(Author: Katsuragi seriously doesn’t move at all, so I can’t write a story around him!
It makes total sense that Kiriha-kun considers him boring with his completely immovable nature.) –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– And so, in the blink of an eye, the final day of the deserted island exam arrived.
Looking back, aside from gathering food during this exam, I pretty much just played tag with Falcon the whole time.
Between a stroke of luck and coincidences overlapping, finding all the leaders was finished on Day 2 anyway, and spot claiming was handled exclusively by the Katsuragi Faction.
Today as well, I was fleeing through the forest since morning.
Early on, Falcon was struggling hard with the unfamiliar wilderness environment, but over these past few days, he had shown remarkable adaptability.
‘…Now then, timewise, is this the last chance?’ “Whoops, driven into a corner, huh…” “You can’t escape anymore.” Cornering me into a natural dead end surrounded by giant trees, Falcon reached out his hand to catch me…
however, “Too bad~♪” “Guh…?!” Using the momentum of kicking off a massive tree, I flipped high through the air, casually stepped on Falcon’s head as a foothold, and took position right behind him.
“…That’s as far as we go.” “Eh, timewise we still have a bit of leeway, you know?
You got so close, and you’re giving up already?” “Don’t mock me too much.
I know you were running at a speed just barely out of my reach the whole time.
…And in that final exchange, you let yourself be cornered on purpose, didn’t you?” “My my, spot on.
But hey, it was good training, right?” “…I feel sympathy for whoever has to fight you in the future.” “What are you talking about?
The one who’s been fighting me all this time is our leader.” Most people despair over the unbridgeable gap between us, suffer from an inferiority complex and envy me, act humble to suck up to me, or decide on non-interference claiming it has nothing to do with them.
But she clashes with me head-on just to bring me under her command.
That’s why I earnestly want her to surpass me, while at the same time, feeling like I don’t want to lose to her.
…I really have a troublesome personality.
“Hey, Honjo.
I know it’s a meaningless hypothesis, but…
if Sakayanagi had been commanding this exam, how do you think it would have turned out?” “An overwhelming victory, obviously.
…Me and Arisu teaming up makes us invincible, after all.” “We are currently tabulating the exam results, so please wait a moment.
Anyone wishing to use the restroom or get a drink, please feel free to use the rest area.” And so, the exam came to an end.
Gathered in the rest area were the students from each class who persevered through the exam to the very end ‘though Class C was just Ryunkel alone’, while students who retired were apparently waiting on the cruise ship.
Incidentally, regarding the core element of this exam—guessing the leader—our class stopped at nominating Class D’s leader only.
As contracted, Ryunkel passed info on the leaders of both Class B and Class D to Katsuragi.
However, thanks to my little meddling paying off, Class C couldn’t snatch concrete proof on Class B’s leader, so Katsuragi—whose motto is “knock on a stone bridge before crossing, then don’t cross anyway”—feared the risk and abandoned nominating Class B.
While waiting alongside my usual three aides for the tabulated results, a triumphantly expressive Totsuka and Katsuragi approached.
How tasteless, coming over right when I was immersing myself in nostalgia, saying goodbye to mother nature.
“You Sakayanagi Faction people are finished too.
Under Katsuragi-san’s leadership, Class A managed to retain 425 points.
Without a doubt, we’re at the absolute top.” “Heh~” “Is that so.” Honestly speaking, they were complete clowns right now, so both Hashimoto and I replied half-heartedly.
Masumi and Falcon didn’t even bother to react.
Totsuka showed irritation at our attitudes.
“Do you guys even understand the situation you’re in?
Honjo, the head of your faction, did the bare minimum of cooperation, and Sakayanagi, your top figure, brought damage to the class by not even participating.
Starting in the second semester, stay quiet and—” “My my, Ryunkel and the Class D people are arguing again.” “LISTEN TO ME?!” He was saying something, but I had zero interest, so ignore, ignore.
Leaving behind Totsuka, who was mumbling stuff like ‘acting tough…’, I jogged over to Ryunkel and the others.
…Though man, “You look pretty wild, Ryunkel.
If you walked down the street like that, the police would stop you for questioning.” “I’ll kill you, bastard.
…More importantly, where’s Suzune?
I was thinking of giving her ass a pat.” Oh my, wiggling his hands like that, how crude.
…Just as I thought that, Sudo-kun, who was probably in love with Horirin, was about to charge at Ryunkel in a fit of rage, so I grabbed his shoulder to hold him back.
“Gh?!” “You shouldn’t get heated so easily.
If someone picks a fight with words, you gotta respond with words.” “I know that!
I was just trying to threaten him a bit!
…Wait, more importantly, Honjo, why are you—” “Now then, I wonder why?” After confirming that Sudo-kun calmed his anger after being hit by an inexplicable event, Hirata-kun turned back to face Ryunkel.
“If you’re looking for Horikita-san, she retired yesterday.” “Huh?
Retired?
Is she really that soft?” Ah-ah…
Judging by that reaction, it seems you were completely outsmarted, Ryunkel.
And Katsuragi and the others’ status as clowns is officially set in stone too—poor things.
And right on cue, the tabulation seemed to be finished, as Mashima-sensei appeared holding a megaphone.
After offering praise to us for successfully overcoming the exam, he finally moved on to announcing the results.
“Please note that we will not accept any questions regarding the results.
We expect you to take the results, analyze them yourselves, and apply those lessons to the next exam.” “So he says.
Don’t go wetting yourselves, and face reality properly, okay?” “That’s my line.
Spending all your points—are you idiots or what?” “Including bonus points, we have 125 points.
I believe we did a splendid job.” “Didn’t care, so don’t know~” “Setting this super self-centered guy aside…
Hah, satisfied with just that level of points?
How naive.” “Don’t talk so big with 0 points!” “…K-Kukuku.
Sure, I used up all my points, but I wrote it on the paper, you know?
The name of your Class D leader!” Hmm, Sudo-kun is shocked and flustered, but both Cozy and Hirata-kun are unfazed…
You guys should’ve told Sudo-kun beforehand.
“And I wrote the same for A and B.
Do you understand what that means?” “What does that mean, hey?!
I-If that’s true…” “You’re about to see something real interesting from here on, right, Honjo?” “Yeah, totally.” It’s no good…
I can’t bring myself to spoil the truth for Ryunkel when he’s feeling this lively, poor guy.
“Last place is…
Class C, with 0 points.” “Bwahaha!
It really is 0 points!
Lame!!” “…0, you say?” Sudo-kun held his stomach, laughing hysterically while pointing at Ryunkel.
Ryunkel didn’t look shocked; instead, he calmly pondered what had transpired.
…Well, the moment he signed that contract with our class, he had already secured a bare-minimum result anyway.
“Next, 3rd place is Class A with 120 points.
2nd place is Class B with 140 points.” “Hmm, figures it turned out like this.
Time to go tease Katsuragi, then.
Ah, tell Horirin, ‘Nice substitute play☆’ for me.” “Gh, you knew?
Then why…” What Hirata-kun probably wanted to ask was: Why didn’t you stop Katsuragi even though the leader had been swapped from Horirin?
But…
“Like I said, I’m just not interested.
Besides, a group doesn’t need two leaders, and we in the Sakayanagi Faction intended to let him fail spectacularly from the start.
…See you back on the ship.” To someone who values harmony, our willingness to drag each other down within the same class was probably incomprehensible.
Leaving behind Hirata-kun’s complex gaze, I walked over to the Class A gathering.
…Come to think of it, Cozy didn’t say a single word in the end.
“And 1st place…
Class D, with 225 points.
That concludes the announcement of the results.” Amid explosive cheers bursting from the Class D group over their unexpected victory, I analyzed and reflected on the exam results in my head.
First, bottom-place Class C.
Using up the initial 300 points on day one, making Class B and Class D think everyone was retiring to enjoy a perfect vacation once satisfied…
while in reality, three people including Ryunkel were vigilantly hunting for each class’s leader.
They planted spies in Class B and Class D to identify their leaders, while Class A’s leader was leaked by Hashimoto, who wanted to score favors with Ryunkel.
Thus, a total of 150 points…
didn’t happen, resulting in a ruthless 0 points.
This outcome was likely because he missed Class D’s leader, and conversely, Class D guessed his.
Since Horirin retired, the leader role must have transferred to someone else.
A leader cannot be changed without a valid reason, but retiring due to poor health passes as a legitimate cause.
Thus, 100 – 50 – 50 = 0 points.
Don’mind, Ryunkel.
Next, our Class A.
Starting at 270 points due to Arisu’s absence.
Katsuragi and his group worked hard to claim spots bit by bit, but because their leader was guessed, it all went down the drain.
Just like Ryunkel, they missed Class D’s leader, and on top of that, Ryunkel guessed their leader, making it a minus 100 total.
As for the remaining 50…
judging by the score, Class D probably guessed it too.
…Talking so big on Day 2 to turn Horirin and the others away, only to get exposed in the end anyway—how lame.
Next, Class B.
Approaching the exam with a orthodox strategy without using bizarre tactics, but committing the blunder of inviting other classes’ students without a shred of suspicion.
Predictably, Ryunkel nominated their leader, leaving them at 140 points…
Yeah, an average result, neither particularly good nor bad.
Still, it’s a good thing Arisu wasn’t commanding, Bankai-chan.
She wouldn’t fear the risk and would’ve nominated your leader anyway, and if push came to shove, she might have even leaked info to Class D to reduce you to 40…
No, they seem to have an alliance with Class D, so maybe not.
And finally…
snatching a massive upset victory that must have shocked even the teachers: Class D.
According to Hirata-kun, excluding leader nominations, they had 125 points including spot bonuses.
In that disorganized class, even while producing two retirees in Mister and Horirin, managing to retain that much on its own was a great effort on their part.
It’s understandable why Hirata-kun feels proud.
On top of that, despite their leader being identified, they avoided being nominated through the drastic move of swapping leaders, and judging by the final scores, they correctly guessed two classes’ leaders.
Looking at Class B’s final points and the fact that Bankai-chan shared info on me with Horirin, those two classes are undoubtedly in an alliance.
Thus, the leaders they guessed were Class A and Class C.
Our class was probably exposed because Totsuka pulled something stupid again, but to think even Class C—who was supposed to have planted a spy—got guessed…
And as for that leader-swap tactic, it really didn’t seem like a move that a squeaky-clean, honor-student type like Horirin would pull off.
Does that mean Cozy was pulling the strings behind the scenes again?
…If so, that’s deeply intriguing.
Since he claimed to be a trouble-averse guy who hates standing out, I had no intention of forcing a fight on him…
but whatever shift in mindset he had, if he’s coming at us using Horirin as a front, this promises to be plenty entertaining.
Neither Ryunkel nor Bankai-chan will let things end like this either…
Be happy, Arisu, this school doesn’t seem like it’ll be as boring as you worry it is.
“What is the meaning of this, Katsuragi?!” …Now then, my interest is piqued.
Through this exam, I’ve learned that there are various interesting people in other classes, so as for this boring rival of ours, maybe it’s time to drop the guillotine on him in one fell swoop.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Author’s Note: Though Kiriha-kun himself is unaware of it, he’s feeling a bit frustrated about leaving mother nature behind.
And the target of that somewhat displaced frustration is…