Kushida: I'm About to Burst! Part 3 (Continued)

After all.

Ibuki had no idea that she was acting as a guinea pig for everyone, testing their poison.

They also clearly hid a device to communicate with Ryuen, but they didn't wash their hands or erase any traces.

It left behind evidence.

The location where Hachiman found the communication device that Ibuki had buried was fresh soil, and there was a small twig stuck in it, which seemed to be her marking it.

However, this kind of marking is easily recognized.

Meanwhile, stealing Karuizawa's underwear seems like a good idea. On the one hand, it can disrupt the cohesion of Hachiman's class, and on the other hand, it can create chaos and then obtain information about the leader of Class C.

However, she was too presumptuous. If it weren't for Hachiman and Horikita's deliberate cooperation in suppressing the risk that "an outsider committed the crime and Ibuki is the prime suspect," she wouldn't have been able to succeed so smoothly.

Because the students in Hachiman's class are not easy to deal with; once they are framed, they will quickly shift the blame. As an outsider, she will soon become the target of attacks if anyone makes a suggestion.

Once she's expelled, what's the point of getting any information about the leader of Class C?

At the same time, Ibuki wanted to frame the wrong person. Since everyone dislikes Yamauchi, she should frame Yamauchi.

Instead of falsely Hachiman.

See, isn't this a case of being turned on by Hachiman?

In other words, although Ibuki is intelligent, her brain isn't quite up to par.

"And although it is said that Ibuki will be needed."

"But," Hachiman said, "I think as long as Ryuen is still on the island, then Ryuen should be the leader of Class C."

"Ryuen is ruled by violence and is a one-man show, so I don't think he would hand over the leadership role to someone else," Hachiman said.

"Then, since Ryuen was able to sell his initial points and join forces with Class A, although it was an excellent solution for this exam, it also shows that Ryuen is someone who will react as long as he is given enough incentives."

"Then it's acceptable to let him betray Class A."

"So if I want to get information about the team leader of Class A, I want to start with Ryuen."

"And now," Hachiman said, "we're giving Ryuen the opportunity to get information about the leader of Class A."

"I hope he won't let me down."

"I hope you won't disappoint me, Ibuki." Ryuen thought to himself at that moment.

After Class C became dejected due to the underwear incident, Ibuki left Class C's camp.

Because her classmates weren't in a good mood, no one paid attention to her movements.

Meanwhile, Ibuki had successfully reunited with Ryuen.

According to Ryuen's regulations, they will meet in this area once the next morning.

The time limit is 12 o'clock.

It's 11 o'clock now.

"So, what did you discover today?" Ryuen asked. "You know, Kaneda already completed his mission."

"Kaneda finished the mission so quickly?" Ibuki was surprised.

Only then did she see a figure emerge from behind Ryuen.

It was Kaneda, who was wearing glasses and had bruises on the corners of his mouth from being hit.

Kaneda is a boy with blond hair, similar to that of an uncle from another world. He is not handsome, but he is very smart.

He is one of the few students in Ryuen's class with Academic Ability of B or above.

He was also one of the people Ryuen arranged to contact Class B to obtain information about the team leader.

"Oh, not at all, it was just good luck," Kaneda said. "Ichinose and the others occupied the base at a rather unlucky time."

"They held onto a vegetable patch that Class C had once occupied. Then, I timed it perfectly, and when it was time to swipe my Leader Card in the morning to retake it, I hid not far away and watched."

"I saw Ichinose and Chihiro Shiranam their cards together."

"Although the two of them were together, it was Chihiro Shiranam ultimately swiped the card."

"Then."

"I took a picture."

"Although we didn't get a picture of the Leader Card, we did get a picture of Chihiro Shiranam her card."

"Only the team leader can swipe the card, and Class B is trying very hard to save their initial points this time. They shouldn't do anything that would cause them to lose points for nothing. So I guess the team leader of Class B is Chihiro Shiranam," Kaneda said.

"Then the mission is basically complete," Ryuen said. "But don't alert them; continue to lie low."

"Yes, that's what I did too," Kaneda said. "After getting the team leader's information, I plan to stay with Class B today as well."

"Then today I saw Hachiman Hikigaya and Suzune Horikita from Class C, and Kikyo Kushida came to Class B together."

Although he was assigned a task by Ryuen, he was not stupid and knew how to make the most of his abilities.

"Then it seemed like they had been discussing it for quite a while," Kaneda said.

"Hehe, these two classes have already formed an alliance," Ryuen said. "But we can't let our guard down, so what did they discuss?"

"I'm sorry, I was worried they would suspect me, so I left then." Kaneda shook his head.

"It's nothing," Ryuen said. "In fact, it was the right thing for you to leave on purpose. Horikita made us suffer a great loss in the Sudō incident."

"And Hachiman Hikigaya was a shrewd fellow on the ship as well."

"I wanted to take a picture of Suzune Horikita on the ship, Hachiman Hikigaya took 18 pictures of me instead."

"That guy's reaction was pretty strange," Ryuen said. "Besides, their class got so many stronghold points this time, they'll definitely be more vigilant."

"And so," Ryuen, looking at Ibuki.

That's why he deliberately stayed so long today.

"Class C has occupied so many strongholds this time, so they shouldn't just take in people from other classes. After all, if other classes find out their leader's information, all those strongholds will be wiped out," Ryuen said. "So if they find you, I think Hachiman Hikigaya or Horikita might hand you over to Class B."

"Is it even possible to do that?" Ibuki was taken aback.

I was surprised by the idea behind Ryuen.

"Why not? Because we can't afford to lose," Ryuen said.

"Hachiman Hikigaya and Horikita seized the initiative and occupied most of the strongholds on the island. I myself explored deeper into the area and only found one stronghold, so they must have occupied the majority of the strongholds now. They definitely don't want to lose."

"Actually, their strategy is similar to ours."

"We convert our initial points into living expenses."

"And they are stubbornly defending their strongholds with over 300 points."

"We can all reap huge benefits from this exam."

"Both their testing methods and our testing methods are excellent solutions for this exam," Ryuen said. "But Hachiman Hikigaya and Horikita said they still want to be in Class A?"

"So they can only take risks to obtain class evaluation scores, instead of simply taking money like we do."

"So they wouldn't feel comfortable if someone from another class came to their class."

"Then sending them to Class B would be a good solution."

"But they actually took you in. I think there's something wrong with that," Ryuen said.

"Is there a problem? Actually, they got into an argument, and in the end, most of the students agreed to take me in," Ibuki said. "And Horikita and Hachiman Hikigaya couldn't do anything about it either."

"..."?

"..." Ryuen.

Is that so?

So that means there are a lot of terrible teammates in Class C.

Therefore, acquiring one or two spies might not be too difficult.

"I haven't received specific information about the team leader yet," Ibuki said. "When it's time to swipe the Leader Card, in Class C, it's Sudō, Kōenji, and Hachiman Hikigaya are acting together."

"So you're still on guard against you?" Kaneda said.

He gently pushed up his glasses.

"It should be."

"However, I also have my own observations," Ibuki said. "Last night when Class C was having dinner, I noticed that Kushida's attitude towards Kōenji was a bit special. Everyone else only had a bowl of fish soup, but she gave Kōenji a large piece of fish. And the people in Class C didn't seem to have any objections to this."

"Kōenji?"

Ryuen was somewhat surprised. He knew a bit about Kikyo Kushida; she was a talented person.

Despite being a student from another class, he managed to get the contact information of almost all the students in his class. Even Ishizaki and Komiyama thought Kushida was an angel.

I'm willing to talk to them.

However, just like Mio Ibuki, based on their understanding of Kushida, although an angel, is the kind of angel who treats everyone equally.

There was no one in the entire first-year class who didn't know Kushida.

However, she did something clearly biased towards Kōenji.

More importantly, no one else had any objections!

Why?

If it's because Kōenji is Kushida's boyfriend that she shows favoritism towards Kōenji, then her behavior can be explained.

But if that's the case, the students in Class C will definitely have a lot of complaints.

After all, Kushida is like an idol now, and if fans find out that their idol has a boyfriend or even gets married...

They'll definitely go crazy.

Instead of Ishizaki and the others thinking about whether they should invite Kushida out for bubble tea if they could get points on this exam, which is typical of their infatuated behavior.

Therefore, Ibuki's observation is somewhat interesting.

But.

"That's all?"

Ryuen looked at Mio Ibuki with some dissatisfaction in her tone.

Because this is not genuine evidence.

"Actually, this observation is quite useful," Kaneda said. "First of all, Class C was able to quickly occupy so many strongholds, so someone must have exceptional athletic ability."

"According to the information Ibuki obtained, the people who went to swipe the card together were Sudō, Hachiman Hikigaya, and Kōenji."

"The area of a base may not be very large, but it would still take an average person more than ten minutes to walk there. So it's a huge project."

"As far as I know, Sudō is a sports whiz, Komiyama and the others know that very well. Sudō is very talented in basketball. He's also very physically strong, so he could be the team leader," Kaneda said. "But the possibility is not high."

"I also think it couldn't be Sudō," Ryuen said.

"Why?" Ibuki asked.

"Because Sudō is an idiot," Ryuen said. "Although we dawdled a bit after landing on the island, we were still quite fast in finding a base."

"But the surrounding strongholds have all been wiped out by Class C."

"Class C gained the upper hand and acquired a lot of information about the bases, but do you think that idiot Sudō could remember so much base information?" Ryuen said. "So Sudō was ruled out immediately."

"Then Hachiman Hikigaya ..." Ibuki continued.

"It shouldn't be him either," Kaneda said. "Because he's already famous in other classes. Their class occupies so many spots, it would be bad if people guessed it because of his fame."

"That means the most likely Rokosuke Kōenji," Ryuen said.

"That's highly likely," Kaneda said. "Kōenji seems to be favored by the upperclassmen; someone saw him eating with third-year students. Also, he's very fit and looks athletic. And we haven't heard of him doing anything significant for Class C, so Kushida is probably treating him well."

"It's very likely that they'll make their contribution in this exam," Kaneda said.

"..." Ryuen. "Kaneda, did you come up with this yourself?"

Kaneda was a classmate whom Ryuen valued, and someone he felt could be given special assignments.

While Kaneda is somewhat intelligent, he doesn't believe Kaneda can analyze things so thoroughly.