At this time, Houtarou and Kikyō had arrived at Class D's campsite.
Because of Rokusuke, Class D occupied a total of 34 positions.
They had chosen a cave as their base. Though it contained no resources inside, with so many positions occupied and other positions rich in resources, this deficiency could be compensated. Besides, it offered protection against rain and typhoons.
However, they had to travel to another position specifically for bathing and such — quite inconvenient.
Well, whatever. If real dangers like typhoons were to occur, the teachers would prepare in advance. They wouldn't allow students to face genuine peril.
Upon entering the cave, they found three students burning wood at the entrance. They appeared to be guarding the position.
According to Kikyō, everyone woke up that morning to discover what unbelievable thing Rokusuke had done overnight.
He had raided Class B's position and forced their students to relocate in the middle of the night. During morning roll call, Class B's students looked utterly exhausted.
Very pitiful.
Worried about potential retaliation from Class B, they now had no choice but to post guards at their position daily, fearing they might also be sabotaged.
After all, dismantling and reinstalling tents was extremely troublesome. Knowing what Rokusuke had done, taking precautions seemed reasonable.
It seemed unfortunate though, as Class B's students were all little angels. They probably wouldn't seek revenge. Rather, they might regret having raided the position Kakeru occupied.
Didn't they see Rokusuke now sound asleep in his tent while Daichi manually fanned him? This showed complete confidence that Honami and her classmates wouldn't retaliate.
This guy clearly understood Class B students' character.
"You're a student from Class A—" The student tending the fire looked over.
On the first day of enrollment, Houtarou had come to Class D to sell information. Class D became the first class to learn the school rules, but they badly lost 1,000 Class Points in the process.
And now, for the island exam, representing Class A, he had allied with Class D. Subsequently, Rokusuke gave 5 positions to Class A, and after this exam, Class A would pay Class D a monthly living allowance of 800,000 points. With 40 people in Class D, each person would receive 20,000 points next month.
This agreement would continue until graduation, regardless of Class D's Class Points — even if they dropped to zero, they would still receive living expenses from Class A.
For the financially struggling Class D students, this was truly a godsend.
Therefore, they regarded the newcomer with enthusiasm.
Houtarou also noticed that among these three students was Kiyotaka Ayanokōji — or rather, this guy was the one addressing him.
But why?
Houtarou already knew that Kiyotaka was teacher Sae's last trump card, but she had already given up, making this trump card meaningless.
At the same time, if this guy were proactive, he wouldn't have watched his classmates lose 1,000 Class Points in the first month.
So Kiyotaka actively calling him out now seemed strange, and he seemed quite interested in him.
"I heard about Class B's situation and came to check on you." Houtarou said calmly, "Class B and Class C have allied. So Class B, like my class, can retain the Base Points until the end of the exam."
Realizing he was discussing official matters — something unrelated to them — the two Class D students turned back around. The "trump card" also seemed to act like the others.
So, Kiyotaka, your behavior is quite strange.
However, Houtarou did not continue to focus his gaze on him. Rather, it's best not to show too much attention or too much disregard for such troublesome people; maintaining a certain coolness is the best approach.
So he didn't pay attention to Kiyotaka. Instead, he asked about the others.
"The others — the girls went to pick fruits and corn, while the boys went to explore new positions. Yamauchi said, since there are so many positions on this island, there might also be some that Kōenji hasn't discovered. So he went exploring." Said a bespectacled boy.
This was a male student from Class D, seemingly a top student, called Teruhiko Yukimura. He was also one of the students who stayed behind.
This time, seven boys stayed behind: Haruki, Kiyotaka, Teruhiko, Kanji, Ken, and two more unremarkable male students.
As for the girls: Kikyō, Suzune, Airi, Mei-Yu, and four more unremarkable female students.
Among them, Houtarou's acquaintance Kei was not present. It was good that she didn't stay.
Her favorability toward him was full, but from the Precognitive Dream, it was known that the future lawyer Suzune would be his marriage partner. If the future remained unchanged, Kei would lose.
All of this was completely unfamiliar territory for him.
Knowing that his relationship with these people was delicate, having Kei and Suzune interact would make him feel uncomfortable. So it was better that the blonde girl didn't stay.
At the same time, he also understood that whether she stayed or not wasn't up to her.
She didn't want to cause him trouble, didn't want to be bullied and need him to step in. So she pretended to be strong like this and became the leader of the gyaru girls. She would consider the thoughts of her gyaru companions.
Therefore, if those gyaru companions were unwilling to stay and suffer hardship, then naturally it wouldn't be good for her to stay.
Looking at it this way, people who have been helped still carry a burden.
Houtarou pondered.
But Kikyō was still behind him.
"It seems Kushida-san is very popular." He said.
"Not at all…" She, following behind him, maintained her little angel expression. Her face was still quite adorable.
But Houtarou, who knew her very well, knew that her mood had instantly worsened. The reason was probably...
Apart from these few boys at the position, Haruki and the others were probably exploring positions and such. Doing something like this wasn't about wanting to contribute to the class.
The positions had already been completely divided. These boys just wanted to show off their strength in front of the girls, to make a splash.
Haruki, understandably, wanted to pursue Airi. But directly confessing would likely result in immediate rejection, so he wanted to package himself better.
The others willing to follow him in this foolishness must also have someone they liked and wanted to confess to.
Among the Class D girls who stayed, Suzune was a top-tier beauty. Airi had been revealed to be an extremely cute beauty. Kikyō herself was a little angel. Then there was Mei-Yu… who, among these girls, unfortunately served only as a foil.
This indicated that Sakura, Suzune, and Kikyō were all worthy confession targets.
Among these three, Suzune was very cold. Her demeanor would immediately reject people; confessing to her required courage.
Airi, being introverted, seemed likely to accept.
Kikyō, unanimously recognized as a little angel, must have many admirers. For those wanting to display masculine charm, spirit, and strength, she was also a popular target.
Her reaction, however, was quite obvious. She probably really hated this sort of thing — that's why she deliberately left the campsite.
She had a strong ability to read the atmosphere and was highly sensitive to interpersonal relationships. Sensing she might be confessed to by these terrible classmates, she felt tremendous pressure.
So seeing him acting alone, she immediately followed.
Is the pressure of being confessed to by these people really so great?
Not seeing Suzune, Houtarou wasn't interested in watching Rokusuke sleep. He prepared to leave.
However, seeing him arrive at Class D's cave, Daichi — who had been fanning a certain bastard — glanced at the soundly sleeping Rokusuke in the tent.
Then he put down the fan and walked out.
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"Oreki, today I saw Ibuki and Kaneda in Class B's group. Has your class seen any other students from Class C? Ryūen's behavior is becoming increasingly excessive, and many in my class want to oppose him. Ibuki and I were abandoned on the island as punishment, but I don't want to return to the ship with them either. I'm grateful that Class D took me in."
"I'm worried there might be other classmates who opposed Ryūen and were left on the island, surviving alone. We already saw snakes here yesterday... so I'm concerned about their situation."
Even while saying this, Daichi's expression remained ambiguous. His words seemed concerned about his classmates' welfare. He even mentioned others opposing Kakeru.
But actually, he really wanted to understand why Mio, who was supposed to be assigned to Class A, ended up in Class B.
So who was now responsible for spying in Class A? Had Kakeru made new arrangements?
"My classmates found Ibuki alone under a tree when they returned to their position last night. However, Class B students picked up your Class C tents and other supplies. So we took her to Class B," Houtarou said.
Oh, I see. Is that how it is?
So that means Mio was still following the original plan to go to Class A, but something went wrong along the way.
Since Class B took all of Class C's tents and resources, taking Class C students there actually makes sense. No class needs to randomly support someone from another class.
Being on the island for seven days means paying for a week's worth of resources for that person — a significant cost. And since Class B took Class C's supplies, isn't it normal that they should look after Class C students?
Looking at it this way, Houtarou is actually very considerate.
Daichi found himself confused. From this perspective, this guy seemed very thoughtful.
But Kakeru had said that Houtarou was genuinely a bad person — someone who wanted to constantly extract Points from their Class C.
"Um..." Daichi hesitated before finally speaking, "About the previous store agreement—"
"Vice President Nagumo's requirement for opening the store needed 5 million, so the store failed." Houtarou said, "But my agreement with Class B is still continuing. It will probably last until the end."
"Oh, I see."
Is that so?
Daichi was the one who had convinced most of his classmates to join this store plan. He also knew that some students from Class B had participated.
But then Kakeru had unilaterally forced them to terminate their agreement with Houtarou. Now it seemed Houtarou was still continuing the agreement with Class B students.
And this agreement with Class B was a loan agreement, meaning that starting next month, he would begin paying back 15% interest to Class B. The fact that he could do this indicated he wasn't trying to scam money, but genuinely wanted to do business.
And this contradicted what Kakeru had said.
Daichi: "..."
So could he still trust his Class Leader?
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