At this moment, Saiki couldn't feel happy at all because the gazes of everyone around him were fixed on him.
[Is this Saiki?]
[How does he even know how to start a fire?]
[This guy... has he practiced wilderness survival?]
The other students were completely surprised that Saiki had managed to start a fire in such a short time.
Since only the first place in this task earned points, the other students stopped what they were doing and gave up on trying to start a fire.
"Impressive, Saiki. You even managed to light such damp wood," Kiryuin Fuka said with a smile, her tone full of admiration.
Saiki glanced at Kiryuin Fuka out of the corner of his eye. It seemed she hadn't participated in this task at all.
"I felt the wood was too damp to light, so I stopped what I was doing," Kiryuin Fuka said, noticing Saiki's slight turn of his head. She continued, "But Saiki, I'm curious. How did you do it?"
Saiki's mind raced, and he quickly replied, "My wood was drier. I guess I was just lucky."
"Lucky, huh?"
Kiryuin Fuka narrowed her eyes slightly. Clearly, the excuse of being lucky wasn't enough to convince her.
However, Kiryuin Fuka didn't plan to press further. "Even if it was luck, being able to start a fire proves you have a talent others don't... Now that this is over, I assume you're ready to move on to the next task?"
"Yeah..."
Saiki picked up his tablet and began searching for the next exam task. Meanwhile, Kiryuin Fuka spoke up again:
"The grip strength test doesn't seem to be over yet. If the acceptance time is long, we might still make it if we go now."
Kiryuin Fuka's gaze shifted to Saiki, and a meaningful smile appeared on her face. "I've also heard that your grip strength is quite impressive. Let's go take a look."
"...Okay."
Saiki felt a bit helpless but could only nod and follow Kiryuin Fuka to the next exam location.
...
A few hours later, on the other side of the uninhabited island.
"Ayanokoji-senpai, we meet again."
In Area D7, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Nanase Tsubasa crossed paths once more.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had been following the instructions on his tablet and had already changed regions several times. Each time, he happened to run into Nanase Tsubasa.
"Could it be that we have the same schedule?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asked, looking at Nanase Tsubasa.
"Maybe," Nanase Tsubasa replied.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was now thinking about the current situation.
[Whether our schedules are the same isn't a big issue. What bothers me is how often we've been running into each other. Even if we're heading to the same regions, the chances of directly meeting shouldn't be this high. Our routes are different, and our arrival and stay times vary. But since it doesn't seem like she's following me, it might just be a coincidence. But is that really the case?]
[In reality, I have no clues. It's impossible to figure out if Nanase's schedule is the same as mine. According to the OAA system, Nanase is in a group with Amasawa and Hosen. In other words, if she leaves reaching the designated regions to those two, she won't become a student who ignores the designated areas and won't receive arrival order rewards. She can still steadily accumulate two points.]
[I could try to infer from the notifications on Nanase's watch, but it's not hard to imagine she's set it to silent. Last time, Nanase revealed that several first-year students wanted me to drop out. This time, there might be others involved as well.]
At that moment, Nanase Tsubasa spoke up again:
"Sorry, Ayanokoji-senpai, I have a request."
"A request?"
"If it's not too much trouble, could I temporarily join you for a while?"
"Join me? What do you mean?"
[Even if our schedules are likely the same, cross-grade cooperation is basically impossible under the rules of this special exam. It offers no benefit to either side.]
"Actually, we had a disagreement during last night's discussion. Hosen-kun and Amasawa-kun said it would be better to act separately, so we split up," Nanase Tsubasa continued.
"I've seen you three times since this morning, but I think except for the first time, you arrived at the designated regions faster than me. I think I might not be able to keep up with the designated regions on my own."
"Don't you think it's just a coincidence that I arrived earlier twice?"
"Maybe, but I still think you're more capable than someone as inexperienced as me."
[She's saying flattering things, but I don't think she means them. What's her goal? I can tell she's not an ordinary student, but for now, the possibility of her being from the White Room seems low.]
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka thought this through and replied, "It's not a very wise proposal to team up with someone from a different grade."
"Because the arrival order affects things, and we might end up competing in tasks, right?"
"If we find a task with only one spot left, it could lead to a conflict."
"I'll let you take priority, senpai. After you enter the designated region and confirm the arrival order, I'll go in after you. That way, it won't affect you. And if we encounter a task with only one spot left, I'll let you take it."
"You'll end up with fewer points."
"I think following you will be helpful to me."
Nanase Tsubasa spoke very seriously.
[Why is Nanase choosing me? I haven't shown any particularly outstanding abilities in front of her. This doesn't make sense—unless she knows something about my past.]
In Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's mind, Nanase Tsubasa was starting to seem suspicious.
But he didn't voice his thoughts.
"Alright, if that's what you want, it's fine with me."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka simply replied this way. He wanted to find out what Nanase Tsubasa's true goal was.
...
The sky gradually darkened, and all the tasks had ended. Saiki and Kiryuin Fuka had also finished their exam tasks for the day.
After the tasks and region movements were over, Saiki finally had some free time to himself.
He picked up his tablet and checked his score for the day.
11 points.
Out of these, 3 points were from region movements.
He had moved three times in total today, earning 3 arrival points.
For both Saiki and Kiryuin Fuka, earning top-three arrival points was a piece of cake. However, Saiki didn't want to reveal his abilities too early, and Kiryuin Fuka often got distracted by the surrounding environment and scenery during her movements, as if she wasn't taking an exam but rather going on a field trip.
Saiki used this as an excuse to slow down his pace, so he only earned the basic arrival points.
As for the remaining points, they came from the tasks Saiki participated in.
Fire-starting task: 1st place, 5 points.
Grip strength task: 2nd place, 3 points.
The rest were two academic tasks where Saiki controlled his scores to stay in the middle, so he didn't earn any points. In total, he earned 11 points.
Using his psychic abilities, Saiki observed that 11 points placed him in the upper half of the school's scores, but it wasn't too outrageous. Since everyone's scores weren't public yet, he shouldn't attract too much attention for now.
"Saiki, you should have 11 points now, right?" Kiryuin Fuka asked, looking at Saiki.
"Yeah."
Saiki nodded and glanced at Kiryuin Fuka, who had earned 13 points.
Three arrival points...
And two tasks where she earned 1st place.
She basically forfeited the fire-starting task and didn't participate in the grip strength task either.
Sudo Ken had taken 1st place in the grip strength task, apparently breaking his own record. Kiryuin Fuka hadn't even participated in the task, even though she arrived early. When Hoshinomiya Chie, who was organizing the task, offered to help her register, Kiryuin Fuka outright refused.
"This task isn't interesting," was Kiryuin Fuka's response at the time.
After Sudo Ken took 1st place, Kiryuin Fuka merely glanced at his score, smiled slightly, and then took Saiki to other task locations, where she easily took 1st place.
Whether Kiryuin Fuka participated in a task depended entirely on her own will.
And no matter what task she participated in, she could always take 1st place—just like Koenji Rokusuke.
Of course, this excluded Saiki.
"You deliberately held back in the later tasks, didn't you?" Kiryuin Fuka asked with a smile.
"Not at all. I'm just not that capable."
Saiki could only reply in this routine manner.
Although he knew Kiryuin Fuka wouldn't believe him, he had no choice but to say it.
As he spoke, Saiki felt a bit thirsty and picked up his water bottle, taking a few gulps.
At that moment, Kiryuin Fuka spoke up again:
"Saiki-kun, it seems you've been holding back, haven't you?"
"?"
Saiki was momentarily stunned. He put down the water bottle and looked at Kiryuin Fuka in confusion.
"Generally, students wouldn't drink so much water on the first day of the exam."
Hearing her words, Saiki finally understood.
Most students, unsure of how to obtain resources later, wouldn't drink so much water at the start.
But for Saiki, this wasn't a problem. He could replenish food and water anytime, anywhere.
However, his subconscious behavior had been noticed by Kiryuin Fuka, who sensed something was off.
'This girl... her observation skills are so sharp... What should I do?'
Saiki's mind raced, but he couldn't think of a good explanation.
"I..."
"You're doing this because you're not worried about running out of water, right? If that's the case, there's only one reason."
Kiryuin Fuka's smile grew more meaningful.
'What should I do? Did Kiryuin figure it out?'
Saiki felt a bit anxious. If Kiryuin Fuka found out he was a psychic...
"You have absolute confidence in yourself, right? You know you can take 1st place in the 'competition' tasks."
"Huh?"
Hearing her words, Saiki was momentarily stunned.
"Today, a total of 68 tasks were held, and 14 of them offered material rewards. Among them were tasks called 'competitions.' I assume you noticed this, which is why you're so confident."
'I... I didn't pay attention to that at all...'
Saiki had simply followed Kiryuin Fuka around and hadn't noticed such details.
"In 'competition' tasks, the order of arrival directly determines the evaluation. The 1st place student gets 2 liters of water, the 2nd place gets 1.5 liters, the 3rd place gets 1 liter, and students from 4th to 30th place get 500 milliliters. Other materials are also distributed in similar competition tasks."
"The points you can earn are 3 for 1st place, 2 for 2nd place, and 1 for 3rd place. It's not a lot, but the main focus is on replenishing resources."
"Out of the 14 tasks, 8 were these 'competition' tasks. This is quite interesting. Plus, on the first day, 8 tasks were held under the same conditions, and the regions and times were very regular. If this continues after the second day, we should be able to find a stable way to replenish water."
'So that's how it is... I didn't pay attention to any of this...'
Saiki couldn't help but swallow nervously.
"Once you understand the rules, you can get plenty of water. Not only that, but you also have absolute confidence in your abilities, which is why you could afford to 'waste' water like this on the first day."
"Yeah..."
At this point, Saiki could only nod reluctantly.
"You're really an interesting person. You're completely different from Nagumo or Horikita. On one hand, you have outstanding abilities and absolute confidence in your judgment. But on the other hand, you don't want to stand out too much... I see, I've figured out your goal!"