Kiyotaka's Point of View

IN THE CERTAIN ROOM, there were about 30 children who were tested with a series of exceptionally difficult questions. We were monitored by an invigilator. There were some people monitoring us from above, too.

We're required to answer questions that are beyond the ability of mere children. I'm not sure whether the adults could even solve the questions or not.

However, most of the children couldn't handle the stress and pressure. They collapsed during the test. It's good that Axel is not here, If he was here I cannot help but to be worried. I let out a sigh and I'd continued solving the question, until the invigilator approached me. He called me by my first name.

"Kiyotaka."

I looked up from the paper and stared at him. I could barely see his face as the light behind him was dazzling.

"Remember this. To have power and fail to use it is the behavior of a fool."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

Third Person's Point of View

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. What is Class C thinking?" Horikita said her expression is clearly shown, she was frustrated with the Class C.

"Oh wow, a beach party." Axel said while looking around.

The thought soon disappeared as lights and cheers flooded the scene in front of them. It's like the Class C are really on a vacation. The electro-pop music, barbeque, beach ball, swimwears, they're all bought by points.

The three of them looked at the person who was standing beside them. It was Komiya. Komiya looks wary of Axel. Axel waved his hand to him, Komiya gulped and started talking.

"Ryuen-san wants to see the three of you. "

Horikita hesitantly looks at the two boys before she walks towards where Ryuen is laying down. To the fact a leader is relaxing under the umbrella, the absurdity can be called reckless.

"Hey." Ryuen turned his head to the two Class D students. Horikita crosses her arms.

"You seem to be living the high life." She said, making Ryuen smirk.

"Oh, we are. It's our summer vacation, and we're going to enjoy it. Right?"

"Y-Yes, sir." He asked Komiya, Ishizaki, Kondō who were kneeling under the heap of the sun.

Horikita's face grew stern. Ryuen grabs a bottle before taking a sip. He then frowned.

"Ichizaki."

"Y-Yes sir." Ichizaki ran towards Ryuen. Ryuen then pours the bottle on Ichizaki's head.

"It's warm."

"I'm sorry, sir. I will get a new one." Before Ichizaki leaves, Axel calls him.

"Can you get me some Ice Cream please?" Horikita has a deadpan expression. Ryuen looked at the pretty boy and smirked, Ichizaki refused but..

"Yeah, just get him an Ice cream." The defeat Ichizaki leaves and get a new wine and Ice cream for Axel. Ryuen then turned his head to Suzune.

"For just 100 or 200 class points, you people will endure starvation, heat, and exhaustion ... Just the thought of it makes me want to laugh."

"I was a fool to come here on my guard." Horikita said.

"Who's the fool here? Is it me? Or you?" Ryuen sit up facing towards them with a glare before snatching the cold beer from Ichizaki's grasp.

Ichizaki gave the Ice Cream to Axel. Axel smiled at him, making Ichizaki blushed and immediately left. Axel starts licking the Ice Cream. Ryuen looked at Axel.

"You're also interesting, Arison-kun. If you were in my class we could've done so much more. Sadly, you were put in D class, but you can join me. So, what do you say?"

Kiyotaka glared at Ryuen, Axel looked at Ryuen while licking the Ice Cream. Horikita looked at the two boys.

'If that's happen my change to get to Class A will be go–'

"I don't want to." Ryuen's eyes twitch. He cannot believe that this boy refused to join his class. Ryuen plans to let Axel join his class and he can finally destroy the whole Class D, but now.

"What?"

"Well your class is boring, has lots of rules and is troublesome." Axel said, making Ryuen laugh.

"Kukuku, if you say so but still.. Our class is open for you." Ryuen said and turned back to Horikita.

"Going back to our topic, this is the way I do things. There can be nothing more or less."

"I see. Do as you wish, then. This is best for us, anyway. " Suzune let out a sigh. She turned around but stopped.

"Oh, and there's one other thing I wanted to ask. You know Ibuki-san, don't you?" She can feel Ryuen's eyes bored unto her.

"She's in our class. What about her?"

"Her face was swollen. What happened to her?"

"A ruler does not need disobedient servants. I just issued an appropriate punishment." Ryuen said before he took a bite of his skewer. Horikita stares at the grilled food beside Ryuen.

"You used all of your points on the first day, didn't you?"

"That's right. I used all of our points. So no matter what happens to Ibuki, I don't have to worry about losing any points." Ryuen said as he smirked cockily.

Kiyotaka stayed silent as usual but he calculated the small effort of what Ryuen did.

'The rule states that even if you lose all 300 S-points, you can't get into negative numbers. He negated that effect. But still he also has some brains.'

"A simplistic way of thinking. You're wasting all the class points we've been offered." Horikita said and crosses her arms with a glare.

"Forget all that and come play with me. I'll prepare a special tent for us." A smile formed on Ryuen's face as he pointed to the tent behind him. Both Kiyotaka and Axel stared at Ryuen.

"Let's go, Ayanokōji-kun, Arison-kun. Being here is only making me sick."

"Okay, bye bye Ryuen thanks for the Ice Cream." Axel said waving to Ryuen, Ryuen just smirked. The two students of class D start walking but Ryuen looks at the boy named Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

'A beta, useless.'

But he received a glare–not just a regular or usual glare but a threat. Ryuen looked at that boy as he stared back at those eyes. But it got cut off when Axel grabbed the hand of the Kiyotaka and dragged him away from the base of Class C.

'What is this uneasy feeling? Tsk that beta is weird.'

'A zero-point strategy, huh. It's quite Interesting.' Kiyotaka's thoughts.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

Next Morning

EVERYONE BECOME COMFORTABLE LIVING outside and roamed around the island to have some fun. Sudo, Yamauchi and Ike can catch more fish than before and Kushida and Shinohara can walk to where there's more fruits and herbs.

Each group has their way to go look for resources, there's not one that sits back and let others do it.

"Are you sure you want to be paired up with us, Sakura?" Kiyotaka asks as he sees Sakura painting. She really tried hard to catch up with the boys, must they go slower?

Sakura immediately apologised.

"Yeah. Sorry ... I know I'm kind of a drag during searches."

Kiyotaka grip the branch to balance his feet. "Aren't you afraid people will start to talk?"

Sakura slowly walks to the boys.

"No, I don't mind that at all. Besides, when we set out on this trip, I was really down at first. I have no friends, so going on a trip wouldn't be fun anyway. But, now, I'm a little glad I came." Light suddenly became bliss as it shine above Kiyotaka and Axel, Sakura smiled.

"I see." Kiyotaka turned away.

Sakura then poses her fingers to a rectangle shape as she closes her left eye making her right eye focus on the center of the rectangle.

"It's too bad, If I had my camera, I could take a great picture." she said to herself Axel chuckled as he followed Kiyotaka.

Beach Area (Class C Spot)

The once ruckus, wild base of Class C had turned to a quiet empty abandoned area once the three arrived, Ichinose and Kanzaki were there as well.

"Huh? Everyone's gone?" Ichinose trailed off as she walked around the shore.

Kanzaki turns to the other boys.

"Ayanokoji-kun and Uhmm?" Kanzaki said while looking at Axel. Axel tilted his head. Ichinose tapped the shoulder of Kanzaki. Kanzaki looked at her.

"He is Axel Arison." Ichinose said, Axel waves his hand to her. Kanzaki can help himself but to keep staring at Axel.

'He is pretty...Oh fuck, dammit.'

"Nice to meet you Kanzaki-kun." Kanzaki nods and keeps staring at Axel. Ichinose giggle. Well she can't help it but to laugh at Kanzaki behaviour, this is her first time seeing Kanzaki spacing out.

But Kiyotaka waved his hand in front of Kanzaki, making Kanzaki shake his head.

"Ah yeah, were you out on recon, too?"

"Nope, we were just exploring the forest and ended up here on the beach.' Kiyotaka answered him, Kanzaki just nood and looked away but still kept glancing at Axel. Ichinose squat as she cup both her hands to her cheeks as she pouts.

"Hmmm. I was hoping to guess the Class C leader, at least."

"The goal of the test is to increase your point total as much as possible. The minute he abandoned that, Ryūen lost." Ryuji said as he picked up a bottle of beer and wiped the sand off.

Ichinose nod cheerily.

"The straightforward strategy is best for us, yeah." Kanzaki then places the bottle on the table. But Kiyotaka then asks.

"Ichinose, there's something I wanted to ask you."

"What's that?"

"Do you know anything about Katsuragi from Class A?" Ichinose crossed her arms in deep thought.

"Katsuragi-kun, huh? Sakayanagi-san is sitting the test out, so Katsuragi-kun seems to have taken leadership of Class A, but."

"Katsuragi's a sharp guy. Even with Sakayanagi's absence, I doubt they'll suffer any internal discord." Kanzaki trailed off.

"But it's probably not any fun for the people on Sakayanagi-san's side. Those two are opposite extremes, after all." Ichinose add.

"Opposite extremes?" Kiyotaka repeated.

"A reformist and a conservative, basically. They're opposites in how they approach things. They're always butting heads over that, I hear."

'Sakayanagi.' It was for a moment until Kiyotaka bows at the two Class B students.

"Thank you for the information."

Ichinose waves her hand.

"Oh no problem, it was what I heard anyway." Kiyotaka nods and grabs Axel's arms gently and he looks to Sakura to follow them, and they start walking away.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

IT'S ALREADY EVENING AND MOST OF THE Class D students gather around the campfire. Kiyotaka together with Axel who is currently eating fruit. Axel wanted to give Kiyotaka some fruit but Kiyota kept refusing.

While they are eating, Sudo just shou with an irritated expression.

"Damn it! What's her problem?!" That word is for Ibuki, well Ibuki attitude is really something else and if that attitude meets Sudo's temper it will be a war, really.

They both sighed. Axel stand up. Kiyotaka looked at him and he also stood up but Axel stopped him. He smiled at him.

"I can do this alone huh, Have faith in me."

"It's not like that–"

"Alone."

"Yeah..Okay take care." Axel just laughs at his behaviour.

'It's not like I'm going far, sheesh he's so protective, besides he's not my boyfriend so why is he so protective to me. I don't get it.' On his thought, he just shrugged and went to the group of girls to call out Karuizawa.

"Karuizawa." Karuizawa immediately goes to Axel. Also some students greet Axel, of course Axel greets them back.

"Ayo Hirata can I borrow Karuizawa for a minute?" Hirata looked at Axel, he nodded and scratched his cheeks.

"You don't need my permission though." Axel laughs.

"Of course I need your permission, you're her Boyfriend."

"Ah yeah, then take care of her for me." Axel happily nods as he takes Karuizawa's wrist gently and they go to somewhere where nobody can hear them.

"Are you going to rap–"

"Pfft of course no."

"Then why?" Karuizawa asked while smiling, Karuizawa really love the vibes surrounding on Axel. For her, Axel is handsome, reliable, independent, smart and he's also fully considerate of each step he makes.

"Can I request a favor from you?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

"HEY BOYS! WAKE UP! BOYS! Wake up already! " With that all the boys winces with the noise in early in the morning.

"What the hell?" Sudo grunted.

"What's going on? Ah." Hirata said while opening the tent A crowd of angry girls crossed their arms, slipping out into a wild atmosphere. Shinohara who's in front looks at Hirata.

"Hirata-kun. Awful news!"

As all the boys went out of the tent, Hirata stepped forward to ask.

"What could it be this early in the morning?"

"It probably has nothing to do with you, Hirata-kun. But there's something we need to find out. This morning, Karuizawa-san's underwear went missing. Karuizawa-san's in our tent, crying. Kushida-san and the others are comforting her, but." Shinohara began to explain.

"W-Wait a minute! Why are you suspecting us?" Ike cut her while she was still talking. Shinohara glared at him.

"Why do you think so? One of you stole them overnight!"

"It was probably that Ibuki girl, not us!" of course the All Mighty Sudo then joined the conversation. He really loves to join fight.

"A girl would never steal something like that!"

"How can you be so sure?" Ike asks.

"The point is, we can't camp in the same place as an underwear thief!" Shinohara suggested making the girls agree all at once.

"Yeah!"

Hirata walked to the center to calm down the boys and girls.

"Hey, everyone, calm down. Do you have any proof that it was a boy who stole them?" He said Shinohara approached Hirata after that.

"That's why we came to you, Hirata-kun. We want you to find the culprit."

"The culprit?" Shinohara nods.

"First, we request a search for all the boy's bags!"

"Okay. But to protect their privacy, could you allow the boys to handle the search?" Hirata said and he sighed.

After a minute, All the boys began to line up.

"This is starting to piss me off." Sudo grumbled.

"They don't have any evidence that a boy did it! It's nuts! " Yamauchi added. Making Ike agree, Kiyotaka and Axel who are in the back keep sighed.

After 5 Minutes

"We searched them all." Yosuke said to the girls. Shinohara didn't look completely convinced.

"For real?"

"Yeah, it's clear now. None of the boys was behind it. We can let everyone put their stuff away now, right? After that, we can talk."

Shinohara looked dead-eyed at the boys.

"I demand a pat-down. An underwear thief is a pervert. You don't know where he might be keeping them."

"Just Give us a break!" Ike quietly groaned with that the girls began to whisper each other.

"Ike-kun's been acting pretty fishy this whole time."

"You think he's the one who did it?"

"Gross!"

"Fine, I get it. Search me if you want!" Ike said confidently.

"We will, then. Hirata-kun, if you please." Shinohara said as she looked at Hirata. While Hirata proceeds to check the boys' pockets, pants, and shirts. Including Ike which concluded into false blame. Hirata then walked towards Axel.

"G-Gomen A-Arison-kun, may I?" Hirata asks while blushed, Axel just nods as he raises his two arms. Once Axel is done with Axel's checking, he then walks towards Kiyotaka who's fortunately the last of the boys. Kiyotaka already raises his arms thinking that it's unable to escape.

"Sorry, I'll make this fast." Yosuke bent his knees to check Kiyotaka.

After a second, Hirata turned to the girls.

"They don't have it either, It really wasn't a boy." This time Shinoharai was shocked.

"Really? Well, we'll trust you."

"It's fine, Thank you." Hirata said while smiling. With that the girls finally walk away. Sudo tched with frustration.

"They didn't even apologise."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

WHILE DISCUSSING A CERTAIN MATTER, Class D is separated into two groups and is being spearheaded by Hirata. Both the boys and girls glare at each other. Axel sighed. It began to be the worst of a relationship of two genders because of the lack of trust in the trip.

"We should segregate the boys' and girls' areas! You should move the boys' tent and make the girls' side off-limits." Shinohara said in the sight of reformation. Hirata furrowed his brows at the girls.

"Well, I don't know."

"What the heck?" Ike said in frustration.

"If that's what you want, you guys move the tent! I'm sure as hell not gonna!"

Karuizawa said back to the boys.

"We weren't asking for your help! You'll help, right, Hirata-kun? "

"Okay. I'll do it. It might take a little time, though." Hirata said, it is true, it would take a long time for a single guy to move the tents to a far separate area.

Meanwhile, Horikita sighs and walks towards the center from the girls' camp.

"I don't object to separating the boys and girls. But Hirata can enter both the boys' and girls' sections while he's moving the tent, right?"

"What's your point?" Karuizawa directly asked Horikita.

"I can't trust him to do it by himself."

"Hirata-kun isn't like that!"

"He's still a boy." Shinohara and Karuizawa immediately realized what Horikita meant.

"We should add other boys. That will increase the manpower on the job, and the boys can keep an eye on each other."

Karuizawa can't deny the suggestion.

"B-But ... there's no boys we can trust besides Hirata-kun....Oh wait Arison-kun." As she looked at Axel, Axel sighed. Horikita looked at him and looked at Kiyotaka.

"Yeah, Arison-kun and also Ayanokoji-kun."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

AS THE BOYS PROCEED TO PATCH THE TENTS, Kiyotaka let out a breath of sigh before continuing to work on one of the tents.

"I think it's Horikita-san's way of complimenting you two. Karuizawa-san agreed with her." Hirata said.

"I seem to recall your girlfriend saying that I seemed invisible and inoffensive enough." Kiyotaka said as he tied the upper roof of the tent.

Hirata and Axel both laugh.

"Hirata-kun! And Arison-kun!" The two boys turn their heads to see Mei-Yu calling from a distance.

"Sorry, could you two come here for a minute?"

Hirata slightly turned a bit nervous.

"Um, I don't..." Hirata said while glnacing at Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka sighed.

"No worries Yosuke-kun, I'll handle it!" Kiyota said with a slight energy, making Axel laugh.

"It's fine, besides Kiyo is strong so he can handle this by himself. Let's go." Hirata then apologetically smiled at Kiyotaka.

"Thanks, sorry." Kiyotaka nodded and the two boys left to help Mi-chan.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

Kiyotaka's Point of View

I WATCHED HIRATA AND AXEL 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 and Axel returned.

The boys' tent is officially moved.

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? Should I go and take Axel from them? Nah that's bad, Axel probably gonna scold me.

But...I want him to scold me though..

Suddenly, Ibuki walked up to me.

"Could I have a minute?" Ibuki talks to me. I'd thought I'd rest for a while, but I guess that wasn't to be.

"Class D seems to be having trouble, too."

"I guess we've both had our share of problems." I replied.

"Whatever the reason, as a girl, I find the theft of a girl's underwear 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 do you think was responsible?"

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

"You thought it was me, right? I'm an outsider. Sudou's not the only one who suspects me." she said, I sighed and then looked in the direction of Sudou, Ike and Yamauchi.

"That's true. Sudou's glaring at you right now."

I pointed at Sudou's group while looking at Ibuki.

"Of course he is. If I were in your position, I wouldn't trust someone from another class, either." Ibuki said and laughed self-deprecatingly, perhaps because she was fully aware she was already a suspect. In response to that, I spoke impulsively.

"I trust you." I 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.

"Th-Thanks... I wasn't expecting you to say that."

"I was just responding honestly."

"Oh Ibuki-san, I have a request or a deal for you." I said, making Ibuki look at me. She looked confused, but she just nodded after that.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

IT WAS THE END OF THE SPECIAL TEST'S fifth day, and Class D was depressed. It was like we were holding an all-night vigil over a dead body. A whole day had passed with everyone jumping at shadows. Everyone was suspicious, and no one knew who the culprit was. Despite the oppressive atmosphere, it was my turn to get the fire going. As I watched the fire's condition, I occasionally tossed in some branches. It was monotonous, easy work. We had other problems, though.

"Kiyo let me help you." Axel said and he helped me to put some branches to the fire. He smiled at me. I smiled slightly at him. He looked at the fire and said something.

"Can I ask something..Do you enjoy being with me?" he mumbled but I clearly heard that. I was slightly taken back by what he asked me, I want to hug him right now but we are outside.

I ruffle his hand and pinch his cheeks.

"Of course, I love being with you." I said to him, His face started to become red and looked away, then he looked again to me.

"Remember the story I told you when we're still in that place?" He asked me, I nodded.

"Yes about camping.. Well I quite enjoy this but I want to do it again with just the two of us." I said while putting some branches on the fire. He smiled at me and nodded happily.

"Yep, we will do that again. I promise."

While we are talking to Axel, Horikita starts talking to us.

"It must be hard, being forced to do such menial labor." She walked up to us and stood beside Axel.

"You're one to talk. It wouldn't have happened if you hadn't butted in." I said Axel also nodded his head and he puffed his cheeks.

"What was I supposed to do? I can't trust Hirata-kun. I needed insurance."

"You should stop assuming everyone has a hidden devious side.' Axel said, I sighed.

"That's true. I have no hidden side, after all." She said to us, That was an understatement. Horikita lived her life completely true to herself. She threw my criticism back at us rather skillfully.

"But most people keep their inner thoughts and their outward behavior separate. As you do." I doubted her words were solely aimed at Hirata and Kushida.

"And as virtuousness and hypocrisy often walk in hand-in-hand, I chose not to trust him." she continue,

I sighed.

"Oh right, Horikita? Are you feeling better right now?" Axel asked her. Horikita looked at him.

"I'm fine." I extended my hand to touch her. She didn't resist. Feeling her forehead, it was pretty clear that she still had a fever, close to 38°C. Yet , she was hiding it for a pretty simple reason. If you reported illness, the class would be hit with a bigger penalty. The test's timing was rotten luck on her part

"Around 38°C." I said, She sighed.

"You really shouldn't force yourself, you know that?" Axel said while smiling, he tapped Horikita's head. Horikita blushed and looked away and then looked at us again.

"I just need to hang in there for another few days. If I give up now, it'll all be for nothing. Goodnight to the both of you." She said and went back to the tent. So she intended to soldier through to the bitter end. She had an iron will. Or simply being stubborn.

"What a Tsun Tsun."

"Yeah, she is so stubborn." I agree to Axel.