"Thank God it's finally done." Ryuuen groaned. He stretched his limbs before standing up.
"That was a funny scene." Shibata chuckled.
Kanzaki agreed with him, "Yeah, I can't wait for the next one."
As if it heard him, the screen light up again after the last viewing.
"Huh? I thought we are done for the day?" Ike asked confused. He looked at Chabashira for confirmation and saw her nod.
"Please return to your seats. We will watch one more scene before we're done."
"What the hell?" Sudo muttered.
"Sensei, is the projector program like that?" Yume raised her hand and asked Hoshinomiya.
Hoshinomiya frowned, "I'm not sure. We were planning to have a talk with the Chairman after this."
"Maybe it was program to think like that?" Yamauchi said.
"It's a freaking projector, not a robot." Horikita sighed.
"Wait robot can do that too?" Yamauchi asked amazed.
"Yes. Japan's technology is advanced than most, which is why we're having this experimental viewing." Horikita said.
"Then perhaps the projector is also a experiment to see whether it can have a mind of its own?" Hirata suggested.
"It's possible." Manabu said.
"It's no use speculating right now. Let's finish the last scene so we can all go back to our dorms." Ryuuen said before returning to his seat. The other students and teachers returned too. Before they can say anything else, the screen light up.
While I was sleeping, I could hear girls' voices from outside the tent. They sounded like they were in a bad mood.
"Hey, boys. Can you all gather around?" The voice sounded rough, like she'd meant to say, "Hurry and wake already!" I'd just gotten to sleep at dawn, so I rose slowly and rubbed my eyes.
"When was this?" Ishizaki asked.
Hiyori put a hand on her cheek, "It seems like they are in a tent, so the special exam in the island?" She said a bit unsure.
"You're right." Hirata said.
"Wait." Shinohara narrowed her eyes. "I remember this." The rest of Class D also realized when was this.
"This was when-" Ike glanced at Karuizawa.
"What the hell? God, I'm so goddamn tired..." An irritated Sudou appeared from the tent and looked around.
"What's wrong?" Hirata asked.
"Ah, Hirata-kun. I'm sorry, but can you please wake all of the boys? It's serious," said Shinohara, sounding apologetic.
"It looks like it's too early." Shibata muttered.
"The situation looks tense." Katsuragi noted.
"We stayed at an island for a whole week after all. Limited supplies, hard ground, being tired. Classes are bound to have an internal fight." Hiyori said. "And it looks like in Class D's case, it was girls vs. boys."
Whether she was flustered or angry, the issue didn't seem to be hers alone. A little further away, the girls glared at us.
"I understand. I think if I shout, they'll come."
Within two minutes, the boys came out of the tent rubbing their sleepy eyes. When the half-asleep boys looked around, they inferred that this situation was especially alarming. The girls all looked unusually scared.
"What's going on? Why did you wake us up so early?"
"Sorry, Hirata-kun. This doesn't involve you, but...we've gathered everyone to confirm something."
"Biased much." Yukimura muttered. He still can't get over the fact that the girls, especially Shinohara accused them of stealing Karuizawa's underwear.
The boys glared at the girls, mainly at Shinohara who looked guilty.
Before anyone can comment, Karuizawa stood up, gaining the attention of everyone. She walked in front of Airi who looked startled at her.
Karuizawa bowed deeply, "I'm sorry for the things I said to you during this scene, and for the way I treated you." She took a deep breath before resuming. "I may had been the victim that time but it doesn't justified my actions towards you and Horikita-san." Karuizawa apologized to her before turning around and bowing to Horikita as deeply too.
Horikita looked taken aback, but accepted her apology nonetheless. Airi also smiled at her before nodding.
Shinohara gave everyone except Hirata a look of complete contempt.
"Well, this morning...Karuizawa-san's underwear went missing. Do you know what this means?"
The students who was surprised by Karuizawa's actions, looked dumbfounded at the words said.
"Huh?" Kanzaki looked confused.
"Karuizawa-sans' underwear was missing?!" Ichinose looked shocked.
"That's why Shinohara-san requested Hirata-kun to gather the boys?" Hiyori said.
"Wait a minute!" Shibata looked flabbergast. "Why did you automatically assumed that the boys did it? And it doesn't involved Hirata-kun? Are you kidding me?"
"That's bullshit!" Hashimoto too yelled.
"Because Hirata-kun is the type of man you girls dream of?" Ryuuen sneered, " What a load of bull. How dumb can you get?"
The Class D girls stayed, mainly Shinohara.
"Wait Ryuuen-kun, don't antagonize them. They are just upset and panic with the situation." Hirata tried to diffuse the tension.
'Bad move on your part , Hirata.' Ayanokoji prayed for his soul.
"Look, someone's playing hero again." Ryuuen laughed, "No wonder the girls like you. You always went along with them; whether they're wrong, indulge them, pleasing them. What are you, a dog? I bet you let them used some of the points without the boys knowing." Ryuuen smirked.
"What the hell?!" Yukimura stood up. The other boys followed him and looked at the guilty girls and Hirata.
"While we're suffering with the hard ground and heat, you girls are having the time of your lives?!"
"Calm down." Chabashira went between the two. "Sit down and watch first, and then argue later."
"U-underwear?"
Even Hirata, usually calm and collected, appeared visibly shaken. Speaking of Karuizawa, she was missing, along with some of her friends.
"Karuizawa-san is crying inside the tent right now. Kushida-san and others are comforting her right now, but..." Shinohara looked over to the girls' tent.
"Huh? Huh? What? Why are you glaring at us over her underwear being missing?"
"Isn't that obvious? Someone went through her bag in the middle of the night and stole them. Our luggage was outside the tent, so if someone wanted to steal something, they easily could have!"
"And you decided to accused us?" Yukimura pointed at Shinohara angry.
"I'm sorry." Shinohara apologized quietly, but the boys heard it. The other girls looked down guilty also apologizing.
The boys, still in a state of drowsiness, all exchanged looks.
"No, no, no, no! Huh?! Huh?!"
Ike, in a complete panic, looked back and forth between the boys and girls. One of the boys who'd been observing all this grumbled calmly.
"Come to think of it, Ike, you were pretty late getting back from the toilet yesterday. You took a really long time."
"No, no, no! That was just, well...I was struggling because it was dark!"
"Is that so? You stole Karuizawa's underwear, didn't you?"
"Seriously?" Ishizaki stared disbelief.
"You caused quite a ruckus, huh?" Ryuuen looked at Ibuki who snarled at him.
"You said to cause a commotion?!" Ibuki hissed at him.
Ryuuen smirked, "And you did it perfectly. Yet, aren't you a girl too? Underwear, really?"
"Does it matter? I got the job done." Ibuki snapped.
"Y-you're wrong! I didn't do it!"
The boys started blaming one another for this particularly nasty crime.
"Anyway. This is a huge problem, don't you agree? It's impossible for us to camp alongside a bunch of underwear thieves," said Shinohara, her arms crossed. She looked as though she was going to lose her temper.
"You're acting like you're the victim." Komiya said.
"Yeah, who made you the boss?" Kondo added.
"I was speaking for the girls in that time." Shinohara defended herself.
"This is tense." Yume fanned herself.
"Yeah." Amikura agreed, "Missing underwear? That's humiliating."
Ichinose frowned at the scene. "Who stole it?"
"Hirata-kun, can you find the culprit?"
"Well, there's no evidence that the boys stole it. Maybe Karuizawa lost it."
"Yeah, that's right! We have nothing to do with this!" The boys shouted behind Hirata, proclaiming their innocence.
"I don't want to think there's a criminal among us."
Doubting our classmates seemed wrong.
"I know that you're not the culprit, Hirata-kun. But for the time being, let's check the boys' luggage."
"This is just wrong." Shibata looked sadly at the scene.
"Sadly, this is how society is right now." Kanzaki said. "If this happened the other way around, the situation will be completely different."
"You mean, the matter would have been brushed aside?" Shibata asked him in disbelief.
Kanzaki nodded.
"Man, that's fucked up."
Apparently, the girls weren't changing their minds on this. They had decided that the culprit was on the boys' side. Well, I supposed that it was only natural to think that.
"Huh? Don't give us that crap. We don't need to do that. Hirata, tell them no."
"He can't tell them no. The dog gotta please its master." Ryuuen mocked Hirata who ignored him.
"Stop insulting, Hirata-kun!" Karuizawa snapped at him.
"Why? Am I wrong?" Ryuuen asked.
"He's being a gentleman! A pacifist unlike you who resort to violence." Karuizawa argued back.
"Whatever floats your pea size brain."
"For now, we'll try gathering the guys together and talking it out. Can you please give us a little time?" Hirata asked.
"If you say so, Hirata-kun. I understand. I'll try talking to Karuizawa-san. But if the culprit can't be found, we have some ideas."
With that, everyone scattered. Hirata quickly gathered all the boys in front of the tent.
"Let's just ignore what the girls said. I hate being treated like a suspect. I'll fight it!"
Ike had managed to get some degree of trust from the girls on the first day, but apparently it wasn't meant to last. It was only natural that the boys would be unhappy about being unjustly accused.
"No one will be happy about being treated like a suspect or criminal." Hashimoto said.
"Exactly. It's not like we stole Karuizawa's underwear or anything."
Yamauchi exchanged looks with everyone individually. It wasn't as though Karuizawa wasn't cute or anything, but since Karuizawa was Hirata's girlfriend, it would've been a much better idea to go after Kushida and Sakura.
"Who would even like a girl with an attitude like yours? Constantly belittling anyone, mocking them, insulting them. Honestly, you're sickening." Yukimura said to Karuizawa.
"I apologized, didn't I?" Karuizawa said.
"Because it was about to be watch by everyone here. You will never feel remorse, or even guilty about your past actions if these matters remained in our class." Yukimura snapped back.
"I don't even know what Hirata seen in her." Yamauchi added.
"I don't doubt you guys, but we won't solve the problem like this."
The girls, who were talking together in their cliques, looked like they were about to jump on us.
"It might be better to just accept the baggage inspection with dignity and prove your innocence." With that, Hirata brought out his own bag.
"As miserable as this might be, I think you guys'll have to do it. Are you okay with that?"
"B-but..."
"Of course. I'll open up my luggage first," Hirata said.
In order to get us all to move, he had no choice but to take action. Still, there probably wasn't even one person here who thought Hirata was the culprit. Besides, you could say that stealing his own girlfriend's underwear made no sense.
However, if one person opened his luggage, then the rest of us couldn't help but follow. Inevitably, the students who wouldn't open their bags would be suspected. Hirata's bag naturally didn't have the underwear.
"See?" Shinohara looked at the boys pointedly.
"It's still wrong, Shinohara-san." Hiyori said, "Excluding someone in this kind of situation because of your own belief. That aside, Hirata-kun is still a man. Don't you ever wonder why he was placed in Class D? He deserve to be place in my class or B based on my impression of him. But of course, I'm not insinuating that he did something unforgivable to be assigned in your class."
"Guess we don't have any choice..."
All the other boys began pulling bags out, one after another. Ike and Yamauchi hated it, but couldn't resist being pulled in. The three of us were
the last to go. I reluctantly headed into the tent, following after Ike and
Yamauchi.
"Damn, I'm so pissed. Men are always being suspected of stuff. It's way too unreasonable."
"You gotta blame the stereotype belief that was placed on us." Kanzaki sighed.
"This is so frustrating." Ike groaned.
"Well, let's prove our innocence." Ike grabbed his bag, but suddenly froze.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing..."
He turned his back on Hirata and the others, checked the inside of his bag, and frantically closed it back up.
"You did not." Shinohara froze before glaring at Ike.
"I did not." Ike faced her head on, "Why don't you finish the scene before running your mouth?"
"Ike-kun, Shinohara-san, calm down please." Sato said.
"Kanji?"
Ike's face was pale, his body stiff. He was completely paralyzed. "Hey, come on. Let's hurry and get going."
"What, you're the one that really stole them?" said Yamauchi, half jokingly.
"Th-that's crazy talk!"
Ike frantically denied it, shaking his head while clutching his bag. What a blatant overreaction. We weren't dumb enough to believe nothing was wrong.
"Wait, don't tell me..." Yamauchi said.
"What? You don't believe me?!"
"No, I'm not saying that. Show me what's in your bag."
"Ah, wait!"
Yamauchi snatched Ike's bag to check inside. When he did, he saw...white underwear, definitely not a man's, balled up and hidden.
"I knew it!" Shinohara exclaimed. "You stole Karuizawa-sans' underwear!"
"I told you to finish the scene before saying anything." Ike looked at her seriously.
"Ha! You're just-"
"Please let the scene finish first, Shinohara-san." Karuizawa said.
"I'm the victim, so it's only natural for me to want to find out the culprit as early as possible." Karuizawa added. Shinohara can only nod in defeat before sending a glare in Ike's direction.
"Th-that's not mine! Someone put it in my bag or something, somehow!"
"Come on, don't give me that excuse..."
Yamauchi looked at Ike with pity.
"I'm telling you, I don't know how it got there! Why would there be underwear in my bag?!"
Katsuragi frowned, "That did seemed illogical. Why hide something you stole in an obvious place?"
"Because I wasn't the one who stole it?" Ike sarcastically whispered to himself.
Watching this made him more snappy than normal. They were accused of being an underwear thief just because they're a man. Is it right to accused someone of the opposite gender just because it was the one who made more sense? A girl stealing another girls' underwear is impossible?
"This is shameful. Let's go explain things to Hirata and the others."
"Huh?! But if I do that, they'll make me out to be the culprit!"
"There was no culprit...right?"
Why was Yamauchi asking Ike? Ike had Karuizawa's underwear in his bag, making Ike the culprit, right? Putting aside when and how he stole the underwear, the thief likely wouldn't have hidden the stolen goods in his own bag.
It was obvious that in the case of an uproar, a search for the criminal would begin. If Ike was really guilty, he should've been panicking when he was told to open his luggage. But I hadn't seen the slightest hint of that.
"Dude, you're too calm." Miyake said
"If you didn't steal something, of course you will be calm." Yukimura chimed in.
"No I mean, he's too too calm." Miyake said.
I concluded that someone other than Ike was the culprit, and that person had planted evidence to frame Ike. Unless Ike really was that stupid and simple...but he couldn't be, right?
"Of course, I'm not!" Ike said.
"Who would even steal an underwear in a middle of a special exam?" Shibata said.
"A stupid one maybe?" Yume said.
"Or," kanzaki glared at Class C. He knew that Ibuki was found by Class D that time. "He was framed."
Ibuki kept her gaze at the screen.
"Ayanokouji, you believe me, right? That I didn't steal them?!"
"Well, if I think calmly, no solid evidence suggests you're the culprit, Ike."
"Ayanokouji!" he cried.
"It's unlikely that Ike is the culprit. If he were, this would be far too stupid of him."
"Well, that sounds right, but... Wait, what? You mean someone put the underwear in Kanji's bag?"
"We just have to figure out who!" Ike cried.
"Hey, hurry up!" one of the boys by Hirata cried.
"Wh-wh-wh-wh-what am I gonna do? I'm in serious trouble!" If the stolen item were found here, the girls would probably determine that Ike was the culprit.
The boys winced at Ike's situation. The girls will surely tear him apart if the underwear was found in his bag. And trust them, it won't be a pretty sight to see.
"They already decided that one of the boys is the culprit." Kaneda said. He's not one to talk seeing as his classmate was the one responsible for the commotion, but as a boy, he felt Ike's situation. Felt pity for the boy.
"We have no choice but to hide them. Now."
"Hide them? Where?! We can't hide them!"
It was certainly true that we currently lacked storage options. If the girls saw us hurry to the toilet or into the tents, they'd become suspicious and demand to search that area. Most importantly, we were spending too much time in here. It wouldn't be surprising if we were already under suspicion.
"You're already in suspicion if the three of you keep whispering like that." Hashimoto said.
"Based on Shinohara-san's reaction, she didn't knew who the culprit was." Kanzaki noted, "Where did you put the underwear?" He asked Ike who looked away guilty.
Ayanokoji sighed.
"We have no other choice. You have to put it in your pocket."
That was the only advice I could give. There wasn't any time to hide the underwear anyplace else, and we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves.
"I-I can't do it! I-I'm already panicking!"
Still, hiding the underwear was our only option.
"I'll leave it to you, Ayanokouji!" Ike removed quickly thrust the balled-up underwear into my hands.
"Huh?" Sudo stared at his friend in disbelief.
"I'm sorry, okay?! I was panicking!" Ike defended himself.
"Dude." Miyake despite the situation chuckled at the situation Ayanokoji was put into.
"Poor, Ayanokoji-kun." Ichinose and Yume uttered.
Karuizawa flushed red when she realized that Ayanokoji basically held her underwear with his own hands. She shook her head and slap her cheeks, What is she getting shy for?! The boy felt his thighs and asked her to spread her legs! That's more mortifying, right?!
"Karuizawa-san, are you okay?" Sato asked worried. She noticed that her friend slapped herself and was red.
"I'm fine!" Karuizawa's voice was high pitched. Sato winced at the loudness.
"Huh?"
"If you think it's better to hide them, you can do it. Right?"
"Well, that's..."
"Hey, hurry up!" someone called.
"I'm coming now!"
Ike muttered, "I'm counting on you," and scurried off. Yamauchi, not wanting to get dragged into it, quickly apologized and hurried away.
"Hey, are you serious?"
I broke out into a cold sweat. The longer I stayed, the worse this would get. If I'd had a minute, I'd have hidden it someplace difficult to find, but there was no time. Impulsively, I stuffed the underwear into my back pocket, took my bag, and headed back to the others.
"Hirata-kun was the one who inspected Ayanokoji's pockets, right?" Matsushita realized.
The girls realized that Hirata covered Ayanokoji. It's true and they saw that Ayanokoji and Ike was not the culprit, but Hirata hiding that he found them in Ayanokoji? Why?
Hirata winced to himself when the scene where he covered Ayanokoji will be shown. But he had no choice. He did it to preserve the class unity. Not like they have that many left anyway. But he wanted the class to get along and he thought that they will achieved that in the island, yet he was wrong.
"Sorry, sorry. My bag got a little dirty, so I cleaned it off."
With that excuse, Ike tossed over his luggage."Search it if you gotta. I'm innocent. Right, Yamauchi?"
"Y-yeah."
The two proudly placed their bags down. Hirata, after lightly declining the duty, inspected the inside of the bags. I also set my bag down and moved
away. After everyone's luggage had been inspected, Ike called over Shinohara, who was waiting with her arms crossed.
"We searched everyone's bags. None of us did it."
"Really?"
"Yeah. There's no doubt. None of the boys are the culprit."
"Wait a moment."
Shinohara drew nearer and checked the inside of the tent. She seemed suspicious, as though we'd hidden something. Of course, there wasn't anything there. After inspecting the two tents, Shinohara went back to the girls once again and discussed the situation.
"Hey, Hirata-kun. Could they have hidden it in their pockets? Ike-kun and Yamauchi-kun, and even Ayanokouji-kun were whispering a little earlier. It's got me curious."
"The situation is getting out of hand." Hashimoto noted.
"Of course it will. An underwear was stolen, do you expect the girls to sit down and take it calmly?" Horikita said, "But I don't approve the way the... Girls handled it. Especially the way Karuizawa-san tore everyone up." She sighed.
"I know. That's why I apologized." Karuizawa said. She's being careful not to step into a bomb when it comes to Ayanokoji's close friends, but she doubt the boy even see them as friends.
Of course we were being sneaky. The girls had demanded to check every nook and cranny.
"Jeez, enough is enough!" Ike cried.
The girls began to attack him.
"Wasn't Ike-kun acting all suspicious earlier? Maybe he is hiding something after all?"
"Huh?! I-I'm not hiding anything! Search me if you gotta!"
He spread his arms wide as he proclaimed his innocence. Hey, Ike... If you tell them to do that, then...
"Let's search him. Hirata-kun, can you do it?"
"Okay. If it convinces the girls, fine. However, if I don't find anything, I want you to stop investigating the boys."
"And yet they forced us to move their tents." Ike glared at them.
"Selfish bitch, huh?" Ryuuen watched them lazily.
"Like you're one to talk." Ibuki said.
Ryuuen shrugged.
This was the worst possible outcome. While the girls watched Ike, Yamauchi, and me, the pat-down commenced. Of course, they wouldn't find the underwear on either Ike or Yamauchi. They kept still throughout Hirata's careful search, and he checked them thoroughly. Finally, it was my turn.
It was already too late to escape. Perhaps it was better that it was me. No, that wasn't true. There wasn't anything I could do now. Hopefully Hirata might overlook it, even if there was only a one percent chance he would. I decided to be perfectly still, like a dead fish.
"I'm sorry. It'll be over soon," Hirata said.
Hirata, who didn't doubt me whatsoever, slowly started to search me, starting with my upper body. Then, Hirata put his hand into my back pocket, where I'd stuffed the underwear. It was all over, wasn't it? I resigned myself. I felt Hirata's hand touching the underwear. Well, I couldn't be completely sure Hirata was touching was the underwear, but I suspected he was touching that rolled-up piece of cloth in my pocket.
Hirata's body stiffened, and he looked me in the eyes. After a brief glance, Hirata examined my jersey without taking the underwear out of my pocket. Finished, he turned back toward the girls.
"Ayanokouji-kun doesn't have them either."
"I knew it." Matsushita said. "Hirata-kun lied to us. Why?" She asked him.
Hirata sighed, "I know Ayanokoji-kun, and I'm positive that he's not that kind of person. I was hoping to find the person responsible with the help of Ayanokoji." He decided to not to add that he planned to bury the truth, even protecting the person who committed the crime.
"Well, did you?" Shinohara asked. "Found out who the culprit is, I mean."
Hirata shook his head.
He walked toward Shinohara. Ike and Yamauchi exchanged shocked looks.
"Those three didn't take them."
"That's weird... I thought for sure it was one of them. But if you say so, Hirata-kun..."
If the overwhelmingly honest Hirata said something, Shinohara had no choice but to believe him.
"Is he really honest? He just lied blatantly at your faces." Ryuuen riled the Class D girls.
"Lied or not, he did it for a noble reason." Sato snapped.
"There's a class C student in your group, it didn't occurred to you that she might had been the one who did it?" Katsuragi asked.
"Ibuki is a girl. They wouldn't even suspect her in the first place, saying bullshit like a girl will never steal another girl's underwear." Ryuuen smirked. He hit bullseye when the class D girls averted their eyes. "See?"
Next to him, Ibuki huffed. Ryuuen is enjoying this too much.
"It should be fine once I tidy up the luggage. We can discuss it more after."
After the inspection had come to an end, I hurried back inside the tent. Hirata followed me.
"Hirata. Why didn't you tell them?" I asked, straight out.
"That was the underwear in your pocket, right?"
"Yeah."
"Did you...take Karuizawa's underwear, Ayanokouji-kun?"
"No. I didn't."
How would this fine young man respond to my denial?
"I believe you. You're not that kind of person. But why did you have them in your pocket?"
"Naive." Sakayanagi shook her head. A person like that is not suited to lead a class. Especially in an environment where class competition takes place.
Betrayal is common, no matter who and how many friends you have to any classes, their desire to graduate from the top will always win. But she liked it that way. It's fun watching people, classmates, friends tore into each other for the sake of their own personal desires.
There was no way I couldn't tell him the truth after he said that he believed me. I told him they came from Ike's bag. Hirata looked momentarily lost in thought.
"I see. So it definitely wasn't you. But I don't think Ike-kun or Yamauchi-kun did it, either. If they were the culprits, they probably wouldn't put the underwear in their own bags. They would have hidden it in another place."
Hirata's usual quick-wittedness had saved me. I didn't need to go to the bother of trying to explain.
"If it's all right with you, may I hold onto the underwear?" he asked.
"Sure, but...is that really all right?"
Holding the underwear was exactly like holding the Joker in a deck of cards. They were both trouble to deal with.
"In the worst-case scenario, if I'm made out to be the culprit, I would take the least amount of damage. I am her boyfriend, more or less."
"But..." Ichinose frowned, "Aren't you her boyfriend?"
'There's something wrong with their relationship.' Kanzaki noted.
"Isn't that more suspicious? You didn't come earlier clean earlier." Shibata said.
"They'll believe him. After all, It's their dear Hirata-kun who said it." Ryuuen continued mocking the girls.
"What's your problem with Hirata-kun?!" Shinohara snapped.
"Are you jealous or what?!" Sato added angrily.
"Nothing, believe me." Ryuuen said, "I couldn't care less becoming like him. Thinking about being weak, naive, and airhead makes me wanna puke."
"Then stop insulting him!" Sato glared at him.
"How am I insulting him if I only said the truth?" Ryuuen countered.
After saying that, he took one of the vinyl toilet bags and put the underwear inside. I wondered if it would be painful for Karuizawa to know people were touching her underwear with their bare hands.
"Of course it's painful!" Karuizawa glared at Ayanokoji. She knows that snapping at him might turn him off about protecting her and all. But she have a reputation to up hold, even though she's starting to mellow a bit to avoid being a target again.
"I'm sorry for the dumb question." Ayanokoji apologized.
"But we did find out one piece of bad news here. If the underwear came out of Ike-kun's bag, then there's a high chance that the culprit is someone in our class."
"Yeah..."
No matter how you looked at it, if a student from another class had been loitering around, we would've seen them. After exiting the tent, I scanned my surroundings. Our bags were individually wrapped in vinyl and placed in front of our tent.
The girls' tent was a few meters away, where Karuizawa and the others slept. Until this whole incident, the girls' luggage had been piled up out front, unprotected, like ours. If you wanted to steal something, you easily could do so. I was easily able to rifle through Ibuki's bag on the first day.
Ibuki froze. Is that why her camera suddenly broke?
Ryuuen narrowed his eyes at the boy. 'So he seen through my plan about sending spies to each class? But why didn't he warned his classmates about it?'
"Huh? Why were you rummaging in Ibuki-san's bag, Ayanokoji-kun?" Shinohara said warily.
"We are in a special exam where our we gained or lost class points." Ayanokoji pointed out. "No matter how you looked at it, a class C student was found by both Class B and ours makes it suspicious. Even if there wasn't any malicious motive, being vigilant is important to conceal our leader." He explained.
"Why didn't you tell us that you were suspicious?" Kanzaki frowned.
"I just have the suspicion when I learned that your class also took in a Class C student. But I left a hint when we visited your spot." Ayanokoji said.
Kanzaki thought back in the island and Ayanokoji did left a hint for them yet, his class didn't noticed it and continued to house Kaneda.
"That just make them incompetent and less of a threat." Ryuuen said, "Not that they are one in the first place."
When had the underwear been stolen Since there were no problems up until it was time to take a shower, the crime had happened sometime between eight o'clock last night and seven o'clock this morning. If that were the case, anyone in our class could have done it.
However, I doubted that the crime had been carried out in the middle of the night. If the culprit were rifling through luggage with a flashlight, someone would have noticed.
In that case, it was very likely that the crime had been carried out around sunrise, after five o'clock in the morning. Even if I'd narrowed down
the crime's timeframe, it was still difficult to narrow down the list of culprits.
What if I tried changing my perspective? Say Karuizawa stole her own underwear and hid it in Ike's bag. But what reason would she have for doing that?
"I believe you're not the culprit, Ayanokouji-kun. That's why I saved you."
"O-oh. Thank you."
"But that's not all I want to say. I want you to help me find the real culprit, Ayanokouji-kun."
Hirata took my hand as he made his request.
"You want me to find the culprit?"
"I think people, both guys and girls, will be uneasy until the thief's found. To be honest, it would probably be best if I found the culprit, but it looks like it'll be difficult to get everyone together..." A class star like Hirata had certain restrictions.
"I don't think it'll be easy to find someone who would hide things in Ike's bag."
Hirata should have known that finding the criminal would be difficult.
"Well, I'll do what I can. Just don't expect too much of me."
"Thank you! Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun!" said Hirata, almost hugging me and bowing his head deeply. I understood Hirata was thankful, but felt his reaction was a bit excessive. Perhaps the underwear theft was really bothering him, in particular. As a leader, he had to respond seriously to the crisis and try to find a resolution for the class.
Hirata blushed embarrassed. "I'm sorry for hugging you out of the blue, Ayanokoji-kun."
"It's fine. That must have been the stress of being the leader getting into you." Ayanokoji assured him.
Ike and Yamauchi eyed him "Suspicious."
Sudo hit their heads, "He's with Karuizawa, remember?" He pointed at Karuizawa who managed to heard them and now is glaring at them.
"Oh right. But still." Ike protested.
"If you do happen to find the culprit, I want you to tell me first. I definitely do not want you to tell anyone else."
His ability to widen his eyes while making such a sincere appeal pretty much destroyed my ability to say no. He looked almost too calm. It was a little eerie.
"Hmm... Why was he placed in Class D?" Sakayanagi wondered.
"If that information becomes public knowledge, our class will suffer a huge blow. I want to avoid that. That's why I want to find a peaceful method of settling things with the culprit. If it's coming from me, I think that we'll be able to resolve the issue through talking."
"So, in other words, you're going to hide the truth?"
"Hide it? That's a poor choice of words, but there's nothing I can do about it if people take it that way. Even if one of the guys turns out to the be the culprit, I think it's better that the truth be concealed."
"Wha...?" Shinohara looked at the screen and Hirata in disbelief.
"Why?! Karuizawa-san is your girlfriend and you're hiding the truth from her?!" Sato asked confused.
"You're the leader of the class and all, and you do have to lead the class but dismissing a situation where a girl, no your girlfriend's underwear was stolen and you are hiding truth?" Matsushita looked between the couple who averted their eyes.
"Is it wrong, Matsushita-san?" Karuizawa said, not willing to back down and letting her real relationship with Hirata be known. She's still wasn't sure if she broke things off with him in the future, so defending him in this confrontation is important. "It's because he's the leader he can't play favourites or prioritize me over the unity of the class."
"Still." Matsushita said still suspicious.
He focused on me. It was almost as if he meant to protect the culprit.
"I understand. I'll report to you first. Is that good?"
"Thank you. Well then, I'll be getting back to work."
Upon exiting the tent, Hirata called out to the other students. I saw multiple silhouettes on the other side of the sheet begin to recede.
"Hirata Yousuke. Are you Class D's hero?"
There was one contradiction in Hirata's story. Right after he said he believed in me, he immediately said the truth ought to be concealed even if the culprit was one of the guys. In other words, even if someone had the underwear, we'd hide it from the girls.
Hirata didn't have complete trust in me. He probably assumed there was a high chance I was the culprit. That was only natural, of course. From an outsider's perspective, I was the one holding the underwear, and I'd offered up Ike's name as the culprit.
Hirata assigned me, a potential suspect, the role of detective to offer me a lifeline. At the same time, he'd issued a warning not to commit the offense a second time.
"How scary." Ryuuen said.
Hirata looked apologetically to Ayanokoji. The boy managed to seen through him, it amazed him. But at the same time, made him feel guilty for not trusting his classmate, especially the one who's been helping the class all along in the shadows.
Thinking this way, I was able to get a grasp on the story. I was certain that he just wanted to cover up the truth. I had also tentatively considered that Hirata might be the culprit, but...well, I supposed we would know soon enough.
"Could everyone please gather around?"
When I exited the tent, Hirata's meeting had begun. I saw Karuizawa trembling with anger, her eyes puffy and red.
"We can't trust the guys. It's absolutely impossible for us to stay in the same place as them!"
"But there would be problems if the guys and girls lived apart, don't you think? The test is almost over. Because we're all friends, we need to believe in and cooperate with one another."
"You might be right. But we can't stand being in the same place as underwear thieves!"
Karuizawa shook her head, dismissing the notion as impossible. If the victim said so, Hirata couldn't really force her. Shinohara took a tree branch and drew a line.
The girls despite not liking Karuizawa's attitude towards everyone felt pity. Her underwear was stolen, humiliating her.
"What's the line for?" Shibata asked.
"Oh a boundary." Ike sarcastically said.
"Boundary?"
"You'll found out."
"We think the culprit is a boy, so we're drawing a dividing line between boys and girls. Boys are absolutely prohibited from entering our side."
Shinohara's proposal was gender-based separation to an extreme.
"What the hell? You're just arbitrarily treating us like criminals. Didn't we let you check our bags and give us pat-downs?"
"It might not have been hidden in a bag, though. Men are perverts. Anyway, don't enter the girls' territory until the culprit has been found. Go over there."
"Stop generalizing us." Hashimoto said annoyed. It's one thing being accused of stealing an underwear, another being lumped in with a man who's a pervert even if they are a man.
With that, she demanded that the boys move their tent. As expected, the guys were not convinced. Booing commenced.
"If you doubt us, then move your own tent. We're not moving ours, and we're not helping you, either."
"Ah, I see. Yeah, you only pretended to help out while you fished through our luggage."
"Oh, and you aren't allowed to use the shower anymore. We're not joking. We're not about to let a perverted thief use it."
"What the hell?"
"That's not fair!"
"Why the hell would they move their tent? Why don't you move yours!"
"Bossing them around, labeling them as perverts and then making them move their tents because you don't want to be near a person you labeled as a perverted thief?"
All boys across the classes screamed and yelled at the girls.
Our class unity had completely broken down.
"Heh. Can you guys even drive in the tent stakes?"
Shinohara, feeling like the situation was taking a turn, looked to Hirata to save them.
"Hey, Hirata-kun. Can you help us, for Karuizawa-san's sake?"
"Okay. I'll help. It might take some time, though. Is that okay?"
"No fucking way!" Ishizaki said.
"If I were if your class I won't be helping some bitches move the tent because of that!" Kondo glared at them.
"Where's your backbone?! Maybe Ryuuen-kun was right, you are their dog!" Komiya spat out to Hirata.
"Girls are so unfair!"
"They are completely taking advantage of Hirata!"
"Thank you, Hirata-kun. Aren't you glad, Karuizawa-san?"
"Yeah, Hirata-kun is the only one we can trust."
Karuizawa, looking happy and a bit bashful, blushed.
"Heh. Hirata might even be the culprit."
"Huh? Hirata-kun is not the culprit. What a stupid thing to say. Why don't you go jump off a cliff?"
"Karuizawa." Chabashira warned the girl seriously.
Karuizawa winced.
"Do not instigate suicide. You're a victim but it doesn't give you the right to tell your classmates that." Chabashira glared at the girl.
"Yes, Chabashira-sensei. I won't do it again." Karuizawa promised.
"What?! Don't give me that crap, Karuizawa. Just because he's your
boyfriend doesn't mean he's not the culprit!"
"As we seen so far, we wasn't the culprit, but excluding him because he's your boyfriend is not fair for the other boys." Ichinose said.
Naturally, more and more complaints came from the guys, but their words fell on deaf ears. Everyone except for Hirata was a suspect, so there wasn't anything to be done about it. We quickly reached an impasse, with Karuizawa and Shinohara in complete control.
"Wait a minute. I'd like to raise an objection-especially against you, Karuizawa-san." Horikita spoke up, calmly and firmly opposing Karuizawa.
"What is it, Horikita-san? Are you not satisfied with what we're saying?"
"I don't particularly mind dividing up the living areas for men and women. As long as the culprit hasn't been found, it is certainly a good idea to keep our distance from the men, considering the likelihood that the culprit is among them. However, I don't trust Hirata-kun. I cannot dismiss the possibility that he might be the underwear thief. Also, I'm unconvinced that he should be excluded from the ban on men."
"Yeah! Yeah!"
"Horikita-san is the only sane girl in that group."
"Hirata-kun would never do such a thing. Can't you at least understand that?"
"And how are you sure that we would do that?" Miyake asked her a bit furious.
"That's just your personal belief, isn't it? Don't force your way of thinking on me."
Karuizawa stepped closer to Horikita, looking like she didn't approve of Horikita's attitude.
"Well I don't approve of hers in the first place." Horikita said. "Being the self-proclaimed leader of the class D girls must have gone to her head."
"Hirata-kun is definitely not the culprit. You don't even have friends, let alone a boyfriend. You probably wouldn't understand."
"I don't need a boyfriend nor a friend to have common sense." Horikita said to her. "Completely letting your emotion override your logical reasoning is rubbish. Oh forgive me, it's not like you have one in the first place."
Many students including Manabu stared at her in shocked. Her sharp tongue is definitely in another level right now.
"I apologized didn't I?" Karuizawa said to her weakly.
"Oh don't mind me. Watching this must have made me snappy than usual." Horikita didn't bother to glanced at the girl.
"Don't make me repeat myself. Nothing you can say will convince me." Despite provocation, Horikita was unperturbed, responding in a detached manner.
"Well, let me ask you something. Would you say there are no other guys as trustworthy as Hirata-kun? Or are there?"
"And do you have the evidence to prove Hirata-kun isn't like them?" Katsuragi said. "He lied. He was prepared to hide the truth and the culprit in other to protect the class unity. Is that how a leader should act? What if another situation like that arises? Even more worst than just a simple stolen underwear. Would he hide the culprit too?"
"That's more suspicious than a simple pervert who stole an underwear." He added.
Karuizawa and the girls can't think of a way to countered him. Hirata, who has been silent stood up and bowed at the girls, mainly, Karuizawa.
"I'm sorry, Karuizawa-san. I was so focused on the unity of the class that I let my emotion overtake my morals. I shouldn't have said something like that, a stolen underwear was a big deal and yet I was ready to brush it aside for the sake of the class. I never took your feelings into consideration." Hirata apologized sincerely to her before smiling weakly. It seemed after this scene, Hirata will be undergoing some development of his own.
"I won't speak impulsively. Simply put, I would be fine if you increased the number by one more guy. If you did, they'd be effective in watching each other's backs."
"This isn't a joke. My underwear was stolen, right? I've been humiliated! Don't you understand? I don't know what we'll do when the culprit is found."
"Might this be happening due to your naïve handling of crisis management? Maybe there is an ulterior motive for stealing the underwear that we don't yet understand."
"What the heck do you mean, crisis management?! We searched everyone's bags. What's naïve about that?!"
"I don't care that your underwear was stolen. That kind of thing happens every day, and there's nothing you can really do about it. It's likely someone here bears a grudge against you."
"I apologized for my crude words." Horikita swiftly said before anything was thrown at her.
"It's likely that someone bears a grudge against her." Yume whispered
"Yeah, especially with an attitude like hers." Amikura agreed.
"Girls." Ichinose reprimanded them. "Sorry."
"I still haven't forgotten the way she bullied Rika." Manabe whispered harshly to her friends.
"Fucking bitch." Yabu cursed at her.
Horikita was considering the possibility that the culprit's ultimate goal hadn't been Karuizawa's underwear. The culprit wanted to lash out at Karuizawa and deliberately humiliate her.
Horikita was free to reason things out as she liked, but wasn't airing that idea out in public in front of Karuizawa kind of a bad move? I suppose you could call socializing Horikita's weak point. She was smart, but had difficulty relating to other people.
If Karuizawa were provoked in front of such a large crowd, she'd grow more hurt and irritated. Then, her ire wouldn't be directed at just the boys,
but probably at Horikita, too.
"Listen here, you!" Karuizawa looked like she was on the verge of losing her temper, until Hirata jumped out beside her in a dashing manner.
"Karuizawa-san, it would be great if we could have another guy here help me out. Is that okay?" He'd adopted the role of mediator once again.
"I saw you getting dragged away from moving the tents by the girls, leaving all the work to Ayanokoji." Sudo glared at the girls.
"Eh? Ayanokoji was the one who was picked?" Hiyori asked.
"Yeah."
"B-but...how can I trust anyone other than you, Hirata-kun?"
"How about me?" asked Ike, raising his hand.
He'd just been fighting with Shinohara, and now he was raising his hand?
"Wait. If it's physical work, I'll do it!" Sudou quickly raised his hand.
"Wait. If you're looking for the guy with the skills, then I'm your man!" said Yamauchi.
No matter how heated their arguments with the girls, they couldn't help but want to get closer to them.
"S-stop joking around. We can't just casually invite a pervert to help us. I wouldn't be surprised if one of you were the culprit. Or do you think these guys are okay, Horikita-san?"
"I agree with you. Considering how these three behave on a daily basis, they are completely untrustworthy. I've thought it over very carefully, and I
intend to choose someone who can't be the culprit."
"And that was Ayanokoji-kun?" Ichinose said.
"Who? Is there someone other than Hirata-kun?"
I regarded the male students. Was there any guy who could put her at ease, next to Hirata? Yukimura was brilliant, but had his share of disputes with the girls. Who could it be?
"You. Ayanokouji-kun."
Huh? Why me? How me? My mouth fell open, and I stood there, flabbergasted.
"Ha ha ha! Don't make me laugh. He's your only friend, isn't he? There's absolutely no way I can trust such a gloomy, lecherous wallflower," Karuizawa said.
"That's rude, Karuizawa-san." Ichinose frowned.
"Huh, it seemed your sister have accepted him as her friend." Nagumo said to Manabu who watched silently.
'She's growing slowly but surely.' Manabu smiled slightly at the thought. He can't wait to see how his sister will grow. One thing he's sure is, his sister will grow brilliantly, surpassing him. He have no doubt. He knew it since they were little, that's why he was furious at her for abandoning her own development and focused more on his recognition.
'Did the president smiled?' Tachibana looked at him with pink cheeks.
Beside them, Nagumo rolled his eyes.
I didn't especially care what people thought about me, but it seemed like many had written me off as "that guy" or "a gloomy lecher." Was this the pathetic fate that awaited a loner who couldn't even make friends in his first semester of school?
"If anything, I think Ayanokouji-kun is the culprit. He was acting all sneaky this morning, which was pretty suspicious."
Upon finding the underwear in Ike's bag, I had been pretty inefficient and slow. Well, it was true that I'd had Karuizawa's underwear in my hands
at the time, which did make me pretty suspicious.
"It's possible... Ayanokouji-kun was at the bonfire until late last night..."
The girls' doubts had intensified, and I had become their next target. Doubters began to appear from the boys' side, too. Ike and Yamauchi feigned ignorance. Even if I stayed silent or tried to explain, the situation was going downhill.
I opted to just keep silent. No matter how much the girls doubted me, Hirata was holding the evidence, and wouldn't make me out to be the culprit. However, despite knowing the truth, being suspected certainly felt terrible.
"Poor guy."
"Suddenly getting drag to the girls dispute and now being insulted by both girls and boys."
"Hey you!" Miyake pointed at Ike who looks at him confused.
"You thrust the underwear to him and you're not even helping him?"
"What can I do? No matter what I say it's already printed in the girls mind that us boys was the culprit. Why bother?" Ike frowned.
"Ayanokouji-kun really is the underwear thief, isn't he? He's not making any excuses. He's gazed at Karuizawa-san with lewd looks before, hasn't he?"
I heard a doubtful voice from the girls' side. I couldn't recall having looked at Karuizawa in a lewd manner before, but right now there wasn't anything I could do to conveniently modify my memory.
"Um... I don't think that A-Ayanokouji-kun would do such a thing..."
"Oh right!" Haruka clicked her fingers. She remembered Airi standing up for Ayanokoji but was bullied harshly by Karuizawa and her gang. Remembering the way Airi ran off, she glared at them especially at Shinohara.
I'd thought that all the girls doubted me and no one would back me, but someone rather unexpected spoke up for me. Sakura, cowering behind everyone with her back arched, fidgeted bashfully while she spoke out in my favor.
I couldn't have imagined a girl who disliked being noticed more than anything doing such a bold thing.
"Huh? What do you mean? Why would you say that?" answered Karuizawa, seemingly upset about Sakura speaking out.
"Not all girls will agree to your way of thinking, Karuizawa-san." Ichinose said. "Don't expect everyone will agree with you just because they are also girls. You're not a child. Know what's right from wrong."
"Damn, I never seen Honami-chan this angry before. " Yume whispered wide eye.
"Well they were criticizing the boys too much." Amikura shrugged.
"And for making fun of Sakura-san for standing up to her, I bet." Shibata added.
The sheepish, nervous Sakura was an easy target for such a popular girl. Sakura was definitely easier to confront than Horikita. In an instant, Karuizawa changed her target, lashing out at Sakura with her words as if sinking her teeth into prey.
"Huh? Why? How do you know that? How do you know Ayanokoji-kun isn't the culprit?"
"Well...that's because...he isn't that kind of person." Sakura was backed into a corner, and barely managed to squeak out her fearful answer.
"Huh? I don't understand what you mean. That's not an answer." Karuizawa folded her arms and laughed mockingly at Sakura.
"I could say the same with Hirata-kun." Haruka, not liking the way Karuizawa and her gang treated Airi countered. "Stop being a hypocrite."
"What did you say?" Shinohara stood up.
"I said, stop being a hypocrite. Are you deaf? How many times do you want me to repeat myself?" Haruka glared at her. "That attitude won't work at me."
Shinohara was about to walk to her but was stopped by Karuizawa, "This was our fault not them, Hasabe-san was correct. I went too far and being a hypocrite."
"Oh? Could it be that Sakura-san likes someone plain and invisible like Ayanokouji-kun?"
Rather than saying it contemptuously, Karuizawa said it as though it were reasonable to assume. It would've been fine if Sakura had just shrugged off such remarks, but she took them on.
"Y-you're wrong!" Sakura stumbled back in a panic, her face completely red.
"Whoa! That's such an obvious reaction. It's like what an elementary schooler would do!"
The other girls joined Karuizawa in laughing out loud.
"Sometimes the girls worst enemies is also from the same gender." Sakayanagi shook her head. Many think that men was the most vicious enemies the girls have. How wrong they are. Girls tore apart other girls, whether if it's about their fashion sense, crushes, body shape, etc.
People, especially women powered and supports women empowerment, but some take it too far. It went beyond abusing men and blaming them as the abuser, dismissing their feelings and laughing at them for crying. Saying that they are not a man for crying, making fun of them.
She remembered the time she was watching the news after school when she was in middle school. A man was rape by a woman and the rapist was pardoned because a woman raping a man is unheard of.
The man spent his life being humiliated by everyone around him and when he can't take it anymore, he took his own life. It's even sadder that some women even supports other women who commits a crime for the sake of women empowerment.
Feminism is not unheard of in their time. Many women yelled and protest about equality. To be able to work, to be independent and be successful in their own right. Yet they still believe that a man should open a door for them, surprise and give them gifts every anniversary, let a women take a seat before them. It's only courtesy a gentleman will do to his woman. But do not in anyway make it seemed it is their duty to do and uphold.
If you're all about equality then why not open a door for a man once in a while? Surprise them too whenever there's a celebration. Some women abused that kind of power. Protesting whenever a man help a woman if the woman is powerful in her right, yet getting angry whenever a man was late to save the woman. They misused the word feminism and women empowerment daily.
"That's...! W-well... Ah!"
"Heh, isn't that a good thing, though? You like him, and no one else does, right? Hey, will you confess to him here? I'll even help you out!"
"Ah!"
Sakura, unable to bear this attention any longer, ran off into the forest. Kushida chased after her, wisely judging it dangerous for someone to go into
the woods alone.
Haruka glared at Karuizawa who looked down.
"Haruka-chan. It's alright." Airi assured her friend. "She already apologized to me earlier."
"But-" Haruka protested.
"No but." Airi giggled.
"What was that about? I was just teasing her. Jeez, that's why she can't make any friends."
Horikita, who had silently watched Karuizawa's public excoriation of Sakura, sighed and brushed a hand through her hair, as if she'd observed something completely boring.
"Is it okay for us to continue the discussion now? This farce is a waste of time."
"Hey, Horikita-san. The way you talk is hurtful and annoying." Karuizawa, losing interest in Sakura after she'd run away, made Horikita her target once again.
"Okay, Horikita-san. Why are you so cold to me? Did something happen?"
"Something? What 'something'?"
"Well, isn't Hirata-kun so cool? He's smart, too, and he's even kind to a girl like you. Any normal girl would fall for him."
Giggling, Karuizawa tugged on Hirata's arm and pulled him close, as if to boast.
"I suppose I'd say that Ayanokouji-kun is... Well, as for his looks, he's probably better than most other guys, but isn't he awful in every other way? You're probably just jealous. That's what I think."
"You're naïve, Karuizawa-san."
"It's shameful to be so jealous."
I'd heard that the behavior of the collective could bring out an individual person's position, personality, and psychological state. Some things that couldn't be voiced in our daily lives at school had started to come to the surface here. This was especially true for Horikita, who was often alone.
The other girls in our class treated her poorly, but she managed to get along because, well, she just didn't care. Both parties ignored each other. Since everyone had to live together now, a clash of tempers was inevitable.
"Especially after being stuck in an island for a week. Being tired for searching foods and other chores." Katsuragi said.
"The stress is bound burst one of that days." Hiyori supported him.
"Except Class C." Yamauchi grumbled.
Ike shot them a envious gaze, "Yeah. They partied, not even for a single moment did they faced hardship."
"I provided for my class." Ryuuen wore a smug grin.
"Unfair." Sudo looked away.
"The teachers specifically said that we can take the exam in anyway we want." He shrugged, "Not my fault your class chose the hard one."
"You threw away the class points you would have gotten." Yukimura shot to him.
"And we didn't lost any." Ryuuen said. "It's a win-win for me either way. Not like you know why."
"It's certainly true that Ayanokouji-kun has many unlikable qualities," Horikita said.
Hey...I thought you would've backed me up...
"But we need to ask if Hirata-kun can trust Ayanokouji-kun. It would only be awkward and uncomfortable if you endorsed someone meaningless to
Hirata-kun. The truth is, there is not one thing that I trust about him, but I have no intention of inserting my own personal feelings into the matter. By process of elimination, I've concluded that he is the most trustworthy boy in the class. Or is another boy in our class preferable? If there is, I'd like for you to tell me."
After Horikita finished, Karuizawa glanced over at the boys as if to evaluate them, and sighed.
"Well, I suppose that out of all the guys here, he seems the most harmless. He has no presence."
I couldn't help but agree with that point. The girl's perception was too harsh.
"Well, isn't that good? I have my doubts, but if Hirata-kun is comfortable with this, it'll do."
It seemed as though Karuizawa and the other girls had chosen me, but I wasn't really convinced. Of course, I didn't dare breathe a word of that. There'd only be another fight. Immediately after the discussion had ended, everyone started to disperse. Our class unity had broken down.
"I understand what everyone wants to say here, but I disagree with suspecting a classmate without evidence. There shouldn't be anyone in our class who'd do such an awful thing," said Hirata, unable to stay silent about our worsening situation.
"You would be surprised." Katsuragi said before giving Sakayanagi a contempt look.
"Oh my. What's the look for Katsuragi-kun?" Sakayanagi giggled.
"You know exactly what it is for." He glared at her.
"You're way too kind, Hirata-kun. So you're saying someone else stole it?"
"I don't know, but I don't want to doubt my classmates."
The guys probably felt lousy being thought of as criminals by the girls.
"Hey. What if it was that girl, Ibuki?" someone muttered, shooting a look over at Ibuki, who sat at the far edge of the camp.
Instantly, everyone's doubts were aimed at Ibuki. The collective had found new prey.
"They suspected you?" Ryuuen raised a brow at her.
"It's only natural." Ibuki said, "I was the outcast in their camp. A class C student they found in the middle of an special exam."
"Ibuki-chan is from Class C, right? It wouldn't be strange if she were working to sabotage Class D. She could be using tricks to make us doubt each other."
"Knock it off, you guys. The boys are without a doubt the prime suspects."
Shinohara remained highly suspicious of the boys. She kept her distance, gesturing with her hands for us to leave.
"This bitch, I swear." Sudo muttered beneath his breath.
"Tell me about it." Yamauchi agreed.
"Who would even stole a underwear of that ugly girl?" Ike said angrily. He still couldn't get over the way Shinohara treated him like a criminal.
"Until the culprit is found, we definitely can't trust the boys. Right, Karuizawa-san?"
"Naturally. One of the boys definitely did it."
And so it was decided that the guys and girls would live separately I've said it again and again, but Hirata Yousuke is a really cool guy. I don't even mean his appearance, but rather, his principled actions.
He took the initiative to do troublesome things that ordinary people didn't want to do, and he conducted himself respectfully even when responding to opponents. Hirata, in cooperation with the girls, was setting up their two tents further away from the guys. Meanwhile, I was tasked with carrying the stakes for the tent, driving them into the ground, and fixing them in place.
"He's the class leader, not your chaperone or servant." Tachibana lectured the girls.
"No wonder the poor guy has a look like that on his face." Hashimoto said pitying the boy.
Although I had a hard time at first, what with the stakes slipping loose, I'd soon managed to secure the first tent. It was surprisingly easy. Currently, I was sweaty and pounding in the stakes for the second tent with a hammer. Hirata came around and helped by stretching the rope out and giving me a hand driving in the stakes.
"I'm sorry. I've put you in a tough spot again."
The other guys were outside, either playing around or fishing.
"Ah, it's okay. You don't have to apologize, Hirata. If anything, I'd feel bad to leave it all to you."
"Why don't the both of you leave the feelings of remorse and bad to the girls?" Ryuuen offered. "They are the one who did made you two do that."
"What do you expect us to do? Continue living with a underwear thief?" Shinohara demanded.
"No. I'm not saying that. But why can't you move your own tent? Why does the guys have to adjust? Can't you do it on your own? You ended up relying to the guys you called perverted thief." Ryuuen said.
"Oh, it's not all bad. I do it freely." His sincere smile only enhanced his coolness.
"This question might come off as weird, but why do you work so hard?"
"Work so hard? I don't intend to work all that hard. I just do what needs to be done." Hirata said that in a way that wasn't boastful. He was dripping with sweat, and wiped himself off with the towel he had hanging around his neck. "I think this special test isn't actually some kind of battle, but more an important opportunity for us all to become closer. That's why I want to cherish this moment. I'm glad to work hard for that."
"And it failed horribly." Haruka said bluntly.
"It more like tore our class apart more than it already is." Miyake added.
"Did you expect the class to work together when people like Karuizawa and her gang are being selfish?" Yukimura grumbled.
I wondered how it was possible for an ordinary person to be so overflowing with good intentions without actually being two-faced. Wanting to be liked by others, wanting to be showered with attention-most people would think like that, but I didn't get that impression from Hirata at all. I felt that he just wanted to be good.
"All right, we have about half left. Let's hurry up and get this done."
The two of us went over to the other side to hammer in the remaining stakes.
"Hirata-kun! Come here for a minute!"
Karuizawa and the other girls called Hirata's name. In an instant they'd
surrounded him, and began tugging on his arms.
"Hey, come on, come here!"
"Selfish bitches."
"What the hell? You let Ayanokoji-kun move the tent by himself?"
"Poor guy. He's been through much."
"I would have protested, not gonna lie."
"While Ayanokoji-kun was working hard to move the tent the others were having fun and fooling around."
"I'm glad I'm in Class C, even if Ryuuen-san's a tyrant."
"Oh you are?" Ryuuen have a playful smirk on his face. "Be fucking glad. I will take our class to the top. Be thankful you're not in a class full of selfish students, or a dumb fairy tale class like Ichinose."
"Ah, I still have work left to do, though," he said.
"Isn't it okay to just leave that to Ayanokouji-kun? Can't you?" they said, yanking him forcefully. Seeing Hirata's troubled face, I let him go, even though I thought it'd be a bother.
"I can do this. Go."
"No, but it's hard for one person to do?
"It's okay, there's only a little left."
"S-sorry. Thank you. I'll be right back."
Although I kind of got the impression the girls had an ulterior motive, they went ahead and pulled Hirata into the woods so fast he didn't catch my words. He probably wouldn't be back right away.
I watched Hirata walk off, then took the hammer in hand and hoped I'd get another chance to plumb his many mysteries. I continued my work, and managed to finish it all myself before Hirata returned.
"It took more time to finish it alone than I thought it would..."
"You're so nice, Ayanokoji-kun." Ichinose commented.
"Yeah, I can't imagine being called gloomy and a pervert and then being forced to do their bidding." Shibata scratched his head.
"Silly, Shibata-kun. Our class won't label you or any of our classmates as a pervert in the first place." Amikura giggled.
"Oh I'm glad. Trust me."
There were a lot of things that concerned me, like the tent's orientation, the stake placement, and the tension of the rope. It was nearly ten o'clock. What should I do now? I couldn't afford to make a mistake now that the situation was getting dicey.
But first, I needed to refresh my physical strength. Working under the blazing sun was way too harsh.
"Do you have a minute?" Ibuki asked.
I'd thought I'd rest for a while, but I guess that wasn't to be.
"What you were talking about this morning sounded really serious. The underwear incident, I mean. I mean, Class D isn't a monolith."
"Well, I guess. Our various troubles are never-ending."
"Whatever the reason, stealing a girl's underwear is unforgivable."
Right, but why was she talking to me about this? Yamauchi had taken Ibuki in, not me, and Kushida's group was looking after her. We'd only spoken a little before, so there shouldn't have been any particular reason for her to talk to me.
"Who wants to talk to either of them? A pervert and a two face bitch? No way, I'm talking to you over them any day." Ibuki made a face of grimaced.
"Do you doubt me, by any chance?"
Ibuki had apparently seen Shinohara and the others treat me like a criminal this morning.
"Are you the culprit?" she asked.
"No, I'm not."
"She looked at him in the eye, so she's telling the truth." Chihiro concluded.
"Not at all, Chihiro-san." Sakayanagi said.
"Huh?"
"Okay, that's good. Well, it's not like I had any evidence or anything. It looks like some of the girls trust you and that boy Hirata. I think the chance of you being a villain is low."
"Well yeah, she is, after all a girl. They won't ever suspect her." Ike said.
"Bet they will be surprised." Ryuuen said. "Ready to see their expression after the reveal?"
"Don't talk to me."
She'd probably come to that conclusion after hearing the exchange between Karuizawa and Horikita.
"Do you have any idea who the culprit is?"
"Right now, no. I really don't want to doubt the other guys."
"So who do you think did it?"
She'd asked that question as if she were testing me. Ibuki glanced at me out of the corner of her eye when she said that. When I didn't respond, Ibuki continued talking.
"If a boy isn't the culprit, then they'll suspect me-the stranger-next. I'm absolutely certain some people have already said something about me. After all, I could've just made it look like the guys stole the underwear. Right?"
Ishizaki leaned in and whispered, "Why are you even giving him any ideas? He'll suspect you, you know?"
"Can you not lean so close to me?" Ibuki glared at him moving away swiftly.
Ibuki laughed self-deprecatingly, perhaps because she was fully aware she was already a suspect. In response to that, I spoke impulsively.
"I think I trust you, at the very least. I doubt you're the culprit."
"Huh, really?"
"But she's the most likely suspect of doing that."
"She did maintain eye contact when she said that."
"Yeah, it means she's telling the truth, right?"
I'd answered Ibuki without hesitation. She looked a bit surprised, like she wanted to verify what I said was true. When our eyes met, she looked away.
"Thank you. I didn't think you would say something like that."
"I just gave you an honest answer."
I was able to understand Ibuki just by looking into her eyes. I concluded that Ibuki had stolen the underwear from Karuizawa's bag and hidden it in Ike's luggage.
"Huh?!" Ibuki looked at Ayanokoji wide eye. He knew?
"Ibuki stole, Karuizawa-san's underwear?!" Shinohara looked at her shocked.
"I told you." Ike said.
"Why would you even do that?!" Sato asked unsure.
Ibuki gave her a bored look, "To disrupt your class duh. Are you that dumb?"
"That's enough." Mashima stopped the fight before it even began. "That was the last scene for today. Head to your rooms."
"Finally it's over."
"I want to sleep."
"My back's aches."
"Man, I can't wait for the next one."
"Tomorrow will resume at 3 p.m, right?"
"Yeah."
The students stood up from their seats. Some yawned and stretched their arms, some quickly went to the exit to head to their dorms. Karuizawa and her group whispered to themselves. Ayanokoji on the other hand, took his time walking back to his room.
-x-
Previous Chapter: Intermission - SS: Dangers Lurk In Everyday Life.
Word Count: 11918
Please forgive my ramblings about equality and women empowerment, I've gotten carried away. And I can't remember if Kiyotaka told Hirata that Ibuki was the one who stole the underwear, if he did, please ignore Shinohara's question.
PS: This is my view about equality between sexes, and the abused in women empowerment. You can criticize and badmouth me all you want but this is what I think and thought about our society. Respect mine and I'll respect yours.