Let's Go for a Drive

Kitagawa Ryo's campsite and Shiina Hiyori's campsite were not far apart. When Kitagawa Ryo looked up again, the helicopter was already preparing to land. The commotion attracted the attention of the three girls in Kitagawa Ryo's group. Through the porthole, Kitagawa Ryo could clearly see them walking towards them.

After the helicopter landed smoothly, the pilot opened the door to let Kitagawa Ryo leave. He seemed to have patrol duties to attend to, so he didn't say much, just nodded to Kitagawa Ryo and closed the door again.

Good morning!

"I'm back."

The immense wind pressure generated by the helicopter taking off again forced Kitagawa Ryo to hold down her hair with one hand while raising the other high to wave and greet Horikita Suzune and the others who had already walked over.

Why did you change out of the clothes that were drying?

Because the change was so obvious, Ichinose Honami subconsciously asked a question.

"The outfit I was wearing yesterday was soaked through by the rain and I couldn't wear it anymore, so the school let me exchange it for a new one. It's a small perk, considering I was urgently called up by the school yesterday."

Kitagawa Ryo walked over to the three of them and, after explaining the issue, took the initiative to speak:

"Although it was a bit tiring, I still earned 800 points, which is equivalent to the first-place prize for a research project."

Even so, it's still too dangerous.

Ichinose Honami shook her head, her gaze fixed intently on Kitagawa Ryo, her voice gradually fading:

"No... that's okay."

Chapter 157: Let's go for a drive

"Okay, I won't do anything dangerous like that again."

Kitagawa Ryo immediately raised his hands in surrender and made a promise.

"... Feel sorry."

However, seeing Kitagawa Ryo's straightforward compliance, Ichinose Honami lowered her head, seemingly realizing that her tone had been somewhat inappropriate.

"It's alright, it's alright. I need to work hard to find research topics today, and um, I'll also make up for the big meal I owed Suzune yesterday."

"If Arisu is too tired, you don't have to force yourself. I'll carry your bag. After all, if you collapse from exhaustion, I'll have to carry both you and your bag."

Kitagawa Ryo clapped his hands, easily enlivening the atmosphere within the group with just a few words:

"Then, let's set off."

On the other side of the deserted island, is the camp of Chihiro Shirami's group from Class 1-B.

The continuous sound of rain didn't completely disappear until midnight. Coupled with the accumulated fatigue of the past few days, Shiranami Chihiro and another girl in the same group Kobashi Yume, didn't drift off to sleep until almost midnight. When they opened their eyes again, it was already 7:30 in the morning.

Based on the experience of the first three days, the first round of topics for this Special Exam usually started around eight o'clock each day. Therefore, their group had always set their alarm for seven o'clock, since they still needed to wash up, pack up their tents, and cook breakfast after getting up.

But perhaps because they were sleeping too soundly, the alarm clock didn't wake them up this morning. After realizing this, Shiranami Chihiro quickly reached out and nudged Kobashi Yume, who was next to her, to wake her up.

As the two hurriedly changed their clothes and stepped out of the tent, they heard the sizzling sound of a fried egg.

"Chihiro and Yume-chan, how did you sleep last night?"

The one who greeted them with a frying pan in the open space of the camp was not one of the other two boys in their group, but Karuizawa Kei, the class monitor of Class 1-B, who had come to share the Tempest with them last night as instructed by the school.

"It's relatively peaceful, and it smells so good."

Kobashi Yume rubbed her eyes and ran affectionately to Karuizawa Kei's side:

"Hui, are you up this early?"

Before Karuizawa Kei could answer, she shifted her gaze to the perfectly colored and shaped fried eggs in the pan:

"It feels so good to see breakfast like this as soon as I wake up."

"It's not that exaggerated. After all, you all know my cooking skills. I'm only good at frying an egg."

Karuizawa Kei quickly waved her hand in denial, saying that her cooking skills were indeed limited to cooking fast food like instant noodles in a small pot. Her skill in making beautiful fried eggs was honed from that experience; by placing them on cooked instant noodles, she could make this junk food, which had no nutritional value, look somewhat nutritious.

After frying the remaining eggs, Karuizawa Kei took the opportunity to cut the bread and toast it, then stuffed the fried eggs into two slices of bread, along with the previously prepared luncheon meat slices (from the canned luncheon meat obtained by Shiranami Chihiro's group). Thus, a breakfast that could be considered quite exquisite on this Uninhabited Island was completed.

After washing up, Shiranami Chihiro and the other girl started to eat slowly and deliberately, each taking one, but they didn't forget to ask about the whereabouts of the other two boys in the group.

"They went to scout out the road conditions first. After all, some sections were practically impassable after yesterday's torrential rain. If they can find out the road conditions beforehand, the operation will be smoother later."

Karuizawa Kei patiently explained while also eating a piece of bread.

"Isn't Hui coming with us today?"

Shiranami Chihiro blinked:

"It's too tiring to do it alone; if we're together, we can take care of each other."

In fact, before the Uninhabited Island Exam began, many students in Class B did not truly understand the difficulty of working in groups and individuals during this exam. However, after surviving on the Uninhabited Island for three days, even the groups that had teamed up to keep each other warm felt the physical and mental strain.

Moreover, there were only three groups of individuals this time, and only Karuizawa Kei's team was all girls.

Karuizawa Kei just smiled when she heard this. In fact, since yesterday, every group from Class B that she encountered had tried to persuade her to act with them. Even though everyone knew that Karuizawa Kei, who held the special card [Reinforcement], would benefit the whole class the most if she acted alone, Class B was actually more afraid of something happening to Karuizawa Kei.

Just as Karuizawa Kei was about to brush it off as usual, all three of their watches simultaneously chimed softly—it was a notification from the school to all students.

[Notice: Last night, one of our students slipped and fell down a hillside due to severe weather, sustaining abrasions and contusions to multiple parts of his body. He/She has recovered after timely treatment by the school. Please take this as a warning and pay attention to your safety during the upcoming exams. In case of emergency, please contact the school immediately for assistance.]

To prevent similar incidents from recurring and to enhance student safety, the wristwatches issued to each student have been upgraded with communication capabilities. Students can now communicate with other students and school staff via their wristwatches. However, please note that each communication session is limited to three minutes and requires the payment of 100 points. Please avoid abusing these services unless absolutely necessary.

"There are people injured?"

Shiranami Chihiro somewhat surprised; she hadn't even really noticed the newly added communication function.

"It probably isn't someone from our class."

"Probably not, but the school hasn't released any names."

Kobashi Yume hesitated before speaking:

"But judging from the notice, it seems there's nothing to worry about."

"But it really is dangerous."

Shiranami Chihiro quickly said to Karuizawa Kei:

"Hui should stay with us; it'll be good to have someone to look after you."

"There's really no need to be so nervous."

Karuizawa Kei remained quite calm, continuing to slowly eat the bread in her hand.

"I'm not like that student in the notice, trying to move in the Tempest. If something happens to him, it's his own problem."

"And I'm going to lead you all to Class A!"

After finishing the last bit of bread in her hand, Karuizawa Kei clapped her hands, stood up, and said in a relaxed tone:

"The Class Points difference between our Class B and Class A is so small, and I've also obtained the [Reinforcement] special card. We have a real chance to overtake them in this Special Exam."

"I also hope that everyone in the class can graduate from Class A, because you are all very good people."

Karuizawa Kei said those words, Shiranami Chihiro felt like she was about to hug her any second, her eyes sparkling:

"Hui is really amazing."

"Stop praising me, I want to graduate from Class A too."

Karuizawa Kei chuckled and patted Shiranami Chihiro's head. She did indeed like the atmosphere of Class B, but unlike Ichinose Honami, she didn't indulge in it. In fact, she intentionally sacrificed certain things in order to maintain this peace and guide this gentleness.

Class 1-B can be a harmonious and happy class, but as the class Leader, she must always keep a clear head.

"Speaking of which, if Hui really does graduate from Class A, where does she want to go? Further studies or employment?"

Kobashi Yume asked with great interest.

"I haven't really thought about it yet. After all, there are still more than two years to go, and nobody knows what will happen after that."

"We have plenty of time to find our interests and then make plans for the future."

Karuizawa Kei shook her head and said to Shiranami Chihiro:

"Take Chihiro for example, I remember she joined the art club, right?"

"Yeah, but because I didn't have much of a foundation before, I'm a little behind in club activities."

"But it's also an opportunity to try. The clubs at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School are very famous nationwide, and they qualify for various competitions every year. If we can learn something or achieve good results, we'll have many more options later on."

Karuizawa Kei's answer prompted both of them to nod thoughtfully.

At this moment, the two boys from Shiranami Chihiro's group who had gone out to scout the nearby roads also returned to the camp. Seeing the two loaves of bread left for them, their eyes lit up with hunger, and they couldn't wait to reach out and grab them.

"Go wash your hands first, they're all sweaty and dirty."

Kobashi Yume immediately slapped their hands away and gestured towards a basin of water that had been drawn from the river, boiled, and used specifically for washing.

"I'm so hungry, let me have a bite first."

"That is."

While the two boys were making exaggerated wails, they obediently ran over to wash their hands and faces before returning, taking a big bite of bread, and mumbling:

"I've checked everything. The road to the west is probably in bad shape. Even if we manage to get through, we'll likely lose a pair of shoes. The south side is a restricted area, so we can't consider that. We'll either go down from the east or the north side, but we'll have to be careful."

After hearing the information from the two people, Karuizawa Kei nodded:

"Then I'll start from the east and see if I can get a head start on a research topic."

"Be careful on the road, squad leader."

"The bread is delicious, and the fried egg is perfect!"

Unlike the girls, the two boys didn't try to persuade Karuizawa Kei to join their group. Instead, they each gave Karuizawa Kei a thumbs up.

Perhaps it was because they were close to Kanzaki Ryuji in their class.

Karuizawa Kei waved goodbye to the four-person group from Class B, slung her bag over her shoulder again, and walked eastward, soon disappearing from their sight.

The roads were muddy after the rain, Karuizawa Kei carefully watched her step while thinking about Class B.

In fact, the class style of Class B can be seen from the group assignments on the Uninhabited Island. Unlike Class A, they did not select elites to form an ace team to compete for the top three spots in the group rankings.

With Karuizawa Kei holding the [Reinforcement] card, if top students like Kanzaki Ryuji and Shibata Sō from the class could be grouped together, they could almost certainly secure a top-three spot, since it would be five people scoring, naturally giving them an advantage in efficiency.

However, Class B ultimately decided to separate the top students in the class, adhering to the principle of complementarity or mutual assistance, so that Kanzaki and Shibata would team up with students whose overall abilities were not so outstanding, to prevent them from falling into the predicament of being among the bottom few.

However, on the other hand, among the four classes in the First Year, the groups in Class 1-B generally adopted a mixed-gender setup, with most of them like the Shiranami Chihiro group mentioned earlier, consisting of two boys and two girls. This actually reflects the class atmosphere of Class B, which is unparalleled in the entire grade.

In fact, whether it's Class A, Class C, or Class D, most students still chose to team up with each other of the same sex. For example, Sudo's group was all boys, and Matsushita's group was all girls.

In this Uninhabited Island Special Exam, groups with both men and women will definitely have a wider range of abilities than groups with only one sex, from every perspective.

Groups composed of girls are naturally at a disadvantage in terms of speed and topic selection due to their physical limitations, while groups composed of boys sometimes have to struggle with specific topics and daily trivial matters.

Therefore, in the current group rankings, although the highest-ranked group in Class B is still higher than Class D, the overall rankings are all in the upper-middle range. This has resulted in Class B consistently maintaining its second-place position in the overall class rankings.

It was eight o'clock in the morning, and the first batch of assignments for the fourth day of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam had finally been updated. Karuizawa Kei thus pulled herself out of her thoughts and began to check the assignments closest to her.

[Type: Other]

[Topic: Three-Legged Race]

Karuizawa Kei skipped over the topic that required at least two people to register.

[Type: Academic Ability]

[Topic: Listening Comprehension Test for Minor Languages (German, French, Latin, randomly selected)]

Karuizawa Kei didn't even glance at it. Although it seemed that fewer people would sign up for such a difficult project, many groups had been focusing on finding the leftovers these past few days, and sometimes they would flock to sign up for such projects.

[Type: Sports]

[Topic: Race with Objects (Beach Track)]

[Each group can register a maximum of one person (male or female). Registration will close one hour after five people have registered for a topic or one topic has been created.]

[Project Reward:]

[First Place: 800 points, one chance to upgrade to a regular card]

[Second Place: 600 points]

[Third Place: 400 points]

The rewards are quite generous, especially the chance to upgrade a regular card for the first-place winner.

Although most participants in this project would likely be male since it's open to both men and women, the race itself also tests the participants' luck. After hesitating for a moment, Karuizawa Kei decided to go and participate in the project.