Wow, Is It That Easy?

Class 1-D may not be able to compete for a high ranking in the class, but several groups are highly competitive.

Kitagawa Ryo glanced at them twice and then turned to leave. Sudo and Yukimura seemed to be getting along quite well. Group rankings are a very effective incentive mechanism. Their group's strength is not bad in the entire grade, especially with the combination of Ken Sudō and Yamada Albert. Sports-related subjects should be easy points for them.

However, the group that he paid the most attention to in Class 1-D was not this one.

Of the four special cards, one definitely ended up in the hands of someone in Class D.

"... Actually, I realized this when I saw that the [cooking] assignment required making as many dishes as possible within a specified time, but I didn't expect the school to actually do something like this."

Horikita Suzune covered her forehead, speechless with shock at the sight before her.

Matsushita Chiaki, standing next to her, had the same expression and whispered to the other three girls in her group:

"While I do know a little about cooking, this is just too much."

"It's okay, it's okay, let's all participate. If all else fails, we can take home four participation prizes."

"Just slow down a bit, an hour will pass in no time."

In the end, Matsushita Chiaki's group barely reached a consensus, since they had already come all this way.

Seeing this, Horikita Suzune also perked up and walked towards Mashima Tomonari, the person in charge of this project:

"I'm signing up."

"Go get your apron over there."

Mashima Tomonari pointed to the clothes rack next to him, and Horikita Suzune skillfully put on the apron and took a deep breath.

There are actually quite a few girls in the class who can cook, since they have all been exposed to home economics classes since they were young.

However, most of the people present still looked embarrassed, because what was presented to them was not the meticulous cooking they had imagined, where judges would elegantly cut and eat the food with knives and forks to compare the taste. Instead, it was a kitchen with mountains of ingredients and all kinds of kitchen utensils that were several sizes larger than those they usually encountered.

"This is the school staff's dinner for today on the Uninhabited Island. We don't have any special requirements regarding the taste, but please be understanding of the teachers' situation."

Mashima Tomonari made a rare joke. In order to minimize the probability of an accident, more than 300 school staff members have been assigned to this Uninhabited Island, and helicopters and yachts are on standby on the cruise ship.

Because of the participation prize, quite a few people signed up, and many even had their entire group participate. However, a number of culinary novices who didn't even know how to use knives properly quickly emerged, just trying to get the participation prize. Mashima Tomonari, and he quickly stepped forward to stop these students.

Horikita Suzune was confident in her cooking skills, but she had never actually tried cooking for multiple people at once. She usually ate alone, and after meeting Kitagawa Ryo, she learned to cook for two, but that was about it.

Perhaps realizing that there probably weren't any students present who actually knew how to cook a large batch of food, Matsushita Chiaki quickly switched to preparing ordinary dishes, hoping to win the final "worst ever" cooking contest.

"... tsk"

Meanwhile, Horikita Suzune encountered problems right from the very beginning, in the vegetable-cutting stage.

Chopping a single vegetable and chopping a bunch of vegetables are obviously not the same difficulty, and I'm not used to the kitchen knife.

Seemingly for the safety of the students, the kitchen knives provided were not very sharp, thus requiring more strength from the students themselves.

After chopping enough vegetables, Horikita Suzune looked up and wiped the sweat from her forehead. It seemed that she was the only one left trying to cook for multiple people. Most of the students had already started their usual cooking process and began serving the food out one by one.

"Don't be nervous."

"First, memorize all the steps, and then do them systematically."

Horikita Suzune recalled Kitagawa Ryo's figure in the kitchen in the past. At that time, he was running a small dessert shop, but because the business was booming, the pressure in the kitchen was actually not small at all.

However, Kitagawa Ryo never showed any sign of panic.

She closed her eyes and opened them again, recalling the things Horikita Suzune Kitagawa Ryo taught her, things that were related to or unrelated to cooking.

Then, she began to tackle the subject of [cooking].

"These are your students, right? They're not bad."

Beside Mashima Tomonari, another senior teacher nodded in approval as Horikita Suzune began her operation:

"This project is close to success once you start trying to make dishes for multiple people."

"Many students have failed to break out of their thinking traps and remain in their comfort zones, especially with the lure of participation prizes."

"This is a test of quantity; as long as the taste isn't bad, it's fine. You already gave me a hint earlier."

"Yes."

Mashima Tomonari nodded in agreement, but then quickly added with a sigh:

"But actually, challenging yourself to do something you're not good at in public is inherently a difficult thing."

Forty minutes later.

Matsushita Chiaki raised her head and stretched her neck. Her progress was pretty good. Although she was serving the food one dish at a time, her cooking skills were quite proficient, and she had an early advantage, so the quantity was not small.

But her gaze was quickly drawn to Horikita Suzune on the other side.

The other person had just turned off the heat and taken the stew out of the pot, but it was a huge pot full, enough to serve dozens of people.

However, this does not necessarily mean she has won, because there are still various unknown factors, such as seasoning, cooking time, and whether the ingredients are fully cooked, which is why no one is willing to take on the challenge.

Moreover, it would look quite disheveled.

At this moment, Horikita Suzune had rolled up the sleeves of her tracksuit, looking quite sweaty, with a few strands of hair stuck to her fair forehead. Even with Horikita Suzune's stamina, she was somewhat exhausted after cooking such a meal.

"Qualified."

Several teachers each went up and tasted a bowl, then looked at each other and said in unison.

Horikita Suzune finally smiled.

This already means she's secured first place, because no one can surpass her quantity, provided the taste is up to par.

We have the ingredients for tonight.

Let Ryo handle everything then.

"Call."

Letting out a long breath, the relaxation time after exhaustion also made Horikita Suzune start to have some random thoughts.

She will never cook for multiple people again.

However, you might need to learn how to cook for three or four people.

Chapter 139: Wow, is it that simple?

While Kitagawa Ryo and Horikita Suzune won first place in their respective projects, Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu's progress was not going smoothly.

"I'm very sorry, the application period for this project has ended."

The homeroom teacher of Class 1-A, Chabashira Sae, glanced at the tablet in her hand, then confirmed with another teacher before explaining with some regret to the two who had rushed over:

"The number of applicants for the [Geography Knowledge Test] has reached the maximum of six."

Because it was the closest project to the students in the vicinity and didn't seem too difficult, most groups chose it as their first choice. At that time, Kitagawa Ryo had already seen two groups that were even faster than theirs. Although it was a pity that they couldn't sign up, Sakayanagi Arisu and Ichinose Honami couldn't accept it.

However, the two did not leave immediately, but instead stayed behind to observe the students participating in the project.

[Geography Knowledge Test] There were six participants in four groups: Ayanokoji Kiyotaka from Class 1-A, who was in a solo group; Hashimoto Masayoshi and Kito Hayato from Class A, who seemed to be acting together; Ishizaki Daichi and Komiya Yogo from Class C; and Yamada Albert Miyake Akito from Class D.

After greeting two classmates, Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu observed the status of several groups from the side.

The three students in Class A all seemed to be handling the problem with ease, while the two students in Class C appeared to be scratching their heads in frustration. What surprised Sakayanagi Arisu the most was that the tall, burly-faced Yamada Albert seemed to be doing the problem with ease and at a very fast pace.

"Although Yamada's academic performance isn't great, he really enjoys geography, and he's also a flag enthusiast and collector."

Ichinose Honami seemed to sense Sakayanagi Arisu's confusion and whispered an explanation in her ear.

Because they belong to the same class group, both of them hope that the students in Class D will achieve good results.

There were twenty multiple-choice questions with four options each. Taking advantage of the fact that they could guess even if they didn't know the answer, even Ishizaki Daichi, the slowest of the six, finished the test in less than ten minutes.

The results for the six individuals were immediately announced.

[First Place: Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, 95% accuracy]

[Second place: Yamada Albert, 85% accuracy]

[Third place: Hashimoto Masayoshi, 80% accuracy]

"The top three students can come here to collect their prizes: a two-person tent, a single-person tent, and 2 liters of drinking water."

Perhaps because two of the top three were students from the same class, you could sense that Chabashira Sae's smile and tone softened a little.

After receiving the two-person tent as the first-place prize Ayanokoji Kiyotaka walked up to Hashimoto Masayoshi without hesitation and handed him the folded tent. Hashimoto, understanding the gesture, gave Ayanokoji Kiyotaka the two-liter bottle of drinking water he had just received.

"There's another challenge at H2 grid that rewards a single-person tent. At your speed, you should be able to make it there in time."

After listening to Hashimoto Masayoshi's words, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded and quickly stuffed the bottled water into his backpack. While checking the location, he hurried towards the H2 compartment.

Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu, who witnessed this scene, were not surprised; it was something they had expected.

Even though the groups were different, there were surprisingly many instances of cooperation among classmates during this Uninhabited Island exam. For example, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka just did something similar, such as sharing food and tools. Besides that, there were many other ways they could help each other.

"Let's go back then. I just wonder how things are going with Liang and the others."

Sakayanagi Arisu rubbed her calves, stood up, and said to Ichinose Honami beside her.

"It's not even four o'clock yet, there's still some time before it gets dark, we can find other topics later."

Ichinose Honami nodded and comforted her gently.

"Um."

Sakayanagi Arisu off her hands, but as she watched Yamada Albert stuff a single tent into his bag and discuss the camping Matoba with Miyake Akito, a strange thought suddenly popped into her head:

What if there aren't enough tents by nightfall?

However, she quickly shook her head. One of the rules for this exam was that boys and girls could not share the same tent, so it was just wishful thinking.

"I got the three-person tent!"

"It seems they didn't provide sleeping bags, so I'll spend some points to buy four later; that way, I'll sleep better."

The four of them returned to the agreed-upon location, and Kitagawa Ryo couldn't wait to show off the first prize he had just won:

"Luckily, the card I received had a [Discount] bonus, and the points for the sleeping bag weren't expensive either."

"It would be best to exchange for some kitchen utensils as well, at least a pot."

Horikita Suzune quickly added, opening her backpack to reveal two large bags of groceries that took up half the space.

"Although the [Cooking] competition only offers a first-place prize and a participation prize, the first-place prize is indeed very generous."

"One bag contains vegetables, and the other contains meat. I mainly want canned goods, since we don't have the means to preserve fresh meat and fish right now. Although the Redemption Manual mentions a portable refrigerator, it's unnecessary."

"I did the math, and the amount of food is enough for the four of us to eat for more than a day."

Horikita Suzune's excited tone sounded like that of a farmer who had reaped a bountiful harvest, which made Kitagawa Ryo chuckle.

"Kitchenware is indeed a necessity; after all, you can't just eat bread for two weeks."

Ichinose Honami flipped through the Redemption Manual that everyone had again. Although raw foods such as fish and meat were included, they were not only expensive, but also could not be preserved for long periods of time.

Sakayanagi Arisu curiously examined the nearly ten cans of food in Horikita Suzune's bag. She had never eaten this before in the first ten years of her life. The variety of canned food was quite extensive. Not to mention roasted chicken, luncheon meat and other meats, there were also mixed vegetables, konpei burdock, corn kernels and pork miso soup. They could be turned into delicious food with just a little cooking.

After all, the exam is being held on Uninhabited Island, so we can't expect too much.

"Then we should participate more in those projects where the rewards are points and single-person tents."

Kitagawa Ryo stroked his chin, planning the group's next move.

Just then, the wristwatches on their wrists emitted a notification sound indicating that the next round of challenges had been announced.

In order of distance from closest to furthest, the topics closest to the four of them were [grip strength test], [fire-making], [Speed Mental Arithmetic], and [English test].

Compared to the first round of the project, the number of tents awarded in the second round was significantly reduced. Instead, crucial factors determined the group and class rankings, including...

"G3 grid, [Encyclopedia Knowledge Quiz] topic, the first place reward is not only 800 points, but also a chance to upgrade a regular card."

Sakayanagi Arisu calmly sifts through all the topics that come up:

"Of the eighteen challenges in this round, this is one of only two that offer a reward for upgrading a regular card. The other one is the H6-slot [Fishing], which is far too far out of our reach."

"Registration for the [Encyclopedia Knowledge Quiz] is limited to one hour after the topic is posted, and each group is limited to one person. Can Liang participate?"

Because they had just run a round trip from the not-so-close H3 grid, Sakayanagi Arisu was a little worried about Kitagawa Ryo's stamina:

"If you feel too tired, there's no need to go there. Just find other projects nearby to get points."