5.3

"What's the situation, Tsubaki?"

It's 8:00 A.M., and if all goes well, it's about time that a first-year group will get in contact with Ayanokōji.

Yagami asked who was concerned that a good report hadn't come from the walkie-talkie yet.

"Don't panic, my plan is still unfolding. It's going so well that it scares me."

"That's good."

Ayanokōji was continuously changing his direction so as not to get caught by the first-year group that is closing the distance. Although Tsubaki didn't know how often, it was clear that he was using GPS scans periodically.

Well, the more points he loses, the better. Tsubaki doesn't hate using violence to solve problems, but she thought it would be ideal if she could crush him without doing so.

If you let him fall into the cycle of missing designated areas, that's a way to beat him without ever touching him.

If, however, they can't force that to happen, then they would have no choice but to deliver a final blow and crush him for good.

Tsubaki did not regret using her well-saved points every ten minutes to perform a GPS scan. In the past twelve days, Tsubaki didn't save up her points to win the special exam. It was to prepare for this operation.

The time had just passed nine in the morning, and it was confirmed that Ayanokōji had missed the designated area for the third time.

The tablet then indicated that Ayanokōji's designated area was D2; Ayanokōji, who was fleeing towards C6 at the time, would have had a hard time stepping on the designated area, even if he wasn't being chased.

Currently, there are two teams in pursuit of Ayanokōji Kiyotaka.

Since Tsubaki scans every ten minutes, she has a very clear image of Ayanokōji's movements.

If this continues, Ayanokōji wil most likely go straight north through the B4 and C5 areas.

For this reason, she instructed the remaining three teams to assemble in the C4 area and stand by. Tsubaki stopped scanning for an hour after that and took a break. After ten o'clock, she started scanning again to confirm the location of all members.

Ayanokōji was on the path to cross the B4 and C5 areas as Tsubaki had thought. The two groups of pursuers had also entered the B5 area.

"Don't let him get away."

Tsubaki gave instructions to the group that had entered the C4 area to block Ayanokōji, where he was supposed to go down the mountain. This was to cut off his first path and then push him towards the B4, B3 area.

From here, Tsubaki resumed the operation of scanning every ten minutes, and as she expected, Ayanokōji was successfully lured by her to the direction of B4, and he continued to head north. Tsubaki saw this and instructed the three teams standing by in C4 to chase Ayanokōji up north and asked not to lose him.

"Can I bother you for a moment, Tsubaki-san?"

"... what?" Tsubaki asked with clear annoyance.

Yagami, who was also operating the tablet a little further away, looked over to Tsubaki.

"Wouldn't you be able to block Ayanokōji-senpai if you conveyed some more detailed orders? I think this progression is a bit tedious."

"You're so annoying." Tsubaki muttered in a low voice and chose to ignore Yagami.

After thirty minutes, there was finally an unexpected situation. The three groups that Tsubaki ordered to move north from the C4 area had now suddenly stopped moving.

This was unnatural. Even if one group ran into trouble, why did all three stop at the same time?

This time, Tsubaki waited only five minutes to scan.

"They... aren't moving at all."

Ayanokōji is obviously almost through the B3 area, but they haven't even left the C4 area yet. If this continues, he will most definitely escape through C3.

"What's wrong? What's happening?" Tsubaki mutters to herself.

She tries to use the walkie-talkie, but there's not a single response.

"How strange..."

Tsubaki began to realize that this wasn't a simple problem, someone was interfering.

"What's wrong Tsubaki-san?"

Although Yagami saw Tsubaki's gloomy expression, he still didn't realize something was going wrong.

"Three of the five groups that were listening to my command are now stationary. The three groups that stopped moving only have one thing in common; they all crossed paths with the second-years."

If you're taking an exam on an uninhabited island with more than 400

people, it's not surprising that you'll occasionally pass by some people.

For this reason, Tsubaki didn't care about their presence until just now.

"Please answer."

Tsubaki once more spoke into her walkie-talkie but got no answer no matter how long she waited.

"Could it be that there was simply an accident? On this uninhabited island, there are often many groups moving towards the designated area or an event, so wouldn't it be dangerous to directly characterize them as Ayanokōji-senpai's helpers?"

"Something must be wrong... there's three groups being blocked by the second-years."

"That's right, you're right..."

For another 5 minutes, Tsubaki, who held on while suppressing her anger, launched another scan.

"They're starting to move but it's so slow..."

"They must be under pressure from the second-years."

In the meantime, Ayanokōji crossed the B4 area in the B3 area and had made his way down the hill. He seems to be ready to go to the C3 area.

The only option now is to tell the two groups behind Ayanokōji to pick up the pace. However, Tsubaki had now realized that those two groups chasing Ayanokōji had also stopped at one point.

Likewise, a group of second-years is present.

"It certainly seems like they're intentionally being pestered by the second-years... but who the hell..."

As Tsubaki was saying this, Yagami took the liberty of touching Tsubaki's tablet without permission for the details.

"Get out of my way." Tsubaki said to Yagami as if she were getting rid of a bug.

"What?"

"We're considered partners for the moment, that's why I let you stay here, but I don't think I remember giving you permission to interfere, right?"

Shocked by Tsubaki's eyes full of anger, Yagami takes a step back.

"... I know, but please let me voice my opinion. Shouldn't we confirm who the second-years pestering the groups are?"

"I already know that."

Even without Yagami's reminder, Tsubaki originally intended to do so, and immediately after she opened her tablet, she ran a scan.

There listed the second-year students who appeared to be interfering.

However, there wasn't a single noteworthy student in those groups.

"The leader of this obstruction isn't present."

"There's a variety of students from Class A to D, but no one is conspicuous."

"So you're saying that it's not one class, but the whole second-year who's behind this?"

It was as Yagami said, but there was one thing that caught Tsubaki's attention.

She didn't think the entire second year would unite to protect Ayanokōji. Surely that would be absurd...

"In a way yes."

Tsubaki drew a conclusion from the current situation.

"These five groups don't know the real reason why they were assigned to block the first year's group."

"You're saying they're assisting Ayanokōji-senpai without knowing anything?"

"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." Tsubaki said as she went to check the records of Today's GPS scan.

She went through the screenshots to confirm the movement of the second-year students.

"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 for the special exam. It's possible that they've become more vigilant. As you know, Ayanokōji-senpai is on a bounty, so he must have made the connections beforehand."

Yagami judged that because the exam is close to ending, Ayanokōji was naturally more on guard.

"We just need the right time to attack Ayanokōji-senpai. But the second-year students can't protect him all day long, right? After all, they have a special exam to do."

With only two days left, that means they'll definitely be thinking about racking up as many points as possible.

"That's true..."

"There's one more thing I'm concerned about, and that's why our group was blocked so easily. Even if the other side spreads out, it should still be pretty hard to block all five groups." Yagami said as he put his hand to his mouth in contemplation.

Yagami didn't understand what was really going on.

"Why can't you figure it out? That's proof the other side has a seceret commander."

"Are you saying that the other side also has a character like Tsubaki-san who is commanding them...?"

Tsubaki nodded and then opened the map of the entire island.

Somewhere on this island, there must be hiding a character like Tsubaki, who is now looking at the whole situation unfold.

This is the same person who ordered the second-years to block her first-year group.

"In my opinion, Tsubaki-san should consider suspending the operation."

"Why?"

"Do you want to get past them by force? That's too dangerous."

"I won't do that. And the students who are blocked now can't do that either."

"Then... why don't you stop the plan?"

"No matter what I do the result will be the same."

"The same...?"

This situation was something Tsubaki had foreseen from the beginning.

In fact, she was thankful for the appearance of these obstruction teams.

"Although I don't know who's commanding the other side, I'll show you that what you see in front of you is not necessarily the whole truth."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid that the commander of the other team had already noticed these five groups of first year students last night."

"So they were doing repeated scans as well?"

"As I said before, there is most likely a second-year exam for second-year students. As we have five groups, they will try to have five groups as well to counter us. If they try to take advantage by sending six or seven groups, they would be neglecting the uninhabited island exam."

"But it's not surprising that the other team would send six or seven teams just in case."

"Yes. But as of now, it seems that the only second-year teams with unusual movements are these five. Maybe they're confident enough to decide that they can deal with the same number of groups? But that's where they make a critical mistake." Tsubaki took out the radio transceiver and sent a new command.

"Now there is no one who can interfere. Go do whatever you want."

"Who did you contact? There are no more teams that can be deployed in that area..."

"I told you, didn't I? Not everything you see is the truth."

After giving instructions, Tsubaki began to think again, and she was now wondering who was actually commanding the battle.

"Did Ayanokōji do it while escaping? No, that's really unlikely. It's not like he has a leadership that can command the other classes, and he doesn't have that kind of time..."

The words Tsubaki said were inaudible even to Yagami, who was standing right next to her, so she was really just mumbling to herself.

When Tsubaki thinks, she tends to speak her thoughts in a sound that's inaudible to people around her. No matter how small the sound is, speaking out loud clears the mind and affirms thoughts.

It would be like taking out clothes from a messy closet one at a time and putting them back in order.

"Presumably, Ayanokōji contacted the people involved in this situation and asked for their help. So, he could have prepared for this moment from the very beginning..."

"Hey? Did you say something?" Yagami asks, a little confused.

"Nothing, please don't mind me."

Tsubaki, who had been muttering, finally alerted Yagami, who was nearby.

Tsubaki replied, a little annoyed, and looked back at her tablet.