The Uninhabited Island Exam Continues (5)

"Hoshinomiya, would you like to become our shadow leader?" Kitahara asked slowly.

"Aha?" Hoshinomiya was so startled by Kitahara's shocking proposal that she nearly jumped, hurriedly blurting out:

"Th-this... this is a violation of the rules."

Upon hearing her reply, Kitahara merely smiled, for he knew that in this school, rules were the last thing one should talk about.

If one were to simply follow the rules, would it even be possible for lower-ranked classes to climb to the top?

Therefore, Kitahara continued, addressing Hoshinomiya: "Teacher, you just said that the Key Card is handed from the homeroom teacher to the leader, but you never denied that a homeroom teacher couldn't temporarily hold onto it."

"While there is indeed no specific regulation against it, as a teacher, I cannot get involved," Hoshinomiya said, quickly trying to dismiss his train of thought.

Hearing Hoshinomiya's response, Kitahara wore a triumphant smile and said, "That means as long as you aren't a teacher, it would be fine, right?"

"Aha, what do you mean?" Upon hearing Kitahara's reply, the three of them wore expressions of confusion.

Seeing their puzzled faces, Kitahara said slowly: "I want to purchase your identity as a student for seven days, Hoshinomiya."

"Y-y-you, you don't mean you want me to act as a student for seven days?" Hoshinomiya's eyes widened, her face full of shock.

Kitahara nodded: "Exactly. As long as you join as a student, it won't be considered a violation of the rules."

"So, please tell me how many points it will cost."

Hearing Kitahara's idea, Hoshinomiya hesitated; she hadn't expected Kitahara to be so insane as to come up with a way to have a teacher act as a student.

However, this method truly circumvented the rules of this exam and was essentially invincible, as no other class would ever guess that a homeroom teacher was the leader.

In the same state as Hoshinomiya were Ichinose and Kanzaki standing nearby, and they now understood what Kitahara meant by "taking a gamble."

At the same time, they realized that if they truly followed Kitahara's method, Class B would be invincible in this exam, though the premise for all of this was...

Thinking of this, they cast their gazes toward the hesitant Hoshinomiya.

After a while, Hoshinomiya said helplessly: "Kitahara-kun, you really have given me a difficult problem. Although I would like to agree, this matter requires an application to the school authorities before a decision can be made."

Hearing Hoshinomiya's reply, Kitahara said with undiminished confidence: "Teacher, I believe the school authorities will certainly agree, so please go and apply."

Looking at Kitahara's determined gaze, Hoshinomiya sighed and said: "Alright then, I'll give it a try." With that, she hurried away once more.

Watching her retreating figure, Ichinose said with some worry: "Kitahara, will the school really agree?"

"Don't worry, even if the school doesn't agree, I still have a second option, don't I?" Kitahara said, offering reassurance.

He then looked at Kanzaki and continued: "While Hoshinomiya hasn't returned yet, let's confirm the necessary living supplies."

"Mm, okay." Kanzaki nodded in response.

"Right, Ichinose, you go and tally the suggestions from everyone in the class first, then we'll make a decision," Kitahara said, turning to look at Ichinose.

"Okay..." Ichinose replied.

Once Ichinose had left, Kanzaki, standing nearby, asked Kitahara: "Kitahara, if this plan doesn't succeed, what is your second option?"

"The second option, huh..."

After a sigh, Kitahara said: "The second option is for me to serve as the leader myself."

Hearing Kitahara's answer, Kanzaki felt slightly surprised; he hadn't expected the second option to be him, especially since Kitahara had already pointed out the risks of the three of them acting as leaders.

However, he immediately felt at ease, knowing that Kitahara would never fight a battle he wasn't prepared for.

(Except when he always tries to break up the team while playing games.)

Kanzaki added silently in his heart.

Seeing that Kanzaki did not press further, Kitahara offered no explanation, simply fixing his gaze on Ichinose, who was interacting with the others in the distance.

He then realized that this second plan was actually the one that should have been presented first.

Originally, in order to help Ichinose awaken early, Kitahara had already established a plan: to have her become the leader.

Since he already knew that Class B would eventually take in members from Class C, leading to the leak of the Class B leader's information, and with him present, they likely wouldn't form an alliance with Class D.

Then, in this special exam, Class B would fall into a situation of being attacked from three sides.

But that still wasn't enough, so he had prepared to increase the difficulty further, even intending to give Class C a push from behind.

After all, the class point gap between the two classes was only about 400.

But after hearing Hoshinomiya's explanation just now, Kitahara decided to shift his plan, as he thought of a way to both help her awaken and allow the class to gain points.

And so, Plan B replaced Plan A.

By the time Kitahara snapped back to reality, Ichinose had finished collecting the information.

Pointing to the items in the manual, Ichinose looked at Kitahara and the others: "The first thing we need to solve is our food problem. Since there are so many of us, if we use points to buy everything, we won't have many points left at the end."

"So, after discussing it, we feel that everyone can obtain food in the forest or along the coast near the beach. After all, the teacher said this entire island is our activity area."

"This way, we can save a large amount of points, but we still need to purchase some basic cooking utensils to process the food we obtain."

"Wait..." Before Kanzaki or Kitahara could speak, Ichinose continued:

"After solving the food problem, we also need to solve the water supply issue, though that should be easy enough to handle, given that we are by the coast."

"And also..."

Just as Ichinose was about to continue, she finally noticed the somewhat complicated expressions on Kitahara and Kanzaki's faces, and her voice gradually trailed off.

"Um... is there a problem with my plan?" Ichinose closed her handbook, feeling a bit uneasy.

"No, no, your plan is perfect, Ichinose. It's just that we were wondering if you had considered the safety aspect. After all, it's the first time for most people, and some might not even be able to tell if certain foods are poisonous..." Kitahara cautiously reminded her.

Upon hearing Kitahara's words, Ichinose nodded slightly and said, "You're right, I didn't consider that thoroughly enough."

"I will have students with relevant experience keep a closer eye on things, and when forming groups, I'll try to pair those who are knowledgeable with beginners so they can look out for each other."

"Mm, that makes it perfect," Kitahara replied.

"Go ahead and tell us what else we need to prepare."

"Mm."