Cote : I Just Want to Grant Your Wish!

"What if the person can't pay, and their teammates can't afford the burden either?"

"Unfortunately, that person can only be expelled."

"Can other people transfer points to them?"

"I'm sorry, Katsuragi-kun, but transfers are only allowed before the exam begins. Once the exam starts, the school will no longer permit any transfers. The only people who can help you are yourself and your teammates."

"I understand."

After receiving a clear answer from Mashima, Katsuragi Kōhei sighed inwardly.

It seemed relying on Morishita Ai alone would not work.

A strange atmosphere filled the classroom, but there was none of the panic over expulsions that had appeared last time.

"Relax, Katsuragi-kun. This exam will definitely be our victory too!"

Totsuka Yahiko confidently patted his chest. "Everyone just needs to form groups within the class. First, second, third place—we'll take all of them!"

This time, nobody stepped forward to crush Yahiko's confidence. In fact, quite a few people seemed even more motivated than him.

"Hehehe, it's time to let them know the god of the uninhabited island is descending again!"

"Even if we don't get first place, we won't fall to last, right? I'm more worried about whether those other guys will drag everyone down."

"Will the expelled students this time be from Class D again?"

"Our enemy is the first-years... no, our enemy is only the third-years. We can win this."

It was not just the boys. Even the girls did not seem especially afraid. Most of them were simply complaining about how troublesome the uninhabited island would be, what to do about sunscreen, how exhausting it sounded, and things like that.

Kōhei was confused at first, but then he realized that Class A's advantage right now was truly enormous.

The other classes might not even be able to scrape together ten million private points, while they could easily gather twenty million.

Even if Class 2-A were completely wiped out in this uninhabited island exam and lost 600 class points at once, it would take two devastating defeats like that before Class 2-B could even hope to catch up.

Since enrollment, their worst loss had only been around one hundred class points.

Even with this exam's expulsion penalty, the current Class 2-A could save four groups if they emptied all their pockets. And the exam was still next month.

In other words, they still had one more month of private points coming in. Every month, nearly ten million private points flowed into Class A's accounts.

Morishita Ai intercepted half of that every month, roughly four million, as an emergency reserve for the class.

It was terrifying.

As soon as one realized this, a sense of superiority was unavoidable. This was a dragon flying straight at someone's face. With eighty thousand against sixty thousand, how could they possibly lose to the lower classes?

They could crush other classes with private points alone.

No wonder everyone was so enthusiastic about this uninhabited island exam. Besides, expulsion was based on groups across the entire school. Just how terrible would someone have to be to fall into the bottom five groups in the whole school?

The previous mixed-pair exam had at least caused some fear because nobody knew whether their partner would be normal or whether they would drag them down. This time, they had no similar concerns.

Yahiko believed they could simply form groups entirely within their class. All teammates would be their own people, so there would be no need to worry about someone dragging them down or causing trouble.

Unlike last year's uninhabited island exam, Arisu, who should have been absent, would very likely participate this time.

Class 2-A had suffered no loss in fighting strength.

And so, Kōhei saw that almost everyone was smiling.

For some reason, he felt uneasy.

It was good that everyone had confidence, but if they were too confident, he could not help worrying about what might happen if something unexpected occurred.

Thinking of Kaoru's earlier evaluation of the class, Kōhei subconsciously looked toward him, only to find Kaoru holding Masumi's small hand and apparently saying something to her.

Masumi was lying face-down on the desk, her face red as she glared at him.

In that instant, Kōhei suddenly felt extremely tired.

Should he just hand his position over to Kaoru and Arisu?

As long as Kaoru was in the class, he probably would not let Arisu act completely recklessly.

"If you want to discuss, wait until I'm finished."

Mashima's voice interrupted Kōhei's thoughts of retirement. "There is one final explanation regarding this uninhabited island exam. That is the existence of item cards."

As his words fell, everyone's gaze turned toward the PowerPoint slide.

Displayed on it were eight different cards.

Normal Card: Initiative

At the start of the exam, the cardholder can use 1.5 times the normal points.

Normal Card: Double

At the end of the exam, the cardholder's private point reward is doubled.

Normal Card: Halve

When receiving an exam penalty, the cardholder only needs to pay half the private points. This applies only to the cardholder.

Normal Card: Free Ride

At the start of the exam, the cardholder may designate any group. After the exam ends, the cardholder receives half of that group's reward. If the cardholder joins the designated group, the effect is invalid.

Normal Card: Insurance

During the exam, if the cardholder is disqualified due to poor physical condition, they will be given one day of rest. This does not apply to those disqualified for cheating.

Special Card: Additional Member

The cardholder can exist as the seventh member of a group. This takes effect after the exam begins and is not restricted by the gender ratio.

Special Card: Invalid

When the cardholder receives an exam penalty, the cardholder does not need to pay any private points.

Special Card: Trial

The cardholder receives 1.5 times the class points from the reward. The extra reward will be supplied by the school. However, if the group does not place in the top 30%, the group will receive a penalty.

...

Looking at the descriptions of these cards, many students showed confusion and disbelief.

"Is... is this a game?"

Someone whispered.

Although they had already spent a year at this school, the school's methods still felt so strange that even if it suddenly pulled out summoned beasts one day, it somehow would not feel surprising.

"You can roughly understand it that way. These item cards are also part of the exam rules. Each person will randomly receive one of them, and they will be distributed tomorrow morning."

As he spoke, Mashima added the rules regarding item cards.

"Before the exam officially begins, you may freely exchange item cards, but only with students in the same year level. You may not exchange cards with classmates from your own class. Once the cardholder changes, the item card will be permanently bound."

The rules for item cards were simple.

Before the exam, they could be exchanged freely. Whether normal cards or special cards, each card could only be exchanged once. Once the holder changed, it could not be changed again.

The exchange target had to be a student from the same year level. Cross-year exchanges were not allowed, and internal exchanges within the same class were also prohibited. They had to exchange with students from other classes in the same year.

"Also, even if you obtain two identical item cards, their effects will not stack. The same effect can only activate once."

Kōhei's mind stirred slightly.

Then he heard Arisu's meaningful voice.

"In other words, each of us can hold multiple item cards at the same time?"

"You may understand it that way."

Mashima nodded slightly before adding, "Each type of special card exists only once per year level. Since item cards are distributed randomly, it is possible for all three special cards to end up in the same class."

There was nothing to question about that.

Everyone was working hard to digest what Mashima had said.

The appearance of item cards made the uninhabited island exam extremely complicated. For example, someone who would originally be expelled might be able to avoid the expulsion penalty by holding an Invalid card or a Halve card.

"Mashima-sensei, do the effects of item cards apply only to the cardholder?"

"Yes. Only to the cardholder."

Mashima asked, "Any other questions?"

Arisu smiled faintly. "No, thank you for answering, Mashima-sensei."

Mashima withdrew his gaze and said calmly, "I will send the explanatory materials for this exam to you later. If there is anything you do not understand, you may ask me at any time."

He was not worried about Class A's ability.

Since enrollment, Arisu, Kōhei, and Kaoru had already proven their level. Even if he left them to handle things themselves, there would be no problem.

With Mashima's departure, today's homeroom was basically over.

Everyone looked at one another.

"What do we do now?"

The first person to speak was Matoba Shinji. Compared to Yahiko and the others, who were optimistic and confident, he seemed much calmer.

"Simple. Let Katsuragi-kun handle it!"

Yahiko was full of confidence. "We'll get dozens of Double cards and Free Ride cards, then stack them all on Katsuragi-kun. Maybe we can earn tens of millions of private points and hundreds of class points."

Shinji had originally thought Yahiko would spout nonsense again, but after hearing that, he froze.

This method actually sounded possible.

"You want to exchange for that many item cards? The other classes aren't stupid. Putting aside whether they're willing to trade, if they realize what we're doing, they'll focus entirely on Katsuragi-kun's group. Can Katsuragi-kun handle that?"

Hashimoto Masayoshi leaned back with his hands behind his head, looking at Yahiko with a somewhat careless air.

Seeing his opinion opposed, Yahiko became a little dissatisfied. "Why wouldn't they exchange? We have private points, and we can protect Katsuragi-kun too!"

Masayoshi shook his head.

If they wanted to protect Katsuragi-kun, they would probably have to sacrifice others.

He admitted Yahiko's idea was not bad, but it needed adjustment.

With so many strong cards like Kaoru, Arisu, and Kōhei, Class A did not need to adopt such an extreme method.

"Totsuka-kun, is your goal first place?"

Arisu asked.

"Isn't aiming for first place obvious?"

Yahiko was momentarily confused.

"If we want first place, then it's better not to be so direct."

Perhaps because she was in a good mood, Arisu spoke very gently right now. "As Hashimoto-kun said, buying up a large number of item cards will make our intentions very obvious. Every action Class A takes will be watched. The more we want first place, the calmer we must be."

Yahiko had originally wanted to refute her, but in the end, he awkwardly said, "Fine. Then what other method do you have?"

After saying that, he suddenly felt something was wrong.

He was part of the Katsuragi faction. Why was he being so polite to Arisu?

Yahiko's expression became very interesting, making Masayoshi chuckle quietly.

"Although Mashima-sensei explained quite a few rules, we still know almost nothing about the uninhabited island exam itself. How we should act on the island, how we should survive outdoors, and how the exam will actually proceed—the school has not told us any of that yet. Everyone here should understand that better than I do."

As she said this, Arisu's voice carried a trace of apology.

After all, she had not followed everyone to last year's uninhabited island exam. She had purely watched from the sidelines.

"If it's outdoor survival, then it probably won't be too different from last year's uninhabited island exam."

Kōhei spoke. "Last time, there were leaders and base points. This time, there are groups and item cards. The rules are different, but I don't think the core will change much."

"How so?"

Arisu looked interested.

"I think the core is cooperation."

Kōhei said, "The groups themselves are a representation of cooperation. Everyone needs to learn how to survive outdoors together and participate in the exam."

Arisu nodded slightly, then asked, "What do you plan to do?"

"Our preparations should focus on learning outdoor survival knowledge as quickly as possible. After that comes team formation. The item cards can be set aside for now."

Although the effects of the item cards were tempting, the premise was that Class A could rank near the top. Otherwise, they would be of limited use to Class A.

"I agree. Our competitors aren't only students from our own year. There are first-years and third-years too. We can't expect Ryūen-kun to hand us a batch of supplies like last time."

Shinji strongly agreed with Kōhei's suggestion.

"Outdoor survival is important, but team formation is key too, right?"

Yahiko said. "We have forty people now. There's no need to team up with outsiders."

After all, teaming up with other classes would split the rewards. Yahiko was not very willing to do that.

"If we team up only with classmates, won't we be restricted by the gender ratio?"

Someone asked in confusion.

Yahiko had already calculated it and immediately said, "That's fine. We'll first form same-gender small groups, then combine them into larger groups. As long as the gender ratio works in the large group, we won't break any rules!"

Apparently, this guy was not especially stupid.

Masayoshi realized that he might have misjudged him.

"So Totsuka-kun's suggestion is to form groups within the class as much as possible, then have elite students like Katsuragi-kun lead certain groups to take first place."

Arisu smiled and looked toward Kōhei. "What do you think, Katsuragi-kun?"

Kōhei actually thought this idea was not bad.

Because they would all be classmates, it could maximize Class A's greatest advantage.

However, the nature of team formation would become somewhat compulsory. Kōhei was not sure how to handle that, so he simply said, "If everyone has no objections, then I have no objections either."

Yahiko was overjoyed.

He felt that his method could raise Kōhei's popularity even further.

Arisu looked around and saw that nobody objected. Some did not care, while others seemed to think they could finally slack off.

Let Kōhei and Arisu take first place while the rest of them lay back.

That had already become the unspoken understanding of quite a few students.

"It seems nobody objects."

Arisu sighed lightly, then smiled faintly. "Very well. However, I think it would be too heavy a burden to leave this task to Katsuragi-kun alone. Let me and Mitoma-kun serve as insurance as well."

The moment she said that, everyone's expressions became a little strange.

She wanted to team up with Kaoru?

Could that have been her real goal from the start?

A lone boy and girl, on an uninhabited island, sleeping in the same tent at night...

Hmm.