For some unspeakable reason, the girl ultimately didn't take any drastic action, silently watching Ayanokōji's movements in front of the card reader.
After about half a minute, Ayanokōji finally connected to the camera at the cave spot, carefully backed out, and regrouped with Hirata.
After that, the two repeated the process, going to the cabin spot at the base of the cliff, and then hurried to the nearest Class B spot.
Under the large tree by the stream, Hirata looked at the clean card reader and asked in a low, puzzled voice, "Class B doesn't have one here?"
"They probably just didn't have time—" Recalling the unusually fast movements of the two classes at the start of the exam, Ayanokōji had a theory.
He then took out his phone, opened the settings, tapped Bluetooth, and refreshed. He saw—
Available devices: U-D76B74
"..."
Ayanokōji fell silent for a moment. Turning back to look at the nearly forty-square-meter campsite, he silently showed the information on the screen to Hirata.
Hirata was a bit confused: "What's this?"
Ayanokōji's tone was calm: "There's a pinhole camera nearby, but I don't know where it is. If we're exposed, everything we've done today will be for nothing."
Hirata couldn't help but let the corner of his mouth twitch. "Should... should we look for it?"
Ayanokōji seemed puzzled: "What else would we do?"
After he spoke, the two looked at each other for a long moment. In the end, one holding a flashlight and the other a phone, they began to search the campsite.
Half an hour later—
Kiyotaka Ayanokōji, cold-eyed: "..."
Yōsuke Hirata, wiping away sweat: "..."
The two stared at each other for a long time, and after a moment of silence, they suddenly said in unison:
"Let's move on to the next one." X2
They had spent nearly half an hour turning the entire campsite upside down, but in the end, they found nothing. Anyone would be at their wit's end.
Having reached a basic consensus, Ayanokōji looked at the large tree above the card reader. After climbing up in a few movements, he took out a camera, aimed it at the card reader, then pulled out a rope and tied it to a branch.
As they were leaving, the two found the direction of the Class C campsite. After walking just a few steps, they suddenly saw a clearing with a tent in the middle.
Hirata: "This is the homeroom teacher's..."
Ayanokōji stopped, looked at Hirata, the corners of his mouth gradually turning down. Anyone could see his displeasure.
Seeing his expression, Hirata tilted his head in confusion. After a moment's thought, the expression on his face also gradually faded...
Three minutes later, in an inconspicuous little hollow in a tree at the edge of the tent, they finally found the camera that had tormented them for half an hour.
"This... This is too..."
Hirata's expression was strained, unsure of how to even comment—after working themselves to death for so long, it turned out they were looking in the wrong place. He was truly at a loss.
"Sorry, I was too presumptive." Ayanokōji said calmly, holding the camera and thinking for a moment, "Class C probably knows about the rule for changing leaders. Putting myself in their shoes, if you want to crack it, monitoring each class's homeroom teacher is the most direct method. If I'm not mistaken, there will be one of these in Chabashira's and Mr. Mashima's campsites too."
"But... hasn't Class C already sold their leader's information? I heard from Horikita—Class C hasn't even occupied a spot. What's the point of doing this?" Hirata frowned, puzzled.
Ayanokōji's hand paused. He recalled what Hiyori Shiina had said when he went to the Class C campsite today:
『If you want, you can have your leader occupy this place right now. We absolutely will not stop you.』
Thinking of this, Ayanokōji asked, seemingly casually: "If I remember correctly, isn't there a rule in the exam—using items from another class's spot results in a deduction of 50 temporary points?"
"That's right. Why?"
"Nothing." Ayanokōji replied offhandedly, but inside, he was pondering the current situation—
Not caring about their camp being occupied by another class means Class C doesn't care if their class points drop to zero. It's even highly likely—that Class C has no points at all right now.
If it's a zero-point strategy, the potential gains he can think of right now are:
① Selling their temporary class points.
② Selling their leader's information.
③ Selling other classes' leader information.
Considering that their class points shouldn't fall too far behind the top-ranking classes, after completing the third step, they can implement a supplementary plan—
Induce other classes to change their leaders, deducting 30 points from each. Ideally, they could also make each class guess two or more leaders incorrectly, deducting 100 points.
Finally, using the cameras placed near the homeroom teachers' tents, they can obtain the real leader information for each class, and then deduct 50+20 or more spot points from each class.
After such a series of operations, they can maximize their private point earnings and also recover from the class point disadvantage brought on by the zero-point strategy.
This is probably the most perfect plan.
As these thoughts raced through his mind, Ayanokōji connected the camera in his hand, placed it back where he found it, and then stood up and suddenly asked:
"Hirata, do you have any intention of advancing to Class A?"
"Why bring that up all of a sudden?" Hirata was puzzled. After thinking for a moment, he smiled and said gently, "Not really. I don't have such grand ambitions. I just want everyone to get along harmoniously."
"Is that so..."
Ayanokōji said this nonchalantly, suppressing the idea that had just surfaced in his mind.
In his view, since Class C's plan hadn't yet reached its third stage, there was naturally an opportunity to snatch the prize from the tiger's mouth.
However, the current Hirata was not under his control, and he wasn't about to jump out and create trouble for himself just because of Chabashira's pointless threat.
With that in mind, the two quickly arrived at the Class C campsite and placed two surveillance devices near the card reader and around Mr. Sakagami's tent.
Afterward, they returned to the Class A campsite, found Mr. Mashima's tent, connected the last surveillance device, and completed the final piece of their plan's puzzle.
After being busy for a long time, Ayanokōji returned to the Class D campsite with Hirata.
Before returning to his tent to rest, Hirata looked at Ayanokōji's still-impassive face, thought for a moment, and asked, "Ayanokōji-kun, do you really want to get to Class A?"
"No, I desire a peaceful life." Ayanokōji said calmly.
"If possible, can you keep this a secret for me? We can probably be considered friends now, right...?"
"Of course," Hirata said with a genuine smile. "If that's what you think, I won't tell anyone else."
"If that's possible, then that's great." Ayanokōji responded.
—On the night of the second day of the Uninhabited Island Exam, the monster disguised as a human gained his second 'friend'—
Congratulations!
(PS: Ayanokōji has a late-mover advantage, therefore his plan will be more complete.)
_____
This story will only have 2 extra chapters, because I'm very close to the original author 😉
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