Hirata's Burden

The terminal gave them forty minutes.

Gu Heng did not treat it as rest time for Sudo to get his hand wrapped before making another run. He treated it as Class D's window to swap people out.

Sudo looked at the group name on the terminal and clenched his injured hand first.

"I can still go."

"It's linked to the group. It doesn't mean you're nailed to it."

Gu Heng crossed his name off the next round's assignment list.

"You and Ike are out for the next round. Ayanokoji stays on as guide. We'll decide the other two after the far team gets back."

Ike Kanji nodded at once.

"I agree to withdraw."

Sudo glared at him.

"No one asked you."

"But my legs would."

Ayanokoji glanced at the returned message.

"The far team is expected back in eleven minutes."

Gu Heng left the two open spots for the next round on the board.

"When they get back, we check their condition first. Anyone who carried no load the whole time and has no foot injuries can fill in. If they don't agree, we switch to someone else."

That immediately turned the highly contested list into an executable task.

But eleven minutes later, the moment the far team returned to the new base, every new problem flooded toward the same person.

"Hirata, does Sudo's hand need more treatment?"

"Hirata, who would be best to switch in for the next round?"

"Hirata, can Sakura's side get a little more water?"

Hirata had not even properly taken off his backpack before he took Sudo's hand.

The cloth strip was only halfway unwrapped when Inokashira handed over a water bottle, while another boy pointed at the two empty spots on the board and asked whether he counted as overloaded.

Every time, Hirata looked up first, finished speaking, then lowered his head and resumed whatever he had been doing.

Gu Heng was checking the far team's condition.

He circled two boys who had carried no load throughout and whose feet were in good shape. After confirming that they were willing, he added them to Sudo's group and submitted the next round's roster.

When the terminal showed that the submission had succeeded, he looked back.

Hirata still had not finished tying Sudo's bandage.

In five minutes, Hirata had not completed a single task from start to finish.

Anyone thirsty, anyone scared, anyone who felt they could not hold on through the next round all came to him first. Not every issue was his responsibility, but everyone assumed Hirata would at least find the person who was responsible.

His tone remained steady, but his actions were being chopped into fragments.

He had just explained that Sudo had been replaced when Sakura softly said, "I can carry less."

Just as he settled the issue of water distribution, every terminal displayed a nighttime notice.

Each group must confirm its night shifts and perimeter observation points within thirty minutes.

Ike Kanji nearly stood up after reading it.

"We fought for water during the day, and now we have to patrol at night too?"

"You don't have to patrol," Yukimura said without looking up. "Go negotiate with the school."

Ike Kanji shut up, but the people around them had already begun asking questions.

"Do the girls have to take the night positions too?"

"Who's taking point?"

"Do the people who just fought over water still count?"

The night point position meant being the first to test the path through the darkness and the first to encounter changes in terrain or students from other classes.

No one wanted their name casually written into a position like that.

Instinctively, they all looked toward Hirata.

Hirata had just wrapped a fresh strip around Sudo's palm. Before he could tighten the knot, he looked up again.

"The near team won't directly take the night point position."

"We'll check the condition of those who walk slowly first."

"The girls need to be assigned too, but we can't decide based on who's easiest to push around."

Only after saying that did he lower his head and tighten the bandage again.

Inokashira handed him the water bottle once more.

"Hirata, Sakura's ankle is still swollen."

Hirata's hand stopped.

Sudo clicked his tongue and held his hand out farther.

"Finish wrapping this first."

"But Sakura's side..."

"Her foot didn't just swell up now."

Sudo's tone was still harsh.

"If you drag this out all day, you won't get either side finished."

Hirata froze for a moment, then finally tied the last knot tight.

After watching the whole exchange, Gu Heng directly took the night duty board from Hirata's side.

"Stop for now."

Hirata looked up.

"The night roster hasn't been arranged yet."

"Which is exactly why we can't let every problem keep coming to you."

Gu Heng pressed a blank sheet over the board.

"For the next fifteen minutes, speak up directly if it's urgent. Write down everything else first. You rest."

"I'm fine."

"This isn't about whether you're fine."

Gu Heng said.

"It's about Class D not turning to you whenever something happens."

Horikita stood nearby, her gaze shifting from Sudo's bandaged hand to the backpack Hirata still had on.

"Before, he took things on voluntarily."

"Now every problem is chasing after him," Gu Heng said.

"If this keeps up, changing more forms will only mean changing paper, not changing the burden."

Horikita reached over and took the backpack from Hirata's shoulder.

"Sit down."

Hirata was about to say something, but Ike Kanji spoke first.

"Yeah, take a break. If you don't, who's going to tell me whether I'm going to die or not?"

"You can leave out the last two words," Yukimura said coldly.

"Then who's going to tell me whether I'm going or not?"

Sudo raised his bandaged hand and looked at it.

"Besides, your wrapping is mediocre."

Hirata stared.

Sudo looked away.

"Redo it after you've rested."

The concern came out stiffly, but it knocked away Hirata's reason for staying on his feet.

Hirata was silent for two seconds.

"Then I'll rest for ten minutes."

"Fifteen minutes," Horikita said.

"Ten is enough."

"Fifteen."

Hirata looked at her, then finally nodded.

He sat beside a tree with his back against the trunk, his hands still resting on his knees as though he might stand up again at any moment.

Gu Heng and Horikita took over the night duty board first, while Yukimura was only responsible for checking the school's wording. Kushida continued her original communication duties, going to the girls' side to collect answers about whether they could walk at night and their preferred partners, without deciding anyone's position for them yet.

Not long after she went over, a muted argument rose from the girls' group.

"Why me?"

"You didn't carry much during the day, did you?"

"That doesn't mean I should be the one walking at the very front."

Gu Heng looked over.

Kushida stood in the middle, the sheet in her hand slightly bent. Shinohara had her arms folded, Sakura kept her head lowered, and the person several of them had ultimately pushed forward was Kei Karuizawa.

Someone had already written her name in the night point slot.

Kei brushed the ends of her hair back from in front of her shoulder. Her voice was quiet.

"I'm not walking at the front."

Someone said softly:

"But you really weren't that tired today..."

Kei raised her eyes.

"So?"

The moment those two words fell, the girls' side went quiet.

By the tree, Hirata opened his eyes after only sitting for a few minutes.

His hand had already braced against his knee. He was about to stand.