Volume 4 Chapter 5 Part 3

“How’s it going, Tsubaki-san?”

It was 8:00 AM, and if all had gone according to plan, the first-years should’ve successfully made contact with Ayanokōji by now.

Yagami felt concerned about how reports confirming this had yet to arrive through the walkie-talkie, so he decided to ask.

“Don’t worry too much, everything’s going as planned so far. It’s honestly kinda scary how well things are going.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Ayanokōji had beautifully circumvented apprehension by the pursuing first-years. It wasn’t clear how often, but it was evident that he was periodically performing GPS Searches. Every single point that he spent was a win in and of itself. Tsubaki was more than willing to resort to violence, but she felt like it would be most ideal if she could crush Ayanokōji without it.

If he continued to give up on his designated areas like this, she’d come out on top without ever having to dirty her hands.

Alternatively, if he were to lose his patience and try to force his way past them, then they’d just beat him down then and there.

They were looking to chase after him without driving him into a corner, intentionally leaving him with just the slightest opening to escape in order to push him further and further away from his designated areas.

Tsubaki ran a new GPS Search every ten minutes or so, slowly draining her stockpile of points without a care in the world.

She hadn’t bothered with earning points over these past twelve days in order to win the exam.

Rather, each and every point had been meant for right here, right now.

Before long, the clock struck 9:00 AM, confirming that Ayanokōji had now missed his third designated area in a row.

According to the tablet, Ayanokōji’s next destination was area D2. And given that he was currently seeking refuge in C6, he would have a tough time making it there, even without Tsubaki’s interference.

As time went by, the two groups of first-years continued to chase after Ayanokōji Kiyotaka.

Despite only receiving updates every ten minutes, his projected movements were quite easy to understand.

With the way he was going now, there was a chance that he might slip between areas B4 and C5 and head northeast. To account for that possibility, Tsubaki had instructed the remaining three groups at her disposal to gather together in area C4.

Satisfied with that, she decided to take a one-hour break from searching to wait and see how the situation would play out. By the time 10:00 AM rolled around, she ran another search to take a look at everyone’s positions. Just as she had predicted, Ayanokōji was attempting to escape between B4 and C5. The two pursuing groups behind him would soon reach area B5 as well.

“No way I’m gonna let you slip past me.”

Tsubaki directed the groups stationed in area C4 to converge on Ayanokōji as he descended from the mountain. Her plan was to preemptively block off his path, forcing him northward toward B4 and B3.

At this point, she began to run GPS Searches every ten minutes again, ensuring she had a solid grasp of everyone’s positions. Ayanokōji had started moving north toward B4 to avoid the blockade of first-years, just as expected. Seeing this, Tsubaki ordered the three groups in C4 to start heading north as well to corner him and prevent him from escaping.

“May I ask a question, Tsubaki-san?”

“…What?”

From a short distance away, Yagami lifted his gaze from his tablet.

“Wouldn’t it be easier for us to corner Ayanokōji-senpai if you gave more detailed instructions? Your progress has been a tad lackluster, no?”

“So annoying…”

Tsubaki muttered under her breath, pointedly ignoring Yagami’s question.

After another half hour or so, she noticed that something was off.

The three groups stationed in C4 that she’d instructed to move north hadn’t budged much more than an inch.

Even if something had gone wrong along the way, what in the world could make all three groups just stop like this?

This time, she ran a new GPS Search after only five minutes instead of waiting her standard ten.

“They really aren’t moving…”

Ayanokōji was just about to cross from area B4 into B3 while the three groups still hadn’t left C4.

At this rate, there was a very real chance that he might escape into area C3.

“What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Tsubaki called out to the groups over the walkie-talkie, but no response came back.

“That’s weird…”

While something could’ve gone wrong between the groups, she had a hunch that this wasn’t a mere accident.

“Tsubaki-san, what’s the matter?”

Seeing her clouded expression, Yagami leaned over and took a peek at the screen of her tablet.

“Has something happened?”

“Three of the five first-year groups I sent out have stopped moving. They all seem to have one strange thing in common too: each of their signals just so happen to overlap with those of a second-year group.”

With more than 400 people scattered about the island, it was commonplace for different groups to pass by each other.

As a result, Tsubaki had never really paid it any mind when it happened.

“C4 groups, please respond.”

She called out over the walkie-talkie again, but no matter how long she waited, she was met with nothing but silence.

“Isn’t it possible that they just had an accident of some sort? Groups are constantly moving about the island in pursuit of Tasks or designated areas. I think it might be rather dangerous to go jumping to conclusions at this point.”

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“So it’s just a coincidence that three of our groups are all being obstructed by the second-years?”

“I guess you have a point…”

After five more minutes of holding back her bubbling impatience, Tsubaki ran a new GPS Search.

“They’ve finally started moving, but their pace seems quite sluggish.”

“Those second-year groups are pretty much right on their heels.”

Meanwhile, Ayanokōji had already finished passing through B4, made it down the mountain in B3, and was now making his way toward C3.

Given the situation, Tsubaki’s last hope fell upon the shoulders of the two groups that had been chasing after Ayanokōji, but… At some point unbeknownst to her, those very groups had also stopped moving.

Moreover, there were second-year groups right beside them as well.

“The second-years definitely appear to be interfering here… But who─?”

Yagami reached over to touch Tsubaki’s tablet in an attempt to confirm the details for himself.

“Oi, buzz off!”

“W-what!?”

Tsubaki swatted Yagami’s hand, driving him away.

“I let you stay here since we’re currently working together, but I don’t remember giving you permission to mess with my things.”

Yagami distanced himself a bit, taken aback by Tsubaki’s fierce glare.

“…I understand. But if I may suggest one thing, wouldn’t it be wise to ascertain the identities of these second-years?”

“Fine.”

Tsubaki began investigating the groups in question. She’d already planned on looking into it, regardless of Yagami’s suggestion.

However, out of the five second-year groups that seemed to be actively obstructing her plans, not even a single student stood out to her.

“It doesn’t seem like any of the noteworthy second-year personalities are participating.”

“Not only that, there’s an almost equal distribution of students from Class A to Class D within each of their groups.”

“So in other words, this isn’t the work of one specific class, but the entire second-year student body as a whole?”

Yagami’s observation would make sense, but Tsubaki had a hard time believing it.

It seemed highly unlikely that all four second-year classes would be willing to come together just to protect Ayanokōji. Unless…

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“…So that’s how it is.”

Given the situation, there was only one possible explanation.

“These five groups must have no idea why they were sent to stop us in the first place.”

“You really think they’re cooperating without knowing the reason behind it?”

“The specific reason doesn’t really matter. They could’ve just been asked to obstruct us first-years from reaching designated areas and Tasks in order to protect the second-year rankings.”

Having grasped the situation, Tsubaki began to go back through all of the GPS Searches she had done over the course of the day today.

She flipped through the screenshots, tracking the movements of the second-years.

“It’s all far too organized. Whoever’s behind this, I can only imagine that they saw through our plans from the very start.”

“There are only two days left in the special exam, after all. It seems rather natural at this point for them to possess such vigilance. I’m sure Ayanokōji-senpai is well aware of the bounty on his head, so it’s certainly possible he prepared for this in advance.”

Indeed, as Yagami figured, the longer the exam went on, the more vulnerable one became to attacks.

“We can just lay low for now and wait for the right time to strike. The second-years can’t afford to protect Ayanokōji-senpai 24/7, right? They’ve got a special exam to worry about too, after all.”

“That’s true…”

With only two days remaining, most students would normally be filled with the desire to earn as many points as possible.

“The other thing that bothers me is how easily our groups were surrounded. Even though they’re moving as distinct units, apprehending five groups is no small feat.”

To that, Yagami was at a loss for words, posturing his hand beneath his chin in contemplation.

“No ideas? To me, it just proves that they have someone pulling the strings from the shadows.”

“So you’re saying that their leader is someone lurking behind the scenes just like you, Tsubaki-san?”

Tsubaki nodded as she placed her tablet onto the ground before her, peering down at the GPS map of the entire island. Somewhere within the borders of this map, there was someone surveying the current battlefield much like she was now, issuing clear instructions to suppress the first-years’ movements.

“Personally, I think we should consider suspending the operation.”

“Why?”

“Are you truly planning on having them force their way through? It’s too dangerous.”

“That’s not the plan here. With our main fighting force out of commission right now, I wouldn’t be able to pull off a stunt like that even if I wanted to.”

“Then why not call off the operation?”

“It’s the same thing either way, so why bother?”

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“The same thing…?”

Tsubaki had anticipated that this might happen from the very beginning.

In fact, she was rather thankful that the second-years had shown up to interfere.

“I may not know who it is that’s behind all of this, but, well, I’ll tell you right now that not everything is as it seems on the surface.”

“What on Earth are you planning?”

“The enemy leader probably noticed the five first-year groups mobilize last night.”

“I see… That would mean they’ve been running GPS Searches all throughout the night as well.”

“As I said before, the second-years have their own special exam to deal with. Seeing that we had five groups ready, the enemy mobilized five groups of their own in response. If they had set aside six or even seven groups for this, they’d end up neglecting the special exam.”

“But isn’t it possible that they set aside one or two backup groups, just in case?”

“That’s possible. But as far as I’ve seen, only five second-year groups have shown irregular movement. Maybe they’re confident that they can wrap this all up just by matching our numbers? But, well, that’d be a fatal decision on their part.”

Tsubaki picked up her walkie-talkie and issued out a new set of instructions.

“There’s nobody in your way now. Go ahead with whatever you have in mind.”

“Who are you talking to? There aren’t any groups nearby at our disposal…”

“I told you, didn’t I? Not everything is as it seems on the surface.”

Having sent her message, Tsubaki began to contemplate who exactly was behind all of this.

“Is Ayanokōji giving orders while on the run? No, that simply isn’t possible. He doesn’t have the authority to control the other classes, much less the time to do so…”

She softly muttered to herself, her words kept just out of earshot from Yagami, who still stood nearby.

Whenever Tsubaki was lost in thought, she had a habit of whispering to herself in a way that was inaudible to those around her.

Yet no matter how quiet her voice might be, her mind would always become clearer by saying her thoughts out loud.

For her, it was kinda like taking articles of clothing out from a messy drawer one by one so they could be neatly folded and properly stored back inside.

“For now, it seems pretty safe to assume that Ayanokōji got in touch with whoever is behind all of this and asked them for help. In which case… He most likely had plenty of time to prepare for this fairly early on the exam…”

“Uhm, did you say something just now?”

“It’s nothing, don’t worry ‘bout it.”

Apparently, Yagami had picked up a bit of her repeated mumbling.

Slightly annoyed, Tsubaki once again turned her attention back to her tablet.