Vol. 3: Chapter 21 - On the Other Side

"That'll be the plan. You're fine with that, right?"

"But aren't you going to push yourself, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"Then... keep things in order around here if you want to lessen my burden."

"Alright, leave it to me. If it's you who's saying that, then I guess there's nothing to worry about." Hirata nodded with a smile.

After getting 9 provisional points from yesterday, I'm finally set up to keep a fixed cycle. With four primary spots, we can gain as much as 12 points per day as long as I reinvoke our rights on time, and as much as 4 points on the last day given that the test will conclude at 12:00 NN, around lunch. Adding our points from the first and second days, we'll get a total of 54 provisional points by the end of the exam. 

Well, that's what we want, theoretically speaking. Maybe things can change for better or worse depending on how the other classes move. Without a decisive opportunity, I've practically given up on finding the other classes' leaders.

After three days of going around the eastern region, I've got a good grasp on the fastest routes to occupy our spots. They shouldn't take too much time as long as I run at full speed. And with an eight-hour interval for each occupation, there will be plenty of time to rest.

"You guys will be in charge of scouting the unexplored area way up north. You got a copy of the map, right?"

"Yep, this will come in handy," Ike replied.

"Leave it to us, Ayanokouji!" Yamauchi gave me a thumbs up.

Ike, Yamauchi, Onizuka, and Kikuchi— four guys in total. Well, in the worst-case scenario, Yamauchi and Onizuka might drag the other two down. But other than that, they should be fine.

"We shall be handling the fishery for today, is that right?" Professor asked with a grin.

"You seem confident, Professor."

"Well, not that confident, Ayanokouji-dono. Kanji has taught me well, and I've demonstrated my learnings with basic mastery. I might be able to capture a batch of eight fish if I get serious."

"Oh, that's great already, Professor!" Ike approved excitedly.

When you factor in the amount of time they'll spend on the fishing dock, it's certainly a lot less than what Ike could catch, but given three days of basic fishing lessons, it's not too bad. Ike's a good teacher, too. I've learned a lot from him, especially with fruits and berries.

Along with Professor; Satou, Shinohara, and Matsushita also wanted to try their hands on fishing. Apart from a few names like Airi, Haruka, or Karuizawa and her main group, everyone was taught for at least a couple of hours. To be honest, we've been taking advantage of this river a lot. So much so that I feel like we might run out of fish soon. Well, even if that happens, we have the ocean as another source of food.

————————————————————————

4th Day, 8:10 AM.

After breakfast and our usual roll call, I finally slipped out of everyone's view. With Karuizawa's help, Ibuki's attention was currently occupied.

"And that's done..." I muttered upon reinvoking our right of exclusive possession.

"Kiyotaka-kun."

"Kikyou?"

A lone girl followed me all the way to the spot mechanism.

"You'll... be gone for the whole day, right?" she asked.

"Yep... After I retake the spots, I'll be spending my time exploring the area around Class C and Class A's base camps." I explained this to her sometime earlier, but I guess there's no harm in making it clear again.

"Mn," she nodded while approaching me. "You'll be having lunch with Ichinose-san's class then?"

"Oh... I wasn't really planning on doing so, but that should be a good idea. And besides, having another meeting with Ichinose might bring us more vital information, especially since they're Class A's neighbor in some way."

"I see..." Kikyou nibbled her lower lip, almost acting fidgety. Arriving in front of me, Kikyou finally looked up with a hesitant expression. "Um, be careful out there..."

Is that what she wanted to say? How considerate of her.

"Yeah. I'll be back later, Kikyou. I'll be counting on you guys to keep things going around here."

I briskly walked away as Kikyou's waving figure faded from my view.

————————————————————————

4th Day, 9:43 AM.

Going back down from a different side of the hill, I slowly made my way to the broken trees near Class C's base camp. It was a good thing that I ran around without my top. Meeting up with people while covered in sweat would just be awkward. I quickly put them back on as soon as I neared the campsite.

"Ayanokouji?"

"Oh, Kanzaki... How are things going here?" I asked.

"We're doing alright, thanks for asking. How about you and Class B?" he asked back, with his usual vigilant expression.

"We're managing, somehow."

"May I ask what you're doing here?"

"A lot of my classmates were assigned to check out the area around our base camp. I did the scouting for them for the past three days, but I figured that getting some lowdowns about the central and western region of the island shouldn't be a bad idea," I explained.

"I see..."

"Don't worry. I'm not planning to spy on you guys in an attempt to find out your leader nor do I plan to steal your resources."

"It's certainly a possibility, but we're not too worried about that. If Ichinose wants to trust you, then I'll support her decision."

"Oh, is that you, Ayanokouji-kun? Funny seeing you here!"

Minamikata Kozue greeted me with a smile. She was with Amikura and Hamaguchi.

"Minamikata, and you two."

"Yo, Ayanokouji. Are you looking for Ichinose?" asked Hamaguchi.

"Ohh? Is that the case, Ayanokouji-kun? You wanna see Honami-chan~?" Amikura playfully raised an eyebrow.

"Well, talking to Ichinose can be considered part of my plan," I replied.

"If you're looking for her, she's helping out some of our classmates up north," said Kanzaki.

"Alright, I guess I'll head there for now. I have something to discuss with her, anyway. See you later."

"Right," he nodded.

"Bye-bye, Ayanokouji-kun!" Amikura yelled as she and Minamikata waved at me.

"See you later," said Hamaguchi.

I saw Ichinose talking to her classmates— three guys; namely Shibata, Nakanishi, and Sumida. It seems like they were transferring a lot of wooden branches.

"This should be a good place to temporarily store them," instructed Ichinose.

"Phew. We'll be going ahead to where Kobashi and the others are. I think they still need some labor help over there."

"Okay~! Good work, you three. But, it's fine if you decide to take a rest, you know? I'm sure they'll be okay with Moriyama-kun and Watanabe-kun's help," she said.

"You're the one who should rest, Ichinose. You've been tending to everyone since early morning." Shibata shrugged with a grin.

The other two agreed with a laugh.

"Nah, I'll be alright," she dismissed.

"Oh, it seems like we have a visitor," said Nakanishi the moment he noticed me.

"Hey, Ayanokouji!" greeted Shibata.

"Ayanokouji-kun, how's it going?" Ichinose waved her hand as she approached me.

"Was I interrupting something?" I asked.

"No, not at all. We were just finishing up," answered Shibata.

Class C really was a different kind of place. Most of them are as friendly as Kikyou and her group. As someone from another class, it's certainly great to have a group welcome you, but having most of the class treat you nicely is an entirely different feeling. I wonder how Ibuki would act if she ended up here.

"Do you need anything, Ayanokouji-kun?" asked Ichinose.

The three guys waved their hands to us as they trailed off in a different direction.

"I don't need anything, strictly speaking, but I thought it would be nice to drop by. I was planning to scout around Class A's area before sundown."

"Ohhh, isn't that nice? Are you out to find their leader's identity?"

"It would be great if I can do that, but given how they're tackling this test, it's almost an impossibility."

"Almost an impossibility, huh? So you do have an idea." Ichinose cocked her head with a smirk.

"Well, Class A is divided into two factions, right? Since Sakayanagi isn't around, those under her might be willing to betray Katsuragi. He's the one leading the class right now, after all."

On the surface, relaying this much information isn't beneficial to me at all. But in return, Ichinose wouldn't hesitate to tell me what she knows about Class A, too.

"Ohh, that's one sneaky plan. But... hmm, I doubt any of them would go as far as to betray the entire class by giving out the leader's name. In the end, they're all in Class A," she mused before laughing bitterly. "That's just me, though! It's only my own perspective about a divided class. If I was the leader of the other faction, I'd still try my best to cooperate for the benefit of everyone."

"That certainly is something that you would do," I nodded. "Well, I've met Katsuragi a couple of times— enough to get a gist of what kind of person he is. Katsuragi gave me the impression of a smart and cautious guy, so his line of thinking shouldn't be that different from you... Why would he be at odds with Sakayanagi? Do you know anything about her?"

The two of us walked slowly around the campsite perimeters.

"Hmm... I'm not really close with the two of them, so I can only give you a vague description of my understanding. If I were to break the situation down, I think it's a clash between two opposite mindsets. Liberal versus conservative, gambits versus prudence... attacks versus defense..."

I can already see how Katsuragi is the conventional one... If Sakayanagi is the opposite, then she's quite similar to Ryuuen in that regard. The chairman's daughter, huh? I wonder what kind of person she'll be...?

"I think I have a better picture of their conflict now. It all depends on how they've instructed their classmates. If Class A wants to keep its position, unity is necessary. So there's very little chance for someone in either faction to commit treachery that will affect the entire class."

"That's true. There are still three and a half days left until the exam ends, though. Our class is fine with turtling up like this as long as everyone gets through the week without any issues. We figured that trying to find out Class A and D's leaders would be too risky in many ways," she shrugged.

Ichinose and I continued talking by discussing the situations of our classes. We mutually decided to ignore the topic of spots because of its direct ties to the leader.

"The only thing I can probably say is that everything's alright with us when it comes to the spot mechanics. I'm really sorry, Ayanokouji-kun. I can't tell you anything more than that."

"Ah no, it's fine. I never really planned on exchanging specific information about that, anyway. Horikita might scold me if I say anything unnecessary, too."

Ichinose chuckled in response.

No matter how close we are at this point, leading the class gives us the ironclad responsibility to be on guard with everyone outside. It's a very natural response coming from someone as capable as Ichinose Honami.

"By the way, Ichinose, do you have any clue about what's going on with Class D? I didn't have the time to check on them yesterday."

"Class D, huh? I went there with some of my classmates, yesterday... It seems like they're still at it, albeit with lesser resources." Ichinose touched her cheek as she spoke. "We haven't checked on them yet, but they shouldn't get past today if my guess is right."

"I'll be heading there right now, actually. I can come along if you want to send some of your classmates to scout out the beach— only if it's alright with you guys, though."

"Oh, no, it's totally fine. I kinda wanna see their current state for myself, so I think I'll go, too. It might give us some sort of hint on what Ryuuen-kun really wants to do." Ichinose said in a somber tone.

"You think Ryuuen has a plan?"

"Well, he went ahead and stirred up some chaos for our classes... I doubt someone like Ryuuen-kun would back out from the exam just like that. We should be able to confirm some things once we really see everyone in his class retire."

To think that she'd infer things this far... I don't know how much information Ichinose holds on him, but as expected, her intelligence is amazing. If it weren't for her being kind to a fault, Ichinose might be a much more dangerous opponent than Ryuuen or Katsuragi.

After informing Kanzaki and the other Class C students, it was decided that, for some reason, Ichinose and I would go alone.