#78 Survival Test 2

"That's right, the strategy. There are different ways how to clear or get through this one week, don't you agree with me, Yukimura-kun?" Yuichi asked.

"The different ways...You mean like trying to save as many points as we can while trying to get safe bonus points without too much risking and making sure that our leader isn't discovered by other classes?" Yukimura asked with a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah. First, we can spend as little as we can from those 300 points we got and just try to live through this week and at the end not making any guesses on the leaders of other classes in case we won't be 100% sure that we are right. Second, the school mentioned that we can't get negative points so we can even live in quite a luxury this whole week, spending all the points in the process before trying to guess the leaders of other classes. If we can guess all the leaders, we will get 150 points while we will also enjoy our stay on this deserted island, after all, Mashima-sensei mentioned that the theme of this test is 'freedom'." Yuichi explained and everyone listened to him with interested looks on their faces.

"Wait, it would certainly be great if we could gain 150 points while also enjoying our stay here but this is just the best outcome we can get...how can we even guess all the leaders right without getting at least 1 wrong? This is more like a dream than a realistic goal." Yukimura quickly argued back when he noticed a few looks of his female classmates. He knew that they didn't want to suffer through this week so Yuichi's second strategy garnered their full attention.

"I wholeheartedly agree with you, Yukimura-kun, but tell me, how do you want to do this then?" Yuichi nodded his head with closed eyes and a faint smile to agree with him before opening his eyes and asking him with a challenging smile.

"Eh? Well, I would cut off any expenses that aren't necessary and just choose the safest way to clear this test and that is spending as little as we can while protecting the identity of our future leader." Yukimura said.

"That's good but...who defines what is necessary and what not? If we won't get a portable toilet, a lot of girls will be dissatisfied with this and their whole health will deteriorate over the course of this week. We will lose 30 points for every ill person, that's more points than that stupid toilet yet just missing on that stupid toilet can cause us a disaster. Then, can you confidently say that other classes won't discover our leader? What you are saying is also only the ideal situation, you should also try to look at the worst outcome and that is...Deterioration of the relationship and trust between both genders in our class, Loss of the bonus points due to guessed leader, loss of the points due to people falling ill and...in the end, we will suffer through this whole week while earning at most 50 points. Do you really want everyone to suffer for measly 50 points?" Yuichi folded his arms and began explaining while walking back and forth with closed eyes and a faint smile.

"?! Iwamura-kun, have you just thought about all of that right now?" Yukimura thought about it for a while before his eyes widened in disbelief. He wanted to know if these words were really from Horikita or if Yuichi just thought about all of that.

"Isn't that right, Horikita-san?" Yuichi acted as if he didn't hear Yukimura's question and stopped walking to turn at Horikita with a smile on his face.

"..." Horikita knew that no matter her answer, Yuichi would get what he wants to so she just lightly nodded her head, thinking that his reasoning has solid backing.

"Yukimura-kun, don't you think we can spare 20 points for something that we all will be using this entire test? It is also important to keep everyone's morale on at least an average level, by agreeing, you will also gain some trust from girls which can turn to be helpful in the future." Yuichi finally questioned with a smile after he got confirmation from Horikita.

"...I still don't want to spend 20 points just for the better toilet-" Yukimura closed his eyes and said this which angered a lot of girls who already saw hope in Yuichi solving this for them. However before any of the girls could say anything, Yukimura continued...

"-but I can't argue with that logic of yours, Iwamura-kun. You have won this argument, I will no longer be against buying it." Yukimura opened his eyes and pushed his glasses up his nose before saying this.

Hearing this, a lot of girls sighed in relief and while there was also Ike who was heavily against buying it, Yukimura was the hardest to persuade.

"Ike, can you come here for a second?" Yuichi called for him before he could even start arguing with the girls once again.

Ike arrived near him and Yuichi threw his arm around Ike's shoulder before he started whispering something into his ear while occasionally glancing at the group of girls dressed in school jerseys.

"W-What?! R-Really? He-he" Ike exclaimed as a small blush appeared on his face.

"I guess you are right, we can spare 20 points, after all, we aren't that far behind other classes when it comes to class points anyway." Ike went back to his previous position while saying this and scratching the back of his head. He was also occasionally glancing towards Kushida as if he was checking if she witnessed this.

When Yuichi turned at Horikita, he noticed her staring at him before she rolled her eyes, she was most likely aware of what he just said to Ike.

"Anyway, what kind of map is this? This is just the outline of the entire island, there are no rivers or anything at all, it's just a blank paper." Ike complained while looking over the map handed to us.

"Is there marked our current position?" Yuichi asked with a curious expression.

"Eh? Wait a second...Hmm, guess this is where we should be, considering the shape of the island." Ike said while showing the spot on the map to Yuichi which slightly surprised everyone in class.

"Hmm, you can actually read from the map and a blank one at that...That's pretty impressive." Yuichi said with a nod and took the map and pencil from Ike's hands.

"Shouldn't we get moving before other classes occupy all good spots?" Yukimura questioned with a slightly worried expression.

"No need to, they are already far ahead of us so they will occupy the best spots anyway, spending a few more minutes here won't cause us anything. At least, we can talk here without anyone eavesdropping, the other classes have to be careful with claiming the spots and discussing their strategies since anyone can be eavesdropping in the dense forest." Yuichi replied while he started writing something on the map.

"Oi, oi, wait! This is our only map, we can't just ruin it the first day!" Ike immediately panicked when he saw Yuichi writing something on it.

"Calm down, wait a minute and then you can blame me, you won't change anything by stopping me now." Yuichi replied with disinterest in his tone while looking around the beach and occasionally writing something into that blank map.

...After 5 minutes passed by

"Here you go, it is just roughly drawn because there wasn't much time but it should be enough for the starters." Yuichi said with a composed expression while handing the map to Ike who quickly took it from Yuichi's hands in a frantic manner.

"...Wow" However when he looked at what Yuichi did with that blank map, he couldn't believe his eyes. The entire beach and the start of the forest were drawn on the map, even the school's boat, and tents were included.

"What is it?" Everyone was confused by his reaction so they approached him from behind to look at the map and their eyes widened.

"What's up with those exaggerated reactions? It's not that hard, anyone can draw such a basic map, plus it's not even completed yet." Yuichi asked with a confused expression and Mei just did a facepalm.

"Yeah, it's not that hard to draw a basic map but your map is far from basic, anyway, your spatial ability is really something else...Not everyone can just visualize what they can see in their mind and put it into a piece of paper from the top view." Yukimura explained with an impressed expression.

"Yeah, this is something else but now that we have this beginning on the map, we can move forward and slowly fill it in as we will progress in exploration. Anyway, we should really get moving, other classes should already be claiming their first spot by now so let's talk about who will we choose as a leader while we will search for a suitable place as our base camp." Hirata agreed with Yukimura before he suggested that they start searching for a good spot.

Everyone agreed with Hirata, so Sudo grabbed the tents and other students helped carry other less heavy things.

'Like this...make it seem like I am not slacking off.' Yuichi thought while following after his classmates with the map and pencil in his hands. He actually planned to do as little as possible on this test and that "little" was just to make it seem like he is really trying. It mainly served to convince Horikita than other people but he was also conscious of Chabashira-sensei so this little show was only supposed to trick a few people. He actually wanted to remain low for a while before the incident with Sudo's brawl slowly dies out.

'Talented people will always get a good future, all you need is to have some connections and then your future will be bright as the sun itself. By betraying one's class, one might even form some good connections that might turn useful after the person graduates...In the end, everything revolves around one's own personal profit. One might even say that this system of classes is utter bullshit because one can ensure his future even before graduation.' Yuichi thought while looking at the sky with dull green eyes before his sight was obstructed by green trees.