"Will you pick up the pace?"
"Jeez, Horikita, I stayed back for like two seconds."
Currently, my small adventure group was still wandering the dense forestry of the deserted island.
We were on our way to scout the final campsite of our competitors, Class A.
Of all the classes, they were supposed to be labeled the best, so it would be interesting to see how they approached this test.
As for my class, we tried our best to conserve the points the school had allotted us for this exam. While that meant living a frugal lifestyle, it would be beneficial for our class in the future.
From the information we got from Ichinose, Class A had apparently set up their campsite in a nearby cave on the mountainside. She also mentioned that Class A had set up a defensive strategy, but I wanted to see that for myself.
After a few more minutes of walking, we approached the clearing before Class A's base.
I couldn't see much from behind the shrubbery that kept us hidden. But what I could see was a large drape or curtain covering the entrance to the cave where Class A was supposed to be.
No one seemed to be around the cave at the moment, so this might be the perfect time to get a quick look.
I started to advance from my position before a hand reached out to me and pulled me back.
"Hey. Aren't we going to see their campsite?"
"I don't know. We may want to leave them be," Horikita replied.
"Seriously, you dragged Ayanokouji and me all around the island to only get cold feet just before the finale."
Horikita's face stiffened a bit at my response.
"We're here now, so might as well."
Ayanokouji seemed to agree with me as he got up and advanced toward Class A.
"Hey, what are yo-"
I grabbed Horikita by her wrist and tossed her into the clearing, now she had to go and see Class A.
As we made the final steps to the entrance of Class A's campsite, a man stepped out from behind the cover.
"W-what are you three doing here?"
"Hello," Horikita was the first to address the new presence, "we are from Class D. My name is Horikita Suzune, this is Ayanokouji Kioytaka-kun, and behind him is Fukumoto Akio."
No honorific for me, huh.
"We came to see the progress of Class A."
"U-uh, I can't let you do that."
"Why not?"
"Because it's the rules."
"I never saw it in the rules to deny entrance into someone's camp," Horikita continued her quick-witted pressure against the obviously flustered opponent.
She took a step toward the curtain and began to draw it back before the man grabbed her wrist forcefully stopping her.
"I can't let you do that."
"Are you threatening to use violence? I'm sure that is a violation in this exam that could cost your class dearly. Besides, the monopolization of one spot has to be a violation considering the essence of this exam."
Horikita went to try and open the curtain once again, but before she could, a tall, muscular, bald man stepped out from behind.
"What's going on, Yahiko?"
"T-they're trying to forcefully see inside our camp, Katsuragi-kun!"
So, the man who just appeared before us was Katsuragi. One of the two leaders of Class A, from what I've heard he tends to take up a defensive strategy involving little risk. Although, I've also heard; his followers among Class A had begun to dwindle due to the opposition.
"That's alright Yahiko. They can see inside the cave, as long as they don't touch anything."
"W-w-what..."
"Thank you for your kindness," Horikita once again took up the mantle of leading our little group.
"But," Katsuragi began to speak after he had just invited us inside, "from what I heard before I came outside, you said Class A was monopolizing this area?"
"Precisely," Horikita answered back. "We wanted to see if the cave would benefit our class and try to claim it after the time limit is up."
Horikita was blatantly lying about trying to claim their spot, but since we were unannounced visitors, our intentions of pure reconnaissance, wouldn't be known to them.
"That is a fair argument. But, couldn't you say Class D and B are doing the same?"
Horikita paused for a moment and looked toward Katsuragi.
Our attempt to see Class A's campsite was effectively put to a halt. Ayanokouji and I continued to stand in the clearing, watching the engagement between Horikita and Katuragi continue.
"Your class, from what I heard, is also controlling a spot surrounded by a stream, correct? And you've also held that spot for the entire exam. Likewise, Class B has also held their spot for the entire exam, so couldn't you say you're also monopolizing those areas?"
Katsuragi's counter was true; we had held that designated spot the entire exam, just like Class A did with the cave. So, trying to say that was a violation of exam rules would only make us a culprit too.
Horikita, seemingly realizing her mistake, took a step back from the cave entrance. "I'm sorry. You're completely right. We will take our leave now."
She quickly turned away from Katsuragi with a look of defeat. In the end, we only got to see Class C and B's campsite which wasn't a total failure.
We all disappeared into the shrubbery as we made our venture back to camp.
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(Day 5, 6 am)
"Fukumoto-kun... Fukumoto-kun..."
A hand grasped my shoulder, hurriedly shaking me awake.
"W-what, I woke up like 2 hours ago. I need to sleep more..."
"This is important," the person's hand continued to shake me awake, only more violently now.
"Fine," I brushed myself off and got out of the tent. "What's the problem?"
Apparently, the one attempting to wake me up was Hirata. As my mind finally began to work, I could see that Hirata had a very worried expression on his face.
"Something terrible happened," Hirata turned his gaze toward the girl's tent.
I looked over and saw the majority of the girl's awake and talking in their groups. But I still couldn't tell what was going on.
"Did he do it?!"
Shinohara had stormed over to Hirata and me. Apparently, I was the focus of her anger as she came closer.
"No, no, Shinohara-san. I woke up Fukumoto-kun to help us out."
Shinohara still bore a face of disgust at Hirata's answer
"Wait, what's going on?"
Hirata turned to face me again, "someone stole Karuizawa-san's underwear."
"Her underwear?" That was surprising. Immediately, people like Ike and Yamauchi came to mind for being suspects, but I had a feeling it wasn't that simple.
"Yeah!" Shinohara jumped in, "someone stole her underwear late last night, and it had to have been a boy. No one else would have done it."
"Well, I don't know if it has to be a boy's fault."
Shinohara's face slowly turned to face mine with a dark aura. "You know, Fukumoto-kun... you said you were up 2 hours ago... could you have taken Karuizawa-san's underwear?"
"Woah, don't start throwing around acquisitions. I was up that early to claim our spot."
"Don't worry, Shinohara-san," Hirata finally spoke in my defense, "I trust Fukumoto-kun. That's why I woke him up first."
"Besides," I continued, "I'm a close friend of Karuizawa, if I did that, it would ruin our trust and friendship. I wouldn't want to compromise that."
"Fine," Shinohara replied bluntly. "Now, could you call out the boys. We need to find out who did this."
"Alright, I can wake them," Hirata turned to wake up the rest of the boys from the tent.
"Ah, what time is it?" A doozy-looking Yukimura was the first to appear out of the tent.
Once all the boys had gathered outside the tent, Shinohara began her investigation.
"Kaurizawa-san is currently sitting in the girl's tent crying because someone early this morning stole her underwear from the pile of luggage."
The boy, still half-asleep, looked at each other in confusion and awe.
"That means one of you had to have done it!"
Shinohara once again blatantly pinned the blame on the boys.
This acquisition only caused an uproar from the ones being blamed.
"What!" Sudo was the first to exclaim his opposition, "what makes you believe we did it!"
"It was an easy task for you. Wake up in the middle of the night, sneak around to the luggage and go through our stuff until you found the underwear."
"No, no, no, no, that means nothing. You can't pin the blame on us," Ike cried out.
"Come to think of it... Ike-kun, you were pretty late getting back from the bathroom last night..."
"No, I didn't do it! That's only because it was dark outside, and I couldn't see!"
"You definitely did it! You're always oogling us and making perverted comments!"
"Alright, everyone, why don't we calm down now," Hirata was the first to try and diffuse the situation.
"Hirata-kun, we can't stay beside a bunch of underwear thieves!"
"Shinohara, I know you're concerned for a friend right now, and emotions are running high, but we have no clear evidence on who did it yet."
"Search them then."
"Shinohara-san," Hirata continued, "I don't think that will be helpful..."
"Hirata-kun, Fukumoto-kun, we may not have clear evidence as to who did it at the moment, but searching everyone can give us a clue as to who did it."
I glanced quickly toward Ayanokouji who was standing near the back of the crowd of boys. His face was emotionless as always, but I could see the wheels in his head turning as he tried to figure out this situation.
"Fukumoto-kun?"
Hirata seemed concerned about searching the others, but it may be a necessary duty to try and restore class unity.
I gave him a quick nod, and we began our search.
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"Shinohara, we checked all their bags. No one has Kauirzawa's underwear."
It felt extremely wrong to be searching everyone's belongings in the first place but to try and keep class unity, we needed to find out who stole it. I had my doubts about it actually being someone from Class D, but there was always a chance.
"Tch," Shinohara clicked her tongue in frustration, "search them then."
"Shinohara-san, that's a bit intrusive..."
"Hirata-kun, we need to find who the culprit is no matter what, they probably knew you'd search their bags, so they hid it on themself."
"But..."
"Hirata, if it provides them peace of mind and clears any of the boys we should do it."
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We had searched the bodies of the majority of the boys in our class by now. No one had anything strange in their pockets or hidden under their clothes. The only ones left were Ike, Yamauchi, Yukimura, and Ayanokouji. Ike stepped up before me for his turn to be patted down. Something was off though, while I was searching him, his face was extremely pale, and his body was constantly shaking, but alas, he passed the test.
Now it was just Yukimura and Ayanokouji. I doubted either of the two would steal the underwear, so this pat down would have been useless.
Ayanokouji stepped up before me, and I began my process. As I searched, I couldn't find anything until I reached his back pocket. There was something neatly folded in his pocket. I didn't look up at him, but we both knew it was underwear.
I stood up after finishing my assessment.
"No one I searched had it, Shinohara."
"Me, either, Shinohara-san."
"Tch. I really thought one of them had it..." Shinohara was disappointed about the results of the search but had to accept our answers.
Once everyone dispersed, I pulled aside Hirata and Ayanokouji.
"Hirata, I think you should know this since you're in a relationship with Karuizawa. But, I found her panties."
"What, really?"
I gave him a slight nod and pointed to Ayanokouji.
Ayanokouji reached into his pocket and pulled out the stolen item.
Hirata's face was shocked to find out that Ayanokouji had her underwear, but he made no obvious moves to out him.
"You didn't steal it, Ayanokouji-kun."
"I did not," Ayanokouji replied nonchalantly.
"While I was searching him, I felt it in his back pocket, but I didn't want to cause a commotion. Besides, I don't think Ayanokouji would have stolen her underwear."
"So, how did Ayanokouji-kun get it?"
We both turned to Ayanokouji to get his explanation.
"Ike found it in his bag before we were searched. He got flustered as he didn't know how it ended up in his bag and passed it to me."
"..." Hirata looked to be in deep thought as he considered the delicate situation the class was in. "Ayanokouji-kun, Fukumoto-kun, I'd like you to help me catch the culprit."
Ayanokouji and I nodded along with Hirata's suggestion. Ayanokouji also passed Karuizawa's underwear to Hirata, since he would take the least amount of damage if anyone found out, being Karuizawa's boyfriend.
"Hey Ayanokouji," I called out to him, "you know who did it, don't you?"
Ayanokouji turned back to face me with his usual, cold expression. "I truly don't, you may be overestimating me."
I left the topic there as we all rejoined the group.
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"Hirata-kun, we want you to move our tent," Shinohara stormed over to me and Hirata, with Karuizawa following closely behind.
You could tell Karuizawa had been crying over the situation as her eyes were bloodshot, and there were dark red hues around her eyes, probably from rubbing her tears away.
"Yeah, move it," Karuizawa joined in on the effort.
"Karuizawa," I said, "isn't that a bit unreasonable?"
"I don't think it is," Karuizawa furiously turned to me, "someone stole something private from me, and we can't trust the boys right now. Also, call me Kei, remember, Akio."
"Sorry, Kei," obviously, she would feel the most distraught about this situation, but moving the tents may only cause a further rift in our class.
"I don't know why you only trust Hirata to move the tent," Horikita suddenly joined the conversation.
"Huh?"
"It is entirely possible, since he is your boyfriend, that he stole them. We haven't cleared him of being a suspect, so I do not fully trust him, yet."
"What!" Kei's anger began to rise now, "Hirata-kun wouldn't do that, he's not that type of guy. I know... it's because you're jealous! Jealous that I'm dating him and your not!"
"Don't be naïve, Karuizawa-san, bringing in your personal feelings to this is foolish," Horikita continued, "firstly, we would need 2-3 people to pitch the tent, I suggest Ayanokouji-kun and Fukumoto help."
"Huh?! Why Ayanokouji-kun?"
"Of the boys in the class, I trust him the most. As for Fukumoto, he is not completely useless, so he could help."
"Hey!" I tried to interject.
"Well, Ayanokouji-kun doesn't really have a presence, so I guess we could trust him. But I still think he could be the culprit!"
"Kei," I said firmly, which caused everyone nearby to turn their attention toward me. "We have no clear evidence as to who the culprit might be at the moment. Throwing around useless and baseless acquisitions right now will only further chip away at our class unity. Right now, we need to remain calm and composed until the culprit can be found. And if moving the girl's tent helps, we will, but don't wildly blame anyone."
Kei looked down solemnly at my response, but I could tell she finally realized how fragile our class situation was at the moment.
"Thank you, Fukumoto-kun," Hirata approached me as the ordeal settled down. "Without you, I don't know where our class would be. You are extremely good at helping others remain calm and collected. Dealing with a situation like this is something I could never do, so thank you."
"You give me too much credit, Hirata. I was only speaking the truth, but it looks like we gotta move their tent now, which, honestly isn't gonna do much."
Hirata let out a slight chuckle at my response. As I went to get Ayanokouji to help with the tent, I noticed he was talking with Ibuki. Guess they started getting close.
"Hey, Ayanokouji, we gotta start moving the tent."
Ayanokouji gave a slight nod in response and joined Hirata and me as we began to move the girl's tent.
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(Day 5, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka POV)
These past few days had gone well, our class had found a reliable source of food that saved us points.
Yesterday, I even got some time to search the island and found that all of Class C had retired.
But today, when we were nearing the finish line for the exam. The worst happened.
An incident that could decide whether Class D failed or succeeded in this exam.
The search for evidence for the underwear culprit had proven inconclusive, and currently, Fukumoto, Hirata, and I were pitching a tent in a new spot for the girls of our class.
It didn't take too long for us to put the tent up with the three of us working together. But near the end, Hirata was called over by the girls once again and left us two to finish putting up the tent.
"Ayanokouji-kun, Fukumoto."
A familiar voice called out nearby as we almost finished putting the tent up.
"What is it, Horikita?" Fukumoto responded first.
"I need to show you two something."
She quickly opened the tent girl's tent to allow us to see inside.
And I was surprised at first. I wondered why the girls in our class seemed much better off sleeping on the hard ground than the boys, and I now know why.
"Hirata-kun had spent extra points to buy a mat and portable fan for the girl's tent."
Fukumoto continued to analyze the inside of the tent digesting the fact Hirata had secretly bought these items without consulting the class.
"So, Hirata bought these in secret?" I asked Horikita.
She replied with a slight nod, "that was why I openly said I did not trust him. For being a class figurehead, he should have consulted the entire class on this matter."
Horikita was right, even if it was a minimal amount of points, the entire class should have been part of this decision, and deciding to hide it from them could only fracture the trust our class has in Hirata.
"I agree," Fukumoto spoke up, "even if it was a minimal amount of points, the whole class should've been consulted about this. But we can't do anything about it now, I'll finish fixing the tent."
Fukumoto returned to finishing up the last parts of the tent when Horikita quietly called me over to the other side of the tent.
"Ayanokouji-kun, I want you to help me find the culprit," said in a hushed voice.
"Why just me?"
"While my trust is still growing with Fukumoto, I currently trust you more and know you could bring a result. Besides, he can be quite troublesome."
So it was only a matter of me not annoying her like Fukumoto does that made me the number one pick.
"I can. If you admit you're sick."
"Wha-" Horikita looked up at me with a surprised expression.
"Since the start of the exam, you've been sick," I raised my hand and brought it to her forehead.
"Hey, stop!"
As my hand reached her forehead, I could feel the cold sweat on her skin, with the subtle warmth hidden behind it. "That's why you haven't done much on this exam. You've been too sick to do anything."
"It's not that," she swiped my hand away, "this exam is just outside my area of expertise."
Horikita quickly tried to walk inside back inside the tent.
"How long do you intend to keep this from the class."
"I'll carry on to the end, no matter what."
And with that, she disappeared into the tent.
The choice Horikita made to hide her illness could be a disaster for Class D. If we lost her, we may just lose this test, setting our class only further behind everyone else.
"It happened rather unexpectedly. Class C lost out on the opportunity to reach Class A because of my mistake. All our dreams were shattered because of me."
I felt sorry for her, but having her bring up her past was really troublesome. If anything, it felt uncomfortable.
"I'm not catching your drift. What does this have to do with me?"
"I feel that your presence will be vital to reach Class A."
"What am I supposed to say to that? You're joking, right?"
I felt happy to have been praised so unexpectedly, but I didn't know how to answer.
"A few days ago, a certain man contacted the school directly. He said 'expel Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.'"
"He said to expel me? Well, that's nonsense. I don't know who it was, but you ignored his request and won't have me expelled. Right?"
"Of course. We can't just expel someone on a third party's whim. As long as you are a student at this school, you are protected by the rules. However... if you cause any problems, that's a different story. Smoking, bullying, stealing, cheating... If you cause any scandal, expulsion is unavoidable."
"I'm sorry, but I don't intend to do anything."
"It's not about your intentions. If I determine that something seems like an issue, it will become reality."
Her wording was rather suspicious. "Are you threatening me?"
"Here's the deal. You'll aim for Class A for me. I will follow up as extensively as I can to protect you. Doesn't that sound like a good offer?"
"Can I leave now? I don't need to listen to this."
"Too bad, Ayanokouji. You'll be expelled, and Class D will forever remain at the bottom. So, will you aim for Class A? Or be expelled?"
Instinctively I reached across the desk with my left hand and grabbed her collar. "Now I know why Horikita said you make her feel uncomfortable."
"Right." She let out a laugh in self-depression. "I even surprised myself, I now realize I haven't given up on my dream of Class A."
Her eyes were slightly misty, and I felt her determination through her grip on my left wrist.
"So, will you help me?"
"You'll regret trying to use me."
"Relax. My life is already full of regrets."
My grip loosened up from her collar as I turned to leave.
"Also, I recommend you befriend ..."
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AN's:
HELLO EVERYONE
my finals finally finished now i can write everyday lol
ALSO
I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the support you've all given me. I mean over 6K reads and 450 votes is absolutely wild! It motivates me more to write and keep producing a story I hope you all enjoy :) YOUR ALL THE ABSOLUTE BEST!!!!
until next time, legends