The Wedding in My Dreams

"You mean, Class C and Class A seem to be cooperating?"

After listening to the information brought by Matsushita Chiaki, Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes narrowed slightly.

"I saw that Ryuen from Class C delivered a large amount of Supply to Hirata's group from Class A. Considering that his score was just zero and he was in last place, it should be that Ryuen himself exchanged points for the Supply."

Matsushita Chiaki replied in great detail.

She is a very self-aware girl who sees herself as an excellent person, not a genius.

Moreover, Matsushita Chiaki did not consider himself the type of person who could take the lead in doing things.

Besides, perhaps due to the overly smooth sailing of her life over the past sixteen years, Matsushita Chiaki actually harbors a deep-seated desire for adventure and wants to explore the mysteries that her classmates don't have.

And Sakayanagi Arisu perfectly fits all these requirements.

Otherwise, Matsushita Chiaki wouldn't have followed Sakayanagi Arisu so willingly.

"Have you encountered any other groups? Or do you have any other information?"

I met Ayanokoji Kiyotaka once.

Seemingly anticipating Sakayanagi Arisu's question, Matsushita Chiaki quickly replied:

"In the [puzzle] project, he completed the most difficult colorless puzzle and won first place, including a chance to upgrade a regular card."

Do you know what kind of card he has?

"I can't tell."

Matsushita Chiaki shook her head. Of the four ordinary cards, [Double] and [Free Ride] were only valid after the Uninhabited Island Exam. As for [Supply] and [Discount], it was also impossible to tell. After all, other students had no idea whether the Supply they carried were obtained from cards or purchased with their own points, and they had no way of knowing whether Discount were used when purchasing them.

Ultimately, unless the cardholder discloses the card themselves, it's virtually impossible for others to know the card's information. This is true for regular cards, and even more so for special cards.

At least for now, no one in the grade has been exposed as a holder of a special card.

Sakayanagi Arisu pondered silently for a while, then suddenly asked:

What if the holder of a special card received the reward of upgrading a regular card?

Matsushita Chiaki shook her head blankly; this was clearly beyond her knowledge.

Around the campfire, the seven members of Kitagawa Ryo's group and Matsushita Chiaki's group chatted freely while eating hot stew, talking about all sorts of daily trivialities in their class. Kitagawa Ryo listened with great interest.

"I didn't expect Sudo and the others to have already climbed to sixth place."

Onodera glanced at his watch and subconsciously uttered a sigh.

"Sudo and his group have been working really hard; I've run into them a few times these past few days."

Ichinose Honami nodded in agreement.

"This is already the highest-ranked group in Class D."

After sighing for a moment, Wang Meiyu realized something, her face immediately turning red as she stammered an apology:

"... If you hadn't treated us to dinner tonight, Honami, you probably wouldn't have lost so much."

"Don't worry about it, you can earn the points back."

Ichinose Honami, fearing that Wang Meiyu might feel a little guilty, quickly comforted her:

"Even if I hadn't run into you, Ryo was still planning to buy these ingredients."

"Yes, after all, you need to eat and drink well to stay healthy."

Kitagawa Ryo waved his hand casually. He was indeed not stingy when it came to buying ingredients. The stew for seven people tonight alone cost three portions of expensive fresh meat. Mainly because they had all been running around all day. Although everyone except him was a girl, they all ate quite a lot.

He saw Horikita Suzune's hand freeze in mid-air just as she was about to strike again.

Of course, it could also be because his cooking was too delicious.

To be honest, if it weren't for the effectiveness of the Tier 3 [Discount] card, Kitagawa Ryo's team would have dropped not only to tenth place, but it wouldn't be surprising if they had fallen directly to the middle ranks.

"Speaking of which, it seems like the Katsuragi Group, who came in first place, didn't see their scores drop at noon or in the evening... I can't quite remember."

Matsushita Chiaki hesitated, glancing at the screen on her watch before speaking.

"They must have obtained enough ingredients for some research project, and their group is already quite strong."

Onodera said casually, then quickly changed the subject back to other things, since the students in Class D really hadn't paid much attention to the competition for the top three.

It's more accurate to say that Kitagawa Ryo's team maintaining first place for a period of time was already a pleasant surprise for them.

Because they needed to get back to their camp on the other side of the river before it got completely dark, Matsushita Chiaki and the other two didn't linger for too long. After chatting about some interesting things, they said their goodbyes. Kitagawa Ryo's group, to ensure their safety, set off together to take the three of them across the river before returning.

After a long day of running around and chatting, the four members of Kitagawa Ryo's group were no longer in the mood they had been the night before. After quickly cleaning up the mess and washing up, they said goodnight to each other and went into their two tents.

The night was deep.

Kitagawa Ryo vaguely heard someone calling his name in his sleep. He slightly opened one eye and saw a pair of fluorescent eyes close to his face. He knew that color all too well, so he closed his eyes again with relief. He simply put his arm around the other person's shoulder and muttered something under his breath:

"Get a good night's sleep."

However, Kitagawa Ryo quickly realized that he was on Uninhabited Island, wasn't he? Hotaru hadn't brought him along, so how could she be sleeping next to him now?

Kitagawa Ryo snapped back to reality and quickly opened his eyes again, only to meet her familiar gaze once more.

Amasawa Ichika, who was lying on her side next to him with a half-smile on her face, had her hair brushing against her eyes. She could even hear him trying to suppress his laughter and his breathing in her ear.

"Are you awake now?"

What's Ichika doing here?

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head, released his arm, and stood up.

"Where 'Airi? Aren't you in the same group as her?"

"Sakura should be sleeping soundly right now, which is why I dared to sneak in for some cool air."

"Liang's campsite is so remote, I almost lost him."

Amasawa Ichika also stood up, her tone nonchalant.

"Are you alright?"

Considering that the other party had sneaked over in the middle of the night, Kitagawa Ryo also spoke with concern.

"Fine."

Amasawa Ichika seemed to appreciate this expression of concern, and she immediately followed up by asking:

"What level are Liang's regular cards at now?"

Level 3.

"Okay, you're at level four now. Liang, you'd better keep up the good work. I'll also give you a few more chances to level up, since it's useless to me anyway."

After hearing Kitagawa Ryo's answer, Amasawa Ichika smiled and started operating her watch. Then, she stood on tiptoe and touched Kitagawa Ryo's forehead with her own.

[Chosen One: Cardholders will receive a 50% increase in points.]

Chapter 149: The Dream Wedding

At 8:00 AM on the third day of the Uninhabited Island Survival Special Exam, as the first round of topics was updated, all members of the forty-four groups still active on the Uninhabited Island received a notification from the school.

[The first round of restricted areas on the Uninhabited Island has been identified. Teams still within the restricted areas must leave before noon today. Teams still in or entering the restricted areas after noon will be eliminated, and their scores will be fixed.]

[The first round of restricted areas on the Uninhabited Island are as follows: I3, I4, I5, C5, B6, B7, D10, F8, H9, J10]

Kitagawa Ryo quickly pulled up the electronic map of the Uninhabited Island. Just as he had expected, the ten squares designated as restricted areas in the first round were mostly located on the edge. Hoshinomiya Chie games to describe this rule was indeed quite accurate.

If ten restricted areas are designated every two days, it is foreseeable that over time, the areas that can be accessed on the island and the topics that can be participated in will become fewer and fewer. Instead, more and more groups will be forced to squeeze into the Chuo Ward of the island.

If we were to use Hoshinomiya Chie's "PUBG" theory to summarize this Uninhabited Island Special Exam, then each group is currently in the early stages of the game, searching for resources and trying to accumulate as many Supply as possible for later survival, while also upgrading their equipment—that is, their cards—to higher levels.

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Ryo also stared at the card effect displayed on his watch:

[Discount: Cardholders will receive a 40% reduction in points spent when redeeming items (level 4)]

After receiving the gift from Amasawa Ichika last night, Kitagawa Ryo's Discount Card level also rose to level four. However, he was slightly dissatisfied because the Discount Card level four did not give a 10% Discount for each level up like it did before level three. Instead, it only increased by 5%, which should be a setting made by the school to balance things out.

After all, if the increase is consistently 10%, the [Discount] card will basically allow you to access all the school's resources for free by level nine. However, if the increase is only 5% each time after level four, the difficulty will undoubtedly double.

Of course, besides getting the Discount Card upgraded to level one, Kitagawa Ryo also learned some additional information from Amasawa Ichika, including the hidden feature that special card holders can transfer their upgraded ordinary card at any time after receiving one upgrade opportunity.

Although all that's needed is to enter the other person's name, and they don't even need to be a student in the same class, and the transfer can be done directly regardless of how far apart they are, Kitagawa Ryo wisely refrained from asking why Amasawa Ichika insisted on coming to his tent late at night to discuss this matter.

Amasawa Ichika is currently the only student in Class 1-D to obtain a special card, and it is the most powerful Chosen One, directly increasing the score by fifty percent.

It was precisely because of this that on the first day of the Uninhabited Island Exam, their group briefly rose to first place. However, in order to prevent being targeted, Amasawa Ichika decisively spent most of her points to exchange for supplies, keeping her ranking in the middle. Katsuragi Kohei only caught a glimpse of their group's victory.

They casually combined the leftover ingredients from last night into a meal, and Kitagawa Ryo's group headed non-stop toward the central area of the island. Since they had already intentionally ventured inwards yesterday, the marked restricted areas were quite far away, so they didn't need to worry too much about them.

What worried Kitagawa Ryo was that a problem he had been concerned about yesterday had finally come true. The stamina of Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu in the group had inevitably begun to decline. Physical fatigue led to mental depression. Although they could still barely keep up with the team's pace, they seemed to be struggling to keep up.

The forest paths on the Uninhabited Island are mostly fresh and rough, suggesting that few people come here except for students taking exams. The roadside vegetation is lush and green, and even though everyone is wearing long pants, the feeling of branches brushing against your ankles is still unpleasant, giving you a sense of dread and gloom, like a snake's tail brushing against you.

"There's a [history knowledge test] ahead, and each group can only have two people. How about Arisu and Honami go over there?"

"After you two finish your project, rest there for a while. Don't worry about the drinking water consumption; just use your points to exchange for it."

Noticing that Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu not in good condition, Kitagawa Ryo, as the group leader, made timely adjustments.

"Yes, no problem."

"Even if it's cool, be careful to conserve your energy; it's hotter today than yesterday."

Sakayanagi Arisu and Ichinose Honami weren't the type to push themselves at this time. The sun was even more scorching than yesterday, and the scenery was already somewhat blurry. If they continued to move at such a high intensity, the chances of them getting heatstroke would increase.

"Well then, Suzune, let's go first."

After Kitagawa Ryo made arrangements for Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu, he nodded to Horikita Suzune again.

However, Horikita Suzune shook her head and rejected Kitagawa Ryo's suggestion:

"Ryo probably wants to go to the topic two squares to the left, since that's the only place nearby where the first place reward is an upgrade to a regular card."

"I'd rather participate in the [Tea Ceremony] topic on the other side, so it doesn't seem to be convenient for me to go there. Let's meet up in this cubicle then."

Upon hearing this, Kitagawa Ryo glanced at the rewards for the [Tea Ceremony] topic that Horikita Suzune mentioned. The rewards for first to third place were not particularly generous in terms of points, but they all included a small amount of ingredients, which was probably what made Horikita Suzune interested.

After all, she didn't even get a second bowl of stew last night.

"Okay, then let's meet here again in two hours."

Having agreed on their destinations, the four of them set off immediately, splitting into three groups and walking briskly into the depths of the forest.

"Hello, it's nice to see you again, Kitagawa-kun."

When Kitagawa Ryo arrived at the location of the project called "[Piano Performance]", he encountered an unexpected student.

The person sitting under the parasol, handling student registration, was not the previous school staff member, but rather the third-year Student Council secretary, Tachibana Akane, who was smiling and waving to Kitagawa Ryo.

"Senior Tachibana?"

Kitagawa Ryo, somewhat surprised, jogged over to Tachibana Akane's side:

What are you doing here?

"It's because the school is short-staffed, so they temporarily conscripted some of our third-year students. Anyway, as far as I know, all the Student Council members have probably been drafted."

Hearing Kitagawa Ryo's question, Tachibana Akane shook her head helplessly.

"... So that's how it is."

Kitagawa Ryo wasn't too surprised by Tachibana Akane's answer, after all, the scale of this Special Exam was absolutely enormous, and the cost of the large ships, equipment, and personnel involved was naturally extraordinary. Compared to the Uninhabited Island Exam he had participated in during the Karuizawa Kei simulation, this Uninhabited Island Exam was superior on every level.

This is actually determined by the content of the exam. Last time, students were required to work in groups of classes, but this time, many groups of students will be walking around the large island. Minor disputes between students could lead to serious accidents. In addition, injuries and physical problems are also important. A scrape or a slight fever is fine, but there is a risk of more serious injuries such as fractures or food poisoning.

The level of protection shown in yesterday's [Open Water Swimming] exercise demonstrates that, to ensure students' safety, school staff will likely not have much time to relax until the exams are successfully completed in the next two weeks.

In this context, it is understandable to assign some third-year students to do some miscellaneous tasks and logistical work.

"Let's not talk about that. Kitagawa-kun, are you here to register? You're the first one."

Before registering, Tachibana Akane took out the tablet on the table and asked one more question.

"Yes, I want to sign up for this research project."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded in confirmation.

[Type: Other]