Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's Anomaly

Sakayanagi Arisu sat in a wheelchair, pushed by a female student, quietly staying off to one side.

Her calm gaze swept over the crowd. When it landed on Yuefeng, it seemed to pause for a tenth of a second before casually moving away.

Over in Class B, Ichinose Honami was smiling as she helped a classmate who had nearly fallen, making the atmosphere considerably more relaxed.

Class D... Yuefeng saw Horikita Suzune checking her equipment alone, Hirata Yosuke helping maintain order, and Sudo Ken impatiently looking around.

And Kiyotaka Ayanokoji... he stood at the edge of the group with his head lowered, as though all the commotion around him had nothing to do with him.

"Board the ship! Enter in class order!" a teacher's voice announced through the loudspeaker.

The lines began moving slowly. They stepped onto the gangway and entered the ship's cabin, where the novelty was quickly replaced by crowding and noise.

The school clearly had no intention of providing comfortable accommodations. Most students were assigned to spacious but somewhat bare communal cabins, divided into sections by class.

Class C was assigned an area toward the middle-rear of the ship.

After stowing their luggage and receiving a brief safety briefing, the cruise ship slowly left the harbor amid a long blast of its horn, heading toward an unknown island deep within the blue sea.

Many students flooded onto the deck, leaning over the railings as they watched the land gradually recede, letting out excited cheers or wistful sighs.

The sea breeze carried a salty, damp scent, while seagulls circled overhead.

Yuefeng also stood in a corner of the deck, resting a hand on the cold railing as he gazed at the endless azure sea.

Far from the familiar campus and surrounded by vast, unpredictable nature, the rules and calculations of human society seemed temporarily diluted. Yet in this emptiness, they also seemed magnified, becoming even more naked and direct.

"This feels... a little unreal," Hiyori Shiina said softly, having somehow come to stand beside him.

The sea breeze tousled her long hair. She raised a hand to gather it back, her eyes fixed on the distant horizon as well.

"Yeah," Yuefeng replied. It really did feel unreal. From library shelves to a deserted island where they would have to survive in the wild—the leap was enough to leave him dazed.

"Yuefeng," Hiyori Shiina hesitated before asking quietly, "do you think... we can pass this exam safely?"

"I don't know," Yuefeng answered honestly. "But no matter what, surviving and holding on until the end are our top priorities."

Hiyori Shiina nodded, her eyes growing a little more resolute. "I'll do my best. I won't hold everyone back."

"You've never been the one holding anyone back, Shiina," Yuefeng said seriously, glancing at her.

Hiyori Shiina's cheeks flushed slightly. She lowered her head without replying, but the corners of her lips curved upward in a small smile.

Just then, from the corner of his eye, Yuefeng spotted a petite figure in a Class D uniform with twin braids standing alone by the railing on the other side of the deck, staring blankly at the sea.

It was Airi Sakura. She seemed to sense his gaze and turned her head, her eyes meeting Yuefeng's.

She trembled all over like a startled deer, immediately lowering her head and clutching the railing tightly with both hands as her body shrank back slightly.

But unlike before, she did not immediately run away. She merely lowered her head even further.

Yuefeng sighed inwardly. It seemed their previous encounter had still left a deep psychological scar on her.

He looked away, unwilling to put any more pressure on her.

Yet the instant he shifted his gaze, he suddenly noticed a figure standing quietly in the shadow of a cabin door not far behind Airi Sakura.

The distance was not close, and the backlighting made the area dim, but Yuefeng was almost certain that it was Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

He stood there as though he had merged with the shadows. His calm gaze seemed to pass over Airi Sakura and settle on Yuefeng and Hiyori Shiina.

He had no expression and made no movement. He simply watched.

Yuefeng's heart skipped a beat. What was Kiyotaka observing? Airi Sakura? Or them?

Just then, the cruise ship seemed to enter a stretch of slightly rougher water, and the hull swayed gently.

Caught off guard by the movement, Airi Sakura let out a soft cry and lost her balance, falling backward!

Behind her stood a Class D boy Yuefeng did not recognize.

The boy was startled as well and instinctively reached out to catch her, but he was a beat too slow.

Just as Airi Sakura was about to crash into him or fall to the floor—

A figure shot out from the cabin doorway's shadow at an unbelievable speed!

It was Kiyotaka Ayanokoji!

Like a phantom, he appeared at Airi Sakura's side. One hand firmly supported her back while the other seemed to casually steady her arm, helping her regain her footing.

The whole process was smooth and natural, as if he had merely happened to be passing by and lent a hand.

Still shaken, Airi Sakura looked up blankly, her face pale as she met Kiyotaka's calm, unruffled eyes.

"Be careful," Kiyotaka said in his usual flat, emotionless tone. Then he released her hand, as though he had merely completed some trivial task, and turned away.

He silently retreated into the cabin doorway's shadow again, leaving Airi Sakura standing there dazed, as if everything that had just happened had been an illusion.

But Yuefeng had seen it clearly. Kiyotaka had moved far too fast!

Too fast for it to have been a last-minute reaction. It was more like... anticipation? Did he know the ship would sway? Or had he been watching Airi Sakura the entire time?

More importantly, why had he acted? Given Kiyotaka's personality, he should have chosen "reasonable" observation, just as he had when he witnessed Hiyori Shiina nearly fall in the library.

Or, provided it did not interfere with his own "observation," he might have offered a verbal "warning" instead of intervening personally.

Was it because the person was Airi Sakura? The girl he had saved in the original story?

Yuefeng frowned deeply.

Kiyotaka's behavior pattern seemed to be developing subtle deviations that Yuefeng could not understand.

"Yuefeng? Is Sakura... all right?

Was that... Ayanokoji from Class D?" Hiyori Shiina had seen what happened too, and she tugged worriedly at Yuefeng's sleeve.

"Yeah." Yuefeng withdrew his gaze, his doubts deepening. What did Kiyotaka's intervention mean? Was it interference with a "variable"?

Or... had he developed some different kind of "interest" in Airi Sakura?

The cruise ship continued slicing through the waves. On the horizon, the silent dark-green outline of the island that was their destination gradually emerged.

Yuefeng took one last look toward the cabin door where Kiyotaka had disappeared, then looked at the island growing clearer in the distance.

The Uninhabited Island Exam had yet to begin, but the first invisible reef seemed to have already quietly surfaced.

He took a deep breath of the sea-scented air, his gaze becoming sharp and focused once more.

No matter what lay ahead.

He, Ayanokoji Yuefeng, was already on the road.