COTE:Oreki Houtarou's Strength-Supreme Classroom

"..."

So, do you want to touch it?

But it's strange. The washed hair had dried as she followed him out.

It feels fluffy.

It seems quite comfortable to touch.

"..."

Oreki-san controlled himself.

"Oreki-san and Class D's decision to join forces nearly made us cry," Ichinose said. "I've never had to walk 23,000 steps in a day."

"Even now, I feel like my feet are no longer my own."

It sounds like a complaint.

But Oreki knew that Ichinose was gathering information.

"Kouenji swam to the island alone last night," Oreki-san said. "So he has all the information about the strongholds."

"Oh." Ichinose nodded slightly. "That makes sense."

This explains why, after walking most of today, all the strongholds were occupied by Class D.

Class D seems to be cheating.

By the way, did he really swim here last night?

So it was either because Kouenji has an extraordinary physique or he knew that the test site was this island before he was officially notified. That would allow him to come early and scout the spots.

Being able to check out the spots in advance is impressive.

No matter which one it is, it reminds people of Alexander.

"The stronghold you came to was also occupied by Class D earlier. At about 6 o'clock, we took up position there, and then Kouenji from Class D appeared. He noticed us and shrugged, saying he wouldn't contest that stronghold anymore."

"But everyone speculates that he is the leader of Class D," Ichinose said, then looked at Oreki with bright eyes. 

Um.

From this, it seems that Ichinose was trying to gauge Oreki's reaction to see if Kouenji was the leader of Class D.

By the way, Ichinose, you've become quite shrewd.

This is a subtle attack with her appearance.

But it also shows that today's events pushed her to use whatever strategies she could.

Listening to the description, it was clear that Class B had a tough day. As the class representative, Ichinose had walked many miles with her classmates, and everyone was exhausted, so she felt justified in her actions.

Considering that Class B still has untapped potential and is now joining forces with Class C, this doesn't bode well for Class A. 

Then Oreki said, "My classmate picked up Ibuki today."

"But your classmates aren't surprised that students from Class C are still on the island," Ichinose replied.

Oreki decided to test the waters a bit more while also confirming his guess about Ryuuen.

So he asked, "Could it be that you also picked up other students from Class C?"

"It's not quite right to say 'picked up,'" Ichinose said. "During roll call, my class discovered a student from Class C alone."

"He's a boy named Kaneda. His academic performance is good, but he's somewhat invisible in Class C. Ryuuen rules with an iron fist and disregards academic ability. This time, Ryuuen wanted to monopolize the class. He resisted with Ibuki and Ishizaki Daichi but was defeated."

"Ryuuen then withdrew the other students and returned to the ship, leaving Kaneda, Ibuki, and Ishizaki Daichi on the island as punishment."

Ichinose explained.

This means that the only students left in Class C are Ishizaki Daichi, Ibuki, and Kaneda.

So, Ibuki was placed on Class A's route back to the base, and Kaneda was placed on Class B's route. 

There's little doubt that Class D has picked up Ishizaki Daichi, who was abandoned by Ryuuen. 

After all, Class D now has a kind-hearted member who wouldn't leave her classmates alone. Moreover, ordinary students in Class D don't view class confrontations as threatening, especially with spy-related activities.

So it's about 80% certain.

Looking at it this way, Ryuuen, you're so predictable. Class D has a spy now, and you're just lurking in the shadows, waiting for reports?

Given this, the leader of Class C must be Ryuuen.

"I feel like Oreki-san has suddenly lost his energy," Ichinose said.

Is that so?

Because it seems like the exam has become more about testing various methods. It's still the kind where Class C gets 50 points for guessing the team leader. And now, there are spies scattered throughout every class by Ryuuen.

His Class A had sent Ibuki to Ichinose. 

Then over in Class D—

Um.

However, there's no need to worry too much about Class D. It's true that Kouenji is the team leader, and from what Ichinose has said, Kouenji doesn't hesitate to swipe others' cards.

So no matter how the spies from Class D infiltrated, they would only see Kouenji's name on the team leader card. 

Kouenji must have chosen a special plan to change the team leader, so being exposed from the beginning isn't a big deal.

Oreki-san looked at Ichinose with some sympathy. 

"Eh?" Ichinose looked puzzled.

Of course, she didn't understand.

Though Ichinose is cute, this is a confrontational class after all. There are spies in her class, and there are still two of them. One even mentioned, "I think it's unstable and I'll give it to you," which Oreki couldn't quite explain.

So he just gave her a helpless look.

Even if an archangel like Ichinose knew that Ibuki and Kaneda were spies, she wouldn't be able to bear throwing them out. Oreki-san thought to himself. 

But it's painful to see such an archangel suffer.

So before leaving, Oreki-san added with a hint of conscience, "Ichinose, I think you can occupy at most one stronghold."

"..." Ichinose. "Why do you say that?"

The stronghold Ichinose and the others currently occupy is a vegetable patch. However, after discovering that Ryuuen and the others had abstained, they planned to wait for the eight hours to pass and then occupy the stronghold that Class C had held by swiping their cards. Though that stronghold has few resources.

For Class B, even a bonus point from occupying a stronghold counts.

"Kouenji wants to achieve a class evaluation score of 600 points in this exam," Oreki said. "And he must secure 34 strongholds. If you take over the stronghold occupied by Ryuuen and the others, you'll be pushed back."

"Oh," Ichinose replied, understanding.

But.

The strongholds are on a small island. Isn't it excessive to assume that you can occupy so many strongholds and claim them all as your own? Once time is up, anyone can swipe their card to claim a stronghold.

Additionally, if Kouenji from Class D aim for 600 points, it could pull Class B's evaluation score down.

Class D wants to secure 34 bases. Are there really that many strongholds on this small island?

There are a total of 40 strongholds on the island.

Oreki observed from the white tower in the center of the island in the afternoon. The number of strongholds matched what Kouenji reported.

But are there truly only 40 strongholds?

Oreki-san was skeptical. He had always found the school intriguing, though occupying a base seemed dull. From the white tower, one could see the entire island.

Perhaps there are special bonus points or something similar.

Since he would be staying on the island for a week, he was curious.

However, returning to the camp with Ichinose, he still needed to pick up Sakayanagi's puppy.

...

"Do you know why I put Ibuki here with Ichinose?" Oreki-san asked Kamuro-san as they walked back.

Kito-san had been sent back earlier when Ichinose called him out.

Oreki asked Kamuro-san to turn on the flashlight.

"Why?" Kamuro asked, her expression serious.

"I just asked if Class B picked up a student from Class C," Oreki replied. 

"And now I am 80% sure that Class D also has a student from Class C," Oreki-san continued.

"So... Ibuki might be a spy?" Kamuro said.

"Then you took Ibuki to Class B after realizing this?" Masumi Kamuro responded.

"If you want to know, then go and confirm," Oreki said. "Where did you pick up Ibuki?"

"I noticed there was still dirt on her hands, which seemed odd. It looked more like she had been burying something," Kamuro said.

"I've also noticed that," Oreki said. "So, we need to check where she was picked up."

The two of them went to the spot where Kamuro had found Ibuki. It was the only route Class A students used to return to their stronghold from the roll call point on the beach.

"And if she is a spy, she must have contacted someone and passed on the information," Oreki analyzed. "To become the leader of another class, you need to provide evidence, like photos or recordings, and find a way to contact Ryuuen."

Oreki asked Kamuro to shine the flashlight around. Soon, they discovered traces of recent digging not far from where Ibuki was found.

Kamuro was instructed to dig the soil.

It wasn't easy, as they had no shovels and had to dig by hand.

Kamuro Masumi, already feeling guilty, silently followed the instructions. Less than two minutes later, Kamuro-san was stunned to find a walkie-talkie and a camera buried in the small pit.

"It seems the evidence is conclusive," Oreki said. "Kamuro-kun, you nearly caused a loss of class evaluation points, anywhere from 170 to 270 points."

Kamuro-san was taken aback.

If her actions led to significant losses for the class, the Sakayanagi faction would blame her.

She acted on her own, not on instructions from Sakayanagi Arisu or Oreki Houtarou, so she would bear the responsibility.

Kamuro-san was concerned that if the class leader's information was leaked and Ibuki was deemed a spy, she, having brought Ibuki back, would become the primary scapegoat.

This situation was far from ideal.

As a result, it seemed that Kamuro-san, who returned to the camp, had taken on a noticeably different demeanor.

After Oreki-san took a shower, she stood outside the door in clean clothes, waiting. She then took the initiative to wash the other party's clothes, her expression unchanged.

It seemed that Oreki-san had taken a walk on the island earlier, so she offered to massage and stretch his body.

Previously, she had been quite considerate towards Sakayanagi Arisu, but now she was showing similar care towards Oreki-san.

Could it be that the situation had changed?

Or was it because people didn't know that Sakayanagi-san was actually dating Oreki-san, and Kamuro-san's duties had been transferred to her boyfriend?

This caused subtle glances from the Sakayanagi faction.

Kamuro-san was aware of these looks but felt powerless to change the situation.

She resolved that, in the future, even if she saw money on the ground, she wouldn't pick it up again.

The night passed in silence.