When I woke up, I found myself inside the girl's tent and everyone else was sleeping peacefully, even Ibuki. I took the chance and grabbed her bag then went out to where the river is. I started to check its contents, and I found something interesting, so I dropped it into the river.
"What was that?" Kiyotaka asked me.
"A camera." I stepped into the river and picked it up. "If Class C all leave then either Ibuki or Kaneda would need to become the leader."
Kiyotaka nodded showing he was thinking of the same thing. "Ryuen will want evidence, solid evidence for the leader card so they don't lose their points, so a camera would be a great tool to use, but now Ibuki has to steal it if they really are aiming for points." I explained.
I dried up the camera then put it back and Kiyotaka watched me search the rest of the bag, but there was nothing.
"Oh yeah, did you see that radio?" I asked him.
"Yeah, Ryuen had it on the table next to him." Kiyotaka nodded.
"He could be talking to another class or with those two. I thought I would find the other one in Ibuki's bag, but it isn't in there, so there's only one other place it could be." I zipped up the bag.
"Where we found her." Kiyotaka nodded showing he noticed her dirt fingers when we first found her in the woods.
"CHEESEBURGERS!!" Someone shouted in their sleep.
"Tomorrow." We both decided and went back to our beds. I put Ibuki's bag back and she immediately hugged it and then kissed it.
"Love?" I mumbled confusedly.
In the morning, I jumped into the river scaring Hirata and Kiyotaka who were sitting by it freshening up. Kiyotaka looked at me so I splashed his face with water. "Thanks." He mumbled.
Hirata laughed as he held out his towel to me.
"Don't need it. I want to be part of the waterfall." I sat crossed-legged in the river.
"You might get sick." Hirata mumbled worriedly.
"How about you? Are you not sick?" I asked and he was shocked. I would get sick and tired of having that many people ask me for things or just talking about useless stuff.
"It must be hard being the one keeping the class together." Kiyotaka added.
"I do it because I like it, that's all." Hirata explained, and I gave him a confused look.
"You like handling arguments?" I asked. "They are so annoying."
Hirata laughed. "If it keeps everyone in the class happy, that's enough for me." He explained.
"Stupid." I said bluntly as I stood up. "But maybe that's what is needed to be in pain."
"Usually." Kiyotaka added.
"I'm getting closer!" I grinned as I shook to dry myself a little. "But Kiyo, you said I'm stupid sometimes, so why can't I be in pain?"
"Stupidity can be clumsiness, or what you think you are when you feel like you're not good enough, that comes from being worse than other people at things." He informed me.
"Feeling not good enough? People get pain from that? I just don't care. My body can't be fixed, so why care about my body that's worse than most others?" I kicked some of the water.
"That's a nice way of thinking." Hirata added, and I looked to see a sad smile on his face, it was a painful one making me curious.
"Is it? Kiyo says how I think is stupid." I asked him.
Hirata looked to him for an explanation. "If Rekka lost a limb, she wouldn't care." Kiyotaka explained and Hirata looked horrified. "Her attitude can seem strong, but then her body is vulnerable because she doesn't care about what happens to it. She doesn't even notice when she gets bullied, she would think a punch was a pat on the back."
"I got bullied before?" I asked shocked. "I heard that brings a big pain with it, why didn't I notice?" I pouted.
"Don't!" Hirata yelled with alot of pain in his voice.
"Don't what?" I asked.
Hirata was looking down then smiled up at me. "I will make sure you never get bullied. I get you are interested in something you don't have, but it's not worth it, pain is a horrible feeling."
"Well, I'm going to start waking everyone else up." Hirata walked off.
We watched him leave. "There's something deeper." I grinned.
Kiyotaka nodded. "Is it some kind of pain you are interested in?" He asked me as he pulled me out of the river.
"Yeah, he likes to sacrifice himself in a way to help others, and it could help me understand her pain since it was her life for mine in the end." I explained. "Now, I want to dig a hole!"
When everyone was up Kiyotaka went out with Sakura to go on a search, so I decided to go look for what Ibuki buried. "Where are you going?" Hirata stopped me from leaving.
"I need some alone time." I explained. "I'm a little confused about something."
"Do you want to talk about it?" He gave me a gentle smile.
"Hmmm, you're being dumb." I commented shocking him. "You will break from the pressure, be careful and stop trying to destroy yourself with everyone's troubles and mistakes."
I went off and he just let me since he was still in shock and I found the spot where Ibuki was sitting when we found her.
Ibuki was weirdly protective of the spot, so I dug up the dirt she was sitting on to find a radio just like Ryuen's. "So it's confirmed, they want to get a good amount of points back by guessing the leaders." I grinned.
I covered it back up and then looked around suspiciously. "Where am I?" I asked myself.
I had no clue, so I went in a random direction. "Rekka!" Ichinose exclaimed.
"Hello!" I waved at her as my umbrella hit a tree since I turned very quickly. "I'm lost!"
"You're alone?" Kanzaki asked me, and I couldn't hear a waterfall, so we weren't anywhere near their camp.
"Yep." I nodded. "I thought I heard another waterfall but there was nothing, but I did find a tree!"
"There are many around here." He mumbled confusedly.
"You need to see this tree." I informed him, and Ichinose patted my head while laughing.
"We are going to the beach, do you want us to help you get back after?" She asked me and I nodded.
We went to where Class C was before, but they were nowhere to be found. "Huh? Everyone is gone." Ichinose mumbled disappointed.
I saw two people standing on the beach and they turned to us. "You got lost?" Kiyotaka asked me and I grinned confirming it.
"Ayanokoji, were you out on recon, too?" Kanzaki asked.
"No, we were just exploring the forest and ended up here on the beach." He answered as he checked my temperature and me for wounds. "Your hand is all scratched up."
"That looks painful." Sakura commented.
"Is it? Wait, will it get infected?" I asked.
"It doesn't look infected. We will patch it up properly when we go back." Kiyotaka wrapped my hand up with the bandage he always has on him for me.
"I was hoping to take a guess at Class C's leader, at least." Ichinose sighed.
"The goal of the test is to increase your point total as much as possible. The minute he abandoned that, Ryuen lost." Kanzaki informed us.
"He didn't give up." I mumbled and Kiyotaka was the only one who heard and he patted my head knowing I found something.
"The straightforward strategy is best for us, yeah." Ichinose added.
"Ichinose, there is something I wanted to ask you." Kiyotaka spoke up. "Do you know anything about Katsuragi from Class A?"
"Yeah, baldy, he looks like hitman and over 50. Who is he?" I asked excitedly.
Ichinose laughed. "Katsuragi, huh? Sakayanagi is sitting the test out. She has a condition like you, Rekka. I'm surprised you didn't sit out." She mumbled.
"Waterfall! Fire!" I exclaimed my main reasons and Sakura looked a little scared.
Kiyotaka patted my head again to get me to calm down. "Since Sakayanagi sat out Katsuragi seems to have taken leadership of Class A, but..." Ichinose mumbled.
"Katsuragi is a sharp guy. Even with Sakayanagi's absence, I doubt they will suffer any internal discord." Kanzaki added.
"But it's probably not any fun for the people on Sakayanagi's side. Those two are opposite extremes, after all." Ichinose informed us.
"Bald and not bald?" I asked.
"That can be another opposite extreme." She laughed. "One is a reformist and the other is a conservative, basically. They are polar opposites in how they approach things." She explained. "They are always butting heads over that, I hear."
"Like animals?" I hummed. "Oh, Mr Crabby!"
I chased the crab making Ichinose laugh and Sakura chased after me.
Kiyotaka had stopped me before I went into the sea after it, and we headed back to our camp since it was going to turn night soon.
We made it back to our group when it was dark and the others looked a little worried then grinned seeing me. "Where is the first aid kit?" Sakura asked.
Many panicked, Kiyotaka collected the first aid kid, and he made sure to take note of where it is at the beginning of the exam. Kiyotaka took the bandage off my hand and then started to patch up my hand properly.
We were a little way from the fire where everyone else was sitting to keep warm for the night.
"By the way, I saw the Class C guys heading back to the ship." Ike spoke up. "Hirata, do you know anything about that?"
"No, I don't..." Hirata shook his head.
"Who do you think the leader is?" Kiyotaka asked me.
"Ryuen." I answered. "It would be to risky making either of those two the leader since it would be a 50-50 guess on their leader, and at least one class would be able to guess the leader rightly. Ryuen will be able to keep hidden and claim a random spot without anyone knowing since everyone thinks he's gone."
I loudly yawned making some laugh. "I found a radio where we found Ibuki, so Ryuen can contact Ibuki to find out who the leader is for our class and claim points."
"I was thinking the same thing." Kiyotaka informed me as he finished bandaging up my hand.
"What will you do, Ibuki?" Kushida asked her curiously.
"I don't even want to look at those people." Ibuki hissed.
"Did you fall out with all of them?" I asked as I went over to her. "Well, it's great to have you here. You're interesting."
"I will stay here." Ibuki informed me.
"Seems kinda suspicious to me..." Sudo added as he stood behind me. "Hey. Do you know anything about this?" He questioned Ibuki.
"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about." Ibuki started to walk off.
"Hold it!" Sudo grabbed her shoulder.
"Keep your hands off me!" She yelled as she shook him off.
I saw Ibuki used a good amount of strength there. "What's with that attitude?! We helped you, you ought-!" Sudo started to yell.
"Sudo, can you stop please?" I asked as I held up my hand and he saw the bandage making his attention go to that.
"You people just decided to help me." Ibuki continued rambling like the idiot she is and nearly set Sudo off again. "Wasting your valuable points...how stupid can you get?"
"What was that?!" Sudo grabbed the front of her jacket.
"Sudo!" Hirata yelled, and he ran in with Kushida to try and separate the two.
"Hit me if you want to!" Ibuki yelled.
"Both of you calm down. This is no time to be fighting among friends." Hirata informed them.
"Friends? How can you be so stupid?" Ibuki walked off and ignored Kushida who tried to check if she is alright.
It was quiet after. "Time for your daily check-up, Rekka. We also need to report your new injury." Kiyotaka stood up and I whined.
"Daily checkup?" Sudo asked.
"Oh, you still have those?" Kushida spoke up.
"I don't wanna!" I turned away from Kiyotaka and sat down on the floor. He started to pick me up.
"How about I let you have more ice cream when we get back?" He asked me since I was making it very difficult to move me and I will throw him if he keeps trying to force me.
"Three scoops and you have a deal." I informed him and he nodded making me grin.
The others just laughed at our antics.