I have a life simulator.

After all, not every group is like Long Yuanxiang, leaving no points behind.

"Judging from the increase, our class ranking will probably surpass Class C in about three more days."

Sakayanagi Arisu analyzed while biting her chopsticks:

"But if the increase in each class remains the same, by the end of the exam, we will not be able to surpass Class B, let alone Class A."

"That's why Liang wanted to upgrade his discount card to the highest possible level. If he could monopolize a certain necessity on the island with an extremely low discount, he would have the opportunity to negotiate with students from other classes."

"Although I think Liang's plan is indeed good, I still think that if that day really comes, the school will also intervene."

Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head and expressed her thoughts. Her grandfather and father had both served as chairmen of the board of directors of Tokyo Advanced Educational High School, so she understood the school's style better:

"In my opinion, the temporary rest area that appeared this morning was a countermeasure that the school had arranged in advance to deal with the cold."

"If we were to list the supplies that everyone on the island needs, drinking water would definitely be the first thing that comes to mind. But if drinking water or even water purifiers are all exchanged for cold drinks, the school could use the 'temporary rest point' setting to bypass the enforcement."

"For example, it is said that Liang did exchange for all the drinking water in the manual, but the drinking water provided free of charge at the temporary rest point and the drinking water in the supplies are not related..."

Sakayanagi Arisu paused here:

"Rather than trying to gain an advantage from the school, I think it would be better to just lie... cough cough, and communicate with students from other classes."

"Ideally, we should take advantage of this to significantly reduce the scores of other classes."

Horikita Suzune and Ichinose Honami both nodded thoughtfully.

"Huh? The phone's ringing?"

"Looks like we haven't completely gone overboard yet."

Sakayanagi Arisu glanced at her watch, which had suddenly vibrated on her wrist, and smiled knowingly.

"Let's leave him out for a while."

-------------------------------------

"During the repair period, I received calls from other people."

"I remember... there were about a dozen."

Hoshinomiya Chie watched Kitagawa Ryo come to retrieve his watch, noticing that there was another girl following behind him besides Karuizawa Megumi from noon. She decided to stop her own little schemes and readily reattached the watch to Kitagawa Ryo's right wrist.

"Take good care of it, after all, it will delay your work on the project and your chances of getting points."

"You've worked hard..."

He thanked them politely, just as he had when he arrived. Before Kitagawa Ryo could finish speaking, Shiina Hiyori and Karuizawa Megumi dragged him back from either side, making Hoshinomiya Chie seem like some kind of monster.

Looking at the dozen or so missed calls displayed on the newly lit watch face, Kitagawa Ryo felt a chill run down his spine. He smiled wryly, pointed to his watch, and gestured to Karuizawa Megumi and Shiina Hiyori beside him to keep quiet before calling back.

Because the first caller was Sakayanagi Arisu, Kitagawa Ryo called back Sakayanagi Arisu. Although the call was connected quickly, it was quiet on the other end, as if someone was silently sulking.

"Hello, Moshi Moshi, can you hear? Hello, hello?"

“…Not very good.”

"My watch broke after being submerged in water, and it wasn't on purpose that I didn't answer your calls."

Seeing that the other party had at least responded, Kitagawa Ryo breathed a sigh of relief and explained somewhat helplessly.

"Isn't Liang supposed to be the E5 area on the back? Why did the watch break after being submerged in water? That area seems to be mostly mountainous."

"A lot has happened. I'm not there right now, but on the beach in the D9 area, right by the port. The school's cruise ship also docks here."

"Huh? D9?"

"It seems to be very close to us."

"We're in C8, right?"

On the other end of the communication line, three voices came through immediately upon hearing the D9 area code. The noise was chaotic and intertwined, lasting for a while before it quieted down again. This time, however, it was Horikita Suzune who was making the call.

"We're in area C8 right now, and we'll pack up and come find Liang soon."

"Just stay there and don't move."

"By the way, are there any other groups next to you?"

Kitagawa Ryo was silent for a moment, then spoke, feigning composure:

"Hui received a reward of a regular card upgrade opportunity in a project this morning, so she came to me to transfer it, and she's right next to me now."

"Then, because the news that Hiyori possessed a special card was leaked to Ayanokouji, Hiyori was also with me for safety reasons."

Both should be reasonable... I guess.

Although Kitagawa Ryo didn't dare say those words.

A cold laugh could be clearly heard from the other end.

"We'll be there soon."

The communication was then disconnected.

One, two, three, four, five.

Kitagawa Ryo raised her head, vaguely remembering the last time five girls performed two and a half plays. It seemed like it was the last time.

The only good news is:

My good brother Sudo doesn't need to be shaken up this time; he's already here.

Chapter 187: This tactic is called feigning indifference to lure the prey.

In a short period of time, Kitagawa Ryo seriously considered a question.

Given that there are seven girls on a deserted island: Honami Ichinose, Suzune Horikita, Arisu Sakayanagi, Megumi Karuizawa, Hiyori Shiina, Ichika Amasawa, and Airi Sakura, how many different combinations of five girls can there be?

This wasn't a difficult mathematical problem, but Kitagawa Ryo kept drifting off into non-mathematical directions as he thought about it. He decided to try his best to save himself before the real battle began.

At this point, the advantage of having all four members of Sudo Ken's group being male became apparent. The situation of one man and eight women (plus Ibuki Mio) was immediately transformed into five men and eight women, increasing the ratio of men to women from one to eight fivefold, which is commendable.

Then, Kitagawa Ryo attempted to create a scene where he was working hard to achieve the results of the exam.

So, when Horikita Suzune and her two companions hurried from area C8 to area D9, they saw Kitagawa Ryo kindly instructing Yamada Albert on how to drive a jet ski. The two were chatting and laughing, riding the waves side by side, chasing each other, perfectly demonstrating the friendship between boys...

"Ashore!"

It seems that Sakayanagi Arisu bought a megaphone with points from the resource exchange point. She tacitly gave one to Horikita Suzune and Ichinose Honami, and the three of them shouted together at Kitagawa Ryo on the sea.

"Yes Yes Yes."

Kitagawa Ryo reluctantly stopped his motorcycle. He walked barefoot on the sand towards the three people, adjusting his sunglasses on the bridge of his nose.

"Three beautiful ladies, would you like to ride a jet ski together?"

"That sounds familiar. Didn't Liang say that to me a few days ago...?"

Karuizawa Kei, who was walking over from the side, quietly revealed the truth. Shiina Hiyori followed behind her and greeted a few people in a low voice.

"Ahem, I think none of the three of them, including Arisu, have ever played with this before, right?"

Kitagawa Ryo raised an eyebrow at Sakayanagi Arisu and the other two. As a master of micro-expression management, he quickly noticed Ichinose Honami's unusual behavior among the three. He then suppressed his feigned frivolous smile, took two steps forward, and put his hand on Ichinose Honami's shoulder.

"What's wrong, Honami?"

"Hmm... I was just a little worried when Liang went missing."

Honami Ichinose smiled and gave Ryo Kitagawa a hug, seemingly oblivious to everyone else, and rested her head on Ryo Kitagawa's shoulder as if nothing was amiss.

"I just hope this exam will end soon."

She whispered very softly in Kitagawa Ryo's ear:

"...I want to go see my mother with Ryo."

Kitagawa Ryo keenly noticed that the subject had been switched. Unlike the promise he made that night, the subject of this sentence had become Honami himself.

"Okay, we'll leave school together to see her."

Ichinose Honami responded to Ichinose Honami's words in a soft voice, and as if she had received a satisfactory answer, she released the embrace with contentment.

"By the way, is Ichinose dating Kitagawa? Why are they hugging each other?"

Not far away, Takeru Sudo, who had also had his fill of jet skiing, stroked his chin and hesitated.

"Huh? I remember Kitagawa was dating Suzune, right?"

Initially reserved, Yukimura Teruhiko became excited after being carried around the sea a couple of times, wiping his water-soaked glasses as he replied in surprise:

"Before the midterm or final exams, weren't they the two of them always summarizing the key points and explaining them to the class?"

"Moreover, the two of them were even deskmates."

"But I remember that the girl who went into Kitagawa's room the most was Sakayanagi, especially before the start of the deserted island exam. I ran into her in the corridor several times. At that time, the boys on our floor didn't dare to go out wearing only their underwear."

As if to make his words more persuasive, Akito Miyake nudged Albert Yamada's muscular arm as he spoke:

"Right?"

"Yes!"

Albert Yamada gave a thumbs-up, grinned, revealing a set of white teeth, but then immediately offered his opinion in broken Japanese:

"Actually, Sakura's attitude towards him was different from her attitude towards other boys."

At this point, Ibuki Mio also joined the conversation.

"Haven't you heard the rumors about Hiyori and Kitagawa? What you're saying is just because these girls are in the same class as Kitagawa and they interact normally. Among the girls in other classes, only Hiyori makes Kitagawa so attentive."

She widened her eyes and spoke indignantly.

"Well, actually, Kitagawa seems to have close ties with Karuizawa from Class B as well."

"Oh right, last time I was pulled aside by that weird Kanzaki from their class and he talked about Kitagawa and Karuizawa dating."

After a long discussion among the group, Akito Miyake suddenly hesitated and said:

"Come to think of it, Kitagawa seems to be a scumbag who's been cheating on many women."

"I've seen animations with this kind of theme, and the male protagonist didn't die peacefully in the end."

"But Kitagawa is in very good physical condition."

"...No, Sudo, I don't think this is a matter of physical fitness."

While the five people on this side were gossiping, Kitagawa Ryo, after calming down Ichinose Honami, explained his plan to the group from beginning to end.

"This is too much of a gamble... If the school doesn't reduce the zone as Liang predicted tomorrow, wouldn't all those points have been wasted? Can't we check the situation tomorrow morning before renting these jet skis?"

Honami Ichinose expressed her views with some concern.

"If it's tomorrow morning, it might not be enough time."

Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head and analyzed:

"The core of this plan is to monopolize every single sea motorcycle. If even one motorcycle is rented out by someone else, the plan cannot continue to be implemented."

"Moreover, in order to complete the act without alerting the enemy, we cannot notify the groups in Class D that are staying in the F4 area in advance."

"Okay, just pick them up first tomorrow morning."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded and added:

"Right now, the only ones who can drive jet skis and guarantee to take people are me, Sudo, Yamada, Miyake, and Ibuki. Actually, the number of people is still a bit insufficient, but there's no other way. There are just too few groups in the south, and we have to be people we completely trust."

Karuizawa Megumi raised her hand again:

"Actually, I can drive it too. I can go with Ryo tomorrow."

The previously calm atmosphere was suddenly reignited by Karuizawa Kei's words. Horikita Suzune was the first to respond, narrowing her eyes slightly and casting a sharp glance at Karuizawa Kei:

"I don't think it's anything that's difficult."

"Even though I've never played it before, I can still learn."

Honami Ichinose clapped her hands together with a snap and smiled at Megumi Karuizawa.

"I……"

“Arisu/Sakayanagi-san, let’s just forget about it.”

Before Sakayanagi Arisu could finish speaking, everyone suddenly stopped her in unison.

Given Sakayanagi Arisu's height and weight, let alone leading someone, even being led by someone always feels uneasy, as if she could be blown away by the wind and waves at any moment.