There is something wrong with Hikigaya’s classroom of the Elite, as expected

Chapter 48: Meaningless Listening

While Horikita and Hachiman were talking, the class leader, Hirata, was not idle. After resolving the conflict between Yukimura and Sudo and calming down some students, he stood at the front of the class and started encouraging the students in Class D not to give up, hoping everyone could overcome the difficulties together. The first step was to improve class discipline and other such things…

Hachiman admired how quickly Hirata managed to pull himself together. Truly, a popular person… no, more like a class leader. This was the kind of quality a qualified leader should have.

When everything is going smoothly, it’s easy for anyone to feel confident, but once you’re in a tough spot or facing a dead-end, the leader’s abilities and role really show. From what’s happening now, Hirata is doing quite well as the class leader. At least he’s not the type to show off when things are fine and hide when trouble arises.

However, whether others are the same is questionable. When Hirata told everyone to follow the class rules and not be late or skip class, the rebels in class, with Sudo leading, immediately rebutted. They said things like, “Why should we listen to you?” or “Even if we pay attention in class, it won’t change anything,” and they got support from others like Ike and Yamauchi.

“Exactly, paying attention in class won’t get us any points,” Ike added.

“We’ll deal with the point system once we find a way to increase the points,” said Yamauchi.

“Hmph! You all do whatever you want, just don’t drag me into it!” Sudo then turned his face away, showing no respect and stormed out of the classroom.

As soon as Sudo left, the others in class dared to speak up and criticize him. Watching this, Hachiman couldn’t help but let out a sneer.

Meanwhile, Horikita, who had been humiliated by Hachiman earlier, returned to her seat in silence, staring at the poster stuck on the blackboard, lost in thought.

Thus, the first day of May ended with Class D in a very disorganized state. In the afternoon, as school ended, Hirata surprisingly organized many students to participate in a meeting discussing how to adjust class points. From morning to afternoon, Hirata had been running around for this, even approaching Horikita and Hachiman.

Though Class D had not held any elections yet, after this morning’s incident, Hirata had already been tacitly accepted by most of the class as the “class leader.”

To be fair, Hirata had done enough as the class leader. He had been running around for the sake of the class, never showing any frustration, always acting like a nice guy, even when faced with mockery and sarcasm from Sudo, the Monkey Brothers, and others. He always solved things with the attitude of “Sorry, it’s my fault.”

Normally, anyone would admire such a student and like him from the bottom of their heart. When Hirata made a request, most students were very willing to help, whether male or female. This showed how strong his influence was in Class D.

However, both Horikita and Hachiman refused.

As Horikita put it, “Even if students with poor grades gather together to discuss, all that will result is sinking deeper into the mud, causing even more chaos.”

Hachiman did not deny this. Though there’s a saying, “Two heads are better than one,” the problem was… Hachiman glanced over the students Hirata had organized, there were about 20 people. In a class on the verge of collapsing, that was already a pretty impressive turnout.

But the problem was precisely that there were too many people!

If it weren’t for the time constraints and the situation, Hirata might have even wanted to gather the entire class for the discussion.

Good heavens, this was too… too democratic! More democratic than those so-called politicians!

And then… Hachiman could already predict the inevitable failure.

Each voice might have its own value, but when countless voices come together, it becomes meaningless. Especially for Class D, which was already on the verge of collapse, Hachiman thought what was needed was a stronger leader. Hirata was just too much of a people-pleaser.

Just as Hachiman was preparing to pack up and leave the classroom, a voice interrupted his movement.

“Hey, Sakura, I accidentally spent too much of my personal points last month. Can you lend me some money? I’ll pay you back later, okay?”

The class’s blonde bombshell, Karuizawa, walked up to the ostrich girl, Sakura, blocking her path. Sakura, startled, almost collapsed back into her chair. In the distance, laughter could be heard from a group of girls, including Shinohara, Sato, and others from Karuizawa’s group.

“I…”

It was obvious that the mocking laughter made Sakura, who was already timid and sensitive, even more flustered. Her head nearly buried into her chest, and her voice was barely audible.

Lending money?

In fact, since Chabashira-sensei left in the morning, many students had already started borrowing money. Most of them had already spent their 100,000 personal points for the previous month, with the Monkey Brothers being the worst off, having only a few hundred left. They began selling video game consoles, models, or directly borrowing from others.

Naturally, Hachiman became a target for borrowing money, but he completely ignored them. After being snubbed, Ike and Yamauchi began to curse Hachiman for being selfish and not showing any spirit of mutual assistance.

Hachiman sneered. Now they could call out his name, huh?

In any case, many students were trying various methods to borrow points, and among the girls, Karuizawa’s group was at the forefront. Clearly, since becoming Hirata’s girlfriend, Karuizawa’s position in the class had risen once again. Compared to the failed attempts of the Monkey Brothers, Karuizawa had it much easier.

Even Kushida, as long as Karuizawa spoke, every girl would say, “It’s okay, sure,” and laugh as they handed over their points.

“Are you there? Are you a classmate?”

“It’s just lending some money, not like I’m not going to pay you back!”

“You don’t have any money? You’re so selfish. Just lending some money and you’ve got so many excuses.”

In this kind of atmosphere, who could refuse?

The consequence of refusing was being branded as “unhelpful,” then everyone would turn against you, judging and excluding you in the name of justice. It would eventually end with the excuse of “It was just a joke.”

Why did Hachiman understand this so well?

Of course… because he had been the victim before!