After Hikaru Hashima and Minami Kozue found a tree, dug a hole beneath it, and placed the key card inside, the girl wore a hesitant expression.
"Is there something else on your mind, Minami-san?" he asked gently.
"I just feel like I haven't been useful as a leader. I haven't even captured a single base, and now we're already abandoning that plan."
"Haha, don't think like that. All plans and methods are for achieving victory in this exam," Hikaru soothed. "These past two days, you protecting the key card has been impressive enough. If our class's leader's name remains hidden until the end, that will be a perfect result."
"Okay, I understand."
After burying the key card, the two returned to camp. Since it was almost dinnertime, Hikaru returned to his busy preparations, contributing his strength to the class.
When the agreed-upon time arrived, Honami Ichinose led Shibata and three other girls back to the Class A camp entrance. Everyone naturally greeted them with delight.
However, when the students saw a strange figure appearing behind the group, surprise appeared on each of their faces to varying degrees. After all, it was the first time anyone had seen someone who wasn't a member of Class A inside the camp.
"Um, let me explain," Honami began, taking control of the situation. "This is Saki Yamashita-san from Class D."
Ichinose Honami began to take control of the situation and then explained the series of events that had just happened in detail to everyone, so that the students could understand why she was here.
"I see," Ryuji Kanzaki said, first glancing at Hikaru Hashima. After seeing him nod, he slowly expressed his opinion. "I understand Ichinose-san's concern. We really can't leave a girl alone in the forest overnight."
"Yeah, I didn't expect Ryuen to hit even the girls in his own class. That's awful!"
"I think it's fine to let Yamashita-san stay. Anyway, their class has already withdrawn, and we have plenty of food. It's not a problem at all."
"But where will she sleep? Will she have to squeeze in with the girls?"
"Those are minor details, Ando-san."
Just as everyone began chattering about how to accommodate Saki Yamashita, the girl with the pigtails felt a peculiar sensation in her heart.
Although she had a few friends in Class D, and the atmosphere in the class, under Mio Ibuki's management, was not bad.
But seeing this group of people, who suddenly began discussing how to accommodate her, each wore a sincere smile from the bottom of their hearts. This was genuine emotion, without a trace of falsehood.
If Ryuuen were to say it, the students of Class A, except for that guy Hikaru, were a bunch of fools who liked to play house, completely unworthy of being in first place.
But after witnessing such a unique class atmosphere firsthand, Saki Yamashita had somewhat of a change in her thinking. However, she chose to quietly hide this feeling in her heart, continuing to silently observe everyone in the camp.
"Since everyone agrees, let's leave it like this for now. Let's eat first. I have something else to announce later."
Hikaru Hashima called out, encouraging everyone to satisfy their hunger, as everyone had been working hard all afternoon and needed to replenish their energy.
"Okay."
"Coming right now."
"Got it, got it."
After hearing Hikaru Hashima speak, everyone understood that he was going to announce some new plan after dinner, so they responded very actively.
"Yamashita-san, please join us too."
"Okay."
During the meal, Saki Yamashita didn't stop observing the actions of Class A, even while holding her bowl.
The longer she observed, the more certain she became that the true core of this group was indeed that Hashima kid.
Everyone in this class showed him an attitude of absolute trust. Although it was just a simple meal, he was always surrounded by many students, both male and female. Even if it was just a simple conversation, everyone was still happy to do so.
And the true class leader, that beautiful pink-haired girl, was the only one who could sit by his side all the time. The distance between them was quite close, their shoulders even touching, which didn't seem like an ordinary student relationship.
However, the students of Class A had long been used to it and didn't care at all.
In addition to observing these two people, Saki Yamashita was also scanning the other students in the camp, as her goal was to obtain the leader's name, but she had not yet seen any trace of the key card, so she dared not make any judgment and could only wait for the opportunity to arrive.
After eating and drinking their fill, everyone gathered at the camp quite consciously, waiting for Hikaru Hashima's next speech.
And Saki Yamashita stood next to them, a little curious about what plan Hikaru was going to announce.
"Today is the second day on the island, and there are still five days left until the end of the exam, so I think we can adjust our actions in response to the exam. Please remember what I am about to say carefully, and feel free to ask questions if you have any."
"The core of the adjustment is about capturing bases."
Hikaru Hashima glanced at Saki Yamashita, who was standing next to him, and said to the crowd: "I think everyone can temporarily give up capturing bases."
"The bases themselves represent a certain risk, and the scores are not high, and it also requires tedious repeated card punches. It would be more efficient for us to collect information instead."
The boy did not mention that he had already learned the name of Class B's leader, but everyone could understand what he meant.
"As long as you can guess the names of the leaders of other classes, it doesn't matter how many bases they have, because the extra points will be cleared at the end, so it won't constitute pressure for ranking competition."
"So I think reducing the workload now is a good thing, and we can focus on another thing more. As for collecting supplies, it is still a normalized action. Do you understand?"
"Understood, let's do it according to Hikaru's plan."
Shibata glanced at Honami Ichinose next to him and Hikaru Hashima at the front. After being with them for so long, he quickly understood why the boy made this decision.
Perhaps it was related to Yamashita, who came to the camp today, after all, she was a member of another class.
"Yes, I always think that collecting information and supplies in this exam are the real purpose of the school's examination."
"Let's act like this then, everyone good luck."
"Good luck!"
The discussion did not cause any objections and was quickly passed unanimously. Just as the students began to disperse, Saki Yamashita, who was standing next to them, was completely dumbfounded.
Her original plan was to see how Class A's students punched cards at the base, even if there were many people at the same time or a wall of people blocking the outside view, she had thought of these possibilities.
However, these methods would at least provide a general range of candidates, but now, after hearing Hikaru Hashima's plan to abandon the base, the girl was completely dumbfounded.
If these people completely stop using their key cards from now on, what am I going to do?
Look for them one by one?
Isn't that asking the impossible...