COTE: A Gathering of Geniuses

Deserted Island Special Test Part 1 Class B

Class B Day 2

Kanzaki Ryuji sighed.

With the sun blaring down on his head, it truly felt like summer. Only instead of the vacation everyone had expected, the school had surprised all the students with a sudden special exam the moment they had set foot on the island.

The special exam was basically a weeklong class island survival adventure. Each class would be given 300 points that could be used to buy supplies listed on the manual. Things like water, food, rope, even toilets were available for purchase.

The remaining points would be added to each class' CP points so balancing the necessary and what can be endured was key to leaving as many points as possible.

Thanks to Ichinose's spotting on the ship, Class B was able to set up their homebase next to a well. After a day of making sure the water was fine, they were able to save multiple points simply from the almost unlimited source of clean water.

Ichinose also had the idea of asking for a surplus of plastic packaging from the temporary toilet when ordering their tools due to being free of charge. They had then used that to soften the ground below where they slept.

Class B's current spending went like this:

Tent (-10)

Ropes (-10)

Barbecue Grill (-40)

Cooking Pot (-10)

Portable Toilet (-20)

Kitchen Tools (-20)

All their CP had gone to things that could be used multiple times rather than any consumables. Vegetables could be gathered nearby and there was even a small area they could fish although getting fishing rods would cost more points.

With how well things were going. the anxiety of being part of a special exam had faded away and most in the class were starting to treat this as more of a camping trip.

If they wanted to, Class B could probably go a whole month without spending any more CP.

However, Ryuji had his doubts as he watched the shriveled-up form of Katsuragi Keima lie still on the hard ground. Even though it was only somewhat hot, Keima looked as if he had the life sucked out of him as the only dry gasp that came out of his lips was the repeated gasp for "Games...games..."

Obviously, no one had been allowed to bring their phones with them and, looking at Katsuragi's condition, gaming devices.

The exam also had penalties such as missing a daily roll call for 5 points, pollution for twenty, and even a 30-point retirement fee due to poor health. Violence, theft, or destruction of property simply disqualified a student while also forfeiting all of their PP.

The school had given every student a watch that tracked their GPS, vitals, and contained an emergency button. Ryuji could only imagine that Sensei was willfully ignoring Katsuragi's vitals to prevent a 30-point loss due to as something as ridiculous as "Gaming deficiency".

As Ryuji wondered what to do, a twin tailed girl walked up to his side to share in the sight. She squatted next to the dried-up corpse with a sharp gaze reserved for roadkill.

"So how is Otamega doing?" asked Himeno Yuki. Otamega being short for Otaku and Mégane. The girl didn't seem to use it to mock Keima and the boy didn't seem to care. There was also leeway given to her as she had to sit behind him which meant she was the only one who couldn't look away from his ridiculousness.

Even four months later, Katsuragi still regularly played games during class. The teachers had also given up calling his name due to him also somehow being able to follow along even with earbuds. When some got worried, it would lead to reductions, Sensei had told them he had signed a contract for permission although no one dared ask what it was.