Volume 15 - Chapter 1: Secret Maneuvers

Intro

The pouring rain had gotten stronger and the fog, thicker.

It was hard to hear or see anything due to the weather, but I could feel an ominous presence approaching us from behind.

There was a deliberate, almost exaggerated sound of mud being trampled underfoot and strewn into the air.

It seemed that Nanase had immediately noticed it as well.

Looking over my shoulder, I caught sight of a student who had come to an abrupt stop behind me, her red hair swaying in the wind.

"Seems it's gonna really start coming down, huh Sen~pai?"

It was none other than Class 1-A's Amasawa Ichika, standing there in the rain.

While it had long-since been established that she had the same table as Nanase and I, this was by no means a mere coincidence.

There weren't any other students nearby, and she didn't have a backpack or tablet either.

This begged the question: How exactly did she make it all the way up here?

One possibility was that she had simply hidden her things somewhere nearby before approaching us.

Alternatively, she could've been tailing us for an extended period of time, empty-handed from the start.

I suppose it was also possible that someone had been tracking us with the GPS and relaying our position to her via walkie-talkie.

Nonetheless, it was probably fine to rule this out as simple coincidence.

No matter the method, her arrival was not a welcome one as far as I was concerned.

Besides, it wasn't like Amasawa was completely empty-handed either. Clasped in her left hand was a thick wooden stick: one that was more than capable of being used as a weapon to bludgeon someone.

Was she trying to take us by surprise, only for Nanase and I to unexpectedly notice before she could do so?

But, in such bad weather, she could've been far quieter with her approach if she truly planned on attacking us.

"Please get behind me, Senpai."

As I thought about the reason behind Amasawa's sudden appearance, Nanase, despite still being exhausted from earlier, inserted herself in front of me.

From the brief look I had of her profile, her gaze was firm with a blatant sense of distrust written all over her face.

"Oh? Nanase-chan, shouldn't you be happy to see me? How aw~fully cold you are to a dear companion from your very own group. Wait, are you perhaps nervous about this little stick friend of mine~?"

She casually tossed the wooden stick down to the ground between us in what seemed to be a show of good faith.

Even so, Nanase didn't relax her guard whatsoever.

"You─ cannot be trusted."

"How me~an. How could you say something like that? I'm super-duper cute~!"

I didn't think that being cute had anything to do with whether or not you were trustworthy, but that didn't really matter at the moment.

"Why do you say that she can't be trusted, Nanase?"

There was certainly something about Amasawa that made it hard to tell what she was truly thinking.

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that she had extraordinary acting skills and the uncanny ability to put plans into action.

So while it was natural to be cautious of her, it's not like I wasn't already doing that at this point.

But that was no explanation for the excessive distrust and caution Nanase was showing her.

Of course, Amasawa clearly had a reason for showing up here.

One could assume that Nanase was just overreacting now that she had become my ally, but…

"Jeez. I'm not some bad guy, right Ayanokōji-senpai~? I just wanna chat for a bit, kay?"

"Please don't listen to her, she's dangerous."

Though Amasawa wasn't showing any hostility, Nanase remained merciless and firm, refusing to budge an inch.

Despite voicing complaints only moments earlier, Amasawa didn't appear to be bothered by Nanase's seemingly unwarranted accusation.

"Senpai… There's something I've been silent about for a while now… Back when Shinohara-senpai's group was attacked and Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai retired from the exam, do you remember how you left to climb the slope with Ike-senpai?"

She was referring to the fourth day of the exam, when Ike heard a sound coming from the top of the slope and took off in a panic, thinking that Shinohara might be there.

Having decided that it was too dangerous for him to go alone, I had followed after him.

"While you were gone, I noticed that someone had been watching us from nearby, so I tried chasing after them."

"Is that why you weren't with Sudō and the others when we were making our way back after finding Shinohara?"

She gave a slight nod.

"So what happened?"

"They ran from me. And while I wasn't able to catch up with them… I did manage to get a good look at their hair."

With that, Nanase slowly lifted her right arm into the air and pointed at Amasawa.

"Back then, the one watching us from the shadows was you, wasn't it Amasawa-san?"

"Ahaha, so I was seen after all."

Rather than try to deny it, Amasawa laughed, admitting to it immediately.

She didn't seem remotely surprised about having been caught red-handed, her attitude the same as ever.

As such, it was probably safe to conclude that the presence I had sensed back then really had been Amasawa.

"You also hurt Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai, didn't you?"

"Eh? Aren't you just, like, jumping to conclusions? Maybe I just happened to be in the neighborhood."

"Then you didn't need to run away from me, did you?"

"If a girl came running at you with a scary look on her face, who wouldn't run away? Plus, I didn't wanna be suspected."

"I don't believe you. Not at all."

"So in other words, Nanase-chan, you've just up and decided that I pushed those two senpais down the slope, is that right?"

"I'm sure of it. It's almost impossible that I'm wrong."

"You're soooo sure, and yet you felt the need to throw in an 'almost', huh? Wouldn't it, like, make more sense to say you've actually got no idea?"

The two girls, fellow group members, exchanged words back and forth, keeping one another in check.

"Then, can you swear to me that you weren't the one who hurt them?"

"I can swear it, sure, but it doesn't really matter whether I keep my word or not, right?"

Amasawa was basically saying that, at the end of the day, a verbal promise didn't mean anything.

"Lemme just ask: If it really was me, what would you do? What then?"

Rather than try to escape from Nanase's incessant questioning, Amasawa instead dove in head-first of her own accord.

Nanase was probably feeling a little overwhelmed at this point, but she pressed on nonetheless, determined to find out the truth.

"I'd want you to tell me why you did something like that. To give me a reason. No, before any of that, why didn't your name come up back when the teachers investigated the surrounding GPS signals in the first place?"

This didn't seem like something that Amasawa needed to explain, so I spoke up instead.

"It's not that hard to get rid of a GPS signal. You just need to break your watch, that's all."

"Ding ding ding~ Correct~! Whether intentionally done or not, a broken watch is a broken watch. And you can get it replaced for free too!"

With a delighted expression, Amasawa showed us the watch attached to her right wrist.

"But even if you broke your GPS before the attack, wouldn't the school have taken notice?"

"Yeah prolly. But in this case at least, I think it wouldda been pretty tricky to notice with how much of a rush they were in at the time."

There were well over 400 GPS signals on the island. Even if one or two had been missing from the map, there's no way they would've noticed it back then, and it's not like they had the time to check everything either. The teachers rightfully needed to prioritize the safety and well-being of the students.

"The school would still conduct a thorough investigation later on though, right? It'd only be a matter of time before they found out."

Since Shinohara herself had testified that they had been attacked by someone, the school would definitely investigate the case in detail.

And, in the process, it was highly likely that they'd find out that Amasawa's GPS signal was the only one that had disappeared.

However, therein lies the problem.

"If Amasawa's GPS signal was the only one missing back when Komiya and Kinoshita were attacked, the school would definitely be suspicious. But that's it. Due to a lack of evidence they wouldn't be able to conclude that she's the culprit."

"That─"

Having personally witnessed Amasawa's presence at the site of the attack, Nanase wanted to identify her as the culprit.

However, proving a crime was much harder than she was making it out to be. No matter what, the school had to avoid forcing someone's retirement due to a false accusation.

Originally, the wristwatch had been meant as a way for the school to safeguard the rules of the exam and maintain order, and yet students could effectively circumvent that to their heart's content.

In order to prevent students from abusing the system, the school would have to implement strong penalties for breaking the watches, such as limiting the number of times they can be replaced, charging points, or even mandating retirement.

However, the stronger the penalties, the more susceptible to abuse the system becomes as a whole. For example, it would open up the possibility of tampering with or breaking a competitor's watch to make them face the penalties. Furthermore, if students were forced to retire due to a genuine accident or software malfunction, it would probably make for a fairly unsatisfactory special exam.

"Poking holes in the rules is standard practice. If the school can't even find any evidence, you're free to do whatever you want."

Although her phrasing was a bit awkward, what Amasawa was saying was correct.

"If they can't find any evidence, then I'll just have to testify that I saw you there, Amasawa-san."

"Same difference. Be it my broken GPS or my presence at the scene of the crime, it would only end with suspicion at best."

If it had been one of the more problematic students like Sudō or Ryūen, who had a history of highly violent behavior, the school might have been more suspicious. Amasawa, however, was a first-year high school girl with a spotless record. Given her character evidence, the probability of the school finding her guilty wasn't very high.

What's more, Komiya and Kinoshita didn't even testify that they had been attacked in the first place, and Shinohara herself had only been able to make a vague statement, unable to say who it was she saw.

Nanase's testimony of seeing Amasawa in the area would be treated no differently.

Without conclusive evidence, it would be impossible to get the school to punish Amasawa.

"That's how it is, Nanase-chan."

At the end of the day, we still didn't know the reason why Amasawa had come here.

The continuous back and forth between Nanase's questions and Amasawa's evasive wordplay didn't seem to be getting us anywhere.

As such, it was getting harder and harder to believe that she'd suddenly spring a trap on us at this point.

For the time being, we might as well set aside the matter of whether or not she was the one behind what had happened to Komiya and Kinoshita.

I figured that I should ask something to get past the current stalemate and steer the conversation back on track.

"What are you doing here Amasawa? No, how did you find us?"

Considering that there was still more than a week left in the special exam, it would be best for all of us to avoid standing out in the pouring rain like this.

We needed to pitch our tents and escape from the downpour as soon as possible.

"No need to be in such a hurry, Ayanokōji-senpai. Let's just appreciate that we could meet each other like this~!"

"Sorry, but the rain has been far more taxing on my stamina than I anticipated. Let's get this over with. Please."

"Well~, how about I help you pitch a tent and we spend the night together, just the two of us? How's that?"

Boys and girls were expressly prohibited from spending the night together in the same tent, something that she too, should've been fully aware of.

She was probably trying to stall for time by engaging me in a meaningless conversation.

"Ah, are you worried about breaking the rules? It's fine, it's fine. Even the school can't monitor everything, you know?"

As soon as Amasawa took a step forward, Nanase immediately closed in and grabbed her by the arm.

"What's with this, Nanase-chan?"

"You were about to lay your hands on Ayanokōji-senpai, weren't you?"

"Since when were you his knight in shining armor? Weren't you like, plotting to get him expelled together with Hōsen-kun?"

"That… That has nothing to do with you. Why did you come here?"

"I just happened to get lost, so I came to try and ask you guys for help."

Amasawa told a bald-faced lie, seemingly without any intention of keeping up appearances anymore.

Had she perhaps come all the way out here to see the outcome of my fight with Nanase and survey the aftermath?

She'd probably be able to tell that Nanase had changed sides as well, given the way she was acting.

But that didn't add up. After all, there'd be little reason for her to stick around and take part in such a meaningless conversation if that were the case.

"I'd like to chat with Ayanokōji-senpai, so could you let go and step aside?"

"Why don't you just talk from where you are?"

"Well there's no way I could do that. It has to do with the White Room, after all~"

Amasawa confessed, having apparently come to the conclusion that there was no point in hiding her true identity any longer.

Surprised, Nanase turned around and looked at me.

Throughout this first semester, the existence of the White Room student had always been on my radar, yet I hadn't been able to pinpoint their identity.

That being said, I had never imagined that I'd find out due to an outright confession.

"Do you get it now? Little miss outsider~"

If Amasawa really was the White Room student, then it would certainly make sense that she would call Nanase an outsider.

"Let go of her arm Nanase."

Although clearly somewhat dissatisfied, Nanase obediently let go of Amasawa's arm just as I instructed.

"Wow, you're such a good girl Nanase-chan~! It's like you're his loyal dog; it's a better look for you than I thought."

At that, Amasawa slowly began to draw closer to me, little by little.

I was exasperated, but at least the conversation might finally get somewhere now.

"Sorry but given a prior misunderstanding with Nanase, I won't be jumping to any conclusions just because you brought up the White Room."

"That's fine, I'll prove to you that I'm the real deal. However… letting Nanase-chan hear it is a bit…"

She trailed off, mouthing the words 'You get it, right?' with that usual devilish grin of hers plastered onto her face.

I lightly motioned to Nanase, instructing her to distance herself. Although she was reluctant to leave me alone with Amasawa, she eventually gave in and followed suit. The pouring rain had grown stronger, to the point where she wouldn't be able to hear us if we talked quietly from a few meters away.

Treading the muddy ground below, Amasawa finally came within arm's reach.

"Now then, where oh where should I start~?"

She put her hand on her chin, a grandiose motion meant to signify that she was thinking over how exactly to go about explaining herself.

In any case, the fact that she came here in the first place really didn't make any sense to me.

For the past several months, the White Room student had been lurking in the shadows, waiting for their chance to get me expelled.

And yet, Amasawa had appeared in front of me and revealed her true identity without so much as a single trick up her sleeve.

Furthermore, the fact that she was of two minds over what to say at this point was strange to begin with.

It seemed fairly obvious that she was intentionally drawing this out and stalling for time.

Just as I began to contemplate whether or not to press her about that, Amasawa opened her mouth.

"Senpai, the curriculum you took back when you were 10 years old included Systems' Theory based on Project 5. And at the age of 11 it was the Theory of Relativity based on Project 7. I took part in both myself, so I remember them well."

She began mentioning specific pieces of information about the White Room to prove that we had come from the same place.

"The classrooms, the corridors, our assigned living chambers… everything was a world of pure white."

At the very least, it seemed Amasawa knew a lot more about the White Room than Nanase did.

And it was too hard for me to imagine that she had heard about it from Tsukishiro.

He would never talk about the inner workings of the White Room with someone unrelated – an outsider.

As such, it was probably safe to conclude Amasawa's guilt.

From the things she knew to the way she conducted herself, she fit the image of a White Room student to a T.

"Why would you go through the trouble of making yourself seem like a normal person only to reveal your identity to me like this?"

"Sure sure, I figured you'd be curious about that. It's cuz I wanted to tell you that I'm not your enemy, Senpai."

"That doesn't add up. The White Room student was sent here in order to force my expulsion. To say that you're not my enemy in light of that doesn't make much sense."

Completely unconcerned with the fact that our clothes were being drenched by the rain, Amasawa continued to speak.

"You wouldn't know this as part of the fourth generation, Ayanokōji-senpai, but the later generations harbor immense feelings of jealousy when it comes to you. The higher-ups probably thought that they could select someone promising and manipulate this jealousy to force your expulsion. However, they chose the wrong person. They didn't predict that I was but a young maiden who secretly idolized you."

"So, that's why you revealed yourself?"

She nodded with a quiet 'Mhm'.

"Then, wouldn't it have been better for you to do this back when you first enrolled here? You even managed to step foot in my dorm room on more than one occasion, so you should've had plenty of chances to tell me."

"Well, no matter how much you might idolize someone, that's just like, all in your head, you know? You've gotta talk with them and meet face-to-face before your admiration starts to feel justified. That takes time."

In other words, if I hadn't turned out to be someone Amasawa deemed worthy of idolizing, then it's possible that she would've moved to eliminate me. And based on the flow of our conversation thus far, that seemed fairly reasonable.

"Do you understand?"

"I guess. Only someone who's been at the White Room would be able to say so much about it."

"There we go~. It feels kinda strange, doesn't it? To pass the days at school as an ordinary high schooler."

Before, I had been the only one to experience the strange, peculiar sensation she was talking about. But knowing that another White Room student was now going through the same thing had filled me with genuine curiosity.

"If you feel the same as I do, then surely you've also noticed how interesting this school is, right?"

"I know exactly what you mean, Senpai. I too have thought about how nice it'd be if I could just enjoy being a student like this up until graduation. I've thought about it several times, actually. I suck at making friends though, so I just don't have very many people to talk to."

In a way, she was quite similar to me.

Although I could talk to people like Horikita and Ike, it had always felt like there was some sort of distance between us.

Thinking back on it, for quite a while, it felt as though I couldn't honestly call anyone a friend.

"That doesn't mean that I lack communication skills like you do Senpai."

As if fully aware of what I was thinking, Amasawa spoke up to clarify.

"I was taught essentially the same stuff you were, Senpai. But at the same time, there are certain things that only the fifth generation of students that came after you could learn."

She paused for a moment to see if I wanted to say something before continuing.

"It's said that, before the fifth generation, children were often crushed one after another due to their excessive individualism. Of course, those with poor scores notwithstanding, those with excellent scores were still allowed to come in contact with each other. In my generation, on the other hand, all children were required to maintain a minimum level of interpersonal communication."

If she was telling the truth, then I could understand why it seemed so easy for her to make such a rich assortment of different facial expressions. Even though I could pretend to be someone else in the short-term thanks to my acting skills, it was hard to break the habit that had formed from living most of my life devoid of emotion.

"Still don't believe me?"

"I believe you're from the White Room, but I'm not convinced with the reason you gave me for why you revealed your identity."

"You're awfully calm and composed for someone who believes that I'm a White Room student. Perhaps you don't think I'll be a threat to you?"

I said nothing in response to this, prompting a smile to creep onto her face.

"Well then~ I've said everything I wanted to say to you, so I guess it's about time I excuse myself."

Saying that, she turned her back to me, content with simply being recognized as the White Room student.

"What are you thinking, Amasawa?"

"Jeez~ Didn't I tell you already~? I admire you, Ayanokōji-senpai. That's all."

Looking back, she reached out and brushed the tips of her fingers, wet and cold from the rain, up against my cheek.

"So please, don't go and get yourself crushed without my permission, okay?"

And with that, she pulled back her hand and walked away, headed off to who knows where.

She said 'don't go and get yourself crushed'… but by whom? Tsukishiro? The first-years who had their sights set on the twenty million private point bounty? Or, perhaps…

"Ayanokōji-senpai, are you alright? She didn't do anything to you right?"

Having noticed Amasawa's departure, Nanase rushed back over to me, worried. I nodded along to try and ease her concerns before looking over toward my backpack.

"The rain. We'd better hurry."

I wanted to take some time to process everything, but there were other things that took priority at the moment.

"Yes! We should set up the tents, right?"

"Yeah."

I responded affirmatively, but there was still one thing I couldn't afford to forget about.

Namely, checking the footprints that Amasawa left behind.

"Senpai…?"

"The rain will wash away her footprints soon."

Amasawa had only just left, and yet her footprints were already starting to lose their shape.

"Amasawa-san's… footprints? Is there something wrong with her footprints?"

"Back when Komiya and Kinoshita were attacked, I found some footprints nearby the scene of the crime. From what I can tell, I'm fairly confident that they're the same size as Amasawa's."

In other words, Amasawa had definitely been there, just like Nanase claimed she was.

"So rather than just happening to be in the area, you're saying that she's the one who pushed them down the slope?"

"I don't know about that. It's probably safe to conclude that she's the one who was watching us back then, but there's still no conclusive evidence pointing to her as the one who pushed them."

For a moment, it didn't seem like Nanase understood what I was talking about.

"There may not be any solid evidence. However, shouldn't it be fine to assume that it was her?"

"Based on the information we have on hand right now, Amasawa is certainly the most likely culprit."

"Exactly, I think so too. I know I'm repeating myself at this point, but she's definitely the one I saw back then."

And she clearly wasn't wrong about that either.

"However, it's not like you actually saw her push them."

"That… well… she just confessed not too long ago though."

"It's hard to call that a confession. She just asked what you'd do if she was the one who pushed them. That's a far cry from explicitly admitting that she's the culprit."

"Maybe she only put it that way because she was afraid that we were recording her or something?"

"With how loud this rain is and the circumstances we're in, I don't think she needed to be on guard about that."

At a glance, this didn't seem like the type of environment suitable for recording anything.

"You still can't be absolutely certain. She's well aware that you're an opponent she ought to be wary of, so it's reasonable to assume that she took any and all precautions necessary."

To eliminate all potential risks, that would indeed be a wise choice.

"If she deliberately inflicted potentially life-threatening injuries on two upperclassmen, then she should've hightailed it out of there immediately after she did the deed. Why would she stick around and let you see her as she ran away?"

Nanase pondered how to respond for a moment as she retrieved her backpack.

"That's… I imagine that's because she was interested in what happened to Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai. It's the same mentality as how an arsonist always returns to the scene of the crime."

It's true that there was a saying that arsonists, or criminals in general, always return to the scene of their crime.

Although there were plenty of theories about this phenomenon, it was risky to try and relate it to this particular situation. If we were to speculate based on the assumption that Amasawa was the culprit, then we wouldn't be able to see past the superficial.

"Pushing two people down a slope is a heartless act in and of itself, so it doesn't make sense that she'd risk returning to the scene of the crime just because she was interested in what happened to them. There's also the fact that you were able to identify her as she ran away. Honestly, I find it hard to believe that someone sent here by Tsukishiro would make a mistake like that."

I began to trace back the rapidly fading footprints so as to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything.

"That being said, I wonder why she revealed her identity to us like this?"

"I figure she did it because she knew I saw her back then and that she wouldn't be able to hide it anymore. Even though it wouldn't prove her guilt if I were to report it to the school, it would still lead to problems for her, right? After all, the mission Acting Director Tsukishiro entrusted her with would be put in jeopardy."

"In the end, that contradicts the fact that she returned to the scene of the crime."

"Can't we just chalk that up as a careless mistake on her part?"

"That's impossible."

Perhaps Amasawa intentionally let Nanase find her for some reason?

Just as I began to mull over that very possibility, I came across a new hint.

"As I thought, there's something about each and every one of Amasawa's actions that can't be overlooked."

"Something that can't be overlooked?"

I pointed at Amasawa's trail of footprints, which were now on the verge of being washed away by the rain.

"Her footprints seem clean and steady as she was making her approach from behind, but… the ones before that─"

"Eh!? These…"

Nanase finally noticed the strange discrepancy as well.

"These are someone else's footprints, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

There were another set of footprints that seemed slightly larger than Amasawa's, but it wasn't possible to determine their actual size because they had already lost their shape.

"Whoever it was, it looks like they were closing in on us until right around here, where they met with Amasawa's footprints. Something happened at that point since the tracks get messy, but you can see here how the mystery footprints end up turning back around."

"So, you're saying that… someone else was here only moments before Amasawa-san called out to us…?"

Whether they were a student or a member of the school's faculty, there seemed to be no way to tell for sure.

"Can you fetch me that stick Amasawa was holding earlier?"

"O-okay!"

She went off to fetch the stick and handed it over to me.

Once I saw it close-up, all of my speculation thus far finally arrived at one singular answer.

"What do you think, Nanase? Do you notice anything?"

"Do I notice anything…? Well I think it'd be dangerous to hit someone with it. Wait, actually…"

Nanase took back the stick and after holding onto it for a second, it dawned on her.

"This… This doesn't seem like something you'd find lying around the forest."

"Yeah. It's been whittled down in certain places so it can be better used as a weapon. Looking at other branches in the area, its shape is just too unnatural."

"Do you think she was going to use this to try and attack you, Ayanokōji-senpai?"

"If Amasawa really planned on attacking me, then she should've tried to catch me off-guard instead of calling out like she did. That being said, even though she had a dangerous weapon in hand, it didn't seem like she had any ill intentions. If anything, I think she just wanted us to notice her presence."

And, there was yet another thing that could be gleaned from this.

"That is to say, she had no intention of attacking us from the very beginning… Wouldn't that mean that the one who originally brought this here was not Amasawa-san, but the mysterious person who vanished before she approached us?"

The mystery footprints seemed to take short strides as they approached us, but when they turned back after meeting with Amasawa, the strides they took grew further apart. They left as if they were trying to avoid being noticed, or rather, as if they were trying to run away.

"But why?"

"From what Amasawa told me, I'm apparently the subject of her admiration. So it doesn't seem that far-fetched to think that she might've just wanted to protect me when I was about to be attacked."

"It feels a little risky to assume she's an ally based on that alone though…"

"Naturally. However, these footprints are clearly targeting me, and I can't even hazard a guess as to who made them."

"Do… you perhaps think it could've been a school faculty member?"

"That's possible, but it's also true that I have a bounty on my head."

There was a high chance that these mystery footprints belonged to a student who had their sights set on cashing out my bounty.

It was completely conceivable that someone would be willing to stake their own future to try and force my expulsion.

"Oh! That's it!"

Having apparently come to some sort of realization, Nanase suddenly raised her voice.

"Senpai, let's do a GPS Search right now! It hasn't been that long since Amasawa-san first approached us. Even if this mystery person ran away at full speed, they shouldn't have been able to get very far with the weather like this, right?"

She wasn't wrong. If we did a GPS Search right now and there were signals in the surrounding area, we could narrow down the list of suspects all in one go. It'd be as simple as going through the closest signals one by one to see who they were.

"Oh, but we wouldn't be able to identify them if they broke their watch like Amasawa-san did, would we…"

"No, that's not true. When you break your watch, your GPS signal disappears. Amasawa aside, if we did a search right now and there was only one student with a missing signal, what then?"

"…Then that's our guy."

"Yeah. Therefore, we can conclude that the person who tried to attack me definitely didn't break their watch."

"It's worth our while to spend the point on a search then, right?"

It had only been about fifteen minutes since Amasawa first called out to me.

So, even if they ran at full speed, they would've only made it to the edge of area D3 by now at the very most.

With a bit of luck, there would only be one signal that fit these conditions, allowing us to pinpoint the owner of these mysterious footprints.

As such, it made sense that I should go along with Nanase's idea and do a GPS Search right here, right now, but…

"I won't be using the GPS Search."

"Eh!? W-why not!?"

"At the end of the day, it wouldn't be surprising if this was all part of a strategy to bait me into making a GPS Search so that someone completely unrelated who just happened to be nearby would come to the forefront."

It was hard to say with any finality that this wasn't an attempt to mislead us into suspecting an innocent person. One should always exercise caution in situations where an opponent was spoonfeeding you information, such as how Amasawa deliberately allowed Nanase to catch sight of her as she fled the crime scene, or even Amasawa's presence here today in general.

"It still feels like a bit of a waste to not even check."

"If it were me, I wouldn't be foolish enough to get caught by something as trivial as this. If they can't even take the GPS Search feature into account before taking action, then they're certainly not anybody we need to be worried about."

Although Nanase didn't seem fully convinced, she eventually conceded and complied with my decision.

In any case, even though I still wanted to collect my thoughts, that wasn't going to happen given the way the weather was headed.

After deciding to cut the conversation short, we hurriedly went about setting up our tents.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that heavy rain was really coming down at this point.

Our tents were pitched with the entrances put face-to-face, and once everything was in order, we promptly hid ourselves inside, taking refuge from the rain.

I peeled off my drenched gym uniform, jersey, and underwear before drying my hair and body with a towel.

And then, after changing into a spare set of clothes, I slightly unzipped the entrance and took a peek outside. It was still early afternoon, but the outside world was as dark as night.

We were probably going to be stuck here for the rest of the day, at the very least.

The raindrops were practically shoving their way in through the hole in the entrance, so I zipped it closed and laid down on my sleeping bag.

In this short time, I had found out about Nanase's past and identified Amasawa as the White Room student.

However, that didn't mean that all the fog had been lifted.

1

As the downpour continued, a message arrived from the school. Unsurprisingly, it was an announcement that the exam would be canceled for the day. Since it'd be difficult for groups to make a comeback with all the lost opportunity for Tasks and area movement, the message also stated that they were looking into ways to compensate us so that students didn't have to go to bed worried about missing out on points.

The school probably wouldn't specify how they planned on compensating us until the weather began to clear up.

That being said, no matter what they eventually came up with, it wouldn't change the fact that the day had been wasted.

While the compensation would help groups reach the same overall score in the long run, the strategies they had planned for today would all be in vain.

Personally, as far as I was concerned, the cancellation could not have come at a worse time.

My plan had been to conserve my energy so that I could go all-out during the second half of the exam, stealing a march on the groups who were in a slump after exhausting their energy during the first half and racking up a ton of points in the process. However, now that the seventh day had essentially turned into a full day off, everybody would have the time to rest and recover their stamina.

Of course, an uninhabited island during a rainstorm wasn't exactly a day at the spa, so it's not like their fatigue would disappear entirely. But, the disparity between getting time to rest and not getting any at all made all the difference in the world.

"───pai!"

"Hmm?"

I could just barely make out a voice through the incessantly loud sound of raindrops beating against the exterior of my tent.

"Sen─ai!"

Once again, the voice called out to me. It was most likely Nanase, trying to talk to me from the tent across from my own. I unzipped my tent's entrance a bit and peered out through the mesh fabric to see what was happening.

The visibility of the outside world was rather poor, but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't make out Nanase's tent in front of me.

"I'd like to talk to you for a bit, Senpai! Is it alright if I come and join you!?"

Nanase put forward a question, shouting out from her own tent.

She should've been aware that it wasn't exactly proper for a boy and a girl to huddle up alone together in a single tent, but she had apparently forgotten all about that.

The rules expressly forbade boys and girls from sleeping together in the same tent, so there technically wouldn't be an issue if we were only spending a bit of time together.

And as long as we didn't lose our sense of reason, there shouldn't be anything ethically or morally wrong about it either.

Having said that, the rain was still as fierce as ever. Even though our tents were less than two meters apart, there'd be no way for her to avoid getting wet again.

"That's fine with me, but why don't I come join you in your tent instead?"

I tried offering her an alternative, but she simply shook her head as she unfolded a towel and draped it over herself in preparation for the journey before fully unzipping the entrance to her tent.

Following her lead, I quickly opened my own entrance to usher her inside as soon as possible.

Just as I did, Nanase swiftly flew out of her tent and made her way into mine.

Of course, she was only in the rain for less than a second, so the damage had been kept to a minimum.

"Hah… I'm sorry for intruding upon your rest, Senpai."

"No, it's okay."

In truth, Nanase was probably more exhausted than I was.

It had been an arduous journey to get all the way out here, one that was immediately followed by a fierce battle, misunderstanding as it was.

I was curious as to what she wanted to talk about, but she didn't say anything right away.

Or, from what it seemed like, it might be more accurate to say that she couldn't find the words.

For a while, the two of us sat in silence, merely observing one another…

"I'm pretty shameless, aren't I?"

Saying that, Nanase lowered her head in apology.

"I treated you with such hostility for the longest time, Senpai. Saying all sorts of terrible things straight to your face… You must be annoyed that I'm reaching out all buddy-buddy like this."

It was a bit late by this point, but it seemed that she was finally coming to terms with her guilty conscience.

"I really don't mind, so please stop apologizing. At the very least, it's been made clear that there's no need for further hostility between us, or am I wrong?"

There was probably a part of her that wouldn't be satisfied with a response like this, but we were currently in the middle of a special exam.

Hesitation of the mind would only cloud one's conduct and judgment when it mattered most.

"No, you're right."

Having understood this for herself, Nanase once again lowered her head in apology.

"So? Despite the rain, wasn't there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Ah, indeed!"

As if reminded of why she came to my tent in the first place, Nanase began to speak.

"I haven't been able to get the image of Amasawa-san out of my mind, showing up out of nowhere in the rain… When I started thinking about all the hardships you've been put through, I just… I felt like I had to call out to you."

Apparently, instead of having some sort of ulterior motive, she had simply been worried about me.

It was a slight problem that she was more caught up about the whole ordeal than I was, but I appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

"I convinced myself that Amasawa-san was the one who pushed Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai down the slope. I thought that she was just hiding her true nature because she wanted to hide the truth, but then you said that she wasn't necessarily the culprit and now I just don't know what to believe anymore…"

"That's because the truth is still shrouded in darkness."

Amasawa's color was grey, a grey that just barely toed the line before being dyed in black, but she definitely hadn't crossed that line just yet.

"I wonder what the culprit's goal is. Whoever they are, why would they do something so risky like this?"

"We wouldn't be having such a hard time if we knew the answer to that. So, let's move forward under the assumption that Amasawa is not the culprit."

We decided to review our thoughts regarding the Komiya-Kinoshita incident.

After all, by exchanging opinions, we'd be able to shed light on things we may not have considered otherwise.

From what we knew: someone had pushed Komiya and Kinoshita down the slope. And, judging from the fact that there were no other GPS signals in the area at the time, it was clear that it had been a premeditated attack, rather than something done in the heat of the moment.

Furthermore─

"That… Uhm, wouldn't that be strange though?"

As soon as she began to speak, Nanase furrowed her brow, as though there was some sort of discrepancy she couldn't wrap her head around.

"It'd be weird if Amasawa-san was completely unrelated, right? I mean, her watch just 'happened' to be broken when Komiya and Kinoshita just 'happened' to get attacked, and she just 'happened' to be watching from somewhere nearby? And to top it all off, I just 'happened' to catch sight of her as she fled the scene?"

"With so many coincidences happening back-to-back, it's hard to call the entire thing one as well. We'd basically be setting ourselves up for failure telling ourselves that Amasawa is 100% unrelated to what happened."

"Even if Amasawa-san isn't the real culprit, they'd still have to be someone she knows, right? Therefore, isn't it also possible that she's an accomplice of some sort?"

With that, an alternative theory began to take shape: that someone close to Amasawa had pushed Komiya and Kinoshita instead.

"That seems reasonable. Those footprints I found earlier could've belonged to the real culprit as well."

If we were to look at what happened as an attempt to help the real culprit, it'd more or less explain Amasawa's actions.

"I suppose it's not hard to imagine that Amasawa-san is capable of exercising violence in much the same way."

Nanase nodded to herself as she said this, confident that we were on the right track.

"However…"

At this point… Well, I started feeling caught up about something completely unrelated to any of this.

"However what?"

It had to do with Nanase, but when I saw her looking over at me with a puzzled expression on her face, I felt hesitant to say anything.

If I had to give a reason for that, it was because I simply couldn't understand the 'mechanisms' behind what was going on.

This was our seventh day on the uninhabited island, and Nanase had been together with me for effectively the entire time so far. As such, neither of us had the time nor space to wash our bodies properly.

Of course, she had the opportunity to rinse the sand and sweat off her body back when she changed into a swimsuit during the Beach Flags Task, and she had also probably taken a shower after taking part in the swimming Task in the starting area.

That being said, even a single day's worth of sweat and perspiration would usually end up being fairly noticeable.

Since there wasn't very much room inside my cramped one-person tent, Nanase's scent had slowly filled the space. But, strangely enough, it wasn't exactly an unpleasant smell. Even though it was possible that she masked the smell of sweat by diligently wiping down her body, I just couldn't wrap my head around how she managed to make herself smell so good.

I wanted to ask her about it, but that was clearly not something a tactful senpai ought to be doing.

"No, I just misunderstood something. Don't worry about it."

"Is that so?"

She nodded along without probing any further, and perhaps without even suspecting anything at all.

Although I had a girlfriend, I was still just a beginner when it came to this sort of stuff, and there were just too many things that I didn't understand.

Things like deodorant and antiperspirant spray were relatively cheap and easy for us to get our hands on because of the rules, so I ultimately opted to tell myself that she used something like that. It was the only answer I could come up with at the moment.

Even though I had chosen not to say anything, the mood between us had somehow gotten strangely awkward.

And while Nanase didn't seem to think anything of it, I decided to get our conversation back on track in an attempt to loosen up the atmosphere again.

"We don't have any way to confirm whether or not Amasawa actually did something to Komiya and Kinoshita, but I do have a pretty good idea which Table everyone belongs to."

Nanase tilted her head to the side, seemingly unable to understand what I meant by this, so I took out my tablet and showed it to her.

"Uhm… Your personal information is on there, right Ayanokōji-senpai…? Are you sure it's okay for me to be seeing this?"

By personal information, she was probably talking about the points I had earned thus far. This was indeed very important information since the points and rankings of groups outside of the top and bottom ten weren't publicly disclosed.

"Nanase, I thought we had a relationship where we could trust each other without hiding anything. Or was that just a misunderstanding on my part?"

I spoke openly, prompting her to match her eyes with mine, clearly taken aback.

"What? No! Thank you for placing your trust in me! I'm very grateful!"

Her words were filled with a slight mixture of embarrassment, happiness, and guilt.

In fact, her reluctance to write off the discourtesy she had shown me so far was very fitting of her.

"Besides, since we've been moving together, you should already be able to get a rough estimate of how many points I've earned just by thinking back on it."

Although I had taken part in a handful of Tasks on my own, from what I knew of Nanase, she'd at least be able to estimate my score under the assumption that I had taken first place in them.

Therefore, without paying any mind to the fact that I was revealing sensitive information, I began with my explanation.

"Anyways, regarding what I said earlier about knowing who was included in each Table─"

"Wait, isn't your score somehow… lower than expected?"

Astute as ever, Nanase immediately noticed that a certain something was out of place before I could even get into the thick of it.

"What do you mean?"

I responded to her question with one of my own, testing her. She began counting on her fingers as she ran the calculations in her head.

"There are Arrival Bonuses, Early Bird Bonuses, and Tasks… then subtracting points for any penalties─ Ah, I'm also assuming that you took first place in the Tasks you took part in while I was taking a break."

All things considered, her memory seemed quite solid.

This was a good thing too, as a solid memory would probably prove useful for her at some point in the future.

"I'm surprised you noticed. Properly speaking, I should have 88 points right now."

"But you only have 78, 10 points less. I don't think I forgot a penalty or something either…"

Thus, it begged the question: how, when, and why did those 10 points disappear? The answer to which I would now elaborate.

"For this special exam, designated areas are announced four times per day as students move throughout the island. This time window lasts for ten hours per day, from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Yesterday, when the school lifted the restriction on the GPS searching feature, I decided to do a total of ten searches. The first was at 7:00 AM and I repeated it every hour on the hour until 5:00 PM. That is, with the exception of the break at noon."

As for why I had done this, it didn't seem like Nanase had connected the dots just yet.

"The GPS searching feature is an extremely convenient tool that allows you to find out the location of every student on the island. However, if used only a single time, you'd just get a glimpse at everyone's current location, so its overall usefulness is marginal. But by splitting up the day into parts and doing ten of them, you're able to find out all sorts of things that you couldn't before."

By connecting all the different dots into lines, you'd be left with the various routes that everyone had taken throughout the day. If someone else were to run ten searches of their own, they'd learn that Nanase and I were always traveling together.

"Uhm, I already understand what you used your points on, Senpai. And I agree that if you know where everyone's moving on an hourly basis, you might be able to find out which Tables they belong to. However, it didn't seem like you were doing very much with your tablet yesterday, and it's not very easy information to memorize either… Are you… Are you really telling me that you memorized everything in an instant?"

"That'd be impossible. It'd take an enormous amount of time just to check everyone's name and location."

I opened up my tablet's picture storage and showed her the images I had saved there.

"After running the GPS Search, I took a high-quality screenshot of the results and saved it. This way, I can study the images during my spare time and slowly analyze the movements groups made that day whenever I want."

While we couldn't send messages or photographs to anyone during the exam, saving screenshots to our own device was a built-in feature of our tablets, so it was only natural that we could make use of it. By repeatedly scrutinizing the screenshots, it was possible to keep a detailed, persistent record of every single student's position.

"By thoroughly cross-referencing the images, I'm left with what's essentially a record of an entire day's worth of movement that can be viewed at any time."

There'd be plenty of time to look at the data too, be it just before going to bed at night, in the morning before the exam started, or even during the two-hour break period at lunch.

And while it was only for the sixth day, the screenshots also showed the details of the Tasks that were available at the time, so we could gain some insight into the higher-level strategies that each group was using as well.

"…I didn't even realize that you had done this, Senpai."

"I'm not so foolish as to let a potential enemy catch wind of what I'm up to. After all, I had no idea what kind of person you truly were."

At the time, I still saw Nanase as an enemy, so it would've been immensely foolish to tell her about what I was doing with the GPS Search. Students had quite a few reasons to always be using their tablets, from confirming their current locations to checking the details of nearby Tasks, so it wouldn't seem that unnatural for me to be focused on it throughout the day.

It had been as simple as taking a screenshot of the GPS Search results every hour or so, all while staying on top of my designated areas and Tasks.

Impressed, Nanase began to swipe through the screenshots. Every time she went to the next image, the GPS signals of every student on the island would change places on the map.

"I say this with all due respect, but is this really worth paying ten whole points for? If it was possible to share the screenshots with someone, then there might be some added value, but it'd take a considerable amount of time for one person to analyze the movement patterns on their own, wouldn't it?"

It was true that these images would be more valuable if we could attach them to a text message or email of some sort and send them out to our peers. By collaborating with several people, it would open up the possibility to run searches in shorter time intervals, or even keep track of other groups outside of the standard exam hours. I wouldn't be shocked if the other classes implemented a plan exactly like that if we weren't explicitly restricted from doing so.

"Even if I'm just one person, it all depends on how I make use of it. You could say that whether or not this was worth the points I spent will be decided in the days to come."

"And by that you mean…?"

"Well, let me show you some of the information I've found out from it so far."

From the first-years to the third-years, all kinds of new things could be found out by looking at the data based on grade level.

In the case of the third-years, in particular, there was clearly something peculiar going on with regard to their movements.

"For example, some third-year groups moved fairly unusually throughout the day yesterday. Furthermore, these groups are always closely related to Nagumo's group or Kiriyama's group. When I looked into it, I noticed something pretty interesting."

Starting at 7:00 AM on the sixth day, we traced the position of Nagumo's group hour-by-hour as they moved throughout the island.

"To begin with, Nagumo's group was in area B8 at 7:00 AM that morning."

"Does that mean his last designated area on the fifth day was area B8?"

"That's highly likely, but he was at the southernmost edge of the area, so he could've actually started at area B9 instead. In any case, the only other GPS signals in the area at the time were those of his own group members."

However, at 8:00 AM, only an hour later, several other groups had begun to concentrate in the area around Nagumo.

The trend became even more pronounced at 9:00 AM, making it clear that groups were actively seeking out and meeting with him.

And from that point on, the large conglomerate of groups began to move.

By 10:00 and 11:00 AM, the obscurity of what was taking place became even more apparent.

"There are so many groups moving around together… almost like they're a school of fish."

"With just a glance at the data, you wouldn't even notice it, but it paints a completely different picture once you know what to look for, right?"

Nanase nodded a few times in response as we proceeded to flip through the next couple of screenshots. Once we got to the one I had taken at 3:00 PM, she asked a question.

"Are they… doing this to monopolize Tasks?"

"Most likely, the point is to have Nagumo effortlessly secure first-place in any Task they come across by fixing the competition in his favor."

It wasn't complicated in the slightest. Rather, it was a very simple strategy, and a potent one at that.

"However, groups other than President Nagumo's won't be able to score points as a result, right? I can't imagine that they're all part of the same Table either. Working together for the success of a specific group… It's an idea that pretty much anyone could come up with, but it'd be impossible to put it into practice effectively."

Groups would need to forego their own designated areas as they wasted their time traveling with those in other Tables.

Moreover, by yielding first place to Nagumo's group, they wouldn't be able to earn many points from Tasks either.

"You're not wrong. But, the reason the strategy works is because it disregards one of the most basic principles of this exam. Tell me, what's stopping students from working together to have a specific group come out on top?"

"That would be due to class points and the overarching threat of expulsion, of course."

At that, I motioned for Nanase to zoom in closer and look at the students that had gathered together around Nagumo.

"They… they're all from groups down at the bottom of the rankings…"

"And there aren't any Class A students mixed in with them. Not a single one."

"The gap in class points between Class 3-A and the other third-year classes must be so hopelessly large that there's no way for them to catch up…"

"Or, to put that another way, the third-year is in such a state that it doesn't really matter to them who loses."

Both first and second-year students still hadn't gotten to the point where they'd consider giving up on the class competition, and it was precisely because they had their sights set on reaching Class A by any means possible that sinking down to the bottom rankings felt so utterly unacceptable.

However, the same didn't apply to the third-year students. In their case, the four classes were more than capable of looking past that and working together with one another.

"The strength of this strategy is that the groups down at the bottom of the rankings are free to do anything they want during the exam. When you're in last place, there's no difference between having one point and having fifty. At the end of the day, you'll still lose class points and get expelled all the same."

"If you're really doing everything you can to support a specific group, you most likely wouldn't have any points of your own, right? So while it's true that these third-year groups are down at the bottom, don't you think it's weird that they each have 20 to 30 points?"

If they truly forewent all designated areas and Tasks, they naturally wouldn't have earned any points as a result.

Therefore, Nanase was saying that it would make more sense for them to be hovering at or around zero points instead, due to the ramping penalty that came with missing designated areas.

I chose not to say anything in response to this, subtly prompting her to think about it for herself. And after a little bit, it seemed the answer slowly began to dawn on her.

Ultimately, I decided to add in a couple of words to help accelerate the process.

"A strategy becomes less effective once people catch onto it. So, what should be done in order to prevent that from happening?"

"If you have two or three groups with zero points, then the other school years will obviously realize that something weird is happening. Therefore, as long as they have at least some points on hand, it'll make it harder for others to notice what's going on…"

She peered over at me as she spoke, having arrived at an answer all her own.

And, she was probably right. That was exactly why Nagumo's strategy was so brilliant. If multiple groups all had zero points, it would be far too conspicuous. It would be like they were going around and declaring to the public that they were up to something sinister.

"In fact, while there are several groups that seem to be providing support for Nagumo, there's always at least one member from each who's dedicated to reaching designated areas."

"So they're trying to prevent the ramping penalty from getting out of hand."

And in the process, they'd gradually accumulate points, however few in number they might be.

"In a sense, we should also assume that the groups supporting him are competing with each other. Sure they're conceding first place to Nagumo, but second and third are up for grabs by whoever's adept enough to grab hold of it. That's why, even among the bottom groups, the rankings will change around from time to time or the point disparity between them will start growing larger. It also helps make it seem as if they're taking the special exam seriously."

If you didn't run ten GPS Searches, you'd never be able to see through this strategy.

Even if you suspected that something was going on, it wouldn't end up as anything more than suspicion.

"Would they really want to let Nagumo win, even at the cost of their own expulsion? Even if they can't rise up to Class A, I can't imagine that they'd want to leave the school, right?"

"There might be some eccentric exceptions among them, but for the most part, I agree. Behind the scenes, Nagumo has probably prepared some relief measures of his own."

"Relief measures of his own…?"

"It's impossible for the other third-year classes to graduate as Class A by coming out on top through special exams. That being said, what if it's possible to get into Class A by agreeing to work together with Nagumo instead?"

"If that's really the only option they have, then… I guess I can see why they'd cooperate."

If faced with the choice between graduating as a member of one of the lower classes and putting everything on the line to try and graduate as a member of Class A, it wouldn't be strange for there to be those who volunteered themselves for the latter.

"In a way, I can't even tell who's running this exam anymore: the school or the student council president."

"Honestly, you're probably onto something there as well. Nagumo has the entire third-year in the palm of his hand after all. He's not here to follow the rules; He's here to make and dictate them to the rest of us."

The mere fact that he orchestrated this situation in the first place was highly impressive. It probably wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that, throughout the entire history of the Advanced Nurturing High School, Nagumo was and will be the first and last of his kind.

Of course, we second-year students weren't just going to sit back and watch as he did whatever he wanted either.

On the fifth day of the exam, I approached both Ryūen and Sakayanagi with a certain proposal of sorts: to clear specific Tasks together with the help of a 'select portion' of the second-year student body. Or, put more simply, a strategy similar in nature to the one that Nagumo had adopted. However, it differed from his in that the points wouldn't all be concentrated in a specific leading group.

Since the flames of competition between the second-years were still burning strong, the proposal wouldn't have gotten anywhere the moment points got involved. Therefore, I made it a condition to cooperate with respect to something else. Both Ryūen and Sakayanagi were worried about the success of some of the groups that their classmates had formed, so they agreed to negotiate on equal footing with more of a 'you scratch my back, I scratch yours' kind of approach.

As an example, certain Class 2-A groups would help Class 2-D with increasing the maximum group size of Sudō's group, and in exchange we would help them increase the maximum size of one of their own that needed it. That was the general idea behind it.

Despite our being mutual enemies, as long as our interests were aligned, we could join hands without so much as a second thought.

I guess you could say that was one of the strengths of those leading the second-year.

Naturally, I don't think the proposal would've worked nearly as well if this had taken place a year ago.

Rather, it was all thanks to the past year and a half of experience we've had together that we could put this plan into motion.

"I think I understand now. You're saying that, for you, it wasn't a very big risk to spend ten points in exchange for this information, right Senpai?"

"Somewhat. I haven't exactly done away with my goal of reaching the top or anything. Fortunately, Kōenji has been putting in a lot of work of his own, so instead, I've been focused on gathering the resources necessary to support my peers who need help."

"Kōenji-senpai sure is amazing, isn't he? Giving President Nagumo a run for his money all by himself."

Kōenji was indeed amazing, but the truth behind what was going on here was probably a little bit different. Every time someone went to check the top rankings, they'd see Kōenji and Nagumo's group locked in a close back-and-forth struggle and think that Kōenji was squaring off against an entire group all on his own. In reality, however, Nagumo's group was most likely just putting on an act as they slowed down to match pace with Kōenji.

The rankings would be available for public view until the end of the twelfth day, so Nagumo was probably going to keep up the ruse until then.

And then, once the rankings were hidden again, he and his group would pick up the pace for the final two days of the exam.

By doing so, it would paint the picture that Nagumo had emerged victorious over Kōenji, who had run out of steam during the exam's endgame. The fact that he's used such a large number of allied groups to rack up a ton of points from Tasks wouldn't be exposed either.

Though, given that he was slowing himself down to match his pace with Kōenji's, that also gave the rest of us a chance to snatch up the win for ourselves.

"Anyways, for now, let's use this info to take a look at the movements Amasawa was making on the sixth day."

With these words, Nanase clearly made the connection that there was all sort of value hidden in the screenshots that even I hadn't uncovered yet.

"It doesn't look like Amasawa was in the designated area that morning."

Given that she had the same Table as us, it wouldn't be strange for her to pitch camp in the same designated area as us as well.

However, her GPS signal showed her to be two areas to the south instead.

Furthermore, there were no other signals overlapping with hers, indicating that she had spent the night alone.

"Here's the screenshot from 8:00 AM, one hour after the first designated area was announced."

"The area we were headed to at the time was B6, right Senpai?"

"Yeah. It seems like she took a different route to B6 than we did."

She was also moving quite fast, given the distance she managed to travel from the previous screenshot.

Was it that she had just traveled faster than expected, or had she just taken the most optimal path?

Either way, it didn't seem like the movement of a lone girl walking through the forest.

We then checked the next map at 9:00 AM, and she was in area C6, one area to the right of the designated area.

It was likely that she had stepped foot within the designated area at some point earlier and was now heading off toward a nearby Task.

"This really is amazing. Every movement that someone did throughout the day is right at your fingertips, clearly displayed on a map."

At least during the morning hours of the sixth day, she seemed to be diligently taking the exam just like any other student.

We soon began to analyze the next seven screenshots, focusing our attention solely on Amasawa's signal.

But in the end, she didn't do anything that stood out. She just participated in three or so Tasks as she diligently made her way to the designated areas. We could probably find out whether or not she placed high in said Tasks by cross-referencing with the logs on Nanase's tablet, but her performance didn't really matter here.

"At the very least, there's nothing to indicate that Amasawa was following us, or up to anything suspicious in general as of 5:00 PM yesterday."

"…So in the end, we haven't learned anything?"

"No, we've learned plenty. This makes it clear that Amasawa's taking the special exam at least somewhat seriously. Plus, this means that she isn't leaving any openings that we might catch wind of through GPS Searches."

It was safe to assume that she was up to something once the scheduled exam hours were done for the day, that is, from dusk till dawn. But while it was possible to run a GPS Search during that time period, that'd just end up being nothing more than a waste of points.

At this point, we received a notification from the school about the compensation we'd get because of the exam's suspension for the day.

『Due to ongoing complications with the weather, only one-fourth of the day's quota of Tasks and area movements were able to be completed. To compensate for the lost opportunity, the school has passed the decision to double all points earned through Arrival Bonuses, Early Bird Bonuses, and Tasks on the final day of the exam. According to the forecast, the weather is expected to improve sometime before tomorrow morning.』

The final day of the exam was similar to the first day, with only three-fourths of the day dedicated to the special exam.

So in that sense, you could say that the compensation they had chosen to go with was just what the doctor ordered.

"Senpai, this looks like it could end up changing everything."

The final day was when the majority of conflicts would be settled, so with double the points on the line, the chances of successfully making a comeback were very real.

"The school was right to tell us about this so far ahead of time. It'll give groups the chance to reassess their plans for the second half of the exam."

With today having turned into a full day to rest, there would surely be groups out there that think to pace themselves from tomorrow onward, conserving their stamina in anticipation for the finale. On the other hand, it also wouldn't be all that surprising if there were groups that chose to take advantage of that and go all-out as soon as tomorrow. In any case, this outcome was hardly a welcome turn of events as far I was concerned.

After staring at my tablet for a while, I realized that Nanase had stopped talking as much and watched as she began nodding off beside me. It was as if she was gradually slipping into the unconsciousness of sleep, her eyes at times wide open or slowly falling shut.

"I know it's still daytime, but maybe you should go and get some rest?"

She had forced herself to climb a mountain earlier this morning, only to use up the rest of her stamina fighting me immediately afterward. She'd no doubt gone two or three times over her limit today, so she was probably wrought with fatigue by now.

"Eh? Ah…! Sorry!"

She tried to straighten herself in a fluster, but a strong spell of drowsiness wasn't something you could snap out of so easily.

And this was even more true for someone with a tattered body like her.

"…I'll head back to my own tent then."

She was the one who knew what was best for herself.

If she were to continue to stay here while dozing off like this, she'd just end up being a hindrance.

"That sounds like a good idea."

Judging from the way the rain was still coming down, it didn't seem like we'd be able to get any productive traveling done today anyway.

With that being the case, we should take every second possible to give our bodies as much of a break as possible.

Though, it's not like resting inside a tent was exactly comfortable or anything, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

Just as Nanase was about to unzip the entrance, she turned and looked back at me from over her shoulder.

"As soon as the rain stops, I think I'm going to try to chase after Amasawa-san. It's clear enough that she's from the White Room, and I'm concerned with what she's planning to do after this."

Indeed, if she just continued to stick together with me like this, we wouldn't find out nearly as much about what Amasawa was up to.

And, as they were fellow members of the same group, I didn't think that Amasawa would do anything cruel to Nanase either.

"The fact that Amasawa managed to make it until now as a student of the White Room means that she's a threat. It's vitally important that you don't underestimate her due to gender or age."

"I'm not clear on all the details, but from what you're saying she must be an extremely dangerous opponent."

In terms of pure combat power, you could say that Amasawa was even a step above the likes of Sudō and Ryūen. While they may have her beat in terms of raw physical strength, she'd definitely be far, far ahead of them when it comes to technique and experience. No matter how hard she tried, Nanase herself probably wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance against her.

"You have your other group member, Hōsen, to watch out for as well."

"Yes. Given his sheer strength, he's not an opponent I can handle either."

Nanase nodded along, clearly believing herself to have understood, but Hōsen's overwhelming physical strength wasn't the only thing that made him dangerous.

You'd be better off thinking of Hōsen as the type of person who has more than just raw physical power going for him.

"I think it's extremely unlikely that Hōsen is a White Room student, but after what happened with Amasawa, I'm not so sure about that anymore. In any case, put my matters on the back burner for the time being and just focus on protecting yourself."

That is, of course, assuming that her primary goal doesn't turn out to be getting me kicked out of school.

"I'm not afraid of getting expelled, Ayanokōji-senpai. I'll do anything if it means protecting you, no matter the cost."

Rather than offering advice, my words had been meant as more of a warning, but based on her response it didn't seem like the message had gotten through.

"Let me put it slightly differently for you then, Nanase. It's possible that your careless actions may cause me unintended problems. I want you to avoid doing anything that may put me at risk."

I conveyed to her that this wasn't me being apprehensive or worried about what would become of her, but what would, by extension, become of me.

Upon doing so, Nanase's valiant, loyal demeanor changed into that of a meek, frail puppy.

"That… That would be unacceptable of me. I can't be causing you any more trouble than I already have…"

"If that's really true, then in any case, I just ask that you be careful. Got it?"

"I understand, I promise."

Having told her all of this, I felt fairly confident that she wouldn't do anything reckless.

After all, I really didn't think she wanted to do anything that would bring more shame onto herself than she already had.

Once Nanase had returned to her own tent, my gaze dropped down to my tablet once again.

I wanted to quickly comb over the scores of the top ten and bottom ten groups and then iron out the exam's current state of affairs with my own score in mind.

『Top Ten Rankings』

1st Place: Second-Year Group Kōenji – 168 Points

2nd Place: Third-Year Group Nagumo – 166 Points

3rd Place: Third-Year Group Kiriyama – 150 Points

4th Place: Third-Year Group Mizoe – 133 Points

4th Place: Third-Year Group Ochiai – 133 Points

6th Place: Second-Year Group Ryūen – 128 Points

7th Place: Second-Year Group Sakayanagi – 127 Points

8th Place: First-Year Group Takahashi – 115 Points

9th Place: Second-Year Group Kanzaki – 104 Points

10th Place: Third-Year Group Kuronaga – 101 Points

I was currently ranked 49th overall with 78 points. There was a full, 90 point difference between myself and Kōenji, who was all the way up in first place.

Though it may seem impossible for me to recover from the gap in our scores, I'd still get 11 points for getting a first-place Early Bird Bonus. And with four chances per day, I'd catch up just by placing first nine times in a row. Of course, this was also provided that Kōenji wouldn't earn any points of his own in the meantime.

If Kōenji were to maintain his current pace and keep diligently racking up points, he'd end up with a final score of around 350, so if I wanted to bridge the gap, I'd have to earn close to 40 points per day for the rest of the exam. If you were to ask that of another group, they'd pass it off as impossible and probably give up on the spot. However, even an outlier like Kōenji would surely slow down during the second half of the exam.

"But tenth place has 101 points, huh?"

Back when the rules of this uninhabited island exam were first explained to us, I thought that groups would've had slightly higher scores by this point. However, from the current status of the top ten and the fact that I was currently ranked 49th overall, it felt like overall progress had stagnated somewhat since the exam entered the midgame. After overall efficiency hit its peak on the second or third day, a lingering sense of fatigue began to set in, and there had been a noteworthy increase in the number of missed designated areas, penalties, and Task abstentions.

At the same time, since small groups were also steadily beginning to merge with each other, the total number of groups was going down little by little. This was definitely something I ought to keep in mind as well.

In order for me to successfully break into the upper ranks, I'd need to show significant growth during the second half of the exam.

And the key to that was the tenth place score, which acted as the barrier between public knowledge and anonymity.

To that end, I previously strove to silently, patiently rise through the lower ranks during this first half without pushing myself too hard.

My efforts would've borne fruit starting tomorrow too, the eighth day, but with the exam having been put on hold today due to the heavy rain, I should expect another large spike of activity from all groups for the next two days or so. Furthermore, there would definitely be groups looking to conserve their stamina for the double points being offered on the final day as well.

This special exam seemed as if it was completely unwinnable for a one-man group. However, there was actually something contradictory residing within the relationship between the rules of the exam, basic movement, and Tasks.

If you tried to make it to your designated areas the fastest, you'd run the risk of missing out on Tasks; conversely, if you focused your energy on getting to Tasks, you'd most likely end up missing out on Early Bird Bonuses. This was a universal truth regardless of whether you were part of a large group or all on your own.

As a whole, the exam had been very cleverly constructed and balanced like this, from the fact that eligibility for Early Bird Bonuses was based on when the last person of a group stepped foot in the designated area, to the system put in place that required groups to venture out to Task sites without even knowing if they'd be able to participate.

It was unclear exactly when the rain would stop, and I was still worried about Nanase among a few other things, but starting tomorrow, the second half of the exam would begin, and I was going to fight with an all-new strategy in hand.