Book 15: Chapter 4: Surrounded on All Sides – Kōenji Vs. The Free Group, Part 1
A little after 6:30 AM on the following morning, the eleventh day of the exam, the Kiriyama group and the six Free Groups had successfully surrounded Kōenji’s campsite.
Kiriyama prompted Mikitani for an update.
“What’s the situation?”
“There doesn’t seem to be any movement inside the tent yet, so he’s prolly sleeping like a log right now. Though, it’d sure make things a lot easier for us if the dude just fell sick and slept the whole day like this.”
It was at this time that Mikitani voiced a suggestion, not only to Kiriyama but to the nearby members of the Free Group as well.
“Hey, why don’t we trap him in his tent before he gets a chance to come out? If we make it so that he can’t pack up his campsite, the guy won’t be able to do anything.”
Upon hearing Mikitani’s suggestion, the other members of the Free Group began to nod in agreement. Kiriyama, however…
“It’s true that if we stall him here long enough, we can delay him from making it to his first designated area on time. However, how exactly would we explain ourselves if a third party saw us doing that? We need to refrain from doing anything that might seem crude to onlookers, even if it means doing something less effective overall.”
Even though they were already violating the rules, they had to prioritize reducing the risk as much as possible.