"Are you choosing this place as your base camp?" asked Chabashira-sensei.
"Yes," replied Hirata.
"Alright," she nodded. "We'll hold the roll call in this place later at 8 PM. Please be on time."
"We understand, Sensei."
After placing our things on the ground, I asked for everyone's attention once more. Hirata and Karuizawa gathered our classmates effortlessly, indicating their positions as the class's other leaders.
"I would like to distribute tasks to everyone. I know some of you aren't used to this yet, so feel free to tell me if you disagree with anything. I'll do my best to compromise."
"Uhm, Ayanokouji-kun, what will you do about the toilet?" Shinohara asked timidly.
"Don't worry about that. According to the manual, we can install temporary toilets. They'll cost 20 points each," I answered.
The girls visibly sighed in relief.
"Don't you think spending 20 points for a toilet is too much? The same goes for other things. We can probably find food on our own, and water won't be a problem with the river here." Yamauchi spoke with reason.
A lot of the boys agreed with his opinion. I'm impressed with his perfectly logical idea which would save us points. The girls started to panic in response. They looked at me with pleading expressions, seemingly asking for help.
Matsushita and Nishimura didn't wait for my response. They decided to debate with Yamauchi on this one.
"No. If you haven't caught up yet, this test isn't about saving up all of our points. That strategy is just not realistic. This is especially true for sanitation. In my honest opinion, this test is all about using our points effectively. Our goal is to get by using the least amount of points possible. However, spending is inevitable," Nishimura explained.
"Won't we get ahead if we restrain ourselves as much as we can?" Yukimura asked, supporting Yamauchi's initial statement.
"Yes, but it's too risky. If the health of our classmates starts deteriorating, our suffering will be all for naught," replied Matsushita.
"It's not just for their physical well-being, too, Yukimura-kun. Using a faulty toilet will build up stress and anxiety for everyone. I support Ayanokouji-kun's decision to buy a good one." Hirata joined the conversation to back us up.
"We'll set a goal. I want us to have at least 150 points remaining by the end of the exam," I said.
"150? You're planning to spend half of our points?"
"Isn't that a little too much, though?"
A lot of the boys voiced their doubts.
"Well, from a realistic standpoint, I think it's already plenty. Remember, we'll be here for a whole week," I explained.
Kikyou, Karuizawa, and Hirata agreed with most of my suggestions. In the end, I managed to convince everyone by promising that there would be no unnecessary spending. Class B had come to an agreement.
After asking for one temporary toilet, I also ordered a bunch of blue vinyl bags. I think I asked for too much, but that's also part of my plan.
"Firstly, I would like the boys to set up the tents. And then, we will order a bunch of fishing rods to hunt for food."
"Can anyone here even fish?" asked Karuizawa.
"I know how! You can leave it to me, Ayanokouji. I'll teach anyone who's assigned with me." Ike raised his hand with a grin.
"Great, I'll be counting on you, Ike. Next, I want to assemble a search party for finding edible fruits in the forest."
"We'll do it!" Kikyou and her friends instantly raised their hands.
"Hmm... Alright, but I want some guys to come with you. Akito, Ken, can you come with Kikyou and her group?"
"Kiyopon, can we tag along with them?" Haruka jumped in with enthusiasm.
"Oh, sure." I nodded in agreement.
"I'm pleased to work with you, Sakura-san, Hasebe-san!" Kikyou happily received my friends from the Ayanokouji Group.
"Leave it to us, Kiyotaka!" Ken and Akito gave me a thumbs-up.
For now, they'll be helping us set everything up. Their group will set out later, around 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
"Finally, I want everyone else to help in securing our things. We'll have to prepare for the first night. It would be nice if we're up and ready before the sun goes down!"
"Sure!"
"We'll do our best!"
"Let's go, Class B!"
Hearing a chain of commands would give them the impression that I have everything figured out. Because of that, my classmates became more willing to hear me out and follow my instructions.
"Ayanokouji-kun, what will we do about drinking water?" asked Hirata.
"Good question. This river is certainly an option, but we have to be extra careful. I assume that a lot of the girls wouldn't want to drink from this, right?" I faced them to take in some opinions.
"No way..."
"Swimming is fine, but drinking? I don't know about that..."
"We might get stomachaches and stuff."
The girls pointed out some valid points.
"I think it's fine. The water is visibly clean. It looks like spring water, too," said Ike.
Of course, the girls still had doubts in their expressions.
"Alright, we'll hold on to this idea. I'm assigning Horikita, Satou, Matsushita, and Mori to check out the source of this river. If it's a spring, then we'll consider drinking from it. And to be extremely sure, we'll be boiling the water for 5 to 10 minutes in order to eliminate all sorts of bacteria." I turned to Ike for confirmation. "Is that a viable method, Ike?"
"Hmm... Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. We used to boil natural water back then, too. I don't remember how long it took, but 5 or 10 minutes should be enough." Ike nodded in response.
"Horikita, Matsushita, Satou, Mori, is it alright if the four of you go right now?" I asked.
"I'm fine with it."
"Same here."
"Yep~!"
Horikita gave me a sharp look before nodding. When she passed by me, I whispered softly and asked her.
"Are you alright? You don't have to force yourself if you're not feeling well."
"I'll be fine. I'll go since I want to contribute as well. But, thank you for your concern, Ayanokouji-kun," she replied.
"Kikuchi, Makida, can you two accompany them?"
The two guys nodded and followed Horikita and the others.
Ike and his pals happily started fishing as soon as Chabashira-sensei provided us with the necessary equipment.
When the temporary toilet was installed, I took a lot of the stacked vinyl bags and arranged them accordingly.
"Ike, do you know how to make a fire source?" I called out and asked him.
"Huh?! A fire source, you say?! You mean a campfire?! I do, but we can probably do that later! It's not even past 1 in the afternoon!" Ike yelled from a distance.
"Oh, I think a campfire is essential in the night, but I'm just talking about a small fire source," I elaborated.
Sensing that I had some sort of plan, Ike gave his fishing spot to Hondou and approached me.
"Inogashira-san, you're quite good with handling craft stuff, right? Can I have a word with you for a moment?" I called out to another classmate, Inogashira. According to Kikyou, she was good at things like knitting and stuff like that.
Well, I'm not really planning on making her knit anything, but I'd like her help, regardless.
"M-Me? You need something from me, Ayanokouji-kun?!"
She was surprised and flustered. I didn't talk much with her, so it was perfectly reasonable. After some encouragement from her friends, including Kikyou, Inogashira finally approached me and Ike.
"These vinyl bags are supplied to us in unlimited amounts, remember? I thought we could use them in other ways."
"Uhm, are you talking about blankets or pillows, Ayanokouji-kun?" Inogashira asked meekly.
"Exactly."
"Ohhh! So that's why you wanted a fire source! Good job on picking that up, Ayanokouji!" Ike finally understood what I was trying to do. "Wait, can I borrow the manual for a bit?"
I gave the manual to Ike. He was looking for an item that should've been the obvious option. I was careless and overlooked it.
"Here! We can order a bunch of candles just for 2 points. We won't need to build a fire source if you're willing to spend that much."
"I think getting those candles is the best option. If some of them are left for future use, we can save up the battery life of our flashlights."
"You're planning to attach some of the vinyl bags together by burning them, right? Won't we get in trouble?"
I turned to Sensei, indicating that we wanted her to answer.
"If you're going to use candlelight to manipulate the physical structure of these vinyl bags, then it won't be enough to be considered polluting the air. However, once the testing period is over, you'll have to dispose of them properly. Leaving them on the island won't be an option since it will be considered as land pollution," she explained.
"We're in the green then."
"Just be careful about handling fire in general."
And with that, another plan was followed through.
Under my orders, some boys were assigned to pull out some grass and weeds. The girls working with Inogashira stuffed them inside the vinyl bags. They then used candlelight to carefully close up the opening of the vinyl bags. Just like that, we made ourselves some pillows. It was way easier with the blankets and mats. We just cut the vinyl bags open and reattached them using the same method.
"Our base camp is progressing nicely. Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun," said Hirata.
"Nah, it's all thanks to everyone's cooperation. Ike's camping knowledge had been a lot of help, too."
"If you weren't leading us, I doubt we could do everything as effectively."
A lot of my classmates voiced their praises and gratitude towards me.
Time passed by quickly and it was already 2:15 PM.
"Kouenji, do you want to scout out the island with me?" I asked.
For the past few hours, Kouenji did nothing but relax on top of a tree branch. The class was obviously displeased with his carefree attitude, but we've already taken his behavior into account.
"Hoh? Are you asking for my company, boy? I certainly don't swing that way, but if it's not your intention, then maybe I'd be willing to come." Kouenji smiled while giving me a sharp glance.
"I wanted to check out the island's central area. You've probably rested enough. Are you up for it?"
"Hmph, I suppose going out for an exercise isn't a bad thing for this already perfect body of mine."
Kouenji dropped down elegantly and walked past me.
"We'll head out on the opposite side now, Kiyotaka-kun," said Kikyou.
"We'll be back by sundown." Akito waved at me.
After setting out, I finally caught up to Kouenji's considerably fast walking pace. He started climbing up the trees with speed like a shinobi. He certainly seemed like a city boy like I am, but his quick movements indicated otherwise.
While observing my surroundings, I followed his lead and started climbing on top of the trees.
"Ah, my impeccable perfection is complemented by the beauty of nature."
He started talking to himself while basking in the sunlight.
"I truly am beautiful— just perfect."
Kouenji had an absurd amount of stamina. He didn't even look tired even after jumping from one tree to another.
"You're still here, boy?" He sounded like he just noticed my existence this time.
"Why'd you stop?"
"Hmm... As a common folk, I would like to ask you something." I wasn't sure where he was looking since his back was facing me. "Do you notice anything?"
I looked at my surroundings with critical awareness. The land, the types of trees, the terrain, the plants, the soil...
I see...
I jumped to where Kouenji was. We were currently standing on top of two huge branches on opposite sides of the same tree.
"The way to the cave is right there... And it seems like there's an unnatural plot of land if we head a little bit south from here."
"It seems like you have at least a decent pair of eyes, Ayanokouji-boy."
"Are you finally willing to help the class, Kouenji?"
This was the question that we, of Class B, wanted to ask this flamboyantly narcissistic classmate of ours for the longest time.
"Help? What kind of question is that?" Kouenji disregarded my question as some sort of nonsense.
"Well, you just showed me a way to some key locations. I guess I can consider that as help."
Kouenji scoffed before finally jumping off the tree. Of course, I followed him down.
"Let me make something clear. I do what I want to do. I couldn't care less about what was happening in the class. If my actions benefit them, then that's that. Of course, the opposite is also true." Kouenji's wide smile was unchanging.
"Then, you won't stop even if your actions compromise our class's points as long as you will it so?"
"Naturally." Kouenji fixed his hair with a harrumph. "And just so you know, I find this test extremely boring."
He glanced at me with a provocative smile.
"What are you saying?"
"Oh, come on, Ayanokouji-boy. You're not someone at the bottom of the food chain. I'm sure you can infer what my intention is."
"You're planning to retire?"
"Is there a problem with that?"
"We'll lose 30 points because of it."
"I don't think that's my problem."
"You're a member of the class, aren't you? Wouldn't you want to help us reach Class A?"
"Hmph, if you think I care about that, then you're sorely mistaken. This school is just not aware of my boundless potential. It doesn't matter whether I'm in Class A or D, for that matter. I will simply do what I want."
"I see... Is there any way for me to convince you?"
"It's up to your imagination."
*Fwip*
*Thud*
I launched a roundhouse kick towards his head. Kouenji successfully defended against the blow by using his arms.
"Oho? I didn't expect you to have a feisty side, Ayanokouji-boy. I can't decide if I like it or not."
"Don't you want to strike back, Kouenji?"
"Hmph, I would do so if I wanted. But I don't find your existence ugly, so I'll restrain myself this one time."
"Is that a threat? What if I don't stop?"
"Then I'll have no choice but to punish you accordingly." Kouenji's arrogant grin remained firm.
"Punish me? Do you think you're capable of doing that?"
Kouenji didn't respond. He simply started walking away. As expected, he felt that I was still holding back with my kick. Despite that, his forearm got bruised. Kouenji should be aware of our difference in power right about now.
Just from that encounter, I could easily tell that Kouenji was an absolute unit of a fighter. Exercising daily really helped me retain at least some of my previous strengths. I wouldn't have dealt that much damage if I continued neglecting my physical condition.
There wasn't a rule about engaging in a violent confrontation with a fellow classmate. However, even if I do beat him, he will use the injuries he'd sustain as a reason to retire, regardless.
Despite everything, Kouenji was still unfazed and confidence filled his smile.
"Are you seriously retiring?"
"Hmph, I'm feeling unwell. I have no choice but to do so," he smilingly replied before continuing his march. "See you later, Ayanokouji-boy."
And with that, Kouenji turned around and headed back in the direction of our base.
Sigh... He really is a troublesome guy.