After receiving our points, we started walking again.
But then Hayato told me, "Itsuki, aren't you hungry? I am starving."
"Same here, Hayato. I think we should eat now. We can eat the meat we found."
"Yeah, Itsuki, you're right. It will go bad soon."
"Honestly, I am starving too. But I didn't want to bring up the topic."
Then we found a place.
"Itsuki, this place looks perfect."
Then we sat on the dry dirt.
"Hayato, you should prepare the meat. I am going to collect some dry branches. We will need it to start a fire."
"Okay. I'm preparing everything we need."
Then I left to collect the branches.
I looked for some dry branches, but everything was wet because of the rain. My tablet was with me, so I opened it and checked the shop.
There was a thing that I can use to start a fire.
"15 grams of cotton for 10 echo points."
I could easily start a fire with this and then slowly increase it.
I quickly bought the cotton.
The tablet showed an estimated time of arrival 5 minutes.
So, in the meantime, I collected some branches that were mostly dried.
And then it arrived.
A drone delivered it. It was in a jar.
15 grams of cotton in a small-sized jar.
Then I took it and started to walk towards Hayato.
After some time, I reached him.
I saw Hayato, but in front of him was a big package.
"Whoa! Itsuki, you came earlier than I thought. Since you helped me with that mushroom task, I bought a total of 15 water bottles."
"Where did you get all that money?"
"Uhh, don't overthink it. If you buy anything in bulk quantity, it becomes cheaper! All of this water costed me only 30 points!"
"Wow. You are pretty good at this."
"By the way, I couldn't find dry branches, so I bought this cotton. I have also brought some semi-dried branches."
"Wow, Itsuki, you seem so good at this."
"Then, Hayato, let's start cooking!"
"Yeah!"
Then I pulled out my fire starter and tried.
The fire started on the first attempt.
I couldn't believe it.
"Well... Hayato, how are we going to cook that?"
"I thought about that, Itsuki."
Then Hayato pulled out a metal stick.
"Wait! Where did you get this?"
"I stole it from the starting area."
"Wow. You think so far ahead."
Then we started to cook the meat.
After finishing the cooking, we started to eat. Hayato gave me 7 bottles of his water as a gift, so for now, I'm not going to run out of water.
Then I spoke.
"Hayato, a beginner can't play chess like this. Tell me the truth. Are you hiding something?"
"Well... Itsuki, I have been playing chess for 2 years straight."
I knew it. He wasn't a beginner.
"Do you know, Itsuki, this is not the first time students have been in this exam?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, Itsuki, this test is held every year. But unlike this time, the test was hidden. Do you want to know everything?"
"Yes! Tell me."
"Last year, my family got an envelope."
There was written about this exam or trip whatever you want to call it.
"Last year, a total of 5000 students were sent into the exam, and one of them was my brother. But unlike this time, only a few people knew about this exam.
Last time the exam was held on an island, but this year, every high school student from Tokyo was mandatory to go. I immediately knew this was the test hidden in the form of a trip."
"What happened to your brother?"
"He passed the exam. But the next thing that happened was unexpected."
"The top 280 students who had the most echo points were forced to go to a school called
Future Advancement School of Tokyo or FAST in short."
"A school?"
"Yes. Japan has made this school to compete with other nations in terms of technology."
"The students who went to that school will be guaranteed to get into any university they want. But there is a catch: while they go to that school, their connection with the outside world will be removed for 3 years until they graduate."
"You heard that only the 50 students who had the least echo points will be killed. But certainly, it's not true. Only the 280 students will stay alive. After passing the exam, my brother never contacted my family. He's probably still in the school."
"Hayato, do you know what you are saying?"
"You can believe it if you want. I don't care about what you choose. It's completely up to you."
After this, we ate in silence my mind is being filled with questions.
Hayato, Hayato's brother.
Is he telling the truth or lie?
and then...
The silence broke.
Both of our tablets and wristbands buzzed.
It was the loudest sound. We quickly checked it.
And the task was...