"Oh, isn't that Ryuuen-san? Are you planning to give up on the exam?" Amane approached him with a very enthusiastic smile, greeting him.
"If you don't want to smile, you don't have to. I don't care about boring things like etiquette," Ryuuen said, unable to help himself, looking at Amane's smile that practically screamed 'fake'.
"Then I shall humbly comply."
Amane also put away her feigned smile.
Ishizaki and Ibuki, who were talking to Ryuuen, saw that Amane seemed to want to talk to him and immediately turned and walked towards the cruise ship, clearly deliberately avoiding Amane.
Of course, it was also possible they were afraid of interrupting Amane and Ryuuen's conversation.
"The irrelevant people have all left. Can we talk about Class C forfeiting the exam now?"
Amane simply didn't believe Ryuuen would give up on this exam for no reason.
Even if abandoning the exam might be the best trump card, Class C giving up on the third day was simply too early.
"If it were you, you should know why I gave up. The optimal solution for this exam is to give up. If a few classes could unite, they could get a huge amount of points. What a pity, they are all just a bunch of timid rats."
Ryuuen's sarcasm seemed to be pointed.
However, Ryuuen was right. After hearing the rules, Amane had already designed her proposed plan.
Gather all classes, publicly reveal the key card holders and infiltrators, then have the entire class spend all their points to buy food. Each class only needed to leave one exchange student on the island to check in at the base camp on time every day.
This way, by the end of the exam, each class would have at least 650 to 700 class points.
You read that right, it's 650 to 700 class points.
An exchange student who correctly guesses the key card holder can get 50 + 50 points, and correctly guessing the infiltrator can get an additional 100 points, totaling 200 class points.
Besides their own class, there are three other classes, which means they can get 600 class points. A base camp can be occupied three times a day, so if there are four base camps, that's 12 class points a day, and for seven days, that's 84 class points.
In other words, if everyone could cooperate, only one person would need to stay on the island to get a minimum of 684 class points.
Everyone else would enjoy a seven-day vacation as if they were on holiday.
Of course, this is the most ideal scenario.
It's obviously not very possible in reality.
Then Ryuuen's actions are worth scrutinizing.
"That's true, but getting four classes to trust each other is not much easier than climbing to heaven. Moreover, because of you, Classes B and D both have quite a few prejudices against you. It would be a miracle if they agreed to you. However, Class B might not learn from its mistakes, so if you play some tricks, you might be able to get them to agree to cooperate, but it's useless if the other classes don't agree."
No sooner had Amane finished speaking than she heard Ryuuen's applause.
"That's right, you're absolutely correct. In fact, my actions were mainly to make everyone trust each other. Our enemies are not each other. As long as we unite, we can enjoy a pleasant school life for three years. Therefore, Class C intends to give up some benefits, hoping to gain the trust of all classes. Unfortunately... Horikita, that guy, is stubborn and refused my good intentions. I hope you can go back and persuade her, after all, isn't it better to have one more friend than one more enemy?"
As Ryuuen spoke, he handed Amane the contracts signed by the other classes to look at.
Amane glanced at them roughly.
The content roughly stated that Class C guaranteed the authenticity of the specific names of the key card holders and infiltrators it provided. Other classes could, through exchange students, write down the names of the corresponding Class C members after the exam, earning about two hundred class points, and would need to pay Class C a total of 400,000 personal points each month as compensation, continuing until graduation.
If Class C personnel changed, the agreement would become invalid.
Agreements A and B were identical, signed by Ichinose Honami and Katsuragi Kohei, respectively.
The only one missing was Class D's agreement.
Looking at this agreement, Amane immediately realized Ryuuen's plan.
"What kind of nonsense are you trying to pull with this thing?"
Facing Amane's ridicule, Ryuuen spread his hands.
"Whoever wishes to be hooked."
Ryuuen's matter-of-fact expression made Amane's teeth itch.
"Aren't you afraid I'll tell them your plan?"
Amane intended to test Ryuuen.
But the result left Amane a little disappointed.
Ryuuen simply didn't fall for such a simple trick.
"In the face of profit, what friends are there? I remember you and Ichinose had a good relationship before, and you helped them a few times. What was the result? I just used a hundred class points to coax them into pointing their guns at you. To be honest, I don't believe you are really so magnanimous that you can even forgive betrayal. Don't you want to see them display the ugliest side of human nature?"
Ryuuen's words accurately hit Amane's soft spot.
It wasn't that she didn't want to act against Class B, but Ichinose's attitude made her a bit unsure how to proceed.
Now that Ryuuen had made Class B bite the bait, why should she persuade them? Not to mention that she wasn't a kind person to begin with, even if she went and told Ichinose that it was a trap.
If Ichinose believed it, would Class B? In the end, even if Class B was willing to listen to Ichinose and tear up the agreement, Class B still wouldn't appreciate her. So why should she meddle?
"So you're convinced I won't go and persuade them, huh?"
"I just don't believe you're a saint."
"Tsk."
Amane let out a click of her tongue in displeasure.
But she had nothing to say.
This time, Ryuuen had accurately grasped everyone's psychology.
"What a pity, this exam is really too simple. I didn't get a chance to cross paths with you. If there's an opportunity, I'd like to properly learn from you."
Ryuuen seemed a little emotional.
However, Amane was too lazy to bother with him now. She gave him a roll of her eyes and turned to go back to the tent to wait for the upcoming barbecue dinner.
Anyway, Class C was leaving, so why not eat while she could?
At 8 PM, after all classes had taken attendance, Katsuragi Kohei came with Totsuka Yahiko, Ichinose Honami with Kanzaki Ryuji, and Horikita Suzune with Hirata Yousuke to Class C's base camp.
"I didn't expect so many people to see me off."
Ryuuen wiped his greasy fingers with a tissue, casually tossing the lamb leg bone into a nearby trash bag.
"Your barbecue is really luxurious. To be honest, I'm a little envious of your approach."
Katsuragi sniffed the aroma of barbecue meat wafting in the air and said with an envious expression.
"Oh? Then why don't you Class A leave like us? After all, you also have guaranteed points."
Katsuragi was stunned for a moment when he heard Ryuuen's words, then shook his head.
"If it were just me..."
Katsuragi didn't finish his sentence, but everyone present could roughly understand what he meant.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Ryuuen didn't dawdle.
He immediately organized the Class C students to board the ship, leaving only Shiina and Ryuuen behind.
Because if a key card holder's exam qualification is revoked, a new person needs to be selected, so the key card holder must be the last to leave.
Ryuuen boarded the cruise ship first. Shiina waved at Amane, then jogged to catch up with Ryuuen.
Unfortunately, Amane, lying on the ground, didn't see Shiina's wave at all.
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 70 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!