What's up with Hamaguchi's being in a different class?

Question

I was initially wondering where Hamaguchi is in the Camping Trip episode S02E07

Notice we see the pairs / groups:

1. Takagi x Nishikata
2. Mano x Nakai
3. Mina, Yukari, Sanae
4. Kimura, Takao
5. Hell we can see 6 named characters in the front row all together: Mina, Yukari, Sanae, Kimura, Takao and Tanabe-sensei.

And then Houjou's not with anyone we know.

I checked the fandom / wikia and apparently all the main or supporting student characters but Hamaguchi are in the same class.

Question: What's up with this? What's the difference to the plot if Hamaguchi is in their class?

You might argue Hamaguchi is a character introduced only later in (the manga equivalent of) s2, specifically S02E01, and thus is in a different class to avoid plot inconsistencies like 'Where was Hamaguchi during event X in s1?' But this doesn't explain Houjou who was also introduced only in s2, specifically S02E04.

Answer 1

Partial answer:

I'm not sure the plot changes much, but this is relevant for a minor joke in S03E06 where each class does their own thing for the culture / cultural festival.

Houjou talks about dropping by Hamaguchi's class.

Hamaguchi doesn't want this. But Houjou goes anyway:

Again, this is a just minor joke, not really relevant to the plot at least anime-wise. Hence, this is just a partial answer.

Answer 2

Partial answer:

Actually in the same episode, there are 2 Houjou x Hamaguchi things. I'm not too sure of the details here. Maybe there's more in the manga.

1

Nakai comments about how Hamaguchi's food is cut differently or something.

2

They are in the same folk dance despite that they are in different classes.

As with my 1st answer, I don't think these are very relevant to the plot at least anime-wise. Hence, this is just a partial answer.