Harem of Side Characters [Rewrite]

Mio Ibuki - Dispute

Me and Mori eventually gathered enough materials, and we walked back towards the river. On the way, we encountered a rather unusual sight.

There was a girl sitting with her back on a large tree who seemed to have been left behind. When she realized our presence, she turned her eyes to us only once, before averting her gaze immediately like she had lost interest.

It seems the situation with the girl was quite serious, as her class left her to fend for herself. On her cheek was a red swelling mark. At first glance I could tell that it was a slap, and a very hard one at that. Mori started to rush towards the girl, but I unconsciously grabbed her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" She asked me.

"Ah, no... I'm sorry. It's nothing." I almost blurted out that it was an unnecessary thing to do. Thankfully I stopped myself just in time. I let go, and Mori ran next to the girl before crouching down.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"Leave me alone. It's nothing." The other girl spoke in a relatively rough manner.

"It doesn't look like nothing. You're hurt, should we call a teacher?" From the state of the swelling, it was easy to see that she was in great pain.

"I just had a dispute with the class. Don't worry about it." The girl let out a laugh filled with self-derision. She gave off quite a masculine feeling, but she definitely looked down and unwell. It was a little concerning.

"What are you going to do? We can't just leave you here." This wasn't on school grounds. It's the middle of nowhere inside a jungle surrounded by another forest. In addition, the sun would be setting in one or two hours. Unless she had impeccable survival skills, she wouldn't last more than a day.

"We're from Class D. If you don't mind, why don't you join us to our camp?" Mori looked at me waiting for confirmation. I nodded to say I had no objections.

"...What are you talking about? Are you kidding?"

"You're not in a good condition. I don't think you have much of a choice."

"I'm from Class C. In other words, I'm your enemy. You understand that much, right?" Even so, there's no reason why she shouldn't receive help. We're students from the same school, it's natural for us to help each other. Wether it's the right thing to do or not however, is a seperate matter completely.

"We can't just leave you here."

"God, you guys are so stupid and naive..." She mumbles under her breath. However, she finally stood up while brushing her injured cheek.

"I am...Ibuki." Her voice was quite pleasant, but she still wouldn't look at any of us. Perhaps she just hates looking at people's eyes.

...Maybe it's an insignificant detail, but I noticed that there is dirt in between Ibuki's nails and hands. As if she'd been digging at the ground.

"You guys seem nice... but you're so damn stupid. Don't think for a second I trust you because of this, you understand?" She mutters. It seems there is nothing left to say. The three of us started walking back to camp in silence.

Eventually arriving, we asked her to sit nearby in a place hidden from other people. Since she was from a different class, we didn't want any complications. Nightfall was coming soon, so we prepared to make a fire. I headed over to Hirata, getting a matchbox from him.

Mori and I walked over in order to add our sticks to the pile the others gathered. As I was about to open the matches, someone suddenly grabbed the from my hand.

"Heh, leave it to the professionals, Ayanokouji! I'm guaranteed to make the biggest bonfire you have ever seen!" Yamauchi said. It was pretty obvious he just wanted to impress the girls, but since he said he was guaranteed to succeed, I let him try.