No Code Needed (6.7k)

Watching Sanada Group from Class A grinning and squinting as they aimed for the score, Horikita Suzune, resting her chin on her hand, subconsciously asked this question.

"Since the Uninhabited Island only has this much area left, it's easy to deduce using a little intelligence network. Besides, to be honest, the Sanada Group was actually 'semi-driven' here by the Hiyori Group."

Upon hearing Sakayanagi Arisu simply raised a slender finger and explained on Horikita Suzune's behalf in a relaxed tone:

"Just like our plan to snipe the Sanada Group, what the Sanada Group wants most right now is definitely to intercept the Hiyori Group is only a hair's breadth away. However, because Hiyori is being saturated with three other groups dispatched by Hiyori, any task that appears nearby can be reported instantly. Therefore, the Sanada Group can only choose to avoid Hiyori's area. Combining this with the campsite that Chiaki sent me last night, it's easy to deduce the Sanada Group's route of action today."

Although Sakayanagi Arisu's heart condition has been resolved, the effects of this illness on her personality and behavior over the past decade or so still linger. For example, her approach to building and recruiting students like Matsushita Chiaki as 'her eyes and feet' is evident in her Uninhabited Island Special Exam.

In this respect, Sakayanagi Arisu can't be considered the second most socially inactive member. In fact, Horikita Suzune isn't the most socially inactive member either. It's just that she devotes most of her extracurricular energy to Student Council work. If we're talking about how well she knows the second and third-year students, you probably can't find a First Year student who can surpass Suzune in this regard. After all, there are only two First Year students recruited for this year's Student Council Horikita Suzune and Sakayanagi Arisu, and the latter is just a figurehead who doesn't participate.

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Ryo also asked a question, wanting to hear Sakayanagi Arisu's current thoughts:

"After this summer vacation, does Arisu any plans to formally join the Student Council next semester?"

"The Student Council? What's the current situation with the Student Council, Suzune?"

Faced with Kitagawa Ryo's question, Sakayanagi Arisu did not give an answer immediately, but turned to Horikita Suzune had been in the Student Council for an entire semester, and asked her for advice.

"Things are fine now, since my brother is still the current Student Council President. As for the next semester, I remember that the Student Council will hold elections one or two months after the start of the semester, around October. Judging from the current situation, it seems like Nagumo will definitely take over."

"The Student Council holds interviews every year between April and June, and again in October. The former is to recruit First Year students, while the latter is to allow the new president to quickly recruit people and build his own team. Nagumo will probably take this opportunity to turn the entire Student Council into his personal fiefdom."

At this point, Horikita Suzune's tone became somewhat hesitant:

"The Arisu can continue to hold a nominal position is essentially because Nagumo doesn't want to bring in any new members to the Student Council at this somewhat sensitive time of transition. After all, the current situation is excellent for him, and he hopes that no variables will arise."

After giving a detailed account of the current situation of the Student Council, Horikita Suzune offered her suggestions:

"Arisu is willing to officially join, the good news is that the First Year students will have more say, since I was the only one before. But Nagumo might also take measures to counter this by recruiting new students in the grade to create a balance, since theoretically the Student Council should only admit two or three First Year students."

"I don't need to go into the bad news. Even without Nagumo's targeting, I feel that the other classes in the First Year will find it hard to accept the fact that two of us classmates are in the Student Council. After all, the power of the Student Council in this school is ridiculously large compared to other schools, which is one of the reasons why Nagumo has been pursuing this position."

"Liang? What do you say? Do you want to come to the Student Council too?"

After questioning Horikita Suzune, Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes flickered, and she looked at Kitagawa Ryo beside her.

Upon hearing Sakayanagi Arisu's words, Horikita Suzune, who had just finished speaking and was about to pick up a water bottle to moisten her throat, quickly put the bottle down, her eyes sparkling as she awaited Kitagawa Ryo's reply.

"Ahem... I also have a Drama Club activity on my plate. Isn't one of the basic requirements for joining the Student Council not participating in other club activities? Impossible, don't count on me for that."

Kitagawa Ryo simply waved his hand at this. He was quite satisfied with this club, which was also known as the Drama Club and the writing club. Moreover, he would need the club's operation and help to take Ichinose Honami home after leaving school, so it was indeed unlikely that he would give up this club to join the Student Council.

Seeing that Kitagawa Ryo had no intention of agreeing, Ichinose Honami, the only member of the Drama Club present, breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement, adding:

"Well, Ryo is the head of our Drama Club, there's really nothing we can do about it."

"... When I become the Student Council President, I will definitely drastically cut your clubs' budgets."

Horikita Suzune pouted slightly in dissatisfaction upon hearing this, and made her threat fiercely.

"How about we just cancel it altogether and bring Liang into the Student Council to be our secretary for taking meeting minutes?"

With Sakayanagi Arisu added another suggestion while resting her chin on her hand, which could also be seen as a response to her initial question about whether or not to join the Student Council.

"Arisu mean he's planning to officially join?"

Ignoring the boomerang that wouldn't hit him for at least a year, Kitagawa Ryo asked again to confirm.

"Well, I haven't participated in many club activities before due to health reasons, but now that I'm better, I'd like to give it a try. Also, I'd like to see if I can become the Student Council President of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded in understanding, though he could almost picture the fierce battle between Sakayanagi Arisu and Horikita Suzune for the Student Council President a year from now, just from Sakayanagi Arisu's words.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo's group finished discussing the Student Council -related topics, Sanada Group had finished shooting all the fixed targets and started the second round of moving target shooting. Thanks to his golden talents of 'Hawkeye' and 'Eidetic Memory', Kitagawa Ryo had already calculated their current scores before the proctoring teacher officially announced the results.

Although the students in Class 1-A often give the impression of being bookish, model students, their ball-shooting scores are actually quite good. Apart from the seemingly mild-mannered group leader, Sanada Kō, who wears square-framed glasses, the other three students all have excellent shooting scores.

However, this only applied to the first round of fixed target practice. As the shooting entered the second round of moving target practice, apart from the girl named Yamamura Miki, it was almost visibly noticeable that the expressions and movements of several people began to become flustered and even distorted. Just as Ichinose Honami had said before, this girl seemed to have no expression at all, and her level of facial paralysis was comparable to that of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka next to her.

"27 points for the stationary target, 22 points for the moving target, Sanada Kō's team totaled 49 points, averaging 12.25 points!"

After the Sanada Group finished all two rounds, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who had stood there motionless like a statue for quite some time, finally took two steps forward. After receiving a brief instruction on the operation from the supervising teacher, he slowly raised the air rifle under everyone's gaze.

"Actually, this guy might be the only complete novice among us. In any case, the White Room I was in back then didn't teach us anything about this."

Seeing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka awkwardly moving the air rifle up and down without pulling the trigger, Kitagawa Ryo lowered his voice and whispered an explanation.

Although Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is considered the Masterpiece of the White Room, thanks to their previous interactions in various simulations and in reality, Kitagawa Ryo was aware of the weaknesses hidden within him. Aside from his rather poor interpersonal skills, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who grew up entirely in the White Room, actually exhibits eccentric behavior in many matters that are considered common sense by ordinary people.

Furthermore, in the final simulation, Kitagawa Ryo also learned that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was not the kind of genius who mastered things immediately as if he were born with knowledge. He often appeared as an ordinary person when he first encountered a new learning activity, but gradually overtook others and made continuous progress until he left all his opponents behind. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's ability to defeat Ayanokouji Kiyotaka in the two head-on confrontations in this Uninhabited Island Special Exam, namely in the "Open Water Swimming" and "team Freestyle Fighting" events, was inseparable from these two key factors.

In fact Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was also aware of his weakness, which could make him vulnerable to being killed in one blow at times. For example, although he had a vague idea of the type of project for the final challenge, he actually only had a superficial understanding of competitive projects like live-action CS.

Although the White Room had honed his physique to the level of a former urban special forces king, it was ultimately a place for training politicians, not for teenage assassins or special forces. Therefore, whether it was real guns, replica guns, or even the air rifle he was holding now, they were all completely new things and knowledge for him.

This is why Kitagawa Ryo wasn't surprised that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka came to participate in this project. Even though everyone present knew that shooting balloons, which only appeared as entertainment during temple fairs and festivals, and paintball were actually unrelated, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was still the only one who felt that these two projects, both containing the element of 'shooting,' might be connected.

The White Room was so small that the children inside could only learn about the sea and beach through virtual VR devices.

The sounds of balloons popping echoed around him. As Ayanokoji Kiyotaka watched Ayanokouji Kiyotaka slowly fire his first, second, and Kitagawa Ryo shots, he suddenly had a fleeting recollection of the expression he had seen on Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's face during the 'Open Water Swimming' project—an expression of delight and satisfaction, as if he had discovered a new world, learned new knowledge, and had opened a good book.

"Eight points for the stationary target, fourteen points for the moving target, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's team totaled twenty-two points, averaging twenty-two points!"

A short while later, the proctor loudly announced Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's score. His extremely high hit rate of 8 out of 10 on fixed targets and 7 out of 10 on moving targets, along with his ability to avoid being dragged down by teammates in a solo group, allowed Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to surpass Sanada Group by 10.5 points and directly secure the current first place.

"Let's go."

After clapping his hands briefly to encourage his group members, Kitagawa Ryo led the other three to the table where the air rifles were placed. He took a deep breath and then slowly raised the rifles as instructed by the teacher, aiming them at the first fixed target in front of him.

With the added boost of his natural talent, Kitagawa Ryo's physical abilities were already enhanced to an extreme level, even surpassing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's. Coupled with the near-inhuman vision and observational skills granted by his highest-level golden talent, 'Hawkeye,' Kitagawa Ryo maintained a perfect record of flawless accuracy, shooting flawlessly from both the stationary targets in the first round and the moving targets in the second. Aside from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who still showed no obvious emotional fluctuation, almost everyone present was stunned. Even Yamamura Miki from the Sanada Group, who had been relatively quiet and unnoticed, couldn't help but slightly open her mouth and let out a soft "Ah."

Unfortunately, this is a group project where the average score is calculated, so the final score depends on the scores of the other three members.

With the teacher's confirmation and tallying, the scores for the remaining three players were quickly displayed. Horikita Suzune scored 24 points with 10 out of 10 on the fixed target and 7 out of 10 on the moving target; Sakayanagi Arisu 17 points with 9 out of 10 on the fixed target and 4 out of 10 on the moving target; Ichinose Honami scored 19 points with 9 out of 10 on the fixed target and 5 out of 10 on the moving target. After a simple calculation, he loudly announced the final results:

"Thirty-eight points for the stationary target, fifty-two points for the moving target, for a total of ninety points for the Kitagawa Group, with an average score of twenty-two and a half points!"

"The final rankings are: Kitagawa Group, 22.5 points, first place; Sanada Group Ayanokoji Group, 22 points, second place; Sanada Group, 12.25 points, third place; Totsuka Group, 10 points, fourth place. This assignment is now officially over! The top two groups, please come to me to receive your points. Since Totsuka Group, which came in last place, only has Totsuka Yahiko left, they are automatically eliminated. Please come back to area D9 with me in a bit. Good luck with the exam."

He had barely finished speaking when Ichinose Honami patted her chest in relief.

"That was close—I almost came in second place."

"Actually, second place doesn't matter. We came here to snipe Sanada and his group anyway. As long as they didn't get any points, that's fine."

Kitagawa Ryo, who had just returned from receiving the first-place score on his wristwatch from the teacher, simply shook his head upon hearing this. Watching Ayanokoji Kiyotaka figure, who walked away quickly and decisively, he chuckled and teased:

"I'm just glad everyone had fun. Every time this happens, I regret not going to the school to exchange for a Polaroid camera or Arisu. Both Honami and Arisu had pretty great expressions when they were popping the balloons. Of course, Suzune was the same; her single-person hit rate was even higher than Ayanokoji's."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but glance again at the wall in Sakayanagi Arisu, which was covered with colorful balloons. The sight of the balloons hanging there deflated after popping was quite striking, and Arisu herself immediately gave him a cute glare.

"Hiyori is already in third place."

A short while later, Ichinose Honami, who had been keeping a close eye on her watch, also brought good news. With the end of the first round of the project on the tenth day and Sanada Group failing to achieve anything, Shiina Hiyori Group finally managed to turn the tide and overtake Sanada Group.

"We'll continue following them for now. Then, I'll call Ishizaki first, followed by Hiyori..."

Before Kitagawa Ryo could finish speaking, his wristwatch beeped to indicate that a call had been received, and the caller's name was none other than Shiina Hiyori, the name he had just read out.

"Hello, this is Kitagawa. What happened in Hiyori's area?"

Facing three suddenly piercing gazes, Kitagawa Ryo pressed the confirmation button. After two beeps to connect the signal, he took the initiative to ask a question.

"Yes, I'm Hiyori-- "

There was absolutely no atmosphere of discussing serious matters. Even through the communication barrier, Kitagawa Ryo could feel Shiina Hiyori and airy tone on the other end of the phone, like a cloud. However, considering the sweetness in it, perhaps comparing it to cotton candy would be more appropriate?

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was lost in thought and almost got caught up in the other person's rhythm, Shiina Hiyori's voice came through the watch again:

"The remaining students from Class C just came to me. They are all from groups that were hovering around the bottom two, three, four, five, or six, which is why they haven't completely dropped out of the exam..."

Then came a series of rustling footsteps, as if the person on the other end of the phone had gone to a secluded spot. Then, Kitagawa Ryo heard Hiyori, somewhat furtive and embarrassed tone:

"I've thought about it, and I feel they could be helpful to Liang's plan, so--"

"Um, shall we meet and talk about it later?"

Chapter 223: No Code Required (6.7k)

After agreeing to meet Shiina Hiyori at a certain location for lunch, Kitagawa Ryo hung up the call. Turning to Sakayanagi Arisu and the other two who were closely watching his conversation, he cleared his throat and, in a completely serious tone, delivered his perfectly planned lines, devoid of any personal emotion:

"As expected, the remaining students from Class C all came looking for us. We'll take this opportunity to talk to them in person at noon, since they are all potential partners that Class D can try to secure for this Uninhabited Island Special Exam."

Then, without waiting for the three to answer, Kitagawa Ryo hurriedly dialed Ishizaki Daichi's number on his wristwatch, gave him a few instructions, and only hung up after receiving a reassuring reply. He then quickly slung two backpacks, along with Sakayanagi Arisu's luggage, over his shoulder.

"Ishizaki's side is all set, let's hurry and catch up, Sanada Group has already been gone for a while."

After such a flawless and seamless series of actions, there was absolutely no reason to stop Kitagawa Ryo, whose face seemed to be shining with a sacred light of 'for Class D '. Horikita Suzune and the others could only exchange glances and jog a few steps to follow Kitagawa Ryo, who had already set off in the direction that Sanada Group had left.

"What are Liang's plans for dealing with the remaining students in Class C?"

Before they had taken two steps, Horikita Suzune spoke first, casually starting a conversation.

"After all, I always felt that the students in Class C... apart from a few, it's hard to say what role they could play."

Perhaps it was because of the impression that the Class C students had left on Horikita Suzune so far during this Uninhabited Island Special Exam, with their chaotic disorganization after their Leader, Ryuen Kakeru, encountered an unexpected incident, and their consistently poor performance, ranking last in the class. Her tone inadvertently carried a genuine sense of bewilderment.

"The students in Class C aren't necessarily as bad as Suzune makes them out to be."

The first person to speak up against Horikita Suzune was not Kitagawa Ryo, but Ichinose Honami, who was carrying luggage alongside her. Their group always moved in a fixed formation: Kitagawa Ryo led the way, Sakayanagi Arisu Sakayanagi Arisu in the middle, and Horikita Suzune and Ichinose Honami walked side by side at the back.

Since the first activity of the morning was a recreational activity that didn't require much physical or mental exertion—balloon shooting— Ichinose Honami was in good spirits. She walked lightly across the obstacle in front of her, listening to Kitagawa Ryo's warning of "watch out for puddles," and then shared her thoughts with Horikita Suzune:

"Every class has students who want to improve, and Class C is no exception. Moreover, those who have persevered on the Uninhabited Island until now, even if they lack some abilities, are, in a way, students who want to work hard for the class."

"After all, it's obvious to everyone that Class 1-C has basically secured last place in this class ranking. In other words, the penalty of deducting 300 Class Points was foreseeable. You have to know that Class C only has 272 Class Points in total right now."

What does "Honami" mean?

"Well, in fact, for those students in Class 1-C who are struggling at the bottom of the class, whether they try hard or not might not matter. Just like our Class D before, the Class Points can't be deducted to a negative number. Anyway, the only punishment for expulsion in this Special Exam was resolved by Ryuen, so why bother working so hard? I guess many students in Class C have this kind of thinking, which is why they chose to be eliminated and return to the cruise ship?"

After analyzing the students' thoughts in Class C from the perspective of Class Points again, Ichinose Honami smiled and asked herself a question before giving her conclusion:

"So what are these Class C students, who are still living a wilderness camping life on the Uninhabited Island, thinking?--"

"... because they saw hope that Class C could either stop their losses or turn things around in this Special Exam, and they were willing to believe in it and give it another try."

Having said that, Horikita Suzune nodded in understanding. Just as Ichinose Honami said, Shiina Hiyori Group, which had made a rapid rise in the rankings these past two days, was in fact the last hope for Class C. These surviving students might be able to accept the additional invalid deductions after the Class Points were reduced to zero, but they couldn't bear to watch Shiina Hiyori Group, which was likely to earn hard-earned points for Class C, have them deducted again because of their group, which was ranked second, third, fourth, or fifth from the bottom.

"Well, even those who chose to struggle on this Uninhabited Island until now just because of this little bit of shame are actually considered pretty good students in Class C."

Kitagawa Ryo was walking at the front, also paused for a moment, nodded, and gave an approving comment.

While Kitagawa Ryo's group, following behind at a leisurely pace, were chatting quite casually about topics related to Class C, Sanada Group, walking ahead, belatedly realized that something was amiss.

"Is Kitagawa Group from Class D following us? Are they here to ambush us?"

Slightly behind schedule, Rinaka Satoshi, who had been hiding in the jungle gathering intelligence, jogged back to the team, panting, and added:

"Should we contact Katsuragi Communications to inform him of this situation?"

"Morishita, what do you think?"

After receiving concrete information from the Rinaka, Sanada Kō, despite being the group leader, immediately turned to Morishita Ai beside him and asked her about it. Morishita Ai, seemingly used to this, replied with a slight smirk:

"What else can we do? Either we take them around and nobody participates in the project, or we gamble on which project our group can beat them on, although I don't think we have much of a chance. I suggest we change our mindset to aiming for second place."

At this point, Morishita Ai helplessly shrugged:

"After all, you all saw it just now. I still can't figure out why the school put that Kitagawa guy in Class D. Does he have some huge personality or psychological flaw? Should I turn back now and question him on the spot?"

"Let's forget about this one."

Sanada Kō, upon hearing this, gave a somewhat speechless twitch of the corner of his mouth, then sighed, rubbing his forehead:

"How come I never noticed before that Morishita was such a... well, unique student?"

"Didn't I already say that if Katsuragi could keep Class A at Class A current level, I wouldn't need to do this? Who wouldn't want to just stay in Class A and graduate to get the graduation bonus from Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School?"

"Sigh, what happened to our Class A this year? Has there ever been a situation where First Year was already on the verge of collapse after only one semester? Oh, and it seems like the original Class A in the second year has been demoted to Class B... Hmm."

Seeing Morishita Ai suddenly start talking to herself, Sanada Kō sighed helplessly and rubbed his forehead. In the end, their group was just a group of students based on the class Leader, Katsuragi Kohei, according to his usual impressions and performances. Although their abilities were all quite good, one of the girls had an astonishingly weak presence, and the other had suddenly become unusually active halfway through this Uninhabited Island Special Exam. This was really making him, the group leader, feel a bit exhausted.

"But Morishita, you can relax a little. Class A's situation isn't on the verge of collapse yet. Forget about catching up with Class B in the overall class score; Katsuragi's group has been firmly in first place."

Seemingly feeling that Morishita Ai's speech had been a bit cowardly before the battle even began, and had the appearance of dampening their own morale Rinaka Satoshi, having caught his breath, also spoke up to offer words of comfort, wanting to encourage everyone.

"Why are you still focusing on Class B... Class D is clearly much scarier right now, isn't it?"

Listening to her classmates' comments, Morishita Ai simply rubbed her temples, making a gesture as if she had a terrible headache.

"Yes, it's fine to focus on Class B at the beginning of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, since our class and Class B have the closest Class Points. It's also fine to let elite groups like Kitagawa from Class D easily score points, since the points they earn through their groups will be deducted from their class rankings in the end."

"But now the last-ranked class has become Class C, and the second-ranked Karuizawa Group is a mix of B and D classes. According to the rules, the final Class Points are divided equally between the two classes. The third- Shiina Group is now being helped by Class D to rack up points. It's obvious that the two classes have reached some kind of agreement."

"Isn't it obvious if you think about it carefully? Class A is now facing a combined force of Classes B, C, and D on this Uninhabited Island. Oh, and there's also a suspected mole within our class. Otherwise, how would Ishizaki from Class C have obtained so much information about the interpersonal relationships within our class?"

At this point, Morishita Ai added, somewhat resignedly: