After about half an hour, Saiki Kusuo felt that enough time had passed and decided to return to the island.
He cautiously checked the area where he had been earlier, making sure the insect was no longer there, and let out a sigh of relief.
"It's about time. I should head back now."
Using his telekinesis, Saiki Kusuo gathered several branches into his arms and prepared to return to the campsite.
But just then, Saiki Kusuo heard a somewhat familiar voice in his mind.
[It hurts, it hurts.]
'I feel like I've heard this voice somewhere before, but I can't quite remember. It's probably not someone from Class C.'
As Saiki Kusuo thought this, he walked toward the source of the voice, still holding the branches.
What came into view was a short-haired girl.
Ibuki Mio. Saiki Kusuo vaguely recalled her name. She had always seemed to act alongside Ryuen Kakeru.
However, at this moment, Ibuki Mio's right ankle was swollen and red, clearly the result of a severe beating.
Ibuki Mio also noticed Saiki Kusuo's presence.
[This person is called... I remember he's Shiina's friend.]
'So, you don't remember my name either?'
[According to Ryuen's plan, I'm supposed to pretend to have a falling out with him and infiltrate Class C to cause chaos from within.]
'Yare yare, as expected. I knew it would be something like this.'
[And I can also try to gather information about Class C's leader... But those troublesome guys from Class A insist on evidence, so I'll need to take photos...]
'So, this is the deal between Ryuen and Class A. Class A provides points to Class D, and in return, Class D gathers information about the leaders of the other two classes. But Ibuki, you won't be able to take any photos.'
Saiki Kusuo responded in his mind.
To be safe, Saiki Kusuo had already secretly teleported his key card back to his home.
After all, if this exam failed, he might end up being blamed by everyone, which would be a bit troublesome.
[Oh, right, I remember now. This person is called Saiki, right? Yes, Saiki!]
'Remembering my name isn't something to be proud of.'
[He wears glasses and looks very honest. He probably won't just ignore me if he sees me. I'll use this opportunity to infiltrate Class C.]
Ibuki Mio and Saiki Kusuo's eyes met, and she was already thinking about her next move.
Saiki Kusuo immediately looked away, pretending not to see her, and walked off in another direction.
[Hey, hey! Are you serious? You definitely saw me, right?! Pretending not to see me is going too far! You jerk!]
Ibuki Mio had never expected Saiki Kusuo to pretend not to see her. She even noticed that his steps seemed to quicken as he walked away.
"Saiki, Saiki, where are you?"
Just then, another voice called out from nearby. It was Yamauchi Haruki.
"Huh? Why is there a girl here? Which class are you from?"
Yamauchi Haruki had come to find Saiki Kusuo and had just noticed Ibuki Mio.
"Are you looking for a guy with glasses? He just walked past here!"
Ibuki Mio, sitting on the ground, immediately pointed in the direction Saiki Kusuo had gone.
"Tch."
Saiki Kusuo had no choice. He couldn't keep pretending he hadn't noticed anything, so he turned around and walked over to Yamauchi Haruki, who was accompanied by Sakura Airi.
[Saiki-kun... You were here after all... I was a bit worried about Saiki-kun earlier, and since there were so many people at the campsite... I thought I'd come look for him... But I didn't expect Yamauchi-kun to come with me...]
Because there were others around, Sakura Airi looked a bit flustered and awkward. But when she saw Saiki Kusuo, she quietly greeted him.
"Saiki-kun..."
Meanwhile, Yamauchi Haruki's thoughts were completely different.
[I can use the excuse of looking for Saiki to spend time alone with Sakura! I didn't notice before, but Sakura is actually quite cute. Kushida has a better personality, but she's too hard to approach. Sakura should be easier to handle...]
'Please stop your disgusting fantasies. And do you just fall for any girl you see? You're worse than Ike in that regard.'
Saiki Kusuo shifted his gaze to Ibuki Mio. There was no way he could ignore her now.
"Hey, you saw me earlier and just walked past, didn't you?"
Ibuki Mio, who had a strong personality, didn't want to appear weak in front of Class C, but she was still very annoyed that Saiki Kusuo had ignored her.
"Sorry, I'm severely nearsighted."
Saiki Kusuo pointed to his glasses, giving a plausible excuse.
The glasses were only there to block his petrifying gaze ability. Otherwise, anyone he looked at would turn to stone.
Ibuki Mio frowned, but given the current situation, she couldn't refute his claim.
"How did you get those injuries?"
Yamauchi Haruki immediately asked, looking genuinely concerned.
"I... had a disagreement with someone in my class, and this happened."
Ibuki Mio said slowly.
'She went to such lengths to deceive us. In a way, that's quite impressive.'
Saiki Kusuo looked at Ibuki Mio's injuries and thought to himself.
"I can't just leave an injured girl alone in the forest!"
Yamauchi Haruki spoke with a sense of righteousness.
[Sakura must think I'm a good person for helping others! Her impression of me must be skyrocketing.]
'Your motives are so obvious. But sorry, Sakura's attention isn't on you at all.'
Saiki Kusuo glanced at Sakura Airi, who was alternating between looking at the sky and the ground, unsure how to handle the situation.
'As a classmate, I should check Sakura's favorability toward Yamauchi...'
Saiki Kusuo thought to himself, opening his favorability display to check Sakura Airi's favorability toward Yamauchi Haruki. He quickly closed it.
'Never mind, it's better if you don't know.'
"Come back to our campsite with us! You must be hungry and thirsty, right?"
Yamauchi Haruki smiled at Ibuki Mio, convinced he was oozing charm.
"Are you sure? We're enemies, you know? Bringing an enemy back to your campsite... You guys are way too naive."
Ibuki Mio said.
This was a classic "playing hard to get" tactic. The more she resisted, the more believable her story became.
Saiki Kusuo's gaze fell on the bag next to Ibuki Mio. Using his X-ray vision, he could see a digital camera hidden among her belongings.
Not only that, but buried in the ground where Ibuki Mio had been sitting was a radio.
"What do you think?"
Yamauchi Haruki turned to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Sakura Airi for their opinions.
"I-I..."
Sakura Airi looked at Saiki Kusuo, unsure what to do. Of course, Saiki Kusuo's inner thoughts were against it.
'Ibuki is a spy sent by Ryuen. There's no way we can just let her into our campsite.'
Saiki Kusuo thought to himself, preparing to broadcast Ibuki Mio's thoughts out loud. Even someone like Yamauchi Haruki would realize she was up to no good.
But just as he was about to do so, Saiki Kusuo stopped. A new idea formed in his mind.
'No, no, bringing Ibuki back might actually be a good thing. If Ryuen's plan fails, he might cause even more trouble. But if we bring Ibuki back, Ryuen will think his plan is working. I can also intentionally let Ibuki figure out my identity as the leader. If at least Class D guesses correctly, and I guess all the other classes' leaders, our class should be able to secure second or third place in this special exam. That way, we won't do too poorly, and I won't be blamed by others. Plus, I can avoid drawing too much attention.'
Thinking this, Saiki Kusuo couldn't help but smile slightly. For the sake of his peaceful life, he needed to use Ibuki Mio's presence to his advantage.
"I think it's fine."
Saiki Kusuo nodded.
"Great!"
Yamauchi Haruki immediately smiled and turned back to Ibuki Mio.
"If it's fine, then I'm Yamauchi Haruki. Nice to meet you!"
"Even if you're good people... you're still a bunch of idiots."
Ibuki Mio shook her head.
"My name is... Ibuki."
[Although I don't fully agree with Ryuen's methods, if our class is to rise, we need his help. Class C, I hope you realize that in this school, being naive won't get you anywhere!]
Ibuki Mio's thoughts were loud and clear.
...
Soon, Ibuki Mio followed Saiki Kusuo and the others back to the campsite. However, she used the excuse of "not wanting to cause trouble for another class" to sit at a spot some distance away from the main Class C group.
As for Saiki Kusuo and the others, they now had to prepare to start a fire.
"I'll do it!"
Yamauchi Haruki seemed eager to show off. He took the matches he had gotten from Hirata Yosuke and struck them several times before finally lighting one.
He carefully held the lit match, trying to ignite the branches—but after several attempts, Yamauchi Haruki failed, and the number of matches in the box dwindled.
'Yare yare...'
Saiki Kusuo felt a bit exasperated with Yamauchi Haruki. He secretly used his powers to light the branches the moment Yamauchi Haruki brought the match close.
"It worked, it worked!"
Seeing the flames catch, Yamauchi Haruki excitedly jumped around and turned to look around—
Unfortunately, no one had been paying attention to him the entire time.
Saiki Kusuo, meanwhile, went to a secluded corner and used his clairvoyance to observe the rest of the class. Kushida Kikyo, Hirata Yosuke, and a few others had gone out to look for food. Saiki Kusuo didn't want any more unexpected incidents, so he decided to check on them first.
'It seems they've found some edible fruits. They're doing alright.'
After confirming their situation, Saiki Kusuo finally relaxed. Now he could take a short break.
...
Half an hour later, the others returned to the campsite one after another. It was starting to look more organized, and everyone was sharing their discoveries. Things were moving in a positive direction.
There were fruit trees nearby, and their campsite was close to the river, making it easy to fish. Even if they couldn't catch any fish, they could ask Chabashira Sae to spend points and have the school provide food—each class's homeroom teacher would accompany their class, but they were mostly there to supervise and provide supplies, not to participate in the activities.
Eventually, the conversation turned to how to handle Ibuki Mio.
"Isn't it too coincidental that someone from another class just showed up? She might be a spy."
"I agree. It's all Yamauchi's fault for bringing her back!"
"But no matter what, her injuries seem serious. Maybe we can use this to our advantage and get information about Class D from her."
Everyone was discussing, and Yamauchi Haruki only now considered the possibility that Ibuki Mio might be a spy.
Hirata Yosuke couldn't make a decision right away. After asking a few more questions about Ibuki Mio and seeing her severe injuries, he ultimately decided that Class C would take care of her for now.
Although there were quite a few opponents in the class, since Hirata Yosuke was essentially the leader, everyone went along with the decision.
"By the way, where's Koenji?"
It was only then that someone noticed Koenji Rokusuke hadn't returned to the campsite.
"Koenji? He's already back on the ship."
Chabashira Sae said with a smile.