Fragile Fantasies
Episode 0.1; Ghost
"Tch.....ugh my head hurts......." It's been five days since the exam's started, I woke up about an hour earlier than usual for some reason.
Due to my condition, I can't move the moment I wake up so I just stay inside the tent with a dull expression on my face. My vision is slightly hazy, not as bad as usual but I still can only barely see the ceiling of the tent. I wish I could move out right now, the scent of man sweat is really getting to me and I feel like barfing because of this disgusting smell.
Looking to my sides, a few of the early birds have already woken up and left the tent, those birds being Ayanokouji, Hirata and surprisingly Ike. These three were ones to wake up early in the morning, it's about 7 in the morning so I should get up now.
"Ow.....my back is killing me. Who knew sleeping in a freaking tent would feel so bad?" I spring up from where I slept the night before and leave the tent with a yawn.
"Hmm? Ah, King!" The moment I leave the tent, I'm greeted by Ike who's gathering branches to use as fuel for the fire he's cooking fish for.
"Is that breakfast? Oh Ike you shouldn't have, really fish is starting to kill me."
I've never eaten the same exact food for days at a time so this is honestly starting to make me crave for actual food now. Sure I've eaten a few vegetables and fruits that are on this island along with the fish but I wish I could eat something else, I did see a few rabbits and birds along with a few squirrels and I really have been considering killing one for food.
"So where's Hirata and Ayanokouji?"
"Those two? They went off somewhere to search for vegetables and stuff for us to eat!"
"Huh....wow you're all really hard working. I almost feel bad for not doing much other than strategizing."
I've laid traps for all three of the other classes, they're currently having conflicts with each other while class-C is having the time of our lives.
The cloth strategy worked even better than I expected, class-A would team up with class-C to search for the 'smartass' in either D or B. All the while class-B is focused on D after what I said the other day with Kaneda. Class-D is aiming against A under my command, this couldn't have gotten better.
About 20 or so bonus points have been accumulated throughout the five days we've been on this island. We've got about 280 points now, we haven't spent a single point after buying those temporary toilets since we have a mysterious sponsor.
You would be surprised how useful class-D and Ryuuen is, the countless bottles and random berries are all sponsors of class-D. Of course to avoid suspicion from my class and his, I made sure to gift them several bottles filled with fresh water while they give us food.
Water is something we don't really need since we live near a river with is stuffed filled with fresh water to drink. As for class-D, the amount of food they have near their location is ridiculous so Ryuuen and I would often meet up and trade. In return I ordered him to go for class-A, that doesn't come at no price though since I promised to gift him 1,000,000 private points once this exam is over.
So far it's been going splendidly, Ibuki was brought to our class to draw away suspicion that we're manipulating the other classes. I've shoved suspicion away from us by visiting class-B and discussing about a potential spy from class-D at the same time I managed to convince class-A that someone from either D or B has figured out our leaders' identity.
"Hah..... Another morning on this fucking island...." I check over to the girls' tenta spy Kane coming out with drowsier eyes than usual.
"You're up way earlier than usual, couldn't sleep well or something?"
"Yeah....why are nightmares even a thing? God, I was having such a nice dream too when that nightmare came along to ruin everything." She goes over to the river where Ike currently is now to take a sip of the water.
Being one of the last people to wake up, it's weird to see Kane suddenly having so much energy or at least more than usual after waking up. She's typically more drowsy even after waking up like some sloth.
She's gotten more used to the fact we're living on a deserted island now and has gotten less aggressive. However that's not to say she isn't mad about not having opportunities to smoke, though I must say she's holding up much better than any old smoker. She only really mentions about smoking when I insult her which I've been trying to avoid since I don't want to lose any limbs.
Something's off about her though.... Maybe it's the hair, it seems more of a natural blonde than her dyed hair but that could just be me. Also is it just me or her hair has...grown slightly? Her bangs are covering her left eye now, can she really see with only one eye that easily?
"Mind telling me what kind of nightmare it was?"
"Hah? Why the fuck should I tell an asshat like you? Buzz off, also asking about a girl's dreams or nightmares is just creepy."
"Is it? I think you could say it's, curiosity!"
"Put a sock over it, dickwad." For some reason her words make me feel good in some way. Am I a masochist?
"Good morning....."
"Good morning!"
I greet yet another girl who's come out from the tent. A girl of average height with blue eyes and yellowish blonde hair reaching all the way to her waist.
"Ah, Kujou Fumiko! Good morning!"
"Ah! G-good morning, Daisuke." One of my childhood friends have came out of the tent with a cute yet sleepy expression. Are all girls like this?
I go over to Kane who seems to be done with her mouth rinsing. I too take a handful of the fresh water and gulp it down my throat.
It's rather cold today, so it's probably gonna rain later tonight. I haven't taken in the possibility of rain and I don't really know what to do about the tears of angels.... I should ask a few of my friends about it, sadly Ike's busy with fishing for food so I'll ask Kane, she's a smart cookie so maybe she'll know.
"Hey Kane, it's probably going to rain later so have any ideas what to do?"
"Why are you asking me, idiot? Just build some sort of ceiling over the bags so they don't get soaked, there's tons of branches and logs around the place so you could use those." She points towards the many logs and branches across the river.
Making a roof with wooden branches alone is easier said than done really, however can't say it's undoable. I saw a few pretty long vines over at a certain part of the forest, those should do for binding the branches and logs together I hope.
I'll have a few mucles such as Sudou and Miyake on standby to help me with this, I doubt Koenji will be of any help since all he's done is sleeping and jumping around in the trees like some prime ape.
It's necessary to cover the bags with something so the contents inside are not soaked by the rain that may come. Better safe than sorry, better get to work now I guess.
"Oh yeah, has Masaki woken up yet?"
"Masa....ki? Who is that, Daisuke? A friend of yours?"
"Huh?" Hang on.....why did that name come out of my mouth? Ugh maybe it's the side effect of playing games too much, maybe the name of a character just stuck themselves into my brain like a leech.
"Seeing that we're the only few awake.... Come on then, Kujou, Kane, you're both coming with me to pick up some branches."
"Hah.... Do I have to?"
"Yes, yes you do! You've done nothing but sleep, eat and drink Kaneko-san!"
"Listen to Kujou for once will ya? Doing that much won't kill you."
I begin to make my way across the river, taking the long route so I could get some exercise first thing in the morning while Kujou and Kane follow behind me.
"Tch.....not like I was the one who wanted to replace her in this damn world...." Kane mutters a few words but due to our distance, I couldn't hear her so I take them as words of insults towards me.
We haven't hung out like this much after visiting the other classes so it's pretty exciting. Kujou's always with the girls and Kane always wants to be alone so she could do whatever she wants without anyone telling her otherwise. You could see why she landed in D-class at the start of the year.
"Hmm? Daisuke, you have a cut across your neck....."
"Huh?" Kujou comes over to my side the moment I stop moving to check on the side of my neck.
"It doesn't look like a deep cut...and it's already healed....what happened?"
"Please don't use those doggy eyes on me and I don't know. Maybe I cut myself on a branch or something the other day and didn't know about it."
You'd think I would notice something like this since it should have caused pain but it went over my radar as if it just appeared right after I woke up. Now that I think about it, I did get a headache.... Is this related to that? Eh whatever, it's already healed anyway so nothing to worry about.
"I'm sorry....." I hear Kane mutter yet again as she hangs her head in a depressed fashion.
"Hmm? What for? Don't tell me you did this."
"Nothing. Come on I'd rather not waste time, Ghost is everywhere."
Kane says in her usual tone before speeding off to grab a few branches and logs despite her small stature.
She just used a pretty weird metaphor there. She could have said the walls of ears or something like that but she instead said Ghost is everywhere, singular too. Wow this island adventure is seriously eating her out.
"Come on Daisuke! We can't let Kaneko-san gather more logs than us, let's try our best!"
"Y-you're awfully hyper Kujou..... Yeah let's do it!"