The Representative Card Goes Missing

Just as Kushida asked Yamauchi if he wanted to join their group in looking for food, Ayanokouji, who was whispering with Horikita nearby, suddenly cried out, "Ah!"

The five members of Takahashi Nishito's group looked over at Ayanokouji and Horikita. Horikita hurriedly picked something up from the ground and stuffed it back into her pocket.

Takahashi's inner thoughts: →_→ That "Ah!" sounded so deliberate, haha.

"What's wrong?" Kushida asked, a little worried.

"It's nothing. There was just a bug, and it startled me. S-sorry," Ayanokouji apologized.

Horikita fixed Ayanokouji with an unusually cold stare.

"Um... I'm sorry," Ayanokouji said to Horikita.

Horikita didn't respond. She simply moved farther away from him.

"Did she dump you?" Yamauchi sidled up to Ayanokouji with a leer.

"Um... Yamauchi, there's something I want to discuss with you. Could you come over here for a moment?"

Guessing that Ayanokouji was planning to have Yamauchi distract Ibuki while Takahashi, who had seen the Representative Card in Horikita's hand, said nothing. "We'll go look for food first," he said, then left with Sakura, holding her hand.

Meanwhile, Ayanokouji led Yamauchi off to a distant spot.

"Just so you know, I charge a pretty penny for love advice," Yamauchi said with a sly grin.

"It's muddy all over the ground because of the rain. I want you to smear some of that mud into Horikita's hair."

"What? Didn't you see how she slapped me just because I got a little too close to her? If I did something like that, she'd kill me!"

"Um... Once it's done, I'll find an excuse to take Takahashi away and give you a chance to be alone with Sakura. How does that sound?"

Takahashi: I'm doomed. ⊙ω⊙

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Tch. She might beat me to a pulp, but for Sakura's sake, I... um... I guess I have no choice but to agree."

A moment later, Yamauchi scooped up a handful of mud and circled around behind Horikita. Perhaps because she was already feeling unwell, Horikita didn't notice him coming up behind her.

Kushida and Ibuki watched Yamauchi acting strangely, unsure what he was up to. Until...

The mud fell right onto Horikita's beautiful long hair. Then Yamauchi patted it down with his hand, making sure it got all through her hair.

Kushida and Ibuki's eyes widened. They stared at Yamauchi in disbelief.

"Hahaha! Horikita's hair is covered in mud!" Yamauchi laughed, pointing at her hair as he spoke to Kushida.

Horikita didn't seem to realize what had happened at first. But at the sound of Yamauchi's laughter, she reacted at once, grabbed the arm he was pointing at her with, and sent him flying in a gorgeous shoulder throw...

The group returned to camp before noon. Horikita had cleaned herself up a little, but quite a bit of mud still clung to her hair and clothes.

Before going to bathe, Horikita gave Yamauchi a cold look. "Get ready for me to hold a grudge against you for the rest of my life. And I won't forgive you."

After Horikita beat him up, Yamauchi was clearly afraid of her. He trembled and cowered behind Ayanokouji.

"I... I did... did what you asked, and look at all these injuries! You... you have to keep your promise!" Yamauchi whispered to Ayanokouji.

"Yeah..."

"The showers aren't available," Kushida told Horikita.

Some of the girls seemed to have noticed the mud on Horikita and wanted to bathe, so they were lined up outside the showers.

Horikita seemed to realize that some of them wanted to see her humiliated, but she didn't say anything.

"How about we change into our swimsuits and go swimming in the river? Horikita can wash the mud out of her hair while we're there," Kushida suggested.

"Okay." Horikita glanced at the few girls by the showers, then turned to get her swimsuit from her luggage and change in the portable restroom.

"Do you want to come too, Ibuki? Sakura?"

"Um... I think I'll wait until they're done," Sakura replied. She didn't like being seen in a swimsuit. Her figure was great, so she'd attract a lot of attention in one, and she didn't like being stared at.

"What about you, Ibuki?"

"Sorry, I don't like swimming."

Soon, Kushida and Horikita changed into their swimsuits and headed for the river. Yamauchi had gone back to the tent to lie down after getting beaten up.

Sakura and Ibuki waited in line to bathe. A few more girls who had returned from an outing joined them.

Takahashi used an excuse about going to find Hasebe to leave, leaving Ayanokouji alone where he was.

Takahashi headed to a hill outside the camp, using his excuse about finding Hasebe to leave. He sat down there, where he could see most of the camp.

About five minutes later, Horikita returned from swimming. Perhaps because she was already feeling unwell, she'd only washed off the mud before coming back. By then, Ibuki was at the end of the line for the showers.

Another five minutes or so passed before Horikita found Ayanokouji. She looked somewhat flustered, and the two left camp after only a brief conversation.

Takahashi, sitting on the hill, stretched and stood up. Watching the direction Horikita and Ayanokouji had gone, he muttered to himself:

"Ryuuen, I'm a man of my word. I said I'd help Ibuki, so I'll help Ibuki."

Meanwhile, Horikita kept walking into the forest, with Ayanokouji following behind her. "What happened?"

Horikita ignored him. She didn't stop until they'd gone far enough that the camp was out of sight.

Horikita turned around, seeming about to say something, but her face showed how reluctant she was. After hesitating for a moment, she spoke. "I let my guard down. This was my mistake."

"What happened?"

"Something was stolen."

"Don't tell me they stole your underwear too?"

"No, it's worse than that. What was stolen was... the Representative Card. It's entirely my fault. I should've hidden it before going swimming."

Horikita's face showed her remorse, an expression Ayanokouji had never seen from her before.

"Don't blame yourself. I think you've already done everything you could," Ayanokouji comforted her.

Horikita didn't seem to take his words to heart. She bit her lower lip in regret and said, "For now, it might be better not to tell everyone. We need to think about what to do next to minimize our losses."

"Yeah... I agree."

If the whole class found out, they'd definitely panic. Besides, Horikita had only recently clashed with Karuizawa's queen-bee clique and Oda's tsundere clique. If she told them, they'd fiercely blame her. After all, this would cost them fifty exam points outright, and if the other three classes found out, they'd lose a hundred and fifty.

All their remaining exam points would be wiped out!