Hikigaya doesn't want to be a force of strength

Before the latter could react, she hugged him again, making close contact with Hikigaya's body.

"Kushida...?!"

Not expecting something like this to happen again, Hikigaya recalled the last hug he had with Kushida on the deck and instinctively looked around, wondering if the other party was planning to cover up some kind of deal again.

But no matter what he thought, now that the exam was over, Kushida shouldn't make a deal with anyone anymore.

"I'm grateful to you, Hikigaya...I really appreciate it."

"Can you let go of that first?"

“That’s part of the thank you.”

Kushida ignored Hikigaya's rejection and pressed himself against her tightly, even being able to clearly hear each other's heartbeats.

Faced with this overly soft feeling of wrapping, Hikigaya was so frightened that he couldn't move his whole body. If he moved randomly, the contact area would only increase. He was very unhappy to see this happen, so he had to stay still.

At this moment, I heard Kushida's whisper.

"As for me... I know very well that I probably can't beat Horikita. Even if I use dishonorable means, I will probably be ruined after being exposed." Kushida's voice was not artificial, but it was not cold either. It was more like her true self. "So, I kept hesitating. I couldn't give up the idea of ​​defeating her, nor could I make up my mind to do whatever it takes."

"When people are faced with a dilemma that they can't do, they will hesitate like this. This is not cowardice. In other words, when faced with something that cannot be done, it is reasonable and reasonable to honestly choose to escape. This is not shameful."

"Yes, but it was you, Hikigaya-san, who made me realize that I still have the option of escaping."

Kushida buried his head in Hikigaya's arms, causing the latter to be unable to see his face and could only look elsewhere.

At this time, Kushida suddenly spoke up: "Hikigaya, are you willing to help me in the future? Even if I am an awkward and hypocritical person, are you willing to save me?"

"I didn't save you."

Hikigaya denied Kushida's words. He did not think that what he did could be considered salvation. He just brought a few people together to negotiate.

These behaviors are not productive at all, but instead are aimed at affecting the productivity of others.

Kushida seemed a little disappointed about this, but he wasn't sad either. He just nodded helplessly:

"Is that so?"

"Yes, I don't have the ability to save you, and I have never saved anyone, but if you just encounter trouble and want to find someone to discuss or complain to, I can accompany you."

"This……"

After hearing what Hikigaya said, Kushida Kikyo, who was originally a little disappointed, suddenly lit up her eyes.

She was silent for a moment, then smiled brightly: "Well, then please give me your guidance, Hikigaya-kun."

"oh oh."

Facing Kushida's reaction, Hikigaya felt strangely uncomfortable.

He didn't know if he had made the right choice, but he certainly didn't know what the right choice was.

But at least, when he saw the smile on the girl's face, he could vaguely confirm that this was not something wrong.

Perhaps the real thing he wants does not exist in this world.

But as long as he can get a little closer to the 'real thing', he can get some satisfaction and comfort, and can also use it to confirm that his choice is not wrong.

……

The day after the cruise ship exam ended, the two-week sea drift came to an end.

The students were gathered on the deck, waiting for the cruise ship to dock and return to the ground.

While this process was taking place, the school also announced the score status of each class after the last special exam, as well as the changes in the rankings.

This was the first time that the class rankings had changed since the start of the school year, and it was an extremely dramatic change that happened all at once.

"Now I will report the score status of each first-grade class."

"Class A has 807 points, Class B has 990 points, Class C has 936 points, and Class D has 137 points. Due to the difference in the order of the points of each class, the order of the classes in this exam has also changed."

"The original Class B was promoted to Class A, the original Class C was promoted to Class B, the original Class A was downgraded to Class C, and the original Class D remained unchanged."

"..."

All of a sudden, when the result was announced, all the classes on the deck were in an uproar.

Although many people had expected this by the time the exam was over, when such a shocking result was announced, each class still had completely different reactions.

Not to mention the former Class B and Class C who were in an excited state, the former Class A was already in a mess anyway.

Falling from Class A to Class C in one go was even more thrilling than riding a roller coaster. Even though the students from Class A were under the control of their teachers, they were all furious and wanted to tear Katsuragi Kōhei, who was responsible for this, into pieces on the spot.

Katsuragi himself seemed to have spent an entire night preparing himself mentally, but even so, his face remained grim and he remained silent throughout.

Seeing Katsuragi like this, Hikigaya honestly felt quite sympathetic towards him.

After all, he had never intended to target Katsuragi, nor had he intended to fulfill his agreement with Sakayanagi. It just happened that this result occurred.

At this point, he has completely realized that what he did was not something that would not hurt anyone...

At least Katsuragi and his faction were about to be pierced by thousands of arrows by himself.

Chapter 398 Shiina: I don’t want to wash this hand for the next few days

After two weeks, the first-year students of Tokyo Metropolitan High School stepped onto the ground again.

Under the influence of the special exam that just ended, the scene was a mixture of joy and sorrow.

Even though the exams of the students in Class A were over and summer vacation officially began, they could not experience the joy of vacation at all. Instead, they all had bitter faces and fell into inconceivable pain and despair.

In contrast, although the former Class B was promoted to Class A, all the students, including the former Class B leader Ichinose Honami, had serious expressions.

After all, for the former Class B, the special exam on the cruise ship was not a victory at all.

Although they at least avoided the worst outcome with the help of Hikigaya and the decision of Ichinose, they were still clearly still a long way from victory.

Of course, the former Class B at least gained something - it was successfully promoted to Class A.

This made them immersed in the joy of being ahead after a little bit of nervousness.

As for the former Class C, as the biggest winner of this exam, they not only gained a large number of personal points and class points in one go, but were also promoted to Class B.

In this case, they should be very happy.

But in fact, due to Ryuen Sho's unique leadership, this class ended up looking lifeless and without any momentum.

At least when Ryuuen himself was present, others did not dare to act too arrogant in front of him.

Only Class D, even though they could not be considered victorious in the previous two exams, because the situation before the special exam was so miserable, these two exams were actually quite good results for them.

Class D not only obtained more than three-digit class points in the uninhabited island exam, but also obtained a large number of individual points in the cruise ship exam.

Therefore, the people in Class D could be said to be the happiest group at the scene.

As soon as they got on the cruise ship, they had completely forgotten about the class struggle and were excitedly discussing where to have fun during the summer vacation.

Although Hikigaya is not as natural as most of the people in Class D, he is also looking forward to the upcoming summer vacation.

After all, class struggles are not important to him at all.

In the two special exams this time, he has already gained a large amount of personal points, which should be enough to buy the right to leave this school.

Therefore, Hikigaya was ready to play badly for the entire summer vacation, at least to thoroughly enjoy the hard-earned vacation.

However, before he could try to enjoy his vacation, the bad news came first.

The buses arranged by the school for students to take them back to school were not divided according to classes, but students were allowed to choose the bus and seats.

This resulted in most students choosing to sit in adjacent seats to their friends and companions. Even if the seats were full, they would at least squeeze in the direction of the familiar circle.

As a lone ranger, Hikigaya obviously does not have a circle that can accommodate him, or even if there is, he does not want to take the initiative to join such a place.

This naturally resulted in him being left behind in the end, and he could only be crammed into the remaining seats after others had chosen their seats.

To be honest, Hikigaya has become accustomed to this kind of thing that is bound to happen every time he travels.

He accepted the random assignment calmly and went to the only remaining seat silently.

However, whether it was accidental or inevitable, when Hikigaya found his seat, what he saw were three familiar faces from Class C - Ryuen Sho, Ibuki Mio and Shiina Hiyori.

Since most buses have four seats abreast, Ryuuen was currently sitting alone by the window, with Ibuki sitting next to him.

Across the aisle, Shiina was also sitting on the edge of the bed, and there was an empty seat next to her.

Hikigaya then remembered that Shiina Hiyori seemed to be a loner in the original Class C as well, and she probably wouldn't have any friends who were willing to sit with her.

Right now, if Hikigaya were to sit here, he would undoubtedly sit next to Shiina, and across the aisle there would be a certain Miss Ibuki.

Hikigaya instinctively flinched at the thought of that scene happening.

He pretended not to notice and muttered to himself: "Oops, I think I went the wrong way. There should be empty seats on the next bus."

"..."

Shiina's face showed obvious disappointment at Hikigaya's obvious act of escaping from reality, but she did not stop him in the end.

As for Hikigaya, he was about to get off the bus, but he didn't expect the bus driver to disagree.

After counting the number and confirming that it was enough, the other party did not give Hikigaya any chance to regret. He stepped on the accelerator and closed the door of the bus completely.

"Ah this..."

Hikigaya was completely disappointed when he found out that the driver was so impatient.

"The car has already started, why don't you sit down, Hikigaya-san?"

"Uh, I'll just..."

Hearing Shiina's seemingly natural but sinister words, Hikigaya sighed helplessly and put his luggage in front of him.

"Here."

Seeing that Shiina in front of him seemed to be holding luggage in his hands, Hikigaya couldn't help but stretch out his hand towards her, motioning her to give the luggage to him.

However, I don’t know how Shiina did it on purpose or if it was intentional.

After thinking for a while, she timidly reached out and held his hand.

In an instant, something soft, smooth, and a little bit cool came over him, and Hikigaya's brain suddenly crashed and became stagnant.

“Ahem! What are you doing!!”

Is this seduction? Temptation? Assault?!

what's the situation?

And the other person's hands are so soft and tender, so comfortable...

"Ah! Sorry!" Shiina saw Hikigaya's reaction and immediately realized that she had misunderstood. She quickly replied, "I thought Hikigaya-san meant that you wanted to hold hands..."

"I just wanted to help you with your luggage..."

Hikigaya looked helpless; he really didn't expect things to turn out like this.

By the way, was Shiina too unguarded, mistakenly thinking that he wanted to hold hands, so he really reached out his hand?

If I really have this thought... Hey, can we really hold hands?!

When Hikigaya was confused and frantically denying it in his mind, he suddenly realized that Shiina seemed to have not pulled his hand back yet.

Normally at this time the other party would withdraw their hand first, so Hikigaya had no experience in letting go on his own initiative, and the two of them held on for quite a while.

It was not until he felt a hint of tenderness emanating from his palm that Hikigaya suddenly let go of his hand in fright, and snatched Shiina's luggage bag as if to escape from reality.

"Hu~~"

Although he didn't know what happened to him, the moment he got the bag, Hikigaya only felt a strong sense of relief.

It was as if what he grabbed was not Shiina's luggage bag, but the pillow in his room at home.

I'm not going to be considered a pervert if I'm holding someone else's bag and breathing like that?!

Suddenly, Hikigaya was frightened and looked in the direction of Shiina, worried that the other party might misunderstand him.

Unexpectedly, Shiina did not react to his behavior at all. Instead, she lowered her head and looked at the hand she had just held, falling into a dazed state.

This should be because he feels disgusted by anything that comes into contact with his skin.

Hikigaya had often encountered the situation where he accidentally came into contact with girls' skin, and was treated like a pest by them...

However, to his surprise, Shiina did not show any disgust on his face. Instead, he smiled and said: