Returning the Favor in Kind / Preparing for the Final Task

"He's not here now."

Sakayanagi Arisu took a sip of water, recalling a girl from the White Room who had once been her rival:

"But it might come next year, um... it's almost certain it will come."

"Could you tell me about it?"

Horikita Suzune and Sakayanagi Arisu raised their chins, revealing a curious expression.

"No problem."

"But in exchange, Suzune also needs to tell me about that memory you possess."

Sakayanagi Arisu seemed to have achieved her plan, and said her request with a smile.

"Good."

To Sakayanagi Arisu's surprise, Horikita Suzune readily agreed.

However, she quickly came to understand the other person's thoughts.

After all, the two of them shared the same feelings.

Perhaps one day in the future, all four of them will openly share all of this.

Because the main character in the story is the same person.

When talking about him, some people will mention the summer night of the Fireworks Festival, some will mention the timidity of a rose, some will mention the Christmas of the final Confessions, and the first snow in Tokyo that year.

Chapter 219: An Eye for an Eye

Late at night on the ninth day of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, in the D9 area where the school's headquarters was located, a petite figure took advantage of the thick darkness to sneak up near a tent. After confirming that no one else was around and that the person inside the tent was fast asleep, she quietly went inside and placed something next to his pillow.

After completing all this, the other party did not linger and, just as they had come, silently disappeared into the darkness.

Although Area D9 is the location of the school's camp, it is ultimately just a large temporary camp. The Uninhabited Island is only Matoba by Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School for its annual Special Exam. The infrastructure is not perfect. Apart from relatively complete medical equipment to ensure student safety and electronic equipment systems for locating students, it is not as full of various surveillance devices as the Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School campus.

However, to be honest, even with the rather tight surveillance system inside Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, quick-thinking students can easily come up with several ways to bypass it and find blind spots in the surveillance.

"Hmm... what is this?"

The next morning, Hashimoto Masayoshi, who had just woken up from his sleep, noticed something extra on the side of his head: a neatly folded piece of paper lying there quietly, as if someone had deliberately passed on a message to him.

Is that Ayanokoji?

Hashimoto Masayoshi muttered to himself, and subconsciously thought of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, whom he had temporarily sided with and obeyed.

To be honest, he did not follow Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's instructions and directly and completely framed Ryuen Kakeru for the murder.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo initially analyzed, Hashimoto Masayoshi would never wholeheartedly entrust his Fate to one person, as would Sakayanagi Arisu, Katsuragi Kohei, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

All he cared about from beginning to end was his own interests. He could play along, but if he were really burdened with the responsibility of framing his classmates, Hashimoto Masayoshi wouldn't be so foolish as to just take it.

Thinking that perhaps Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was dissatisfied with his sudden change of mind, or that he had received some instructions for the next step, Hashimoto Masayoshi reached out and grabbed the note, then turned his back and carefully opened it.

There was only a short sentence above, with handwriting that seemed strangely familiar.

[The final assignment was related to live-action CS (Counter-Strike).]

What?

Hashimoto Masayoshi's mind, which was still a little sleepy from just waking up, became completely awake the moment he saw the message. He read the message on the note several times in disbelief, and then, with some doubt, he crumpled it up again and held it in his palm.

This subconscious action once again betrayed his true inner thoughts.

For Hashimoto Masayoshi, regardless of who passed him the note or whether its contents were true or false, he subconsciously regarded it as a bargaining chip—a chip that might come in handy later to gain greater benefits for himself.

"Hashimoto, how are you today? Feeling better? Want to go out for some exercise? The sun is shining brightly outside today."

Just as Hashimoto Masayoshi's mind was racing, pondering the possible ins and outs of the matter, he heard a greeting approaching from afar.

Just like yesterday, Class A's Chabashira Sae, walked into the tent and greeted her with this kind of concern.

After Hashimoto Masayoshi was transferred here to recuperate, Chabashira Sae, as the class advisor, has been closely monitoring his situation. For example, she was there to look after Ryuen Kakeru and Hashimoto Masayoshi when they confronted each other yesterday.

"Yes, Chabashira-sensei, I feel much better."

Hashimoto Masayoshi smiled calmly, but inwardly a storm was brewing.

The moment he saw Chabashira Sae, he realized where the familiarity of the handwriting on the note he had seen came from.

This is definitely Chabashira Sae's handwriting.

Thinking about his homeroom teacher's personality and that inexplicable big dinner last time, Hashimoto Masayoshi vaguely felt that he had touched on some truth.

Indeed, at this stage, it seems that only school officials like Chabashira Sae have access to information about the final project. Moreover, considering that Class A's overall scores are currently lower than Class B's, Chabashira Sae, as the class advisor, has every reason to do so.

If the motive is sound, it would be quite convenient for Chabashira Sae to pass on the message; the note she's holding might very well have been secretly placed there by the other person when they left last night.

Thinking about it this way, Hashimoto Masayoshi felt that Chabashira Sae's greeting was somewhat unusual, as if she was implying that he should "go out"—"go out and pass the information to the class."

Chabashira Sae had no idea what Hashimoto Masayoshi's mind was racing as he lay on the bed. She offered a somewhat formulaic word of comfort, then stepped forward, seemingly intending to help Hashimoto Masayoshi to his feet.

But at that very moment, the tent door was suddenly pulled open again, and the homeroom teachers of the other three classes, along with two other school officials, filed in. Leading the way was Sakagami Kazuma teacher of Class C, who stood with a cold smile on his face, arms crossed, looking like he was about to utter classic lines like, "Hey, you've been caught!"

"What happened?"

Chabashira Sae asked with some confusion, and one of the school staff members who walked in also looked helplessly businesslike:

"Here's the thing, Mr. Chabashira, we received reports from three other homeroom teachers that you may be engaging in... well, cheating, activities that could undermine the fairness of this Special Exam."

"Cheating?"

Chabashira Sae looked bewildered. She admitted that she had been somewhat impulsive a few days ago due to Hoshinomiya Chie's words and wanted to reveal some follow-up information about the upcoming exam to the students in Class A.

But back then, it was clearly you two, Mashima Tomonari and Hoshinomiya Chie stuck to her like glue, making it impossible for her to succeed.

"I found this note on my bed when I woke up this morning."

While Chabashira Sae was still completely confused, Hashimoto Masayoshi immediately spoke up, exonerating himself without saying a word.

His reaction was much faster. Now that so many people had suddenly arrived, and two of them were staring intently at him, there was no time or way to destroy the note. He might as well take the initiative and announce it first.

Regardless of whether Chabashira Sae was the one who passed the note or not, Hashimoto Masayoshi didn't want to be mistaken for someone who "deliberately injured himself to collude with the homeroom teacher to obtain information about subsequent exams."

Several school officials exchanged glances at the contents of the note, their expressions changing as they all cast suspicious glances at Chabashira Sae and even Hashimoto Masayoshi behind him.

At that moment, both of them belatedly realized something.

They have fallen into the same Ryuen Kakeru.

A trap where one needs to prove their innocence.

Use their own methods against them.

"Speaking of which, will the school cancel or change the final project because of this incident?"

"It's highly unlikely. This isn't something that can be changed so easily. It's a major project that was planned from the beginning, and we've already been preparing for so many days. If it's going to start the day after tomorrow morning, there's absolutely no way to find a replacement right now."

"However, I never expected that Ichika could imitate other people's handwriting, and do it so realistically."

"Liang is asking a question she already knows the answer to; this is clearly a lesson taught in the White Room."

"I'm really trying to find every possible angle to praise you, okay?"

"But I'm past the age where I'd be happy just from verbal praise."

Amasawa Ichika wrapped her arms around Kitagawa Ryo's waist from behind, idly drawing circles on his chest.

"I really want this exam to end soon."

Are you tired?

"No, I just want to get back to the cruise ship as soon as possible."

"When that time comes, Ryo, then show me your worth and give me all the rewards at once."

Some words

First of all, I apologize for playing dead for so long. My own thinking has always been that there's no point in saying anything to everyone if I don't update. I've discussed this with many readers in the group and those who have messaged me privately. I always thought that maybe one day when I'm in better shape, I could keep up with both publishing and resuming updates. But from April until now, I've basically confirmed that I really don't have the energy or ability to publish both, especially after I graduated in June and started working back in my hometown.

It's not that I wrote a new book just because the new book did well. When the new book was first released, its initial subscriptions were not as high as this Classroom of the Elite, and its Classroom of the Elite are now about the same. It's just Classroom of the Elite I did write "Classroom of the Three Kingdoms" for more than a year, and my creative enthusiasm and various ideas were somewhat worn down, especially this Uninhabited Island arc that everyone thought was long and tedious. If you have read the original work, you will know that this part of my work was basically a Special Exam of pure originality. All the topics I wrote were my own ideas. At first, I wanted to write an ensemble piece that involved all the characters, but as I wrote, I couldn't stop myself. It was my own lack of ability.

Regarding updates to this book, it's true that I can't continue until the other book, "Tuizi," is finished. That book is about halfway done and should be completed by the end of this year, around one million words. I'll then come back to update this book. After all, to be honest, the current progress of "Classroom of the Elite of the First Year. There's still a lot of content to write about later.

I apologize again to all the readers who enjoyed this book. I'm sorry, it was my fault.

This book will resume updating on January 1st.

As the title suggests, I've finished writing everything for the new book. I'll take a couple of days off to rest, and then I'll reorganize and summarize the plot and outline of this book.

The other Kitagawa Ryo has already finished his harem saga; it's time to start Salvation Ryo, who's still causing trouble on the Uninhabited Island.

Thank you to all the readers who have been willing to wait until now. I will continue to write this book with all my heart until its completion.

Chapter 220: Preparations for the Final Task

The Special Exam held by the First Year students of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School on Uninhabited Island during their first summer vacation have reached their tenth day, marking the second half of the exams that are gradually coming to an end.

After secretly meeting with his classmate Amasawa Ichika in the early hours of the morning, Kitagawa Ryo got up early as usual to start his morning exercise. After exercising for about half an hour, he ran back to his group's camp at a steady pace while quickly summarizing the information he had gathered so far in this Special Exam.

In the week leading up to the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, Kitagawa Ryo devised and his group implemented an exam strategy to upgrade their [Discount] cards to the highest level possible in order to provide logistical Supply for the entire class and maximize their scores and group and class rankings.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka also held a [Discount] card, shared a similar idea. However, since he had recruited all four special card holders on the island —Karuizawa Kei, Amasawa Ichika, Shiina Hiyori, and Ryuen Kakeru —into his camp through various means, he was ahead of them in terms of card leveling. Even though the school had reacted quickly and subtly targeted him, his [Discount] card had already reached level twelve, granting him a significant 20% discount on exchangeable items.

However, after gathering intelligence through their respective channels and reflecting on the school's unusual change in the format of the exam in the second week, they gradually realized the school's ideas and arrangements for designing the final exam topic for this Special Exam. The two of them then tacitly changed their strategies, wanting to leave as many people as possible for their respective classes in the final chapter of the Uninhabited Island Exam, which resembled a [Jungle Live-Action CS battle], to gain a greater first-mover advantage.

However, just like the unfortunate defeat in the progress of the strategic goals in the first week, compared to Kitagawa Ryo, who held a 20% Discount card and had officially established himself as the Leader in the class, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was far inferior in terms of both the control over the class and the material support he could provide. He had no way to stop the students of Class A from continuing to participate in the project.

Rather than saying this is a calculated move by the school, it's more accurate to say that it's a well-intentioned strategy. Although falling to last place in the project now means one person will be eliminated, the process of participating in the project—gaining points and resources—saving points as much as possible to improve the ranking—and ending the exam has been firmly ingrained in the students' mindsets over the past week or so. Participating in the project offers a chance to score points, so what's the point of just wasting resources and points by staying on the island until the exam ends?

Moreover, the students in Class A were confident in their abilities and scoring efficiency, so even though Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had informed Katsuragi Kohei, the class's apparent Leader, beforehand, he still couldn't change the situation.

It can be said that, with the help of the completely trustworthy spy Hirata Yosuke and the barely usable spy Kushida Kikyo, the entire picture of Class A was completely transparent to Kitagawa Ryo from the very first day of the Special Exam.

Based on the elimination numbers announced by the school two days ago, the number of students still on the Uninhabited Island for the Special Exam on the tenth day has decreased from the initial 150 to 82. Among the remaining students, Class D, which initially had the fewest students among the four classes, has now become the class with the most remaining students, with a full 27 students still alive. Class A and Class B, which have higher overall qualities, have 25 and 20 students respectively, while Class C has only a pitiful 10 students left. This is even with the addition of Ryuen Kakeru, who is still under investigation by the school; otherwise, it would have been a dismal single digit.

However, Kitagawa Ryo could understand. After all, the current Class C was not the same Class C he had taught back then. Ryuen Kakeru, the leader, had only been "confined" by the school for two days, and the students in Class C had already started to run wild. After all, the punishment of expulsion for the last place was taken by their own leader who held the [Resurrection] card. Struggling on this Uninhabited Island to earn a few more points was not as comfortable as being directly eliminated and going on vacation on a cruise ship.

In short, since Ryuen Kakeru is far away and the authorities can't control him, they can just say that he simply didn't compete in certain topics. Moreover, Ryuen himself might be in trouble, having been involved in the assault incident. For many Class C students who are secretly dissatisfied with Ryuen Kakeru's Ryuen Kakeru, they are probably praying that the school can take him down this time and expel him.

From this perspective, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's move against Ryuen Kakeru wasn't problematic. In some ways, Class C was similar to Class B, with the core of the class revolving around Karuizawa Kei and Ryuen Kakeru. Moreover, compared to the loving Class B, the situation in Class C was undoubtedly much worse. That's why, when Ryuen Kakeru was caught up in the incident and unable to give orders for a short time, apart from a few students like Ishizaki Daichi who were still trying, the rest of the students scattered like birds.

Thinking back, Kitagawa Ryo vaguely remembered that when he was in Class C, participating in the simulated Uninhabited Island Exam, Ryuen Kakeru's initial battle plan involved the two class Leader taking on all the dirty and hard work. Now it seemed that the real Ryuen Kakeru was still implementing the same philosophy. Whether it was Leader's responsibility or a lack of trust in the other classmates, Kitagawa Ryo had no intention of judging others' thoughts. He just felt that Ryuen Kakeru's approach would have some kind of irreversible impact on the future of Class C.

In fact, Shiina Hiyori, who is now in Class C, had talked to him about this topic before. Although she has always been aloof and indifferent, she has made close friends like Ibuki Mio in the class this semester. Therefore, she can also feel the influence of Ryuen Kakeru's style of doing things on the whole class and students.

It's important to understand that while Class C had the most delinquent boys and girls among the four classes, not all of the thirty-nine students who were expelled at the Tokito were delinquents. It's just that Ryuen Kakeru preferred to promote these simple-minded and impulsive students, making them act according to his requirements and instructions.

This is essentially a manifestation of Ryuen Kakeru's 'class dictatorship'. Unlike Ayanokoji Kiyotaka of Class A, who often consults Katsuragi Kohei, or Karuizawa Kei of Class B, who appoints Kanzaki Ryuji as vice class representative to assist in class management, he doesn't seek advice from others. This leads to a distorted system where if the class succeeds in a Special Exam, he takes all the credit, and if it fails, he bears all the responsibility. In every respect, he is the most peculiar of the four First Year classes.

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Ryo sighed with a touch of melancholy. After all, compared to Class A and Class B, he still had some fondness for Class C. Even disregarding the talent that increased Class C's initial favorability towards him during that mock exam, his impression of Ryuen Kakeru, Ishizaki Daichi, and Ibuki Mio wasn't actually bad. Moreover, Shiina Hiyori was now also in Class 1-C, and he still hoped that Hiyori could spend her three years of high school life as smoothly and happily as possible.

Of course, if the situation in Class C really deteriorates to an uncontrollable point in the future, Kitagawa Ryo wouldn't mind bringing Hiyori to Class D. After all, raising 20 million Private Points is not a difficult task for him. Just from this Uninhabited Island Special Exam, he can obtain a large number of Private Points through the contract with Class A last time.

It must be said that the almost extortionate contract he proposed could only yield the greatest benefit from dealing with Class 1-A, given that its terms were quite harsh: 'all Private Points earned by the entire class in this Uninhabited Island Exam will belong to him.'

For most groups that have neither the ability nor the ambition to compete for the top three spots, their real goal is the 50,000 Private Points reward for each member of the top 50% of the entire grade. However, Kitagawa Ryo's contract doesn't even leave them that much.

If this were in any of the other three classes, it would definitely have produced a lot of students who were unwilling to participate in the projects and give up, but the students in Class A were mostly people who put the interests of the class before their own interests. So even though they knew that no matter how much they tried to improve the group ranking, they would only get zero Private Points in the end, they still put in their best effort to participate in the projects, just to keep the class ranking in first place.

Although Class B managed to extort a batch of points and resources from Class A on the seventh day of the exam, allowing them to overtake Class B in the overall class rankings, the score gap between the two classes had been reduced to a very small number. This was due to Class A's shared sense of righteous indignation over the Hashimoto Masayoshi incident, and the fact that Karuizawa Kei, who had also learned about the final project from Kitagawa Ryo, intentionally reduced the frequency of Class B students' participation in the project. It seemed that Class B could be overtaken again at any time. This was another key reason why Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Katsuragi Kohei were unable to persuade their class members to slow down.

Of course, based on Kitagawa Ryo's understanding of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, the other party might not even care how many people Class A could retain before the final project began. Rather, this Masterpiece of the White Room preferred to act alone. At least, the other party's proactive attack on the rainy night on the Uninhabited Island last time left a deep impression on Kitagawa Ryo.

After almost confirming that the final topic would be related to live-action CS, Kitagawa Ryo had already mentally assessed the true strength of each class. He didn't think many of the First Year students at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School would have any prior experience in this area, and it was estimated that very few, like Ishizaki Daichi, had been exposed to it before entering the school. With everyone being complete newcomers, the number of people would undoubtedly become the most crucial factor affecting the balance of victory.

However, this category does not include him and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. Although in his memory, the White Room did not teach any knowledge or courses on firearms and shooting, live-action CS itself is not about real guns and ammunition. Individual physical fitness and team command are the primary factors for winning in this subject.

Having just had a brief sparring session with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka in a Freestyle Fighting competition a couple of days ago, Kitagawa Ryo has a deep understanding of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's physical abilities. Although his overall level is not as high as many of his students who possess gold and purple talents, he is more than capable of overwhelming the rest of the students on the island. Even Amasawa Ichika, who is also a member of the Fifth Generation of the White Room, probably wouldn't be able to gain an advantage over him.

However, on the other hand, whether it was the White Room and Ayanokoji Atsuomi's instructions, or Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's own personality, a semester has passed since he entered school, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka has spent most of his time intentionally concealing and even reducing his presence in Class A. He usually operates through Katsuragi Kohei, who is the apparent Leader of Class A. Most of the time, he is just like an ordinary high school student. Kitagawa Ryo himself can often see him leisurely strolling around the shopping center when he is at school.

If Ayanokoji Kiyotaka still intends to continue with this strategy in the Special Exam on the Uninhabited Island, it means that even in the final task, even with Class A's precarious situation, he is unlikely to reveal his true strength. In a way, this is good news for Class A.

However, it is precisely because of this that he needs to be more vigilant in guarding against the other party's actions in the shadows. If possible... it would be best to force Ayanokoji Kiyotaka into the most conspicuous and open position.