The Name They Remembered

By the evening of the third day, when Gu Heng walked along the outer perimeter of the camp, the people by the roadside who had originally only glanced at him in passing slowed their steps by half a beat.

Some stopped midway through what they were saying.

Others looked up at him again, then quickly withdrew their gazes.

When Hashimoto came to find Gu Heng for the second time, he no longer danced around the topic of "information exchange."

"Sakayanagi said your adjustments over the past few rounds have been steadier than she expected."

Gu Heng looked up.

"So?"

"So she's willing to put more on the table." As Hashimoto spoke, he lightly brushed his fingertips over his cuff. "Route preferences, supply windows, and one Class A assessment you might be interested in, in exchange for your side's strategic tendencies over the next half day."

"Not enough," Gu Heng replied quickly.

Hashimoto raised an eyebrow.

"Your appetite's getting bigger and bigger."

"Because what I can offer now is more than just a route map," Gu Heng said.

Hashimoto stared at him for two seconds, the corner of his mouth slowly curving upward.

"Fine. I like people like you."

"Because I know how to negotiate?"

As Hashimoto said this, his fingers lightly brushed his cuff again, but his eyes never left Gu Heng's face.

"Because when I offered terms, you didn't rush to accept them," he said. "You first asked whether they were useful. That's what real negotiation looks like."

Gu Heng did not respond. He simply pushed his own demand forward.

"If you want to trade for our half-day strategic tendencies, Class A has to give me a solid assessment I can use immediately."

"Such as?"

"Such as who Class C is most likely to contact first next."

Hashimoto's fingers pressed into the fabric at his cuff, and his previously relaxed shoulders straightened slightly.

"You really dare to ask for it," he said.

"You didn't come here to make friends with me either," Gu Heng said flatly.

In the end, Hashimoto took those words with him.

Ten minutes later, Gu Heng's terminal vibrated.

Hashimoto had sent only one line:

Class C will most likely make contact along the water-source route first. Sakayanagi says there are no guarantees.

After reading it, Gu Heng closed the screen against his palm.

His thumb rested against the edge of the terminal, and he did not delete the message right away.

On the route map, he added another short line beside the water-source route.

After Hashimoto left, the people nearby did not disperse immediately.

Someone remained where they were, glancing toward Gu Heng twice in a row without moving their feet.

During the evening shift handover, when Ishizaki passed the outer perimeter of Class D's camp, his steps slowed at its edge.

He did not come closer.

Nor did he start shouting insults.

Sudo, who had been standing at the perimeter, had already lifted his chin, waiting for him to speak.

But Ishizaki looked past Sudo first, glanced at the record board in Hirata's hands, then turned to Gu Heng.

Only then did he twist his mouth and toss out a line.

"You really got all of them watching you."

Then he left without looking back, not lingering outside Class D's perimeter for even half a second longer.

Sudo immediately started forward.

Gu Heng raised a hand to stop him.

"Let him talk."

Sudo's face darkened.

"You're pretty good at putting up with things."

"It's not putting up with it." Gu Heng watched Ishizaki's retreating back. "There's no need to blow things up by playing along with him."

Gu Heng did not move. His gaze merely lingered on Ishizaki's back for two seconds before his fingertips slowly lowered.

Before the night shift, Gu Heng stood alone outside the camp and went over all the information gathered that day again.

The wind was not particularly strong.

Nights by the sea were colder, and his clothes quickly grew damp.

Then, someone suddenly appeared beside him.

Ayanokoji.

He did not step into the campfire's glow. He only stopped half a step inside the perimeter, a can of coffee still pressed against his palm.

"Someone came to test you twice today," he said.

Gu Heng aligned the corners of the papers before replying blandly, "You counted pretty carefully."

"Because it was obvious." Ayanokoji looked toward the darkened tree line ahead. "Class A is watching you. Class C is remembering you. Class B has also started trying to figure out what kind of person you are."

"So?"

"So you're no longer just an internal matter for Class D." Ayanokoji's pace did not change, and his gaze remained on the dark tree line.

"You're a first-year matter."

Gu Heng folded the paper in his hand once, the crease crossing the short line he had just added, before looking up again.

"Is that an admission?" Gu Heng asked.

"An admission of what?"

"An admission that I'm not just someone passing through."

Ayanokoji pressed his thumb against the rim of the coffee can, and it stopped turning.

Only then did he speak softly.

"If it were only that, Ryuuen wouldn't have had Ishizaki look at Hirata's record board first."

"Sakayanagi wouldn't have sent information first, then waited for you to make your demand."

"And I wouldn't be standing here telling you this."

Gu Heng's fingers paused against the edge of the paper, and he did not immediately throw back another retort.

The wind made the paper in Gu Heng's hand tremble slightly.

Gu Heng folded the paper once more before suddenly looking up.

"Then what do you think I am now?"

Ayanokoji turned his head, his gaze resting on Gu Heng's face for an instant.

"Someone people can no longer casually overlook."

Gu Heng tightened his fingers around the edge of the paper, pressing the crease deeper.

"Doesn't sound like praise."

"It wasn't," Ayanokoji said. "It's only a description."

The two stood there a while longer, neither saying anything further.

Gu Heng smoothed the paper flat again, though the creases remained.

The wind blew in waves outside the camp. Gu Heng raised his eyes toward the dark tree line and did not move again.

On the other side of the tree line, in Class C's camp, Ryuuen was listening as Ishizaki recounted everything he had seen that day.

By the end, Ishizaki had lowered his voice.

"They really aren't just following Gu Heng alone now."

Ryuuen looked up at him.

"Wrong."

Ishizaki froze.

Ryuuen set the water bottle in his hand on the ground, its bottom making a soft, dull knock.

"It's not that they aren't following his lead."

"It's that he's starting to make other people speak for him."

As soon as those words came out, Ishizaki's expression worsened.

Ryuuen tapped the mouth of the bottle with a fingertip.

"Remember that name," he said. "When you move against Class D later, don't just keep your eyes on Sudo."

"Make Hirata, Horikita, and Sudo each make a mistake first."

At the same time, in Class A's camp, Hashimoto brought Gu Heng's demands before Sakayanagi.

After hearing them, Sakayanagi merely tapped the handle of her cane lightly.

"He didn't go along with the price?"

"No." Hashimoto repeated Gu Heng's words exactly. "He even turned around and asked for an assessment of Class C."

Sakayanagi lightly tapped the ground with her cane.

"Then that's right."

Hashimoto raised an eyebrow.

"You don't think his appetite's too big?"

"How big his appetite is doesn't matter," Sakayanagi said. "What matters is that he knows what he should reach out and take right now."

She raised her eyes toward Class D's camp in the distant night, her voice soft.

"Some people get noticed because they're loud."

"Others, because the moment they move, everyone else has to reassess."

"Gu Heng is at least starting to approach the latter kind."

Hashimoto straightened his previously loose posture slightly and merely followed her gaze toward Class D's camp.

When Gu Heng returned to the camp's perimeter, his terminal suddenly vibrated softly.

A school-wide notification appeared on the screen.

Preparation for first-stage settlement has begun.

All classes must submit their final leader roster and material loss records within the designated time.

Gu Heng looked at those two lines, his thumb pressing against the edge of the screen as the notification's light reflected off his knuckles.

He turned the terminal toward the record sheets in the camp that had yet to be collected.

When the screen lit up again, the final leader roster and material loss records would be listed on the same page.