Before the Mission Was Accomplished, He Died / The Quiet Night, the Restless Heart
I wanted to read with En-kun tomorrow, but he seems very busy and probably won't have time. So frustrating!
And--
Sakayanagi Arisu glanced at Sakayanagi Arisu lying between her and Shiina Hiyori Karuizawa Kei. The young lady, who was exhausted, needed to get ten hours of good sleep every day, and she was now drowsy.
Arisu's health isn't good, and it seems like she had a hard time getting out this time. Besides, En-kun had already promised her that he would spend more time with her.
Hmm... maybe she shouldn't be a woman who brings a sense of heaviness to others!
Looking at Sakayanagi Arisu, she suddenly remembered the question the other woman had half-jokingly asked on the ship earlier—
"You really look like a mother now! Do you want to have a daughter for En-kun in the future?"
A daughter? Will she be a girl as cute as Arisu?
No, actually, my son is quite good too. He'll probably be as cute as a little white dumpling, right?
Shiina Hiyori: "..."
Waaaaah, what am I even thinking?! En-kun will even accept me is still a question!!
First Semester of First Year:
Chapters 162 and 153: A Premature Death Before Success Is Achieved
Stepping out of the Small Wooden Cabin, relying on her memory, Hoshino En began to explore the surrounding area, using the Small Wooden Cabin as a base.
Ryuen Kakeru is a suspicious person. If his target is really the Leader of each class, he won't believe it unless he sees the actual item or takes a picture of the front of the Key Card with the name printed on it.
Therefore, the two spy classmates he sent out must have had devices that could be used to record images, such as a small, portable digital camera, and a walkie-talkie that could be used to contact him.
However, it's unlikely that the spy students would openly bring these suspicious items into the base camps of Class D and Class B. They would most likely hide the items in advance not far from the camps of Class B and Class D, leaving behind inconspicuous markings.
To be honest, the campsites for each class were all places that could be found easily. Like Shiina Hiyori Kaneda Satoru one of the few high-achieving students in Class C.
People with high academic ability are generally not unintelligent. He was fully capable of finding Class D' s headquarters before he even approached Miyake and placing the items in an inconspicuous place nearby.
And those were the things he was looking for.
His exploration soon yielded results—in a grove of trees not far from the Observation Post, Hoshino En discovered a large tree with dark brown cloth strips tied to its branches.
The color of the cloth strips was similar to that of the leaves mixed in, so it was easy to miss them if you didn't look closely.
After digging around under the tree with her bare hands, Hoshino En quickly found a bag containing something.
Inside the bag, a small digital camera and a radio lay gleaming in the sunlight.
It seems he wasn't wrong, but Kaneda Satoru seems to have misunderstood—he mistook the stronghold occupied by six or seven Class D students for Class D' s main base.
He hadn't really thought of that at first.
However, that place could be used as a disguise to divert the attention of other classes, and the six members of the "Guerrilla Group" also rested there.
How many people are still awake at the Observation Post?
He turned on the walkie-talkie and asked Karuizawa Kei.
The message from the other side came quickly, but the voice was kept very low.
"The entire first group is already asleep, Sudo is asleep too. The second group is in charge now. The radio is with Mori-kun, and Matsushita -kun is in charge of surveillance."
"What about Horikita? Could you ask her if she can cook? If she can, she can be in charge of the meals at the 'Observation Post' from now on."
"Kaneda got our base location wrong, so I was thinking we could just disguise the Observation Post as our base to divert the attention of the other classes and keep the cabin completely hidden."
But this time, Karuizawa Kei didn't send a message for quite a while, and her voice returned to its original volume.
"Horikita can cook, but he only has one set of cooking utensils, and they're all with us. Plus, there's the issue of food ingredients... If the connection between the two sides isn't severed, there's still a good chance the cabin will be discovered."
Although it was an unplanned proposal, Karuizawa Kei had already considered the issues that Hoshino En was worried about. He was now very grateful that quite a few people had stayed this time, making a total of 12 including himself.
"As for the kitchen utensils, have Chabashira-sensei bring them over. She'll be here shortly. She was the one who brought the items we exchanged, and she didn't deliver them to our destination, which is her dereliction of duty."
"As for the food issue, there are too many people in one group. It's enough to leave the monitoring and reporting to Yukimura and Wang Meiyu. Let Inogashira and Kanji Ike go find some. If I'm not mistaken, Kanji Ike should have some camping experience. It'll be fine to leave it to him."
On the beach, Chabashira Sae, who was on duty but was being pestered by Hoshinomiya Chie, suddenly sneezed.
"Oh dear~ Is Sae-chan catching a cold?"
"No, my nose just suddenly feels a little itchy."
Chabashira Sae wiped her nose with a tissue, trying to cover up her embarrassment.
But halfway through wiping, she suddenly sneezed several times in a row.
Achoo! Achoo! Achoo--!!!
"Sae-chan, you really have a cold, haven't you? The temperature difference between day and night is quite large here, you need to take good care of yourself!"
Hoshinomiya Chie spoke words of concern, but her eyes were full of schadenfreude.
She produced a bottle of baijiu (Chinese liquor) from somewhere and placed it in front of Chabashira Sae.
"It's getting cold tonight, Sae-chan, would you like some white food to warm yourself up?"
Chabashira Sae gave her a look with her signature cold expression, but said nothing.
Drinking alcohol during work hours is against the rules.
Moreover, she had a pretty good idea of who was harassing her behind her back.
Last time, before the deliberation between Class C and Sudo, she sneezed several times without warning... and then she was tricked by Karuizawa and Hoshino.
This time it's probably going to be pretty much the same, but it's rare for Hoshino to be so enthusiastic, and she can't just deliberately retaliate against him and hold him back at a time like this.
Sigh... I'm so worried.
But before she could worry for long, Karuizawa Kei's one-way communication arrived.
Chabashira Sae: "..."
Oh, what a worry!
She reluctantly got up and walked towards the campsite that Class D had reported to.
6. "What about our food here?"
Sugi asked Chabashira Sae to move the kitchenware away, Karuizawa Kei asked another crucial question: only one set of kitchenware was replaced, but they still had to support two more people, and they were girls who, although they didn't have big appetites, had difficulty adapting, so the pressure of food was also immense.
"When I check in, I'll bring over all the food I can from other locations. As for how to cook without cooking utensils... I trust Kushida. She won't let her friend down. She'll definitely be able to conjure up food like magic."
Kushida Kikyo, who was eavesdropping next to Karuizawa Kei, thought, "..."
Should I thank you for trusting me so much?
"Oh, right, have Miyake take Kaneda to the Observation Post; everything's fine there now."
After adding the last sentence, Hoshino En cut off the communication.
He took the digital camera from the bag, left the useless radio, filled it with some stones and soil, then filled the pit again and sprinkled some fallen leaves on it as camouflage.
Then, he untied the strip of cloth binding the branch, took it off, and tied it to the branch of another large tree not far away.
Since "Sho-chan" wants to play, he'll play along with him.
Kaneda probably won't take any action until he confirms where the Key Card is; we can stall for a while longer.
Furthermore, the fact that Sudo and Miyake would take turns wandering around the island could lead Kaneda to the mistaken belief that "the Leader is between these two physically stronger boys."
In order to gather intelligence and complete the mission, he will probably pay more attention to their movements, and may even neglect to contact Ryuen, which should be enough to stall for a while.
After confirming that everything was alright, Hoshino En headed towards Class B's camp.
Now that Kaneda has already made contact with them, Ibuki over there should have succeeded as well, right? After all, the Little Angel of Class B can't just watch the miserable victim who was bullied by Ryuen wander alone in the wilderness.
Arriving at a spot where she could see Class B's camp, Hoshino En glanced in that direction.
It was already late. In Class B's camp, most people were resting in their tents, leaving only a few boys yawning and trying to stay awake to keep watch.
In a corner of the campsite, nestled between two coconut trees, Ibuki Mio, who had been "bullied" by Ryuen Kakeru, lay all alone in a hammock.
It seems that Saki has truly succeeded.
As Umbrella glanced at Ibuki Mio, whose gaze kept drifting towards the area where Class B's luggage was stored, Hoshino En smiled excitedly, her eyes sparkling brightly.
Since you're so concerned about Class B's luggage, well Ibuki, I won't be so polite with yours!
Secondly, thanks to prior reconnaissance of the terrain, Hoshino En's actions went unnoticed by anyone, and he quickly found Ibuki's equipment under a tree with the same kind of cloth strip tied to it.
Following the same procedure as Kaneda, he left the girl a bag of stones and dirt, moved the cloth strip used as a marker, and took her digital camera.
Besides the two digital cameras, Hoshino En also ransacked all the outposts occupied by Class D that they passed by, taking everything she could carry, such as vegetables and fruits, as well as fishing rods and nets.
Looking at what he brought back, Kushida Kikyo, who was still awake, was stunned, while Karuizawa Kei looked as if she had expected it.
"This should be enough for us to eat for a while, right? Tomorrow we can take Sakayanagi fishing and take some photos."
But Kushida Kikyo maintained her original expression as she looked at him.
"... What's wrong? Is there anything else?"
"Now that you've discovered they have ill intentions, why did you still send Miyake to take Kaneda to the Observation Post?"
Asking questions when you don't understand is a good virtue, and Kushida Kikyo, having taken off her mask, embodies this virtue perfectly. If it were her before, she would probably have pretended to understand or laughed it off and moved on from the topic she didn't understand.
However, since he had agreed to help her, Hoshino En didn't show any impatience. He explained, "Anyway, they can't find this way, so taking them there won't be any problem. Besides, sending a signal to Class C that 'their infiltration has been successful' will prevent Ryuen from thinking about other plans, and we'll have far fewer problems to deal with."
"This should buy us three or four days."
First Semester of First Year:
Chapters 163 and 154: A Quiet Night, A Restless Heart
"By the way, is Sakayanagi asleep?"
Hoshino En peeked into the room.
Inside, bathed in moonlight streaming through the window, Shiina Hiyori embraced the petite Sakayanagi Arisu. Their cheeks pressed together, and the soft breaths of their bodies against each other added a touch of liveliness to the quiet night.
"She's been asleep for a while now."
Karuizawa Kei lay beside him, her gaze fixed on the room.
"At first, she tried to stay awake and wait for you to come back, but after Hiyori held her and sang a lullaby for a while, she couldn't help but fall asleep immediately."
"And Hiyori even fell asleep while singing to herself. She'll be a great mother!"
"I wonder which man will end up benefiting..."
Karuizawa Kei was implying something, but Hoshino En completely missed it; he was more concerned about how she addressed Shiina Hiyori.
"Hiyori? Has your relationship gotten that good?"
Hoshino En glanced at the girl beside him in surprise. He had thought that Karuizawa was acting like a "gyaru" (gal), wouldn't get along with other types of girls, but he didn't expect things to progress so quickly!
"This is a girl's secret~"
Karuizawa Kei blinked.
Then, she nestled against Hoshino En's chest with a coquettish expression and bit her lip.
"Hey, En-kun, I've worked so hard today, aren't you going to treat your Hui to a nice meal?"
"... What do you want to do?"
Perhaps because he had already experienced the taste of sex, Hoshino Enishi found it difficult to control himself in the Hoshino En of Karuizawa Kei, and his lips became somewhat dry.
It's exam time right now, and he shouldn't be wasting his energy on something that has no benefit to achieving his goal, but looking at this alluring little vixen, he really wants to poke her so hard she can't stand up straight, to make her understand who's in charge!!
"I--"
"Cough cough!!"
Just as the two were deeply in love and their passion was about to ignite, a suppressed cough of anger came from behind them.
The two, who were about to lose their temper, looked over and saw that Kushida Kikyo was staring at them with a dark expression on her face.
"If you're going to do this kind of thing, please wait until after the exams and on the Cruise Ship. Don't just sit here getting horny."
"Oh my, is Kushida jealous?"
Karuizawa Kei licked her equally dry lips and spoke to Kushida Kikyo, who had interrupted them, in a tone unique to Sakayanagi Arisu.
"If you want, I can let you go first~ You have to understand, places like this with forests, streams, Cave, and beaches are very rare. We hardly ever see them. Doing it here feels completely different from doing it in a room."