"I'm a Class C student. In other words, I'm your enemy. Aren't you worried I might be a spy if you let me into your camp?" Ibuki called out, watching Takahashi's back.
"The people who say they're spies are the least likely to be spies. Only spies would say they're spies." Takahashi didn't stop walking, answering as he went. Though he was speaking to Ibuki, it almost seemed as if he wasn't.
" Kamiya, I have a feeling that girl's hiding something."
"Oh?" Takahashi looked at the silly girl in front of him, surprised. "Why do you think that?"
"The spot where she was sitting looks like the soil's been loosened. And there's dirt under her fingernails."
"Very observant. But don't tell anyone about this, okay?" Takahashi freed a hand to pat Sakura on the head with a smile. He'd noticed it too, but it was a perfect chance to test Ayanokouji.
About five minutes later, Ayanokouji and Yamauchi returned to the Class D camp with Ibuki. Claiming she didn't want to cause trouble for the other classes, Ibuki sat down some distance away.
But Hirata wasn't there, so the task of starting a fire fell to Nishito Takahashi.
"You know how to use matches, right? I'm heading off." After saying that, Takahashi took Sakura with him to look for Hasebe.
By the time they returned, a fire had already been started. According to Ayanokouji, Ike had done all the work.
It wasn't until just before the last rays of sunlight disappeared from the island that Kushida and her little group returned to camp, with Hirata coming back alongside them. Nearly half the class gradually gathered as their key figures returned. Everyone had finished foraging and was holding things that looked like potential food: clusters of tiny red berries resembling cherries, miniature "tomatoes," and even bunches like grapes, along with oval fruits like kiwis.
"Are these... edible? We brought them back because they looked like fruit."
The students asked their classmates uncertainly. They'd never seen these shapes before, and it took considerable courage to swallow one.
"I'm dying of thirst... and I'm hungry, too."
"Me too..."
As dusk deepened, students began voicing the same complaints. With dinnertime approaching, the problems of food and water became increasingly pressing.
"Hey! Aren't these Black Bean Tree berries? Did Little Kushida find them? Nice!"
Hearing the commotion, Ike came over from beside the campfire and picked up a berry.
"Kanji, you know what these are?"
"These are Black Bean Tree berries. I ate them when I went camping in the mountains. They taste a lot like blueberries. And this is Akebi Fruit. It's sweet, too. Man, this brings back memories!"
He wasn't showing off like he usually did at school. He'd simply recognized some familiar fruit, and his face lit up with delight. The others looked at him with admiration. Shinohara took the opportunity to point to the other fruit and ask about it, and Ike answered each question honestly.
The class had been through plenty of disputes, but now that they'd found food, those disagreements seemed to fade away. They were beginning to move toward unity.
"Shinohara... I've been thinking about it, and life on this island without anything—not even a toilet—is really hard. Even if it's for Class Points, I went too far earlier. I'm sorry." Ike was the first to apologize to Shinohara.
"W-Why are you suddenly apologizing?" Shinohara was clearly flustered by Ike's unexpected apology, and her reply came out haltingly.
"It reminded me of the first time I went camping outdoors with my family. The toilet was awful, crawling with bugs and filthy. I thought it was disgusting and couldn't stand using it, so I kept pestering my parents to take me home. And you're a girl, so... it must be even harder for you to put up with."
It had taken Ike no small amount of courage to say that. His honesty slowly but surely affected those around him.
Shinohara awkwardly looked away. "I... shouldn't have lost my temper earlier, either. And my tone was so... so awful. I said I wouldn't drink river water, but in this situation, if we don't take the initiative, we won't be able to hold on to our points."
Neither of them dared look at the other, but it was clear they'd made up. Maybe Class D could actually manage to hold on to some points after all. The other students seemed to share the same feeling.
Seeing how unusually united and harmonious the class had become, Hirata decided it was a good opportunity. He raised his hand, drawing everyone's attention.
"There's something I need to explain to everyone first. None of us has any experience with this Special Exam, and I understand that you're all worried. Everyone has different opinions, so conflicts are only natural. But I hope you won't rush or panic. Keep trusting your classmates, and let's work together to win this exam."
Hirata spoke with conviction, then continued in a calm, clear voice. "Everyone wants to keep as many points as possible. I've calculated that we should have about 120 points left when the exam ends."
"You're saying you plan to spend 180 points? I can't accept that so easily." Yukimura frowned at Hirata, apparently unwilling to let him spend more than half their points.
Hirata opened the Guide Manual and explained things to everyone, step by step. "Hear me out first. If we buy all our food with points, the cheapest option is the meal-and-bottled-water package.
- Buying food and water separately costs six points per meal. The package costs ten points per meal. At two meals a day, that comes to twenty points a day.
- If we eat once tonight and once on the day the exam ends, that makes twelve meals in total, costing 120 points. If we exclude the final day, it'll be 110 points.
- Add twenty points for a temporary toilet and twenty points for two tents for the boys, and that's 150 points altogether. The remaining thirty points can cover unexpected expenses during the week, bringing our total spending to 180 points."
Hirata's clear explanation left the class silent. "Everyone thinks 120 points left is too little, but that's only for now. Don't just focus on the 300 points. Look at the results of the Midterm Exam and Final Exam, and you'll understand."
In the Midterm Exam and Final Exam before summer vacation, even Class A—the class with the most points—had never gained or lost more than a hundred. That showed that holding on to 120 points in this Special Exam was no small feat. On top of that, they'd earn extra points based on how many bases they occupied by the end of the exam, so they could actually keep even more.
"This is the lowest-spending plan I could come up with. If we can find enough food and water for one day, we'll save twenty points. If we can find enough drinking water for the whole week, we could save as many as fifty." Hirata glanced at the nearby river, its waters flowing gently, and added his thoughts.
He was probably trying to make everyone understand how important the river water was.
"I see... So if we grit our teeth and get through it, we can make a big difference in how many points we keep..."
The same information could leave vastly different impressions depending on the timing and manner of its delivery. Hirata's approach had been clever: he'd started by presenting the worst-case scenario of "only 120 points left," then revealed the optimistic possibility of keeping nearly 200. It easily stoked everyone's desire to aim higher.
Rather than pressuring them with the idea that they had to work themselves to the bone to save points, he'd offered a more reassuring logic: "Small savings add up." The idea that repeated little efforts could build into something substantial was certainly easier to accept.
"Hirata, that sounds good, doesn't it? We can keep at least 120 points. So the more points we save in our day-to-day lives, the more extra points we'll have, right? Let's give it a try!"
Ike, the person most likely to have opposed him, readily agreed and spoke up. Yukimura was still a little reluctant, but with Ike, his fellow strategist, siding with Hirata, he gave up.
"By the way, Hirata, there's something I want to tell you..."
Ayanokouji tried to speak to Hirata, but the class was still caught up in the excitement, eagerly crowding around Hirata to talk.
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