Within the deserted island, in a stretch of forest not far from the cave campsite, the enormous tree canopies spread like umbrellas, blotting out the sun. Layer upon layer of trees intertwined, their shadows dancing and swaying, the light dim and shadowy, rendering this already uninhabited, desolate place even more profoundly silent and secluded.
Crack—
A fallen, dried branch on the ground was snapped in half underfoot. Katsuragi Kohei erged from one side of the woods, sweeping his gaze left and right across the forest.
"Co out, Ryuen. What business do you have, calling here?"
"..."
The forest was utterly still. No one answered.
"Since there's nothing, I'll be taking my leave. Don't waste my ti in the future. I don't have the leisure to play guessing gas with you." After waiting for a brief mont, Katsuragi turned around with absolute, decisive finality, ready to leave.
"Don't be so cold, Katsuragi." A faint, rustling sound suddenly ca from a concealed corner nearby. Ryuen Kakeru, both hands shoved in his pockets, strode out from the woods with unhurried steps. "You're the current leader of Class A. Show a little magnanimity."
"If you have sothing to say, say it plainly. I have other matters to attend to." Katsuragi did not turn his head, speaking with his back facing Ryuen.
Ryuen paced to a spot not far diagonally in front of Katsuragi and halted. The corner of his mouth curled into a grin. "Class C's supply points. Are you interested?"
Katsuragi furrowed his brow and turned around to face Ryuen, who wore an unrestrained, arrogant smile.
"What do you an?"
"The aning is very simple." Ryuen spread both hands, his manner brimming with absolute confidence. "That bunch in Class C is far too useless. Rotten mud that can't even stick to a wall. I intend to abandon them and make them the stepping stones for my ascent. I'll burn through all of Class C's supply points. So—are you interested? Naturally, in exchange, Class A would need to pay out the corresponding personal points."
"..."
Katsuragi reached up and rubbed his own bald head. He studied Ryuen's confident expression, then looked down at his own reasonably robust physique. His lips moved slightly, but in the end, he still couldn't bring himself to say what he was thinking.
To say nothing of the fact that Class A currently had no need for such a thing. Among the three first-year classes, there was clearly Class B and Class D to choose from, yet he had specifically sought out Class A. Could it be that he thought I was very easy to swindle? One mont claiming he would beco the leader of Class C, and the very next mont saying he would abandon his class and fly solo?
After having been screw—tempered by a certain soone in his class so many tis, Katsuragi had gradually developed antibodies in this regard. Besides, this acting was still far, far inferior to that certain soone's.
Katsuragi's expression remained perfectly unchanged. "What do you plan to do?" He decided to first probe this guy's background and intentions.
"We'll sign a contract. Your Class A writes down the items you require. I'll redeem them and hand them over to you. Without supply points, Class C will naturally withdraw from this exam. That way, you'll have one less competitor. Of course, if you need, I can also—"
"Goodbye!" Katsuragi turned and left on the spot.
A complete waste of ti!
This guy was most likely planning to sell off the supplies to Class A, execute a zero-point strategy, and then attempt to seize those one hundred and fifty leader-guessing points.
To actually dare treat Class A as a gullible fool. Truly, an inherently evil Ryuen Kakeru.
As Katsuragi walked, he pondered the tasks still uncompleted for the day.
The cave campsite still hadn't been fully set up. The daily water supply hadn't been sufficiently prepared. A certain soone had gone off wandering who-knows-where again. Today's dinner also hadn't been prepared yet...
Back at ho, there had never been this many things to do. Why was it that now, he was feeling increasingly busy instead?
"Tch! Saw right through , did you?"
Eyeing Katsuragi's figure as he left without the slightest hesitation, Ryuen shed his previously amiable tone in an instant. His attitude imdiately reverted to one of brazen arrogance.
"You've got so skill after all. No wonder you can command Class A. But—you should be well aware that this plan is the most advantageous for both you and , shouldn't you?"
"Keep that plan for yourself." Katsuragi tossed back a single line without looking back, the sound of his footsteps vanishing into the silent forest.
"Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit." Ryuen let out a cold sneer. "Katsuragi—you'll regret this!"
...
At the very sa ti, not too far from the location where the two had negotiated, that certain soone Katsuragi had been "muttering and fretting about" was, together with his two companions—Yamamura Miki and Morishita Ai—leisurely making their way through a field of grass reaching knee-height.
Since they had taken on the most critical task of the mont—protecting the Class A leader while, under that premise, successfully occupying each of the various base points—
Fuyuji Mikage's trio had officially obtained immunity from action for the duration of the special exam and comnced the first phase of their mission: reconnaissance.
Morishita Ai, hoisting Fuyuji's personal weapon over her shoulder, walked alone at the very front. From ti to ti, she used the stick to sweep aside the nearby clumps of grass, exactly like a great, swaggering goose, thoroughly enjoying herself.
"Should we go and check in at the base points first?"
Yamamura leaned in close to Fuyuji's ear, her little face flushed as she asked.
"No rush. Let's first get a sense of the island's environnt."
They needed to first figure out exactly how many base points this island had. Take a full circuit first and locate every single base point.
"At night, we won't get up to check in. After a long, exhausting day, rest well. Don't force it for just a few points." Fuyuji turned his head and instructed Yamamura.
The check-in points on the island refreshed once every eight hours. This ant that if they wanted to maintain a base point under Class A's continuous occupation, they would have to get up in the middle of the night and, timing it precisely with the machine's refresh, arrive at the check-in terminal. This kind of situation not only drained the leader's energy and stamina, but also made it extrely easy to be ambushed by mbers of other classes.
Furthermore, considering Yamamura and Morishita's physical constitutions, Fuyuji intended to appropriately forgo those particular check-in windows. For the rest, they would simply go with the flow—if their wandering brought them by one, they would occupy it.
"Mm."
Yamamura imdiately nodded. Wearing a reassured smile, her small hand naturally reached out and gently pinched the corner of Fuyuji's clothes, following right beside him step by step.
By now, they had more or less thoroughly explored this island. Over half an hour ago, they had even passed by Class D's campsite. Over there, they still seed to be locked in endless, irreconcilable argunts over the use of their supply points.
After following along and wandering for a while, Fuyuji sensed sothing was off. Narrowing his eyes, he stared at the figure still eagerly blazing a trail up ahead.
"Morishita."
"You hail Morishita-sama—what business have you?"
"You... wouldn't happen to have gotten us lost, would you?"
The motion of Morishita's stick-wielding arm froze mid-swing. Very quickly, she resud forging ahead as if nothing were wrong. "How could that be possible? The Morishita household possesses the ability to communicate with the forest. I am Morishita Ai, after all. I can sense the very breath of the forest."
"Our current position is less than thirty ters away from that crooked-neck tree we passed five minutes ago." Fuyuji rcilessly exposed Morishita's lie.
"..."
Morishita's body paused. She continued walking forward.
"You heartless man. Couldn't you just pretend you didn't notice and boldly seize the right to lead the way yourself? Morishita-sama's pride is very fragile."
"Heh heh. Before you say that, may I trouble you to return my stick to first? Shaless Morishita-sama."
Morishita imdiately hid the stick behind her back and launched into her classic tirade of sophistry and unreasonable pestering.
"Is this yours? Is your na written on it? What hour, what minute, what second was it writ—"
"Who says it isn't— Why have you stopped?"
The very sa Morishita who had been utterly stubborn and unyielding just one second ago was now frozen rigid on the spot, not daring to move a single muscle.
"Fuyuji Mikage~"
A faint, feeble cry, carrying a tiny crack in the voice, erged from Morishita's lips.
"What's wrong?" Fuyuji's expression shifted slightly. He quickly pulled Yamamura behind himself.
"A snake..." The pitiful, pathetic voice drifted out, spreading through the quiet forest.
A snake?
Fuyuji furrowed his brow. At the sa ti, he gently lifted his foot and slowly, step by step, drew closer to Morishita.
Why hadn't his detection sensed any danger?
To prevent his brain from overloading and turning into a pig's brain, when his detection was activated for extended periods, only things that posed a danger at the subconscious level would be perceived by him. Why hadn't it triggered this ti?
"Where?" Fuyuji reached out and grasped Morishita's trembling hand, gently stroking it a few tis.
"On the right..."
Fuyuji turned his head to look. A few steps away from Morishita, upon the lush, verdant grass, a snake roughly forty centiters long, its body a yellowish-brown color, appeared and disappeared amidst the gaps in the grass.
It was just...
Fuyuji narrowed his eyes slightly. Slowly, his originally grave, serious expression began to lt away. He pressed his lips together, his jaw silently clenching tight.
"Um... that one... it seems to be already dead..." Yamamura poked her little head out from behind Fuyuji's back and weakly, timidly reminded him.
"..."
Dead silence.
An absolute, all-encompassing dead silence instantly shrouded the three of them.
It was as if the forest had pressed a mute button at this very mont. The chirping of the birds in the treetops. The calling of the crickets in the grass. The distant crashing of the waves against the reefs...
The very next second, an irrepressible, utterly unrestrained laugh burst forth from his mouth. Imdiately after, another laugh—reserved, deliberately suppressed and muffled—followed right behind it.
The two sounds intertwined, echoing continuously through the quiet forest. With a flutter and a start, they frightened the birds from the trees.
"Don't you dare laugh! Fuyuji Mikage! Don't laugh! Do you hear ?!"
"Pfft-hahaha— Alright, alright, I'm not laughing anymore. Haha... Stop pinching . Haha... Can't breathe... Just let catch my breath."
"Now! Imdiately! This instant!"
"Haha... Just a mont. I surrender. Oh great deserted island exploration expert, oh great Morishita-sama, through whose veins flows the ancient bloodline of the Amazon, brimming with absolute confidence—please, by all ans, spare ."
...
The lingering glow of the setting sun dyed the sky a warm, comforting orange-red, gradually sinking toward the horizon of the sea.
On the shaded, tree-lined dirt path, Fuyuji struggled to keep his face taut. Having recovered his wooden stick, he now walked at the very front of the group, blazing the trail.
Yamamura had one hand covering her mouth. Her other hand gently tugged along the expressionless, low-atmospheric-pressure Morishita, following step by step behind Fuyuji.
On the other side, the moon peeked its head out. Moonlight filtered through the layer upon layer of overlapping tree canopies, casting shattered, hazy spots of light upon the silent forest floor.
"Fuyuji Mikage! If you dare breathe a word of what happened today, I'll kill you!" Morishita threatened with a fierce little face.
"Oi, oi. What's with that? You're the one asking soone to keep a secret, so how co you're the one turning around and threatening them instead?" Fuyuji countered, a grin still lingering in his voice.
"A stain such as this must absolutely not be permitted to exist in this world. For the honor of the Morishita household, extraordinary asures must be employed."
"So what kind of bizarre, grotesque contrivance have you invented this ti to erase your stain, Morishi—"
Just as the two were locked in their bickering, a heroic, unrestrained, and ceaseless peal of laughter resounded from the depths of the forest. Following the sound, they looked up.
"Hmph hahaha!"
From far to near, accompanied by the rhythmic swaying and rustling of tree branches, a blond man, half-naked, using both hands and feet, smoothly swung and arced back and forth between the various branches. He even executed movents resembling gymnastics in mid-air.
"Beautiful! Truly beautiful! Incomparably beautiful! The who freely weaves through the forest, savoring the wild beauty of nature!"
"Shoo— Shoo— Shoo—"
In just a few short seconds, the Class D oddball nad Koenji Rokusuke had swung from behind the three of them all the way to the front.
"..."
The three of them stared, utterly stupefied, at this utterly preposterous scene.
Morishita: "Tarzan?"
Fuyuji: "That's clearly 3D Maneuver Gear, alright?"
Yamamura: "Isn't it Naruto?"
Koenji, thoroughly intoxicated by his own beauty and unable to extricate himself, seed to notice the three of them. Halting his voice of self-adulation, his body still hanging from the tree, he executed a great looping swing and arced himself back. After repeating this a few tis, he grabbed onto a branch with one hand and dangled right before the group.
"Oh? Isn't this the strange boy who was admiring my beautiful physique at the swimming pool yesterday?" Words with a peculiar, affected inflection erged from Koenji's mouth.
Morishita turned her head and stared at Fuyuji with utter disbelief.
Fuyuji Mikage, you're actually into that?!
Fuyuji glared back at her in exasperation. As if that could possibly be true! Can't you tell this guy has a few screws seriously loose in his head?!
"Well then, strange boy. Allow to ask you... do you find my body, at this very mont, to be beautiful?"
"..."
The three of them uniformly retreated several steps, staring in sheer shock at this utter nutjob of a man.
Morishita reached out and planted a hand squarely on Fuyuji's back.
He's here for you. Hurry up and deal with him!
Fuyuji grabbed hold of Morishita's hand.
At a ti like this, shouldn't you, the master of sophistry and unreasonable pestering, be the one to handle this kind of situation?
Apologies. If it were Morishita-sama of old, she might still have been able to deal with him sowhat. But ever since getting to know Fuyuji Mikage, Morishita-sama's power has greatly declined from what it once was.
Seeing the three of them pulling and tugging at each other without speaking, the blond man flicked his disheveled, flowing hair—mussed from his swinging.
"Is it like this again? So stunned speechless by the sight of my beauty that you can't even utter a word?"
"..."
Fuyuji forced his violently twitching eyes to stop. He was silent for a very long ti. Finally, he squeezed out a single line. "If you feel it's beautiful... then it is, I suppose..."
"Hmph hahaha! To feel it's beautiful—is that truly what makes it beautiful? Correct! No one can define my beauty! Strange boy, you possess excellent insight."
"..." It seed this man had already completely lost himself in his own world.
"However." The blond man rubbed his own chin and sized up the three figures huddled together. "It appears that the beauty possessed by you three is, on this small island, also second only to my own existence. Between you, there exists a rather beautiful bond of friendship."
The three of them, in perfect, synchronized unison, shook their heads violently and vigorously.
No, no, no. You are far too modest. Our beauty is not even worthy of one ten-thousandth of yours.
"Excessive modesty is not a good thing, interesting boy." Koenji raised his head and glanced at the moon, now rising above the surface of the sea. "Most regrettably, I must bid farewell to this beautiful little island for now. Ja ne~ You three most interesting classmates~"
Having spoken, Koenji instantly exploded with strength from his arms. Planting both feet on the branch, he swung back and forth a few tis. In less than a mont's effort, he had already appeared at the cliff's edge at the far end of the island. With a resonant splash, he vanished entirely without a trace.
"..."
The three of them looked at each other, then looked at each other so more. Following the direction in which Koenji had departed, carrying a trace of curiosity and a drama-connoisseur's heart, they silently made their way to the cliff's edge at the island's boundary.
"Clack..."
A tiny pebble, driven by the force of Fuyuji's leg, tumbled a few tis before plunging into the ocean surface with a resonant plop.
Morishita looked down at the cliff, at least eight ters high, with several protruding rocks jutting from the sea below. "How on earth did he manage that?"
Fuyuji rubbed his cheeks, which had gone sowhat stiff, and watched Koenji, who had now beco a re dot upon the surface of the sea. He sighed with heartfelt, genuine admiration. "He's practically Superman."
"But..." Yamamura tilted her head, her voice carrying a note of puzzlent. "That direction should be the cruise ship, right? Is he going back?"
The three of them simultaneously fell into silence.
After a long while, Fuyuji delivered the final summary. "This Class D truly is brimming with outstanding talents."
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