The One You Can Skip

After announcing all the arrangements, Hoshinomiya-sensei clapped her hands with satisfaction, signaling that she was done.

Hoshinomiya Chie's speech, wrapped in sugar but with every word cutting like a knife, had finally ended.

Mashima Satoshi unobtrusively let out a breath of relief, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the sweat-dampened folds of his tracksuit.

The sea breeze carried a salty, scorching heat across his face, but it did nothing to dispel the gloom gathering between his brows.

He watched Hoshinomiya hop lightly down from the platform. Her smile vanished in an instant, as though she had taken off a costume. What churned in his chest wasn't anger, but exhaustion.

I can't let her remain Class A's homeroom teacher. My class has to take Class A back. He had never felt so certain or resolute about it.

Another teacher took the megaphone at the right moment and directed everyone to go to their homeroom teachers for more detailed explanations.

The students from all four classes moved slowly, weighed down by a jumble of hard-to-express feelings—confusion about the rules, longing for freedom, desire for points, and anxiety about survival. Like chess pieces pulled along by invisible strings, they gathered around their respective class instructors.

The students of Class D, their minds full of questions and their desire for points newly kindled, gathered around Chabashira Sae, whose expression remained as stern as ever.

"Thirty thousand starting next month, thirty thousand starting next month, thirty thousand starting next month... I'm all in!" Kanji Ike repeated like he was chanting a spell, waving his fist excitedly. He and several equally fired-up boys exchanged high fives and struck exaggerated victory poses.

The air was filled with an almost feverish longing.

The girls were swept up in the excitement, too. They gathered together, eagerly imagining what they could do once their points skyrocketed—no more having to eat the awful free meals, no more using shoddy household products...

For Class D, which had long struggled at the bottom in Class Points, this wealth that had fallen from the sky seemed like a long-cherished dream finally within reach.

"All we have to do is hold out, right? It's only a week without spending anything." Someone shouted a summary. "Sounds easy enough!"

But was it really that simple? A faint doubt flickered through the minds of a few, only to be swallowed at once by the overwhelming lure of all those points.

Chabashira Sae's voice cut through the brief commotion. "Everyone, come collect your watches." Items taken from a cardboard box were piled up beside her, while several staff members in work clothes helped distribute them.

The students came forward in turn and received sturdy-looking digital watches.

"Do not take off your watch without permission before the exam ends," Chabashira said, her sharp gaze sweeping over everyone.

"Violators will be punished. These watches aren't just timers; they also have built-in sensors for body temperature, pulse, and movement, as well as GPS satellite tracking."

She paused and pointed to a small red button on the side of the watch. "There's also an emergency call function here. If your life is in danger, don't hesitate. Press it immediately."

"L-life in danger?" a girl asked, her voice trembling. "Teacher, are there... bears or anything like that on this island?"

Chabashira remained expressionless. "This is an exam. I won't answer questions that might affect the results."

"Uh... saying that makes it even scarier!" another student said, shrinking back.

"I don't think there's any need to worry too much," Hirata Yosuke said, his gentle voice carrying a reassuring warmth.

"If there really were a risk of students being attacked by dangerous animals, the school would face unimaginable liability. The main purpose of these sensors and the emergency call function is probably to monitor our health and ensure a basic level of safety. After all, the school's first priority must be our safety when it leaves us on an Uninhabited Island."

His clear and logical analysis put most of the nervous students at ease.

Then someone raised a more pressing question. Horikita Suzune stepped forward and asked calmly, "Chabashira-sensei, the school said we'd be entirely responsible for our own lives this week. That means if we don't use points, we'll have to find everything we need to survive—including food, water, and shelter—ourselves, and the school won't provide any additional assistance. Is that right?"

"Correct." Chabashira nodded firmly. "The school won't interfere. A shortage of drinking water, a lack of food, nowhere to sleep—those are all part of the exam. You'll have to figure out how to overcome them yourselves. How you solve those problems is up to you." Her words were decisive, extinguishing any hope of relying on the school.

The students of Class D exchanged glances. No points at all? Their excitement had barely faded, and already reality had doused them with cold water.

Thirty-nine students and only two tents, each barely large enough for eight people. That meant at least twenty-three students would have nowhere to take shelter from the elements.

And the most humiliating part was that they had only one makeshift toilet! Were they really supposed to sleep out in the open and live off the land?

Still, the lure of thirty thousand points was simply too strong. Quite a few gritted their teeth, convinced they could put up with anything for that "fortune."

Someone hurriedly flipped through the thick guidebook. The section at the end titled "Penalties" immediately caught everyone's attention:

Withdrawing from the exam due to serious injury or illness: 30 points deducted.

Polluting the environment: 20 points deducted.

Missing either of the two daily roll calls (8 a.m. and 8 p.m.): 5 points deducted per person, each time.

Violence, theft, or damaging another class's belongings: immediate disqualification from the class exam, and all of the offender's personal points confiscated.

That last rule was like a cold iron gate, sealing off the final escape route of "just tough it out." They could endure hardships, but if someone collapsed because of the harsh conditions, polluted the grounds due to poor sanitation, or got into a fight over resources, the price would be devastating.

"Looking at this... going without spending any points probably won't work, will it?" Shinohara Satsuki asked, frowning deeply as she voiced what many were thinking. "For the sake of safety and basic hygiene, we might... have to spend some."

"I'm against giving in before we've even started!" Kanji Ike immediately argued. He felt Shinohara's words were undermining everyone's resolve. "We should grit our teeth and endure as much as we can! Otherwise, what's the point of getting those thirty thousand points?"

Hirata tried to mediate. "Ike, I understand your determination. But we have to be sensible. If someone's health really does collapse because of this, that would be an irreversible loss..."

"Hirata, don't say things like that!" Ike rudely cut him off. "If we don't give it our all and grit our teeth from the start, what's the point of this exam?!" The cracks within the class began to show.

Then Horikita raised a crucial question. "Chabashira-sensei, where will roll call take place?"

"The homeroom teacher must stay with the class," Chabashira explained. "Once you've chosen a campsite, report it to me and I'll set up a base there. Roll call will take place at the base."

She seemed to remember something she had missed and walked over to another cardboard box. With a ripping sound, she tore open the packing tape. "Also, this is how you'll handle your bathroom needs." She took out some folded cardboard and accessories.

"Huh? What the hell is that?" Yamauchi Haruki stared at the pile with a disgusted expression.

"A makeshift toilet. Each class gets one. Use it properly." Chabashira began assembling it deftly.

But the strongest opposition didn't come from Yamauchi. It came from a group of girls led by Shinohara Satsuki.

"Wait!" Shinohara cried, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Are you saying... all of us have to use that?!"

"Both boys and girls will use it." Chabashira didn't look up, her hands continuing to work. "However, you'll also receive a lightweight tent with a simple changing area to place over it, so you'll have privacy. No one will see you."

"That's not the point!" Shinohara's cheeks flushed bright red, and her voice grew agitated. "On a cardboard box...?! I absolutely can't do that!" The other girls nodded emphatically, their faces filled with visceral disgust and embarrassment.

Chabashira remained unmoved. She expertly unfolded the box into a square structure, lined it with a blue plastic bag, then took out a thin white sheet. "This is an absorbent cloth. Cover the waste with it to soak up moisture, keep it in place, and reduce the smell. It can be reused. One bag can hold about five uses. Plastic liners and absorbent cloths are available in unlimited quantities. If you really don't like it, you can change the bag each time." She calmly demonstrated how to use it.

Even so, the girls showed no sign of overcoming their resistance.

No matter how enticing the points were, the psychological gulf was too wide to cross. The shame was rooted deep in their instincts, and their concerns about hygiene were profound.

Anxiety and argument once again swelled through the air.

"All right," Chabashira said, raising her voice to suppress the commotion that was about to erupt. "There are a few important rules to add." She pointed to the guidebook:

Claiming a base: Requires the special key card held by the "leader." Successfully claiming a base earns 1 point. You may freely use any base claimed by your class.

Penalty for violations: Using another class's base without permission results in a 50-point deduction.

Leader privileges: Only the chosen "leader" may use the key card. The leader may not be changed without a valid reason.

Base reset: The occupation status of all bases resets every 8 hours.

Occupation limit: You may claim multiple bases as long as they are unoccupied.

Day Seven Guessing Game:

At the final roll call, you may guess the leaders of other classes.

Correctly guessing the leader of another class earns your class 50 points; the guessed class loses 50 points.

If you guess wrong and report the person to the school as a leader, it will be treated as a false accusation and 50 points will be deducted.

The class of a leader who is correctly identified will lose all the extra points it has saved up to that point.

"Your class also has to choose a leader," Chabashira concluded. "Whether you take part in the fight over bases is up to you. If you don't get greedy, you can keep your leader's identity secret, and no one will know who they are. But if you decide to participate, or want to avoid being guessed, you'll have to choose someone. Once you've made your decision, report it to me, and I'll issue a key card engraved with the leader's name. The deadline is the first roll call tonight at eight."

She paused, her voice carrying an unmistakable note of pressure. "If you still haven't decided by then, I'll choose someone at random. That's all."

After Chabashira left, Hirata Yosuke spoke first, trying to steer the discussion back on track. "We can discuss the leader later. The urgent thing is to decide where to set up camp—should we stay on the beach, or go deeper into the forest and look for somewhere more secluded? We can deal with the base issue after we've chosen a campsite."

He looked around at his classmates' varied expressions, hoping to find a starting point for building consensus.

But with the enormous lure of points, the hardships of survival, the indignity of privacy concerns, and the challenges ahead, Class D's path was already strewn with thorns.