I'm in a real religion, why are all the people who confess to me girls?

But at this moment, everything depends on whether Hashimoto can turn the tide.

"As you can see, Sakayanagi-san failed."

As soon as Hashimoto opened his mouth, many people lowered their heads in disappointment, as they felt that this special exam was practically a death sentence.

"Hey! What are you doing? We haven't lost the exam yet!"

Oops.

After Hashimoto shouted out loud without thinking, he felt a sudden pain in his stomach as he faced a sea of ​​stares.

It wasn't due to illness, but rather the pressure of being expected of him by everyone that made Hashimoto feel uncomfortable, and also...

What should I say next?

I should be saying something inspiring, right?

But what should I say?

Hashimoto, who had never seen Sakayanagi inspire morale before, suddenly fell silent.

But at this point, it would be strange to say nothing.

"I, Hashimoto, am still here. As long as I'm here, this isn't over yet..."

'What am I doing? How embarrassing! Luckily, Kamuro isn't here, or I wouldn't be able to say such shameful things.'

"Hashimoto-kun is so handsome!"

Motohi's words of praise made Hashimoto even more nervous.

"Ahem, next up is me and..."

Hashimoto's gaze swept across the remaining girls' faces one by one, finally settling on Gendo's face. Actually, he didn't really want to partner with Gendo.

Because he had just received a gift from the other party on Valentine's Day not long ago and had no intention of returning the favor, and although he was in the same tennis club as Motohiro, he had no interest in him at all, so pairing up with Motohiro would make Hashimoto feel a little uncomfortable.

However, at this moment, Motohiko's gaze was fixed on her face because of Hashimoto's gaze.

Mistaking Hashimoto's words for her own Motohiro, despite being afraid to fight the person who could defeat Sakayanagi, she resolutely raised her hand.

"I'd like to team up with Hashimoto-san."

"Then... Motoi-kun, the rest of you wait outside. If I fail, you can just forfeit. If Sakayanagi blames you, just put the blame on me."

After Hashimoto finished speaking, he walked towards the room where he would be taking on the challenge.

Upon seeing this, Yuan Tufei immediately got up and jogged after him.

The main reason why the remaining people were allowed to abstain was because Hashimoto had already done the calculations.

Originally, Class A had 219 more class points than Class B. Now, they've already used up 160 points in the challenge alone. If Tianyin overcomes their challenge, they'll lose another 225 points, making it almost certain that they'll drop to Class B. If they lose some more points for giving away kills, and then lose the 200 class points from Class B's challenge after surrendering, they might drop directly to Class C. It will be extremely difficult to climb back up then.

Therefore, Hashimoto, having prepared for the worst, chose to have everyone forfeit after he lost, so that he could at least stay in Class B.

As for victory?

Hashimoto didn't have high expectations.

But after hearing the rules of the game, a glimmer of hope rose in Hashimoto's heart, who had been disheartened.

Horikita said such a long thing, but if you skip the details, it basically boils down to asking about black and white. In other words, this problem can be solved without thinking.

That is: Meng.

It's either black or white; there's a 50% probability anyway.

"Do you want to check the chess pieces too?"

After Horikita finished explaining, he casually handed the chess piece to Hashimoto.

Hashimoto looked at the two chess pieces in his hand with surprise and blinked in confusion.

"Why do we need to check the pieces when guessing black or white? You can't cheat by using two black pieces or two white pieces, right? No, even if you used two identical pieces, it wouldn't work. I can only choose one, can't I?"

Horikita shrugged in response to Hashimoto's questioning.

"Who knows? Sakayanagi just spent a long time checking. If you don't want to be checked, we can just move on to the next step."

Upon hearing that Sakayanagi had been examining the stones for a long time, Hashimoto immediately realized that there might be a problem, so he carefully rubbed the stones in his palm as well.

"Alright, let's begin."

Hashimoto closed his eyes and felt the game for a while before throwing the piece to Horikita.

Horikita was a little puzzled by Hashimoto's sudden change in confidence, but she didn't say anything. After all, there was no rule in the exam that forbade people from being confident.

After shaking it a couple of times, before Horikita could even speak, Hashimoto preemptively asked for a piece.

"Could you please give me the piece on your right?"

"of course can."

Horikita was very confident that he had shuffled the pieces after his opponent was blindfolded. Unless Hashimoto was a genius who could pinpoint the location by sound, he would not be able to know what color his right-hand piece was.

If Hashimoto is truly a genius at locating sounds, then there's nothing to say about her losing.

Horikita opened his right hand, revealing a white Go piece. He placed the piece in Hashimoto's hand, and Hashimoto gently touched it before a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Next up is the draw for the support players."

Horikita had just taken out a slip of paper to let Motoi and Kushida draw lots when Hashimoto interrupted her.

"No need for that. The piece I have is white."

"……are you sure?"

Horikita was startled at first, but quickly regained her composure and tried to confuse Hashimoto's judgment with a lighthearted tone.

"I'm sure."

"What's the basis for that?"

"What basis do you need? The pieces are either black or white, and I'm willing to take a 50% chance."

Hearing Hashimoto say this, Horikita was speechless. Seeing that Hashimoto would not easily change the outcome, Horikita bit her lip reluctantly.

"You... guessed right."

Chapter 176: The Special Exam Ends

The moment the students in Class A saw the lights in Class B's room go out, everyone gaped in astonishment.

The lights in the room will only be turned off after the challenge is successfully completed, which means...

Hashimoto actually succeeded in the challenge!

Hashimoto actually defeated Horikita Suzune, securing victory for Class A!

By the time Hashimoto emerged from the main entrance of the room, everything had settled down. The students, eager to know how Hashimoto had defeated Horikita, immediately surrounded him.

"Hashimoto-kun, you're amazing! I never expected you to beat Horikita."

"Horikita was a formidable opponent who defeated Sakayanagi-san, Hashimoto-san is so cool!"

"Well done, Hashimoto!"

Both boys and girls showered Hashimoto with praise at this moment.

However, Hashimoto was not complacent about this victory. He knew very well that this victory was less his own and more that Sakayanagi had paved the way for him. Without Sakayanagi's help, it would have been quite difficult for him and Motohi to win this special exam.

"Alright everyone, let's stop praising them for now. Let's go back and see if Class B has cleared our challenge."

Since none of the classes could meet with the members who failed the challenge before the special exam was announced to be over, even if Hashimoto wanted to contact Sakayanagi now, he couldn't. He could only take everyone back to wait for the exam to end while checking on their own challenge.

If things go as he predicted, Class B should have already cleared their challenge.

When Hashimoto returned with a large group of Class A students, he saw Amane sitting there chatting with the Fukuyama sisters. He immediately knew that Amane had probably conquered the Class A challenge as well.

In this way, their victory would be almost worthless, since the challenge ticket for Class B is extremely expensive, and even if they win the challenge, they won't actually earn any points.

After Tianyin overcomes the challenge of Class A, it will actually increase the class points by more than 200.

No matter how you look at it, we've suffered a huge loss this time.

"Hashimoto? What are you..."

Tianyin seemed to understand something halfway through her sentence.

If Hashimoto fails the challenge, he should wait in the waiting area arranged by the school until the school announces the official end of this special exam before he can move around freely.

But the fact that he returned here happily with a group of people can only mean that they have passed the challenge of Class B.

"It seems that Horikita-kun is not someone you can entrust with anything."

Koenji delivered his conclusion without any hesitation.

"But she beat Sakayanagi, didn't she?"

Amane had almost guessed what had happened just by not seeing that Sakayanagi hadn't returned. Originally, Amane thought that Horikita's chances of winning were extremely slim, so she exposed Totsuka in advance in an attempt to turn the tide. If Horikita hadn't insisted on challenging Sakayanagi, Amane would have even planned to keep Totsuka hidden until she needed him.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. In order to give Horikita a better chance of winning, she had no choice but to sacrifice a pawn who had regained Sakayanagi's trust.

In Amane's opinion, Horikita should have been fine after defeating Sakayanagi... But now it's clear that something unexpected has happened.

"Oh? You mean that brat? I never took her seriously from the start."

“I’ll get angry if you say that to my face.”

"It would be a terrible thing if you got angry, but the most important thing for Miyako girl right now is to start thinking about how to handle the situation."

After saying this meaningfully, Koenji walked to a bench and lay down, completely ignoring the surprised looks from so many people in Class A and Class B.

Hashimoto had originally intended to say something, but while Amane and Koenji were talking, he didn't have the courage to step forward and speak.

"Should we take advantage of this opportunity to humiliate that guy?"

As Yuan Tufei spoke, he looked at Tianyin.

Upon hearing this idiot say such a terrible thing, Hashimoto quickly shook his head, rejecting the crazy idea.

"I hope we don't have any conflict with Class B at this time. Winning and losing are normal things, and there's no need to do anything inappropriate after winning. Miyako-san also defeated Fukuyama and the others, didn't she? To be honest, we suffered a little loss in this special exam. Even if we argue, we won't gain any advantage and will only make enemies for no reason. There's no need to do something so thankless."

Hashimoto's voice was heard perfectly by Amane. Even though Amane only glanced in that direction, Hashimoto was already satisfied. As long as Amane knew that he had spoken up for Class B, that was enough.

While Sakayanagi's strength is undeniable, Amane and Ryuen are definitely not to be trifled with either. They might replace Sakayanagi one day, and if he wants to graduate as an A-class student then, he'll have to cultivate good relationships with everyone.

He only needs to graduate as a student in Class A. What does it matter which Class A he gets?

Just as Hashimoto was beginning to consider whether or not to contact Amane, the announcement that the exam was over came over the loudspeaker.

Everyone was required to assemble on the playground to announce the results of the exam.

It can only be said that the school's homeroom teachers and instructors probably wanted to finish this special exam as soon as possible before lunch. Less than ten minutes after Hashimoto finished his challenge, they tallied the class points for each class after this special exam.

The response was remarkably swift.

After the school announced the end of the special exam, the former losers were allowed to gather on the playground to hear the results.

When Horikita saw Amane, he instinctively lowered his head.

"I'm sorry, Tianyin, I..."

"I know everything. Don't apologize. After all, I agreed to this arrangement. Although it's a bit of a pity, we still managed to win a small prize in this special exam. So, Suzune, you don't need to blame yourself too much."

This result was within Amane's expectations, so even if they lost, Amane might feel regret, but in Amane's view, it was completely unnecessary for her to blame Horikita for just one exam.

However, it's hard to say what the other students in the class will think.

"Hmph, but we should have won by a landslide, shouldn't we? If Horikita-kun hadn't messed up, we would be in Class A by now."

"Maya, stop talking. Let's leave it at that."

"But... never mind, I already knew I couldn't count on her anyway. If it weren't for Miyako, I wouldn't be so easy to talk to. Kiyotaka, how about we go to that sukiyaki shop that makes really delicious sukiyaki at noon to celebrate our victory?"

After mocking Horikita, Sato took Ayanokouji's arm and whispered something between them. Ayanokouji apologized to Horikita with his eyes and then took Sato aside to chat. Ayanokouji wasn't as focused on the special exam anymore. It seems that Ayanokouji's lack of a girlfriend was quite effective.

Amane silently made an assessment of Ayanokouji, who had started to slack off.

"Everyone seems to be..."

"This is normal. If it were Sato who lost the special exam to advance to Class A at a crucial moment, I believe you, Suzune, probably wouldn't have given her a good look either. Losing is painful, but you'll get used to it."

Amane quietly took Horikita's hand, trying to offer her some encouragement. However, Horikita, who was about to be crushed by the word "failure," could not be cheered up by words alone.

Seeing Horikita Amane's dejected state, she sighed softly. She had already anticipated that Horikita might be devastated after her defeat, but she hadn't made up her mind to stop her.

Why did I let Horikita lose like that? Was it to indulge her? Or... was it that deep down I actually hoped to use Sakayanagi's words to help Horikita grow up quickly?