The Disappeared Ying

Survival on the Uninhabited Island had entered its third day, and the students from Class B were gradually getting used to the difficult conditions.

"Ying, why did you suddenly start working out today?" Hamaguchi asked in the morning, watching Ying do sit-ups while hanging upside down from a tree.

"After Kaneda came, I realized just how much I was lacking. So I'm going to be more disciplined." Ying got down on the ground and did push-ups as he spoke.

"Uh, okay? Good luck." After saying that, Hamaguchi went to tend to the campfire.

Ying wiped the sweat from his brow and looked at Kaneda's tent, troubled.

Wait, has this guy been in his tent the whole time? There's no time to search it at all... Ying thought about how he could find evidence, but still came up empty.

"Ying, it's time to check in. Hurry over." With the check-in time approaching, Hamaguchi came over to call him.

"Yeah, yeah..." Ying walked over listlessly.

"You guys go ahead. I'll just stay in my tent." With that, Kaneda ducked back inside.

"Kaneda is so pitiful. He's such a nice person, but Class C ostracized him. Now that he's in Class B, he's always thinking about what's best for us. I wish we could get him transferred to Class B." Kobashi Yume looked at Kaneda and sighed.

Ying simply joined the Class B students in forming a circle around the check-in point, waiting for Chihiro Shiranami, their leader, to finish checking in.

"Tetsuya, want to go for a walk?" After lunch, Ying still couldn't think of a way to get his hands on the bag, so he wanted to go out and clear his head.

"Sure. What do the others say?" Hamaguchi replied.

"Ryota and Sata are both busy, so we can only go out for two hours and then come back." Ying glanced at his watch as he spoke.

Ying and Hamaguchi first went to scout the former Class C campsite. As Ying had expected, it was completely deserted. Then they headed north, and to their surprise, they really did find something.

"Ying, I'm not dreaming, am I?" Hamaguchi asked in astonishment.

"On Kouiku's artificial island, survival's a breeze. What's for dinner? Corn will be just the thing." Looking at the scene before them, Ying couldn't help composing a poem. Yes, the two of them had found a wild cornfield.

"Ying! Let's hurry back and tell Class B. We can all come back and haul the corn!" Hamaguchi was excited. The food situation had been Class B's biggest concern for days. The fish the boys had caught after going to great lengths, along with the few remaining fruits and vegetables, would hardly last them the rest of the week.

"Looks like someone else is already here." As Ying and Hamaguchi cheered, a familiar voice came from the cornfield in front of them.

"Rustle..."

Two people pushed apart the corn stalks and emerged: Ayanokoji and Sakura from Class D.

"Byakuya! You found this place too?" Sakura exclaimed when she saw the two of them.

"So it's Ayanokoji and Sakura. Since both Class B and Class D found it, we should share. Half for each class," Hamaguchi said.

"I agree with Tetsuya. Why don't we split the cornfield evenly between our two classes?" Ying said.

Ayanokoji and Sakura agreed to the proposal too. Just as they were about to head back to inform the others, another student arrived.

"Are you... Katsuragi from Class A?" Hamaguchi seemed to recognize him and asked.

"Ah, so the students from Classes B and D got here first?" Katsuragi sighed, looking disappointed.

"Uh... how about we split the cornfield three ways?" Ying suggested.

Katsuragi looked surprised, then smiled. "I was going to suggest that whoever got here first should have first pick. I didn't expect the students from Class B to be so kind as to share the cornfield equally with us, the last ones to arrive. Class A will remember this kindness."

"It's fine. Surviving on this island is tough for everyone. Whoever finds it gets a share, right?" Hamaguchi replied with a smile.

The students from Class B really are a bunch of do-gooders... Katsuragi and Ayanokoji thought at the same time.

After informing their classmates and dividing up the cornfield, Ying and Hamaguchi gathered some corn and returned to the Class B campsite.

"Listen up, everyone! Your master chef Ying is about to show off his true skills! Freshly made pine nut and corn—don't miss out!" Hamaguchi shouted as he filled bowl after bowl with corn.

Ying wielded a spatula, a chef's hat made of leaves on his head, showing off his skills in front of the pot. In his previous life, he'd often gone to restaurants to help chefs with their prep because he couldn't find a job, and he'd picked up a few good recipes.

"It smells amazing! We've barely had a proper meal for days. At last, we're eating something good!" Shibata exclaimed, eating corn with tears in his eyes.

"Ying, you've really saved us this time!" Beppu said, wiping away his tears.

"Hahahaha! Bow down before me! My name is Ying, Kami-sama!" Ying was so caught up in his own world that he couldn't stop himself, though no one was listening to his rambling...

"Hey, Kaneda, have some of this corn too." After cooking, Ying filled a bowl and held it out to Kaneda.

"Uh... thanks, but I'm already full." Kaneda smiled and waved it away.

"Hey, Kaneda, have some of this corn too."

"I told you, I'm already full..."

"Hey, Kaneda, have some of this corn too."

"Fine..."

After watching Kaneda finish the corn he'd given him, Ying broke into a sinister smile.

"Ha ha ha! Foolish spy from Class C, you've fallen right into my trap! I'll gladly take the evidence in your backpack! Heh heh heh~"

Before long, Kaneda suddenly got a stomachache and went to the bathroom. Ying, who'd been waiting for the chance, slipped into Kaneda's tent...

"Is this... a camera?" Ying took Kaneda's camera back to his own tent. He turned it on and found photos of the Class B students checking in each day, but none of them showed who the leader was.

"Hmm... how should I put it... This is such a hassle..."

The next day, Ying decided to go for a walk by himself and clear his head while he figured out how to expose Kaneda's crimes. And then... well, there was no "then." Ying never returned to the Class B campsite.

"Has anyone seen where Byakuya is?" It was time for morning attendance, but one student was missing from Class B. Ichinose asked anxiously.

"No idea. Maybe he's hiding somewhere, laughing at us. Ying, stop hiding and come out! You'll cost us Class Points!" Hamaguchi called out, even shouting into the woods, but no one answered.

"Um... when I got up to exercise this morning, I think I saw Ying go out by himself," Shibata said.

"Go out... do you mean he left the campsite?" Ichinose asked.

"Yes. Ying seemed to be thinking about something. I called out to him, but he didn't respond. He just kept walking deeper into the woods," Shibata replied.

"Could something have happened to him?" Beppu said, suddenly worried.

"Byakuya wouldn't abandon the class. Something must have happened to him! Teacher, could you send a search team from the school to look for him?" Ichinose was starting to worry too, and she turned to Hoshinomiya-sensei for help.

"Class B, don't panic. I've checked the information from Ying's watch, and all his vital signs are normal, so he isn't in any danger. But attendance is over, and since one student was absent, you'll lose five Class Points. You can go look for Ying if you want."

Hoshinomiya checked her teacher terminal and said this.

The students of Class B first breathed a sigh of relief, but then their faces grew serious again.

"Byakuya may not be in danger, but he still hasn't come back to the campsite. He could be in trouble," Ichinose said with a frown.

"That's right. Ying may seem laid-back, but he always knows what he's doing. He wouldn't deliberately skip attendance for Class B. Something must be wrong!" Hamaguchi clenched his fist and declared.

Kaneda from Class C looked troubled too. That morning, when Class B had checked in, he'd intended to take a picture, only to discover his camera was gone. And Ying, the person he suspected, had disappeared as well. What was going on? The string of events left Kaneda worried...

After that, Class B formed a search team and looked for Ying every day, but he seemed to have vanished without a trace. No matter where they searched, they couldn't find him. They even asked Classes A and D, but all they got was that no one knew.

After evening attendance, Class B lost another five Class Points. Ichinose was worried not only about Ying, but about the class as well.

If they lost ten points every day, and Ying still hadn't returned by the seventh day, Class B would lose forty Class Points for no reason. And if Ying had returned to the cruise ship due to some special circumstance, they would lose even more points.

"Byakuya, where are you?"

Somewhere on the Uninhabited Island...

"Why?" Ying asked, utterly dejected. But no one around him replied. In fact, there was no one around.

"I want my money back! This isn't the Uninhabited Island experience I signed up for!"