COTE: Popularity System

The second day of the Deserted Island Exam.

After the arduous labor of the first day, Class A's base finally looked decent, and it hadn't cost too many points.

"It's really great that we have people in the class with camping experience."

Ichinose Honami said, calculating the expenses in a borrowed notebook and finding that they were much lower than she had imagined.

If people like them, who basically had no experience staying in the wild, had come, they might have wasted a lot of points.

"Ichinose-san, what are the estimated results?" Kanzaki Ryūji walked over and asked after finishing the tasks he was responsible for.

"In the best-case scenario, our class will have over 200 points left." Honami said with a smile.

Everyone had decided to save as many points as possible on the Deserted Island Exam. Coupled with the points gained from Chihiro checking in at the base, if the leader's identity isn't guessed by others, then Class A should end up with over 200 points.

"If Shiranami-san checks in at multiple bases, can we get more points?" Kanzaki Ryūji asked.

Honami said, her eyebrows drooping slightly, looking somewhat helpless, "That probably won't work. Her athletic ability isn't ideal, so she probably won't be able to check in at too many bases in one day."

"Besides, if she goes to too many bases to check in, it will be very easy for other classes to discover the identity of the leader."

Therefore, to be safe, it's better to just check in at the current base.

"Can we only check in at one base?" Kanzaki Ryūji looked somewhat regretful.

He knew that what Honami said made sense. But if they only check in at one base, the points they can get are just too few. Choosing a leader allows them to get 21 points, but there is a possibility of losing 50 points.

Kanzaki Ryūji couldn't help but feel some regret. However, what he regretted was choosing Chihiro as the leader, not the act of choosing a leader itself.

If they had initially chosen people good at sports like Shibata Sō or Andō Sayo, they wouldn't be as helpless as they were now. It really wasn't worth it to risk losing 50 points just to gain 20 points.

But since things had already come to this, Kanzaki Ryūji knew it was too late to think about it, so he brought up another topic.

"Ichinose-san, when are you planning to check on the situation of the other classes?"

Guessing the other classes' leader not only increases your own class's points but also wipes out the other class's temporary points and deducts points from them.

Yesterday, Kanzaki Ryūji and Ichinose Honami had the idea of going to check on the other classes' leaders, but they were busy with class affairs at the time.

Now that the situation at the base was settled and didn't require further worry, they could spare time to scout for information on the other classes.

Ichinose Honami said with a smile, "We can go now. I'll just tell my classmates first. Kanzaki-san, please wait a moment."

"Okay."

After getting Kanzaki Ryūji's response, she ran to her friend's side to talk about their next move.

"Honami, are you going out to scout for information with Kanzaki-san?"

Hearing her words, Himeno Yuki was slightly stunned.

"Is there a problem?" Ichinose Honami didn't understand why her reaction was so big.

"Of course there is a problem." Himeno Yuki said, looking at the oblivious Honami with a helpless expression.

Honami was the center of the class's operations, and Ryūji was slightly less so, but whenever there was a conflict in the class, both of them were needed to mediate.

Moreover, everyone in the class was used to seeking out Honami and Kanzaki to solve problems whenever they encountered one.

If both of them were absent at the same time, Class A would briefly fall into a state of having no leader.

If it were normal times, it wouldn't matter, and there wouldn't be any losses. But now it was during a special exam, a situation where everyone in the class could use the exam-specific points.

If everyone felt like buying something and ended up not being able to find Honami or Ryūji to consult, they might act on their own, leading to a waste of exam-specific points.

"Is there no one else in the class suitable for scouting information?" Himeno Yuki asked, puzzled.

Our great Class A is full of talent, is it possible that we can't even find someone to scout the enemy's situation?

Hearing her words, Ichinose Honami blinked slightly, her expression hesitant.

"Is there really no one?"

Seeing that Honami didn't reply for a long time, Himeno Yuki felt a bit panicked.

"That's not it."

Honami said with a smile, her eyes curving into crescents. "It's just that there are too many suitable people in the class, and for a moment, I couldn't think of who would be best to ask."

People like Shibata Sō, Hamaguchi Tetsuya, Ninomiya Yui, and Tsube Hitomi were actually all very capable students.

It was just that usually, the troublesome matters of the class fell on her and Ryūji, so these people never had the chance to show their skills.

"Then... ask them to go scout for information?" Himeno Yuki asked tentatively.

In her view, leaving everything to Honami was outrageous. Managing the class being Honami's responsibility was one thing. But guiding underperforming students and scouting for information on other classes being left to Honami as well...

This was even more heartless than a capitalist.

"I'll go ask for their opinions first." Honami said, her lips pursing slightly as she smiled. "It's really great to be able to discuss this with you."

Himeno Yuki was slightly stunned and quickly looked away. "I didn't offer any particularly useful advice, I just felt that it wasn't right for everything to be left to you."

She remembered what Takada Hikaru said to her when they were at school.

The class needed her strength.

At that time, she didn't care much, thinking that with her level, just not holding the class back was a success, let alone being able to give advice to Honami.

If even Ichinose Honami couldn't think of a solution, could she, Himeno Yuki, think of one?

However, after the Deserted Island Exam started, she felt that she might actually be of some use. Not to mention anything else, just by preventing Honami from dying of overwork, she had made an excellent contribution.