Chapter 4: Kōenji vs. Free Groups

KŌENJI HAD NO change in his pace even when he entered the second half of the exam. As of today, the tenth day, he was racking up points to stay above the Nagumo group. After 5:00 P.M., when today's portion of the exam ended, Kiriyama, who had finished speaking into a walkie-talkie, quietly closed his eyes. In the four days since the top ten were made public, although Nagumo and Kiriyama were more or less surprised that he had remained on the list, they didn't put much thought into it.

Everyone knew that taking this exam alone would definitely set a low cap to which you'll be able to score points.

"Kiriyama. Don't you think Nagumo's actions so far are messed up?

Wasn't he supposed to take control at the beginning of the second half of the exam? It's because he hasn't implemented the plan yet, that his score with Kōenji is completely tied up." Said Mikitani, a student from third-year Class B tells me while showing his tablet.

The overall score of the tablet shows that Nagumo's group has 236

points, while Kōenji has 230. The difference between the two is 6 points.

Nagumo could quickly reverse their positions if he got first place in placement points. Nagumo's group, which is now much more extensive than when he initially started, can secure 7 points in placement points as long as they arrive on time because of the booster cards. The Kōenji group can only score 1 point, but that makes him the only group which can easily get a reward for finishing first.

"Even if Nagumo manages to overtake him, you'll finish third if you aren't careful. If you lose to a loner sophomore, our reputation as your supporters will take a nosedive."

Kiriyama and his team now have a total score of 188 points. The difference between them and Kōenji begins to widen slowly.

"Speaking of which, I heard a rumour when he entered school last year.

Something about asking the second-year and third-year students if he could purchase their points. What do you make of that?"

"All I can say is don't get carried away just because you're wealthy."

His academic ability was moderate. His physical ability appeared to be high, but he had no outstanding grades, and his family was wealthy. That was undoubtedly the image that all the students of this school had.

Mikitani nodded once at Kiriyama's reply.

The main reason why Kōenji hasn't been noticed is that he never takes a sincere attitude towards things. He never takes things seriously and goes against his duties as a student. He's also had a strong attitude of dropping out of exams at the very beginning.

Not only the second-year students knew this, but also the third-years. If Kōenji had been a serious and sincere person, he would have been recognized as an enemy to be watched by Nagumo long before.

"I don't know what happened, but Kōenji has literally gone al out in this special exam on the uninhabited island. And the result is that he's become the strongest opponent out of all the students. His stamina, especially his tirelessness, is terrifying. I think he could go all the way like this."

He's taking advantage of his ability to move alone, and he seems to have an endless supply of energy. If this continues, our third year will have to consider countermeasures. If we don't, Kōenji wil undoubtedly finish in the top three.

He may even beat Nagumo if everything works in his favour.

Losing to the juniors is one problem, but losing to a single person is a disgrace. He must be treated as a strong enemy that has to be defeated and needs to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Of course, violence should be avoided as much as possible.

If a third-year student had attacked Kōenji by surprise, injuring him and forcing him to drop out, it would naturally cause issues. If someone used forceful methods to make Kōenji drop in ranking, they would inevitably face expulsion. It's essential to sink Kōenji as quietly as possible.

"Kiriyama, have you decided what you're going to do?"

"I'm going to utilize the Free Groups."

Free Groups. It's a group of three people selected from among five groups in each class, Class B to Class D. This was prepared by Nagumo to act as his hands and feet. There are a total of 15 groups, and two of them are assigned to follow Nagumo's instructions, while the remaining group is assigned to follow the designated area in order not to receive any penalties.

That means two students per group can move freely.

"I see. How many groups are you going to use then?"

"All of them. I'm going to mobilize all six groups I have."

"Six?! Are you serious? You're dealing with just one person; even four groups would be more than enough-"

Interrupting Mikitani, Kiriyama continued.

"The only threat here is Kōenji. It should be easy to crush him, then come back to support me. You can check the top ten scores until the twelfth day. Within two days from tomorrow, we need to fully contain Kōenji. Once he loses his momentum, he won't surface again."

Even if he joined some other group, the result would be the same.

"Didn't Nagumo say that there were other groups which interested him? If we attack Kōenji with all the available Free Groups, we won't have enough personnel to dedicate towards other groups..."

Although Mikitani didn't mention which group, one would assume he meant Ryūen's second-year group, Sakayanagi's group second-year group, or the first-year Utomiya's group.

"Don't worry about that. Nagumo's fears are illogical."

Of course, Kiriyama knew which group Nagumo was truly looking out for. But "that" group hasn't appeared in the top ten days even once.

Even if we speed up and accumulate points now, we still can't stand on the podium in the end.

"This mistake is on Nagumo."

"It's really rare that Nagumo would have misjudged things."

"Nagumo is currently bounded by invisible shackles, I'm not surprised."

The only person Nagumo cared for. The only thing left of Manabu Horikita.

It's no wonder that the eyes of Nagumo, who can see the battlefield with an eagle's eye, are completely clouded.

"So, we'll let the six groups take care of Kōenji, and we'll continue to score points as usual?"

"No, I will directly command the plan to contain Kōenji."

"You? Wouldn't that be inefficient? Let me do it."

If Kiriyama's team, which was now in third place, joined the strategy of blocking Kōenji, it will most definitely affect their ranking.

"You're asking me to leave all command of this operation to you?"

"I'm at a critical moment right now. Unlike you, I need to earn high praise from Nagumo, so please, let me do it."

Mikitani said this, but Kiriyama didn't seem to hear it.

"That's no good. There are six Free Groups in play here; if you fail, it'll be extremely devastating."

"But if you don't get second place, it'll be devastating for you too.

Don't waste your time on unnecessary things."

Mikitani, who was eager to get the credit, insisted.

"There isn't anyone who can stop Kōenji besides me and Nagumo.

That's the end of this discussion."

When Mikitani heard these words, he slightly frowned and made a disgusted face. Kiriyama didn't notice because he wasn't even looking at Mikitani anymore.

In order to stop a single student, Kiriyama led out six Free Groups at evening. If the opponent was an ordinary student, it would be fine, but even Kiriyama had no idea what to expect when facing Kōenji.

The question now was, where would the designated zone be at 7:00

A.M. tomorrow on the eleventh? Depending on Kōenji's movements, the scope of the siege will change. That's why the operation started in the evening, in order to encircle Kōenji by 7:00 A.M. tomorrow morning.

Fortunately, Kōenji was in B3, which wasn't too far from the E3 area where Kiriyama and the others are.

Since the top ten group rankings could only be monitored until the end of the twelfth day, there were only two days left in which they would be able to see if they made any progress in surpassing Kōenji.

"How far do you plan on going today?"

At the beginning of the long journey, Mikitani asked Kiriyama to ease his boredom.

"As far as we can. I know it's risky to move at night, but I want to get to an area where we can surround him. We have to reach him before seven in the morning."

Once he starts moving, the difficulty of this operation will raise two or three levels.

"I think it'll be easy to dethrone him if we have two days. There are seven groups here, including the six from Kiriyama, making a total of 18

people." Mikitani says as he turns around to survey the sixteen third-year students.

"Don't be careless. In a forest this big, there are many possibilities for him to evade us."

"I know he's not normal, but he's still a year younger than you."

But neither Kiriyama nor Mikitani had seen Kōenji directly, so there wasn't any way to properly evaluate his skills. Even so, from the information provided by the third-year students who had participated in events with Kōenji, they all said how his physical capabilities were beyond that of an average student.

"That's irrelevant. Recognize your opponent as your greatest enemy."

"The greatest?"

Kiriyama said in his mind, "I knew I couldn't trust someone like Mikitani to handle this."

Completely crushing this enemy has become the top priority, as it determines whether we will succeed in this exam or not. If we do it in a half-assed way, the chances of failure will be very high.