Chapter 5: Deserted Island Exam (3) – Plan of Brilliance or Insanity?

[Kurushima Pov]

[2nd August, 16.21]

As usual, we didn't have any luck regarding our food solution. Neither did we find fish, small animals like rabbits, nor eatable berries and fruits for everyone.

It has been again the time when I go to Chabashira-sensei's location to confirm our purchase of a ration of food for a class unit for ten S-Points. But this time, something was different.

Accidentally, I broke one of the lesser important devices as I fell on the ground.

I looked at the materials that were displayed in front of me in shock, not understanding anything from them at all.

As it happened rather fast, Chabashira-sensei faced me backward because she wanted to register the spending of our class.

I slowly took a few components with me and put them in the jersey.

Quickly, I picked up the broken parts and looked at Chabashira-sensei apologetically. "Sensei, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention and didn't see the device."

I said in a worried and anxious tone, doing a small bow to apologize.

"No worries, it wasn't anything of importance. Just be careful next time. This time, I'll compensate for the damage. If it happens another time, you'll be the one."

"Okay," I muttered. "Uhm, Sensei, we want to buy another class unit of food," I expressed.

"Registered. Well then, you can go," she said, taking the broken parts and throwing them in the trash can.

With that, I left and walked to our camp spot.

--

[8 Hours Later]

[3rd August, 0.21]

The evening approached itself rather fast. It was now time to begin. To ensure nobody was noticing me, I looked around the boys tent for a couple of moments, especially the tent Ayanokoji was in, until I saw nobody moving.

I wasn't that stupid to be in the same tent as him, when I'd pull such a stunt off. Fooling him wouldn't work, if he realized I wasn't sleeping next to them at all, making me naturally suspicious. 

I was in a tent with some other boys who didn't quite often talked with Ayanokoji or Hirata. One of them was Sotomura, the other one being Yukimura, as for the rest in my tent, they weren't a threat either. 

That was great, so I did use it, after all, because I was good with everyone.

I had memorized their sleeping habits yesterday, since I couldn't sleep, without a pill, which I was able to request, in the end, easily from Sensei, yesterday, since it was a matter regarding my health, something I wasn't responsible for.

Although, I told her I was able to sleep, just not goodly, at all. 

As of now, I'm almost 45 Hours up now, without having slept at all... 

My body is in a state of fatigue. But in recompense, I was able to observe Ayanokoji having taking Ibuki's bag, took her camera for a moment out, until he destroyed it, probably. 

It was during 4 a.m, so there wasn't anyone really awake. But I did notice him at least waking in some kind of intervals up, which usually were within two and a half hours. 

Ever since that incident...

I was unable to sleep without them... 

Haah... even now, if I'd like, I couldn't sleep...

Anyhow, I looked a couple of other times still over them, just as a precautionary measure to see whether everyone was sleeping or not. As nobody moved, and I didn't see a single reason why someone should be awake, I decided to open my bag quietly.

Reluctantly, I took the materials out of my bag. It was a styrofoam, adhesive tape, a survival knife, and the aluminum foil that we get every day from our class unit food ration.

Additionally, I took the three components out that I had gotten by breaking the device "accidentally."

It was, in actuality, a conductive rubber, copper mesh, and a conductive foam that I had gotten by destroying the device.

With these materials present, I can create a Faraday Cage, which can block electromagnetic fields and signals.

By simply wrapping aluminum foil around the wristwatch, using the other materials I got, alongside making sure it won't fall down, I used adhesive tape to make it firm on my wristwatch. 

As for the styrofoam, I just needed it for something where I could put the materials in, so its use was for that, actually. 

I began to build a Faraday Cage with these materials around my wristwatch, ensuring that it was completely covered and shielded.

It was quite the easy method to make you disappear from the teacher's radar. But considering the advanced technology, a simple Faraday Cage out of only, adhesive tape, a survival knife, and aluminum foil probably would not have been enough protection.

So, I decided to modify it and also ensure that my body wouldn't work as a conductor and could transmit any electromagnetic signals or waves through the skin.

With the additional materials I collected, it was more than enough to protect me until I'm finished with going to their camp and coming back.

There is only one thing that remains open. 

Why was I going to great lengths for this plan of mine? It's quite easy in actuality.

If I were to go to Class B's camp without the Faraday Cage, the teacher's would be quite attentive about my sudden appearance in Class B during 1 a.m. in the morning. It would not only make the four homeroom teachers attentive, but also Ryūen.

If he were to buy this information after the exam, he could narrow down the list easily to me. Not just him, but Chabashira-sensei, too. She would decide to tell Ayanokoji about my sudden disappearance to Class B's camp and could create me some bothersome problems.

Those were problems I definitely wanted to avoid at all cost. I also thought that I should have given Kaneda during my visit to these two leaves with my blood dried on, but that would also narrow down me as one of the potential candidates.

Considering the functionality of the heart rate pulse monitor and everything else, it still worked on the wristwatch.

Only my signal would disappear, which is quite advantageous because I wouldn't be questioned further by Chabashira-sensei. For one, during sleeping time, when no movements are detected, the radar doesn't show these students anymore.

I had figured that out during a few small visits where I could prove this theory. Whenever I visited Chabashira-sensei in the morning, at least two signals from our class didn't show up on the radar. Because these two people were still sleeping.

So even if, I shouldn't be detected, as Chabashira-sensei is under the misconception that I'm sleeping.

But one of the problems I need to worry about is that my heart pulse doesn't surpass more than 70 heartbeats per minute.

70 itself is already a high number during sleeping, but I could just use the excuse that I'm suffering from traumatic dreams, which cause the body to release stress hormones and cause an increase of heartbeat. It should be the most believable thing, considering my past.

Never-mind, I'm being overly cautious again. If it continues like that, someone is going to wake up while I have an internal monolog with myself.

I should finish this within thirty to forty minutes before anyone wakes up and recognizes I'm gone.

Within sixteen minutes of running at a constant speed, ensuring that my heartbeat doesn't increase, I reached Class B's camp, which was quite far away from our camp spot.

I looked around and saw no one awake, so I immediately moved toward the tent where Kaneda was sleeping.

I put two leaves where I had written a message with my blood, which was already dried on his jersey and disappeared.

I had left for both leaves these messages:

"Grace the hidden heel."

"Look at the layout here."

If you rearrange the letters, two certainly intended anagram come out.

Each one of these phrases either rearranged or not does have different meanings. But in the end they're all warnings at Ryūen about Ayanokoji.

Even if he does not solve the anagram, "Grace the hidden heel" and "Look at the layout" they should be more than enough for him to get the gist of the message to which I'm referring to.

I deliberately created a rather easy one. But it could naturally be harder than I thought, actually.

Ignoring the thoughts about whether Ryūen can solve the anagram, I began to grovel a few hundred meters away from the camp the conductive rubber, the cooper mesh, and the conductive foam, aluminum foil, and Styrofoam under the ground in a hidden spot.

Just in case, I wanted to ensure that I could always retrieve these materials later, if I would ever need them once again for this exam or another one when we are in the future here again.

...

The future, huh?

What will I do when I have successfully extracted my revenge?

I don't know...

Looking at the wristwatch, I took the water bottle next to us in the tent along with the sleeping pill and fell slowly asleep.

Ryūen...

I hope you don't disappoint me, and act like I predicted...

--

[Ryūen Pov]

[3rd August]

Kukuku, I can't wait to see the looks on their face when they see our beach tomorrow empty. And what are they going to do, huh?

Guess our leader?

Kukuku.

And then there is also this deal I made with Katsuragi.

39 people of Class A will keep sending us 20.000 private points per month, which results in 780.000 in a month. Since she isn't here, they can't force her to pay too.

What a pity I would have loved to take every ounce of points she has. But I still have time to crush her completely.

Right now, I'm going to crush Class C. And slowly break that damn kind-hearted bastard's spirit. Ibuki should also sabotage their food, if possible. But that shouldn't be her primary focus. The leader's identity is more than enough.

Suddenly, I heard the walkie-talkie beeping.

"I said you should only contact me at specific times. Kaneda, have you failed? You know what happens if you did, right?"

"No, no, Ryūen-san, it's not like that. I contacted you sooner for two reasons. One of the reasons is that I have figured out Class B's leader and have taken a picture of the keycard."

"Omoshiroi," I amusingly exclaimed. "So who is Ichinose's "savior" in need?" I asked, my mood exponentially rising, knowing that I have already figured out one of the two leaders.

Katsuragi, just so you know, I won't let your class walk away with over 500 class points. I'll identify your leader. But before that, I'm going to fulfill our deal.

"It's Chihiro Shiranami."

"Pfft, that little twerk of a girl? They must have already given up on claiming spots then, huh? A defensive strategy, trying to claim their current spot only and spare the S-Points. How pathetic."

"It seems like I was right. Ichinose can't amuse me during this exam. Hopefully, Class C — no, Kurushima is different from these pacifists."

"So, what is the second reason?"

"Ishizaki, bring me another drink."

"Yes, Sir."

"So? Kaneda, do you want to speak finally, or are you trying to disturb my wonderful time on the beach? I'm right now in a good mood, so speak."

I commanded, in an infuriated tone, not getting a reply instantly.

"Yes, Ryūen-san. The other reason is that I have found two messages on two leaves with dried blood on one of my jersey pockets. They say "Grace the hidden heel" and "Look at the Layout here"."

"What?!"

Two leaves with dried blood written on them? And they say, "Grace the hidden heel," and "Look at the layout here."

Kukuku

"Ryūen-san?" Kaneda asked, his tone unsure whether to be worried or not.

"Hahahaha, Omoshiroi," I laughed amusingly. "Bring it on. Warning me? Hahaha, how interesting. That's really interesting."

"Ryūen-san?" Kaneda asked again.

"Kaneda, since when do you have these two leaves?"

"Since today. I always check everything in an interval of an hour. My bag, my jersey pockets, practically everything I have on me."

"I see, that's interesting. So they must have done it at night, huh? That narrows down the suspect to be in Ichinose's class. It could be, however, someone from Class A and B too. It could also be possible that some people from the Sakayanagi fraction tried to leave me a message."

"Taking into consideration that the distance between Class A and B isn't as far away, it'd be logical that one of them tried to leave a message there. The distance between A and D and A to C is almost similarly large. So if the person decided to walk there, it would take more than four hours."

"Class C and B are taking up two hours of a distance of walking, and we take two hours and twenty minutes to reach Class B."

"If it were someone from Class C, their disappearance would have been seen. Also, Ibuki had reported that she hadn't seen anything suspicious. So it must be either from Class B or A, huh? Or perhaps someone from Class C and Ibuki had not seen them?"

"Hahahaha, Omoshiroi. This is better than I imagined."

"Here, Sir," Ishizaki said, finally arriving with my drink. I took it out of his hand and instantly poured it over his head.

"Too warm. Get me a cold one next time if you don't want Albert to beat you up. I'm right now in a good mood, so don't disturb me."

"Yes, Sir."

"Kaneda, go back to Class B. I'll tell you tomorrow some more details."

"Yes, Ryūen-san."

I closed the walkie-talkie and thought about the two messages Kaneda had told me.

"Grace the hidden heel" and "Look at the layout here." I didn't take the time to analyze them too much since I thought these were messages from the Sakayanagi fraction, but I guess they might cure my boredom.

"Grace the hidden heel" refers to a hidden person in the shadows pulling the strings. And "Grace" means to beware of that person. So, a certain someone warns me about a person pulling the strings in this exam, huh?

How ridiculous...

The other phrase "Look at the layout here" means to be aware of my surroundings on the island, huh? It's offensively just something that Sakayanagi uses to annoy me.

But my intuition is saying otherwise...

I guess...

I can play for now with them...

Just in case, I should ask Hiyori before she retires if I'm not potentially overlooking anything here. She's someone with great observation and might be able to tell me more about these phrases.

I approached her and began to ask her about these two phrases.

She thought more than twenty minutes for an answer to my question, and surprisingly, I waited.

I was eager to know whether there might be something I overlooked. But I don't think that's the case.

"Ryūen-kun, these two phrases could be anagrams," she said, taking a piece of paper and a pen.

"An Anagram?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's a rearrangement of letters which gives the rearranged sentence a different meaning," she explained.

She began to write the original two sentences on the paper and then some sentences that could be formed by rearranging the letters.

I waited for her to solve the "anagram" because this strange thing piqued my curiosity to a great extent.

For a moment, she looked surprised but composed herself and wrote down phrases after phrases down for fifteen minutes.

"Ryūen-kun, look at this. By adding an additional A, this new rearranged phrase comes out."

"An A?"

"You see, this leaf, does seem intentionally chosen, as it has an A-Shape, more or less. Anyway, here's the Anagram," Hiyori said. 

"Let me see," I said, putting the drink out of my hand away. I looked at the anagram she derived at.

The newly rearranged phrase was like this, "Change the leader."

For a small moment, I couldn't believe my eyes,

"Kukukuku, so there was a message behind a message, huh? What a witty person with whom we have it to do."

"Have you figured out the other one?"

She shakes her head. "No, but it won't take too long."

With her saying that, I waited for ten minutes until I could see another phrase written down. It seems like she has figured the anagram out.

Well, let's see what it is.

Interested I looked at the newly derived message. It was just like the previous one, another ridiculous phrase.

"Look at the rules," was the sentence she had arrived at, by rearranging the letters.

"Albert, bring me the manual."

After one minute, Albert brought the manual with him. "Here, Boss."

I scanned the rules once again and took the two phrases, which were formed by rearranging the letters in my head.

And that's when I found this rule. "Leaders can't be changed without a legitimate reason."

"Fine, I'll play after your scheme for now..."

"But don't think this is the end...Y."

--

A/N: Here in this fanfic, Ryūen's classmates would have retired on day three instead of day two. Just a small reminder, as the strategy I thought about wouldn't go along the flow if they retired at day two.

Anyways, how did you like the chapter and the strategy Kurushima decided to use for disrupting the GPS Signal on the wristwatch?

I think the Faraday Cage is quite a viable solution, so I decided to use it here for the Island Exam. It's easy, and of course, in regards of the Exam, easily possible.

I hope you liked it, and if any of you could give me some feedback regarding this chapter, it would be highly appreciated. That being said, I naturally added some things here and there that I needed for everything to fit together.

I don't know if the signals of the students while not moving would appear, but just like in the novel mentioned, and I explicitly state, "the student movements are tracked," which gave me the idea, when students aren't moving, the GPS Signal from the wristwatch won't be shown to the teachers.

Of course, I simply could also make it like as Kurushima sees that there's nothing that keeps track record of the GPS Movement, but I liked this more, actually.

I solely tried to create this scenario out of that reason, so please leave a comment there, if you think I should have added something here.

Well, that's all. Have a great day.