COTE:Oreki Houtarou's Strength-Supreme Classroom

This time, all students are required to take the island exam compulsorily. Absence or illness will result in a 30-point deduction from the class. Additionally, roll call is mandatory on the island.

At 8 am and 8 pm every day, students must return to the gathering point on the island, which is the beach, for roll call. If even one person is absent, 3 basic points will be deducted.

There will be a total of 12 roll calls.

The time now is 19:58.

All the students in Class A have arrived and are arranged in four rows.

This makes it convenient for the class teacher to take count.

"All 40 students are here," announced Class A's homeroom teacher, Mr. Mashima, as he took out the roll call book and ticked off all the names.

But there were more than just students from Class A on the beach right now. Students from Class B and Class D were also present. The students in Class B seemed to have gone through great torture and all looked listless, appearing somewhat pitiful. Hoshinomiya Chie was also doing the roll call for her class.

Meanwhile, the digital teacher of Class C stood there on the homeroom board, looking a bit lonely, as the students from Class D had already arrived. Rokusuke from Class D used the last 5 basic points of the class to exchange for a three-piece beauty set—a facial mask, a mirror, and a comb. Now, he was very focused on combing his hair.

Then he looked at his perfect face in the mirror. Sudo, looking constipated, held the mirror for him. [T/N: 🤣]

Finally, Rokusuke said, "Okay. Red-haired boy, thank you very much. Although you may not be good at other things, you can still be a person holding a mirror."

"Kouenji, what did you say?" Sudo was annoyed.

"No, no, no, I'm just giving you a friendly reminder," Kouenji replied. "Do you think your violence is good? I think you need to change your temper so that others can see your strengths."

Sudo didn't appreciate it. "You bastard!" he snapped.

"Mmmmmm—" Hirata hurriedly tried to ease the atmosphere.

It was already 20:03.

"It looks like the entire Class C is absent," Katsuragi said to the Class A team. The roll call time was at 8 o'clock, both in the morning and the evening. Anything beyond that was considered an absence.

The roll call for Class A was over, but Katsuragi did not leave with the students in his class. He noticed that the space for Class C was empty. No students from Class C had shown up for roll call.

In other words, what does Ryuuen want to do?

In fact, after cooperating with Kouenji, Class A obtained 5 bases. Once they arrived on the island, they quickly occupied them. Therefore, Class A does not lack strongholds and can even compare prices from different stores to choose a stronghold to set up camp. They finally chose a base near the river to set up camp.

Although the supplies exchanged with Class D's basic points meant they didn't need to drink river water, being close to a water source gave them peace of mind.

It was also very convenient to take a shower using a water heater. Moreover, occupying 5 strongholds could eventually bring them nearly 120 bonus points. And this is just Class A.

What about the other classes? After the strongholds were divided, it was difficult for them to find a stronghold.

At most, they had to wait for the 8-hour stronghold time limit to pass and then guard a D-class stronghold to occupy it first. It can be seen that Class B is in a miserable state.

This is probably because after arriving on the island, all the strongholds they found were occupied, so they could only keep moving around looking for a new stronghold.

Some students in Class B seemed unable to even stand straight. How pitiful. But this is a class competition and a school exam.

Since Class B did not make advance preparations, it is Class B's problem. It has nothing to do with Class A.

It's just that the facts are there. Unexpectedly... not a single student from Class C came for roll call. Wouldn't all the points be deducted if it's not based on the basics?

"Could it be that the students of Class C have joined forces with Class B?" Hashimoto said at this time. "Ryuuen is a very opportunistic person."

"..." Katsuragi.

Katsuragi-san didn't respond right away. So he looked to the side of the team.

"Well?"

Oreki-san realized that he was being watched.

He is not very comfortable with acting in a group. Before, he often used teleportation to go home when he was in school, so he had never slept in the bed in the school dormitory for a single day.

And the thought of having to sleep in a tent tonight is really... So this island exam was a bit stressful for him.

But he called up the system prompts.

[Side Quest]

[Task requirements: In the island test, take the initiative of Class D and turn Class D into an ATM]

[Task remaining period: 7 days]

[Task Reward: Recovery ability is improved, and the duration of the healing ability will be extended.]

[Task penalty: When using Clairvoyance, your eyes will become cross-eyed and your Charisma will decrease by 20]

[Task progress: 15%]

The progress of the mission is quite good, and the Kouenji operation has been arranged. Kouenji will not slack off for the sake of its own points.

So all you have to do is wait for Kouenji to finish swiping the card and end the exam.

It's just that the students in Class A are paying attention to him now. The current strategy of Class A is actually quite ordinary.

If the exam is over, the final class evaluation score will only be around 400 points. The score looks good, but this did not satisfy Oreki.

Because it's not the most efficient. The most efficient approach would be to form an alliance with other classes and let them handle the supplies.

Then, assign a strong student to occupy most of the strongholds. In the end, the score could reach nearly 1000 points, leaving other classes in despair.

The last written test only had a score of 100 points. However, Katsuragi and other classmates shared news that both Miyabi and Horikita had managed to score high in this exams, earning a significant number of points.

Horikita himself earned over 400 points alone. This revelation overshadowed the minimal points available from the island exam.

Exams with such a huge score gap are uncommon, if not unheard of. It's unlikely such a scenario will repeat again this year.

President Horikita is the most accomplished student council president in history, currently in his third year.

Last month, the third-year Class B scored 280 points in a special test, suggesting the maximum score for that particular exam could reach 300 points. This places Grade 3 Class A at a significant disadvantage.

However, as student council president, President Horikita has the authority to determine the score values for each exam.

So, if he can change the student council president, and increase his class's overall evaluation score to be more than a thousand points higher than the lower classes, maintaining it would be as simple as reducing the maximum score for each exams to a minimum.

Thus, scoring 300 points in an exam would be just a dream for everyone.

However, there was actually an exam where a score of 300 points was possible. This demonstrates that President Horikita is fair in his administration.

Therefore, exams during his tenure are essentially based on the scores of previous exams at this stage.

Now, Oreki-san's freshman class is taking their third month entrance exam. It's unlikely there will be any exam that can help them achieve such a good score.

However, Class A lacks someone as physically capable as Kouenji, who could swiftly circle the island and clear all the strongholds at once. Would they allow him to take charge?

It wouldn't be efficient; it would just be working alone. At the same time, if he succeeds this time, many impossible tasks in the future will likely fall on him. Oreki-san refused such a scenario.

If one person leads the entire class, they would be like President Horikita. The classmates still remembered the tired look on his face as he buried himself in documents at the Student Council, which was terrible.

And now, it was a similar situation. Can the students of Class A and Katsuragi-san not think for themselves?

Oreki-san felt he needed Sakayanagi-san more than ever, especially with everyone watching.

"You want to ask about Ryuuen," Oreki-san said as he quickly analyzed the situation.

"Based on my experience with them, I suspect that Ryuuen and his team were not absent, but rather they simply abstained."

The students in Class A and those in Class B, who hadn't left yet, all looked over in confusion.

"Abstain?"

The students of Class B had returned to the beach in the afternoon. Then, Oreki-san noticed that Class C's students also hadn't encountered any empty bases.

Moreover, they had reached an agreement with Ryuuen's team earlier to exchange materials for 100 basic points.

Finally, at 18:00, just before the leader of Class D came to swipe the card, Oreki-san observed that the time allocated to Class D on the card machine had expired.

After swiping their cards, a group of students was organized to set up camp, while others were tasked with searching for Ryuuen. Oreki-san exchanged 5 subsequent basic points for supplies worth 50 points.

Meanwhile, students in Class B began to get busy. Lacking camping experience, they needed to learn quickly.

As soon as the camp was set up, roll call began.

"Did Ryuuen just give up?" Katsuragi asked.

"Hehe..." The head teacher of Class C chuckled. "Yes, half an hour ago, my Class C students decided to give up."

"Does giving up mean they get 0 points directly?" Totsuka Yahiko, beside Katsuragi, inquired.

Kanzaki-san, beside Ichinose, also looked surprised.

"This isn't unusual," the digital teacher on the board explained. "Ryuuen and Class B have an agreement where basic points are exchanged for supplies."

"Now that the agreement is in place, there won't be enough supplies left for my students, so naturally, we chose to withdraw."

"After all, the base has been divided between Class D and Class A, right?" someone queried.

"Then why are you still here? Guarding a broken stronghold and earning over 20 stronghold bonus points?" It wasn't something a teacher could publicly say.

For instance, there's the agreement between Class C and Class B. Did you notice how some students from Class D looked at him in surprise?

Katsuragi and the others from Class A also glanced over with serious expressions. Clearly, this was information that hadn't been disclosed previously.

"Teacher—" Mashima-sensei interjected, looking concerned.

As a teacher, while prioritizing ability is crucial, one must avoid interfering too much in students' affairs. It seems the Class C teacher is now crossing some boundaries.

"I just feel my workload has lightened," the digital teacher explained. "Since Ryuuen and the others gave up, I don't need to conduct roll calls at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. anymore."

"My shift is tomorrow, so I'll head back to the ship and rest first," stated the digital teacher, then proceeded towards the small boat waiting on the beach with the roll call book.

The ship maintained a constant speed about 1000 meters ahead of the island, necessitating the use of a small boat to reach it.

"I didn't expect Class C to team up with Class B," remarked Katsuragi, watching the C class teacher depart with seriousness.

"This means Class A's strategy to secure 270 basic points ahead might not proceed as planned."

"Well, we might still manage a slight head start," Oreki-san offered optimistically, withdrawing his gaze from the digital teacher's departure.

"What matters now is whether Ryuuen will simply retreat so easily. This exam is crucial for first-year students to boost their scores."

Then, Ryuuen deliberately orchestrated a confrontation on the deck, creating tension between Class C students and himself.

This indicates that he has made meticulous arrangements and put in considerable effort.

Indeed, during the incident where Sudo and Kouenji staged a fight, witnessed by the student council, Ryuuen chose to intervene to protect the class's reputation.

This action cost him 800,000 personal points, used for ranking up. All of these actions suggest that his target is Class A. He does not want the class evaluation scores to drop any further.

Forming an alliance with Class B provides a stable living allowance and shifts the risks of island life.

However, this outcome likely did not meet Ryuuen's full expectations. Therefore, Ryuuen must achieve more gains in this exam.

The digital teacher on the blackboard deliberately announced this loudly and then abruptly left without providing further information.

This speculation arises because the final score of this island test is calculated based on each class's basic points, bonus points for stronghold occupation by the leader, and additional points or deductions based on guessing the leader's identity.

If the leader is correctly guessed by other classes, our class's basic score will be deducted by 50 points multiplied by the number of classes that guessed correctly. Additionally, the bonus points for stronghold occupation will be reset to zero.

Therefore, Class D's aggressive stronghold occupation poses a significant threat. If left unaddressed, Class D stands to gain substantial class evaluation points from this island exam.

Class C was the first to react strongly when Class D took over the stronghold. It's unlikely that Ryuuen will sit idly by.

Thus, whether it's Ryuuen, the leader of Class C, or even those students in Class C who are at odds with Ryuuen, they may still be active on the island. Oreki-san pondered these thoughts to himself.