Yukio drove the SUV, enjoying a carefree spin around the uninhabited island. His right hand rested comfortably on the armrest while his left casually held the wheel.
Don't be fooled by the old SUV—its exterior dust had a patina, but the inside was relatively clean and it still drove fine.
He hadn't learned to drive in Hawaii; he'd been taught back home—convenient for moving around, and convenient for keeping an eye on Tsukishiro and Yagami's plans for this special exam.
Yukio had a whole car to himself, a single-person team for this special exam. The other five vehicles were reserved for six-person teams.
Nine students in the class were left without cars. All he could do was apologize—luckily those nine didn't complain and cooperated with Yukio's directions, promising not to lag behind or end up in the bottom five and to try their best in the special exam.
From time to time, Yukio could spot a few teams from other classes at the border between the woods and the dirt roads, but he didn't pay them much mind and just smiled. "Looks like everyone's already off the cruise ship."
He drove at an easy pace toward the designated mobile area.
When he reached the zone and his safety watch notified him that he'd secured first place for movement in that area, earning 11 points, he finally hit the brakes, took out his tablet, and looked for nearby challenges.
The school had organized things well. The tablet displayed a scatter of points—each point representing a challenge.
The nearest challenge was only a few hundred meters to the east—very close, basically a quick press of the gas.
[Knowledge Quiz Challenge. First place: 10 points, two liters drinking water, 1 kg instant food. Second place: 5 points, 1 liter drinking water, 500 g canned fish. Third place: 3 points, 500 ml drinking water, energy bar * team size.
Registered teams: 5; challenge availability: 1 hour.]
The tablet clearly laid out all the challenge information. "Registered teams" meant the cap—once enough people showed up, the challenge would begin; a sixth team arriving later couldn't join.
"Availability" was straightforward too: once the challenge started, it would end after an hour. If a team didn't meet the participant requirement, nobody could score—tough luck.
"Let's go take a look." Yukio drove over and soon spotted Hoshinomiya under a large white parasol. Through the windshield, Hoshinomiya saw Yukio arrive first and squealed with delight, jumping up and waving frantically.
Yukio almost slammed on the brakes; he nearly wrecked the car, then sheepishly stepped out and warned, "Chie, don't jump around like that if nothing's wrong."
Hoshinomiya had been putting on a girlish act—she wasn't actually ignorant—but at his words she looked down bashfully, not seeing her toes, then seemed to get the joke. "So, Yukio-kun~, do you like watching?"
"I can't deny that." Yukio admitted honestly, which made Hoshinomiya beam and lean in playfully.
She breathed out like a flower. "Then, Yukio-kun, want to see me jump a little more?"
Yukio glanced up and felt the heat after getting out of the car, then resolutely shook his head. "No thanks. It's too hot. If I watch more, I'll just get hotter."
Hoshinomiya's bell-like laugh burst out. With a teasing look she tilted her head and glanced at Yukio. "So you get scared sometimes too~"
She didn't press the teasing further, instead quickly scanned the area.
Seeing no other students registering just yet, she hurried back, grabbed two one-liter bottles of mineral water, and set them on the temporary desk. "Quick, quick—while no one else is here and nobody's watching, take this water."
Only Hoshinomiya and Yukio could get away with that; even if his homeroom teacher had been running the challenge, he wouldn't have let Yukio just grab water like that.
Sakagami trusted Yukio, believing he could pass any challenge without tricks.
But Hoshinomiya was different—she was taking care of the person she liked!
Other students had to run all the way under the sun to sign up and then fight for the top three to get drinking water. Yukio just showed his face and walked off with two liters—an advantage hard for outsiders to fathom.
They were close enough that no formalities were needed. Yukio loaded the water into his car, then came back and asked, "What kind of quiz is this?"
At the student council meeting earlier, Kiriyama had suggested a similar idea and Amasawa, who loved the excitement, had expanded it into a general-knowledge quiz—varied topics. Yukio wanted to know the scope to get a sense of it.
"I don't know either~" Hoshinomiya said, considerate for Yukio. "I only hand out supplies. The specific subjects are randomly chosen by the backend."
While they chatted, another team arrived—third-year students, unfamiliar faces, so Hoshinomiya couldn't keep talking about challenge details with Yukio. She still chatted a bit with him while the third-year team kept a wary eye on Yukio but did nothing else.
"Ah, what a coincidence, President, didn't expect to run into you here." At that moment a third group arrived at Hoshinomiya's challenge point.
Following the voice, Yukio saw student council member Yagami Takuya.
He was the leader from First Year B—someone who'd once stumped Yukio at a meeting. He looked sunny and cheerful but somehow rubbed people the wrong way.
Yukio nodded without much intention of talking and went back to chatting with Hoshinomiya—talking about the cruise's play and the island's environment was far more interesting than staring at Yagami.
That made Yagami's face go a little stiff before he forced a smile. The deeper frown beneath the smile revealed his displeasure.
He was supposed to be the top student of White Room's fifth generation. Hmph—any student council president was just a regular person who didn't understand his own capability. At the last meeting his proposal had been ignored; that had built up a lot of resentment.
Perfect—the Knowledge Quiz. Yagami was overconfident, thinking it child's play. This was a chance to teach the student council president a lesson in how big the gap really was. From now on, in front of the White Room's top student, he should stop being so arrogant and stop being a frog at the bottom of a well.