I have a life simulator.

They might share this as interesting information during an evening dinner, but during the time spent traveling around the island searching for suitable group topics, it's actually quite difficult for the various groups scattered across the island to establish communication and share their information.

Moreover, even if Kitagawa Ryo realizes this through his intelligence network, he will still have to make a choice.

Which side should we save?

still--

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji nimbly traversed the mountain forest, his steps heading straight for a task whose first-place reward included an opportunity to upgrade a common card.

To stop himself?

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The topic of "Folding Newspapers to Play Rock-Paper-Scissors" was presented on-site.

Shiina Hiyori and Ibuki Mio stood together in the center of the newspaper. The newspaper, which had not yet been folded, took up a considerable amount of space, and there was plenty of room for the two girls to stand together.

Their first opponent was Ryoko Nishikawa's group from Class 1-A.

This is the only group in Class A consisting of four girls. Compared to the other two mixed groups, which were already struggling to stand on the unfolded newspapers, their size was undoubtedly much smaller, and they seemed quite at ease.

According to the rules of the game, Hiyori Shiina has to play rock-paper-scissors with each of the four opponents, followed by Mio Ibuki. The team with the higher total score in these eight rounds of rock-paper-scissors will win, and the losers will have to fold the newspaper once.

Hiyori Shiina had pretty good luck, winning three and losing one of her four rounds, but Mio Ibuki seemed to have less luck, only managing one win.

Faced with this tie, the teacher in charge, in accordance with the rules, allowed each group to choose one person again for a life-or-death battle.

But rock-paper-scissors ultimately comes down to luck, and without any understanding of the opponent's playing habits, it's difficult for Hiyori Shiina to master any winning techniques.

In the final, life-or-death battle, her scissors still struck the stone.

"If I could have won one more game..."

Ibuki Mio gritted her teeth, somewhat unwilling.

"It's okay, it's just the first round."

However, Hiyori Shiina shook her head rather calmly. After refolding the newspaper, the initial area was reduced by half, but the two of them were still able to stand steadily in the center.

Meanwhile, as if they had planned it in advance, the three boys in a group that lost cleanly and decisively carried the remaining girl on their backs in a "four-person horseback riding" style after folding the newspaper. The three of them, shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot, managed to advance to the next round without eliminating a single person.

Shiina Hiyori's opponent in the second round of the group was the Class A team from the other half of the bracket that had just won. However, after only two rounds, the other side had a clean and decisive result.

Ryoko Nishikawa's team, who had just won, easily lost the game. After folding the newspaper, the four girls formed a circle, with the two on the outside each raising one leg, barely maintaining the configuration of four people.

"They are controlling the score."

Even Ibuki Mio realized this after witnessing it.

It was obvious to anyone with eyes that if the group that lost in the first round had lost again, they would have inevitably lost members, but they won quite easily, as if it had been pre-arranged.

House seemingly endless rain.

In the second round of matches, Shiina Hiyori's group suffered another loss, becoming the only group to lose two consecutive rounds.

"I'll carry you on my back."

Ibuki Mio bent down and spoke to Shiina Hiyori.

If the newspaper is folded twice, it's more than enough for one person to stand on, but there's not enough room for two people. After seeing how the other groups in Class A dealt with the situation, Ibuki Mio followed suit.

"Ah."

Hiyori Shiina gave a soft reply. Mio Ibuki has good stamina and should be able to maintain this for a while.

Another round.

Shiina Hiyori and Ibuki Mio breathed a sigh of relief when they finally opened for business. The Nishikawa Ryoko group they were facing was forced to abandon the two of them and adopt the same posture as Shiina Hiyori's group, with one person carrying the other on their back and stepping on newspapers that had been folded twice.

Meanwhile, the group that had never lost a game finally lost its first match and quickly adopted a strategy of having three people carry one person on their backs.

After three rounds, the situation on the field is that Ryoko Nishikawa's team and Hiyori Shiina's team have two losses each, while the other two teams have one loss each.

On the surface, Ryoko Nishikawa's group seems to be in the same dangerous situation as Hiyori Shiina's group.

But that's not the case.

They will be moved to another half of the bracket in the next round, and they are sure to win.

Hiyori Shiina narrowed her eyes slightly.

The fourth round was absolutely a do-or-die round for their group. If they lost again, they would become the only group with three losses in the competition.

Although you could try having Ibuki Mio carry someone on one leg...

But if that time really comes, Hiyori Shiina feels it would be best to give up herself.

There's no way to control the outcome of rock-paper-scissors, so how can we solve the puzzle?

Shiina Hiyori looked at Nishikawa Ryoko's group. The person responsible for carrying people over there was Tamiya Emi from Class A. Her physical strength was obviously not as good as Ibuki Mio's, and it was obvious to the naked eye that she was struggling to keep going.

In that instant, Hiyori Shiina suddenly understood the key to this project.

Rock-paper-scissors isn't the deciding factor; what truly determines elimination is—

The group is eliminated if all members fall outside the newspaper's coverage area.

Just as she was following this line of thought and began to think intensively about how to solve the problem.

A boy emerged leisurely from the woods.

Ishizaki Daichi spoke as if he were communicating with someone, a smug smile on his face, his voice bright and clear, carrying a tone of three parts surprise, three parts shock, three parts disbelief, and one part genuine enjoyment:

"What? Explain yourself more clearly."

"Nishikawa from Class A has actually been stringing Ishida from their class along, but she actually likes Suguio? She just hasn't dared to say it because her best friend Tamiya also likes Suguio?"

"Impossible! Where did you get that information?"

"Hey, a secret? I bet you can't tell me, you're just making it up."

Ishizaki Daichi spat as if no one else was around.

Ryoko Nishikawa suddenly twitched, and Emi Tamiya, who was carrying her, also felt her legs go weak and almost fell to the ground together.

"How come things are getting more and more outrageous? Aren't Class A all good students? Hmm? You're saying that Sicheng has always had a crush on Yuan Tufei, but Yuan Tufei actually likes Hashimoto?"

"It's unbelievable that someone likes that frivolous blond Hashimoto. This guy named Tsukasa is just too pathetic."

Daichi Ishizaki rubbed his nose.

In another group, the boy surnamed Sicheng suddenly went dazed, like a deflated balloon, and almost collapsed to the side along with the two people next to him.

"Oh dear, we're working on a research project here."

"I'm sorry I'm sorry."

As if he had just noticed, Daichi Ishizaki spoke in surprise.

"What I just said was all a rumor, a rumor."

"Don't take it to heart, okay?"

Chapter 199: The Second Battle

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji was able to use Class A's intelligence network and Masayoshi Hashimoto to set up this trap that targeted multiple groups simultaneously, and Ryo Kitagawa was naturally able to react in time.

Moreover, to be honest, Kitagawa Ryo's intelligence sources even included all the classes on the entire island except Class A, even after he asked Hirata Yosuke not to meet with him secretly during this period.

After all, if you add Hirata Yosuke, Kitagawa Ryo's intelligence network can be said to cover all four first-year classes.

Moreover, Kitagawa Ryo can mobilize more manpower than Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

Therefore, after realizing that Shiina Hiyori's group would most likely be targeted by Class A in the "paper-folding rock-paper-scissors" game, Kitagawa Ryo immediately contacted Ishizaki Daichi, who was free to roam on the island.

As for the secret information about Class A, a small portion of it came from Hirata Yosuke, while the majority came from Kushida Kikyo.

The students in Class 1-A are, in the end, just a group of sixteen or seventeen-year-old high school students. Outside classes may know very little about their various secret emotional entanglements, but for Kikyo Kushida in this class, these are just basic knowledge.

To avoid arousing suspicion, most of the information that Kikyo Kushida revealed this time was secrets known only to her small group and not just to herself. However, even so, with Daichi Ishizaki adding fuel to the fire and making things worse, the Class A students who participated in the "paper stacking rock-paper-scissors" game were finding it hard to keep up.

Especially Tamiya Emi, who was already struggling to carry Nishikawa Ryoko, suddenly felt a bitter taste in her mouth when she thought that her best friend was a 'love rival' who liked someone but was keeping it a secret from her. Her hands, which were tightly holding onto Ryoko's legs, unconsciously loosened a little.

Ryoko Nishikawa, who was being carried on Tamiya Emi's back, was also in a state of confusion. She wanted to explain something, but she didn't know what to say. Her lips moved a couple of times, but in the end, she remained silent and just shifted her body slightly.

Ryoko Nishikawa's restless movements startled Emi Tamiya, who was momentarily stunned. The balance of force between the two was instantly broken, and before the next round of rock-paper-scissors could even begin, Emi Tamiya stumbled and fell out of the newspaper's reach. Ryoko Nishikawa, whom she was carrying, naturally couldn't survive either. Although she didn't fall directly to the ground, it meant that their group was eliminated.

The situation in the other two groups in Class A was not optimistic either. The boys felt even more ashamed and resentful after their crushes were exposed in public. Two of the boys even ignored the topic they were currently working on and stared at each other as if they were about to start arguing.

While Class 1-A was thrown into chaos by Ishizaki Daichi's sudden appearance in the "Newspaper Folding Rock-Paper-Scissors" project, another person from Karuizawa Megumi's "Group Dodgeball" project also rushed to the scene with Kitagawa Ryo's help.

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The rules for the group dodgeball game are basically the same as the traditional dodgeball rules, but some modifications have been made. Each of the four groups selects a captain to take turns being the inner circle thrower, while the remaining students enter the outer circle to be the dodge team. Each group has a five-minute throwing time limit. If a student from another group is hit, one point is scored. If a student is hit and fails to dodge, they are out of the round. If a student from their own group is hit, one point is deducted, but the student who is hit still needs to be out of the round.

After four rounds, the groups are ranked according to their scores.

In short, the students in the outer circle need to dodge as much as possible, while the students in the inner circle need to shoot as accurately as possible, but they need to be careful not to accidentally injure their teammates.

The reason why Karuizawa Kei, who plays solo, was interested in this project was not only because she was given four chances to be hit during the dodge phase, but also because she didn't have to worry about accidentally hitting her teammates when she was the pitcher, and could just pitch with all her might.

But what if all three opponents are from the same class and belong to the same faction...?

Karuizawa Kei could almost picture the scene after the project started, with the three A-class groups starting to rack up points against each other. All three A-class groups were full-strength teams of four, meaning that even if she dodged all the pitches, each group could still rack up eight points against the other groups.

In other words, Karuizawa Kei must hit at least eight Class A students in her pitching round in order to have a chance of not being eliminated, and this is based on the premise that she successfully dodges all the pitches in the other groups' pitching rounds.

As time ticked by and the project was about to officially begin, the A-class group, who were confident of victory, all crowded around.

Because they were facing their direct rival, the class leader of Class B, this operation was personally led by Kohei Katsuragi, and among the two groups behind him was the group that Yahiko Totsuka was in.

"Class B is ultimately just Class B. Even if they temporarily surpass Class A with some tricks, they can only return to their original position in the end."

Despite suffering setbacks at the hands of Amasawa Ichika from Class D and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka from his own class, Totsuka Yahiko maintained his inexplicable confidence and stepped forward to mock him without any politeness.

Now even the students in Class A are starting to wonder how this guy was even selected for Class A.

But after all, his backer was Katsuragi Kohei, the current leader of the class, and the situation was indeed quite powerful. Although the other students in Class A were somewhat disdainful, they did not speak up to stop him.

At this moment, Katsuragi Kohei paid no attention to Totsuka Yahiko. He focused all his attention on Karuizawa Kei, staring intently at her facial expression. However, he suddenly realized that she did not show any panic or helplessness as they had expected.

It was as if they had already guessed what Class A would do.

"It's you again, the noisiest clown in Class A."

Just after Totsuka Yahiko spoke, a familiar voice came from the woods on the left, which made his heart tighten.

Tianze Yixia from Class D, Grade 1.

She fiddled with the ends of her hair as she walked toward Karuizawa Megumi, followed by Sakura Airi from her group.

Liang sent us over.

"It seems Liang has high hopes for your group."

Karuizawa Megumi answered with a smile:

"I see."

Under the watchful eyes of the students in Class 1-A, she turned to the teacher in charge of the project and said:

"I request the immediate activation of the [Reinforcements] capability."

"Join Amaze Ichika and Sakura Airi's group."

The special card "Reinforcements" grants students the ability to join other groups at any time, combining the scores of the two groups into one.

Most people would probably think the best way to use it is for the cardholder to first act alone in a group, and then join the group with the highest score in their class at the last minute before the exam ends.

However, in fact, the "Reinforcements" program has never mandated that cardholders must join the class's group from the very beginning.

However, this is also a common way of thinking, since no one would expect someone to be willing to join a group from another class that is also a competitor.

"So--"

After the teacher in charge completed all the procedures, Tianze Yixia turned around again.

She was a head shorter than Katsuragi Kohei, who was at the front of Class A, but her aura overwhelmed the entire group.

Tianze Yixia raised her fluorescent eyes, the corners of her mouth turning up in a wild smile:

"The game officially begins."

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"Long time no see, Ayanokouji-kun."