The sixth day of the Special Exam.
With no culprit found after all this time, the girls were becoming increasingly vocal about their concerns. Things had grown so serious that some of them had even started arguing with the boys.
In the end, after failing to get any satisfactory results, the girls made a decision together: they would move the tents and separate the boys from the girls, preventing anything like this from happening again.
With no other choice, the boys agreed. It was only natural that the girls would be worried if the matter went unresolved. Besides, there was only one day left before the exam ended, so there was no need to cause trouble at this point.
Chiba Yu hung the tent's guyline on a stake and sighed helplessly.
"Sorry for the trouble, Chiba. I'm sorry. If I hadn't agreed to help them, you two wouldn't have had to deal with this."
"No, it's nothing," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied before Chiba Yu could say a word.
Chiba Yu hadn't needed to get involved in this thankless work at all. Unfortunately, during the argument just now, the girls had initially arranged for Hirata to help them move their tents.
But Horikita Suzune had appeared out of nowhere and insisted that she wouldn't feel comfortable with Hirata coming to the girls' area alone. She wouldn't budge unless they added another boy, and then she recommended Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
At that point, Chiba Yu had nothing to do with the matter. But then Karuizawa suddenly said:
"If you're saying that adding another boy will make things go faster, why not bring Chiba along too? He looks completely harmless, after all."
In that moment, Chiba Yu's heart sank.
In the end, he had the honor of becoming one of the people helping move the tents.
"Completely harmless... Heh." Chiba Yu gave a self-deprecating laugh, unsure whether it was because of that description or because he'd been dragged into doing manual labor.
"Hirata!"
"What is it?"
Just then, the girls called out Hirata's name.
Great. Now they were going to whisk away another person. Their already dismal work rate was about to drop even further.
Before long, Hirata looked at the two of them with a conflicted expression. In the end, after Ayanokoji urged him to go, he headed over to the girls.
The three-person team had now become a pair, and Chiba Yu could only suffer in silence.
"Are you all right?" Ayanokoji asked without the slightest change in his expression as he saw Chiba Yu clutching his chest. He showed no sign of concern, though his poker face was nothing new.
Once that surreal scene was over, Chiba Yu had no choice but to get back to work. He even began wondering whether he should just sell Karuizawa out.
"You seem tired."
Chiba Yu shot Ayanokoji a fish-eyed glare and said irritably, "What do you think? I was planning to take a nap this afternoon, but now who knows how long I'll be stuck working."
"Is that so..." Ayanokoji couldn't understand Chiba Yu's way of thinking. To him, wasting time and idling about like Chiba Yu did was incomprehensible.
In Ayanokoji's view, everything a person did had some kind of purpose. Chiba Yu's unreserved behavior puzzled him, but he didn't let it show. Instead, he simply accepted it.
Perhaps it was just one of Chiba Yu's peculiar traits.
"What about you? You keep talking about me, but don't you feel frustrated? You're doing all this thankless work just because Horikita said so."
"I don't have a choice. You know how Horikita is. Once she's made up her mind, even ten oxen couldn't pull her back. I don't want to imagine what would happen afterward if I didn't do what she said."
Watching Ayanokoji deliver those words with a completely expressionless face, Chiba Yu was dumbfounded. He couldn't help blinking.
"You really are..." Chiba Yu searched for a long time, but couldn't find the right words to describe Ayanokoji.
In the end, all he could do was walk over and pat him on the shoulder. "We've all got it rough."
"...I think you've misunderstood what I meant."
"I get it, I get it. I understand."
After a bit of banter, they hammered in the last stake and finally finished the difficult task.
Just as Chiba Yu slowly stood up, ready to go rest, Ibuki approached from behind with a backpack on her shoulders.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?"
The two turned around and looked at Ibuki in confusion.
But Ibuki only glanced at Chiba Yu before shifting her gaze to Ayanokoji.
"Looks like things haven't been easy for Class D either."
"Same goes for us. Things haven't been easy," Ayanokoji replied. Chiba Yu stood quietly to the side, listening to them talk.
From the looks of it, Ibuki was probably about to leave. With Class D caught up in this scandal, staying would make her look like the thief. Better to leave before people started suspecting her.
"No matter what the reason, as a fellow girl, I think stealing girls' underwear is unforgivable."
She certainly had nerves of steel. If Chiba Yu hadn't known a few things, she might really have fooled him.
Chiba Yu stood quietly to the side without saying a word. At the same time, he could feel a few pairs of eyes watching them.
He glanced back and saw Sudo, Ike, and one other boy crouching nearby, watching them intently. They looked ready to charge over at any moment.
Chiba Yu had no doubt that if Ibuki admitted to stealing the underwear, Sudo and the others would rush over and tear her apart.
"I believe you."
Chiba Yu whipped around to look at Ayanokoji, the one who had said those words. He felt as though he were meeting the man for the first time.
This wasn't some poker-faced, clueless guy. He was a master!
So, the straight-laced, serious-looking Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had been pretending all along, just to sucker-punch him like this? And he still claimed he didn't know how to flirt? He was clearly good at it.
Fine, fine. They all claimed they were hopelessly single, but now it turned out Chiba Yu was the only fool. With flirting that unexpected, it'd be harder not to get a girlfriend. Hadn't he seen Ibuki blushing?
After exchanging a few more words, Ibuki took her leave, leaving only Chiba Yu and Ayanokoji behind.
Time passed, and evening soon arrived.
Chiba Yu and Ayanokoji sat by the bonfire, watching the flames roar. Their stomachs were both in knots.
Since they'd been dragged into helping, the other students in their class had split into small groups. Hirata had gone off to deal with other matters, leaving the two of them alone and miserable.
"You've had all the chores dumped on you. You've really been working hard."
Hearing the familiar voice beside him, Chiba Yu sighed helplessly. "Hey, your sister's here."