"Oi, Ayanokouji! What are you doing up there!"
"Sleeping. Isn't that obvious?"
I was being facetious but I had no intention of dealing with my classmates today. If they wanted to set up a proper campsite that was up to them. I would win the exam, and in return the least they could do was leave me alone.
I couldn't tell them that though, without giving away my intentions.
"But where'd you get the hammock?"
Ike was the one questioning me now. It seemed he'd taken somewhat of a leadership position in the class, which surprised me. I wondered how that happened, but it didn't really matter.
"I bought it. We're here for a holiday, right? So, I spent two points to relax."
That was not the right answer apparently. The entire class had now reached the campsite, and upon hearing my opinion they began to yell again. Apparently, the arguments hadn't been resolved, just suppressed.
"Don't waste points, dumbass!" "This is our chance to get ahead of the other classes!" "If he can have a hammock why can't the girls have a toilet!"
The divide between the girls and boys had only deepened in my absence. All of this yelling was getting on my nerves.
"Everyone be quiet!" Surprisingly the class quieted down at my voice. "Food costs 5 points to feed the class for a meal, right? I found two days' worth of corn, it's just down there. So don't yell at me about my hammock."
I laid back down in it, not paying attention to the classmates below me. Really, this was ridiculous. I saved them 30 points and cost two. In actuality the amount of corn there should be enough for the entire week, but I didn't think there was ever a chance the entire class could ration themselves on minimal amounts of food for a week without losing their sanity. A shame.
The class was quiet for a bit after what I had said, probably weighing pros and cons of whether my actions were acceptable. Kikyou was the first to speak up.
"I think it's ok. Good job getting the food, Kiyotaka-kun, it's a huge help!" Good work Kikyou.
Most of the class seemed to agree with her, and started moving again heading towards the card reader, and began setting up the meagre equipment they had. Horikita claimed the spot, and the boys and girls began setting up the two tents they had with them. I could see Kikyou in the middle of everything, issuing orders and talking with Yukimura and Ike.
She must be hating the situation, but at the same time she was the queen bee of Class D. There weren't many people questioning or hesitating with her orders, leaving her in firm control of the class. I had told her to not let them spend many points, but this was more than I had expected.
I would have to congratulate her later, but in the meantime, I had to deal with the last few annoyances below me.
"Ayanokouji, get down from there. And give us the hammock."
What?
"Yeah, you don't need it, so give it to us girls. Isn't it a man's job to make sacrifices for us?"
Karuizawa and Shinohara were waiting below me, demanding me give up what was mine. The audacity of these two was impressive, if not incredibly irritating.
"No."
"Give it to us, Ayanokouji! I'm not sleeping on the ground."
"So I should?"
"Like Karuizawa said, you should make sacrifices for us! Now get down and go help out the others."
"Neither of you are helping," I pointed out. They just wanted an excuse to not do work. Also, I didn't think either of them were capable of climbing the tree high enough to reach my hammock.
"That's not the point! Just because you got some corn you think you're special! Hirata tell him!"
Now this would be interesting. Ever since the Sudou and Sakura incident, Hirata had been withdrawn and sullen, uninterested in interacting with anyone. The only person he ever really spoke to was Karuizawa, and even then, it was infrequent.
People had a lot of different theories about what was going on with him, ranging from Karuizawa being abusive, rumours he actually took effort to squash out, to the death of a family member, and those he just ignored. I however, subscribed to a much simpler idea.
There were two times that Hirata had acted in a different manour, both of them in high intensity moments, when the truth of who a person is can be revealed. The first was the first day of school, when I spent time with Kouenji putting down the defectives. The second was when Chabishira informed us that we were worthless students.
Both of these times were in defense of another classmate. I was simply of the opinion, and so were a few others but not many, that he simply couldn't cope with what happened to Sakura. It was as simple as that, the incident had broken something inside of him, and he had become withdrawn simply from that.
Why, I didn't know, but I was confident in my reason. And that reaction led to Hirata becoming practically a non-entity in the class. Karuizawa even had been acting distant from him, as if abandoning him due to his change. It was understandable. They were already central figures in the grade and had probably been dating partially as status. Being attached to him as he was now a risk to her status, so Karuizawa may be testing how long his new attitude would last, before breaking it off with him.
I had no idea about any of her actions revolving around status. That was simply how Kikyou explained it to me when I asked, but it made a lot of sense once she did.
"Leave it, Karuizawa. He can have a hammock..."
Hirata responded in the listless lifeless way he had been for the past month.
"Don't you care, Hirata! I don't want to sleep on the ground!"
"I'm sure Kikyou will figure something out, I doubt she wants to sleep on the ground either."
"Shut up Ayanokouji! Fine, keep your hammock, let's go Shinohara."
"Yeah, we don't want to hang around with such a big loser anyway"
The moved off to follow the rest of the class, probably trying to weazle themselves out of work by getting in Kikyou's good graces. They were huge hypocrites, complaining about me, before proceeding to do exactly the same.
"Hey, Ayanokouji-kun..." I perked up at hearing Hirata speak. This would be the first time he had spoken to me since Sudou's trial, although I also hadn't made any attempts to speak to him. "No, never mind..."
Or not.
I guess today wasn't the day. He clearly had something he wanted to talk about, so eventually he would come to me. There was no need to pressure him.
But for now, I may as well help out a little.
I untied one end of the hammock and grabbed onto the other tree it was attached to before untying that end around. Clambering to the ground, I grabbed the hammock and tied it around my body instead.
It was incredibly cumbersome, but I didn't want anyone stealing it, especially seeing how many people had appeared to want it.
Hammock-chan was mine.
I made my way over to Kikyou, who was still in the middle of giving out tasks. Nothing had been purchased yet, but I suspected a long list of items was growing during the conversation she was having with Yukimura and Ike.
"Look who finally got down from his throne," she said teasingly as I reached them. I decided to play along.
"Reporting for duty, ma'am." I gave her a mock salute, which got a giggle out of Kikyou and a glare from Ike.
"I told you not to try anything, Ayanokouji! Back off!" Really, you want to do this here, in front of people.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Ike."
"Hmm, fine, I'll let it slide now. But know your place, you've got no chance with Kikyou-chan!" He gave me a scathing glare as he said that. Yukimura simply stood there in silence looking extremely uncomfortable, and Kikyou was doing an impressive job of pretending to not hear our conversation.
Ike didn't realise, simply because he didn't know the real Kikyou, that she was unable to ever have a boyfriend. It didn't matter if I made moves on her, or if she fell completely in love with Ike, she would never be able to choose one person, lest the rest of the school stop loving her so much. Her desire to be loved the most by everyone meant she had to be eternally available, and eternally alone.
It was a cruel existence she had brought upon herself. Perhaps that's why she enjoyed my company so much.
"Kanji-kun, could you go try and find some food? You said you had a good grasp of foraging from camping, didn't you?" Ike brightened at the suggestion, giving him a chance to show his usefulness.
"Sure thing, Kikyou-chan! I'll go find plenty of food, more than Ayanokouji did!" And with that he sprinted off into the jungle, probably to find a few berries. From what I had seen, there wasn't much food at all on the island. Otherwise we wouldn't have been given so many points for food.
"Yukimura-kun, you can take a break now, you've been a big help with planning. I just need to talk to Kiyotaka-kun for a moment."
Yukimura relaxed, having reached the end of his negotiations for point expenditure. It was a fine line to walk, without annoying the extremist boys or girls, but it seemed they had made good progress, surprisingly.
"Thanks, Kushida-san. If you need any more help with the calculations just ask."
He had taken a very mature approach. It seemed he was a much calmer and more reasonable person once given the chance to use his brain, unlike his outbursts in class. All the arguments I had heard him make had been logical ones, nothing borne out of emotion. Perhaps he was more reliable than I had thought.
"I'm surprised. I told you to make sure they didn't spend too many points, but I didn't think you'd establish a monarchy."
"It just sort of happened. Everyone listened to me when I spoke up, and it worked from there."
"Surely you could have deferred to someone else. Isn't being the leader in this situation something you'd want to avoid?"
"There's no one else to lead, now that Hirata's fucking dead. You aren't wrong though," she said begrudgingly. "The entire class is completely split on how to spend points, and I have to pick sides, without making people annoyed at me. It's fucking impossible to manage."
It was a complex situation she had gotten herself into. Kikyou needed to be loved by everyone and being a leader making tough decisions was the antithesis of that ideal. Unfortunately, now that Hirata was useless there was no one else to pick up the mantle of class leader. Kikyou would inevitably alienate some people, a result she was desperately trying to avoid through compromise.
"What do you think of this plan for points?" She passed me an empty page torn from the rule book, probably added in to help us plan such things.
It was impressively organised and calculated, Yukimura's influence I suspected, outlining necessities, such as food and two more tents, and minimum to maximum amounts acceptable to spend on all possible requirements. Overall, after taking into account reduced food needs from the corn, it was looking to be around 100 points to live frugally for the next week.
"It's not a bad plan. Like I said though, spending points doesn't matter. You should also account for the fact that Kouenji retired."
Her face turned shocked at my addition to the calculations.
"He WHAT? How did that happen?"
"I didn't think that would shock you so much. He's Kouenji. He doesn't care, so I don't know what you expected him to do."
She grumbled a little at that, brow slightly furrowed as she reconsidered what the class was going to do down 30 points.
"I suppose there's nothing you can do to stop that idiot. God, I can't get a read on him no matter how hard I try." I'm not surprised at this. Kouenji is one of the best people I've ever met at hiding his true intentions. Mostly because most of the time he isn't hiding them, and it's impossible to tell the 1% when he is.
"I'm surprised Ike is being so useful. How in the world did that happen?"
I wanted answers about him. I had previously marked him as dead weight, but now it seemed he might have a use.
"Apparently he went camping a bunch as a kid. Seriously though, if I knew that pervert would end up being useful, I wouldn't have made myself so leaderlike. If I have to plan with him all week, I might lose it. Fucking Hirata being depressed and useless, if he just got over himself I wouldn't have to do this bullshit."
Luckily, we were far enough away from other people. I highly doubted Kikyou would ever let herself lose when other people were in earshot, but this week would be a test of herself control. It was unlikely she would have a chance to vent while camping in a small area without being heard.
"I wouldn't count on Hirata to do anything useful."
"Mm. Do you have a plan yet?" She really seemed hung up on a plan to win.
"Like I said, there's no point making plans. I'm just going to wait for everyone else to make mistakes. This is the other classes game to lose."
A lot of people when they played any sort of game played to win. It was a valid strategy, trying to outmatch and defeat your opponent, and worked well enough. But it was in my opinion that the most effective strategy was to let your opponent play to lose, for yourself to play to not lose. Trying to win is pointless unless you are up against an opponent far beyond you. A truly capable person will not try to win but exploit their opponents' mistakes. That was the strategy I was employing, and as evidenced with Class A, it was an effective one.
Don't try to win. Wait until your opponent loses.
"Eh, whatever. You're the super genius, it's on you. I just do as I'm told."
"Stop being cheeky, it doesn't suit."
"It doesn't? I was sure I was making it work." She gave me a cute smile in response.
"Yes, you're cute. Now get over it." Kikyou blushed slightly at my compliment, but I didn't have time nor the inclination for pleasantries. "What's Horikita been up to."
Kikyou's face soured at the mention of her nemesis.
"Nothing. She got a lot of abuse from the class for being leader despite doing nothing to ask for it, so thanks for that, it was entertaining. But besides from claiming the spot, she's mostly just kept to herself. I thought she'd help out more."
"She's ill." Kikyou took a closer look at Horikita, before her eyes widened in surprise.
"She does look a little off. What do you want to do about it?"
"There's nothing much we can do. Just leave her alone for now, you can excuse her from work as long as she keeps claiming the spot. Eventually she'll break down."
A sadistic grin formed on Kikyou's face at the thought of Horikita collapsing from illness. What a sadist.
But before we could continue our conversation, I noticed something problematic in the campground.
"What are those idiots doing..."
"Who?"
"Ichihashi and Inogashira."
"They're collecting firewood for a bonfire."
That was obvious. But the problem was...
"All of that wood is damp. It's all useless."
"Does that matter? I didn't really think about it..."
"It's not too surprising that not many people know. If you've never been camping or done any survival training most people would never think about it."
"Well, I guess you better go correct their mistake, then"
I was not liking that smirk on Kikyou's face. She had figured out correctly that she could somewhat order me around while we were camping, and unless I wanted to be completely isolated from the class, I had to comply to a certain degree. Of course, I wasn't going to let this continue, but I suppose I did get down from my hammock to help. Just not in this manner.
"I guess I should."
With that, I left the smug devil to her problems and made my way over to the bonfire where Ichihashi and Inogashira had just placed another stack of twigs in a pile. They weren't even collecting the correct type of wood, but that was to be expected from inexperienced outdoors people.
"You realise all of this is useless, right?"
"Eh? Oh, Ayanokouji-kun it's you, what are you talking about?"
"All of this wood is damp, and none of it is thick enough to burn for longer than a few seconds. Basically, it can't be used at all."
Their faces fell at my statement, crushed by the knowledge that their work for the past half an hour was wasted.
"But... we spent so long getting it."
"Are you sure it can't be used, Ayanokouji-kun?"
Luckily for me, these two were some of the people in the class I didn't have friction with. We hadn't spoken more than once or twice, but they didn't have any significant problems with me. I didn't feel like dealing with a grudge right now, so helping them out in particular was no problem.
"Yeah, it's worthless. Don't worry, Kikyou sent me over to help out, since I know a bit about camping." Not camping but survival skills, although the difference was negligible for now.
The relief on their faces was palpable at realising I was here to help them, not to just criticise their mistakes, especially Inogashira. From what I had seen, she was rather timid, so being kind and fixing mistakes instead of just pointing them out could get me into a favourable position in her mind especially. This could also prove an opportune moment to help out Kikyou if I played it right.
"Oh, thank god... I was worried we were in trouble."
"Yeah, at least it's Ayanokouji-kun helping, not that idiot Ike."
It seemed I was more favourable in their eyes than I had expected. Or Ike's insistence at being useful had brought him lower than before.
I led them away from the campsite back into the jungle of the island. Looking around for a moment, I eventually found a few examples of what to collect.
"You're looking for completely dry stuff like these. And a variety of sizes as well. You can't make a proper fire without some larger stuff."
They both thanked me, before moving off together to try and find more sticks. As I watched, I saw them still only collecting twigs, half of them still green.
I guess it's too much to ask for anyone to have decent experience building a campfire. Ike can just solve it later. At least I tried.
I made my way around slowly; collecting all the good twigs and branches I could find that the two sheltered girls had missed. There was a large amount of them, both twigs for starting the fire, along with some pretty solid tree branches that would be easy enough to snap and burn for a while, possibly even making decent enough coals to cook in. If we could avoid forking out points for an oven, I would prefer to do so, but I suspected most of the class would be opposed to cooking food over a fire when a perfectly good oven was available.
There would probably be another riot no matter which idea was suggested.
"Hey, Ayanokouji-kun, could you come here for a second?"
Ichihashi called me over to where she was standing with Inogashira.
"Are these branches any good?"
To my surprise they were. It seemed they had quickly realised the mistakes they had been making and dumped the bad sticks they had found. All of the sticks the two of them were carrying were dry as a bone, and completely dead, with none of the green they had been collecting previously.
I was very impressed at the sudden turn around.
"Yeah, those are great, they'll make a great fire. Good work."
They both smiled at the compliment, before starting to move to find more. It wasn't long before Inogashira broke the silence.
"Hey, Ayanokouji-kun, why'd you come help us?"
"Yeah, I would've thought you'd just sleep in your hammock all day. You never seem to be interested in anything, so what gives?"
This was an opportunity I had been waiting for, but I didn't expect it to be presented to me so easily.
"Kikyou asked me to help out at least a little, and when I saw the fire was probably going to fail, I decided to help out. I'd rather not freeze tonight."
It was a valid reason, but I wasn't expecting Inogashira to lean over to Ichihashi and whisper something in her ear, before the two of them giggle.
"You're pretty close to Kushida-san then, aren't you Ayanokouji-kun? First names and everything? Could you two perhaps..."
"There's nothing between us. We're just friends." Rumours like that would be a huge problem, and I couldn't let them exist.
"Are you sure? I saw you two on the boat, you know? Standing next to each other, talking?"
"Almost something a couple would do, hmm?"
A surprise attack! I wasn't expecting the double battering ram of accusations from both of them. Especially given how shy Inogashira was, I didn't think she would be the one to tease. It seemed when in less company she was much more comfortable.
"It's nothing like that." I pretended to think for a moment, before glancing around us. This was the perfect way for me to place some niggling ideas in the back of the classes mind. "Can you two keep a secret?"
They both nodded franticly, probably enticed by the idea of a secret from such an enigma as me.
"So, are you dating? We won't tell." Ichihashi had a big grin on her face, but I quickly dispelled the idea.
"Actually, Kikyou's really worried."
Their faces fell at such a serious secret, considering they had been expecting a hidden relationship between us.
"Worried?"
"She doesn't want to be leader. It's a lot of pressure on her, and it's already getting really hard for her to make tough choices."
"Oh... I hadn't even though about that."
"She doesn't want to take a side or pick between friends, but you know our class, they all want different things. She's actually really stressed about it."
"I had no idea!"
"This must be really hard for her, I didn't even think how hard being the leader must be."
The worry was implanted in their minds now, so hopefully it could take root and give some leeway for Kikyou if she had to pick a side eventually.
"If you could just cut her a little slack, go a bit easy, it would be great. I'm worried about her, having to constantly deal with the annoying boys in our class."
It was a low blow to throw the boys under the bus, but by relating Kikyou's fake struggle to something that these two found to be a very real worry made her situation all the more believeable.
"Yeah, no problem."
"She's doing so much to help the class, it's the least we can do."
"Thanks a lot. Don't go telling people I said this, but if you can get anyone to ease up on her a little that would go a long way to helping her out."
They both nodded at that, happy to go along with my plan. That should give Kikyou a bit of leeway to make tough decisions without losing the trust of the girls at least. These two would probably be incapable of keeping it to themselves, but if the rumour got around that Kikyou was struggling, almost all the girls would lighten up the pressure on her, and I expected Kikyou to be able to act through a situation where someone got too personal and tried to comfort her about the struggle.
"See, Ayanokouji-kun, you do care about her. Soooo, are you just being a good friend or..."
"For the last time, Ichihashi, there's nothing happening. Just leave it."
She pouted at that, but gave up teasing me, at least for the time being.
As they turned away I noticed something odd out of the corner of my eye. No, not something, someone.
Ibuki Mio, if I remembered correctly.
One of Ryuuen's main supporters, but also one of the most outspoken people in the class. Apparently, she was very happy to inform him when she disagreed with his thoughts, and was just as happy following him around in his entourage pretending not to care otherwise.
There was a swollen red mark on her cheek, and her presence here suggested that she had been kicked out of the Class C campsite. I didn't think this was the case, however. That injury wasn't likely something Ryuuen had done to an insubordinate classmate. It was far too obvious, and her presence here was also peculiar. If she had spoken back to him about whatever he planned to do, he would have injured her in a less visible manner. The mark on her cheek was meant to be seen. Also, I couldn't understand why she was here. If she had been kicked out, the best thing to do would be to return to the boat and retire.
It would cost Class C 10 points per day if she didn't retire, by missing roll call. That would amount to 60 points by the end of the week, where it was only 30 to retire. If Ryuuen wanted her gone, he would have forced her to retire. This was an obvious scheme to get a spy into our camp. Now all I had to do was ignore her, not let anyone find her and the entire plan would collapse.
"Hey, who're you! Are you okay?" God damn it Ichihashi.
"Just leave me alone. It's nothing."
"Doesn't look that way. Who did this to you? Should I call a teacher?"
Considering the swelling, it was easy to see that she was in a fair amount of pain. An impressive sacrifice on her part, if it was a scheme.
"Just a class dispute. Don't worry about it," answered Ibuki, laughing in self-deprecation. Her voice was low and even, but it was clear she wasn't feeling well. She seemed rather shaken. I had to commend her acting.
"So, what are you going to do? We just can't leave you here."
This was not our school campus. We were surrounded by jungle on all sides. In a couple hours, the sun would begin to set. If she were out here alone in the dark, it could be disastrous.
Despite that, there was no way we would bring her back to camp.
Actually, having a closer look...
"We're Class D students. Why not come to our camp?"
Inogashira and Ichihashi readily agreed with me, inviting Ibuki to get up and come stay with us. Their kindness here would work in my favour. If it had been one of the boys they might have been too suspicious and refused her, but these two were kind souls, willing to help a poor injured girl lost in the woods.
I would exploit that kindness.
"Huh? What are you saying? There's no way I could do something like that."
"Well, I mean, wouldn't you say it's only natural to help someone in trouble?" She seemed to not want to listen to us. She turned away and fell silent. In most situations it would've been easy to leave her, but there was a significant advantage to assisting her for us.
"I'm from Class C. In other words, I'm your enemy. You understand that, right?"
That's exactly why I was helping her. There was dirt under her fingernails, a significant amount, more than would accumulate from simply moving through the jungle. She had buried something nearby, and I couldn't think what it could be. There was a pile of slightly disturbed earth nearby, where I suspected she had hidden whatever it was, and I wanted her away from this spot at least before figuring out what she hid.
"But we just can't leave you. Right?"
After pressuring her for a few minutes, she gave in. It was the most natural time length one would expect before an opponent would trust us enough to accept our help. She could have accepted our aid earlier, but that would have been far too suspicious, and any later and we may have given up. Ibuki had timed her move perfectly. She was an impressive student, I could see why Ryuuen kept her around.
"You guys are really stupid. You're not acting logically. You aren't thinking about your own class."
"We can't just leave you alone, especially since you're injured."
"But is that really okay? To tell me where your base camp is, and moreover, to guide me there?"
"Huh? Is that wrong?"
Ichihashi didn't understand what Ibuki was trying to say. Even when exploiting our foolishness, she still seemed shocked that it was working this well.
"I can't believe what an incredible idiot you are! Seriously, I can't believe it,"
If you knew the location of someone's campsite, you could start to get a read on how they planned to conduct themselves throughout the test. You could get into their heads and anticipate their strategies. In Class D's case, announcing our spot was a reason to be concerned. But I spoke up.
"Don't worry. I don't think it'll be a problem," I said.
"Uggh, fine, I'll come along to your campsite."
"Great! My name's Ichihashi, this is Inogashira-san and that's Ayanokouji-kun!"
"I'm... Ibuki."
With her final concession of her name, Ibuki rose, and we headed back to camp with the wood we had collected. She flatly refused to converse with us, neither explaining what happened to land her in this situation or allow us to carry her bag for her.
Once we got back, Kikyou noticed us and came over to greet us.
"Hey, you're back! And you got so much wood, awesome!"
"We brought a guest."
"Huh, what are you... Ibuki-san what happened to you!"
Noticing the red mark on Ibuki's face, Kikyou exclaimed her shock at seeing her here. At her yell, most of the class turned to see what was happening.
"We found her sitting against a tree. Whatever happened must have really hurt, so Ichihashi offered to let her stay here."
By now, some of our classmates had gotten up and made their way over, looking at Ibuki with suspicion. At least some people have enough brains to suspect this was a test against the other classes and trusting her could be risky.
They didn't need to yell at her though.
"We don't need another person here!" "You can't trust her, she's from Class C" "Yeah, we don't want her here."
For the first time since entering this school, I actually agreed with the mob mentality of my class. It was impressive seeing them grow, like a parent having raised a child. Or perhaps they hadn't grown at all and were just naturally antagonistic.
That seemed more accurate.
Kikyou was also looking confused, probably suspecting Ibuki as a spy as well. Wondering why I had allowed her to be brought here, she deferred to my decision.
"What do you think, Kiyotaka-kun?"
The class stopped to listen to the opinion their angel requested. Apparently despite my attitude towards them, my words still held a bit of weight.
"I don't trust her, but it's getting late. We can't make her leave in the dark, so I think it would be okay to let Ibuki stay the night and we decide in the morning."
It was a blatant compromise between those who were for and those who were against Ibuki. I had taken the fence sitter line that no one else wanted to, giving them all a chance to agree with me.
"In that case, Ibuki-san, it seems the class is in agreement! You can stay for tonight, at least." There were some grumbles, since the class very clearly wasn't in agreement, but no one was bold enough to go against Kikyou's decision.
Now that the situation was dealt with, I dumped the sticks I had collected where the bonfire was going to be, leaving it to Ike to build and start, before heading back to my two trees.
Some of my classmates watched in awe as I shimmied up a tree with just my legs, untied the hammock from around my body, and tied it around one end, before repeating the process for the other tree.
It was reasonably heavy to carry on my body that way, but with the amount of people enviously eyeing the hammock I had no choice but to defend it with my life.
Hammock-chan was mine.
I laid back down in my hammock, resting for the moment and enjoying the cool island breeze brushing past the opening of the hammock. This island vacation really was just that, a vacation. If only more people could see it that way, we could have a nice holiday instead of trying to compete.
It was from there that I heard the shouts of exclamation and a commotion brewing from below. It seemed someone had asked Chabashira where Kouenji was, to which she replied with the truth; Kouenji had retired from the exam.
They didn't seem to be taking the news well.
Good. The campsite had been feeling much too united to be Class D. This disjointed distrust was much easier to work with that a pale representation of Class B.
If there was one class who was likely to come last on this test, it was Class B.
Authors Notes:
I'm having a bit of fun with the hammock, but I can definitely see the class having problems with it just because they're so stupid.
Kushida can't be a true leader, as I said in the story. It's her one weakness, because she can't take sides, meaning that in this situation where there needs to be a leader and no one else is stepping up is going to be rough for her.
Finally Hirata is back and he's fucking dead. I've written a cool chat he has with Ayanokouji, so I'm going to see what happens with him too. The number of characters I'm working with just keeps expanding so its fun but I'll make sure to control that.
Despite Ayanokouji trying to pretend like they aren't associated standing on a boat together is kinda sus. Obviously there will be some questions, but I'm working that out as I go for the moment.
As always, hope you enjoyed!