly, Ryuen burst into ughter, even cpping his hands in amusement. “Looks like this school isn’t entirely filled with trash after all!”

  The next second, his ughter abruptly stopped. His gaze turned sharp and malicious as he fixed his eyes on Hikigaya, his voice ced with mockery:

  “I have to admit, this is a pretty decent scheme. So go ahead—report it!

  Let’s see if the school actually cares about this matter. The so-called ‘past exam papers’ were prepared by the school itself as a study guide for this midterm. In other words, the school is fully aware of their existence and has implicitly approved their use!

  And yet, here you are—a piece of Css D trash—acting like you have the right to challenge me?”

  Ryuen’s smirk deepened, his tone dripping with scorn.

  “You really think I’d be careless enough not to verify the authenticity of these past exam papers?

  You overconfident garbage!”