Chapter 240: Beauty Unsealed, Stunning the Whole Crowd!
The Cavalry Battle arena.
"Hey! Hurry up! Can't you even handle that clumsy woman?"
Beads of sweat popped out on Ryuen Kakeru's forehead; after all, carrying a woman who weighed no less than himself was a massive drain on his physical strength.
"Ryuen-kun, please give me a little more time!"
Takashimako's hands moved like swinging oars, frantically grabbing at Sakura Airi.
"Ah!"
In a momentary lapse of attention, Sakura Airi's glasses were swiped off by the other girl.
"Airi, are you okay?"
Hikigaya widened his stride, pulling some distance away from Ryuen Kakeru.
"Huff, huff, huff...I'm fine..."
Sakura Airi's breathing was rapid.
Fortunately, she wasn't nearsighted; she only wore plain-glass spectacles, so her vision wasn't affected.
"Don't give them a chance to catch their breath!"
Ryuen Kakeru bit his teeth and, with somewhat heavy steps, charged at Hikigaya once more.
"Take this!" 1zok
Takashimako continued her frenzied assault. In the process of hurriedly dodging, the rubber band restraining Sakura Airi's hair was also rubbed off, and her dorky braided pigtails scattered apart.
Her long-sealed beauty was finally revealed before everyone's eyes at this moment!
"...Have you guys noticed?"
"The girl that Hikigaya is carrying seems... really cute!"
"Who is that again?"
"When did Class D get such a top-tier beauty?!"
In the spectator stands, every class cast unbelievable looks toward them. Even the people of Class D were shocked.
"Wow! Sakura-san is actually that pretty?"
Karuizawa and the others, however, wore expressions of gravity.
"Both her face and figure are quite perfect."
"It seems Sakura-san is the number one powerful enemy!"
"Not to mention there's also a Hasabe..."
Matsushita Chiaki narrowed her eyes and said meaningfully: "Since we can't win in a one-on-one fight, we have to win through numbers!"
"Makes sense!"
"If the three of us join together, we should still have a chance of winning."
At this moment, the Karuizawa trio reached an all-weather, no-limit strategic partnership.
"That girl Sakura was hiding so deep!"
Kushida Kikyo's jealousy flared up instantly: "She looks so pure on the surface, who knew she was such a calculating woman!"
"I think you're overthinking it. Perhaps Sakura-san just wanted to keep a low profile and didn't want to be seen by others."
Horikita Suzune's impression of Sakura was decent.
"Tch! Stop acting all pretentious over here!
Wait until the day you're kicked out of the game; let's see if you can stay calm then!"
Kushida Kikyo wore a look of disdain.
On the field.
Sakura Airi's hair was disheveled, making her look rather bedraggled. However, even this could not hide her stunning beauty that amazed the whole crowd!
"Oh!"
Sakura Airi instinctively reached out to cover her face.
"Airi, no need to hide anymore. Lift your head and show your truest self!"
Hikigaya spoke up.
"..."
Sakura Airi had chosen to hide her true appearance because of the psychological shadow caused by a fanatical stalker during her time as a gravure model.
"Don't be afraid. I will protect you this time."
Hikigaya intended to take this opportunity to untie the knot in her heart.
"Mnh, if Hachiman-kun is here..."
Sakura Airi cautiously lifted her head. 1zok
"Waaaaah!"
"That girl is super cute!"
"She's practically an idol!"
The cheers from the spectator stands became even more enthusiastic!
"Ugh~~"
Sakura Airi was startled, and her legs involuntarily clamped tight.
"!!!"
Hikigaya's neck was squeezed, and he suddenly couldn't breathe. He had to reach out and pat her thighs to signal her to relax.
"Tch!"
"You dead-fish eyes are eating way too well!"
Ryuen Kakeru had no interest in beauties. But seeing Hikigaya so "happy" made him feel immensely displeased.
Ryuen charged at full speed, knocking down the caught-off-guard Hikigaya.
Both groups of four fell. Hikigaya couldn't help but inwardly curse the other for harming others with no benefit to himself.
"No matter what, the victor is me!"
Ryuen Kakeru looked smug.
"Good opportunity!"
Taking advantage of the fact that the other party couldn't move, Takashimako reached out with her large hand, seemingly about to grab Sakura Airi's red headband.
However, at this critical juncture, Takashimako suddenly felt her head lighten—her own white headband had been snatched away by someone!
"Got it!"
The attacker was a contestant from Class A.
"Finally, revenge successful!"
Himeno Yuki squinted her eyes, her hand tightly clutching the other's white headband. She hadn't forgotten how, in the first semester, Ryuen Kakeru had sent someone to intentionally frame her for a collision just to attack Class A (formerly Class B).
"Hikigaya, I've returned this favor to you."
Himeno Yuki waved at Hikigaya.
Whoosh—!
The Cavalry Battle ended here. The Red Team's score was in the lead again!
"W-what should we do?"
"We're in last place!"
Takashimako's expression was frantic. Due to Ryuen Kakeru's orders, she hadn't snatched any other red headbands during the entire race, resulting in a score of zero.
Now that her own headband had been snatched, she was firmly in negative points, ranking at the bottom.
The penalty for being in last place was a ten-point deduction from the total score of the next midterm exam! For a poor student whose grades were already bad, this was simply adding insult to injury!
"..."
Ryuen Kakeru was currently too drained to even shout. By partnering with Takashimako, he was already carrying a heavy load just to target Hikigaya! In his original plan, as long as he could pull Hikigaya down, even a mutual defeat would be acceptable.
"Ryuen, is this your battle plan?"
"You've screwed us all over!"
Hashimoto Masayoshi of Class C, as a White Team contestant, couldn't help but walk over to complain.
In the spectator stands.
"Sakayanagi, our White Team lost again."
Kamuro Masumi's voice was cold.
"The gain or loss of a mere race is no big deal."
Sakayanagi Arisu expressed that she didn't care at all, then shifted the topic: "By contrast, I've seen something else interesting about Hikigaya-kun.
That girl is indeed very cute.
I'm also very cute. Combined with Kamuro, as long as we master and servant join forces, the winning chance is very high."
"What 'master and servant joining forces'... I don't know what you're talking about?"
"Hehe~ it doesn't matter if you don't understand; you just need to follow in my footsteps."
Sakayanagi Arisu showed a confident smile.
"Airi, well done."
Although Hikigaya's pair hadn't snatched a white headband and had a score of zero, they gained points by retaining their own headband throughout the race.
Their final ranking was slightly below middle, but that was fine. This was Class D's "minimum guarantee" tactic—as long as the rank wasn't at the very bottom.
"We won?"
"That's wonderful!"
Sakura Airi looked excited and hugged Hikigaya happily.
"!!!"
From all directions, the eyes of the entire crowd focused on them!
Hikigaya Hachiman: "…"
Anyway, it wasn't the first or second time he had become public enemy number one. He'd get used to it. Hikigaya simply acted as if he didn't see it.
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