Special exam - deserted island test (part 1)

// Lucy's POV, cruise ship //

It was time for the first special exam! I'm so excited. During the next few days I am going to have fun. With my future knowledge this test should be extremely easy but I can use this opportunity to see how much I have already effected the plot.

What I think would have changed the most id class C's strategy. My guess is that Ryuen will utilize his classmates more effectively. In the story he allowed them to just have fun and used two of them to infiltrate other camps, then he did all the hard work by himself. Sure that meant people wouldn't find out that he was the card holder, but we saw how that turned out.

After class A's homeroom teacher explained the exam to us we disembarked from the cruise ship. It was decided that I would be the card holder. The main purpose for this is based on reverse psychology, of course this was Ichinose's idea. It was well established that I was the main brains behind this class, to the other classes.

Ichinose had told everyone about the spot she saw while we where on the ship, it wasn't said that she had gotten the clue in the original. Did it just not say and she did notice or has my schemes made her think more about what the school tells us earlier on? hmmm, something to think about.

~crunch~ We where walking through the forest toward the beach, when Himeno stepped on a branch and almost fell over. Luckily I caught her. "Thanks Lucy." I smiled in response.

Right now I was taking in everything around me so I can wonder off by myself later. I don't have the mental capacity to respond verbally. Truthfully the only reason I caught Himeno was due to the reflexes I have built up over the course of 16 years.

On top of all that I'm trying to bring all the information I have about survival from my previous life to mind. Having so many memories makes it difficult to find the ones I need. Especially when I'm not paying too much attention to what was going on around me at the time.

I blinked a few times while holding my head, I have such a headache right now. "Are you OK Lucy?"

The grimace on my face must have given it away, "I'll live, I just had to do some reading." She gained a look of confusion.

It was true though, I've read so many things online in my past life and I was just re-reading them. To be honest my ability amazes me, you'd think developing a photographic memory would only allow someone to remember things from that point on. Maybe a higher being is involved? food for thought I guess.

Back to topic, I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head at the moment. The first thought that comes to mind is to allow people to see i'm the class leader and then change on the last day but that may be too predictable to some, namely Ayanokoji.

I know that at the end of the exam class D will have guessed the leaders of class A and C. I don't know if Ayanokoji will give the name of our leader, or even bother to figure it out, because we don't exactly have any special relations this time around.

The only thing I can think of is Ichinose helping with the Sudo case. It is at around this time that Ayanokoji is in the process of figuring out whether his father actually spoke to Chabashira or not.

Is it worth taking advantage of that, or will it turn into a Kushida situation where he will go to lengths to try and expel me to keep his peaceful life? hmmmm, "Decisions, decisions." I muttered.

// Night time //

I sat outside the girls tent watching the moon reflect off of the ocean. I thought that as a 'freedom of choice exam', I would be able to do what I want. That is true in sense but I feel I have too much freedom.

I have so many choices that I can't decide on what I want to do. This is like the buridan's ass theory, but worse. The theory states that an equally hungry and thirsty donkey is placed between a stack of hay and a pail of water. The donkey, stuck is in indecision as it can't make a rational decision between the two, dies.

That's how I feel, except I'm overwhelmed by all the ways to win, that I can't decide and eventually finish the exam, not going through with any of them.

Well, when you can't decide, get a third opinion. I drew numbers, 1 - 25 in a circle around me. Holding a stick, I spun around in a circle and pointed straight forward. Openening my eyes I saw the number 14.

I guess I'm going with plan 14. Buuuuuuut... that was kinda fun. Changing my mind I drew a line through number 14 and started spinning again. 8 was crossed out.

3 was crossed out.

22 was crossed out.

19 was crossed out.

5 was crossed out.

Eventually the only number left was 23. Plan 23 it is, and I had a lot of fun choosing. Although I do feel a bit... ~Bleghhhh~

I threw up in the ocean, I feel so disoriented. Mental note made: don't spin in circles 24 times consecutively.

After 15 minutes of laying on the sand, I got to work. Assuming that Ryuen is going to send out classmates to infiltrate other camps, I looked around the area noting the spots to hide a walky talky. I found a few trees with holes in them, big enough to fit a PE kit inside.

My next course of action was to find all the other camps, I remember what the area around the camps looked like from the anime so it was quite easy to find them. Ryuen's was the easiest and class D, the hardest.

I was outside the girls tent as I saw Miyu walk out at precisely 1:00 AM. I put a finger to my lips to indicate her not to speak, she rolled her eyes at me. Rude. With a frown on my face, we walked off.

Once we where half a mile away, turned around- ~umph~, "I missed you so much Lucy!"

"Hey, let go!" I was in a prison, with no escape. Well, I knew I would die someday... Die again someday?

A chuckle left me, mortality is such a joke. "Are you OK Lucy?"

// Miyu's POV //

It started with a chuckle, and I let go of her in concern. The laughs continued to get louder, it looked like a painful laugh. She was holding her stomach on the floor, and tears where showing. ~Sigh~ not this again.

This isn't a frequent thing but sometimes it just happens, she says she just remembered a joke but what joke is this funny? It took a full 3 minutes for her laughing to die down. I should probably warn Himeno of this at some point.

It took some time but suddenly she just got all serious, "OK, want to tell me what happened today?"

Its seems we're not going to talk about that borderline psychotic episode she just had, but OK. "We had a few problems at the start of the day involving toilets, this divided the boys and girls. In the end the girls won out and we bought the more expensive choice."

Lucy nodded in thought, "It turns out Ike used to camp when he was younger so he has a lot of experience in this environment. Nothing big has happened but our leader was chosen."

I smiled, "So? Who is it?"

~giggle~ "Wouldn't you like to know?" Of course she would.

"Of course I would." She can be so predictable some times.

"Well I want something for this top-secret information!" I crossed my arms and grinned, victorious.

"Fiiine, what do you want?" I was surprised, she isn't usually this receptive of people when they ask her for something. Maybe she's ill? Well i'll be taking advantage of this! Hehe.

I thought of all the things that I could get out of this, can I risk pushing the boundary's? Hmmmm...

"Tell me you love me." I know she does, but it's nice to hear her say it every once in a while.

She gave me deadpan eyes, ~sigh~, "Fine, I love you."

~Screech~ ahhhhh! She said it! "I love you too!" I had to hug her again, I know she hates hugs but it's good to show affection to these kind of people.

Her face was held against my chest causing her speech to sound distorted, "Sho will you chell me who it is now?" ~Sigh~ so grumpy!

I let go of her and gave in, "Class D's leader is Horikita Suzune."

She went deep into thought, I could tell by the way she drew her eyebrows close together. ~Yawn~ I stretched my arms and yawned, I'm so tired.

By the looks of it I broke her line of thought, ~Sigh~ "Goodnight Miyu, I'm going back now."

I waved and wished her a good night as well.

When we where on the ship, Lucy told me to meet with her every night at 1:00 AM. I don't know how she knew this would happen but I am not complaining. I let a smile show, my master is so smart.

// Lucy's POV //

I was standing in the middle of the forest when I heard a rustle in the tree's, "What do you want Koenji?"

~Thud~ I saw a blonde man drop from the tree's, "Hmmm, you know me but I don't know you girl. Though it's not surprising you know who I am, I am the sole heir of koenji conglomerate after all."

He ended his sentence with a loud laugh. "I see, I just heard your name from a classmate but alright, I'll take your word for it."

He grinned, "Alright let's not beat around the bush, your using that poor girl as a spy aren't you?"

I really do love it when people make assumptions, it just makes everything so much easier. That assumption tells me he didn't see the first half of our interaction, which is good.

"So what? The power of money can make anyone do anything, surely someone like you would know that?"

"All too well, little girl." He just called me little. That pisses me off.

I can't show it though, not to someone like this. "How much do you want for your silence?"

"Hahaha!" Of course he just laughs it off, I know he doesn't care, he won't take any money for his silence either, too proud for that. "Don't you worry, little girl. I won't tell your dirty little secret!"

I faked confusion and suspicion, "Why, what are you going to do."

He didn't respond, he just began laughing and walked away. What a weirdo, who just starts randomly laughing like that? Crazy bastard.

~Sigh~ I guess I should go to sleep now, as I look around i have realized that i'm going to have to walk all the way back to the camp.

// Ichinose's POV //

Today we are delegating jobs to each person, its important that everyone gets a job they like or are fine with to maximize efficiency. It was mainly the boys such as Kanzaki who gathered fire wood and built the tents, the girls cleared the area of any rocks and sticks so we didn't hurt our feet.

After today, the girls will focus on gathering and purifying the water. Its lucky that Lucy showed us how to do that or else we would have had to buy water everyday, and that would be a waste.

Speaking of Lucy, she and Himeno have been missing all day. Lucy told me that the ywould attempt to uncover the identity's of the other classes card holders.

Apparently she has an idea of who class D's card holder is but isn't 100% certain so she wants to make sure she is right before she tells me who it is. To be honest that is suspicious behavior, when has she had the time to figure out who it is. We haven't even been on this island for 24 hours.

Despite this, I choose to trust my class leader. She has done no wrong yet, I know from the whole chess scheme that class C is her main priority. A small smile broke out on my face, she must be a better person than me.

To put everyone else before yourself, that speaks of true bravery and kindness.

// Kaneda's POV //

~Sigh~ Iv'e been looking for hours now. Stupid Ryuen sent me to infiltrate class B's camp site and give him photographic evidence of their card.

Walking through the tree line, I saw roughly 30 odd students. I looked around, no 5"4 girls with brown hair around, good.

It was Ichinose who spotted me and ran over first to ask me about any problems. "I'm fine I promise! I just had a disagreement with my class and was kicked out of the camp, you don't mind if I stay here with you guys right?"

I was told I would be accepted by a girl called Ichinose but if this Lucy girl was here then there was no point and I should just return to the camp. I can't believe Ryuen knew that she wouldn't be here. As much as I hate him, he is extremely smart and conniving.

Ichinose smiled brightly and waved over a few people, the most notable was a boy taller than me with dark purple hair.

"Of course you can stay here, but we do expect you to help us around the camp in return." She lifted an eyebrow, as if that would be a problem.

"Of course I will, Thank you so much! I don't know what I would have done without you." I think I was convincing enough, everybody besides the purple haired boy accepted my entrance.

All I have to do now is make myself seem genuine and help around the camp, I'll have the opportunity to steal the card at night. I'll have to check through everyone's belongings, ~Sigh~ its going to be a long night.

// Kanzaki's POV //

I don't trust him. There is just no way he fell out with the whole class and managed to find us by luck. I'm not blind, I can see how naive my class can be. I'll report this to Lucy as soon as she gets back from her scouting.

Our class dynamic is quite interesting, If you think about it we kind of have two leaders. Lucy is the main leader, the brains of our strategy's. She is extremely popular but I don't think she likes to socialize much even though she doesn't show it.

Himeno is like Lucy's right hand, or general if you will. She helps Lucy do what ever she wants, Himeno is a very supportive person in the way that she is very good at carrying out orders in the best way she can think of.

Ichinose is our second leader, the stand in for when Lucy is not here. Ichinose is very intelligent, maybe not so much as Lucy but smart none the less. She has something that Lucy doesn't have though, tolerance. Ichinose will tolerate anyone, she sees the best in people. her main flaw is that she is naive, extremely naive. To be honest I think she knows what people are planning and have bad intentions sometimes but she likes to delusion herself into thinking people will do no harm.

I support Ichinose, I may not be as effective to Ichinose as Himeno is to Lucy but I do my best to help her with any important decisions that need to be made. Me and Ichinose spend the majority of our time together and have become great friends since half way through the first month.

As I turned around to bring the firewood over to where it needs to be, I saw Lucy give me a look. She walked inside the forest and I walked after her. "So, do you mind telling me why there is a stranger here?"

~Sigh~ This is going to be my fault isn't it? "He's from class C. Apparently he had a falling out with his classmates and luckily found our camp."

"Well I find that a little hard to believe, it's going to be difficult for me to hide the card from him considering I have to occupy the spot." I sat there, on a log for two minutes thinking.

To be honest I thought there would be a change in plans for Ryuen, but I suppose this is going to say the same. I'll have to change my plans slightly but that won't be too difficult.

"Kanzaki, what do you suppose we do?" I asked him, it looks like he came to his own conclusion.

"I say the only way to stop us from losing points to class C is to kick Kaneda out of the camp." He looked resolute in his decision.

"Not bad, but what would the others in our class say? They wouldn't trust you anymore because you would look heartless in their eyes." I gave him a quizzical stare. Would he change his plans or make that sacrifice?

"Then we have to persuade Ichinose to do it no?" Even he saw the flaw in that plan. The only person that could do that would be me, however this may sow discord between the two leaders in class C. We want to avoid that.

"We could but have you thought about the possibility of keeping him in the camp?" He looked at me as if I was crazy.

"What do you mean, keep him here? Are you mad? We will lose over 200 class points if we do that!" I stared him dead in the eyes.

"Not necessarily, what do you do to stop him from showing Ryuen a picture the card once he has it?" I assumed he would know that Ryuen would want proof.

"Go through his belongings and confiscate any cameras he has."

"That would work, but it wouldn't be too difficult for him to run off with the card and show it to Ryuen directly, what then?"

"There is no way you would let your guard down like that, for him to get it."

"Kanzaki, even though your trust in me is well founded, mistakes can always be made and you have to factor those into your plans."

"We can't. once Ryuen knows that you are our leader we're done for."

"What if Kaneda tells Ryuen the wrong the leader?"

"Your name is on the card."

"Have you thought of the idea of a fake card?" At this his eyes widened.

"Where would we get a fake card?" He asked incredulously.

"The teachers of course, anything can be bought remember." It seems he understands.

"Even though, we may not have enough points to buy that card and even if we do we will need permission from Ichinose at the very least to use the amassed points we have. It wouldn't work."

"But what if we didn't have to pay for it?"

~Sigh~ "They won't give it to us for free Lucy."

"That's true, that's why we have to think of a way to get one for free."

"Steal it?! Not a chance."

"That's not what I meant, even if we could steal one, we don't know how to get our name imprinted on the card, nor do we know where the cards are being held."

"Then what do you propose?"

"I say we allow Kaneda to get a picture of the card, show Ryuen and then snap this card in half ourselves." He went to speak but I stopped him with a raised hand, "We show the teachers the card and get it replaced with a new one. In the rule book it says that the leader can only be changed for a legitimate reason. What if that leader had to resign from the exam? The leader will have to change."

Kanzaki gained a look of enlightenment, "I see, so class C will lose 50 points for guessing the wrong leader while we will only lose 5 for having a person resign from the exam."

"Not only that, did you see the clause in the rule book that states, 'Violence, theft, or destruction of property against another class will result in immediate failure for the class to whom the offending student belongs and the forfeiture of all that students' private points'? We will blame the destruction of the card on that class C student. Class C will lose all their points." I grinned.

Of course I will absolutely not be using that plan, I just have to have Kanzaki believe that is the plan we are going with.

I refuse to lose 5 points, let alone miss out on the fun of this exam! Also I am not an Ayanokoji wanna be. I won't use his strategy.

I will use elements from that plan I told Kanzaki but I will also be playing mind games with Ryuen. I will win this exam with flying colors. We have to come out of this exam with more than 255 points. That's how many point class D won with in the original.