"Well, that's not what I wanted to hear. This is a school of merit! What's the point of telling me how pitiful you all are!" Kakeru interrupted Honami's account of discovering Mio was a spy.
"Ryūen!"
His words instantly provoked everyone's anger.
He was now the only Class C student on this beach, surrounded by forty Class B students.
While the girls might not look intimidating, there were plenty of boys among them.
However...
"Shut up, you sheep!" Kakeru said, "Ichinose, I want to know what happened next! Why did you all write down that I was the leader? You think you suffered more than us? I survived alone on a deserted island for seven days, and they tell me I got 0 points!?"
Though he looked furious, when he mentioned his 0 points, Class B students felt their anger subsiding.
After all, wasn't this exactly what he deserved?
Besides, after returning to school, they would report Kakeru for using violence against Mio and the others.
With Chie's photo evidence, the teachers confirmed the Student Council would deduct another 100 points from Class C.
Moreover, since Class D had surpassed Class C's points, his class would be demoted.
Looking at it this way, they felt satisfied. Everyone turned to Honami.
She began her account.
⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟⍟
On the afternoon of the sixth day, at Class A's camp.
It had been raining since noon, so Class A students were mostly resting in camp.
Some people were in the cave, others in tents. Having secured five base points, they were well-equipped even in this weather.
Houtarou was staying in the cave.
The tents were pitched near the river. While convenient for bathing, being confined there on rainy days was uncomfortable.
He and about ten other classmates were together in another base cave.
The students seemed quite bored, as this was already the sixth day on the island.
The Island Exam was mandatory, with thirty Base Points deducted for each absence. While Arisu's absence was excused for health reasons, for everyone else, the exam results were settled.
However, the biggest problem was boredom — there was nothing for entertainment.
Their phones had been confiscated upon arrival. As for books, though Kōhei had prudently included ten in Class D's initial supply list, some weren't very interesting.
So, a student opened up the Morse Code book they had received.
Morse code is a signal system using combinations of dots and dashes to represent letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. Using just letters, one can communicate accurately in Morse code.
The student thought they could use Morse code to pass the time by creating a simple cipher — having letters correspond to specific words and phrases, then writing them as letter strings.
Anyone who knew the code could understand the hidden message by matching the letters, while others would only see meaningless text.
{T/N: Think of it as a Word code within the Morse code. A code within another code.}
This way, they could write messages that couldn't be said openly.
Boredom had drawn quite a few students to gather in the cave.
"Would you like to join us, Katsuragi-kun?"
"I'll pass." Kōhei shook his head.
As one of Class A's representatives, he maintained his composure. His serious personality made him uncomfortable with such playful activities.
"Oreki-kun, I'm having trouble translating these letters." Said the student, one of Arisu's followers.
Houtarou: "..."
He glanced at the letters and, following their code system, quickly translated:
[Are you and Princess Sakayanagi dating?]
"..."
Why would they ask that?
While pondering this, a peeled apple appeared before him.
It came from Masumi, who was treating him with the same deference she usually showed Arisu.
Houtarou noticed the other students' complex expressions as Masumi approached.
Then he understood the reason for their question.
Oh. That's why.
Masumi was Arisu's loyal follower, yet here she was serving him instead. Either he had stolen her loyalty from the little princess, or his relationship with Arisu was unusual.
In the future, such a situation would indeed be strange.
But for now... his emotional life was already complicated enough.
After careful thought...
[SGH]
Houtarou scratched these letters in the ground with a stick, using their established code.
The student rushed to decode it.
"Holy shit!" The student gasped, startled by the answer.
"?" Masumi glanced over.
But the student had already wiped away the letters.
Houtarou returned to his original spot to think.
"What are you thinking about?" Masumi seemed curious.
She actually wanted to know what he had written in the ground that had shocked that student.
"..." Houtarou paused, "Thinking about something important."
He opened the system prompt.
〖 Side Task: Give Me My Money, Dumb ATM! 〗
〖 Task Requirement: In the Island Exam, gain control of Class D and turn them into an ATM! 〗
〖 Task Duration: 3/8 Days 〗
〖 Task Reward: Enhancement of Restoration Ability (Extending disease healing duration) 〗
〖 Task Punishment: When using Clairvoyance, eyes will become cross-eyed (Charm decreased by 20) 〗
〖 Task Progress: 75% 〗
Looking at the system prompt, the quest was progressing smoothly. All good.
But what concerned him was the information Masumi and Kōhei had gathered.
When the second and third-year students were first-years, they had earned large amounts of Class Points and Private Points in this month's special exam.
The island exam could only earn Class Points now. Though he could still get his share from Class D's side, that was just his operation — definitely not something Miyabi and Manabu could have achieved.
So how did these two get so many Points?
Moreover, he remembered what his teacher Tomonari had said when announcing the exam rules on the ship.
"Now we will begin this month's first special exam. The duration will be exactly one week, from now, June 16th, until noon on June 22nd. You will spend this week living together on this deserted island."
The key point to note was — this month's first special exam.
In other words, there would be a second special exam this month?
Although the rules, purpose, direction, and requirements were still unknown, this was an opportunity to potentially earn huge points.
And without knowing the rules, perhaps the only thing to do was to copy Miyabi's approach.
In their second year, his class would treat the school like an ATM regardless of what exam was given. Then the representatives of all four classes would discuss how to take the exam together.
It was basically like taking an open-book test, so they could get the results they wanted.
And now?
Since this exam was customary, the school was willing to let them casually fleece it this time too. They could take advantage of that.
For an unknown exam question, they needed to control the test-takers first.
Class D was manageable — they had put Rokusuke in place, and while Suzune couldn't get control, she could have some say. They could give Kikyō a sweet deal later.
As for Class A, as long as their position was secure, the students wouldn't say anything.
They needed to gain control or cooperation of at least one more class to be thorough.
But where could they find such a class?
As for Classes B and C, they were unique cases.
With Kakeru's side, if they proposed working together, he would likely demand an astronomical price.
And as for Honami from Class B—
"Actually…" Masumi reported, "I saw Ichinose from Class B standing in the rain."
"Ichinose is in the rain?" Houtarou looked over.
Masumi nodded seriously, "It's because of the spy incident in their class at noon. Their leader card was photographed. I went to investigate."
This investigation proved quite clever.
She lowered her voice, "Ibuki was the spy. She photographed Class B's leader card and ran away. When I was watching the beach, I saw she had already given up and boarded the ship — she even threw her camera into the sea."
Oh. That's pretty extreme.
Then Honami must be feeling quite desperate now, standing in the rain.
Kikyō had said that all people were trash, that they would take advantage of others, that they were terrible.
But Houtarou thought there might be one exception. That person was Honami Ichinose.
She wasn't that type of person — that's why she was standing in the rain now, punishing herself. Though she had been at this school for just over two months, Class B had almost nothing to show for it.
True, in last month's written exam, Class B had gotten a perfect score. But Classes A and C had achieved the same, so their accomplishment wasn't particularly impressive.
And in this exam, they were in an almost tragic position.
Not only had they exhausted themselves on the first day walking until everyone was in tears, but they had also failed to secure any advantageous bases afterward.
The one base they tried to occupy — the one Kakeru had abandoned — ended up being taken by Rokusuke, who then seized their campsite, forcing them to relocate in the middle of the night.
You could say their morale was at rock bottom.
And after showing such concern for Mio when she was struck on the ship, they had taken her in. They had shown genuine kindness, only to be betrayed — a betrayal that would bring huge losses to their class.
So... only in Class B, only in Honami's heart was it raining. Not just raining, but a self-punishing kind of rain.
"Oreki-kun—"
Houtarou walked out of the cave entrance just as a classmate was approaching with an umbrella.
"Can I borrow your umbrella?"
The person had just come in from outside and was about to close it.
"Sure." The student said without objection.
He was one of Kōhei's followers.
But that didn't matter. According to Kōhei's estimates, Class A was so stable they could earn 400 Class Points in this exam, showing just how secure their position was.
And in all this, Houtarou had contributed significantly. So the student was grateful to him.
Still, why borrow the umbrella?
Simple: just using someone else's things to curry favor.
At the same time, he had found the useful class he had been seeking.
⍟⍟⍟
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