Chapter 6 : The Lone Prodigy of Class 2-D

The next morning, before 7 AM on the 5th day of the test, we were advancing from D4 to D5 along the river. After we had set foot on the G3 area the day before, we ignored the next designated area, H4, and decided to aim for the starting point in the west. As a result, we passed through H6-H7, making it the 3rd time we failed to gather points.

Unless it happened to appear in the direction of travel by random designation, it was decided that we'd make a 4th consecutive pass- through. In the end, there wasn't such an ideal development. Today's first designated area, assigned at 7 o'clock, was I8.

So far, it had been mentally easy and my legs weren't tired.

Perhaps because it was early morning, the murmuring of the river was pleasant.

Had it not been for some bad news, there would be no complaints about that morning.

"Even so... Shinohara-senpai has it tough, doesn't she?"

Shinohara was left alone after her group members Komiya and Kinoshita retired. Even if Ike and Sudo were backing her up, there was a limit to the number of points one could gather by themselves.

As of yesterday, their names were not in the bottom ten groups, but this morning they had dropped to the bottom eight. I'm sure that the groups below them would also be scoring some points, with Shinohara's group probably sinking to the bottom tomorrow or the next day. Thanks to that, Aki's group ironically managed to leave the lower ten groups for the time being.

On the other hand, there are the highest rankings that we saw yesterday. At 1st place was Nagumo's group, consisting of people from 3-A. 2nd place was Kiriyama's group from 3-B. Both of them were completely composed of and represent the 3rd years.

"Ah, senpai. Someone is fishing there."

We caught sight of a person in the distance. The person was sitting on a rocky area and enjoying fishing in a relaxed manner. Because of the person's appearance, it was easy to know who he was. There was a

member of this group I wanted to see more than anyone else at that moment. I didn't think the chance would come around so easily. Because I wanted to talk to him no matter what, I was considering using the GPS function that was going to be available starting tomorrow

"Nanase, can I make a detour?"

There were a few good tasks around, but we'd probably have to discard them.

"I'm only accompanying Ayanokouji-senpai, so please don't worry about it.'

Acknowledging Nanase's words, I decided to approach the person in question.

They didn't seem to notice me, so I made sure not to raise my voice so as to not disturb their fishing.

I stepped on the gravel and quietly approached him.

Eventually, that person also noticed our existence and loosely turned his gaze.

"It seems that you started alone, but aren't in the bottom 10."

Class 2-B's Katsuragi welcomed us while saying that.

"Somehow. But if I rest for even one day, I'd drop there right away." Sensing the disturbance, Ryuuen got out of his tent and looked at us

with surprised eyes.

"Going through the Deserted Island test alone with a woman? Did

you get bored of that Karuizawa girl and throw her away?" "Karuizawa? Why is Karuizawa's name coming up here?" Katsuragi looked up at Ryuuen with curiosity.

"Kuku, it's nothing."

"Looks like things are going quite well over for you."

If you looked at the tablet, you could check the top rankers. As of this morning, my overall score was 52 points and my ranking was 74th. It was high enough considering that I was alone.

The Ryuuen and Katsuragi group in front of me was in 10th place, with 92 points.

They'd gotten 29 head points, 41 rank points, and 22 task points.

"Shut up. You guys have a guy with a screw in his head loose, don't you?"

"Well, you're right."

The guy that Ryuuen is referring to is Koenji.

Despite being alone like me, he was currently in the top 4. Even

among the top 10, he was the one who had received the most rank points. He continued to accumulate a huge amount of points from tasks, and his total points numbered 126. They're excellent results that didn't show any weaknesses.

However, there were still 10 days to go including today. If any accidents happened, such as fatigue or injury, one's rankings could drop quickly.

In the two weeks of this Deserted Island exam, there was not a single day when you could rest your body satisfactorily. If any human being abused their body every day, damage would inevitably accumulate. At first, it would begin with an expected form of muscle pain, with the legs becoming heavier and the walking pace slowing down. By only being able to replenish the minimum necessary nutrition and hydration, you would begin to be struck by feelings of fatigue and weakness.

"What's your designated area?"

"Huh?"

"It's already almost past 7 AM in the morning. I think you're being

too relaxed."

"We've stopped."

Katsuragi opened his mouth to speak as he cast his fishing rod. "These past 4 days, we've been increasing our pace, going to the

designated areas, and challenging the tasks. Just now, our random designated area was E10. Reaching that tile within the designated time is considerably difficult. We judged that we didn't have the strength needed and we wanted to save our energy."

Ryuuen laughed lightly while shrugging. He intended to push to the limit, but was stopped by Katsuragi? If this were Ishizaki or Kaneta, it would have been impossible to stop Ryuuen. Katsuragi was already playing an important role in Class 2-B.

"Can you catch fish here?"

Nanase asked Katsuragi as she eyed the river.

"Unfortunately, the catch isn't very good. If you want to catch a lot of fish, just go to the ocean."

Did that mean that he was holding a fishing rod to kill time?

"You don't seem to be bothered by food problems."

I didn't know how much he'd answer, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. "If you go back and forth between the sea, the river, and the forest,

you can solve the food problem. Even with water, you just have to boil the water in the river."

"But doesn't drinking the river water carry a risk?"

"That's right. No matter how much you boil it, it's not absolutely clean. That's why drinking river water is my duty. Ryuuen only drinks water we bought from the start and water that we got as prizes from tasks."

Even their risk management was perfect. Sooner or later, there would be groups that would get struck with illness, but these two were still going to have a stable life for a while.

"I was just looking for you, Ryuuen."

"For me?"

"Of course. You have a grasp on the lowest 10 groups now, right?" "More or less. It seems like my idiots are in rank 8."

Because two people retired, their scores dropped rapidly and the

low-ranking group's inferiority had begun to show.

"Komiya and Kinoshita have retired."

Ryuuen stopped laughing and his expression turned serious. Katsuragi, who was fishing, stopped and looked at our direction. "Retired? What happened?"

For Katsuragi, who just became a 2-B student, Komiya and

Kinoshita have become comrades that he should protect.

"They've both sustained large injuries. Right now, it looks like those

two can't even walk."

"An accident?"

"No, it's-"

"The one person left in the group, Shinohara, said that they were

attacked by someone."

"If that's the case, that someone must have already retired right?" "It's too bad, but the testimony only comes from Shinohara. Neither

Komiya nor Kinoshita can remember if they were attacked or not. I think the school is investigating, but they won't find anything."

"They're treating it as a lie from Shinohara because she doesn't want to retire."

"What will you do, Ryuuen? Even if we get to the top three, it will be meaningless if Komiya and the others drop out."

Finishing last would hurt us and Ryuuen's class.

"You were looking for me, weren't you? Shinohara is your classmate. Can I assume you have a plan to keep her from being expelled?"

As expected of Ryuuen. Even though he wasn't able to guess the contents of the plan, he intuitively knew that we had some cards to play. "I'm sorry Nanase, but I can't let you hear this story, because this is

a battle for the survival of the second-year students."

"I understand."

Nanase left to keep a distance, and I approached Ryuuen and spoke

about the contents of the plan.

Katsuragi would've been able to hear it from Ryuuen later.

"Kuku, I see. It's true that there is a way for Shinohara to survive.

But... will it go smoothly?"

"Even if you just cooperate, the success rate will rise. The rest will

go steadily. "

"The situation might still change. If others notice this they'll start

moving too."

I nodded lightly. The reason I didn't let Nanase hear this was

because if the first-year students knew about this, it could lead to a confrontation between the second-year students and other grades.

"Some of our first-year students have good instincts. There's a chance they'll figure it out sooner than we think."

It was hard to predict how the third-year students would respond to the situation

"I wouldn't mind getting rid of some small fries, but Komiya and Kinoshita still have their uses."

"Let's join forces... is that fine with you?"

"This happens to be beneficial for both of us, why not take advantage of that strategy?"

It involved students from both of our classes after all.

If we couldn't join hands here, then Shinohara, Komiya, and Kinoshita wouldn't be saved.

"If you met Ichinose, would you ask her the same thing?"

"Setting aside Ichinose's good-naturedness, I don't think Sakayanagi would lend her help just like that."

"There's no one who will sit quietly and let themselves be done in by the 1st years."

"Kuku, more or less."

Signaling the end of an unexpected encounter, we decided to leave immediately.

1

Shortly after, we went south expecting to arrive at the port we started at. However, a task appeared at C5 around the peak of the mountain, which forced us to change our direction. The task was a one-on-one tug of war.

By the time it appeared, we only had 40 minutes left, and participating groups were only allowed to select up to 2 participants by gender. This condition seemed to be strict, but you could get 5 points just by participating, and an additional 10 points from winning, giving a total of 15 possible points.

Since we had to get to the peak of the mountain, any rivals outside of the area most likely wouldn't have been able to arrive on time. If we missed the next designated area, that would make it the 4th consecutive time we did so, and we would lose 2 points.

So, we decided to aim for the task. The chance that 15 free points would fall into our laps from winning by default was high.

The mountain's altitude was high, but we quickened our pace and arrived at the task area with just 5 minutes to spare.

We thought that we would almost certainly get there first, but it seemed like somehow, someone had already arrived.

The man seemed to have noticed our presence, but there was no sign of him turning his attention to us.

"That person arrived considerably fast. I wonder if he was nearby." "Seems so."

Even if he was on the south side of C5, it would have taken a

reasonable amount of time to reach this point.

"I don't know if you can recognize him, but that's Rokusuke

Kouenji."

"Kouenji... isn't that Ayanokouji-senpai's classmate who is ranked

number 4 right now... indeed, I do feel like he has a remarkable aura about him."

He got here even before us, but the stranger part was that you couldn't see any of his luggage anywhere. He was just holding a bottle of mineral water in his hand.

It was true that if he was able to move so freely, he would've been able to climb this mountain even faster than us, but...

To move around until now without even a tablet, as expected of Kouenji.

I don't know if he was feeling good from having climbed the mountain, but Kouenji took only a sip of his water, crushed the bottle over his head, and bathed in the rest of it.

"Aah... A good man dripping with water. I feel even more powerful than I was a year ago."

"He seems to be muttering something...but is it addressed to us?"

"No, it's definitely a soliloquy. I think he's intoxicated with himself."

"H-Haa..."

Without really getting it, Nanase tilted her head at Kouenji's actions. There was not much time left for registration, though I didn't think

any other competitors would show up. Anyway, the two of us could submit an entry for the challenge, but it was inevitably going to be a one-on-one battle between Kouenji and myself. The female competitor, Nanase, was likely to win by default as she had no rival.

"My opponent seems to be you, Ayanokouji-boy."

"That's right."

In the challenges so far, I've had to compete with my classmates indirectly by blending in with the group.

However, this was the first time I experienced a one-on-one direct confrontation. The opponent of the first match was Kouenji. I hope this wasn't the beginning of a strange series of events.

The staff member overseeing the task prepared a rope and gave both of us either end.

If you thought about how many points we'd lose from not getting to our area on time, this was definitely a situation where we wanted to win and get more points, but...

I'd rather concede my points to Kouenji, who is in fourth place, than to me, who isn't in the top 10 at the moment, as it would ultimately give us a better chance of winning. He had a chance of overtaking the 2nd place, Kiriyama's group. Passing that group with 135 points would move him rank 2, albeit only temporarily.

If I was going to concede a win anyway, it'd be better to lose the battle without wasting energy.

This wouldn't be a waste of time either since we would have both gotten 5 points. Then we could go down the mountain and keep going towards the harbor at the starting point.

"The match will start soon, please prepare yourselves."

"What's wrong, Senpai?"

"No, I'm..."

"Fufu. You're a man who always considers everything efficiently,

aren't you?"

Kouenji instantly saw through my thoughts as if they were obvious. "It would certainly be better for the class to let me, the fourth-place

finisher, take the points, and not waste any time. You figured it would be better to not participate without going to the trouble of confronting me, didn't you?"

"Is that so?"

"I'd have no complaints if Kouenji would participate in this test actively, after all."

"But then, will this convince the Horikita girl? It's safe to think that it's more convenient for her for me to take 2nd and 3rd place than the 1st place."

As if he had been listening to our previous discussion, Kouenji

brought that up.

"That's when the D-class students are competing with the top

groups. Right now, the only group in the top 10 that consists solely of Class 2-D is the lone Kouenji. If we clumsily compete with him for points, we would just be shooting ourselves in the foot."

"Of course I understand, but it's nonsense. You think in vain because you don't have a chance of winning this challenge in the first place. I will win this game, no matter who comes along."

So far, Kouenji took on a number of challenges alone and won all of them.

When it came to tasks, all sorts of groups from all school years were participating, yet the only one who had been winning all of them was Kouenji.

There were a few tasks where he had to forego the first and second place, but when it came to tasks involving pure physical strength and exercise, he always got first place.

So of course, even in this task, he was absolutely confident that he could take the first place as well.

"Leave those thoughts in your head and go ahead, Ayanokouji-boy. It's not like you're going to stand a chance against me when I'm motivated."

Kouenji's greatest strength was that he was always confident in his own power.

I slowly picked up the rope at my feet and wrapped it around my waist.

"Then I'll count to ten. When I say zero, start pulling."

If I was fighting for formality and aiming to lose to Kouenji, then I didn't have to waste my energy.

"I can't feel your motivation."

Kouenji could see through my thoughts.

"Well, give it a try. No matter how much you struggle, victory will

never smile at you."

Once we had a firm grip on the ropes, the ten second countdown

began.

"—3, 2, 1... 0!"

Right when the count reached 0, I lightly pulled the rope.

If Kouenji were to get serious, the rope's center would've been

pulled towards him in an instant.

The rope, however, showed no signs of moving toward my opponent.

Kouenji who was standing in front of me, was grinning and waiting for me to compete seriously.

I didn't have any intention to do the task seriously whatsoever, but I didn't want to waste time.

In that case, it would be faster to settle the game by fighting back a little and threatening Kouenji.

If I pulled the rope with more force than he expected, Kouenji would have no choice but to panic and pull the rope towards him seriously.

It wasn't like simply putting more power into pulling the rope backwards would necessarily win the game.

There was also the friction on the hands from the cord, plus the friction on the feet from the ground and the force that the ground exerted on one's feet.

Furthermore, to put it directly, gravity also played a role.

I pushed my grip strength to the limit, held on to the cord, and extended my legs. Without bending, I tilted my body backwards.

Then I bent my knees and pulled the cord close to my waist-

The center of the rope moved slightly towards me. Everything up to this point had been according to my calculations.

However, the distance by which the center moved towards me was even smaller than I had imagined.

I put a tremendous amount of power into trying to pull the rope back, but my counter-attack had been blocked.

"What you need to win a tug of war is not technique, but pure power."

Although I hadn't cut corners, the rope that had been approaching me returned to the center again due to the force applied by Kouenji.

Judging from this situation, it looked like Kouenji and I were about evenly matched when it came to arm strength.

The opponent had more weight than me. As long as you were losing in the most important aspect of tug of war, it was difficult to win if you could not take advantage of other factors. If I used my physical strength, I could play a fierce battle and wait for mistakes such as Kouenji slipping, but that would just be a waste of time and physical strength. The strategy for me to win was still ahead.

My fingers dug into the rope enough to hurt, and I once again

thought about the fact that our arm strength was about equal. The physical strength that the man called Kouenji possessed was, as I thought, in a different league. Even Sudou and Albert, who were by far the best among high school students, were far inferior in front of this man. Even the title of super high school student would be lukewarm.

As I moved to pull in with more force, Kouenji did the same.

Not missing that moment, I relaxed my hand at once.

Naturally, the rope was pulled towards Kouenji, and the match was

abruptly decided.

"You're always so focused on efficiency, aren't you?

Koenji looked a little disappointed, but maybe he had lost interest in

me there, because he didn't say another word to me.

"That's too bad, senpai."

"No, it wouldn't be a decent fight for me against Kouenji. It's a

foregone conclusion."

As a result, 20 points were now among groups belonging to Class 2-

D.

That alone made it very meaningful to come up here.

"Is your body feeling okay?"

"To be honest, my leg feels a little bit sore."

Saying that, she rubbed her thighs a bit.

"Like I said when we were first travelling together, Ayanokouji-

senpai, please do as you wish."

Even to the end, Nanase wasn't letting her attitude crumble.

"Then let's go as fast as we can."

"Okay."

It seems like Kouenji had started to descend from another route at

some point. He already disappeared before we noticed.

2

It took us the next two hours to finally make it back to our starting point, the port of D9.

After a delay of a minute or so, a breathless Nanase also seemed to be catching up.

"Fuu... I somehow caught up."

She adjusted her breathing while wiping off sweat with a towel.

"It's very hard to believe you're a freshman girl in high school. I didn't think you had this much stamina."

I'd been interested in this on many occasions since I've been with her, but this time her results were by far the best.

"No, Ayanokouji-senpai's breathing hasn't gotten even a little rough... as I thought, you're an amazing person."

"I'm just trying to force myself to be calm. Instead, look at that." "Waaa- it's amazing."

Nanase, who was catching her breath, was surprised at the large

number of people coming and going.

Here you could not only purchase additional supplies, but also

receive free medical attention, take a shower, and use the neatly maintained toilets.

It was an oasis for students, the only place where they could feel safe and secure.

Some stopped by on their way to a designated area, while others came here to take a break with the intention of skipping once or twice. I guessed that all sorts of reasons had brought them here.

The school officials who managed it were also working in a hurry. "So ... why did you aim for the starting point?"

"Before that, the task."

"Ah, that's right, now that you mention it."

By the time I moved from C5, where I had played tug-of-war with Koenji, and stepped into the area of C8, a challenge had appeared at the starting point, D9.

Challenge - Open water swimming.

A 2 km swim from the start to the finish line.

This was one of the largest hurdles of any of the challenges so far that required physical ability. That may have been why the reward you received was the highest, at 20 points.

The area was easy to reach, so it wouldn't be long before the task reached the participation limit. However, a number of students who wished to participate were inevitably limited because of the content of the event.

Even so, the sea today was pretty rough.

Swimming in the ocean was not the same as swimming in a pool. It was a challenge that could only be held near this starting point because

of the dangers involved.

In case of a worst-case scenario, there would be a lifeguard waiting

to come rushing to save them.

The registration desk seemed to be open at the port, so we started

making our way there.

Even from a distance, it looked like a good number of people were

there to register for the event, but was that actually the case?

We arrived at the harbor to enter with two people.

"Sorry. The last slot of the men's side was filled just a few minutes

ago."

As if to remind us of the beach flags task, the only remaining slot

was for 1 female.

It was never a task with a high capacity, but I thought more students

would've let it pass.

But what surprised me more than anything else...

"Senpai... that's Kouenji-senpai, right?

There was no doubt that Kouenji's back could be seen ahead.

I don't suppose he came over here after the assignment was announced, but... I'm surprised.

"Um..."

"If you want to participate in the race then you should participate. But is your body okay?"

The road to this point wasn't an easy one.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Nanase's physical strength was already at the bottom.

She had to recover her strength in the short time it took to get dressed and start the task.

"It's hard to say it's perfect, but... is a great opportunity for me, so I'm going to do my best."

It seemed that her enthusiasm was enough.

"I'll be waiting over there. Come when you're done."

"Yes."

I left that place after seeing Nanase off.

Then, to fulfill the main purpose of stopping at the starting point, I

went to contact someone. The person I wanted to talk to was sitting gracefully in a beach chair, with a parasol set up on the beach.

"Hello, Ayanokouji-kun. It's going to be another very hot day, isn't it?"

"How are you doing?"

"Within expectations, I should say. Ichinose-san and Shibata-kun are persevering, so I can't say that I'm indulging myself."

Sakayanagi's group members were Ichinose and Shibata. Sakayanagi's legs were bad, so she was taking the exam half-retired. Of course, because they only had 2 people, they couldn't get more than 2 bonus points at a time.

"I wanted to ask you something, do you get the arrival rewards?"

Usually, if students retire, the order of arrival reward disappears, but Sakayanagi's position is unique.

"Thankfully, we are acknowledged for that. It's not an intentional retirement, after all."

Even if you didn't make an appearance in the top 10 groups at that moment, you could think that you had achieved some results.

"By the way, what business do you have at the starting point today?" I looked towards open water swimming, which was about to begin. "Unfortunately, the last slot was taken by Kouenji."

"This morning he was number 4, but now he's number 2. He's 2-

D's prodigy, isn't he?" "Agreed."

Many of the top teams were competing closely. If Kouenji took first place in this swimming task, he would temporarily jump to first place overall.

"It will take about half an hour for Nanase-san to return after finishing the task, so please come this way. It's cool in the shade."

Sakayanagi suggested I could use the empty space under the parasol. "How did you know about Nanase?"

"Information on Deserted Island comes to me on a regular basis." It was not uncommon for Class 2-A students to pass by us. It

wouldn't have been strange if one of them reported to Sakayanagi at the starting point, would it? It was a bad way to stand out when you're alone with a junior girl.

"But is it okay? I'm an enemy."

It wasn't a suitable temperature for waiting 30 minutes.

If you stood in this place without a shade, you would lose your

physical strength. It was inevitable that you would wear out.

"Fufu, please help yourself without holding back."

I wasn't being considered an enemy because I had yet to make it in

the top 10, huh.

The students participating in the task walked in from the beach and

got ready to swim.

Shortly thereafter, the men's swimming began.

"It's overwhelming, isn't it."

From the moment the race started, Kouenji secured a lead. Then, as

if thrusting aside the trailing competitors, he plunged forward towards the goal. Even after the energy consumption from going between areas, he still had enough strength left.

"In this special exam, Kouenji-kun seems very motivated. From the perspective of other groups, he's a force to be reckoned with."

Certainly for this Deserted Island, you could say he was a reliable ally.

"Actually, I have a favor to ask of Sakayanagi."

"Ayanokouji-kun has a favor to ask of me? Interesting. I'd love to hear what you have to say."

Normally, she wouldn't want to hear a request from the enemy, but Sakayanagi's eyes sparkled.

"It's been five days since special exams began and only two people have retired."

"Komiya-san and Kinoshita-san, you know your stuff, don't you?" "I just happened to be at the scene where they were retiring." When I explained that, Sakayanagi nodded once with interest.

"Seeing that the remaining Shinohara-san is still struggling, I'd say she's working with... someone else to endure it."

"You're right."

"But with her ability, the second half of the test will be quite tough if she's still fighting alone. You'd like to absorb her into some group at an early stage... I see."

Sakayanagi deduced what I came to ask for without me having to explain. She continued on.

"So you want to get my cooperation. Did you get to meet Ryuuen- kun?"

"It seems that he values Komiya and Kinoshita, so he's agreeing with my plan."

"I see."

Sakayanagi smiled amusedly, but she turned her gaze towards me as if to confirm something.

"It's natural for Ryuuen-kun to lend a hand, but I don't see any advantage in it. If I had to say anything, it would be that the second year's class points will flow to other grades, but honestly, I don't think it's enough to worry about if there's no damage to Class A."

She listened to me honestly, but that was not the same thing as acting on it.

"However, it would be a different story if we were to accept cooperation under equal conditions..."

The proposal was quite natural. Thanks to the perceptiveness of Sakayanagi, we were able to reach a consensus in the shortest amount of time.

"I'll take the deal. I'd like to give you a quick answer, but we're going to need a lot of manpower."

"Of course, I'll be waiting. It's just that this strategy will take time and effort, and if we're going to move, we'd better do it quickly."

"That's right."

In addition, it should be considered that Nagumo had been doing something similar from an early stage.

Probably in the middle to late stages of the battle, this strategy was going to be used.

"I'll keep you updated."

"I'll leave the role of the messenger to you, whether it's Horikita or Ryuuen."

I nodded and left Sakayanagi. so as to not stay too long.

We'd stand out in a bad way if we were seen to be seen together in this place after all.

After that, I once again returned to the harbor.

What came into my vision was a crowd of students. The first-year students were receiving goods from Mashima-sensei. It seems that Mashima-sensei was in charge of buying and selling.

I didn't have many points, but I stopped by anyway.

"Hello."

"Ayanokouji, huh. Perfect timing. Look at these goods and listen to

what I have to say."

Following Mashima-sensei's instruction, I looked down at the

appropriate products as I approached him.

"I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that there's no significant

movement on behalf of Tsukishiro since this Deserted Island trial began. I don't see any movement that he is planning something against you either."

"You mean, I don't have to worry about him doing anything?"

"...That's right. Or so I'd like to say, but it's not that there are no strange movements."

"What do you mean?"

I picked up some of the sold goods from time to time while moving

slowly.

"In this test, anyone, anywhere can be met with danger. In the case

of a particularly urgent situation, we're prepared to use small boats or helicopters to come to your rescue."

"That's natural, isn't it?"

It was no wonder they're standing by for help on the other side of the island: a boat for when the weather was right, and a helicopter when every second mattered.

"We were supposed to have one helicopter and one small boat, but for some reason we have two ships on hand. I found out that Acting Director Tsukishiro had them ready just in case. Do you get it?"

Even in this test, it looked like Mashima-sensei was not only keeping watch but also not neglecting his information gathering.

"You can think of it as being in anticipation of overlapping rescue cases, right?"

"Of course, that's likely. It's just that it's one thing that's stuck with me."

There should originally have been only one small ship prepared, but there were two, huh.

However, no matter how small they were, when it came to moving the ships, it was inevitable that they would stand out. It would be difficult to move a small boat without an SOS from the students. And even if they did, there was still the problem of making contact with me.

"Where is the acting director usually?"

"For starters, he's usually on standby at the monitor room inside the installed tent, checking if the students' wristwatches aren't displaying anything unusual. Of course, with the other staff members. Then, several times a day, they spend a few hours going around DesertedIsland..."

"The Acting Director comes all the way down here with his own?" "That's right."

I didn't know what he was doing, but there was several hours a day

when he wasn't monitored.

"I have a bad feeling about this. Be careful, Ayanokouji."

"Thank you for the warning."

Of course, I was going to be extremely vigilant, but I couldn't ignore

the test. I had no choice but to continue to be tied to the compulsory issue of basic mobility.

3

The open water swimming competition at the starting point finally ended.

As a result, Nanase missed out on first place, but slipped into third place and received some points.

It was a good performance, considering the long distances she had to cover in a short time.

When she came back, I congratulated her for her efforts, but there was little joy on Nanase's face.

"The one who took first place was my classmate, Onodera. You shouldn't worry too much about losing, as she is a tough competitor in

swimming."

She did well against Onodera, who was on the swimming team. "Yes. Certainly, Onodera was amazing, but what I was concerned

about was—"

Nanase turned and looked back at one person.

It was Kouenji, the man who had taken first place in the men's

division with his overwhelmingly strong performance.

"He got back to the starting line faster than us, and his time was

phenomenal."

Moreover, Kouenji was looking at the sea gracefully without

disturbing his breathing.

"He's a weirdo and a superhuman. It's useless to worry about him." That said, I had to rewrite my evaluation of my classmate Kouenji

twice or three times on the special exam. The same went for the earlier tug of war.

He seemed to have bottomless potential.

"If he's pulling it off naturally, then it can be said that he's quite the prodigy."

With the addition of 20 points from the reward, Koenji temporarily moved to first place.

However, this didn't mean that Nagumo's group was at a disadvantage.

If anything, Nagumo's dominant position was unassailable.

In the future, Nagumo would definitely increase the group size to the maximum number of people.

With six members, the group would start scoring points at an accelerated rate.

Even though Kouenji had been fighting on his own for a while thus far, it was a special test where he couldn't win against the numbers.

How would the Kouenji face them at that time?

We took a break until the next area was announced.

While taking the free drinking water, we lay down and got some

temporary rest.

Then at 1pm, the third area was announced.

The random designated area changed from H9 to B6.

Thus far, I had lost some points after I skipped areas 5 times in a

row.

Anyway, I wanted to reach the designated area this time.

"It's a reasonable distance, but... senpai."

Nanase, who saw B6, looked at me with shining eyes.

"Getting through the woods would be a challenge. But we'll take

D8-C8 off the beach and out onto the B8 beach. From there, if you go north, you'll be in the B6 area without any obstacles."

Envisioning the same route, Nanase nodded and stood up.

"Thankfully I've regained my strength and rehydrated. I can go on with no problem."

It was a bit of a shame, but we left the starting point and started walking back into the forest of the Deserted Island.

I was able to see many students for a while, but once I stepped into the forest, I immediately began to experience the feeling of solitude again.

Unlike the beach, where the direct sunlight was strong, the humid heat and humidity began to eat away at my body.

"I'm already thirsty."

"I'm grateful to be able to rehydrate at the starting point, but I miss water."

When you're allowed to drink as much water as you want, the repercussions of being forced to conserve water again would inevitably be great. That's why some groups likely tried to stay around the starting point while they were focused on score points.

"I guess the reason there are more groups than I expected stuck at the starting point is because living on a deserted island for four or five days would be painful without water?"

"I think that's part of it, but it's not the only reason. The biggest factor is the visibility of the bottom 10 groups."

"...Oh, I see. Up to five groups from the bottom are at risk of expulsion. From the fourth day onward, we can see the situation one by one on a tablet, so we can afford it..."

By the end of the third day, almost all of the students were likely fighting with all their might. It was necessary to run around on an uninhabited island without knowing one's right or left, and to accumulate as many points as possible while being swayed by the designated area and the tasks... all in order to escape from the underlying expulsion.

But on the fourth day, the situation changed a lot. By comparing your score with the scores of the bottom groups and estimating how

much you could earn in a day based on the small amount of experience gained from 3 days, although inaccurate, you could judge if your position was favorable or unfavorable.

"But even if you have a ten or twenty point lead, there's no absolute guarantee, is there? I'd like to do my best to collect as many as 30 or 40 points to keep the lead."

"Of course everyone knows that they should do it, because they want to fight in this special exam from start to finish, but the reality isn't that sweet. Just as we now have a strong desire to drink water, once you have such a craving, your determination weakens."

"I see... Now that you've said that, I think I might understand. Even if I decided to stay up all night the day before the written exam, I just felt like sleeping for 5 minutes or 10 minutes. When I got inside the futon, I fell asleep until morning... "

I'm not sure if Nanase actually had that kind of experience, but it seems embarrassing to think about.

"We're running out of food and water after four days, and we're getting tired. You can only tell because we stopped at the start of the race, but when you see the rest of the groups resting in that spot, it's only natural to think that you should get some rest too."

If no one rested at the start of the race, many of the groups would have been able to change their minds and start again with no choice but to hang on.

"We should be resting at the start of the race and talking to each other. We're ahead in points, so let's stop here where we can safely take a break and get water while picking up tasks."

Nanase nodded as she listened. However, it seemed that a new question had suddenly come up.

"So the correct answer would be to not indulge here and force ourselves to keep going... right?"

"You said she wanted to lead to collect more points, but isn't fatigue setting in? And you're taking on more physical challenges than I am."

"Yes. I said I'll do my best, but I think the pace is actually slower now than on the first day. I feel that the pace will be even slower tomorrow and the day after."

I didn't mention it, but the physical damage was likely to be deeper than I imagined.

Not including the physical strain of the tasks, how many tens of

kilometers had we walked in the last five days?

"Sometimes it's important to rest, and other times you must fight. In

words, it is crucial that we know when to act. What we absolutely have to avoid is acting the same way as many students."

When the majority chooses to rest, you move. When the majority moves, you rest.

"I've been thinking for the past few days that Ayanokouji-senpai was cutting corners in the special exam. But that was to not stand out in the first half, wasn't it?"

"That's the basic policy. Of course, I'll be reckless when I feel I have a chance, but even if I'm desperate to face a high-competitive challenge, I can get only a limited number of points."

There had been a number of challenges that I thought I could win if I had participated, but I was prevented from doing so by other students entering the tasks before I did and filling up to the limit.

"Um... why did Senpai tell me all of that? I think that until now, for some reason whenever I asked something like that, Senpai would always find a way to dodge the question or mislead me."

Why? You're right. I usually didn't tell people about these things. Why did I tell you a part of my strategy without trying to hide it? After a few days of touring the uninhabited island with another

person, one would naturally get to know them better.

What kind of personality and mindset did the Nanase Tsubasa have?

She was a serious honor student who could study and exercise more than the average person. She could follow instructions without complaint, but wouldn't hesitate to point out things that were wrong or questionable, regardless of who she was dealing with. Above all, she had a thick core that was not easy to shatter. That was both a strength and a weakness, and an awkward way to live. It was because of this that Nanase couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about joining forces with Housen. Was it because they were trying to expel me as a White Room student?

Or was it because they had some other reason?

I figured the reason she wanted to join me on Deserted Island was to exploit the gap.

That's why I've made it look like I'd let my guard down on various occasions.

Whatever happens in a dark forest won't reach the eyes of others.

However, in the end, Nanase never showed such a pretense. Even with Ike's worries and when Shinohara and the others were in trouble, she did her best to help them.

"To put it plainly, Nanase is a clear enemy. It's not only because it's a special exam that competes with other grades, but also because of the 20 million points you get if you can expel me."

"...Yes. I tried to deceive Senpai."

"But there are some parts of you that I can't see as an enemy."

"In spite of the obvious hostile action...?"

"It's strange. Besides, I thought you'd understand my strategy to

some extent without me telling you."

Despite repeatedly showing her surprise here, it was clear that she

was already aware of it.

You're aware of it, but you're trying to get something out of me by

pretending to be unaware of it. "This is just my guess, though."

Nanase fell silent. I tried not to pursue the matter too deeply, and we walked quietly through the forest together.

Our first priority for that day was to catch up with the designated areas.

4

"Phew. I managed to make it to the last area in one piece."

Nanase sat down, exhaling, in order to relieve her fatigue.

Today's fourth designated area was B5, just above B6.

Traveling this distance alone must have been quite a burden on

Nanase.

"It looks like you've been overdoing it."

When we started walking from the start, it was good for a while, but

then Nanase's pace began to slow down. I was considering leaving Nanase behind, and possibly even going to the designated area on my own, but in the end I had to keep up the pace to the end.

"To be honest, the swimming challenge was pretty tough."

There was no doubt that this journey slashed any extra energy that was left from the swimming competition.

"That's it for today. We'll take our time finding somewhere to pitch our tent."

After resting for a while and waiting for Nanase to be able to walk again, we went to look for a suitable location.

After searching for a while in the vicinity, we came to an open area with a group of people already there. They were about to eat dinner, and various cooking utensils were lined up in front of the tent.

"Hello."

It was a nice place with plenty of space, but setting up a tent between people who weren't particularly close to each other was a hurdle to overcome on its own. As I was about to walk past, I was approached by one member of the group.

It was Tetsuya Hamaguchi, from Class 2-C. I raised my hand slightly and answered back, as Nanase caught up to me and also greeted him.

"Are you in a hurry?"

"No, I was thinking of going to the sea for a little bit, but this is my destination today."

"Then why don't you stop by for a little bit?"

I hadn't talked to Hamaguchi since last year's cruise-chip test on the way back from Deserted Island.

We encountered each other for just a little while during that exam, and had no contact in our daily school life. We're far from being able to call each other friends, but...

I wondered why he called out to me.

"You don't have to do it if it is inconvenient."

He looked at us for a long time in silence and added a little

apologetically.

Nanase had been following me without a single complaint, but her

fatigue has reached its peak.

"Then, we'll take a break here."

"Please come in."

Hamaguchi let me into his base of operations as if he were inviting

a close friend into his dorm room.

This atmosphere could only be created by Ichinose's classmates. But it wasn't Hamaguchi that I'm worried about, it was the other

two.

Two people emerged from the tent at almost the same time as they

had heard us talking.

They were Sayo Andou and Kozue Minamikata.

They occasionally looked in my direction and whispered in each others' ears.

"If you were forced to invite me, I'll leave right away."

If it was uncomfortable to have another class's students nearby, it was better to simply walk away.

That's what I thought, but Andou and Minamikata rushed to stop me.

"No, no, no. We're talking about something else. I've been wanting to talk to Ayanokouji-kun, so why don't you camp here today? Hey Kozue?"

Kozue nodded quickly in consent.

"If you decide to take a break, we have to hold a welcome party." Hamaguchi said so and brought out a backpack from the tent. When he unzipped it without hiding anything, revealing a large

amount of canned goods.

"That's a lot of stuff."

With only the visible food, it would be easy to survive for a week. "In fact, all three of us started with 1.5 times more points, so we can

afford more food than the other groups."

I had already investigated it, but I made a pretense of being honestly

impressed here. Normally, the three of us would have 15,000 points. But Hamaguchi and others had 22,500 points. Even if they bought a lot of meat and a barbecue stove, the remaining points would be enough. Of course, that kind of item was not suitable for transportation, as it was very heavy.

One of the strengths of Class 2-C was that there were less individual strategies from the students. Despite this, it seemed at first glance that they were wasting their money by purchasing unnecessary items with their extra points, but that wasn't the case.

Perhaps it was one of Ichinose's ideas. It was extremely difficult to move around with a large amount of food, especially when tools such as a stove were a hindrance. But it was an entirely different story when someone else had them. The idea of sharing items that were useful in cooking meat and fish had the potential to greatly benefit one's class.

Sharing food was officially allowed in this special exam. It was a fitting analogy if you thought of these three as the kitchen staff for Class 2-C.

Hamaguchi took out a bunch of skewers from his backpack.

"It's a very interesting strategy."

Nanase also muttered to herself, and I wondered if she was thinking

of something similar to what I was. "Maybe so."

"We freshmen lack a great deal of unity. Not many students have the desire to do something for someone else."

But then there's another issue that comes up in this type of strategy.

It's important to have a role in protecting food, but then there's the issue of scoring.

Penalties for moving designated areas could be covered by one person at worst, but even then, the group would slowly be pulled away from the rivals around them. If that happened, you would inevitably be on the doorstep of expulsion.

"Would the two of you be ok with having yakiniku?"

"Well, what does that mean?"

"I'm going to have a feast for today's supper. You two as well?" The two girls didn't show any signs of reluctance and nodded their

heads immediately.

"No, wait, I'm happy and grateful, but we can't have it."

"That's right. It's valuable food."

Nanase and I refused the offer, although thankful. However,

Hamaguchi did not listen and continued to prepare us meals. He was too nice of a person. It should've been used to support troubled classmates, not to help other classes or other grades.

Hamaguchi didn't seem to mind and took out a chunk of meat from the cooler box that was packed in a backpack.

"Really, don't worry about it. I just happened to get some beef today as a reward for a task. It's not going to last long anyway, so we have to consume it."

It seemed to serve as a real dish by preparing the meat using the skewer.

And to create a more comfortable atmosphere, they even brought out a mosquito repellent.

"Is it really okay... to treat us with this food?"

"Don't be shy."

No matter how much the class tended to be caring, why me? I'm sure you didn't invite every student who walked by.

"Are you wondering why I called out to you?"

"You even went as far as preparing a treat for us. I'm curious." After thinking about it for a bit, Hamaguchi gives a few words as to

why.

"Because I've heard a lot of stories about Ayanokouji-kun recently,

so we wanted to talk to you. Right?" "Yes, yes."

As Hamaguchi explained, Minamikata and Andou agree with him. "What do you mean?

"Because—hey?"

"You know, right? Andou asked me to confirm this."

When I didn't answer anything, their faces gradually turned into expressions of surprise.

"Oh, so you haven't made any progress yet?"

"Oh no. I thought they were more than friends and less than lovers." "You know why? Because Ayanokouji-kun's name often comes out

of Honami's mouth these days." "Is that so?"

"This isn't something we could say, but... is there any reason not to go out with her?" I've heard that girls like this kind of talk, but how can they talk about it directly in front of you? I'm not sure Nanase finally understood the situation or not, but for some reason she had a curious look in her eyes.

"...I'm not sure, but I don't think we'll go out with each other." "No no no, not me. I'll say it again, but it's Honami-chan, isn't it?" "None of the boys ever talk about it, but probably 80-90% of the

sophomores like Honami-chan, right?"

"I'm sure of it."

Certainly, there was no reason to deny that Ichinose is popular with

boys, but 90% is likely an overstatement. In fact, Sudou likes Horikita, and Ike likes Shinohara. There were many other love patterns.

"It's true that the class is different, but I think you don't have to worry about romance. There are quite a few couples who are dating regardless of class or grade."

"As a major premise, Ichinose isn't interested in me."

"Uwa, are you being modest? Ayanokouji-kun has been a hot topic among girls since the beginning of the school year, right?"

Looking back, I remember Kushida telling me something similar

once.

I didn't take it too seriously, or I didn't think too much about it. "Ayanokouji-senpai is popular."

"No, I'm not popular at all. I've never been told that by a girl." "Really? Ah, but I'm pretty sure the topic disappeared once right

away."

"That can't be helped. You wouldn't know if you like the other

person unless you talk to them properly. Ayanokouji-kun a year ago wasn't the type to talk to people."

"I don't think it's changed much now."

The two girls are laughing as they have a good time talking about me.

"So, Ayanokouji-senpai has changed a lot now?"

Nanase, who was listening to the story, asked the two a question. "Perhaps he is somewhat softer?"

Hamaguchi, who had just returned from the toilet, said so to Nanase.

I had never talked to Andou and Minamikata, and barely interacted with Hamaguchi on the cruise-chip test.

It could be said that he was a person only comparable to my impression of him from just one year ago.

Still, I didn't see any fear in these three people... that had a chance of dropping out. Their specific score was, of course, unclear, but they would never be at the top of the list.

If that was the case, then...

Afterwards, we were treated with great hospitality and ended up spending the night together in that place.