Day 4 of the Island Exam.
The sunrise on the fourth day brought with it an entirely different atmosphere. The air no longer just felt hot; it felt toxic—saturated with the paranoia Ryuen Kakeru had sown the night before.
At Class 1-C's Base Camp, security had been tightened. The girls' tent was now guarded in shifts by Hirata and Sudou. No one dared to leave their personal belongings lying around carelessly anymore.
Matsushita Chiaki, the Invisible Hydra, played her role flawlessly: she looked more terrified than anyone else, clinging to Shinohara and Satou as if her very life were in danger.
"Good acting," Seiji murmured softly, watching Matsushita fake a tremble as she held her compact mirror.
"She has talent," Ayanokouji chimed in. He was squatting near the campfire, inspecting the leftover ashes. "But this paranoia drains mental energy. Look at Yamauchi and Ike. They've started accusing each other over every misplaced little item."
"That is Ryuen's goal," Seiji said, staring out toward the jungle. "He doesn't need to launch a physical attack. He only needs to plant the seeds of fear, and we will destroy ourselves from the inside out."
Seiji stood up, brushing the dirt from his pants.
"I'm stepping out for a bit. There's a certain 'flower' I need to water before it withers."
"Be careful," Ayanokouji stated flatly. "This jungle is getting crowded."
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Class B Border Territory (Highlands)
Ibuki Mio was having a bad day. A very bad day.
After failing to secure decent drinking water at her own camp, Ryuen had sent her to spy on Class B. Her mission was simple: Find out who Class B's leader was, and steal their key card if possible.
However, Class B, led by Katsuragi and Sakayanagi, was an absolute fortress.
Ibuki hid behind a thorny bush, observing the entrance to the cave that Class B had claimed as their base. Security there was incredibly tight. Large, muscular male students stood guard in two-hour rotations.
"Damn it... there's no opening," Ibuki hissed. Her stomach growled loudly, protesting the hunger she had endured for three days straight.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed behind her. Ibuki spun around instantly, ready to strike.
However, there was no one there. Only silent trees.
"Looking for something, Miss Spy?"
The voice came from above.
Ibuki looked up. Sitting casually on a low tree branch, dangling his legs, was Hashimoto Masayoshi from Class A (Sakayanagi's faction). He was holding a remarkably fresh-looking red apple.
"You..." Ibuki dropped into a fighting stance.
"Woah, relax," Hashimoto hopped down lightly. "Sakayanagi-hime has known you were here for the past hour. The stench of Class D's poverty is quite pungent, you know?"
Ibuki's face flushed with anger and humiliation. "Shut your mouth."
"Hime left a message," Hashimoto continued, taking a bite of his apple with a crisp crunch. "She has no interest in playing with Ryuen's pawns. Go home. Or if you're hungry..."
Hashimoto tossed his half-eaten apple onto the ground, right near Ibuki's feet. The apple rolled, getting covered in dirt.
"...you can have my leftovers. Consider it charity."
Ibuki's blood boiled. Her pride as a fighter was shattered to pieces. She wanted to kick Hashimoto square in the face, but she knew that if she attacked, her class would be disqualified. And Ryuen would kill her.
Ibuki kicked the apple away, then turned and ran.
"Remember my name, you bastard! I'll make you pay for this!"
Hashimoto merely laughed as he watched Ibuki's retreating figure.
"Target chased off, Sakayanagi-san. She didn't get any intel."
..............................................................................…..
Forest Trail (Neutral Zone)
Ibuki ran aimlessly. She was furious, starving, and parched. Her vision was blurred by tears of frustration.
Why do I have to follow Ryuen? Why do we have to suffer like this?
She tripped over a tree root and fell flat on her face. Her knees were scraped. The physical pain acted as the final trigger that caused her mental defenses to collapse. Ibuki pounded the dirt with her fists.
"Damn it... damn it... damn it!"
"Kicking the dirt isn't going to fill your stomach, Ibuki-san."
Ibuki flinched. She looked up and saw someone standing in front of her.
Seiji Koroizumi.
The young man stood there with a relaxed posture, holding a transparent plastic bag. Inside the bag were several pieces of peeled wild peaches and... a bottle of ion water.
"You again..." Ibuki growled, struggling to stand up despite her trembling legs. "Are you going to mock me too, just like that Class A bastard?"
"Mock you? That's inefficient," Seiji replied. He sat down on a fallen tree trunk, placing the bag beside him.
"I just happened to be passing by after foraging for fruit. It turns out this jungle is rich in resources if you know how to look. But..." Seiji looked at the bag with a feigned expression of confusion.
"...I picked too many. My bag is full. If I bring these back, they'll rot before we can eat them. What a shame."
Seiji glanced at Ibuki.
"Ibuki-san, you look like someone who could help lighten my load. Want some?"
Ibuki stared at the juicy peaches. Her throat felt tight. Her pride screamed REFUSE!, but her survival instincts screamed TAKE IT!.
"What do you want?" Ibuki asked harshly. "Information? I won't betray my class."
"I'm not asking for information," Seiji said calmly. "I'm asking you to eat. Seeing someone starve ruins my appetite. It bothers me."
Seiji nudged the bag toward Ibuki, then stood up.
"Eat up. It's not poisoned, and there are no strings attached. Just consider it... a free sample from Class C."
Seiji began to walk away.
"Why?" Ibuki's voice stopped him. "Why are you helping an enemy? Ryuen... he's targeting you guys."
Seiji stopped, but he didn't turn around.
"Because my enemy is Ryuen, not you," Seiji answered, his voice shifting into a chilling yet protective tone. "Ryuen uses fear to bind you all. But fear has its limits, Ibuki. When the stomach is empty, loyalty to a tyrant is the very first thing to be devoured."
Seiji resumed his walk, disappearing behind the trees.
Ibuki stared at his retreating back, then looked down at the fruit in front of her. With trembling hands, she picked up a slice of peach and put it into her mouth.
Sweet.
A tear rolled down her cheek. The sweetness of the fruit was a stark contrast to the bitterness of Ryuen's treatment. Deep within Ibuki's heart, a tiny crack began to form in the foundation of Ryuen's rule.
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Late Afternoon - Class 1-A's Camp (Ichinose's Market)
The disaster Seiji had predicted finally occurred.
Class A's camp, usually peaceful and filled with laughter, had devolved into utter chaos.
"Who did this?!" yelled Ichinose Honami, her usually gentle voice now high-pitched and panicked.
Their prized clean water tank—the lifeblood of their market—had been contaminated. The water inside was a murky brown and reeked of rotten mud. Someone had dumped dirt and filth into it while the guards let their guard down.
And that wasn't all. Their logistics tent had been slashed open. Several boxes of canned food were missing.
Ichinose's Market had been looted and sabotaged.
"This has to be Class D's doing!" Shibata, one of Class A's athletic students, accused. "I saw Ishizaki and Albert lurking around here this afternoon!"
"Calm down! We don't have any proof!" Kanzaki yelled, trying to hold back the anger of his classmates who wanted to storm the south beach.
The "customers" from other classes who had come to buy water watched the chaos with disappointed faces.
"Well... guess they're out of water, huh?" "And I even brought firewood..." "Class A sucks. They can't even guard their own stuff."
Those disappointed whispers pierced Ichinose's heart. She had built this trust with painstaking effort. She had created value. But in an instant, that value was destroyed by a crude act of sabotage.
Ichinose fell to her knees, staring at the murky water. "Why... we just wanted to help..."
From the back of the crowd, Seiji observed the incident with a flat expression. Beside him, Suzune shook her head.
"Ryuen," Suzune stated. "He destroyed the enemy's supply to drag everyone down to his level. The level of starvation."
"And he succeeded," Seiji added. "Without Ichinose's market, the price of 'information' will skyrocket. Class A is panicking now. They've lost their trading asset."
Seiji's eyes caught sight of a student in the middle of Class A's crowd. The student looked incredibly nervous, clutching their pocket tightly.
"Look at that," Seiji whispered to Suzune. "That student is panicking. If they are the leader of Class A (in a scenario where Ichinose is the decoy, or vice versa), they are feeling very unsafe right now."
"Should we help them?" Suzune asked, slightly hesitant.
"No," Seiji answered firmly. "Free aid will only make them weak. Ichinose needs to learn that a free market without a strong military is nothing more than an open invitation to robbers."
Seiji turned around.
"Let's head back. We need to make sure our Invisible Hydra's defenses don't suffer the same fate."
.......................................................................................…
Nighttime - South Beach (Ryuen's Base)
Ryuen Kakeru laughed raucously as he ate from a can of beef—looted from Class A.
"Delicious! Stolen food always tastes the best!" Ryuen exclaimed, tossing the empty can into the small campfire they had just built.
The Class D students stared at him with a mix of fear and sheer hunger. Ryuen didn't share his loot. He ate it all himself, alongside Albert and Ishizaki.
"Did you see Ichinose's face earlier?" Ryuen mocked. "Like a princess whose castle just crumbled. Welcome to the jungle, Princess."
Ibuki sat alone in the distance. She didn't join in the laughter. The sweet taste of the peach Seiji had given her still lingered on her tongue, making her even more nauseated by Ryuen's greed.
"Ryuen-san," reported Kaneda, who had just returned from scouting. "Class A is in total chaos. They're blaming each other. Ichinose has lost control of the masses."
"Excellent. One enemy mentally broken," Ryuen smirked. "Only two left. The crippled Sakayanagi, and the holier-than-thou Horikita."
Ryuen stood up, gazing toward the dark forest where Class C's camp was located.
"Tomorrow... we play our trump card. We're going to expose who Class C's leader is. I have a feeling Horikita is hiding something interesting."
Ryuen pulled out a Walkie-Talkie he had hidden away—contraband he had purchased with expensive private points from an upperclassman before the exam.
"Oi, little mouse," Ryuen spoke into the device. "Are you in position?"
A crackle of static sounded, followed by a faint reply. "Ready. Tomorrow afternoon."
Ryuen turned off the device.
"Koroizumi Seiji..." Ryuen whispered. "You think you're so smart with your 500 score? Let's see how smart you are when I burn the forest down around you."
Class C's Camp - Midnight.
Seiji couldn't sleep. His Assassin's instincts were pulsing uncomfortably.
He walked to the edge of the river, splashing cold water onto his face.
"Long night," Ayanokouji's voice sounded. The young man emerged from the shadow of a tree as if he were a part of the darkness itself.
"Ryuen has a communication device," Ayanokouji stated abruptly.
Seiji turned his head, unsurprised. "You saw it?"
"I saw Albert throw away the packaging for specialized batteries in a public trash can at the pier on the first day. Those are batteries for a long-range Walkie-Talkie."
"A rule violation," Seiji noted. "Bringing any electronic devices other than the school-issued phones is prohibited."
"Ryuen doesn't care about the rules. With that device, he can coordinate attacks from two different sides of the island without ever having to meet up."
Seiji smirked. "Valuable information, Ayanokouji-kun. Thank you."
"I'm only telling you because I don't want my sleep interrupted by a sudden raid," Ayanokouji reasoned.
"Of course," Seiji nodded.
He stared up at the moon, which was obscured by clouds.
"Tomorrow is day 5. The saturation point. Ryuen will go all out. Sakayanagi will emerge from her nest. And a wounded Ichinose will become desperate."
Seiji clenched his fist.
"It's time we stopped defending. Tomorrow, Class C goes hunting."
Seiji reached into his pocket, pulling out a small object he had taken from Matsushita Chiaki's bag that afternoon—with her permission, of course.
The Leader's Key Card.
"The Invisible Hydra strategy is about to evolve," Seiji whispered. "Into a Hydra that devours its own head."
Ayanokouji looked at the card in Seiji's hand, then met the young man's eyes. For the very first time, Ayanokouji saw something that put him on high alert.
That wasn't the gaze of a teacher. That was the gaze of The Reaper.
"You're going to do something crazy," Ayanokouji deduced.
"Nurufufufu... I'm simply going to provide an extracurricular lesson on 'Tactical Sacrifice'."
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