Saiki thought in his heart, just about to find a place to sit down and rest.
But at this moment, a terrifying voice rang out.
"Um, if no one minds, I can go!"
The speaker was none other than Kikyo Kushida.
And the gazes of those boys who had just been unwilling to go out exploring changed in an instant.
"I'll join!"
"Count me in too!"
"I'm in, I'm in!"
'Hey hey hey, didn't one of you just say only idiots would go? Kushida, aren't you the real psychic here?'
Saiki complained, 'Forget it. Even if they want to go voluntarily, it has nothing to do with me. After all, it's only a few people who are willing to go out. Even if I stay here, there's nothing wrong with that.'
"We five will go too!"
And at that moment, Ike Kanji suddenly raised his hand, drawing everyone's eyes to him.
The five of them... were the Idiot Trio plus Ayanokoji and Saiki.
'???????? Hey hey hey hey hey hey, why are you dragging me into this after agreeing so righteously?! You guys clearly don't want to go either!'
Saiki immediately shifted his attention to the others.
[Sounds kind of fun. Let's go!]
'What's fun about this?'
[If I go voluntarily... maybe the girls in class will see me differently!]
'There's absolutely no chance of that.'
[Doesn't matter whether I go or not, but I could check out that base I saw earlier.]
'Aren't you a non-interventionist?'
Saiki glanced at Ike Kanji, whose attention was entirely on Kushida.
'Damn it. If I refuse now, I'll probably be labeled public enemy number one in class, ranked alongside guys like Takahashi and Sudou. I absolutely can't let that happen!'
Saiki had no room to refuse now. He could only force himself to nod and step forward.
'Luckily, aside from the Idiot Trio, the others who volunteered are relatively normal...'
"This sun feels so refreshing! My body needs energy~ I'll join too!"
And at that moment, Koenji Rokusuke also stepped forward, volunteering to join the expedition.
'Hey hey hey, why are you suddenly so proactive today?' Saiki had a bad feeling.
"Perfect, we have twelve people now. Let's split into four groups!"
Hirata Yousuke smiled as he spoke and then let the twelve people form their own teams.
'Anyone, please team up with me quickly. Ike, I now declare you're no longer a primate but a human again, you're my pick...'
Saiki thought this as he kept glancing at the others. He had only one wish, don't end up in the same group as Koenji.
But within just a few seconds, the rest had already finished forming their teams.
Now only three people were left.
Besides Saiki, the remaining two were Ayanokoji and Koenji.
'Crap, these are the only two left...'
[Saiki is going...? I wanted to go too... but now we have twelve people... if I go now, we'll have thirteen... then the team numbers won't divide evenly... I'd just be extra baggage...]
At this moment, in the crowd, Airi Sakura looked at Saiki with a hesitant expression.
'Come on, just come over here!' Saiki was desperately hoping Airi Sakura would swap places with him.
———
Soon, the various groups began moving out separately, and Saiki had no choice but to act alongside Ayanokoji and Koenji.
[My perfect body was made to bathe in this bright sunlight.]
[Ahh, how beautiful. Standing leisurely in the midst of nature, I'm truly too beautiful… the ultimate beauty!]
[Too beautiful! I'm just too beautiful!]
Koenji's inner monologue was unbearably loud in Saiki's ears as he darted through the forest like a wild man.
'Damn it, this guy should really be locked up in a zoo.'
'No no no, this guy reminds me of that monster called Rajang from a certain game...'
'In some ways, the resemblance is way too strong.' Saiki thought as he followed behind Koenji.
'This guy seems to have a clear goal. If I remember right, that place should be a base point. Well, that's good, if Koenji can find a base for the class, it saves me a lot of trouble…'
But after walking for a long time, Koenji suddenly stopped and turned to Saiki with a smile.
"Glasses Boy."
'What did you call me?'
"I didn't expect you to be a bit more beautiful than I imagined. For a mere mortal, that's already quite good."
'What the heck are you talking about?'
"You managed to keep up with my perfect pace?"
'???'
At that moment, Saiki finally realized the problem.
Koenji moved extremely fast, to the point where normal people likely couldn't keep up, but without a reference, Saiki hadn't noticed and had just followed behind him.
Saiki turned around, and saw Ayanokoji closely behind him.
They locked eyes in silence.
[Koenji has physical ability and athletic instincts beyond normal people. For a regular person, keeping up would be hard, but Saiki kept up effortlessly and doesn't even look tired. I can now be pretty sure Saiki is similar to me... maybe even beyond me in terms of physical capability.]
'This is troublesome. But at least they haven't started suspecting supernatural powers yet. Should I erase their memory... no, the replacement memories might be even more absurd. It's too late now to fake being out of breath.'
Saiki sighed inwardly. He knew this might become a problem. Fortunately, these two, Koenji the "golden ape" and Ayanokoji, who also hides his strength, probably won't cause trouble for now.
"I have a question for you mere mortals. May I ask, what do you think of this place?" At that moment, Koenji suddenly asked.
'What now, what's this guy thinking?'
[These two are a bit more special than the others. Let me probe them a little, see if they noticed anything strange about this island.]
'This guy... he may look like a golden baboon, but his mind is sharp? I underestimated him earlier.'
'He's testing me... trying to see if I've realized this island is artificial? Too bad, Captain Koenji, I've already figured that out!'
Saiki's brain spun rapidly, and then he spoke, "This island... doesn't seem to have anything special, right?"
"Good. Got it. Don't worry about what I just asked. As expected, mortals are just mortals." Koenji didn't say anything else and resumed walking.
'Did I get away with it?'
At that moment, Koenji's inner thoughts were once again drowned in self-praise, and Saiki had no choice but to silently follow.
As they moved forward, the forest became thinner and the path wider, and a huge cave appeared before them.
"Saiki, do you think this is a base?" Ayanokoji turned to Saiki.
[This is the base. I saw this place from the ship earlier. Saiki must have noticed too, right?]
'There he goes again, pretending to ask me.'
Saiki was a little exasperated but also pretended to know nothing.
"Not sure. Maybe."
"I think it might be too."
[Saiki is definitely pretending not to know.]
'Then what was the point of asking me in the first place?!'
Just then, two people walked out of the cave, Katsuragi Kohei and Totsuka Yahiko.
'That guy Katsuragi, huh? They got here first.'
Saiki wasn't surprised. Before the action started, he had already heard Katsuragi's thoughts via telepathy, this cave was his first target...
Katsuragi looked around but didn't notice Saiki or Ayanokoji. In his hand, he held the keycard for capturing the area, putting on the air of a leader.
But Saiki knew this was just a façade.
From the moment he saw them, he already knew the truth about who the leader was.
[Don't know if anyone's around... but just to be safe, I'll hold the keycard and pretend to be the leader.] Katsuragi's inner voice was loud and clear.
[We shouldn't directly occupy this base point. If we rashly occupy the base before investigating the surrounding environment clearly, it will instead increase the risk of us being exposed.]
[So it can only be me holding the key card and taking action. That way, even if people from other classes appear nearby, they should instinctively assume that I am the leader.]
[Regarding this special exam, we will be cooperating with Class D. This counts as a gamble, but if it succeeds, then for our Class A, we will gain enormous benefits.]
Saiki could clearly hear Katsuragi Kohei's inner voice.
'Yare yare, using this kind of tactic? But any normal person should be able to think of it, there's no way a real leader would openly walk around like this, right?'
Saiki thought in his heart, 'And also... Class A is actually cooperating with Class D?'
While he was thinking, he could also clearly hear the inner voice of Ayanokoji beside him.
[Katsuragi wouldn't make such a low-level mistake. He absolutely cannot be the leader. And capturing a base must be personally executed by the leader, so the one beside him, Totsuka Yahiko, is the real leader.]
Ayanokoji had likewise guessed the truth, but at present, he still didn't know about the fact that Class A had already started cooperating with Class D.
"Our luck is really great. We were actually able to find a suitable cave right after arriving! With this, even just two tents will be enough."
Totsuka Yahiko smiled as he spoke to Katsuragi Kohei, but the latter's face remained serious.
"Luck? Have you not noticed anything at all until now? I already knew there was a cave here before we landed. In other words, finding it was inevitable. Also, watch your words and actions. Since we don't know if anyone is secretly listening, I carry the supervisory responsibility as the leader. You absolutely must not make any low-level mistakes!"
'The more he says it, the more it gives off the feeling of "no silver here" (trying to cover up but makes it more obvious).'
"How did you know ahead of time that there was a cave here?"
"The broadcast on the cruise ship earlier already gave the hint..."
Katsuragi Kohei then gave a brief explanation.
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