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Table of Contents
Illustration

Prologue: The Monologue of Amasawa Ichika

Chapter 1: Secret Maneuvers

Part 1

Chapter 2: Simple, Single-Minded Silence

Part 1

Part 2

Chapter 3: A Fight Against Solitude

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Chapter 4: Surrounded on All Sides – Kōenji Vs. The Free Group

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Chapter 5: Each and Everyone's Opinions

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 Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Chapter 6: The Man Known As Tsukishiro

Intro

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Epilogue: And The Results Are In

Intro

Part 1

Author's words

Hiyori Shiina SS: Beneath a Scarlet Sky

Fūka Kiryūin SS: Poker Face

Ibuki Mio SS: No Reason to It

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Ichinose Honami SS: Something I Have to Tell You

Karuizawa Kei Bonus SS:Trial Date

Credits

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Prologue: The Monologue of Amasawa
Ichika
Test-tube babies. Have you ever heard the term before?

Apparently, they’re no longer called that nowadays. Rather, society

has taken to using the term ‘IVF babies’ instead.

I am one of those born from that very process. A human brought

about through in vitro fertilization.

However, I don’t know anything about my origins outside of that. I’ve

never even seen my parents’ faces.

Where they are now… What they’re doing… Why they put me in the
White Room… Nothing.

But, to be completely honest, I’m not really that interested in finding

out.

There’s one thing I learned when I was finally old enough to

understand the world around me:

That my parents were both extremely talented people.

As such, I must be an incredibly blessed child born with the

qualifications to become a genius then, right?

Though, as right as that may be, my existence runs in direct conflict

with that of the White Room.

A facility whose ultimate goal is to raise all people unto equivalent

superiority.

A facility where they seek to prove that the limits of humanity are
decided not by one’s genetics, but by their environment.

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In other words, they want all people to harbor outstanding talent,
not just those blessed with excellent genes like me.

In the end, for the White Room, I’m surely just another experiment.

And while I’m not really all that opposed to being an experiment, I
find myself wondering if they really think they’ll succeed.

I personally concluded long ago that it’s impossible to homogenize

intellect, personality, and ethics.

In fact, doesn’t my very existence serve as the greatest proof of that?

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been proud of being different from those
around me, though I never showed it. I’d kill off the light in my eyes
and indifferently pretend to go through the motions, all the while
questioning the significance of the White Room’s existence.

Do I truly want to grow up dedicating my life to furthering the ideals

of the White Room?

Am I really willing to put my life on the line, toiling day after day,
desperate to become the world’s utmost example of a successful
upbringing?

Wouldn’t that be like, you know, kinda pathetic? Wouldn’t you want
to live more freely?

I would. At least, I’d hate to spend the rest of my life locked up in

such a world.

Oops, it seems I’ve been rambling a bit. Let’s get back to the matter
at hand, shall we?

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Ayanokōji Kiyotaka. The being whose preeminent success stood out
from the rest of the White Room.

Of course, I was skeptical when I first heard of him.

After all, how could I possibly believe that, despite all my painstaking
efforts, he had scored far higher than me in every way?

But… alas. After seeing the data, meeting him in person, talking to
him… I finally understood.

Understood how special he truly was.

However, I’m sorry Senpai.

I really want to take your side, but that’s just not how fate is going to
play out.

Because, there are those I’ve known for much, much longer than
you, Senpai.

I’m way more compassionate than I thought I was… Who wouldda

guessed?

As one of your faithful admirers, I’ll be looking on from a distance

once ‘that time’ finally comes.

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Chapter 1: Secret Maneuvers
The pouring rain had gotten stronger and the fog, thicker.

It was hard to hear or see anything due to the weather, but I could
feel an ominous presence approaching us from behind.

There was a deliberate, almost exaggerated sound of mud being

trampled underfoot and strewn into the air.

It seemed that Nanase had immediately noticed it as well.

Looking over my shoulder, I caught sight of a student who had come

to an abrupt stop behind me, her red hair swaying in the wind.

“Seems it’s gonna really start coming down, huh Sen~pai?”

It was none other than Class 1-A’s Amasawa Ichika, standing there in
the rain.

While it had long-since been established that she had the same table
as Nanase and I, this was by no means a mere coincidence.

There weren’t any other students nearby, and she didn’t have a
backpack or tablet either.

This begged the question: How exactly did she make it all the way up
here?

One possibility was that she had simply hidden her things
somewhere nearby before approaching us.

Alternatively, she could’ve been tailing us for an extended period of

time, empty-handed from the start.

I suppose it was also possible that someone had been tracking us

with the GPS and relaying our position to her via walkie-talkie.

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Nonetheless, it was probably fine to rule this out as simple
coincidence.

No matter the method, her arrival was not a welcome one as far as I
was concerned.

Besides, it wasn’t like Amasawa was completely empty-handed

either. Clasped in her left hand was a thick wooden stick: one that
was more than capable of being used as a weapon to bludgeon
someone.

Was she trying to take us by surprise, only for Nanase and I to

unexpectedly notice before she could do so?

But, in such bad weather, she could’ve been far quieter with her
approach if she truly planned on attacking us.

“Please get behind me, Senpai.”

As I thought about the reason behind Amasawa’s sudden

appearance, Nanase, despite still being exhausted from earlier,
inserted herself in front of me.

From the brief look I had of her profile, her gaze was firm with a
blatant sense of distrust written all over her face.

“Oh? Nanase-chan, shouldn’t you be happy to see me? How aw~fully

cold you are to a dear companion from your very own group. Wait,
are you perhaps nervous about this little stick friend of mine~?”

She casually tossed the wooden stick down to the ground between
us in what seemed to be a show of good faith.

Even so, Nanase didn’t relax her guard whatsoever.

“You─ cannot be trusted.”

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“How me~an. How could you say something like that? I’m super-
duper cute~!”

I didn’t think that being cute had anything to do with whether or not
you were trustworthy, but that didn’t really matter at the moment.

“Why do you say that she can’t be trusted, Nanase?”

There was certainly something about Amasawa that made it hard to

tell what she was truly thinking.

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that she had extraordinary

acting skills and the uncanny ability to put plans into action.

So while it was natural to be cautious of her, it’s not like I wasn’t

already doing that at this point.

But that was no explanation for the excessive distrust and caution
Nanase was showing her.

Of course, Amasawa clearly had a reason for showing up here.

One could assume that Nanase was just overreacting now that she
had become my ally, but…

“Jeez. I’m not some bad guy, right Ayanokōji-senpai~? I just wanna
chat for a bit, kay?”

“Please don’t listen to her, she’s dangerous.”

Though Amasawa wasn’t showing any hostility, Nanase remained

merciless and firm, refusing to budge an inch.

Despite voicing complaints only moments earlier, Amasawa didn’t

appear to be bothered by Nanase’s seemingly unwarranted
accusation.

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“Senpai… There’s something I’ve been silent about for a while now…
Back when Shinohara-senpai’s group was attacked and Komiya-
senpai and Kinoshita-senpai retired from the exam, do you
remember how you left to climb the slope with Ike-senpai?”

She was referring to the fourth day of the exam, when Ike heard a
sound coming from the top of the slope and took off in a panic,
thinking that Shinohara might be there.

Having decided that it was too dangerous for him to go alone, I had
followed after him.

“While you were gone, I noticed that someone had been watching us
from nearby, so I tried chasing after them.”

“Is that why you weren’t with Sudō and the others when we were
making our way back after finding Shinohara?”

She gave a slight nod.

“So what happened?”

“They ran from me. And while I wasn’t able to catch up with them… I
did manage to get a good look at their hair.”

With that, Nanase slowly lifted her right arm into the air and pointed
at Amasawa.

“Back then, the one watching us from the shadows was you, wasn’t it
Amasawa-san?”

“Ahaha, so I was seen after all.”

Rather than try to deny it, Amasawa laughed, admitting to it

immediately.

She didn’t seem remotely surprised about having been caught red-
handed, her attitude the same as ever.
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As such, it was probably safe to conclude that the presence I had
sensed back then really had been Amasawa.

“You also hurt Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai, didn’t you?”

“Eh? Aren’t you just, like, jumping to conclusions? Maybe I just

happened to be in the neighborhood.”

“Then you didn’t need to run away from me, did you?”

“If a girl came running at you with a scary look on her face, who
wouldn’t run away? Plus, I didn’t wanna be suspected.”

“I don’t believe you. Not at all.”

“So in other words, Nanase-chan, you’ve just up and decided that I

pushed those two senpais down the slope, is that right?”

“I’m sure of it. It’s almost impossible that I’m wrong.”

“You’re soooo sure, and yet you felt the need to throw in an ‘almost’,
huh? Wouldn’t it, like, make more sense to say you’ve actually got no
idea?”

The two girls, fellow group members, exchanged words back and
forth, keeping one another in check.

“Then, can you swear to me that you weren’t the one who hurt
them?”

“I can swear it, sure, but it doesn’t really matter whether I keep my
word or not, right?”

Amasawa was basically saying that, at the end of the day, a verbal
promise didn’t mean anything.

“Lemme just ask: If it really was me, what would you do? What
then?”

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Rather than try to escape from Nanase’s incessant questioning,
Amasawa instead dove in head-first of her own accord.

Nanase was probably feeling a little overwhelmed at this point, but

she pressed on nonetheless, determined to find out the truth.

“I’d want you to tell me why you did something like that. To give me
a reason. No, before any of that, why didn’t your name come up back
when the teachers investigated the surrounding GPS signals in the
first place?”

This didn’t seem like something that Amasawa needed to explain, so

I spoke up instead.

“It’s not that hard to get rid of a GPS signal. You just need to break
your watch, that’s all.”

“Ding ding ding~ Correct~! Whether intentionally done or not, a

broken watch is a broken watch. And you can get it replaced for free
too!”

With a delighted expression, Amasawa showed us the watch

attached to her right wrist.

“But even if you broke your GPS before the attack, wouldn’t the
school have taken notice?”

“Yeah prolly. But in this case at least, I think it wouldda been pretty
tricky to notice with how much of a rush they were in at the time.”

There were well over 400 GPS signals on the island. Even if one or
two had been missing from the map, there’s no way they would’ve
noticed it back then, and it’s not like they had the time to check
everything either. The teachers rightfully needed to prioritize the
safety and well-being of the students.

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“The school would still conduct a thorough investigation later on
though, right? It’d only be a matter of time before they found out.”

Since Shinohara herself had testified that they had been attacked by
someone, the school would definitely investigate the case in detail.

And, in the process, it was highly likely that they’d find out that
Amasawa’s GPS signal was the only one that had disappeared.

However, therein lies the problem.

“If Amasawa’s GPS signal was the only one missing back when
Komiya and Kinoshita were attacked, the school would definitely be
suspicious. But that’s it. Due to a lack of evidence they wouldn’t be
able to conclude that she’s the culprit.”

“That─”

Having personally witnessed Amasawa’s presence at the site of the

attack, Nanase wanted to identify her as the culprit.

However, proving a crime was much harder than she was making it
out to be. No matter what, the school had to avoid forcing
someone’s retirement due to a false accusation.

Originally, the wristwatch had been meant as a way for the school to
safeguard the rules of the exam and maintain order, and yet
students could effectively circumvent that to their heart’s content.

In order to prevent students from abusing the system, the school

would have to implement strong penalties for breaking the watches,
such as limiting the number of times they can be replaced, charging
points, or even mandating retirement.

However, the stronger the penalties, the more susceptible to abuse

the system becomes as a whole. For example, it would open up the
possibility of tampering with or breaking a competitor’s watch to
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make them face the penalties. Furthermore, if students were forced
to retire due to a genuine accident or software malfunction, it would
probably make for a fairly unsatisfactory special exam.

“Poking holes in the rules is standard practice. If the school can’t

even find any evidence, you’re free to do whatever you want.”

Although her phrasing was a bit awkward, what Amasawa was saying
was correct.

“If they can’t find any evidence, then I’ll just have to testify that I saw
you there, Amasawa-san.”

“Same difference. Be it my broken GPS or my presence at the scene

of the crime, it would only end with suspicion at best.”

If it had been one of the more problematic students like Sudō or

Ryūen, who had a history of highly violent behavior, the school might
have been more suspicious. Amasawa, however, was a first-year high
school girl with a spotless record. Given her character evidence, the
probability of the school finding her guilty wasn’t very high.

What’s more, Komiya and Kinoshita didn’t even testify that they had
been attacked in the first place, and Shinohara herself had only been
able to make a vague statement, unable to say who it was she saw.

Nanase’s testimony of seeing Amasawa in the area would be treated

no differently.

Without conclusive evidence, it would be impossible to get the

school to punish Amasawa.

“That’s how it is, Nanase-chan.”

At the end of the day, we still didn’t know the reason why Amasawa
had come here.

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The continuous back and forth between Nanase’s questions and
Amasawa’s evasive wordplay didn’t seem to be getting us anywhere.

As such, it was getting harder and harder to believe that she’d

suddenly spring a trap on us at this point.

For the time being, we might as well set aside the matter of whether
or not she was the one behind what had happened to Komiya and
Kinoshita.

I figured that I should ask something to get past the current

stalemate and steer the conversation back on track.

“What are you doing here Amasawa? No, how did you find us?”

Considering that there was still more than a week left in the special
exam, it would be best for all of us to avoid standing out in the
pouring rain like this.

We needed to pitch our tents and escape from the downpour as

soon as possible.

“No need to be in such a hurry, Ayanokōji-senpai. Let’s just

appreciate that we could meet each other like this~!”

“Sorry, but the rain has been far more taxing on my stamina than I
anticipated. Let’s get this over with. Please.”

“Well~, how about I help you pitch a tent and we spend the night
together, just the two of us? How’s that?”

Boys and girls were expressly prohibited from spending the night
together in the same tent, something that she too, should’ve been
fully aware of.

She was probably trying to stall for time by engaging me in a

meaningless conversation.

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“Ah, are you worried about breaking the rules? It’s fine, it’s fine.
Even the school can’t monitor everything, you know?”

As soon as Amasawa took a step forward, Nanase immediately

closed in and grabbed her by the arm.

“What’s with this, Nanase-chan?”

“You were about to lay your hands on Ayanokōji-senpai, weren’t

you?”

“Since when were you his knight in shining armor? Weren’t you like,
plotting to get him expelled together with Hōsen-kun?”

“That… That has nothing to do with you. Why did you come here?”

“I just happened to get lost, so I came to try and ask you guys for
help.”

Amasawa told a bald-faced lie, seemingly without any intention of

keeping up appearances anymore.

Had she perhaps come all the way out here to see the outcome of
my fight with Nanase and survey the aftermath?

She’d probably be able to tell that Nanase had changed sides as well,
given the way she was acting.

But that didn’t add up. After all, there’d be little reason for her to
stick around and take part in such a meaningless conversation if that
were the case.

“I’d like to chat with Ayanokōji-senpai, so could you let go and step
aside?”

“Why don’t you just talk from where you are?”

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“Well there’s no way I could do that. It has to do with the White
Room, after all~”

Amasawa confessed, having apparently come to the conclusion that

there was no point in hiding her true identity any longer.

Surprised, Nanase turned around and looked at me.

Throughout this first semester, the existence of the White Room

student had always been on my radar, yet I hadn’t been able to
pinpoint their identity.

That being said, I had never imagined that I’d find out due to an
outright confession.

“Do you get it now? Little miss outsider~”

If Amasawa really was the White Room student, then it would

certainly make sense that she would call Nanase an outsider.

“Let go of her arm Nanase.”

Although clearly somewhat dissatisfied, Nanase obediently let go of

Amasawa’s arm just as I instructed.

“Wow, you’re such a good girl Nanase-chan~! It’s like you’re his loyal
dog; it’s a better look for you than I thought.”

At that, Amasawa slowly began to draw closer to me, little by little.

I was exasperated, but at least the conversation might finally get

somewhere now.

“Sorry but given a prior misunderstanding with Nanase, I won’t be

jumping to any conclusions just because you brought up the White
Room.”

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“That’s fine, I’ll prove to you that I’m the real deal. However… letting
Nanase-chan hear it is a bit…”

She trailed off, mouthing the words ‘You get it, right?’ with that usual
devilish grin of hers plastered onto her face.

I lightly motioned to Nanase, instructing her to distance herself.

Although she was reluctant to leave me alone with Amasawa, she
eventually gave in and followed suit. The pouring rain had grown
stronger, to the point where she wouldn’t be able to hear us if we
talked quietly from a few meters away.

Treading the muddy ground below, Amasawa finally came within

arm’s reach.

“Now then, where oh where should I start~?”

She put her hand on her chin, a grandiose motion meant to signify
that she was thinking over how exactly to go about explaining
herself.

In any case, the fact that she came here in the first place really didn’t
make any sense to me.

For the past several months, the White Room student had been
lurking in the shadows, waiting for their chance to get me expelled.

And yet, Amasawa had appeared in front of me and revealed her

true identity without so much as a single trick up her sleeve.

Furthermore, the fact that she was of two minds over what to say at
this point was strange to begin with.

It seemed fairly obvious that she was intentionally drawing this out
and stalling for time.

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Just as I began to contemplate whether or not to press her about
that, Amasawa opened her mouth.

“Senpai, the curriculum you took back when you were 10 years old
included Systems’ Theory based on Project 5. And at the age of 11 it
was the Theory of Relativity based on Project 7. I took part in both
myself, so I remember them well.”

She began mentioning specific pieces of information about the White

Room to prove that we had come from the same place.

“The classrooms, the corridors, our assigned living chambers…

everything was a world of pure white.”

At the very least, it seemed Amasawa knew a lot more about the
White Room than Nanase did.

And it was too hard for me to imagine that she had heard about it
from Tsukishiro.

He would never talk about the inner workings of the White Room
with someone unrelated – an outsider.

As such, it was probably safe to conclude Amasawa’s guilt.

From the things she knew to the way she conducted herself, she fit
the image of a White Room student to a T.

“Why would you go through the trouble of making yourself seem like
a normal person only to reveal your identity to me like this?”

“Sure sure, I figured you’d be curious about that. It’s cuz I wanted to
tell you that I’m not your enemy, Senpai.”

“That doesn’t add up. The White Room student was sent here in
order to force my expulsion. To say that you’re not my enemy in light
of that doesn’t make much sense.”

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Completely unconcerned with the fact that our clothes were being
drenched by the rain, Amasawa continued to speak.

“You wouldn’t know this as part of the fourth generation, Ayanokōji-

senpai, but the later generations harbor immense feelings of
jealousy when it comes to you. The higher-ups probably thought that
they could select someone promising and manipulate this jealousy to
force your expulsion. However, they chose the wrong person. They
didn’t predict that I was but a young maiden who secretly idolized
you.”

“So, that’s why you revealed yourself?”

She nodded with a quiet ‘Mhm’.

“Then, wouldn’t it have been better for you to do this back when you
first enrolled here? You even managed to step foot in my dorm room
on more than one occasion, so you should’ve had plenty of chances
to tell me.”

“Well, no matter how much you might idolize someone, that’s just
like, all in your head, you know? You’ve gotta talk with them and
meet face-to-face before your admiration starts to feel justified. That
takes time.”

In other words, if I hadn’t turned out to be someone Amasawa

deemed worthy of idolizing, then it’s possible that she would’ve
moved to eliminate me. And based on the flow of our conversation
thus far, that seemed fairly reasonable.

“Do you understand?”

“I guess. Only someone who’s been at the White Room would be

able to say so much about it.”

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“There we go~. It feels kinda strange, doesn’t it? To pass the days at
school as an ordinary high schooler.”

Before, I had been the only one to experience the strange, peculiar
sensation she was talking about. But knowing that another White
Room student was now going through the same thing had filled me
with genuine curiosity.

“If you feel the same as I do, then surely you’ve also noticed how
interesting this school is, right?”

“I know exactly what you mean, Senpai. I too have thought about
how nice it’d be if I could just enjoy being a student like this up until
graduation. I’ve thought about it several times, actually. I suck at
making friends though, so I just don’t have very many people to talk
to.”

In a way, she was quite similar to me.

Although I could talk to people like Horikita and Ike, it had always felt
like there was some sort of distance between us.

Thinking back on it, for quite a while, it felt as though I couldn’t

honestly call anyone a friend.

“That doesn’t mean that I lack communication skills like you do

Senpai.”

As if fully aware of what I was thinking, Amasawa spoke up to clarify.

“I was taught essentially the same stuff you were, Senpai. But at the
same time, there are certain things that only the fifth generation of
students that came after you could learn.”

She paused for a moment to see if I wanted to say something before

continuing.

Page | 26
“It’s said that, before the fifth generation, children were often
crushed one after another due to their excessive individualism. Of
course, those with poor scores notwithstanding, those with excellent
scores were still allowed to come in contact with each other. In my
generation, on the other hand, all children were required to maintain
a minimum level of interpersonal communication.”

If she was telling the truth, then I could understand why it seemed so
easy for her to make such a rich assortment of different facial
expressions. Even though I could pretend to be someone else in the
short-term thanks to my acting skills, it was hard to break the habit
that had formed from living most of my life devoid of emotion.

“Still don’t believe me?”

“I believe you’re from the White Room, but I’m not convinced with
the reason you gave me for why you revealed your identity.”

“You’re awfully calm and composed for someone who believes that
I’m a White Room student. Perhaps you don’t think I’ll be a threat to
you?”

I said nothing in response to this, prompting a smile to creep onto

her face.

“Well then~ I’ve said everything I wanted to say to you, so I guess it’s
about time I excuse myself.”

Saying that, she turned her back to me, content with simply being
recognized as the White Room student.

“What are you thinking, Amasawa?”

“Jeez~ Didn’t I tell you already~? I admire you, Ayanokōji-senpai.

That’s all.”

Page | 27
Looking back, she reached out and brushed the tips of her fingers,
wet and cold from the rain, up against my cheek.

“So please, don’t go and get yourself crushed without my permission,

okay?”

And with that, she pulled back her hand and walked away, headed
off to who knows where.

She said ‘don’t go and get yourself crushed’… but by whom?

Tsukishiro? The first-years who had their sights set on the twenty
million private point bounty? Or, perhaps…

“Ayanokōji-senpai, are you alright? She didn’t do anything to you

right?”

Having noticed Amasawa’s departure, Nanase rushed back over to

me, worried. I nodded along to try and ease her concerns before
looking over toward my backpack.

“The rain. We’d better hurry.”

I wanted to take some time to process everything, but there were

other things that took priority at the moment.

“Yes! We should set up the tents, right?”

“Yeah.”

I responded affirmatively, but there was still one thing I couldn’t

afford to forget about.

Namely, checking the footprints that Amasawa left behind.

“Senpai…?”

“The rain will wash away her footprints soon.”

Page | 28
Amasawa had only just left, and yet her footprints were already
starting to lose their shape.

“Amasawa-san’s… footprints? Is there something wrong with her

footprints?”

“Back when Komiya and Kinoshita were attacked, I found some

footprints nearby the scene of the crime. From what I can tell, I’m
fairly confident that they’re the same size as Amasawa’s.”

In other words, Amasawa had definitely been there, just like Nanase
claimed she was.

“So rather than just happening to be in the area, you’re saying that
she’s the one who pushed them down the slope?”

“I don’t know about that. It’s probably safe to conclude that she’s
the one who was watching us back then, but there’s still no
conclusive evidence pointing to her as the one who pushed them.”

For a moment, it didn’t seem like Nanase understood what I was

talking about.

“There may not be any solid evidence. However, shouldn’t it be fine

to assume that it was her?”

“Based on the information we have on hand right now, Amasawa is

certainly the most likely culprit.”

“Exactly, I think so too. I know I’m repeating myself at this point, but
she’s definitely the one I saw back then.”

And she clearly wasn’t wrong about that either.

“However, it’s not like you actually saw her push them.”

“That… well… she just confessed not too long ago though.”

Page | 29
“It’s hard to call that a confession. She just asked what you’d do if
she was the one who pushed them. That’s a far cry from explicitly
admitting that she’s the culprit.”

“Maybe she only put it that way because she was afraid that we
were recording her or something?”

“With how loud this rain is and the circumstances we’re in, I don’t
think she needed to be on guard about that.”

At a glance, this didn’t seem like the type of environment suitable for
recording anything.

“You still can’t be absolutely certain. She’s well aware that you’re an
opponent she ought to be wary of, so it’s reasonable to assume that
she took any and all precautions necessary.”

To eliminate all potential risks, that would indeed be a wise choice.

“If she deliberately inflicted potentially life-threatening injuries on

two upperclassmen, then she should’ve hightailed it out of there
immediately after she did the deed. Why would she stick around and
let you see her as she ran away?”

Nanase pondered how to respond for a moment as she retrieved her

backpack.

“That’s… I imagine that’s because she was interested in what

happened to Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai. It’s the same
mentality as how an arsonist always returns to the scene of the
crime.”

It’s true that there was a saying that arsonists, or criminals in

general, always return to the scene of their crime.

Although there were plenty of theories about this phenomenon, it

was risky to try and relate it to this particular situation. If we were to
Page | 30
speculate based on the assumption that Amasawa was the culprit,
then we wouldn’t be able to see past the superficial.

“Pushing two people down a slope is a heartless act in and of itself,

so it doesn’t make sense that she’d risk returning to the scene of the
crime just because she was interested in what happened to them.
There’s also the fact that you were able to identify her as she ran
away. Honestly, I find it hard to believe that someone sent here by
Tsukishiro would make a mistake like that.”

I began to trace back the rapidly fading footprints so as to make sure

I wasn’t missing out on anything.

“That being said, I wonder why she revealed her identity to us like
this?”

“I figure she did it because she knew I saw her back then and that
she wouldn’t be able to hide it anymore. Even though it wouldn’t
prove her guilt if I were to report it to the school, it would still lead to
problems for her, right? After all, the mission Acting Director
Tsukishiro entrusted her with would be put in jeopardy.”

“In the end, that contradicts the fact that she returned to the scene
of the crime.”

“Can’t we just chalk that up as a careless mistake on her part?”

“That’s impossible.”

Perhaps Amasawa intentionally let Nanase find her for some reason?

Just as I began to mull over that very possibility, I came across a new
hint.

“As I thought, there’s something about each and every one of

Amasawa’s actions that can’t be overlooked.”

Page | 31
“Something that can’t be overlooked?”

I pointed at Amasawa’s trail of footprints, which were now on the

verge of being washed away by the rain.

“Her footprints seem clean and steady as she was making her
approach from behind, but… the ones before that─”

“Eh!? These…”

Nanase finally noticed the strange discrepancy as well.

“These are someone else’s footprints, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.”

There were another set of footprints that seemed slightly larger than
Amasawa’s, but it wasn’t possible to determine their actual size
because they had already lost their shape.

“Whoever it was, it looks like they were closing in on us until right

around here, where they met with Amasawa’s footprints. Something
happened at that point since the tracks get messy, but you can see
here how the mystery footprints end up turning back around.”

“So, you’re saying that… someone else was here only moments
before Amasawa-san called out to us…?”

Whether they were a student or a member of the school’s faculty,

there seemed to be no way to tell for sure.

“Can you fetch me that stick Amasawa was holding earlier?”

“O-okay!”

She went off to fetch the stick and handed it over to me.

Once I saw it close-up, all of my speculation thus far finally arrived at

one singular answer.
Page | 32
“What do you think, Nanase? Do you notice anything?”

“Do I notice anything…? Well I think it’d be dangerous to hit

someone with it. Wait, actually…”

Nanase took back the stick and after holding onto it for a second, it
dawned on her.

“This… This doesn’t seem like something you’d find lying around the
forest.”

“Yeah. It’s been whittled down in certain places so it can be better

used as a weapon. Looking at other branches in the area, its shape is
just too unnatural.”

“Do you think she was going to use this to try and attack you,
Ayanokōji-senpai?”

“If Amasawa really planned on attacking me, then she should’ve tried
to catch me off-guard instead of calling out like she did. That being
said, even though she had a dangerous weapon in hand, it didn’t
seem like she had any ill intentions. If anything, I think she just
wanted us to notice her presence.”

And, there was yet another thing that could be gleaned from this.

“That is to say, she had no intention of attacking us from the very

beginning… Wouldn’t that mean that the one who originally brought
this here was not Amasawa-san, but the mysterious person who
vanished before she approached us?”

The mystery footprints seemed to take short strides as they

approached us, but when they turned back after meeting with
Amasawa, the strides they took grew further apart. They left as if
they were trying to avoid being noticed, or rather, as if they were
trying to run away.

Page | 33
“But why?”

“From what Amasawa told me, I’m apparently the subject of her
admiration. So it doesn’t seem that far-fetched to think that she
might’ve just wanted to protect me when I was about to be
attacked.”

“It feels a little risky to assume she’s an ally based on that alone
though…”

“Naturally. However, these footprints are clearly targeting me, and I

can’t even hazard a guess as to who made them.”

“Do… you perhaps think it could’ve been a school faculty member?”

“That’s possible, but it’s also true that I have a bounty on my head.”

There was a high chance that these mystery footprints belonged to a

student who had their sights set on cashing out my bounty.

It was completely conceivable that someone would be willing to

stake their own future to try and force my expulsion.

“Oh! That’s it!”

Having apparently come to some sort of realization, Nanase suddenly

raised her voice.

“Senpai, let’s do a GPS Search right now! It hasn’t been that long
since Amasawa-san first approached us. Even if this mystery person
ran away at full speed, they shouldn’t have been able to get very far
with the weather like this, right?”

She wasn’t wrong. If we did a GPS Search right now and there were
signals in the surrounding area, we could narrow down the list of
suspects all in one go. It’d be as simple as going through the closest
signals one by one to see who they were.

Page | 34
“Oh, but we wouldn’t be able to identify them if they broke their
watch like Amasawa-san did, would we…”

“No, that’s not true. When you break your watch, your GPS signal
disappears. Amasawa aside, if we did a search right now and there
was only one student with a missing signal, what then?”

“…Then that’s our guy.”

“Yeah. Therefore, we can conclude that the person who tried to

attack me definitely didn’t break their watch.”

“It’s worth our while to spend the point on a search then, right?”

It had only been about fifteen minutes since Amasawa first called out
to me.

So, even if they ran at full speed, they would’ve only made it to the
edge of area D3 by now at the very most.

With a bit of luck, there would only be one signal that fit these
conditions, allowing us to pinpoint the owner of these mysterious
footprints.

As such, it made sense that I should go along with Nanase’s idea and
do a GPS Search right here, right now, but…

“I won’t be using the GPS Search.”

“Eh!? W-why not!?”

“At the end of the day, it wouldn’t be surprising if this was all part of
a strategy to bait me into making a GPS Search so that someone
completely unrelated who just happened to be nearby would come
to the forefront.”

It was hard to say with any finality that this wasn’t an attempt to
mislead us into suspecting an innocent person. One should always
Page | 35
exercise caution in situations where an opponent was spoonfeeding
you information, such as how Amasawa deliberately allowed Nanase
to catch sight of her as she fled the crime scene, or even Amasawa’s
presence here today in general.

“It still feels like a bit of a waste to not even check.”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t be foolish enough to get caught by

something as trivial as this. If they can’t even take the GPS Search
feature into account before taking action, then they’re certainly not
anybody we need to be worried about.”

Although Nanase didn’t seem fully convinced, she eventually

conceded and complied with my decision.

In any case, even though I still wanted to collect my thoughts, that

wasn’t going to happen given the way the weather was headed.

After deciding to cut the conversation short, we hurriedly went

about setting up our tents.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that heavy rain was really

coming down at this point.

Our tents were pitched with the entrances put face-to-face, and
once everything was in order, we promptly hid ourselves inside,
taking refuge from the rain.

I peeled off my drenched gym uniform, jersey, and underwear before

drying my hair and body with a towel.

And then, after changing into a spare set of clothes, I slightly

unzipped the entrance and took a peek outside. It was still early
afternoon, but the outside world was as dark as night.

We were probably going to be stuck here for the rest of the day, at
the very least.
Page | 36
The raindrops were practically shoving their way in through the hole
in the entrance, so I zipped it closed and laid down on my sleeping
bag.

In this short time, I had found out about Nanase’s past and identified
Amasawa as the White Room student.

However, that didn’t mean that all the fog had been lifted.

Page | 37
Page | 38
Page | 39
Part 1
As the downpour continued, a message arrived from the school.
Unsurprisingly, it was an announcement that the exam would be
canceled for the day. Since it’d be difficult for groups to make a
comeback with all the lost opportunity for Tasks and area
movement, the message also stated that they were looking into ways
to compensate us so that students didn’t have to go to bed worried
about missing out on points.

The school probably wouldn’t specify how they planned on

compensating us until the weather began to clear up.

That being said, no matter what they eventually came up with, it

wouldn’t change the fact that the day had been wasted.

While the compensation would help groups reach the same overall
score in the long run, the strategies they had planned for today
would all be in vain.

Personally, as far as I was concerned, the cancellation could not have

come at a worse time.

My plan had been to conserve my energy so that I could go all-out

during the second half of the exam, stealing a march on the groups
who were in a slump after exhausting their energy during the first
half and racking up a ton of points in the process. However, now that
the seventh day had essentially turned into a full day off, everybody
would have the time to rest and recover their stamina.

Of course, an uninhabited island during a rainstorm wasn’t exactly a

day at the spa, so it’s not like their fatigue would disappear entirely.
But, the disparity between getting time to rest and not getting any at
all made all the difference in the world.

“───pai!”
Page | 40
“Hmm?”

I could just barely make out a voice through the incessantly loud
sound of raindrops beating against the exterior of my tent.

“Sen─ai!”

Once again, the voice called out to me. It was most likely Nanase,
trying to talk to me from the tent across from my own. I unzipped my
tent’s entrance a bit and peered out through the mesh fabric to see
what was happening.

The visibility of the outside world was rather poor, but it wasn’t so
bad that I couldn’t make out Nanase’s tent in front of me.

“I’d like to talk to you for a bit, Senpai! Is it alright if I come and join
you!?”

Nanase put forward a question, shouting out from her own tent.

She should’ve been aware that it wasn’t exactly proper for a boy and
a girl to huddle up alone together in a single tent, but she had
apparently forgotten all about that.

The rules expressly forbade boys and girls from sleeping together in
the same tent, so there technically wouldn’t be an issue if we were
only spending a bit of time together.

And as long as we didn’t lose our sense of reason, there shouldn’t be

anything ethically or morally wrong about it either.

Having said that, the rain was still as fierce as ever. Even though our
tents were less than two meters apart, there’d be no way for her to
avoid getting wet again.

“That’s fine with me, but why don’t I come join you in your tent
instead?”

Page | 41
I tried offering her an alternative, but she simply shook her head as
she unfolded a towel and draped it over herself in preparation for
the journey before fully unzipping the entrance to her tent.

Following her lead, I quickly opened my own entrance to usher her

inside as soon as possible.

Just as I did, Nanase swiftly flew out of her tent and made her way
into mine.

Of course, she was only in the rain for less than a second, so the
damage had been kept to a minimum.

“Hah… I’m sorry for intruding upon your rest, Senpai.”

“No, it’s okay.”

In truth, Nanase was probably more exhausted than I was.

It had been an arduous journey to get all the way out here, one that
was immediately followed by a fierce battle, misunderstanding as it
was.

I was curious as to what she wanted to talk about, but she didn’t say
anything right away.

Or, from what it seemed like, it might be more accurate to say that
she couldn’t find the words.

For a while, the two of us sat in silence, merely observing one

another…

“I’m pretty shameless, aren’t I?”

Saying that, Nanase lowered her head in apology.

Page | 42
“I treated you with such hostility for the longest time, Senpai. Saying
all sorts of terrible things straight to your face… You must be
annoyed that I’m reaching out all buddy-buddy like this.”

It was a bit late by this point, but it seemed that she was finally
coming to terms with her guilty conscience.

“I really don’t mind, so please stop apologizing. At the very least, it’s
been made clear that there’s no need for further hostility between
us, or am I wrong?”

There was probably a part of her that wouldn’t be satisfied with a

response like this, but we were currently in the middle of a special
exam.

Hesitation of the mind would only cloud one’s conduct and judgment
when it mattered most.

“No, you’re right.”

Having understood this for herself, Nanase once again lowered her
head in apology.

“So? Despite the rain, wasn’t there something you wanted to talk to
me about?”

“Ah, indeed!”

As if reminded of why she came to my tent in the first place, Nanase

began to speak.

“I haven’t been able to get the image of Amasawa-san out of my

mind, showing up out of nowhere in the rain… When I started
thinking about all the hardships you’ve been put through, I just… I
felt like I had to call out to you.”

Page | 43
Apparently, instead of having some sort of ulterior motive, she had
simply been worried about me.

It was a slight problem that she was more caught up about the whole
ordeal than I was, but I appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

“I convinced myself that Amasawa-san was the one who pushed

Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai down the slope. I thought that
she was just hiding her true nature because she wanted to hide the
truth, but then you said that she wasn’t necessarily the culprit and
now I just don’t know what to believe anymore…”

“That’s because the truth is still shrouded in darkness.”

Amasawa’s color was grey, a grey that just barely toed the line
before being dyed in black, but she definitely hadn’t crossed that line
just yet.

“I wonder what the culprit’s goal is. Whoever they are, why would
they do something so risky like this?”

“We wouldn’t be having such a hard time if we knew the answer to

that. So, let’s move forward under the assumption that Amasawa is
not the culprit.”

We decided to review our thoughts regarding the Komiya-Kinoshita

incident.

After all, by exchanging opinions, we’d be able to shed light on things

we may not have considered otherwise.

From what we knew: someone had pushed Komiya and Kinoshita

down the slope. And, judging from the fact that there were no other
GPS signals in the area at the time, it was clear that it had been a
premeditated attack, rather than something done in the heat of the
moment.

Page | 44
Furthermore─

“That… Uhm, wouldn’t that be strange though?”

As soon as she began to speak, Nanase furrowed her brow, as

though there was some sort of discrepancy she couldn’t wrap her
head around.

“It’d be weird if Amasawa-san was completely unrelated, right? I

mean, her watch just ‘happened’ to be broken when Komiya and
Kinoshita just ‘happened’ to get attacked, and she just ‘happened’ to
be watching from somewhere nearby? And to top it all off, I just
‘happened’ to catch sight of her as she fled the scene?”

“With so many coincidences happening back-to-back, it’s hard to call

the entire thing one as well. We’d basically be setting ourselves up
for failure telling ourselves that Amasawa is 100% unrelated to what
happened.”

“Even if Amasawa-san isn’t the real culprit, they’d still have to be

someone she knows, right? Therefore, isn’t it also possible that she’s
an accomplice of some sort?”

With that, an alternative theory began to take shape: that someone

close to Amasawa had pushed Komiya and Kinoshita instead.

“That seems reasonable. Those footprints I found earlier could’ve

belonged to the real culprit as well.”

If we were to look at what happened as an attempt to help the real

culprit, it’d more or less explain Amasawa’s actions.

“I suppose it’s not hard to imagine that Amasawa-san is capable of

exercising violence in much the same way.”

Nanase nodded to herself as she said this, confident that we were on

the right track.
Page | 45
“However…”

At this point… Well, I started feeling caught up about something

completely unrelated to any of this.

“However what?”

It had to do with Nanase, but when I saw her looking over at me with
a puzzled expression on her face, I felt hesitant to say anything.

If I had to give a reason for that, it was because I simply couldn’t

understand the ‘mechanisms’ behind what was going on.

This was our seventh day on the uninhabited island, and Nanase had
been together with me for effectively the entire time so far. As such,
neither of us had the time nor space to wash our bodies properly.

Of course, she had the opportunity to rinse the sand and sweat off
her body back when she changed into a swimsuit during the Beach
Flags Task, and she had also probably taken a shower after taking
part in the swimming Task in the starting area.

That being said, even a single day’s worth of sweat and perspiration
would usually end up being fairly noticeable.

Since there wasn’t very much room inside my cramped one-person

tent, Nanase’s scent had slowly filled the space. But, strangely
enough, it wasn’t exactly an unpleasant smell. Even though it was
possible that she masked the smell of sweat by diligently wiping
down her body, I just couldn’t wrap my head around how she
managed to make herself smell so good.

I wanted to ask her about it, but that was clearly not something a
tactful senpai ought to be doing.

“No, I just misunderstood something. Don’t worry about it.”

Page | 46
“Is that so?”

She nodded along without probing any further, and perhaps without
even suspecting anything at all.

Although I had a girlfriend, I was still just a beginner when it came to

this sort of stuff, and there were just too many things that I didn’t
understand.

Things like deodorant and antiperspirant spray were relatively cheap

and easy for us to get our hands on because of the rules, so I
ultimately opted to tell myself that she used something like that. It
was the only answer I could come up with at the moment.

Even though I had chosen not to say anything, the mood between us
had somehow gotten strangely awkward.

And while Nanase didn’t seem to think anything of it, I decided to get
our conversation back on track in an attempt to loosen up the
atmosphere again.

“We don’t have any way to confirm whether or not Amasawa

actually did something to Komiya and Kinoshita, but I do have a
pretty good idea which Table everyone belongs to.”

Nanase tilted her head to the side, seemingly unable to understand

what I meant by this, so I took out my tablet and showed it to her.

“Uhm… Your personal information is on there, right Ayanokōji-

senpai…? Are you sure it’s okay for me to be seeing this?”

By personal information, she was probably talking about the points I

had earned thus far. This was indeed very important information
since the points and rankings of groups outside of the top and
bottom ten weren’t publicly disclosed.

Page | 47
“Nanase, I thought we had a relationship where we could trust each
other without hiding anything. Or was that just a misunderstanding
on my part?”

I spoke openly, prompting her to match her eyes with mine, clearly
taken aback.

“What? No! Thank you for placing your trust in me! I’m very
grateful!”

Her words were filled with a slight mixture of embarrassment,

happiness, and guilt.

In fact, her reluctance to write off the discourtesy she had shown me
so far was very fitting of her.

“Besides, since we’ve been moving together, you should already be

able to get a rough estimate of how many points I’ve earned just by
thinking back on it.”

Although I had taken part in a handful of Tasks on my own, from

what I knew of Nanase, she’d at least be able to estimate my score
under the assumption that I had taken first place in them.

Therefore, without paying any mind to the fact that I was revealing
sensitive information, I began with my explanation.

“Anyways, regarding what I said earlier about knowing who was

included in each Table─”

“Wait, isn’t your score somehow… lower than expected?”

Astute as ever, Nanase immediately noticed that a certain something

was out of place before I could even get into the thick of it.

“What do you mean?”

Page | 48
I responded to her question with one of my own, testing her. She
began counting on her fingers as she ran the calculations in her head.

“There are Arrival Bonuses, Early Bird Bonuses, and Tasks… then
subtracting points for any penalties─ Ah, I’m also assuming that you
took first place in the Tasks you took part in while I was taking a
break.”

All things considered, her memory seemed quite solid.

This was a good thing too, as a solid memory would probably prove
useful for her at some point in the future.

“I’m surprised you noticed. Properly speaking, I should have 88

points right now.”

“But you only have 78, 10 points less. I don’t think I forgot a penalty
or something either…”

Thus, it begged the question: how, when, and why did those 10
points disappear? The answer to which I would now elaborate.

“For this special exam, designated areas are announced four times
per day as students move throughout the island. This time window
lasts for ten hours per day, from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Yesterday,
when the school lifted the restriction on the GPS searching feature, I
decided to do a total of ten searches. The first was at 7:00 AM and I
repeated it every hour on the hour until 5:00 PM. That is, with the
exception of the break at noon.”

As for why I had done this, it didn’t seem like Nanase had connected
the dots just yet.

“The GPS searching feature is an extremely convenient tool that

allows you to find out the location of every student on the island.
However, if used only a single time, you’d just get a glimpse at

Page | 49
everyone’s current location, so its overall usefulness is marginal. But
by splitting up the day into parts and doing ten of them, you’re able
to find out all sorts of things that you couldn’t before.”

By connecting all the different dots into lines, you’d be left with the
various routes that everyone had taken throughout the day. If
someone else were to run ten searches of their own, they’d learn
that Nanase and I were always traveling together.

“Uhm, I already understand what you used your points on, Senpai.
And I agree that if you know where everyone’s moving on an hourly
basis, you might be able to find out which Tables they belong to.
However, it didn’t seem like you were doing very much with your
tablet yesterday, and it’s not very easy information to memorize
either… Are you… Are you really telling me that you memorized
everything in an instant?”

“That’d be impossible. It’d take an enormous amount of time just to

check everyone’s name and location.”

I opened up my tablet’s picture storage and showed her the images I

had saved there.

“After running the GPS Search, I took a high-quality screenshot of the

results and saved it. This way, I can study the images during my spare
time and slowly analyze the movements groups made that day
whenever I want.”

While we couldn’t send messages or photographs to anyone during

the exam, saving screenshots to our own device was a built-in
feature of our tablets, so it was only natural that we could make use
of it. By repeatedly scrutinizing the screenshots, it was possible to
keep a detailed, persistent record of every single student’s position.

Page | 50
“By thoroughly cross-referencing the images, I’m left with what’s
essentially a record of an entire day’s worth of movement that can
be viewed at any time.”

There’d be plenty of time to look at the data too, be it just before

going to bed at night, in the morning before the exam started, or
even during the two-hour break period at lunch.

And while it was only for the sixth day, the screenshots also showed
the details of the Tasks that were available at the time, so we could
gain some insight into the higher-level strategies that each group
was using as well.

“…I didn’t even realize that you had done this, Senpai.”

“I’m not so foolish as to let a potential enemy catch wind of what I’m
up to. After all, I had no idea what kind of person you truly were.”

At the time, I still saw Nanase as an enemy, so it would’ve been

immensely foolish to tell her about what I was doing with the GPS
Search. Students had quite a few reasons to always be using their
tablets, from confirming their current locations to checking the
details of nearby Tasks, so it wouldn’t seem that unnatural for me to
be focused on it throughout the day.

It had been as simple as taking a screenshot of the GPS Search results

every hour or so, all while staying on top of my designated areas and
Tasks.

Impressed, Nanase began to swipe through the screenshots. Every

time she went to the next image, the GPS signals of every student on
the island would change places on the map.

“I say this with all due respect, but is this really worth paying ten
whole points for? If it was possible to share the screenshots with
someone, then there might be some added value, but it’d take a
Page | 51
considerable amount of time for one person to analyze the
movement patterns on their own, wouldn’t it?”

It was true that these images would be more valuable if we could

attach them to a text message or email of some sort and send them
out to our peers. By collaborating with several people, it would open
up the possibility to run searches in shorter time intervals, or even
keep track of other groups outside of the standard exam hours. I
wouldn’t be shocked if the other classes implemented a plan exactly
like that if we weren’t explicitly restricted from doing so.

“Even if I’m just one person, it all depends on how I make use of it.
You could say that whether or not this was worth the points I spent
will be decided in the days to come.”

“And by that you mean…?”

“Well, let me show you some of the information I’ve found out from
it so far.”

From the first-years to the third-years, all kinds of new things could
be found out by looking at the data based on grade level.

In the case of the third-years, in particular, there was clearly

something peculiar going on with regard to their movements.

“For example, some third-year groups moved fairly unusually

throughout the day yesterday. Furthermore, these groups are always
closely related to Nagumo’s group or Kiriyama’s group. When I
looked into it, I noticed something pretty interesting.”

Starting at 7:00 AM on the sixth day, we traced the position of

Nagumo’s group hour-by-hour as they moved throughout the island.

“To begin with, Nagumo’s group was in area B8 at 7:00 AM that

morning.”

Page | 52
“Does that mean his last designated area on the fifth day was area
B8?”

“That’s highly likely, but he was at the southernmost edge of the

area, so he could’ve actually started at area B9 instead. In any case,
the only other GPS signals in the area at the time were those of his
own group members.”

However, at 8:00 AM, only an hour later, several other groups had
begun to concentrate in the area around Nagumo.

The trend became even more pronounced at 9:00 AM, making it

clear that groups were actively seeking out and meeting with him.

And from that point on, the large conglomerate of groups began to
move.

By 10:00 and 11:00 AM, the obscurity of what was taking place
became even more apparent.

“There are so many groups moving around together… almost like

they’re a school of fish.”

“With just a glance at the data, you wouldn’t even notice it, but it
paints a completely different picture once you know what to look
for, right?”

Nanase nodded a few times in response as we proceeded to flip

through the next couple of screenshots. Once we got to the one I
had taken at 3:00 PM, she asked a question.

“Are they… doing this to monopolize Tasks?”

“Most likely, the point is to have Nagumo effortlessly secure first-

place in any Task they come across by fixing the competition in his
favor.”

Page | 53
It wasn’t complicated in the slightest. Rather, it was a very simple
strategy, and a potent one at that.

“However, groups other than President Nagumo’s won’t be able to

score points as a result, right? I can’t imagine that they’re all part of
the same Table either. Working together for the success of a specific
group… It’s an idea that pretty much anyone could come up with, but
it’d be impossible to put it into practice effectively.”

Groups would need to forego their own designated areas as they

wasted their time traveling with those in other Tables.

Moreover, by yielding first place to Nagumo’s group, they wouldn’t

be able to earn many points from Tasks either.

“You’re not wrong. But, the reason the strategy works is because it
disregards one of the most basic principles of this exam. Tell me,
what’s stopping students from working together to have a specific
group come out on top?”

“That would be due to class points and the overarching threat of

expulsion, of course.”

At that, I motioned for Nanase to zoom in closer and look at the

students that had gathered together around Nagumo.

“They… they’re all from groups down at the bottom of the

rankings…”

“And there aren’t any Class A students mixed in with them. Not a
single one.”

“The gap in class points between Class 3-A and the other third-year
classes must be so hopelessly large that there’s no way for them to
catch up…”

Page | 54
“Or, to put that another way, the third-year is in such a state that it
doesn’t really matter to them who loses.”

Both first and second-year students still hadn’t gotten to the point
where they’d consider giving up on the class competition, and it was
precisely because they had their sights set on reaching Class A by any
means possible that sinking down to the bottom rankings felt so
utterly unacceptable.

However, the same didn’t apply to the third-year students. In their

case, the four classes were more than capable of looking past that
and working together with one another.

“The strength of this strategy is that the groups down at the bottom
of the rankings are free to do anything they want during the exam.
When you’re in last place, there’s no difference between having one
point and having fifty. At the end of the day, you’ll still lose class
points and get expelled all the same.”

“If you’re really doing everything you can to support a specific group,
you most likely wouldn’t have any points of your own, right? So while
it’s true that these third-year groups are down at the bottom, don’t
you think it’s weird that they each have 20 to 30 points?”

If they truly forewent all designated areas and Tasks, they naturally
wouldn’t have earned any points as a result.

Therefore, Nanase was saying that it would make more sense for
them to be hovering at or around zero points instead, due to the
ramping penalty that came with missing designated areas.

I chose not to say anything in response to this, subtly prompting her

to think about it for herself. And after a little bit, it seemed the
answer slowly began to dawn on her.

Page | 55
Ultimately, I decided to add in a couple of words to help accelerate
the process.

“A strategy becomes less effective once people catch onto it. So,
what should be done in order to prevent that from happening?”

“If you have two or three groups with zero points, then the other
school years will obviously realize that something weird is
happening. Therefore, as long as they have at least some points on
hand, it’ll make it harder for others to notice what’s going on…”

She peered over at me as she spoke, having arrived at an answer all

her own.

And, she was probably right. That was exactly why Nagumo’s
strategy was so brilliant. If multiple groups all had zero points, it
would be far too conspicuous. It would be like they were going
around and declaring to the public that they were up to something
sinister.

“In fact, while there are several groups that seem to be providing
support for Nagumo, there’s always at least one member from each
who’s dedicated to reaching designated areas.”

“So they’re trying to prevent the ramping penalty from getting out of
hand.”

And in the process, they’d gradually accumulate points, however few

in number they might be.

“In a sense, we should also assume that the groups supporting him
are competing with each other. Sure they’re conceding first place to
Nagumo, but second and third are up for grabs by whoever’s adept
enough to grab hold of it. That’s why, even among the bottom
groups, the rankings will change around from time to time or the

Page | 56
point disparity between them will start growing larger. It also helps
make it seem as if they’re taking the special exam seriously.”

If you didn’t run ten GPS Searches, you’d never be able to see
through this strategy.

Even if you suspected that something was going on, it wouldn’t end
up as anything more than suspicion.

“Would they really want to let Nagumo win, even at the cost of their
own expulsion? Even if they can’t rise up to Class A, I can’t imagine
that they’d want to leave the school, right?”

“There might be some eccentric exceptions among them, but for the
most part, I agree. Behind the scenes, Nagumo has probably
prepared some relief measures of his own.”

“Relief measures of his own…?”

“It’s impossible for the other third-year classes to graduate as Class A

by coming out on top through special exams. That being said, what if
it’s possible to get into Class A by agreeing to work together with
Nagumo instead?”

“If that’s really the only option they have, then… I guess I can see
why they’d cooperate.”

If faced with the choice between graduating as a member of one of

the lower classes and putting everything on the line to try and
graduate as a member of Class A, it wouldn’t be strange for there to
be those who volunteered themselves for the latter.

“In a way, I can’t even tell who’s running this exam anymore: the
school or the student council president.”

“Honestly, you’re probably onto something there as well. Nagumo

has the entire third-year in the palm of his hand after all. He’s not
Page | 57
here to follow the rules; He’s here to make and dictate them to the
rest of us.”

The mere fact that he orchestrated this situation in the first place
was highly impressive. It probably wouldn’t be an exaggeration to
say that, throughout the entire history of the Advanced Nurturing
High School, Nagumo was and will be the first and last of his kind.

Of course, we second-year students weren’t just going to sit back

and watch as he did whatever he wanted either.

On the fifth day of the exam, I approached both Ryūen and

Sakayanagi with a certain proposal of sorts: to clear specific Tasks
together with the help of a ‘select portion’ of the second-year
student body. Or, put more simply, a strategy similar in nature to the
one that Nagumo had adopted. However, it differed from his in that
the points wouldn’t all be concentrated in a specific leading group.

Since the flames of competition between the second-years were still

burning strong, the proposal wouldn’t have gotten anywhere the
moment points got involved. Therefore, I made it a condition to
cooperate with respect to something else. Both Ryūen and
Sakayanagi were worried about the success of some of the groups
that their classmates had formed, so they agreed to negotiate on
equal footing with more of a ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’
kind of approach.

As an example, certain Class 2-A groups would help Class 2-D with
increasing the maximum group size of Sudō’s group, and in exchange
we would help them increase the maximum size of one of their own
that needed it. That was the general idea behind it.

Despite our being mutual enemies, as long as our interests were

aligned, we could join hands without so much as a second thought.

Page | 58
I guess you could say that was one of the strengths of those leading
the second-year.

Naturally, I don’t think the proposal would’ve worked nearly as well

if this had taken place a year ago.

Rather, it was all thanks to the past year and a half of experience
we’ve had together that we could put this plan into motion.

“I think I understand now. You’re saying that, for you, it wasn’t a very
big risk to spend ten points in exchange for this information, right
Senpai?”

“Somewhat. I haven’t exactly done away with my goal of reaching

the top or anything. Fortunately, Kōenji has been putting in a lot of
work of his own, so instead, I’ve been focused on gathering the
resources necessary to support my peers who need help.”

“Kōenji-senpai sure is amazing, isn’t he? Giving President Nagumo a

run for his money all by himself.”

Kōenji was indeed amazing, but the truth behind what was going on
here was probably a little bit different. Every time someone went to
check the top rankings, they’d see Kōenji and Nagumo’s group locked
in a close back-and-forth struggle and think that Kōenji was squaring
off against an entire group all on his own. In reality, however,
Nagumo’s group was most likely just putting on an act as they
slowed down to match pace with Kōenji.

The rankings would be available for public view until the end of the
twelfth day, so Nagumo was probably going to keep up the ruse until
then.

And then, once the rankings were hidden again, he and his group
would pick up the pace for the final two days of the exam.

Page | 59
By doing so, it would paint the picture that Nagumo had emerged
victorious over Kōenji, who had run out of steam during the exam’s
endgame. The fact that he’s used such a large number of allied
groups to rack up a ton of points from Tasks wouldn’t be exposed
either.

Though, given that he was slowing himself down to match his pace
with Kōenji’s, that also gave the rest of us a chance to snatch up the
win for ourselves.

“Anyways, for now, let’s use this info to take a look at the
movements Amasawa was making on the sixth day.”

With these words, Nanase clearly made the connection that there
was all sort of value hidden in the screenshots that even I hadn’t
uncovered yet.

“It doesn’t look like Amasawa was in the designated area that
morning.”

Given that she had the same Table as us, it wouldn’t be strange for
her to pitch camp in the same designated area as us as well.

However, her GPS signal showed her to be two areas to the south
instead.

Furthermore, there were no other signals overlapping with hers,

indicating that she had spent the night alone.

“Here’s the screenshot from 8:00 AM, one hour after the first
designated area was announced.”

“The area we were headed to at the time was B6, right Senpai?”

“Yeah. It seems like she took a different route to B6 than we did.”

Page | 60
She was also moving quite fast, given the distance she managed to
travel from the previous screenshot.

Was it that she had just traveled faster than expected, or had she
just taken the most optimal path?

Either way, it didn’t seem like the movement of a lone girl walking
through the forest.

We then checked the next map at 9:00 AM, and she was in area C6,
one area to the right of the designated area.

It was likely that she had stepped foot within the designated area at
some point earlier and was now heading off toward a nearby Task.

“This really is amazing. Every movement that someone did

throughout the day is right at your fingertips, clearly displayed on a
map.”

At least during the morning hours of the sixth day, she seemed to be
diligently taking the exam just like any other student.

We soon began to analyze the next seven screenshots, focusing our

attention solely on Amasawa’s signal.

But in the end, she didn’t do anything that stood out. She just
participated in three or so Tasks as she diligently made her way to
the designated areas. We could probably find out whether or not she
placed high in said Tasks by cross-referencing with the logs on
Nanase’s tablet, but her performance didn’t really matter here.

“At the very least, there’s nothing to indicate that Amasawa was
following us, or up to anything suspicious in general as of 5:00 PM
yesterday.”

“…So in the end, we haven’t learned anything?”

Page | 61
“No, we’ve learned plenty. This makes it clear that Amasawa’s taking
the special exam at least somewhat seriously. Plus, this means that
she isn’t leaving any openings that we might catch wind of through
GPS Searches.”

It was safe to assume that she was up to something once the

scheduled exam hours were done for the day, that is, from dusk till
dawn. But while it was possible to run a GPS Search during that time
period, that’d just end up being nothing more than a waste of points.

At this point, we received a notification from the school about the

compensation we’d get because of the exam’s suspension for the
day.

『Due to ongoing complications with the weather, only one-fourth of

the day’s quota of Tasks and area movements were able to be
completed. To compensate for the lost opportunity, the school has
passed the decision to double all points earned through Arrival
Bonuses, Early Bird Bonuses, and Tasks on the final day of the exam.
According to the forecast, the weather is expected to improve
sometime before tomorrow morning.』

The final day of the exam was similar to the first day, with only three-
fourths of the day dedicated to the special exam.

So in that sense, you could say that the compensation they had
chosen to go with was just what the doctor ordered.

“Senpai, this looks like it could end up changing everything.”

The final day was when the majority of conflicts would be settled, so
with double the points on the line, the chances of successfully
making a comeback were very real.

Page | 62
“The school was right to tell us about this so far ahead of time. It’ll
give groups the chance to reassess their plans for the second half of
the exam.”

With today having turned into a full day to rest, there would surely
be groups out there that think to pace themselves from tomorrow
onward, conserving their stamina in anticipation for the finale. On
the other hand, it also wouldn’t be all that surprising if there were
groups that chose to take advantage of that and go all-out as soon as
tomorrow. In any case, this outcome was hardly a welcome turn of
events as far I was concerned.

After staring at my tablet for a while, I realized that Nanase had

stopped talking as much and watched as she began nodding off
beside me. It was as if she was gradually slipping into the
unconsciousness of sleep, her eyes at times wide open or slowly
falling shut.

“I know it’s still daytime, but maybe you should go and get some
rest?”

She had forced herself to climb a mountain earlier this morning, only
to use up the rest of her stamina fighting me immediately afterward.
She’d no doubt gone two or three times over her limit today, so she
was probably wrought with fatigue by now.

“Eh? Ah…! Sorry!”

She tried to straighten herself in a fluster, but a strong spell of

drowsiness wasn’t something you could snap out of so easily.

And this was even more true for someone with a tattered body like
her.

“…I’ll head back to my own tent then.”

Page | 63
She was the one who knew what was best for herself.

If she were to continue to stay here while dozing off like this, she’d
just end up being a hindrance.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Judging from the way the rain was still coming down, it didn’t seem
like we’d be able to get any productive traveling done today anyway.

With that being the case, we should take every second possible to
give our bodies as much of a break as possible.

Though, it’s not like resting inside a tent was exactly comfortable or
anything, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

Just as Nanase was about to unzip the entrance, she turned and
looked back at me from over her shoulder.

“As soon as the rain stops, I think I’m going to try to chase after
Amasawa-san. It’s clear enough that she’s from the White Room, and
I’m concerned with what she’s planning to do after this.”

Indeed, if she just continued to stick together with me like this, we

wouldn’t find out nearly as much about what Amasawa was up to.

And, as they were fellow members of the same group, I didn’t think
that Amasawa would do anything cruel to Nanase either.

“The fact that Amasawa managed to make it until now as a student

of the White Room means that she’s a threat. It’s vitally important
that you don’t underestimate her due to gender or age.”

“I’m not clear on all the details, but from what you’re saying she
must be an extremely dangerous opponent.”

In terms of pure combat power, you could say that Amasawa was
even a step above the likes of Sudō and Ryūen. While they may have
Page | 64
her beat in terms of raw physical strength, she’d definitely be far, far
ahead of them when it comes to technique and experience. No
matter how hard she tried, Nanase herself probably wouldn’t stand a
ghost of a chance against her.

“You have your other group member, Hōsen, to watch out for as
well.”

“Yes. Given his sheer strength, he’s not an opponent I can handle
either.”

Nanase nodded along, clearly believing herself to have understood,

but Hōsen’s overwhelming physical strength wasn’t the only thing
that made him dangerous.

You’d be better off thinking of Hōsen as the type of person who has
more than just raw physical power going for him.

“I think it’s extremely unlikely that Hōsen is a White Room student,

but after what happened with Amasawa, I’m not so sure about that
anymore. In any case, put my matters on the back burner for the
time being and just focus on protecting yourself.”

That is, of course, assuming that her primary goal doesn’t turn out to
be getting me kicked out of school.

“I’m not afraid of getting expelled, Ayanokōji-senpai. I’ll do anything

if it means protecting you, no matter the cost.”

Rather than offering advice, my words had been meant as more of a

warning, but based on her response it didn’t seem like the message
had gotten through.

“Let me put it slightly differently for you then, Nanase. It’s possible
that your careless actions may cause me unintended problems. I
want you to avoid doing anything that may put me at risk.”

Page | 65
I conveyed to her that this wasn’t me being apprehensive or worried
about what would become of her, but what would, by extension,
become of me.

Upon doing so, Nanase’s valiant, loyal demeanor changed into that
of a meek, frail puppy.

“That… That would be unacceptable of me. I can’t be causing you any

more trouble than I already have…”

“If that’s really true, then in any case, I just ask that you be careful.
Got it?”

“I understand, I promise.”

Having told her all of this, I felt fairly confident that she wouldn’t do
anything reckless.

After all, I really didn’t think she wanted to do anything that would
bring more shame onto herself than she already had.

Once Nanase had returned to her own tent, my gaze dropped down
to my tablet once again.

I wanted to quickly comb over the scores of the top ten and bottom
ten groups and then iron out the exam’s current state of affairs with
my own score in mind.

『Top Ten Rankings』

1st Place: Second-Year Group Kōenji – 168 Points

2nd Place: Third-Year Group Nagumo – 166 Points

3rd Place: Third-Year Group Kiriyama – 150 Points

Page | 66
4th Place: Third-Year Group Mizoe – 133 Points

4th Place: Third-Year Group Ochiai – 133 Points

6th Place: Second-Year Group Ryūen – 128 Points

7th Place: Second-Year Group Sakayanagi – 127 Points

8th Place: First-Year Group Takahashi – 115 Points

9th Place: Second-Year Group Kanzaki – 104 Points

10th Place: Third-Year Group Kuronaga – 101 Points

I was currently ranked 49th overall with 78 points. There was a full,
90 point difference between myself and Kōenji, who was all the way
up in first place.

Though it may seem impossible for me to recover from the gap in

our scores, I’d still get 11 points for getting a first-place Early Bird
Bonus. And with four chances per day, I’d catch up just by placing
first nine times in a row. Of course, this was also provided that Kōenji
wouldn’t earn any points of his own in the meantime.

If Kōenji were to maintain his current pace and keep diligently

racking up points, he’d end up with a final score of around 350, so if I
wanted to bridge the gap, I’d have to earn close to 40 points per day
for the rest of the exam. If you were to ask that of another group,
they’d pass it off as impossible and probably give up on the spot.
However, even an outlier like Kōenji would surely slow down during
the second half of the exam.

“But tenth place has 101 points, huh?”

Page | 67
Back when the rules of this uninhabited island exam were first
explained to us, I thought that groups would’ve had slightly higher
scores by this point. However, from the current status of the top ten
and the fact that I was currently ranked 49th overall, it felt like
overall progress had stagnated somewhat since the exam entered
the midgame. After overall efficiency hit its peak on the second or
third day, a lingering sense of fatigue began to set in, and there had
been a noteworthy increase in the number of missed designated
areas, penalties, and Task abstentions.

At the same time, since small groups were also steadily beginning to
merge with each other, the total number of groups was going down
little by little. This was definitely something I ought to keep in mind
as well.

In order for me to successfully break into the upper ranks, I’d need to
show significant growth during the second half of the exam.

And the key to that was the tenth place score, which acted as the
barrier between public knowledge and anonymity.

To that end, I previously strove to silently, patiently rise through the

lower ranks during this first half without pushing myself too hard.

My efforts would’ve borne fruit starting tomorrow too, the eighth

day, but with the exam having been put on hold today due to the
heavy rain, I should expect another large spike of activity from all
groups for the next two days or so. Furthermore, there would
definitely be groups looking to conserve their stamina for the double
points being offered on the final day as well.

This special exam seemed as if it was completely unwinnable for a

one-man group. However, there was actually something
contradictory residing within the relationship between the rules of
the exam, basic movement, and Tasks.

Page | 68
If you tried to make it to your designated areas the fastest, you’d run
the risk of missing out on Tasks; conversely, if you focused your
energy on getting to Tasks, you’d most likely end up missing out on
Early Bird Bonuses. This was a universal truth regardless of whether
you were part of a large group or all on your own.

As a whole, the exam had been very cleverly constructed and

balanced like this, from the fact that eligibility for Early Bird Bonuses
was based on when the last person of a group stepped foot in the
designated area, to the system put in place that required groups to
venture out to Task sites without even knowing if they’d be able to
participate.

It was unclear exactly when the rain would stop, and I was still
worried about Nanase among a few other things, but starting
tomorrow, the second half of the exam would begin, and I was going
to fight with an all-new strategy in hand.

Page | 69
Page | 70
Chapter 2: Simple, Single-Minded Silence
The heavy rain lasted until just about the break of dawn, casting a
large shadow of anxiety over the students.

However, by 6:00 AM, the rainclouds had vanished as if they’d never

existed in the first place, painting the sky with the same clear blue as
the days before. That being said, the forest’s canopy was so thick
that it completely blocked out the sunlight in certain places, leaving
behind a muddy forest floor that would take a while to dry up.

“I’ll have to address the food shortage sooner rather than later…”

I was gradually starting to run out of energy, unable to maintain the

daily caloric intake necessary for a high school student. As I had
never undergone intentional starvation training before, this was my
first time experiencing what it was like to have an empty stomach for
such an extended period of time.

While it’d be possible to stay active as long as I kept myself hydrated,

that wouldn’t exactly be the best routine to fall into. My immune
system would take a hit and leave me susceptible to illness and
disease. I guess it wouldn’t be impossible to hunt for wild animals or
insects, but it shouldn’t have to come to that unless I had no other
option.

You could buy food back at the starting area if you still had provision
points left over, but that wasn’t an effective long-term solution, nor
was it available to me.

In other words, my only real option to get more food was to get it
from Tasks, either by placing high in the ones that awarded it, or by
getting it for free from the ones that had it as a participation prize.

However, the Tasks that provided food would only continue to get
more and more competitive from now on.
Page | 71
“I’m all packed and ready to go.”

Having finished tidying up the makeshift campsite, Nanase

approached me with her backpack strapped to her back.

“Amasawa’s most likely just going to head to the next designated

area, right?”

“Based on the number of points we’ve earned, I’d say that’s a safe
bet. So if it’s all the same to you, may I continue to accompany you
until we reach this first designated area?”

I silently nodded in response. Since we were both going to the same

place, there was no reason for us to separate from each other just
yet.

Shortly after we began walking, Nanase spoke up.

“Amasawa-san was following us as of the evening of the sixth day or

the morning of the seventh, right?”

“Without putting too much thought into it, it’s probably safe to
assume that she approached us using a GPS Search on the morning
of the seventh.”

Since there was no way for us to see the search history, there was no
concrete proof that Amasawa had used the GPS Search at all.
However, if it was clear that the group’s score had decreased at
some point over the course of the seventh day, then we could at
least be sure that someone from the group had used it.

Amasawa’s group wasn’t a part of the top nor bottom ten at the time
though, so as a member of the group, only Nanase would’ve been
privy to that information.

Page | 72
“Naturally, I’ve referenced this with the data on my tablet already,
but… as far as I recall, our score didn’t go down whatsoever
yesterday.”

In short, if Nanase’s memory was to be trusted, then Amasawa

hadn’t used the GPS Search.

“Although it’s unknown where on the island Amasawa-san was that

morning, you and I were traveling quite fast at the time. It wouldn’t
have been very easy for her to catch up to us unless she was already
somewhere nearby, right?”

“That’s probably why she came up with a clever plan to help close
the distance.”

Unlike the two of us, who were carrying around heavy backpacks and
gear, Amasawa had been traveling light.

As a result, even if she had started out a fair distance away, she was
more than capable of closing the gap between us.

“I’m guessing she used a trick of some sort to find out my exact
location.”

“Are you saying that Amasawa-san had somebody else disclose

where you were, Ayanokōji-senpai?”

“Possibly.”

As it stood now, it was hard to be absolutely certain as to what

method she had used.

Page | 73
Page | 74
Part 1
“It looks like this is where we part ways, Senpai. At least for now.”

Once we had both earned a one-point Arrival Bonus for crossing the
boundary into area E3, Nanase finally broke the ice.

“How do you plan on joining up with Amasawa and Hōsen?”

The GPS Search was an excellent tool for finding out where other
people were located, but it was hardly cut out for facilitating a get-
together.

That was a job far more suited to a tool capable of direct

interpersonal communication, such as a walkie-talkie.

“I can’t imagine that I’d cross paths with them by aimlessly

wandering around the island, but it’s not like I can waste a bunch of
points searching for them either. With that being the case, I’ll start
out by using the point I just got and try my best to chase after their
GPS signals. If I can’t find them after that, I guess I’ll just travel to the
next designated area.”

This meant that she was probably going with a minimalist approach,
searching for Amasawa and Hōsen during whatever downtime she
had between areas.

I thought about asking her to share Amasawa’s location with me

before she left, but since she hadn’t even started with the search yet,
I decided to simply let it slide.

“I think it’ll take a first-year student like me to poke around and find
out what other first-years are up to. If I catch wind that something
bad is going down, I’ll come running and let you know, Ayanokōji-
senpai.”

Page | 75
While Nanase was brimming with enthusiasm, I was afraid that she’d
end up lost, aimlessly going around in circles.

“Just don’t overdo it.”

With a respectful nod of the head and her tablet in hand, Nanase set
off.

It’d be nice if she could meet up with them soon, but that would all
depend on how the other two behaved moving forward.

If they were consistently touring the designated areas, it’d be over

and done with fairly quickly, but knowing those two, it wouldn’t be
surprising if the both of them ended up moving erratically instead.

After watching Nanase’s figure disappear into the depths of the

forest, I took out my tablet.

I was finally back on my own again, and with it, I could officially get
started with the second half of the exam.

“No Tasks nearby, huh?”

There was one about 400 meters away from here, but it had already
opened up registration more than twenty minutes ago, which would
turn into thirty-five minutes given that it would take me fifteen or so
just to get there. Furthermore, only five groups would be able to
participate.

Ultimately, I decided that going after this Task wouldn’t be very

practical, so I opted to take a break instead. I’d sit back and wait for
the next designated area to be announced so that, by the time my
strength was fully recovered, I’d be ready to get up and take action.

When the clock struck 9:00 AM, I picked up my tablet and readied
myself for what was to come.

Page | 76
Whether I’d make a beeline for the designated area or head for a
Task instead, it all depended on where the next area unveiled itself.

I quickly checked my tablet, only to find out that it was the random
designation for the day.

The area in question was area E6, three areas to the south of here,
which wasn’t actually all that far away, considering the fact that it
had been randomly designated.

I started walking immediately but kept my eyes glued to my tablet as

I did.

After inspecting each of the Tasks that had also appeared at the turn
of the hour, I decided on my course of action.

In order to earn as many points as possible in the time I had left

today, I needed to be efficient.

To that end, it was crucial that I did everything in my power to

discount the influence of luck.

Page | 77
Page | 78
Part 2
Shortly before 4:00 PM. I had just finished up with a Task I was
participating in and was about to take my leave from the site.

“Ayanokōji-kun?”

Thereupon, I crossed paths with Horikita for the first time since we
parted ways at the start of the exam.

Although she looked a little surprised to see me, she didn’t seem
particularly tired.

“It’s been eight days, huh?”

“That it has.”

We were currently in area F7, reunited once again since our last
conversation back on the first day of the exam.

“Did you come for the Task, or are you simply passing through?
Where are you headed after this, Horikita?”

“I’m heading to G8. I ended up passing through here on the way.

What about yourself?”

Apparently, the area she was headed toward was right next to mine.

“F8. It looks like we’ll be going in the same general direction.”

Since it’d be a waste of time to stand here and talk, the two of us
immediately set out together without so much as another word.

Traveling together seemed like the best way to go about this, given
that we’d be taking the same route for the most part.

“You’re in better shape than I expected. And from the look of it… I
assume you’re still on your own?”

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“Yes, I am. It’s troublesome in many ways, but being alone tends to
make many things easier as well.”

It was true that, by being alone, you didn’t need to worry about
taking care of others or matching their pace.

However, throughout the entire exam so far, Horikita’s name had

never shown up in the bottom ten. While that was decent proof that
she was doing well for herself in terms of points, it was strange that
she didn’t seem tired at all.

“Is it really so hard for you to believe that I’m still in such good
shape?”

“Most of the students I’ve come across have looked awfully tired.”

“Hmm. Did something unusual happen?”

“Unusual? Ah… now that you mention it, have you heard about what
happened with Shinohara?”

“Yes. To be exact, I heard about it today. In light of that, I’m glad that
I ran into you.”

Apparently it had gone something like this: somebody from Class 2-A
had reached out to Horikita while she was near the starting area
earlier today, and they had urged her to meet with Sakayanagi,
whereupon she was informed of Komiya and Kinoshita’s retirement.

Afterward, Sakayanagi told her about the strategy that I had

proposed back on the fifth day and the two began to negotiate.

“You didn’t refuse to cooperate, right?”

“I had no reason to do that; I had to prevent Shinohara-san from

getting kicked out of school. I heard that you were one of the first on
the scene at the time, do you know the details of what happened?”

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“No, not really. I think it could’ve been both an incident or an
accident.”

I explained what I knew as someone who had seen the

aforementioned crime scene from up close.

Of course, I kept certain things to myself, such as the fact that

Amasawa had been watching from the shadows.

“Shinohara-san’s group ranking has been dropping lower and lower

every day. Currently, she’s placed seventh from the bottom. At this
rate, it seems she’ll fall far enough to qualify for expulsion by the end
of the day today, so we have to hurry. If worse comes to worst and
we can’t find another group for her to join, I’ll take matters into my
own hands. Before I ran into you, I was lucky enough to secure first
place in a Task that rewarded me with three additional spaces in my
group.”

This was good news. The Tasks that increased maximum group size
were fairly uncommon, and they were highly sought after as well.

Taking first place in such a contested Task couldn’t have been easy.

“But if that’s how things play out, then it’ll be just you and Shinohara
scoring all the points. If possible, I hope our collaboration with
Sakayanagi goes smoothly so you can merge with a group that’s
doing better for themselves.”

Horikita nodded in agreement.

“At any rate, over these past eight days that I’ve been walking
around the island, I’ve really come to realize that a lot more groups
have walkie-talkies than I anticipated. I’ve seen students making use
of them all over the place, Sakayanagi-san telling her fellow
classmates about what happened to Shinohara-san is only one such
example.”
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“It seems like a particularly strong trend among the upper classes,
who are capable of taking charge and have the points to spare.
Walkie-talkies let you exchange information over long distances, so
depending on how well you make use of it, it could be worth
spending such a large number of points.”

“If we trusted one another a little more, I wonder… if we could’ve

done that as well…?”

Horikita pursed her lips ever so slightly, perhaps having found the
notion fairly difficult to imagine, despite having mentioned it.

“While walkie-talkies are certainly useful, that doesn’t necessarily

mean that they’d do all that much for us. It’d just be a waste if we
didn’t end up doing anything with them.”

“That’s true enough.”

I took out my tablet to see if any new Tasks had appeared, only to
find that a risk-free, hassle-free Task that gave out food as a
participation prize had shown up not too far from our current
location.

Furthermore, there was room for as many as fifteen groups to

register for it.

However, it only gave out a single point that all groups would get for
participating, so it wasn’t all that appealing on the points side of
things.

“I’m running low on food, so I think I’d like to drop by this Task. How
about you Horikita?”

If she had her sights set on her designated area’s Early Bird Bonus,
then she’d be better off pushing forward without batting an eye.

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“I don’t have that much food remaining either, so I’ll drop by the
Task as well.”

Since our priorities were identical, we decided to change course and

proceeded on our way to the Task.

Although the Task itself was a blessing, participating in it would be

highly competitive.

Horikita and I began to pick up the pace as we hurried to the Task

site. On the way, we gradually began to catch sight of other groups.
From first-years, third-years, and even second-years, all of them
seemed to have their sights set on the same destination, given how
they were all moving in the same direction as us. In fact, the majority
broke into a run as soon as they realized that they were surrounded
by direct competition.

“Horikita, you don’t need to worry about me. Go ahead and hurry to
the Task site.”

“Look who’s talking. If you’ve really run low on food, then you ought
to be a bit more pressed yourself.”

“I just don’t have the energy to run anymore.”

“And I’m in the same boat.”

Despite the rush, it seemed her stance regarding the wasteful

expenditure of stamina was the same as mine.

She was all on her own, and yet it was clear that she was acting with
a certain degree of flexibility, methodically pacing herself as she
tackled the uninhabited island exam.

Not long thereafter, we arrived at the Task site just in time to

participate, whereupon we both decided to take some time to
mingle with some of our classmates that we hadn’t seen in a while.
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After all, even if we rushed to our designated areas from here, we’d
probably be too late to qualify for any Early Bird Bonuses. With that
being the case, we’d be better off looking to exchange information
until the last minute so that we could make the most of the rest of
the exam.

Moreover, many of our classmates still didn’t know about what kind
of situation Shinohara had been put in.

Later on, once the exam was done for the day, I tallied up my score. I
had earned 4 points from Arrival Bonuses and 14 points from
participating in four different Tasks, for a total of 18. This brought my
overall score up to 96, 23rd place on the leaderboards.

On the whole, I got the impression that groups had been more active
today than on the fifth or sixth. However, since there were also
groups that, for the most part, hadn’t been active at all, a distinct
line had been drawn between those who were looking to conserve
their stamina and those who weren’t.

The eighth day, which I had otherwise expected to devolve into a

fierce battle, hadn’t actually been that bad in the end. There hadn’t
been any significant changes in the scores of the top ten either, as
the Kuronaga group was still in tenth place with a total of 111 points.

Tomorrow, my goal was to maintain an ideal rank and, if possible,

meet up with Sakayanagi once again.

I fell asleep that night hoping that the upcoming designated areas
would lead me toward the starting area.

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Page | 85
Chapter 3: A Fight Against Solitude
After brushing away the cobwebs that had tangled around my
clothes, I slowly took off my backpack and set it down on the ground.

The Uninhabited Island Exam had entered into its ninth day, and it
was as hot and humid out as ever.

By the time I had safely arrived at the fourth designated area, I was
already breathing heavily.

One way or another, I had managed to reach my intended

destination, just as scheduled.

The sweat on my brow slowly began to trickle down the bridge of my

nose, so I wiped it away with the sleeve of my jersey.

Area D5, the designated area revealed at 3:00 PM, had been a
considerable distance away from the previous area H9. It had taken
quite a lot of effort to make it within the allotted time period.

In fact, I had even run into a decent Task along the way, but chose to
give up on it so as to minimize the risk of accruing a penalty.

Although the journey had taken me almost two full hours, it didn’t
seem that very many other groups had arrived yet, as I had
successfully earned the third-place Early Bird Bonus.

I wasn’t dissatisfied with my progress for the most part, but I still
hadn’t been able to make it back to the starting area and meet up
with Sakayanagi.

It’d just be a waste of stamina if I forced myself to go there now, and

I didn’t want to overwork myself. I had crossed paths with several
Class 2-A students throughout the day today, but unfortunately,
none of them had walkie-talkies. I thought about whether or not I

Page | 86
should just bite the bullet and go there tomorrow morning, but…
well, that would make things fairly complicated.

After deciding to put aside the whole situation with Sakayanagi for
the time being, I went ahead and took a look at everything that had
happened today.

“So with all the points I earned today, I’ve upped my total score to
112, huh?”

The Kuronaga group, who had maintained their 10th place spot, had
a comprehensive score of 123 points, a mere 11 points ahead of me,
who had risen up to 13th. Given that it would soon be 5:00 PM, this
11 point gap was most likely where things would end for the day.

My goal was actually to reach 11th place, but an 11 point difference

seemed well within my tolerance range. Although it happened
slightly behind schedule due to what happened with Nanase and the
rough patch of weather, I had finally secured the strategic position
that I’d been aiming for since the very beginning.

That’s right, I had been aiming for 11th place since before the
uninhabited island special exam even started. I was currently in 13th
place, which was a bit lower, but that wasn’t the important thing
here. Rather, I just needed to make certain of one thing: that I didn’t
rise up to tenth.

In order to stand on the winner’s podium, you’d have to put in the

work to pile up points. However, regardless of whether you were all
on your own or in a seven-man group through the use of the ‘More
People’ card, by being part of the publicly-visible top ten, you’d
inevitably end up garnering attention, even if you didn’t want to.

And by garnering attention, your rivals would become wary of you,

and you’d have to face the risk of being sabotaged before the end of
the exam.
Page | 87
In order to avoid that and yet still have your sights set on a top spot,
11th place was the most ideal position to be in. That being said,
there were still a few drawbacks to this strategy. Given the exam’s
nature, staying in control of your score can be fairly difficult.
Therefore, if you didn’t keep a close eye on your score, it’s possible
that you might find your group’s name inadvertently showing up on
the leaderboards, even if only for a moment. And if that were to
happen, the entire strategy would be for naught.

Furthermore, an even greater drawback was the fact that it was

heavily dependent on the score of the 10th place group. The smaller
the gap between 10th place and 1st place, the easier it’d be to
mount a comeback. However, if the gap was on the larger side, it’d
be increasingly difficult to turn things around since you’d need to
earn a larger number of points to catch up.

For that exact reason, it was important that the top groups strove to
actively impede each other’s progress.

But… that had been happening less than anticipated. So much so, in
fact, that certain groups had been allowed to run away with the lead.

Fortunately, the absence of pressure from the first and third-years

meant that the second-years were at a relative advantage, although
that didn’t exactly mean very much given all the other drawbacks. In
order for groups to interfere with each other, they’d need to sacrifice
their own ability to earn points, so it’d be difficult to put anything
into motion unless you already had a substantial number of points
on hand.

I was curious about what Nagumo was going to do moving forward.

It seemed like it’d be a good idea for him to take on
countermeasures of some sort to deal with Kōenji, his foremost
competitor for the top spot. However, from what I saw during my
previous GPS Searches, there was no indication that he had any plan
Page | 88
to run interference at the moment. It was conceivable that he was
simply pouring his energy into scoring points right now instead, but…

“With the way things are going, even if I don’t win, I won’t have any
complaints as long as Kōenji takes first or second.”

By staying at or around 11th place, I wouldn’t attract very much

attention. And even if I were to have my progress stunted via
sabotage by Amasawa or one of the other first-years, I wouldn’t have
to worry about dropping all the way down to the bottom of the
leaderboards.

All I needed to do at this point was maintain a high rank until the end
of the twelfth day of the exam.

I took a well-earned rest in the shade of a nearby tree, and once the
sweat had faded from my brow, I put my backpack back on and set
off, headed toward the neighboring area.

Rather than set up camp right on the border, I wanted to find a nice,
open spot located a bit further out.

Just around the time when the sun began to set and I needed to
make a decision as to where I’d be camping for the night, I caught
sight of an isolated, one-man tent pitched in a clearing not too far
ahead of me. The entrance was zipped shut despite the sweltering
heat, so it didn’t seem like its owner was resting inside. Perhaps they
were out scouting the surrounding area, or possibly even going to
the restroom.

“What a nice spot.”

It was hard to find such a flat, open spot in this neck of the woods.

It’d make things a lot easier for me personally if I could just set up my
tent somewhere around here.

Page | 89
However, compared to when I had Nanase accompanying me, I was
currently a boy traveling on his own.

As such, if this tent’s owner was a girl, my presence could lead to

inadvertent trouble if they didn’t trust me to be here.

What’s more, whoever it was, I wasn’t sure what to make of the fact
that it was a one-man tent.

Were they acting separately from the rest of their group, or had they
been on their own since the beginning?

If it were the latter, then it was almost certainly someone I was

acquainted with.

At this point, I at least wanted to find out their identity, regardless of

whether I ended up pitching my own tent here or not.

I decided to stick around for a little while to see if the owner would
turn up.

If they were out for a walk, then they should be back before
sundown. And, if there were noises coming from inside the tent,
then I could just call out to them.

I was fully aware that it’d be more efficient to try calling out to them
now, but… well… you get the idea.

I waited for about ten minutes after that, but there was no sign nor
sound of anyone.

The longer I waited, the more possible it began to seem that they
had simply gone to bed early.

And since I had no reason to believe that anyone else would show up
looking to use the campsite, I finally made up my mind and called out
from beside the tent.

Page | 90
“Is anyone there?”

I held my breath for a few seconds and listened carefully for a

reaction of some sort, but it was perfectly silent.

“Sorry, but I’d like to set up my tent nearby. Please let me know if
you have a problem with that.”

I went through the formality of asking for permission, and, having

reached the conclusion that there was truly nobody inside, lowered
my backpack down to the ground.

That is, after having appropriately distanced myself from their tent,
of course.

Although I was still somewhat curious about who it was I was sharing
a campsite with, I quickly finished pitching my own tent.

Time and time again, I’d been thoroughly impressed with how much
easier this tent was to set up than the one used during last year’s
uninhabited island exam.

And that wasn’t the only thing. It was also nice to have a tent all to
myself without having to fuss over sharing the space with somebody
else.

Though, this introverted way of thinking may just be the reason why
my friends were so few and far between.

A sunny, cheerful person would probably say that sleeping in a tent

without other people would be boring.

I couldn’t help but wonder if there would ever come a day where I’d
think so as well.

“…I really can’t imagine it.”

It was a future that would probably never come.

Page | 91
“I thought I heard some weirdo show up, but to think it was you of all
people.”

Just as I was sorting out my change of clothes for tomorrow, a voice

called out to me from behind.

Apparently, the owner of the lone tent just across the way was none
other than Ibuki.

“Did I make too much noise?”

“Not really.”

Her response was brief, and she immediately followed it up with a

piercing glare.

I thought that she’d say something else, but she instantly went back
inside her tent instead.

Feeling like something was out of sorts, I decided to go and see what
she was up to.

“You got a minute?”

I called out to her from outside her tent, but she ignored me. The
only thing I could hear was a faint, indistinct noise coming from
inside.

“I’d like to ask you something.”

I tried calling out to her again, but she still refused to respond.

At first I thought that she was merely ignoring me, but upon further
inspection, it seemed like she was actually up to something in there.

“I’m gonna unzip the flap, okay?”

Just to be safe, I waited for thirty seconds or so before unzipping the

entrance to her tent.
Page | 92
“…What do you want?”

Upon looking inside, I was met with the sight of a seated Ibuki who
seemed to be chewing on something.

Page | 93
Page | 94
“You’re really─ Wait, no, what are you eating?”

“Jerky.”

“Jerky…? That wasn’t included in the Uninhabited Island Manuel they

handed out to us before the exam, though?”

In other words, she had secured fresh meat somehow, perhaps by

purchasing it, and dried it into jerky all by herself.

However, it’d take quite a lot of time and effort for her to go through
the jerky-making process on her own.

Back when the exam first began, she had started out by provoking
Horikita before immediately setting off for the first designated area.
If she had been carrying raw meat back then, it went without saying
that it would’ve spoiled within a few hours of this scorching heat.

With that in mind, it made more sense to think that this was a part of
a strategy that the entirety of Class 2-B was in on.

I could imagine that some Class 2-B group out there had taken on the
job of making a large quantity of jerky for the rest of the class.

It would only be possible because it was cost-effective and cheap on

the wallet. No matter how portable it might be, straight-up buying
premade food that has a long shelf-life, such as dried meats,
wouldn’t be very practical from a cost-performance standpoint due
to the high prices the school would charge for it. So, rather than buy
the processed result, you could get more bang for your buck by going
through the effort to make your own jerky out of raw beef instead.

I hadn’t seen what Ryūen’s food situation was like back when I
crossed paths with him, but it was probably safe to assume that he
was carrying emergency rations as well, jerky in particular. Even

Page | 95
though it couldn’t hurt, the students of Class 2-B could look past the
highly competitive Tasks that supplied participants with food.

“What’s it matter to you? It’s none of your business.”

I could stand here thinking about this all I wanted, but it didn’t sound
like I’d be hearing the truth from her any time soon.

At any rate─ as far as I knew, Ibuki’s name hadn’t shown up in the

bottom ten groups so far, even though she was taking part in the
exam all on her own. It seemed that she had managed to maintain a
somewhat decent score.

For Ibuki, taking a top spot in a Task centered around academic

ability would be a lost cause.

With that being the case, her main source of income had to be the
Arrival Bonuses and Early Bird Bonuses that came from traveling to
designated areas, and outside of that, she’d be limited to the Tasks
that tested our athletic skills.

As a result, she’d inevitably wear herself out at a faster rate than

other students.

Anyone with eyes could see just how much physical and mental
stress she had been put under.

In fact, it was entirely possible that she had already gone well past
her limit.

“How many people have you spoken with since the exam started?”

“Wha…?”

It didn’t seem like she had been sleeping very well, as I could see
faint, dark circles taking shape under her eyes.

Page | 96
“…Just Horikita. You heard me say I wouldn’t lose to her, right? You
were there.”

“In other words, you’re saying you haven’t had a proper

conversation with someone since day one?”

At best, she had probably only opened her mouth to answer yes-no
questions during the Task registration process.

“You should try and find someone to talk to, even if only a little bit.”

“Ain’t no way I’m gonna talk with my enemies.”

“Then talk with a classmate. If you wander around long enough,

you’re sure to come across someone.”

“I don’t think of my classmates as ‘friends’.”

Her current state was the result of her closing herself off from the
outside world, hiding away in her shell. And to think she had been
like this for nine days now, and yet still had five more to go before
the end of the exam.

If the fraying thread that was holding Ibuki together were to snap,
everything would most likely come crumbling down around her.

And, as a lone student, if she were made to retire from the exam, her
expulsion would be all but set in stone.

However, this special exam was such that, if at all possible, you
didn’t want to let groups from your own school year get expelled. To
that end, it would be ideal if Ibuki could dedicate a day to rest and
recovery. If she could spend a full day taking it easy, that would
probably be enough for her to regain most of her energy. Given the
type of person she was, it wouldn’t be impossible for her to make it
through the remaining four days of the exam at that point.

Page | 97
But, reality was not so merciful. As easy as it may seem, taking a day
off from the exam would be incredibly difficult.

And, even if she were to force herself to take a break, there was no
saying whether or not her mental state would improve.

While you rested, your rivals would be racking up points, placing you
at risk of not only being overtaken, but possibly even causing you to
sink down to the very bottom.

It’d be impossible for an ordinary person to sit back and empty their
mind while the rest of the world moved on with the exam without
them.

Besides, missing out on all four of a day’s designated areas would

lead to a penalty, of which the ramping effects would only make the
following days that much more strenuous.

“Get out already.”

“…Alright.”

Even though it was Ibuki, she was still a girl.

With the sun sinking further and further under the horizon, it
wouldn’t exactly be appropriate for a boy to be looking inside a lone
girl’s tent like this.

Even if Ryūen was here right now, I had my doubts that even he
would be able to solve her problem.

After leaving Ibuki’s tent, I went back to sorting out my clothes.

It had been a fairly windy day today, so I hoped that it’d be a

relatively cool night tonight.

“Hey.”

Page | 98
Just when I had reached a decent stopping point with what I was
doing, Ibuki emerged from her tent.

She staggered a bit as she got to her feet, wobbling around

somewhat haphazardly, but she regained her bearings soon enough.

And then, with her hands in her pockets, she proceeded to walk
straight over to me.

“How many points you got right now?”

She had finally come out of her tent, only to follow it up by asking
me something surprisingly bold.

“We’re mutual enemies, you do know that right?”

“So you won’t tell me.”

In a low voice, she mumbled something that sounded like the word
‘cheapskate’, but I still had no intention of divulging that
information.

I could tell her that I was currently in 13th place, but there wasn’t a
single person on this deserted island who’d stand to benefit from it.

“That’s just how it is.”

“Then, at least tell me if you’re higher or lower than me. I’ve

currently got─”

Just as Ibuki was about to willingly disclose her own score, I held out
my hand to stop her.

“Sorry, but I won’t be answering your question, no matter what form

you put it in.”

Page | 99
Merely telling her if my score was higher or lower would be no
different from giving her a hint, and the same thing went for lying to
her about it.

It may seem risk-free for me to say that my score was lower than
hers, but if people were to learn that I was struggling to secure
points, then there’s a chance that someone may try to force me into
a desperate situation in order to expel me. No matter what, I had to
prevent any intel about me from taking on a life of its own.

Ibuki clicked her tongue, her hands still in her pockets.

“…Whatever. It was a waste of time to bother with askin’ you

anyway.”

“Fair enough. Besides, your true target here is Horikita, right?”

As soon as Horikita’s name crossed my lips, Ibuki’s tired, listless

demeanor changed drastically.

She pulled her hand out of her pocket and presented me with her
middle finger and a scowl on her face.

“When you next see that bitch, do me a solid and tell her that I’ll
absolutely never lose to her.”

“That’s fine and all, but I’m probably not the one you should be
giving the middle finger to.”

“You, her, same difference. After all, you two are on real good terms
with each other.”

No, we weren’t.

She was completely off the mark, but from her perspective, it
probably looked like Horikita and I treated each other that way.

Page | 100
Apparently, she didn’t have anything else she wanted to say to me,
as she began to walk back to her own tent without another word.

“Hold on a moment.”

I called out as I went after her, only for her to look back just as I was
reaching out to grab hold of her arm.

She was already more than wary of me, but upon seeing what I was
doing, that wariness was cranked up to the maximum as she
instantly moved to avoid my hand.

“Haaa? You tryna pull somethin’?”

She clenched her fists as she spoke. It seemed she had interpreted
my actions as me trying to pick a fight with her.

“That wasn’t my intention here at all, but─”

Leaving my sentence unfinished, I extended my arm for a second

time and, without giving her an opportunity to escape, swiftly
grabbed hold of her wrist.

“The hell are you doing!?”

She sent a kick flying at me in a panic, prompting me to block her

foot with my free hand. I expected her to try it again, but she instead
let out a sigh of resignation and averted her gaze.

“I’ll admit I can’t beat you, sure, but one of these days, I swear I’m
gonna get the satisfaction of kickin’ your teeth in.”

Personally, I’d rather she didn’t set such an unsettling goal for
herself.

“So? Did Horikita put you up to this? Tryna get in my way?”

Page | 101
Not only did she fail to understand my true intentions behind
grabbing her wrist, but her strange suspicions had led her to an even
stranger conclusion all of her own.

As one of Horikita’s classmates, it didn’t seem like there was any way
my words would make it through to her.

Thinking about it logically, the odds of getting Ibuki to willingly take a

break had been minuscule from the very beginning.

“Your pulse is racing.”

“Hah!?”

“The inside of your mouth looks dry too, not to mention how cracked
your lips are. You’re obviously dehydrated.”

With the way things were going, it wouldn’t be very surprising if her
first Warning Alert was to go off soon.

Actually, it was entirely possible that it had already gone off by now.

The reason why she had been passively sitting within her tent was
probably not just that she was tired, but that she had been trying to
prevent an alert from going off due to her abnormal heart rate.

“I’m not all that thirsty… anymore.”

“Anymore? So then, you’re saying you were thirsty at one point?”

I let go of Ibuki’s wrist and she immediately distanced herself from

me with an openly hostile look on her face.

“Mind your own business. There ain’t anything wrong with me.”

With that, she turned her back on me once again, but I immediately
gave chase and made it to her tent a step ahead of her.

“Wait, wha─? What are you doing!?”

Page | 102
She wasn’t going to listen to me no matter how clearly I spelled it out
to her, so I went inside her tent and dragged out her backpack.

“Show me what’s inside.”

“Haaa!? No way in hell I’mma show a guy. No, I wouldn’t even do it

for a girl either.”

“Fair enough.”

Since she wasn’t going to grant me permission, I simply opened it up

without permission instead.

“Hey! I said no!”

Inside her backpack, there were clothes, amenities, and a bit of food
like jerky.

Aside from that, there was a plastic 500ml water bottle, but it was
already empty.

Since the school had set up trash receptacles at certain locations

such as Task sites, she should’ve already thrown away anything she
didn’t need by this point. However, there wasn’t so much as a single
drop of water inside the plastic bottle, indicating that it had been
empty of its contents for quite some time now.

In addition, she didn’t seem to have a walkie-talkie or any other form

of communication device.

“How long have you been out of water?”

“I don’t have to tell you anythi─”

“I said, how long have you been out of water?”

I asked my question again, this time with a stronger tone and a rigid,
unsparing gaze.

Page | 103
“…A full day… and then some.”

“So you’ve just been walking around without water like this?”

“Nope. I’ve been resting here all day today.”

“What an obvious lie. There were no GPS signals anywhere near here
this morning.”

“You did a GPS Search?”

Of course I hadn’t. I was bluffing. However, I didn’t think Ibuki would

call me on it.

After all, with how desperate she was to beat Horikita, I couldn’t
imagine that she’d willingly choose to take a break.

“Has your first Warning Alert gone off yet?”

“…It did about an hour ago. That’s why I reluctantly decided to turn
in early for the night.”

Warning Alerts worked on a system where they would only stop

going off once the detected abnormality stopped happening.

And then, if the same abnormality were to resurface later on, you’d
be met with a new Warning Alert rather than having it escalate to an
Emergency Alert.

“If you don’t rehydrate at some point, it’ll keep ringing even if you
rest.”

If she couldn’t get her rapid heart rate under control, an Emergency
Alert would be soon to follow.

By the time it came to that, she would likely be even more

dehydrated, to the extent that if she were to receive a medical

Page | 104
checkup, she wouldn’t be able to prevent herself from being
sentenced to retirement.

“I’ll handle it tomorrow, and if push comes to shove I’ll even go back
to the starting area, so drop it and leave me alone.”

“It’s more than two kilometers from here to the starting area. If you
were to collapse along the way, it’d be all over.”

“Then I’ll just do a nearby Task or some shit.”

“You can’t do that though, can you? Otherwise you wouldn’t be in

the state you’re in now.”

The only way to appease Ibuki’s irrationality was to present sound

logic of my own.

I went and fetched my backpack from my own tent and took out two
plastic 500ml water bottles that I had gotten from Tasks earlier
today.

“Trade me.”

“What?”

“It just so happens that I’m running short on food. On the other
hand, I have a bit of an oversupply of water. I’m asking you to
negotiate with me since I think we can make a fair trade.”

Ibuki swallowed audibly as she looked at the pristine water held

within the plastic bottle, however warm it may be.

“How about it? I’ll say it again just to be sure, but I’m looking to
make a fair trade here. You’ll have to give me a suitable amount of
food in exchange.”

“Who the hell do you think you are to─”

Page | 105
“Feel free to say no, but I won’t be giving you a chance to change
your mind.”

I maintained a firm, unyielding attitude, and Ibuki drew silent.

“If you retire due to dehydration like this, you’ll definitely lose to
Horikita. In fact, I met with Horikita a little while ago. Her complexion
was perfectly fine, and she didn’t seem to be having any problems
with water or food either.”

Rather than emphasize the impending threat of expulsion, I dropped

Horikita’s name, the most effective buzzword to spurn Ibuki into
taking action.

“I get it… I’ll trade with you. But, how much do you want from me?”

With what she had on hand now, Ibuki would run out of food in a
little less than two days.

However, if I were to ask for just a few meager scraps, it wouldn’t

exactly be a fair trade, now would it?

“Half of your remaining food. That should be enough.”

“Only that much?”

“It’s at least better than sustaining myself by eating random weeds.”

Just like that, we finalized the trade and exchanged the food for
water.

As soon as Ibuki had one of the bottles in hand, she popped off the
cap and downed about half of it all in one go. Normally, I would’ve
told her to try and conserve it, but considering that she was already
suffering from dehydration, I felt it better for her to be hydrating
herself as soon as possible.

Page | 106
Apparently, she didn’t like me seeing this side of her, as her usual
sharp, pointed look quickly returned.

Even if her physical condition were to improve somewhat, her state

of mind clearly wasn’t normal right now. She had been subjected to a
great deal of stress with no time to relax, left with no choice but to
try and come to terms with her situation.

I couldn’t help but wonder how much longer she’d be able to hold
out.

Would it be a few hours, or a few days? Hopefully, she’d be able to

persevere until the very end.

Ibuki and I had different Tables, so once we parted ways, we

probably wouldn’t meet again until after the exam was over.

As such, I felt like I should at least say something more here, for what
it was worth.

“I’m not gonna thank you if that’s what you’re after. It’s supposed to
be a fair trade, remember?”

“I don’t want you to thank me.”

“Then whatta you want?”

She was probably sensitive to human contact due to constantly

having her guard raised for the past day or so. That mindset would
be useful in the short term for sure, but in her current situation, it
would only bring about her own destruction.

“If you’re not doing too badly with points, how about you spend
most of the day tomorrow resting? That, or switch to a strategy
where you only focus on acquiring food and water?”

Page | 107
“So you’re sayin’ for me to give up on scoring points? You’ve gotta be
kidding me.”

Upon hearing my suggestion, Ibuki flared up and lost her temper.

“I’m not puttin’ in all this work ‘cause I don’t wanna get expelled. My
only goal here is beating Horikita.”

I was well aware of that.

And it was precisely because I understood what was motivating her

that I was giving her the advice she needed to increase her odds of
succeeding.

But… well… Ibuki has hated me ever since she found out that I was
the ‘X’ Ryūen had been looking for.

Due to her warped, biased perspective of the type of person I was,

my true intentions had no chance of getting through to her.

“I’ve got nothin’ more to say to you.”

Saying that, Ibuki went back inside her tent and zipped up the
entrance.

My attempt at persuading her felt like it had been unsuccessful, but

my words should’ve at least served as an effective warning.

At any rate, with this, Ibuki should be fine for the next day or two.

Beyond that, it’d be up to her. She’d just have to get back on her feet
and secure food and water for herself.

Since she was alone, I was somewhat worried about her score, but
having seen how adamant she was about her match with Horikita,
she probably wasn’t doing that bad.

Page | 108
Although the night was still young, I had used up a lot of my energy
today, so I decided to turn in early.

Despite the muggy summer heat, I spent the rest of the evening
relaxing before drifting off to sleep.

Page | 109
Page | 110
Part 1
First thing in the morning, I left the campsite to use the bathroom in
the nearby forest. When I returned with my sanitary disposal bag in
hand, I caught sight of Ibuki crouching suspiciously beside my tent.

“What are you doing?”

“!”

Her head shot up with a look of surprise on her face. It seems that
she had been so focused on rummaging through my backpack that
she didn’t notice me return to the campsite.

“Were you trying to sneak a peek at my tablet, or was there

something else you wanted?”

Unfortunately for her, it was impossible for a third party to gain

unauthorized access to my tablet since I had enabled the lock screen.

“I wouldn’t do somethin’ like that! I just… I just wanted to make sure

our trade was actually fair, that’s all.”

After saying that, she quickly distanced herself from my backpack.

“You’ve only got one bottle of water left in there, and you’ve already
drunk some of it! I thought you said you had too much water?”

Although I had only been away for just under a minute, I guess I had
been a little careless.

Apparently, that had been more than enough time for her to confirm
the contents of my backpack.

That being said, I couldn’t exactly blame her given that I had gone
through Ibuki’s backpack without permission just the day before.
Even if I were to lie and say that I drank the rest of my water last

Page | 111
night, she’d just have to ask where the empty bottle was. After all, it
was against the rules to litter on the island.

“So what, were you trying to help me out to get me to owe you a
favor?”

“If you hadn’t gone through my backpack, you never would’ve felt
like you owed me anything though…”

“Grr…”

My words hit right on the mark, causing Ibuki’s cheek to twitch ever
so slightly.

“In other words, I’m telling you that the truth doesn’t matter. It was
a fair trade either way.”

“I ain’t convinced, but… I get it. If that’s the way it is, I’m not gonna
give any water back to you.”

“If I did this to have you owe me a favor, would you pay it back?”

“No way.”

“…Is that so?”

Apparently, she had been compelled to rummage through my

backpack simply because she couldn’t bring herself to trust me.

Since the conversation dried up after that, I went back inside my

tent.

It was only half-past six when I heard sounds coming from over by
Ibuki’s tent.

I unzipped my tent’s entrance to take a look at what was happening,

only to find that she had already started to pack up her things.

Page | 112
If this had been the second or third day of the exam, I might’ve
thought that she was just brimming with motivation, but…

The vibe she was giving off told me she didn’t want to be disturbed,
so I simply looked the other way.

Before long, 7:00 AM arrived, and with it the first designated area of
the day, which was announced to be area E4. I immediately decided
to spend one point to run a GPS Search and pinpoint the locations of
everybody else on the island.

This search was well worth the single point it cost to run it. My score
was so close to the 10th place Kuronaga group that I might
accidentally overtake them. By spending one point here, the gap
between our scores would widen to 12 points. That way, even if I
earned 11 points from taking the first-place Early Bird Bonus, I’d still
be just barely outside of the top ten.

Looking at the map, there were about three other groups who had
the potential to contest me for the Early Bird Bonus.

Among them, there was a certain, particularly formidable opponent

sitting in an ideal position for sweeping up the bonus. With that
being the case, I decided to give up on fighting for it, which worked
out perfectly since my top priority right now was to replenish my
resources. Incidentally, this GPS Search also let me see how many
students were nearby the Tasks I was interested in. In other words, it
opened up the door for me to predict what the competition would
be like before I dedicated any time to pursuing it.

By the time I had finished getting ready and stepped foot out of my
tent, Ibuki was already nowhere to be seen.

There was little to gain from taking action before the exam started
for the day, but I suppose she just wanted to get away from me as
soon as possible.
Page | 113
Page | 114
Part 2
Although the designated area had been fairly close to the campsite,
it still took me around an hour and a half to get there. Needless to
say, when I finally stepped foot in the area, my watch didn’t indicate
that I had earned the Early Bird Bonus, leaving me with just a one-
point Arrival Bonus instead. Of course, I wasn’t dissatisfied with this
since I had participated in a Task along the way.

Area E4 was located at a fairly high altitude atop a cliff, so the view
was decent enough that I could survey a good part of the island.

“You sure took your sweet time getting here, Ayanokōji.”

In my peripheral vision, I spotted Kiryūin. She spoke to me without so

much as looking in my direction, her eyes trained down at the base
of the cliff.

Page | 115
Page | 116
“So it seems.”

Back when I ran a GPS Search this morning, she was the formidable
opponent who shared a table with me that I felt would be the most
troublesome to compete against.

“So, Ayanokōji, are you the one who’s been making me work for all
the Early Bird Bonuses?”

“I wonder. People can end up in the same area sometimes despite

being a part of different tables. More importantly, I thought you
weren’t interested in making it to the top ten, Kiryūin-senpai.”

Earlier this morning, Kiryūin had shot up from below 10th place all
the way to 9th.

“Well, this exam’s been more interesting than I expected. It’s kinda
unbecoming of my age, but I’ve been really hyped up recently.”

She said it was ‘unbecoming of her age’, and yet she was only one
year older than me.

“I figure I’ll keep going at my current pace, at least for the time
being.”

“So you don’t want to get first place, Senpai?”

“Everyone’s foaming at the mouth over the top spot. If I got mixed
up in that, I wouldn’t get to chill out and enjoy myself. Though, if
Nagumo and Kōenji collapse, then that might change things a bit.”

“Collapse? Honestly, that doesn’t seem very likely at the moment.”

“Do you really think that Nagumo’ll leave Kōenji free to his own
devices?”

Page | 117
Apparently, Kiryūin had also foreseen how things would play out
moving forward, at least to a certain extent.

“With the current stalemate, it’s hard to say that Nagumo’s

guaranteed to come out on top. It seems he’s been patiently
watching things so far, but he’ll make his move sooner or later. Or
more specifically, make his move on Kōenji. Depending on the
situation, it’s possible that both of ‘em will start slowing down on
earning points.”

Alternatively, it was possible that one of them would get crushed and
plummet down through the ranks.

“That’s true. Kicking one’s opponent down is important, after all.”

Although there was no way to tell exactly when it would happen,

they would definitely clash with each other here at some point.

Or, at very least, it felt safe to say that Nagumo would stop Kōenji.

“How about you? Are you aiming for the top spots, Ayanokōji?”

“Unfortunately, I really can’t see myself getting into the top ten.”

“That so? I thought you’d have just about the same number of points
as me.”

She seemed awfully interested in me and how well I was doing.

Well, to be exact, it probably wasn’t just me that she was interested

in.

She was surely looking to analyze the strategies of each and every
student in the school.

“As a word of advice: most groups are probably gonna start slowing
down soon, so don’t give up and keep on doing your best.”

Page | 118
Even though I hadn’t known Kiryūin for very long, it was clear to me
that she was quite an influential character.

She was by all means an exceptional student when it came to both

the depth of her insight and the breadth of her intuition, qualities
that even the OAA system failed to account for.

“To change the subject, from what I’ve seen on my tablet, it doesn’t
look like any groups have retired yet. What do you think of that?”

“It just means that I can’t afford to get careless, not even for a
moment. That’s all.”

“Hmm… I found out something interesting when I stopped by the

starting area yesterday. Apparently, some of the groups that have
been running out of food and water have been taking up a new last-
ditch strategy of sorts. They’ve started cutting loose some of their
members in order to conserve resources.”

“That’s a wise decision.”

No matter how many points your group racks up, if the whole group
retires, you’d be disqualified and your expulsion would be all but set
in stone. That being the case, it would be safer to send one or two
people back to the starting area instead, even if it meant taking an
overall drop in terms of efficiency. There, not only could they drink
an unlimited amount of fresh water, but they’d also be able to
maintain their personal hygiene, therefore making it easier to avoid
getting sick.

“The bottom ten groups probably have their fingers crossed right
about now, praying that some other group will retire first.”

“There’s no telling what someone who’s been pushed into a corner

might do. Don’t be negligent, okay?”

Page | 119
“Is that really something a lone girl like you ought to be worried
about, Kiryūin-senpai?”

“Oh? Hmm… Well, it’s true that, as a young, dainty maiden, it may be
best for me to be more cautious.”

Even though I said what I had in jest, surprisingly, she had taken it
seriously.

“If it comes down to it, then yeah… I’ll just have to get through it by
force.”

Saying that, Kiryūin clenched her fist.

Honestly, her response wasn’t very maiden-like, not by any stretch of

the imagination.

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.”

“Fufu, sorry for taking up so much of your time. After all, for the likes
of us, every single second is precious.”

With that, she lightly lifted up her hand and began to walk away.

Based on the direction she went in, she was probably headed toward
a nearby Task.

“You’re not gonna come along? There might be space for you as well
if you hurry.”

“I’ll pass. I don’t think I’d be able to beat you, Senpai.”

By now, there were probably at most two spots left for the Task in
question. Additionally, there were already more than three other
groups in the nearby area, so with Kiryūin also heading over to it, my
odds of being able to participate were already shaky at best.

Page | 120
As I watched her leave, she suddenly stopped and, despite the fact
that she was pressed for time, looked back to say one last thing.

“Ah, I get it now─ It seems I’ll have to go check up on this Task on

myself, just in case.”

Speaking as though she had connected the dots and seen through
my strategy, Kiryūin left it at that and set off toward the Task once
more.

Page | 121
Page | 122
Part 3
The sun had set on the tenth day of the exam and it was now just
past 9:00 PM.

I was in the middle of going over the final rankings for the day and
the GPS screenshots I had taken when a bright light flickered against
the side of my tent from somewhere outside.

“Is someone really traveling this late at night…?”

Albeit somewhat dangerous, there were groups out there who’d look
to make up for lost ground by traveling to their final designated area
in the dead of night.

Reflexively, I began to track the light from within my tent. Whoever it

was, it didn’t seem like they were deliberately pointing their
flashlight in my direction. Instead, given the light’s erratic
movements, it seemed like they were scouring the general area, as if
they were frantically searching for something.

With my curiosity piqued, I decided to leave my tent and find out

what was going on.

In the distance, I could see the light of a flashlight sparsely

illuminating the dark forest as it gradually moved further and further
away from my campsite.

Sure enough, it looked like someone was desperately searching for

something… or someone.

Was it Amasawa, searching for me in order to lure me into a trap of

some sort?

No, if it were her, I didn’t think she’d use her flashlight so brazenly
like this.

Page | 123
It’d make more sense for her to confirm my location with a GPS
Search and close in secretly, hidden under the veil of darkness.

“…Yume-chaaan…?”

I could just barely hear a feeble, timid voice coming from the
flashlight’s direction. I didn’t recognize whose voice it was, but I did
know that, nicknames aside, there was only one person at this school
with the name Yume.

It was most likely Kobashi Yume from Class 2-C. So, with that being
the case, it was probably safe to assume that the voice belonged to
someone involved with that class. And, if I recalled correctly, there
was a girl named Shiranami Chihiro in Kobashi’s group.

In any case, she sounded like she might burst into tears any second
now. It was possible to just turn the other cheek and act like I hadn’t
seen anything, but that would be hard given that she was a student
of Class 2-C. After all, Class 2-C had recently begun to collaborate
with Sakayanagi and the rest of Class 2-A.

I fetched my tablet from inside my tent and turned on the external

light that came with it.

It was a bit dim when compared to the more traditional flashlight,

but it should be enough to get her to notice my presence.

Not long thereafter, the beam of her flashlight pointed in my

direction.

“Yume-chan!?”

She shouted out, her voice filled with a mixture of panic and
excitement as she quickly made her way over to me.

After being momentarily blinded by the light of her flashlight, the girl
slowly began to come into view.
Page | 124
“Yume-chan!”

“Sorry, but I’m not Yume.”

“Oh…”

The person who emerged from the thicket of trees was none other
than Shiranami, just as I had suspected.

“Uhm, Ayanokōji-kun… Good evening.”

Although she and I weren’t at all close with each other, she seemed
somewhat relieved to see me.

Was that a testament to just how hopeless of a situation she was in?

“It’s pretty dangerous to be wandering around at night all on your

own. Where are Kobashi and Takemoto?”

“I, uhm… I don’t know… I was in a hurry to meet with them, but
before I knew it, I couldn’t really tell where I was anymore…”

I shouldn’t have asked a question with such an obvious answer.

The forest’s landscape often looked the same no matter which

direction you were facing. It would only take a single wrong turn to
lose your sense of direction.

With that in mind, it was probably safe to assume that Shiranami had
drifted far away from the rest of her group.

“How long has it been since you last saw them?”

“I’m not sure… maybe around fifteen, twenty minutes…?”

In which case, she probably wasn’t so lost that she’d never be able to
find her way back, but she was definitely far enough away that her
group wouldn’t be able to hear her calling out to them.

Page | 125
“In any case, wandering around aimlessly will only get you even
more lost.”

“Y-yeah.”

For now, I decided to take charge and lead her back to my tent, using
my tablet to light the way. It would be troublesome if I were to get
lost as well, after all.

I couldn’t just leave my things unattended and head off to help her
find her group.

So far, for the most part, a good number of students had probably
found themselves lost just like Shiranami.

Eventually, they’d all make their way back. It’d just be a matter of
whether or not they’d get lucky and do it quickly, or if it would take
them a while.

However, if it took too long, they’d have to spend the night lost in
the forest all on their own, which would be challenging, to say the
least.

Even though it might not be very taxing physically, mentally, it would

be exhausting.

We arrived at my campsite before long, whereupon I turned around

and spoke to the restless Shiranami.

“There are a lot of bugs, so you can hole up in my tent for now to
avoid them if you’d like.”

“Ehh!?”

Rather than sound surprised, it was more like her voice contained a
subtle tinge of fear.

“I won’t go in, so you don’t need to worry.”

Page | 126
While she and I clearly weren’t on the same page and there were a
few small issues with my reasoning, I shooed Shiranami into my tent
and zipped up the entrance between us.

“I-I’m sorry for intruding… on your resting place…”

“It’s fine. More importantly, are Kobashi and Takemoto doing well?”

“Yeah.”

In which case, they were probably getting worried that Shiranami

hadn’t returned yet.

They were most likely discussing whether or not they should go out
and search for her or stay and wait at their campsite.

“Did your group make a contingency plan for when one of you gets
lost?”

I asked, but Shiranami simply shook her head from side to side, so I
just continued to speak.

“It’s possible that Takemoto might go out to look for you on his own,
but there’s a chance that he’ll get lost. Having said that, if Takemoto
and Kobashi were to search for you together and leave their tents
and bags unattended, that would be pretty risky too.”

It wouldn’t be very practical for them to pack up their tents and take
their things with them either, given that it was possible that
Shiranami might make her way back to their own campsite all on her
own, only to find it completely deserted.

If they wanted to play it as safe as possible, then they shouldn’t

wander out of sight of their tents, but instead patrol the surrounding
area, keeping their lights on as they call out to Shiranami in hopes
that she would notice them. However, since they hadn’t even
discussed beforehand what they would do in a situation like this,
Page | 127
there was no telling whether or not they’d be able to keep calm and
make a level-headed decision.

There was a good chance that they had gone out to try and search
for her without so much as a second thought.

“What now…?”

She posed a question, but rather than ask me, it felt more so like it
had been meant for herself. It could be said that she had just made a
silly mistake, but in another light, it could also be said that she had
made a grave one. It was understandable that she felt anxious.

The problem now was trying to figure out what Kobashi and
Takemoto would do. No, depending on the circumstances, it could
very well be even more complex than that.

“Is your group still just the three of you? Or have you taken on more
members?”

“That…”

Shiranami, who had previously been perfectly fine with telling

everything she knew, was now suddenly at a loss for words.

Since she’d definitely be aware of what went on within her own

group, there had to be some other reason for her hesitation.

Currently, Ichinose’s class was in a tight-knit alliance with

Sakayanagi’s class.

Of course, there were a handful of groups in Class 2-C that had been
made between close friends, but the vast majority had been made in
consideration of the Class 2-A alliance. Therefore, telling me if her
group had merged or other such internal details would be no
different from leaking private information. In that sense, Shiranami’s
decision to say nothing had certainly been the right thing to do.
Page | 128
“I get it. You don’t have to tell me anything in detail. Just hear me
out first.”

With that as a preface, I continued.

“If I were a member of your group, I would’ve almost certainly

noticed what happened by now. I’d probably come to the conclusion
that you had gotten lost, left to putter about the dark forest all on
your own.”

Shiranami nodded meekly.

“Of course, I wouldn’t just give up on you. I’d start out by trying to
call out to you. But as I said not too long ago, if that didn’t work, I’d
have to try something else. Suppose Kobashi was the one who had
gotten lost, what would you and Takemoto do next if calling out to
her wasn’t working?”

“…I’m not sure… maybe we’d go looking for Yume-chan together…?”

“Even if it puts you both at risk of getting hurt and retiring from the
exam should things go south?”

“She’s my friend. There’s no way I could just leave her to fend for
herself.”

Her response was truly befitting the unity of her class; it didn’t
matter whether or not it was the right strategic choice. As a student
of Class 2-A, Takemoto may be a bit reluctant to leave the campsite
at first, but in the end, he would probably fold and decide to help all
the same.

That being said, the most reliable plan moving forward would be to
sit back and wait for them to come looking for her.

And if push came to shove, they might even spend a point on the
GPS Search to try and find us.
Page | 129
However, with how dark it was, there was no telling if they’d be
successful even with one or two searches of the nearby area.

“Does your group have points to spare? Would spending two or

three on GPS Searches put your rank at risk?”

“That─ I wonder. I don’t think it’d be very good.”

It seemed as though they weren’t ranked very high, at least not to

the point where she felt comfortable spending a couple of points.
Would doing so cost them everything, or would it not matter in the
end? There was no way to tell what impact it would truly have until
the exam was over.

Shiranami probably didn’t like the thought of her fellow group

members using up their points to come searching for her either.

As expected, the best option she had right now was to wait on
standby here at my campsite after all, but… I couldn’t discount the
possibility that Takemoto and Kobashi might not come looking for
her, or that they give up after they aren’t able to find her. If that
were to happen, I’d be forced to spend the night outside given that
Shiranami would be using my tent, which, in turn, would probably
end up slowing me down tomorrow.

Therefore, if there was ever a time to take action, it would be now.

“How are you?”

“Eh?”

“I’m asking if you have enough energy to walk?”

“Y-yeah. That should be fine, it’s just…”

I unzipped the entrance to my tent and motioned for Shiranami to

come back out.

Page | 130
“Come, I’ll take you to your group.”

“But… how?”

“Well, it’s not like aimlessly wandering around the forest is going to
solve anything, so we’ll use this.”

I showed her the tablet I had in my hand.

“If I do a GPS Search, we’ll know which direction to go and

approximately how far we’ll need to move.”

However, even with this, it probably wouldn’t be easy to meet up

with them.

It would be exceptionally difficult to properly navigate the forest

with how dark it was.

For an ordinary student like Shiranami, it would be basically

impossible without the repeated use of the GPS Search.

“Why… Why are you helping me…?”

“Why? This special exam pretty much comes down to a battle

between the different school years. That’s why.”

“But, for you to go so far as to use a GPS Search…”

For me, spending one or two points wasn’t all that much of a burden.

I could always earn more points as long as I didn’t get enough to go

above 11th place on the leaderboards.

However, it wouldn’t do me any good to tell her about that, so I

figured I’d just make up a reason that she’d believe.

“If I had to say… I guess it’s because you’re one of Ichinose’s

classmates.”

Page | 131
Just as the words crossed my lips, the look on Shiranami’s face
stiffened ever so slightly.

“…Are you…”

Seeing her reaction made me wonder if I had said something

distasteful.

“Hm?”

“Are you and Honami-chan…”

Shiranami trailed off again before shutting her mouth as though she
had nothing left to add.

Somehow, I managed to understand what she was getting at, albeit

after a delay of sorts.

I had been reminded of everything that Ichinose’s other classmates

told me back when I crossed paths with them a few days ago.

“There’s nothing going on between us.”

I quickly attempted to correct her misunderstanding, but it only

served to make her already stiff expression that much more
pronounced.

I decided to drop the topic for the time being and proceeded with
the GPS Search. After a moment, I looked at the results. Since
Kobashi and Takemoto’s GPS signals were right on top of each other,
it was clear that they at least hadn’t separated. We immediately
began to walk, headed off in search of Shiranami’s group.

Page | 132
Page | 133
And then, after about ten minutes of walking in the direction of their
GPS signals…

“Chihiro-chan!!!”

Kobashi called out, having spotted us as we emerged from a gap in

the trees.

Her backpack was strapped to her back, and beside her stood their
third group member, Takemoto, who also had his backpack on. And
from the fact that Takemoto was carrying another backpack in his
hands, it seemed like they had set off for Shiranami with all their
belongings in tow.

Considering that they had been heading straight toward us, it

seemed highly likely that they had also used the GPS Search.

In the end, we all decided to go to where I had set up camp.

“Thanks a bunch for helping out Chihiro-chan, Ayanokōji-kun.”

“No, I’m sure you guys would’ve found her eventually. There’s no
need to thank me.”

“No need to thank you? She could’ve gotten injured if she had gone
much further, not to mention how much harder it would’ve been for
us to track her down.”

Despite being from another class, even Takemoto was relieved that
Shiranami had been found so quickly.

If they had to chase after her as she wandered around in the forest,
this might have cost them more than just a point or two.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking but, do you guys have a walkie-
talkie?”
Page | 134
Having found a good opportunity to change the topic, I looked to
Takemoto and asked about something I had been curious about.

“Huh? Walkie-talkie? I have one but─”

Since I had done them a favor, they’d most likely be willing to lend it
to me for a bit.

“If it’s alright with you, could I have a word with Sakayanagi? I’m
worried about some of my classmates, so I’d like to ask her if any of
them have returned to the starting area.”

“If that’s all it is then sure. Hold on a sec.”

Takemoto didn’t seem to mind my request. In fact, he seemed happy

to pay back the favor, seeing as he quickly took out his walkie-talkie
and started fiddling with it.

As a product provided by the school, the walkie-talkies were

naturally digital rather than analog. Additionally, they came with full
support for privacy codes. Put briefly, privacy codes allow you to
have private conversations with anyone who has the same code in a
particular channel, thus eliminating the risk of having your
communications intercepted by a third party. The groups that chose
to purchase walkie-talkies for this exam should’ve each been given a
privacy code to use in order to prevent any information leaks.

Soon enough, Takemoto spoke into the walkie-talkie to see if

Sakayanagi was there to pick up.

She responded not too long afterward, at which point he passed the
walkie-talkie over to me.

“I’d like to speak with her privately, if that’s alright.”

Seeing the three of them nod in response, I politely distanced myself

from the campsite. Of course, I made sure to stay where they could
Page | 135
see me so that they didn’t think that I was up to something
nefarious. Then, after speaking with Sakayanagi for a short while, I
went back to the group and handed the walkie-talkie back to
Takemoto at Sakayanagi’s request.

“That’s everything Sakayanagi. Sorry to bother you so late.”

Takemoto spoke, Sakayanagi said a few short words in response, and

with that, the call was over.

Based on their brief exchange, it seemed that everything had gone

by without a hitch.

“That really helped, I was able to get all the information I needed
from Sakayanagi.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Also, Sakayanagi asked me to give this to you
permanently.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Takemoto handed the walkie-talkie back to me.

“We’re the ones who should be thanking you~ Right Chihiro-chan~?”

“Yeah, thank you for helping me tonight Ayanokōji-kun.”

The three of them, Shiranami included, expressed their thanks once

again, and just like that, they began to set up their tents.

That night, I drifted off to sleep listening to them tell stories about
Class A and Class C, stories that I’d usually never be able to hear.

Page | 136
Chapter 4: Surrounded on All Sides –
Kōenji Vs. The Free Group
It was just after 5:00 PM on the tenth day of the exam, right around
the time when the students were freed from their obligations for the
day. The leader of Class 3-B, Kiriyama, quietly shut his eyes after
having finished up with a conversation on his walkie-talkie.

Even though the second half of the exam was now in full swing,
Kōenji still showed no sign of slowing down any time soon.
Throughout the past several days, he had been racking up enough
points to stay neck-and-neck with Nagumo’s group. When the top
ten groups were first revealed on the fourth day of the exam, it had
been somewhat surprising to see Kōenji’s name included on the list.
At the time, however, neither Kiriyama, Nagumo, or just about
anyone else had given it much thought.

After all, anyone could tell that a one-man group like Kōenji would be
reaching his limit soon enough.

“Kiriyama, don’t you feel like Nagumo’s response to this has been
too, y’know, passive? Wasn’t he supposed to run away with the lead
once the second half of the exam started? He’s put off dealing with
this Kōenji guy for so long now that it’s already day ten and their
scores are still pretty much the same.”

Mikitani, also a Class 3-B student, spoke while looking at the current
state of the leaderboards on his tablet. Nagumo’s group had an
overall score of 236 whereas Kōenji’s was 230, a difference of only 6
points. Kōenji was in a prime position to turn things around; it would
just take a single first-place Early Bird Bonus.

Nagumo’s group had dramatically increased in size thanks to the

special ‘More People’ card, and as such, they could reliably earn 7

Page | 137
points per Arrival Bonus just by having everyone make it to a
designated area before the time limit.

Kōenji, on the other hand, would only be able to earn 1 point per
Arrival Bonus, but at the same time, it would be easier for him to
earn Early Bird Bonuses. This was even more impactful given that he
alone boasted the highest number of first-place Early Bird Bonuses
out of every group in the exam.

“Even if Nagumo manages to lock down first-place, with the way

things are going, you’re just gonna end up in third. Man, if you end
up losing to a lowly second-year, then your reputation with all your
supporters’ll go right down the drain.”

Kiriyama’s group currently had a total of 188 points. The difference

between their score and Kōenji’s had only been growing larger and
larger as the days passed.

“Come to think of it, there was a rumor going around not too long
after Kōenji enrolled last year, wasn’t there? That whole thing with
how he was going up to various second and third-years and dropping
hints about buying their private points with cash? What did you think
about that back then?”

“I thought he was getting ahead of himself just cuz he’s rich,

somethin’ like that.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s how everyone thought of it. Just a strange kid
from a rich family. One who seemed pretty capable physically and
had decent scores on tests, but never really did anything to make a
name for himself.”

Hearing Kiriyama’s answer, Mikitani nodded.

“The main reason why Kōenji managed to fly under the radar for so
long is that he’s never really seemed all that serious about anything.
Page | 138
He goes against the grain, refusing to behave how a student of this
school ought to be. Even during past exams, he’s always been
completely defiant about taking part.”

This knowledge had spread out amongst not only the second-years,
but the third-years as well.

If Kōenji had always been a serious, diligent student, then Nagumo

would’ve recognized him as a formidable enemy much, much earlier.
Therefore, he would’ve probably taken action against him sooner as
well. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down, after all.

“I don’t know what happened, but it’s clear that Kōenji’s going all-
out this time around. And as a result, he’s made himself out to be
the most formidable opponent out there right now. His seemingly
unlimited energy makes him especially frightening. It’s entirely
possible that he might not run out of steam before the exam is
over.”

He was not only making the best use of the few advantages that
came with operating alone, but also executing every move with a
nearly inexhaustible supply of stamina.

Since he had accomplished so much, the third-years had been left

with no choice but to come up with a plan to try and deal with him.

If left unchecked, Kōenji would undoubtedly finish in the top three.

And depending on the situation, he might even end up overtaking

Nagumo.

While losing to an underclassmen would be a problem in and of

itself, losing to a one-man group would be downright shameful.

He was an opponent they had to defeat to matter what, an

opponent they needed to dispose of sooner rather than later.

Page | 139
Of course, violence should be avoided if at all possible.

If the third-years were to assault Kōenji, injuring him and forcing his
retirement, it would definitely lead to problems.

After all, squashing his progress with violence would inevitably bring
about harsh judgment from the school.

In the end, they’d have to subdue Kōenji as peacefully as possible.

“Kiriyama, have you decided on a plan?”

“Yeah. We’ll use the Free Group.”

The Free Group: an informal group composed of several three-man

groups that Nagumo had personally chosen to act as his arms and
legs during the exam. There were five groups each from Class 3-B, 3-
C, and 3-D, for a total of fifteen. Two members of each group were
given the task of following instructions given to them by a
figurehead, whereas the last was told to travel between designated
areas so as to avoid incurring any penalties.

In other words, within each of these so-called ‘Free Groups’, there

were two students free to move about the island.

“Well, I suppose that’s fine. So, how many do you plan on using?”

“All six groups I have at my disposal, all of them.”

“All six? Are you for real dude? He’s only one guy. Four should be
more than enough if you have my group take charge. The other two
can stick with your group and─”

Kiriyama cut in, interrupting Mikitani mid-sentence.

“Kōenji is the only threat; there’ll be plenty of time to deal with

everyone else after we crush him. We have until the end of the
twelfth day to check the leaderboards, so we’ve only got the next
Page | 140
two days to knock the guy down a peg once and for all. Once he
starts to lose momentum, he won’t be able to bounce back again.”

Even if Kōenji were to join up with some other group, the outcome
would still be the same.

“That’s true and all, but didn’t Nagumo say there was some other
group he was worried about? If we send everyone we’ve got
available to deal with Kōenji, we won’t have the manpower for
anyone else.”

Mikitani hadn’t been told which group exactly Nagumo had been
referring to, but he felt like it was probably safe to assume they were
part of the top ten, meaning that it was most likely either the
second-year Ryūen group, Sakayanagi’s group, or the first-year
Utomiya group.

“Don’t bother worrying about that anymore. Nagumo was just

getting worked up over nothing.”

Kiriyama, on the other hand, knew exactly which group Nagumo had
been so concerned about.

However, that particular group hadn’t shown up on the leaderboard

even a single time in the past ten days.

Even if they were to pick up the pace at this point, it’d be impossible
for them to make it to one of the top spots.

“So it was just Nagumo’s mistake then, huh?”

“…Seems weird, doesn’t it? For Nagumo to misjudge something like

that.”

“I guess it’s not unreasonable, the dude’s been haunted by a ghost of

the past after all.”

Page | 141
A ghost of the past: a remnant left behind by Horikita Manabu, the
only man that Nagumo had ever recognized.

In that light, it was understandable that Nagumo, who was usually

more than capable of overseeing the battlefield, had now been
rendered blind.

“So anyway like, you’re just gonna let the six Free Groups handle
Kōenji while you go on with collecting points like usual?”

“No. I’ll take command and see it through myself.”

“You? Wouldn’t that be way too inefficient? Let me take care of it.”

If the currently third-place Kiriyama group were to get involved with

obstructing Kōenji’s progress, it would only serve to inhibit their own
progress moving forward.

“You’re asking me to leave you in charge?”

“It’s do-or-die for me this time around. You’ve already found your
path, but I’ve got no choice but to try and get Nagumo to
acknowledge me somehow, so please man, just let me take care of
it.”

Mikitani put forth his best plea, but Kiriyama didn’t seem to be
having any of it.

“That’s not happening. If you use the six Free Groups and screw
things up, the results will be disastrous.”

“But you need to take second place, right? Don’t waste your time
when you don’t have to dude!”

Desperate to take credit, Mikitani refused to back down.

“Aside from myself or Nagumo, nobody will be able to stop Kōenji.

End of story.”
Page | 142
Upon hearing this, Mikitani’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.
However, Kiriyama didn’t even bother to spare him a glance, so he
didn’t notice his disgruntled expression.

That evening, the six Free Groups hurriedly set out with Kiriyama at
the command, all for the sake of stopping one lone student.

While an ordinary opponent would be one thing, even Kiriyama had

no idea what Kōenji was truly capable of.

The only problem now was where the first designated area would
appear at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning, the eleventh day.

The plan of action would differ depending on which direction Kōenji

ended up moving in.

As such, it would be ideal to take care of all of this some time after
he had settled down for the night, but before the exam started up
again in the morning.

Fortunately, Kōenji’s current location, area B3, and Kiriyama’s

current location, area E3, weren’t very far from each other.

Since the scores of the top groups could only be monitored until the
end of the twelfth day, Kiriyama only had two more days to verify
whether or not his efforts would bear fruit. At the very least, he
wanted to establish a thirty-point lead for Nagumo before the
leaderboards went away.

“How far you gonna have us march tonight?”

Not long after embarking on the long journey, Mikitani posed

Kiriyama a question in an attempt to kill time.

“As far as we can. I’m aware it’s risky to travel in the dark like this,
but I think I’d at least like to make it within one area of him before

Page | 143
stopping for the night. We have to catch up with him by 7:00 AM
tomorrow morning, after all.”

Once Kōenji started moving again, catching up would become

significantly more difficult.

“Well, we’ve got two days, so I’d reckon it’ll be a walk in the park.
With all six of your group coming along, we’ve got eighteen whole
people across seven whole groups working on this.”

Mikitani turned and looked over his shoulder, as if to motion toward

the sixteen third-year students following behind them.

“Don’t get careless. There’s a good chance he might give us the slip
with how vast the forest is.”

“I get he’s like, fuckin’ strong for a second-year, but that still doesn’t
change the fact that he’s younger than us.”

Kiriyama and Mikitani had never seen Kōenji’s outstanding physical

prowess firsthand, so it was difficult for them to make a completely
accurate assessment of who they were dealing with. But even so,
they had been aggregating data on the true extent of his capabilities
from various third-year students who had previously competed
against him in Tasks.

“Stay cautious and keep your wits about you. Treat this as though
we’re going against our greatest adversary yet.”

“Greatest adversary? Suuure dude. Whatever you say.”

Presented with such a dismissive, derisive response, Kiriyama felt

reassured that turning down Mikitani’s plea had been the right
decision after all.

Page | 144
When faced with an enemy you have to defeat no matter the cost,
you must take them on with the unwavering intention to kill, to
choke the life out of them.

However, should you lack the resolve to do so and approach with

negligence, well, that’s when you might end up as the one being
snuffed out instead.

Page | 145
Part 1
A little after 6:30 AM on the following morning, the eleventh day of
the exam, the Kiriyama group and the six Free Groups had
successfully surrounded Kōenji’s campsite.

Kiriyama prompted Mikitani for an update.

“What’s the situation?”

“There doesn’t seem to be any movement inside the tent yet, so he’s
prolly sleeping like a log right now. Though, it’d sure make things a
lot easier for us if the dude just fell sick and slept the whole day like
this.”

It was at this time that Mikitani voiced a suggestion, not only to

Kiriyama but to the nearby members of the Free Group as well.

“Hey, why don’t we trap him in his tent before he gets a chance to
come out? If we make it so that he can’t pack up his campsite, the
guy won’t be able to do anything.”

Upon hearing Mikitani’s suggestion, the other members of the Free

Group began to nod in agreement. Kiriyama, however…

“It’s true that if we stall him here long enough, we can delay him
from making it to his first designated area on time. However, how
exactly would we explain ourselves if a third party saw us doing that?
We need to refrain from doing anything that might seem crude to
onlookers, even if it means doing something less effective overall.”

Even though they were already violating the rules, they had to
prioritize reducing the risk as much as possible.

“Can’t we just run a GPS Search first then? It’s not like we can’t spare
the points.”

Page | 146
“Don’t forget that a GPS Search isn’t the end-all be-all; our tablets
aren’t going to tell us the locations of any faculty members. We’ll
stick to the plan and strike once Kōenji packs up camp and starts
moving. In the meantime, if you cross paths with any first-years,
second-years, or even a faculty member on their way to set up a Task
site, immediately look to distance yourself from Kōenji.”

Essentially, Kiriyama was warning everyone to stay out of arm’s

reach of Kōenji.

As the clock neared 7:00 AM, the situation finally began to change.

“He’s on the move.”

Kōenji seemed blissfully unaware that he had been surrounded,

humming a tune to himself as he started to tear down his tent. His
movements were practiced and skillful, and it seemed like he’d be
ready to depart by 7:00 AM.

And then, once he was done, he took out his tablet and began to
wait for the exam to start at the turn of the hour.

“Go.”

Having decided that now was the time to strike, Kiriyama issued the
command and proceeded to close in on his target.

Mikitani and the rest of the Free Group followed after from a
distance.

It was unclear whether or not Kōenji was aware of the situation he

was in, as he simply kept his eyes glued to his tablet without so much
as lifting his head to keep an eye on his surroundings. Even though
he had been surrounded by an army of 18 people, he continued to
act as though he was oblivious to their presence.

Page | 147
Mikitani began closing in, having judged that Kōenji was just feigning
ignorance, but Kiriyama stopped him with a stern look before taking
the lead himself.

“Kōenji, do you have a moment?”

Despite being addressed by name, Kōenji still didn’t look up from his
tablet.

“What do you want from me?”

Kōenji’s response was curt, by no means a proper way for someone

to speak to an upperclassman, but Kiriyama paid it no mind.

After all, he was fully aware that Kōenji Rokusuke was somebody
who lacked any form of common sense.

“I didn’t expect you to put in so much effort this time around. If you
were always this capable, then why haven’t you taken any of the
previous exams seriously before?”

“Is that really something we ought to be talking about right now? It’ll
be 7:00 AM soon, so shouldn’t you all be getting ready to scamper
off to your next designated area?”

“You should understand without me needing to say anything, Kōenji.

You’ve scored far too many points.”

Kōenji spoke as though he hadn’t connected the dots yet, but

Kiriyama was pretty sure it was just an act.

“I’m going to have to ask that you stay here for the rest of the day
today.”

“To stop me from earning points… is that how it is?”

“That’s right.”

Page | 148
Naturally, there was no way that Kōenji would simply go along with a
request like this.

“I don’t know who you are, but anyone can tell with only the most
trivial amount of thought that you’re just being unreasonable. Alas,
however, seeing as you’ve brought along so many with you… I
suppose that means you’ve come prepared to contain me here
should I refuse to comply, yes?”

“Even if you keep going at the pace you have been, it’ll be impossible
for you to take first place. You’re all on your own while Nagumo’s
group has seven people, and my group is in third place with six. I’ll
admit that you’ve been doing quite well for yourself these last
several days, but I imagine you’ll start to hit a wall as you begin
running out of energy.”

“It doesn’t sound like you need to worry about me then, do you?”

“We’re doing this just in case, that’s all. Moreover, as third-years, it’s
hard to accept that we’ve had to do so much to compete against a
single person. Of course, nothing bad will have to happen if you’re
obedient and agree to follow our orders. Nagumo is the student
council president, so getting on his good side would make your life at
school easier too.”

Essentially, Kōenji had been offered two distinct choices: he could

either be strong-armed into submission, or obey and curry favor with
Nagumo.

As silence fell between them, the hour changed, and with it came the
revelation of the day’s first designated area.

After checking the notification, Kōenji slowly put his tablet in his
backpack.

Page | 149
Kiriyama and the others kept their eyes trained on him, watching to
see if the second-year student would take action or not.

“I’ve got somewhere to be, so if you’ll excuse me.”

As soon as these defiant words passed his lips, Kōenji

instantaneously sprinted off, breaking past the members of the Free
Group encircling him.

“Wha- Hey!!!”

Even though they had him surrounded, there were still gaps in their
formation large enough for a person to slip through, which Kōenji
had taken full advantage of. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that
everyone, even Kiriyama, had been complacent with how they were
approaching the situation. They had discounted the possibility that
Kōenji might just disregard their orders and escape.

“After him!”

Mikitani hollered for his colleagues to give chase, but by that point,
Kōenji had already disappeared deep into the forest.

“Don’t panic. You’ll only get yourself hurt if you try to keep up with
him.”

“We don’t have time for that right now man! He’s getting away!”

“He might get his hands on the first Early Bird Bonus, but that’s it. If
he decides to run around and try to escape from us, then that means
he won’t be able to take part in any Tasks. And if he has the gall to
participate in a Task in spite of that, it’ll be easy for us to catch up
with him.”

While they wouldn’t be able to determine which area Kōenji was

headed toward based on the direction he had fled in, the existence

Page | 150
of the GPS Search meant that he wouldn’t be able to hide forever.
This was something that Kiriyama was well aware of.

Mikitani, however, was impatient and raring to go, and ran ahead
once everyone collectively began their pursuit.

Page | 151
Page | 152
Part 2
With Mikitani in the lead, Kiriyama and the rest of the Free Group
were currently tracking down Kōenji.

“What’s his current location?”

“About that, it doesn’t seem like he’s moved at all since earlier. I’ve
searched three times now and he’s been in the same place every
time.”

It was far too unnatural for someone to stay completely stationary

when it wasn’t even break time yet.

Kiriyama glanced down at his tablet in an attempt to wrap his head

around Kōenji’s incomprehensible behavior.

“It doesn’t look like there are any Tasks near him either.”

“Yeah. We should catch up with him in 200 meters or so.”

“Don’t be negligent this time. Drive him into a corner once and for
all, got it?”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

About six hours after Kōenji had made his escape, Kiriyama and the
Free Group finally managed to catch up to him.

Surprisingly, the reason for this turned out to be because he had

chosen to take a nap in the broad daylight, completely disregarding
his current circumstances.

Upon seeing such a sight, the third-years exchanged glances in

astonishment.

Page | 153
Taking initiative, Mikitani approached the sleeping man. He peered
down at him from above for a moment before speaking up with a
strong tone.

“Rise and shine, Kōenji. You’ve got a lot of balls to be taking an

afternoon nap like this after trying to run from us. Or maybe you’ve
just tuckered yourself out after all the work you’ve done these past
ten days?”

Mikitani could only come up with a single reason as to why Kōenji

would do this, given his current situation.

That, even if you didn’t want to rest, sometimes your body would
give you no other option.

Kōenji slowly opened his eyes with a peaceful, leisurely smile.

“Isn’t it obvious? Like you, I am but only human, after all.”

“Then how ‘bout you just sit right there and take the rest of the day
off? You must’ve worn yourself out quite a bit these last few days.
Your senpai’s out here givin’ you some real thoughtful advice, so
you’d best take it to heart.”

“Take the rest of the day off? You’re quite the comedian.”

Completely unphased by the fact that he had once again been

surrounded, Kōenji rose to his feet.

Mikitani had been the one looking down at him just moments earlier,
but once Kōenji, who was over 180cm tall, stood up, he found that
he was now forced to look up instead.

Kōenji’s eyes were brimming with vitality, and he seemed far larger
than when he had first emerged from his tent earlier that morning.

Page | 154
“…No need to push yourself. If you just sit back and enjoy a short
rest, nobody’ll have to suffer.”

Although he felt intimidated, Mikitani still pressed on.

“There’s no need to worry about that. My stamina has already

recovered unto utter perfection. I’d suggest you refrain from
lumping me in with those of an average ilk.”

Taking Kōenji’s composed demeanor as a mere bluff, Kiriyama spoke

up in response.

“You do indeed look healthy, but as Mikitani said, you’ve been

running around quite a lot these past ten days. There’s no doubt
about it, given that you’ve earned more first-place Early Bird Bonuses
than any other group. However, even if you have more stamina than
an average person, you should be nearing your limit any time now.”

“I must say, having a limit at all strikes me as something that would

only apply to someone stuck in their normalcy.”

“Or in other words, you’re saying you still haven’t reached your limit
yet?”

Kiriyama put forward a question, his voice dripping with skepticism,

but Kōenji responded without so much as a second thought.

“I’ll have you know that I’m an immensely short sleeper, seldom
predisposed to even the strongest spells of REM sleep.”

“The hell? Predisposed to spells of what now?”

While Mikitani voiced confusion about what Kōenji was talking

about, Kiriyama’s expression hardened immediately.

“A short sleeper, huh…? If that’s true, this is quite the serious

problem.”

Page | 155
“What do you mean, Kiriyama?”

“An average person ideally needs to sleep for seven to eight hours
per night in order to stay healthy. After all, if you get any more or
less than what your body needs, you won’t sleep comfortably.
However, a short sleeper has the aptitude to stay perfectly healthy
with less, sometimes only needing as little as six hours per night.”

As a whole, sleep repeatedly cycles between two different states:

REM and non-REM. Put simply, REM sleep is the state where the
brain is active and awake, whereas during its non-REM counterpart,
the brain is asleep.

And since short sleepers spend less time in REM sleep, they could
rejuvenate both their minds and bodies with a simple short break or
two.

“I thought it was strange for you to be sleeping out in the open like
this… So that was the reason…”

Even though Kōenji has extraordinary strength and stamina, fatigue

would undoubtedly begin to take its toll after a long period of
intense physical exertion during Tasks and travel.

However, by napping intermittently during whatever downtime he

had after reaching a designated area or whenever there weren’t any
suitable Tasks nearby, he had managed to conserve a good portion
of his stamina.

If Kōenji was truly as short a sleeper as he claimed to be, then not

only did his stamina eclipse that of an ordinary person, but his
recuperative abilities did as well.

Now, for the first time, a faint feeling of anxiousness began to take
shape within Kiriyama.

Page | 156
Despite the overarching incentive they faced to pace themselves,
every group felt tired and fatigued by this point.

The feeling of your legs crying out for a break with every step you
took. The feeling of your drive to take part in the exam gradually
fading away.

These were feelings that all students shared, deep down in the most
unconscious parts of their psyches.

Or at least, that’s what Kiriyama had assumed, and it was due to that
assumption that he had thought Kōenji would be easy to take care
of.

What if, however, the threads holding that assumption together

began to snap…?

“By the way, do you all still have something you need from me?”

“We don’t care how much stamina you’ve got or how short a sleeper
you are; you’re gonna listen to us whether you─”

Having lost his patience, Mikitani once again tried to mandate

Kōenji’s obedience, but Kiriyama intervened just as the words were
coming out of his mouth.

“We don’t have anything else, you don’t need to concern yourself
with us.”

Kiriyama wanted to avoid using any inflammatory language as much

as possible and try to keep things civil.

It was a soft, lenient approach, and although Mikitani felt

increasingly frustrated, he still went along with it.

“Fufu. You say that, and yet the lot of you seem awfully belligerent,
hmm?”

Page | 157
Kōenji didn’t seem to pay any mind to their warnings or threats.

It was around this time that the third designated area of the day was
announced, prompting Kōenji to immediately set off after a brief
look at his tablet.

Mikitani spoke up once Kōenji had gone out of earshot.

“He’s not the sorta guy who’s gonna listen to us, Kiriyama.”

“That might be true.”

“And I’m pretty damn sure he’s bluffing about that short sleeper shit
too.”

However, while many groups had already seen a noticeable drop in

their efficiency, Kōenji had maintained a quick pace since just about
the beginning. It was obvious that he was constantly honing his body,
day in and day out. In fact, Kiriyama even hypothesized he only saw
the uninhabited island special exam as a means to further refine his
training.

“We’ve got no choice but to change plans. We’ll force him out
through Tasks alone.”

With that, Kiriyama finally came to a decision and gave the order for
everyone to chase after Kōenji.

However, Mikitani looked displeased, seemingly upset with the

direction Kiriyama had taken things in.

“I’m the one in charge here, Mikitani. Don’t create any waves.”

“Hmph…”

Despite their misgivings, the various third-years began to fan out,

forming an 18-person triangle formation around Kōenji, who was at
this point leisurely making his way to his next destination.
Page | 158
In the meantime, Kiriyama began issuing orders over his walkie-
talkie.

Kōenji, however, simply continued to walk without paying any mind

to their actions.

He didn’t stop moving forward, nor did he stand still.

Kiriyama had a total of three different plans in mind. The first was
simple: to try and persuade Kōenji into giving up on getting first
place. Of course, this particular plan involved having everyone close
in on him to help magnify the pressure and get him to concede. The
second plan revolved around staying in formation around Kōenji as
he made his way around the island in an attempt to inhibit his
movements. And finally, the third was to try and anticipate which
Tasks he would aim for and make it there before him to fill up the
slots.

Between the six Free Groups and Kiriyama’s own, they had a total of
seven groups at their disposal, which should be more than enough to
impede Kōenji from registering for Tasks. And, even if he still
managed to register, they’d at least be able to lower his chances of
winning by having everyone compete with the sole intention of
crushing him.

While each Task had differing conditions for participation eligibility,

there were generally two different types.

There were those in which you participated as an individual, and

those in which you participated as a group.

While the Free Groups couldn’t register for the group-based Tasks
since they didn’t have all of their members present, those very same
Tasks usually required a minimum of two people to participate. This
meant that Kōenji was restricted to Tasks that allowed him to take

Page | 159
part alone, which in hand meant that any of the third-year students
could take part in those Tasks as well.

The third-years shadowed Kōenji for a while without any issue, but
as time went on, they began to grow more and more restless.

From an outsider’s perspective, Kōenji’s walking speed was so fast

that he could’ve been mistaken as a professional speed-walker of
sorts, so much so that chasing after him took up quite a fair bit of
stamina. The third-years were already beginning to show signs of
fatigue just by trying to match his pace.

The pace was so foreign to them that before long they became
completely exhausted.

Frankly, it probably would’ve been easier on them to run instead.

“Kōenji! Stop it with all this tough-guy show-off shit!”

Mikitani shouted loudly, having judged that Kōenji was simply

pushing his way forward under a false show of courage.

“My my my, you’re quite the loud one, aren’t you? In which case,
how about I pick up the pace a tad?”

With that, Kōenji began to run for a second time.

“Not this time! Surround him!”

The various third-years who’d been following from a distance closed

in all at once.

But, just before they had him fully surrounded, Kōenji

instantaneously slipped through the cracks in their formation.

“No way-!?!”

Page | 160
One of the third-years exclaimed in surprise, the sound of their voice
drowned out by the sound of the wind.

The man in question was already long gone, swiftly crossing over the
harsh terrain as though he was running on a well-maintained track at
a school sporting event.

And then, with a level of speed that’d put a high-level sprinter to

shame, he disappeared into the forest.

Many of the twelve individuals who made up the Free Group were
highly confident in their athletic abilities.

Even on the OAA app, all of them had Physical Ability ratings of a B or
higher.

In a sense, they were a unit of soldiers that Nagumo and Kiriyama

had assembled for the sake of monopolizing most of the Tasks.

“After him! Don’t let him get away!”

“Wait, Mikitani! Don’t take action without my say so!”

“Shut your mouth! You really want him to escape again!? We’ll catch
that asshole and drag him back by force!”

Ignoring Kiriyama’s orders, Mikitani and the rest of the third-years

proceeded to chase after Kōenji.

“Those idiots…”

Kiriyama momentarily deliberated over whether or not he should

chase after them, but he ultimately decided to just pull out his tablet
and attempt to reformulate his strategy.

It felt hard for him to believe that Kōenji would just break into a
sprint for no reason.

Page | 161
Therefore, it followed that he was either headed toward his next
designated area or a Task.

“Out of the Tasks nearby, the one in E3 is the only one he’ll be able
to participate in, but the reward for taking first-place is only 8
points… It wouldn’t be surprising for him to prioritize the 10 points
from the first-place Early Bird Bonus instead, but… where exactly is
his next designated area anyway?”

Area D4 was the most likely candidate given the direction he had
gone in, but it easily could’ve been a randomly designated area as
well.

“…What a tough opponent to figure out.”

It had truly dawned on Kiriyama that Kōenji was more than just
eccentric; that he was someone whose actions seemed to defy
common sense and logic altogether.

Page | 162
Part 3
As it would turn out, Kōenji’s objective had been the Task in area E3
after all.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the Task site and promptly

completed the registration process. It was only then that he finally
stopped moving.

A few minutes later, Mikitani and the rest of the Free Group caught
up with him. However, somebody else had already filled up the last
slot in the time it had taken them to arrive, so they were forced to sit
back and wait until it was over. The Task in question was an English
Test, and although the participants varied from first-years to third-
years, the difficulty of the subject matter was the same across the
board.

Ultimately, a student named Dōmichi, who was widely thought of as

one of the brightest students in the third year, took first place, but
Kōenji had taken second by a slim margin, earning himself four
points as a result.

Because there were teachers and event staff around, Mikitani and
the rest of the Free Group planned on closing in once Kōenji left the
Task site, but Kōenji broke into a sprint before any of the teachers
had a chance to disperse.

They had lost the initiative, left with no other choice but to reactively
chase around a man whose speed far outmatched their own.

The next time they managed to catch up was just before 3:00 PM,
right after Kōenji arrived at his third designated area.

For the third time, Mikitani and the rest of the Free Group
surrounded him.

Page | 163
“You’re quite the persistent bunch, I’ll give you that.”

“As if we give two shits about what you think!”

For essentially the entire eleventh day of the exam, they had tried
their best to anticipate the Tasks Kōenji was going for, but not even
once had they been able to stop him.

It was safe to say that, by this point, their pride as third-years had
been completely torn to shreds.

Nagumo would probably be extremely disappointed upon hearing

about it too.

The word ‘amicable’ could hardly describe the situation anymore.

“This is your last warning, Kōenji.”

Kiriyama spoke sternly as the Free Group surrounded Kōenji for what
seemed like the final time.

“Just one day. Just listen to us and stay put for one day. That’s all you
have to do.”

If they could get him to halt his movements for 24 hours, then
Nagumo would be practically guaranteed to hold onto first place.

All that mattered was that they prevented Kōenji from taking the top
spot again.

“H-hey, Nagumo said to keep him busy for two days though…!
Shouldn’t we be tellin’ him to stay put for both tomorrow and the
day after?”

“We’ll lose the ability to check on the rankings by then. Although I

doubt there’ll be any other groups capable of catching up to us, we
should focus on improving our own score instead of trying to shut
down somebody else.”
Page | 164
This was the conclusion Kiriyama had reached after having observed
Kōenji thus far.

“Spending three full days on this simply isn’t worth it.”

“Then just leave a few of us here to make sure the dude stays put for
two days! Problem solved!”

“You really think Kōenji’ll just play along with that?”

If Kōenji stayed put for only one day, he’d still have a fairly good
chance of taking second or third place overall.

However, if it were two days instead, he’d run the risk of dropping
off the leaderboards altogether.

“There’s no way he’ll take a defeat like that lying down.”

“Well that depends on how we handle this, now doesn’t it?”

Having been fed up with following Kiriyama’s instructions for a while

now, Mikitani finally broke.

“…You really think you can do it?”

“‘Course I can, and once I do, it’s on you to get me a one-way ticket
straight to Class A, got it?”

With that, Mikitani stepped forward, pushing Kiriyama aside as he

spoke directly to Kōenji.

“You heard all that, right? Tomorrow and the day after, stay here.”

“Is that a request?”

“No, it’s an order.”

“How audacious. And what if I refuse?”

Page | 165
“Worst case scenario, you’ll be expelled.”

With those words, Mikitani and the rest of the third-years drew in
even closer.

Although not explicitly stated, their intentions were perfectly clear: if

they couldn’t solve this peacefully, then they’d do it by force.

But, despite their threat, Kōenji’s fearless smile never faltered. He

simply watched on as the third-years approached.

“Seeing as though you’re not saying anything, can I assume that

means you’ll give in and obey us?”

“I’ll not be giving in to anyone.”

“Then, you’ve left us with no other choice. We’ll have to make you
submit to us. You’re fine with that, right Kiriyama?”

“I don’t care anymore as long as he gives in. It’s your decision to

make.”

Upon hearing Kiriyama’s tacit agreement, Mikitani let out a scornful

laugh, his attitude as bullish as ever.

However, the moment the final designated area of the day was
announced, Kōenji rose to his feet.

Panicking a bit, Mikitani quickly gave the signal for everyone to close
in.

“I told you. Stay. Put.”

They were so close that there was practically no way Kōenji could get
away without pushing Mikitani or one of the other third-years aside.

“Can’t say I find any beauty in how close you’re getting. I’m no
sodomite do leave me out of this.”

Page | 166
“So what’re you gonna do about it? If you force your way past us, I’ll
take that as a declaration of war.”

“Fufu, is that so?”

Kōenji smiled as he took a step forward.

Of course, that single step was enough for him to come into contact
with Mikitani, who was standing right before him.

However, he didn’t take this step with the intention of pushing

Mikitani out of the way.

Rather, it was just an ordinary step forward, one that resulted in

nothing more than their shoulders bumping into each other.

Put simply, it was Kōenji’s attempt to force his way past Mikitani
without actively raising his hand against him.

Mikitani could’ve simply been brushed aside, but thanks to his

strong, well-built physique, he was fairly confident that he’d be able
to hold his ground. For him, this was a golden opportunity to prove
that just because Kōenji was fast didn’t mean that he was powerful,
but…

“!!!”

It felt as if a boulder was slowly crashing into him, and before long he
found himself with no other choice but to give in and move out of
the boulder’s way.

On the other hand, Kōenji just proceeded to walk forward as if

nothing had been in front of him to begin with.

“You bastard, wait!”

Page | 167
Mikitani desperately reached out and grabbed Kōenji by the
shoulder, but such a half-hearted effort would never be able to stop
him.

If he let Kōenji go now, while he was right under his very nose, then
he’d be left to repeat the same, inane game of cat-and-mouse he’d
been playing the entire day today.

Therefore, he chose to do what he could to resist, yet he couldn’t

stop Kōenji from pushing forward.

When he realized that Kiriyama was watching him struggle, Mikitani

clicked his tongue and changed gears.

He quickly called for one of his companions, Morooka, to help, and

together, they tried what they could to pull Kōenji to a stop.

However, the moment Morooka placed his hand on Kōenji’s

shoulder, he found himself being dragged along, overwhelmed by
Kōenji’s momentum.

A split second later, he collapsed to the ground in dramatic fashion,

seemingly wrought with pain.

“Aaaagh! I think my arm’s broken!”

Morooka began to scream and holler about his apparent injury,

much like a professional soccer player who’d been ‘injured’ on the
field.

Upon seeing what had happened to his companion, Mikitani quickly

cut around Kōenji and stood directly in front of him, forcibly blocking
off his path.

“Look what you’ve done now, Kōenji! You clearly hurt Morooka!”

“Looks like he’s just staged an injury if you ask me, no?”

Page | 168
“Yeah yeah, say whatever you want, it ain’t gonna change the fact
that he’s been shoved to the ground.”

Everyone seemed to feel as though the tides had changed as they

once again closed in on Kōenji, completely preventing him from
making an escape.

The more moderate, amicable approach that they had been using
earlier was now a thing of the past.

“So it’s gotten to the point where I can’t overlook your actions
anymore, hm? What to do, what to do, I wonder?”

“By that cocky look on your face, I’d imagine you’re about ready to
send us flying. But, it’ll be a big problem if you somehow manage to
beat each and every one of us to a pulp, you do know that right?”

This was Mikitani’s way of giving a warning, making it clear that

Kōenji wouldn’t be able to lay a single finger on any of them.

However, rather than refute Mikitani’s point, Kōenji went on to

speak neutrally.

“I don’t have any intention of showing mercy to people who get in

my way, much less those who bare their fangs at me whilst doing
so.”

Having heard Kōenji say that he would not hesitate to use violence,
Mikitani’s expression hardened for a moment.

“What if we report you to the school then?”

“What if? Wouldn’t it just put a stain on your records as a bunch of

third-years who tried to sabotage one of your underclassmen?”

Kōenji’s confidence stemmed from the fact that he knew all of the
third-years’ watches were operating properly. If they weren’t, their

Page | 169
strategy of trying to predict the Tasks Kōenji went for and registering
for them ahead of time would never get them anywhere. After all,
you needed a working wristwatch to register for Tasks.

“So are we done here? Thanks to all of you, I’ll be hard-pressed to

get to my Early Bird Bonus in time.”

It had been more than ten minutes since the final designated area of
the day was announced, so opposing groups were probably already
well on their way to it by now.

There was a decent chance that Kōenji would miss out on the first-
place Early Bird Bonus, but there was no telling exactly how it’d end
up playing out.

“Sorry, but… we ain’t lettin’ you go.”

Mikitani spoke with certainty, making it clear that he and his friends
would never stop coming after Kōenji.

“We’re also not gonna play nice with you forever, you got that?”

“So you’re saying you intend to continue to bare your fangs at me?”

Although many of the third-years had been at a loss due to Kōenji’s

bizarre atmosphere until now, they soon recalled their original
purpose. They knew very well how shameful a sight it was for so
many people to surround a lone underclassman, but since it was the
only option they had to survive, they didn’t care.

Under more usual circumstances, their opponent would’ve given in

once they realized how truly desperate they were, but Kōenji was
different.

A young man who held no interest in anyone but himself. A man who
only cared about dealing with the current situation in a way that
would appease his sense of beauty. His long, blond hair was in no
Page | 170
way inferior to a woman’s, and it was clear that he had been taking
care of it even during his time on the island.

Kōenji brushed his slightly messy bangs to the side and smiled a
daring smile.

Seeing that, Mikitani felt momentarily overwhelmed with a mix of

awe and fear and subconsciously took a half-step back.

“Time is money, so by all means, do come at me.”

Saying that, Kōenji spread out his arms, seemingly inviting the third-
years to strike the first blow.

“You sure about this Mikitani? Like 100% sure?”

One of his companions tentatively asked for confirmation, and after

a moment of silence, Mikitani steeled his resolve once more and
issued the inevitable command.

“…Yeah. Worse comes to worst, we’ll just have to take Kōenji down
with us. Get him!”

With Mikitani’s words acting as their battle cry, three third-year

students simultaneously charged Kōenji.

One approached from behind to try and restrain his arms while the
other two moved in from the front and left.

At a glance, it might seem like dealing with three oncoming attackers

would be difficult, but the three students in question weren’t exactly
experienced when it came to fighting.

Their movements lacked a sense of teamwork as well, so it was more

like they had all just pounced at Kōenji with roughly similar timing
than executed a planned, coordinated assault.

Page | 171
None of them were seriously trying to injure him either. If anything,
they each seemed to be thinking that someone else would throw the
actual punches.

As such, Kōenji avoided everything with one single, grandiose step

off to the side, causing the oncoming third-years to accidentally
collide head-first with one another.

“Dude! Attack him, not me!”

“I should be saying that to you!”

The third-years began to squabble with each other over who was at
fault, and needless to say, it was anything but the beautiful scenario
Kōenji had been hoping for.

“Don’t you guys lose sight of why we came here in the first place.
Our target is Kōenji and Kōenji alone.”

Mikitani, the most experienced fighter out of all of them, called out
to his bickering companions to try and stop them from self-
destructing.

Page | 172
Part 4
Not too long after the fight first began, Kōenji was surrounded by
exhausted third-year students; each of them down on their knees,
gasping for air.

He had broken their spirits by effortlessly evading everything they

had thrown at him, all without ever striking a single blow of his own.

“Haaa… Haaa… Dammit, what even are you…? Some kinda monster?
Why even go through all this effort in the first place? Wouldn’t it
have been way easier to just shake us off your trail like earlier…?”

Mikitani slouched back in fear, having keenly realized that Kōenji

could easily come after him at any time.

“It’s quite annoying to have you following me around all the time,
you know? It’s unpleasant, like having the wind sweep dead autumn
leaves into my face over and over again.”

Listening in from the sidelines, Kiriyama calmly offered an analysis of

the situation.

“I see. You’re not wrong, Mikitani was indeed fully prepared to chase
you down until the bitter end, so you probably thought to break his
resolve by making it perfectly clear how much more powerful you
are. But to think you’d break him without even lifting a finger…
You’re probably the only one capable of coming up with a stunt like
that and actually following through with it.”

Kōenji had decided to nip this problem in the bud here and now,
even if it meant giving up on a chance for an Early Bird Bonus to do
so.

And from the way it had played out, Kiriyama and the rest of the
third-years had had the rug pulled right out from under them.

Page | 173
“You alright, Mikitani?”

“Y-yeah. I’m not hurt…”

Some students had fallen down by accident, whereas others had

thrown themselves down to the ground out of self-destruction, but
overall, just about everyone was unharmed. Even in the worst cases,
nobody had anything more than a few scrapes on their hands.

The fact that Kōenji had never utilized violence further illustrated the
overwhelming difference in power between them.

“I’ll be taking my leave if that’s alright.”

“Do whatever you want Kōenji.”

“Do excuse me then. Adieu~”

With nobody left to stop him anymore, Kōenji simply walked away.

Once the young man had disappeared from view, the still-dejected
Mikitani began to mutter to himself.

“What the hell is with that guy? Is he really just a high schooler?”

“In life, there’ll always be people who don’t seem to play by the
same rules as the rest of us. Just like Nagumo.”

“So we’re just stuck crawling around on the ground like this for the
rest of our lives then, huh?”

Mikitani slammed his fist down to the ground, frustrated by his own
inadequacy.

“That freak! Making me look like such a fuckin’ idiot! Dammit!

Dammit!!!”

“Our fight’s not over yet.”

Page | 174
Kiriyama cast a glance in the direction Kōenji had gone before picking
up his walkie-talkie.

“What, you gonna report my failure to Nagumo?”

“And what good would that do at this point? I’ve already decided to
win this instead.”

“R-right.”

“Don’t worry Mikitani. I anticipated that Kōenji would be

extraordinary from the start. But, no matter the person, everyone
has a weakness. After all, as the saying goes: go big or go home.”

Mikitani nodded silently, feeling at least somewhat relieved by

Kiriyama’s words.

Kiriyama, on the other hand, wasn’t the least bit shaken by anything
that had happened today. After all, he had anticipated that it would
end up like this from the very beginning.

It was all a part of his strategy to have Kōenji lower his guard now
that he believed that the third-years had given up on stopping him.

Despite the best efforts of everyone in the Free Group, they had
accomplished effectively nothing today. As a result, Kōenji had
probably gotten the impression that the third-years as a whole were
pushovers. And that was exactly what Kiriyama was hoping for.

Page | 175
Part 5
The eleventh day, moments before 5:00 PM.

I had only just arrived at my final designated area, J10, when I found
myself momentarily captivated by the rocky, rugged scenery laid out
before me.

While it was important for me to collect points and provisions from

Tasks, it was even more so to keep a firm grasp of my current
standing on the leaderboard.

After all, it was surprisingly difficult to keep my score at eleventh

place all the time. Not only did I have to avoid being penalized for
missing too many designated areas, but I also had to earn just
enough points to stay matched with the tenth-place group.

Yesterday, the third designated area was area B9, which had been a
random designation all the way from area F4. Given the distance
involved, I pretty much immediately gave up on getting there in
time. I didn’t end up making it to the area after that either, area C9,
meaning that I had missed out on two areas in a row.

I somehow managed to avoid the penalty by reaching my first

designated area this morning, area C8, but the school then
announced another random designation all the way down in area H9
which, of course, I ended up missing all over again. The bad luck
continued as I spent the rest of the morning playing catch-up with
the area announced after that, area I9.

Once a random designation decided to send you all the way to the
other side of the island, you didn’t have any other choice but to
chase after it and hope to catch a break.

And after the experience I had recently, it was clear that these long-
distance random designations were the primary setback groups had
Page | 176
to deal with, as well as the number one reason why their points
never seemed to increase.

The path I had taken to get to area J10 had been steep and rugged,
but from somewhere not too far up ahead, I could hear what
sounded like a boy and some girls talking with each other.

The wind was quite loud, so I couldn’t quite make out what they
were saying, but even so, their voices sounded vaguely familiar.

I figured that, since they could be acquaintances of mine, I might as

well get a bit closer to take a look.

The voices were coming from the west, near the oceanside.

Upon making my way in that direction, I spotted a group of three

girls from Class 2-B: Isoyama Nagisa, Morofuji Rika, and Shiina Hiyori.

They were joined by yet another group of second-years, one that I

hadn’t seen since the first day of the exam. Namely, that of Ishizaki
Daichi, Nishino Takeko, and Tsube Hitomi.

In the beginning, our groups each had different tables, but

apparently our designated areas had overlapped this time.

“Ara? Why if it isn’t Ayanokōji-kun?”

Of the six of them, five were completely absorbed in their

conversation. Only Hiyori, who sat just before me and a bit separated
from the rest, noticed my presence. She waved me over to her as
soon as our eyes met.

Page | 177
Page | 178
“You seem to be faring better than I expected.”

“That’s because we’ve been working quite diligently to keep up with

everyone. We’ve even managed to increase the maximum size of our
group to six.”

In other words, her group had joined forces with Ishizaki and the
others.

To be honest, it didn’t seem like their group had much in terms of

pure, raw potential, but Hiyori would at least be able to contribute
more than her fair share when it came to brainpower. She’d act as
the backbone of the group in that sense, even though her physical
abilities were, frankly, rather poor. In fact, looking at the group as a
whole, you could say that they actually had a decently solid balance
of strengths and weaknesses going for them.

“Were you planning on joining up with Ishizaki’s group from the

beginning?”

“Something like that. I had several groups in mind to potentially join

up with if I had the chance, and they were one of them.”

She spoke without so much as an attempt to hide anything, turning

her gaze over to Ishizaki and the others as she did so. They were
immersed in a friendly discussion as they watched the evening sun
begin to fade over the horizon, soothing their tired spirits.

Given that the group primarily consisted of Class 2-B students, they
seemed to get along pretty well with each other.

Even Tsube, the only one from a different class, seemed to be

blending in with them just fine.

“How about you, Ayanokōji-kun? No health concerns, I’d hope?”

Page | 179
Even though she could see that I was still traveling all on my own,
Hiyori didn’t seem particularly concerned or surprised about that.

“Yeah. So far so good.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, but please do be

careful. After all, even a single injury is all it’d take for you to retire.”

“I know.”

She patted at the ground beside her, so I took her up on the offer
and sat down.

“Only three more days left, huh?”

She posed me a question as we watched out over the ocean

together, and it didn’t seem like there was any special, deep meaning
behind it.

“Yeah.”

So I simply agreed as the two of us sank into a peaceful mutual

silence, relaxing and rejuvenating under the rays of the setting sun.

Normally, when meeting with a friend or somebody I was otherwise

close to, the first thing they’d ask about was how well I was doing in
the exam.

Since we were in the midst of an arduous battle with our futures on

the line, it’s only natural that they’d be curious about that.

Hiyori, however, didn’t seem to have any interest in asking me how

many points I’d earned or how well I was doing.

Well, rather than being uninterested, it felt more like she was simply
confident that I wouldn’t be expelled.

“Oi! If it ain’t Ayanokōji!”

Page | 180
Having finally noticed my presence, Ishizaki shouted in my direction,
grinning with an inexplicably, excessively happy smile.

The remaining group members also seemed to have noticed me by

now, but rather than join in with Ishizaki’s merriment, they instead
grabbed him by the shoulder as he tried to approach.

“What?”

“Don’t bother them.”

“Huh? It’s not like Ayanokōji hates me or anythin’ though?”

“That’s not the point here…”

“Now, now. Obliviousness is just one of Ishizaki-kun’s charms,

don’tcha think?”

“Charms? You’re joking right? He just can’t read the mood at all in
my opinion. Nothing ‘charming’ about that.”

“That’s… Well, yeah, I can’t really deny that.”

From the sound of it, it seemed like Nishino and Tsube had really
opened up to one another since I last saw them.

This heightened sense of comradery was probably a common

occurrence for many groups, brought about by the long period of
time they had been together whilst stuck fighting on a deserted
island.

After all, if you spend every waking moment working together with
someone to avoid mutual expulsion, it gets easy to look past
whatever small, trivial issues you might’ve had with them
beforehand.

But in another sense, it was cruel.

Page | 181
Once this special exam was over, inter-class warfare would start back
up again, spurring on a future for all of us filled with nothing but
conflict and strife.

When that time comes, there will probably be a fair number of

students who aren’t able to make the hard choices due to the
friendships they fostered during the exam.

“Sorry for bothering you all.”

I said farewell as I stood up to take my leave, having concluded that

they wouldn’t be able to speak freely amongst themselves with me
around. However, Ishizaki hurriedly ran up to me and wrapped his
arm around my shoulder before I could make it very far.

“It’s stressful bein’ the only guy in this group fulla chicks, so why not
hang with us for a bit, eh Ayanokōji~?”

“Hang with you…?”

“The exam’s done for the day anyway, and I’ll bet you were also
plannin’ to set up camp somewhere around area I9, yeah?”

Despite being my final designated area for the day, area J10 wasn’t
very well-suited for camping due to the strong winds and uneven,
rocky ground. So, in a sense, Ishizaki was right. I had indeed planned
on avoiding the coastline and pitching my tent somewhere closer to
area I9, however…

“I think that’s a splendid idea!”

Hiyori stood up from where she was sitting and walked over to us,
voicing her support for Ishizaki’s idea.

In the grand scheme of things, Ishizaki and Hiyori were on relatively

good terms with me, so it wouldn’t exactly be a problem for us to

Page | 182
share a campsite together. My issue was what the other girls thought
about it.

“I’m fine with it if you all are. Ayanokōji-kun seems harmless enough
to me.”

“For sure. Sounds good to me.”

But, apparently, not even a single one of them had any problems
with it.

It’s hard to put into words, but overall, their group seemed to have
an incredibly amicable, cozy atmosphere going for them. It almost
seemed like they had forgotten that they were in the middle of an
unsparing, high-stakes special exam.

It was the type of atmosphere you’d expect from those in Ichinose’s

class, but I guess this meant that Ryūen’s class was gradually starting
to change as well.

Page | 183
Page | 184
Part 6
“Ayanokōji-senpai…! Ayanokōji-senpai…!”

Later that night, after everyone had already gone to sleep, I awoke to
a voice calling out my name.

They spoke quietly so as not to wake up anyone else in the campsite,

whispering to me from just outside my tent.

I briefly checked my watch to see how late it was, only to find that it
was 2:30 AM.

“It’s me, Nanase.”

Hearing that, I quickly woke myself up and poked my head out of my

tent. Sure enough, Nanase stood in the darkness before me, her
figure faintly illuminated by the light of her tablet. Furthermore,
despite the darkness, I could tell that she was panicking about
something.

“What are you doing here so late…? You’re not hurt are you?”

“I’m fine, it just so happens I ended up here in I9 like you Senpai. In

fact, I saw you from afar earlier this evening, but I decided against
making contact since I was together with Hōsen-kun at the time.”

“…So?”

“There’s something urgent I needed to tell you about. Today… no, I

guess it was actually yesterday given how late it is, but anyway,
Hōsen-kun told me that on the twelfth day, the first-year students
will be carrying out a large-scale plan to try and trap you, Senpai.”

“A large-scale plan? Did he ask you to play a role in that?”

“Ah, no, how do I put it… Whatever, I’ll just start from the
beginning.”
Page | 185
After taking a deep breath, Nanase began to explain that had
happened.

Apparently, Hōsen had been told to meet up with Takahashi, Yagami,

Tsubasa, and Utomiya, but he never showed up for the meeting.
Nanase didn’t know exactly which day this meeting had taken place,
but later, on the ninth day, a different student approached Hōsen
with a walkie-talkie in hand, claiming to be the group’s messenger.
They came asking for Hōsen’s cooperation once again, and the
details of their request went as follows:

First, they said something about how they were going to force my
retirement during the final stage of the special exam.

Then, they talked about how they wanted to hunt down other
upperclassmen who were taking the exam alone and forcing their
retirement as well.

Finally, the messenger handed Hōsen the walkie-talkie and told him
they’d reach out on the day of with the specific details. However,
from what Hōsen told Nanase after the fact, he allegedly had no
intention of actually working together with the other first-years.
Instead, he planned on pretending to cooperate with them whilst
using them to further his own goals in turn.

In any case, this all just validated my suspicion that they were going
to take action during the final stage of the exam. Fortunately, I had
already taken measures to deal with that very scenario ahead of
time.

“They made the right choice by keeping the specifics to themselves

until the last minute.”

If, somehow, the details of their plan were to leak out and reach my
ears, it would only make it that much easier for me to prepare
countermeasures.
Page | 186
In fact, they still haven’t revealed the finer details of their plan to
Hōsen yet, out of a well-placed fear that he might betray them.

“Who’s the one spearheading all of this?”

“I don’t know for certain, but the main contact Hōsen’s been
speaking with over the walkie-talkie has been Tsubaki-san.”

“She’s never seemed like the type to take action out in the open like
this, though.”

“That’s what I thought as well. If anything, I was under the

impression that Class 1-C was centered around Utomiya-kun.
However, I’ve heard that Hōsen-kun and Utomiya-kun are on bad
terms. They apparently become belligerent with one another during
discussions, so it’s possible that Tsubaki-san was just chosen to act as
their intermediary.”

That was certainly possible, but someone like Yagami or Takahashi

could just as easily be the one pulling the strings as well.

“I’m grateful just to find out which day they’ll be taking action. I
know it’s late, but you’d best not stick around here too long. Things
could get pretty dicey later on if they were to find out that you’ve
told me all of this.”

My own circumstances aside, getting caught now could potentially

cause a lot of problems for Nanase’s school life moving forward.

For better or for worse, she was still in the same class as Hōsen, and
that wasn’t going to be changing any time soon.

Therefore, I instructed her to leave before Hōsen realized what she

was up to.

“Alright. I’ll get back in touch with you if anything else happens.”

Page | 187
“Ah, don’t do that. I appreciate it, but you’ve already done more
than enough for me for this special exam. Even if you notice that
something else is going on with the first-years, there’s no need for
you to report to me about it. You don’t have to go out of your way to
keep helping me.”

“But─”

“You’ve given me enough information. Take a step back and focus on

doing what you need to as a member of your own group with
Amasawa and Hōsen.”

If Nanase were to lose their trust now, she wouldn’t be able to act as
an informant for me in the future.

In which case, Nanase’s value to me would plummet considerably.

“If you say so, Senpai, then… I understand.”

With a deep bow, Nanase trotted off into the darkness.

Once her figure had completely disappeared from view, I took out
my tablet and thought to myself for a second.

As my eyes adjusted the brightness of the screen, I could feel my

drowsiness completely fade away.

While it was probably safe to say that the information Nanase gave
me was genuine, whether or not things would end up playing out
that way was a different matter altogether. I didn’t know much
about the inner-workings of Class 1-D, but as a person, I knew Hōsen
utilized the same sort of tactics as Ryūen to maintain control over his
class. The only real distinction between them was that Hōsen had a
tendency to take a more self-serving approach when faced with
obstacles.

Page | 188
And yet, Hōsen had kept Nanase right by his side ever since they first
enrolled here.

It made sense why he did too. After all, Nanase sported a level of
resilience and mental fortitude that was practically unheard of for a
first-year high school student. Add that on top of her impressively
high academic and physical abilities, she was no doubt an
exceptionally useful person to keep around.

However, just how much Hōsen truly trusts her remains to be seen.

If he didn’t truly trust her, then it’s possible that he had told her
everything in order to mislead her. And while I didn’t quite believe
that Hōsen had figured out that Nanase was on my side, I wouldn’t
exactly be surprised if he still felt wary about it. Furthermore, given
that Amasawa is involved, there was always a chance that she told
him about it as well…

In any case, this plan the first-years were working on wasn’t all that
much of a surprise. Given the sizable bounty on my head, I’d been
operating under the assumption that they would try to pull
something on me since the moment I stepped foot on the island. So,
while I was grateful for Nanase’s report, my plans still remained
unchanged.

Page | 189
Page | 190
Part 7
After dozing off for a bit, I woke up at 6:00 AM and promptly spent
one point running a GPS Search. If the first-years were truly planning
to take action today, then their movements and positioning ought to
have been at least somewhat unusual.

“Their positions… haven’t changed at all, huh?”

Hōsen was the only one nearby, which wasn’t all that surprising
considering that we were part of the same Table. The rest of the
first-years were at least three areas away in any given direction. It
didn’t seem like they were up to anything right this moment. It
seemed highly unlikely that they’d attack me in a public place as well,
so I’d probably be safe as long as I stayed near Ishizaki and the
others.

Hiyori, Ishizaki, and the rest of their group had already woken up and
were now getting their things in order for the twelfth day of the
exam.

And once everybody was ready, we all set off together.

“Having to hike so early freakin’ sucks man.”

Ishizaki grumbled, still having not fully woken up yet.

“Well there’s nothing we can do about that, now can we? We’d just
be setting ourselves behind if we’re already in the designated area
when it gets announced.”

Nishino promptly quipped back in an attempt to silence Ishizaki’s

complaining.

The two of them had probably spent the last eleven days bickering
with each other like this.

Page | 191
The rest of their group, on the other hand, paid them no attention
and simply focused on the walk ahead.

“Ayanokōji-kun, don’t you feel lonely, facing the entire exam all on
your own?”

Walking right by my side, Hiyori posed me a question.

“No, not particularly. If anything, I’d say it’s more comfortable for me
this way.”

“I… I think I’d be pretty lonely and a bit scared, actually.”

“Scared, huh? Somehow, I can’t really imagine you being scared,

Hiyori.”

Since she was always so composed and laid-back, I didn’t think that
she’d be so sensitive to something like that.

Even if she were to be confronted by a ghost, she seemed the type to

respond with intrigue and excitement rather than fear.

“Even so, I still think I’d be scared. That’s why, when I see how well
you’re holding up, I’m struck with how truly amazing you are,
Ayanokōji-kun.”

“I’d say that just makes Horikita and Ibuki that much more amazing,
don’t you think?”

The longer a person is left to face hardships alone, the weaker their
mental state becomes, and eventually, they’d start thinking about
things they shouldn’t be thinking about.

Paranoia would inevitably set in as they’d begin to imagine things

hiding within the sound of the wind and the rustling of the trees.

“Indeed… Girls like the two of them, on this island all by themselves…
It’d be impossible for me.”
Page | 192
Hiyori let show a somewhat frightened expression as she thought
about it.

I guess it was thanks to this exam that I had gotten the chance to see
this unexpected side of her.

“Y’know, the two of you seem mighty close, don’tcha think?”

Having been walking from just up ahead for some time now, Ishizaki
turned around and commented on our apparent closeness.

“Hey now, don’t go poking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

Nishino immediately went and grabbed him by the collar of his jersey
in an attempt to pull him away, but Ishizaki didn’t pay it any mind
and continued.

“You two should just get together already! Then you can transfer on
over to our class, eh? How ‘bout it?”

“Don’t spout that shit! You’re pushing ‘em way too fast!”

Nishino promptly whacked Ishizaki square on his head, leading

Ishizaki to cry out in pain as he recoiled away from her.

“Ishizaki-kun sure is a funny one, isn’t he?”

Hiyori let out a laugh as she spoke, seemingly not even the least bit
interested in Ishizaki’s proposition.

Well, it would be a big problem for me if she were to take everything

he said seriously.

So, I just decided to pretend I didn’t hear anything as well.

“That friggin’ hurt god damn it. Don’t you think it’s important to get
Ayanokōji on our side?”

Page | 193
“I don’t think so at all. In fact, it seems to me like you’re way too
obsessed with the guy. Or am I wrong?”

Since Nishino and the others weren’t aware of everything that had
happened, Ishizaki probably seemed like the odd one out here.

He probably seemed like he was trying way too hard to win over
somebody when all they had done was get a perfect score on a single
math test.

“That’s like, uh, how do I put this… Ayanokōji and I are just on the
same, uh… wavelength? Yeah, wavelength.”

“Wavelength? Really? I can’t imagine there being anyone on the

same wavelength as you, though?”

Nishino had unsparingly turned Ishizaki’s argument against him,

leaving him with no choice but to look to Hiyori and I with eyes
pleading for help.

“That’s not true at all, Nishino-san. Despite how he looks, Ishizaki-

kun is quite the… person, you know?”

Hiyori had spoken up in what seemed like an attempt to try and

support Ishizaki, but nobody knew what exact it was she was
referring to.

“Quite the person? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know, the person. It’s exactly what you think it is. I won’t say
anything more.”

“…O-oh yeah… Anyway, good for you, yeah? Getting praised by

Shiina-san like that.”

“W-wha? I dunno what the heck that was all about, but I guess it
ain’t that bad to hear some praise every once in a while!”

Page | 194
In my eyes, all of this was most likely just something that Hiyori had
made up on the fly since she couldn’t think of anything in specific
that would help support Ishizaki’s character.

But, since there was no way I’d ever say something like that out loud,
I simply decided to pretend I hadn’t heard anything once again.

Later, once the clock struck 7:00 AM, my first designated area of the
day, H10, was announced.

Hiyori’s group had apparently gotten a different area, J9, so at least

we wouldn’t be competing for the same Early Bird bonuses anymore.

Personally, I was pretty pleased to hear that. After all, it wasn’t

exactly a good thing to go head-to-head with students from your
own school year.

“Welp, Ayanokōji, looks like this is where we part ways. See ya later
dude.”

“Yeah. The exam’s almost over, so make sure you don’t slack off and
keep working hard.”

Just before I could take my leave, Ishizaki held out his fist, prompting
me for a fist-bump. I returned the gesture, and with that, we headed
our separate ways.

After walking for a bit, I could just barely hear some voices calling out
from behind me.

When I turned around, I was met with the sight of Ishizaki, Hiyori,
and everyone else waving goodbye.

I waved back before heading off toward area H10.

For the rest of the day, I ran a new GPS search every hour on the
hour, caring not for how many points I was spending. However, there

Page | 195
was nothing that seemed to indicate that the first-years were up to
anything, and before I knew it, it was already 5:00 PM.

This meant that the information Nanase had gone to great lengths to
report to me was most likely false. Perhaps Amasawa had told the
other first-years about Nanase’s betrayal? Or maybe they truly had
planned on taking action today, but it had been postponed or
cancelled due to some sort of accident?

Either way, there were only two days left in the exam, and I couldn’t
afford to let down my guard.

My third designated area today had been randomly designated on

the other side of the island again, and due to that, I ended up missing
my fourth designated area as well.

My overall rank on the leaderboard didn’t drop that much, but due
to all the GPS searches, I had fallen down to 16th place.

Tomorrow, I needed to make it to my first designated area, no

matter what.

Page | 196
Page | 197
Chapter 5: Each and Everyone's Opinions
Let’s rewind the timeline just a bit, all the way back to the ninth day
of the exam, the day just after the rainstorm, when Nanase first left
Ayanokōji’s side.

Hōsen, despite technically being part of a group of three, had been

acting on his own since day one. It was already 7:00 AM, but Hōsen
was simply relaxing in his tent despite the fact that his first
designated area had been announced.

This continued until just after 8:00 AM, when a lone individual
approached Hōsen’s tent and called out to him.

“Good morning, Hōsen-kun.”

“Haaa?”

“It’s me, Nanase.”

“I can tell that by your voice, dipshit. Why are you here?”

“Why am I here? We’re in the same group, it’s only natural that we’d
stay in contact.”

Nanase’s response was serious, but Hōsen let out a scornful laugh
upon hearing it.

“You really gonna say that? Seems like you had one hell of a time
together with Ayanokōji… got any results to show for it?”

“…No I don’t. In the end, I was no match for him.”

“Ha! A chick like you really went and challenged him head-on?
Without even using those feminine ‘assets’ of yours?”

“Assets…? What assets?”

Page | 198
Hōsen continued, exasperated by Nanase’s inability to follow along
with his logic.

“For fuck’s sake… Your tits are huge and yet you’re fuckin’ dumb in
the head.”

“Uhm, I don’t quite understand the correlation you’re implying

between the breasts and the brain.”

“Whatever, nevermind. Anyways, you came all the way here just to
tell me you failed?”

Hōsen took out his tablet and immediately ran a GPS Search.

Since he didn’t know if somebody had followed Nanase all the way
out here, he felt it necessary to run a quick check on the surrounding
area. However, there didn’t seem to be anyone worth worrying
about nearby.

“My plan to force Ayanokōji-senpai’s expulsion on my own ended in

failure. That’s why I decided to come here and ask you to lend me
your strength, Hōsen-kun. If you have a plan, please let me in on it.”

Nanase had taken action all on her own and was only now trying to
come back and buddy up again, so Hōsen didn’t exactly trust her
here. Well, to be precise, Hōsen wasn’t exactly the type to trust
anybody in the first place.

“Leave. I’ll handle it myself.”

“…I will gladly wait here with you until you change your mind.”

“How ‘bout you just get your ass to the designated area instead?
Make yourself useful and prevent us from getting a penalty.”

Despite his best attempt to drive her away, Nanase had no intention
of leaving.

Page | 199
So, he decided instead to simply ignore her as he shut his eyes and
continued to lounge around inside his tent.

After about ten minutes, Nanase spoke up once again.

“Hōsen-kun.”

“The hell are you still here for? You’re wastin’ your time.”

“It seems you have a visitor.”

Hōsen opened his eyes just a crack, only to see that a second
silhouette was now standing beside Nanase outside his tent.

“U-uhm… Hōsen-kun… It’s me.”

“‘Me’? Who the fuck is ‘me’? Am I supposed ta’ know you by voice,
shitbag?”

The visitor had introduced themself without giving their name, and
Hōsen’s response was merciless.

“I-I’m K-Katagiri… from Class C…”

“Never heard of ya.”

“I’ll hear you out in Hōsen-kun’s place. How can I help you?”

“That’s, uhh… Well I brought something that I was instructed to give

to Hōsen-kun.”

“Something you have to give to him? What is it?”

“I-I was told not to tell anybody other than Hōsen-kun…”

Despite his dismissive attitude from earlier, Hōsen suddenly began to

crawl out of his tent, having apparently reconsidered.

Page | 200
And then, he rose to his feet. He stood tall, towering over the small-
statured Katagiri.

“If this is something stupid, I’mma send you flying, got that?”

“T-this! I brought this!”

With his eyes clenched shut and his hands trembling, Katagiri
fearfully held out a walkie-talkie before him.

“A walkie-talkie, it seems.”

“W-with this, you’ll be able to talk with Utomiya-kun.”

Despite his fears, Katagiri managed to get out the words he needed
to say.

“Ha! So he wanted to talk to me so bad that he sent some fuckin’

small fry all the way here to give this to me, eh?”

Saying that, Hōsen reached down and snatched up the walkie-talkie

from Katagiri’s hands.

“Utomiya. What’re you tryin’ to get at by making contact with me?

Want me to play around with you, is that it?”

Hōsen spoke into the walkie-talkie, only to be met with silence.

As he waited, he brought out his tablet and ran another search to

pinpoint Utomiya’s current position on the map.

“I dunno if you’re not there or you’re just ignorin’ me, but this is your
first and only chance, got that?”

Perhaps instigated by Hōsen’s supposed final warning, a voice

suddenly spoke from the other side of the call.

Page | 201
『…I didn’t want to make contact with you either, but I wasn’t left
with any other choice in order to carry out the plan.』

“Plan? What the hell are you on about?”

『Have you forgotten about the sixth day already?』

“Ah, I guess you did say something about holdin’ a secret meetup on
the sixth day. Sorry, I forgot.”

Nanase’s expression stiffened ever so slightly as she heard this. After

all, she hadn’t heard anything about this since she had been traveling
together with Ayanokōji.

Hōsen cast a glance in her direction, but instead of stepping away to

continue the conversation, he simply waited for Utomiya to
continue.

『We expected that you might choose to ignore the meeting.』

“Did you? Get to the point.”

『Soon, we’ll be carrying out a plan to save the first-years.』

“Save the first-years?”

Upon saying that, Hōsen temporarily powered off the walkie-talkie,

cutting off communication with Utomiya.

At the same time, Nanase hurriedly took her tablet out of her
backpack and checked the standings for the bottom ten groups.

And from what she found, a total of four first-year groups were in
danger of being expelled.

Page | 202
“Of the four first-year groups currently in the bottom ten, two are
from our class, Class 1-D.”

“Pfft, I don’t give two shits if our trash gets taken out. Don’t tell me
he thinks I’d take action just to save a couple of worthless
classmates?”

“Please don’t be careless. I think they might be up to something.”

“Oh shut the fuck up Nanase. I don’t need you to tell me that.”

Hōsen once again powered on the walkie-talkie.

“I dunno what you’re talkin’ about. What’s any of that gotta do with
me?”

From all this, Nanase felt keenly aware that some sort of strategy
was already in motion.

She listened in with bated breath, eager to find out what was going
on. However, at the same time, she knew that her presence would
be obvious after a single GPS search.

Utomiya and the rest of the first-years had probably already

investigated who Hōsen was with by this point.

For what it was worth, it seemed like the first-years were

deliberately avoiding the topic as well.

『It’s… because you’re absolutely vital in our plan to save them.』

Utomiya’s expression as he said this wasn’t visible since he was

talking over the walkie-talkie.

However, his words gave off a vague impression that he personally

didn’t agree with what he was saying, and Hōsen was by no means
stupid enough to not be able to see through that.

Page | 203
“Did someone tell you that? Ain’t that a joke.”

『If you want to refuse, refuse. I’m just reaching out to try and extend
you the opportunity. I for one have always felt like we could do this
without you anyway.』

“Then in that case, we’re done here. I refuse.”

Hōsen responded with a plain and simple rejection and left it at that.

He gripped the walkie-talkie in hand as if he was about to throw it off

into the forest, but rather than actually do so, he simply stood and
waited for Utomiya’s response.

『…Hōsen.』

Frustrated, Utomiya called out Hōsen’s name, but this time, Hōsen
was the one who responded with silence.

『I suppose this means we won’t be getting any help from you,

then?』

Utomiya’s disposition was such that he would’ve usually ended the

conversation the moment Hōsen first refused to lend a hand.

But, since he didn’t do that, it seemed pretty clear to Hōsen that

someone else was involved.

“Slow down. Nobody said I’m never gonna cooperate.”

『…What?』

Utomiya’s voice contained a vague hint of confusion as he spoke.

And in a way, his confusion made it seem like he had never expected
Hōsen to cooperate in the first place.
Page | 204
“If you come on over here, kneel down before me, and beg, then I
guess I can lend ya a hand. How’s that?”

『Don’t be stupid. Who in their right mind would ever bow their head
to scum like you?』

“Then there’s nothin’ more to say. I hope you’re fine with endin’ it
here, eh Tsubaki?”

Hōsen spoke directly to Tsubaki, who he assumed to have been

listening in on their conversation from over Utomiya’s shoulder.

『You noticed? Or did you just do a GPS Search?』

“Is it even worth spendin’ a point on somethin’ so obvious? I’ve

known she was a shady bitch since the first time I laid eyes on her.”

Hōsen was lying. He had noticed that Utomiya and Tsubaki were
right next to each other when he ran a GPS Search not too long ago,
but instead acted as though he had found out by instinct.

『Seems I can’t let Utomiya-kun handle this on his own after all.』

A slight smile crept up on Hōsen’s face as he listened to Tsubaki and

Utomiya’s exchange.

“You sayin’ you don’t trust Utomiya?”

『Only when it has to do with you, Hōsen-kun. Everyone knows you

two get along like water and oil, and I’m not gonna let negotiations
break down due to his inability to set aside his emotions.』

“Well then, what’re you gettin’ at with this ‘savin’ the first-years’
shit?”

Page | 205
『I’m sure you already know the answer to that. Four groups in the
bottom ten are first-years, with two of them from Class 1-D. If
nothing changes before the exam ends, then the damage done to the
first year, and your class in particular, will be enormous.』

Hōsen was the sole person in charge of Class 1-D right now, and for
someone in his position, this should be quite a pressing situation.

In fact, it would be strange if the person in his position wasn’t at

least somewhat anxious to do something about it.

However, not only was Hōsen unwilling to take action, but he didn’t
even seem fazed by the prospect of his classmates being expelled.

“So fuckin’ what? You’re not seriously thinkin’ of askin’ me to help

you save ‘em all?”

『I have one quick question before I answer that. Nanase-san is on

your side here, correct?』

For the first time since the walkie-talkie made it into Hōsen’s hands,
Nanase’s presence was acknowledged.

This was Tsubaki’s attempt to probe for additional information, be it

as simple as an extended silence or a careless slip of the tongue.

“More or less. She’s at least got some use compared to all the rest of
the worthless trash in Class D.”

『I see. Then I won’t worry about her and get on with it. Essentially,
you’re correct. I plan on saving all four groups, as well as any other
first-years who drop into the bottom five moving forward.』

Page | 206
“Yer spouting some awfully big words for someone who’s had to
come crawlin’ to me for help. You ain’t done jack shit to make a
name for yourself since enrollment, so are you even capable of
backin’ ‘em up? You’re not gonna like it if I find out you’re just
wasting my precious time for no reason.”

『For someone whose time’s so precious, you seem to have quite a

lot to spare lazing around.』

Tsubaki’s words seemed to indicate that she had been monitoring

Hōsen’s physical location for longer than expected.

“You know what? Just for fun, how ‘bout I send your little errand boy
Katagiri back to ya half-dead?”

Hōsen’s expression grew cold as he looked over at Katagiri, who

promptly shrank back in fear.

Though, to be fair, with the way the mood had changed, the vast
majority of students would probably find themselves doing the same.

『Don’t get so cocky, Hōsen. If you lay a single finger on Katagiri, I’ll
make sure you end up regretting it.』

『Stop Utomiya-kun. Don’t interfere.』

『But─』

A disagreement seemed to break out between Utomiya and Tsubaki,

but the transmission was cut off before anything more could be
heard.

“‘Ey Katagiri, what happened with them?”

“Eeeek!”
Page | 207
Hōsen’s smirk was so ominous that Katagiri began to unconsciously
distance himself as he cried out in fear, almost as if he was trying to
run away.

“Tsk, fuckin’ wimp. Hurry up and get lost.”

“B-but the walkie-talkie…”

“The walkie-talkie? I’ll take real good care of it for you.”

“But…”

“Katagiri-kun, don’t say anything more. It’s probably for the best that
you just leave it with Hōsen-kun.”

Nanase took it upon herself to step between them in an attempt to

persuade Katagiri to stand down.

The look in her eye seemed to convey that even she didn’t know
what might happen if he continued to dig in his heels.

And just over Nanase’s shoulder, Katagiri could see Hōsen staring
him down with a piercing glare. It was so intimidating that he was
practically scared senseless, causing him to turn tail and run away
into the forest, nearly stumbling over his own feet in the process.

“What a retard.”

“You were immensely overbearing there.”

“That’s just my way of doin’ things. But you already knew that.”

After Nanase and Hōsen exchanged a few choice words with each
other, Tsubaki finally responded.

『Thanks for waiting, shall we pick up where we left off?』

Page | 208
“Fine with me. Oh, but just to let you know, that Katagiri guy left his
walkie-talkie with me and ran off somewhere.”

『You threatened him, right?』

Tsubaki spoke bluntly, as if his actions had already been accounted

for.

“That puny weakling wouldda had it rough as shit against me. The
fight between us wouldda been over before it even started. Same
thing goes for you too, Tsubaki.”

『Indeed, no matter how hard I tried, I doubt I could ever beat you in
a fist fight. But, this alone would be another story.』

“This?”

『I’m pointing at my head. A battle of the mind.』

Hōsen couldn’t help but let out a laugh at Tsubaki’s seemingly

serious response.

“Ha… You’re a piece of fuckin’ work if ya really think you’re sharper

than I am.”

『There’s a way to forcefully save a group that’s fallen into a rut, but
in order to do that, we’ll need all the help we can get. The
upperclassmen already seem to be using a roughly similar strategy,
so I’d like to borrow the power of Class 1-D as well.』

This was the reason why Tsubaki was reaching out to Hōsen, who
had been off doing whatever he wanted since the exam first began.

“As much as I’d love to help you guys, I’ve got shit to do right now.
I’m real fuckin’ busy.”
Page | 209
Tsubaki knew full well that Hōsen had plenty of time on his hands,
given that his GPS signal hadn’t moved an inch even after his first
designated area was announced. However, she deliberately chose
not to mention that, just to see how he would react.

『‘Real fuckin’ busy’, huh…? You mean with trying to get Ayanokōji-
senpai expelled, yes?』

“Pretty much. I don’t have the time to give a fuck about how many of
my trash classmates get kicked outta here.”

『But how exactly do you plan on expelling him? It’s already the
morning of the eighth day and Ayanokōji-senpai is still operating all
on his own, but his name hasn’t shown up in the bottom ten yet. In
this special exam, there are only two ways to get expelled. Either
your entire group retires, or you finish as one of the bottom five in
terms of overall score.』

And having him finish as a part of the bottom five was obviously less
practical than its alternative.

『While a handful of students have retired this past week, the

number of groups that have been eliminated so far is still at zero. We
have a week left and it’s only going to get harder from here, so a
couple of groups might very well get eliminated at some point.』

『That’s certainly true. I know some are already pretty close to

running out of food.』

Utomiya chimed in from over Tsubaki’s shoulder. He, alongside many

of his companions, had already provided aid to first-year groups who
were struggling for food several times by now.

Page | 210
『If five other groups are eliminated first, it’ll become effectively
impossible to get Ayanokōji-senpai expelled, right? So in a sense, you
can think of bailing out the failing first-years as means to help ensure
Ayanokōji-senpai’s expulsion.』

Upon hearing Tsubaki’s point, for the first time, Hōsen’s cocky smile
began to fade, instead taking on an air of serious consideration.

“Bailing out the first-years, huh? Well, it doesn’t sound like a terrible
idea… Aight, cut past all the bullshit and tell me your plan then.”

『As I said earlier, we’ll bring together our entire school year, just like
the upperclassmen have been doing. We’ll have the groups that are
lagging behind merge together with groups doing well enough to
pick up the slack. If it comes down to it, I’d like to try and snipe Tasks
away from the struggling second and third-year groups as well.』

“If the plan’s that simple, then how come you’ve come crawlin’ to
me for help? I can’t imagine Class A and B would be willin’ to help
our classes neither.”

『You don’t need to worry about that. They already decided to

cooperate with me a long time ago. At this point, we’re all just
waiting for you to get on board too.』

Essentially, they were ready to take action as soon as Class 1-D

promised to cooperate.

“It ain’t a bad idea at all, but you haven’t said jack shit that proves
you’ll be able to get anywhere with it. At the end of the day, you’d
just be using the same ol’ strategy as everyone else. And I’ll tell you
what: the first-years’ll be first to fuck things up what with how much
less experienced we are.”
Page | 211
While on the surface it seemed as though Hōsen had been listening
half-mindedly, he had actually been slowly pouring over every facet
of Tsubaki’s strategy inside his head.

And after a period of deliberation, he had concluded that, although

their odds of saving the struggling first-years would go up, there’d be
no getting around the disadvantageous position it would otherwise
put them in.

『You’re not wrong. With the plan as it is now, we might not be able
to protect every first-year out there.』

“Oh? Maybe I was just imaginin’ shit earlier, but I thought you said
you were gonna save every single one of ‘em?”

『Just as you’ve hypothesized, if everyone were to use the same

strategy, the first-years would indeed lose out in the end. Therefore,
why not just force a couple retirements before the exam comes to a
close?』

With this, Tsubaki’s true target finally began to take shape.

『There are still a handful of upperclassmen taking on the exam

alone, you know? Let’s just flatten them.』

“I see. If five solo groups drop out, I guess it’s possible to save ‘em
all.”

『Originally I thought it’d be best to try and claim the upper hand
once everybody started to exhaust themselves. I’d planned on it
being in the second half of the exam, ideally some time between day
eight and day ten, but, well… there were a few unexpected
setbacks.』
Page | 212
Firstly, there was the fact that Hōsen hadn’t shown up for the secret
meeting on the sixth day.

But at the same time, there was the fact that just about everybody
had been given the chance to recover their stamina after the bad
spell of weather ruined the seventh day.

Both of these ‘setbacks’ instantly crossed Hōsen’s mind as well.

“So? Tell me exactly what you’re lookin’ to get me to do for you.”

『The acting director mentioned something when he was going over

this exam, remember? That it’s not a problem if you solve things with
a bit of violence? You yourself have been planning to use brute force
to beat Ayanokōji-senpai to a pulp, haven’t you Hōsen-kun?』

“Well sorta, it’s not like I’ve got any other option.”

Hōsen responded as such, but his true intentions were slightly

different.

He actually had several other strategies in mind, but regardless of

which one he ended up going for, the fact remained that he wanted
to crush Ayanokōji with his own two hands.

『But it’s been difficult to stop Ayanokōji-senpai all by yourself, given

how he’s constantly on the move, right? That’s the reason why you
haven’t found the opportunity to do anything yet. However, it’d be a
different story if you were to cast a wider net.』

Tsubaki was implying that she would be willing to take on that role
for him.

『For your information, I’ve looked into how many first-year students
are both confident in their fighting abilities and willing to make use
Page | 213
of them, such as yourself and Utomiya-kun. If you can surround
Ayanokōji-senpai with enough people, he won’t be able to escape
unscathed.』

“So you’re tellin’ me to help put this little stunt of yours into action?”

『Yep.』

“What kinda slack-jawed idiots would just go along with somethin’ so

dangerous? Utomiya aside, I don’t reckon anyone else’d be willing to
put in the work free of charge.”

『Naturally. I’ve agreed to pay a contingency fee of 500,000 points to

those who cooperate. Unfortunately this does mean that your own
overall share of the profits will be smaller, but just think of it as a
necessary expense for the assistance provided.』

Essentially, she was proposing to share a portion of the private

points they’d earn for getting Ayanokōji expelled.

『Wait Tsubaki. At the fundamental level, violent behavior is

prohibited by the school. How many people could possibly be willing
to risk it all just for half a million private points?』

From the sound of Utomiya’s voice coming through in the

background, it seemed like this was his first time hearing the specific
details of Tsubaki’s strategy as well.

And upon hearing the sound of the transmission cut off moments
later, Hōsen realized that Tsubaki had intentionally allowed him to
overhear it.

When using a walkie-talkie, one’s voice would normally only be

transmitted if they were deliberately holding down the talk button.
Page | 214
Therefore, if it seemed like Utomiya was about to say something
confidential, she could’ve simply let go of the button.

However, she hadn’t done that. This had been her way of indirectly
conveying to Hōsen that she still had unseen cards up her sleeve.

『You’re right, it would’ve been impractical to ask them to risk it all

on day one. However, the second half of this exam will be both
physically and mentally exhausting, so the sheer amount of stress
they’ll be dealing with can’t be underestimated. Their desire to relax
and have fun will be at odds with their desire to bring about results.
Of course, it’s only natural that some might feel reluctant to take on
the risk of dealing the first blow, but that’s precisely why I’d like to
have Hōsen-kun take the lead in that regard.』

Tsubaki calmly stated her analysis, saying in a roundabout way that

Utomiya’s concerns had already been accounted for.

『It’s not uncommon for people to feel the desire to jaywalk when
there aren’t many cars around, but they’re often unwilling to take
that first step when there’s a chance that others are watching.
However, the moment one person makes a move, things change.』

And Tsubaki was saying that she wanted Hōsen to be that one
person.

“Well, I don’t hate takin’ this approach of yours, but the school ain’t
stupid.”

『When the time comes, both sides will be at fault. The school’s got a
zero tolerance policy, so we’ll both have to face expulsion.
Therefore, I’ll take full responsibility and drop out of my own volition
as the one behind the scenes issuing instructions to everyone.』

Page | 215
“Oh?”

『I don’t have any like, real attachment to this school. That’s why I’d
be chill with leaving whenever. I already gave all my private points
and my ‘Half Off’ card to the kids who grouped up with me.』

Not only had Tsubaki come up with such a detailed plan, but she had
also ensured that her accomplices would be fine even if they were to
get caught up in the aftermath.

“To think you’re willin’ to sacrifice yourself, how fuckin’ extreme.

Color me impressed.”

Hōsen spoke true words of admiration, praising Tsubaki for coming

to the negotiation table with such a powerful weapon in hand.

『Utomiya-kun, I know I didn’t tell you about any of this, but are you
opposed to it?』

『…No. In fact, I think it’d be a waste of time to try and rely on cheap,
petty tricks at this point. From what I’ve seen from observing
Ayanokōji on my own, it’s not just a coincidence that a 20 million
point bounty has been placed on his head. He’s clearly been targeted
because he’s such an abnormality. If we stay within the rules, there’s
no doubt in my mind that he’ll just outmaneuver anything we throw
at him. If you’re truly prepared to do this, then I’ve got no right to
stop you.』

Utomiya wasn’t opposed to using violence, he was just apprehensive

when it came to the consequences of doing something so utterly
transparent.

But if Tsubaki really were to take full responsibility, it was different.

Page | 216
The narrative would change entirely if it came out that Hōsen,
Utomiya, and everyone else who agreed to take part in this had just
been being used by somebody else.

It’s possible that they might get penalized in one way or another, but
it was difficult to imagine that the school would choose to expel
dozens of students who had simply been following orders.

『It’d prolly be hard to get Ayanokōji-senpai expelled with normal

methods. That’s why I think the school put together this special exam
for us, a well-crafted stage free from the eyes of surveillance.』

『I see. So this exam wasn’t a coincidence either.』

Hōsen closed the map on his tablet and switched over to recording
mode.

“Ey Tsubaki, this plan make Ayanokōji retire by usin’ violence, you
come up with it all on your own?”

『More or less.』

“And if I play along with it, no first-years’ll be expelled, right? Can

you go ahead an’ guarantee that for me?”

『I promise. And if something does happen, I’ll take full

responsibility.』

With this, Hōsen felt satisfied and turned off the recording.

『Is that all the evidence you want? It’d be safer if you had my
complete testimony, yeah?』

Page | 217
Upon hearing that she had seen through his attempt to gather
evidence, a content smile took shape on Hōsen’s face.

“So? When’s the big day?”

『I can’t tell you that yet. After all, I can’t afford to let such critical
information leak out so easily.』

“So ya don’t trust me, huh? Maintainin’ secrecy is great an’ all, but I
might not be able to help ya at the drop of a hat.”

『That’s exactly why I’m giving you that walkie-talkie.』

Apparently, she had intended to give Katagiri’s walkie-talkie to Hōsen

from the very beginning.

In other words, the result would’ve been the same whether Hōsen
had stolen it or not.

“So that’s how it is, eh?”

『I’ll contact you again when the time’s right. Take care.』

Saying that, Tsubaki one-sidedly ended the call.

“What a crafty little bitch.”

With a sneer, Hōsen slid the walkie-talkie into his pocket.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I could do whatever, but there probably ain’t no harm in just ridin’

along with Tsubaki’s little strat. In any case, I was still plannin’ on
crushin’ Ayanokōji, even if I had to do it all myself.”

To do that, he would have to repeatedly spend points on GPS

Searches.
Page | 218
But since it sounded like Tsubaki was willing to take care of that,
Hōsen had decided that he might as well just hitch a free ride.

“We get to do whatever we want and Tsubaki’ll take all the blame.
It’s way too sweet a deal.”

“I get a suspicious feeling from it personally… Are you sure you’re not
just being used?”

“She’s welcome to try. Well, I don’t really give a fuck either way.”

“…I’ll help too.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I want to do what I can to protect our classmates. Please, let me

stick with you until we hear more from Tsubaki-san.”

Presented with Nanase’s earnest plea, Hōsen responded with a few

simple words.

“Do whatever you want.”

Page | 219
Part 1
And now, let’s shift the timeline back to the present, at precisely
6:51 AM on the thirteenth day of the special exam.

Utomiya came across Tsubaki sitting beside her tent, looking up at

the sky.

“What are you thinking about Tsubaki?”

“Just thinking through everything one last time. You need

somethin’?”

“Well, I just thought I’d have a few words with you before we carried
out our strategy. After all, this might be the last time we ever see
each other.”

“Fair enough.”

Since this could very well be their final conversation, they decided to
touch bases with each other.

“Why haven’t you been using your walkie-talkie to communicate

with me like you do with everybody else?”

“Because you can’t understand what someone is truly thinking

without talking to them face-to-face. You were there for the entire
conversation with Hōsen-kun, so you should know exactly what I
mean by that.”

“Indeed. While I could get the gist of what he’s up to over the walkie-
talkie, it’s impossible to straight-up trust anything he said to us.”

“You say that mostly because you don’t like him, don’t you?”

Tsubaki’s words hit the nail right on the head, causing Utomiya to
turn and look away with embarrassment clear on his face.
Page | 220
“Out of all the first-years, you’re the only one I can trust, Utomiya-
kun. I let you hear about the plan face-to-face because I wanted to
hear your raw, unfiltered thoughts on the matter.”

For a split second, a somewhat self-derisive smile took shape on

Tsubaki’s face, but she quickly reverted back to her usual blank
expression.

Utomiya had just been told that Tsubaki trusted him, but rather than
get caught up in that, he remembered that there was something he
needed to check.

“How are the preparations going?”

“Wanna see a GPS screenshot I took just a bit ago?”

With that, Tsubaki powered on her tablet and tilted the screen
toward Utomiya.

Ayanokōji’s campsite was located in area E5, whereas the first-years

were currently located in areas D4 and E6.

“Our positioning is perfect, just as you planned.”

“Well, we’ve been very thorough in that regard, wouldn’t you say?
The terrain just so happens to favor us as well.”

Tsubaki slowly raised her eyes and looked at Utomiya, who was
fixated on analyzing the screenshot.

Meanwhile, a certain young man approached the two of them.

“Tsubaki-san, do you have a minute?”

The young man was none other than Yagami, the effective leader of
Class 1-B and a member of the same group as Utomiya.

“Everything’s good to go, so I guess I have time, but…”

Page | 221
Suspicious of Yagami’s intentions, Tsubaki let show a look of slight
dissatisfaction.

“To tell you the truth, there’s something I really feel the need to talk
to you about, Tsubaki-san.”

“Sorry, but hold on a second. There’s something I want to ask Yagami

about first.”

Before Yagami could successfully pull Tsubaki aside, Utomiya

interrupted with a strong tone.

“What is it?”

“Your GPS signal disappeared all of a sudden yesterday. Where did

you go?”

“My apologies. My watch broke down all of a sudden, so I rushed

back to the starting area to get it fixed.”

As he said this, Yagami held out his left wrist, showing everybody his
watch.

“It broke, did it? That makes twice now.”

By this point Utomiya had raised his guard, fully suspecting that
Yagami was up to something.

“What are you planning, Yagami?”

“It’s disheartening to hear that you suspect me of scheming just

because my watch broke. Didn’t your watch break a few days ago
too, Utomiya-kun? Wouldn’t that make you suspect as well?”

“Mine was nothing more than a simple software malfunction.”

“And the same goes for me.”

Page | 222
Utomiya scowled at Yagami, who had been smiling throughout this
entire exchange.

“Hey, could you two stop with this bickering? We’re all friends here,
no?”

“…Sorry. I guess I might just be a little on edge with the plan coming
up here soon.”

“No no, I was out of line as well. I apologize.”

At this point, Tsubaki took the reins of the conversation and

prompted Yagami for more information.

“So it took you a full day to get your watch replaced? Or is there
something else?”

“Well, I went and prepared a gift of sorts for you in regards to

today’s operation.”

“A gift?”

“More accurately, it’s a plan to drive Ayanokōji-senpai into a corner.

After all, things don’t always play out the way you expect them to,
right?”

The plan was set to go into action very soon, and yet Yagami was
now suggesting something unsettling.

However, the one who felt the most alarmed by this was not
Tsubaki, but rather Utomiya, who stood right beside her.

“What exactly are you saying, Yagami? Are you seriously implying
that you think our current plan will fail? That’s-”

“Yagami-kun, I’m not carrying out my strategy with the expectation

of failure.”

Page | 223
Tsubaki raised her voice a little as she spoke, interrupting Utomiya.

“Of course you aren’t. Your strategy is effectively flawless, Tsubaki-

san. You could even say it’s so airtight that not even a measly ant
could slip past you. You’ve gathered the largest, most proficient
lineup of first-years you possibly could’ve, so I certainly don’t doubt
that you’ll succeed. However, don’t you think it’d be best to take
whatever precautions you have available to you?”

Despite her suspicions about Yagami’s incessant chattering, Tsubaki

responded calmly.

“Personally, I don’t want to do anything I don’t have to, but I’ll at

least listen to what you have to say.”

Internally, Tsubaki felt like it would be fine to decide what to do after

hearing out Yagami’s proposal.

“Moving forward, I imagine you’ll repeatedly use GPS Searches to

pinpoint Ayanokōji-senpai’s location as you drive him into a corner.
However, doing so will use up quite a large number of points, will it
not?”

“We’ve had one of our backup groups give us a tablet in preparation

for that.”

Utomiya chimed in to answer in Tsubaki’s stead, but it seemed that

Yagami had already taken that into account.

“I understand that, but it’s hard to say that’s an efficient way of

doing it. Do you know why that is?”

“Because we don’t know where Ayanokōji-senpai’s designated area

is, and it’s impossible to predict his movements.”

Yagami nodded once, seemingly satisfied with Tsubaki’s answer.

Page | 224
“Right. Whether Ayanokōji-senpai chooses to head toward his
designated area, chase after a Task, or simply try and escape from
us… if we can successfully predict what he decides to do, then our
efficiency will rise dramatically.”

“If it were that easy to find out where he’s headed, then we wouldn’t
have any problems. But that’s exactly why we’ve prepared tablets
from several groups so that we can run as many GPS Searches as we
want.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about whether or not I could be

helpful to you, so I decided to do a little investigating. Specifically, I
asked myself: Of the twelve tables, which one does Ayanokōji-senpai
belong to?”

Tsubaki had been idly twirling a lock of hair around her finger, but
when Yagami said this, she stopped.

And at the same time, Utomiya suddenly drew silent.

“So you’re sayin’ you know what table he’s part of?”

“Yes. Although, strictly speaking, it’s this tablet right here that truly
knows, not me.”

Saying that, Yagami brought out a tablet.

“What’s so special about a tablet?”

“I borrowed this particular tablet from one of my peers in Class 1-B.

As it turns out, their group is part of the same table as Ayanokōji-
senpai.”

“In other words, with this, we’ll be able to find out Ayanokōji-
senpai’s projected movements without any delays.”

Yagami nodded calmly.

Page | 225
By identifying Ayanokōji’s designated area right when it gets
announced, it made anticipating his movements that much easier.

“And you’re 100% certain that this peer of yours shares the same
table as Ayanokōji?”

Utomiya spoke roughly, practically demanding an answer from

Yagami.

However, Yagami ignored him and continued addressing Tsubaki.

“As for how I went about investigating it, I─”

“Repeatedly ran GPS Searches until you managed to identify groups

with similar movement patterns, right?”

Tsubaki had figured out the method without so much as a second

thought.

“…Impressive. Perhaps my help wasn’t needed after all?”

Yagami, who had wanted to surprise Tsubaki, had himself been

surprised in turn.

“Nah, I’d appreciate it if you lent me that tablet though. I’d like to
refrain from wasting points if at all possible, considering how many
I’m gonna have to spend moving forward. But are you really fine with
it?”

“We’re in the same boat here, Tsubaki-san. Your success is directly

tied to my own. Moreover, while Utomiya-kun and I have been
fighting hard together on behalf of all the first-years, it’s gradually
gotten more and more difficult for us to get into the top three. With
that being the case, I’ve been left with no choice but to focus my
efforts on other matters.”

Page | 226
The reason why Yagami had come here today was because he no
longer found much significance in earning more points.

If he were in a position where he could realistically make it to first

place, he wouldn’t have had the free time to come here.

Having made his point clear, Yagami continued.

“Furthermore, if you don’t accept my proposal, I won’t be able to

provide you with insurance.”

“Insurance? What the heck are you getting at?”

“Our number one priority is to drive Ayanokōji-senpai into a corner

with your strategy and force him to retire from the exam. However,
that might end up failing for any number of reasons. For instance,
what if Ayanokōji-senpai is traveling together with a third party for
the entire day? You can’t attack him when there might be witnesses,
right?”

“There’s no need to worry about that. He’s been pretty much all on
his own since day eight.”

Utomiya quickly commented that Yagami’s concerns had already

been accounted for, but Yagami simply shook his head.

“But you can’t guarantee that that’ll still be the case here on day
thirteen.”

“Sure, I guess that’s true. But what’s your point?”

“In the event that something unexpected happens that causes the
plan to fail, why not change tactics? We can prevent him from
reaching his designated areas, denying him from earning points.
Furthermore, tomorrow is day fourteen, the final day, so we’ll have
three additional opportunities to prevent him from earning
anything.”
Page | 227
“So you’re saying we can make him face a penalty a total of five
times between today and tomorrow?”

“No, we’ll actually be able to make him face a penalty a total of

seven times. Yesterday, Ayanokōji-senpai failed to reach his third
designated area, area D4, since it was randomly designated too far
away from him, and he didn’t make it to the area after that, D2,
either, meaning that he’s already missed two in a row. I’ve gone and
verified that he had focused on doing Tasks instead.”

“If he gets penalized seven times, that’s twenty-eight points down

the drain… That’s nothing to scoff at.”

There were only two days left in the exam. Losing twenty-eight
points during such a crucial period would be quite a serious blow.

At this point, Utomiya felt like this ‘insurance policy’ Yagami had
come up with might very well be worth considering after all.

“For the time being, Ayanokōji-senpai is still alone. While it’s unclear
exactly how many points he has, I doubt he has very many given that
he’s the only one in his group. He might even use points on the GPS
Search to try and escape us once he knows he’s under attack. And to
top it all off, if we can predict the Tasks he goes for and make it to
them before he does, we’ll have a decent chance to make him drop
down to the bottom of the leaderboards.”

“Well, you’re definitely not wrong.”

“If this ‘insurance policy’ successfully makes Ayanokōji-senpai retire,

then how about we split the bounty 25-50-25? I take five million, you
guys get ten million, and we distribute what remains to the groups
that failed. Everyone should be satisfied with that, no?”

“It doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me, what do you think, Tsubaki?”

Page | 228
While Utomiya was truly awestruck by Yagami’s proposal, Tsubaki
didn’t seem to have much of a reaction to it.

“Tsubaki, I think we should take advantage of this.”

Faced with Tsubaki’s silence, Utomiya spoke up once again,

encouraging her to accept Yagami’s proposal.

“Well, if you’ve truly gone outta your way to get that tablet for us, I
wouldn’t really have any other choice but to accept. However…”

Tsubaki trailed off as she reached into her bag and took out a stack
of three tablets: her own, a previously-mentioned backup, and now a
third one.

“What’s this third one?”

“A tablet from someone with the same table as Ayanokōji-senpai,

same as yours.”

“What? When did you…?”

There had been no need for Yagami’s help in the first place. Tsubaki
already had everything she needed right in the palm of her hand.

“You’ve really gone beyond my greatest expectations, Tsubaki-san.

To think you had already come up with the very same idea…”

“Then, why didn’t you say anything about this!?”

Frustrated, Utomiya pressed for Tsubaki to explain herself.

“I just didn’t like it. That is, that Yagami-kun had also thought of the
same exact plan of makin’ Senpai miss his designated areas. I was
tryin’ to act dumb and let him have his moment, but it ended up
being way too similar to my own plan for me to keep my mouth
shut.”

Page | 229
Yagami and Utomiya exchanged glances at Tsubaki’s more-or-less
childish logic.

“If that’s the case, it’d be inappropriate for me to try and claim
remuneration. Allow me to forgo my five million points. In the
meantime, I’ll take a step back and keep an eye on things from a
distance.”

“Thanks. It really is quite hard to get things done when someone you
don’t trust is breathing down your neck, so that helps I guess.”

No matter how unabashedly blunt Tsubaki’s words may have been,

Yagami accepted them with a calm, satisfied look on his face and
promptly took his leave.

Once he was out of earshot, Utomiya spoke up.

“Tsubaki, suppose we manage to take down Ayanokōji by force, will

the school really end up retiring him from the exam?”

“Nothing is guaranteed when using heavy-handed tactics like this.

Worst case scenario, those of us who set this up might be the only
ones kicked out of here.”

“If that were to also happen to the groups that helped us, we’d be
dealing with quite a serious number of expulsions.”

An outcome where only the first-year students were expelled.

Utomiya’s expression stiffened at the thought.

“But, realistically speaking, the chances of that happening are almost

zero. As the one pulling the strings, the one who would take on the
brunt of the punishment would be me and me alone. After all, the
school can’t afford to expel ten to twenty first-years.”

“That’s a problem in and of itself. Are you really planning to shoulder

the burden all on your own?”
Page | 230
“When the school first announced the previous special exam, I was
the one who proposed we try to expel Ayanokōji-senpai. You just
went along with it, no?”

“That’s true, but…”

Utomiya recalled the previous special exam that took place just after
enrollment, where they had to form pairs with one of the second-
year students.

It had been bundled together with another, hidden exam that would
award twenty million private points to whomever could get
Ayanokōji Kiyotaka expelled from the school. At the time, Utomiya
hated the idea, proposing that Class 1-C remain neutral as
spectators.

However, Tsubaki’s repeated attempts to persuade Utomiya

eventually won him over. She reasoned that twenty million private
points would be an invaluable asset for Class 1-C if they wanted to
set their sights on making it to the upper classes.

When he asked her how exactly she planned on getting Ayanokōji

expelled, she instantly stated that she’d try to pair up with Ayanokōji
and throw caution to the wind as she intentionally bombed the
exam. And then, following her expulsion, the twenty million point
bounty would fall into his own hands, given his status as her co-
conspirator. She had requested for him to use the points for Class 1-
C’s future endeavors.

“When you first told me about this plan of yours, you told me not to
ask too many questions about your motives.”

“Oh, are you curious? About why I’m so fine with letting myself get
expelled?”

Page | 231
“…I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. It simply isn’t natural for someone to
be so eager to leave when they pretty much just got here.”

“Well, I’ll admit that Class 1-C has been far cozier than I expected.
Since I’m gonna be expelled either way, I figured that I might as well
go out in a way that best benefits the class.”

Tsubaki left it at that, clearly reluctant to explain herself any further.

Utomiya also sensed that nothing good would come from trying to
press her any further, so he instead turned his gaze toward the
forest.

“Maybe it’s best if I go as well. I’m confident I could take Ayanokōji

one-on-one.”

“That’s not happening. You’re an indispensable talent for Class 1-C,

Utomiya-kun. Furthermore, even though I’ll be taking responsibility
for what happens, there’s a chance you might get hit with the same
punishment by participating. Leave Ayanokōji-senpai to the others.”

“If we were facing an ordinary opponent then I’d be fine with that.
But Ayanokōji has a twenty million point bounty on his head; he’s far
from ordinary. Even Hōsen wasn’t able to take him out and he tried
his hand before any of us. We should play every card we’re dealt.”

“True. We should definitely consider him as someone at least at

Hōsen-kun’s level.”

Despite her agreement, Tsubaki still didn’t give Utomiya the green
light on his request, instead instructing him to stay behind with her.

“…Alright, I get it. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on how you do
things.”

“Hey, Utomiya-kun.”

Page | 232
After a short pause, Tsubaki called out to Utomiya, who had begun to
distance himself so as not to get in her way.

“What?”

“You seem pretty strong; where’d you learn to fight? You’re not a
delinquent, are you?”

“It’s not really all that worth getting into. I think we can both agree
there’s no need to pry too deeply into each other’s affairs.”

“Fair enough. But let me ask you this, just to be sure… you’re not
hiding something important from me, right?”

“Hiding something? No. The upcoming fight has been the only thing
on my mind.”

“Alright then.”

And so, just like that, 7:00 AM arrived, bringing with it the start of
the exam. With a walkie-talkie in one hand and a tablet in the other,
Tsubaki pressed down on the transmission button. From the
information displayed on the tablet, Ayanokōji’s first destination was
area C3.

“Attention everyone, the enemy’s first designated area is C3. Those

in D4 are to remain on standby. As for the E6 group, start heading
north and prepare to flank. Do not engage without permission.”

Tsubaki issued her orders before quietly releasing the button.

“After eliminating Ayanokōji-senpai, I wonder which second and

third-years I should crush before the school catches on…? Hmm…”

Tsubaki spent these final moments mulling over her next potential
target.

Page | 233
Page | 234
Part 2
I noticed something unusual when designated area C3 was
announced at 7:00 in the morning.

The GPS search, which has been common for the last few days, is
done first to find competing rivals on the order of arrival. Among
them, I noticed that the three main members of the first grade,
"Utomiya", "Tsubaki" and "Yagami" solidified. Utomiya and Yagami
are in the same group so it's not surprising, but the fact that there is
a camellia is a trap. Also, I can't see the other members of the main
group.

Remembering what was heard from Nanase the other day,

instinctively. Today is when the first graders are installed. The group
of first graders is naturally scattered across the island, but the
position has changed significantly since I confirmed it last night.
There are quite a few groups in D4 and E6 that surround me.

"On the move, huh?"

It's difficult to avoid a head-on collision if the enemy plans to use GPS
search to the limit, even on a large uninhabited island. In case you
have a few days, I can be sure that you know that Nanase and I are in
the same box, and that you know the designated area to which I
should go.

If so, it is necessary to avoid simply going to C3 as it is, but it is a

great risk to reach the end of this stage and take a penalty.

Since yesterday, I had passed through the designated area twice in a

row. If you don't step on the remaining seven designated areas, how
far will the ranking drop ..? I don't know if it was a coincidence or
not, but it was the perfect time to do a trick.

Page | 235
"It seems that at least they know how to fight."

They are right about not forcing me to settle in the middle of the
night or in the early morning. If I put it in the middle of the night,
when visibility is poor, it would be impossible to catch me by many
GPS searches I have. On the other hand, if it is early in the morning, it
is difficult to know my designated area and make a strategy.

However, it is quite a large number. I had in mind the possibility that

a very small number of talented people like Housen would start
something, but it is beyond the scale of my expectations.

Housen's location remains the same as last night, on D4. If we go to

the designated area, we can coincide.

If I am attacked by freshmen, the school is most likely trying to

protect them. Yet at the same time, my existence is established as
haunting and strange throughout the school.

The goal of having a normal school life can be lost at the same time.

Even many teachers who know nothing about me will change the
perception that I am a rare student.

There is a teacher at the task point, so safety is guaranteed, but it is

not a wise choice to be followed by many. There is a way to work
with the other students, but I must

consider that not only the first-year students, but also the third-year
students, who are under Nagumo's control, are the enemy.

The only option now is to flee until the freshmen run out of energy
and give up the chase.

Ten minutes later, when the camp were clean and ready to go, I ran
the search again and saw the GPS responses from the beleaguered
freshmen coming in fast and furious.
Page | 236
Nanase's words, "If they find you, you will become a victim of
violence," will come true.

Whoever runs this strategy is not afraid to withdraw; maybe you are
a mastermind and fully prepared to take the blame if it happens.

Then you should avoid any involuntary commitment at all costs. Even
if that means ignoring a total of six designated areas, including
yesterday's.

Surrounded by the river and the mountains, it is tempting to escape

across the mountains, but it is not a wise option due to the layout. It
is better to go on the south side even if it is a little dangerous.

If I decide to move away from the designated area, the enemy will
probably not pursue me too much. I took something out of my
backpack and started walking.

Page | 237
Part 3
"How are you Tsubaki-san?"

It's 8 a.m. and if all goes well, it's about the time a group of first-year
students get in touch with Ayanokouji.

Yagami, who is concerned that the report has not yet come out of
the walkie-talkie, asks.

“'Don't be scared, everything is going according to plan so far. Things

are going very well. "

"Good to Know."

Ayanokouji is swerving orderly so as not to get caught by the first

grade group who are closing the distance. I don't know how long it
will be, but it is clear that I am using GPS

search on a regular basis. If you can spit to a point, it's better than
that. I intend to commit violence, but I think it would be ideal if I
could crush him without doing so.

If you can keep up with the movements, you will find a way to win
with no contact.

If they can't stand it and plan to force their way, they can crush him
there.

We were in a situation where we could push him, but we didn't, and

we did it in a way that made it easier for him to escape.

Tsubaki drops the scores she has accumulated without hesitation

and activates the GPS

search in 10-minute intervals. She has not been saving her test
scores for the past 12
Page | 238
days as of yesterday. To drop all scores right now.

9 a.m. passes and Ayanokouji's third step is confirmed.

The tablet then indicated that Ayanokouji's destination was D2;

Ayanokouji, who was fleeing towards C6 at the time, would have a
hard time stepping on the designated area, even if he hadn't been
disturbed. Two groups continue to move to hunt down Kiyotaka
Ayanokouji. Even with updates every 0 minutes, you can see the
movement so clearly.

If she continued, Ayanokouji could go north on the B4 and C5.

Therefore, she ordered the three remaining groups to meet at C4.

Deciding that they could wait and see for a while, Tsubaki stopped
the search for an hour and took a break.

After 10 p.m., she checks everyone's position to confirm the

situation. Ayanokouji was about to go between B4 and C5 as Tsubaki
had read. The two groups that were chasing him were also about to
enter B5.

"Don't let him go out."

She instructed the group in C4 to target Ayanokouji going down the

mountain. The objective was to get ahead of him and lead him
towards B4 and B3. From here, Tsubaki checks again every ten
minutes to get an idea of the general position. As she had read,
Ayanokouji is heading north on the B4 to escape the first-year
students who were ahead of him. Seeing this, she sends the three
groups north of C4 to hunt him down so he can't escape.

"Can I talk to you, Tsubaki-san?

"...... what?"

In the distance, Yagami, who is also handling a tablet, looks back.

Page | 239
“'Wouldn't it be possible to corner Ayakoji-senpai with more detailed
instructions? It seems like a bit of a tedious progression. "

"It's so depressing." Tsubaki decideded to ignore it, saying it in a

whisper that Yagami couldn't hear.

After another 30 minutes or so, the problems appeared. Because the

three groups that ordered to advance north from C4 had barely
moved.

If there were some kind of displacement problem, why would three

groups stop?

Now she updates the GPS position in 5 minutes, which is even

shorter than 10 minutes.

"I knew it didn't work ......"

Ayanokouji tries to get out of B3, but 3 groups haven't got out of C4.
If nothing is done, there is a risk of him escaping to C3.

"What’s happening? What's going on?"

She called on her walkie-talkie, but there was no answer.

"How weird."

Tsubaki senses that this is not a simple accident within the group.

"What's wrong, Tsubaki-san?

Yagami, who saw a shadow in her facial expression, looked into the
tablet without realizing it.

"What happened?"

“Three of the five first-year groups we sent have stopped moving.

The three groups that stopped moving had one thing in common:

Page | 240
they were all in the same position crossing paths with the
sophomores. "

In a test on an uninhabited island with more than 400 people, it is

not uncommon for several groups to pass. That's why Tsubaki hadn't
paid attention to them until now.

"Reply".

Tsubaki called again with her walkie-talkie, but got no answer no

matter how long she waited.

“Is it not possible that it is an accidental problem? On this

uninhabited island, many groups are constantly on the move in
search of designated areas and tasks, and I think it

would be dangerous to assume otherwise. "

- "Even if that’s true…there are three groups blocked for second

years?

"It's true, but ......"

For another 5 minutes, Tsubaki, who held on while suppressing her

anger, updates the GPS.

“They are starting to move, but they seem pretty slow.

"There is a group of second year students who stayed."

Meanwhile, Ayanokouji had left B4, down to B3, and was about to
head to C3. When this happens, she had no choice but to leave it to
the two groups that are following him.

The two groups that were chasing Ayanokoji also stopped moving
when they realized it.

Page | 241
And likewise, a group of sophomores is stagnant. And besides, a
group of second graders stay around there.

"It certainly seems like a second year student is sabotaging them, but
if it is ...... who ...

will it be."

Yagami took the liberty of touching the tablet and trying to check the
details.

- "Hey, get out of my way."

"What?"

"I allow you to be here because you are one of us, but I don't
remember allowing you to take it without permission."

Yagami takes a step back, while looking into her eyes full of intensity.
......

"I get it. But I would like to give my opinion. Shouldn't we check who
the second-year students are obstructing us? "

"I already know it".

Tsubaki, who intended to confirm it without being told, starts the

operation. Second year students who appear to be interfering.

However, there are no students of mixed interest in the five groups.

' It seems that the person who is leading the second year students is
not participating'

"And there is a great variety of students from class A to D, there is no

perceptible trait."

"So you are saying that it is not just one particular class, but the
entire second year that is doing the movement?
Page | 242
"So you're saying that it's not just one particular class that is doing
this, but the entire second-year class?"

It was as Yagami had said, but Tsubaki felt stuck. Why didn't she
think that all the classes would unite to protect Ayanokouji.

"...... so to speak."

An answer that arises from the situation.

"These five groups do not understand why they have been ordered
to stop us."

"Do you think they are cooperating without being informed?"

“It could be for any reason, I suppose; Perhaps this is a light

assignment in which they were asked to interfere with the
movements and tasks of the freshmen to protect a sophomore? "

“Take a look at today's GPS search logs. Swipe the screen to track
where the sophomores were. He's too good at what he does. We can
only assume that he knew all along that we were going to attack him
today.

"There are only two days left until the exam is finished. It's not
strange that the other party is very attentive. I'm sure you know that
there is a bounty on your head, so they have probably been
preparing the ground beforehand."

Yagami says it's not surprising because the closer the exam ends
date, the more they get on their guard.

"We just have to spend time attacking now, but second-year

students can't protect Ayanokouji-senpai all the time, right? There
are special tests."

With two days to go, it is time to score as many points as possible.

Page | 243
"That is sure ......."

"The other thing that worries me is that this group here is being
easily mocked.

Although they move separately, it is not easy to capture the five

groups."

Yagami couldn't respond to that concern, so he puts his hand on his

mouth and thought about it.

"Don't you know why? That shows that there is a hidden commander
there. "

"Do you think someone like Tsubaki, who is in charge, is hiding

behind all this?"

Tsubaki nods and unfolds a map of the entire island.

Somewhere in this GPS answer there is a person who is viewing the

battlefield the same way she is.

He is giving the proper instructions and kept the freshmen group at

bay

"I think we should consider suspending the operation."

"Why?"

"Are you trying to force yourself to continue with this? It is

dangerous."

“No, I won't. The five groups of students I'm capturing right now
can't do that. "

"Then, why don't you suspend them?"

"Because it's the same anyway

Page | 244
"Is the same ......?"

This situation was something Tsubaki had foreseen from the

beginning. In fact, she was even grateful that a group had appeared
to interfere.

"I don't know who is directing everything, but I am here to show you
that visual information is not everything."

What the hell are you doing?

"Perhaps your commander has noticed the five first-year groups we

moved last night."

"I see. So you've been doing nightly searches without fail. "

"As I said before, there is a second-year exam for second-year

students. As we have five groups, they will try to have five groups as
well and they will try to take advantage, and if they had six or seven
groups, they would be neglecting the exam . "

"But they may have one or two more groups just in case, right?"

"Can be. But from what I can see now, there are only five groups of
sophomores who showed irregular movements. Maybe they are
confident enough to decide that they can deal with the same
number? But that's what kills them. "

Tsubaki picked up the walkie-talkie and sent out new instructions.

“Now there is no one who can interfere. Now you can do whatever
you want ”.

"What do you want to come up with? There are no longer any groups
in the vicinity that can move. ...... "

"I told you. I told you that the information you see is not all there is. "

Page | 245
After giving the instructions, Tsubaki thinks about who is involved in
this war.

“Ayanokouji is running away? No, that's not possible. I don't have the
full strength to be able to manipulate and direct the other classes, I
can't afford that now. "

A murmur that was really just the movement of her mouth, inaudible
even to Yagami who was next to him.

When Tsubaki thinks, she tends to reason with words to the point
that her surroundings

cannot hear her. No matter how low the sound is, speaking out loud
clears the mind.

If I had to use an analogy, it would be to take clothes out of a messy

closet one at a time and put them back in, to put them in order.

“Presumably, Ayanokouji contacted the people involved in this

situation and asked for their help. So he could have prepared for this
moment from the beginning ... "

"What, did you say something?"

"It's nothing, don't worry."

I'm not sure if it's because she was whispering back and forth, but I
think the words reached Yagami's ears as well. Tsubaki replied a bit
dejected, and looked at the tablet again.

Page | 246
Part 4
Gazing at the dazzling diamond-shining sea, Sakayanagi took a sip of
water. Not so much to hydrate, but rather to bring moisture back her
lips.

It was 7:05 in the morning. Just when Tsubaki was starting to put his
plan into action.

"It seems they are on the move."

Staring at her tablet, Sakayanagi launches the instructions with her

walkie-talkie in hand. Sakayanagi continued to apply the GPS search
on the night of the 10th, the night of the 11th and the night of the
12th, and the three days in the middle of the night. To surround
Ayanokouji, it was necessary to work outside of exam hours.

"It seems that the waiting time is over, so let's get started."

"That is fine, but there is no guarantee that we will meet just

because we have moved to the same area, right?"

An indifferent voice comes out of the walkie-talkie again. It belongs

to Tsukasaki in the same class as Sakayanagi. He explained that he
would interfere with the first graders and finish today's assignment,
and send them there.

"In the last 12 days, the interior of the uninhabited island has
undergone a gradual change in terrain. Do you know what that is?”

“Change of terrain? .... In summary, is it what happens after a lot of

people move?

"So is. Students and teachers commute around the uninhabited

island on a daily basis.

Page | 247
In fact, don't you think Tsukasaki-kun uses it naturally to choose a
safe and fast route? "

Although the changes are slight, there are many roads that clearly
show signs of having been used by people because of the rain.

"Above all, it is not difficult to guess the route if you know where you
are going."

"I know you are not looking directly at it, but it is as if you can see
the road."

Although it is only on a tablet, Sakayanagi can see the uninhabited

island in three dimensions. She has a realistic simulation in his mind
of who they are and what they are like. And beyond that, it goes and
captures the shadow of the person who is painting this whole
picture.

Sakayanagi then spent a while looking at the sea, and after half an
hour, she looked at her tablet again.

"Well, there are very few people who do not move at all during this
time in which they try to get to their assigned areas and tasks ..."

And from there, if we cut the grade down to just freshmen, we can
cut it down to its lowest point in an instant. And on the third, we find
a GPS signature that hasn't moved since the test started at 7:00.

"Takuya Yagami-kun? Riku Utomiya-kun? and Sakurako Tsubaki-san?

I wonder who my adversary is. Or is it the three of them? "

She laughed and narrowed her eyes with joy. Sakayanagi began to
think about the person who had brought her this interesting fight.

That was three days ago. Returning at midnight on the 10th day of
the special exam.

Page | 248
Takemoto's group, who had a walkie-talkie with Sakayanagi,
contacted her.

“What happened at this time? Are you in trouble? "

Sakayanagi thought it was some kind of accident, but it seems like it

isn't.

“No, is not that. Actually, Ayanokouji wants to talk to you. "

"Ayanokouji-kun?"

The unexpected name cleared the consciousness of Sakayanagi, who

had numbed a bit.

"I am in debt, I would appreciate it if you would let him talk to you."

"Of course…of course. Please take charge. "

"Wait a minute."

After a time of silence...

"Sakayanagi".

"Good night, Ayanokouji-kun".

Sakayanagi begins with an elegant greeting that makes it hard to

believe she's in the middle of an exam on an uninhabited island.

"It seems that the classes are working well together."

"Yes. I was able to contact Ryuuen-kun and Horikita-san. We are

progressing smoothly.

I haven't heard the details, but it seems that Takemoto-kun and the
others were taken care of. "

Page | 249
"Your group is also making great strides, now you are in fifth place.
You are in a position where you can aim high enough."

"Not that there are no worries at all."

"Is that so?"

"Have you seen Ichinose-san?"

“No, I have not seen her even once during this exam. What
happened?"

“I got a call saying she was acting a little strange. She has been lost
for several days and I am worried ... "

It is a long special exam it would not be unusual to get sick or

depressed.

"So, what do you want from me?"

"There is one thing I want to ask you Sakayanagi."

"Please, do not hesitate to ask me. I will pay you back for saving my
classmates."

"About the White Room."

"It also sounds like a very interesting story"

Ayanokouji explains that Nanase was one of the assassins sent by

Tsukishiro, since Sakayanagi knows the story of the Acting Director.
However, other than that, there are White Room students lurking.
He explains that it is most likely Ichika Amasawa

"It would have been better if you had told me before."

Sakayanagi felt disappointed, as if she had missed an opportunity to

have fun.

Page | 250
"Because none of it was safe."

"So you want me to destroy that person named Amasawa Ichika?"

“Huh?..”

Ayanokouji feels puzzled by Sakayanagi, for saying surprising things

"Actually there is one more thing, I have another big problem."

Ayanokouji reveals to Sakayanagi about the main topic, Miyabi

Nagumo's reward for Tsukishiro. Sakayanagi is the only one of the
second-year students who has known Ayanokouji since childhood,
and she is the only one who knows him thoroughly.

But the reason they have talked about this kind of thing before is
largely because it is a problem that Ayanokouji has naturally, and
because he did not have Sakayanagi as an

"ally".

Originally, in this school, when you are in a different class, the

scheme of being enemies will not change until you graduate.

To win, there is a chance for Sakayanagi to use the White Room part.

However, she knew that the risk was not that high since he was in
contact with her. And this time, as a result of putting that lower risk
and the new risk on the balance sheet, there may be a sudden
change in which you can benefit.

"I mean, in the near future, the first-year students will take action
against Ayanokouji-kun, right?"

"That's what I mean. I want to ask Sakayanagi to take care of it. "

"But if it's the same White Room student, I don't think it's possible
for someone else to chase Ayanokouji-kun."

Page | 251
"The first years will probably try to force their entry. The most
effective way to get rid of me is to exploit the fact that I am in a
group completely alone. If they are in a position to do so, they will be
able to block by force the assignment and, if they want to go further,
obstruct movement to the designated area. "

Regardless of the number of people who come, Sakayanagi thinks

that it will not be difficult for Ayanokouji to get rid of them if he
adopts a forceful method. But that's not exactly the way he likes to
handle things.

“If it's an opponent that the first years couldn't defeat with all their
might, Ayanokouji-kun's name would spread throughout the school
immediately. As for me ... whether I should be happy or sad is a
complicated matter. "

“I'm sure you would be glad to hear it. Besides, Tsukishiro may be
planning something

.. If possible, I want to focus on that. "

"I understand the situation very well

"It is inevitable that Sakayanagi's workload will increase.

"I get it. If you want to keep a constant watch, you inevitably run the
risk of having to use a GPS search on a frequent basis. "

Inevitably, there will be a point where you have to trust Sakayanagi's

side.

"Don't worry. We already know all the scores for the group to which
Class A belongs."

"So ... you've had very close contact with them."

Page | 252
“It is very important to know which groups have problems and which
groups have plenty of space. There are a number of groups that have
some room for growth, but not enough to make it to the top 10. So
even if you use GPS search a few times per group, you can still get to
the last day in plenty of time. "

It was a strategy that could only be accomplished by joining forces

with Sakayanagi's class A, who had perfect control, and Ichinose's C-
class, who would never betray her.

The cost of insuring a walkie-talkie was not a silly thing to do.

"All I have to do is stop the first years who are heading to

Ayanokouji-kun, right?"

"Are you sure you can help me?

"It would have been a bit boring exam just to help you complete the
task, and besides, this story seems like something that could benefit
me."

"What do you mean?"

"It means that it is too big a commission for me to pay Takemoto-

kun's debt .. In other words, it will be a new" favor ", right?"

"I know it hurts to hear this, but if you get rid of them, I'll owe you a"
favor "

"It's decided. Well, then I'll get to work on my preparations."

"Oh, and if you don't mind, can I keep this walkie talkie as a loan?"

“Of course I was going to do it anyway. It's easier to get things done
if we can get in touch. Then, could you return the walkie-talkie to
Takemoto-kun? I will tell the situation and tell him to give it to
Ayanokouji-kun "

Page | 253
Sakayanagi remembers such a night on the tenth day, and smiles like
a wonderful memory.

On the tablet, the five groups that Sakayanagi had sent towards the
freshmen are in detention.

“Well, now we have arrested the five suspicious groups. Are we

trying to identify the person who planned this attack? "

With a walkie-talkie in hand, Sakayanagi contacts the students in

Class A.

Page | 254
Part 5
"Hey, Tsubaki ..."

"Anything else?"

“I don't know what kind of movements you have left, but I think you
should have given detailed instructions to the five groups in case
something like this happened; It wouldn't have been too difficult to
get the five groups out of the way before the sophomores
surrounded them, right? ”

There were a total of five groups of freshmen sent to the island, and
even if someone had marked all five, it would not have been easy to
catch them on the large uninhabited island.

Yagami said that it was a strategic mistake that the five groups were
caught so easily.

“Even if you force yourself to flee, you can always make up an excuse
later, like you got scared because you got tangled up with the grown-
ups. If you had consulted me before "

"So, you say this happened because I was negligent?"

"If you want to be tough, that's what I would say."

Looking at the disgusted Yagami, Tsubaki responds.

"But now that it's over, I'll tell you ...... it's actually the other way
around."

"Upside down?"

"It is not that my group has been caught, it is that I have caught the
other group."

" Well I'm ... sorry, I'm a little out of my league here. "
Page | 255
“The five groups sent to expel Ayanokouji-senpai. Even if you can
hunt him down to a position where you can see him, if there is a big
difference in his physical abilities, he will be able to escape, right?
Rumor has it that he has the ability similar to Housen-kun's. It means
that he didn't want to face the current group from the beginning.

As Tsubaki speaks, Yagami bows his head.

“If you put it like this, it's like saying that the five groups that we sent
from the beginning will not be able to beat Ayanokouji. This strategy
doesn't make sense. "

“The first is to find out what Ayanokouji-senpai is thinking. What do

you like and what don't you like? "

She hit the tablet with her index finger and explained.

“He disliked contact with the early years more than going to his
assigned area. He also avoided homework with the teachers and the
second and third graders. What I get clear is that he has an extreme
aversion to highlighting, and is willing to take a penalty to avoid it.

"Even if it's to learn about behavior patterns, it doesn't mean that

you have to catch the group."

“There is a more important meaning. Because this is how we caught

the group that was trying to protect Ayanokouji-senpai. "

Hearing those words, Yagami exclaims.

“The only thing we should avoid is getting in the way of our efforts to
eliminate Ayanokouji-senpai. And the only person capable of
eliminating Ayanokouji-Senpai, apart from Utomiya-kun, is Housen-
kun ... "

Finally understanding Tsubaki's goal, Yagami tries to find Housen via

GPS.
Page | 256
However, there is no trace of him anywhere.

“What you see is not everything ....... Is that what you mean?"

After finishing her explanation, Tsubaki once again dispels any

unnecessary distractions.

“Let me ask you one last question. If Housen-kun had not accepted
this case, do you think this operation would not have been possible?
"

“Hmm, not exactly. It is correct to say that we decided to carry out

this operation because we were absolutely sure that Housen-kun
would come on board. It seems that he was always willing to fight
alone. Still, if they didn't accept the case, I would just let Utomiya-
kun go. Either way, I made sure the atmosphere was perfect for one-
on-one.

Now it only remains for the two to face each other, win or lose, and
everything will be fine."

Ayanokouji, acting alone, has no choice but to withdraw.

Page | 257
Part 6
A man with a great body, especially among the students, ran
vigorously through the forest. With only one goal: defeat Ayanokouji
Kiyotaka, 2nd year D class.

Violence is not recommended in this uninhabited island test, not

even in common sense.

However, unlike the school, which is surrounded by surveillance

cameras, this desert island has no surveillance. It is impossible to
verify a specific fact with just one watch.

The Siege of Ayanokouji was conceived by Sakurako Tsubaki.

He was never interested in such things, but there was a reason he

followed the plan.

It is not easy to find a single person on a huge uninhabited island. It

would take repeated GPS searches to achieve this, and if someone
got in the way, they would be dead in the water.

Having one person in charge will help eliminate those distractions.

Due to this thought, Housen decided to pretend to follow Tsubaki's
instructions.

Find Ayanokouji without any effort, and finish him off one by one
without anyone

getting in the way.

When the distance to Ayanokouji was almost within reach, Housen

dropped the walkie-talkie.

This is a sign that he will not follow Tsubaki from now on. He takes
out his own tablet and performs a GPS search to do the final fill. He
checks on the GPS Ayanokouji Kiyotaka in front of him, about 300
Page | 258
meters away. He's closer than any of the other rookies. Just a few
more minutes.

Housen was already chewing on the joy of being able to participate

in a serious fist fight.

But... As if to block Housen's route, a single response from the GPS

blocked his view.

Thinking it was a mere coincidence, Housen didn't even try to see

who it belonged to.

He managed to catch Ayanokouji out of the corner of his eye.

"I found you, Ayanokouji-senpai!"

Ayanokouji noticed that Housen was screaming excitedly and turned

around.

"Housen."

Ayanokouji calmly looked at Housen and stopped walking.

"I've been waiting for this moment!"

“I thought you would come to see me before. You are much calmer
than I thought. "

"I don't like it when they get in a fight."

"I know Nanase came to see you to gently warn you."

"I see. You made an effort to get Nanase to warn of the attack a day
before to have time to prepare."

“I knew it was a tactic that I didn't like, but it also worked for me. I
decided to use it to my advantage. "

Page | 259
Housen screamed as his left and right fists clenched and slammed
into each other. He had no doubt that in less than ten seconds a real
fist fight would begin.

“It's a difficult task, isn't it? Housen. "

"Oh?"

In this place where a one-to-one place was supposed to be expected,

a man was standing without a shadow.

"Get out of here. You're on my way."

The man waited as if he had anticipated Housen's appearance.

Ayanokouji made light eye contact with the man and disappeared
deep into the forest. Housen wanted to go after him immediately,
but the man in front of him was hard to ignore.

"Why are you here? Ryuuen. "

"That's my line, Housen. You have nothing to do here, do you? "

With that comment from Ryuuen, Housen immediately understood

what was going on.

"Eh? ...... Ha, so apparently what I'm thinking comes from

somewhere else."

Housen, who immediately understood the situation, smiled in

amusement.

"So it was not a coincidence that the other first years were retained
by the second years."

The boys who had been sent to Tsubaki to hunt Ayanokouji did not
move from their site so that they would overlap by the GPS with the
second years. Everything showed that, just as Tsubaki controlled the

Page | 260
first year, there was someone in the second year who also controlled
the grade.

"It's you? No, it is not like that. "

If Ryuuen is in command, tablets and walkie-talkies are essential.

However, from what he could see, Ryuuen didn't appear to be

carrying a backpack.

Also, it would be difficult for someone fighting on the front lines to

lead more than one group.

"Have you already understood everything?"

"Do not care. It is none of your business what I do. "

He understood what was happening, but he didn't understand why

Ryuuen was part of the effort to stop Ayanokouji from leaving
school.

"I'm afraid I have something to do with it."

With a thin smile, Ryuuen began to walk slowly towards Housen.

“I have a lot to do and my pockets are empty. If necessary, I will act

as a mercenary soldier. "

“You mean money. But what makes you think you can stop me? "

"Why do you think I can't do it?"

Short distance. The two of them smile hauntingly at each other's

fingertips. It was Ryuuen who made the first move. Without taking
his gaze off Housen, he aimed his clenched left fist at Housen. The
difference in power and stamina due to the difference in physique is
obvious, so aim for the chin.

"Whoa ....., that's a pretty daring left hand you have there."
Page | 261
Although he had taken the initiative, Housen, already in combat
position, did not lower his guard. He lightly caught Ryuuen's left fist
in front of his chest and opened his mouth to smile.

"Don't give me that stinky breath, gorilla."

"You're a good talker. Show me your pride and skill as a sophomore,

will you? Hey!"

As soon as he released his left fist, he immediately grabbed his arm

and pulled him back.

Housen then slams his own forehead against Ryuuen's.

"Aah!"

Ryuuen staggered violently at the unexpected blow that violently

shook his brain. Not that Ryuuen hasn't been through much. In fact,
he has a history of always being up front in fights and fighting a lot
more than the average criminal.

However, the Housen number, on the other hand, is several times

higher.

"Oraa!"

Unable to maintain his evasive stance, Ryuuen was hit by Housen's

front kick to the abdomen. He fell to the ground with great force and
showed a large gap, but Housen smiled widely and did not move
from the spot.

"You've been barking and howling for less than ten seconds, haven't
you? Don't make me laugh."

"Ha ...... you're a hard stone head fucking. Aren't you made of a real
stone there? Damn gorilla."

Page | 262
Immediately after getting up, Ryuuen said something that provoked
Housen again.

Hearing this, Housen lightly scratched the back of his neck, as if

somewhat surprised.

"I guess I was expecting too much. You're not that good to me after
all."

"I don't think you will find anyone with whom you are happy."

“I know you are here, because of Ayanokouji, who was walking

carefree behind you. Let me take care of it."

"Yes?"

Hearing Housen's words, Ryuuen's smile, which had been on his face
all this time, disappeared.

"What, do you also know something, Housen?"

"Know what? So you're really trying to act like nothing's wrong? "

"I thought that not many people knew what it was like between us,
but I didn't know that we had that in common."

They spoke conversational, trying to convince each other in a Series

of monologues.

"For the first time, I am interested in you, Housen. When and where
did you fight, and what was the result?"

"So you're obsessed with Ayanokouji too, huh, Ryuuen?"

The main reason Ryuuen is still in this school is to get revenge on

Ayanokouji. As long as he had that, he would not allow Ayanokouji to
lose, no matter if it was a fight or not.

Page | 263
Although the Housen in front of him is a brawler who does not fit in
the frame of a high school student. Housen sniffed at the heat mixed
with a hint of killing intent.

"Don't worry. I haven't finished with him, or should I say I haven't

even started."

He shook his head left and right, his bones creaking as he

approached Ryuuen.

“I have never seen anyone stop my fist calmly. First of all, I don't
think I'll ever see anyone who doesn't seem to be in pain while being
stabbed with a knife. "

The words "knife" and "stabbed" immediately triggered a memory in

Ryuuen's mind.

‘That Ayanokouji had bandaged his hand for a while, and that he had
a scar.’

"Hey, it looks like you've been having a lot of fun without me."

Ryuuen was hit by two fists, but the color of his eyes didn't change at
all as he looked at Housen. Not wanting to raise his guard in the face
of such an eerie situation, Housen kept pressing. He has always been
in a fighting stance, without any pride or carelessness in the fight.

He is always ready for a fight, especially if the enemy in front of him

is Ryuuen, who was notorious at school. He kicked the ground and,
with a speed not expected of a man of his stature, approached him.
He turned around Ryuuen's guard, who was preparing to defend his
face, and twisted his fist in his face.

The arm swung so hard that the nose would have been broken had it
not been for the arm guard. As soon as he got up, Ryuuen crashed
back to the ground.

Page | 264
Anyone would be convinced that from the coup they just saw, the
difference between Ryuuen and Housen is obvious.

Ryuuen immediately raised his upper body, but as if he was aiming

for that moment, he was surprised by a powerful kick to the face and
fell backwards with great force.

"You've been busy falling asleep and getting up right?"

Less than a minute into the fight, it seemed obvious to everyone who
was going to be the winner.

"Screw you..."

"Ha ha! That's what I thought, Ryuuen! That's all you are!"

Housen screamed with joy, but at the same time he was forced to
scream. There is an irreversible difference in the ability to fight right
from the start. And, despite this, Ryuuen's will to fight showed no
sign of breaking. Eighty percent of the people Housen fought broke
his spirits after a single hit. The remaining 10% would make a show
of bravery. And the remaining 10% would despair as soon as the
second or third hit was struck.

However, the Ryuuen in front of him was damaged, but no change in

the color of his eyes could be seen. In that mental exchange, Ryuuen
was one step ahead of Housen.

"It seems like you're having fun, but do you think you've already
won?"

Despite the pain, Ryuuen raised his upper body again without losing
his smile.

"Don't make me laugh. Do you think you are at my level?"

Housen, who is under his eyes, grabs Ryuen's chest and lifts it up.

Page | 265
"At the end of the day, you are a man who can only get ahead with
the help of the little ones."

" Winning one-on-one isn't everything today, is it? In fact, in high

school, the public's opinion of you and me was the same. "

Facing the facts, Ryuuen tries to convince Housen.

“It seems that you have been sneaking around and avoiding direct
confrontation. It is n effort that makes you cry. "

The jolt wasn't completely useless, but it wasn't effective enough to

do any damage.

Housen, who has an overwhelming punching advantage, has nothing

to change at that position. And Ryuuen, who was still holding on to
him, turned his left hand.

He spread his hand next to Housen and squirted a handful of dirt into
his eyes.

"Ah!"

He showed a surprise attack, but Housen blocked the dirt with his
free opposite hand.

"Is so sweet!"

"Really!"

This time, he waved his right hand again and shot the sand in his
hand towards Housen

"That's why it's so sweet!"

Housen used his arm to avoid the sand again that came out of his
right hand. He had felt the fists from the moment he grabbed the
fallen Ryuuen and lifted him up.

Page | 266
“It has always been a common practice for the weak to fall in a
fight."

This time, Housen's fist quickly struck Ryuuen on the right side of his
face. A jab-type hit that focuses on speed rather than power. He shot
him alternately, this time on the left side and then the right. He
attacked like a boxer repeatedly hitting his fists on a punching bag.

While receiving a powerful shock that nearly knocks him

unconscious, the eyes of Ryuuen they crossed Housen's pupils
momentarily. Immediately afterwards, Housen's vision wavered for a
moment as he saw Ryuuen fall as if he were going to fly off.

"..."

Ryuuen, who twisted his body as he was nearly killed, unleashed a

spinning kick just before collapsing. Only the shape of Housen's
silhouette was visible, which is slightly blurred. Housen, who had no
intention of taking a single hit, became frustrated and squeezed and
grabbed Ryuuen's bangs with his left hand.

"Are you satisfied to die innocently? Hey!? I am going to kill you!"

Before the guard arm goes up, he repeatedly hits his right fist on
Ryuuen's abdomen.

"There is no one who can beat me in a fight!"

When the seventh fist goes through, an alert sounds from Ryuuen's
watch.

"Hahaha! Pretending to be calm, but yelling because your body is on

edge? It seems that the wristwatch is more direct than you!"

A wristwatch that detects an abnormality, such as a heart rhythm,

issues an alert.

Page | 267
"Seriously gorilla ... I'll just admit I'm proud of the fight ..."

Housen, who saw the compliment as a surrender, loosed his bangs

with a triumphant smile. Unable to stand upright, Ryuuen collapses
to the ground.The alert resounds throughout the forest.

"Isn't the emergency alert sounding? Is it about time you approached

your limits? Is it okay to be honest without hiding it?"

"H ... let's put the joke aside. Isn't the clock broken?"

Ryuuen looks at his wristwatch and laughs, but it is evident to

everyone that the damage is great. Seeing that awkward
appearance, Housen spits on his feet in a bored manner.

"So Ryuuen. I feel like I didn't enjoy."

"Wait. You think you've won."

"Ah?"

"Did I say that I lost to you even once?"

It was Housen who went through the words, but squeezed his mind
once. Although he was in a state of one-sided intimidation, Ryuuen's
eyes weren't dead as he said.

"I'll admit that will power, but ... You can't keep it forever!"

Humans are vulnerable to pain.Even if it is strong, it will be equally

painful if it is hit with a powerful force like Housen's fist.

It's just a matter of how many hits it can take.

Even if you bear it, the overwhelming difference is impossible to

override.

Even if the second alert sounds, he won't lose his composure and
inflict pain on Ryuuen with precision.
Page | 268
After being attacked by Housen many times, Ryuuen's wristwatch
finally turns into an emergency alert. If left like this for 5 minutes or
more, staff and medical equipment will come to the scene.

"Your body is sincere. It has had enough with this desperate

situation."

"Oh ...... that's a pleasantly numbing pain ......"

However, he got up with a strange laugh without looking at his

wristwatch at all. For the first time, Housen knew that Ryuuen's
untamed spirit power was genuine.

"What the hell is wrong with you? . You can't even stand, why are
you so persistent?

There is not a single advantage to being dumb here.

He wears his watch to his ear so he can use it as an alarm clock for a
strong emergency alert.

"Are you holding on to that? Hah, the idea itself is wrong."

At that moment, Housen thought that Ryuuen would immediately

turn off the emergency alert.

But in the end, without turning off the emergency alert, Ryuuen
lowered his arm and put his hands in both pockets.

"The game is not over yet."

"Are you sane? ... The teachers will come here, will you retire?"

"If so, will you quit after all?"

If the school sees this situation, Ryuuen asked how to judge it.
Housen received a light kick to the chin, but his evidence was almost

Page | 269
nil. The probability that the school interprets that unilateral violence
has occurred cannot be ignored.

"You're going to play the victim just because you can't compete with
your enemy, you're very pathetic. You're so pathetic, Ryuuen."

Depending on the conditions, it can be said that it has been reversed,

but Housen will not be scared by that degree.As long as he has
decided to succumb to Ayanokouji with violence in the first place,
that point has passed.

"If you are afraid that I am the victim, why don't you go here?"

"Get me out of here."

Judging that Ryuuen's strategy is not to turn off the emergency alert,
Housen advances again.

"My GPS is already off. There is nothing wrong with killing you before
the teachers hurry up."

Even if the school side rushes to this place, it will last 30 minutes
lightly.

"Kuku, I'll have to do that"

Ryuuen greets Housen, who is not intimidated by the threat and

does not even try to remove his hand from his pocket.

"If you don't feel like protecting yourself, you can go to bed!"

Kazuomi clenched her right fist, not wanting to waste any more time.
Ryuen takes both hands out of his pocket, but both hands are
clenched too.

"I don't think the tricks will work for me!"

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Housen knew instinctively that Ryuen was holding something, but he
never stopped.

To break the spirit, he sent a full-body right straight to Ryuuen.

Seeing that, Ryuuen catches him from the front without opening the
two fists he was holding.

Housen's arm tries to break the guard, but immediately after that.

"Whoaahh!"

Two shadows emerged from the blind spot in the trees and stood
behind the Housen.

"What ─── !?"

No wonder Housen was surprised by the unexpected signal. When he

did a GPS search a few minutes ago, there was no other reaction
than Ayanokouji and Ryuuen around him.

Even if immediately after the battle begins, they could never reach
there even if they pointed to this place in a straight line. Despite this,
two men grab Housen's left and right arms. His existence was like
that of a ghost.

Not only Ishizaki, but also Albert, who has a body as strong as
Housen, even the mighty Housen couldn't stay on the ground. Albert
holds his right arm, which is his dominant arm, and Ishizaki holds his
left arm on the other side.

"Shit!!"

He flailed desperately, but it wasn't easy to shake off both of them,

even if Housen had a great physique!

The next moment, Housen burned Ryuen, who unprotected himself

and laughed eerily.

Page | 271
"It's a simple story. If you break your watch, the GPS won't recognize
it."

At an early stage, he disabled Ishizaki and Albert's GPS function and

they accompanied Ryuen. When he assumed it was one-on-one,
Housen discovered that Ryuuen's strategy had set him up.

"Are you going to do it 3 to 1? Ah !?"

"Don't bark so loud, Gorilla. Your execution is about to begin."

Both fists that had been grabbed again are repeatedly thrown at
Housen's face without hesitation.

As he turns Housen's face from right to left, he repeats endlessly

until his knees touch the ground.

Housen continued to bark as he supported his shaking knees, but

continued to hit him without loosening either of his hands.

Due to the accumulated damage, Housen's knee broke and he falls to

the ground.

When Housen's head was lowered into the correct position, Ryuen
held Housen's head with both hands and kicked his knees towards
his nose.

"Gut ...!"

With an inaudible voice, Housen fell to the ground on his back for the
first time. Ryuuen made a sign with his eyes to both of them and
made each of them grab his arms just like when they were standing.

Gorillas must always be handcuffed. Well, you've done a lot of good,

haven't you, Housen? "

While brushing his hair, Ryuuen straddles Housen.

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"You took me lightly, you piece of shit!"

"Light? Ha! What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm telling you, you're a shitty little fish that can't even fight alone in
a real fight!"

"Kuku, don't make me laugh. I'm not stupid enough to fight a gorilla"

With that said, Ryuen laughed and raised his fist.And without
hesitation, he slams Housen's cheeks violently.

"Oh yeah, don't worry, Housen. I won't ask you to cry. Even if you
apologize, nothing will change."

Despite being hit without protection, Housen was not weak enough
to sink. Rather, he gets angry and wreaks havoc. Albert and Ishizaki
worked hard to control him.

"Shit! Stand back, you little bastards! "

"Don't get out of control. We're just starting out, right? I'm going to
beat you up and you're going to enjoy it."

He moves his fist down over and over again, but Housen continues to
bark instead of whimpering.

"I'm sure you won't be bragging about your fight."

Both physically and mentally, Housen has shown that he has reached
the top of the world with just one fight. If the fight had been 3-1
from the start.

Ryuuen would have judged his team to be in a bad position. It is also

proof that Housen Kazuomi's human strength is recognized in front
of him. However, in a battle, an impromptable decision can decide
the outcome. Like a blow, a fall can make the difference between
light and dark. With a moment of carelessness and pride, the
Page | 273
position is reversed. After that, Ryuuen's one-sided lynchings were
repeated, and even the mighty Housen lost the strength of his body.

“How difficult. My arm is starting to hurt. "

He exhales into the red fist while laughing.

"Ha, ha ...... damn ......"

Hosen tries to escape from Albert using his right arm, which is his
dominant arm, but he is no match for the enemy.

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Page | 275
"You had a guy like that as a subordinate ... I didn't expect it."

In a simple comparison of power, he looked at Albert, who would not

be defeated by Housen.

"Hey, big man ... Why the hell are you following Ryuuen? Eh?"

In simple combat power, it is clear that Albert has more power than
Ryuuen.

"It is true that I am a man that Ryuuen can’t defeat even if he faced
me once or twice."

"Why then?"

"You don't understand, Housen. Not only the monstrously powerful

rise to the top."

Even with that explanation, Housen, who had always fought alone,
was far from being understood.

"Kuku. Well, in Albert's case, I'd say it's just camaraderie"

Albert doesn't like to get into unnecessary fights, and decides that
the best way to keep the class together is to follow Ryuuen.

That is why he does not hesitate to lend a hand, although sometimes

he has to act scandalously. He may temporarily harm his friends by
following the instructions, but he believes that in the long run it will
benefit his companions, so he has decided to follow Ryuuen. By
nature, he is a kind-hearted man who does not like violence.

"Don't think you have won with this, Ryuuen!"

"I'm sure you're not happy with that. You never thought you'd lose
like this. But for me, the process doesn't matter. The last man
standing is the winner."

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To Ryuuen, who didn't have the one-on-one vision from the
beginning, Housen's provocation made no sense. Rather, he took it
as the cry of pain from a defeated man, and plunged into pleasure.

"Oh shit. ......! "

After being hit dozens of times, no matter how many times Housen
was hit, he would reach his limit. Even if there was no longer an
existence that held the left and right hands, it would not be easy to
defeat Ryuuen.

"Remember, even if you win here, the next time I see you, I will kill
you immediately."

"I am not going to swallow your revenge of the gorilla, but if you are
going to do it....do it well It is not as simple as winning. Winning is
not as simple as it seems. If you go ahead, but you end up being
expelled, you will you lose. "

"What is it ...!"

Ryuuen's direct blow hits Housen's cheek and ripped his

consciousness away. Housen's consciousness flew and resolved, and
Ryuen slowly rose to his feet.

“Huh. ...... it was a tough fight. "

While spilling blood from his fist, Ryuuen looks up at the sky and
exhales wearily with a sigh.

"But he's a great guy. ...... I really thought he was a monster."

"You would be a fool if you faced him."

Albert agreed with those words and nodded.

"They have had to work a lot."

Page | 277
It is an example of how fierce this battle has been, the words of
thanks for his work come from Ryuuen.

"No, no, no, no! We were just supporting you! Hey, Albert!"

Neither Ishizaki nor Albert had major external injuries.

It was that Ryuen had decided that he had to avoid involving them
too much in this battle. If the number of suspicious people increases,
this dispute will not end up as a simple brawl.

"You should get moving. The teachers could arrive at any moment."

It has been a certain amount of time since the emergency alert on

Ryuen's wristwatch sounded.

"What about Ryuen-san ...?"

"Well, I'm in this state. Even if I wanted to continue, they wouldn't

let me do it easily."

Along with Housen, the injuries inflicted on Ryuuen are quite serious.

"I'm going to retire together with Housen"

"Are you sure with that?"

"I have left everything they need in the hands of Katsuragi. Although
the first three groups have become more difficult to win"

If he left Housen here, there was a possibility that he would head

towards Ayanokouji.

But if Ryuuen, the one who hurt him, disappears, that will be a
problem. Here, Ryuen and Housen had a one-on-one fight and
retired together.

From the beginning I decided that this was the only and most
beautiful way to do it.
Page | 278
"... I'm sorry to hear that."

The Ryuuen and Katsuragi Group, who ranked 5th yesterday, had a
slim chance to move on to the next spot. Ishizaki regretted it.

"That is not the case."

Ryuen laughs lightly as if he remembers something. Not knowing

why, Ishizaki and Albert looked at each other.

"I'll tell you soon. Go anyway now."

To ensure that both Ishizaki and Albert survive as a group, they must
avoid abandonment. To do this, they must exchange watches and
join the group as soon as possible.

After they both ran towards the starting point, Ryuen sat down to
use Housen's unconscious body as a bench.

Page | 279
Part 7
"─── Thank you for your report, you can go back to the exam."

Tsubaki, who received a report from the walkie-talkie, ended the call
quietly.

"It didn't go very well, did it?"

Seeing her complexion and judging her like this, Yagami asks.

"When I went to see the point where Housen-kun would have come
into contact, it seems that the teachers were meeting and were
taking him back to the starting point. He got into a fight with a boy
named Ryuuen from the 2nd class. grade B, and they both got very
injured. Well, it was kind of suspicious because Ayanokouji-senpai
kept moving.”

If Housen had drawn him one-on-one, the GPS would have had to
stop moving on the spot.

"I don't know much about that person, but he stopped Housen-kun."

Tsubaki, unconvinced, purses her lips and reflects on the failure of

this plan. This is because Ayanokouji's designated areas were C3 and
D2, the perfect place to surround him. However, this positive factor
also gave the adversary time.

"This is not the end of Ayanokouji's expulsion, is it? For the first
graders to be safely saved, we have to crush the other independent
groups. If you have any other ideas, let me know."

Yagami presses her, but Tsubaki looks away and mutters with
interest.

Page | 280
"I don't think we should cross more dangerous bridges. If we force
ourselves to help a group of people who are falling here, sooner or
later they are destined to disappear."

"...... So you're saying you're backing out here?"

“There is something I don't like. Perhaps it was decided early on that

my plan would not work. "

"What do you mean?"

"The story of the bounty in his head is spinning on its own, and
Ayanokouji-senpai's vigilance is strong. Most importantly, as long as I
don't trust my first-year classmates, it means that this plan was
reckless.”

Tsubaki disliked the interruption, which was more annoying than

being dejected over failure.

"I regret having done it alone."

She was very sorry, saying she could have done a much better job.
When she released the tablet screen, she noticed something.

"Eh?"

For here Tsubaki realized that Utomiya was not present.

"What happened?"

"Where is Utomiya?"

When she said that, Yagami also pretended to notice Utomiya's

absence.

"I think it was close until about 30 minutes ago ..."

Page | 281
It was when Tsubaki was launching into battle with an enemy that
she couldn't see on her tablet. Feeling disturbed, Tsubaki shows a
map 10 minutes ago and searches for Utomiya's location.

It was about 400 meters southwest of where Tsubaki was standing.

"What are you doing……?"

There was only a GPS reaction near it, and the name was─ Hayato
Kitou second year from class A. The moment she saw the name,
Tsubaki took the walkie talkie.

Page | 282
Part 8
A large man runs through the forest in poor visibility. The big man's
goal is the camp where Sakurako Tsubaki, Hachi, Takuya Yagami and
Utomiya Riku are.

He had been instructed by Sakayanagi and he was tasked with

unmasking the person who was in charge of that plan. When Kitou
runs and tries to keep the camp in sight, he finds a figure in front of
his eyes. The man was standing on the road as if he was blocking the
way, looking towards Kitou. Kitou did not recognize the face of that
person, but immediately recognized that he was not an ally. He tried
to change course while there was distance, but when he saw it, the
other man also began to walk.

Recognizing that he is an enemy, Kitou stops running and turns to

the man.

"What do you want on these roads?"

Utomiya asks the question in a severe tone of voice, forgetting to use

honorifics even though he is dealing with an older student.

"I think you are Kitou Hayato-senpai ......, a second year student from
class A"

He says it calmly and with a mixture of honorifics. He was originally

alone, so he remembered Kito, but he was removed from the list
because he joined the group.

However, telling him that he knew from the beginning can be

suspicious, so he pretended not to notice.

"I'm in a hurry now"

Page | 283
With a new rejection, Kitou tries to dodge Utomiya.However;
Utomiya grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him.

"……What is it"

Kitou, who was annoyed by his behavior, looked at him with

contempt, but Utomiya also just shot him a sharp look.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let you pass from here."

"What?"

Page | 284
Page | 285
Utomiya's fist approaches in front of Kitou, who frowns suspiciously,
Kitou calmly avoids the fist and keeps his distance.

"What are you doing?"

And then Utomiya reached out, and grabbed him by the neck.

"I'll tell you. I'm not going to let you pass from here."

"What is your name?"

"1st year of class C, Utomiya"

‘Utomiya’, One of the objectives of the investigation, ordered by

Sakayanagi At the stage where he was trapped here, he wasn't the
main target And Utomiya also guessed that Kitou had received
instructions from someone to come here.

"Who ordered you to come here?"

He tried to ask the name, but Kitou gave no sign of answering.

"I have no intention of showing any compassion even with a senpai."

At these words, Kitou's eyes shine brightly and his thick arms point to
Utomiya's neck.

Unhurriedly, Utomiya kept his distance and escaped Kitou's attack

without difficulty.

However, due to his quick evasive action, the walkie-talkie in his

pocket falls at Kitou's feet.

"Oh crap……!"

He rushed closer, but Kitou's stance prevented him from launching

himself without a fight. The dazzling stares continued for a while, but
then the silence was broken by another.

Page | 286
"Utomiya-kun? What are you doing?"

Tsubaki's voice leaks from the walkie-talkie rolling under his feet.

"Shit..."

Utomiya clicks his tongue and looks at the walkie-talkie he has

dropped.

"Didn't you follow my instructions?”

Tsubaki continues to do so, though she doubts she won't get an

answer. Utomiya was looking for an opportunity to pounce, but Kitou
signaled him to calm down with one of his hands.

He grabbed the walkie-talkie at his feet and gently tossed it towards

Utomiya.

"What are you going to do ...?"

Utomiya asks as if the fury that had been drained from him by his
unexpected action.

"The objective has been reached"

When there was no longer a need to fight, Kitou collects his luggage
and turns around.

He heard Tsubaki's voice over the walkie-talkie and decided that she
was the commander. Kitou's back has started to drift away, leaving
him defenseless.

"If you can hear Utomiya-kun, calm down. It's a bad idea to fight
Kitou-senpai here now."

Kitou disappeared while staring at the walkie-talkie for a while

without answering.

"... It's me. "

Page | 287
When he was alone, Utomiya answered with a walkie-talkie.

"Are you safe? What about Kitou-senpai?”

"He went right in front of me .."

"Why would you do something like that? If you do something like

that, Utomiya will also be expelled. Right? Or were you just trying to
keep second year students away from me?"

"No, it's not. ...... I'm sorry. If the strategy didn't work out this time,
there was no need to give unnecessary information to a potential
opponent. I wanted to prevent them from getting close to Tsubaki."

"I can't blame you for what happened, but is that what you thought,
Utomiya-kun?"

After a short silence, says Utomiya.

"No. ...... Yes, yes. I moved on my own."

Perhaps it was an annoying reply, Tsubaki was silent for a moment

behind the communication device.

"So. If you can move for now, come back."

"Very good."

After finishing the communication, Utomiya looks at the tablet. Then

when he picks up the walkie-talkie again, He change the code and
communication begins.

"I've gotten rid of that 2nd year weirdo. I should be pleased to see
that Tsubaki is in charge."

"As expected, Utomiya-kun"

"So, how was Tsubaki's plan?"

Page | 288
"It failed as expected. Even though Ayanokouji-senpai didn't bother
to give advance notice, I'm sure it was an old-fashioned strategy that
was never going to be successful from the beginning."

"I have to go." Without inadvertently prolonging the matter, Utomiya

turns off the walkie-talkie

Page | 289
Chapter 6: The Man Known As Tsukishiro
Intro
I woke up at the far right of E3 in the morning and tried to consult
the map on my tablet.

As a consequence of preventing the advancement of first graders the

previous day, the day ended without stepping on any designated
area. Sakayanagi reported that she had left immediately in the
afternoon, but I did not dare to go to the designated area. I have just
participated in the race challenge and had achieved the minimum
amount of points.

The randomly designated zone that was lifted yesterday at 1:00 p.m.
was F3, and later at 3:00 p.m. it was G3.

I opened the map and loaded the image from yesterday's GPS search
at 1pm. There were a total of five groups of freshmen stalking us.
And all of them were with Housen who had turned off the GPS and
had approached me. I'm sure of it. And after Housen went into a
confrontation with the Ryuuen and was resolved, it was evident in
the subsequent search that all the groups withdrew and returned to
the special exam.

However.... While Sakayanagi and I were aware of those enemies,

various groups of first-year students who had dispersed, gathered
together and advanced towards the designated area. The reason I
thought this group was suspicious was because as soon as 3pm came
and G3, my fourth designated zone, was announced, they moved
west and started heading towards F4.

The road here is narrow, and it is difficult to escape if the road is

blocked, but if you avoid it, you will be forced to take many turns.

Page | 290
"I avoided the risk just in case, but that did a lot of damage on the
last day."

I've had six in a row and I am in the middle of four consecutive

penalties. I have to get out of this situation as soon as possible. If I
commit three more penalties in a row, I will lose another 18 points
from here.

Since I can't see the classification, I have to imagine my classification

on this last day.

The classification for the night of the 12th is completely unreliable.

There are 157 groups in total, so it seems fine, but in reality, many
groups have finished merging. In other words, it is better to assume
that the number of groups has already decreased considerably. Of
course, on this final day, it is clear that some groups will move faster.

If a group with almost 200 points picks up the lower group, it will
outperform me at that point.

The effect of doubling the score on this last day cannot be ignored.
This means that the freshmen's strategy has gradually led them
down the path of dropping out of school.

There is still a chance for freshmen to keep waiting ahead, but GPS
search is no longer

available.

At 7 in the morning the ban was lifted on the designated area, H3,
which is not a good place due to the mountains, but it cannot be
avoided because it is impossible to interpret. Even if I took the
shortest route from here, it would take us almost two hours.

I can't afford to waste my time.

Page | 291
On a day when many students would be taking on a task that had
been duplicated, I didn't know that I would be forced to fight a close
battle to see if I could step on the designated area. By noon, I could
have dropped further down the rankings. While packing and leaving,
I got a call on my walkie-talkie from Sakayanagi

"Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun. You had a lot of problems

yesterday. "

"Thank you Sakayanagi for saving me"

“Do you agree with the penalty? You seem to have moved a lot
during the night. "

"I'm sure Sakayanagi is aware of my movements through the GPS."

“The first designated area is H3. There is not much time, but I think I
can do it. "

"H3?"

Sakayanagi muttered the designated area with interest, as if she had

something to think about. I keep talking to Sakayanagi as I move.

"Actually, I'm in trouble. At dawn, Ichinose-san disappeared."

That is a tricky problem for an event that occured on the last day.

“What do you mean that she had disappeared? Was it an accident?"

“No, it seems to be an involuntary action. The last few days she has
been acting strange."

"But why did you contact me? I'm sure there is nothing I can do to
help you. "

Page | 292
"Actually, when I did a GPS search to find out Ichinose-san's position,
I found that it was at the same E3 as Ayanokouji-kun. However, it is
the opposite D3 side."

Even in the same area, there is a certain distance between the

extremes. And now, I've already set foot on F3

"What was the final designated area of Ichinose yesterday?"

"It was D5. Ichinose-san arrived there. She started performing at

dawn without telling anyone, and now she was here at E3 for some
reason?....In the morning, I realized that we had lost a point. I
checked with the people in the group, but there was no sign that
anyone had used the GPS search. It seems that Ichinose used it. It is
not known if her objective was E3 or a further area, but it is normal
to think that she went to meet someone. "

I guess so. If she had stepped into the designated fourth zone within
yesterday, that's the only reason she would move first thing in the
morning.

"I thought maybe it was to meet Ayanokouji-kun, but ..."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know. I haven't seen Ichinose in this special
exam. If you wait, Ichinose can get to F3's side, sorry, I'm in a hurry.
What are you going to do?"

“The first designated area we had to go to was E6. I'll discard the
reward on a first-come, first-served basis, but I must ignore it. In the
worst case, if you withdraw, it will not have a great negative effect
on this last day. "

That said, the Sakayanagi group is a worthy team of seven. They

were in a great position to get on the podium and they were in
fourth place at the end of the 12th. Losing Ichinose here would have
been a blow.
Page | 293
On the other hand, she's acting selfishly on such an important last
day. It is an inexplicable behavior that Ichinose, who acts for her
friends more than anyone else, cannot imagine.

"You are in trouble?"

“Accidents are destined to happen, you know. Well, even if you let it,
the special exam will be over in half a day, so I don't think there is
any problem. If you ever see her, tell her about the situation. "

Sakayanagi ends the communication, saying that anything else would

be a hindrance.

"Where is Ichinose going ......?"

I keep the walkie-talkie in my backpack while I walk, and now I take

out my tablet. It's the last day and I don't need to think about
recharging. With 31% charge remaining, I'm good to go.

The map displayed on the screen shows the designated zone to

which I must go and the challenges spread by the zone.

Over the past two weeks, challenges have appeared all over the
uninhabited island.

However, on this last day, it seems to me that there is no challenge

in the northern areas of the island, from 1 to 3. On the contrary, the
central and southern areas, from 5 to 10, and more. Specifically from
A to E, they have a large number of challenges. This is simply because
it is the last day of the test, and it makes sense for students to be
driven back to where they started. It's wise to go quickly through
designated zones and take on the challenges.

I had been thinking of using GPS search to find out Ichinose's

location, but now I am at risk of being expelled from school. It is a

Page | 294
good idea to save points here to increase the survival rate as much as
possible.

Page | 295
Part 1
The second destination they showed me today was I2, the northeast
corner of the uninhabited island.

Now that we've managed to stop the penalty, I can head there with
some ease.

After 3:00 pm when the exam ends, you basically walk back to the
starting point, but in some cases there seems to be a plan to pick up
students at any time in a patrol boat.

Looks like a patrol boat will arrive at J6 at 5pm if it's close.

"It's the end of the day, and they have put designated areas in the
most absurd places. ......"

The test environment remains the same, with problems

concentrated on the south side of the island, but the designated area
is the most northeast. I am convinced to regret the fact that it is
obviously a trap; it will be of no use.

It would be easier if it could be distributed that way, but I was

starting to feel somewhat unsettling here. Since this morning, none
of the other students have crossed paths or seen each other first.
Although the island is large, there are many opportunities to see or
hear someone's voice whenever you are on the move.

Of course, I couldn't get to the final designated area yesterday, so I'm

not sure I can't meet the students in the same square as me.

The test environment remains the same, with problems

concentrated on the south side of the island, but the designated area
is the most northeast. It may be a good idea to step on I2 and then
ignore the designated end zone to get to the challenges.

Page | 296
H3 has a narrow river that divides the area.

This river cannot be used as a shortcut, so it is a troublesome place

where you are forced to take a detour.

The advantage is that you can walk along the river and do not have
to worry about getting lost. Don't be in a hurry, go down the river to
the southwest, get to the point where you can cross the river, and go
northeast. You can walk along the river until you reach the
mountains. That's when I got to the other side of the river, near the
center of H3.

“Ayanokouji-kun———!”

I was walking while listening to the sound of flowing water when a

voice calling my name came from a distance. The direction of the
voice was the north side of the river I had just gone around.

Over there was Ichinose, covered in mud, looking at me, gasping.

“Ichinose… You came to H3?”

According to Sakayanagi, Ichinose should have been in E3 now.

Now that the time was after 10 A.M if the sun started to rise at 5:30
A.M, Ichinose probably had to walk continuously for 4 and a half
hours to get here. Despite that, it was relatively quick as well.

“I….I, I came here because I wanted to see you, Ayanokouji-kun.”

Even though she looked like she could barely speak, exhausted, she
called out from across the river.

“I’ll come over to your side now!”

Saying that, Ichinose ran staggeringly along the river.

Page | 297
Because her backpack was in the way being too heavy, she left it
there.

No matter how you look at it, the place where Ichinose was walking
was pretty dangerous. And it should be difficult to walk over here
with her strength that was reaching it’s limit. I turned back the way I
came, and hurriedly met up with her.

It took about 5 minutes to meet up with her along the river, and then
walk to a place where we could congregate.

Since I couldn’t let Ichinose exert herself like that, I crossed the river
to the north.

“I, fin-finally, finally caught up… Wait, I’ll come to your side.”

Did she feel responsible due to calling out to me first that she kept
chasing after me like this?

“Ah.”

Ichinose fell, and I caught her in a hug.

“So-sorry! Ah, heheh? Why? My feet… They aren’t obeying me…”

She panicked, and wanted to leave my touch, but her knees were
trembling, as if she couldn’t stand up.

“What’s going on, Ichinose?”

Ichinose looked up at me, and spoke, desperately trying to sort the

situation out.

“I, I have something I have to tell you, no matter what, Ayanokouji-

kun!”

“Something you have to tell me?”

Page | 298
“I’ve been troubled, troubled. I’ve always been troubled… to protect
my friends and classmates…”

What exactly was she trying to say? I didn’t know specifically, but her
desperate effort was real.

“But, despipte this, I’m still worried about your safety,

Ayanokouji0kun, no matter what…”

In this special exam, Ichinose and I didn’t have a consistent point of

contact.

Did something unexpected happen?

In order to tell me about this, Ichinose spent more than 4 hours

walking to me, desperately.

“I, my watch broke, so I wanted to go back to the starting point to

change it… And then, Acting Director Tsukishiro, and Shiba-sensei,
those two, they were there…!”

Ichinose was so tired that her breathing hadn’t even stabilized yet, as
she stammered along

Although I didn’t know when this was, I guess she had been
distressed about this for a few days now.

“If you’re safe in the last day, Ayanokouji-kun, you’ll be called to I2

and be buried.”

Words such as “I2” as well as “bury”. Indeed, just hearing those

words would fill one with dread. The reason why Tsukishiro and
Shiba were overheard by her was because her watch was broken, so
the GPS didn’t respond?

“Saying that you wanted to protect your classmates, were you

threatened by Tsukishiro?”

Page | 299
Ichinose seemed to be surprised for a moment that I had guessed it,
but nodded then after.

“If I told this to you… Acting Director Tsukishiro would make my

classmates drop out…

But I can’t turn my back on you no matter what, Ayanokouji-kun…!”

“You should give up telling me this, without caring about the

consequences. I’m your enemy.”

If only she could think in such a way of the plan could be carried out
to make me drop out of school.

Ichinose shook her head strongly to express her disagreement after

hearing something I said.

“It can never be like that! Ayanokouji-kun, Ayanokouji-kun…. Is not

my enemy!”

Ichinose clutched my shirt near my chest.

“I think I’m an enemy.”

“Because….Because to me, Ayanokouji-kun is…”

The hand that was clutching my shirt tightened once more.

“Because I, because I like you, Ayanokouji-kun…!”

Those are words that Ichinose herself probably didn’t expect to say
out loud.

As soon as those words came out, Ichinose averted her eyes, as if she
was trying to shut herself up.

“No, that’s not right! That, eh, just now, why did I, eh, ehhhhhhhh!?”

Page | 300
She herself probably didn’t understand it, and fell into panic, shaking
her head repeatedly.

“What did I, just, say?!?”

It was like the memory of what she just said had suddenly
disappeared and fell into a panic, not understanding.

“Can I say something? About what you just said to me.”

“Um, um …… ah, no, no! Ah, so I haven’t said it yet and I

remembered wrong!!!”

“–Thank you, Ichinose.”

“Eh? Eh? Ehhhh!?!”

I expressed my gratitude to Ichinose once again.

She gave priority to me rather than her classmates, and her group
that was formed for the purpose of winning.

I won’t belittle that sentiment of hers.

“If you hadn’t told me of something like that, Ichinose, I don’t know
what would have become of me.”

I guess this was a big watershed moment for me.

If I hadn’t met Ichinose here, I wouldn’t have thought that Tsukishiro

would have gone to I2. Tsukishiro had threatened Ichinose, but even
so, she was here, right before my eyes.

Despite the danger, she told me everything.

“Did you mean what you just said?”

“That, that, so, um, it’s not, that, that, right?”

Page | 301
“If not, deny it now, it’ll be my misunderstanding.”

“…That…. misunderstanding… it’s not a misunderstanding…”

Ichinose originally wanted to deny it, but she felt that she couldn’t
run away from this anymore.

“…..I like… you…”

She admitted in a faint, hoarse voice, that sounded as if it was about

to disappear.

“I think, I probably just noticed this myself too…. S-sorry.”

She didn’t need to apologize.

“To be honest, I’m a little surprised that you would think that,
Ichinose.”

“So-sorry…. It’s a pain, isn’t it?”

“Nothing of the sort, I just can’t respond to your feelings this right
now.”

“Well….well, my words, aren’t worthy of Ayanokouji…”

“That’s not it. I think that there’s still a few things that has to be
addressed, and I don’t think someone can answer yes or no in this
state.”

And it’s also necessary to avoid telling her about Kei right now.

Even though she would be hurt if she found out afterwards, this was
the climax of the uninhabited island exam.

Since there was still a bit of time left, it wasn’t worth taking away
energy for the battle because of it.

Page | 302
“It may not be acceptable, but that’s the answer I can give you right
now.”

“Well….I understand.”

Ichinose nodded, neither disdainful nor dissatisfied.

“I’m going to go to I2 now, there are things that have to be done

there.”

“No, you can’t! It’s dangerous!”

“If I don’t do that, I won’t be able to protect you, Ichinose, and your
precious classmates, right?”

It’s because she herself had been so troubled that she understood.

Since Ichinose contacted me and told me about it, it wasn’t hard to

imagine that Tsukishiro would also know.

However, it’s necessary for me to tell Tsukishiro, that it wasn’t the

end of the road for me. Rather, it’d be akin to coming back from the
dead.

“You get some rest, and then rejoin your group, alright?”

I patted her head, and headed to I2.

Page | 303
Part 2
There was a rock field next to the border of I2 and I3, with knee high
bushes nearby.

“So it’s somewhere here?”

I was carrying a heavy backpack.

As long as I didn’t know what awaits me, carrying the backpack

would only get in my way. I decided to put everything, including the
tablet, into the backpack. If I walked along the coastline, I wouldn’t
get lost and would be able to get back to this rock field.

Ichinose said that this was the place where Tsukishiro prepared to
bury me.

Groups that had the same schedule as I was probably assigned a

completely different designated area. I would have liked to confirm
this, but I also wanted to avoid losing one point from using the GPS
search.

Since I knew that Ichinose was involved in the matter, I had to go. If I
decided not to, Tsukishiro would mercilessly attack her class. I
couldn’t imagine what kind of punishment he would inflict on her.

After those preparations, I began to walk towards I2.

“Ayanokouji, what a coincidence.”

Nagumo, holding the tablet, looked over with interest.

Given my situation, it was unnatural for anyone to be in the area.

Was this guy also involved with Tsukishiro apart from the matter of
the bounty?

Page | 304
No, the title of the student council probably didn’t mean much to
Tsukishiro.

It didn’t seem necessary to connect his appearance here with the

matter, but I still kept wary.

“President Nagumo, why are you here?”

I looked around slightly but didn’t see any of Nagumo’s group

members.

“Don’t worry. We are the only ones here.”

Maybe he had used GPS search, as he wanted to remove the

wariness within me.

“There aren’t any events nearby. Why are you here?”

Nagumo approached from the southeast direction.

“I was having fun on the beach at I4. Life on this uninhabited island is
coming to an end, after all.”

On the last day, while almost all the students focused on collecting
points, he was playing on the beach.

“Is this the so-called calmness of a king?”

Nagumo laughed and did not answer the question.

“But I’ll ask you the same thing, Ayanokouji. This place is not a
designated area and doesn’t have an event, so why did you come
here? Did you meet up with Honami?”

It’s not surprising that her name popped up. Even if he didn’t see
Ichinose directly, it would be obvious that she was nearby if he had
done a GPS search.

“Is there a problem with that?”

Page | 305
“No. If you two are still together now, you would have spoken about
quite a bit. But you are here by yourself, so it means you have a
different objective. What’s there at I2?”

I decided to ignore the question. Nagumo changed the topic and

continued.

“The uninhabited island exam is coming to an end, right? I just

wanted to talk to you once, as there aren’t many situations at school
where you and I, the student council president, can talk to each
other.”

“That’s true.”

I was just an inconspicuous student.

On the other end was the student council president that could make
a child cry without even uttering a single word. This was not an
appropriate match up.

However, I didn’t think he had come all the way over here just to
engage in small talk.

“You seem to be aware of the attack on me by the 1st years.”

“Your critical thinking ain’t bad.”

It was about the bounty. The person who got me expelled would be
awarded 20 million points.

Although Tsukishiro was the one in control, it was true that Nagumo
was also involved.

If it were a man like Nagumo, it was not surprising for him to observe
my situation through GPS at any time.

From looking at the movements of the first years and me, it was
obvious that I had been attacked.
Page | 306
Nagumo saw the big picture of this special exam on the same level as
I did. No, even more so than me.

It was also because he had a grasp of my movements that he was

able to show himself so easily here.

“Don’t blame me for the bounty. It wasn’t my proposal in the first

place.”

“It was Acting Director Tsukishiro’s.”

“Since you know this much, I’ll be blunt. The money’s all from the
Acting Director. I just lent the name of the Student Council president
to him.”

It didn’t matter whether he wanted it or not; as long as it was an

order from the Acting Director, Nagumo couldn’t disobey.

“It’s an order from the Acting Director, so you had to accept it. But if
it’s the Student Council President I know, I think you would have
refused such a proposal, right?”

“If it’s about the matter of the bounty, I wouldn’t have accepted it, if
it were a student other than you. But the one which he named was
none other but you, the only man that Horikita-senpai trusted.”

So Nagumo did indeed see me as one of Horikita Manabu’s people.

“Answer me, Ayanokouji. What do you plan to do next?”

[Don’t concern yourself with such an insignificant existence like me]

It would be easy to say this.

But Nagumo wouldn’t take that for an answer.

Since I didn’t know what awaited me ahead, it’s all the more
important to cherish the time I had now.

Page | 307
“This has nothing to do with you, President Nagumo. Shouldn’t you
be concentrating on the end of the exam? The score difference
between you and Koenji should be small. If you don’t go back, you
won’t get the arrival points, you won’t be able to participate in some
events, and that situation will stay the same.”

That was, he left open the possibility of him being overtaken.

“Don’t worry about it. On this last day, I have completely

overwhelmed Koenji.”

Saying this, Nagumo took out a transceiver from his back pocket.

Even if he was separated from his group, it would be enough to give

instructions.

“Although I do care what you’re going to do, if you won’t answer,

then I’ll change my question. Let me see if you, who hold the
expectations of Horikita-senpai, have the strength worthy of my
expectations, which of course means that you’ll have to get serious.”

So this was the biggest reason for him to come here.

“Does it mean that I have to fight with the Student Council President
right here?”

“I don’t hate brawling, but I prefer a serious fight. Even if this

uninhabited island exam is over, there’ll still be a lot of inter-year
battles afterwards, and I want you to be my opponent.”

The student council president directly called me out.

“Isn’t the winner between us already decided from this uninhabited

island exam?”

Nagumo had steadily maintained 1st or 2nd place in the exam up to

now.

Page | 308
Although the fierce Koenji still had a chance of reversing it, this was
undoubtedly a tough battle.

“You are one person, and I’ve got 7 people. It’s a strange way to have
a match like this, right?”

“Wouldn’t Koenji be a better fit? Although he’s a weirdo, he’s a

powerhouse. On the other hand, I haven’t been in the top ten even
once.”

If you wanted a strong opponent, go to Koenji. I urged him like this.

“Well, he certainly exceeded my expectations, as he was the only

one who made me take an offensive move in the exam. “

Admitting that about Kouenji, he shrugged his shoulders as if he was

amazed.

This offensive move was referring to the transceiver he’s using right
now.

“Managing the entire third year to take all the arrival bonus points
and the events. This is something only the student council president
can do.”

Unlike the first-years and second-years, almost all the third-years

were under Nagumo’s control.

If he wanted to completely block off Kouenji, he would surely be able

to do so by mobilizing all the third-years.

No matter how much physical strength he had, it was useless if he

couldn’t complete events over a long period of time.

All the other years that show off by being in the top 3 ranks will be
erased.

As a result, Kouenji could only get arrival points.

Page | 309
Meanwhile, Nagumo’s groups will widen the point gap by
continuously gaining points.

“So you indeed see through this much. When did you notice?”

“I’ve felt suspicious ever since the beach flags event. The vacant
space Vice President Kiriyama left intentionally open was reserved
for you.”

However, since I arrived first, they had to register with a vacant

space.

Nagumo was playing leisurely while waiting for Kiriyama and others
to finish the event.

“I thought you and Vice President Kiriyama were rivals, but it seems
different.”

“That guy teamed up with me, even though he hates me, just to get
into Class A.”

“Let’s put aside Koenji, who’s a special case, for now. I wouldn’t want
to do anything to your average student.”

Upon hearing my response, Nagumo seemed to think something was

funny and laughed.

“Did you really just call me that? You don’t think I am strong at all.”

“That’s not—”

I wanted to deny it, but Nagumo interrupted.

“Maybe you thought I won by just mobilizing all the third-years, but
that’s not the case. I will show you my superpower now.”

“Superpower?”

“Let me guess your group’s ranking at the end of the 12th day.”
Page | 310
Only the rankings of the top 10 and bottom 10 groups were public.
Excluding those 20

groups from the 157 groups in total, there were 137 groups. Of
course, I was the only one who knew my exact ranking.

At the final moment before the date changed, I was ranked 16th.

“You’re ranked…11th, right?”

Nagumo said so confidently, but he was slightly off.

However, I couldn’t just point that out with a smile. On Day 12th, as
a response to the attacks of the 1st years, I repeatedly used GPS
search. It was plausible that I would be 11th without using those
points.

But it was part of the rules. He couldn’t know the rankings of all the
groups.

Essentially, there’s a basis for what Nagumo said.

“A little off? Then you’re ranked around 15th or 16th right?”

“Yeah. Truly admirable of you.”

If I admitted this straightforwardly, Nagumo would just calmly accept

it.

“I joked around with that superpower stuff. I just guessed, assuming

that you really have hidden your strength.”

It seems like this man Nagumo was much better than I thought.

“In order not to attract attention, your ranking is a bit lower than
10th, but still, you’ve maintained an upper-ranking position. If I lose
the battle against Koenji, then you’d have a chance to make a
comeback.

Page | 311
In order not to attract attention, I would lurk around this rank before
Day 12.

As fatigue settled in for everyone, the upper ranks would lose

momentum. Depending on the circumstances, you could build up
your points, and in a flash, aim for the top 3.

Unfortunately, I had planned to stay at my current ranking.

“Have you noticed? From the very start, this wasn’t possible.”

The strategy we developed was rendered useless by Nagumo from

the very start.

“Kurona from third-year has been keeping the 10th place, right? I
had him maintain that rank to block those who had been secretly
saving points and aiming to make a comeback.”

Although there was quite a point gap between the 9th and 10th
place, it became harder for me to aim for the top places day by day.

This was all according to Nagumo’s plan.

Forcefully eliminating those invisible enemies, he limited his gaze to

those visible to his eyes.

“I’ve always doubted whether you were strong enough, but now I
understand. You’ve been granted the right to be crushed by me, so
rejoice.”

“Was it part of your plan? Your command of the attack on Koenji on

the last day?”

“If I want to earn points, whether that’s 400 or 500 points, I can earn
them. However, that’s not interesting, right? Now there’s hope that
he might beat the second and first-years. Besides, if he lost in the
battle with me, we might be able to see his regretful expression.”

Page | 312
Nagumo, as part of the strongest group, went through the two
weeks of battle totally relaxed.

Then, on the last day, he would defeat Kouenji, becoming the first
placed existence.

If Nagumo became serious, he would know the points of particular

groups. From GPS

searches and Nagumo’s partners’ eyewitnesses, he would be able to

know whether arrival points were gained and the results of the
events. Even today, when the exact points of the rankings was
unknown, there’s no doubt that Nagumo had an accurate grasp of
Kouneji’s points.

In other words, it was possible for him to direct a dramatic victory of

winning by just one point.

“Anyway, Kouenji’s matter is whatever. The last thing I will do at this

school is to defeat you, Ayanokouji.”

Nagumo, who had been chasing after Horikita Manabu, wanted to

see his shadow on me.

He wanted to completely beat him, to decide the winner and loser,

no matter the format of the battle.

“Unfortunately, the leader of Class 2-D is Horikita. Even if there’s a

special exam that competes with the third-years, I won’t fight you.”

“Then I would have to force you to appear on the front stage, which
includes using the bounty.”

In other words, he wouldn’t hesitate to say expose my situation.

“I’m sorry, but I’m in a hurry. Let’s continue with this topic next
time.”

Page | 313
“You think you can escape this easily? I won’t let you go before you
agree to a fight with me.”

Nagumo seemed to want to follow me and caught up from behind.

If something awaited me ahead, Nagumo would be affected. Since

the opponent was Tsukishiro, in the worst-case scenario, Nagumo
could lose everything he had built up and be expelled under his
name.

If I tried to persuade him with my words here, Nagumo wouldn’t

accept it no matter what.

Of course, I couldn’t get away with a lie either.

I stopped walking and looked back.

“You want to fight me—”

As Nagumo misunderstood, delighted, I pushed on his chest,

forcefully, without warning.

Nagumo probably didn’t expect a kouhai attacking him, so he fell on

his butt without any resistance.

The tablet he was holding, and the transceiver in his pocket fell to
the ground.

Page | 314
Page | 315
“What—”

Nagumo looked as if he didn’t comprehend what just happened to

him.

I’ll do what I need to do before he can comprehend what happened.

“President Nagumo, although your abilities are different from

President Horikita’s, it still allowed you to brilliantly stand at the top
of this school. You maintained a top ranking in this special exam with
ease, and it’s no exaggeration to say you had complete control over
it. Even so, I plan to beat you.”

Before he calmed down or got angry, I continued.

“It’s just that there are certain areas where you shouldn’t step into.
Please understand.”

“Huh?…. Don’t be ridiculous. You presume to give me orders?”

“It’s because you have the status of being a senpai worthy of my

respect that I am not going to be lenient here.”

“Ah? What are you doing—”

I looked into Nagumo’s eyes with all my killing intent.

“Urgh….!?”

“Don’t you understand what I said?”

Nagumo stood up powerfully as if to not admit his fear.

“Stop while you’re ahead? You’re the first person to underestimate

me to such an extent, Ayanokouji…”

Right then, the transceiver that fell on the ground next to Nagumo
received something.

Page | 316
[Nagumo, I’ve gotten in the way of Koenji’s event three times in a
row. Please give me your next instructions.]

The cheerful voice of a certain 3rd-year student could be heard.

Their strategy to obstruct Koenji seemed to be going well.

Nagumo didn’t react to that voice at all and just stared at me.

[Hey, Nagumo, if you don’t give instructions, your subordinates can’t

act. In order to drop Koenji down to 2nd, isn’t it necessary to
continue with the attack until the end?]

“You sure you’re okay with not answering that?”

Hearing those words, it was clear that this should be important to

Nagumo.

Nagumo silently picked up the receiver and then switched the power
off.

“What’s important to me isn’t Koenji.”

Without even brushing the dirt off his body, Nagumo walked over.

“I will defeat you completely. This is my last job as the student

council president.”

Letting his emotions affect his decisions? The student council

president steeled his resolve, shrugging off the pressure coming from
my side.

“I…!?”

I punched Nagumo in the chest without hesitation.

“Ah, you…!!!”

Page | 317
In a flash, he was unable to breath, and fell to the ground, seemingly
having lost his consciousness.

I caught Nagumo, and let him lean under a tree in the shade.

Since he didn’t listen to my clumsy advice, this would be the only

way to deal with it on this occasion.

Nagumo’s watch probably detected his abnormal status, and

sounded the warning alarm, which rang for 5 seconds.

It shouldn’t be long until he woke up.

20 or 30 minutes.

No matter what, Nagumo wouldn’t get involved with what came

after this. Of course, other problems would inevitably arise after this
uninhabited island exam was over. But right now, this was but a
trivial matter.

If I didn’t solve the issue of Tsukishiro, I wouldn’t be able to open a

path to the road of the future.

Page | 318
Part 3
On the last day of the exam.

It was after 10:00 a.m., and I, Horikita Suzune, was heading north
along the border between I4 and I3, with I2 being my destination.
This was the last day of the special exam, and so I was about to use
up the remainder of my strength. Fortunately, at least until 12:00
a.m. last night, no group in Class 2-D had fallen into the bottom 10.

The bottom 5 groups in the expulsion range were all 3rd years.

But we still couldn’t relax now. At the end of the day, if those 5
groups merged with other groups, scores were bound to go up, and
rankings might change. In that case, it’d be inevitable for them to
switch rankings with the groups in 6th or 7th place. In the extreme
case, if the bottom 10 groups all merged with top groups, then all 10
of them may be able to get out of their current predicament.

The tablet showed my assigned region as I7. The exact opposite of I2,
where I was headed.

This was because I would be ignoring the designated area that I

should be going to.

Why would I do that? The answer to that was written on a piece of

paper I was holding on my right hand. It was folded up and I found it
this morning when I woke up in my tent.

When I opened it up, the words “Noon”, “K.A”, “Expelled”, and “I2”
were written on it randomly.

When I first saw these words, two things came to mind.

First, the person who wrote this had such beautiful handwriting that
I could use as a model.

Page | 319
Secondly, the paper and pen were not part of the freely distributed
items.

“How many points would I need for this notebook and pen…”

Although I vaguely remembered it in the uninhabited island exam

manual, I judged it to be worthless then, so I didn’t remember the
exact price. If the tablet ran out of power, or malfunctioned
suddenly, you might need to take notes. Basically, some random
person bought this notebook, and sent this somewhat coded
message.

“No, it’s too simple to call this coded.”

I2 referred to an area on the uninhabited island, and noon was the

time. Since this was the last day to be able to send a note, this was
the 14th day. But what was in here? A mere prank? But this wasn’t
the case with the remaining two words.

“Expelled”, and “K.A”. Let’s first pay our attention to the latter.

If the other students had seen this note, they wouldn’t necessarily
understand the meaning of it.

I grasped the meaning the moment I saw it. It was the initials of
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

“If we consider this to be the meaning, then at noon today,

Ayanokouji will be expelled at I2…”

I thought this was a joke.

So when the designated area was announced at 7 a.m, I was going to

ignore this.

But the fact that Ayanokouji-kun’s GPS signal was on E3 made me a

bit worried.

Page | 320
However, as time passed, he got closer and closer to I2. Maybe this
was more than a joke.

Thinking about it, I decided to use GPS search. If it was a trap to

make me use that 1

point, then I have undoubtedly fallen for it.

As a result— Ayanokouji-kun advanced from F3 to G3.

If he went to I2 like this…

Driven by this hunch, I decided to head north in order to confirm

this.

After all, he was the target of a bounty. So I couldn’t discount the

probability that this could be a hint from someone else.

There was still some time before noon, and I didn’t know where he
had gone.

Of course, this could just be a coincidence, and maybe he had

already gone somewhere else.

The urge to use GPS search came over me, but I resisted. My score
would have been well in the top 50%, but from here on out,
discarding arrival points and events, and using the search function
again, that wouldn’t be guaranteed. If this was going to be a waste,
then it would be better just to head there.

“Ah! Finally caught up! Wait, Horikita!”

As the view gradually opened up, and the river could be seen, this
voice came from behind.

“…Why are you here?”

Ibuki appeared, glaring at me, panting.

Page | 321
It wasn’t a coincidence. She probably used GPS search.

“Score, show me the score.”

“Wait, what are you on about?”

Suddenly appearing and asking me, her enemy, to show her my score
was incomprehensible behavior.

“Didn’t I say? I’m not going to lose to you in this special exam.”

She jabbed her index finger at my eyes.

“There’s no need to confirm it now though? The exam isn’t over yet.”

“After the exam is over, nobody will know if the school will publish all
the scores, right?”

“Maybe so. After all, it’s only the top and bottom ranking groups that
really matter.”

There was no guarantee that the students would be able to view the
rankings of all the groups.

Of course, there was a possibility that they would be made public.

“So, let me confirm it now.”

On the last day, she wanted to decide who’s the winner, who had
more points.

“This is so stupid, I can’t believe it… You purposely came here for
this, seriously? How many times did you use GPS search?”

“… 3 times. Because you were right next to me, I thought this would
be the only time where I could do this.”

The farther the distance, the harder it was to meet up with the
person you wanted to find.
Page | 322
It seemed like Ibuki used her GPS search 3 times to get to me here.

“Poor you.”

“I don’t need your sympathy, tell me your score, I’ve got 131 points!”

As if to say, “How about it, I’m strong right?”, Ibuki forcefully

declared her score to me.

“Thanks for telling me so casually. But I want to say two things. First,
I can’t guarantee that you’re telling me your real score.”

“Huh? Then why don’t you look at it?”

I stopped Ibuki, who was about to take her tablet out of her
backpack.

“Second, even if you disclose your real score, I won’t tell you my
score.”

“Huh? What did you just say? Are you saying the same thing as that
bastard?”

That bastard…? Although a little concerned, I continued on. (it’s

ayanokouji)

“Although we’re both 2nd years, we’re enemies. I don’t want to risk
leaking information.”

I didn’t think I was in the bottom 10 groups right now.

But, the score might still change, until the end of the end.

Even if it was the last day, the possibility of being tricked by Ibuki-
san’s information was not 0.

“I know now. You’re scared after hearing my score? You’re losing,

right?”

Page | 323
“As for whether I’m winning or losing, I’m not going to answer that
either.”

Although I repeatedly said that I was not going to give her any
information, Ibuki said this with a straight face.

“How about you just admit it? Admit that you can’t beat my score.”

“Fine then, just go back to your exam.”

I’ll try to just go along with Ibuki, if she’s satisfied with that.

“… You’re so irritating. Come on, just show me your score!”

“I’ve conceded defeat, aren’t you satisfied?”

“I want to know your real score. I want to know by how big of a

margin I beat you.”

“How dull…”

“It’s important to me.”

“Sorry, I’m in a hurry.”

“Are you running away?”

“I’m rushing to get to my designated area, so it would be a bit

strange to describe it as running away.”

I was hurriedly rushing to I2.

Probably thinking I was running away, Ibuki followed closely behind.

“Do you have a designated area in the north? Or are you just chasing
me?”

“What I want to know now is your score. If I know that, I will go back
to my designated area too.”

Page | 324
She was dead set on following me.

Being trapped here like this was honestly pretty bad.

I was already being led by the nose by a piece of paper, and I didn’t
want to waste time.

“…I lost to you.”

“Ah, admit it? You finally admit to losing?”

“No, I mean I lost to your persistence. My score is 145 points. It’s a

pity that even though you came here in person, I still win.”

Bringing that out into the open, that information that was supposed
to be hidden.

That’s the reason I declared it my loss.

“You won against me? If you won, give me proof, proof.”

Of course it would turn into this.

But I was not going to stop.

To confirm his safety, I wanted to go to I2 as soon as possible.

“—I know.”

This should be the most efficient… No, I don’t think it was the right
choice.

Even if I let Ibuki know my score on the last day of the exam, it
wouldn’t make much of a difference, right? But every minute was
precious now.

Putting down my backpack, I reached for the tablet that was placed
in an accessible area inside.

Page | 325
Ibuki was waiting with a serious face to see my score.

Just as I took out the tablet and was about to press the power
button, Ibuki and I raised our heads almost at the same time as we
felt the unmasked intensity of the scent in front of us.

“Found you.”

It was an innocent voice, like a child meeting their playmate.

“Hello, Horikita-senpai!”

Seeing the female student who appeared at some point, Ibuki

unabashedly expressed her displeasure.

“…Who are you?”

“Class 1-A’s Amasawa Ichika.”

Although it was possible that she appeared here by chance, it was

strange.

Keeping my guard up, holding my tablet, I gave Amasawa a look.

Considering the matter of the bounty for the 1st years and what was
written on the paper— could it be her?

“You guys don’t need to mind me, just continue doing your own
thing, okay~~?”

“That’s not okay, we’re talking about something personal.”

I wanted to tell Amasawa about my reluctance to reveal the score to

her, and Ibuki understood it fully. If I showed my score on my tablet
here, Ibuki would also understand that this wasn’t the time to decide
who the winner and loser was, right?

I wanted to politely urge her to leave, but Amasawa didn’t budge.

Page | 326
Perhaps impatient from watching, Ibuki said something.

“You’re a nuisance.”

“Is Sudo-senpai okay? Horikita-senpai.”

“Huh? Ignoring me?”

There was no way Amasawa didn’t hear Ibuki’s question, but she
ignored her.

She put her backpack down and twisted her shoulders around, as if
she wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon.

“….Well, thanks for saving him, I’m grateful.”

She smiled faintly, with no intention of apologizing at all.

Did she feel there was no need to apologize to me for the way she
treated Ayanokouji-kun, and the things she did?

Or was it a general premise that she didn’t feel bad for what she did?

“Didn’t I say that you’re a nuisance? I have business with her, so get
out of here.”

“Business? Didn’t Ibuki-senpai run over here without permission?”

It was almost as if she had heard of our conversation from a while

back.

Maybe that was true.

“Even if that’s the case, it’s still fine.”

“Nuisance, go away”. Ibuki’s tone hardened.

If this continued, Ibuki might make a move.

Page | 327
Even after being threatened like that, Amasawa just laughed,
amused.

“What’s your purpose, Amasawa-san?”

I temporarily let my attention off Ibuki, and turned it to Amasawa.

Although I didn’t want to waste any more time, this couldn’t be

helped.

“Fine.”

Although Ibuki was impatient, she waited for me anyway.

“I want to ask you a question. Where are you going, Horikita-

senpai?”

“Right now, I’m standing and chatting with Ibuki-san, so when I finish
with her, I’ll immediately rush to F3.”

That’s a lie. I was going to give up on going to my designated area.

However, it wouldn’t do any good to tell Amasawa that.

She was colluding with the other 1st years, discussing a plan to get
him expelled in order to get the bounty for it.

It’s best not to say anything unnecessary about Ayanokouji-kun.

Although that was what I thought, I soon realized that it wouldn’t

work.

“It’s not good to lie, Horikita-senpai! Your designated area isn’t in

this direction right?”

“What do you mean? Are you trying to make me fall into a trap using
strange methods?””

Page | 328
“Misleading is useless though. The designated area you were
supposed to go to is I7, isn’t it?”

The designated area that Amasawa immediately responded with was

undoubtedly the correct answer.

This wouldn’t make sense if it were a mere coincidence.

Judging from her expression, I can only assume that she was trying to
find me from the start.

“We 2nd years have a way of fighting as 2nd years, and so not
everything can be told as it is.”

Saying that, I continued.

“Isn’t it a given to be wary of the people trying to frame Ayanokouji-

kun?”

It was necessary to switch the subject smoothly here.

Since the 1st years were enemies, there was no need to act timid.

“Oh, so that’s it. Perhaps.”

Saying that, I didn’t actually feel as if my words had reached her ears.

At this time, her attitude made it seem like she had already reached
a conclusion.

“Where are you planning to go, Horikita-senpai? It’s not I2, is it?”

It seems, that this was going in a bad direction, I thought.

“You’ve seen through a lot, huh. But I decided to go to I2 because of

what happened this morning. You’re really observant, aren’t you?”

Even if she used GPS search to accurately observe my location, it

would be impossible to get a head start like this.
Page | 329
If that’s the case, the piece of paper I got today should be related to
Amasawa.

I hesitated to ask a question about this, as Ibuki walked away/

“Are you guys ever going to stop talking?”

I felt a similar kind of anxious feeling.

If this continued, the time spent replying to Amasawa will make me

even more impatient than Ibuki.

“Ibuki-san.”

I mentally prepared myself to divulge the information, opening the

tablet and showing Ibuki my score. In any case, it’s possible to see
the score and the 3 boxes to add members, but I wasn’t going to end
up using it anymore, so there was no real harm.

To her, it didn’t matter what the maximum number of members of

the group was.

The moment she saw the score, Ibuki clicked her tongue.

Scratching her head, she translated her fretful mood into words.

“Ah, seriously? Well that sucks.”

It was a brutal response to her efforts over the last two weeks.

Although, I thought that Ibuki had worked hard.

It was an admirable result for her, with a low learning ability, to

compete with me.

“If you’re satisfied now, go along to your designated area. On the last
day, the score you’ll get is twice as high, so you still have a chance to
bounce back.”

Page | 330
“Yeah, but… What do you mean by abandoning the designated
area?”

Perhaps a little concerned with what Amasawa had said, she asked.

“Ibuki, this is a great opportunity. I’m in a state where I can’t score

right now.”

From the start, I didn’t need to explain it for her to understand. I told
her using my eyes.

“Indeed, the winner and loser will be decided at the end of this
uninhabited island exam.

If you say you’re going to stop now, I won’t hesitate to make a

comeback for good.”

Ibuki froze up for a second, and then seemed to accept it, turning
away.

Me and Ibuki separated then.

As I put my tablet back into the backpack, I thought of how I would

respond to Amasawa.

“I’m going to I2 now, what are you going to do?”

“Why are you going to such an irrelevant area as I2? There’s not
even an event there. Is this something you should be doing during a
special exam?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb, what’s the purpose in throwing this piece of paper
in the tent when I was asleep?”

Page | 331
I held the small piece of folded paper between the thumb and the
forefinger of my left hand, and handed it to her.

“…Paper? Is that for me?”

Acting like this is some sort of monkey show. The paper was no
longer useful anyway.

I handed it to her, the one who I thought was the original owner.

Amasawa took the letter, and opened it up to confirm the contents.

“It’s a string of irregularly arranged words… “Noon”, “K.A”,

“Expelled”, “I2”.

Reading it once more, then closing her eyes.

“I really hate… how you like to play games, even to this extent…”

“Games? What are you planning to involve me and Ayanokouji-kun

in?”

“This, I don’t know. Because I’m just one of the bystanders, just like
you.”

“Don’t misunderstand. You appearing in front of me is the best proof

that you wrote this.”

Amasawa flashed a difficult smile, and tore the paper to bits.

Tearing it 7 or 8 times, shredding it, throwing it away.

“Looking at those 4 words, what kind of bad feeling are you

experiencing?”

“Ayanokouji may be expelled. It’s not hard to understand it like

that.”

“Well-“
Page | 332
Her tone seemed to be clearer than mine.

Anyway, playing word games with her again was a waste of time.

I put my backpack on, and walked towards her.

“What a bummer. You obviously don’t know anything about

Ayanokouji-senpai. You’re just acting like his partner because you’re
in the same class.”

When I reached her, Amasawa uttered that.

“About Ayanokouji-senpai’s situation. You don’t know anything

about that, right, Horikita-senpai?”

I stopped in my tracks, as I cared about what was just said.

“So, are you saying that you know him better than I do?”

I looked over at her. She stiffened up and met my eyes for a

moment, smiling smugly.

“That’s right. I know Ayanokouji-senpai very well. Why is he so

handsome, so smart…

and so much stronger than anyone else?”

I didn’t think a 1st year who just started school would know
Ayanokouji well.

So, they knew each other before highschool?

Just like how Kushida and I were in the same middle school?

Amasawa continued, unconcerned.

“Then, what do you know, Horikita-senpai?”

What did I know?

Page | 333
In this school, he….Ayanokouji was my first…friend.

That’s right, he could be considered a friend.

We talked a lot because our seats were right next to each other…

At first, I thought he was just an average student, but he was actually

much smarter than I thought.

He was recognized by my brother early on, and his fighting ability

was good.

But he usually always hid that part of himself, wanting to live a quiet
life on campus.

Very few people knew about his strength, but other than that,
there’s no much difference in the information that others had on
him.

“Yeah, it’s true. I probably know nothing about him. I can’t deny
that.”

Thinking about Ayanokouji-kun again, it was natural that I came to

that conclusion.

Maybe Amasawa was well aware of that.

Hearing those words that could be interpreted as a declaration of

defeat, Amasawa smiled happily.

“But…”

“But?”

That wasn’t the point.

I thought that it didn’t matter how much I knew about him right
now.

Page | 334
“from now until graduation, I want to continue understanding him
better, as my classmate… As a friend, more than you are now.”

That was my wish now, free of lies.

I have been helped by him more than once.

He was an indispensable person to the class, an important comrade

who we can’t do without.

If he was in a dangerous situation right now, it would be impossible

for me not to run to his side now.

That was the reason why I was going to give up on my designated

area, and run there.

Now, I realized once again what I had to do.

There was nothing wrong with this choice.

It would have been better if it were just me worrying about nothing.

“Do you think you can help? Horikita-senpai.”

“Maybe I’m not strong enough right now, but I intend to help him
when he’s in trouble.”

After all, my school life had just taken a turn for the worse.

This conversation, which at first I considered a waste of my time,

might have a great meaning within.

I must thank her for making me realize this.

I was about to walk away when Amasawa stretched her right hand
out and blocked me.

Seeing her face again, her smile had disappeared, and she looked at
me with an intense killing intent.
Page | 335
“There’s something I got out of our conversation. Something’s gonna
happen at I2.

Otherwise, you wouldn’t try so hard to stop me here.”

I couldn’t waste any more time here.

“Where are you going?”

“Don’t you understand? I’m going to I2 to help Ayanokouji-kun.”

This was the first step for me to become an existence that could help
him when he was in trouble, as I said earlier.

“Don’t kid me, how could Ayanokouji-senpai need your help?”

She said this, as if to correct what I said.

“That’s true, at least for now.”

“So you’re saying that it’ll be different in the future?”

I nodded, and gave her a look.

“One more thing, I learned that you genuinely don’t want me to go

to I2, which means you’re not the one who wrote that.”

I tried to walk past her right hand, avoiding it, but once again,
Amasawa got in the way.

“I can’t let you go over there, Horikita-senpai.”

“The more you try to stop me, the more I must go to I2. From your
tone of voice, shouldn’t he be having a hard time now?”

This has nothing to do with how much I knew about the situation.

It was obvious that something was happening around Ayanokouji-

kun right now, of that I can be sure.

Page | 336
“Do you think you get past me?”

“Yes, I do think I can get past you.”

Even if I had to forcefully clear the obstacle in front of me now.

“Well~ Your determination has been conveyed to me. I’ll only wait
until you put your backpack down.”

In other words, she was going to overpower me with force.

I didn’t think this was just a verbal threat.

I accepted that, honestly, and slowly put my backpack down by my

feet.

“Let me tell you something first. I have experience with martial arts.”

“I already knew that.”

“…Ah, you really are an information warrior.”

Not just about Ayanokouji, but she also understood me.

“Let me also say right now that I’m super powerful, so you better
keep that in mind.”

From the moment she unleashed her anger on me, I could tell
firsthand that she was no ordinary student.

That must not have been a lie.

The fatigue from the uninhabited island exam has accumulated.

Even the Amasawa in front of me is the same.

There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her body, so as far as

physical state, it can be said that we were evenly matched.

In that case, I wouldn’t be defeated so easily.

Page | 337
I slowly got into my stance, watching Amasawa’s movement in front
of me.

She didn’t go into a particular stance, instead opting for a strange

expression.

“Since you said you’re going to meet up with Ayanokouji-senpai, I’ll

play with you for a bit.”

Amasawa’s left foot left the ground.

“Huh?!”

I was obviously on guard, but I felt the danger immediately, and

jumped backwards. Her extended arm didn’t have any force behind
it, maybe she wanted to grab me.

I needed to avoid the first blow, that was what I thought. But the
moment I returned to my senses, she had already grabbed my shirt
near my chest.

“Impossible…”

As I muttered those words, I felt my vision turning around in a circle.

It was only after feeling the pain in my back that I had realized that I
had been hit with a body throw, landing on my back

“What’s impossible, huh?”

“Kgh-!”

It hurt so much that I couldn’t breathe, as I spit out the air within me.

“Oh no, you can’t take this lightly. Okay, I’ll give you some time to
recover, stand up.”

Amasawa looked down at me with an evil grin on her face.

Page | 338
I didn’t need to elaborate on how humiliating this was.

It only took one encounter with her to fully understand that

Amasawa was extremely strong.

It was reasonable to say that even if there was a difference in

strength, it would only be a small one, as we were both girls.

Hard work, resourcefulness, agility, luck. With those elements, it

would be possible to beat her.

But I was probably too naive in thinking that.

Anyway, the damage to my back wasn’t light, it was enough to make

the average person yield straight away.

Fortunately, there was dirt beneath me, but it still took some time to
recover from the damage.

If my opponent prided herself on being in a position of absolute

superiority, then I had to use that. I decided to stand up by taking a
few dozen seconds for each step of the way.

“I’ll wait for you, don’t worry. It’s okay to take a 5 or 10 minute break
just like that.”

“I’ll do that, as long as your motive isn’t to stop me from going to

Ayanokouji-kun.”

“It’s best to give up with the fighting, right? At least for you, Horikita-
senpai.”

That was true. If I started a fight in the final stages of the uninhabited
island exam that had been going smoothly until now, it might be bad
enough for me to withdraw from the exam, or maybe I’ll even be
expelled.

“….Again.”
Page | 339
When the pain in my back had almost disappeared, I once again
assumed a fighting stance.

This was the same kind of fighting as earlier.

I merely had insight into martial arts, but I’m not very good at
fighting.

I can only play to what I have learned, and unleash my strength like
that.

The speed of Amasawa’s movements was surprising, but if she was

just good at Judo, I had some ideas. There was once a karate teacher
who taught me what to do if a boy grabbed a girl, pushing her down.

As I recalled that in my brain, I practiced the moves in my brain.

It would be dangerous, but if the other person was Amasawa, there

would be nothing to worry about.

Give up on the fact that she was younger than me, and convert it to
the mood similar of fighting with a master.

“Yahahahah!”

What I noticed was not Amasawa’s face, but the subtle movements
of her feet, and shoulders. She seemed to find this amusing, and
laughed out loud.

“Uhuh, I get it, Horikita-senpai, I do understand how you feel.

Buuuuuuuut~?!”

I couldn’t play word games with her.

Now, I needed to give my full attention to see through her moves–

Page | 340
I realized after an attack and pain that I had managed to deal with
her right foot, but the left foot approaching me at high speeds hit me
directly above the side of my abdomen.

“Ah!”

Close to tears from the pain, I was kicked to the ground.

My arm didn’t have the time to defend myself, as I was kicked in the
body. I rolled twice or thrice on the ground, threw into confusion,
even though I knew what just happened.

“You thought I just used judo, didn’t you? That’s too naive of you.”

“Huff, hu….huuu….!”

As I subconsciously pressed on the right rib that was kicked, I closed

my eyes.

The pain was so intense that my heart instantly surrendered to it.

This was the second time where I had felt such desperate pain.

Since the confrontation with Housen-kun…

That was something that happened only recently, and if this kind of
thing would happen regularly, it would make me lose confidence.

“The 1st years this year, they aren’t cute at all…”

“So you’re saying that last year’s Horikita-senpai was a cute kid,
unlike me?”

Although I thought she asked the question trying to be mean, it still

stung.

Although we were different types, her uncuteness was comparable

to me.

Page | 341
I tried to stand up, but when I tried using my leg, there was a sudden
feeling of disengagement.

Because of the body slam and the kick, my strength was slashed
beyond imagination.

“Who are you? You seem to know the Ayanokouji-kun in the past…”

One thing was certain. Amasawa had incredible strength, just like
him.

When he fought against my brother, and when he fought against

Housen-kun, Ayanokouji-kun showed us his true strength.

“How do you expect me to tell you about these things, senpai?”

“True, you don’t seem like the kind of person who would respond
honestly to that.”

In any case, her willingness to match me in delaying the fight was

one of the few pieces of good news I had.

Her objective was to block my way to Ayanokoouji. It didn’t seem to

matter how much time she took. In order to move forward, I had to
let the damage to my back recover a bit.

“How should I say this? You really are a disappointment. You aren’t
as good as I thought you are, Horikita-senpai. It’s because of this that
Ayanokouji-senpai didn’t seek your help.”

Amasawa’s eyes gazed at me, as if she were peering straight into my

heart.

“When you say you want to help him, it actually is to find out what
Ayanokouij-senpai thinks about how you aren’t being trusted by
him.”

“…Maybe so.”
Page | 342
“I also just said, Horikita-senpai, you aren’t worthy for Ayanokouji-
senpai to rely on.”

“Even so, this shouldn’t come from your mouth, but his.”

“Do you know what I mean by that?”

She didn’t hide her agitation, and walked over to me.

“Still, even Kushida-senpai is more discerning.”

“Kushida-san? Why did you say her name?”

“Stand up, Horikita-senpai. I no longer want to talk to you. It’s

annoying me. So let’s end this.”

At least she gave me a sort of mercy, as she gave me the time to get
back to my feet.

But, even I couldn’t give up on the fight until the end.

Mercy was shown, to say the least, as she gave me the time to get
me back on my feet.

Then, even I, in the end, could not give up on this fight.

Standing up, I focused everything into seeing Amasawa’s attacks

clearly.

Again, as this was all that I could do. There was no other way.

“Alrighty!”

Amasawa ran over, with a brisk pace.

Defend? Evade? Neither would work, surely.

In that case, I’ll try and get my revenge–!

Boom! The sound of a fist rang in my ears.

Page | 343
But there was no pain. A figure appeared in front of me, blocking my
view.

“You, why….”

A student grabbed the fist in front of me, and said, without turning
around.

The short figure’s back belonged to Ibuki, who was supposed to have
left.

“Ahah…. Do you call that fighting?”

“Good catch~ You startled me, with that slightly unexpected

entrance.”

I hadn’t understood the situation yet, my body still couldn’t move,

and Ibuki, who turned around, glared at me.

“The one who beat you is me, and so I don’t want you losing to some
first year I don’t know in front of me.”

She said, releasing a tightly clenched fist. Once away, Amasawa

pulled away.

“I’m Amasawa Ichika. Please remember my name, Ibuki-senpai.”

“I’ve got a bad memory. If you want me to remember, you’d better

impress me a little, yeah?”

“Ahaha, that seems a little interesting.”

“I’ll have fun with her, so you go where you want to go.”

“What are you talking about? You worked hard in this special exam
just to beat me, right?”

“Aren’t you going to give up on the designated area as well? In that

case, even if I comeback and get the W, there’s no point in it.
Page | 344
[Is that the sort of thing you came back for?] I swallowed those
words back.

“She’s incredibly powerful. You might regret it later, is that okay?”

“What? Are you saying that I’ll lose?”

“She’s a formidable opponent.”

“I don’t see me losing to Ibuki-senpai at all.”

“…Huh, isn’t that great?”

My clumsy warning seemed to backfire, instead igniting Ibuki’s

emotions.

“Even if you defeat Amasawa, if you go too far, or raise an

emergency alarm, you’ll likely be withdrawn from the exam. You
might even be expelled by yourself.”

“You’re the same, right?”

“Ah? Well, yeah.”

“I have faith that I’m stronger.”

Saying this, she waved her hand at me, indicating that I should leave
quickly.

“Who’s going to fight? Hurry up and decide~~”

“I will fight her.”

“You really saying that? The person who just almost lost? You’re
going to be a hindrance, back off.”

“This is my fight. It’s none of your business.”

Page | 345
“Talking about how strong your opponent is and now you’re messing
around like this?

Did you bang your head or something?”

That’s—”

No, there was no way to stop Ibuki with such a half-hearted

statement. But I can’t just leave this to her now.

I grabbed Ibuki’s shoulder, and forced her to back up.

“What the hell!”

“I’ve thought about it, and if you ask me, you can’t win against her.”

“Stop joking around. Don’t decide before it even happens.”

“That’s the truth. I couldn’t do anything, so there’s no way you can

win against her.”

Since she was already angry, I’ll just ignite the flames of her rage till
the very end.

“Then prove it, right here in front of me….”

I stretched my left hand out to Ibuki.

“What for?”

“If you don’t want to lose, if you want to break this stalemate, show
me your resolve.

Form a group with me. If something happens to one of us and have

to withdraw, the group will still survive. That’s the only way to
effectively prevent the withdrawal.”

“Are you kidding me? Why would I form a group with someone like
you?”
Page | 346
“Didn’t I just say? I need you to come to an understanding. If you
haven’t yet, then don’t join this fight.”

“So annoying…”

“It’s alright if you don’t like it, but I’d like to rely on you if you’re
going to join the fight.”

“This sucks. But it wouldn’t be much fun if you’ll be forced to drop

out because of some 1st years.”

Although we both knew that our minds were completely

incompatible with each other.

But, each of our watches were crossed in an overlapping position.

Page | 347
Page | 348
10 seconds was needed to complete the formation of the group.

Amasawa would be able to stop it if she wanted to, but she showed
no sign of taking action.

Amasawa looked down on our side, in a god-like manner, seemingly

enjoying it.

“It’s not a bad strategy. If separate students form a group, it’s true
that if something happens to one of them, they can still avoid being
expelled.”

Amasawa turned her back to us, quietly keeping her distance.

This 2 vs 1 situation didn’t make her feel any sense of danger.

After moving some distance away, she stopped, looking back our
way.

“But there’s just one thing you thought incorrectly, Horikita-senpai.”

“Incorrect? What exactly do you mean?”

“It’s alright for one person to withdraw, which means, it’s okay for
me to break one of you.”

She showed a smile I had never seen before, a smile of pure evil.

“Made you angry, huh? Isn’t that great?”

Ibuki had directly felt the opponent’s power, but acted happy.

At that moment, the signal of the end of group formation sounded.

“So which one should I destroy first—?”

The expression of Amasawa, who ran up to us in one breath, was

excited.

Page | 349
She didn’t make any sort of stance, just coming our way, with her
hand outstretched.

“Hahahah! Hahahahhahaha!!”

A high-spirited smile emerged on her face, looking too distorted to

be human.

Was it me? Or Ibuki?

Although from her perspective, I was the problematic presence, I

couldn’t assume that it was me who was being targeted.

“Let’s go, Ibuki! You go to the left!”

“Don’t order me around!”

Ibuki said, while moving to the left.

I moved to the right, in order to confirm who Amasawa’s target was.

Amasawa, who was running straight towards us, had no intention of

playing any tricks.

Not going to let me make a judgement at the last second?

Even then, I could slowly see it clearly.

As both sides took action, the distance was instantly closed, and
collided.

Because my fists and Ibuki’s could not possibly work in tandem, the
timing of our attacks would naturally diverge.

But even so, it would be impossible to respond to it easily.

Nonetheless, Amasawa dodged as easily as if it were training.

Page | 350
We kept attacking, bringing out the most out of our consecutive
attacks.

“Alrightly, let’s stop for a while.”

In response to our consecutive attacks, Amasawa calmly accepted

them and stopped us.

“What’s going on, this 1st year….!”

“Seriously…”

We stood together, panting, looking at Amasawa in front of us.

Despite her being only a temporary partner, it was still 2 against 1.

If it were a normal situation, we should have been able to

overwhelm her, but instead, we were being overwhelmed.

Within the framework of common sense, she was an unrecognizable

existence.

It was like a sharp blade pressed right against us. If we did as we

pleased here, we might be forced to withdraw.

“Ibuki, don’t get too careless.”

“Let go of me!”

Perhaps being unable to bear being pinned down, Ibuki used her soft
body to show off her kicking ability to the max. As if she were waiting
for it, Amasawa grabbed it with her flexible arm to counter, grabbing
her.

“Ah!!”

“Didn’t I tell you to stop?”

Page | 351
In that moment, I felt an indescribable sense of uneasiness during
this inhibited battle.

There was a clear battle gap. Was Amasawa engaging in this battle
like a game?

It looked like she was fighting using minimal movements just now.

It was the same when fighting with me one-on-one. What if she

wasn’t just waiting for me to recover?

But this can’t be considered the right answer.

With her power she could easily suppress us both.

I came up with a strategy that I wanted to try.

But first, we had to break out of this situation.

“Ha!”

I swung my left fist at Amasawa’s side, but she easily avoided it, just
like she avoided Ibuki.

“Okay, let’s start over.”

Amasawa looked down at us with a slight smile, and pulled away

once more.

“Aren’t you the same as me?”

“I’m not like you, I went for it knowing that it would turn out that
way… In order to reassess my strategy.”

“Excuses, how lame.”

Probably anyone would say the same about me if they looked only at
our current situation.

Page | 352
“Since you don’t believe me, I’ll tell you.”

She climbed up, so I grabbed Ibuki’s arm to stop her from acting
alone.

“What are you doing?”

“Now that you’re my partner, follow my instructions. You can do

that, right?”

“Huh? Impossible.”

“If you don’t then there’s no point. You should understand how
strong Amasawa-san is.

Neither you or I cannot beat her alone.”

“Even if that’s the case, I won’t follow your instructions.”

I was thinking.

What’s the best way to deal with Ibuki?

If Ayanokouji-kun was here, in the same situation as I was, what

would he do?

How should I get us two, who didn’t get along well, to work together
in this situation?

“Ibuki-san.”

“Didn’t I tell you that I don’t want to?”

“I am aware that our relationship is like water and oil. Although it

turned into this due to the dispute we had in last year’s uninhabited
island exam, there’s one thing that I approve of you.”

Yes, that’s what I needed to do now, without hesitation.

Page | 353
“Your fighting sense is comparable to me. No, I think you are slightly
better than me.”

“Huh, so sudden. So you gonna admit losing?”

“However, your fighting style is specialized for one-on-one fights,

and I am more familiar with how to fight with strong opponents two-
on-one. The word cooperation may be unsuited for you, but lend me
your strength.”

After listening to those words, for a moment Ibuki looked at me..

“You are equal or stronger than me in terms of fighting, but that’s it.
In other areas, we are not on the same level. You are not good at
academics, you can’t lead your class, and you can’t cooperate with
others. I don’t want to be mean, but calling yourself my rival is just
you being narcissistic.”

Although the words may make her angry, I would not stop talking.

“It’s about time for you to change yourself as well, isn’t it? Mio Ibuki-
san.”

“…What was that all about?”

“If you keep fighting alone like this, you will surely be in danger of
expulsion at some point.”

“Not a big deal, if that happens.”

“Which means it’ll be your complete loss to me. Is that fine?”

“Huh?”

“If you get expelled halfway, you can’t be considered my rival. You
need to persist til the very end, and grow into a rival that can pose a
threat to me.”

Page | 354
“Arghh, I know, I know, so shut up. I will only listen to you here.
That’s enough, right?”

“Good.”

“So, what should I do?”

“Like before, we attack Amasawa-san at the same time. However,

actually hitting her is of secondary importance. I want you to dodge
her attacks, make sure not to get caught, and continue to attack.”

“Hitting her is of secondary importance? What use would that be?”

“If my guess is correct…that will be our chance to win. When I give

you the signal, attack with all you’ve got.”

Although Ibuki didn’t quite get it, she still left to assume her position.

” Meeting time ended? Then, why don’t we start the second round?”

We started moving at the same time, heading towards Amasawa

from both the left and the right.

In order to not get caught, getting too close to her was forbidden.

I judged the timing to extend my fist, according to the distance of my

reach, Of course, if Amasaka didn’t do anything in response, the
attacks would hit her.

Therefore, she had to exhaust energy in order to deal with the

continuous attacks.

I didn’t rush, stayed calm, and put distance between us when I

sensed danger.

If I were alone, I wouldn’t be able to escape. However, now that her

attention was split in two directions, this fighting style worked.

Not yet.
Page | 355
Before I got out of breath, faster, faster—!

Due to our dangerous continuous attacks, Amasawa’s movements

began to slow down.

Although she was still smiling, she was obviously breathing quicker.

“—Now!!”

In order to not miss this perfect chance, I swung my right fist at

Amasawa with all my strength.

She stopped my attacks easily with one hand up until now, but she
took a defensive stance.

Although my fist didn’t hit her body directly and was blocked by her,
Ibuki who moved behind her stomped at the ground, her tightly
clenched fist hitting Amasawa, who was turning around to respond,
in the face.

An attack hit her for the first time, and Amasawa’s body started
shaking.

“Ah! Ah!”

I crouched down deep, unleashing a punch on her undefended

abdomen.

Spitting out some air, Amasawa went down.

I straddled her body in the next instant, rendering her immobile.

“Ah… That worked really well…”

“Hah, hah…. Heheh, Amasawa…. I’ll admit that you’re strong, but it
seems like your stamina isn’t infinite.”

I caught her out on this surprising weakness and finally turned the
tide.
Page | 356
“Ahhhhh, have I been exposed? My physique is actually
unexpectedly weak then.”

Despite the situation now having been reversed, she stuck her
tongue out, smiling.

As I absentmindedly stared at Amasawa’s gym clothes, I couldn’t

believe my eyes.

Her skin was faintly exposed from underneath her outfit.

I couldn’t help but grab her uniform, and forcefully pull it above her
navel.

“What is this…”

It was a mark like a bad bruise. You could tell that she had been hit
several times already.

It was a completely different kind of damage from the one clean hit
that I managed to land.

It was an injury that had been sustained before the fight had begun.

“I just had a fight, before I fought you senpais.”

Normally, in such a situation, her expression would have been

distorted in pain, and her walking would have been affected.

And yet, she was still stronger than the two of us in this near crippled
state.

She was not without stamina.

From the beginning, she fought, on the verge of collapse.

She was fighting in a condition where she needed more recovery

than I did.

Page | 357
This fact made me feel lightheaded.

Someone who faced Amasawa in perfect condition and was able to

injure her so much.

Even if I considered the boys, I could only think of Housen-kun.

“Do you want to know who caused it? Could it be Housen-kun—?”

There was no doubt that Housen-kun was strong.

He would be able to gain an advantage even against Amasawa who

had unrealistic strength.

However, her personality was easy to understand if you just put a

little thought to it. She wouldn’t answer honestly.

In the end, she only offered me one convincing answer that I would
accept.

If that’s the case—there’s someone else that could beat Amasawa?

Even if we considered every student in the school, I couldn’t think of

someone.

If it was Yamada…. No, he wouldn’t gain anything from this.

“Sorry, but I can’t believe you. Who is it?”

“That’s not something I can answer….. Ah!”

Seeing that I was careless because of the shock, she didn’t let this
moment pass.

“Oi, what are you doing!”

“…Yeah, I was too careless.”

Page | 358
It was clear that this was our only chance, and yet I let Amasawa
escape.

“Nice going, we’re both back to square one now.”

Although our opponent had already taken a lot of damage, the

situation has now been reversed again.

Could I overpower her again… Honestly, I wasn’t confident.

But that was the only thing I could do.

And now, not knowing what she was thinking, she walked to her
backpack and took out her tablet.

“It seems like it’s over. It’s a bit interesting, but it’s going to be a
while again.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s that. If you guys want to pass, feel free~~”

Saying that, Amasawa opened up the path that she herself had
strongly defended, not letting us pass.

Was this some kind of trap? Before I could grasp the situation,
Amasawas was already getting ready to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“Where? Well, to the designated area i guess. After all, there’s still a
special exam going on.”

In any case, if she was hear to buy time, I should go and confirm
Ayanokouji-kun’s status—

“Ah, by the way, I don’t think you need to go after Ayanokouji-senpai

anymore.”

Page | 359
“…Why?”

“It’s all over. If you think I’m lying, go ahead and see for yourself.”

“—What about Ayanokouji-kun?”

Hearing that question, Amasawa closed her eyes slightly.

“Why don’t you go and confirm it yourself? But it might be too late
for you to regret it by then, though.”

It seemed like Amasawa really was planning to walk back, passing us.

Could it be that he had been injured by someone?

“What are you going to do? You going to go after Ayanokouji? That’s
why you fought with Amasawa, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll go.”

Having already come to this place, it was even more impossible to go

back without confirming the situation now.

“Then I’ll go too.”

“Why?”

“I’m thinking, if Ayanokouji’s in danger, I can taunt him next to you.”

“You really are a bad person.”

We hurriedly put on our backpacks and ran towards I2.

Page | 360
Part 4
I had crossed the border to I2, but there was no sign on my watch
that I had arrived.

Normally, I would have suspected it was a GPS error, but this time it
was unlikely.

So I had to move as close to the center of the zone as possible to

compensate for the error of my watch.

Ofcourse I had not experienced such a situation in the last two

weeks, and it was probably an unavoidable factor, including the fact
that the tip of Island I2 was close to the center. It was designed so
that even if Ichinose hadn't come to me, I would have gone to the
place.

I walk slowly along the path that does not allow me to escape.

After less than ten minutes of walking, the deep forest gradually
began to absorb the light, and I could see the blue sea and blue sky
stretching beyond my vision.

Although I had made it this far, my watch was showing no sign.

Instead, there were two adults standing on the small beach in front
of me, staring at me.

One is a man I know well, Tsukishiro, the Acting Director. He was

wearing a sweater, which made him look somewhat out of place.
And the other one is Shiba-sensei, the teacher from the freshman
class D.

It's a strange combination, but apparently it is.

"You have decided to take a very strong approach, Acting Director

Tsukishiro."

Page | 361
I said as I walked to the beach

“I can't seem to do anything about it. This is the best option I can do.
"

I look back and saw the last 14 days of this special test. It became
clear that Tsukishiro's final trap was luring me to I2. But it is not
without its drawbacks.

Since there are no designated or assigned zones around this

northeast zone, there would be no other students coming here. But
at the same time, there must have been a future where he left the
designated area and would have gone for the task. Or a future where
he was working with Nanase or someone else in the same box.

It's just a matter of luck, and there's no way Tsukishiro has prepared
this final event. It means that long before, my arrival here was
already a "predestined" future.

Nanase's defeat to me and going our separate ways. He wanted to

act just to make a plan to hide around 11th place targeting higher
ranks. The timing and details of the first year's attack I think it's safe
to say that the whole thing was planned by Tsukishiro's side from the
beginning.

"So what will happen to me after this?"

The small boat in the corner of my field of vision is anchored, rocked

by the waves with the engine running.

This means we were ready to go at any time.

"If possible, we would like you to follow our instructions and come
on board with us. It would be a way to declare a voluntary
withdrawal of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, it would fit perfectly ”.

I'm sure you'll be glad to hear it, "he added.

Page | 362
"Do you think I would choose to go voluntarily to the ship?"

"Certainly. If you're honest, you didn't have to come to an

uninhabited island."

“Not that he had any particular connection to Shiba-sensei at school,

but it means that he was on the side of Acting Headmaster
Tsukishiro. "

Due to the fact that he had no contact with us, perhaps he was an
Amasawa watchdog.

Now that that need is gone, it seems like he no longer intends to

hide. I'm sure it's a bit

suspicious being in the northeast where there is no one, but Ichinose

and Nagumo could also be seen around here. In that sense, it works
well as a camouflage.

No, either way, it's safe to assume that the people who are
monitoring us are on Tsukishiro's side.

But he doesn't appear to be wearing anything visibly dangerous.

“If I used a weapon or something like that, it would be easy to take

control here, but unfortunately, you are a valuable commodity. It is
my duty to bring you back safe and sound, so I have decided that
what I need is only my fists. "

Standing on the sandy beach, Tsukishiro smiles fearlessly and

spreads his hands slightly. So, to resist until the last moment in this
place, I have to fight with Tsukishiro.

Unlike what happened with Nanase, I don't think my method of

evading attacks is going to work.

"So the only way to avoid expulsion is to take it."

Page | 363
"That is what is going to happen"

“ I'm not saying that violence is a bad way to solve a problem, but I
am a student at this school. By normal rules, this is a 'foul'. ”

“That may be true. However, Ayanokouji-kun, you are a successful

example who has accomplished something special in the White
Room. Even if you fight within the limited rules, you will have no
enemies. Don't you think it's silly to compete with others in this
school? Or have you come to take pleasure in being the king of the
mountain? "

“If so, is it an evolution ...... or a regression that would disappoint

that man? “

“No, no, it's not like that, is it? The desire of the White Room is to
take over Japan and, by extension, the world. If you, the successful
body, feel that way, then the growing body will eventually take over
the world and enjoy it. "

From a small Japanese institute, the story stretches to take control of

the world. If someone heard of such a fantasy, they would most
likely laugh. Probably Tsukishiro

himself, who is in front of me, must be very incredulous about how

realistic it is. Just trying to do his duty faithfully and without
hesitation.

"Well, to tell the truth, I didn't think this school was much."

"I guess so. Because for you, this school level is a path that you went
through in your childhood”.

“It is only limited to the curriculum. I finally start to have an idea of

where I want to be and what I want to do in this school. I know I'm

Page | 364
going to have a lot of fun until I graduate, and there are a lot of good
people outside of the White Room. "

In fact, I'd say it's a pool of talent that the White Room could never
produce.

“I do not intend to denigrate the students of Advanced Nurturing

High School. As you say, there are always talented people around the
world. Sometimes you are outperformed in sports, sometimes in
studies. But the important thing is not that part, but the people who
can excel in all situations and lead others. "

Acting Director Tsukishiro gives Shiba a light look.

"What happened to Nagumo-kun and Ichinose-san?"

"Nagumo has stopped moving, and Ichinose has already moved

away, so there is nothing to worry about."

I'm sure he must have calculated that I would stop Nagumo and
Ichinose.

"So, regarding unplanned actions, Amasawa seems to be blocking

the movement."

Unplanned actions? There are no designated zones or problems

around this zone.

Was someone other than Ichinose and Nagumo getting closer?

If an unrelated student showed up here, it would be a nuisance to

Tsukishiro.

It seems that Amasawa is the one delaying that irregular existence.

"She has been educated in her own way, hasn't she?"

"It did not seem that Amasawa ally with Acting Director Tsukishiro."

Page | 365
"She is, simply," a traitor. " She was the one chosen to bring you
back, but she never intended to bring you back. "

As if to say that the useless talk is over, Tsukishiro takes a step

forward.

He didn't want to waste time with others. He was reducing the

distance between us little by little.

But we were still five or six meters apart from each other.

Shiba-sensei slowly walks behind me to make sure I don't run away.

“You wouldn't call it unfair a two against one, right? After all, you are
the best in the White Room. I'm even a little nervous about this. "

That said, there was an overwhelming amount of space for

Tsukishiro.

I can sense that he was convinced that he could compete well in a

one-on-one, and that he had chosen to have me fight alone against
the two of them.

There is no pride in it. It's a rock solid position. I shifted my gaze to

the ship waiting on the shore.

From what I can see, the only member of the crew is the pilot.

Which means that if they are launched, I will only have to eliminate a
maximum of three enemies.

"Do not worry. It’s only Shiba and I who will fight against you. "

I'm not the type of person who would take your word for it.

He may be carrying a concealed weapon, though he's empty-handed

from the way he just spoke.

Page | 366
As I face two adults with unknown abilities, both at agent level, I will
have to fight in a cautious manner for the presence of weapons,
reinforcements, and other uncertain factors.

Normally doing multiple actions at once would burn my brain, but I

don't have to be mentally upset.

Fighting in absurd and disadvantageous situations has been instilled

in me repeatedly since I was a child.

It is the same as the process of unconscious breathing that is

essential for human life.

"You have a look that says you don't think for a minute that you're
going to lose."

"Do you think I have that look?"

There were no visible results of my face anywhere. The only way to

open the future is for me to take it here.

I had a situation where I had them in front and back, and waiting to
see what will happen.

Normally, I would be inclined to take the first step, but it is not a

good idea.

They are not students, the people in front of and behind me are from
the school.

If I am the only one raising my hand, I will be at a disadvantage in

situations other than fighting.

“Although I know that I will have an advantage, I cannot start it

myself. As well as you”

Tsukishiro, who has a detailed knowledge of education policy

regarding the White Room, discusses it.
Page | 367
"So, let's start at once, Shiba-sensei"

As soon as he said his name, the two adults started walking towards
me at the same time. Both were not in a hurry and calmly approach
closing the distance as if they were advancing the Shōgi pieces. (It's
Japanese chess)

Shiba's presence and footsteps disappeared at the same time as I

turned backwards. The distance between Tsukishiro and me, who is
walking in front of me, is 7 steps, 6 steps, 5

steps, 4 steps ....

Shiba's two hands came to grab my face from behind, and I ducked a
little to avoid them. The first thing he will do is come from behind.

In the middle of the evasive movement, Tsukishiro extends his arm

and comes to grab me like Shiba did. I evaded it while rolling down
the beach, and made the effort to get up and run at the same time to
escape the chase.

The dust danced in the sea breeze. The two adults did not rush to
chase me and look at me silently, I am aware of them, as they are of
me.

They are trying to measure my ability through concrete movements,

from the data that they could not count.

My feet sink into the sand. I guess I should have taken my shoes off
earlier if this was going to happen.

Under the hot sun, the two of them go out to close the distance they
had parted again.

Observing the face and body of the two, I keep a distance backing up
at the same pace.

Page | 368
With my back to the sea, I am going to move away from the soft sand
and secure myself towards a foothold, while avoiding being turned
over.

"It's a good idea, but I'm not sure it's the correct solution
Ayanokouji-kun."

They won't be able to take my back, but they will narrow my escape
route.

If I go lower, the waves will hit my legs, and that's where Tsukishiro
and Shiba will come in.

The outstretched arm keeps trying to grab my body. They still don't
mean to hurt me with their blows.

"You're good at running away."

They both move very fast, and the space to avoid them is suddenly
taken from me.

After dropping to the very edge of the water, I couldn't take it

anymore and ran away.

"Oh? Have you given up on the sea protecting your back?"

It's easier to provoke your opponent to make mistakes if he's in a

hurry. While I was thinking about it, Shiba and Tsukishiro were
kicking the sand and heading towards me.

Now that it's two against one, and if any of them catch me, then it's
game over.

Four arms are extended in each other's place, and if you show the
slightest gap, the situation will end.

I started running and trying to distance myself, but they weren't

going to let me go and started chasing me.
Page | 369
Running in a place like this will only continue to drain my stamina.

It is clear that they intend to take away the resistance with the heat
and the bad points of support.

I had to make a choice. I abandoned my flight movement in the

middle of the day, and making the most of my body's spring, I
stepped forward with my left foot, stepped on the sand, and turned
to attack Shiba, who was right behind me.

"Mwah !?

Shiba's movement stiffened slightly due to my movement, which

showed an unexpected trajectory.

I feinted with the left fist aiming for the chest on the right, but
sensing the danger, Shiba didn't panic and kept his distance.

It's a sign that he's more concerned with avoiding me rather than
catching me.

"Well ...... you've been doing an excellent job facing the two of us,
Ayanokouji-kun."

He tried to defend me, dodging attacks from both sides, but I can't
get a clean hit.

"But human strength is limited. Isn't it time you started to catch your
breath?"

"Acting Director Tsukishiro, is a difficult opponent to fight."

"My job is to take the initiative and do what people don't want to
do."

There is nothing clean or dirty, just a fighting style that aims to

capture me and take me home.

Page | 370
But he wasn't wasting stamina for nothing, either. What I have won
so far. There seems to be a slight combat ability between Tsukishiro
and Shiba.

Tsukishiro is said to have a score of 4 while Shiba has a score of 6,

and I have learned that Shiba has better movement. My intuition
tells me that Tsukishiro is above.

Anyway, the balance to be attentive is slightly changed from 5 to 5 (It

refers to the score of 10 put as half and half).

He had always thought that he left his back at least capable, that is,
Shiba, but it was the other way around. This is their way of fighting.

It's tempting to start with the least capable, Tsukishiro, but even so,
his ability is far from the truth.

It is in a higher dimension, it is not easy to end it. In fact, if he realizes

that I have completed my analysis, there is a possibility that
Tsukishiro will become aware of his defenses.

I'll take down Shiba in one hit, without letting him realize that I have
noticed the difference in his abilities.

In simple terms, a shot is fired in one shot with the intention of

hitting the other. The other side hasn't thought of hitting me yet, so
now is my chance.

If I am lucky it will be the only thing that can inflict one-sided

damage.

And after neutralizing Shiba, I'll quickly deal with Tsukishiro in a one-
on-one I have a second to think. While they both attack me at the
same speed.

But the fist that looked like it was going to grab him clenched and
turned into a blow. It was read.
Page | 371
The aim of the damage exchange is to be read, if I keep shooting like
this, they will both eat me. Even so, I'm going to have to get over
them.

I tried to turn my consciousness to trade damage with Shiba behind

me, but something unexpected happened. I felt a cold mark on my
neck and was forced to interrupt the counterattack.

I don't know how many times I've had to take evasive action to get
away from Tsukishiro The sound of Shiba's fist, balanced with a slight
delay, reaches my ears dryly. If I wasn't good at damage exchange, it
could have stopped me in my tracks. Shiba's strike definitely has the
same power as mine.

It is not more than that….

I looked at Tsukishiro's movements, which should be inferior to

Shiba's, but they were both faster than I had expected.

"...... You are still a complicated person, Acting Director Tsukishiro."

I avoided it just in time, and for the first time in years, I break out in a
cold sweat in a fight.

If I hadn't trusted my instincts, I don't know what I would have done.

Not only would I have been hit by Shiba's blow, but I could have been
left unprotected by Tsukishiro's attack.

Tsukishiro's reading that it is 4, and Shiba 6 is itself false information

created by the other party.

They intentionally save their abilities and then attack above your
alert level.

"I would have killed you now, but your reaction time is not normal."

Perhaps, it is convenient not to rule out that possibility.

Page | 372
It is not natural that the Tsukishiro in front of me is inferior in skill to
Shiba. I'd say that was the only thing that helped raise my guard to
the limit.

They are both cautious and do not risk as much as they can, but they
do not hesitate to take risks if they think it will be to their advantage.

I guess the situation is a bit disadvantageous for me.

Even if you try to crush one of them first, it's going to cover at the
perfect time, making it difficult for me to hit them with a proper
attack. It's hard to believe that they got together overnight.

“How is your analysis going? Ayanokouji-kun "

The fight has only lasted a little over two minutes. I have already
tried several different patterns, but none of them are convincing.

“It would have been easier if it was like a children's fight, purely
fighting and fighting only with our strength and power. But we adults
do not hesitate to take the best measures not to lose, even if it is
something dirty, and it is not something well seen. "

Tsukishiro has also read 99% of my thoughts. It is a very accurate

way to fight without hesitation, but at the same time, it does not
allow you to read your own thoughts.

I'm sure you'll agree that it's a great idea. Anyway, in the current
situation, a decisive blow is missing. It seems that I will also have to
risk a lot if I want to stay in the game.

"Acting Director Tsukishiro"

The one who broke the silence was Shiba, who had kept his mouth
shut until that moment. Immediately after his name was spoken,
Tsukishiro seemed to have noticed a strange change.

Page | 373
It was something that no one here had expected.

“I wonder what the Acting Director and the classroom teacher do

with a student in such a deserted place. What are they doing? I
would love to hear about it”.

She was an unwelcome visitor.

"I'm pretty sure you are…."

“She is Kiryuuin Fuka from Third year group B ”.

Why the hell was she here? I thought I was the only one that had this
I2 designated as a designated zone.

"You don't look like a lost kitten. What can I do for you?"

After abandoning his fighting stance, Tsukishiro asks in his usual

tone.

“Actually, I've been watching you from behind the big tree for a
while, but I couldn't take the two-on-one situation. That is why I have
appeared here. "

Of course, it was impossible that Tsukishiro and Shiba hadn't seen

the GPS signal.

“Could this be the cause? It seems that an accident caused my watch

to fail.”

Kiryuuin laughs and shows a watch that has been smashed on the
surface.

“Let me ask you this, since we have people from the school in front
of us, there is nothing wrong with it, right? Even if my watch breaks,
only the scoring function will be disabled. I am free to go wherever I
want ”.

Page | 374
"No problem, Anyway, it is a test in which the clocks are constantly
breaking."

Tsukishiro doesn't seem to be bothered by the irregular existence in

this place. Normally you should withdraw if a student sees you in
these kinds of situations. However, Tsukishiro understands that this
is the last place he can do it, so he won't back down.

Kiryuuin was likely listed for elimination.

"Ayanokouji, were my actions unnecessary?"

If you have seen the distorted battle between teachers and a

student, there is no point in repairing it.

I prefer to make the most of this accident that has occurred.

“That depends on what happens next. Am I correct in assuming that

you will give me a hand? "

"Of course. As your senpai, shouldn't it be normal for me to protect

my kouhai? "

She said that and stood next to me, and laughed.

"But how did you get here?"

“Yesterday, you were running away from the first-year students. I

was curious and wanted to ask you, but I figured you'd rather run
away. "

“So you went to the trouble of breaking your watch so it wouldn't

know you were coming.”

"I am glad that you have piqued my curiosity. For this reason, I have
been invited to a very interesting development."

Well, it is not a development that would normally be possible.

Page | 375
"Shiba-sensei, I'll let you take care of her."

“From what I see, the abilities of the Acting Director and Shiba-sensei
are at a ridiculous level. I don't know how much I can help, but it
probably won't be much.”

Kiryuuin happily held her fist at my side.

"If you can attract them for 1 second or 2 seconds, you are
welcome."

"I'll tell you. I'll hold them for a minute or two at least. But
Ayanokouji, can't you show me more?"

"Show me more?"

“You don't look very good with that scruffy expression on your face.
Keep your fists up and try to create an atmosphere of tension. "

I never thought I'd hear you say that in a place like this.

But under Kiryuuin's strange pressure, I had no choice but to strike a

pose that looked like it. It's like something you would see in a fight
scene in a drama.

"How about?"

“Huh, you're that clumsy. Oh well, let's say you've met the minimum
standard. "

Smiling, Kiryuuin also struck a fighting pose once more.

"Have you ever hit someone?"

"I am a lady. What do you think? "

"...... Are you serious?"

Page | 376
"Don't worry, I was thinking that I would like to hit you in the face at
least once ..."

We keep a distance from each other and move into a clearing one
against one.

"Let's solve this, Acting Director."

“So you have decided that I am the only one who can beat you? "

With his usual smile on his face Tsukishiro prepares himself, showing
no concern.

“Then let's see. I want to know what you are capable of one against
one "

The opponent in front of me I receive it as an equal enemy. If I don't,

I'll be the one who gets a surprise. But it will still be decided in less
than 1 minute. I'm going to get it before Kiryuuin is held back by
Shiba.

Tsukishiro came charging towards me. I dodged Tsukishiro's attack

without warning and hit Tsukishiro's cheek with my left fist.

- "!!!?"

I jabbed lightly and with speed, hitting hard. The power of each shot
is slight because I concentrated only on hitting.

However, upon hitting him repeatedly, Tsukishiro's smile faded.

The target was the nasal pole. A certain effect is activated in the
human body if even slight damage is received. That is "tears".

Page | 377
Page | 378
All human beings induce tears when they hit us on the nose. Tears
welled up at the pain, taking away important visibility. It doesn't
matter if you are an adult or a child, young or old. It is a mechanism
of the human body.

As Tsukishiro's vision faded, I swiftly swing an uppercut to his chin.

Staring at the sky Tsukishiro, he probably bit his mouth and a little
blood spurted out.

"I wonder how much time has passed "

Wiping the blood dripping from his lips, Tsukishiro smiled wryly.

“I admit it, considering that you are a second year high school boy in
front of me. You are an undeniable masterpiece. "

Of all the rivals I have fought with, Tsukishiro is without a doubt one
of the best. It was enough for Tsukishiro to decide that he could fight
one-on-one and win.

"I don't like being hard on people, but I'm having a lot of fun."

Laughing in amusement, Tsukishiro prepares himself again. But he

didn't come right away, and he backs slowly.

It could be seen as a way of buying time until Shiba defeats Kiryuuin.

I calmly try to follow the path of victory, without rushing too much.

Tsukishiro looks at the sand at his feet. For just a moment.

I reached out and put all my strength into my right fist

- "It's absolutely magnificent ──!"

I hit on Tsukishiro's body who received it as if squirming.

Page | 379
I hit it with most of my ability. But even so, Tsukishiro's smile didn't
go away. While losing his posture, Tsukishiro grabs a handful of sand
from the ground with his left hand and throws it at me.

Then, with his free hand that plunges further into the hole in the
sand, he stands up. Even if the right fist that swings up like an
uppercut hits me straight, it wouldn't do much damage if you don't
have good posture. But, I didn't receive his right hand from

the front, and I pulled Tsukishiro's arm away and I immediately

grabbed his right arm so he wouldn't move.

"!!"

I looked at Tsukishiro's right arm, which is holding a Stun Gun (Taser)

"How did you know?"

' I didn't know until just before. However, in a situation where you
can't even let a single moment of time go by, you dropped your gaze
once as if to check your feet for some reason. I was uncomfortable
with that. If your goal was to remove my vision with sand, you don't
need to bother checking your feet. "

Even when his left hand grabbed the sand and threw it at me, my
consciousness was beyond that.

"It also seemed a little natural to me that you deliberately put

yourself as if you were going to receive a blow from me"

We both needed to change the course of the fight, as we were very

even.

“If it was possible, I didn't want to take this risk, it was an insurance
policy, but your skill was enough to make me impatient”.

Page | 380
I loosened his right hand and the stun gun slammed into the sand
and stabbed.

“So what do we do now? You have caused me profound damage, but

...... "

At this point, Acting Director Tsukishiro raises his hand and sends a
signal somewhere.

Then the pilot of the small anchored boat started trying to land with
something in hand, clearly the last trump card in case they are
defeated. But it is the same in this case.

"I'm afraid your time is up, Acting Director Tsukishiro."

Suddenly, the pilot stopped preparing to land, and the little boat
revved its engines and took off quickly, leaving the acting director
behind.

The reason may be that he saw another small boat coming from the
sea.

"...... I'm surprised. What did you call the boat? I have been preparing
the ground naturally. So you wouldn't ask the school for help if you
needed it. And I knew you wouldn't want the school to know either.
"

“It is a simple matter. You just have to take a good look at the
smaller boats to realize it."

If you look closely at the end of the small boat, you could see
Mashima-sensei and Chabashira-sensei. And that's how Tsukishiro
found out.

“What would happen if someone reports that a student from class A

and class D in the 2nd year has collapsed in I2 and they are in
danger? It is not something that can be hidden very easily. I have
Page | 381
already confirmed that a classroom teacher was included in the
selection of people who came to help the victim in an incident that
occurred some time ago”.

This was simply a rule that the school had decided that class teachers
were the best at identifying them at a glance.

When you find out that it is the 2nd A class and the 2nd D class, you
have no choice but to bring your class teacher, even if you don't
want to.

If it is an emergency, there is no time to check the GPS one by one. If

it contains information that the watch appears to be broken, they
will definitely check it, even if there is no response from the GPS.

"If they had checked all the students by GPS, would the rescue have
arrived and changed the situation? Now, from the map, you can see
that a student from class A and another from class D from the
second year have lost the GPS response of their watches. I think it
was more of a question of trust. "

“You were going to buy time from the beginning and let this unfold.
That's why you focused on escaping in the beginning, knowing the
downside. "

"It was a mistake to threaten Ichinose halfway. If you were going to

do this you should have handled it thoroughly."

As a result, Tsukishiro gave me the opportunity to ask Sakayanagi for

help before coming here.

“Even so, my position is still that of a priest, you know? I can't do

such a disturbing thing."

I'm not sure if that's true or a lie, but Tsukishiro laughed when he
said it.

Page | 382
Shiba immediately withdrew his hand from Kiryuuin as he saw that
Tsukishiro had already resigned.

“Fuf… You were saved Ayanokouji-kun. Strangely, I couldn't take it

anymore. "

Then he knelt to rest his body

I was watching the fight between Shiba and her, although it was out
of the corner of my eye and she could hold out well, even if she only
defended herself.

It's great that he recognized the obvious superiority of the team and
tried to entertain her without putting too much pressure on her.

If even Shiba had participated in the battle alongside the flawless

Tsukishiro, he wouldn't know how it would have turned out. In the
end, the boat landed and Mashima-sensei and Chabashirasensei got
off.

The walkie-talkie that Sakayanagi lent me was useful to the end.

"I won, so I wonder if you will accept it"

"I guess I can't help but admit it for the moment."

As things stand, there shouldn't be enough cards in hand to deliver

Tsukishiro from here.

Even the fact that he changed the designated area just for me is sure
to come to light if investigated.

"Your score is quite complicated, but I think you're fine. As for me,
now that you're out in the open, I can't help but protest if you're in
the bottom five.

"Don't worry. I think I can see that I'm at the safe limit"

Page | 383
"It was an unnecessary worry. Well then, I'll leave it like that for
now."

"For the moment. I hope I don't have to do more of these power

tricks using unnecessary violence. At least I don't think it goes against
the philosophy of this school.

Of course, if it is a test of strength according to the regulations, it is a

welcome thing. "

With a smile on his face, Acting Director Tsukishiro looks at

Mashima-sensei and Chabashira getting out of the boat.

"Let me ask you one last thing, Acting Director Tsukishiro. Did you
really try to expel me? It is true that there were strong restrictions,
but if I were in your place instead, I would have prepared a more
reliable method and carried it out.”

I don't think the man in front of me is foolish enough not to think

about it.

"You are overestimating me. I did everything in my power to get you

out of school according to the instructions of my superiors. But it
turned out that I could not do it, and I fell before you like that."

One thing I found out is that the man named Tsukishiro hasn't shown
everything he has yet. I don't know if there was any lie or falsehood
in what you just said, but I'll have to assume that it had other goals.

"May I ask you to give a message to Amasawa-san"

"I hear you".

“Amasawa Ichika, you are disqualified for disobeying your orders.

There will be no more places to return to. You can stay or leave this
school as you see fit. "

Page | 384
Is it true? Or will it be false? I can't see that from Tsukishiro.

Even after admitting defeat, that doesn't smell like he wavered at all.

If Amasawa really did leave the White Room, I don't think it's the end
of the story.

One thing is for sure.

I just don't think this is the end of the whole White Room thing.

There is still something. And, it makes me think.

"Let's see how you fight to the end."

When he slowly gets up, Tsukishiro raises both hands as if he has an

idea and walks over to Mashima-sensei and the others.

' Nothing has occurred here. Ayanokouji-kun and I just had a chat. "

"You think that's enough."

"There is nothing to do, it is already decided. The teachers cannot do

anything about it.

In fact, you should be grateful that I do not resist."

I looked at Mashima-sensei and nodded and said it was okay.

"Then let's go. The students haven't finished their special exams yet."

After confirming that the adults are heading to the ship, I look
towards Kiryuuin.

Perhaps she was exhausted from dealing with Shiba, she sat on the
beach and got on her knees looking out to sea.

"Well done, Ayanokouji."

"No, Kiryuuin-senpai you were also amazing against Shiba-sensei."

Page | 385
“I can't even take that as a compliment after seeing you in action.
Don't worry; I'm not going to tell anyone about you. But I'd like to
hear what you have to say. "

I didn't expect them to see me, but I'm glad it was Kiryuuin

“I have a somewhat complicated family situation. That's all."

“A complicated family situation. That doesn't seem like an easy thing

to deal with. "

Getting up and lightly brushing the sand off his butt, Kiryuuin starts
walking towards the forest. When I left I2 with Kiryyuin and went
back to I3, Miyabi Nagumo was no longer there. But instead, I ran
into some unexpected students.

As soon as they saw me they looked at me and were surprised.

“It's a rare combination Horikita. Strolling with Ibuki, is it going to

rain hail today? "

"...., Are you okay?"

"What do you mean by" good "?"

"Well, no. I thought you might be having a little problem with

someone."

This time, Kiryuuin and I looked at each other and denied it at almost
the same time.

"Do not? There is no one in the way. "

"So what were you doing here?"

“It has been a very exhausting two weeks. I was resting on a secluded
beach, looking at the sea. "

“You have a lot of free time. You probably got the minimum score. "
Page | 386
Why Kiryuuin-senpai? As she sent a look.

“I found a student who was slacking off and I brought him back. I told
him to be diligent to the end. "

With that said, Kiryuuin-senpai tapped my back and started walking.

"Then I'll see you on the boat after the exam."

Horikita stands by my side and confirms it again by whispering to me

"Are you sure you were okay ......?

"What?".

"The thing is…. I just heard some of that. On a small piece of paper "

"Paper?"

“No, it's nothing, don't worry. There are still a lot of things I don't
understand, so I'll do some research on my own and then we'll talk. "

I was curious, but I don't know what she was talking about, but I
didn't want to prolong the conversation about what happened in I2. I
can't tell her about Tsukishiro.

“Why are you and Ibuki here? There is no homework around, right? "

Ibuki was going to say something, but Horikita stopped her.

"Ibuki had challenged me to a match and that's why we were

checking each other's scores .. Your GPS was in a strange place, so I
thought I'd check it out. I'll call it a tie."

"How can that be, clearly I won, right?"

"Error, error."

Page | 387
"Even if it is not a mistake or a mistake, if I beat you with 1 point I
will win "

I'm not sure, but through this exam Horikita and Ibuki have become
friends ......?

And soon after, the test of the uninhabited island comes to an end.

Page | 388
Epilogue: And The Results Are In
Intro
The long two weeks of testing on the uninhabited island have finally
come to an end. On the last day, it appears that some of the students
in the group who tried to force themselves and were injured, but the
ordeal somehow came to an end. At the starting point of the test,
the teachers welcomed the students to the camp.

After six in the afternoon, when the world was starting to turn red,
we received a call informing us that all the participating students had
returned to the ship and had been brought back.

It was announced that the results would be released on the ship, but
as there was a possibility that many students would drop out, the
lower groups were notified in advance.

The reality is that they will probably find out about it shortly after
they get back on the ship, probably before they go to sleep.

It looks like it won't be a public execution in front of all the students.

The last five groups are called in beforehand to see if they can take
preventive measures earlier.

The students who can avoid expulsion will be saved by paying the
price here.

Students who do not have enough private points, or those who do,
but do not use them for any reason, will be expelled at this time and
will have to pack their belongings and get on a small boat.

After taking a shower for the first time in days, I decided to take a
boat ride.

Page | 389
Normally, I would have used my mobile phone to communicate with
my friends and loved ones, but since the school kept holding my
phone, I was not allowed to do so.

I passed some “D-class” students and we exchanged a few words of

thanks for each other's hard work, but I made my way to the deck.
There, I saw an interesting combination of two people.

They both faced each other and were talking face to face.

I didn't do anything in particular to hide, so one of them immediately

noticed me.

His face was covered in scars, indicating that he had had a fierce
battle with Housen Kazuomi during the exam.

" I'm sorry to interrupt you, but don't forget the promise you made
to me, okay? And some money. "

"Of course, Ryuuen-kun. Please tell me when the time comes."

In the back Sakayanagi and Ryuuen smiled happily. Ryuuen, who

mentioned the word promise, returned to the ship looking at me.

"Promise?"

"Yes. I did not know the strength of first graders. I trained Ryuuen-
kun as a good soldier, but he is not the type of person who would
cooperate for free. I told him that if he asked me for a favor, I would
grant it to him. . "

I see. So that's why Ryuuen appeared to confront Housen.

"By the way, do you know the result of the fight?"

"I am not sure about that. I know that Ryuuen-kun and Housen-kun
returned to the starting point covered in injuries, and received
medical treatment and were removed. "
Page | 390
So the fight ended with a painful outcome with both sides
withdrawing, although the winner of the fight is unknown.

But it must not have been easy for that guy who was so focused on
winning the desert island event to change his mind.

"So ... was it a good idea to make a promise that easy?"

"Yes. It's a promise that may not come true anytime soon, plus ...
that wish is like strangling yourself in the near future. "

Sakayanagi smiled after saying that. She had the innocent eyes of a
child.

It seems certain that it is not such a sweet promise to have a light

date.

"I'm glad you're well. Did you have a problem with the timing of the
GPS disappearance that was indicated?

"It was the perfect moment. I will definitely pay you back."

"That is a difficult proposition."

"I get it. Ayanokouji-kun now wants to lead a quiet life as much as
possible. I am well aware that you won’t do anything that will make
you stand out unwittingly. Do not rush.

We still have almost a year and a half of school life left. "

Sakayanagi says that if there is an opportunity to compete

somewhere before graduation, that is fine.

"It's almost six o'clock, it's time to announce the results, right?"

"So is."

Which group won and which group lost?

Page | 391
Let's see it.

Page | 392
Part 1
At 7 o'clock, the members of class D began to meet and eat in the
same place. Naturally yesterday and today, the lower group lists
weren't available, so the only way to know which group was
underperforming was to ask them directly.

"First of all, ... I think it's great that no group from class D, from the
second year, has been able to complete the special exam without
missing a beat. And the fact that all the students from class D were
present here it was an important factor in avoiding expulsion.”

That was really good.

Looking at his companions, Yousuke just said that with all his heart. I
was a little worried because I had never met Yousuke on an
uninhabited island, but he seemed more worried about his friends
than his own exhaustion.

In case you are not sure what to do, you can always ask for help.

I decided to take a quick look at the rest of the sophomore class.

If we're all here, it means that Haruka and Airi's group were safe too.

I decided to take a quick look at the rest of the sophomore class.

It does not appear that any student is excessively tired. Students are
enjoying a large meal for the first time in two weeks, but cannot fully
enjoy it.

When the teachers begin to meet, the 8:00 pm signal is given and the
microphones are turned on.

"Please stop eating, it's time for the announcement"

Page | 393
Class 3A teacher Sasaki announced, and the students look at the
teacher.

" First of all, thank you for your hard work on the uninhabited island
special survey.

We, the faculty and staff, are surprised by the fact that, despite a
total of thirteen students dropping out, no group of students was
absent during the two weeks. ”

They begin by thanking us for the hard work.

“It is possible that some classes have already noticed the lack of
some students, but the last five groups were penalized and
withdrawn from the school, as we had explained beforehand. If there
is more than one person in a group, we will read the name of one
person as a representative. The five groups are:

The 3rd D Mutou class, the 3rd D Kawakami class, the 3rd C
Shinonome class, the 3rd C

Katsumata class, and the 3rd B Mikitani class. For a total of 15

people. "

The first and second graders muttered at Sasaki-sensei's explanation.

Names were confirmed to be in the lower ranks just before the end
of the 12th, but it was too surprising that the group of everyone who
dropped out of school was third year They had assumed that
Nagumo would be the one to rescue them. I also thought that some
of the freshmen and sophomores would drop out as well due to the
hectic mobility.

But it turned out that five groups of three third-year students were
eliminated.

Page | 394
Given that none of these students could benefit from the recovery
measures, a total of 15

students have been confirmed to drop out.

Based on this result, was it secretly decided that 5 groups of 3rd

grade students would drop out of school?

Thinking like this, I saw the faces of the third graders, but apparently
it wasn't like that.

The faces of many of the students were puzzled, as if they couldn't

believe what they were seeing. It seems as if they were scared of the
result, as if it were an example.

I tried to find Nagumo, but the face I saw for a moment was unusual
for him. However, perhaps the aggression of the last hour with me
could have influenced this result.

The power of the huge screen is turned on, a white image is

projected on the screen and another person comes out.

"Then, we will announce the three main groups as a result of the

special examination of the uninhabited island."

Acting Director Tsukishiro. I didn't think he had been so calm, after

fighting with me.

He proceeded calmly, as when he declared the start

"Third place, 2nd year Group Class A Sakayanagi Arisu.

261 points "

Suddenly, a group of sophomores showed up for third place.

They seemed to have made the most of the advantages of the only
seven-member group allowed for sophomores, and had slowly

Page | 395
worked their way up the rankings amassing a solid score and slipping
into third place.

On the last day, Ichinose left the team in the middle of the
tournament, but the effect was not so serious.

As for the scores, Ryuuen and Katsuragi's group also fought hard, but
Ryuuen's withdrawal on the 13th must have had a big impact. With
Katsuragi alone, the order of arrival of the rewards disappeared and
the number of challenges he could participate in decreased. It must
have been two very hard days for him, as he had to act with caution
to avoid the risk of withdrawing.

The doubling of the score on the final day must have been a
headwind.

For a change, Sakayanagi had things in order. The students who were
sent to detain the freshmen were all outside of Sakayanagi's group.
The tablet used was also from another group and was not at higher
risk.

She responded well to dangerous opponents with Ryuuen involved.

She must have foreseen that interacting with Kazuomi Housen was
also dangerous for Ryuuen.

Today there are many people who are looking for the best way to get
the most out of their life.

Was it moved because of the high school connection or is it related

to the "promise"?

If it's the latter, then it's more attractive than the increased 3rd place
and try card rewards.

However, it was surprising to see how Kiriyama's group was left

standing at the end of the match.
Page | 396
And what about second place.

It is not an exaggeration to say that everything is decided here.

At the end of the 12th, it was confirmed that it was between

Nagumo and Kouenji Even if they lose a few points, they won't wreak
havoc when it comes to the third-place score.

Is it Nagumo who brought the 3rd years together, or is it Kouenji

who kept showing an unstoppable rhythm on his own?

"2nd place, 2nd year Group Class A Nagumo Miyabi. 325 points "

When acting director Tsukishiro read this, there was not a cheer but
a shout.

Without pausing for a moment, he moved on to the first place

announcement.

"1st place, 2nd year class D Kouenji Rokusuke. 327 points "

The moment the name was spoken, Kouenji caught the attention and
gaze of all the students.

No one was attracted to the appearance of winning, and he stood

still. If you look only at the result, there is only 2 points of difference.
and it could have been canceled by a small incident.

However, Kouenji achieved the feat of 1st place in the harshest

conditions of being alone.

He obtained the 300 class points that should be distributed for the
first place, a million private points for each person and a protection
point.

"You really have done it, Kouenji-kun."

Page | 397
Kouenji turned his gaze to Horikita and said: - "I'm sure you
understand, right?"

As promised, Kouenji has been granted immunity until graduation.

It also means that, from now on, he was going to do whatever he

wanted with his school life.

"I'm not ... happy at all, or at least I can't say I'm disappointed ..."

“I think we can be happy now, right? We have achieved 300 class

points on our own, which is a very important point to move up to
class A. It is the second time we have left class D. "

Furthermore, Kouenji was originally doing what he wanted and they

had no control over him.

"Yes, that's right. Now let's go up again. It doesn't matter what

changes from class B to class D."

"As long as we don't make a mess this month during our day-to-day
activities and things don't go too low."

Class points are slightly reduced due to daily activities and behavior
problems.

"... Do not say foolishness."

However, I think again that the difference between these two points
is of great significance. Today I remember the figure of Miyabi
Nagumo who took the trouble to visit me.

His partner's voice that I heard from his walkie-talkie at the time.

If Nagumo had responded to that voice at that time, the first and
second place results would have been reversed.

Page | 398
And I think there would have been a difference in the group that was
expelled.

It is not something that can be answered by thinking about it here.

First of all, this long special exam ended successfully. Miraculously,

not a single sophomore was absent and the summer was able to get
through.

I also found out that Amasawa Ichika is a White Room student.

I don't know why, but at least now she's taking my side instead of
Tsukishiro's side.

There is no way of knowing if this is a coordinated strategy or if

Amasawa is acting alone after betraying the White Room, but the
information I have obtained is not insignificant.

Even so, there are still some mysteries to be solved.

Maybe this summer vacation won't end well.

THE END

Page | 399
Author's words
Since last year, I have been working all the time without time to
breathe. Hi, I'm Kinugasa.

I have nothing to write on my postcards!

My left thumb has been throbbing really hard lately. (Maybe not the
gout).

(It might not be a drop.) My new neighborhood hot curry shop is so

delicious I can't help but go there. (I really do not care.)

After looking at the website for an hour to order a food delivery, you
end up going to pick it up yourself by bike while you think about the
surcharge and delivery fee. (And that?) There is nothing new, and I
get on with my day.

Well OK. That's it for a status report, I guess.

Please understand that this is a very empty postcard, as always.

.......

If there is demand, I would like to write the episodes of each

character separately, but I don't know if there is demand or not, so I
will ignore it for now.

Since last year, I have been working all the time without time to
breathe. I've been working on this for a while.

Here is the second part of the uninhabited island test

This is the fourth volume in the series, but if we look back again, it
was a lot of work!

And even though there were almost 700 pages in total, there were
still plenty of episodes I wanted to write about. There were a lot of
Page | 400
battles between the main characters on the desert island, and I
wanted to write about them too, but I couldn't because it would
stray from the main plot, so I decided to write about them in

.......

If there is demand, I would like to write the episodes of each

character separately, but I don't even know if there is demand, so I
will ignore them for now.

In the volume 4 main story, the battle against Tsukishiro will end
here for now, but the story related to the White Room will continue
for a while longer. Those of you who have read it will surely get an
idea of what is going on.

The next installment will be the summer vacation on the luxury

cruise ship in volume 4.5,

after being released from the special exam.

I hope you pay attention to the details of the desert island review
and the episodes with the characters that I have not mentioned.

There may or may not be changes in the love life of Ayanokouji and
the other

characters. Also, even the White Room relationship I just

mentioned──.

So even though this is a summer vacation story, there will be some

intense developments

that are the same as the desert island test, so please look forward to
it.

Well then everyone, see you again in four months at the latest.

Page | 401
Hiyori Shiina SS: Beneath a Scarlet Sky
"Finally!! Here we are at last!!”

After a long journey today, Ishizaki-kun looked at the sea and yelled.

"Ishizaki, you're too loud, calm down!"

Probably his voice would resound in the ears of Nishino-san as she

went out to stop him.

“No harm seems to be right in it. After all, I'm just screaming Uooh!
We were indeed hereeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"have you not yet heard me!"

Since he continued to yell, Nishino-san went out to smash Ishizaki-

kun.

But pain could not even stop him from shouting as his
anthropomorphic act continued.

I saw this, and my face was indeed a smile.

They make an amazingly cute bunch, I believe.

I heard tracks behind me unexpectedly.

Was it another group whose area was identical to us?

I turned back and there was the person

“Ara? Ayanokouji-kun, it seems to be you?”

I asked for reality even before my mind caught up.

"You look much more vivid than I anticipated."

With the same stance as always, he closed the distance.

Page | 402
"It was their best to do and we managed to grow our group to 6."

Ayanokouji-kun, apparently happy with this explanation, looks at

Ishizaki-kun.

“Was that almost all the time your plan? To group him together?”

"Yes, yes. I thought of various groups, and one of them was his
group."

Although I just planned it to support the group of Ishizaki-Kun who

didn't, it went much better than I expected and then the points
increased.

"As always, Ayanokouji-kun, you look like in good health as usual."

He wasn't an individual who would strain himself, but it was an

examination in which nothing was sure.

"Mind you, for now."

“I think that I don't have to worry about you, but be careful, please.
After all, you can only get injured once, and get expelled."

"I'm aware of that."

You can't protect yourself from the unexpected by going alone.

My group is already at its highest level, even if I wanted to help him.

"less than 3 days, left right?"

He'll be alright until then, I just hope.

"Yeah."

Throughout the midst of the light from the sunset, I looked at his
face and started to think.

Page | 403
For my own class, his retirement would be better.

But I can't continue these thoughts, I know it's that simple.

No, I just don't think I want to think of it.

Ayanokouji-kun is a good partner to me for reading. A good friend.

And... how could I say that? And...

He's got a mysterious fondness. He's someone from whom I can't

take away my eyes.

He makes me want to stay with him for more time. To the extent
possible.

If only we didn't fight, if we were in the same class, then this life at
school would be even more beautifully painted. If only those mild
moments could last forever.

Page | 404
Fūka Kiryūin SS: Poker Face
Thank you, Lats.

Once I arrived at my designated location, I receive 1 point from the

Arrival Bonus.

Without realizing it, my name had risen to the top ten as a result of
the points I had gradually accumulated.

“It's hard to believe Kuronaga's party has been in tenth place all this
time. He's far too attached to Nagumo.”

Seeing the points of Nagumo's party, which has always fought for
first place, makes me uneasy.

“What a bland guy he is, Nagumo.”

As someone who prefers to be alone, I will never come to like his

fighting style, regardless of the fact that I recognize he possesses
certain slivers of muscle.

He may appear to be engaging in a full-fledged fight, but under the

mask is his ability to play with his enemies.

Overall, it seems that I am incapable of being involved in a finished

product.

In that regard, maybe Kouenji Rokusuke is someone to keep an eye

on.

“I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in him, but——"

I happened to see a certain student when I was admiring the

landscape of this uninhabited island.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji His talents are uncertain, but he did seem to be

an interesting one.
Page | 405
“You're a little late, Ayanokouji.”

Based on the GPS search feature, I realized he had places in the same
category as me.

“It appears to be the case.”

Perhaps he did a subsequent scan and discovered we shared the

same table?

“I think I had a good opponent for the Arrival Bonus. So, you were
the one?”

I wanted to pry a little bit.

“I'm curious about it. After all, groups from different tables can end
up in the same position. What's more, didn't you mention you
weren't involved in the top ten?”

He dodged my light poke and shifted the talking topic to me.

“This uninhabited island test has been amazingly enjoyable so far, so

considering my age, my anxiety has been running high.”

Let's not push him too hard right now.

Chasing them so hard does not necessarily make it more enjoyable

“I want to keep going at this rate.”

“Everyone else is battling for the podium, so I can't just sit back and
relax if I join them, you know. But if Nagumo and Kouenji destroy
one another and, I may reconsider.”

“I see, they're taking one another down. That does not appear to be
the case right now.”

I'm curious how much he knows.

Page | 406
Being able to maintain a poker face until now would be a skill in and
of itself.

“Do you think Nagumo would abandon Kouenji at this rate?”

I prodded, trying to make his poker face crack for a split second.

“When it comes to resisting with intimidation, I can't say I'm

confident it will result in Nagumo's victory. He has most likely just
witnessed up until this point, but it won't be long before he makes
his move. What I mean is that Nagumo vs. Kouenji is very likely to
happen soon. Depending on how things play out, we can see one or
both of them struggle with points.”

I clarified well, and he nodded, indicating that he understood

everything.

“After all, pulling the rug out from under someone is important.”

I can usually tell whether anyone is capable or not by listening to

them once or twice.

“And you're not going to shoot for the pinnacle?”

I'll just mention this once before we depart because I want to see his
expression.

“Unfortunately, I can't see myself in the top ten at all.”

“I see, I hoped you'd have roughly the same points as me.”

He's not going to show me anything whatsoever, I concluded.

I'll save my assessment of him for today.

Because of him and Kouenji, the time before my graduation could

have been something I look forward to.

Page | 407
Ibuki Mio SS: No Reason to It
It was the tenth day of the uninhabited island examination.

I shuffled towards the other tent nearby this morning.

Before searching for the backpack inside, I double-checked that the

occupant was gone.

I'm not here to take something. I just had to double-check

something.

And in order to do that, I need to look inside myself.

But I'm not sure I want to look. It was a symbiotic relationship.

With some trepidation, I took the backpack.

“It’s lighter than I expected…”

The fact that it was so light gave me even more confidence, and I
reviewed the material without any reservations.

Clothing, personal care products, food——and a single 500ml bottle

of water.

“I knew it.”

As my skepticism turned to certainty, the owner of the backpack,

Ayanokouji, appeared.

“What are you doing?”

“!!”

His sudden call startled me so much I think I jumped from shock

“Did you look at my tablet? Or is there something else you wanted?”

Page | 408
“Course not! I just wanted to… to check if it really was fair, just that.”

I abandoned the backpack because I didn't want to be confused for a

robber.

Anyway, now that I've confirmed it, I need to ask him specifically
about it.

“There’s just a single bottle of drinking water left in your backpack.

How the hell is that you are having plenty of it, huh?”

Yesterday, this man tried to do a fair deal with me.

He offered to give me two bottles of water in exchange for some

rations.

I lost my temper and couldn't think because I was desperate for

water, and he led me into it....

He deceived me.

He never had enough water and assisted me because I was

dehydrated.

“You wanted me to owe you, right? That’s why you helped me?”

If so, that’s way too naive of him. I need to make him realize that.

So, I hypothesized...

“If you haven’t checked my backpack, you would never have known
though.”

“Uh.”

Without a doubt. I wouldn't have known he was dehydrated if I

hadn't gone to confirm it.

Page | 409
“In other words, it was supposed to be a fair trade no matter what
the truth may be.”

So that's why I should just say a genuine "Thank you"? Even if anyone
pushed my mouth open, I'd never do it.

I indefinitely, Would always decline.

“I don’t think I can accept that… alright. You get nothing in return
then.”

Is this is acceptable for you? I queried just in case.

“Would you even give me anything even if you owed me

something?”

“No way.”

I responded in a flash; no consideration needed.

There's no rhyme or explanation behind it.

Why, I despise this man.

Page | 410
Ichinose Honami SS: Something I Have to
Tell You
I should have realized the last day of this special exam will be crucial.

As soon as the sun came up, I left my party and started running
through the trees.

I wonder, how long have I been running?

I couldn't take it any longer and decided to use the GPS search this
morning.

If Ayanokouji-kun is close to I2 today...

I wished for him to be somewhere in the south while I examined the

findings.

But he was in the far north coast.

My instincts tells me he was on his way to I2 now,

that day. The previous conversation I overheard lingered in my ears,

and I couldn't help myself any longer.

“Haa, haa….! Haa, Haa….!”

My pace had grown ragged, and I soon found myself on my knees.

I've been racing single-mindedly and blindly for so long that I've
reached my max...

No, I believe I'm already past that point.

I need to see him. I need to speak with him and remind him.

It was the only thing that brought my two legs together as I raced.

I really want to crumble on the ground and sleep.

Page | 411
I can't stop these lingering emotions from taking over my body.

When I shut my eyes and plunge into the night, I can feel my
exhaustion slowly drain away.

“No…. I can’t….”

My fingers shifted, as I grasped the ground.

I get sand under my fingernails and awaken from the excruciatingly

painful feeling.

I can't take it any longer.

Yet I'm not going to let myself lose consciousness here.

I'd betrayed my beloved classmates.

To get this far, you might even tell I've deceived them.

For what purpose? I wonder myself.

Even so, I'm at a loss for an answer.

Do I really want to aid Ayanokouji-kun?

What exactly does it entail to "save" someone?

Is it really possible for someone like me to do that?

Despite the fact that I have no idea what is going on. Despite the fact
that I know nothing.

Is it still enough to say, 'Just be careful'?

I've realized that my decisions had no meaning.

Then why am I drenched in sweat and exhausted as I flee for my life?

It's a never-ending Q&A session.

Page | 412
Then I see Ayanokouji-kun on the other side of the channel, running
towards I2.

Nothing comes out of my mouth, no matter how hard I try.

Exhaustion, shock, or petulance are all valid reasons. My speech is

being muffled by a flood of emotions.

Despite this, I scream out because I haven't been able to cool down.

“Ayanokouji-kun——!”

The phrases I managed to squeak out made it to the other line.

“I…. I came to meet you!”

Actually. That's why I ran this fast.

“I’ll be right there!”

Despite the fact that I shouldn't be able to run...

About the fact that I shouldn't be capable of walking anymore.

My feet were prepared to step forward.

I just want to see you.

That's the only thing keeping me going right now.

—I have something to say to you.

Page | 413
Karuizawa Kei Bonus SS:Trial Date
This is a story from the days leading up to the second-year island
survival test.

I, Karuizawa Kei, am heading to Keyaki Mall after school.

After school, at Keyaki Mall, it is exceedingly popular with students.

There are many things to do in Keyaki Mall; people come to hang out
with friends, to shop, or to get their hair done. Or maybe they'll go
on a date with their partner.

In either case, because no one is permitted to leave the school

grounds, Keyaki Mall is a must for us students.

By the way, I frequently come here to hang out with my colleagues.

But today I'm here by myself.

I don't have something specific in mind to purchase.

Yet there is something I would want to do.

“Fuuuuuu.”

I mumble those words as I make my way to the mall's north

entrance.

About an hour has elapsed after classes finished, and there are still
quite a few students in the mall.

“Right, with this many people here, it should be fine.”

I resume walking, somewhat relieved, as I glance around

First and foremost, I go over to the general store as scheduled. The

shop itself is tiny,

Page | 414
but there seem to be about four girls inside who seem to be having
fun while looking around.

So, there you have it.

I walk around the shop while holding my phone. I get a reply in no

time. It indicates that all arrangements have been completed.

I keep wandering around, staring at the things for sale, trying to keep
a smile from forming on my face.

Since new pieces are launched every week, it is unlikely to get bored.
I'm particularly fond of the adorable accessories.

However, I've recently purchased so many that all of the belts on my

phone are now thicker than the phone itself. Today I must resist

“Cuteee!”

One of the latest straps is really adorable.

A strap with a cat image on a small ribbon.

I use my phone to send an image of the strap. I shuffle around the

shop, muttering to myself.

“You're into these kinds of things?”

As I receive the answer, I smile.

“What did you expect?” I respond.

“Only a bit.”

Is the response I get.

If I got this from my boyfriend, my heart would definitely miss a beat.

Page | 415
I considered submitting such a response, but it would have been too
humiliating, so I deleted it.

As was expected from today's trial. But I don't have the confidence
to do so right now.

I get excited when I receive an image from someone else, but when I
see it....

Maybe, I thought you'd like anything like this.

It's a photo of a strap with skulls and crosses on it.

No way, no how, your meaning is really appalling. Something like

that can only be seen for middle school boys.

This time, my answer is a little scathing. Oh well, it's good to

remember that not everything said is just nice language.

Perhaps now is a good time to explain what today's purpose was.

The reality is that as I stroll through the shop by myself, someone

else is on a different path but walking alongside me.

I don't believe an interpretation is needed at this stage, but.... That

guy is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, my boyfriend. He is very cool, intelligent,
and athletic.

“Perhaps I'm touting him too much...” I retract my statement.

To say his expertise in interpersonal relationships are strong will be

an exaggeration.

Ahem, in any case, this is a way for us to set a trial date. We both
agreed to meet at various locations and wanted to explore the shop
in different ways.

Page | 416
If other people knew this, they'd also wonder what's up with that.
Without a doubt.

However, since our relationship is a secret, this is a test to see how

fun a date is.

Oh, yeah.... The fact that I am dating Kiyotaka will most likely be
exposed at some stage, but for now it is well.

“What are your plans?”

“May I take a closer look around?”

I resume walking around the store after exchanging a few messages.

It seems that no one has acknowledged.

That is evident, since we seem to be two people who came to the

shop independently and are looking at various items.

Of course, being next to each other makes me happy, but I also

found myself thinking about how I want to speak to him personally,
as anticipated.

I believe that the true pleasure of going on a date is being able to talk
to each other, meet each other's eyes, and make our hands close.

After leaving the general store, I go to the supermarket and then to

the bookstore, moving from place to place and item to item to pass
the time.

The date was fun, but it also left me feeling a little empty.

I don't believe the trial was a disappointment, but these conflicting

feelings...

After all, I'd like to go on a proper date with Kiyotaka as soon as

possible.

Page | 417
Yes, that's what I'm dreaming about again.

After that, —-

In that particular day, at 7 p.m.

A knock on my door prompts me to get up from my seat as I'm

watching TV.

"Hmm?"

Not the doorbell, just a gentle knock.

I'm curious about who it is, but I can't even hear a sound.

I open the front door as I think it's odd...

A tiny paper bag with pink designs was placed on the surface of the
hallway. When I look left and right, I don't see anyone in particular.

I pick up the bag and enter my place, still thinking about how odd it
is.

Isn't this for me?

I sense the contents from the outside before opening it.

“Hmm, could it be....”

I open the bag with a goal in mind...

Within is a strap with a cat logo on a small ribbon.

Looking at it, I couldn't help but laugh.

“When it comes to all sorts of stuff, he just is a simpleton.”

If he believes that doing those things would make him more popular,
he is mistaken.

Page | 418
With a grin, I detach all of the straps from my phone and attach the
little cat.

“Something like this is really not sufficiently enough to satisfy me,

okay?”

I spend the remainder of the day gaping at the strap.

Page | 419
Credits
Translation Group: Confused Translation

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Page | 420
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