As summer vacation came to an end and the second semester began, all the first-year students at Advanced Nurturing High School unexpectedly boarded a Luxury Cruise Ship.
There had been no prior notice, no explanation of an exam, and no tense atmosphere.
The school offered only one reason—
"Late Summer Special Vacation: Luxury Cruise Ship Cruise."
A spacious deck, clear blue water, a buffet, a lounge, and free time...
Everything looked just like a real vacation.
The students burst into excited chatter, and the tension that had been building for days melted away in an instant.
Class D was in an uproar, and Kanji Ike and the others had long since put the secret-photography incident behind them;
Yoshikage Kira sat by a cabin window, a plain drink in front of him, his gaze calmly sweeping over the crowd.
A vacation that was too perfect.
No reason, no advance notice, no cost.
At Advanced Nurturing High School, nothing came for free.
An illusion.
He felt no particular emotion. In fact, he had already predicted what would happen next.
This so-called vacation was merely a disguise for the prelude to a Special Exam.
Honami Ichinose quietly walked over and sat beside him, wearing a perfectly warm smile.
"Classmate Kira, aren't you going outside to have a look? The ocean view is beautiful."
Kira glanced up indifferently. "No need. It's quiet here."
"I can't help feeling... that everything's going a little too smoothly." Ichinose lowered her voice slightly. "This school wouldn't suddenly give us such a nice experience."
Kira's tone remained calm. "Just enjoy the present. We'll find out the truth soon enough."
The cruise ship slowly entered the waters around an offshore island. While the entire ship was still basking in the relaxed mood of a vacation, the onboard speakers suddenly crackled to life. The announcement sounded calm, but carried an unmistakable gravity.
"Students, please come to the deck now. What you are about to see is a sight of great significance to you. Please observe it carefully."
The bewildered students streamed onto the deck and looked toward the vast, desolate Uninhabited Island in the distance. Its vegetation was dense, its shoreline winding, and several elevated outcrops were faintly visible, lending it a primeval, mysterious air.
While everyone was still wondering what was going on, a second notice from the school followed.
All students were urgently summoned to the hall.
The homeroom teachers for each class stepped forward. Their expressions had lost all warmth as they formally announced the true purpose of the vacation.
"Everyone, your pleasant vacation ends here."
"We are now announcing the first-year students' second-semester Special Exam—the Uninhabited Island Survival Battle."
The hall fell instantly silent, then erupted into a flurry of commotion. "The Uninhabited Island Survival Battle?" "What does that mean? How long do we have to stay on that island?" "Will there be food and water?" "Will it be dangerous?" The students' questions rose one after another, their voices full of anxiety and panic.
Sae Chabashira paid no attention to the students' commotion. In her unchanging tone, she clearly read out the exam rules, each word strictly matching the setup in volume four of the original work. "Please be quiet and listen carefully to the rules. They will directly determine your exam results."
The hall fell quiet at once. All the students held their breath and listened closely to Chabashira.
"First, this exam will use special exam points. Each class will receive 300 points at the start. All increases and deductions will be calculated from these 300 points and will not affect your class's existing Class Points. The maximum is 300 points, and the minimum is zero. You cannot go above or below those limits."
"Second, attendance will be taken twice each day during the exam: once at 9 a.m. and once at 6 p.m. Each absence will cost you 10 exam points. If you miss three or more roll calls in total, 50 points will be deducted, and you will be considered to have withdrawn from the exam."
"Third, supplies such as food, water, tents, temporary toilets, and first-aid medicine can be obtained in exchange for exam points. The school will set the prices, and some prices will be adjusted each day to reflect changes in the island's environment."
"Fourth, any member of a class has the right to contact their homeroom teacher individually and exchange the class's exam points for supplies, without needing the approval of other members or the leader."
"Fifth, the exam will last seven days. After seven days, the cruise ship will return to the island's shore to take you back to school. When the exam ends, classes will be ranked according to their remaining exam points. The higher a class ranks, the more Class Points it will receive as a reward; the lower it ranks, the more Class Points it will lose."
"Sixth, this exam introduces a new rule for claiming bases. There are ten bases on the Uninhabited Island that can be claimed. Each class may send members to claim them. A class that successfully claims a base will earn 15 exam points per day. Other classes may seize a base; if they succeed, the original class will stop earning points, and the new class will begin earning them."
"Seventh, there will be no expulsion penalty in this exam. No students will be expelled, regardless of their class's ranking."
After finishing the rules, Chabashira paused for a moment, then added several key details, her tone still stern. "The first additional rule: Class A's Sakayanagi Arisu is unable to participate in this exam due to health reasons. Class A will immediately lose 30 exam points, leaving it with 270 points at the start."
The students of Class A instantly looked grave. Kohei Katsuragi knitted his brows, inwardly thinking that this was bad. Sakayanagi Arisu's absence had already dealt Class A a significant blow, and now the loss of 30 points at the start had put them at a disadvantage. He subconsciously raised a hand to adjust his glasses, quickly surveyed the classmates around him, and spoke in a low voice. "Everyone, stay calm. With Classmate Sakayanagi absent, we need to stay steady and avoid mistakes." Masumi Kamuro and the others nodded, their expressions serious. They all knew that every move over the next seven days would matter.
"The second additional rule: each class must designate one leader, whose identity must not be revealed to outsiders. If the leader's identity is exposed, that class will immediately lose 50 exam points and forfeit the right to guess the identities of other classes' leaders. The leader may not be changed without a valid reason."
"The third additional rule: on the evening of the sixth day of the exam, each class may submit one 'leader guess.' You may guess the leader of any one or more classes. For each correct guess, you may take 50 exam points from that class. For each incorrect guess, your own class will lose 50 exam points."
After all the rules had been announced, the hall sank into a complicated silence once more. Some students breathed a sigh of relief because there was no expulsion penalty; others felt even more nervous because the point changes would directly affect their class rankings and rewards. Still others had already begun calculating how to use the rules to win more points for their class. The rule about claiming bases in particular had put a calculating gleam in many eyes.
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