Don't Give Up on Anyone

There were twenty-eight minutes left in the public status confirmation window.

The school terminal did not show the locations of the three missing students. Class D only knew that they had not reached the internal meeting point, and that they had last been seen at a fork in the woods.

Hirata sent another message.

The first group will continue to the public confirmation point, but people are starting to panic.

"I'm going back to look for them." Sudo's voice came through Hirata's terminal, strained and compressed. He was at the back of the first group and closest to the fork where the missing students had last been seen.

"Don't move yet." Gu Heng spread out the map. "If you charge into the woods alone, you'll only make the list one person shorter."

The line went quiet for a second. "So we just let them find their own way back?"

"The first group keeps moving to check in. The old camp sends out a separate search party. We can't make an entire group that's already on the right path miss the window for the sake of three people."

Horikita walked over to the map.

"Let's make the bottom line clear first."

"We bring them back."

"We're not looking for them just because there's still time." She stared at Gu Heng. "Even if there are only ten minutes left next time, we can't start calculating on the spot who's worth saving."

Gu Heng did not dodge the issue.

"We don't abandon anyone. But a rescue needs someone to confirm it, a return deadline, and replacements. What we calculate is how to save them, not who can be left behind."

Horikita pressed down one corner of the map and finally nodded.

"One more thing," she said. "Just because someone gets marked for the slow route once doesn't mean we automatically put them last every time after that."

"Statuses are reconfirmed every round," Hirata added over the comms. "Not being able to carry weight today doesn't mean they can't next round. Records only serve the current movement."

Only then did the people remaining at the old camp slowly loosen their grips on their bag straps. There was only one sentence separating a fixed label from a temporary arrangement, yet it determined whether a roster became long-term exclusion.

That sentence pushed the argument down to the execution level. Hirata would continue leading the first group to the public confirmation point; the old camp would retain supplies and leadership observation; the rescue team would return along the last-known route, and no one else was allowed to follow on their own.

"I'll go," Sudo said again.

"Ayanokoji will leave from the old camp and meet up with you at the first internal meeting point," Hirata said. "He took that fork yesterday, and he won't let himself get swept up in your panic."

Ayanokoji raised his eyes. "I don't mind."

Over the terminal, Sudo sounded unconvinced. "I'd be faster alone."

"You handle the speed. He makes sure that speed still has a direction," Gu Heng said. "If you haven't found them in twelve minutes, report back to the last confirmation point first. You can't keep pushing deeper."

The breathing on the other end grew heavier. Horikita spoke into the terminal. "Once you find them, ask whether they can walk. If someone can't, stop. Don't drag them, and don't yell at them."

"When have I ever yelled for no reason?"

Ike Kanji muttered, "All the time..."

"Shut up!"

After shouting, Sudo froze first.

"Got it." He lowered his voice. "No yelling."

Four minutes later, the two met at the first internal meeting point and turned into the woods along the route the first group had taken. Ayanokoji walked half a step behind Sudo. He did not fight for the lead, but at every fork, he checked the temporary markers tied to the branches.

Horikita did not go with them. She stood at the edge of the old camp for two seconds, then turned and arranged the candidates for a second rescue team.

"If there's no report in twelve minutes, these two will approach from the public confirmation point in reverse." She handed the list to Gu Heng. "The old camp won't send out any more people."

Gu Heng read it and did not change her choices.

"Proceed as planned."

This was not about who followed whose orders. Gu Heng was responsible for breaking down the risks, Horikita decided how many people could be pulled from the visible positions, and Hirata maintained the group already on the move. For the first time, the three lines moved without waiting for one person's approval.

Gu Heng replied to Hirata.

The first group continues checking in. Once you arrive, count everyone immediately, and have anyone in poor condition sit down first. Tell everyone that Class D has sent people back, not that the missing students are expected to catch up on their own.

Hirata quickly replied that he understood.

The old camp did not grind to a halt because of one report of missing students. Yukimura continued calculating supplies, Ike Kanji copied out the list for the second group, and Horikita confirmed the people staying behind and the next public confirmation point.

With twenty-two minutes left on the countdown, Sudo made his first report.

"One marker at the fork was trampled and broken. There are more footprints going left, but three people stepped in wet mud on the right."

"Go right," Ayanokoji's voice came over the comms. "One of the three left very shallow footprints. They're probably already struggling to walk."

Sudo did not ask how he knew. He simply kept moving forward, breathing hard.

The woods on the right were wetter than the map indicated. Sudo tried to speed up several times, only for Ayanokoji to restrain him to a manageable pace with a single sentence: "The tracks are still there." The two had none of the coordination of people used to working side by side, but at least they did not trample the only trail while competing over who could judge faster.

The old camp could not hear their footsteps. All they could do was wait for brief reports every two minutes. Gu Heng marked each reported location on a paper map. He neither treated guesses as coordinates nor pressured them into reporting false progress just to reassure everyone.

Horikita circled a narrow path along the outside of the water source.

"Once you find them, don't return the same way. The right route connects to the outer edge of the water source and goes straight to the nearest public confirmation point. There's a slope in the middle that will require someone to pull them up."

Gu Heng sent the route to the rescue team.

"Sudo pulls from the front. Ayanokoji guards the rear. Put anyone who can't walk steadily in the middle."

With fifteen minutes left, the comms finally lit up again.

"Found them." Sudo was breathing heavily. "Three people. Yamauchi followed two girls down the wrong marker route. One of them has blisters on her feet, and the other was supporting her. They kept circling deeper in."

Yamauchi hurriedly explained in the background, "That path really looked closer!"

"You've got some nerve—"

"You promised not to yell," Ayanokoji reminded him.

The comms fell silent for two seconds.

Sudo changed his tone stiffly. "We'll talk when we get back. Can you walk right now?"

The injured girl could walk slowly, but she could not climb uphill by herself. Following the route Horikita had provided, the rescue team cut toward the outer edge of the water source. Sudo pulled from the front while Ayanokoji controlled the pace of Yamauchi and the other girl.

Sudo did not immediately carry the girl on his back. On the slope, he offered his hand first and let her decide how much support to take. Ayanokoji kept Yamauchi at the rear, preventing him from changing the route again based on what "looked closer."

No one praised him for that small change. But for Sudo, bringing people back without yelling or dragging them was itself the result of the rules they had set earlier.

The people remaining at the old camp had already checked in at the original confirmation point. Then Hirata sent confirmation: the first group had reached another public point, and everyone had checked in. Only the three missing students and the two rescuers remained unconfirmed.

Eight minutes.

Five minutes.

Gu Heng's palms were sweating. He did not pretend to be calm. He simply kept the next backup route pressed beside the map. If the outer route by the water source became blocked, the second rescue team would approach in reverse from the public point instead of charging in again from the old camp.

With one minute and forty seconds left, Sudo's message arrived first.

I can see the confirmation point.

Immediately afterward, all five completed terminal check-in one after another.

Class D's first status confirmation is complete.

Unconfirmed members: 0.

Absence risk review canceled.

Someone in the old camp dropped straight to the ground. Ike Kanji let out a long breath, while Yukimura filled the five confirmation times into the internal chart without crediting their success to luck.

Sudo was still panting when he came back on the comms.

"Got them there," he said. "Yamauchi can explain himself when he gets back."

"You didn't fall behind a second time. Mission complete," Horikita said.

Sudo fell silent for a moment, then gave only a vague "Yeah." What he wanted was clearly more than confirmation that he had completed a task, but this time, no one traded procedure for personal sentiment with a word of praise.

"This exposed three gaps," Gu Heng said. "Route markers can be misread, the rear of the group did not complete a second headcount, and people in poor condition were placed somewhere no one was responsible for."

Horikita handed him the record board.

On the first line, she wrote:

Movement responsibility: the group leader confirms the headcount, the rear confirms the last person, and forks must be double-checked by two people.

On the second line:

Do not abandon any member.

On the third line:

Do not let concealed conditions drag down the entire group.

Ike Kanji stared at it for a long time. "Isn't that just saying, on one hand, that we don't leave people behind, while on the other, telling them not to hold everyone back?"

"Yes." Gu Heng capped his pen. "If we don't record statuses, someone will be left in the woods again next time. But if physical reasons are made public, people will keep hiding them to avoid embarrassment. So we only record what movement requires."

Hirata sent back the latest headcount from the confirmation point. The injured girl could not walk a long route for the time being. Everyone else could continue, but they needed to be regrouped.

"I'll help ask the girls first," Kushida said as she stepped beside the record board. "There are some conditions they might not want to tell the boys directly."

"Only ask whether they can walk long routes, carry weight, or need assistance," Gu Heng said. "The reason is for the individual to decide. Hirata still records the final version, and it can only be written down after the person confirms it."

"Of course," Kushida replied softly.

Hirata kept the final chart on his lap. Kushida held only a list of questions without names. Horikita stood beside them, making sure temporary answers did not go straight onto the roster just because they had been spoken casually.

This process was much slower than directly asking, "Whose health is bad?" But it made everyone present understand that what Class D wanted was an executable arrangement, not to turn their classmates' privacy into a management resource.

She asked two people first, and both answers remained limited to movement arrangements. When it was Sakura Airi's turn, Kushida's gaze fell on her right foot.

"Sakura, you shouldn't be assigned to a long route today, right?"

Sakura clutched the hem of her clothes. "I can walk."

Hirata did not write anything down.

But Kushida asked softly once more.

"But your right ankle has been hurting since last night, hasn't it?"

Sakura drew her toes back half an inch.

The area around them fell silent.

She had never told Class D about this openly.