At noon, Hoshinomiya-sensei once again came to Class B's camp to announce the results of yesterday's peeking.
Class A forfeited.
Class B chose to peek at Class D's Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka held a special identity.
Class C forfeited.
Class D forfeited.
For Class B, the only good news was that it was already the sixth day, and Class D had finally exposed a special identity: Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
Most of them had never heard this name before.
They figured Class D must have deliberately assigned an inconspicuous person to an important identity to conceal crucial information.
After receiving orders from Ichinose, Shibata didn't even stop for lunch and set off towards Class D's camp.
The round trip between Class B and Class D's camps took nearly an hour. Without a convenient way to communicate, the fastest method was to transmit information manually.
Shibata knew that cooperation wasn't something that would be immediately agreed to or rejected once proposed. More likely, both sides would haggle and negotiate at the table.
Once it entered the negotiation phase, the time consumed by both sides would be very long, and the points that needed to be gained or conceded might even be beyond Shibata's ability to resolve. It was possible Ichinose would even have to come herself.
So, the sooner he left, the better.
Unbeknownst to him, Shibata's every move was under Amane's watchful eye.
"So, he finally made his move?"
Amane's face showed an expression that confirmed her expectations. She stood up from the rock, brushed off the dust and gravel, and then hurried towards the beach.
"Amane, dinner's ready!"
When Ichinose arrived at the rock with a bento and drinks to deliver Amane's lunch, she couldn't find any trace of Amane.
"Did Amane finally come to her senses? Or... did she just go back to eat? Sigh."
...Class C camp.
Albert, whose food had been depleted, sat by the well, eyes closed in rest.
There were many edible fruits on this island, and some small rivers also had fish that could be used as ingredients. As long as one was active, starvation was not an option.
But Albert dared not act rashly at this moment.
First, there was the ambush on Class D's base. Albert believed Amane would thoroughly search the depths of the forest where he had been hiding, and returning now might cause trouble. Then, someone had occupied all of Class C's bases, causing Class C to lose all its base points.
Although Ryuuen had told him from the beginning that losing base points was not a big deal, it indicated that someone had noticed this area.
The most likely culprits were people from Class B.
This meant Albert needed to be even more vigilant against uninvited guests who might come to the base at any time.
And all the areas where food could be obtained were Class D and Class B's activity zones, completely restricting Albert's movements to the Class C camp.
This was the downside of choosing this camp location: the sea behind offered no edible food, and the forests on both sides were sandwiched between Class D and Class B. A weakened Albert dared not wander now.
Not to mention he was now in a state of having offended Class D... Albert had already decided to tough it out for these two days, considering it a victory if he could last until noon tomorrow when the exam ended.
His only hope was that no one would come to investigate the situation during this time... Sometimes, what you fear most is what happens.
"Isn't that Albert? You really are here."
A familiar voice rang out from a distance, and Albert abruptly stood up, looking in the direction of the sound.
Approaching him little by little from the forest, with her tracksuit tied around her waist, was Amane, whom he had met once before.
"You really did find me. If it's just you, you won't be able to catch me."
Albert forcibly suppressed the hunger pangs from his stomach and began to move his somewhat numb body.
"Why would I catch you? You're just Ryuuen's pawn. There's no benefit in catching you."
Amane came up to Albert and casually threw him a fruit. Albert instinctively caught the fruit and shoved it into his mouth without even seeing what it was, finishing it in no time.
"Are you that hungry?"
Amane was a little surprised, as the island's natural resources were quite abundant, and with Albert's physique, getting some food to fill his stomach shouldn't have been difficult.
There was no way he should be this hungry.
"I haven't eaten anything since we parted ways. Yesterday, I fought that guy from your class and ran back and forth... My situation is very bad right now. By the way, do you have any more?"
Albert's dark face showed no emotion, but Amane felt that this tower-like man was shy?
"I don't think I have anything else... Oh, right, I have a few candies, you can have them all."
Amane threw the last few candies to Albert.
After Albert took the candies, he suddenly remembered something and looked down at Amane.
"If you're not here to catch me, what's your purpose in coming to find me? As you can see, I can't help you with anything now."
Albert's body looked fine on the surface, but prolonged hunger combined with exhaustion had led to a sharp decline in his physical strength. His readiness to fight Amane just now was only sustained by his last bit of backbone.
If it came to a real fight, Albert would probably lose badly right now.
"Of course I have a purpose. On one hand, I plan to help you out, as a repayment for that day. On the other hand, I hope you can help me teach someone a lesson."
Hearing Amane say this, Albert's last bit of caution finally relaxed.
He didn't believe that he would coincidentally meet someone who would help him for free when he was at his lowest.
Only things of equal exchange could make him feel at ease.
"What do you plan to help me with?"
Albert was curious about what Amane intended to help him with. Would she help him with food?
Albert thought for a moment and dismissed that answer. This matter would be extremely simple for Amane, but Class D would never provide him with food.
Other than that, Albert couldn't think of any other help Amane could offer.
"Is your key card no longer usable?"
Amane did not directly answer Albert's question, instead asking about his key card.
Logically, such an important item for a class should not have any related information shared with others.
But Albert generously took it out and nodded.
"When I tried to punch in this morning, it failed. Do you know why?"
After the check-in cooldown period, Albert tried to check in again to occupy a base, but found that no matter how hard he tried, all the bases showed check-in failed, which troubled Albert for a while.
"That's because Ryuuen was holding an expired card. Thanks to that card, all the bases you occupied yesterday were invalid."
Amane's words made Albert's face change drastically.
"The bases occupied yesterday were invalid? Then Ryuuen..."
"He ran for nothing. Breaking the rules means facing the consequences. If you still want to use a key card, I can take you to update its information."
Amane finally revealed her purpose.
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