"..."
After almost being rendered speechless by Ryūen's words, Symon suppressed the urge to retort and said with a smile, "If you truly intend to do that, then it's necessary to consider maximizing the returns. I'm sure you're well aware of that."
He spoke just enough to make his point, not delving any deeper.
Ryūen sneered, "I have my own plans for that."
At the same time—knock, knock, knock~!
Outside the private room, a waiter gave a polite knock on the door before pushing a food cart inside.
Seeing this, Ryūen collected the guidebook and map from the table and spoke calmly, "Enjoy your meal. The upcoming exam won't be this relaxing."
With that, Ryūen stood up, showing no intention of dining with them, and walked straight out the door.
In the private room, the waiter wasn't surprised by his departure. After serving the girl a glass of sparkling water and placing a dish of exquisitely arranged pan-seared foie gras, he bowed, said, "Please enjoy," and promptly turned to leave.
Once everyone had left, Symon picked up a fork and quipped internally, "Not bad. I actually managed to score a free meal today."
Hiyori smiled sweetly. "Mr. Ghost, the meals on the cruise ship are free, you know."
Symon's hand paused, finding the situation a bit awkward. "Hiyori, you didn't have to say that."
"Ara~ my apologies."
The girl said this with a suppressed giggle, then, after a moment of thought, asked with some confusion, "But is it really okay to let Ryūen-kun continue pursuing that 800 million point plan, even if it means selling out his credibility?"
"It doesn't matter."
Symon explained, "Class Points are, in essence, just an evaluation given by the school. The school can control them at any time through exams."
"If they were shameless enough, it wouldn't be impossible for them to hold an exam where you can only lose points, not gain any."
"But Private Points are a completely different matter."
"Just like how Ryūen bought the exam rules in advance today, having ample Private Points represents a higher margin for error and more room to maneuver."
"Even if he goes all the way down this path, the worst-case scenario is simply that the plan fails. When that time comes, they can just pool their points together—the rich kids can pay up, the poor kids can cash out. It wouldn't have been a total waste."
"As for selling out his credibility..."
"Mutual non-interference is a crucial prerequisite for our alliance with Ryūen, preventing us from becoming enemies. I've given him my advice twice; if he won't listen, there's nothing more I can do."
At this point, Symon forked a piece of foie gras into his mouth, chewed, and joked internally with a smile, "He's Ryūen, after all. You know how it is~"
"Mmm~" Hiyori Shiina thought for a moment and agreed, "He is Ryūen-kun, after all..."
Full of initiative, unpredictable, prioritizing profit above all else, acting without any moral baseline, and constantly toeing the line of the rules—such was the leader of Class C who aspired to become an "entrepreneur."
...
————————————
Time flew, and it was now August 1st.
Around noon, in the Class C chatroom that had been created less than two days ago, messages were popping up one after another:
『Kakeru Ryūen: After the exam starts, I'll be leaving for a while. @Hiyori Shiina, you take a group and set up camp in the stream area.』
『Kakeru Ryūen: [Map]』
『Hiyori Shiina: Understood.』
『Kaneda Satoru: Regarding the stream area, if you'll forgive me for being blunt, it's not a very good choice.』
『Ryūen: Let's hear it.』
『Kaneda Satoru: I've been looking up books on camping in the library these past couple of days. The stream area on the map is in the densest part of the forest. There will definitely be a lot of mosquitoes and other insects, and the area around the base camp will be very damp. The weather at sea is unpredictable; if it rains, it'll be easy to get sick in such an environment. It's very unfriendly to the girls and those with weaker constitutions.』
『Nishino Takeko: Let's pick another spot. I can't deal with that.』
『Manabe Shiho: I can't either. Mosquitoes and stuff are just disgusting.』
『Kakeru Ryūen: @Kaneda Satoru, which spot is the best?』
『Kaneda Satoru: The pond area. The nearby trees are sparse, the view is open, and it's well-suited for a campsite. Although the sweet potato patch is the only resource spot, we can also fish. This solves our needs for water, carbohydrates, and protein all at once. The only downside is its location isn't ideal. If the ship's landing point is the beach, we'd have to cross more than half the forest."』
『Kakeru Ryūen: Then it's decided. Anyone else have an opinion?』
『Hiyori Shiina: I have no objections.』
After replying in the chatroom, Hiyori Shiina put down her personal terminal, ignoring the continuous stream of new messages, and went back to packing her luggage.
The night before last, Ryūen had personally created this Class C group chat and sent out the rules and map for the upcoming uninhabited island exam.
After that, Ryūen sent her a short message, the gist of which was for her to speak less in the group chat for the next couple of days so he could see if there were any other hidden talents in the class.
The result was rather disappointing—so far, apart from Kaneda Satoru who had stepped up to take charge, the vast majority of the class remained silent.
Nishino Takeko was also someone worth noting. This girl was outspoken and quite brave in expressing her true thoughts, something that even Manabe Shiho, the leader of the class's gyaru group, couldn't do. Ryūen was also considering giving her more responsibilities.
At the same time, a clear female voice suddenly came over the ship's broadcast:
『This is an announcement for all students. If you have the time, please gather on the deck. We are approaching the island, and we believe you will soon see a very meaningful sight.』
Hiyori Shiina softly asked in her mind, "This must be a hint from the school for the students, right? Should we go take a look?"
Symon replied without hesitation, "Let's go. At the very least, we can get a clear overview of the entire island."
You can trust a map, but you can't trust it completely, especially when it's just a single aerial view with incomplete topography. There's just too much information that could be missing.
A few minutes later, Hiyori Shiina arrived on the ship's deck. A good number of students were already there, including many familiar faces: Class A's Katsuragi, Class B's Ichinose, Class C's Ryūen, and from Class D, Ayanokōji, Hirata, and Kushida.
—In the final moments before landing on the island, the leadership of each class had gathered here.
_____
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