Interlopers with Their Own Agendas

Ichinose Honami used a spoon to gather the last bit of liquid remaining in the glass:

"But sometimes in the summer, you just want to eat something icy and cold."

"It's a very inexpensive form of enjoyment, though."

"Where is it cheap? Whether it's a 60-yen or 6,000-yen popsicle, what everyone really needs is that instant coolness when they put it in their mouth, right?"

Kitagawa Ryo, who had unconsciously lay down again, pouted and then suggested to Amasawa Ichika and Sakura Airi:

"Let's not talk about that. Ichika and Airi, why don't you join us for a camping trip tonight? This place is big enough, and we can cook dinner together."

"Okay, okay."

Amasawa Ichika agreed quickly, reaching out to grasp Kitagawa Ryo's right hand and pulling it in front of her eyes:

"What level is Liang's current [Discount] card?"

"This will be the number after you upgrade."

Because she had just eaten a smoothie, Amasawa Ichika's little hands were icy cold, and it felt quite comfortable to hold them. Kitagawa Ryo was too lazy to withdraw his right hand, and instead extended his left hand to make a three-pointing gesture in response.

His Discount card has been upgraded to level nine, and with Amasawa Ichika's level, it's level ten, which allows him to get Discount as low as 30%.

"It's slower than I expected."

"This is already quite fast, considering how easy it is to get an upgrade opportunity."

Kitagawa Ryo sighed as he let Amasawa Ichika open his watch to check the card information.

"Speaking of which, I'm probably not the only one in our group whose card has been upgraded."

"Arisu and I both got it once, but Honami doesn't seem to have?"

Horikita Suzune nodded in reply.

"Hmm, I haven't claimed the upgrade opportunity reward yet."

Ichinose Honami glanced at her watch:

"Anyway, my [Supply] card isn't as good as Liang's [Discount]."

"It's a pity that my card was automatically upgraded immediately after I got it, so I couldn't transfer the upgrade opportunity to my teammates. Otherwise, the process of getting overwhelmed would have been much faster."

"I remember that Suzune and Arisu's cards are [Free Ride] and [Double] respectively, right? What changes occur after the upgrade?"

In response to Kitagawa Ryo's question, Horikita Suzune tapped her watch and read aloud:

"[Free Ride]: Cardholders can designate one student (any class) before the exam begins, and receive half of that student's Private Points (level 2) after the exam."

"It was originally a quarter."

Sakayanagi Arisu also recited along:

"[Double]: Cardholders' Private Points earned after the exam will be doubled (level 2)."

"My price has also doubled."

"Oh, that sounds good too."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded, and said thoughtfully:

"I always thought that the [Discount] and [Supply] cards were more useful because they focused on helping with the exam, but the [Double] and [Free Ride] cards are actually quite effective as well."

"Especially the [Double] bonus. If it doubles every time you level up, then reaching level 10 or 11 would be a tenfold or elevenfold increase in points, right? The member ranked first in the group seems to get a million Private Points, so tenfold would be ten million."

"If someone were to use a level 10 [Free Ride] card to specifically Arisu at this point... well, the probability is just too low."

"After all, each upgrade opportunity is hard to come by, and they are scattered across various topics. If you want to get multiple upgrade opportunities to upgrade your cards, you need to have an absurdly strong overall ability."

After Horikita Suzune finished speaking, she turned to look at Kitagawa Ryo beside her, who happened to be the one who met this strict requirement.

"Can I take this as Suzune praising me?"

Kitagawa Ryo noticed Horikita Suzune's actions and instead winked at her first.

"... Think what you want."

"A very distinctive Suzune -like answer."

With a sudden movement, Kitagawa Ryo straightened up from the ground and laughed:

"Just because of that, I'll add an extra dish for Suzune tonight."

"You all rest first, I'll go make dinner."

Turning his back, he walked into the pots and pans. Kitagawa Ryo lowered his eyes, silently turned on his watch, selected the memo function, and then clicked to view it.

Above is a message that Amasawa Ichika just wrote to him under the pretext of upgrading his card.

Kitagawa Ryo's series of statements just now were all attempts to cover up this secret, drawing everyone's attention.

Everyone.

[Someone is following us.]

[This is suspected to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, but he is likely not the only one.]

[I learned from xx that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's card might offer Discount.]

Chapter 171: The Interveners with Their Own Messs

In fact, both Kitagawa Ryo and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quickly realized a bug in the Uninhabited Island Special Exam shortly after receiving the [Discount] card.

Whether it's the setup of the four ordinary cards, finding and completing tasks on the island to earn points, then using those points to exchange for survival supplies, facing competition from other groups, environmental challenges on the Uninhabited Island, or the lock-in mechanism that occurs every two days starting from the third day, everything about this Uninhabited Island Special Exam looks like a large-scale real-life survival game similar to PUBG.

However, there are still differences between the real world and games.

That is, just like in the game, seemingly an inexhaustible supply of various resources.

Ordinary groups wouldn't even pay attention to this issue, or even notice it, because their thinking was constrained from the very beginning by the rules of this exam.

Earn as many points as possible -- exchange them for necessary supplies -- save as many points as possible -- wait for the exam to end.

For most groups, this is a fixed process that is ingrained in their minds from the very beginning.

However, both Kitagawa Ryo and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka noticed a problem: the total amount of supplies held by the school was actually fixed, not unlimited. After all, it wasn't like a string of code in a game, where you could set the amount however you wanted.

Whether it's drinking water or food, although the school filled the Luxury Cruise Ship with an astonishing amount of supplies for this Special Exam, it's not unlimited.

As long as it's not unlimited, it can be monopolized.

A high-level Discount card can achieve this. Although both of them felt that the school was unlikely to set up a zero-yuan purchase, as long as the redemption price was reduced to less than 10%, there would be enough room for maneuver.

At that time, a series of ideas, such as buying low and selling high, monopolizing a specific commodity, and saving necessary points for other groups in the class, can be implemented.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Kitagawa Ryo each had a clear goal: to pursue the rewards of upgrading common cards.

The deal with Ryuen Kakeru, and today's conflict between Class A and Class B caused by Karuizawa Kei, were all just a smokescreen by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

Kitagawa Ryo silently turned off his watch, calmly washing the ingredients and preparing the meal while observing his surroundings.

Since Amasawa Ichika said that it wasn't just Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, it should be relatively easy to find him.

After all, not everyone at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School is like Ayanokoji, born into White Room and skilled at concealing their presence. For ordinary high school students...

With his keen eyesight, Kitagawa Ryo quickly spotted a somewhat furtive figure in the southeast direction—a man of medium build.

By deliberately making a louder noise while chopping vegetables, the other person indeed glanced in their direction, and Kitagawa Ryo quickly caught his facial features.

He is Totsuka Yahiko from Class 1-A.

Was he sent by Katsuragi Kohei? Then does that mean Ayanokoji's actions were his personal matter?

Just as these two thoughts flashed through Kitagawa Ryo's mind, he caught sight of a figure in the northeast corner of his eye—it was the stealthy Kamuro Masumi.

The matter wasn't over yet. Kitagawa Ryo, who had changed direction and started cooking, caught sight of Ryuen Kakeru, who was hiding in the tree, with half of his calf still showing despite being concealed by the branches and leaves.

The main thing is that the row of haphazard, not-yet-fully-healed abrasions are relatively easy to spot.

Including Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who hasn't been observed yet but definitely exists, we've already got enough people for a mahjong game.

Kitagawa Ryo rinsed his hands with water and calmly began to put the prepared ingredients into the pot.

Although I don't know how many people I just said will be fooled, as long as it can have some effect on information disruption, it's quite worth it.

"You just had a conflict with the students from Class D?"

Katsuragi Kohei looked at Totsuka Yahiko with some displeasure:

"I've told you so many times, there's no need for our Class A to make enemies on all sides right now. We just need to hold our current position."

"Especially now that our Class A's position isn't secure, you should be even more careful about your words and actions. As Leader, I have a supervisory responsibility, so you also need to be careful not to do anything out of line."

Upon returning to his own class, Totsuka Yahiko was immediately reprimanded in front of everyone by Katsuragi Kohei. Seeing many of his classmates pointing and smirking at him, Totsuka Yahiko found it unbearable and muttered a retort under his breath:

"What do you mean I shouldn't do anything out of line...? That Ayanokoji guy has done way more outrageous things than I have."

Totsuka Yahiko is a very self-aware person. He knows very well that his abilities are actually not that great in the entire Class A, just as Amasawa Ichika said. That's why he chose to invest in his relationship with Katsuragi Kohei from the beginning of the school year, and then use this relationship to improve his status in the class.

The more this is the case, the more difficult it becomes for Totsuka Yahiko not to feel increasingly disgusted with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who seems to have the same "persona" as him.

One follower is enough for Katsuragi Kohei.

However, every time he hinted at this to Katsuragi Kohei would only give a perfunctory response, saying something like, "You and Ayanokoji are both my important right-hand men," and making completely ambiguous statements.

Totsuka Yahiko was naturally unaware that his resentful status as a follower was merely a tactic used by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to conceal himself while simultaneously controlling Katsuragi Kohei as the class's public figure. He simply felt an increasing sense of crisis.

Especially after the grouping rules for this Uninhabited Island Special Exam were introduced.

Katsuragi Kohei formed an elite team, he didn't choose to be in the same group as Totsuka Yahiko could understand this rationally, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed emotionally.

However, at that time Totsuka Yahiko naively fantasized that Katsuragi Kohei might arrange for him to be among the other elite students in the class, so that he could get a better group ranking.

In fact, Katsuragi Kohei initially thought so too. He even went directly to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, the student he admired most in the class, and hinted that he would be willing to mentor the students in the latter half of the class, including Totsuka Yahiko.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, of course, was unwilling to do this kind of babysitting work, so he used a flatbread to shut Katsuragi Kohei up, but this action inadvertently caused trouble for Totsuka Yahiko.

With Katsuragi Kohei not intervening, Totsuka Yahiko could only team up with other students from the latter half of the class to participate in the exam.

When Totsuka Yahiko first saw that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was teaming up alone, he was somewhat relieved, since at least he had found a teammate.

However, while Totsuka Yahiko was checking the group rankings every day, hoping to see Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's name in one of the bottom few positions, he waited and waited but his wish was not fulfilled. Instead, his group fell to the bottom half, with a group of Class C and Class D ranking similar to each other.

Upon hearing Katsuragi Kohei's instructions today, Totsuka Yahiko rushed over to pledge his loyalty, only to stumble upon Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asking Katsuragi Kohei for someone to participate in the [Two-Person Cavalry Battle] Matoba. Katsuragi Kohei, without even blinking, assigned him Kito Hayato, the best-fitting athlete in the class.

Recalling his experiences over the past few days—being ridiculed by the students of Class D and now being publicly reprimanded by Katsuragi Kohei — Totsuka Yahiko couldn't hold back any longer and raised his voice to repeat his dissatisfaction:

"Katsuragi said my actions were out of line, but Ayanokoji's actions were even more excessive!"

"It's clearly not a special card, yet he was put into a group alone. No, how could one person rank higher than our group of four? It must be Katsuragi, you secretly helped him, just like before, that must be it..."

Before Totsuka Yahiko could finish speaking, Hirata Yosuke, standing next to Katsuragi Kohei, quickly stepped forward and covered his mouth, saying to Katsuragi Kohei, whose face had suddenly darkened:

"Totsuka is too tired today. His group crossed four squares to get here, so he's in a bad mood."

While giving Totsuka Yahiko a way out, Hirata Yosuke whispered to Totsuka Yahiko:

"Apologize now."

Interrupted by Hirata Yosuke, Totsuka Yahiko's overheated mind cooled down instantly, and he quickly lowered his head, apologizing with a bitter expression.

"I'm sorry, Katsuragi- san, I was too emotional just now, I'm really sorry."

"At least in terms of controlling your emotions, you should learn more from Ayanokoji."

Katsuragi Kohei didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Other groups from nearby classes had already noticed the commotion, so he took a deep breath and replied:

"Alright, you can go back to your group now."

Somewhat dazed, Totsuka Yahiko walked away from Katsuragi Kohei. Just as he was hesitating whether to go back to find his groupmates, he saw the girl from Class 1-D who had just ridiculed him so harshly was with another girl, acting mysteriously and avoiding the crowd, as if they were going somewhere.

Thinking that she might have stumbled upon some great secret, and feeling some resentment because of the other party's earlier criticism, she was reluctant to go back immediately. At the same time, she also hoped to prove to Katsuragi Kohei that she was no less capable than Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

With mixed feelings, Totsuka Yahiko inexplicably chose to follow Amasawa Ichika and Sakura Airi, wanting to see where they were going.

Ibuki Mio felt that Shiina Hiyori had been acting strangely these past few days.

If we narrow the time frame further and refine the sample more precisely, it begins on the third night of the Uninhabited Island Exam, after that the Tempest night.

Especially this morning, when Ibuki Mio, as usual, got up early to wash and then returned to her tent, she would usually wake Shiina Hiyori at this time.

Unlike the Shiina Hiyori who was the ultimate bed sheet captive in the past, when Ibuki Mio entered the tent, before she could even speak, she saw Shiina Hiyori and touching her lips like a fool, chuckling to herself. For a moment, Ibuki Mio wondered if she was hallucinating from too much fatigue.