After a leisurely watch of the sea with Shiina and Ibuki, the group received a new movement order and returned to their vehicles for the next area.
As they left, whether by being noticed or by chance, they ran into Yagami from Class 1-B, who was leading his own squad and waving at cars—clearly trying to intercept.
Yukio found this interesting: first-years working together to block his class's scoring, and Yagami showing up here was notable. He stopped to see what Yagami intended; Kaneda, who had planned to travel with them for a stretch, braked too and watched.
"President, I didn't expect it to actually be your car," Yagami said, playing innocent and stepping up with a cheerful grin. "When I saw the car earlier I thought it might be you, so I waved. Guess I'm lucky."
Lucky? Yukio wanted to laugh. After eight days of driving around, students probably memorized which license plates belonged to which Yukio-class team—who's he kidding with "luck"?
Before he could respond, Koenji swung out of the roadside trees like he always did—his blonde hair glossy, his broad frame filling his tracksuit. He strode out and, ignoring Yagami, brightened at the sight of Yukio. "Oh! Finally found you!"
Yagami frowned inwardly at being snubbed. Yukio didn't care for Yagami's feelings; from Koenji's tone he caught the meaning. "Koenji, you were looking for me?"
"Hahaha!" Koenji laughed, a loud, almost operatic sound. "I promised my class a deal with Horikita-girl."
"As long as I go all out in this practical, score as high as I can, and suppress you, D-class will leave me be from now on."
"Although I'm perfect, I still don't want everyone in class calling out and disturbing my beautiful mood all day long, hahaha!"
As he kept talking, Koenji threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Yukio half wanted to hand him a knife so he could finish his little performance—"I laugh at the sky with my sword drawn; after laughing I sheath it and sleep; wake up, pick it up, and laugh some more." (T/N: Someone got the reference?)
Shaking off his wandering thoughts, Yukio finally understood why Horikita had said she was targeting his trump card: she wanted Koenji to pin him down.
Still, both Koenji and Horikita were a little overconfident. "So, Koenji, can you actually do it? Your score is close to the top five, but you're still some way off our top three."
Koenji didn't seem bothered by the gap in scores—bluntly confident. "I'm the most beautiful! From start to finish, the most beautiful will always be me."
"You'll lose quickly to my perfection, even if you use the jeep's advantage!"
Ishizaki standing nearby was baffled. He'd heard about Koenji—supposedly a difficult guy to talk to—but seeing him today, he realized it was worse: this guy was essentially impossible to communicate with. He kept opening his mouth to say "beautiful" and closing it with "pretty," and nobody could tell what he was laughing about.
Yukio, however, felt a little entertained. "So you want to try? My next move is to sector F3."
At that, Koenji's eyes lit up. "What a coincidence! Mine too! The tablet even shows F3 as the best place to display my beauty!"
He meant it wasn't just a race to get there first—they were going to compete in whatever task awaited in that sector. Yukio agreed; he was curious to see Koenji's level.
Seeing Yukio nod, Koenji dashed back into the forest, leaping along the treetops like Tarzan, grabbing vines and swinging forward, letting go to grab the next vine and hurtle through the jungle toward the sector.
"Hahaha! I'll be waiting ahead, Yukio! Hahaha! I'm too beautiful!"
With that he vanished, clearly sprinting through the trees. The jeep couldn't go into the forest.
According to the tablet map, cutting straight through those woods was the shortest route to F3 from their current location. Driving would require a detour—probably why Koenji felt confident. He trusted that his speed through the forest would outmatch Yukio's detour-by-jeep.
"Damn! He got a head start, Yukio-aniki!" Ishizaki pointed at the woods and accused Koenji of cheating, but Yukio stopped him.
Yukio didn't care about Koenji's jumpstart. He walked back to his jeep, took out a lighter and a strip of cloth—on an uninhabited island, a lighter and cloth have plenty of uses.
He casually lit the cloth. Flame leapt up instantly; the smell of burning fabric spread, leaving the surrounding students puzzled, unsure what he was doing.
Yukio walked straight up to Yagami and held the burning cloth near his right arm, making Yagami flinch and instinctively step away from the flame. "P-President, what are you—?"
"Huh?" Yukio looked at him with mild curiosity. "Are you afraid?"
Yagami's mouth caught the faint taste of sawdust again. Afraid? What a joke. He was the top student of the White Dorm's fifth class—how could he be afraid? Pride forced him to suppress his instincts. He let the flame come close to his arm without pulling away.
He even smiled cheerfully. "Not afraid. I know you'd never actually hurt me, President."
"Good to know." Yukio replied lightly, offering no further explanation. Yagami was puzzled, but then everyone understood a moment later: Yagami's safety watch began to shriek, and the sky filled with the thumping of rotors.
The continuous high heat of the cloth had tripped Yagami's safety watch's automatic distress signal. That brought the cruise ship's helicopter roaring in.
The helicopter's rotors churned the air, whipping up dust even as it landed, making the ground look noticeably cleaner.
"Is there an injured student?" the medic asked as he hopped down from the co-pilot seat, urgently looking around. This was the first injured student on the island since the special exam—someone needed treatment.
But when they looked, everyone was fine. Nobody showed signs of distress; it was as if no one had been hurt at all.
"Thanks." Yukio told Ishizaki to watch his jeep, then climbed into the back of the helicopter. "Take me to F3. It's just a run. Two hundred thousand private points should cover it."
Everyone gaped. Only when the helicopter took off again did they realize Yukio's plan: he'd use the helicopter's mobility to trample over Koenji.
Poor Koenji—he could run and jump all he wanted, but he couldn't outrun a helicopter. A head start meant nothing; Yukio would easily overtake him.