One Summer at a Time / An Open and Honest Talk

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Kitagawa Ryo parked the motorcycle, helped the other person with their luggage, and pointed with his right hand, saying:

"Take it and take it for a couple of walks?"

"... Oh, really?"

Machida Koji stared wide-eyed, seemingly unable to believe what he was hearing.

"I've got enough motorcycles for transportation, consider it a gift from me, have fun."

Kitagawa Ryo smiled and patted him on the shoulder, then walked towards the beach without looking back.

Shiina Hiyori and Sakayanagi Arisu are supervising the students who have reached the safe zone as they exchange points for supplies. Because this is a special operation targeting Class A, Classes B and C have also sent their own assistants, so the fees are only collected from the students of Class A.

"Kitagawa, you're really something!"

Ishizaki Daichi from Class C happened to be there too. He walked up and gave Kitagawa Ryo a thumbs up, winking at him.

He was originally a student staying at the F4 temporary rest area, and he had already prepared to climb the mountain in the morning. Who knew that Ibuki Mio would bring people back on motorcycles.

"Class A really went all out this time."

"There were six teams in Class A in the F4 Area. Except for Morishige Takuro's team, all of them were at full strength. In the end, five teams rode on our motorcycles."

Sakayanagi Arisu clearly explained the situation to Kitagawa Ryo:

"After deducting the Discount, we acquired a total of 35,300 units of supplies."

"Moreover, this is a process of ebb and flow."

Shiina Hiyori added from the side:

"The entire Class A group in the F4 Area has fallen to the bottom half of the group rankings, and the class's overall score has also dropped significantly. They have been overtaken by Class B and have fallen to second place."

"But speaking of which, why did the school take such a big step on the seventh day?"

"If they hadn't realized they could escape by Jet Ski, I estimate more than half the group wouldn't have made it out of that restricted area."

In response to Shiina Hiyori's question, Kitagawa Ryo nodded and offered his opinion:

"Based on my guess, the school's initial plan for this two-week-long Uninhabited Island Exam was divided into two phases: seven days before and seven days after."

"Do you remember the [Multi-party Tug-of-War] project we participated in yesterday?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the latter half of the Uninhabited Island Exam will likely focus on team-based, collaborative challenges."

"If the school wants to assign other large-scale projects, it must accommodate groups that don't have a full complement of four members to ensure a certain level of fairness."

"Therefore, from the very beginning, the school planned to reduce the number of students in the groups on the island to varying degrees on the seventh day, eliminating students who lingered in the temporary rest area due to laziness."

"But because of our advance prediction and intervention, although the students in Class A paid the price in terms of points, there were actually no casualties."

Kitagawa Ryo looked up at the boundless sea, stroked his chin, and said:

"So, if I were the school administrator, I would try to make some changes to this exam."

"What tactical change?"

"Of course, it's a supplement to this unfulfilled plan."

"Reduce the number of students on the island to a certain threshold."

Chabashira Sae looked at the new research topic description that the school had temporarily issued in her hand.

Since entering Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, whether as a student or a teacher, she had never seen the school change the rules for exams so frequently.

[Project Title: Table Tennis Round-Robin]

[Topic Type: Sports]

[Project Description: There is no limit to the number of participants per group. Registration will close one hour after four groups have registered or the project is announced.]

[Participating students will form teams to compete against other teams in table tennis. The team with eleven points wins and remains in the top spot to face the next challenger, until all members of one team are eliminated.]

[The four teams will be drawn to determine their opponents; single-elimination tournament]

[First Place Reward: 2500 points]

[Second Place Reward: 2000 points]

The above content was predetermined at the beginning of this Special Exam.

But now, there's an additional explanation below.

The two eliminated teams will also need to compete to determine the fourth-place team.

[Fourth Place Penalty: One member of the group withdraws from this exam (the group must choose within the allotted time; otherwise, a member will be randomly selected)]

Chapter 191: Summers That Are One Less Every One Ends

"Okay, I understand."

"You did nothing wrong. Preserving the group is the key. If you're eliminated, your score will be fixed. There's still a week until the Uninhabited Island Exam, and you'll definitely be overtaken by others."

"In the end, Class A is now just back to the same starting line as Class B."

Katsuragi Kohei comforted the students in Class A on the other end of the phone.

He had actually prepared for the entire group that stayed in the F4 Area to be wiped out. After all, if six or seven groups from the four classes were to be lost, it would be the same as no one losing anything, and Class A would still be the undisputed leader.

Although Kitagawa Ryo had cost them over 30,000 points of supplies, most of the groups had at least survived. Katsuragi Kohei understood the principle that if people are lost but land is lost, both can be preserved, so he didn't blame them too much.

The only thing that troubled him was the attitude of B, C, and D in this incident, which seemed to be subtly uniting against Class A.

Therefore, after ending his call with his students, Katsuragi Kohei immediately called Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

"Hello."

With his usual calm voice, as if completely unaware of the huge change that had just occurred in Class A, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quickly answered the phone.

Have you heard about what happened in the F4 Area?

Katsuragi Kohei asked tentatively.

"Know."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka explained it simply and clearly:

"In fact, I already knew yesterday afternoon that Kitagawa had rented all of the school's Jet Ski."

"Remember Hashimoto? He followed Karuizawa Kei all the way and saw them preparing Jet Ski in the waters of the D9 area."

"Then... why didn't you say so beforehand?"

If it weren't for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's past abilities, Katsuragi Kohei would probably have used a questioning tone. However, even though he forcibly suppressed the rising anger, the bulging veins on his forehead inevitably revealed his current mood.

"Because, based on my judgment, this might actually be an event that benefits Class A."

"You mean Class A spent over 30,000 points and then used those points to buy supplies for Class D?"

"It's meaningless to only look at short-term losses; today isn't the last day of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka shook his head:

"The school initially hoped to weed out some groups by the seventh day. This morning, more than 60% of the topics in the first round of updates were large-scale group projects that had never been done before."

"Although we lost points, Class A's group didn't actually lose many members. This means we can still maintain an advantage in large-scale group projects. Moreover, after the school's plan failed this time, they are very likely to try to reduce the number of group members through new projects."

"The school had already hinted at this back when the exam guidelines were released."

"This Uninhabited Island Special Exam is a variant of the 'battle royale' game."

"And battle royale games, over time..."

"The number of survivors will definitely decrease."

"I feel like I never want to ride Jet Ski again in my life."

Like a salted fish that has lost its dreams, Ken Sudō lay sprawled on the beach, muttering to himself.

"Indeed... it feels like I've used up all the time I could spend on Jet Ski in this life, no, I feel like I'll use up all the time I could spend on jet skis in the next life too."

Beside him, Miyake Akito was equally exhausted, not even wanting to move a finger.

It took them about two or three hours to finally transport all the students who had registered and boarded the bus in area D9, along with their luggage, to the safe zone.

At first, it was fun playing in the water, but later it became like a taxi driver, almost instinctively shuttling between the two places.

You might even find the shouts of the students behind you, who are riding Jet Ski for the first time, a bit too noisy.

"Thank you for your hard work."

At that moment, Kitagawa Ryo also came over with two bottles of water, tossed one to each of them, and thanked them with a smile:

"This has been a huge help."

"Hey, it's okay. Besides, we got so many supplies, which will save us a lot of points."

After being thanked so directly by Kitagawa Ryo, Ken Sudō scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly, took the water, and gulped down two mouthfuls.

"... The taste feels a bit strange."

"The water was filtered using the school's 4,000-point bottle-type water purifier. Although the taste is a bit strange, I had Mashima teacher, have it tested. It passed the drinking water standard, so it should be fine."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded and explained, handing the other bottle of water to Miyake Akito beside him:

"Besides the food, I also exchanged the points from Class A for five of these water purifiers. If used properly, they should save our class a lot of points."

Drinking water is one of the essential supplies during the Uninhabited Island Exam. Almost every group spends a considerable amount of points every day to exchange for drinking water. This is one of the reasons why so many students gathered at the temporary rest point. The free drinking water was simply too attractive.

Most students noticed the 4,000-point water purifier on their first day on the island, but they didn't have enough points at the time. Even though they eventually had the 4,000 points, they felt it wasn't worth it.

After all, the earlier you redeem this product, the higher its value.

However, since Kitagawa Ryo and his friends had used their Class A points, they didn't hesitate to exchange them for a total of five water purifiers without any hesitation.

"That's fine. If we can save some points, we can just make do with this."

After listening to Kitagawa Ryo's words, Ken Sudō nodded in agreement. His group had a good chance of making it into the top three in this exam, so saving even a single point would be a good thing.

Besides, it only tastes a little strange. In the past, in order to save points, they would often avoid drinking water unless absolutely necessary.

"But speaking of which, Kitagawa, do you think our class has a chance this time?"

Miyake Akito took a sip of water from the bottle and suddenly asked Kitagawa Ryo.

"As long as there's progress, that's good."

Kitagawa Ryo did not answer Miyake Akito's question directly; he simply looked out at the sea not far away.

Although the motorcycle taxi drivers were tired of riding Jet Ski, the other students in Class D were unwilling to spend two thousand points to rent one, and they were having a great time.

"In fact, the average score for the first seven days was higher for Class D than for Class C."

This is the data calculated by Sakayanagi Arisu.

"It's only summer vacation during the first First Year."

Kitagawa Ryo narrowed his eyes slightly, and with a slight smile, he said:

"Every summer before you turn eighteen is one less to come."

Chapter 192: Open and Frank

On the evening of the seventh day of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, the students of Class D held an unprecedented dinner party in Area D9 using supplies provided by Class A.

Most of Class D's group was already in the F4 Area, Kitagawa Ryo had also contacted the other scattered groups using his watch. He sent special vehicles (referring to Jet Ski) to pick them up one by one. All thirty-four members of Class D were present, making it a lively and bustling place.

Even the homeroom teacher Mashima Tomonari, was dragged over by Kitagawa Ryo. The accompanying teachers were initially concerned that Mashima Tomonari be secretly providing some benefits to the students in his class, but upon closer inspection, they discovered that he was being treated to food and drinks by the students, and the food was even better than what their school provided.

But once I saw it was Kitagawa Ryo, everything suddenly made sense.

Mashima Tomonari watched his colleague walk away with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. He had never imagined that he would be able to participate in the students' dinner party on a day when the Special Exam was approaching.

But unlike the other three class advisors, he was indeed the core of Class D.

You might find girls in the class who don't want to get close to Ichinose Honami, and you might find boys who aren't interested in Sakura Airi, the former idol, but it's hard to find a student who doesn't approve of Mashima Tomonari their homeroom teacher.

Aside from the teacher's diligent and meticulous teaching style, which seemed to break down and cram all the knowledge into their mouths, the fact that the teacher was willing to use their Private Points to support the students in the class through 'scholarships' and 'progress awards' was enough to move most of the students.