CotE: The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 4: The Calm Before the Storm

DAY 4... OF THE DESERTED ISLAND SPECIAL EXAM

The middle of the fourth day of the exam brought news. Whether it was good or bad, we didn't know.

"Class C's camp is deserted!"

"Wha--?"

In an instant, an uproar came from our class camp. I looked at Kaneda. He portrayed the same shocked impression as the rest of the class.

"Ichinose-san, this is great news!"

Ichinose scratched her cheek.

"But I really wanted to have a guess at their leader... Now it's impossible!" she whined.

"Ichinose-san, don't forget that our strategy to stick to a defensive plan is working."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess that's better for us."

I strayed back inside of the tent and laid down. I patted down my body and relaxed. My class' camp showed no signs of disturbance, and continued to function in perfection.

Ever since the first day, people continued to work in order. This probably will continue on until the end of the exam, and no internal turmoil will happen. There hasn't been any focus, sparing for a few class members, to find out the leader of the other classes.

The entire class seemed content with not being first place. Even if this was a test, we wouldn't be affected negatively, so having a fun vacation was a priority for most, other than staying alive.

I'd started to figure out a lot more things about this test. It was eighty percent defensive, determining if the class could make cooperative relationships. This was where our class could press the advantage. The other twenty percent, of the test was offensive, judging if you could scout around and gather information.

However, the results of the test wouldn't reflect this. The 8:2 proportion was uneven - the twenty percent affected the outcome even more. Class A took the lead here, having seized an optimal spot that both allows shelter and access to spots.

The main focus of the twenty percent is guessing the other class' leaders. Since Ichinose has agreed not to fight with Class D, this limits the total possible gain to 100 points. However, I cannot confirm that I will get all of those points - with my current information it is impossible. Only half of the points are available currently meaning that if I so wish to achieve all of the points available, I'll have to do some more work.

Unfortunate, however...

1

Let's go back to before the summer holidays. I was feeling kind of relaxed, considering I could savour the joy of a summer holiday. That was what I could feel, until darkness came knocking round the corner once more.

"Ayanokōji-kun, I need to speak with you before you go. Please come to the faculty room with me!" Hoshinomiya-sensei said immediately after homeroom ended.

"Ayanokōji-kun, what did you do?" asked Ichinose, who was about to leave the class herself, bag slung over shoulder.

"Hm? I don't remember doing anything."

"Yeah, yeah. You're neither good nor bad, ne? You live a boring, plain and steady life, where coincidences dictate your every move, right?" Ichinose smiled at me as she said that. Recently, she's been... teasing me. For whatever reason, I was still debating.

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"Sarcastic? I didn't mean to be. Woah, what a coincidence! Can you believe it?!"

As I left the classroom, slightly downhearted, I headed towards the faculty room. There, Hoshinomiya-sensei was waiting at the doorway in cheerful spirits.