COTE: Popularity System

The Deserted Island Exam ended.

People from all four classes arrived at the place where they had initially landed.

Compared to the other classes, Class C, with only Ryūen Kakeru, appeared exceptionally unique.

"Ryūen is still on the island?" Ichinose Honami felt uneasy at the sight.

Since he was still on the island, that meant the claim that Class C had collectively given up on the exam was completely a lie.

Kaneda Satoru, who came to Class A, and Ibuki Mio, who went to Class D, were not driven out by Ryūen Kakeru at all, but were following his instructions to gather intelligence from other classes.

Was Shiranami Chihiro's identity... exposed?

The students of Class 1-A couldn't help but start to worry.

"Ryūen Kakeru, I should say thank you to you here."

Katsuragi Kōhei walked out from his class's team and came in front of Ryūen Kakeru to say, "Thanks to you, our class was able to get over 540 points in this exam."

Hearing this, Ryūen Kakeru grinned. "I should thank you too."

Compared to the class points that could be deducted at any time due to special exams, it was more cost-effective to have a contract and receive 800,000 private points every month.

However, what truly made Ryūen Kakeru laugh was Katsuragi's confident appearance at this moment.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of expression he will have when he discovers that the final points are not as high as expected.

After finishing the conversation with Ryūen Kakeru, the high-spirited Katsuragi Kōhei did not return to his class's team, but walked in front of the boy from Class 1-A.

"Takada-san, what do you think of the strength I displayed this time?" Katsuragi Kōhei asked.

It turned out he still remembered the incident during the Sudo fight arc. At that time, Takada Hikaru used the excuse of exploring his strength, while simultaneously causing trouble for Class C.

Katsuragi Kōhei was afraid of getting involved in trouble and didn't accept it, but Sakayanagi Arisu utilized that video to make a huge profit.

From this perspective, it was as if to say that his strength was simply not comparable to Sakayanagi Arisu's.

"Kōhei-san, it wouldn't be too late to talk about this after the results are announced, don't you think?" Takada Hikaru said with a light smile.

"Then I will ask you to make the correct judgment when the time comes." Katsuragi Kōhei turned around and returned to Class B's position.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka silently watched the bickering between the leaders of several classes, his expression incomparably calm.

No matter how you argue, the person who wins in the end will only be me, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

"Students, thanks for waiting."

Hoshinomiya Chie held the microphone and stood at the front of the line, a gentle smile on her face.

"Thank you all for enduring a week-long exam on the deserted island. Now, I will announce the results of this test."

"First, the last place finisher, Class C, with 0 points."

Hoshinomiya Chie's voice was gentle and sweet, but her words struck Ryūen Kakeru's head like a hammer.

What?!

Ryūen Kakeru's eyes widened, his face filled with shock.

After struggling through wilderness survival for so many days, the original goal was to earn 150 or more Class Points by guessing the leaders of the other classes at the end.

The result, however, was 0?!

Where exactly did things go wrong?

"The second to last place finisher is Class B, with 120 points."

Hearing the results announced Hoshinomiya Chie, Katsuragi Kōhei, standing at the front of Class B's line, also showed a look of disbelief.

Not only did Class B's points fail to reach 540, but they only reached 120 points.

This meant that Class B's leader was guessed by another class, causing their temporary points to be invalidated and resulting in a 50-point deduction by the school.

Furthermore, they might have even guessed Class D's leader incorrectly. Instead of gaining 50 points for guessing another class's leader correctly, they lost 50 points for guessing incorrectly.

A slight cold sweat broke out on Katsuragi Kōhei's face, and a feeling of panic arose in his heart.

In this exam, Class B only earned 120 Class Points. However, they had to give Ryūen Kakeru of Class C 800,000 points, equivalent to 200 Class Points.

In other words, Class B's net gain in this exam was -80 Class Points!

"Katsuragi, didn't you say we would get at least 540 points in this exam?!"

After hearing the announcement, the students of Class B immediately realized that their class had lost miserably in the deserted island exam.

The students of the Katsuragi Faction were able to restrain themselves slightly. But the students of the Sayanagi Faction were not polite at all.

Morishige, the most temperamental among them, rushed forward and grabbed Katsuragi's collar, looking as if he was about to swing his fist at his face the next moment.

"Morishige, stop."

Class B's homeroom teacher, Mashima Tomoya, seemed to have anticipated this, and he came to the side of Class B's line with a stern face, stopping the students' argument in a low voice.

"Tch..."

Seeing the homeroom teacher approach, Morishige reluctantly lowered his fist, then warned unhappily, "Katsuragi, don't think this matter is over. When we get back to the cruise ship, the Sayanagi Faction will absolutely not let you off the hook."

After speaking, he returned to Class B's line.

After calming the students' emotions, Mashima Tomoya sighed slightly, then looked toward Hoshinomiya Chie nearby. "Hoshinomiya-sensei, please continue."

Hoshinomiya Chie nodded, then continued to announce the results in her soft, sweet voice. "The third to last place finisher in this exam, which is also second place, is Class A, which received 140 points."

"140 points?"

Honami and the other Class A students were slightly stunned, and a bitter feeling rose in their hearts.

Since they did not receive more than 200 points, it meant that all the temporary points gained through check-ins were invalidated, and points were deducted because their leader was guessed correctly.

"Was Kaneda-san really a spy sent by Class C?"

After learning the results, the Class A students showed varying degrees of sadness and melancholy on their faces.

They had gotten along well with Kaneda Satoru during this time and felt that he shouldn't be the type of person to do such a thing. But the final result showed that Kaneda Satoru had deceived them.

'It turned out this way after all.' Himeno Yuki's eyebrows lowered slightly, feeling somewhat discouraged.

On the very first day Kaneda Satoru came to Class A, she knew the class leader was bound to be exposed. Events unfolded just as she expected.

Through days of interaction, Kaneda Satoru guessed who the Class A leader was and even had others submit the leader's name.

'Takada-san must have predicted this day long ago, right?'

Himeno Yuki slightly turned her head and looked toward Takada Hikaru in the middle of the line, only to see him looking completely unconcerned, appearing indifferent to Class A's failure in this exam.

"Next is the first place finisher in this exam, Class D, which received 220 points."