COTE : Backed By Black Technology System

While Kanda Shuichi was resting in the shade, the system finally made a move.

When he saw this month's system reward, Kanda Shuichi froze in surprise. "Wow, you finally came! I've been waiting for months, System Dad!"

The 4D Pocket! It can only be used to store items given by the system.

Although it's a limited 4D pocket, it's still incredibly powerful. At the very least, with this item, Kanda Shuichi was confident in ensuring Class D's victory in the deserted island test.

The key to this was the item given last month. Because it was quite large, Kanda Shuichi hadn't collected it until now, but it was still available for pickup.

In that case, he decided to fully enjoy the week of camping life ahead.

With his mood suddenly lifting, Kanda Shuichi felt energized.

Noticing the visible change in his expression, Horikita immediately became alert.

"Did you figure something out?"

"Huh? No, I just thought, maybe we should really enjoy this week of camping. It's a rare experience."

Horikita's gaze was filled with doubt, and she began to question her own abilities.

While Class D rested in the woods, other classes had already started their actions.

First was Class A. Although Katsuragi had lost a lot of support, he hadn't given up on his chance to become the class leader.

And this time, with Sakayanagi absent from the deserted island test, it seemed like fate was on his side. Even though he had lost the trust of many students, he was still the most capable person in the class, second only to Sakayanagi.

Even the people Sakayanagi had sent couldn't deny that, so Katsuragi naturally took command of the class during this test.

As long as he could achieve results in this test, he could recover the lost trust.

Sorry, Sakayanagi, I know this is taking advantage of your absence, but you didn't show up, so it's your fault.

Although sneaky behavior could be frowned upon, Katsuragi didn't care about that right now.

Having lost both his parents and relying on his younger sister, Katsuragi wanted to graduate from Class A and secure either a job or a spot in a prestigious university to take care of his sister and repay those who helped him. He was working incredibly hard for that goal.

So when the strange announcement came from the cruise ship, he immediately began to study the island's terrain and marked the key locations he needed to focus on.

When the homeroom teacher explained the rules about bases, Katsuragi quickly caught on and immediately started taking action.

He abandoned the main group, bringing only Totsuka Yahiko, and made a straight line for the best possible base—a cave on the island.

Before the other classes noticed, he reached the spot and successfully claimed it. Although claiming it immediately wasn't his original intention, he felt relieved once it was done.

Now, he could look for other bases and try his best to earn temporary points.

Next was Class B. Their choice was the flat area on the western side of the island, which some students had spotted through binoculars when the ship circled the island. Not only was the land flat and suitable for setting up camp, but there was also a well that could be used.

Although they hadn't been specifically looking for a spot, they unexpectedly found a very good location. Since neither Class A nor Class C headed in that direction, Ichinose, the leader of Class B, quickly decided to head to the flat area on the west side.

As for Class C, Ryuen was very casual about the whole thing. He set up camp right on the beach of the island and immediately started buying supplies. In just one hour, he had built what he called "Ryuen Paradise," and the students in his class showed no signs of worry.

This wasn't really an exam; it was more like a vacation. He had undoubtedly taken full advantage of the theme of freedom.

Back in Class D, they hadn't even decided on a leader yet.

But it didn't matter; as long as they decided before roll call at 8 p.m., Hirata hoped they could discuss it when most people were around.

However, Kanda Shuichi didn't agree with this approach. He had his own ideas, so he went directly to Chabashira Sae, who was not far away.

"Chabashira-sensei, I'll be the leader. Please make a card for me."

Chabashira Sae was a bit surprised to hear this. You want to be the leader? Shouldn't you hate things like this? And is your body really up for it?

Chabashira Sae didn't immediately agree but looked over at Hirata. However, Hirata seemed too busy to pay attention to what was going on here.

"So just to confirm, the leader is Kanda Shuichi, correct?"

"Yes, the first leader is Kanda Shuichi, the second leader is Horikita Suzune, the third is Hirata Yosuke, and the fourth..."

When Kanda Shuichi spoke, Chabashira Sae was left stunned. Wait, what's going on here? What's all this about first and second leaders? Isn't each class supposed to have just one leader?

Am I a fake teacher? Did I read fake rules?

Seeing the expression on Chabashira's face, Kanda Shuichi knew he had guessed correctly. Although he didn't know if multiple leaders could really be chosen, one thing was certain: the teachers hadn't considered this point.

This meant there was a loophole in the rules, a bug in this exam!

It was similar to the mid-term exam, where they could use previous years' questions, but that time the school had deliberately left a backdoor. This time, Kanda Shuichi had discovered the loophole by being proactive.

And the school usually wouldn't fix such rule gaps on the spot. Kanda Shuichi had learned this information from Horikita Manabu after a sudden idea came to him.

So even if Kanda Shuichi brought it up now and Chabashira reported it to the school, it wouldn't affect this exam.

In other words, even if they did fix it, it would only apply to future exams like this one.

"It seems like Chabashira-sensei isn't sure whether multiple leaders can exist. Could you please check on that for me?" Kanda Shuichi said with a pleased smile.

"I mean, isn't it common sense that each class has only one leader? Why would you come up with such a random idea?"

"Is there even common sense in this school? Chabashira-sensei, are you telling me a bad joke?"

Kanda Shuichi's counterquestion left Chabashira Sae speechless, and she shook her head. "I understand. I will confirm this matter right away."

"Chabashira-sensei, wait a moment, I have another question. If this works, will the class teachers of the other classes be kept in the dark? Or, if they find out, will they pass the information on to their students?"

This was a plan he came up with on his own, and he wasn't about to do all the work for someone else.

"You don't need to worry about that. Nothing like what you're thinking will happen." After assuring him, Chabashira-sensei took out her phone and walked off into the distance.

Kanda Shuichi then stretched and returned to the group.

At the same time, Ike and the others, who had set out to explore earlier, returned.

"Listen up! We found a river, a river! It's so beautiful! There's something there, like a device or something! It's probably used to take over a base or something! It's less than ten minutes from here, so let's head out quickly!"

Listening to Ike's description, Kanda Shuichi immediately understood. The device was probably used to mark ownership of a base. By scanning the card, they could take control of the base for eight hours and earn a point of temporary points.

"This is a great find. If we can secure a water source, our situation might improve a lot."

However, Kanda Shuichi didn't feel excited, because once the specific information from Chabashira-sensei came in, all this would no longer matter.

No, it's still important.

If there's a river, they could enjoy seven days of camping life.

Camping life... Kanda Shuichi had never experienced that before.

But now there was one problem—there were still some groups of students who hadn't returned, and they were probably lost.

"Don't worry. If we light a fire, they'll probably see it and come over."

After hearing the suggestion, Hirata agreed it seemed like a good idea, and it would be best to light the fire before it got too dark.

...

"This is it! This is the base we found! Pretty impressive, huh?"

When they reached the river, Ike pointed at the small river and proudly said so. At this point, he actually had the right to be proud.

"Mm. Clean water, a shady spot to hide from the sun, and a flat ground. If it's here, it could make a great base camp. You're really something, Ike."

Hirata didn't hesitate to praise Ike for his contribution, and Kanda Shuichi was also pleased because his plan required a good place to rest.

Although it looked like a small river from the boat, once they got closer, they realized the river was actually about ten meters wide. It wasn't deep, but the water was crystal clear, a rare sight for most people.

Around the river was a dense forest and a gravel path, clearly a result of human cultivation, not natural at all.

Then there was the device Ike mentioned, which was placed under a strange stone. Kanda Shuichi tried to pick it up but found it was fixed into the ground.

It looks like dismantling the devices from other places and bringing them together to occupy them won't be possible. What a shame.

Then, Kanda Shuichi walked to the riverbank to rest, waiting for the news from Chabashira-sensei.

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