Recaps

Raku learned that Ichinose had received a love letter from Chihiro and wanted his help rejecting her without ruining their friendship. Ichinose asked Raku to pretend to be her boyfriend, but he instead rehearsed a real confession and rejection with her, urging her to tell Chihiro the truth.

• Raku followed Ichinose to the back of the gymnasium, where she showed him an unsigned love letter.
• Raku recognized the handwriting as Chihiro's, and Ichinose explained that she wanted to reject her while preserving their friendship.
• Ichinose asked Raku to pretend to be her boyfriend so she could tell Chihiro she was already seeing someone.
• Raku argued that the lie could hurt Chihiro more and suggested that he and Ichinose actually date instead.
• Raku pinned Ichinose against the wall, confessed to her, and demanded an answer; she said she did not feel that way about him.
• Raku revealed that the confession was a rehearsal and told Ichinose to reject Chihiro honestly.

Raku reflected on his motives after Ichinose confronted Shiranami, then waited while Ichinose resolved their misunderstanding and went to dinner with her. The story shifted to Raku discussing the upcoming meeting and witness evidence with Ayanokoji, Kushida Kikyo, and Sakura Airi.

• Shiranami overheard Raku and Ichinose talking, assumed they were dating, and ran away in tears before Ichinose chased after her to explain.
• Raku waited sixteen minutes while Ichinose spoke with Shiranami, then stayed until Ichinose emerged and admitted she had been avoiding Chihiro’s feelings.
• Raku reassured Ichinose, gave her a warm canned drink, and accepted her invitation to dinner at Keyaki Mall.
• Raku recalled meeting Ayanokoji, Kushida Kikyo, and Sakura Airi the previous morning and discussed the camera repair and witness testimony for the upcoming meeting.
• Ayanokoji explained that Horikita was handling the investigation and that Sakura had sorted through the photographs, while Raku struggled with the heat outside the dormitory.

Raku and Ichinose investigated evidence about Ishizaki’s fight with Sudo and used their class’s pooled points to arrange an anonymous information transfer. As the meeting to decide the case approached, Ichinose tried to persuade Raku to attend, while he dismissed his usefulness.

• Ayanokoji, Raku, Ichinose, and Kanzaki reviewed their notices seeking information, and Ichinose received a message claiming Ishizaki had been a skilled fighter in junior high.
• Raku pulled Ichinose into his arms to stop Ayanokoji from seeing her point balance, then helped her understand how her class’s pooled-point strategy affected the transfer.
• Ichinose asked Raku whether his earlier words during rehearsal had been a joke, but he confirmed they were and apologized in case he had upset her.
• Raku read an article listing traits of a failure and criticized himself, while Ichinose and Kanzaki pushed back against his self-assessment.
• As the meeting about the fight and its outcome approached, Ichinose urged Raku to attend as a witness, but he said he would ask Ayanokoji afterward.

Horikita revealed a risky plan to prove Sudo innocent and secured Class B’s support and points, leaving Ayanokoji enlisted to help. The next afternoon’s hearing approached, where Class D would have to present proof or Sudo could be expelled.

• Ayanokoji explained that the student council had postponed its ruling on Sudo until another hearing the next day, while Horikita rejected the compromise that would have punished both classes.
• Horikita returned and revealed her plan to fight Class C’s lies with lies, asking Class B for help and warning that the plan’s details had to remain secret.
• Kanzaki supported the plan, and Ichinose agreed to help by transferring a large number of points to Horikita.
• Horikita ordered Ayanokoji to assist her, struck him for his disrespect during the meeting, and left the others stunned.
• Ichinose and Kanzaki discussed how the school assigned students to classes as Raku wondered who had devised Class D’s plan.
• The next day, Class D prepared to present proof of Sudo’s innocence at the reopened hearing or risk his expulsion.

Raku reflected on Horikita’s psychological plan to make the Class C students withdraw their complaint, but Ryuen arrived and disrupted it by taking control of his classmates. Ichinose later summoned Raku back to the Special Building and said the plan had failed for another reason.

• Raku skipped the plan and reviewed how Horikita intended to use planted cameras, uncertainty, and the heat to confuse the Class C plaintiffs.
• Ryuen arrived as Ichinose pressured Ishizaki and the other two, then led them away and refused to let them withdraw their complaint.
• Ichinose called Raku after the plan failed and asked him to come to the Special Building, where Kanzaki was waiting.
• Raku arrived and learned from Ichinose that the plan had failed for a reason other than the Class C students thinking clearly in the heat.

After Class C’s homeroom teacher alerted Ryuen, Horikita’s plan to get Ishizaki and the others to withdraw their complaint appeared to fail. Horikita challenged their account with a photo and security footage, but Ryuen suddenly withdrew Class C’s complaint, leaving Ayanokoji’s role in the reversal unclear.

• Ichinose and Kanzaki went to help Horikita while Raku stayed behind to retrieve the equipment.
• Ryuen arrived with the Class C students, and their homeroom teacher explained that he had been called after noticing their absence.
• Horikita began the hearing despite lacking direct evidence, then used Sakura’s photo to point out injuries the Class C students said Sudo had caused.
• Ayanokoji presented security footage showing Kondo’s arm was unharmed when he left the Special Building.
• Ryuen announced that Class C withdrew its complaint, surprising Horikita while Ayanokoji remained unsurprised.

Class C withdrew its complaint against Sudo and Sakura, but Ayanokoji realized an unseen mastermind had manipulated the hearing and everyone involved. After Ryuen revealed that Class D had sacrificed an embedded pawn, he played a recording whose contents were not yet revealed.

• Ryuen withdrew Class C's complaint, and the hearing ended with Class D agreeing to pay for the damages.
• Sudo left to return to club activities while Ayanokoji spoke with Horikita President, who offered him a Student Council secretary position that he declined.
• Ichinose and Kanzaki arrived and learned from Ayanokoji that Class C had withdrawn its complaint.
• Horikita accused Ayanokoji of manipulating her, but he maintained that an unknown person had controlled the events.
• Ryuen confronted the group, revealed that Class D had lost an embedded pawn, and played an audio file from his phone.

Ryuen threatened to expose the person who had blackmailed him, while the narrator collected the surveillance cameras after Class D’s hearing. Horikita President confronted the narrator about his role in the dispute, then offered him a place on the Student Council as secretary.

• Ryuen stopped the recording and warned Ichinose that he would find the person who had planted a spy in Class C and make them regret threatening him.
• The narrator took down the remaining surveillance camera and carried the equipment toward the conference room, hoping Class D had won the hearing.
• Horikita President stopped the narrator and questioned him about the Class D and Class C dispute, and the narrator admitted he had handled cleanup.
• Horikita President told the narrator about a past blackmail threat and asked if he knew who was responsible, but the narrator denied knowing anything.
• Horikita President offered the narrator the Student Council secretary position, and Secretary Tachibana reacted with surprise.

Raku learned that Class C had withdrawn its complaint, while Kanzaki hinted that the settlement involved a recording and checked Raku’s student account. Ayanokoji hurried with Ichinose to find Sakura but arrived after security guards had intervened, and later Raku opened his door to Ichinose.

• Student Council President Horikita asked Raku to join the Student Council, but he declined and recommended Ichinose instead.
• Raku returned the borrowed surveillance equipment, and Ayanokoji abruptly rushed away after taking the bag.
• Horikita said Class D would repay its points debt and asked Kanzaki to keep a recording secret.
• Kanzaki checked Raku’s student account and said he would explain why Class C withdrew its complaint.
• Ayanokoji used location services to find Sakura and rushed there with Ichinose, but they found security guards restraining a man beside the crying Sakura.
• Later, Raku answered his door and found Ichinose there after turning down other invitations.

Raku and Ichinose discussed the hearing, Sakura Airi’s attempt to confront a threatening fan, and the unknown person who called the police. The chapter ended with Ryuen interrogating Ishizaki, Komiya, and Kondo about who leaked information to Class D.

• Ichinose visited Raku’s room and discussed the hearing, the planted informant, and the threat recordings Ryuen had revealed.
• Ichinose told Raku that Sakura Airi had nearly confronted a perverted fan alone, but an unknown caller alerted the police before she could be harmed.
• Ichinose wondered whether the anonymous caller was connected to the person hiding in Class D who had resolved the hearing.
• Ryuen demanded that Ishizaki identify who had leaked information to Class D, while Komiya and Kondo trembled nearby.

Ryuen questioned three students about the leaked recording but concluded that an unknown person must have planted a bug or infiltrated his class. Ichinose reflected on Raku’s hidden past and his reluctance to lie, while Raku later discussed the Class C–Class D dispute with classmates and was invited to karaoke.

• Ryuen threatened Komiya and the other two students, then dismissed them after they denied making the recording.
• Ryuen and Shiina concluded the three students were not responsible and considered whether a bug or a planted classmate had captured the dispute.
• Ichinose thought about Raku’s contradictions, his hatred of lying, and her plan to help him return to his potential.
• Shiratori asked Raku why he had left school early around the time of the Class C and Class D dispute, and Raku said he had been involved as a witness.
• Takashima reasoned that Raku had probably been forced to help, and the group headed out of school together.
• Shiratori invited Raku, Takashima, and Okabe to karaoke after dinner, and Raku agreed to go along.

Chie Hoshinomiya dreamed of a deserted amusement park where she destroyed everything after being told it did not belong to her, then woke and wondered what the dream meant. She reflected on betrayal, her rivalry with Sae, and the boy she called the Black Emperor before recounting the historical figure who inspired the name.

• Chie Hoshinomiya refused to sing with Shiratori and chose to play Ozmir World in Okabe's room with the others.
• Chie dreamed she wandered an eerily empty amusement park, was trapped inside a toy castle, and wrecked its attractions after a loudspeaker ordered her to leave.
• A man with a gun warned Chie that she would bring about her own destruction, then shot her; she woke after sleeping for an hour and sixteen minutes.
• Chie read about dreams and wondered whether her amusement-park dream expressed a desire, then questioned the identity of the man who had shot her.
• Chie recalled that Sae wanted to raise her class from Class D to Class A and resolved to use the boy to remove potential threats and help Ichinose.
• Chie recounted the Black Emperor's grim rise from the nameless Duanmu to the Marquis of Zhenbei, and his vow to help Emperor Wenren conquer the world.

Raku boarded the school’s luxury cruise for a two-week summer trip and spoke with Shiranami Chihiro about her suspicions that he and Ichinose were close. After an announcement called students to the deck to view an island, Raku went to investigate with Shiranami, Kanzaki, and Okabe while wondering why Ichinose was absent.

• Raku recalled the Black Emperor’s refusal to rescue Emperor Wenren and his eventual suicide, then resolved to force a boy to cooperate with Ichinose.
• Raku and his classmates boarded the luxury cruise ship for the second week of their school trip after spending the first week on a southern island.
• Shiranami Chihiro asked Raku about his relationship with Ichinose and described seeing them together in July; Raku insisted they had only met by chance.
• Shiranami asked whether Raku liked Ichinose and whether he had feelings for her, but Raku gave her an uncertain answer.
• An announcement invited students onto the deck to see an island, and Raku set off with Shiranami, Kanzaki, and Okabe while noting that Ichinose was missing.

Raku watched the island from the ship, fielded his friends’ teasing about Shiranami and Ichinose, and learned about the school’s student rankings. As the students began disembarking, he headed off the ship early to find shade, while Ichinose joined his group.

• Raku’s friends accused him of playing both sides by getting close to Shiranami, but he denied having romantic intentions.
• Kanzaki told Raku about the school website’s unusual student rankings, where Raku ranked first among first-years for being harmless to people and animals.
• An announcement instructed the students to change into sportswear, gather with their phones, and prepare to disembark on the school’s uninhabited island.
• Raku noticed Ichinose looked dazed and flushed before returning inside the ship, then later joined the Class A students disembarking.
• Okabe teased Raku for appearing to keep Ichinose company, while Raku said he had wanted to get off the ship early and find shade.

Class B discovered that the school’s supposed lodge stay was a week-long survival Special Exam on an uninhabited island, titled [Freedom]. Teacher Mashima began explaining the exam’s rules and supplies, leaving the students to learn how they could spend their class’s exam points to survive comfortably.

• Kanzaki noticed that the strict baggage restrictions and inspection suggested the trip was more than a lodge visit.
• The students disembarked and gathered by class while staff prepared a heavily equipped base on the beach.
• Teacher Mashima announced that the first Special Exam would require students to survive together on the uninhabited island for a week.
• Mashima explained that the school would provide each class with minimal basic gear and allow students to choose their own activities, naming the exam [Freedom].
• Mashima introduced a survival guidebook whose supplies could be bought with 300 exam points allotted to each class.

Class B learned the island exam’s checkpoint, leader, camp, and penalty rules, then debated how to choose a discreet leader. Raku became a candidate despite rumors about him, and the class considered hiding the leader in plain sight near Ichinose.

• Teacher Hoshinomiya explained that occupying checkpoints earned points, while correctly identifying another class’s leader could shift fifty points between classes.
• Teacher Hoshinomiya outlined the camp rules, and Class B realized that supplies and other necessities would force them to spend points.
• Raku suspected that a student could secretly spend class points on purchases, making betrayal a risk.
• Ichinose led Class B’s discussion of the leader election, and Shibata and Kanzaki argued that Ichinose was too recognizable for the role.
• Class B members nominated Raku as a discreet leader, but Shibata warned that rumors about him had spread to other classes.
• Wakayama proposed choosing someone who often stayed near Ichinose to disguise the leader’s identity.

Class B organized its first steps for the island exam, choosing Shiranami as its leader and dividing students among campsite scouting, food gathering, and point planning. Raku joined Nakahara and Takashima to search southwest, and the chapter ended with the group continuing through the hot forest.

• Class B unanimously chose Shiranami as its leader and heard Teacher Hoshinomiya explain the portable toilet arrangements.
• Ichinose split the class into teams to search for a campsite and food and to discuss point allocation.
• Raku joined Nakahara and Takashima's campsite-searching team after no one volunteered to fill its last spot.
• The trio admitted they had no useful map or way to determine their direction, chose southwest, and headed into the forest.
• Raku, Nakahara, and Takashima continued through the humid forest, complaining about the heat as they searched.

Raku’s group found a hidden base with a well, and Ichinose’s class chose it as their campsite while planning how to spend their points. Soma suggested replacing the shower room with a cheaper outdoor shower, and the chapter ended with Ichinose’s group considering the idea.

• Raku, Takashima, and Nakahara pushed through the forest and discovered a marked path leading to a secluded base.
• Raku stayed behind to secure the base while Nakahara and Takashima contacted Ichinose’s group.
• Takashima drank water from the well to test it, while Soma judged the base and its water promising.
• Ichinose’s group chose the base, planned to wait for the well-water test, and discussed buying hammocks, a portable toilet, food, and other supplies.
• Soma proposed buying an outdoor shower instead of a shower room because it cost fewer points and could use water from the well.

Raku helped Soma and the others set up hammocks and gather food, then joined Ichinose to collect firewood. The chapter ended with Raku and Ichinose heading back to camp, where she remarked that he seemed unusually accustomed to the stifling heat.

• Soma showed the students how to set up hammocks, while Raku finished his hammock quickly and struggled to find a way to look busy.
• Students returned with fruit, and Soma identified the blackcurrants and Akebia as safe to eat.
• Ichinose asked Raku to help collect dry branches for a campfire, and she warned him to leave his ballpoint pen at camp because stepping on it could cause serious injury.
• Raku and Ichinose gathered enough branches for the campfire, and Ichinose asked why he seemed so used to the heat.

Raku and Ichinose encountered the eccentric Koenji in the forest, where Raku answered his boastful questions with a clever insult. Back at camp, Raku checked on Ichinose after noticing she had been unwell, and Kanzaki questioned why Raku had been unusually active.

• Ichinose and Raku discussed how she could read Raku’s expression while walking through the hot forest.
• Koenji swung through the trees, introduced himself to Ichinose, and asked whether he looked beautiful on the island.
• Raku told Koenji that the island made his perfect body look terrible, amusing him enough that he remembered Raku’s name before leaving.
• Raku and Ichinose returned to camp, where Raku reassured her after giving her medicine for her fever.
• Kanzaki approached Raku at camp and asked why he had been so unusually active.

Shinomiya’s class took in Kaneda Satoru after Ryuen beat him and drove him from Class C, while Kanzaki discovered a nearby patch of ripe corn. The next section began with the class struggling to sleep on the hard ground, as Shinomiya waited to see whether the girls would accept his hammock.

• Yasuda’s food-search party brought the injured Kaneda Satoru back to camp, and Shiratori explained that Ryuen had beaten and expelled him after an argument.
• Shiratori said Kaneda had mentioned a girl who had fled with him, but they had become separated, so Shinomiya asked where they had found Kaneda.
• Kanzaki returned with news of a ripe corn patch nearby, and the class decided to search for it the following morning.
• The girls complained about sleeping on the hard tent floor, but most refused Shinomiya’s offer to use his hammock.
• Shinomiya waited in his hammock beneath a noisy plastic waterproof cover as the class settled in for the night.

Soma Shuhei helped the girls find a way to soften the tent floor, while the class put its plan to protect leader Shiranami Chihiro into action. Later, the narrator secretly inspected Kaneda Satoru’s bag and found a digital camera before hearing someone open a zipper behind him; the chapter then shifted to an unexplained nighttime disturbance in a girls’ tent.

• Soma Shuhei suggested laying plastic bags beneath the tent, and Ichinose praised his idea as the class gathered for roll call.
• Kanzaki confronted the narrator about being sent to a cornfield instead of finding firewood, and the narrator denied doing it deliberately.
• The class chose Ichinose Honami to carry the special unlocking card and used teams to conceal Shiranami Chihiro’s identity as leader during occupation attempts.
• At 3:14 a.m., the narrator removed his broken tracking watch and searched Kaneda Satoru’s backpack, finding a digital camera containing only landscape photos.
• The narrator returned the camera to Kaneda’s bag, then heard a zipper open inside the girls’ tent and saw a lantern light behind him.
• A girl woke in the dark to clacking and beeping sounds, then struggled to fall back asleep in the muggy tent.

Raku accidentally frightens Ichinose outside the tent at night, learns that she is afraid of ghosts, and promises to help if she needs him. The next morning, the group gathers corn and discusses the safe well water, incoming food, and their Class Points.

• Raku leaves the tent at night and encounters Ichinose while searching for the temporary toilet.
• Raku calms Ichinose after she panics, and she admits she is a little afraid of ghosts.
• Raku tells Ichinose to wake him if she needs help and promises not to reveal her fear to anyone.
• The group gets up at six, and Ichinose organizes classmates to gather corn with Kanzaki while the others work on camp preparations.
• Takashima reports that the well water is safe to drink, and classmates discuss the expected food delivery and possible Class Points increase.

Raku accompanied Ichinose to investigate Class C and saw how extravagantly Ryuen was spending the exam points. Ryuen dismissed Ichinose’s concerns, defended his treatment of Kaneda, and taunted her about the rumors linking her to Raku.

• Class C students mocked Kaneda at Class B’s camp, but Ichinose stopped them from provoking anyone into breaking the exam rules.
• Ichinose asked Raku to help scout the other classes, and they headed toward the beach to see what Ryuen was doing.
• Raku and Ichinose found Class C enjoying costly supplies and amenities, then accepted an invitation to meet Ryuen.
• Ryuen questioned the four students who had harassed Kaneda, then admitted he had punished Kaneda for defying him and cast him out.
• Ryuen argued that people could trust only themselves, mocked Ichinose’s concerns about the exam, and taunted her about the rumor that she and Raku were dating.

After leaving Ryuen’s camp, Raku accompanied Ichinose as she scouted Class A’s cave base and learned that Katsuragi kept the class’s device inside. Back at their camp, Ichinose resumed cooperation with Horikita and Ayanokoji, while Raku worked on his hammock.

• Ryuen offered Raku cold water, but Ichinose pulled him away and angrily told him to report any trouble to her in the future.
• Raku and Ichinose found Class A’s cave base, where Katsuragi confirmed that the device was inside but refused to show it to them.
• Ichinose spotted what she believed was Class A’s leader key card in Katsuragi’s pocket and described the rivalry between Katsuragi and Sakayanagi.
• Ichinose and Raku returned to their camp and found Ayanokoji and Horikita visiting Kanzaki.
• Ichinose and Horikita agreed to continue cooperating and discussed class points and solutions to their problems.