The beach for roll call was also the place to exchange supplies.
Among the four classes, Class C had forfeited, and Class D's Base Points had been reduced to zero. Most teachers already knew that only Class A and Class B weren't short on supplies, which effectively made their supply exchange point obsolete. But they still had to show up for work.
However, as they were preparing to leave and return to the ship to rest, the teachers finally discovered something unusual.
Someone had found what appeared to be an Easter egg — the 41st checkpoint.
At this moment, a small transport boat docked at the beach. Everyone merely glanced in that direction, confirmed it was Kazuma returning, and then turned away.
The other teachers seemed to only look at him once before shifting their attention back to Tomonari and Sae's computer screens.
"..." Kazuma.
He felt excluded.
Well, he knew he wasn't liked by these teachers.
However, although he had stated that because Class C students had forfeited and their Base Points were reset to zero, he no longer needed to participate in the daily 8 AM and 8 PM roll calls.
But that didn't mean Class C would lose. Rather, he had witnessed Kakeru's determination.
It's true that Class C students had forfeited — but not all of them. Only 36 students had forfeited. Kakeru, along with Mio, Daichi, and Satoru remained.
Kakeru was the leader. He stayed for only one reason: he wanted to participate in the leader-guessing segment before the island exam ended on the seventh day. Though they had zero Base Points, nowhere did it say that zero Points meant they couldn't participate in the leader-guessing segment.
Moreover, as the leader, he couldn't directly forfeit. So he was still on the island. However, his continued presence on the island made it easy to deduce that he was the leader, so he went into hiding.
And by hiding, he meant not appearing within the range of the 40 known checkpoints. Instead, he went deeper into the island.
The island wasn't very large, but it wasn't small either. Apart from areas suitable for survival and school exploration, there were also parts not suitable for people to visit.
In other words, Kakeru stayed to live there — to experience true island survival. And this persistence and stubbornness was all to obtain information about other classes' leaders, then earn Points in the leader-guessing segment.
This showed his dedication to victory.
Kazuma saw Kakeru's dedication. He believed that with such determination, that guy could definitely lead Class C to challenge Class B, or even aim for Class A.
And if they could surpass Class B, his salary would significantly increase, and he might be able to pay off the debt from being scammed by a woman within three years.
Lost in these thoughts, the bespectacled Kazuma noticed Chie looking at him with what seemed like a cute expression.
"Sakagami-sensei, do you remember checkpoint number 41?"
"Checkpoint number 41?" Kazuma quickly repeated, "You mean the caretaker's cabin on the island, right? This is considered an Easter egg for this exam."
"Actually, previous years had this Easter egg too. But it seems no student ever discovered it, not even the highly regarded Manabu Horikita. It requires insight and the ability to view things from the school's perspective. As for Manabu Horikita, perhaps class matters prevented him from thinking so thoroughly."
"The exam rules hint that this is island survival. But if one thinks carefully, they would realize this isn't an ordinary island, but an artificial one. There are cultivated vegetables, fruits, sugarcane, and corn managed and provided everywhere."
"This contradicts the exam rule of island survival. Finding the island caretaker's cabin proves this is an artificial island. That's an Easter egg — a special reward proposed by the Chairman. If you find this checkpoint and scan your card, you earn 50 Reward Points. So—"
He looked at them.
"Someone has already found this checkpoint?"
"Yes." Chie nodded, "Now this checkpoint has been found by students from Class A and Class D."
"...??"
Not Kakeru? Kazuma had high hopes for him.
He thought that since Kakeru needed to hide from everyone's sight and attention, such a secluded place would likely be his first choice.
Did he not find it? No.
Kazuma shook his head. According to the information he had, this checkpoint was just down from the edge of the white tower at the center of the island. And the white tower itself was a checkpoint.
If he wanted to avoid other students' eyes and stay alone on the island, Kakeru couldn't possibly stay close to a checkpoint. It felt like he had missed an opportunity.
Observing the obvious disappointment on his face, Chie said, "I'll also tell you some good news. Not all of your class students have forfeited. Three students who rebelled against Ryūen were punished by him and abandoned on the island. They were then taken in by Class B and Class D students."
Oh. That.
Of course Kazuma knew. The remaining three students were spies arranged by Ryuuen to gather information about other classes' leaders.
Wait a minute.
"None in Class A?" Kazuma noticed a blind spot.
"That's right." Chie seemed somewhat regretful, "When Class A students found the stranded Class C students, they brought them to Class B. So now my class has two Class C students."
Hmm. That's truly unfortunate.
Soon, Kazuma noticed Chie looking at him somewhat coldly.
She had already seen through Kakeru's pretense of forfeiting, leaving behind students who supposedly disobeyed him, when he actually intended to plant spies in other classes.
It didn't look honorable. It even seemed somewhat despicable.
Since her Class B had taken in two spies, the leader's information would almost certainly leak. This meant they were already facing a deduction of 50 or even 150 Points. If one class's leader information leaks, it can be traded with other classes.
Everyone could guess Class B's leader. Then Class B's remaining Base Points from their alliance with Class C in this exam would be heavily deducted.
That would indeed be terrible.
"But anyway—" Chie seemed to collect herself, "Look at my phone."
She showed photos in her gallery.
They showed two Class C students — Mio and Satoru. Both had injuries on their bodies.
Kazuma knew this was a ruse. It also showed him the determination of Class C students to climb higher. This was done to gain the trust of students from other classes.
But what about these photos?
"Before this island exam, Ryūen was disciplined by the Student Council for fighting with Class D students. And now—" Chie smiled slightly, her mood improving considerably, "He's fighting again. My class students are all little angels who can't stand to see such bullying. So they asked me to take photos of Ibuki and Kaneda's injuries. To preserve evidence."
"They plan to report Ryūen to the Student Council when we return to school. They hope this bad person will be punished. Moreover, Ryūen violently beat not just one person, but two. This shows he hasn't learned his lesson at all and continues to offend despite his previous record."
"Therefore, I think the serious and fair student council president will deduct not just 50 but 100 Class Points."
Kazuma: "…"
Damn. So that's how it is? Will 100 Points be deducted when we return to school?
If reported to the Student Council President, the general judgment would be a deduction of 50 Class Points. And if Kakeru already has a record... then he would indeed receive the strictest punishment. He might be suspended for a week, but it would definitely affect the class with Point deductions.
The heaviest punishment for students fighting is the deduction of 100 Class Points. According to his assessment of that most excellent and fair Student Council President, he might indeed directly impose a punishment of 100 Class Points while also suspending Kakeru for a week.
Looking at the original situation — Kakeru is determined and arranging spies — for Class C, this exam still has meaning.
The reason Chie deliberately speaks to him in that tone indicates she has discerned that his student arranged people to enter Class B as spies to obtain information about the leader card.
But as a teacher, she's just a teacher and can't interfere. Having understood that her class's leader information would definitely leak and Points would be deducted, that's probably why she feels disgusted.
However, there's now a discrepancy in Kakeru's plan. The spy arranged for Class A was handed over to Class B by Class A students. So he can at most obtain leader information from Classes B and D.
Guessing the leaders of these two classes would only yield 50×2=100 Points. Then return to school and be deducted 100 Points.
It feels like... it's all for nothing.
After putting Kazuma into a state of dissociation, Chie's mood finally improved somewhat.
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"You're enjoying manipulating others again." Sae said as she saw Chie return to the resource exchange point.
She had already seen Kazuma with a face full of existential doubt.
"Well, it's because his Class C students are too much — directly dropping two spies into my class. And doesn't your class also have a spy arranged by Ryūen?" Chie said.
"Me?" Sae smiled slightly, but this smile had no emotion behind it.
Chie felt quite annoyed because this woman's attitude was strange.
She knew Sae always had ambitions to climb higher; more precisely, in the past, she led Class D to climb higher but ultimately failed. So she's still dwelling on the past, unable to move on.
Although they're close friends, Chie doesn't want Sae to actually climb up, so if her Class D were to rise in rank, she would definitely want to push them back down.
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