Where's My Sister?

Horikita Manabu lifted the tent door and walked in, carrying a stack of bento boxes.

"You're studying... just got back from F4's place?"

A teacher who seemed to be quite familiar with Horikita Manabu took the lunchbox and began distributing it to the other staff members.

"Yes, get ready to hand over the shift."

"You've worked hard, go and get some rest."

"Yes, you've worked hard too."

After bowing politely, Horikita Manabu turned and left the tent, but in the last second before turning back, he caught a glimpse of the screen and smiled very subtly.

After stepping out of the tent, Horikita Manabu took out his notebook again. He stared at the lines and squares that Tachibana Akane couldn't understand, and then heavily drew a circle on a certain spot.

Taking a deep breath, Horikita Manabu confidently put the notebook and pen back into his pocket.

He could see that.

There's no reason why Suzune shouldn't have noticed that the boy she likes.

Chapter 182: Where's my sister?

"Xue, I brought yours too."

Horikita Manabu turned his head, and Tachibana Akane, who was carrying two bento boxes, was enthusiastically suggesting:

"The weather is so nice today, let's go eat by the sea."

The school's main base is located in D9, a coastal area. The island's port is located here, and cruise ships dock nearby, making it convenient to access and transport supplies.

Seeing Tachibana Akane's expectant look, Horikita Manabu couldn't refuse, so he nodded in agreement and followed the bouncy Tachibana Akane towards the beach.

Just as she said, the weather was indeed very good today, and the sea was quite calm, with gentle waves constantly lapping against the beach and receding, creating low, white spray.

They quickly laid out the picnic blanket, and it seemed that Tachibana Akane had been prepared for this. The two of them sat on it together, listening to the sound of the waves. Although they were only eating ordinary bento boxes, it felt like a picnic.

"Speaking of which, Xue always wrote and drew in his notebook."

Having just witnessed Horikita Manabu drawing Matoba in his notebook with a pen, Tachibana Akane asked a question out of curiosity.

"I'm thinking about the pattern of shrinking school districts, and how to solve this problem."

Horikita Manabu didn't try to hide anything. Normally, the third-year students couldn't interfere with this Special Exam for the First Year. He was just taking this opportunity to think about the anomalies he had discovered in the past few days.

"On the surface, the first and second rounds basically designated all the cells in columns B and I as restricted areas, one on the left and one on the right, easily giving the impression that the school was shrinking its boundaries inwards."

"But actually, the far left and far right of the entire map are not B and I, but A and J."

Hearing this, Tachibana Akane tried hard to recall the grid on the map, and asked hesitantly:

"But columns A and J are mostly on the sea, with almost no land. The school won't assign projects at sea."

You'll understand this later.

Horikita Manabu smiled, a rare occurrence. He didn't explain immediately, but instead took out his notebook and showed Tachibana Akane the location of F4:

"This is a temporary rest area set up by the school. It's located in a canyon area, and the terrain is relatively flat."

"But to its south, including areas F5, G5, F6, and G6, the terrain is entirely steep mountains."

"If the restricted area really does shrink from the outside in, then the F4 Area is indeed close to the center and could easily be considered one of the last safe zones."

Horikita Manabu paused slightly at this point, then placed his pen horizontally above the F4 Area and rolled it downwards:

"But what if the school's decision to shrink the restricted area is from north to south?"

Tachibana Akane's pupils contracted slightly. If Horikita Manabu was true, then the temporary rest stop itself was a huge trap.

"A 'temporary' rest stop is fine if you're just taking a short break, but if you treat it as a long-term base and think you can just get by since you're not at the bottom, things might go wrong."

Horikita Manabu calmly began to analyze:

"Compared to the special exam for First Year on the Uninhabited Island Special Exam in the past, this time the exam period has been extended from one week to two weeks."

"In previous years, tomorrow would actually be the last day of the exams."

"In this exam, the seventh day should be considered a watershed moment in the school's exam schedule."

"Humans actually have a really strong ability to adapt and endure, but the real difficulty lies in whether we can tighten and loosen that string and then tighten it again, which is what we call the ability to adjust."

Tachibana Akane asked with some concern:

"Doesn't that mean the students who are happily setting up camp in the F4 Area are already in great danger?"

"For those students, going over the mountain is definitely the worst option. If they react quickly, they should be able to find another route out on the map."

Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses and continued:

"The areas in columns A and J are indeed all sea surface, but that doesn't mean they're impassable. That's probably why the school didn't designate them as restricted areas."

As if to confirm Horikita Manabu's words, the sounds of roaring and waves breaking gradually came from the distant sea.

Two Jet Ski sped toward the coast of D9 area, one after the other. From a distance, one could see a group of one man and three women, a configuration that was practically unique on the entire Uninhabited Island.

Even the usually composed Horikita Manabu couldn't help but smile.

"Just as I predicted, Liang and the others are doing exactly what I expected..."

Just then, Tachibana Akane silently raised her hand:

"But—I don't think I see Suzune."

"How was it? Wasn't it simple, Hui?"

Even though it was only his second time riding Jet Ski, Kitagawa Ryo acted like a seasoned veteran in front of Karuizawa Kei, whistling as he asked.

"... tsk."

Karuizawa Kei didn't answer. Although she had gotten over the hurdle in her heart, she still felt a tiny bit of discomfort when she actually saw Shiina Hiyori holding Kitagawa Ryo's waist and the two of them Matoba through the sea.

Although she really wanted to ask why Ibuki Mio from another class was sitting behind her, when Karuizawa Kei looked back, Ibuki Mio's face was also full of anticipation and excitement, as if to say, "If you don't want to drive this thing, I'll drive it instead."

I'll continue driving then.

Putting aside the two people mentioned earlier, Jet Ski is actually quite fun...

Shiina Hiyori wrapped her arms around Kitagawa Ryo's neck and whispered something in his ear.

What a load of rubbish!

Before Ibuki Mio in the back seat could react, she heard Karuizawa Kei in the front grit her teeth and say, "Hold on tight!" Then the Jet Ski, which had been moving steadily at a constant speed, suddenly accelerated and sped past Kitagawa Ryo's jet ski, kicking up a huge spray of water.

To be fair, as someone whose family runs a dojo and who has received martial arts training since childhood, Ibuki Mio has always been very confident in her courage. However, she never expected to encounter someone even more reckless than herself today, which brought her first Jet Ski trip to a rather wild experience.

When Karuizawa Kei stopped the engine on the shore, Ibuki Mio stumbled down, feeling as if she had been bounced three times on a roller coaster at an amusement park, and was so dizzy that she couldn't recover for a long time.

Karuizawa Kei was actually feeling a bit unwell, but she forced herself to keep a straight face and didn't give anything away. She even had the energy to check her watch to see where she was.

A few minutes later, Kitagawa Ryo and Shiina Hiyori's motorcycle finally arrived. The two chatted and laughed as they parked their motorcycle and strolled leisurely onto the beach.

On the shore, Tachibana Akane was still counting people on her fingers:

"Karuizawa Kei from Class B, Shiina Hiyori from Class C... and the last one with short blue hair, I think she's also from Class C —her name is Ibuki Mio?"

"I saw the three of them this morning at the Acupressure Mat Sprint project."

Tachibana Akane blinked in confusion as she finished speaking:

"Where's Suzune? Isn't she in the same group as Kitagawa?"

Horikita Manabu slowly shook his head, rubbing his chin, and suddenly realized that he had opened his champagne earlier than his sister.

He remembered that his sister and Kitagawa Ryo were quite close at the Cultural Festival two years ago, and they even bought each other swimsuits not long ago, didn't they?

Horikita Manabu fell into deep thought.

"Suzune? Suzune?"

Ichinose Honami patted Horikita Suzune's shoulder in confusion. Startled by the sudden movement, Horikita Suzune finally looked up.

"What's wrong?"

"Arisu and I were just discussing our next destination. Now that we have a temporary rest stop, it seems like there's hardly anyone around here. How about we try some subjects that we're not particularly good at but aren't completely incapable of either?"

Ichinose Honami patiently explained it again, completely disregarding Horikita Suzune's earlier distraction.

"Ah, indeed, the carrots will be ready in three minutes... no, as for the project, you guys can decide. With the three of us working together, there shouldn't be any project we can't complete."

Feeling that the other person's words were somewhat incoherent, Ichinose Honami shook her head helplessly and turned back to continue her discussion with Sakayanagi Arisu.

Unbeknownst to her, Horikita Suzune was replaying the entire process of cooking that morning in her mind, trying to uncover the secret to its deliciousness.

Otherwise, it would always be her who was impressed by Kitagawa Ryo's cooking, which is clearly a completely unequal relationship within the family.

Horikita Suzune's mind was already conjuring up images of a child crying:

"No, Mom's cooking isn't as good as Dad's at all."

Prohibited items!

If things really turn out that way, wouldn't it have been better not to have children in the first place?

Ms. Horikita Suzune, who is known for her tendency to get stuck on a single point, has undoubtedly gotten herself into another one. Her several changes in expression have caught the attention of Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu nearby.

"I think this topic is good."

Sakayanagi Arisu browsed through the latest batch of research topics and suddenly selected a target from them.

Ichinose Honami quickly turned her gaze in that direction.

[Topic Title: Draw and Guess]

[Type: Other]

[There is no limit to the number of participants per group. Registration will close when the number of participants for a project reaches twenty or one hour after a project is announced.]

[Rules of the activity: All participating students take turns coming to the stage to draw a picture based on the given words. The other students then guess what the picture represents. The first student to guess correctly gets three points, the second gets two points, the third gets one point, and subsequent students get no points. Simultaneously, one point is awarded for each picture correctly guessed. After all participating students have completed one round of drawing, the top three students are ranked according to their scores.]

[First Place: 1200 points, one chance to upgrade to a regular card]

[Second Place: 1000 points]

[Third Place: 800 points]

[Participation Prize: One random ingredient]

"This sounds really interesting."

Ichinose Honami was also drawn to this. Although the group wasn't as eager for the opportunity to upgrade their regular cards as Kitagawa Ryo, such an interesting topic was not easy to come by, and it also came with a participation prize of random ingredients.

"We're currently at E9, and this research topic is at C8. Just head west."

Because they had to take care of Sakayanagi Arisu, who wasn't in great physical condition, and because she had to participate in a project midway through, the trio only progressed two squares after separating from Kitagawa Ryo.

"Can Arisu keep up with the stamina?"

"I didn't walk much this morning, it should be enough time for me to get there."

Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu quickly made a decision after a few words, and pulled Horikita Suzune, who wasn't in a very good mental state, westward.

After perfectly avoiding Kitagawa Ryo, who had already arrived in area D9, Sakayanagi Arisu and the others finally rushed to area C8 before the deadline for project registration.

Although many groups were lured north by the gimmick of the temporary rest stop, a considerable number of groups still gathered here.

Although a large part of the reason is that F4 is too far away to go or they are too lazy to go.

On the first day, there were Matoba Shinji's group from Class A, Himeno Yuki's group from Class B, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who had met Kitagawa Ryo.

Just as Horikita Suzune and the others noticed Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's presence, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka also noticed their arrival at the same time.

[They had clearly fooled Ryuen Kakeru was monitoring them.]

Why are Kitagawa's group members still following him?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka narrowed his eyes slightly, his mind racing as he considered various possible reasons.

Ryuen Kakeru is a double agent. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka made this judgment as early as the day he discovered that the other party might be spying on him.

However, instead of alerting the enemy immediately, he took advantage of the information gap and successfully created false intelligence this morning.

From Ryuen Kakeru's perspective, he should have gone in the north direction.