Sakayanagi Arisu's Wager Resumes / The Right Hand Has a Mind of Its Own, and So Does the Left

Feeling the warmth on her head, Shiina Hiyori squinted her eyes in delight, her body beginning to sway involuntarily.

Hmph~? Hmph~?

Her little mouth unconsciously let out a soft hum.

The perfect melody and swaying caused Hoshino En's hands to unconsciously begin to knead it. The girl's long silver hair felt wonderful to the touch, so smooth that it seemed to make one forget all their troubles.

Seeing the two of them answer the signal as if no one else was around, Sakayanagi Arisu, who was sitting to the side like a third party, was very annoyed.

No, if you replace coffee with juice, she'd look more like a pitiful daughter watching her young parents flaunt their love.

So this is how you guys usually interact in the library?

She decided to do something to stop the two of them from continuing their sweet romance.

Just then, a plump figure walked past the door, looking dejected. As Sakayanagi Arisu saw her, her gaze swept in and met that of the youngest daughter, who had been neglected by her heartless parents.

Ah, Ichinose, you've come at the perfect time!

Sakayanagi Arisu winked at the person and waved to her, signaling her to come over.

However, when Ichinose Honami saw Sakayanagi Arisu, who was being affectionate with Shiina Hiyori Hoshino En, her eyes dimmed even more.

Then, she turned and left the coffee shop, disappearing from Sakayanagi Arisu's sight.

Sakayanagi Arisu: "..."

It seems Ichinose has really suffered a huge blow... Well, she should probably refrain from plotting against her for now.

The petite girl withdrew her gaze, her eyes returning to Hoshino En and Shiina Hiyori.

How long will they keep putting up these signs?

Seemingly to make up for the seven days that Shiina Hiyori spent with her and Hoshino En, Sakayanagi Arisu did not compete with her for the rest of Hoshino En's time.

She spent a quiet and pleasant afternoon with them in the coffee shop.

Honestly, if she hadn't had the chance to see it today, she wouldn't have known that people could be so bored— Shiina- En-kun really just sat leaning against Eri-kun, neither chatting nor doing anything else, just exchanging glances.

Seriously, can't we have some kind of interaction? Or at least some engagement? What's the point of just watching?

She, as an observer, was almost falling asleep!

First Semester of First Year:

Chapter 174 Chapter 165 Sakayanagi Arisu's Bet Again

The rest period was extremely short. On the afternoon of the second day, July 12, the ship's loudspeaker rang again.

"The Special Exam is about to begin. Students, please assemble in your designated rooms at your designated times. Those who are more than ten minutes late will be punished."

"The specific time and location for each student's assembly will be sent via email. If you do not receive the email, please contact a nearby faculty member. To reiterate—"

Are they here?

As the broadcast began, Hoshino En's phone also beeped with a notification that a message had been received.

The anticipated second exam did indeed occur.

He opened his phone and checked the email he had just received.

"Please assemble in room 206 on the second floor before 6:20 PM tonight. The meeting time is approximately twenty minutes. Please use the restroom and turn your phones to vibrate or off before coming to the assembly point."

"En-kun, where are you from? I'm going to room 306, third floor, before 6:20."

The speaker was Shiina Hiyori, who was holding her phone in both hands, her curious gaze fixed on Hoshino En's face.

Now, only she is by Hoshino En's side.

As for Sakayanagi Arisu, who was originally supposed to be taken care of by Hoshino En, due to Katsuragi Kohei's failure in the Uninhabited Island Exam, the leadership of the original Class A, now Class B, completely fell into the hands of the Sakayanagi Faction.

As the sole Leader of the Sakayanagi Faction, she had to say goodbye to her carefree school life and throw herself into the "cruel" competition within the class.

However, recalling the expression on her face before they parted, Hoshino En felt that she seemed quite excited.

"En-kun, you'll take this exam seriously too, right? How about we have a long-awaited competition?"

Her smile before being welcomed back by Kamuro Masumi echoed in Hoshino En's mind.

"If I win, you'll spend your birthday alone with me!"

"If you win, I'll go with you on the day of your match to cheer you on!"

... It seems like even if he wins, he won't gain anything in the end!

Oh well, he won't lose anything anyway, so let Little Sakayanagi be.

Stopping her reminiscence, Hoshino En looked at Shiina Hiyori in front of her and pressed her index finger against her pink lips.

"The exam is about to start, Shiina, do you think I would tell you such important information?"

Although Shiina is very honest, he will not soften his stance just because of their personal relationship.

Just as Sakayanagi had thought, he was indeed very focused on this second exam.

It wasn't for the points; the points he earned from the Uninhabited Island Exam were already enough for his daily life.

According to the contract, Class A, led by Ichinose Honami, will give him 480,000 yen per month, and Class C, led by Karuizawa Kei, will give him 1,080,000 yen per month. Even without considering the Private Points converted from Class Points, he can still get a total of 1,560,000 Private Points per month.

He simply wanted Ichinose Honami to truly realize her mistakes.

He wouldn't feel at ease unless he destroyed something he disliked and found offensive.

With her lips sealed, Shiina Hiyori blinked belatedly, then a look of sudden realization crept into her eyes, and her mouth opened slightly into an "O" shape in surprise.

"En-kun, why didn't you remind me?!"

"I didn't expect you to be so decisive."

Hoshino En shrugged. After spending so much time together, he roughly understood this shochu's way of thinking, but she would still bring him unexpected "surprises" in some unexpected places.

"Anyway, since the exams are about to start, you shouldn't stay with me for now. Go find Ibuki and play!"

"Oh oh."

And so they parted ways, leaving Hoshino En alone.

With no outsiders around, he finally had the space to plan for the upcoming exams.

Since the requirement is to put phones on vibrate or turn them off, it's clear the school doesn't want students to use their phones in public during assembly. They probably don't want students to use their phones, or they want to make it difficult for students to remember the information they're explaining.

Since a mobile phone won't work, let's try a different approach: what else can we use? For example, a camera that can record video directly.

So he sent a message to his helpful assistant.

Hoshino En: [Karuizawa, on the fourth floor near the staircase leading to the deck, there's a photo studio where you can borrow cameras. Have someone go and borrow all the cameras there.]

As soon as he boarded the ship, he familiarized himself with the layout of the cabin, including where he could find what kind of supplies.

That photo studio was the closest to the deck where you could take good pictures, so although there were many photo studios on the ship that helped print photos and make custom frames, only that one offered camera lending services.

Karuizawa Kei: [Understood.]

Furthermore, since the school didn't mandate that phones be turned off, the phone's recording function should still work, right?

Hoshino En: [Also, gather all the class's assembly information and divide those who are assembling together into groups. In each group, have at least one or two students use their phones' recording functions to record the school's instructions. Make sure they turn it on before they go inside! Don't wait until they're seated to start recording.]

[I was in room 206 on the second floor at 6:20.]

Karuizawa Kei's reply came rather slowly this time; she was probably gathering information from other classmates.

But she brought with her important intelligence.

Karuizawa Kei: [En-kun, are you also in room 206? Kushida, Matsushita- san, and I are all in this room, just at slightly different times.]

[However, Kushida and Horikita were scheduled to meet at 6:20.]

Do students in the same class all gather in the same place, meaning different classes gather at different places?

Students are assigned to designated meeting points based on their class affiliation, but how are meeting times determined?

No, that's backwards. It should be -- the school divided the assembly times according to different factions.

This Special Exam requires a second round of team division for competition!

In that case...

Hoshino En: [Karuizawa, get the other students to quickly gather the information. I need to know exactly how many meeting times there are.]

If there really is a secondary division of factions, then for the sake of fairness, the school should ensure that someone from each class is assigned to each group.

Therefore, based on the number of assembly times, we should be able to determine the number of secondary factions, and even the number of members assigned to each group.

This time, Karuizawa Kei's reply was even slower, but it still arrived within half an hour.

Karuizawa Kei: [From 5 PM to 9 PM, with 20-minute intervals between each set, for a total of 12 sets.]

12?

This number is quite special, and Hoshino En almost immediately thought of many things.

12 months, 12 zodiac signs, 12 animal signs, 12-hour clock... these are all elements that contain a "sequence".

Is the order of the exam important?

What order did the school use to divide the students into two camps? Was it exam scores, height and weight, the number of strokes in their names, or the order of the first syllables of their names?

There's still no clue about the Moonlit Hoshino En.

Q, however, there's one thing he's very clear about now.

U- Hoshino En: [Tell those who want to borrow cameras to hurry up and not let other classes get there first. Make sure each group has at least one camera.]

[Don't rush to return the camera after you're done. The cameras there can only be borrowed for a maximum of three hours. Wait until your time is almost up, then ask them to return it first, and immediately borrow it again. Only return it after all the groups have been explained.]

He knew that Sakayanagi could come up with the same strategy; since she wanted to play, he would just play along.

"Doesn't this shop lend out cameras?"

"... Yes."

Standing in front of a photo studio on the third floor, Sakayanagi Arisu watched as the Katsuragi Faction members returned with terrible news, and the smile on her face gradually disappeared.

First Semester of First Year:

Chapters 175 and 166: The right hand has its own ideas, and so does the left hand.

"Didn't Katsuragi- kun order you to gather intelligence about the ship's cabins?"

Sakayanagi Arisu looked at the other members of Class B who had also brought no good news, and a hint of anger gradually appeared on her small face.

"I delegated so much authority before, why can't Katsuragi -kun even handle something as simple as gathering intelligence?!"

"This... this... Katsuragi- san did ask us to gather intelligence... so we found the photo studio, didn't we?"

A boy belonging to the Katsuragi Faction stood in front of her, a fawning smile plastered on his face.

"But these places don't lend out cameras, so what's the use of finding one?!"

"Sakayanagi, calm down."

Seeing that the girl was breathing rapidly, Kamuro Masumi, who was standing next to her, immediately stepped forward to support her and helped her catch her breath.

"It's just an exam. It's okay if you lose. Don't get so worked up."

"Now that I represent Class B, I naturally have to be responsible for Class B. Kamuro, do you think I'm the kind of person who would put personal feelings above the interests of the class?"

Kamuro Masumi: "..."

0 You... aren't you?

Qi replied, "Of course not. The past is the past, and the present is the present. Before, I was just enjoying campus life. Now that we're officially competing, I won't hold back just because I have a good relationship with En-kun."

"Since I can support him even if I win, why should I hold back?"

Usu's thinking is definitely off! What normal person would think like that?

"But whether I'll go easy on them isn't the main issue right now."

The main problem now is that your execution ability can't keep up with my capabilities.

Sansaka Sakayanagi Arisu looked at the group of useless guys in front of her and sighed helplessly.

En-kun was right after all. Instead of competing within the class, let's prepare some private betting games to play in the future.