A Divide

"Um, Teacher Chabashira, I have a question. What are we supposed to do when we need to use the bathroom?" Kushida asked on behalf of the girls.

"I was just about to explain that." Teacher Chabashira tapped the cardboard box, peeled off the tape, and pulled out a stack of folded cardboard panels.

"What's that?" The girls erupted in alarm.

"Portable toilets. One for each class. Use them carefully."

"Are the girls supposed to use these too?!" Shinohara exclaimed. She wasn't part of Karuizawa's clique, but she still had a presence of her own in class.

"Both boys and girls will use them, but we'll provide pop-up tents. You don't need to worry about privacy."

"That's not the issue! Use the bathroom in a cardboard box? I could never do that!"

Ignoring the girls' protests, Teacher Chabashira deftly assembled the toilet. She lined it with a blue plastic bag and placed a thin white cloth inside. "This is an absorbent cloth. Covering your waste with it helps control the odor. Each bag can be used about five times. We'll provide an unlimited supply of bags and cloths, but if you can't stand reusing them, you can replace them every time."

The girls were speechless. They might have been able to tolerate it in a disaster, but asking them to "treat this place like a disaster zone" was clearly too much.

"Absolutely not!" Shinohara led the opposition.

Ike had had enough. "It's just a toilet. Can't you put up with it? What's there to argue about?"

"Easy for you to say!" Shinohara glared at him. "This has nothing to do with the boys, does it? I'd rather die than use a cardboard toilet!"

"The decision is up to you," Teacher Chabashira added. "But remember, you're forbidden from relieving yourselves anywhere on the island, including in the sea or rivers."

Teacher Chabashira finished speaking and was about to move on to the next topic, but Shinohara was still resistant. "There's no way we can use a cardboard box! The boys are right there, too. Just thinking about it makes me sick!" The more she spoke, the angrier she got, especially as she directed her frustration at Ike. "Look at him. He's obviously a pervert!"

"Hey, that's a bit much, calling us perverts! I'm a total gentleman!" Ike protested.

"You? You're always fawning over the girls. You're the top candidate for class pervert!" Shinohara didn't hold back. She'd never approved of Ike's habit of trying to win over every girl in class.

The two argued fiercely, and most of the girls frowned and sided with Shinohara. Ike shrugged and sighed. "Do you really plan to hold it in for a whole week? Is that realistic?"

Just then, Teacher Chabashira suddenly frowned and looked behind Takahashi.

"Yahallo!"

A languid voice rang out, and a hand gently tugged at Takahashi's cheek.

"Summer's the perfect time for romance~ If you confess to a girl you like on a beautiful beach like this, your chances of success are bound to be high!"

"Really? Then I'll have to check the school-issued Guide Manual to see whether asking a beautiful teacher to watch the ocean with me will cost me Class Points," Takahashi teased, looking at Hoshinomiya-sensei.

"Hoshinomiya, I'm pretty sure I've told you before: please stop sexually harassing my students," Teacher Chabashira said, looking at Hoshinomiya.

But as soon as she heard that, Hoshinomiya trotted over and hugged her from behind.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting some skin-to-skin contact with you, of course~ How have you been lately, Saeda?"

As Hoshinomiya spoke softly, she gently stroked Teacher Chabashira's hair. "Your hair is always so silky, no matter when I touch it!"

"Have you figured out the school rules? Eavesdropping on another class's information isn't allowed."

"I'm a teacher. Even if I hear something, I'll absolutely keep it secret~ Besides, we both ended up on this island at the same time. Isn't that fate?"

"Enough. Get back to Class B!" Teacher Chabashira coldly brushed her hand away. "I'm warning you: if you keep this up, I'll report it as misconduct."

"Don't be so mean... Fine, fine!" Hoshinomiya stuck out her tongue, waved, and bounced back toward Class B. Before she left, she even winked at Takahashi.

Only after Hoshinomiya had gone did Teacher Chabashira speak again.

"All right, you can choose your representative now. The representative will hold the Representative Card and claim the base."

"Forget that—I need to use the bathroom!" Sudo picked up the portable toilet Teacher Chabashira had assembled, set up the pop-up tent a little farther away, and ducked inside. Shinohara and the others frowned and backed away, clearly repulsed. Teacher Chabashira took a step back, making it clear that they could figure it out for themselves.

"Hirata, shouldn't we decide what to do about the toilet soon?" The girls' urging made sense; the other students would need to use the bathroom soon, too.

"There's another option." Hirata looked up from the Guide Manual. "It says we can use points to buy a temporary toilet."

As soon as they heard that, Shinohara and the others immediately gathered around him. The temporary toilet had all the necessary features. In the photo, it looked almost identical to a toilet at home, and it even flushed. For the girls, it was clearly more acceptable than the cardboard toilet. But there was a catch: the temporary toilet cost 20 points.

"We have to buy it!" Shinohara declared first. "Even if we don't like it, it's still better than using a cardboard toilet!" Many of the girls agreed. To them, having a proper toilet was even more important than food and water.

"Hold on! Twenty points just for a toilet?" Ike jumped in to object, and some of the boys shook their heads along with him. They were determined to save points and thought spending so many on a toilet was a waste.

"It's just a toilet. What's the big deal? We already have one, don't we? We need to save our points for when they really matter! Don't you want to earn more Class Points, so you can get more personal points next month?" Ike clearly wanted to save those points.

Before Ike had even finished speaking, Shinohara frowned and cut him off. She turned to Hirata and lightly tugged at his sleeve. "You can't just decide on your own! You're the one who's supposed to gather everyone's opinions, right, Hirata? Can't we buy a temporary toilet?"

Hirata hesitated and scratched his cheek. "Well... it'd be better if the girls at least had a decent toilet to use..."

"Gathering everyone's opinions is your job, but don't make every decision by yourself! And a lot of us boys haven't even had a chance to speak!" Seeing Hirata waver, Ike immediately raised his voice and tapped his knuckles on the table. "Remember, once we spend those points, we don't get them back."

Shinohara stamped her foot in frustration, then suddenly turned to Karuizawa and tugged at her sleeve like she'd found a lifeline. "Karuizawa, say something! The girls need a clean toilet more than anyone, don't they?"

Karuizawa, whom Shinohara had expected to oppose the idea first, simply shook her head. She twirled a strand of hair around her finger and said nonchalantly, "It's a pain, but I'd rather keep the points. We can just put up with it. The school will provide the basic supplies, and we can bathe in the river, right?"

"Karuizawa... how can you say that!" Shinohara stared at her wide-eyed, clutching the hem of her skirt. She suddenly realized that once Karuizawa had stated her position and most of the girls had accepted it, she no longer had anything to support her own stance.

"Airi, what do you think we should do about the toilet?" Takahashi asked Sakura beside him.

"Huh? You want me to say?" Sakura looked surprised. She hadn't expected Takahashi to ask her out of the blue.

"Yeah."

Sakura looked around at everyone and thought for a moment before answering. "I think we should buy one."

"Why?"

"We do have that portable toilet, but if everyone in our class has to use just that one... If someone occupies it, a lot of people might end up having to wait." As she spoke, Sakura kept sneaking glances at Takahashi, afraid she might say something wrong.

He patted Sakura on the head. "Good observation."

Then Takahashi spoke to the people who were still arguing.

"Everyone, quiet down for a moment and hear me out..."