1.1

In the midst of the continuing downpour, the school sent out an email.

It was something that I had been expecting for a long time, and it was that today's exam was to be suspended. The report also said it would be difficult to turn things around if the basics of getting around and events disappeared.

Still, ways to compensate were being considered to avoid putting students in a difficult situation. However, no matter what the school did to make up for it, the fact is that the exam is suspended today, and that would not change.

While the compensation was effective from a total score point of view, the strategic plans developed by the teams would have to be reversed and reworked.

For me, the suspension could not have come at a worse time.

I had intended to peak into the second half of the race as a way to catch up with and earn points from groups that ran out of energy in the first half and couldn't keep up the pace anymore. But since almost the entire 7th day was empty, everyone would be able to use the break to recover their strength.

Of course, since the environment was not optimal, fatigue could not be fully recovered. Still, the ability to rest made a big difference.

"... pai?"

"Hmm?"

Outside the tent, the rain was pouring down, and the sound was very loud, but there was a hint of a human voice wrapped up in it.

"Sen...pai?"

The voice that had previously called out to me sounded once again. The one who called out was probably Nanase in the tent across from mine. I opened the zipper again and peeked out through the mesh. Although the view was poor, it was not difficult to see the tent in front of me.

"I have something I would like to talk to you about. Can I come over to senpai's side for a while?" Nanase proposed so through the tent.

Nanase should know very well that the idea of a man and a woman crammed into a narrow tent is not appropriate; perhaps she's forgotten? Then again, as far as the rules are concerned, it is only forbidden to share a bed and there is no problem if you are only spending a short time together. As long as the students don't lose their rationality, there was no moral problem.

That said, it was raining very hard. Even if the entrances are less than two meters apart, one will inevitably get wet.

"I'm fine with it. Why don't I come over to your side?"

When I said that, Nanase shook her head and opened the entrance to her tent. She spread her towel to protect her head and got ready. I hurriedly opened the entrance to welcome her.

After waiting for the right moment, Nanase jumped out of the tent and quickly ducked into mine. In less than one second, she was drenched, but the damage was kept to a minimum.

"I'm really sorry for disturbing you while you're resting, senpai."

"No, it's okay."

Nanase was the one that was suffering at the moment. In addition to the forced march to reach this area, even if the cause was a misunderstanding, she had just fought a fierce battle with me. Although I thought she had something to discuss with me, she didn't open her mouth right away. It seemed like she couldn't say anything, which was understandable. For a while, we just sat in silence.

"I'm a bit shameless, aren't I?" Saying that Nanase lowered her head in apology.

"Until recently, I was hostile towards senpai and even said some excessive things... but now I greet you with such intimacy. It just annoys you, right?"

Only now has Nanase started to face this guilt.

"I don't care, and you don't need to apologize anymore. At the very least, you should understand that there is no need for us to be hostile towards each other any longer, right?

Although there were some parts that were a bit difficult to address at the moment, we are in the middle of a special exam. Mental confusion can be detrimental to actions and thoughts during the test.

"I understand." Nanase once again bowed her head to me in acknowledgment.

"So what? You must have something you want to tell me after going through the heavy rain?"

"Ah, yes!" Nanase remembered what she came for and spoke up.

"The sudden appearance of Amasawa-san was haunting my mind...

When I think about how hard you are working, I can't help but want to push her away."

It looked like rather than having any purpose in coming here, she was simply worried about me. Although it seemed a bit problematic for her to care more than I, the person in question, I appreciated her consideration.

"I decided that Amasawa-san was the one who pushed Komiya-senpai and the others down. I always thought the reason why Amasawa-san didn't show us her true self was a way to hide the truth. However, Ayanokōji-senpai, you said that it wasn't necessarily Amasawa-san that was the one who pushed them, which I found a bit confusing...."

"Because as of now, the truth is still in the dark," I replied.

Amasawa, the "suspect," is infinitely close to black gray, but she isn't yet utterly dyed black.

"What matters to me is the objective of the culprit. Whoever it is, what was their reason for doing something so dangerous?"

"Perhaps it wouldn't be so difficult if we don't assume the answer first," I suggest. "Let's start over without the assumption Amasawa is not the culprit and argue from there."

By repeatedly exchanging opinions, it was sometimes possible to see things that would otherwise be invisible.

A certain person pushed Komiya and the others down. Judging from the watch's lack of a GPS response, it was clearly not an unexpected event but a planned act.

"Huh... but isn't that a little strange?"

Not long after the conversation started, Nanase ran into something incomprehensible and frowned.

"Are you saying that it would be strange if Amasawa-san really had nothing to do with this? Are you implying she simply happened to come across the attack on Komiya-senpai and the others when her watch broke by chance and happened to witness the whole thing from the sidelines by chance? She then happened to find us again by chance?"

"It is difficult to call it a coincidence if there are several stacked matches. That is, if Amasawa had reasoned about Komiya's case as if it had nothing to do with her, we could solve this case quickly."

The idea arose that it was someone close to Amasawa who put pressure on Komiya and the others.

"Even if the real culprit was not Amasawa-san, it might be someone she knew, right? So, is it possible that Amasawa-san is simply an accomplice again?"

"I think that's it. The footprints we observed may also belong to the real culprit."

If you consider that she was acting to help the real culprit, it would explain Amasawa's actions.

"Since the intention was to exercise violence, I guess their means are similar." Nanase repeatedly nodded as she felt the clues to her reasoning were coming together.

"But..."

At this point... How can I put it? I was starting to worry about something completely unrelated.

"But what?" Nanase looked at me, puzzled, but I didn't dare bring it up.

Mostly since I was too embarrassed to ask her.

It was the 7th day of living on the uninhabited island. During this period, Nanase has been moving with me constantly, and there wasn't really any free time to properly clean the body. But she did have the opportunity to rinse off the sand when she changed into her swimsuit at the beach for capture the flag, and she must have taken a shower after the time she swam in the ocean.

That said, the sweat that erupted after a day was disconcerting.

Because of the small space in the tent, Nanase's body odour, although slight, is gradually spreading; however, it is not an unpleasant smell. The smell of sweat can be covered up by frequent wiping, but this is strangely a nice smell. I wanted to ask about the principle of it, but it most certainly would not be "good senpai behaviour." It would most likely be classified as

"perverted senpai behaviour."

"Nothing, it's just a misunderstanding on my part. Don't worry about it."

"Is that so?" Nanase didn't elaborate on my statement; she just nodded her head.

Even though I have a girlfriend, I'm just a beginner. When it comes to topics like these, there are many things I don't know about. Antiperspirants and deodorants and things like that are pretty cheap, so she probably bought them. That's the only answer I can think of right now.

Although I started it myself, the topic became inexplicably awkward.

Nanase didn't seem to care, but it's best I don't ask her again.

"Although I can't confirm exactly what Amasawa did to Komiya and the others, I can roughly guess who is with her on her daily schedule." I inform Nanase.

Nanase didn't seem to understand what I meant by that and looked puzzled. I took out the tablet and tapped on the screen to show Nanase.

"Doesn't... that have your personal information Ayanokōji-senpai? Is it really okay for you to show me this?" Nanase asked out of consideration.

By personal information, she meant the scores I had. Points and rankings outside of the top 10 and bottom ten would not be publicly disclosed, so this was crucial private information.

"I thought that you and I had built a relationship in which we can trust each other, but it seems like it's my mistake...." I said bluntly, to which she quickly looked up.

"What?! I'm super grateful that you trust me!" She replied somewhat shy, somewhat happy, and somewhat apologetic.

It was an expression of shame that she hadn't been able to show up until now.

"And since we've been together this entire time, you can probably guess how many points I've accumulated just by taking into consideration my movements, right?"

Although there was also a part of the exam I had challenged alone, Nanase would probably assume I got first place. So, I didn't mind all that much showing her my score.

"On the subject of past movements, it should be possible to know who Amasawa was with based on her daily schedule." I concluded.

Nanase, however, had noticed something suspicious.

"Eh? Shouldn't senpai's score... Shouldn't it have more points?"

"What do you mean?"

Nanase asked this while running numbers through her head.

"Reaching the bonus, the finishing points, and the event points... Minus the penalties, and I think you got 1st place in the event you participated while I was resting...."

Nanase's memory was pretty good. This would be useful in the future.

"You may have realized that my score should have been 88 points."

"But now it's 78 points, 10 points less. And I don't think it's due to a penalty..."

"So how and why have those 10 points disappeared? Allow me to explain. Where we are going in this exam is posted four times a day along with the designated area. That is, from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. I used the GPS

service from 7 in the morning on the 6th day, when it was de-prohibited, and I used it a total of 10 times, once per hour, not counting the break from noon to 12."

"What could be seen doing this?" Was the reaction on her face. Nanase still didn't seem to understand.

"The GPS search is a very convenient tool to know the location of all the students throughout the island. However, if you only use it once, you can only know their current position, and its usefulness is poor. But if you divide the day into 10 parts and search repeatedly, you can see many things that you could not before."

By connecting the dots on a line, the trajectory of the person in one day can be traced. So, if someone used the search ten times, they might discover the fact that Nanase and I often moved together.

"So that was the purpose for using your points. I see. Now we can know everyone's destination every hour. Through that, we could find out who has the same itinerary with whom." Nanase nodded as if to demonstrate her understanding.

"But on the sixth day, senpai didn't seem to be using the tablet at all.

Wouldn't you forget everything? It would be hard to remember everything just like that, right?"

"Impossible. It takes a long time to confirm the name and location of each person."

I opened the photos folder to show her my images saved there.

"After using the GPS search, I save screenshots. This way, I can use my free time to observe them and know what the others have done that day."

I told Nanase as she peeked over my shoulder to look.

You cannot send messages or photos to others during the exam.

However, saving screenshots is a standard feature of the tablet, and it is certainly available for use. By repeatedly using the map, zooming in and out, everyone's locations can be recorded in detail.

"Compare them at different times, and the actions of everyone else throughout the day are available as information that can be viewed at any time."

Instances such as before going to bed, in the morning when the test begins and during breaks. These moments are idle and are perfect for confirming locations. As the map has a detailed distribution of the events for that period, starting from the sixth day, I was able to record information about the groups, what events each student took, etc.

"Wow senpai, you really did something like that? I didn't even realize it."

"Well, I wouldn't let you notice it. I couldn't have risked a potential enemy figuring out what I was doing since by the sixth day, I still didn't know what kind of person you were." I give Nanase my honest thoughts.

It would have been foolish to let Nanase, an enemy, know that I was using the GPS search. From confirming locations to checking event details, the tablet had a wide variety of uses. It didn't seem unnatural that I was continuously using it.

It was quite a simple process but very effective. Just follow the instructions for the specified area and corresponding event, and do a GPS

search every hour, taking a screenshot.

"With all due respect senpai, may I ask if this is worth paying 10 points for? Since it takes quite a long time just to analyze a person's behaviour pattern. Maybe if you could share these images with others they might become worth something."

The value of these images would be apparent if they could be easily emailed to friends. More people could use GPS searches at shorter intervals, and we could confirm this outside of exam hours. It would not be surprising if all the classes would do something like this.

"Even with individual users, its value depends on how it is used. I think we can say for now that whether this is worth more or less than 10 points will be decided in the future."

"Actually, there's also one more piece of information you can find while looking at repeated GPS searches."

If you look at the GPS by differentiating the grades, you can discover something new. Especially with the 3rd years, you can notice strange movements in their group actions.

"For example, a part of the 3rd year groups behaved strangely throughout the day. And this strange group has to be related to Nagumo's group as well as Kiriyama's group. Through that research, I found something interesting."

Starting at 7:00 A.M. on the 6th day, I targeted only Nagumo's group, observing their movements every hour.

"First, at 7 in the morning, Nagumo's group was in B8."

"Could that mean that their last area at the end of the 5th day was B8?"

"That possibility is very likely, but they were in the southernmost part of the B8 area, perhaps the last area of the previous day was B9. In any case, when they came out, they only had the GPS signals of their own group members."

An hour later, at 8 A.M., various groups began to gather around Nagumo. At 9 A.M., this trend became even more apparent as the other groups visibly gathered around Nagumo. From then on, the large group began to move together. The observation at 10:00 and 11:00 in the morning, the hours before lunch, revealed something different.

"Many groups got together and moved together... It's almost like a school of fish." Nanase observes.

"The general effect of this isn't that deep, but if you look at the small things you will see something completely different."

Hearing that, Nanase nodded twice. Then I showed her the maps until 3:00 in the afternoon.

"Hold on... Is it possible to monopolize that event?"

"No matter what the event is, as long as the 3rd years are properly organized, Nagumo can easily get first place."

It's not complicated. It's a simple strategy and very powerful.

"But, in that case, no group other than Nagumo's will score, right?

Those groups cannot all be on the same schedule either. Cooperate with each other to allow a specific group to win... Although it is an idea that everyone has thought of before, it's impossible to actually do it..."

Other groups have other designated areas to go to. If they all dedicated themselves into getting Nagumo first place, they wouldn't get high points in the special exam.

"Yeah, if we were to implement this strategy, we would have to ignore the general premise of the uninhabited island exam. Speaking of which, why couldn't we work together to accomplish this strategy?" Nanase asked.

"That's because it has to do with class points as well as expulsions, of course." I showed Nanase the members of the groups that had gathered around Nagumo.

"This... the groups that serve as plates are the senpais of the lower classes..."

"There is not a single class A student in those groups."

"The difference in class points in the 3rd year classes is really exasperating. In other words, if class B or D loses, it will not have an impact on the general battle of the 3rd year."

Neither the first-year students nor the second-year students had entered the final stage of their class showdowns. It is the obsession of wanting to move up to A class that keeps the battles going.

"The third years, however, can ignore the framework and make the 4

classes work together."

"The advantage of this strategy is that the group at the bottom can do whatever they want on the exam. Regardless of the score, even if they only get 1 point, their status as one of the lower classes will not change. They will only lose class points, or someone will be expelled."

"Wouldn't their points be close to 0 if they fully support a designated group? It's true that many of the third-grade groups are at the bottom, but they still have 20 points and 30 points."

If you ignored the designation of the assigned area and all the exam events, of course, you wouldn't be able to receive points. According to Nanase, it wouldn't be surprising if they would be penalized until they approached 0 points.

I didn't answer, prompting Nanase to think, and little by little she, started to realize it. In order to help her, I started to add something.

"Once a strategy is recognized, its effectiveness decreases. How can they prevent this strategy from being detected?"

"If there are 2-3 groups with 0 points, it is obvious that they did something, and this will be noticed by the other years. So, in order not to be noticed, they allow those groups to get some points." It seems Nanase came to a conclusion on her own.

It was due to this that we can see how extraordinarily remarkable Nagumo's power is. Several groups with 0 points would have been too revealing, and the time to find out Nagumo's plan would be significantly reduced if he let them earn some points.

"There are many people supporting Nagumo, but each group has at least one person who steps on the designated area." I told Nanase.

"To avoid stacking penalty points, right?"

If you do this, you will be able to accumulate the minimum number of points.

"Among the teams supporting the Nagumo group, there is also competition. As long as the first place is awarded, the second and third place can be obtained by others at their own initiative, so that the bottom group will have a change of ranking from time to time. It's like they're really struggling to get by, although that isn't the case."

This strategy would have been impossible to see through without scanning ten times with GPS. It turns out that even if you think it's strange, it will just stagnate on suspicion.

"Are they ready to help President Nagumo by dropping out of school?

Don't they think they should try to avoid dropping out even if they don't get promoted to A class?" Nanase asked with a confused look on her face.

"There may be fanatics in there, but basically it's like you say. In this scheme there must be compensation for those students that follow Nagumo."

"Compensation from President Nagumo...?'

"The classes below the third year B class will not be able to graduate in A class if they just accumulate points in the special exam. But what if being helped by Nagumo gives them the possibility of moving up to Class A?"

"If that's the only way, maybe people would choose to help..."

If the choice is between graduating in Class B or lower and graduating from Class A, it is no wonder that most people would be willing to enlist with Nagumo.

"I can't seem to figure out whether it's the school administration or the student president who's running the exam..." Nanase questioned.

"You aren't wrong, Nanase. Nagumo has complete control over his whole year. He doesn't follow the rules; he makes and dictates them.

The person who can create such a situation like this is really not someone to be underestimated. When you look at the history of the school, it isn't an exaggeration to say that he is the first person, and the last person, who is capable of something like this.

Of course, we 2nd years are not at the mercy of Nagumo, and he doesn't get to control us as he pleases.

On the fifth day of the special exam, I made a proposal to Ryūen and Sakayanagi. All 2nd year students would work together during a part of the exam and would work together to complete a specific project. Simply put, it was similar to Nagumo's strategy. But it's not like Nagumo's plan where only a specific group can get points. Because there is competition between the second years, if there is disagreement about the score, there is no unification. Therefore, the cooperation is based on conditions other than the score. Sakayanagi and Ryūen had a group of various students that made them feel uncomfortable. Both parties reached an agreement through negotiation in the form of mutual support. For example, although we had an adverse relationship with each other, we did not hesitate to work together whenever the stakes were the same, which is one of the things that makes 2nd year leaders so good.

I think if it had been our first year, this plan might not have been possible. This is a plan that can be accomplished because of the experience of fighting together for one and a half years.

"I get it. So, you mean that, for you senpai, exchanging 10 points for this information is not a big risk, right?"

"Nor have I given up my goal of reaching the top. I'm lucky that Kōenji is still fighting. What I want are resources to support my peers at all times."

"Kōenji-senpai is really powerful, surpassing the group of Student Council President Nagumo by himself." Nanase remarked.

Kōenji is indeed very powerful. But this is slightly different from the truth. Kōenji and Nagumo's group formed a tug-of-war, as every student who looked at the high-ranking rankings would assume. "One person was evenly matched with Nagumo's team" or something like that. But in reality, it was nothing more than an evenly matched performance by the Nagumo team.

After the end of the two days in which the rankings are confirmed, Nagumo will maintain his leisurely status of second place. Then he'll sprint the remaining two days in which the rankings aren't confirmed.

This way, he can surpass the exhausted Kōenji who has been pushing himself for the entire exam and come out on top. This method will not expose his "fixed" team that uses the other squads to gain points. When Nagumo decides to match Kōenji's pace, there will most likely be no chance of victory for us.

"Let's first use this information as a basis to investigate what moves Amasawa made on the sixth day."

From this statement, Nanase would understand that there is extra value in using these 10 points.

"It seems that Amasawa was not in her designated area during the morning."

Normally, there was nothing special about spending the night in the same designated area as us since she followed the same path.

But there was still a GPS signal two areas below us. This person seemed to be camping alone overnight as there were no overlapping signal points nearby.

"This is an hour after the announcement of the designated area at 8:00

A.M."

"Our target was B6 right?"

"It seems that Amasawa is going to B6 using a different route."

Considering the distance she covered within the hour; means she was moving at a very fast speed. A lot faster than the average walking speed. Or perhaps she found another more efficient route. In any case, I didn't think before she was a girl who could move alone in the forest.

Confirming with the map for the next hour, Amasawa had reached C6, to the right of the designated area. She should have now left for the event next to the designated area, with time to spare.

"It's amazing, you can see everyone's movements clearly on this map."

It seems up until the sixth day; she had been completing the exam as seriously as the other students. I kept following her path from the 3rd screenshot to the 7th. There were no particularly strange actions, and about three more events were completed after making sure to reach the designated area. Whether she got a ranking or not could actually be found out through the tablet, but it didn't matter.

"At least, at 5:00 P.M. on the 6th day, Amasawa did not approach us, and there is no sign of anything suspicious." I conclude.

"Unfortunately, we haven't made any progress then."

"No, it's enough, at least in my opinion. Amasawa is facing the test with a serious attitude. She didn't let us discover her vulnerability under the GPS signal."

In other words, the time when she launched her operation was non-exam time. Although these time slots can also be scouted using GPS, it is already nothing more than a loss of points. We later received a notice from the school that the point scoring was disabled and the suspension of today's special exam.

[Due to bad weather, the arrival bonuses on the 7th day, as well as the events, were only a quarter completed, so the arrival bonus on the last day, the arrival payment and the event rewards go to be double. The weather forecast indicates that the weather will return to normal tomorrow morning.]

However, the last day lasted the same as the first day, with only ¾ of the normal time being useful. In that sense, would this be a correct way to distribute the time for recovering points?

"This could be a factor for an investment."

If the score is doubled on the last day, this will be considered the day that determines the winners for most people, and therefore setbacks are likely to occur.

"The decision to give the news of the doubling of the score on the last day well in advance is correct. This allows us to re-examine the actions of the students in the second half of the exam."

Since today has been a full rest day, the pace of distribution of physical force will change from tomorrow, and there are groups that will consider sprinting on the last day. It wouldn't be surprising if someone took advantage of this slow time slot and increased their pace from day 8. But, for me, neither the bad weather nor the notice of double pay on the last day was the way I wanted it to unfold.

I suddenly noticed that Nanase, who had become silent, seemed confused while staring wide-eyed at the tablet. I'm not sure if it's her regular daze, but her eyes keep opening and closing.

"Although it's still daylight, wouldn't it be better to sleep a little?" I suggest.

"After forcing up that mountain during the morning, and fighting with me, Nanase's strength should be exhausted. She had already exceeded her limit two or three times. The feeling of fatigue must have hit her already."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

She panicked and tried to straighten her posture, but drowsiness is not something that could be chased away so easily. Not to mention the fact she was covered in sores.

"In that case... I'll go back to my tent to sleep."

You are the only one who knows the best state of your own body.

Continuing to doze off here would only be an inconvenience.

"Good idea."

Because of the rain, I don't think I can move freely. In that case, I should just lie down and rest. I say that, but the tent wasn't exactly a comfortable and quiet sanctuary. Easier said than done to properly rest in a place like this.

Nanase, who was about to leave, turned around and came towards me.

"When it stops raining, I will go after Amasawa, since I know she is a White Room student. I am concerned about her movements."

In fact, even though she had been following me all this time, I never noticed it. Since they were in the same group, Amasawa couldn't be that harsh on Nanase.

"It is a fact that Amasawa, as a student of the White Room, was able to pass all the tests at that age without any problem. In short, she is threatening.

Don't underestimate her based on factors like her gender, or her age." I utter a word of caution.

"I don't know the details, but she's an extremely strong opponent, isn't she?"

She could surpass Sudō and Ryūen in pure combat power alone. Even if she can't match them with her arm strength, her skills are unmatched by others. Nanase can't win no matter how hard she tries.

"Hōsen-kun is in your group. Can't he be of any use?" I point out to Nanase.

"He is also, if measured by pure combat power, not an opponent that I can keep in check and balance."

Nanase nodded in agreement, but it's not just arm strength that's dangerous. Rather, Hōsen was not an opponent who acted solely on strength.

"I think it's highly unlikely that Hōsen is a White Room student, but the whole Amasawa thing made me lose my certainty about it. Anyway, my business comes second. You have to protect yourself first."

After our previous confrontation, forcing me to drop out of school might not be his main goal anymore. That idea has become entirely possible.

"I'm not afraid of dropping out of school. I'll do anything to protect Ayanokōji-senpai," Nanase said with a look of pure determination. I tried to give her advice, but Nanase wouldn't accept my words so easily.

"Then let me put it differently, Nanase you might put me in a dangerous situation by acting without thinking, I want you to avoid risky actions as a favor to me."

I told Nanase that I wasn't worried about her but about myself in the future. Saying that Nanase's brave expression became as soft as a puppy.

"That... I can't have that. I won't give you any more trouble Ayanokōji-senpai."

"It's good that you think so, in any case, you have to act carefully now, understand?"

"Of course. I'll listen to you."

Saying this, I hoped Nanase wouldn't do anything unfavourable. It probably didn't occur to her that she had already done something quite troublesome.

After Nanase went back to her tent, my eyes fell once again toward the screen of the tablet. I wanted to confirm the scores for the higher-ranking groups as well as the lower-ranking groups. Then based on the score, I will begin to organize the current situation.

[List of top ten groups]

1. Kōenji – 168 pts. (2nd year)

2. Nagumo – 166 pts. (3rd year) [Group]

3. Kiriyama – 150 pts. (3rd years) [Group]

4. Misoe – 133 pts. (3rd years) [Group]

5. Ochiai – 133 pts. (3rd years) [Group]

6. Ryūen – 128 pts. (2ns year) [Group]

7. Sakayanagi – 127 pts. (2nd year) [Group]

8. Takahashi – 115 pts. (1 year) [Group]

9. Kanzaki – 104 pts. (2nd year) [Group]

10. Kuronaga – 101 pts. (3rd years) [Group]

Then I was in 49th place with 78 points. There is a 90-point gap between me and the first place Kōenji. Although it seemed like there was no way to reverse the score difference between us if I get first place in placement points and bonus points... since there were four per day, I would be extremely close if I get first place nine times in a row. Of course, this was only possible if there was no conflict with my opponents. If Kōenji doesn't slow down and continues to score at the current pace, his final score would be around 350 points. If I wanted to achieve that, I would have to earn about 40

points a day. If it were the other groups, they would surely think "no way"

and give up. But even Kōenji, who was different from the rest, should slow down in the second half.

"Tenth place has 101 points? Huh?"

When the uninhabited islands examination rules were explained, I would have expected that the overall group points should have been higher at this tipping point. Scores for the top ten groups, including my current score of 78, which ranks 49th, gave the impression of stagnation during the initial-mid period of the exam. It reached its peak on days two and three, and as fatigue began to make an appearance, the number of lost points, penalties and non-participants in the tests increased as they focused on reaching their designated areas.

However, as the groups began to merge, the total number of groups decreased. This should not be forgotten either. It will take a significant improvement in my score in the second half of the exam to get to the top.

And now, the 10th place score became even more critical. It was a good choice to not push myself in the first half and conserve my strength silently.

My strategy would have started to work on the eighth day, which is tomorrow, but since exams were suspended on the seventh day today due to heavy rain, it gives the students who were starting to show their fatigue a day to rest. I can expect the eighth and ninth days to be another boom in point earning. This is a special exam where you can't seem to win if you go alone.

But in this exam, the rules of basic movement and event distributions seem to have contradictions.

If you aim to get to the designated area the fastest, you risk missing the event, and if you aim to get to the event, you have a high chance of missing the placement bonus. This is the same for both individuals and groups.

Whether it is the arrival order reward, waiting for the last person in the group to set foot in the designated area, or that you must score first to score any points, the ways to score points vary.

I don't know if the rain will stop, but I'll be using a new strategy for the second half of the exam starting tomorrow. I'm a little worried about Nanase and the other girls who I haven't heard from in a while...