Chapter 218 Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is Truly Useful
Just as Shimizu Akira was preparing to leave the camp, he ran into several familiar faces coming from the opposite direction.
Komiya Kyogo, Kondo Reo, and Ishizaki Daichi—the three students from Class C who had previously framed Sudo Ken. They were sauntering over now, each holding a bag of potato chips in one hand and a carbonated drink in the other.
"Yo! So this is where you guys are! Why does everyone look so spiritless?"
"Is it because you haven't eaten or slept well? Hahaha!"
Shimizu stopped in his tracks, his eyes sweeping over the snacks and drinks in their hands. His eyebrows twitched slightly. In the resource-scarce environment of the island exam, these items were pure luxuries—it seemed they had spent their points on these trivialities.
"You think you're here on vacation?" Sudo Ken's face darkened the moment he saw the trio.
Komiya chewed on a chip, sneering mid-munch, "And what if we do? Are we supposed to be like you lot, gnawing on wild fruit and drinking river water every day? Points are a waste if you don't use them; might as well enjoy ourselves while we can."
Ishizaki didn't say a word, but he tilted his head back to chug his soda, the aluminum can crunching loudly in his grip as he shot a provocative look at Sudo.
"Oops, my hand slipped." Kondo spoke up as he intentionally dropped his bag of chips onto the ground, looking at the Class D students with an arrogant expression.
"Hey! You bastard! Did you forget the rules? I caught you!" Sudo shouted, pointing at the chips on the ground.
"You're littering! Just wait for that 20-point deduction!"
He remembered clearly: the second rule in the manual stated that anyone found polluting the environment would be penalized 20 Special Exam Points.
"That's right!"
"Chabashira-sensei! You saw that clearly, didn't you?"
The Class D students were jolted into action, immediately turning their gaze toward Chabashira Sae, intending to report them on the spot.
"...Wait a moment." Chabashira pondered for a second and then pulled the walkie-talkie from her waist.
The school had equipped all homeroom teachers with radios to relay emergency messages—such as when Chabashira contacted the staff to exchange points for supplies. Currently, the teachers also bore the responsibility of monitoring the students. Seeing a clear violation that required a deduction, she naturally had to contact the school immediately.
The message was received on the other end of the line.
However, before Class D could say anything more, Kondo became even more smug at the sight.
"Haha! Sorry, but our points are already completely gone. There's nothing left to deduct. So, even if you want to take points away, you're just deducting from a score of zero."
'They've spent them all?'
If they truly had zero points left, then indeed, no matter how much they littered, it wouldn't impact Class C's final standing. Shimizu realized instantly—this was likely a part of Ryuen Kakeru's "Zero-Point Strategy." Since they didn't care about the score, they could deploy manpower to harass other classes without any fear of loss.
Moreover, the fact that these guys dared to show up at Class D's camp during a critical clock-in window proved they no longer cared about penalties. This meant Class C had truly spent all 300 points in just one day. Quite interesting.
Faced with such blatant provocation, the Class D students wore expressions of deep resentment.
Suddenly, Ike Kanji spoke up. "Let them be arrogant for six more days! When this exam is over, we'll be promoted to Class C, and they'll be the new Class D!"
At these words, the fire in everyone's hearts was doused with cold water, and they gradually calmed down. It was true—Class C had blown their points. Once the results were tallied, they would inevitably fall to Class D. These people were only enjoying a few days of hollow arrogance; it wasn't worth getting worked up over.
However, in the ears of Komiya and his group, these words sounded like a massive joke. They burst out laughing, their laughter filled with disdain.
Once he had laughed his fill, Komiya added with a boastful tone, "We're over on the western beach, enjoying our summer vacation! If you guys have nothing better to do, feel free to come over and see how we're having a blast!"
With that, he signaled to the other two and prepared to leave. But as their eyes swept through the Class D crowd and caught sight of Shimizu Akira, their tone instinctively became more polite:
"Oh? If it isn't Shimizu-kun!"
"We'll be heading off then. See ya!"
"A pity, really. We're planning to head back to the cruise ship after lunch today. Next time we meet will have to be in six days!"
The three of them had a decent impression of Shimizu—after all, back in June, Shimizu had saved them from Sudo's fists.
As Shimizu watched their retreating figures, his mind was racing.
'These guys are going back to the ship at noon today?'
This didn't quite fit his predicted follow-up to the "Zero-Point Strategy." If the goal was harassment, there was no reason to end their island activities so early. Ryuen likely had other plans.
However, rather than Class C, Shimizu intended to visit Class A first. He was still worried about Kamuro Masumi. In the other classes, there were only three people he truly cared about: Kamuro in Class A, Ichinose Honami in Class B, and Shiina Hiyori in Class C.
While Shiina was in Class C, the trio's words suggested the class would withdraw today. If they withdrew, they'd be back on the ship enjoying free facilities, so he didn't need to worry about her. Class B was also fine; he had delivered four pieces of game to Ichinose yesterday and planned to settle the payment with her today.
Only Class A remained an enigma. He had no lead on their situation whatsoever. Thus, he decided to scout Class A today.
The problem was, if he had to visit three classes, find time to hunt, and make it back for the 12:00 PM BBQ session with Horikita, he would be exhausted by the end of the day.
Shimizu thought about it more carefully and realized he didn't necessarily have to do everything himself. He just needed to send someone with sharp observational skills who could sniff out clues from the smallest details.
The moment the thought occurred, two candidates popped into his head.
The first was Horikita Suzune. But she was Class D's Leader and had to stay in camp to clock in. If Ryuen's people saw her leaving, it might cause trouble for the class. She was out.
As for the second candidate...
His gaze drifted to a short distance away.
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was standing there, his eyes carrying a "dead fish" laziness as if he had nothing to do. In Shimizu's eyes, Ayanokouji was the perfect person for scouting. In fact, he couldn't think of anyone with better perception.
He still remembered clearly how, when they were running together, Ayanokouji had precisely pointed out which floor and which window someone was watching them from. Ayanokouji had helped him quite a bit over the past few months. Scouting Class C should be a piece of cake for him.
With that in mind, Shimizu slowly walked over to Ayanokouji. After two steps, he keenly noticed a figure hiding behind a nearby tent—they were crouching down, revealing only a small corner of their clothes, clearly eavesdropping.
'Hm? Who is that? Who eavesdrops on conversations for fun?'
Ayanokouji, who always loved playing the fool, watched Shimizu approach and simply tilted his head, throwing out an unexpected question: "Shimizu, you're not going to invite me for a morning run, are you?"
Shimizu's lip twitched. His classmate Ayanokouji could be quite dense at times. Then again, for the past few months, their conversations usually consisted of him asking "Want to run?" and Ayanokouji saying "Okay," so it wasn't surprising he'd assume that.
"No," he explained with a wave of his hand.
"This time, I want to ask you to head over to Class C. Take your manual and help me look into what they specifically spent their points on. Pay attention to the breakdown of their expenditures."
"Oh..." After hearing this, Ayanokouji simply nodded and agreed immediately.
Shimizu was a bit surprised. He had expected Ayanokouji to ask about a reward first, but the boy was incredibly straightforward. However, Shimizu never liked letting people work for free, so he added: "As a reward, whenever you want to eat BBQ, just come to my camp. You can eat your fill."
"Okay..." Ayanokouji nodded again. Even at the mention of extra BBQ, his tone remained flat. That was just his personality.
Shimizu let out a sigh of relief. He had absolute confidence in Ayanokouji's ability to handle this. In fact, in all of Class D, there was no one more reliable or reassuring. Ayanokouji was the type to do exactly what he promised, and since he had nothing to do during the day, he didn't delay.
He gave a brief report to Hirata Yosuke and then headed straight for the western beach.
Shimizu stood there, thinking that since he now had another mouth to feed, he'd have to hunt more. Just as he was about to step out of camp, a surprised shout called him back.
"Shimizu-kun! You can actually order Ayanokouji-kun around!"
Shimizu turned to see the student who had been eavesdropping behind the tent. She was holding four mineral water bottles, seemingly out to fetch water for her friends, but had stopped when she overheard the conversation.
Shimizu looked at her—beautiful brown wavy hair draped over her shoulders, giving her the aura of a mature "big sister" type. It was Matsushita Chiaki, a close friend of Karuizawa Kei, the manager of the boxing club.
In Shimizu's mind, his impression of Matsushita was quite good.
Similar to Ayanokouji, she tended to downplay her presence and hide her abilities.
She was composed and had a reassuring air about her. She had even helped him with two small favors recently. First, she led the effort to get Karuizawa, Sato Maya, Mori Nene, and
herself to vote for Kushida. Second, she helped mediate a dispute between Karuizawa and Hasebe Haruka, quietly suppressing the conflict.
However, her opening with "Why can you order Ayanokouji around?" made it clear she had heard everything.
'Hm? I didn't expect Matsushita Chiaki to be an eavesdropper.'
It felt like he had discovered a hidden side of her.
Then again, if he remembered correctly, she had been paying extra attention to him and Ayanokouji since the first month of school. Especially to himself—during the BBQ last night, he felt her gaze lingering on him repeatedly. He still hadn't figured out what those frequent stares meant.
Faced with her question, he thought for a moment and replied casually, "It's fine. We're friends, after all. Ayanokouji-kun is actually quite easy to talk into things."
On the other side, Matsushita Chiaki's eyelid twitched.
'Ayanokouji is easy to talk to?'
Was he serious? Two months ago, that might have been true—back then, Ayanokouji would somewhat comply with class requests. But since June, he seemed to have become a different person. He politely declined nearly 90% of requests.
Just yesterday afternoon, her friend Karuizawa asked Ayanokouji to go gather firewood with the other boys while they prepared dinner, but he declined without a second thought. It wasn't until Hirata stepped in and persuaded him for a while that he finally went along with Sudo and Ike.
Yet, she had listened closely and found that when Ayanokouji spoke with Shimizu, he was like a different person. Not only was his tone softer, but he agreed to the request instantly. Although Shimizu added "BBQ" as a reward, in Matsushita's ears, it sounded like Ayanokouji would have agreed even without it.
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