[What? How is this possible? How could Saiki be in the top 10?]
Kiriyama Ikuto's eyes widened, filled with shock.
According to his calculations, Saiki's ranking should have dropped, possibly even fallen below 20th place—
But now, Saiki had risen to the top 10?
How was this possible?
Kiriyama Ikuto's mind raced as he calculated how many points Saiki must have earned to reach the top 10—
That's when he realized a terrifying truth.
In just one day, Saiki had likely earned more points than Nagumo Miyabi or Koenji Rokusuke.
[How... how is this possible? What did he do? How could he earn so many points in such a short time?!]
"...It's rare for Nagumo to make a mistake. Is it because he's bound by invisible shackles?"
Mikitani, who was standing nearby, didn't notice the change in Kiriyama Ikuto's expression and continued talking about Nagumo Miyabi.
"Nagumo he..."
"Nagumo's concerns might not be wrong."
"Huh?"
"The real threat to us might not just be Koenji."
"What?"
Mikitani was completely baffled.
…..
Meanwhile, Saiki was on his way to the next designated area.
It was already the latter half of the exam, and he needed to put in a bit more effort.
With the help of his psychic abilities, he could predict the locations of the upcoming designated areas. He could arrive at a designated area, barely stay for a moment, and then head straight to the next one—not only that, but he could also predict when tasks would appear and sign up for them in advance.
After Hosen Kazuomi and Yagami Takuya withdrew from the exam, the first-year students no longer took any special actions against Saiki.
However, the third-year students' targeting became even more obvious.
For ordinary academic tasks, it wasn't a big deal, but when it came to physical tasks or other group-related tasks, Saiki could feel that the third-year students were constantly targeting him.
But even this level of interference was no threat to a psychic.
Saiki could still break through the obstacles and achieve a high ranking. Moreover, thanks to his psychic abilities, he could participate in more tasks than the average student.
By the end of the morning on the tenth day, Saiki had already reached 7th place, leaving the other students stunned.
"Saiki? That Saiki from the second year?"
"How did he suddenly jump to 7th place?"
"How many points did this guy earn just this morning?!"
Almost all the students were shocked by Saiki's rapid rise in points.
Meanwhile, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, looking at Saiki's point growth, realized something.
[Saiki, are you aiming for first place in this exam?]
On the other hand, Kiriyama Ikuto was starting to feel uneasy.
At first, he thought Saiki's challenge to Nagumo Miyabi was nothing but a pipe dream—
But now, Kiriyama Ikuto felt a strong sense of crisis.
Koenji Rokusuke had already been a significant threat, and if he ended up being surpassed by a second-year group, it would have a huge impact on him...
And now, there was Saiki.
Given Saiki's current momentum, it wasn't impossible for him to break into the top three in the next few days.
If that happened...
Kiriyama Ikuto might not even be able to hold onto his position in the top three.
Compared to Koenji Rokusuke, Saiki posed a greater threat to Kiriyama Ikuto.
After all, Saiki was someone recognized by Horikita Manabu.
Although Kiriyama Ikuto had gradually come to accept Nagumo Miyabi's approach, he still held a deep admiration for Horikita Manabu in his heart.
And Saiki, who was recognized by Horikita Manabu, was definitely not someone to be ignored.
Kiriyama Ikuto was desperate to do something.
By the end of the tenth day, Saiki had already reached 4th place, closely trailing behind Kiriyama Ikuto. The gap between their scores was almost negligible.
Kiriyama Ikuto was ready to take action.
After all, the day after tomorrow would be the last day to check other students' scores. After today, Kiriyama Ikuto wouldn't be able to accurately know others' scores.
Only after dealing with the threat from Saiki would they have the energy to deal with Koenji Rokusuke.
At this point, Kiriyama Ikuto had gathered nearly twenty people, including Mikitani, and was heading toward Saiki's location based on the GPS signal.
Although it was already late at night, Kiriyama Ikuto couldn't afford to waste a single second.
"Where are we going today?"
Mikitani looked at Kiriyama Ikuto and asked.
"We need to get as close to him as possible. I know moving at night is risky, but I want to at least get within one grid of Saiki. We need to catch up to him before 7 a.m."
"Since we have two days, stopping him should be relatively easy, right? With the six people from Kiriyama's team, we have a total of seven groups—18 people."
"Don't be careless. In dense forests, it's entirely possible for him to escape."
Kiriyama Ikuto spoke very seriously,
"We need to be extremely cautious and treat him as our greatest enemy."
"Our greatest enemy... Leaving aside Koenji in second place, do we really need to target Saiki, who's only in fourth place? Although his score has been rising quickly recently, Koenji is the bigger threat to us, right?"
Listening to Mikitani's doubts, Kiriyama Ikuto simply shook his head slightly and didn't respond.
[I can't entrust this task to someone like Mikitani. Once someone becomes an enemy that must be defeated, we need to be prepared to ensure they can't make a comeback. If we don't handle this thoroughly, we'll suffer the consequences and might not even be able to maintain our position.]
[Moreover, only someone like me, who was caught between Nagumo and Horikita, knows just how big of a threat Saiki is.]
[To be recognized by both student council presidents, he's definitely not an ordinary person.]
…..
The next morning, around 6:30 a.m. on the eleventh day.
Kiriyama's team, along with six other teams including Mikitani's, successfully surrounded Saiki.
They didn't get too close, just hid near Saiki's tent.
"How's the situation?"
"There doesn't seem to be any movement inside the tent. He's probably sleeping soundly. If he sleeps all day due to some physical issue, it'll make things easier for us."
The third-year students were quietly discussing how to deal with Saiki.
"Hey, wouldn't it be better to surround him before he comes out? If we prevent him from packing up, Saiki won't be able to move, right?"
"I think that could work. If we can hinder him from packing up, it'll slow down his progress toward the designated area. But what if someone sees us doing this? We can't be discovered. If they say we're breaking the rules..."
"We can just do a GPS scan. We have plenty of points to spare. With GPS, we can easily see if there are any other students around."
"GPS scans can't detect teachers, and there's always the possibility of errors in the scan data. Let's stick to the original plan. We'll act when Saiki finishes packing and starts moving. If we encounter students from other grades or teachers setting up tasks along the way, we'll immediately maintain a distance of at least two meters from Saiki."
As Kiriyama Ikuto spoke, his gaze fell on Saiki's tent—
[Saiki probably hasn't realized he's been surrounded yet.]
'...It's hard not to notice.'
What Kiriyama Ikuto didn't realize was that, at this very moment, Saiki was actually standing behind him, just invisible to the naked eye.
Saiki had already noticed their actions, so he used his invisibility ability to follow them.
Originally, Saiki had wanted to rest a bit more, but the thoughts of nearly twenty people nearby had woken him up.
He had chosen a spot to camp where he thought he wouldn't be disturbed, but he hadn't expected to run into these guys.
'Yare yare, as expected, Kiriyama has chosen to cooperate with Nagumo.'
Saiki thought to himself,
'So, what should I do now?'
If it were the usual Saiki, he wouldn't care about this situation, as he normally didn't care much about scores.
However, this time was different.
If he didn't secure first place in this exam, the entire island might sink.
He couldn't afford to waste time with these people.
But how to break out of this situation?
With the GPS signal, he couldn't just use his psychic abilities to leave.
Even if he could fake the GPS signal, if others noticed him participating in tasks, it would definitely raise suspicions.
Should he just charge out?
That would probably cause him a lot of trouble.
What should he do?
Saiki reached out and gently rubbed his chin, thinking about the current situation.
Looking at the damp soil on the ground, an idea gradually formed in his mind.
…..
"Is this guy still sleeping in?"
It was almost 7 a.m., and the first designated area would soon be announced, but Saiki still showed no signs of movement. This puzzled Kiriyama Ikuto.
As a student, such an attitude was far too lazy.
But just then, Kiriyama Ikuto heard a series of dense footsteps.
"What?"
Kiriyama Ikuto was startled and immediately signaled his classmates to hide. He took out his tablet and checked the GPS signal to see who was approaching.
But there was no GPS signal on the screen, so Kiriyama Ikuto knew it had to be teachers.
Several staff members arrived in the area and immediately began setting up equipment.
"Teachers? Are they setting up a designated area here?"
Kiriyama Ikuto's eyes widened, filled with surprise.
[The designated area is here? Saiki just happened to camp here..... Is this a coincidence? Or could it be... that Saiki predicted the location of the designated area and camped here?]
After considering this possibility, Kiriyama Ikuto shook his head vigorously.
[No, no, even if a designated area appears here, it might not be Saiki's target location. Besides, the arrangement of designated areas is supposed to be completely random. I haven't noticed any patterns. How could he predict it?]
Kiriyama Ikuto refused to believe this possibility.
'Yare yare, in a way, it's not really a coincidence.'
Inside the tent, Saiki silently responded to Kiriyama's thoughts.
The allocation of designated areas was supposedly random, determined daily by the school's computer. After the areas were decided, they were assigned to teachers and staff, who would then set up the locations. Tasks were arranged in the same way, and once everything was set up, the locations were assigned to students.
It all seemed random.
But in reality, the school could manipulate this process.
And Saiki had taken advantage of this. Using his psychic abilities, he had directly controlled the school's computer.
This meant that the so-called randomness had no effect on Saiki.
This was also why Saiki could easily earn a massive number of points.
Not only did he earn points for arriving early, but the tasks that appeared near him were also under his control.
In a way, it was like Saiki was creating his own exam.
By arranging the designated areas near his location, Saiki could easily earn high scores.
Moreover, with the teachers present, Kiriyama Ikuto and the others couldn't take any drastic actions. Saiki had also arranged their designated areas to be elsewhere.
This way, Saiki could safely navigate the final stages of the exam.
Soon, the teachers finished setting up the equipment, and almost simultaneously, Saiki received a message from the school informing him of the designated area—
It was right nearby.
Saiki then emerged from his tent, packed up his belongings, and headed to the designated area. Thanks to the short distance, he secured first place and earned the points.
Meanwhile, Kiriyama Ikuto and the others, who were nearby, couldn't earn any points because their designated area wasn't here.