Chapter 5: What It Means to Like Someone

Chapter 5: What It Means to Like Someone

Chapter 5:

What It Means to Like Someone

I T WAS A LITTLE AFTER SIX in the morning, when the inside of my tent began to heat up from the morning sun, that I heard a voice come from outside my tent.

“Um, excuse me, Ayanokouji-senpai? Are you awake?” asked Nanase.

“Hold on a second. I’ll be right out,” I said as I emerged from my tent to meet her.

“I’m terribly sorry to bother you so early in the morning,” she said.

“I was already up, so it’s all right,” I assured her. “It’s about time we head out anyway, so we need to get everything packed up. What’s up?”

I spoke in a hushed whisper, because after looking around the campsite and seeing the other tents, I noticed that the guys hadn’t woken up yet.

“It’s regarding Ike-senpai. Do you feel that I said a little too much last night…?” she asked.

“Well, I’d have to say it felt like you called it exactly, actually, rather than saying too much.”

While I did think that she had crossed a line and gotten too involved in Ike’s personal business, it did seem like she had more or less been reflecting on it herself.

“Ike’s back in action thanks to you, Nanase. Or, I guess I should say he finally learned to listen. I think he’s grateful for what you said,” I told her.

“You think so?” she asked.

I nodded immediately, but she still seemed somewhat unconvinced.

“I can’t help but feel like Ike-senpai is in somewhat of a precarious state right now,” she said. “I’m worried that what was said yesterday might backfire and cause him to do something reckless… That is why I’m feeling uneasy about whether we should split up now.”

“Well, it’s not like I don’t understand how you feel, but…”

I agreed with her that Ike’s emotional state was a point of concern, but traveling together with them also carried significant risk. Our groups were in completely different Tables, so there was no way to predict where our designated areas would be. Depending on what those were, we might have to head off in completely different directions.

I had to wonder, then: was Nanase’s proposal born from a real worry? Or did she have some kind of ulterior motive? If it was the latter, then was she simply trying to make sure I didn’t reach my designated areas? Well, no, a trap like that would’ve been far too weak of a play. I couldn’t dismiss the idea that she might try to hinder me in any conceivable way she could, but…

“Yes, I suppose that it…probably isn’t realistic,” she agreed. “But if we do get separated, it would be impossible for us to meet back together again.”

“Well… That’s true,” I replied.

I certainly couldn’t say that sticking with them was a great strategy, but it wasn’t like it was impossible to do something. I’m sure there was a method where we could stay on top of our own matters, while still keeping an eye out for Sudou’s group.

“This is an extreme idea, but it wouldn’t be that difficult, if we’re just thinking about trying to join up with them in the future. All we need to do is decide where we want to rendezvous. Even if we’re a long distance apart, it should still be feasible if we have the stamina to walk that far,” I reasoned.

Whether it was the designated area assignments or the Tasks, our daily responsibilities always ended at five o’clock. Which meant that we were free to do whatever we wanted from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next morning.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right…” said Nanase.

Of course, while it was possible, the question of whether it was a good idea or a bad idea was another story. The further apart our designated areas for the day were from each other, the tougher it would be to pick a good spot to meet up.

“I think it’d be best to just wait and see what designated area their group has first then, for the time being,” I said.

If their route was completely different from ours, then we should give up on the idea right away. By the time we finished packing everything up and having something to eat, it was seven o’clock in the morning, and the first designated area of the day had just been announced.

“H7, huh,” I said aloud.

While I wouldn’t go as far as to say it was the worst-case scenario, I couldn’t exactly say it was an ideal area, by any measure. It was difficult to say if we could really make it there within the next two hours. However, if we ignored it, that would make our second miss in a row. In that case, if the designated area after this happened to be randomly assigned and was somewhere off to the west on the other side of the mountains, then we’d never be able to reach it and we’d suffer for it.

“It would be quite troubling if the area assigned to us at nine happened to be the random selection, wouldn’t it?” said Nanase.

If we continued walking for two hours straight, starting now, even supposing everything went well, we would probably only end up being able to reach I8 or I7 at best. Of course, it wasn’t impossible for us to reach H7 in two hours by any means, but… Well, dragging Nanase into something so extreme would carry considerable risks.

“We also have the option of missing the designated area for a second time, so we don’t push our luck,” said Nanase.

The point reduction penalty kicked in once you failed to reach three designated areas consecutively. So, even if we didn’t manage to reach H7 in time, we should still be fine, but… Well, if we were to get bogged down somehow, finding ourselves in a dire situation that we couldn’t get ourselves out of, then there was a risk we’d continuously fail to reach our designated areas.

“Sudou, what’s your designated area?” I asked.

“We got I8. If you’re headed that way, we can go together. I’m psyched and ready to go, so let’s get this show on the road,” said Sudou.

Though our destinations were different, it sounded like we were basically taking the same route on our respective journeys then. However, this wasn’t a convenient turn of events. If anything, I should consider it quite unlucky. This eliminated the option of taking tough measures. If I tried to get Sudou’s group to go at my pace, Ike and Hondou would not be able to keep up.

“Yeah, we’re heading in your same direction, so sure, we’ll go with you for part of the way. If that’s okay?” I asked in return.

I figured it’d be better to just go with Sudou and his friends after all since I probably wasn’t going to be able to arrive at my destination in time anyway. Besides, there was still the whole issue of Ike, and this way we could work together if any problems arose along the way.

“’Course it is, dude. Right, Kanji?” asked Sudou.

“Y-yeah, definitely,” said Ike. He sounded somewhat embarrassed. Perhaps he was recalling last night’s conversation.

Nanase’s unexpected presence had pushed Ike forward. While this was a rather unlucky start to the third day of the exam, at least it didn’t seem like it was all bad. Normally, Ike probably would have been messing around, telling Nanase that she was cute and trying to hit on her. But there wasn’t any sign of that happening here. I supposed it would’ve been outrageous if he were to do those kinds of things the day after that whole conversation about Shinohara.

Maybe, I thought, the fact that Ike wasn’t doing the sorts of outrageous things he was used to doing right now was a sign that he was trying to change.

“All right,” said Ike. “I’ll go ahead and take the lead, so you all follow me.”

Full of vigor, Ike rolled his shoulders and stretched both arms out before taking up the position at the head of our party and leading the way forward. He seemed to have gotten much livelier since Nanase and I had agreed to work together with Sudou’s group. Putting on a false show of bravado wasn’t that different from a real show of bravado.

“You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself very much, Ayanokouji-senpai,” said Nanase. “You have a very stern look.”

“This is just how I normally look,” I answered.

“Oh, really?” replied Nanase.

It was true that I was worried about what was going to happen with our designated areas, but I didn’t remember ever letting it show on my face at all.

“No point in worryin’ ’bout it. Ayanokouji’s face just always looks like that,” said Sudou over his shoulder, backing me up.

I wasn’t sure if I should have been grateful or not for his agreement on that point.

“There you go,” I said.

I had some mixed feelings, but I decided to roll with it. I saw that Sudou had a mischievous grin on his face as he headed towards the front of the group and started talking with Ike.

“You’re thinking that something is up with Ike-senpai too, after all, aren’t you, Ayanokouji-senpai?” asked Nanase.

“You’re being paranoid,” I replied. “I’m happy to see that Ike is maturing. I’m honestly not sure what you’re implying.”

“Is that so…” she said.

Since I had determined that there was a chance Ike and Sudou might overhear us if we weren’t careful, I decided to put a stop to that conversation right there.

As he walked on ahead of us right now, Ike certainly looked like he was more full of life than he had yesterday. So, I couldn’t technically say that he hadn’t grown up emotionally at all. With that point specifically, it wasn’t my intention to lie to Nanase about it. However… Well, most of that growing up was still just purely for show. This was nothing more than his very first steps on the path to change. Depending on how the situation played out, it was entirely possible that he might come to a standstill, or he might regress in a major way.

People aren’t so simple that they can change just because they think they want to. Nanase was aware of that fact too, which was why she had brought it up to try and get me to understand. As Nanase walked beside me, her gaze followed Ike in front of us. I wondered how much thought she had been giving to Ike, how far ahead she had thought about what was going on with him.

Just up ahead, Ike and the other guys let out surprised gasps. Somewhere out in the woods, a wild bird spread its wings and flew off into the wide-open skies above. That was the kind of spectacle of nature in action that we’d only get to witness here on this uninhabited island.

At any rate, for the time being, if I was going to find out her true identity, I didn’t have any other choice but to keep working with Nanase for as long as I could.

5.1

I T WAS JUST BEFORE NINE in the morning, and we were in the southeast part of I8. The path was rugged, but Nanase didn’t seem to be out of breath in the slightest as she walked behind me. It seemed like she’d be able to follow me without any problems even if I continued to press on ahead. Sudou’s group had been traveling together with us until just moments ago. As soon as we reached area I8, they immediately took off towards a Task that had appeared in I9, and in quite a hurry.

“For the time being, let’s head on over to J9,” I told Nanase.

“In order to lower the chance that we might be in whatever area is chosen as the next designated area at nine o’clock, I assume?” she said.

“Yeah,” I replied.

From where we were now, we could reach area J9 in just a few minutes. While checking our location on the tablet, we managed to make it to area J9 just three minutes before nine o’clock. During those three short minutes, Nanase and I sat down on the ground to take a breather as we waited for the second designated area of the day to be announced. Nanase, sitting close by, peered over at the screen of my tablet. And seconds later, nine o’clock rolled around.

“Senpai…”

Upon seeing what the designated area was, Nanase looked up at me. This was the second time during this exam that an area had been selected at random. It was over in J5. It’d be a little tricky if we were to try and cut through the woods, but we could just keep going east towards the ocean, and then afterward head north along the beach.

Even if students from my same Table successfully managed to reach area H7, it would take them quite a bit of time to make their way through the woods. Nanase and I had more distance to cover than they did, but it was entirely possible that we could shoot past our rivals in one go. Most importantly, though, we never knew where we’d be sent for randomly selected designations, so it was really quite fortunate that we had gotten one within an acceptable range.

We immediately started moving again without exchanging another word. It was understood that we would take the path towards the beach. Less than twenty minutes later, we arrived on the beach from the northeast corner of I8 and continued down along the shore. As we were making our way towards H7, we passed through area J6, where we just so happened to see several adults hurriedly trying to set something up. I cast them a sidelong glance as we passed by, and then proceeded to open my tablet and look at the Task that appeared.

“Beach Flags Showdown, huh?” I said aloud.

Well, you could certainly call that an appropriate event to have at the beach. Beach Flags was a sporting event originally designed to help lifeguards develop certain skills, like improving their reflexes and running speed. They were apparently looking for eight boys and eight girls to register for this event, and they’d be competing separately. Since only one person per group was allowed to register for this Task, that meant that a total of eight distinct groups per sex would register for this Task.

Only the person who placed first would receive points; six, in this case. There were several other prizes that the winner could choose from as well as an additional reward. Not only that, but everyone who participated would receive one 500 milliliter bottle of water as a participation prize.

We were notified about Tasks on our tablets, but it was possible that you could find out about a Task earlier if you happened to pass by as it was being set up like Nanase and I just had. While it was possible that you could register for it before anyone else, the problem was that you couldn’t really find out what exactly it was like beforehand. Of course, if it was a Task with an easy-to-understand concept, then you could figure out what it would be like just from watching it get set up. But if it were a test focused in some area of academics, it would be difficult to guess exactly.

This Task had a registration period of sixty minutes. If we entered it right now, we would not be able to move from this spot. And on top of that, we’d basically be throwing away any chance of being able to get the Early Bird Bonus for our next designated area. So, I decided to ignore this Task and prioritize reaching the designated area, pressing on ahead.

Just as I was thinking we surely must have set foot in area J5, I received a notification on my watch.

“We did it, senpai,” said Nanase.

It had taken us about an hour to reach our destination. Normally, taking that long to reach your area would only leave you with the Arrival Bonus alone, but apparently, I was fortunate enough to arrive first. Nanase and I had both gotten a point for the Arrival Bonus as well, so we were both able to get something. Whether Nanase’s group would get the Early Bird Bonus points as well, though, I had no idea. That would depend entirely on Amasawa and Housen.

Now, then, the next thing was heading to where the Beach Flags Task was and sign up for it. Nanase and I headed back to J6, where the Task was, to try and score some more points. However, when we arrived, we saw that something unexpected was happening. A long line of new visitors, both guys and guys, had already formed, presumably to sign up for the Task. No one had been around earlier when we passed by as they were setting up. Did all these people show up in that short span of time?

“Maybe if we get in line, we’ll manage to get in right before the cut off , ” suggested Nanase.

“Maybe. J6 might have been made the designated area for another Table,” I reasoned.

“I suppose…”

“Anyway, let’s head on over and have a look,” I replied.

“All right,” Nanase said.

5.2

W E HAD ENTERED AREA J6 and arrived at the Beach Flags Task location. It looked as though eight guys had already signed up to participate, but I couldn’t be sure of that yet. Since only one person per group was allowed to register, I probably still had a chance. A male third-year student noticed Nanase and I as we approached. It was Kiriyama, the student council vice president. Up until just moments ago, he seemed to be happily chatting away with his friends. However, his demeanor had completely changed when he saw me. In a panic, he rushed over the person in charge of the Task and began talking to them.

While I was curious about this rather strange behavior on his part, I walked up to the person in charge as well. I said that I wanted to sign up, but they told me that, unfortunately, the third-year student who had just come up moments ago took the last remaining spot, meaning that they had a full roster. All the guys who had registered for the Task quickly proceeded towards the changing rooms. On the other hand, only seven girls had registered, so there was still one spot open.

“If you cannot register, Ayanokouji-senpai, then I will pass. I wouldn’t want to keep you,” said Nanase.

“Nah, I was planning to take a little breather anyway. It’d be better if you signed up, Nanase.”

“But…” protested Nanase, trailing off.

“Since you basically handed opportunities to get the Early Bird Bonus over to me, the gap in points between us is going to continue to grow. Whether or not I think you can win is a separate issue here, so that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m just saying that if you think you have an opportunity here, then you should sign up,” I told her.

There were still about ten minutes left until the registration deadline. If Nanase entered, they’d have a full line-up, meaning that we could get this Task started without losing any time.

“Thank you. Well then, I suppose… I think I’ll go and register,” said Nanase.

If there was a good chance that she could swoop in and take those points away from another grade level, then she should be proactive and go for it. Even though she was the one who had asked if she could accompany me, she really needed to put her foot down and register for this instead of trying to be polite.

A tent had been set up nearby so that people could get out of the direct sunlight, so I headed over there.

There seemed to be several distinct kinds of swimsuits available for both men and women, in a variety of sizes. You could probably say that the competition really started with choosing the swimsuit that suited you best. Since there wasn’t any need to specialize in swimming, though, it didn’t seem to make a significant difference no matter what swimsuit you chose.

One by one, male and female students who had finished changing began to emerge from the simple, makeshift changing rooms. The guys generally seemed to be wearing loose-fitting swim trunks. The only real difference I noticed seemed to be in the patterns on the swim trunks. Students waiting nearby cheered and hollered as their friends from their groups had come back out onto the beach.

I decided to shift my attention towards the strange lineup of students who had registered for this Task. All the guys who had registered for this Task were third-year students. Similarly, seven of the girls who had registered for this event were also third-year students. Nanase, who had just barely managed to squeeze into the roster, was a first-year student. Only one person per group could register for this Task, which meant that there were at least fifteen separate groups of third-year students gathered here now.

Whether they were here because they had a designated location somewhere nearby or because of the Task, the fact that you couldn’t see anyone from the other grade levels around was definitely not normal. With that in mind, Vice President Kiriyama being here had certainly caught my attention. If there was a large group of people going around, working together to make sure Kiriyama won, then…

Anyway, putting that line of thought aside, I saw that the guys had already finished getting ready, and they started their matches. They were simple tournament-style matchups, wherein students competed against each other one-on-one, and the winner would advance to the next round. Whoever won three times would take home the whole tournament. If things had been rigged in Kiriyama’s favor, I should be able to find out just by seeing how intense the matches were.

After all, if they were serious about trying to win, that would have a significant impact on their style of play. However, the competition was unexpectedly fierce, right from the first match. Kiriyama was facing off against someone from his same class. The two boys had gotten up from their starting position, facing the ground and legs at the ready, and they broke into a sprint at almost the exact same time. Their dives for the flag were also nearly simultaneous.

You could even say that it was just the length of their arms that would determine who won and who lost. In the end, Kiriyama had gotten a hold of the flag, winning the first match. And it wasn’t just that first match of the tournament that was fierce either. I got the sense that every single third-year student had a burning desire to win when they played. It didn’t even remotely seem like they were intentionally throwing matches for Kiriyama or anyone else.

They could have been playing more seriously because I was watching, but that probably wasn’t what was going on here. Kiriyama wasn’t that wary of me. And it was practically impossible that he would have been able to get every other student on the same page and follow his plan, if he were. So what explanation was there for how these third-year students were acting? Something beyond what I was expecting might be at play here.

Just as the boys’ matches were heating up, the girls started to assemble on the beach, having finished changing. Five of the eight had chosen to wear standard school swimsuits, but I felt that the swimsuit Nanase had chosen was somewhat audacious.

It seemed like they were free to wait around on standby until the guys’ tournament was finished. I approached Nanase and called out to her.

“Can I ask you one question?” I asked.

Nanase was starting her warm-ups, clad in a bikini. “Sure, what is it?” she said, looking up at me with a puzzled expression.

“That’s a pretty cute swimsuit you picked out. Any reason why you picked that one?” I asked. “If you wanted to keep it simple, there wouldn’t have been any problem with the school swimsuit.”

“A reason? Well, I figured that this was the kind of swimsuit you’d see people wearing when they’re playing beach flags, like you see on TV. So, I thought it might be kind of weird to play that while wearing a school swimsuit. Did I misunderstand something?” she asked.

Well, I supposed if it was a question of what was shown on TV, then no, she wasn’t misunderstanding anything. This was one of many forms of entertainment that people who came to the beach probably engaged in. Anyway, Nanase watched the ongoing matches play out while continuing to do her warm-up exercises. The boys’ tournament had ended with Kiriyama taking the win in spectacular fashion. I supposed I should have expected as much from the person who was trying to challenge Nagumo. His physical ability certainly seemed to be in line with his B+ ranking in OAA.

The girls were up next, which meant that Nanase was going to be taking part. Her name was called right away for the very first match, so she went over and took her position on the beach. Her opponent was a third-year student named Tomioka. She had a decent level of physical ability with a C+ rating. Nanase, on the other hand, was a rank above that, with a B+ in physical ability. Of course, a higher physical ability ranking didn’t necessarily lead to any guarantees of victory.

Overall ability was a principal factor, but each student would have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Whether or not you had experience with Beach Flags was important, but without question, I would say that this contest simply came down to who had better reflexes and running speed alone. So then, who was better?

Nanase immediately took off from her starting position at the sound of the pistol, her legs kicking off from the sound and flying toward the flag swiftly.

The third-year student, Tomioka, had lost the match before it even started. You couldn’t even say it was a close if you were being charitable. She stared up at the sky, dumbfounded. Getting your timing right when starting your sprint was a product of chance, but in Nanase’s case, she had timed it perfectly. Clearly, her reflexes were several magnitudes quicker than Tomioka’s.

The six other competitors who had been watching must have gotten a sense of just how formidable Nanase was, as well. After the next three matchups had finished, she had gotten into the top four bracket of the tournament. Still, Nanase seemed to stand a head above the rest in terms of both reflexes and speed. She couldn’t afford to be careless, though. Carelessness, pride, or a variety of other factors could quite easily dull your reflexes. Also, no matter how confident you were in your speed, if your foot got caught in the sand and you tripped, that’d be the end of it.

Still, upsets didn’t really happen that often. Nanase won her second match by a landslide and was on the verge of snatching away those points for herself.

“She sure is formidable,” said Kiriyama, voicing his honest opinion of the first-year student, Nanase, after having watched her matches.

Of course, he wasn’t directing his comments at me. He was talking to his friends in his group. The tournament continued to progress smoothly, and then Nanase’s opponent for the finals had been decided. This time, she was going up against a third-year student named Tokunaga. Her opponent this time had a rating of B+ in physical ability, just like she did. Tokunaga had won her first two matches without a hitch, much like Nanase had with hers. She had cleared them by a country mile. This final match was going to be a showdown between two worthy competitors.

Nanase and Tokunaga approached their starting positions. The crowd had been quite lively up until this point, but everyone went quiet and waited for the starting signal. The staff member managing the Task fired the starting pistol. The moment the sound of the pistol echoed out across the beach, both competitors reacted with similar timing, launching forward from their starting positions. They started out neck-and-neck at the beginning of the race, but it didn’t last beyond that.

Nanase was faster taking that first step when they got up from their starting positions, and she launched herself forward with a much faster stride along the beach. Then, she dove, flying across the sandy beach beautifully, snatching the flag in spectacular fashion. Tokunaga was good enough to make it all the way to the finals, and considering that she had a perfect start too, she must have realized the difference in ability between her and Nanase. She realized that the difference between them was so great that she couldn’t even feel resentful about it, she just smiled bitterly, astonished. Then, she asked Nanase for a handshake, paying respect to a student who was two years her junior.

After Nanase had finished washing the sand off herself, she returned from the competition area, water bottle participation prize in hand. After fighting three fierce battles in this sweltering heat, her body could probably do with some cold water.

“You won by a mile,” I remarked, walking over to Nanase as she was trying to catch her breath after the competition had ended.

“Thank you,” she replied. “I managed to come out on top, somehow.”

Her shoulders were moving up and down slightly as she breathed in and out, trying to catch her breath. But even so, I hadn’t really gotten the impression that she had gone all out. In fact, I thought she seemed to have won with energy to spare. In a contest between first-year and third-year students, at first glance, you might think that the younger student would be at a disadvantage. However, girls tend to reach their physical peak at a relatively early age. You could say there’s hardly any difference between an eighteen-year-old and someone who’s fifteen or sixteen. The main thing that would spell the difference between victory or defeat in this competition would have been prior competitive experience. However, when it came to Beach Flags, many people wouldn’t be that experienced.

Wait, hold on… There wasn’t any need to analyze this situation, was there? Nanase Tsubasa’s physical ability was actually higher than was reflected in her evaluation in OAA. We had heard that the incoming students’ ratings were based on data from during their third year of junior high, so they were immediately assessed based on that when they started here. But it was already summer now. Even so, Nanase’s rating had not changed, staying at a B+. It looked as though it wouldn’t have been strange for her to be capable of getting an A– or A rating, and yet…

“Um, Ayanokouji-senpai?” she asked.

“Hm?”

“Well, it’s just, um, I feel like it’s a little bit, well, unsettling, when you stare at me while standing so close…”

Nanase averted her eyes, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

“Oh… Uh, yeah. Sorry.”

I supposed I would have plenty of time to analyze things later, after Nanase finished changing. Kiriyama and the other third-year students were getting ready to disperse now that the Task was over. They were probably about to get moving towards their next designated area or another Task. Then, Kiriyama approached me for the first time since I arrived.

“Ayanokouji. Don’t say anything unnecessary. Got it?”

And that was all. He then directed his gaze towards the ocean, far behind me. I turned around, curious about what he was looking at, and saw several figures moving through the shallows. I understood then what Kiriyama meant. At some point during the competition, the Student Council President had started playing around in the water with some friends. Perhaps Nagumo had noticed that we were looking at him, because he waved at me, beckoning me to come over.

“I’ll say just one more thing. Do not get in my way,” said Kiriyama.

“I understand,” I replied.

Kiriyama, together with his friends in his group, left the beach and headed towards the forest, presumably to head towards his next destination.

“Nanase, I’m going to talk with my senpai a bit,” I told her. “Take your time getting changed.”

“Okay, thank you,” said Nanase.

I couldn’t exactly ignore Nagumo, so I figured I’d talk with him, at least a little. Besides, there was something I was wondering about anyway.

“From what I could tell, it looked like you weren’t able to sign up for that Task,” said Nagumo.

“So you tried to as well and couldn’t? Or did you perhaps just come here because this was your designated area?” I asked.

“Well, who can say?” Nagumo dodged the question with a smug smirk. “Hey, why don’t you come for a swim with us?”

“As much as I would love to, I don’t have enough points to be able to rent a swimsuit like you did, President Nagumo,” I answered.

It wasn’t just Nagumo, either. Asahina and several other third-year students had also rented swimsuits. They even rented a ball to play with too, so it looked like they must be in a comfortable position as far as points were concerned.

“You seem to be laid-back about all this,” I added. “I thought you would’ve been trying to rack up points in a frenzy.”

“You’ve gotta take it easy sometimes too, right?” said Nagumo. “Besides… The real challenge starts tomorrow.”

Tomorrow. Meaning, the fourth day of the exam, when things would really get started. That was when the top ten and bottom ten groups would become public information and be announced on our tablets.

“If any group outside my grade level has managed to slip its way into the top three, I’ll make a move,” Nagumo said. “It is impossible for the first- and second-years to stand up there on the winner’s podium. You are no exception to that either.”

That meant he must have some kind of strategy to make sure he wouldn’t lose. Provided that he wasn’t lying just now, of course.

“Thank you very much for your kind warning,” I replied.

Still, Nagumo was the leader of Class 3-A, which stood at the top of the school. Moreover, he was the student council president, so it wasn’t likely that he was just running his mouth.

“However,” I added, “I should point out that I’m working alone. Rather than even thinking about getting into the top spots, I’d say you might be more likely to find my name at the bottom.”

“Well, in that case, you ought to get with a group as soon as possible,” said Nagumo. “Horikita-senpai would be pretty let down if you just arbitrarily blew yourself up and got kicked out of school, after all.”

“Hey, Nagumo! Could you come here for a sec?” shouted a third-year student named Masuwaka, from behind me.

Nagumo responded with a gentle wave, and then proceeded to get out of the water and headed to where Masuwaka was. They were at a close enough distance to be able to have a conversation already before Masuwaka called him over, so I guessed it was something that they didn’t want me to overhear. While this was going on, Asahina stopped playing with her friends and looked over at us. After she made sure that Nagumo was an adequate distance away from us, she approached me.

“Hey there!” she said. “I hear you’re going it alone, eh?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Well, I think you probably already heard, but yeah, it’s a tough battle for me.”

“I see… Well, maybe that’s for the best this time, though. If you happen to catch Miyabi’s eye, then… Well, it’ll probably be bad news. You really should get as many people in your group as you can right now, Ayanokouji-kun, while—”

“Sorry Asahina, but it’s time for me to be heading out now,” I replied.

Asahina was about to whisper something into my ear, but Nagumo had returned, so she had to stop before she could get the words out.

“W-well, good luck,” said Asahina.

“Thanks,” I replied.

Even though Asahina wasn’t able to finish giving me her advice, I could more or less infer what she was about to tell me. Nagumo Miyabi had a strategy that only he could pull off. A strategy that, if executed, would certainly make the battles ahead even more treacherous due to the unique nature of this exam. However, whether Nagumo would use that strategy on me for no reason was another matter. Besides, right now, I was completely harmless; someone who had no chance of taking any of the top spots.

5.3

O UR THIRD DESIGNATED AREA of the day was H5. We wouldn’t be able to get there by walking along the beach, but I’d say that given the circumstances, it was a relatively decent location.

“It’s a fair distance, but it’s possible that we can make it there without any problems,” said Nanase.

“We might be able to manage getting there in about an hour,” I agreed.

Of course, if we were shooting for the Early Bird Bonus, we’d need to walk at a faster pace than we did this morning. Even if we did go for it, though, we’d probably only end up getting a single point each anyway. This was the kind of situation that made me want to give up on the designated area and head towards a Task instead, but most of the currently available Tasks were concentrated on the west side of the island. Since we were on the east side right now, there were hardly any places that we could feasibly go.

So, would we rush ahead, without giving up hope of snagging the Early Bird Bonus? Or would we take it slow and focus on getting the single point for the Arrival Bonus? It was already the third day since we had set foot on this otherwise uninhabited island. I supposed it was about time that we started being faced with these kinds of decisions.

“Nanase, how much water do you have with you?” I asked.

“I used up everything I had originally this morning,” she replied. “All I have left is this one bottle I got from the Task earlier.”

She and I were in similar situations. I only had a single 500 milliliter bottle myself. Even though we were trying to save water, if we kept having to travel long distances, we’d run out before the end of today. That would mean we’d be suffering from a water shortage. Back when the exam started, I had about three point five liters. Even if other groups were trying to use their supplies sparingly like I had been, it was likely many students would run out of water today or tomorrow. It was unclear exactly what percentage of groups this statement would apply to, but it was expected that our days of suffering would begin here.

“The first turning point,” I muttered to myself.

“We need to secure water somehow, don’t we?” said Nanase.

If I were on my own, I would have made sure to reach all four of my designated areas throughout the day, and then complete Tasks during my free time. Then, I would return to the starting point to rehydrate and prepare for the next day. That was one of the strategies that I had intended to go with, but it’d be difficult for me to pull it off while I was together with Nanase. I’m sure that she’d tag along if I explained it to her, but if she were to fall ill because she pushed herself too hard, then she’d be eliminated.

I supposed that it wasn’t necessary for me to pay any heed to an enemy underclassman though. For the time being, I was simply walking towards my destination.

“Ayanokouji-senpai. Why did you decide to take this exam on by yourself?” asked Nanase.

“I don’t have many friends,” I replied. “I couldn’t find anyone to group up with.”

“I can’t imagine that’s the truth,” said Nanase.

“It is true,” I said, “I don’t have many people that I’m close with. There are very few people that I can call a friend.”

“Even so, I’m sure you could have at least found someone,” said Nanase.

“Are you really that bothered by it?” I asked.

“Yes, I am,” she replied. “After all, I can think of a hundred risks from going alone, and it offers no benefits. Don’t you think so?”

Nanase, who had been walking behind me before, quickly strode forward so that she could keep pace with me at my side. Then she gave me a look, as though she were trying to ascertain my true intentions.

“When you were facing off against Housen-kun before, your movements were different from that of a normal high school student,” said Nanase.

“You say that, but you’re not a normal high schooler yourself, are you, Nanase?” I replied.

Nanase seemed like she had gotten somewhat flustered by my immediate response to her accusation, wearing a forced smile. She gently scratched her cheek, softly mumbling, “Well, I suppose you’re right.”

This was an opportunity for me to ask her a bunch of questions if I wanted to, but that depended on whether Nanase would tell me the truth or not. If she responded with some poorly thought-out lies, I could’ve seen right through her. But she probably wouldn’t make a simple slip-up like that.

“It’s true that there are a lot of disadvantages to working alone,” I agreed. “It won’t be that difficult for me to join with another group at some point during this exam though. It’s not that high of a hurdle to cross. But if I don’t come up with a decent number of points by that time, I’d just cause trouble for the other group.”

“That’s understandable, since even if that other group had three people, your total score and theirs would be averaged out,” said Nanase.

“But it’s obviously wrong for me to complain about that, don’t you think? The school recommended that we form groups right from the start. So, I feel like those of us who decided to go it alone aren’t really in any position to grumble about it.”

Whether you were someone who didn’t get a group together by choice, or someone who just wasn’t able to, you should have at least been capable of coming to that conclusion. Even if the rules put you at a disadvantage and you ended up getting expelled, you only had yourself to blame.

“Still, it’s not like I have absolutely no chance of winning, though,” I added. “For instance, there’s a chance I could have some unexpected synergy by joining a group that was struggling due to a lack of points.”

“So, you…are fighting alone to bring about those kinds of synergistic effects then, Ayanokouji-senpai? Is that what you’re saying?” asked Nanase.

“Well, I’m not so sure about all that,” I said. “I’m just talking in a general sense. Despite your misapprehensions about me, you shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the possibility that I just couldn’t manage to get a group together.”

“He he, yes, I suppose you’re right. You do seem like you’d be a little inarticulate at times, Ayanokouji-senpai,” said Nanase. Though she still spoke in a reserved manner, she’d said something quite pointed. “Have you always been like that?”

“Isn’t that usually how it is for people with personalities like mine?” I replied. “Like, we’re generally this way from the start and stay this way?”

“I don’t think so,” said Nanase. “Isn’t it possible for a gloomy, pessimistic person to become bright and cheerful for some reason? Similarly, someone bright and cheerful could turn gloomy and pessimistic.”

While I understood what she was trying to say, to what extent could something like a person’s core character really change?

“Even if I heard that an originally pessimistic person had become bright and cheerful, I couldn’t help but think they were forcing it,” I answered.

“But even though it might be forced, the fact that they can still act bright and cheerful is amazing,” said Nanase.

“…I guess so,” I answered.

If someone were to suddenly ask me to adopt a bright and sunny personality, I wouldn’t have the confidence to go all the way with it. Of course, I could put on an act if I were dealing with people that I didn’t normally interact with for a little while, but if you were to ask if I could do it in front of my classmates who I had spent over a year and a half with at this point, the answer would be a resounding no.

“Yeah, that’d be impossible for me. Have you changed since junior high, Nanase?” I asked.

I thought I’d see what she said, since we were on the topic. I figured that it wouldn’t be especially unreasonable for me to ask about her junior high school days, since that was tangentially related. Someone from the White Room wouldn’t have attended junior high, of course. Nanase stopped and thought for a moment, pondering my question.

“I’m not sure, actually,” Nanase replied. “I don’t think that I’ve changed since back then, but I might have a little.”

Which meant that there was something that made her think she had changed, if only slightly.

“In what way?” I asked.

“Well, I get the feeling that in the past, I…I used to smile more,” said Nanase.

So, in her case, it was a change from light to dark.

“I think that I talk less with others and hang out with friends less now, compared to how I was in junior high,” she added.

Was she just making up a story? Or was that the truth, perhaps?

“There was something that happened back then. Something that changed me, I feel…” Nanase said, her voice trailing off.

Something happened? I was somewhat afraid to inquire what that was, exactly. I decided it was better for me not to ask. She was the one who had brought this story up, and I got the impression that her intention was to try and get me to take the bait and pry further into it. Nanase waited for me to say something. Eventually though, she slowed her pace, and went back to walking behind me once again. I decided it was better to change the topic, so I brought up something else to talk about.

“By the way, how is your group doing, Nanase?” I asked. “Are you getting more points?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Even though I’m not sure who has been earning more between them, Housen-kun and Amasawa-san are both pulling in points from Tasks. It does seem like they’re doing much more than I am, in either case.”

If what she was saying was true, then Nanase’s group was collecting a fair number of points. Even if we were just talking about the Early Bird Bonus, depending on what Housen and Amasawa were doing, it was entirely possible that they were still getting those points. That was difficult to determine, though.

“As for me, on the other hand, I might be in trouble,” I mused.

While I was continuing to accumulate points to a certain degree, it was quite easy to imagine that I was sinking to the bottom of the rankings. A three-person group scoring point after point in a methodical fashion wouldn’t have any difficulty in passing me.

“Well then, let’s continue to do our best,” said Nanase.

“Yeah,” I answered.

Our first order of business was making sure we arrived at the next designated area safely. With that goal in mind, we continued forging a path ahead.

5.4

I T WAS 1:55 in the afternoon . We had arrived in our designated area, H5, in just under an hour. Although I had only earned one point in the end, it was still a major step in the right direction. I had about an hour of free time starting now, so I wanted to complete a Task if possible. Earlier, the Tasks were concentrated more on the west side, but now, they were starting to be concentrated more on the east.

“Can you keep walking?” I asked Nanase as she was sitting down, getting rehydrated.

“A-ah, yes, I can,” she replied.

While it was admirable that she was simply able to keep up with me without delay alone, there was no way that she wasn’t exhausted now.

“You need to take it easy and rest,” I told her.

“But…”

Nanase seemed to be worried that I was going to leave her here or something.

“I would say something directly if I was unhappy about having you accompany me. I wouldn’t do something like up and vanish without a word. Besides, if you keep pushing yourself right now, so much that you can’t keep up with me later, isn’t that just going to make things even tougher for you later on? Even though we don’t have to worry about any more random designations today, we might need to run if we want to go for the Early Bird Bonus. I’m not going to be able to wait for you if it comes to that.”

Despite the look of frustration on her face, Nanase nodded at my words, accepting that her endurance had its limits. I felt bad for her, but this would allow me to move around unfettered for a bit, albeit temporarily. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to sign up for anything or not, but if the stars aligned, I might be able to make it to two or three Task locations. The next available Task, an academically oriented test named “History,” was going to be starting soon, and it was in the area I was already in. I headed off in that direction. The first-place winner would only receive five points, but the reward also included provisions. I wanted to make sure that I came out on top.

Only eight groups could participate. Since that wasn’t a lot, I figured it would be best if I hurried. Shortly after I started walking that way, I caught sight of a couple three-person groups racing against one another, along a separate path. Apparently, their intended destination was the same as mine. They were headed for the History Task. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to see me, so I kept on running and adjusting my route.

If I just leisurely walked towards the Task, those two groups would probably get ahead of me. I continued to cut through the woods, making my way straight to the Task location. Once I arrived there, I saw that a fair number of people had already gathered. There was an adult with a tablet in hand, but they didn’t seem to be a teacher with the school. I called out to that person.

“Can I register?” I asked.

“Yes, you can. You’re the seventh group.”

By the time I had gone through the entry process, the two groups that I saw earlier had come this way. I saw that Hashimoto, a fellow second-year student, was slightly ahead of the other group. He seemed to notice me standing there nearby, but rather than addressing me, he first called out to the adult in charge.

“Can I register?!” he shouted, dripping with sweat, having seemingly run a considerable distance.

“Yes, you’ll be the final group, but—” began the adult, stopping to look at students coming from behind.

The group that had been giving chase was there too. Apart from Kamuro, who was the second person to arrive after Hashimoto, the next three students were all first-years who all seemed to be in the same group. Hashimoto’s remaining group member was lagging quite far behind and would have been the sixth person to arrive. This was a Task where you could participate as a unit with your entire group, but if you didn’t have your full team present, you obviously couldn’t register.

Making an excuse, like “They’re almost here,” wasn’t going to work, either. Even if they were only thirty seconds behind, if that three-person group of first-year students managed to slip in during the time Hashimoto had to wait for his third member to arrive, then his chance of registering would get snatched out from under him. Which was exactly why Hashimoto said something else to the staff member once Kamuro had caught up.

“It’ll just be us two registering,” he said. “Me and her.”

He chose to exclude the third member of his group and limit his entry just to two people. The first-year students collapsed onto the ground in apparent frustration. I’m sure it must have been demoralizing to have struggled so hard to get here only to have gotten nothing to show for it. On the other hand, Hashimoto had a look of satisfaction on his face, despite missing out on the chance to have his entire group register. In Tasks where you were allied to participate as a group, the more people you had, the bigger your advantage. That being said, there was a significant difference between not being able to participate as a group and not being able to participate at all.

“S-sorry…! I-I couldn’t make it in time…!” sputtered Ninomiya, gasping for breath.

Her two teammates didn’t seem to hold it against her at all though. Ninomiya had an A– in academic ability, which was certainly nothing to scoff at. Her physical ability, however, was rated D–.

“Gotta say though, you did good gettin’ here, Masumi-chan,” said Hashimoto.

“Ugh, just shut up,” shouted Kamuro, desperately trying to catch her breath. “Don’t talk to me… I’m all hot and sweaty, this sucks…!”

She waved Hashimoto away as he tried to approach.

“Oh, hey, come to think of it,” said Hashimoto, turning to me, “this is the first time we’ve bumped into each other during this exam so far eh, Ayanokouji? So, you’re on this part of the island too, huh? Man, though… Going it alone, you sure got guts, I’ll give you that. You managing to rack up a decent number of points?”

“To be completely honest,” I answered, “it wouldn’t be surprising if I were in the bottom ten.”

“Dude, come on, quit yankin’ my chain. There’s no way a guy who doesn’t think he’s gonna win would actually choose to tackle this thing solo,” said Hashimoto.

Truthfully, I really wasn’t in that great of a situation right now, but I didn’t want to show him my tablet to prove it.

“Okay, so what if you do end up actually being in the top ten?” he asked, looking at me as though he were assessing me or something. “What then?”

There was no way that something like that could possibly happen, though.

“Anyway, though,” he added, “I’m sure glad this isn’t a math test, phew. We wouldn’t have stood a chance against a whiz like you.”

“All right, everyone, the Task is about to begin,” said the person in charge.

“Oh, sounds like that’s the end of our conversation,” said Hashimoto.

Since the last group had registered for the Task and they now had a full lineup, the Task was going to begin right away. If you proactively went out and registered for Tasks, you would often find yourself competing against students from your same grade level, like I was now. However, I had no intention of taking it easy.

Besides, all the test questions were basically multiple choice, with four answers. So, even if I did get a relatively high score, I could just make the excuse that my guesswork had been on point, and I got lucky. While I was looking down at my tablet, I did occasionally catch sight of Hashimoto glancing over in my direction, with a probing look in his eyes. He had his suspicions about me from a rather early stage, so that wasn’t surprising.

I started running through all twenty of the history questions. To be completely honest, if you were to ask me if I were good at history or bad at it, I’d have to say it was the latter. That was because in the White Room, teaching us about history wasn’t really a priority. Nevertheless, I did remember a fair bit about the subject. Whatever was within the realm of common sense, anyway.

Since the test was given in a multiple-choice format with four options, I was able to answer all the questions correctly without any difficulty. A short while later, the results were tallied, and all eight groups’ scores were announced at the same time. I had taken first place with a hundred points. A group of third-year students got second place with eighty points. Hashimoto and Kamuro came in third place with seventy. Once I had received my points and provisions, I immediately set off to my next destination. However, Hashimoto took off after me, quickly catching up to me.

“Man, respectable job on that test,” he said, “you sure kicked our butts. Guess you’re a history buff too, eh?”

“I was surprised too,” I replied. “I got really lucky with several questions, since there were only four choices.”

“So, you’re saying it was simply ’cause you got lucky?” said Hashimoto. “Yeah, I find that hard to believe.”

“Well, if you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can really say about it. Sorry, but I’ve got to hurry to my next thing,” I told him.

“What Task are you going for next?” he asked.

“I was planning to go for the chemistry Task. What about you?”

Most likely, Hashimoto’s group had been thinking of doing the same thing. I watched as Hashimoto briefly turned back and shot a look at Kamuro behind him.

“Aw man, that’s a shame,” he said. “We’re doin’ something different.”

Hashimoto was a calculating guy. Instead of going for a Task where he’d be up against an opponent who he was sure would take the win, he had shifted his priorities to somewhere he had a better chance of winning, even if it were somewhat further away. Honestly though, deep down, he probably wanted to go up against me in the same Task, to find out more about what I was capable of.

Kamuro, having overheard our conversation, had a blatant look of disgust on her face. Heading towards yet another Task would take up quite a lot of stamina, after all.

“Smell ya later, Ayanokouji,” said Hashimoto.

Hashimoto, with Kamuro in tow, quickly headed off at a brisk pace toward yet another Task. If Sakayanagi was operating things in the background and he was following her orders, his group was probably going to be joining with Ichinose’s eventually to make a six-person team.

5.5

A FTERWARD , I registered for the chemistry test Task, and I ended up taking first place, gaining an additional five points. With that, there was only one designated area left for today, and I had accumulated a total of forty-eight points so far.

By comparison, a three-person group that had earned every Arrival Bonus but hadn’t gotten any Early Bird Bonuses or cleared any Tasks would have a total of thirty points by now. Since I had no way of accurately guessing what the group rankings were exactly at this point in time, I wondered where a total of forty-eight points would place me.

At three o’clock that afternoon, the final designated area of the day was announced. It was area I4.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Nanase when I met up with her again.

“I’ve completely recovered, thanks to you allowing me to stay back and rest,” she said. “I can manage anything that may come my way.”

In that case, since there was nothing else for us to do after reaching this final designated area today, I figured we should really get moving. After settling on a route, we quickly made our way there with our sights set on getting the Early Bird Bonus. We walked in silence for a while. Our surroundings really were quite a bit different from yesterday.

“I have to say… There really aren’t any actual proper paths around here at all, are there?” said Nanase.

“Yeah. When I looked at the map, I thought this part of the island would be easier to trek through than areas D and E, but I guess I was being overly optimistic,” I answered.

Although the woods weren’t dense enough to completely block out all sunlight or anything, the ground was still rough and uneven. Even if you were trying to push straight ahead in a specific direction, you wouldn’t really be able to make any progress without taking the occasional zigzag detour. Students who ventured into this part of the island would most likely be faced with considerable challenges. If you tried to run through this area in a hurry, you might get your foot caught on something and fall. In the worst-case scenario, it was entirely possible that you could come away with an injury too.

“Excuse me, senpai,” Nanase asked, “but how do you plan on securing more water?”

Even though I had taken first place in both the History and Chemistry Tasks, water wasn’t a reward for either of them. My remaining water supply was down to a single 500 milliliter bottle.

“If you feel that getting more water should take priority over reaching the designated area, then how about looking at the Task that appeared in H3?” she added.

A Task had appeared in H3, and we had fifty minutes left to register for it. Not only would you get points from it, you could get water as well. Furthermore, you’d get a whole two-liter bottle of it.

“I’m sure the competition for it will be steep,” I replied.

Even though I was engaging with her in discussing it, I continued moving forward, without stopping. I was sure that other groups were going to start running low on drinking water soon, just like we were.

“Even if we can get water from Tasks, our opportunities are quite limited,” said Nanase.

On the first day of the exam, there were a total of sixty-eight Tasks available throughout the entire island. On the second day, there were a hundred. As of this current point in time on the third day of the exam, there had been ninety-four. So even though the number of Tasks seemed to be increasing day by day, they still didn’t come close to matching the number of groups. Some of these Tasks only offered rewards for whoever came in first place. Even if you were to include the Tasks that gave rewards to groups that came in first through third, that just wasn’t enough for everyone. Any group would be satisfied if they managed to get at least one victory per day, but, naturally, the best groups were snatching those opportunities away, taking first place wins three or four times a day.

Considering all of that, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if there were groups out there that were already running out of drinking water. If that happened to anyone, they’d be forced to return to the starting point and try to compete in an established safe zone. In that case, you wouldn’t be able to earn points normally by visiting the designated areas, and so Tasks that appeared in the nearby area would become extremely competitive. Forget about increasing your point value; you’d find yourself in increasingly dire straits, forcing a losing battle as your points continued to be whittled down. And if your designated areas were around the northeast part of the uninhabited island, it simply wouldn’t be possible to replenish your water immediately.

Nanase looked over at me from where she was walking beside me. “You have some kind of idea in mind, don’t you, senpai?” she asked.

“What makes you think so?” I asked.

“Because you don’t seem to be that worried about our water supply,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like you’ve been paying it that much mind.”

“Maybe I’m just thinking we’ll be able to manage somehow, through sheer random luck,” I answered.

“W-well, that would be a little troubling…” She looked a little flustered, visibly bewildered over what I had said.

“I was originally planning on returning to the starting point in the event of an emergency,” I told her.

“But that would be exceptionally difficult in our current situation, wouldn’t it?” said Nanase. “Hypothetically speaking, if we were to return to the port where we started from, how many hours would that even take? And if we were traveling at night, we would be considerably slower.”

Obviously, that strategy wasn’t possible from every location on the island. The farther away you were from the starting point, the greater risk you’d take of wasting both time and energy.

“Still,” I said, “that was a strategy that I had been considering going with.”

“Water is essential, yes, but if you went ahead with that plan, you could end up getting injured. I can’t say that I feel it’s a wise decision, by any stretch,” said Nanase. I supposed her concerns were natural, from a normal point of view. “And yet, despite that, you’re saying that this dangerous strategy was the only one that you’ve been considering, Ayanokouji-senpai?”

“If you look at the rules for this special exam, you can see that the only surefire methods of getting additional water are to either to buy it at twice the price back at the starting point or to get water through completing Tasks,” I said.

“Well, yes, I suppose you’re right about that,” said Nanase.

“And between those two surefire methods, the only really reliable way of getting safe drinking water is to buy it using points.”

“Safe drinking water…?” she repeated.

“Outside of that, you’d have to rely on natural water sources of some sort. Like seawater, rainwater, or river water, for example. Even though they call this an ‘uninhabited’ island exam, we technically don’t know much about what happened here. If people did once live here, it’s possible that the water could actually be contaminated,” I reasoned.

Of course, it was difficult to imagine that the school would have chosen this island if that were true, but there was no way to be certain of that.

“Since I’m working as a one-person group, if I were to fall ill, I’d be out of the game immediately,” I went on. “I have no intention of doing anything that will put me at risk, no matter how low the chances are.”

“But forcing yourself to move across the island at night sounds quite risky too,” argued Nanase.

“If I fail, then that’s that,” I answered.

“So… What you’re saying is that you wouldn’t have any problems in this scenario, Ayanokouji-senpai?” said Nanase.

There wasn’t any point in carrying on this conversation any longer. After all, as long as I was allowing Nanase to accompany me, I had absolutely no plans to implement that strategy anyway.

“In any case, getting back to the earlier point,” I said, “I do have a way of using seawater or river water. I have a pot that we can use for just that. If necessary, I was thinking we could use it to sterilize water by boiling it.”

On hearing that, Nanase brought her hand up to her chest and let out a relieved sigh. After we continued walking for a little while longer, Nanase caught sight of a flowing river, and hurriedly pulled out her tablet.

“Excuse me, senpai, but we’ve strayed from our path,” she said. “I think we need to head further east.”

We were supposed to be heading towards I4, but our current position was putting us towards the center of H4. If we wanted to take the shortest path to I4, then yes, we should be heading east, just as Nanase had said.

“It’s fine. I’m not planning to get the Early Bird Bonus this time,” I told her.

“Huh?” She blinked.

While Nanase had her doubts about what I was doing, I continued to walk away and she followed along. Eventually, when we had arrived near the center of H4, we happened upon Sakagami-sensei, who was hard at work setting something up. It seemed like this was the right place after all. My predictions had been spot on. At least, so far, anyway.

“Hello,” I called out to him.

“Hm… Ayanokouji?” he replied.

Although Sakagami-sensei looked surprised to see me, there was always the possibility that a student could bump into a teacher or staff member like this, while they were setting up a Task. After all, a lot of preparation was needed before they could get a Task up and running.

“Is it all right if we go ahead and sign up for this Task first?” I asked.

“Yes, of course, just a minute,” he answered.

“Isn’t this great, senpai? We’re quite fortunate to have been able to find a Task location before it appeared on the map,” said Nanase.

“Yeah,” I answered.

Sakagami-sensei didn’t have enough time to stand around and talk with us, so he quickly got back to work getting the Task ready. A few minutes later, and the clock struck 3:30.

“All right,” said Sakagami-sensei. “You can go ahead and register for the Task now.”

As soon as I heard him say those words, I immediately approached him once more and stated my intention to register. Nanase followed suit, also announcing that she wished to register. We both quickly went through the registration process on our tablets.

“Still, I wonder what kind of Task this is exactly,” said Nanase.

Just as Nanase was about to open the app on her tablet and check that information for herself, Sakagami-sensei spoke up to tell her.

“This is a Task where participants earn water in the order they arrive here. A ‘competitive race,’ basically. Ayanokouji, since you were here first, you’ve earned yourself a two-liter bottle of water and three points. Nanase, since you were second, you get a one point five-liter bottle of water and two points,” said Sakagami-sensei.

“What, so that means… Well, I suppose that means we’ve already completed the Task then, haven’t we?” said Nanase. “That’s quite a surprise.”

Sakagami-sensei fetched the water that was to be given to us as our reward and presented it to us individually.

“Luck is another form of ability, you two,” Sakagami-sensei told us. “Be glad.”

“…Yes, we really were quite lucky,” said Nanase.

Apparently embarrassed about something, Nanase bowed her head bashfully as she accepted the water.

“Well then, I suppose we won’t have to worry about drinking water. At least for a little while,” I told her.

After we left, Nanase stopped to ask me something. “Um… Could I possibly confirm just one thing with you, if that’s all right?”

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Unless I’m mistaken about something, I think that you’re someone who could aim much higher, Ayanokouji-senpai. Whether it’s designated areas or Tasks, I’m sure you could score more points. So, why aren’t you?” asked Nanase. It seemed like she was hoping to confirm something that had been bothering her as we had been working together over these past two days.

“Because I didn’t really feel like going all out and running all over the island right away at the start,” I replied. “Since I’m going it alone, my efforts would all be for nothing if I were to do something reckless and end up getting injured or sick.”

“But with the way things are going, you’re just going to continue to fall behind the other groups in points, aren’t you? Whether it’s for designated areas or Tasks, effective time management is key. It’s not as though you could earn a substantial number of points and turn things around in a single day,” argued Nanase, basically saying that there was no other option but to untiringly continue to rack up points. The more capable, prominent groups would understandably go that route, opting to work diligently at racking up point after point.

“Let’s just say that this is just one of my strategies,” I replied.

“A strategy where you deliberately hold yourself back and don’t earn points…?”

I nodded and then continued walking. This wasn’t a conversation that I wanted to get into any further with Nanase. Even though we were working together, she was in a different grade level, and she was clearly my enemy. Plus, there were just too many mysteries surrounding her.

“At any rate,” I told her, “there’s still a possibility that we could shoot for the Early Bird Bonus at our designated area, so let’s head there for the time being. We should hurry.”

“Y-yes,” said Nanase, hurriedly scrambling to catch up with me as we rushed towards I4.

5.6

O UR LUCKY BREAK didn’t last much longer. We did manage to reach area I4, but as we had expected, we weren’t able to get the Early Bird Bonus after all. And we weren’t blessed with any additional Tasks afterward either, so it looked as though our battle for today had ended.

“Shall we walk over to the riverbank?” asked Nanase.

“Sure,” I replied. “The footing around here is pretty bad, and this isn’t a good spot to make camp and sleep, either. Let’s keep moving.”

“All right,” said Nanase.

We continued to forge ahead, cutting a path south toward the riverbank. We spent about twenty minutes making our way through the woods before we managed to reach the river.

“Want to make camp around here?” I asked.

“That’s fine,” said Nanase.

Just as the two of us had come to an agreement, I heard voices coming from far in the distance.

“HEEEEY! Ayanokouji!”

It was a guy’s voice, and one I was familiar with. I heard it coming from the other side of the river. The voice belonged to Ike, holding dead branches in both arms.

“Hey, Ayanokouji, Nanase, I thought that was you!” shouted Ike as he came closer to the river, flashing his white teeth in a big smile. “So, this is where you two guys’ve been!”

“What an incredible coincidence!” said Nanase. “Are you camping around this area tonight?”

They both raised their voices as they engaged in conversation, trying their best to talk over the sound of the river. After shouting back and forth for a little, Ike signaled over to us to try and join up with him on the other side of the river. Upon seeing this, Nanase and I went upriver. Before long, we reached the south side of area H4, which was connected via the shore, and we were able to meet up with Ike. Sudou and Hondou were there too, having come after hearing our voices.

“Wait a minute, don’t tell me, was your last designated area for today—”

“I4,” I replied, cutting him off.

Apparently, Sudou’s group had the same destination that we did. He and his teammates exchanged looks, clearly surprised.

“Man, what a coincidence, huh?” said Sudou.

We had been in the same area on the east side of the island this morning, and we ended up in the same location at the end of the day. Although our Tables were different, considering the fact that I had seen Sudou several times now, I supposed there might be a tendency for our two Tables to take us to similar places on occasion. We decided to make camp together again, just like we had done the other day.

Since we had free time for the rest of the day, we each went and did our own things. Of course, we still worked together when it was necessary for us to do so. I told Nanase that I was going to go for a stroll by myself for a little while and went into the woods alone. There wasn’t any particularly profound meaning behind it or anything. If I had to say anything, I’d say I did it because I was looking for other students or something. After all, apart from Nanase, I still hadn’t come across any other groups that seemed to share my same Table.

I came back to our campsite about thirty minutes later, returning just as Ike was about to get the campfire going.

“You’re pretty handy,” I told him.

“Well, you just gotta do what you can, I suppose. It’s like, you know how this time we knew in advance that this test was gonna be on an uninhabited island, right? I think lots of people must’ve done some research on their own, trying to figure out how to do all kinds of stuff , ” said Ike, gazing into the fire. “But still, actually doin’ something is different from just readin’ about something, yeah? I guess it’s kinda like, if you actually have the capability to do somethin’ you set your mind to, then you won’t have trouble doing it.”

It was certainly true that you couldn’t always replicate something perfectly just from reading about it in an article or watching a video. You would only be able to find out what you could or couldn’t do by trying your hand at it yourself, directly.

“There you are, Ayanokouji-senpai,” said Nanase.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“You were taking a while,” said Nanase, directing her gaze towards the woods. “I went looking for you for a little bit.”

Apparently, we had just missed each other when I came back to the riverbank.

“All right, my dudes,” said Ike, “I think it’s about time to chow down.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.

Ike had a big grin on his face as he was holding onto a bucket that he retrieved from his tent nearby. Then, he proudly showed us what was inside.

“Wow, amazing!” shouted Nanase.

Inside the bucket were several fish that Ike had presumably caught.

“I had some time when my group went out by the water, so I took the opportunity to do some fishin’. Let’s eat!” said Ike.

Ike started preparing the food in a bit of a hurry. At first glance, he looked like he was fine, but it was obvious that he was only pretending to be in good spirits. Still, he was tackling this uninhabited island exam better than I thought he had been, so I supposed there wasn’t anything to worry about for the time being.

“Oh, wow, something smells really good!” said a new visitor.

It was a group of three people who happened to be passing by, perhaps drawn over by the smell of the fish that Ike was grilling for dinner. We were camping out by the riverbank in plain view, so it wasn’t surprising that they managed to see us. What was surprising, however, was the identity of one of our visitors. That part specifically was something I couldn’t have predicted at all.

“Ah!” A girl, the second one from their group to arrive, let out a gasp after making eye contact with me.

“What’s the matter, Karuizawa-san?” asked one of her teammates.

“Oh, um, nothing. It’s just, like, I was surprised to see someone grilling fish is all,” said Kei, trying to cover up her surprise at meeting up with me by sheer coincidence.

It was the third day of the exam, and yet this was the first time I had bumped into Kei here. From the looks of things, she seemed to be doing fine so far. Her teammates were two students from Class 2-A, named Shimazaki Ikkei and Fukuyama Shinobu. They were both very academically gifted students. Even though they were lacking when it came to physical ability, when you looked at them in terms of overall aptitude, they certainly had the skills to claim the top spots with ease in any Tasks that were based on written exams.

“Hey, why don’t we camp around here too?” said Kei. “I bet Ike-kun would treat us to some food.”

“Huh?!” Ike shouted. “Wh-why should I have to give you anything?!”

“Come on, it’s fine, isn’t it? I mean, it’s not like you’re going to run out or anything,” said Kei.

“No way, there’ll be less to go around if you have some! No way!” he shouted.

Well, Ike didn’t exactly like Kei in the first place, so he stubbornly refused her request. However, Sudou grabbed Ike by the shoulder and pulled him aside to whisper something into his ear.

“Dude, come on, what’s the big deal? Besides, she might know somethin’ ’bout Shinohara, man,” said Sudou.

After Ike heard what Sudou had to say, he went silent. He still hadn’t been able to meet Shinohara on the island yet. Since Kei was our classmate, it was reasonable to expect that she’d remember something if she did see Shinohara somewhere.

“W-well, all right, guess there’s no harm in it!” Ike shouted. “Since you’re here, I’ll just go ahead and get fish ready for three more!”

“For real? This is our lucky night! I’m glad I said something!” said Kei.

Kei had been half-joking when she made that suggestion earlier, but somehow, it led to her camping together with us, albeit unexpectedly. Still, Ike wasn’t going to be able to get the food ready immediately. It was probably going to be a while before he finished grilling the extra fish. I told everyone that I was going into the woods for a bit, and Kei also left the group shortly afterward.

Of course, we didn’t go so far in that we’d end up getting lost or anything. We went just far enough that Ike and the others wouldn’t be able to see or hear us. We met up by a fairly large tree and sat down together, with our backs against the tree trunk.

“Seems like things are going well,” I told Kei.

Her group had managed to score a total of thirty-seven points over these past three days. For the time being at least, they weren’t going to be finding themselves at the bottom of the rankings.

“I’ve basically been getting helped by my teammates constantly,” she said. “They’re the ones carrying the group. How about you?”

“Things are going good, all things considered,” I replied.

“Well, I figured you’d be fine, since you’re you, after all,” said Kei.

Kei then proceeded to stretch with a groan. She then sighed. “Still, though, I just wish this exam would be over and done with already… I can’t believe we have eleven more days of this.”

When you considered just how many days were left, I supposed there was no denying that we were still just in the first phase of the exam.

“By the way, has anything changed over the past few days?” I asked.

“Oh, you mean about that thing you told me about, Kiyotaka? No, nothing in particular, I don’t think.”

Before the special exam started, I asked Kei to check on a little something for me. I did that in consideration of the possibility that the White Room agent might try contacting her. However, it didn’t seem like anything had happened over these past three days.

“I did jot down notes about everyone that I’ve come into contact with on my tablet though, just in case,” said Kei.

She opened the notepad app on her tablet and showed me lists of groups and students that she had seen over the past few days. Her lists were mostly filled with second-year students. She seemed to have virtually no contact with third-years or first-years. Well, I supposed they weren’t going to let themselves get caught so easily, after all.

“Oh, and one other thing…” said Kei.

“Hm?” I replied.

Kei suddenly brought her face much closer to me, peering into my eyes.

“I heard something about how…that first-year girl has been traveling together with you, Kiyotaka. What’s up with that?” she asked.

“Word gets around fast, I see,” I replied.

“When I asked Ike-kun about what was going on, he told me all about it, without even missing a beat. Wait, hold on,” she said. “Forget about that part, that’s not the point!”

Well, even someone like me, who was ignorant when it came to love, understood that as my girlfriend, Kei would be concerned over the fact that I had been working together with a first-year girl. It made sense that she would press me on it. Even if I were to casually throw out a list of reasons why I had agreed to let Nanase accompany me, there was no way that she’d simply accept me going around with a member of the other sex as okay.

I supposed I could bring up that Nanase might be involved in the plot to get me expelled, or that she may have some connection with the White Room. But those things didn’t have any direct connection to Kei. In the end, the thing that Kei was extremely upset and anxious about was the fact that I was working with another girl. I took Kei’s hand in mine, squeezing it a little forcefully, and brought my face close to hers.

“Are you worried? About me spending time alone together with another girl?”

“Hey! Wait a— Hold on, what? It’s not like I’m that worried or anything, I’m… Okay, yes, obviously I’m worried about it,” she said.

She had tried putting on a brave face at first, but she immediately dropped it and told me how she honestly felt.

“I’m only working with Nanase because I had no choice to, in order to do well on this special exam,” I told her.

“…Really?” she asked.

“Yes, really. Needless to say, I have absolutely no feelings about her. There’s nothing else going on,” I added.

“I believe you, I do,” she said. “But when I heard about you being all alone with another girl, I guess I just… I hated it.”

Even though there wasn’t anything for Kei to worry about, I supposed it was only natural that my girlfriend would still be concerned. No matter how cleverly I tried to smooth talk my way out of this one, I was sure that it wouldn’t do anything to put Kei’s heart at ease.

“Kei,” I replied, saying only her name.

When I did so, she turned to look at me, her lips pursed just slightly into a dissatisfied pout. I took advantage of this moment and came in closer, pressing my lips against hers. Our lips must have only been touching for less than a second, I guessed. It was the first time I had kissed a member of the other sex. The feeling of our lips touching was far softer than I had ever imagined it would be.

“Hu…h?” stammered Kei, sounding dazed, unable to wrap her mind around what just happened.

To be honest, I would have liked to have enjoyed this moment for a while longer, but we were smack in the middle of a special exam on an uninhabited island right now. It wouldn’t have been surprising at all if another student happened to pass by where we were, even by sheer coincidence.

“Hold on, wait, what was… That was… A k-kiss…? Huh? Buh?” she sputtered.

“Have faith in me and wait, okay?” I told her.

When Kei heard that, she nodded repeatedly in an almost mechanical fashion, as if she were a doll. I figured that if she were that full of anxiety over the fact that I was working together with Nanase, then the quickest way of dealing with that would be to give her a more intense memory to keep her mind occupied.

“The others might start to suspect something is up if we’re going for too long. You should head back,” I told her.

So, I decided to send Kei, still completely dumbfounded, back to meet up with everyone at the campsite first.