Hachiman please tone down your Inner Thoughts

When Ryuen returned to the Class B classroom, the school bell signaling the end of the period had already rung in the hallway.

He ignored it, pushed the door open, walked in, and stood on the podium.

The students in the classroom were still chatting in small groups; some were looking down at their phones, others were slumped on their desks catching up on sleep. The atmosphere was as relaxed as a normal break. This was what Ryuen had demanded—he went to submit the papers, while everyone else stayed in the classroom.

Back in the room, Ryuen slammed a folder onto the podium. With a "clatter," everyone looked up.

"Everyone, put down what you're holding." Ryuen's voice wasn't loud, but every word felt like a nail driven into the floor.

The classroom went quiet. Students snacking quickly shoved their food into their desks; those looking at phones looked up. Ryuen's gaze swept across the room, stopping on each person's face, as if counting heads.

"Hand over your phones," Ryuen said.

The classroom went silent for a moment. Then, someone spoke up.

"Ryuen, why the sudden need to hand over our phones?" It was a male student in the front row, his face filled with confusion and a hint of anxiety.

Ryuen didn't look at him, just repeated himself.

"I said, hand over your phones. Anyone with an objection, stand up and say it."

No one stood up. The room was quiet enough to hear the wind outside the windows.

And so, Ryuen walked down from the podium to the first row and held out his hand.

The first student hesitated, pulled their phone from their pocket, and placed it in Ryuen's hand. The second, third, fourth... the phones were handed over one by one, piling up on the podium like a small hill.

"Ryuen-kun," a voice came from the back row, "what exactly happened?" It was Kaneda Satoru, adjusting his glasses, his expression serious.

Ryuen glanced at him and said directly, "Someone betrayed the class."

"W-what!?"

The classroom exploded.

Whispers surged from every direction, like a hornet's nest that had been poked.

"Betrayal? Who betrayed us?"

"What do you mean? We have a traitor in the class?"

"Ryuen, explain yourself!"

Ryuen raised his hand, signaling for silence. The room quieted down again. "I said, someone betrayed the class. This person, during the process of our transaction with Class D, was working for Ayanokouji. He submitted the exam paper we prepared for Class D ahead of schedule and swapped out the ones we had prepared."

The classroom went completely silent. Or rather, it was in shock.

"Who is it?" Ibuki Mio's voice came from by the window, as cold as ice.

Ryuen didn't answer. He picked up the pile of phones on the podium and flipped through them one by one. Contact lists, call logs, chat histories—he looked carefully, not missing a single name. No one spoke; everyone watched him flip through phone after phone. The air felt frozen, heavy enough to make it hard to breathe.

"Ryuen," Manabe Shiho's voice came from the back, "by what right are you checking our phones? That's privacy."

Ryuen looked up at her. "You disagree?"

Manabe felt a chill under his gaze but bit the bullet and nodded. "Disagree. My phone has private items; I don't want others to see them."

Ryuen put down the phone in his hand and stared at her.

"Manabe, do you know what would happen if the traitor wasn't found?"

Manabe opened her mouth but didn't speak.

"If I hadn't made preparations in advance, if I hadn't bought off Class D students to submit their papers so you could memorize them, you wouldn't have been able to pass this exam."

"But!"

"The traitor still exists!"

Ryuen's voice slowed down. "If, because you didn't agree to have your phone checked, the traitor wasn't discovered and it led to classmates being expelled in the future—will you take responsibility? Or do you think it doesn't matter if you get dragged down and expelled in the next exam? Idiot!"

Manabe's expression changed. She opened her mouth to say something but found the words stuck in her throat. She lowered her head, pulled her phone from her pocket, and placed it on the desk. Ryuen walked over, picked up her phone, and started checking. Manabe sat there with her head down.

The classroom went quiet again. Only the sound of Ryuen flipping through phones remained.

Then, he stopped. He held a phone, staring at the screen, his brows furrowing. He looked for several seconds, then looked up, his gaze landing on a boy in the back row.

"Tokito." Ryuen's voice was very calm.

Tokito Hiroya looked up at him. His expression was steady, but anyone could see sweat forming on his forehead.

"Is this your phone?" Ryuen asked.

"Yes," Tokito said.

Ryuen pulled up a chat history from the phone and turned the screen toward the crowd. Everyone saw it—it was a conversation between Tokito and Ayanokouji. Ayanokouji asked, "Can you help me submit an exam paper?" Tokito said, "Sure." Ayanokouji said, "I'll give you 500,000 points once it's done," and Tokito said, "Okay."

The classroom exploded.

"Tokito! Are you fucking crazy?"

"You actually helped Ayanokouji?"

"Do you have any idea how much you're hurting us?"

Voices surged from all sides, drowning Tokito like a tide. Tokito's face shifted from steady to flushed, then from flushed to ash-gray. He stood up abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor with a harsh sound.

"Ryuen, by what right are you checking my phone!" Tokito's voice was loud, loud enough to drown out everyone else. "What right do you have! You're not a sensei! You're not the principal! You're just a student!"

Ryuen looked at him without speaking.

"Who do you think you are?" Tokito's voice grew louder. "A tyrant! A dictator! You've been bullying us since the first day of school! Collecting points, hitting people, threats—you think we don't know? By what right do you manage us? By what right do you check our phones? By what right—"

"Enough," Ryuen interrupted.

Tokito's voice stopped for a beat but rose again quickly. "Not enough! I've endured you for a long time! You think you're so great for leading the class from Class C to Class B? That's thanks to the Sports Festival scores, not just your hard work! What right do you have to check our phones here? What right do you have to interrogate us?"

Ryuen looked at him as if looking at an idiot who was helping someone count the money they sold him for.

"Tokito," Ryuen's voice was very slow, "you think that by helping Ayanokouji, you can get him to transfer to this class and then kick me out?"

Tokito's brows furrowed slightly.

"You think I'm not fit for this class, so you want to change to a new leader?

You're too naive." Ryuen put the phone back on the desk. "Ayanokouji isn't helping you; he's using you. You think after he transfers here, he'll treat you like a hero? He can even sell out his own classmates—what are you to him?"

Tokito's lips trembled.

"He asked you to submit the papers and gave you 500,000 points. You think this is a deal? This is bribery. He spent 500,000 to buy your betrayal of the class. And then what? Once he destroys Class D, once he destroys our class, do you think he'll still care about you? He'll take his grades and transfer to Class C. You? You'll be nothing.

Moving through two classes—that kind of record would give a normal Class C student high hopes," Ryuen said.

Tokito's breathing grew rapid. His fist clenched, relaxed, then clenched again.

"Think about it carefully." Ryuen withdrew his gaze and returned the phones to the other students. "Take your phones back. The traitor has been found; no need to check further."

The students retrieved their phones one after another, but no one left. Tokito stood there, head down. He didn't speak, but he didn't sit down either.

Ryuen stood on the podium, looking at everyone in the classroom.

"As for the betrayal, that's the end of it," Ryuen's voice regained its usual composure. "However, there is one thing I must tell you."

The classroom went quiet; everyone looked at him.

"I once devised a plan." Ryuen's voice slowed down. "Gather 800 million points and move the whole class to Class A."

The classroom was filled with the sound of gasps. 800 million. Not 8 million, not 80 million, but 800 million. An astronomical figure.

"However," Ryuen continued, "the probability of this plan is very small. So small it's almost impossible to achieve. So, I changed to a different proposal."

He looked at everyone present, as if confirming something.

"Gather 100 to 200 million points so that five to ten students can graduate from Class A. This is feasible."

The classroom went quiet again. Five to ten spots. Not the whole class—five to ten. Who would have the chance? Who would those five to ten be?

"How will the spots be allocated?" Kaneda Satoru adjusted his glasses.

"Two ways." Ryuen held up two fingers. "First, a lottery. Fair. Whoever draws it gets it. Second, based on contributions to the class. Whoever does the most for the class gets priority."

The classroom became lively again. Some eyes lit up, some brows furrowed, and some began to calculate what they could do for the class. Ibuki Mio leaned against the window, arms crossed, her expression unchanged. Shiina Hiyori sat in her seat, holding that book, but not opening it. Kaneda Satoru pushed his glasses.

Meanwhile, Ishizaki Daichi scratched his head, looking confused.

"Ryuen," Ibuki spoke, "after the spots are determined, what happens to the rest of the people?"

Ryuen looked at her. "The rest will have to rely on themselves. Or wait for the next opportunity. If they can accumulate more points, then they too have a chance."

The classroom was silent for a moment. No one spoke, but everyone was thinking the same thing—would they be one of those five to ten?

After all.

If there were ten spots, even if Ryuen, Shiina, Kaneda, Albert, Ishizaki, and even Ibuki occupied 6 spots, there was still a chance one might win one of the remaining four.

That would be 4 out of 34.

The odds didn't seem so bad!

It seemed like something to look forward to.

"We'll talk about this later." Ryuen walked down from the podium. "For now, let's get the exam in front of us sorted out. We have the papers, we have the answers. As long as no one makes trouble, no one in this class will be expelled. And if someone does make trouble..."

He paused, his gaze landing on Tokito.

"Then the next person to be expelled will be you, Tokito!"

Tokito looked up at him. His eyes were red, but he didn't speak. Ryuen withdrew his gaze and headed toward the door. As he reached the door, he stopped without looking back.

"Dismissed."

He pushed the door open and walked out.

But the Class B students behind him didn't fall into excessive anger or dissatisfaction over the spy incident; instead, they felt... that the future seemed to have a clear hope.

-

-

-

In comparison, the atmosphere in the Class D classroom was much heavier than in Class B.

Hirata Yousuke stood on the podium. His expression was calm, but his brows were slightly furrowed. Over thirty people were sitting in the classroom. A few were missing. Hirata didn't wait for them; he had already sent Yukimura Teruhiko to call them.

Yes.

Compared to Ryuen's arrangement of keeping students in the classroom, Hirata had made no such request. Once class ended, everyone ran off, so now they had to be found.

"Hirata-kun," Ike Kanji's voice came from the back, "what exactly is it? Why so urgent?"

Hirata didn't answer. He stood on the podium, waiting. A few minutes later, Yukimura returned with a few students. When the last person walked into the classroom, Hirata glanced at the door—Ayanokouji hadn't come.

"Hirata-kun, Ayanokouji-kun, he..." Yukimura stopped mid-sentence.

"Don't worry about him." Hirata interrupted, his voice lower than usual. "Close the door."

Yukimura closed the door. The classroom went completely silent, and everyone looked at Hirata. He stood on the podium, silent for a few seconds, then spoke.

"Just now, I went to the office to submit Class D's exam papers. I met Ryuen-kun and Shiina-kun." Hirata's voice was steady, but every word felt weighed before being spoken. "Something happened in the office."

He recounted the events in the office in detail. Ayanokouji had submitted the papers early, attempting to swap out the questions Class D had set for Class B. Then Ayanokouji was bought off by Class C, taking 1 million points to attack Class B. But Ayanokouji also bribed a Class B student to have that person submit the Class B papers for Class D early.

And the ultimate goal was that Ayanokouji wanted the Class D students to fail and be expelled.

The classroom exploded.

"What? Ayanokouji?"

"He's crazy? He's from our class!"

"What on earth does he want to do?"

"He wants us expelled? Does he not want to live himself?"

Voices surged from all directions, like a poked hornet's nest. Some slapped tables, some stood up, some cursed out loud. Hirata stood there without speaking. He waited for the noise to subside a little before continuing.

"Ryuen-kun saw through his plan. So the transaction is still on." Hirata's voice grew even lower. "However, there are conditions."

"What conditions?" Sudo Ken's voice came, sounding somewhat low.

He already knew very well that Ayanokouji was a madman, and he had suffered for it. This time, it was just repeating the same mistake.

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