Classroom of the Elite Volume 15 Chapter 4 Part 5

The eleventh day, moments before 5:00 PM.

I had only just arrived at my final designated area, J10, when I found myself momentarily captivated by the rocky, rugged scenery laid out before me.

While it was important for me to collect points and provisions from Tasks, it was even more so to keep a firm grasp of my current standing on the leaderboard.

After all, it was surprisingly difficult to keep my score at eleventh place all the time. Not only did I have to avoid being penalized for missing too many designated areas, but I also had to earn just enough points to stay matched with the tenth-place group.

Yesterday, the third designated area was area B9, which had been a random designation all the way from area F4. Given the distance involved, I pretty much immediately gave up on getting there in time. I didn’t end up making it to the area after that either, area C9, meaning that I had missed out on two areas in a row.

I somehow managed to avoid the penalty by reaching my first designated area this morning, area C8, but the school then announced another random designation all the way down in area H9 which, of course, I ended up missing all over again. The bad luck continued as I spent the rest of the morning playing catch-up with the area announced after that, area I9.

Once a random designation decided to send you all the way to the other side of the island, you didn’t have any other choice but to chase after it and hope to catch a break.

And after the experience I had recently, it was clear that these long-distance random designations were the primary setback groups had to deal with, as well as the number one reason why their points never seemed to increase.

The path I had taken to get to area J10 had been steep and rugged, but from somewhere not too far up ahead, I could hear what sounded like a boy and some girls talking with each other.

The wind was quite loud, so I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but even so, their voices sounded vaguely familiar.

I figured that, since they could be acquaintances of mine, I might as well get a bit closer to take a look.

The voices were coming from the west, near the oceanside.

Upon making my way in that direction, I spotted a group of three girls from Class 2-B: Isoyama Nagisa, Morofuji Rika, and Shiina Hiyori.

They were joined by yet another group of second-years, one that I hadn’t seen since the first day of the exam. Namely, that of Ishizaki Daichi, Nishino Takeko, and Tsube Hitomi.

In the beginning, our groups each had different tables, but apparently our designated areas had overlapped this time.

“Ara? Why if it isn’t Ayanokōji-kun?”

Of the six of them, five were completely absorbed in their conversation. Only Hiyori, who sat just before me and a bit separated from the rest, noticed my presence. She waved me over to her as soon as our eyes met.

“You seem to be faring better than I expected.”

“That’s because we’ve been working quite diligently to keep up with everyone. We’ve even managed to increase the maximum size of our group to six.”

In other words, her group had joined forces with Ishizaki and the others.

To be honest, it didn’t seem like their group had much in terms of pure, raw potential, but Hiyori would at least be able to contribute more than her fair share when it came to brainpower. She’d act as the backbone of the group in that sense, even though her physical abilities were, frankly, rather poor. In fact, looking at the group as a whole, you could say that they actually had a decently solid balance of strengths and weaknesses going for them.

“Were you planning on joining up with Ishizaki’s group from the beginning?”

“Something like that. I had several groups in mind to potentially join up with if I had the chance, and they were one of them.”

She spoke without so much as an attempt to hide anything, turning her gaze over to Ishizaki and the others as she did so. They were immersed in a friendly discussion as they watched the evening sun begin to fade over the horizon, soothing their tired spirits.

Given that the group primarily consisted of Class 2-B students, they seemed to get along pretty well with each other.

Even Tsube, the only one from a different class, seemed to be blending in with them just fine.

“How about you, Ayanokōji-kun? No health concerns, I’d hope?”

Even though she could see that I was still traveling all on my own, Hiyori didn’t seem particularly concerned or surprised about that.

“Yeah. So far so good.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, but please do be careful. After all, even a single injury is all it’d take for you to retire.”

“I know.”

She patted at the ground beside her, so I took her up on the offer and sat down.

“Only three more days left, huh?”

She posed me a question as we watched out over the ocean together, and it didn’t seem like there was any special, deep meaning behind it.

“Yeah.”

So I simply agreed as the two of us sank into a peaceful mutual silence, relaxing and rejuvenating under the rays of the setting sun.

Normally, when meeting with a friend or somebody I was otherwise close to, the first thing they’d ask about was how well I was doing in the exam.

Since we were in the midst of an arduous battle with our futures on the line, it’s only natural that they’d be curious about that.

Hiyori, however, didn’t seem to have any interest in asking me how many points I’d earned or how well I was doing.

Well, rather than being uninterested, it felt more like she was simply confident that I wouldn’t be expelled.

“Oi! If it ain’t Ayanokōji!”

Having finally noticed my presence, Ishizaki shouted in my direction, grinning with an inexplicably, excessively happy smile.

The remaining group members also seemed to have noticed me by now, but rather than join in with Ishizaki’s merriment, they instead grabbed him by the shoulder as he tried to approach.

“What?”

“Don’t bother them.”

“Huh? It’s not like Ayanokōji hates me or anythin’ though?”

“That’s not the point here…”

“Now, now. Obliviousness is just one of Ishizaki-kun’s charms, don’tcha think?”

“Charms? You’re joking right? He just can’t read the mood at all in my opinion. Nothing ‘charming’ about that.”

“That’s… Well, yeah, I can’t really deny that.”

From the sound of it, it seemed like Nishino and Tsube had really opened up to one another since I last saw them.

This heightened sense of comradery was probably a common occurrence for many groups, brought about by the long period of time they had been together whilst stuck fighting on a deserted island.

After all, if you spend every waking moment working together with someone to avoid mutual expulsion, it gets easy to look past whatever small, trivial issues you might’ve had with them beforehand.

But in another sense, it was cruel.

Once this special exam was over, inter-class warfare would start back up again, spurring on a future for all of us filled with nothing but conflict and strife.

When that time comes, there will probably be a fair number of students who aren’t able to make the hard choices due to the friendships they fostered during the exam.

“Sorry for bothering you all.”

I said farewell as I stood up to take my leave, having concluded that they wouldn’t be able to speak freely amongst themselves with me around. However, Ishizaki hurriedly ran up to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder before I could make it very far.

“It’s stressful bein’ the only guy in this group fulla chicks, so why not hang with us for a bit, eh Ayanokōji~?”

“Hang with you…?”

“The exam’s done for the day anyway, and I’ll bet you were also plannin’ to set up camp somewhere around area I9, yeah?”

Despite being my final designated area for the day, area J10 wasn’t very well-suited for camping due to the strong winds and uneven, rocky ground. So, in a sense, Ishizaki was right. I had indeed planned on avoiding the coastline and pitching my tent somewhere closer to area I9, however…

“I think that’s a splendid idea!”

Hiyori stood up from where she was sitting and walked over to us, voicing her support for Ishizaki’s idea.

In the grand scheme of things, Ishizaki and Hiyori were on relatively good terms with me, so it wouldn’t exactly be a problem for us to share a campsite together. My issue was what the other girls thought about it.

“I’m fine with it if you all are. Ayanokōji-kun seems harmless enough to me.”

“For sure. Sounds good to me.”

But, apparently, not even a single one of them had any problems with it.

It’s hard to put into words, but overall, their group seemed to have an incredibly amicable, cozy atmosphere going for them. It almost seemed like they had forgotten that they were in the middle of an unsparing, high-stakes special exam.

It was the type of atmosphere you’d expect from those in Ichinose’s class, but I guess this meant that Ryūen’s class was gradually starting to change as well.

TL Notes:

Sorry for the delay here. I’ll be doing a double release, so expect part 6 here in a few minutes as well.

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