Chapter 787

Chapter 787: Chapter 787

Hōsen Kazuomi was walking alone through the primeval forest, following a narrow trail on the ground. By his estimate, he was still about half an hour away from his destination.

"He isn’t alone. Be careful when you get there."

Hearing the voice through the walkie-talkie, Hōsen looked completely unconcerned.

"Heh. No need to be so nervous. So what if someone sees me? For all we know, he’s already at his limit."

Then Hōsen clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"What a shame. If he collapses on his own, this exam will get boring real fast."

The person on the other end seemed exasperated.

"Just don’t do anything stupid this time. We only need to confirm Mitoma-senpai’s condition."

That was right.

They were tracking Kaoru’s signal.

Since this morning, Kaoru’s score had not moved at all. After fighting his way up the rankings, he was now gradually being overtaken again.

More importantly, every time they paid to check Kaoru’s GPS position, he remained in essentially the same place.

There was no way Hōsen could ignore something that unusual.

After all, he had already chosen Kaoru as one of the opponents he wanted to defeat.

According to what they had heard, Kaoru was operating as a solo group.

Leaving aside how much food and water he had consumed, reaching the sixth day after such intense activity and stopping for a rest would not have been strange.

And yet...

Something felt wrong.

Kaoru was the Student Council president, someone with influence across the school. Hōsen refused to believe he had somehow failed to prepare enough supplies.

Besides, Kaoru’s ranking had risen explosively over the past two days. He had obviously only just begun taking the exam seriously.

For him to suddenly stop moving now—not even bothering to reach designated areas—was suspicious.

Hōsen puzzled over it until one possibility flashed through his mind.

’Did he get hurt?’

If Kaoru had been injured badly enough that he had no choice but to stop and wait for his body to recover, then everything made sense.

The moment Hōsen considered that possibility, his instincts told him an opportunity had appeared.

If he attacked now, he might be able to eliminate Kaoru in one stroke.

It was admittedly underhanded.

But the idea of teaching Kaoru a lesson immediately improved Hōsen’s mood.

"I don’t know what you’re worrying about. My only target is Mitoma-senpai."

Hōsen licked his lips.

"What about you, Ishigami? Aren’t you interested in him too?"

The student speaking to him was Ishigami Kyō of Class 1-A, one of Hōsen’s teammates for this exam.

"I am somewhat interested in Mitoma-senpai."

Ishigami’s voice turned cold.

"But did you ask my opinion before what you did earlier?"

Even thinking about it irritated him.

Hōsen dismissed the complaint.

"You’re too cautious. There aren’t any cameras out here. You can do almost anything and people will blame it on the ghost."

Ishigami was speechless at Hōsen’s thought process.

Could this idiot come up with a plan that was even remotely presentable?

Still, Hōsen’s animal-like instincts were undeniably sharp.

The instant he heard the ghost rumor, he had decided to hide behind it and attack a Class 2-A group without hesitation.

That level of decisiveness bordered on reckless insanity.

What irritated Ishigami was that Hōsen had done all of it merely to lure Kaoru into appearing.

"Hōsen-kun, do you honestly think breaking your watch means there can never be consequences?"

Ishigami gave a cold laugh.

"One of my people just reported that Ichinose-senpai is still following the clues. They’ve already started questioning people."

If Ishigami had not hurriedly arranged for two other Class 1-A students to damage their watches as a smokescreen, Hōsen probably would have been confronted that same day.

Ishigami hated trouble.

Especially trouble that had nothing to do with him in the first place.

Hōsen stopped walking when he heard that Honami was still investigating.

His expression became genuinely surprised.

"Now that you mention it, that is weird. She’s the leader of Class 2-B. Why would she waste time caring about something like this? Is she stupid?"

Hōsen could not understand Honami at all.

He had targeted Class 2-A.

What did it have to do with some unrelated girl from Class B?

"Either way, be careful."

Ishigami’s tone carried a warning.

"And if you intend to make a move against Mitoma-senpai, you consult me first."

Coming from Ishigami, that was already unusually severe wording.

"You’re annoying."

Hōsen had no interest in being lectured.

"If you’re that afraid I’ll drag you into this, turn off your radio."

He sneered.

"You were the one who wanted to test Mitoma-senpai in the first place. I’m the one doing all the work here. Be grateful I’m not charging you a few million points."

Hōsen waited.

No reply came from Ishigami.

Then another voice crackled through the radio.

"Wow, Hōsen-kun. Impressive. You actually managed to piss him off."

The speaker was Takahashi Osamu, another Class 1-A student and Hōsen’s nominal teammate.

"Say another word and I’ll beat you up."

Hōsen sneered and switched off the walkie-talkie.

His cooperation with Ishigami had only ever been temporary anyway.

He did not even know why Ishigami was so interested in Kaoru.

If Ishigami had not approached him first about forming a group, Hōsen probably would have gone to Miyabi instead.

Ishigami’s repeated warnings, however, were not an attempt to act superior.

He had simply sensed what Hōsen was actually planning.

Because Hōsen did intend to do something.

What was the point of merely attacking a Class 2-A group?

If he had known Kaoru’s location from the beginning, he probably would have followed him on the very first day.

The instant Kaoru was isolated, Hōsen would have attacked.

Yes.

Hōsen wanted to fight Kaoru directly.

Preferably, he wanted to beat him badly enough that Kaoru would have no choice but to withdraw from the exam.

The idea sounded absurd, but from Hōsen’s perspective it was efficient.

He was grouped with Ishigami and the others, whereas Kaoru was a solo group.

That meant if the school discovered the two fighting, there was a real possibility both would be removed from the exam regardless of who won.

For Kaoru, withdrawing as a solo group would be catastrophic.

Hōsen, however, would still have teammates earning points.

His group would survive.

If Hōsen had forced Kaoru out on the very first day, Kaoru would almost certainly have finished dead last.

Forget the six-million-private-point rescue cost. The second year would also have taken a massive hit to its class points.

That was exactly why Hōsen had attacked a Class 2-A group.

He had hoped Kaoru would come running, preferably alone.

Unfortunately, Kaoru had completely ignored the bait.

Apparently, he had spent his time hanging around with girls instead.

When Hōsen heard that, he had nearly sneered aloud.

What kind of ambitious man wasted his time fooling around with girls?

Even so, Hōsen still intended to take Kaoru down.

...

After Hōsen shut off the radio, Takahashi Osamu looked innocently toward Ishigami.

"What a pain."

A trace of displeasure flashed through Ishigami’s eyes.

He was beginning to regret allowing Hōsen to go alone.

"Eh, that’s just how Hōsen-kun is. Don’t get mad."

Osamu shrugged.

"I honestly think we should just ignore him and let him deal with Mitoma-senpai. It doesn’t have anything to do with us."

If things were really that simple, Ishigami would gladly have ignored Hōsen completely.

But Yagami Takuya’s unexplained expulsion, combined with Hōsen’s description of Kaoru, had unsettled him.

Originally, Ishigami had assumed Kiyotaka was responsible for eliminating Yagami.

Now it seemed possible Kaoru had been involved as well.

Worse, Kiyotaka himself might have aligned with Kaoru.

Just where had Mitoma Kaoru come from?

Ishigami had investigated his background before.

What he found had been enough to make him cautious.

If Ayanokōji Kiyotaka had genuinely chosen to rely on Kaoru, then Ishigami could not help feeling that his own enrollment at this school was almost a joke.

He also felt a strange disappointment toward Kiyotaka.

In Ishigami’s eyes, the White Room’s greatest masterpiece should have been the freest and strongest man among them.

Someone capable of accomplishing extraordinary things in the future.

How could a person like that end up working alongside Kaoru?

No.

Ishigami needed to understand Kaoru.

At minimum, he needed to see Kaoru demonstrate enough ability to justify those rumors.

The problem was that Ishigami had no intention of recklessly provoking him.

So he could only approach both Kaoru and Kiyotaka carefully.

"I’m not angry. There’s no point getting angry at someone like him."

Ishigami kept his thoughts to himself.

Letting Hōsen test the waters was not necessarily a bad thing.

Osamu was about to say something else when another student came running through the forest in a panic.

"This is bad! Ishigami-kun! Takahashi-kun!"

Ishigami frowned slightly.

Osamu, meanwhile, looked irritated.

"What do you mean, ’this is bad’? Look at us. Ishigami-kun and I are doing perfectly fine!"

The student shook his head furiously while trying to catch his breath.

"N-no! That’s not what I mean! It’s the ghost! The legendary ghost appeared again!"

Both boys froze.

Ishigami especially.

For one instant, he wondered whether Hōsen’s earlier crime had finally been exposed.

Had someone discovered where the stolen supplies were hidden?

No.

He immediately rejected that possibility.

If that had happened, the people approaching them would not have been their own classmates.

It would have been teachers and victims.

"Wh-what?!"

Osamu’s eyes lit up.

"You mean the white ghost with glowing green eyes?!"

"I don’t know! Everyone’s just saying the ghost struck again!"

The student finally caught his breath.

"Apparently there’s been another incident, and things have gotten serious. Some second-year girls think someone is stealing supplies and are demanding that the school organize a massive island-wide search!"

Ishigami froze.

His mind worked quickly enough that he immediately understood the danger.

For the first time, he regretted helping hide the stolen supplies.

"A massive search?"

Osamu also realized something was wrong.

Then he saw Ishigami’s expression and wisely shut his mouth.

Ishigami took a slow breath.

"Don’t panic. They won’t find any—"

"Hehehe. Won’t find any what?"

A girl’s soft laugh came from the nearby forest.

Ishigami’s expression stiffened.

Sakayanagi Arisu emerged with Kamuro Masumi and Kitō Hayato.

Hayato was carrying several bags.

"White-haired loli—wait, you’re Sakayanagi-senpai?!"

Osamu looked stunned.

Arisu’s smile did not fade.

She gave him a brief glance before turning toward Ishigami.

"You must be Ishigami-kun and Takahashi-kun from Class 1-A."

"Nice to meet you. I’m Ishigami."

He quickly regained his composure.

"What brings Sakayanagi-senpai here?"

His expression remained calm, but he could already guess her purpose.

"Hmm. I suppose I came to say hello."

Arisu sighed.

"After all, what you’ve done has irritated me somewhat."

"No matter how you look at it, I am still a member of Class A."

"I can hardly ignore what happened."

"We did something that upset Sakayanagi-senpai?"

Osamu tried playing dumb.

Arisu smiled.

Then, without even looking at him, she gestured toward Hayato.

He threw several bags onto the ground in front of them.

"These are the missing supplies."

Arisu spoke quietly.

"Of course, they aren’t the exact supplies you stole. I simply had Kitō-kun obtain them from another group."

Osamu stared blankly.

Ishigami understood immediately.

"Why is Sakayanagi-senpai trying to frame us?"

"Because the situation is strange."

Arisu smiled.

"There were three students whose watches malfunctioned around the relevant time."

"Two belonged to your class."

"The third was Hōsen-kun."

She tilted her head slightly.

"What an interesting coincidence. Hōsen-kun is also your teammate, which makes him one of your people."

Ishigami cursed inwardly.

He had known Hōsen’s brute-force approach would cause trouble.

If that idiot had consulted him beforehand, Ishigami could at least have designed something with plausible deniability.

Instead, Hōsen had simply acted first and left everyone else to clean up afterward.

The smokescreen with the damaged watches might confuse ordinary students.

It would not fool someone intelligent.

"Even if Sakayanagi-senpai believes that, I doubt anything I say will change your mind."

Ishigami remained composed.

"But isn’t this frame-up far too crude? Do you truly believe the school would accept it?"

Throwing supposedly stolen goods at their feet right in front of them was practically insulting.

"I don’t think it’s crude at all."

Arisu spoke leisurely.

"There are no cameras here."

"And the victims personally saw Ishigami-kun and the others stealing their belongings."

"We simply happened to arrive while you were dividing up the loot."

Osamu could no longer stay silent.

"Hey, hey, the school can just check the GPS—"

"Exactly."

Arisu calmly interrupted him.

"That is why I specifically chose supplies from a group you encountered this morning."

Her expression remained completely relaxed, as though she had predicted his objection from the beginning.

"As for your movement history, perhaps you stole something while passing them."

She smiled sweetly.

"It only takes a moment, doesn’t it?"

Osamu stared at her.

He had not expected someone to be even more unreasonable than Hōsen.

Arisu was entirely unsurprised by his reaction.

She had no intention of playing detective with them.

She had simply flipped the table.

Either they backed down, or everyone suffered.

"Sakayanagi-senpai’s methods are much more forceful than I expected."

Ishigami suddenly smiled.

"You’re rather different from what I previously understood."

"Have we met?"

Arisu narrowed her eyes.

"If I had met someone as handsome as Ishigami-kun, I imagine I would remember."

"I’ve seen Sakayanagi-senpai before. You simply had no reason to notice someone like me."

Ishigami smoothly changed the subject.

"I assume you’ve also made arrangements regarding Hōsen-kun?"

"Ichinose-san is heading toward him now."

Arisu’s tone remained casual.

"They should be meeting around this time."

"Anything else?"

Osamu opened his mouth, but Ishigami shook his head.

"We surrender."

He spoke without hesitation.

"If possible, I’d appreciate it if Sakayanagi-senpai would let this matter end here."

"What a decisive man."

Arisu smiled.

"You aren’t going to struggle a little longer?"

"No."

Ishigami shook his head.

"If Sakayanagi-senpai has already come personally, withdrawing now is clearly the correct choice."

"Even if I somehow resolved the problem in front of me, you would have another move prepared, wouldn’t you?"

"You’re correct."

Arisu smiled pleasantly.

"Unfortunately, I’m still somewhat annoyed."

"What should we do about that?"

"Whatever Sakayanagi-senpai wants."

Osamu looked stunned.

He had never expected to see Ishigami yield like this.

It was only a crude frame-up.

Why retreat so completely?

Yet Osamu also understood that their side could not withstand a serious school investigation.

If the administration became involved, they were the ones most likely to suffer.

And if Arisu personally decided to target their group for the rest of the exam, things would become even worse.

Ishigami therefore chose to cut his losses immediately.

Hōsen, meanwhile, had absolutely no idea that his allies had already sold him out.

After dealing with Ishigami, Arisu took out her walkie-talkie and contacted Honami.

"Your idea worked rather well."

Her tone carried faint amusement.

"Better than I expected."

A cheerful laugh came from the other side.

Since Arisu had finished her part, it was now Honami’s turn to deal with Hōsen.

After all...

Someone needed to teach Hōsen Kazuomi that doing bad things was wrong.