On the very first day of the exam, Class A was already doomed to fail.
It was because, while Ayanokouji’s team was scouting, they caught sight of Katsuragi and Yahiko emerging from the cave that would later serve as Class A’s base. As if that weren’t enough, Katsuragi clutching the leader’s key card even declared himself the leader.
A normal student might have taken that at face value and assumed Katsuragi was in charge—but that would be far too hasty a conclusion.
"It has to be Totsuka Yahiko."
"Right. Katsuragi isn’t that stupid. Given how cautious he is, it’s more likely that the guy standing beside him was the real leader."
From the moment I heard the news, our opinions aligned perfectly.
So why did we decide that? It was simple.
"That idiot Totsuka probably secured the spot the moment he laid eyes on it..."
"Which means Katsuragi improvised on the spot—posing as the leader to cover for him."
"You mentioned that the Katsuragi faction in Class A is rather conservative. They’re methodical, sure... but their maneuver was so transparent it kills the suspense. I’d rather deal with Ryuuen; he’d be far more interesting."
My sharp observation drew silence from Ayanokouji. Boring.
For the record, after they left, Ayanokouji confirmed that Class A had indeed occupied the spot, and the cave was empty. He hadn’t heard a whisper that either Totsuka or Katsuragi had retired—so Class A’s leader was, by default, confirmed.
The next twist came after we found Ibuki.
"There was something hidden beneath our feet. When I lifted Ibuki, I didn’t sense anything amiss. In other words, it was clear she had deliberately buried something with her own hands, just as it appeared."
Later, during our allotted personal time, Ayanokouji and I confirmed that the concealed items were a walkie-talkie and a disposable digital camera—both of which could be purchased with points.
"That settles it. Ibuki’s a spy. She was probably ordered either to photograph the key card or even to steal it. What now?"
"Let her be for now. It’s better to act naturally than to approach her and raise suspicions. But just in case..."
Saying that, Ayanokouji retrieved the bottled water he’d prepared earlier and drenched the digital camera, completely ruining it. And since it was water, no evidence remained—thorough as always.
"What about Horikita? She looks like she’s in terrible shape—she even seems to have a fever. In this environment, she won’t last a week."
"...That could be useful."
"Huh? How?"
"If Ibuki makes a move, it won’t be before Day 5... and if my hunch is right, she’ll act on Day 6. That timing would let her pull something off before we can set up a countermeasure. So until then, let’s allow Horikita to deteriorate and further complicate things."
"Wow, you’re such a sadist... using a sick classmate like that. You’re a bad man, Ayanokouji."
"......."
"Silent treatment? How boring."
After that, events unfolded predictably. We deliberately kept Horikita on the move—even though she had received the key card without feigning illness—to prevent her from recovering, further wearing her down.
Ibuki was left isolated. Ayanokouji intentionally avoided her, and I didn’t go out of my way to approach her unless we happened to cross paths.
Day 2
"Class C is probably going to retire completely, right?"
"Not everyone. It looks like they even planted a spy in Class B. And if they wish to communicate via the walkie-talkie, at least one person has to remain on the island."
"Then it must be Ryuuen. And if anyone else was left behind, maybe Ishizaki or Albert?"
"The more people there are, the harder it is to keep a low profile or secure food, so chances are he’ll end up going solo. Ryuuen seems the most capable of that, anyway."
On the day we first confirmed Ryuuen’s strategy, his ulterior motive became immediately clear.
Above all else...
"The supplies were definitely low, weren’t they?"
"Yeah. It didn’t even seem like 200 points, let alone 300."
"Then where did the remaining points vanish? Earlier today, while scouting Class A, I noticed that when Katsuragi emerged, two makeshift toilets had been hastily installed in a gap in their tent..."
"Almost certainly, those supplies went to Class A."
In fact, Class C had nothing more than the basic tents and the rudimentary portable toilets initially provided.
If they intended to survive without spending points, they’d first have to secure proper sleeping arrangements and sanitation facilities. The absence of either suggested they never planned to endure it in the first place—except for Ryuuen...
Likely, they would barely scrape through Day 1, and by the evening of Day 2 only Ryuuen would remain as everyone else retired.
And then Day 3...
Class C vanished, and no matter how thoroughly we searched the area, not even a trace of Class A was in sight.
Perhaps a standoff between the Katsuragi and Sakayanagi factions had restricted Katsuragi’s movements, but more likely, his actions reflected a surfeit of confidence. After all, he wouldn’t have ventured out on a scouting mission unless he was already certain of victory.
This confirmed that the point-based supplies allocated to Class C had been transferred to Class A. Ryuuen most likely traded those supplies—and possibly leader intel from another class—in exchange for some undisclosed reward.
I didn’t know all the details, but...
"This response should be enough."
When I declared that and collapsed onto the ground...
"Yeah. Let’s stick to the plan we made. Until the exam ends, we keep contact to a minimum."
With that, Ayanokouji left the tent.
After that, everything unfolded just as everyone had anticipated.
One key detail, however, set this incident apart: it was Ayanokouji who set the fire.
Just before the rain shower, at the spot where Horikita, Yamauchi, Kushida, Ayanokouji, Ibuki, and the others had gathered firewood, Ayanokouji manipulated Yamauchi into tarnishing Horikita—quite literally. Don’t read anything too strange into that!
For the record, during that interval Ayanokouji also brought up Katsuragi with Horikita, coercing her into displaying the key card—arranging it all so that Ibuki could witness the scene.
Afterwards, the plan was simple. While Horikita was taking a frigid shower in the lake, Ibuki would help herself to the key card. Then Ayanokouji ignited the fire incident to create a distraction, buying Ibuki enough time to escape. Once Horikita realized the key card was missing, she’d notice Ibuki had fled and give chase—and if she didn’t notice, Ayanokouji was ready to inform her. I later heard that a fight broke out, but there was no way a debilitated Horikita could overcome a formidable opponent like Ibuki.
After Horikita eventually collapsed, Ayanokouji followed her discreetly, rescued her, and forced her into retirement. With him assuming the leader’s role, the entire scheme was complete.
Our class’s victory, in other words.
Meanwhile, I remained at base, acting as a watchdog to ensure the others didn’t make any unsanctioned moves—in particular, keeping Yosuke from uncovering what was really going on.
In the end, it appears Class C had intended to use Class A’s traitor to stab them in the back and seize first place.
But the actual point changes were probably as follows...
+50 Correctly identified Class A’s leader
+50 Correctly identified Class B’s leader
-50 Wrong Class D leader guess
-50 Class D’s leader was exposed
As a result, the spot-occupation points vanished.
Total: 0 points
Katsuragi likely believed he could rake in a huge profit—amassing 300 points along with the spot bonus—by correctly identifying the other classes’ leaders. But he underestimated Ryuuen… and he certainly underestimated the young lady, who, though not even on the island, had already completed all her preparations.
In reality...
-50 Wrong Class D leader guess
-50 Class D’s leader was exposed
-50 Class C’s leader was exposed
-30 Sakayanagi absent
Since the leader was exposed, the spot-occupation points vanished.
Total: 120 points
Even without spending the full 300 points, it was an absurdly massive loss.
His position would surely be shaken—and that was exactly what the young lady intended.
'...Did he fail to secure Class B’s intel? Or did he simply not trust it? Looking at Class B’s situation, they don’t seem to have lost their key card like we did... so maybe that’s why he dismissed the information? Either way, his overly cautious nature tripped him up. Thanks to that, Class A barely scored any points.'
Because Katsuragi had wanted to verify the name on the key card with a digital camera, he missed even the slightest chance to earn extra points.
Lucky for us—it was fortunate that we managed to prevent them from scoring even a bit before the young lady seized control of Class A. Lucky~.
Next was Class B.
-50 Class C’s leader was exposed
Since the leader was exposed, the spot-occupation points vanished.
I’m not sure how many points they ended up with, but in any case...
Total: 140 points
Finally, our monkey-filled Class D...
+50 Correctly identified Class A’s leader
+50 Correctly identified Class C’s leader
-30 Koenji Ryokusuke retired
-30 Horikita Suzune retired
-5 Ayanokouji Kiyotaka absent from roll call
Spot-occupation points: 20
Total: 225 points
Had there been no retirements, we might have clung to nearly 300 points; however, the unpredictable blond fell outside the calculations, and Horikita’s retirement had been premeditated. All in all, it was a splendid victory.
No—in practical terms, every class except Class D had lost.
'Getting utterly crushed by the Class D they treated like trash must sting pretty badly.'
The reactions around us were equally entertaining. Ryuuen’s expression, in particular, was priceless. He had endured the island exam solo, coerced everyone into splurging their points, only for the final tally to be zero.
'...Well, given enough time, he’ll eventually figure out how it all went down.'
I was relieved to have left the leader-switching role to Ayanokouji; had I stepped in, I would have undoubtedly become Ryuuen’s target this time.
Still, this incident would only serve to tighten Ryuuen’s net around us even further...
With this, we entered the second semester with a total of 512 points.
Which meant that Ryuuen’s class and ours would swap places.
'Second semester starts with Class D on top, Ryuuen. Good luck.'
If he lost influence and was dethroned, that would be amusing in its own way.
Conversely, if he dug in and attacked us even harder, that would be equally entertaining.
'Hmm. Ayanokouji and I, and Katsuragi and Ryuuen... a 2-on-2, huh? Isn’t that a bit unbalanced? Even if the two of them teamed up, they wouldn’t be able to bring down either of us.'
Mulling that over, I boarded the ship alongside my triumphant classmates.
Ah, that was fun.
[A Special Exam announcement will now be made.]
Ha. Nice. No time to get bored.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register