I have a life simulator.

Horikita Manabu lifted the tent door and walked in carrying a stack of bento boxes.

"You're studying... just got back from F4's place?"

A teacher who seemed to be quite familiar with Horikita Manabu took the lunchbox and began distributing it to the other staff members.

"Yes, get ready to hand over the shift."

"You've worked hard, go and get some rest."

"Yes, you've worked hard too."

After bowing politely, Horikita Manabu turned and left the tent, but in the last second before turning back, he caught a glimpse of the screen and smiled very subtly.

After stepping out of the tent, Horikita Manabu took out his notebook again. He stared at the lines and squares that Tachibana Akane couldn't understand, and then heavily drew a circle on a certain spot.

Taking a deep breath, Horikita Manabu confidently put the notebook and pen back into his pocket.

He could see that.

There's no reason why Lingyin shouldn't have noticed that the boy she likes.

Chapter 182: Where is my sister?

"Xue, I brought yours too."

Horikita Manabu turned his head, and Tachibana Akane, who was also carrying two bento boxes, was enthusiastically suggesting:

"The weather is so nice today, let's go eat by the sea."

The school's headquarters is located in D9, a coastal area. The island's port is located here, and cruise ships dock nearby, making it convenient to access and transport supplies.

Seeing Akane's expectant look, Horikita Manabu couldn't refuse, so he nodded in agreement and followed Akane, who was skipping and hopping, towards the beach.

Just as she said, the weather was indeed very good today, and the sea was quite calm. Gentle waves kept lapping against the beach and receding, creating short, white sprays.

They quickly laid out the picnic blanket, and it seemed that Tachibana Akane had been prepared for a while. The two of them sat on it together, listening to the sound of the waves. Although they were only eating ordinary bento boxes, it felt like a picnic.

"Speaking of which, Xue always wrote and drew in his notebook."

Having just witnessed Horikita Manabu drawing lines in his notebook with a pen, Tachibana Akane asked a question out of curiosity.

"I'm thinking about the shrinking pattern of the school and how to solve this problem."

Horikita Manabu didn't try to hide anything. Normally, the third-year students couldn't interfere with this special exam for the first-year students. He was just taking this opportunity to think about the anomalies he had discovered in the past few days.

"On the surface, the first and second rounds basically designated all the cells in columns B and I as restricted areas, one on the left and one on the right, which easily gives people the impression that the school is shrinking its boundaries."

"But actually, the far left and far right of the whole map are not B and I, but A and J."

Upon hearing this, Akane tried hard to recall the grid on the map, and asked hesitantly:

"But columns A and J are mostly on the sea, with almost no land. And the school won't assign projects at sea."

"You'll understand this later."

Horikita Manabu smiled, a rare occurrence. He didn't explain immediately, but instead took out his notebook and showed Akane the location of F4:

"This is a temporary rest area set up by the school. It is located in a canyon area with relatively flat terrain."

"But to its south, including areas such as F5, G5, F6, and G6, the terrain is entirely steep mountains."

"If the restricted area really does shrink from the outside in, then the F4 area is indeed close to the center and is easily considered one of the last safe zones."

Horikita Manabu paused slightly at this point, then placed his pen horizontally above the F4 area and rolled it downwards:

"But what if the school's decision to shrink the restricted area is from north to south?"

Akane's pupils contracted slightly. If Horikita's theory was true, then the temporary rest stop itself was a huge trap.

“A ‘temporary’ rest stop is fine if you’re just taking a short break, but if you treat it as a long-term base and think you can just get by since you’re not at the bottom, things might go wrong.”

Horikita Manabu calmly began to analyze:

"Compared to the special exam for first-year students on the deserted island in the past, this time the exam period has been extended from one week to two weeks."

"In previous years, tomorrow would have been the last day of the exams."

"In this exam, the seventh day should also be a watershed moment in the school's exam schedule."

"Humans are actually very adaptable and resilient, but the real challenge is whether we can tighten and loosen that string and then tighten it again, which is what we call the ability to adjust."

Akane asked with some concern:

"Doesn't that mean the students who are happily setting up camp in the F4 area are already in great danger?"

“For those students, going over the mountain is definitely the worst option. If they react quickly, they should be able to find another way out on the map.”

Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses and continued:

"The areas in columns A and J are indeed all sea, but that doesn't mean they are impassable. That's probably why the school didn't designate them as restricted areas."

As if to confirm Horikita Manabu's words, the sounds of roaring and waves breaking gradually came from the distant sea.

Two jet skis sped toward the coast of D9 area, one after the other. From a distance, one could see a group of one man and three women, a configuration that was practically unique on the entire deserted island.

Even the usually composed Horikita Gaku couldn't help but smile.

"Just as I predicted, Liang and the others are doing exactly what I expected..."

Just then, Akane Tachibana silently raised her hand:

"But—I don't think I see Rinne."

-------------------------------------

"How about that? Isn't it simple? Hui?"

Even though it was only his second time riding a jet ski, Kitagawa Ryo acted like a seasoned veteran in front of Karuizawa Megumi, whistling as he asked.

"...Tsk."

Karuizawa Kei didn't answer. Although she had gotten over the hurdle in her heart, she still felt a tiny bit of discomfort when she actually saw Shiina Hiyori holding Kitagawa Ryo's waist and the two of them sailing through the sea.

Although she really wanted to ask why Ibuki Mio from another class was sitting behind her, when Karuizawa Megumi looked back, Ibuki Mio's face was also full of anticipation and excitement, as if to say, "If you don't want to drive this thing, I'll drive it instead."

I'll continue driving then.

Putting aside the two people mentioned earlier, jet skiing is actually quite fun...

Hiyori Shiina wrapped her arms around Ryo Kitagawa's neck and whispered something in his ear.

What a ghost.

Before Ibuki Mio in the back seat could react, she heard Karuizawa Megumi in the front grit her teeth and say, "Hold on tight!" Then the jet ski, which had been moving steadily at a constant speed, suddenly accelerated and sped past Kitagawa Ryo's jet ski, kicking up a huge spray of water.

To be fair, as someone whose family runs a dojo and who has received martial arts training since childhood, Ibuki Mio has always been very confident in her courage. However, she never expected to encounter someone even more reckless than herself today, which brought her first jet ski trip to a rather wild experience.

When Karuizawa Kei stopped the engine on the shore, Ibuki Mio stumbled down, feeling as if she had been bounced three times on a roller coaster at an amusement park, and was so dizzy that she couldn't recover for a long time.

Karuizawa Kei was actually feeling a bit unwell, but she forced herself to keep quiet and didn't give anything away. She even had the energy to check her watch to see where she was.

A few minutes later, Kitagawa Ryo and Shiina Hiyori's motorcycle finally arrived. The two of them parked their motorcycles, chatting and laughing, and strolled leisurely onto the beach.

On the shore, Akane Tachibana was still counting people on her fingers:

"Karuizawa Megumi from Class B, Shiina Hiyori from Class C... and the last one with short blue hair, I think she's also from Class C—her name is Ibuki Mio?"

"I met the three of them this morning at the 'Acupressure Mat Racing' project."

Akane Tachibana blinked, a hint of confusion in her eyes, as she finished speaking.

"Where's Rinne? Isn't she in the same group as Kitagawa?"

Horikita Manabu slowly shook his head, rubbing his chin, and suddenly realized that he had opened his champagne earlier than his sister.

He still remembered that his sister and Kitagawa Ryo were quite close at the cultural festival two years ago, and that they had even bought each other swimsuits not long ago.

Horikita Manabu fell into deep thought.

-------------------------------------

"Rin-ne? Rin-ne?"

Honami Ichinose patted Suzune Horikita on the shoulder, puzzled. Startled by the sudden movement, Suzune finally looked up.

"what happened?"

"Arisu and I were just discussing where to go next. Now that we have a temporary rest stop, it seems like there's hardly anyone around here. How about we try some subjects that we're not particularly good at but not completely bad at either?"

Honami Ichinose patiently explained it again, completely disregarding Horikita Suzune's earlier distraction.

"Ah, that's right. We'll be serving carrots in three minutes... No, I mean, you guys can decide on the project. With the three of us as a team, there shouldn't be any project we can't complete."

Feeling that the other person's words were somewhat incoherent, Ichinose Honami shook her head helplessly and turned back to continue her discussion with Sakayanagi Arisu.

Unbeknownst to her, Horikita Suzune was replaying the entire process of cooking that morning in her mind, trying to uncover the secret to its deliciousness.

Otherwise, it would always be her who was impressed by Kitagawa Ryo's cooking, which is clearly a completely unequal relationship within the family.

Horikita Suzune's mind was already conjuring up images of a child crying:

"No, Mom's cooking is not as good as Dad's."

Prohibited items!

If things really turn out that way, wouldn't it be better not to have children in the first place?

Ms. Horikita Suzune, who is known for her tendency to get stuck on a single point, has undoubtedly gotten herself into another one. Her several changes in expression have caught the attention of Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu, who are standing nearby.

"I think this topic is good."

Sakayanagi Arisu browsed through the latest batch of research topics and suddenly selected a target from them.

Honami Ichinose quickly turned her gaze over.

[Topic Title: Pictionary]

[Type: Other]

There is no limit to the number of participants per group. Registration will close when the number of participants for a topic reaches twenty or one hour after a topic becomes available.

[Rules of the activity: All participating students take turns coming to the stage to draw a picture based on the given words. The other students then guess what the picture represents. The first student to guess correctly gets three points, the second gets two points, the third gets one point, and subsequent students get no points. Simultaneously, one point is awarded for each picture correctly guessed by another student. After all participating students have completed one round of drawing, the top three students are ranked according to their scores.]

[First Place: 1200 points, one chance to upgrade to a regular card]

Second place: 1000 points

Third place: 800 points

[Participation Prize: One random ingredient]

"This sounds really interesting."

Ichinose Honami was also attracted by this. Although the group was not as eager for the opportunity to upgrade their regular cards as Kitagawa Ryo, such an interesting topic was not easy to come by, and it also had a participation prize of random ingredients.

"We are currently in E9, and this research topic is in C8. Just head west."

Because they had to take care of Sakayanagi Arisu, who wasn't in great physical condition, and because she had to participate in a project midway through, the trio only advanced two squares after separating from Kitagawa Ryo.

"Can Arisu keep up with the stamina?"

"I didn't walk much this morning, so I should be able to get there in time."

Honami Ichinose and Arisu Sakayanagi quickly made a decision after a few words, and pulled Suzune Horikita, who was not in a very good mental state, westward.

After perfectly avoiding Kitagawa Ryo, who had already arrived in area D9, Sakayanagi Arisu and the others finally rushed to area C8 before the deadline for project registration.

Although many groups were drawn north by the gimmick of the temporary rest stop, a considerable number of groups still gathered here.

Although a large part of the reason is that F4 is too far away to go or that people are too lazy to go.

On the first day, there were Nobuyuki Matoba's group from Class A, Yuki Himeno's group from Class B, and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, who had met Kitagawa Ryo once.

Just as Horikita Suzune and the others noticed Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's presence, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka also noticed their arrival at the same time.

[Ryū Yon-sho had clearly fooled the surveillance cameras.]

Why are the members of Kitagawa's group still following me?

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji narrowed his eyes slightly, his mind racing as he considered various possible reasons.

Ryuen Sho is a double agent. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka made this judgment as early as the day he discovered that the other party might be spying on him.

However, he did not immediately alert the enemy. Instead, he took advantage of the information gap and successfully created false intelligence this morning.

From Long Yuanxiang's perspective, he should have gone in the north direction.