There Were Plenty of Ways to Leave School

"Good morning, Ichinose. Why are you here so early today?"

I hadn't had a haircut in a while, and after staying up all night, my hair had turned into a bird's nest.

If Ichinose's knock hadn't woken me up, I probably would have slept until Hiyori came by with the spare key and gently woke me.

"Huh? Did I come at the wrong time?"

Ichinose took out her phone and checked the time. It was nine on Saturday morning. By then, the Japanese corporate slaves had already eaten rice balls from the convenience store and were drinking vegetable juice or coffee at the office.

"No, I just went to bed too late last night. I'm not used to seeing the sun right now."

I didn't even know how I'd managed to say such nonsense.

Considering we had the Uninhabited Island Exam this summer, I wanted to finish preparing my manuscript before then.

There were the pages I needed to mail home, the pages I'd promised to give away, the Leave of Absence Forms for Hiyori and me, and plenty of other tasks. I had to get all of them done over the next few days.

No wonder Sakayanagi had mocked me last night for being a hopeless procrastinator, the kind who wouldn't act until the deadline was upon him.

What time had Hiyori left last night? Two in the morning?

It had been light out when I went to bed, but I couldn't remember anymore.

If I'd stayed up all night, I wouldn't be this groggy. But after pulling an all-nighter, sleeping for two or three hours and then getting up was more than I could handle.

"M-Masaryu? Are you all right?"

After opening the door and letting Ichinose into the Activity Room, I instinctively headed back toward my bed in my slippers, hoping to catch a few more hours of sleep. Then I kicked the step by the shoe-changing area and hit the floor face-first.

"I'm fine. If you don't mind, Ichinose, could you close the Activity Room door and bring the blanket from the chair over here? I'm about to pass out."

Seeing me sprawled on the floor, Ichinose crouched beside me and tried to help me up.

The wooden floor actually felt pretty comfortable. Apart from the lack of a pillow, it wasn't a bad place to sleep. I was so exhausted that I couldn't even feel the floor digging into my back.

"Huh? W-What's this? Ichinose and Masaryu, what are you two doing?"

Ichinose wouldn't leave me lying on the floor to sleep, since I might catch a cold. So she picked me up and tried to carry me over to the bed.

But just as Ichinose lifted me, I heard Sakura's voice. Why was she here so early too? And wasn't it Saturday? I was sure I'd said that we didn't have to come to the Activity Room to study during exam week.

"Th-That's, I—"

Just as Ichinose was about to explain things to Sakura, Sakayanagi and Hiyori arrived outside the Activity Room.

By the time I woke up again, it was noon. Judging by the way the table was set, Hiyori and the others must have had a tea party.

For some reason, whenever I thought of tea parties, a BGM started playing in my head.

"So, Masaryu, what time did you go to bed?"

"Seven thirty."

After seeing that I was awake, Hiyori picked out an outfit for me and helped me get dressed. As she did, she pinched my waist and interrogated me about when I'd gone to sleep.

I really had gone to bed at seven thirty. It was just seven thirty that morning.

"Masaryu went to bed at seven thirty last night? That early?"

Sakura seemed utterly amazed when she heard that I'd gone to sleep at seven thirty.

"He didn't go to bed at seven thirty last night. I left at eight last night, and he went to bed at seven thirty this morning. Aren't you worried he'll drop dead?"

Sakayanagi glanced at Sakura, amazed that her train of thought was so different from everyone else's.

"Let's put my situation aside for now. Staying up late is perfectly normal for me. I think there might be something more worth discussing about Ichinose."

If they kept going, I'd end up nailed to a cross as a sinner for staying up all night.

"We already talked about that while Masaryu was asleep."

Hiyori sat down beside me and began filling in the missing information on her Leave of Absence Form.

"What's the story?"

"It's about summer vacation. Ichinose heard that the school was going to take us to an island in the south for a vacation."

So that was what this was about. That lousy uninhabited island might be a vacation for Class C, but the same couldn't necessarily be said for the other classes.

"A vacation on a southern island? Will Classmate Sakayanagi be able to go?"

According to the original story, Sakayanagi couldn't go. But now that they'd added a Special Exam, I wasn't sure if she still wouldn't be allowed. I'd better check first.

"If I want to go, of course I can. The cruise ship everyone will be taking belongs to my family."

After that Special Exam ended, Sakayanagi and I had played a game. Once it was over, Ryuen and I gave her a thorough brainwashing.

At least now Sakayanagi made much better use of her resources. Being the chairman's daughter and the future heir to the Sakayanagi Family weren't bad things. She might as well put those titles to use.

"If you can go if you want to, then the school wasn't planning to let you go under normal circumstances, right? In that case, this so-called southern island where we're going on vacation must be quite something."

How could the Uninhabited Island not be quite something?

"We'll probably be getting plenty of exercise during the vacation too."

Hiyori picked up where I left off, peeling back another layer of the vacation's facade.

"The island they chose as our vacation destination must have beautiful scenery, right?"

Sakura's main concern wasn't the vacation but the island's scenery. She'd already taken pictures of pretty much everything on campus by now.

"Once we get to the vacation spot, can you play with me, Masaryu?"

"?"

As soon as Ichinose said that, the other four people present all turned to look at her.

"Sorry! I said that wrong! I meant to ask Masaryu, Hiyori, and Ryuen, who isn't here, to help organize some recreational activities for Class C and our Class B."

Ichinose realized she'd mixed her true feelings with a polite social response. Blushing, she tried to explain herself.

"If they chose a good vacation spot, then it should be possible."

It was easy to make promises now. No matter what, they'd never be fulfilled anyway.

Still, how could Ichinose have heard about the summer vacation and yet not know about the Uninhabited Island Exam that the school held every year?

Something was off about how Ichinose had gotten that information!

"Done filling it out. I'll leave the rest to you, Classmate Sakayanagi."

A little while later, Hiyori finished filling out the forms and handed both of ours to Sakayanagi.

"What are these? Leave of Absence Forms? I thought students weren't allowed to leave campus during these three years."

After seeing the two forms, Ichinose and the others all turned to Sakayanagi with questions.

"In principle, students aren't allowed to leave campus during the three years. But there are exceptions to every rule.

"For instance, clubs like the Baseball Club, Soccer Club, and calligraphy club need to travel for competitions. The school arranges staff and vehicles to take them there. However, students still have to follow certain rules while they're away, or they'll be expelled."

Sakayanagi used other clubs as examples. For instance, the Basketball Club had gone off campus once this semester after the tryouts. Teachers and Student Council members had supervised them on that trip.