August 7th, the seventh day of survival on the uninhabited island—the final day of the exam.
Though it was already noon, there was still no sign of the teachers around the beach, even after noon—the designated end time—had arrived. Could they have overslept? That was hard to believe.
"We are currently tallying the exam results. Please wait a moment. The exam has ended. Students who need drinks or wish to use the restroom, please proceed to the rest area."
Just as we were all full of questions, the announcement came at the perfect time. I immediately rushed into the rest area for a drink. There was no MAX Coffee, so I had no choice but to get orange juice.
After going a week without anything sweet to drink, the juice was delicious enough to make me tremble. I wanted to get back to the ship, see Hiyori, and have a proper meal already.
"Yo, Hikigaya. Good work surviving the week." Hashimoto, who had just entered the rest area, raised a hand in greeting. As the other students began filing in as well, I decided this wasn't a good place to chat. I grabbed an apple juice and tossed it to him, signaling for us to talk outside.
We sat on a stretch of beach some distance away, each sipping our juice.
"Gah! Juice tastes so damn good after all this time!" Hashimoto and I let out satisfied sighs at the same time.
"Rough week?"
"More or less. But I completed most of Arisu's requests. Just to confirm, Totsuka didn't withdraw as leader, right?"
"Of course not."
That was good. This morning, Chabashira-sensei said that Hirata from Class A had written Totsuka's name on the leader nomination form. That meant Class A would lose at least 50 points, and any reward