A Planned Encounter
"No problem."
Kitagawa Ryo nodded, Ichinose Honami, seemingly a little uneasy, handed him the bottle of drinking water she had received at the beginning.
"It's cool, so you should bring this with you. After all, the sun hasn't set yet, and you can easily get heatstroke if you don't stay hydrated."
"Okay, sure."
Taking the water bottle, Kitagawa Ryo immediately unscrewed the cap and took a sip. However, after glancing at Ichinose Honami's slightly flushed face, he quickly recovered and said with a smile:
"Looks like I'll have to get disposable paper cup sets later. I don't mind, but it's more hygienic anyway."
This isn't about being ambiguous or not; putting yourself at risk of physical discomfort over trivial matters is one of the things you should absolutely not do during this exam.
"You can explore the remaining topics yourselves. Whether you split up or go as a group is fine. I'm heading off now."
Kitagawa Ryo put the water bottle into his bag, stretched his body a little, and then quickly ran towards the [Encyclopedia Knowledge Quiz] topic while confirming his destination.
"By the way, if you see a good campsite, you can leave a comment."
With a nimble turn, Kitagawa Ryo gave another word of advice.
Although the Redemption Manual includes lighting equipment such as flashlights, it is still too difficult to move around at night. Although the terrain on the Uninhabited Island has a lot of human traces, it also retains rugged and dangerous places such as forests, cliffs, mountains, and precipices. The school does not recommend that students move around at night, and therefore no assignments are set at night.
"Starting a fire... I doubt any of us are good at that, right?"
After Kitagawa Ryo left, Ichinose Honami took the initiative to bring up the topic. After all, she had noticed that Sakayanagi Arisu and Horikita Suzune in the group seemed to have some conflicts, and at this time, only she could act as a mediator between the three.
"I had only read some rough parts of it in the book a long time ago."
"Me too."
Horikita Suzune and Sakayanagi Arisu both honestly shook their heads. Although the task of [starting a fire] could involve all members of the group and the reward seemed good, the three of them were the first to give up on the task.
"It seems that grip strength tests don't differentiate between men and women."
Horikita Suzune checked her watch and confirmed:
"Furthermore, Sudo and Yamada's group should be nearby. Given their group's composition, they will definitely participate in this project. To be honest, we don't have any advantage."
After Horikita Suzune, who had the best physical fitness among the three, made such a statement, the topic of [grip strength test] was rejected.
"I can go to the [Speed Mental Arithmetic] department."
After saying this, Sakayanagi Arisu looked at Horikita Suzune:
"Each group can have two people. Do you want to join me?"
Horikita Suzune had always thought she was quite competitive, but she hadn't expected Sakayanagi Arisu to seem even more concerned about winning against her. However, she wasn't one to back down easily, and replied calmly:
"OK."
"Then I'll head over to the [English test] area. I wish you both the best of luck with your results."
Sensing the subtle spark between them, Ichinose Honami clasped her hands together and smiled, trying her best to create a relaxed atmosphere.
She seemed completely unconcerned about these things.
"Hello, hello, I didn't expect Ryo to be here too."
Kitagawa Ryo had just arrived at the [Encyclopedia Knowledge Quiz] event and was about to register when he suddenly heard a familiar voice behind him.
It's Karuizawa Kei solo artist.
At this moment, Karuizawa Kei was also dressed in sportswear, her bright smile seemingly even more radiant than the sun that had not yet set.
"I thought I was the fastest."
One of the advantages of a solo team is flexibility, Karuizawa Kei said, jogging up behind Kitagawa Ryo:
"Liang, what have you gotten so far? I've already gotten a single tent, and my classmates gave me some food. I should be fine tonight."
"Is it really okay for one person to be alone?"
Actually, Kitagawa Ryo didn't quite understand Karuizawa Kei's choice to go solo at first, since the environment of Uninhabited Island is indeed quite unfriendly to girls, and it is a huge challenge both physically and mentally.
"No problem, after all, I drew that card. As long as I use it well, getting into the top three in this group shouldn't be a problem, and first place is even possible."
Karuizawa Kei seemed to appreciate Kitagawa Ryo's concern and replied with a smile.
The card [Reinforcement], one of only four special cards available in the entire grade, was the one that Karuizawa Kei drew.
Reinforcement: Cardholders can exceed the group's maximum number of members and become the fifth member of the group.
Since the cardholder can join other groups at any time, it's easy to deduce the best way to use this card: the cardholder forms a group alone, then uses the card on the last day of the exam to join the highest-scoring group in the class, thus adding their own points to the group's score.
It can even help you hide your opponents during exams, since the group and class leaderboards are updated every hour.
This is also one of the reasons why Karuizawa Kei chose to form a solo group.
Perhaps because the grid here is a bit remote, it wasn't until the last few minutes of the registration period that two more groups arrived, and one of them was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was also in a solo group.
"So Hui is here too."
"Mako, Sayo, Kanzaki, and Binkuchi, you're here too! Hurry up and sign up, time is running out."
The other group appears to be students from Class B, consisting of two men and two women, including Kanzaki Ryuji, with whom Kitagawa Ryo had previously interacted.
However, what bothered him was that when the other person saw him talking to Karuizawa Kei, they always gave him a strange look, their expression was a bit odd, and they even made a slightly regretful gesture as if they had forgotten to bring something.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka remained the same, standing alone on the other side, expressionless, waiting for the lesson to begin.
As the time came, the [Encyclopedia Knowledge Quiz] project, involving four groups of seven people, officially began.
The first question began to appear on the tablets that everyone had received:
[Category: Animation]
[Question 1: Which of the following songs are insert songs from the TV anime <Bocchi the Rock!>? (Multiple selections possible)]
[A. Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet]
[B, that That Band]
[C, START: DASH!!]
[D. Unrequited Love]
"... What the hell is this?"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka blurted out those words.
Although the question is clearly related to animation based on its type and description, I have absolutely no idea what the answer is.
"Wow, it's that simple!"
The boys in Class B on the other side also cheered excitedly.
Simple? Is this question simple?
Let's talk about Bocchi the Rock!... What exactly is Bocchi the Rock!? Is it about loneliness and rock music?
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka rubbed his temples; this was completely beyond his control.
Because it wasn't a multiple-choice question, the probability of guessing correctly was less than one in four.
Upon closer examination, since the anime's title is "Bocchi the Rock!," and option A explicitly mentions loneliness, it must be an inserted song. Following this line of thought, the band in option B also seems like it, and option D is also a good choice, since loneliness and unrequited love seem to match up.
Therefore, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka carefully chose answers A, B, and D.
Chapter 140: A Premeditated Encounter
[Correct answer: A. Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet; B. That Band]
Because the procedure involved grading each question as it was answered, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka immediately realized that he had answered incorrectly, and all his previous careful reasoning seemed so futile in the face of the correct answer.
In the last moments before sunset, the sun was still releasing its heat, and perhaps because of this, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka even felt a little dizzy, but he quickly recovered and focused his attention on the second question that followed.
[Category: Animation]
[Question 2: Who is the singer of the theme song for the first season of the TV anime Demon Slayer?]
[A, LiSA]
[B. YOASOBI]
[C, Kenshi Yonezu]
[D, FLOWER]
But reality is cruel.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was once again in a dilemma. Although he had indeed heard his classmates discuss two of the names in the Ayanokoji Kiyotaka options during breaks, he was only at the level of knowing the names. He knew nothing about their representative works or whether they had sung the theme songs for the anime.
Therefore, he naturally didn't know the answer to the second question either, and in fact, the four options were all the same to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
However, compared to the previous question, at least it's a multiple-choice question, giving you a 25% chance of guessing correctly.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka casually filled in B, because he seemed to remember hearing the name of this group before.
[Correct answer: A, LiSA]
Two consecutive losses.
Just as Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was seriously pondering why two consecutive questions in the [Encyclopedia Knowledge Quiz] were related to anime, and whether there were any otaku or something among the school's question setters, the format of the third question finally changed.
[Category: Humanities and History]
[Question 3: In which year was the Taika Reform held?]
[A. 625 AD]
[B. 635 AD]
[C, 645 AD]
[D. 655 AD]
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka finally breathed a sigh of relief and easily clicked on option C.
[Correct answer: C, 645 AD]
[Category: General Knowledge of Literature]
[Question 4: The four plays considered Shakespeare's four great tragedies are Macbeth, Hamlet, and... (multiple choice)]
Faced with these normal encyclopedic questions, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka answered them quickly, completing the twentieth question in one go. Even on this last question, he had only lost points from the first two questions.
At this moment, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka actually hoped that the last question would be more difficult, so that he could widen the gap with the other students and make up for the two points he had lost earlier.
With this expectation in mind, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka turned his gaze to the last question that appeared on the screen.
[Category: General Knowledge of Literature]
[Question 20: France Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's fairy tale "The Little Prince," what is the first thing the rose says to the Little Prince?]
A decent level of difficulty.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka easily found the original text of the book in his memory palace, then turned to the section where the rose first appeared, and found that sentence in the options.
[Congratulations on completing all the questions! Your final accuracy rate is 90%]
After finishing all the questions, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quietly waited for the others to finish.
Considering Kitagawa Ryo's presence, a 90% accuracy rate likely means he won't get first place. It's just a question of whether he can even make it into the top three. After all, there's no participation prize for the [Encyclopedia Knowledge Quiz] topic, so if he doesn't get any reward, it's like wasting precious time and energy.
The twenty multiple-choice questions were answered quickly; in just two minutes, all seven students in the four groups had finished. After the data was tallied, the teacher in charge of the project announced the final top three winners.
"First place, Kitagawa Ryo, 100% accuracy, 800 points and one normal card upgrade attempt."
"Second place, Karuizawa Kei, with a 95% accuracy rate, earning 600 points."
"Third place, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, with a 90% accuracy rate, earning 400 points."
Ironically, the Kanzaki group from Class B, consisting of all four members, didn't win anything. However, they seemed to be in good spirits and even congratulated Karuizawa Kei, who won second place.
While the students of Class B were surrounding Karuizawa Kei, Kitagawa Ryo also pulled out his own cards from his watch.
[Discount: Cardholders will receive a 25% reduction in points spent when redeeming items (lv2)]
Compared to the Level 1 Discount Card, the upgraded Level 2 Discount Card offers an additional 10% Discount. This means that Kitagawa Ryo now spends only three-quarters of the money other students spend to exchange points for supplies, which is a pretty good improvement.
I just don't know what the highest level of the card is. If the increase in each level is 10%, Kitagawa Ryo is even looking forward to the possibility of being able to use the zero-dollar purchase feature on the school.
Just as Kitagawa Ryo was thinking about upgrading the card, Kanzaki Ryuji from Class 1-B suddenly approached him quietly.