This Is Our Little Secret-Just Between the Three of Us

However, the remaining three members of Kitagawa Ryo's group still signed up for the same assignment as him, and it was an assignment that happened to include a chance to upgrade a regular card as a reward.

Either Ryuen Kakeru saw through his roundabout approach and obtained the correct information... or Kitagawa Ryo himself didn't trust Ryuen Kakeru and chose to search both sides.

He sent everyone else to the south, while he went to the north.

This also explains why Kitagawa Ryo isn't here.

While Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was brainstorming, Sakayanagi Arisu and the other two, who had already registered, were also quietly discussing around the suddenly appearing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

"If Ayanokoji is here, then Ryo has come to nowhere."

"This morning he said he would intercept and track Ayanokouji by himself, worried that we wouldn't be able to keep up, but in the end, weren't we the ones who found Ayanokoji first?"

"I've decided to give them a good laugh at dinner tonight."

The three of them exchanged glances, unusually finding themselves in agreement.

"No matter what..."

A fierce competitive spirit shone in Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes.

"Let's take him down first."

Chapter 183: This is our little secret among the three of us.

The student who drew number one was Matoba Shinji Class A. On the first day of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, he had traded his single tent plus a piece of fresh meat with Kitagawa Ryo for a double tent. Thanks to him, the barbecue that night was very plentiful.

To save time and for greater convenience, all drawings are done on tablets using drawing software. Each person has a maximum of five minutes, during which their drawing is simultaneously displayed on other people's tablets, and then answers can be sent for guessing.

However, Matoba Shinji to appear, quickly made many people frown. It wasn't because his drawing skills were abstract or because they didn't know how to describe the given words, but because Matoba Shinji.

Matoba Shinji crossed his arms and proudly proclaimed his plan. From the moment he heard the rules, he realized that the person guessing the picture had a much greater advantage than the person drawing it.

As a game won by a single player, each round of Draw and Guess will only result in one of the following scenarios:

First, if no one can guess the answer, both the artist and the guesser will receive zero points.

2. If one to three people can guess the answer, the artist receives one to three points, and the guessers receive a total of three to six points. (The first to guess gets three points, the second gets two points, and the third gets one point.)

Third, if three to six people can guess the answer, the artist will receive three to six points, and the guessers will receive a total of six points.

Fourth, if six or more people can guess the answer, the artist will receive six or more points, and the guessers will receive a total of six points.

Given that everyone is a competitor, from a purely score-based perspective, only those who score six or higher can be said to have truly achieved a lead and advantage in their own round of drawing.

Otherwise, the guessers will always have the upper hand.

Unless the top three guesses are all members of this group, but the chances of that are very slim.

Therefore, it's better not to draw anything at all, but to directly achieve result one and put oneself back in the position of the more advantageous guesser.

Furthermore, if everyone realizes this and achieves result one, then everyone will get zero points.

Theoretically speaking, it could be considered a tie for first place.

We'll see how the school handles it then.

Holding this thought in mind, Matoba Shinji remained motionless.

But to his surprise, with two minutes left in the countdown, the teacher in charge suddenly grabbed a megaphone and shouted:

The first keyword hint is a four-character idiom.

You didn't expect that, did you? The school definitely won't let you exploit this bug.

The teacher in charge raised an eyebrow at the somewhat clever student, watching his next move.

Frankly speaking, the first clue is not very useful. Four-character idioms, as the name suggests, are idioms composed of four Chinese characters. The range is quite wide, and it is impossible to guess the specific word based on just this one clue.

Just as Matoba Shinji was still desperately holding on, with one minute left on the countdown, the teacher in charge called out again:

"It involves states from the Spring and Autumn Period of China."

The Matoba Shinji the audience noticed that some students had already started writing down their answers and submitting them.

With ten seconds left in the countdown, the teacher in charge gave the final hint:

"The last word of the word this time is 'boat'."

"This round is over."

"The correct answer is 'Wu and Yue are in the same boat', which describes people with whom you have a bad relationship who have common interests and work together to help each other."

The teacher in charge looked at the dozens of answers displayed on the tablet, clicked on them to sort them in reverse chronological order, and announced:

"First place Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, plus three points."

"Second Sakayanagi Arisu, two points added."

"Third place Ichinose Honami, one point added."

"Four people answered correctly in this round, Matoba Shinji plus four points."

After hearing the details of this round, Matoba Shinji took a deep breath and clenched his fist. Although the process and his ideas had gone a bit wrong, the result was still good.

He and Ayanokoji, both from Class A, scored three and four points respectively, making them undoubtedly the biggest winners of this round.

At this point, Matoba Shinji realized that if he didn't draw, all the students would be guessing based on the school's hints.

Isn't this just another kind of idiom competition?

Class A is absolutely good at this.

Just as Matoba Shinji was leaving the stage in high spirits, the teacher in charge was reviewing the answers from the first round and found something interesting.

After his second prompt, a user named Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sent more than a dozen related four-character idioms within ten seconds, such as "besieged on all sides," "enduring hardship to achieve one's goal," and "an old horse knows the way." The final answer, "Wu and Yue are in the same boat," was naturally among them.

A broad knowledge base, coupled with extremely fast reactions and hand speed, were the key factors that allowed the opponent to take first place in this round.

Judging from this round alone, he has high hopes for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's performance in this project.

Horikita Suzune took a deep breath. Her answer was also correct, but she seemed to be a little slower than Ichinose Honami. Not only did she not get any points, but she also gave Matoba Shinji an extra point.

From this perspective, this topic might also contain elements of psychological warfare.

After all, if the first three people don't answer correctly, the subsequent correct answers will only give the artist extra points. Of course, if the artist is a member of their class or group, that's a good thing.

In many ways, this seemingly casual topic is actually not that simple.

The second student to perform was Fukuyama Shinobu from Class A. He wore glasses and had a refined demeanor. It was said that his academic performance was also quite good.

However, unlike Matoba Shinji before, Fukuyama Shinobu finally put pen to paper this time. Under everyone's gaze, on the white screen, he simply drew a flag.

The flag was blank, like a white flag, with a stick figure drawn holding it.

The teacher in charge twitched his lips; he had already received answers like "Blitzkrieg France," "Insulting France Today," "Impregnable Fortress," and "Maginot Line"—purely luck-based responses.

Then, holding a pen, Fukuyama Shinobu drew an arrow pointing towards himself.

Horikita Suzune was completely bewildered and had no idea what it meant, but her Matoba Shinji, Shimazaki Kazue, and Motodoi Chikako seemed to have suddenly realized something and quickly started writing.

With two minutes left, the teacher in charge announced the first hint:

The answer is four words.

One minute to go, the second hint will be announced:

"It comes from China military strategy."

Ten seconds down, the third hint is announced:

"It is related to Takeda Shingen, a famous general of the Sengoku period."

Actually, when the second clue was revealed, Horikita Suzune had already vaguely grasped the answer, but she didn't fill it in immediately because it was easy to tell from the reactions of the other students in Class A that they had already found out the answer through other channels.

"This round is over."

"The correct answer is 'Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain,' which is the full text: 'Swift as the wind, silent as the forest, fierce as fire, immovable as a mountain.' Takeda Shingen once wrote this military strategy on his flag as his battle flag."

Although the results haven't been announced yet, Fukuyama Shinobu couldn't wait to pop the champagne. He was a well-known Sengoku period history enthusiast in his class, and his favorite warlord was Takeda Shingen, which is why he drew an empty flag with a small figure pointing at himself.

Matoba Shinji gave him a high five; as a classmate and good friend, he immediately understood.

Undoubtedly, Fukuyama Shinobu offered another solution to this problem: creating patterns whose meanings only the students in his class could possibly know in advance by exploiting information asymmetry.

This way, you can not only get the points from the guesser, but also have a guaranteed three points for yourself. Other students who get the answer based on the keyword hints will be afraid to submit it, which is really a win-win situation.

"First place in this round: Ichinose Honami, plus three points."

"Second place: Matoba Shinji, plus two points."

Third place: Shimazaki Kazue, one point added.

"Four people answered correctly, and Fukuyama Shinobu scored four points."

Fukuyama Shinobu gaped in astonishment. In his mind, only the three students from Class A should have answered correctly first, with perhaps Ayanokoji Kiyotaka added at most. However, the student with the highest score was from another class.

But if it's Ichinose Honami, then it seems quite reasonable.

After all, she is a social icon who reigns supreme in the entire grade, a figure comparable to Kushida Kikyo in some ways, and perhaps even more familiar with Class A than with Class D.

"So this is a question that people who are completely socially inept cannot answer."

Ichinose Honami spoke softly.

Both the number one completely socially insensitive member Horikita Suzune, and the number two completely socially insensitive member Sakayanagi Arisu agreement.

You're amazing! Thumbs up!

However, Fukuyama Shinobu's approach did provide some ideas for the group, but thinking about it now is useless until they actually draw the words.

There were twelve people present, and the pace of one question every five minutes was not slow. Soon, only Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and three students from Class D were left to draw.

The current score rankings are:

"First place: Ichinose Honami, 16 points."

"Second place: Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, thirteen points."

Third place: Matoba Shinji, 12 points.

After Fukuyama Shinobu pioneered the information gap strategy, the remaining two members of Class A also adopted it, each achieving good results. Apart from Ichinose Honami place once and first place once, all the other times the answers were correct by students from their own class.

Matoba Shinji, who had already accumulated six points in the first two rounds, reached ten points after Class A's conclusion, placing him alongside Ichinose Honami in the top tier.

But when it comes to teamwork and information asymmetry, Class B has never been afraid of anyone. The first three Class B students to appear gave the other classes almost no chance. As if they were of one mind, they casually drew some abstract lines, and the others immediately understood.

However, just when Class B was in a great position, the last student from Class B to appear Himeno Yuki, made a mistake. She inexplicably abandoned the idea of information asymmetry and instead followed Matoba Shinji's approach without making a single move. As a result, in the keyword competition, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Matoba Shinji from Class A directly snatched first and second place, sending the two of them to the top of the leaderboard.

After Himeno Yuki, came Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

Although they weren't in the same class, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka inexplicably felt the former's state of mind as he stepped onto the stage.

He simply couldn't use the information gap approach, because ultimately, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka wasn't familiar with the other members of Class A.

There's simply no joke that only a few of us, or students in our class, would know.

However, he had another approach.

"...!"

The teacher in charge couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "So far, all the entries for the 'Draw and Guess' project have either been completely blank or abstract combinations of lines and blocks. Now, we've actually encountered a realist artist."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka received drawing training in the White Room. Although it was only basic, he could still easily sketch the desired pattern.

What appeared on the screen was a lifelike tiger, and then Ayanokoji Kiyotaka added wings to it.

In that instant, the teacher in charge was bombarded with messages.

"The correct answer to 'this round is over' is 'like adding wings to a tiger,' describing giving extra help to someone who is already powerful."

"First place: Sakayanagi Arisu, three points."

"Second place: Matoba Shinji, with two points."

Third place: Himeno Yuki, one point.

Almost all the answers came within three seconds.

"Then... a total of nine people answered correctly, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka got nine points."

Horikita Suzune and Ichinose Honami exchanged a glance. They were the only two who didn't answer, or rather, they stopped immediately after realizing that their hand speed wasn't fast enough to get into the top three.

All I can say is that Sakayanagi Arisu's hand speed, or rather, her reaction speed, is truly astonishing.