The scale of fabrication has never been this high before. In order to upscale Takuya Yagami, the so‑called "Tablet Feat" was crafted. The motivation for this feat supposedly comes from this passage (Y2V4):

>"It certainly seems like a second year student is sabotaging them, but if it is ...... who ... will it be."
Yagami took the liberty of touching the tablet and trying to check the details.
"Hey, get out of my way."
"What?"
"I allow you to be here because you are one of us, but I don't remember allowing you to take it without permission."
Yagami takes a step back, while looking into her eyes full of intensity.

Based on this brief quote, they claimed:

>First, it’s important to get a solid range of how long Takuya held the tablet, as we can see from this scan of Y2V4’s OTL <…> as soon as Takuya grabs the tablet, Tsubaki pushes him away reflexively in a way that prohibits him from seeing the rest of the tablet, as we see in literally the next page where Tsubaki is shown with Takuya nowhere in image which implies that he’s quite a distance away from her now after taking an additional step back for measure <…>. This means that the ONLY time he can see the tablet is the moment where he can grab the tablet for a brief moment from the information we can extrapolate. The average human reaction time for visual stimuli is ~.25 seconds, so it’s most logical to interpret this as the lowball for Takuya holding the tablet being ~.5 seconds, and the higher interpretation, and honestly the most fluid interpretation would be for it to be just about ~.25 seconds. <…>
Now that we’ve established how long Takuya held the tablet, we need to explain how exactly Takuya would anticipate Kitou’s route and speed through the tablet. I suggest reading Takuya Document’s Cross Year War Strategy for better prior context, but to summarize at this point of holding the tablet, Takuya would have been deducing that Arisu was the leader of the Second Years and thus she would be sending someone with specific stats and qualifications to intercept the First Years. Through a series of multiple inferences, he would anticipate that the person she needed to send out was Kitou; I won’t be explaining more of that feat as anything more is not necessary to judge the FSIQ Takuya employs here.
Now that Takuya knows that Kitou will try to thwart them, he needs to anticipate his route and speed to intercept him through some means. In order to do this, Takuya needs to:
1. Filter out irrelevant and extraneous third-year and first-year GPS signals currently on the data, isolating the key second-year signatures. As we know in Y2V1, there are 156 students in the Second Year Class, and if we apply that number to First Years and Third Years, then there should be ~450-500 students currently on the Island, which means that Takuya was manipulating the information in his mind of 450-500 GPS signals while procedurally canceling them all out WHILE doing more complex deductions is insane. Attentional filtering of this magnitude requires outstanding WMI and PSI to hold all the data in mind while simultaneously identifying and segmenting relevant points.
2. Simultaneously, he also needed to visualize the island, running 3D simulations of the people within it in order to get the best idea of where students are currently located. Similar, but faster to what Arisu did on the Island. According to Ayanokoji’s words in Y2V3 <…> the Island is divided into 100 sections of 500mx700m areas. Through simple conversions, this means that the Island is about 35km^2 in terms of area. You could probably shave off 7km^2 of that though because some parts consist of water which you don’t have to visualize for this feat necessarily. Regardless, this is absolutely broken VSI.
3. Scan these hundreds of names while performing complex deductions about Arisu's strategy, and successfully picking out the name "Hayato Kitou." Recognizing a single GPS signal among a vast stream of information demonstrates incredible PSI.
4. Extract spatial relationships between the GPS markers and his current location using this to predict optimal routes between locations. This entails maintaining the visualization of the map of the entire island and geometrically plotting multiple moving points to create an expected mental route of Kitou’s route and speed. He would also have to account for Kitou's path as he would move at constantly differing rates of change. This is a complicated Calculus situation that requires ungodly levels of spatial reasoning, differentiating Kitou's speed from a slightly moving GPS signal and perfectly visualizing the best path for him to take while constantly running the 3D simulations in your head, while maintaining information the whole map of the island is simply incredible, and seemingly impossible. Amazing VSI & CPI.

Some people tried to expand the timeframe or reduce the visualized area. Poor souls. They were so fixated on this one episode that they forgot everything else.

The author deliberately wrote a scene where Takuya was holding his classmate's tablet with the same box as Kiyo's. That means he had at least two tablets (that one + his own).

>Saying this, Yagami extends one of the tablets.
"What is this?"
“I borrowed it from a group of my friends from class B, first year. Because the owner of this table is in the same square as Ayanokouji-senpai.

But maybe he didn't actually use them, huh? Let's take a closer look…

>"Can I talk to you, Tsubaki-san?
"...... what?"
In the distance, Yagami, who is also handling a tablet, looks back.
“'Wouldn't it be possible to corner Ayakoji-senpai with more detailed instructions? It seems like a bit of a tedious progression. "
"It's so depressing." Tsubaki decideded to ignore it, saying it in a whisper that Yagami couldn't hear.
After another 30 minutes or so, the problems appeared. Because the three groups that ordered to advance north from C4 had barely moved.

Again

>In the distance, Yagami, who is also handling a tablet, looks back.

Again

>Yagami, who is also handling a tablet

Again

>also handling a tablet

Why on earth would he be holding a tablet if not to use the GPS search? Was he just staring at his own position the whole time? And if he already had his own tablet, why would he even need Tsubaki's then?

Next point, just common sense. It's genuinely baffling how some people can't visualize real‑world scenarios. Let's pretend for a second that Takuya didn't use his own tablet and instead used Tsubaki's to locate Kito, as the doc claims. Now try using your own tablet or computer: take a screenshot of your entire town map and try to find a specific shop. You probably won't be able to, because the scale is far too large. You'd need to zoom in and then locate the shop.

Now apply that to the story's map: there are ~450 students + dozens of tasks. Is all of that information perfectly displayed on the tablet screen so that Takuya wouldn't need to zoom in on individual points and names? Did none of them overlapped? Or did Tsubaki conveniently zoom in on the right area, so Takuya could instantly recognize all the relevant positions? How incredibly convenient that would be.

And this isn't just my speculation. Kinugasa explicitly stated that Kiyo used zoom‑in and zoom‑out functions to track students. Because it's a tablet, not a 4K cinema screen, for god's sake.

>誰かにメッセージを送ったり、写真を送ったりすることは試験中出来ない。だが自らのタブレット画面を保存することは標準の機能で当然備わっている。保存した地図を繰り返し拡大縮小することで全生徒の位置を細かく記録として残しておくことが可能だ。
During the exam, sending messages or photos to anyone is not permitted. However, saving the screen of one's own tablet is naturally provided as a standard function. By repeatedly zooming in and out on the saved map, it is possible to leave behind detailed records of all the students' positions.

You know, sometimes people really need to step outside and touch grass instead of engaging in dry theorizing. Perhaps if they actually did something in the real world, they'd stop pretending that everything fits their expectations so perfectly. It's painful, but reality can be cruel.

Conclusion

Does anyone seriously believe now that Yagami would grab Tsubaki's tablet for a 0.5‑second glance at student positions, rather than using his own tablet, which he had been holding for hours?

This is likely the lowest level of reading comprehension, the most blatant dishonesty, and the most disrespectful and biased "feat" I've ever seen.

I keep wondering how some people's brain processes work. How do they arrive at their conclusions? What trajectory of reasoning are they following? Understanding that would help others avoid making the same mistakes.

The Takuya doc. Again. It will never end. Fabricated feats, overinterpreted episodes, fake deductions.

Today, it's about Takuya's plan to anticipate Sakayanagi via Utomiya. Let's discuss a small part of the doc, but believe me, everything else is just as bad.

>Summary: As soon as Takuya realized that Tsubaki’s troops were getting intercepted by second-year students, he needed to immediately adapt and perform the following:
I. Deduce the commander’s identity, anticipate their hidden tactic, deduce who they would hire for it (Kitou), and when it would be deployed.
II. Check Tsubaki’s tablet to search Kitou’s current location by scanning the ENTIRE island (27-28 kilometers squared without water) AND running 3D simulations of people inside it, filter out ALL third-year and first-year GPS signals in the area, find Kitou’s name among the 155 other second-years’ signals, predicting Kitou’s average travel speed (2.4 km/h) to be double of an average person (1.2 km/h), anticipate the route Kitou will take to reach their F9 location based on the map and his speed (between D9 or C6), visualize Kitou’s optimal pathway to F9 from C6 and then finally instruct Riku to travel at a specific speed and pathway in which he would collide with Kitou at the perfect time which Takuya predicted beforehand EXACTLY when Tsubaki’s strategy would fail.
ALL OF THIS within the timespan of a few seconds AT ABSOLUTE MOST.

I wanted to get straight to the point, but let's say a few words about this part first:

>Part IA: Takuya’s Analysis
The key to the deduction of the second-years’ leader is to compare Arisu’s Data and Ichinose’s Data, both forms of information he memorized from his meeting with Tsukishiro months ago. This means that only Takuya would be able to make this deduction. When comparing the two students, Takuya can narrow his deduction down to Arisu Sakayanagi for two major reasons.

1. Differing Stats: Arisu has a higher Decision-Making stat (A), than Ichinose’s (B). The plan to counter Tsubaki quite clearly has to be made by a competent individual, and while Ichinose is very intelligent, as they both share similar Intelligence and Academic Ability stats, Arisu is recorded as simply being better at making decisions than Ichinose, which makes her more likely to be the second-years’ leader.
2. Notes From Homeroom Instructors & Interviewers: Arisu was stated to have a “high cognitive ability” as well as being “trustworthy”, and “calm”. The only complaint being that she and Katsuragi have two differing philosophies in Class A, which was easily remedied by Year 2. This means that Arisu has complete authority over her class, indicative of a true leader. Ichinose, while her teacher has sung her praises, does have a darker past noted in her data that cannot be ignored, which can make her a liability in certain situations. This could also be the reason why her Class is not Class A, but Arisu’s is.
   With this, he can deduce that Arisu Sakayanagi is the leader of the second-years. It would also be safe to conclude that Arisu would aim to uncover the identity of the first-year commander, in order for her to better understand her opponent and who she is dealing with. [A3]

Or... He could have simply looked at the Class Points and realized that Sakayanagi's class was superior to the other classes combined. Or he could have asked Kushida beforehand about Year 1 and learned about Sakayanagi's active role and Ichinose's passive role throughout the year, and come to the same conclusion. But why? Life without making things up is boring. Is asking forbidden for him?

Now, about Riku. Let's ignore the fabricated Tablet Feat and get straight to the point.

>Since this is pretty difficult to visualize, this link provided is the illustration of the Uninhabited Island Exam map, but there have been some additions added to the map to display the most logical paths that Riku and Kitou took.
“R” stands for Riku and “K” stands for Kitou.
Explaining the link:
A- Riku’s route starts at F9 since this is the area Tsubaki’s group uses as a base of operations for the duration of the Island Exam. He then moves southwest from F9 at a rate of 400m in 20 minutes and continues in that direction for another 10 minutes, ending somewhere around the middle of D7.
B- Takuya then deduced that Kitou’s route starts somewhere around C6. <…>

https://preview.redd.it/we09x66876kh1.png?width=823&format=png&auto=webp&s=a7010b40d63b73f4a32c74f6c18ff0754f50f2e5

Alright, "F9, since this is the area Tsubaki's group uses as a base of operations for the duration of the Island Exam." Proof? It's true that Tsubaki picked area F9 as a base, but that was in the previous volume. What about the current one? Zero arguments, just a statement. Unfortunately, it's wrong. The text directly says that Utomiya was traveling "southwest of where Tsubaki was standing".

So, if Tsubaki was in F9, southwest would be area E10. I got a special consultation from a high-class English expert about the meaning of "southwest". Here's what he said.

>You'd be correct 😭 SW of F9 is E10.

That would mean the doc's Utomiya was swimming in the ocean rather than intercepting Kito in the forest. Brilliant. Confusing southwest with northwest is astonishing.

https://preview.redd.it/0him1htc76kh1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=ba883bf1c48843542e5a8ea37535205fba0da68f

Next point. The distance between F9 and D7 isn't ~400 meters, not even close. Utomiya would have to cross the entire E8 zone, and the shortest diagonal path through it is about 860 meters (each zone being 500m vertically and 700m horizontally, next basic Pythagorean theorem). So he'd have had to cover at least twice the distance the doc claims, but since we've already established he didn't even start from F9, any calculations are entirely baseless.

Now, about Takuya's incredible analysis:

>Understanding any fundamental functions in their thought processes, Takuya could conclude through a deductive process and a series of inductions based on his observations on the island that needs to be examined:
Identifying Arisu's Role: Takuya can observe that Arisu Sakayanagi is at the forefront of the Second-Year students' efforts against Sakurako Tsubaki during this stage of the Island Exam. This naturally limits her options to students in her own class in case she wants to perform more covert operations.
Arisu’s Information Gathering Objective: It is safe to conclude that Arisu aims to uncover the identity of the first-year commander to better understand her opponent. To achieve this, she would need a student with strong information-gathering skills. This entails decent ratings in Academic Ability, Adaptability, and Social Contribution, preferably within the range of D to C+ on the OAA App. This narrows down quite a few students.
The Need for Versatility: In addition to mental attributes, the chosen student must be physically capable of navigating challenging terrain quickly and be able to defend themselves effectively. This requires a high level of Physical Ability, somewhere between B to A+ on the OAA App. Simply being average or slightly above average in recorded Physical Ability will not cut it.
Analyzing the Possibilities: Considering these requirements and combining them with the information at hand, it becomes apparent that:
A- Hayato Kitou from Class 2-A is the only student who fits the bill in all these aspects.

This is a stretch. The logic is "Kito has good abilities, so only he could have been sent on this mission". That doesn't hold up, we know nothing about the other Class A students. Just because we as readers are only familiar with one capable student doesn't mean the others don't exist.

Wait a second. Kito isn't the only one who fits the bill in all these aspects. What about Hashimoto? He fits the bill in all these aspects too. But someone might say: "Hashimoto was aiming for 3rd place, while Kito wasn't". Really? Kito was alone and then joined some group. Are we sure he didn't end up in Arisu's group? In Y2V2, Sakayanagi directly offered Ichinose Hashimoto, Kamuro, and Kito as candidates for the main group.

And besides, why can't Arisu, as the claimed 2‑year leader here, use a competent student from another class to track down the first‑years' mastermind? This affects the whole grade, not just her class. Again, it's a huge leap in logic.

Finally, about this part:

>Takuya deduced ALL of this right after he nigh-instantly deduced that Arisu was the leader, so he sent Riku to D7 very early on, instructing him to walk very slowly (1.2 km/h) for two important reasons:

1. Neither Tsubaki nor Arisu would notice Riku approaching Kitou’s area. They are currently dealing with a lot of students moving around; one target moving extremely slowly would not attract their attention (since Riku would only be seen as someone walking around instead of running to execute a plan), concealing Riku’s presence until later, and they would not notice him at all. <…>

The scalers essentially argue that Sakayanagi (who had already whittled the list of candidates down to three) would fail to notice one of them moving. That's some astonishing reasoning.

And there's also no need to scour the ENTIRE island in seconds (the so-called Tablet Feat) if the student needs to be around a few specific zones to reach Tsubaki before she and her group can move. That alone dramatically narrows the search space.

I could mention 10+ inconsistencies just within this fragile section of the doc, but I'll leave it there for today.

One of the most fascinating things about COTE is how characters can talk absolute nonsense with a straight face. Of course, the story never frames it as nonsense, but with a closer look, the reader can tell that it is, in fact, bullshit, even when the narrative tries to convince them otherwise.
Y2V2, for example. Almost every significant character acts as if they're doing something smart and reasonable, when in reality, they're not. Let's focus on Sakayanagi this time.

1. Meeting timing

>That day, an hour before meeting at the cafe, Sakayanagi had extended a sudden invitation to Ichinose.
It wouldn’t be strange for Ichinose to reject the invitation if she already had things scheduled.
“It’s because no matter what, I wanted to meet you today, Ichinose-san.”
Sakayanagi was lying.
Inviting Ichinose on such short notice was a strategy to not give her the time to think.
Had she been told a few days in advance, Ichinose would have speculated on what the meeting would be about.
Depending on the occasion, she might even ask a classmate like Kanzaki for help.
This was just a precautionary measure.

Sakayanagi didn't want Ichinose to have time to think. Even though Ichinose could have easily been busy and postponed the meeting until the next day, and Sakayanagi would have been powerless to do anything about it. Moreover, even after the alliance proposal, Ichinose could have delayed her response, since she obviously needed time to consider it rather than accept it on the spot, and again, Sakayanagi would have had no choice but to wait. 

The scene feels entirely spontaneous, with zero indication that Sakayanagi somehow predicted (through some kind of mental bullshido) that Ichinose would immediately agree to meet her an hour later and instantly accept her proposal. It was also a pointless character move, because Ichinose still saw through her scheme and analyzed the real reason behind the meeting. In fact, it went so badly for Sakayanagi that she immediately offered generous terms for the alliance. 

>“This proposal to work together. Are you going to accept it or not?”
After acknowledging her words, Sakayanagi asked for Ichinose’s cooperation.
“If you work with me, I can give you three people’s worth of deposits. I’ll lend to you a total of 3 million points for the students who are at a high risk of expulsion. If they receive the penalty, you can use this to pay for their relief. To you, who doesn’t want anyone to drop out more than any other class, this should be a proposal of great help to you.”
Fearing rejection, Sakayanagi held out her hand to Ichinose.

On top of that, Ichinose humiliated Sakayanagi by asking for even more points and then casually mentioned she would have agreed even without the extra offer, lmao. 

>“Then can you give me five people’s worth? That way I would feel completely reassured.”
“How greedy. Although I was planning to spend a similar amount of money recently, I’ll finance it specially, just for you.”
<…>
“With that our contract is complete. Even if you hadn’t offered to loan me the deposit points, I would have chosen to join forces with you.

Sakayanagi was completely crushed in that scene. 

2. Horikita did nothing wrong

The author continues, through Sakayanagi, to insist that an alliance between Ichinose and Horikita can't work because of the difference in class points. 

>“What I’m going to say is just speculation on my part, but I think you have already dissolved that partnership with Horikita. Even though they were last place, they were able to accumulate more class points than any other class last year, and are catching up with incredible momentum. Compared to that, Ichinose-san, you guys took a step back and fell down to Class C. For Horikita-san and her class, there’s not only advantages in continuing to work with you.”
<…>
“That’s right… partnerships can’t last forever.”
“Yeah. In order to maintain a cooperative relationship, you need to meet a “certain condition.” Both yours and Horikita-san’s class met this requirement last year, so you were able to build a good relationship without uselessly competing with each other.”
Ichinose nodded her head in agreement.
“That condition was… the difference in class points.”
In fact, the reason why Ichinose and Horikita’s class ceased their hostility towards each other, was because of the huge difference in class points.

Why that's nonsense I've explained here.

By the way, if the point gap really matters that much, then in Y3, Ichinose and Ayanokoji shouldn't be able to cooperate either, since they had roughly the same number of points (~800). And yet, in that case, it didn't hinder them in the slightest, but here it does, because the author decided it that way in one instance and changed his mind in another. 

3. The alliance of B, C and D

>It didn’t matter to Sakayanagi if any of the lower classes got more than 300 points in this special exam. As Class A that’s in the leading position, what Sakayanagi should avoid the most in this exam is for the lower three classes to form an alliance. This was an action taken by Sakayanagi who predicted more of these exams to come. If there was a talent who could bring together the three classes, it would probably be Ichinose Honami. Which was why Sakayanagi was trying to get Ichinose on her side, before this scenario could take place.

What’s missing here is an important detail: the timing of the invitation. Several days had passed since the exam was announced.

>“Right? However, the strategy for the three classes to form an alliance is not realistic. Tell me Ichinose-san, have you received any invitations to this since the day the rules were announced? It’s been a few days since then already.”

Sakayanagi couldn't have called Ichinose to break up an alliance. She only made the move after it had become clear that the alliance wasn't going to happen in the first place, since negotiations should have at least been attempted during those first few days. 

If she was worried about a potential alliance, she should have done something before it could take shape. But if she did nothing during that time to prevent it, why would she even care about it afterward? If nothing happened in the first few days, why would it happen later? The most critical window is the very beginning, when people haven't yet formed groups within their classes, and there's still a chance to build a strong cross-class team. But the more time passes, the less likely such a coalition becomes. So Kinugasa is basically masking her stupidity by dressing it up as cleverness.

"But what could she have done?" - One might ask. First, if she wasn't going to do anything, then there was no point in writing that Sakayanagi called Ichinose to prevent an alliance — because she was already too late. Second, she could start separate negotiations with each of them, offering different terms to each, and then spread rumors that Ichinose wouldn't work with Ryuen, and Ryuen wouldn't work with Horikita, etc. Divide and conquer. 

4. Katsuragi

Has anyone remembered why she spared Katsuragi in Y1V10 and expelled Yahiko instead? Has anyone remembered why and how she managed to force Katsuragi to work for her in Y1V11? Does Kinu remember that? No? A quick reminder then.

>“It’s simple. Totsuka-kun doesn’t bring any benefits to Class A. On the other hand, you’re sharp, and your reflexes aren’t anything to scoff at either. This, combined with your calm head, makes you useful in your own way. This exam is perfect for disposing of somebody unnecessary, so only an idiot would get rid of someone who still has use left in them.”
Katsuragi winced, unable to refute her point.
Although, that wasn’t the only reason why Sakayanagi had done this.
Originally, Totsuka wasn’t the only one who sided with Katsuragi. Even though she intended to mercilessly make an example out of Katsuragi for going against her, Totsuka’s expulsion would have an even larger impact on Class A.
It would instill the idea that, if you sided with Katsuragi, you would be the next to see yourself in Totsuka’s shoes.
<…>
“That’s fine then. After all, I don’t want you to hold back our class moving forward because you become consumed by self-despair. However… If by chance you were to go against Class A in the future…”
“I told you I understood. You don’t have to drag anyone else into this.”
“I’m glad to see you’re so sensible.”
If Katsuragi were to bare his fangs at Sakayanagi out of resentment because of Totsuka’s expulsion, Sakayanagi was threatening that she would have someone else expelled next time. Sakayanagi was well aware that, as long as Katsuragi was obedient, he’d be able to contribute greatly to the future success of Class A.
<…>
“It’s quite regrettable, Ayanokōji-kun.”
“Was trying to persuade Katsuragi a mistake?”
“It was certainly safe to assume that he holds a grudge against me. It wasn’t wrong to try and take advantage of it either. But, did you really think I’d overlook a weakness like that so easily?”
Even though I couldn’t see Sakayanagi, I knew that she was smiling.
“I told him beforehand. That, if he were to betray me, I’d expel more of the earnest, hardworking students in our class. Despite how he looks, he cares quite a lot about his friends. He’s not the type of person who would sacrifice those around him because of some selfish grudge.”
Sakayanagi had known him for much longer than I had.
She was very familiar with his strengths and weaknesses.

To sum up, Katsuragi is an extremely valuable student, and Sakayanagi knows exactly how to use him to her advantage. So, Katsuragi should definitely have been in the main group as the seventh member, right? Right? Not at all. He wasn't part of her plans for the exam. He was just left on his own. Perfect resource management, Arisu.

She kept a talented student because he could be useful (Y1V10), used him once (Y1V11), and then let him transfer out of the class (Y2V2). It's not like she can't control him (she can and she has). It's not like he's refusing to help the class. It's not like the terms of the contract are unbearably harsh (they aren't, Class A has the highest CP they've ever had before). And yet, the story still tries to convince readers that her decision was the right one:

>However, Sakayanagi accepted such a favourable proposal despite knowing the risks.
If I were Sakayanagi, I would have agreed to Ryuuen’s proposal as well.

But she didn't just weaken her class right before the exam by letting Katsuragi go. She paid 5 million Private Points to settle the contract. Literally right before the exam. In other words, she removed a valuable asset that her classmates could have used to protect themselves from expulsion.

Also,

>Of course, if he were to sell the contract for an immediate reimbursement albeit half the original value, Sakayanagi would be able to predict what Ryuuen would do with the money. In the case of this exam, it would be to make the best team, or to collect stronger cards.

So what did Sakayanagi actually do to assemble the best team or gather stronger cards? She got rid of a strong student and spent Private Points. 

5. The best team

>“The proposal for an alliance between Class 2-C and Class 2-A— I accept it.”
By shaking hands, they had established an alliance between their two classes.
“With this, I can fight reassured. Although it’s a bit hurried, I have a request.”
“In order to maximize our chances of winning, it’s necessary to start with giving the main force of Class A the “More People” card… right?”

“To maximise their chances of winning” they included Sakayanagi in the main group. Even though she's physically incapable of earning points. Brilliant move, Arisu. Personally, I love it. Next time in Y3, try participating in the Race instead of Kito, you'd probably be more useful than a scorched elf. Oh wait, you got expelled. If only there had been a fully functional student instead of a half‑disabled Arisu, the group might have finally widened the point gap with Ryuen, and she wouldn't have needed to make a deal with him. Even if that student just scored points by occupying zones, they'd still collect at least 50 points by the end. That's better than zero, but Arisu sees it differently. Alternative reasoning, i guess. Some would call that dullness though. 

During the whole exam (2 volumes), the author never once shows Sakayanagi contributing anything to her group. Even when Ichinose broke her watch, the group didn't reach out to Sakayanagi. Had they done so, Ichinose wouldn't have wandered off in the forest (Arisu could have sent someone to guide her back). But that would have derailed the plot, so never mind. 

Maybe she wanted to be safe from elimination, which is why she was in the strongest group, but that still makes no sense. Are we supposed to accept that aside from the main group, there aren't 2 other students in their classes who could carry her? Really? 

Also, the team looks like a prank on Ichinose. The group consists of:

• Class B: Ichinose (brilliant academic ability), Ninomiya (brilliant academic ability), Shibata (brilliant physical ability)
• Class A: Kamuro (average academic and physical ability), Hashimoto (above average academic and physical ability), Sakayanagi (non‑participating).

If there are a conspiracy club in COTE, they should definitely look into how Sakayanagi mocked Ichinose there. Is it just me, or should the dream team have looked different? Like this:

• Katsuragi
• Hashimoto
• Kito
• Sanada
• Shibata
• Kanzaki
• Hamagouchi

6. Cards

“To maximize the chances of winning” Arisu secured the More People Card, but completely overlooked the Trial Card, which increases the class point reward. Such a trivial detail, easy to erase from her perfect memory. Glad Ryuen wasn’t lobotomized on that front and managed to seize it. For Arisu, the Trial Card might as well not exist. 

But that’s not all. In the previous exam, she took the trouble to list trustworthy first-year students to protect Kiyo. Now, despite holding the Nullify Card (which reduces any penalty to zero private points), she doesn’t bother offering it to him anymore. Let him fend for himself, I suppose. 

One might argue she knew he would reject the offer anyway. But that’s a highly selective rationale. Sakayanagi has never been particularly fazed by rejection. She values the process of extracting information more than receiving a straightforward answer. For her, everything is a resource. When she met with Ryuen after his defeat (Y1V7 SS), she could easily walk away without a definitive yes or no, yet she still managed to extract valuable insights. Sorry, I was thinking of the sane Sakayanagi from Y1. Here, we’ve got the mentally nerfed Y2 version. Quite a confusing shift. Anyway, if she had offered Kiyo the Nullify Card with no strings attached and he had refused, she could have understood from that refusal alone that he was using his own vulnerability to set a trap on the island.

“Can she get the information?” >> “Are the chances of getting the information high enough?”, especially when it concerns her precious natural genius with his big hot brain. 

7. Nagumo

>“However, both Ryuuen-kun and Horikita-san are formidable opponents.”
Sakayanagi also wasn’t underestimating either of them.
Considering Horikita had Ayanokouji behind her, the battle was never going to be easy.
However, she chose to fight with Ichinose under the certainty that she would definitely win.
“First place will be ours. I won’t skimp on the efforts necessary for that.”
With their main forces consolidated, they were going to challenge both Ryuuen and Horikita’s classes along with the 1st and 3rd years.

That's fine and good, you've gathered your best forces and all that. But haven't you forgotten someone? You know, there's one person who controls the entire grade and could take all the top 10 spots if he felt like it. At the very least, it wouldn't be hard for him to grab the top 3 and leave Sakayanagi with nothing. Nagumo, hello. The only real threat in this exam. Yet he didn't even factor into Sakayanagi's plans. How exactly did she intend to outplay him? Just to play by the rules and hope luck's on her side? Splendid plan.

Until the end of the exam, she did nothing to secure victory. She was fortunate that Nagumo allowed her to earn points. Without his generosity, she would've bombed completely. She was also lucky that Koenji jumped into the race. Otherwise, Nagumo would have just monopolized the top spots, but he only held back because he was busy toying with Koenji. She struck a deal with Ryuen for a shot at 3rd place, but she had no power to take down Kiriyama. She just hoped to scrape by, apparently. In the end, she was saved only by Ayanokoji's intervention. Without it, she wouldn't have stood a chance at 3rd place. She couldn't even beat Ryuen fairly, lmao. 

Conclusion

This is the most plot‑driven exam ever. It only works if everything goes exactly as the plot dictates. Sakayanagi lets Katsuragi go without a second thought. Then, Ryuen and Katsuragi earn the same points as a group of seven people led by the grade's most prominent student (besides Kiyo and Koenji). Meanwhile, Sakayanagi fights fairly against Ryuen, giving him a chance to strike a deal with her, which ultimately leads to her leaving the school, exactly as the plot requires. What a wonderful story.

Previous posts mostly covered number inconsistencies. Now let's look at how some exam rules can be ignored right after they're announced. To be clear, I'm talking about the island exam.

I'm not referring to Y1V3 and the watch thing, where the school forced students to wear wristwatches that monitor body temperature, pulse, movement and are equipped with GPS. Yet the staff was completely surprised when Kiyo brought a sick Horikita to the ship. As if they had no idea how the watches they handed out even worked. Oops, sorry, that wasn't the topic.

Anyway, I'm talking about the Year 2 island exam, of course. There were quite a few rules, weren't there? 5 Basic Cards, 3 Special Cards. Were all of them necessary? Like, the "Insurance" Card. Never used, mentioned once in Y2V3. Incredibly helpful for the story, really. Or the "Nullify" Special Card. Mentioned three times in total. Zero importance again. Maybe Sakayanagi, who cares so much about Kiyo, could have offered it to him but was rejected, foreshadowing that Kiyo was setting a trap for Tsukishiro on the island? No. Sakayanagi cared enough to list people who could pair up with Kiyo in Y2V1, but then wasn't interested in helping him in Y2V2, but then was interested in helping him against Tsubaki in Y2V4. Really consistent character, you see. Not to mention Katsuragi's selling and her group formation, but that's a long story.

Anyway, the Special Cards. They have their own rules about who can use them and how. For example, the "More People" Card.

>The owner of this card can join a group as the 7th person. This card can be used once the exam starts, and the required ratio of boys to girls will not apply.

To be precise, it's not "can join" but rather "can exist" (存在できる):

>このカードを所有する生徒は７人目としてグループに存在できる本試験開始後から効力が発揮され、男女の割合にも左右されない

So, the card owner can be the seventh member of a group, meaning they cannot already be part of the main group to use the card.

Now, let's guess who the card was transferred to after Sakayanagi and Ichinose made a deal.

Hashimoto. He was in a group of three people (with Kamuro and Ninomiya) before the exam started.

>I was also interested in that. In addition to the three people Ryuuen named, Class A’s Hashimoto, and Kamuro, had formed a group with one of Class C’s best students, Ninomiya. And then, the “More People” special card that Asakura was supposed to have, was now with Hashimoto from Class A.

Mmm… that's impressive. Make a rule and break it instantly.

If you have no idea what's going on — don't worry, neither does Kinugasa.

Let me make it clearer. Hashimoto is part of a group of three, meaning he cannot activate the card he was given. The rules are very clear about who can use the card and how.

One might object that Hashimoto could activate the card, meaning his group's effective capacity expands to seven, and the group could then add one more person (a new seventh member) while Hashimoto remains one of the existing members. But that's not true for two reasons.

First, "The owner of this card can exist in a group as the 7th person" implies that the owner themselves becomes the seventh member of a group. For that to happen, the owner must join a group that already has six members. The card does not say that it allows the owner's current group to add a seventh — it says the owner is the seventh. Therefore, the owner must not already be in a group to join a six-person group as the extra member. The card focuses on the individual's status, reinforcing that its effect is about the owner's own position in a group, not about modifying the group's capacity. If the rules meant that the owner could add another person to their group, it would be written directly, like "the owner's group can add a seventh member".

Second, the author debunked this interpretation by writing the following passage (Y2V3):

>合流が遅ければ遅いほど、この問題は難しくなっていく可能性が高い。
だが早い段階で最大人数にまで増やすことが出来れば、試験終了まで有利に働く。ひとつの指定エリアに到達するだけで６点得られるのは大きな要素だ。増員のカードを持つ生徒が入れば７点。
The later the merger, the more difficult this problem is likely to become.
However, if you can increase to the maximum number of people at an early stage, it will work to your advantage until the end of the exam. Being able to obtain 6 points just by reaching a designated area is a major factor. If a student with the “More People” card enters, that becomes 7 points. 

(this text differs from the official translation due to mistranslation. You can confirm this by comparing the sentences about earning 6 and 7 points in the official translation, whereas the Japanese version has two separate sentences)

This explicitly states that the card owner's entry into a group raises the group's size to seven, earning seven points per designated area. The verb 入る means "to enter" or "to join". Therefore, the card owner is the one who joins an existing group, becoming the seventh member, not someone who can add another person to a group.

Lastly, let's read the epilogue of Y2V2.

>“For the time being, it looks like we’ll have no choice but to go back.”
Shibata sounded a bit peeved, but from the tone of his voice it was obvious that he wasn’t placing the blame on Ichinose.
“But─”
Their first designated area of the day was area D5.
In other words, they’d have to move in pretty much the opposite direction of the starting area.
So not only would she have to miss out on the valuable Arrival Bonus, but the entire group would lose out on the chance to earn any Early Bird Bonuses as well. Though Ichinose understood what she had to do, she instead looked back at the three people, Kamuro, Hashimoto, and Ninomiya, who were waiting to depart behind her.
“Well, since it’s busted I guess there’s no helping it, right Masumi-chan?”
“If you head out now, you might make it back in time for the third area.”
As Hashimoto and Kamuro chimed in, Ninomiya, a fellow classmate, also nodded along in agreement.
From what it sounded like, it didn’t seem like any of them held this against her.
Ichinose felt happy about this, but at the same time feelings of guilt began to well up inside her.
Two days earlier, on the fifth day of the exam, Ichinose’s group had taken first place in a Task that allowed groups to increase their maximum size, successfully earning the right to take on three more people. And on the sixth day, they used the GPS Searching feature to merge with Hashimoto’s group, only for trouble to strike the very next morning.

Do you see the problem? Where is that phantom seventh member? There are only five people here (Shibata, Ichinose, Kamuro, Hashimoto, Ninomiya), plus Sakayanagi on the beach. The seventh member was never mentioned during the entire exam. Literally never. And who was that supposed seventh member? Kito? Then it's a great choice to send him to spy on students instead of earning points for the main group that Sakayanagi wanted to win. Or Kanzaki? Then why was he alone on the seventh day (ranked 9th) and didn't merge with the main group at the same time as Hashimoto and Ichinose the day before?

Conclusion

Some rules are written just for the sake of being written, to make exams look more complicated than they actually are, but end up having zero influence on the story.

I wonder if the next Island Exam will also have some meaningless rules.

Yesterday, the inconsistency with Class Points was covered (though most commenters couldn't grasp the simplest idea of the post, but it is what it is).

But what about inconsistency within just one volume? I have several examples. Let's start with Volume 7, kuku.

In V7, Ryuen painted the camera to gather information about their status on campus.

>I had conducted research in advance regarding what sort of monitoring system that school has set up.
Out of the hundreds of cameras installed inside the school, only a few of those installed in vital locations display footage in real time. There's no way they could possibly wise up to this abnormal situation right away.
I had already painted over a surveillance camera somewhere else a while ago and reported it to Sakagami myself and got penalized for it.
As a result, I had points deducted to pay for the cost of cleaning the camera and received a warning. I had asked then whether or not the footage is constantly being observed.

According to the story, Class C lost 100 CP due to some event.

>Still, Class C is in the lead at this stage. However - an accident completely unrelated to the exams happened to Class C.
"It seems Class C committed a serious rule violation. They didn't announce the details of it but they got hit by a severe penalty, having 100 points taken from them".
The other day, I remember receiving a general explanation of it from the school.
"I wonder what exactly they did to cause this huge fuss. It's really a very Class C-ish thing to do though".

Only Ryuen's actions could be connected to that loss, since the story didn't mention anything else happening in Class C that would cause it.

We'll discuss the problem of gathering info that way in another post. For now, all we need to understand is that Ryuen painted the camera and was punished with Class Points.

While preparing for the roof incident, he painted the camera again.

>I stood directly underneath the surveillance camera and looked straight into the lens of the camera. I then pointed a black spray can I had prepared beforehand at the surveillance camera and shot the spray at it.

And the punishment for that was… private points. Not Class Points, just private points, which Kiyo and Ryuen paid.

>"Complaint? From what I understand, a student from Class D was also involved in the destruction of the surveillance camera".
"What......?".
For a moment, I couldn't understand what he's saying and I got confused.
"Class D has already paid private points covering the cost of repairs. What I wanted to confirm is whether or not you're fine with splitting the blame evenly or not".

We can prove that Ryuen's class didn't lose CP again by simply comparing his CP in V7 and V10/V11. So he didn't pay Class Points again.

Also, if the school accepted Kiyo's guilt for destroying the camera, then his class should have lost some Class Points as well. But in V7.5, no one ever mentions that possible change. Not to mention the official guidebook, which shows a timeline of how CP changed from month to month and indicates zero change in CP for Class C and Class D after the roof incident.

Also, the school is completely indifferent to who actually did it. Kiyo says he took part in destroying the surveillance camera — and they don't even bother to check, even though it was clearly visible that Ryuen alone painted the camera. One might argue that this is just how life works, but hell no. There's a limit to what the administration/police/society would accept. A person cannot simply take responsibility for a crime that another person indisputably committed.

To sum up, Ryuen painted the camera again. Again. So it's not like he broke a camera and got punishment #1, then changed his method and got a punishment #2. No, he did the exact same thing twice and received different punishments. Just because. The story needed Class C to become Class D, so it happened right away, regardless of how it fits with later events.

The turning point of a story can be really disappointing if the writer comes up with some internal rule for the story and then forgets about it for ages. For him, it was just a tool needed to make certain things happen to kick off the plot. At that point, the story's consistency takes a hit.

How does this relate to COTE?

In V1, students discovered that bad behavior, talking/using phones during lectures is punished by reducing Class Points. That's why Class D got 0 CP in May.

In V2 (July), they finally got 87 CP. After that, Class D went through the Deserted Island Exam, the Zodiac Exam, the Sports Festival, and the Paper Shuffle.

In January, before V8, they had 362 CP, which is exactly 87 + 225 (V3) + 50 (V4) – 100 (V5) + 100 (V6).

Do you see the problem here?

The number of Class Points wasn't affected by students' behavior at all. Between V2 and V8, 6 months passed. And all that time, students behaved with perfect stoicism? Not just Class D, but the whole grade? Okay, that sounds unbelievable, but okay. So, in Y2, we should expect the same pattern, right? Right?

Nope.

In Y2, Class Points were affected by student behavior, something you can notice by comparing potential and actual outcomes of any exam for any class. Or you could just look at the official guidebook, which shows a timeline of how CP changed from month to month.

So what was that about?

The system was dropped instantly after it served its purpose (giving Class D 0 CP). The writer wrote 7 volumes without ever recalling or referencing his own punishment system, and wrote the results as if it had never existed. Luckily, his editor pointed it out, and things were fixed in Y2.