Kushida Is Furious

With the loudspeaker's help, the Class A students quickly gathered. As soon as their names were called, they raised their hands and answered.

After confirming everyone was present, he said nothing more and quickly disappeared.

"I should head back." Aoyama patted Yamamura on the head.

After taking attendance, Kamuro had gone off somewhere. Now, only Yamamura was sitting with him on a large rock in the corner.

They sat together for a while. When it was about time, he decided to head back to the Wooden Cabin.

Being alone in a quiet, dim Wooden Cabin was quite frightening for a girl, and the longer it went on, the more panicked she would become.

"Be careful on your way, okay?"

During their conversation, Yamamura had learned where Aoyama was staying that night, so she wasn't worried that he had nowhere to sleep.

"I know. I'll be careful. See you tomorrow."

After glancing around and making sure no one was watching, Aoyama quickly pecked Yamamura on the cheek, then left under her bashful gaze.

The sky was cloudless. Beneath the nearly full August moon, he walked along the main road without even turning on his flashlight.

By the time he reached the Wooden Cabin, he had barely used the flashlight at all.

"Knock, knock—"

To test Karuizawa's ability to react in an emergency, Aoyama deliberately knocked on the door without saying anything.

As soon as the knock sounded, a faint noise came from inside the Wooden Cabin, as if something had bumped into something else.

"Anyone there?"

After thinking it over, Aoyama used Voice Mimicry to imitate Katsuragi's voice.

When no one answered after ten seconds, he put his hand on the door and began pushing.

From the resistance he felt, Karuizawa had locked the door from the inside, too.

"It's me, Karuizawa. I'm back."

He threatened her again in Katsuragi's voice. When Karuizawa still didn't say a word or open the door, Aoyama switched back to his own voice, satisfied.

This time, the wooden door opened quickly.

In the moonlight, a girl with long golden hair hanging loose and two tear tracks on her cute face appeared before him.

Karuizawa gazed at him silently, tears glimmering at the corners of her eyes.

Had he gone a little too far?

Anyone would be frightened if startled like that in an unfamiliar, pitch-black place, let alone a girl.

"Sorry." Guilt welled up in him. Aoyama scratched the back of his head and lowered it.

He had been so focused on testing Karuizawa's abilities that he'd overlooked how badly he'd scared her. Every second must have been torture for her.

He really hadn't meant to make Karuizawa cry. It wasn't as though he had some strange sadistic streak.

Besides, he wasn't good at dealing with crying girls, especially when he was the one who'd made them cry.

"Want me to point the fan at you again tonight?"

When Karuizawa said nothing and went back inside, Aoyama switched on the portable fan and set it by the lower bunk where she was sitting curled up.

"I was testing your ability to handle an emergency. I'm happy with the result. You're much better than the average person your age."

"I was wrong. Go to bed early."

After complimenting Karuizawa, Aoyama took the candle from the table into the bathroom to wash up.

When he came back out, Karuizawa had left the lower bunk, where she'd been sitting, and was lying at the far end of the bed with a blanket covering her entire body.

"Good night."

After sighing and murmuring softly to himself, Aoyama climbed onto the upper bunk.

The night passed without a word.

Kushida's Fury

The next morning.

Since it was summer, the brilliant sunlight was already streaming through the curtains into the Wooden Cabin shortly after six.

Carefully climbing down from the upper bunk, Aoyama saw that Karuizawa was still asleep. Her cute face was peaceful, her eyes closed; there was no sign of last night's sadness.

Sorry about that.

Thinking that Karuizawa had been working for him and he'd still made her cry, Aoyama felt a little guilty.

After washing up quietly, careful not to make a loud noise, he slung his backpack over his shoulders and went outside.

He locked the wooden door, making sure the lock rested against an uneven protrusion on it, then checked that the glass windows were secured.

Only after all that did Aoyama leave the Base he had taken over without permission.

Because of the time, he'd only explored half the island's shoreline yesterday. He planned to explore the other half today.

But first, he needed to gather some dry branches to boil water and heat a can for breakfast.

It was true that he could eat it cold, but hot food was better for his health and tasted better, too.

Class C's Base.

As Aoyama headed into the woods to gather branches he could use as firewood, Horikita Suzune—who had been woken once by the noise and hadn't slept well—also came out of the packed tent.

Without greeting any of the Class C students, she quietly left Class C's Base.

"I need to see Kushida. Could you call her for me?"

Fighting off her hunger, Horikita Suzune walked a fair distance to Class A's Base. When she saw a girl coming out of the tent outside the cave, she immediately stopped her and asked.

"If you mean Kushida, she probably hasn't woken up yet."

"Then wake her."

"...All right." Faced with Horikita's forcefulness, Yano Koharu hesitated before agreeing.

Before long, Kushida Kikyo—forced to get to work first thing in the morning, smiling on the outside but seething inside—came before Horikita, who was waiting with her hands on her hips.

"Do you have any food? If you do, bring me some. If not, give me your breakfast."

Horikita made the demand without the slightest courtesy, as though it were only natural.

The morning trek had left her so hungry that she was feeling unwell. Her physical abilities had dropped by more than one level.

As the holder of a Key Card that could secure a Base, she felt she needed to maintain her physical condition more than Kushida did.

What?!

Then what am I supposed to eat? You woke me up first thing in the morning and now you want to take my breakfast? Horikita Suzune, are you picking a fight with me?

And what's with that matter-of-fact tone? Do you have no shame?

"Are you joking, Horikita?" Kushida asked with a sweet smile, suppressing the urge to yawn.

"Ryuen hasn't provided enough food. I need to maintain my physical abilities. Once I've had breakfast, you'll come with me. We'll find Onodera and have her cover me while I check in and take over a Base."

Lowering her voice, Horikita explained what they would be doing.

At eight in the morning and eight at night, students from Classes A, B, and C had to be at their Bases for attendance. There was no safer time to take over a Base.

A class would lose five exam points for each student absent at attendance, and Class D had three students left on the island.

That meant at least three students from each class would have to be sent out just to follow those three.

It would cost fifteen exam points to take that gamble. Horikita Suzune believed that none of the leaders from the other three classes would be crazy enough to do it.

There were benefits to having your exam points fall to zero, too.

"Mm, I understand."

To maintain her selfless angel persona, Kushida agreed without showing the slightest anger.

"Hurry up. We still have to go to Class B's Base and find Onodera."

"Okay."

Turning her back to Horikita, Kushida took a deep breath before forcing a cute smile and going to ask Shiraishi Asuka, the Class A student in charge of managing the food, for her breakfast portion.

"The boys are getting ready to start a fire and heat things up. Don't you want to wait?" Shiraishi asked kindly.

"Thanks for the offer, Shiraishi, but I have something urgent to do. Sorry."

Politely declining Shiraishi's offer, Kushida handed Horikita the cold cooked food.

Horikita had no objection. She opened the package and ate as they hurried toward Class B's Base.

They didn't need to wait until eight o'clock to move out for attendance.

It took quite a while for students to get from their own Base to another nearby one.

If they timed it right, they could safely take over more Bases.

"Kushida went out first thing this morning?"

At eight in the morning.

After leaving a hot breakfast for Karuizawa, who might still be asleep and was lying in bed, Aoyama returned to Class A's Base for attendance.

After attendance, he went to find Yamamura and Kamuro.

"Shiraishi said she left before seven, with Horikita Suzune." Kamuro shared what she'd found out.

"Are they trying to take over more Bases to earn points?"

Hearing that Horikita Suzune was involved, Aoyama quickly figured out what she was planning.

This was indeed a rare opportunity to take over Bases.

He'd explored half the island yesterday and found five Bases that could be checked in at.

If he roughly extrapolated from that half, there should be about nine or ten Bases in total.

"Kamuro, go to Class C's Base and note down who's there."

"Yamamura, go to Class B's Base. Your task is the same as Kamuro's: record who's staying behind."

Seeing Katsuragi leave the Base with a group of people, Aoyama gave Kamuro and Yamamura their instructions.

At this time, they could use the process of elimination to rule out the possibility that certain students had the Key Cards.

As for why Kamuro was going to Class C's Base and Yamamura to Class B's, it was naturally a matter of their personalities.

With Kamuro's somewhat mature personality, she could handle being questioned by Class C students if they caught her.

And even if Class B students spotted Yamamura, the good-natured students there wouldn't treat her harshly.

"What a pain," Kamuro muttered coldly as she headed toward Class C's Base.

"I'll make sure to remember everything."

Yamamura nodded, looking rather pleased, then set off for Class B's Base.

After the two of them disappeared from sight, Aoyama scanned the students staying behind at Class A's Base, then set off on his own.

Leaving aside the Bases that hadn't been taken over during the recent rounds, he headed almost in a straight line toward the other side of the island, running for most of the way.

When he spotted edible wild fruit or crops along the way, he didn't stop to pick them.

His goal was clear: places that might be Bases when the cruise ship circled the island.

It was almost nine.

"Kushida, your lack of stamina is holding us back."

After checking in at the second Base they'd found, the three hadn't gotten far when they heard someone running along the road behind them.

Realizing a student was chasing them, the three of them started running, too.

But the sound quickly drew closer. In the end, Horikita Suzune stopped where she was, giving up on shaking off the student behind them.

She could run faster than Onodera, who was in the sports club, but Kushida couldn't.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault." Faced with Horikita's blunt accusation, Kushida lowered her head, gritting her teeth.