A Plan

[It was such a shame I didn't have my phone to capture Ryuen's dumbfounded expression!]

[Hehe, another day of messing with Ryuen!]

[System, open my status panel.]

[Ding! Opening...]

School: Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School

Class: Class 1-D

Name: Zhuge Linghao

Alignment: Evil (3%)

Emotional Points: 263

...

Academic Ability: C+

Intelligence: C+

Cooperation: C+

Physical Strength: C+

Emotional Intelligence: C+

Stamina: C+

Judgment: C+

Skills: Triple Slide-Kneel Kowtow: Increases the chance that someone will agree to your request by 50%; Super Fast Escape. (System-exclusive; abilities vary.)

Personality: Bad at everything but loves to talk back, hopelessly blunt, prone to overthinking.

Hidden Personality (Identity): A thrill-seeking yandere!

...

[So the Level 3 system added Physical Strength!]

[System, while we're at it, how many Emotional Points do I need to reach Level 4?]

[Ding... 10,000 Emotional Points!]

[Dammit! I shouldn't have asked!]

After a semester and a summer of training, Zhuge Linghao had indeed gotten a little stronger. All his abilities had improved by a small step.

After eating and drinking for free at Ryuen's base, Zhuge Linghao had extended his Tarzan Card for a few more hours.

Now he needed to quickly claim some checkpoints!

Then he swaggered around without trying to hide what he was doing and claimed the checkpoints on the island near Class D's base!

Plenty of students from different classes saw Zhuge Linghao taking his Key Card to claim the checkpoints!

And that was exactly Zhuge Linghao's plan!

He wanted them to think they already knew who Class D's Leader was, only for him to change the Leader at the last moment!

After returning to his own base, Zhuge Linghao didn't forget his assigned task—gathering branches.

Carrying a huge bundle of branches, he came over to Hirata and asked, "Where should I put these?"

Seeing that he'd finally returned, Hirata anxiously asked, "Zhuge, you disappeared for hours. Everyone was worried sick!"

Zhuge Linghao grinned. "I was out gathering branches, wasn't I? I also claimed a few checkpoints while I was at it!"

Kushida Kikyo covered Zhuge Linghao's mouth. "Shh, keep your voice down. There's an outsider here!"

Following Kushida Kikyo's gaze, he spotted a blue-haired girl sitting all alone on the opposite bank of the river, her face swollen from a beating.

As night approached, Kanji Ike demonstrated how to start a fire quickly, earning everyone's praise once again.

Horikita sat nearby with her arms wrapped around her knees, watching the scene and lost in thought.

The girls had also returned, bringing back a large supply of fresh fruit.

Suddenly realizing he'd been wrong, Kanji Ike apologized to Karuizawa Kei. "I'm sorry, Karuizawa."

Karuizawa Kei looked surprised. "What are you apologizing for?"

Ike said guiltily, "I just remembered how, during our first camping trip, I kept complaining to my parents because the restroom was so crude. You girls must have had it even worse..."

Watching all this, Ayanokoji tried to fool the audience with his thoughts: Ike was the sort of person who could assess a situation and quickly regain his composure. He was much better than me.

Karuizawa Kei apologized too. "I was at fault as well. I'm sorry! It looks like unless we do something, it'll be hard to hold on to our S-Points."

In front of the campfire, Hirata spoke up again. "Everyone, listen. I hope we can trust one another and make it to the end of this Special Exam. Let's see if our class can finish with more than 120 SP!"

One of the boys asked, "Hirata, are you planning to spend 180 SP?"

Hirata took out his notebook and replied, "If we assume we'll buy all our meals with S-Points, then we'll choose the cheapest nutritious food and bottled water package."

"We'll need twelve meals in total, at 10 SP per meal. That comes to 120 SP!"

"A temporary restroom costs 20 SP, and an eight-person tent costs 10 SP. That brings the total to 150 SP, leaving us 30 SP in reserve."

"I think 120 SP is already a lot. Think back to the Class Points we gained on the Midterm Exam!"

Karuizawa Kei rested a finger against her chin. "Let me think... Our class gained 100 points!"

Zhuge Linghao joined the conversation. "If we can use the resources on the Uninhabited Island to satisfy our hunger and get enough water, couldn't we save the cost of a few meals, too?"

Hearing this, everyone rallied together, eager to do their best to save more SP!

Standing apart from the group, Ayanokoji asked Horikita, "What do you think?"

Horikita replied confidently, "The calculations are perfectly reasonable. My plan is about the same as Hirata's."

"Did you teach Hirata?" Ayanokoji asked.

Horikita said coldly, "As if. Are you joking?"

Zhuge Linghao came over and patted Ayanokoji on the shoulder. "Ayanokoji, you're really underestimating Hirata! He's pretty good at math. I taught him some tough problems, and he caught on right away!"

Ayanokoji nodded and changed the subject. "You were gone for so long. You went to claim checkpoints, didn't you?"

Zhuge Linghao widened his fish-like eyes. "Ayanokoji, you're amazing. I can't hide anything from you."

"I claimed exactly ten checkpoints. If Class A hadn't gotten to a few of them first, I could've claimed even more!"

"Are you going to claim checkpoints every day from now on?" Ayanokoji asked. "I calculated that if a checkpoint refreshes on time for seven straight days, it can produce at most 19 SP."

Zhuge Linghao grinned. "Of course. But I'm not aiming for the absolute maximum. If I keep ten checkpoints secure each day and each one produces 15 SP, that'll be good enough. By the end of the exam, the checkpoints our class controls should produce at least 150 SP!"

Horikita said coldly, "That's only in an ideal situation. If another class guesses who the Leader is, then no matter how many bonus points we have, they'll be useless!"

Zhuge Linghao called Kushida over, and the four of them went to an unoccupied corner.

"I'm only telling the three of you, so don't tell anyone else, okay?" Zhuge Linghao said, laying out his entire plan.

Ayanokoji, Kushida, and Horikita all nodded solemnly.

"Here's the thing. Today I deliberately went around claiming checkpoints with my Key Card. The students from Classes A, B, and C must all know I'm the Leader by now."

Horikita Suzune frowned and said coldly, "If all three classes guess correctly, our class will lose 150 SP! Then the 120 SP Hirata wants to save won't even cover the penalty!"

Kushida sounded worried too. "That's right, Zhuge. Why did you let them find out?"

At that moment, Ayanokoji was startled. For the first time, he felt a strong surge of emotion.

[No way. Did Zhuge's plan overlap with mine?]

Zhuge Linghao continued, "Don't panic. I'm not finished! The main part of the plan comes next!"

"I'm going to pull a switcheroo and change the Leader at the very last moment of the exam! I'll change it to the least noticeable person of all: Ayanokoji! I guarantee no one will guess!"

Ayanokoji's pupils instantly widened, and his mouth fell slightly open.

Zhuge Linghao had already noticed Ayanokoji's shocked expression, but he had to hold back his laughter!

[Hehe, I'm walking the same road as Ayanokoji, and leaving him nowhere to go!]

The two girls were stunned by this astonishing plan, too!

After thinking it through, Horikita exclaimed happily, "That means even if you get found out, Class D will only lose 30 SP. But since Classes A, B, and C won't guess Class D's Leader, each of them will lose 50 SP. And we'll get to keep all our bonus points. There's no way we lose!"

Kushida praised him. "You're incredible, Zhuge! We've got this in the bag!"

What the spy Kushida was thinking was, [I need to tell Ryuen about this plan right away!]

And what Zhuge Linghao was thinking was, [Go ahead and tell Ryuen. At the last moment, I'll change the Leader to Horikita!]

[Kikyo! You really had to go and change the plot! Fine, I'll force it back into place!]