"...As long as everything goes smoothly, that guy Sakayanagi will probably shut up too."
[If we can succeed, then my support within the class should be able to surpass Sakayanagi's.]
'Sakayanagi? I remember the school's chairman has the surname Sakayanagi too. But the Sakayanagi that Katsuragi is mentioning probably isn't someone high up in the school.'
'Sounds like this Sakayanagi is someone in Class A and is in a rival relationship with Katsuragi? I recall Ryuen also mentioned before that there's someone in Class A he very much wants to defeat. Could it be Sakayanagi?'
Saiki couldn't help thinking in his heart, 'But that doesn't really have anything to do with me...'
Very soon, Katsuragi Kohei and the others had already left, and Ayanokoji brought Saiki toward the cave entrance. It showed that Class A had already obtained ownership of this place.
"Class A really did occupy it, huh. Saiki, do you think Katsuragi is the leader?" Ayanokoji asked.
Just as Saiki was preparing to brush it off by pretending he didn't know anything, he heard Ayanokoji's inner thoughts again.
[Saiki should definitely have seen through Katsuragi's little trick. But based on his style, he'll probably pretend like he didn't notice anything.]
'Tch, you guessed what I was thinking?'
After thinking for a moment, Saiki opened his mouth and said, "I don't think Katsuragi is the leader. Otherwise, it'd be too obvious. As someone from Class A, Katsuragi shouldn't make that kind of rookie mistake."
'Mhm, I think the same way as you.'
[This time Saiki didn't hide it? No, doing this actually makes it easier for him to conceal his true ability. If he kept pretending to be clueless, it might create openings instead. Saiki's answer here was quite clever.]
'...'
"Koenji is already gone. Let's go back first."
"Yeah."
Only on this point could Saiki find agreement with himself.
———
Very soon, the two of them returned to where the rest of the class was and reported what they had seen and heard to Hirata Yousuke. They also learned that Koenji Rokusuke had already come back earlier and claimed he had gone swimming at the beach, then left again.
At the same time, Ike Kanji also returned and told everyone that they had found a base point by the river that had not yet been taken.
It was a place with a decent environment, relatively suitable, so the members of Class C were also preparing to set up camp around that river base.
'With this, water and food issues won't need to be worried about for now.'
Saiki thought to himself, then shifted his gaze to the others, 'Then the only problem left in the class now is, who will serve as the leader.'
As for the leader issue, up to now, Class C still hadn't been able to decide.
"I feel like we need to quickly choose a leader."
At that moment, Kushida gathered everyone into a circle.
"I've thought about it a lot too, but Hirata-kun and Karuizawa-san... their presence is really too eye-catching. But if we're choosing someone for the leader role, it has to be someone with a sense of responsibility, right? I think the person who meets both of these conditions is Horikita-san. What do you all think?"
A meaningful smile appeared on Kushida's face as she turned to look at Horikita Suzune. A hint of confusion appeared on Horikita's face, she hadn't expected Kushida to nominate her.
[I've already started cooperating with Ryuen in secret. I'll push Horikita Suzune to become the leader. When Class C fails the exam, the one who will bear the blame will be the leader, so that'll be you.]
'Yare yare, so that's your plan?'
Saiki heard Kushida's inner voice. Fortunately, this test is carried out as a group by class, so he could just coast through it. As long as no unexpected situation occurs...
"I think there's a better candidate." But at that moment, Ayanokoji suddenly spoke.
"Who?"
Everyone turned their eyes toward Ayanokoji.
"Saiki-kun. He doesn't stand out much, and he's also responsible, he got exam questions from a senior for us, and he also tutored a few classmates."
This sudden change caught Saiki off guard. He immediately turned his gaze toward Ayanokoji.
[Maybe this way Saiki will show a bit of his true strength.]
'You bastard!'
At that moment, in Saiki's heart, the idea of flinging Ayanokoji like a yo-yo floated up again, 'If I become the leader, won't that mean I'll have to personally participate in all the base-occupying tasks? And if we don't get a good score on this exam, won't I end up being treated like a criminal in the class?'
"Saiki?"
Everyone had a confused expression on their faces.
'Yes yes yes, just like that, anyone, just one person, raise an objection!'
Saiki thought to himself. As long as someone objected, he'd have a proper reason to refuse the position.
"I... I support... Saiki-kun... He really is a very responsible person..."
And at that moment, Sakura Airi, who usually had almost no presence in class, uncharacteristically spoke up. She looked at Saiki and nodded firmly.
'Hey hey hey hey, Sakura, why are you suddenly acting like this? But if it's just Sakura, the others probably won't be convinced either...'
"I think it's fine."
At that moment, Horikita Suzune also nodded in agreement.
In her impression, Saiki did have some ability, and he was also one of the least noticeable in the class. For the sake of this exam score, he was undoubtedly the best choice.
"If it's Saiki, then we've got no complaints!"
Ike Kanji and the others looked at Saiki, gave a thumbs up, and smiled, their teeth gleaming in the sunlight.
'Hey hey hey, don't look at me with those disgusting faces.'
At this moment, Saiki only wished someone in the class would raise an objection. But he could clearly hear everyone's inner voices.
[Saiki? Oh yeah, our class still has this guy!]
[I almost forgot there's a guy named Saiki in our class. Then people from other classes definitely wouldn't guess it's him either!]
[So his name is Saiki? I always thought it was Saito...]
Hearing all these thoughts, Saiki felt extremely conflicted. But none of them objected, so he could only turn to Kushida, hoping she would use her influence to change their minds.
Saiki knew very well, if Kushida objected, a lot of the boys in the class would follow and raise objections too. That way...
[Damn, an unexpected situation... Saiki? Since most people think he's a suitable choice, it wouldn't be wise to object now.]
While thinking that, Kushida showed a smile, "Sure! I also think Saiki is a great choice!"
'You absolutely don't think that!'
"In that case, we'll leave it to you, Saiki-kun."
Hirata Yousuke gently patted Saiki on the shoulder, clearly very optimistic about him.
'Now there's really no way to refuse, is there...'
At this moment, Saiki's heart was filled with despair.
———
Saiki's appointment as Class C's leader was immediately reported, and the rest of the group began preparing to set up camp.
Although the school provided two initial tents, each could only hold up to eight people. Even with two tents, it was barely enough for the girls, so the boys still had to sleep outdoors. Not only that, they had to handle tasks like starting fires.
Although Saiki was the leader, Hirata Yousuke was still the one managing the class. Saiki didn't want to do anything attention-grabbing either.
"Saiki-kun, could you please help gather some branches from nearby? It'll help us start a fire at night."
While busy building the tents, Hirata Yousuke called out to Saiki.
"Okay."
Saiki nodded. Staying here and doing nothing might lead to others gossiping about him, so it was better to go off and find something to do to pass the time.
He then left the camp and walked deep into the forest. After confirming that no one was around, he activated his power, and the scattered branches nearby instantly gathered around him as if they had gained souls.
For others, collecting this many branches would have taken a long time. But for Saiki, it was as easy as lifting a finger.
'Done in an instant. This should give me about half an hour of free time. What should I do...'
While thinking that, Saiki looked down at the grass in front of him, and saw an insect crawling in a shady way right in front of him.
'...'
In the next instant, Saiki teleported tens of thousands of kilometers away.
———
"Huh? What happened?!"
At that moment, on the island's coast, in the school staff's camp, a staff member monitoring the students' movements suddenly shouted in confusion.
"What is it?"
Hearing the commotion, others quickly gathered around to check the situation.
"Just now, a student's location suddenly jumped to the Hasara Great Desert."
"Quit joking. How could that be?"
"I'm not joking! Just now it absolutely was... Wait, what? He's back again?"
"You must've misread it. Just think about it, it's impossible, right?!"
"You're right... Maybe the system glitched. Didn't expect the school's custom-built GPS system to have issues too..."
———
"That was close, that was close..."
At that moment, in the Hasara Desert, Saiki was looking down at his smartwatch.
'Things happened too suddenly just now, I didn't have time to tamper with the GPS system... Hopefully it didn't cause too much panic...'
Saiki sighed, then waved his hand. The surrounding sand floated into the air and blocked the sunlight for him.
'I'll wait here a while, then go back.'
After about half an hour, Saiki felt that the time was about right, so he decided to return to the island.
He cautiously observed the previous location and, after confirming that the insect from earlier was no longer there, finally let out a long breath of relief.
"The time is about right too. I should get ready to go back."
Saiki used psychokinesis, and several branches flew directly into his arms. Then he prepared to return to the camp.
But at that moment, Saiki heard a faintly familiar inner voice sounding nearby.
[It hurts, it hurts.]
'This voice... I feel like I've heard it somewhere before. I can't recall for the moment, but it probably isn't someone from our Class C.'
As Saiki thought this in his heart, he walked toward the source of the voice, holding the branches.
And what entered his sight was a short-haired girl.
Ibuki Mio, Saiki vaguely remembered this name. Previously, she seemed to always be acting together with Ryuen Sho.
Only now, at this moment, Ibuki Mio's right ankle was swollen red, it was very obvious that she had suffered a very serious beating to cause it.
Ibuki Mio also noticed Saiki's presence.
[This person is called... I remember he's a friend of Shiina's.]
'So you don't remember my name either, huh?'
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