In a flat and calm tone, while staring at Shinohara with a look that treated her as pathetic, I said, “If you filter the water and then boil it, you can remove chlorine and other contaminants so it can be used as drinking water. If you boil it over a hundred-degree flame, you can sterilize it effectively so it won’t harm your health. Depending on the filtration method, we can’t guarantee safety one hundred percent, but as a minimal countermeasure to save points, it’s worth considering.”

“You don’t even know if that water is drinkable when boiled! And stop showing off by using difficult words just because you’re smart!”

...Did I use words that difficult?

I can’t help being impressed by that hopeless level of knowledge.

Shinohara’s dumb rebuttal started immediately.

Before the exam properly begins, it looks like I need to make this loud-mouthed pumpkin woman understand her place.

“Then I’ll ask Ike. What’s your reason for judging that water is drinkable?”

“Huh? Ah... I went camping a lot with my family since I was little. I don’t have any resistance to drinking river water. You can tell at a glance if the water is clean and sanitary, stuff like that.”

Rather than sounding proud, he spoke like it was simply obvious.

And since it was the words of someone with experience, it felt fairly reliable.

“So you weren’t talking with absolutely no basis. Of course, for safety we’ll buy water no matter what, but for saving points, the proposal passes. Still, it’s too much to have everyone suddenly drink river water so only volunteers who care about saving points will drink it. And I will also drink this river water.”

“What? You’re serious?”

“Since this is an exam the school prepared, they should have needed to secure safety. Mashima-sensei also explained the rules and said there would be no harmful effects from the exam so they would’ve been as considerate as possible about our health management. And if someone with experience says it, I think there’s value in trusting them.”

Everyone looked uneasy at my words.

That included Sato and Sakura who have a favorable attitude toward me.

Honestly, safe or not, river water is too much for me as well, but here, praising Ike works to my advantage so I don’t have a choice.

“I’ll say it again, we’ll buy safe water no matter what and there’s no forcing. Only people who want to drink it should drink it without overdoing it.”

“Then I’ll drink it! I can trust this!”

“I think I can try it for a few days too.”

“It’s a bit much but... since we can earn points, for a few days...”

“It’ll be hard but I’ll give it a shot.”

Before I knew it, a few people started appearing who agreed with my opinion, even if they were a minority.

They were probably the ones swayed the moment points got involved.

Well, the more you endure now, the more your later life changes so I’d expected there would be people who hesitated but still agreed.

“Okay. That solves the drinking water issue. Now listen carefully from here. I’m going to talk about our plan for using points...”

“Wait! Why are you deciding things on your own and ordering people around?! I didn’t approve anything at all!!”

I thought it was resolved nicely, but this pumpkin-looking incompetent still seemed full of complaints.

“Because we needed water, we approved buying safe water and we also approved river water only for volunteers. I honestly don’t know what the problem is at this point.”

“What’s the problem? Your attitude is the problem! Anyway, drinking river water is impossible, impossible!”

“Didn’t you hear me say only volunteers drink it? You can drink safe water. That’s all there is to it.”

“Ugh... Agreeing with a barbarian like that is ridiculous!”

“What? You done talking now?”

“Calm down, Ike. Ignore that and from here I’ll tell you a very realistic plan for using points.”

Shinohara was simply angry at the fact that I sided with Ike.

To the incompetent who has no logic left and only emotion, I decided to lay out the clear judgment I’d thought through.

“For example, if we assume we cover all meals with points, the form with the lowest spending is the nutrition meal and bottled water set. As a class unit, it’s six points per meal. As a set, it ends at ten points and if we assume two meals a day, that’s twenty points. Tonight and the final day can be handled with one meal each so in total, twelve meals comes to one hundred twenty points. Even if we consider enduring without eating on the last day, it comes out to one hundred ten points. In other words, out of three hundred points, we’re spending more than a third, one hundred ten, just on meals.”

Even following my quick calculation looked difficult for Shinohara.

But I didn’t stop and kept going.

“On top of that, the must-buy items are a temporary toilet and two extra tents. At twenty points each, combined with food costs that’s one hundred fifty points. Exactly half left. If we factor in daily necessities as variables, at minimum thirty points. That totals one hundred eighty points. Meaning the points that remain and get added to class points, the lower bound is one hundred twenty.”

One hundred twenty is a decent number.

But we’re Class D, the class furthest behind.

Even if we save, we need to choose a direction where we save more.

“W-wait! You’re saying we’d spend one hundred eighty points right now? That’s more than half! I can’t accept that easily, Ayanokoji.”

A guy like Yukimura who wants to aim for as many points as possible would never forgive a suggestion to spend over half.

But this was only a lower bound.

If we wanted to raise it, we could raise it as much as we liked.

“You have to remember this is only a lower-bound point discussion. If we solve just a single day’s food and water, we preserve twenty points right away. If the worry about drinking water for a week disappears, it changes by almost fifty points or more. If we solve meals too, even close to two hundred points isn’t impossible. Just by me and Ike firmly stating we will drink the river water, we already saved about five points. This exam is structured so the more you adapt to the environment, the more points you gain. If we add the points earned from the spot too, we might actually end up with even more remaining.”

After I gave the lower bound and then talked about the possibility of leaving close to two hundred, Class D seemed to develop some level of goal awareness.

I figured it would be somewhere between one hundred eighty and two hundred thirty.

“In other words, we confirm at least one hundred twenty and then depending on each person’s effort, the increase in points will grow. One method among those is drinking river water. But like I said, I will never force this and I will respect your judgment. I’m only making a proposal to raise even a single point.”

After hearing my logical explanation, Yukimura looked convinced enough and expressed his intention to drink river water during the exam period like me.

But unlike the wise Yukimura, the dumb Shinohara made a frustrated face and shouted that she couldn’t accept it.

“Ugh... don’t show off! So what if you’re smart, is that everything? Stop giving orders like you own the place!”

“Unlike you who’s only loud even in this situation, Ike and Yukimura produced results by declaring they’ll drink river water and save points. Meaning it’s proven to be helpful in this exam. And for the record, in this exam, I’m going to proactively accept Ike’s opinions as the only person with camping knowledge and set an example by saving points rationally. So during this exam, I will not tolerate you picking pointless fights with Ike.”

When they heard me declare Ike as a representative figure for this exam and say I’d personally sacrifice to help save points, everyone except Shinohara’s group agreed.

“Ughhh! This is so annoying! Ordering everyone around all by yourself! Who do you think you are!”

“Shinohara Satsuki. As long as you do not interfere with saving points, I promise I will take responsibility and make sure you eat the nutrition meal and bottled water set for a week. But if you keep making remarks that further crack our class unity, I’ll make the bold decision to throw away thirty points and forcibly make you retire. Whether I break your wrist or break that mouth.”

At my firm words filled with resolve, Shinohara flinched as if she remembered the day I grabbed her wrist on our first day of enrollment.

Sure, just from the tone, I could look authoritarian and selfish.

But I respected everyone’s choice without forcing them and I presented a clear answer.

“Why is Shinohara acting like that? They say they’ll definitely buy drinkable water too.”

“Even when it’s the right thing, she’s just screaming her head off. I don’t get what she wants.”

“Who’s forcing her to drink river water? It’s only volunteers, so why is she butting in?”

“More than that, she’s doing nothing but acting like she’s better than everyone.”

“Picking fights during an important exam. Just screaming without substance.”

“Meanwhile Ayanokoji clearly tells us the answer and she’s cooperative. It’s totally the opposite.”

See?

Even now, everyone’s busy trashing Shinohara.

Even Sato in the same group is staying silent, but she had a face that clearly said she didn’t understand what Shinohara even wanted to do.

Leaving the trembling Shinohara behind, I handed Hirata the manual and gave him my orders.

“Hirata, from this moment on, I’m handing all authority over point usage to you, but it will be carried out depending on my approval. So if there’s something you need to spend points on, ask my opinion first. I’ll accept as much as I can within common sense. And in this exam, I will not tolerate any further conflict. Especially Shinohara, I want you to monitor her thoroughly so she doesn’t do anything that interferes with the exam.”

“Got it. I’ll persuade Shinohara properly.”

Hirata isn’t an idiot.

Because he knows the cause of our class’s chaos is Shinohara, he followed my instructions with a responsible expression.

To that Hirata, I threw in a line quietly so the others wouldn’t hear.

“At the level that’s necessary, I’ll play the villain and you play the hero. I’ll use the whip and you give the carrot. Don’t forget it.”

“Yeah... but don’t try too hard to be the villain.”

At that one line, I let out a sigh.

As expected of Class D’s hero who thinks of everyone...

Fine, if that’s what you want, I’ll play the hero sometimes too.

“Ike and Sudō, from now on, you will be required to participate in strategy meetings with me and Hirata. Your stamina and camping knowledge will help so act proactively and give your opinions. Whether it’s proposals or complaints, I’ll listen to all of it, accept it and resolve it.”

“Y-yeah! Leave it to me!”

“I’ll do whatever you say too!”

After I dealt with Shinohara who had ignored and looked down on them and then showed them I actively trusted them, the two of them got excited and started offering me various opinions.

I accepted their requests one by one in detail and started building a strategy to save points.

As for Karuizawa;s group who shows hostility toward me, Hirata will handle that so there’s no problem.

At this point, it’s safe to say the strategy to protect as many points as possible has been clearly solved.

And the obstacles to carrying out my plan are gone too.

Since I openly took Hirata’s side, if Karuizawa’s group tried to pick a fight, it could have restricted my actions.

Luckily, the dumb Shinohara caused trouble on her own and let me shape the situation exactly how I wanted.

Now no one can go against my orders.

Today’s work is done.

The decisive battle is tomorrow.

Starting tomorrow, the first step of my real plan...

I will carry out recon on the other classes.