COTE : There is Something Wrong With Hikigaya-Chapter 163: The Winner?

Hikigaya was a little surprised at how strict the penalties were. But on second thought, it made sense—without strict rules, a competition-based survival test like this could lead to serious problems.

Chabashira-sensei then introduced another rule: the island had capture points that could be occupied. Holding a capture point would earn the class one extra special point, but every eight hours, the capture point had to be reclaimed.

In other words, a single capture point could provide up to three points per day. Based on the length of the exam, one capture point could generate around 15 to 18 points in total!

However, in order to claim a capture point, a key card had to be used. And whoever held the key card would be considered the leader of the class.

Only the leader can use the key card to occupy a base. On the last day, they can also guess the "leader" of other classes. If they guess correctly, they earn an extra 50 points, while the other class loses 50 points and forfeits any extra points gained from occupying bases over the past seven days.

On the other hand, if they guess wrong, their own class loses 50 points.

That's the entire content of this special exam.

Hikigaya walked up to Hirata. "Hirata, can I take a look at the guidebook?"

This thick guidebook not only listed the point costs for all supplies but also contained dozens of pages detailing the exam rules.

Since the other students in Class D were busy arguing about how to spend their points, Hikigaya had no trouble borrowing the guidebook from Hirata.

He flipped through it quickly, barely spending a second on each page. In less than half a minute, he had skimmed the entire thing and handed it back to Hirata.

"Tch, stop showing off."

An annoyed voice came from nearby—it was Karuizawa, Hirata's publicly acknowledged girlfriend and the leader of the girls' group in the class.

When she noticed Hikigaya looking at her, she gave him a symbolic glare before quickly turning back to her group.

Ever since the conflict on the day the truth about the school was revealed, the two of them had barely interacted... or so one would think.

In reality, ever since that day, Karuizawa had been talking behind Hikigaya's back, spreading rumors, and making small moves against him. But the funny thing was, she only dared to do this behind the scenes or within her group of girls—she never had the guts to say anything to his face.

Honestly, Hikigaya found it amusing. It was like a kid who couldn't win a fight trying to get revenge in petty ways. The more she acted like this, the more it confirmed his belief—Karuizawa was all bark and no bite. If she were really as tough as she pretended to be, she would have just walked up and punched him twice already.

Besides, people talking behind his back was nothing new. Whether it was at his old school, Sobu High, or at this new school, he had long since stopped caring. Letting others affect his mindset would be the dumbest thing he could do.

Of course, guys like Ike and Yamauchi, who liked to openly provoke others, weren't so easily ignored. After the last incident, those two no longer dared to act out in front of him. However, they still talked behind his back and formed little cliques to exclude him.

But things were different now. After their rule-breaking incident, Ike and Yamauchi had dragged the entire class down with them and were now at the absolute bottom of the hierarchy. Whenever they voiced an opinion, someone would bring up their past mistake, forcing them to keep their heads down.

As a result, those two had shifted all their resentment onto Ayanokouji. But for some reason, the three of them had recently started getting along again.

Sudou, on the other hand, had become noticeably quieter. Ever since returning from his suspension, his presence in the class had shrunk. If one wasn't paying attention, they might not even notice that the once hot-headed and troublesome Sudou had suddenly become so "quiet."

But none of this was what Hikigaya was focused on right now. He had already memorized everything in the guidebook. When he recalled the details, the point costs for supplies clearly surfaced in his mind.

After a quick calculation, Hikigaya immediately realized the real key to this special exam.

It wasn't about how to carefully spend the 300 points like the Class D students were debating. In reality, a class only needed around 200 points at most to survive the seven days on the uninhabited island.

The cost of basic survival supplies was low, meaning that every point had a high value.

However, the extra rule about guessing the "leader" created a massive gap in potential point swings. Guessing correctly could mean a difference of 100 points, not even counting the additional loss of "occupied base points" if the leader was exposed.

The value difference between these two aspects—the survival points and the leader-guessing game—was on a completely different scale.

That meant the real focus of this exam wasn't managing resources but figuring out the enemy leaders.

It was a low-risk, high-reward move.

This additional rule was the true factor that would determine the point gap between classes.

Hikigaya glanced toward Class A. Because of the "sudden" special exam and the absence of Sakayanagi, it was obvious that Katsuragi was now leading the class, while Sakayanagi's original supporters had no choice but to follow his orders.

As for Haruno, she seemed to be maintaining a neutral stance and was also listening to Katsuragi's instructions.

"Sakayanagi, so this is the game you're playing, huh?"

Hikigaya's expression shifted as he thought carefully about Sakayanagi's strategy. If he managed to defeat Katsuragi here, it would seem like his victory, but in reality, Sakayanagi would also win.

She was using him to weaken Katsuragi's position in Class A. No matter what the outcome, she would remain undefeated. It was a win-win for her.

In the end, he was still just a piece on her chessboard.

But Sakayanagi had made one mistake—perhaps due to immaturity. She had planned everything flawlessly, setting herself up to win, but she was too focused on short-term victories.

Or rather, she treated victory as the final goal. Sometimes, winning is also a kind of loss, and not winning is also a kind of victory.

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