-218- How boring

"....."

A slight silence suddenly filled the entire Rabbit Group's room.

One by one, the students considered Machida Koji's words, and many showed signs of being persuaded.

This was only natural.

The students present were just a group of high school students after all.

Having elites like Nanaya Hori, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, and Ichinose Honami appear in this group was an anomaly.

Apart from these three, the rest of the students couldn't think too complexly.

So, the reason these people were tempted was simple.

"Isn't this great?"

Karuizawa Kei voiced the somewhat irresponsible thoughts of the students present.

"It seems easy. No need to do so many troublesome things. It's really a blessing."

Indeed.

For these average students, mutual deception, concealment, disguising, and probing were inherently exhausting tasks.

If there was an easy road to the end, wouldn't anyone want to take the shortcut?

If it were the Dragon Group's elites, they would surely rise to the challenge, never opting for the easiest way.

Unfortunately, in this group, the elites were few and only gathered here due to various underhanded reasons.

Given this, without knowing the hidden threats Katsuragi Kouhei's strategy could bring, it was natural for the students to lean toward Machida Koji's suggestion.

As long as there was no need for discussions or unnecessary actions, the exam could be easily passed.

To many students, this was something they couldn't have wished for more.

Only Yukimura Teruhiko still seemed hesitant.

"Even if you say all classes can get the same rewards, isn't it still uncertain whether those rewards can be considered the entire class's property?"

Yukimura Teruhiko seemed to be worried about this point.

This was also understandable.

Indeed, if they followed Class A's plan, Class D could also get a total of 1.5 million personal points, which would be highly effective as strategic funds.

Not to mention, if there was a next exam requiring points to purchase scores to avoid failing, this fund would prevent Class D from falling into debt.

Moreover, personal points have many uses. The benefits are numerous, and no one would complain about having too many.

If they could peacefully reach the end and receive the same rewards, it would undoubtedly be very appealing.

However, don't forget, these points aren't the class's property.

This was a bonus given to the VIP, which strictly speaking, should be considered the VIP's own reward.

Asking the VIP to contribute all 500,000 personal points to the class?

That would be forcing someone against their will, wouldn't it?

For this reason, at this stage, very few VIPs would reveal their identities.

Thinking of the hard-earned points needing to be shared with the entire class, it would be normal to feel uneasy about it.

Everyone would have the inclination to keep it for themselves.

So, the VIPs wouldn't easily reveal their identities and might even hide until the end, quietly pocketing the reward.

The school even provided an anonymous reward service this time.

As long as the VIP doesn't say anything, even classmates wouldn't know which one among them became the VIP and quietly received a huge amount of points.

Thus, whether these points could be considered the class's overall fund was really uncertain.

At least, in Class D, there were certainly people who would do such things, like Ike Kanji, Yamauchi Haruki, and Sudou Ken, who might secretly pocket the reward, right?

No wonder Yukimura Teruhiko was so conflicted.

However...

"That's each class's own issue."

Machida Koji didn't give Yukimura Teruhiko any face, straightforwardly saying this.

"We Class A have established complete trust among ourselves, so we are not worried about this at all. As for your internal issues, you should resolve them internally."

As he spoke, Machida Koji glanced subtly at Morishige Takuro beside him.

Obviously, the "complete trust" he mentioned was highly exaggerated.

But Machida Koji was right.

These are internal class issues.

There's no reason to bring internal class problems into the group exam and expect others to solve them.

That would be truly unreasonable.

"Indeed, as Machida-kun said, the post-exam issues concern each class and shouldn't be discussed here."

Ichinose Honami nodded in agreement but didn't lead the approval, instead, she looked around at all the students, slowing her tone.

"What does everyone else think?"

The scales in everyone's hearts began to tilt.

"I... I agree."

"I agree too."

"Although we can't get class points, and non-VIPs won't get personal points, if someone betrays us, it would be terrible."

The three girls from Class C raised their hands in agreement with Class A's proposal.

"...I agree too."

After careful consideration, Yukimura Teruhiko also raised his hand.

Karuizawa Kei had already raised her hand earlier.

As for the other two from Class B, they were even more straightforward.

"We will follow Ichinose-san's lead."

"If Ichinose-san agrees, then we agree."

They each made such statements.

In the end, only Nanaya Hori, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, and Ibuki Mio didn't raise their hands.

"Ibuki-san, what do you think?"

Ichinose Honami asked proactively.

Ibuki Mio's response was quite simple.

"I neither agree nor oppose, but the minority should follow the majority. If you think it's fine, then go ahead."

Ibuki Mio did not intend to voice her opinion, clearly different from the other three in Class C.

"Alright." Ichinose Honami nodded, then looked at Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, asking, "So, Ayanokouji-san, what do you think?"

Hearing this, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka hardly hesitated.

"I'm not good at discussions, so if the problem can be easily solved, that's great. I'll go along with everyone."

This guy, who was pretending to be a sheep in wolf's clothing, clearly understood the pros and cons, but still went with the flow, making people want to punch his face.

"I see..."

Ichinose Honami nodded understandingly.

Then, she finally turned her gaze to Nanaya Hori.

"Can I hear your thoughts, Nanaya-kun?"

Ichinose Honami asked with a smile.

Immediately, everyone's eyes focused on Nanaya Hori.

Including Machida Koji, whose gaze towards Hori became a bit uncertain, no longer as confident as before.

Everyone wanted to know if this man, who had achieved a stunning victory in the uninhabited island exam, would agree with Katsuragi Kouhei's strategy.

Nanaya Hori's words would determine the Rabbit Group's next step.

And what could Hori say?

"This is Katsuragi's strategy?"

Hori, without any hesitation, expressed his true thoughts.

"How boring."

With one sentence, the atmosphere in the room froze.