The Rematch

They might share this as interesting information during an evening dinner, but during the time spent traveling around the island searching for suitable group topics, it's actually quite difficult for the various groups scattered across the island to establish communication and share information.

Furthermore, even if Kitagawa Ryo realized this through his intelligence network, he would still have to make a choice.

Which side should we save?

Still--

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nimbly traversed the mountain forest, his steps heading straight for a task whose first-place reward included an opportunity to upgrade a common card.

To stop himself?

The activity of "[Newspaper Folding Rock-Paper-Scissors]" was conducted on-site.

Shiina Hiyori and Ibuki Mio stood together in the center of the newspaper. The newspaper, which had not yet been folded, took up a considerable amount of space, and there was plenty of room for the two girls to stand together.

Their first opponent was Nishikawa Ryoko's group from Class 1-A.

This is the only group in Class A consisting of four girls. Compared to the other two mixed groups, which were already struggling to stand on the unfolded newspapers, their size was undoubtedly much smaller, and they seemed quite at ease.

According to the rules of the game, Shiina Hiyori has to play rock- Rock Paper Scissors- scissors with each of the four opponents, followed by Ibuki Mio. The team with the higher total score in these eight rounds of Rock Paper Scissors will win, and the losers will have to fold the newspaper once.

Shiina Hiyori had pretty good luck, winning three and losing one of her four matches, but Mio Ibuki Mio seemed to have less luck, managing only one win.

Faced with this tie, the teacher in charge, in accordance with the rules, allowed each group to choose one person again for a life-or-death battle.

But rock-paper-scissors ultimately comes down to luck, and without any understanding of the opponent's playing habits, it's difficult for Shiina Hiyori to master any winning techniques.

In the final, life-or-death battle, her scissors struck the rock.

"If only I could have won one more game..."

Ibuki Mio gritted her teeth, somewhat unwilling to give up.

"It's nothing, it's just the first round."

However, Shiina Hiyori shook her head rather calmly, and after refolding the newspaper, the initial area was reduced by half, but the two of them were still able to stand steadily in the center.

Meanwhile, on the other side, as if they had planned it beforehand, the three boys in a group that lost cleanly and decisively carried the remaining girl on their backs in a "four-person horseback riding" style after folding the newspaper. The three of them, shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot, managed to advance to the next round without eliminating a single person.

Shiina Hiyori Group was the same Class A team from the other half of the bracket that she had just won. However, after only two rounds, the other side had a clean and decisive result.

Nishikawa Ryoko's team, who had just won, easily lost the game. After folding the newspaper, the four girls formed a circle, with the two on the outside each raising one leg, barely maintaining the configuration of four people.

"They're controlling the score."

Even Ibuki Mio realized this after witnessing it.

It was obvious to anyone with eyes that if the group that lost in the first round had lost again, they would have inevitably lost members, but they won quite easily, as if it had been pre-arranged.

When it rains, it pours.

In the second round of matches, Shiina Hiyori Group suffered another loss, becoming the only group to lose two consecutive rounds.

I'll carry you on my back.

Ibuki Mio bent down Shiina Hiyori.

If the newspaper is folded twice, it's more than enough for one person to stand on, but there's not enough room for two people. After seeing how the other groups in Class A dealt with the situation, Ibuki Mio followed suit.

"Um."

Shiina Hiyori gave a soft reply. Ibuki Mio has good stamina and should be able to maintain this for a while.

Another round.

Finally, Shiina Hiyori and Ibuki Mio breathed a sigh of relief as they opened for business. The group that Nishikawa Ryoko was facing was forced to abandon the two of them and adopt the same posture as Shiina Hiyori Group, with one person carrying the other on their back and stepping on newspapers that had already been folded twice.

Meanwhile, the group that had never lost a game finally lost its first match and quickly adopted a strategy of having three people carry one person on their backs.

After three rounds, the situation on the field is that Nishikawa Ryoko's team and Shiina Hiyori Group have two losses each, while the other two teams have one loss each.

On the surface, Nishikawa Ryoko's group seems to be in the same dangerous situation as Shiina Hiyori Group.

But that's not the case.

They will be moved to another half of the bracket in the next round, and they are guaranteed to win.

Shiina Hiyori narrowed her eyes slightly.

The fourth round was absolutely a do-or-die situation for their group. If they lost again, they would become the only group with three losses.

Although you could try having Ibuki Mio someone on one leg...

But if that time really comes, Shiina Hiyori feels it would be best to give up herself.

Since there's no way to control the outcome of Rock Paper Scissors, how can we solve the puzzle?

Shiina Hiyori looked at Nishikawa Ryoko's group. The person responsible for carrying people over there was Tamiya Emi from Class A. Her physical strength was obviously not as good as Ibuki Mio's, and it was obvious to the naked eye that she was struggling to keep going.

In that instant, Shiina Hiyori suddenly understood the key to this project.

Rock Paper Scissors isn't the deciding factor; what truly determines elimination is...

[If all members of the group fall outside the newspaper's coverage area, the group is eliminated.]

Just as she was following this line of thought and began to rack her brains for a solution,

A boy emerged leisurely from the woods.

Ishizaki Daichi spoke as if he were communicating with someone, a smug smile on his face, his voice bright and clear, tinged with a mix of surprise, shock, disbelief, and utter smugness:

"What? Explain yourself more clearly."

"Nishikawa from Class A has actually been stringing Ishida from their class along, but she actually likes Sumio? She just hasn't dared to say it because her Tomoda also likes Sumio?"

"Impossible! Where did you get that idea?"

"Hey, a secret? I bet you can't tell me anything, you're just making it all up."

Ishizaki Daichi spat as if no one else was around.

Nishikawa Ryoko suddenly twitched, and Tamiya Emi, who was carrying her, also felt her legs go weak and almost fell to the ground together.

"How come things are getting more and more outrageous? Aren't Class A all good students? Hmm? You're saying that Shijo has always had a crush on Motodoi, but Motodoi actually likes Hashimoto?"

"That frivolous blond Hashimoto actually has people who like him? This guy named Shijo is so pathetic."

Ishizaki Daichi rubbed his nose.

In another group, the boy surnamed Shijo suddenly went dazed, like a deflated balloon, and almost collapsed to the side along with the two people next to him.

"Oh dear, they're working on a research project here."

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."

As if he had just noticed, Ishizaki Daichi spoke in surprise.

"What you just said was all a rumor, a rumor."

"Don't take it to heart, okay?"

Chapter 199: The Second Battle

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was able to use Class A's intelligence network and Hashimoto Masayoshi to set up this trap that targeted multiple groups simultaneously, and Kitagawa Ryo was naturally able to react in time.

Moreover, to be honest, Kitagawa Ryo's intelligence sources even included all the classes on the entire island except for Class A, even after he asked Hirata Yosuke not to meet with him secretly during this period.

After all, if you add Hirata Yosuke, Kitagawa Ryo's intelligence network could be said to cover all four First Year classes.

Moreover, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka can mobilize more manpower than Kitagawa Ryo.

Therefore, after realizing that Shiina Hiyori Group would most likely be targeted by Class A in the [Newspaper Folding Rock-Paper-Scissors] topic, Kitagawa Ryo immediately contacted Ishizaki Daichi, who was free to roam on the island.

As for the secret information about Class A, a small portion of it came from Hirata Yosuke, while the majority came from Kushida Kikyo.

The students in Class 1-A are, in the end, just a group of sixteen or seventeen-year-old high school students. Outside classes may know very little about their various secret romantic entanglements, but for Kushida Kikyo in this class, these are just basic facts.

To avoid suspicion, most of the information that Kushida Kikyo revealed this time was secrets known only to her small group, not just to herself. But even so, with Ishizaki Daichi adding fuel to the fire and making things worse, the Class A students who participated in the [Newspaper Folding Rock-Paper-Scissors] were finding it hard to keep up.

Especially for Tamiya Emi, who was already struggling to carry Nishikawa Ryoko, the thought that her best friend was a 'love rival' who had fallen for someone she didn't know was making her feel a bitter taste in her mouth. Her hands, which had been tightly gripping the other's legs, unconsciously loosened a little.

Nishikawa Ryoko, who was being carried on Tamiya Emi's back, was also in a state of confusion. She wanted to explain something, but she didn't know what to say. Her lips moved a couple of times, but in the end, she remained silent and just shifted her body slightly.

Nishikawa Ryoko's restless movements startled Tamiya Emi, who was momentarily stunned. The balance of force between the two was instantly broken, and before the next round of Rock Paper Scissors could even begin, Tamiya Emi stumbled and fell out of the newspaper's reach. Nishikawa Ryoko, whom she was carrying, naturally couldn't survive either. Although she didn't fall directly to the ground, it meant that their group was eliminated.

The situation in the other two groups in Class A was not optimistic either. The boys felt even more ashamed and resentful after their crushes were exposed in public. Two of the boys even ignored the topic they were currently working on and stared at each other as if they were about to start arguing.

While Class 1-A was thrown into chaos by Ishizaki Daichi's sudden appearance in the [Newspaper Folding Rock-Paper-Scissors] project, another person from Karuizawa Kei's [Group Dodgeball] project also rushed to the scene with Kitagawa Ryo's help.

The rules for [Group Dodgeball] are basically the same as the traditional dodgeball rules, but some modifications have been made. Each of the four groups selects a captain to take turns being the inner circle thrower, while the remaining students enter the outer circle to be the dodge team. Each group has a five-minute throwing time limit. If a student from another group is hit, one point is scored. If a student is hit and fails to dodge, they are out of the round. If a student from their own group is hit, one point is deducted, but the student who is hit still needs to be out of the round.

After four rounds, the groups are ranked according to their scores.

In short, the students in the outer circle need to avoid obstacles as much as possible, while the students in the inner circle need to shoot as accurately as possible, but they need to be careful not to accidentally injure their teammates.

The reason why Karuizawa Kei plays solo, was interested in this project was not only because she was given four chances to be hit during the dodge phase, but also because when she was the pitcher, she didn't have to worry about accidentally hitting her teammates and could just pitch with all her might.

But what if all three opponents are from the same class and belong to the same faction...?

Karuizawa Kei could almost picture the Matoba after the project started, with the three Class A groups racking up points against each other. All three Class A groups were full-strength teams of four, meaning that even if she dodged all the shots, each group could still rack up eight points against the other groups.

In other words, Karuizawa Kei must hit at least eight Class A students in her pitching round in order to have a chance of not being eliminated, and this is based on the premise that she successfully dodges all the pitches in the other groups' pitching rounds.

As time ticked by and the project was about to officially begin, the Class A group, who were confident of victory, crowded around.

Because they were facing their direct rival, the class leader of Class B, this operation was personally led by Katsuragi Kohei, and among the two groups behind him was the group that Totsuka Yahiko was in.

"Class B is ultimately just Class B. Even if they temporarily surpass Class A with some tricks, they can only return to their original position in the end."

Despite suffering defeats at the hands of Amasawa Ichika from Amasawa Ichika Class D and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka from his own class, Totsuka Yahiko maintained his inexplicable confidence and stepped forward to mock him without any politeness.

Now even the students in Class A are starting to wonder how this guy even got into Class A.

But after all, his backer was Katsuragi Kohei, the current Leader of the class, and the situation was indeed quite powerful. Although the other students in Class A were somewhat disdainful, they did not speak up to stop him.

At this moment, Katsuragi Kohei paid no attention to Totsuka Yahiko. He focused all his attention on Karuizawa Kei, staring intently at her facial expression. However, he suddenly realized that she did not show any panic or helplessness as they had expected.

It was as if they had already guessed what Class A would do.

"It's you again, the noisiest clown in Class A."

Just after Totsuka Yahiko spoke, a familiar voice came from the woods on the left, which made his heart tighten.

Amasawa Ichika from Class 1-D, Grade 1.

She fiddled with the ends of her hair as she walked towards Karuizawa Kei, followed by Sakura Airi from her group.

Liang sent us over.

"It seems Liang has high hopes for your group."

Karuizawa Kei answered with a smile:

"I see."

Under the watchful eyes of the students in Class 1-A, she turned to the teacher in charge of the project and said:

"I request the immediate activation of [Reinforcement] capabilities."

"Join Amasawa Ichika and Sakura Airi's group."

The special card [Reinforcement] gives students the ability to join other groups at any time, combining the scores of the two groups into one.

Most people would probably agree that the best approach is for the cardholder to initially work alone in a group, and then join the group with the highest score in their class at the last minute before the exam ends.

However, in reality, [Reinforcement] never mandated that cardholders join the class's group from the very beginning.

However, this is also a common way of thinking, since no one would expect someone to be willing to join a group from another class that is also a competitor.

"So--"

After the teacher in charge completed all the procedures, Amasawa Ichika turned around again.

She was a head shorter than Katsuragi Kohei, who was at the front of Class A, but her aura overwhelmed the entire group.

Amasawa Ichika raised her fluorescent eyes, her lips curving upwards into a wild smile:

"The game has officially begun."

"Long time no see, Ayanokoji."