"Eliminating all 39 students from the exam…"

  Kanzaki Ryūji furrowed his brows. "Is that even possible?"

  "It’s difficult."

  Uesugi nodded in agreement.

  "Even if we somehow managed to force an entire css to withdraw, the remaining csses would definitely take precautions."

  "Not to mention, if we push this too far, our css will become a prime suspect, and we might even get disqualified from the exam."

  The group in the tent silently nodded.

  While they had already steeled themselves for underhanded tactics, they preferred not to take things to an extreme.

  "However—"

  Uesugi’s tone shifted, his expression growing excited.

  "In this special exam, there just so happens to be a css that voluntarily sent most of its students back to the ship."

  "Uesugi, you mean…?"

  Everyone immediately thought of Css C, the css led by Ryūen.

  "That’s right. We don’t know exactly how many people Ryūen left behind on the isnd, but if we can eliminate Kaneda Satoru, our chances of guessing their leader correctly will increase dramatically."

  Uesugi stroked his chin, smirking.

  "And besides, there’s no way Ryūen realized this hidden rule. If he had, he wouldn’t have walked straight into a trap like this."

  "As for that Ibuki girl still lingering in Css D’s camp, she can stay or leave, doesn’t really matter. It’s highly unlikely she’s the leader. After all, even Ryūen wouldn’t have been reckless enough to trust that Css D wouldn’t spitefully write down her name if they discovered Css C’s leader."

  "So, most likely—"

  Uesugi grinned.

  "Css C’s leader is still Ryūen himself, hiding somewhere. With his personality, he’d never leave such an important position to someone else. He’d also want to secure a few bases to rack up points."

  The others finally understood his pn—

  Leave the most likely leader intact while systematically removing the more suspicious candidates, increasing the probability of guessing correctly.

  "And Css A…"

  The mere thought of Css A made Uesugi chuckle.

  The prestigious Css A, supposedly the most elite css in the grade, had done nothing but obediently follow the rules of the exam.

  They had even refused to interact with other csses.

  With no communication, they had no access to valuable intel.

  In Uesugi’s mind, Css A was the least likely to consider swapping out their leader.

  That meant all he needed to do was identify their original leader—simple enough.

  Of course, Css A was difficult to deal with in its own way.

  With over 150 points in resources, they could afford to not collect food and water.

  They also didn’t move around much, making it hard to find the right moment to strike.

  "For now, we don’t need to bother with Css A. I already have a pn to deal with their leader."

  The moment Uesugi said this, the more perceptive members of the group immediately caught on.

  "Speaking of which…"

  Kanzaki suddenly asked,

  "You still haven’t told us what you were up to st night. Were you dealing with Css A?"

  …Huh?

  Ichinose’s body stiffened.

  She instantly grabbed Uesugi’s hand.

  Kanzaki, you idiot! Why are you bringing that up?! I spent the whole night calming him down!

  Uesugi internally screamed.

  "Ahem—yes! That’s exactly it! I was gathering intel on Css A’s leader!"

  He shamelessly decred, not a hint of guilt on his face.

  Then, before anyone could question further, he swiftly redirected the conversation back to the exam.

  "As for Css D…"

  At st, Uesugi bared his fangs.

  "From the very beginning, my real target has been Css D."

  Once again, the group fell silent.

  Hadn’t they just agreed that forcing 39 people to withdraw wasn’t realistic?

  Almost as if reading their minds, Uesugi chuckled.

  "Not 39 people—just one."

  …What?

  Why would eliminating just one person be enough?

  "Kanzaki, calcute how many points Css D has left."

  Before the others could make sense of it, Uesugi called upon Css B’s walking calcutor.

  "Toilets, tents, water, food…"

  Kanzaki quickly ran through the numbers.

  "At most… around 70 points remaining?"

  On the first day, even if they had bought the cheapest food and water, that would have cost at least 10 points.

  If they stopped buying water and relied on the river, their remaining food expenses would be 7 points per meal.

  After seven meals, that totaled 49 points.

  Adding 20 points for toilets and tents, the total expenditure so far was 79 points, leaving them with 71 points.

  "Wrong. They have 41 points left."

  Uesugi corrected with a smug grin.

  "Remember? Kōenji withdrew on the first day."

  Ah.

  The realization sank in.

  "Css D’s either too greedy for points or too confident in their ability to secure more food. Otherwise, they should have spent all their remaining points on supplies…"

  Before Uesugi could even finish, the others already knew where this was going.

  With only 41 points left, if they lost 30 more points, they’d be left with only 11.

  At that point, could Css D really st another two days?

  "So this is what you were waiting for…"

  Shibata finally put the pieces together.

  "You’ve been stalling for days—just waiting for Css D to run out of points."

  Uesugi smirked.

  "Like I said from the beginning—resources are the foundation of this exam. Without supplies, students cannot sustain themselves through the exam."

  "But,"

  He added casually,

  "Whether we eliminate one or two students doesn’t actually matter. As long as they both withdraw under the same circumstances, and if we make it look natural, even Css D itself will assume it was an accident."

  "In fact—"

  Uesugi’s smirk widened.

  "We don’t even need to make them withdraw."

  "All we have to do is force a deduction in their points."

  "With the kind of people in Css D, it’d be child’s py to manipute them into losing points."

  "And once that happens…"

  Uesugi trailed off, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

  "Css D barely came together in the first pce. The only reason they pretended to be united was because of outside pressure."

  "But once they realize they have no hope of achieving a decent score—"

  "Do you really think they’ll grit their teeth and see the exam through to the end? That they’ll fight for the future of their css?"

  "Don’t be ridiculous."

  Uesugi smirked.

  "They’ll give up."

  "They’ll look at their miserable conditions and compare it to the Css C students enjoying a vacation on the ship. Then, one by one, they’ll abandon ship—just like Css C did."

  "And when that happens…"

  "The only ones left will be the real contenders."

  His eyes gleamed as he turned toward Css D’s camp—

  As if staring right through their tents, straight at Horikita Suzune.

  So in the end…

  This exam was never about intelligence, strategy, or even individual strength.

  It was about unity.

  A css that couldn’t work together—one that never truly came together in the first pce—was doomed from the start.

  Horikita-san…

  Don’t go crying on me now.

  ---

  "......"

  - Gardevoir

  (End of Chapter—Support the transtor at [patreon.com/WiseTL]!)