The Class D students had been walking for nearly half an hour when they decided to stop and rest in a clearing in the jungle.
As soon as they stopped, the issue of the toilet came up again. This time, though, it wasn't Karuizawa who raised it, nor Yukimura, who had consistently opposed the idea. It was Hirata, who had been acting as a mediator all along.
Hirata pointed out that there were forty people in the class. If they all had to share a makeshift toilet, it would be inconvenient, even if they could put up with it. It might also end up interfering with other activities.
Faced with Hirata's well-reasoned explanation, Yukimura and the others, who had been against the idea, suddenly had no grounds left to argue.
With the toilet issue settled, their next priority was obviously finding a base camp. A good location could determine how they spent their points later on, and Hirata had clearly thought of that too. He called on the class and asked anyone willing to help to raise their hands.
The students responded to the call, and more than a quarter of the class raised their hands.
But the person who intrigued Chiba Yu the most was Koenji.
After all, he'd been the first to raise his hand, so it was hard not to notice him. But what really surprised Chiba Yu was that Ayanokoji, standing beside Koenji, had raised his hand too.
"That's surprising. I never thought you'd volunteer for this kind of task."
In response to Chiba Yu and Horikita's teasing and exclamations, Ayanokoji replied expressionlessly, "If I don't take on some responsibilities, I'll stand out too much."
Chiba Yu gave a sudden nod at that. "That makes sense. If you don't go now, you'll stand out, and later on, some even tougher tasks might end up falling to you too."
With that, Chiba Yu raised his hand as well.
After all, this was a necessary investment of effort if he wanted to slack off more later. Chiba Yu figured he could just grin and bear it.
When Hirata saw Chiba Yu raise his hand, his eyes visibly lit up, and he smiled at him.
In the end, they counted nine volunteers, so Hirata decided to split them into groups of three to search separately.
And so...
"Why did I end up paired with you?"
"The rest of the class need someone to look after them. Otherwise, they might get up to something again when they get back. Naturally, Hirata's the one who has to stay behind. So, in the end, do you have a problem with being teamed up with me?"
Chiba Yu and Karuizawa Kei walked through the jungle, chatting now and then.
The original plan had been to split into groups of three, but somehow, theirs was the only group that ended up with just two people. Chiba Yu hadn't seen that coming.
But when he remembered the looks all the girls in class had given him as he left, he shuddered. He couldn't help grumbling to himself.
Actually, this arrangement was probably for the best. Chiba Yu wouldn't have to deal with classmates he didn't know well. Even though they were in the same class, trying to find something to talk about with strangers still wore him out.
"By the way, we're not going to get lost walking all this way, are we?" Karuizawa glanced back, looking a little worried.
Chiba Yu gave her a glance and said helplessly, "Don't worry. I left markers along the way. Besides, if you were so scared, why didn't you stay back there?"
"I... I sometimes want to help Hirata shoulder some of the pressure, too. Since he has to coordinate with everyone in class, as one of the girls who leads the class, I should do my part."
"Oh, and what does that have to do with whether you stay at camp or not?"
"(╬▔皿▔)╯" Her blood boiled. Her fists clenched.
If this were an anime, there'd definitely be a little "#" mark on Karuizawa's forehead right now.
Was this guy really that stupid, or was he pretending? No, with his intelligence, if he counted as stupid, what did that make her, when she was even worse than him?!
As she thought about it, Karuizawa somehow got herself all tangled up.
Watching her quietly from the side, Chiba Yu was baffled. What was wrong with her? Had he really insulted her into stupidity?! How was he supposed to explain that to Hirata when they got back?!
"Forget it." Karuizawa felt that if she kept arguing with this guy, she'd really go crazy. So she changed the subject. "Anyway, can we actually find a suitable campsite like this?"
Chiba Yu shrugged indifferently. "Where there's a will, there's a way. If you keep looking, we'll definitely find one."
The unspoken meaning was: With just the two of us, finding a decent spot would be a miracle.
They kept going. Along the way, they came across plenty of places that could serve as campsites, but the locations weren't great, so after thinking it over, they gave them a pass.
"I was just saying... ugh—"
"Shh—quiet."
Karuizawa had been walking along when Chiba Yu suddenly covered her mouth. At the same time, he grabbed her with his other hand, pulled her toward him, and pinned down her struggling body.
Everything had happened so suddenly that Karuizawa was more frightened than ever before. For a moment, she couldn't react, and her body instinctively took on a fearful posture.
Even so, the series of fearful reactions Karuizawa Kei showed made Chiba Yu frown.
After thinking it over, Chiba Yu had a rough idea what was going on.
"An automatic defense mechanism triggered by the trauma of past abuse..." Chiba Yu murmured under his breath.
Seeing that tears were almost welling in the corners of Karuizawa's eyes, he quickly reassured her. "Don't be scared. It's me. Don't make a sound yet. Something's going on."
This time, Karuizawa seemed to have heard him. The fear and agitation in her expression gradually eased, though she still struggled a little.
She's calming down...
"Katsuragi, are we heading straight back now?"
Hearing the grass rustle under someone's footsteps nearby, Chiba Yu held his breath. The instant Karuizawa Kei, pinned beneath him, heard the sound, she fell silent too.
"Hm?"
Just as Katsuragi was about to answer Yahiko, he suddenly looked up, his keen eyes fixed on a dense patch of jungle in the distance, as if he'd noticed something.
Had they been spotted? No, he'd probably only sensed something. They weren't exposed yet.
"Katsuragi, what's wrong?!" Seeing how out of character Katsuragi was acting, Yahiko hurriedly asked.
After staring for about half a minute, Katsuragi slowly looked away and replied as if nothing had happened:
"Nothing. We should head back. And remember what I just told you: don't act on your own without my knowledge. Also..." Katsuragi glanced once more at the bushes where Chiba Yu and Karuizawa were hiding. "Watch what you say and do."
Watching the two of them walk away, Chiba Yu keenly noticed the corner of a small green card peeking out of the pocket of Katsuragi's shirt...