Grouping

"What's there to say? We already bought them."

If those purchases were unnecessary, then when he'd taken Sakura to the beach earlier, he'd gone straight to Teacher Chabashira and used some exam points to buy her two swimsuits. Those had been even more unnecessary, hadn't they?

Seeing Takahashi's response, Horikita stopped talking to him and turned to Ayanokouji. "Karuizawa told Hirata, so there's no doubt he knew about it. But since you didn't know, that means he didn't report it to anyone else. Normally, information about spending the class's shared exam points should be shared."

"Maybe Hirata kept it quiet because he didn't want the class to have more conflicts."

"I understand what you're getting at, but I don't have anything in particular to say. Like Takahashi said, they've already bought them, so there's not much to discuss. Besides, there are only a few days left in the exam. I doubt Karuizawa and the others will spend any more points on unnecessary things." Horikita crossed her arms and looked toward Karuizawa, then continued:

"If we don't properly resolve the panties theft, who knows how many problems they'll cause? Hearing them argue with the boys over little things every day is exhausting."

"So you want us to help find the Panties Thief?" Takahashi asked.

"Yes. Relations between the girls and boys are pretty troublesome right now. There are a lot of things I can't handle on my own."

"Then you two do your best." After saying that, Takahashi went back to the campfire and sat down, continuing to feed it firewood.

He didn't care about the stolen panties at all. What he cared about was Ayanokouji. Ayanokouji wouldn't go looking for the Panties Thief on his own, but Horikita, who had always wanted to get into Class A, would. And the only person she could use was Ayanokouji. This was a chance to test him.

A while later, Ayanokouji came over and sat beside the campfire by himself.

"Did you agree to help Horikita?" Takahashi asked first.

"Yeah. I'd already agreed to help Hirata."

Ayanokouji, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do.

On the morning of the sixth day of the Special Exam, the sky was gray and gloomy, as if weighed down by heavy leaden blocks. It seemed to foretell that a storm was about to break. It had rained the night before, leaving puddles in the hollows and mud everywhere. The air was heavy with the promise of more rain, probably sometime after noon. With the exam nearing its end, the weather was changing too. A little rain wouldn't be a problem, but they might get heavy rain or strong winds.

"Everyone, gather around." Hirata called the class together for one last announcement. "It's already the sixth day, so I think we should split into groups today and look for food. If we can gather enough for today, we'll save the exam points we'd otherwise need to spend on food."

Once they got through today, they could even go without food tomorrow. Everyone wanted to increase their personal points, so no one thought going hungry for a day would be a problem.

In the end, Ayanokouji, Horikita, Takahashi, Sakura, Yamauchi, and one unexpected person—Kushida—formed a group. Until now, she'd always been with her close-knit group of friends.

"Looks like you've got a fever again." Takahashi looked at Horikita, who was walking around as if nothing was wrong. Before they'd gotten off the ship, Horikita had already had a slight fever, so Takahashi had given her some medicine, but it didn't seem to have helped.

"I'm fine."

"You're so stubborn." Takahashi said no more and left her alone.

"Kushida, I can't believe you didn't team up with your friends." Yamauchi looked surprised.

"Um... Well, Little Mi isn't feeling very well, so our other friends are taking care of her in the tent." With so many boys around, Kushida seemed embarrassed to say that Little Mi was on her period.

"Rather than being unwell, it's just a normal part of being a woman. There's no need to worry anyone. But why did you specifically come to this group? You must have had other options." Horikita said coolly. She didn't mention Yamauchi, perhaps because she disliked Kushida so much.

Horikita disliked just about everyone. But the person she disliked most was Kushida. Why did she dislike her so much? The reason was simple: Kushida disliked Horikita too.

Kushida wasn't angered by Horikita's words. Instead, she smiled like an angel and said, "Because I wanted to talk more with you, Horikita. It's rare that I get the chance. We haven't really talked much on this trip, have we? You go straight to sleep as soon as it gets dark."

"I don't have time to talk with you."

"Horikita, you're so cold! You're so cute when you're asleep, though."

Kushida teased Horikita, but Horikita looked a little impatient.

Anyway, with no further small talk, they set off together to look for food.

As they started out, Ayanokouji called to Ibuki, who was resting under a tree nearby. "Ibuki, do you want to come with us?"

"Me?"

"The exam's almost over. It's fine if you don't want to."

"No, your Class D has helped me a lot, so I'll help out too."

Ibuki got up to grab her bag and joined the group.

Yamauchi looked thrilled, raising both hands and shouting, "Yeah! This is great! It feels like I've got a harem!"

As the proportion of girls in the group increased, Yamauchi's enthusiasm rose too. He chatted energetically with the girls the whole way.

Until he tried to hit on Horikita...

Yamauchi leaned in close to Horikita, grinning as if he was about to say something. But before he could get a word out—

"Smack!"

Horikita slapped him without mercy. It was a clean, forceful hit, and the sound rang out sharply.

Yamauchi crouched on the ground, holding his face, and shouted at Horikita:

"W-what was that for?!"

Horikita didn't just refuse to answer him; she couldn't even be bothered to look at him.

"You got too close to her! She has a serious sense of personal space," Ayanokouji said, walking over to Yamauchi.

"Yamauchi, are you okay?" Kushida asked, coming over.

"Y-you're so kind, Kushida."

Yamauchi took Kushida's outstretched hand and stood up, his face red.

Ibuki watched their interaction in surprise. It was hard to imagine seeing this kind of foolish behavior in Class C.

"All right, we're not here on a sightseeing trip! Let's focus on finding food."

Horikita spoke in a stern, forceful tone, then ordered everyone to split up and search for food.

The groups were quickly decided: Ayanokouji and Horikita, Takahashi and Sakura, and Ibuki and Kushida. That left Yamauchi standing there, looking from one group to another, unsure where to go.