The First Night

After everyone agreed to take Ibuki in, Hirata bought the food and water they needed for the night from Teacher Chabashira, along with two tents for the boys.

"Ibuki, here." Kushida walked over to Ibuki, who was keeping her distance from Class D, and handed her some food and bottled water.

"What's this for...? Why are you giving it to me?"

"You must be hungry, right?"

"I thought the food was allocated by class. There shouldn't be any extra."

"Right, there isn't, but it's fine. The four girls in our group don't have very big appetites, so three portions are enough for us to share."

As she spoke, Kushida gestured toward the three girls at Class D's camp. They smiled and waved at the two of them.

"Hmph. How stupid. Your class sure has a lot of do-gooders. Well, except for that heartless one."

"Huh? Heartless?" Kushida looked puzzled.

"No, it's nothing. Thanks."

Kushida didn't ask any further. She smiled and said, "Don't mention it. Come chat with us later. We'll be waiting for you in our tent."

With that, Kushida returned to her group.

"Hey, look. The girls' little cliques are really obvious when you see them all together," Yamauchi said, pointing at the different groups in the class as he ate. "There's the queen bee clique led by Karuizawa, the close-knit, friendly group centered around Little Kushida, and Shinohara's stuck-up clique. Then there are Horikita and Sakura, both on their own."

All the boys had gathered together to eat, but the girls' various cliques kept their distance from one another. The one exception was the close-knit group centered around Kushida, which got along with all the other groups.

"Horikita and Sakura are so pitiful. They must feel lonely, eating all by themselves," Yamauchi said, as if in passing.

"They're used to eating alone. If you butt in out of nowhere, they might think you're being rude," Takahashi said, batting away Ike's chopsticks as they reached over. There were barely any pieces of meat in his bento to begin with, and Sudo had already taken two. Still, Ike managed to snag a little shredded meat.

"Little Kan..." While Takahashi was defending his bento from Ike and Sudo's invasion, Hasebe spoke up. "I can't finish this. You can have it."

Takahashi stopped eating and looked at Hasebe. She still had more than half her bento left. "Aren't you hungry if you don't eat?"

"I ate a lot of fruit earlier. And I'm not used to suddenly living outdoors, so I don't have much of an appetite."

Since she put it that way, Takahashi didn't hesitate. He handed his bento to Sudo and accepted the food Hasebe was offering him. Then he glanced over at Sakura. Sure enough, the silly girl was staring at him. When she realized he'd noticed, she panicked, then seemed to make up her mind and got up to walk over to him.

"You don't have an appetite either?" Takahashi asked helplessly.

"Mm..."

"Fine, give it to me. Don't come complaining if you get hungry tonight."

"I... I won't."

"Come on, don't rush off. Have this bite." Takahashi picked up a piece of meat and fed it to Sakura. With all the boys in the class watching, her face turned even redder. But she didn't want to refuse the food Takahashi was offering her, so she quickly opened her mouth, ate it, and ran back to her original spot. Every now and then, she glanced at Takahashi.

Under the envious gazes of all the boys, Takahashi said smugly, "Oh, well. It's not like I really wanted it." He took another bite and added, "Man, that's good."

"Ew..."

"Get your chopsticks out of there!" Sudo angrily tossed the chopsticks from Takahashi's bento back at him.

"Hm?" Takahashi looked at the chopsticks in his hand. He'd handed Sudo his own chopsticks along with his bento, so the ones he was holding now belonged to Hasebe. He'd just fed Sakura with Hasebe's chopsticks, which meant... Heh. No wonder it tasted so good.

"By the way, has Kōenji still not come back?" Hirata asked everyone.

Only then did they notice that Kōenji was missing.

"It's already dark. Do you think something happened to Kōenji?" Yamauchi asked.

"Hmm... I'll report it to Teacher Chabashira," Hirata replied after a moment's thought.

"As for Kōenji, he said he wasn't feeling well over an hour ago and has already returned to the ship to rest. Of course, since he withdrew from the exam, your class has already lost thirty points. There's nothing I can do; the exam rules apply to everyone. Kōenji withdrew midway through, so he'll have to stay aboard the ship for a week for treatment and standby."

"Aaaaaah!" A number of the boys let out anguished groans. The girls didn't react as dramatically, but they, too, frowned and complained about Kōenji to the people around them.

"Damn it, what kind of joke is this?! Kōenji! What was he thinking?! He didn't even discuss it with us. If he really wasn't feeling well, we would've understood!"

Yukimura, who was usually calm, shouted. He even clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and stamped his feet to express his anger.

"Damn it! We've just lost thirty points. This is awful!" Ike said indignantly.

Both the boys and girls were furious that Kōenji had withdrawn from the exam without discussing it with them first. But since he wasn't there, they had no one to vent their anger on. Kōenji's loud laughter, usually heard around the class, now echoed in everyone's minds.

Losing thirty points so suddenly left everyone feeling uneasy, and no one was in the mood for a chat after dinner. One by one, they washed up and went to bed in their tents.

At dawn, Ayanokouji woke up early. He slipped out of the tent without making any sudden movements, and then Takahashi opened his eyes too.

From inside the tent, Takahashi saw Ayanokouji go to the place beside the tent where the class had stored their bags. He knew whose bag Ayanokouji planned to search.

He'd asked Hasebe and Sakura to check it out yesterday. It contained nothing but the usual things everyone had in their luggage: towels, a change of clothes, and underwear. But... there was one item worth noting: a digital camera.

A rental sticker was affixed beneath the digital camera, showing that it had been rented from the school using points. One part of his deal with Ryuuen had been to help Ibuki find out who Class D's leader was.

Ugh... Ryuuen could've come without Ibuki. When all's said and done, he still doesn't trust me! Takahashi sighed inwardly.

"Takahashi, you're up early," Hirata said, sitting up beside him and rubbing his eyes.

"I'm going to use the bathroom. Sorry I woke you, Hirata."

"No, I couldn't sleep well in an environment like this. My neck... and my back hurt too. I guess my body just can't handle sleeping without a mattress underneath me."

There were no pillows or mattresses, and he was crammed in with a bunch of boys. On top of that, the smell was awful. Sleeping well in these conditions would've been quite a challenge. Even so, aside from Takahashi and the others, some of their classmates were still snoring. They must've been exhausted.