AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Sorry for the late upload I'm so busy with my prelim examination! I hope you all doing good!

My update will be regular again since my prelim examination is already done! So expect a lot of updates soon! 20 votes and I'm gonna published the next chapter.

That's all thank you! Enjoy!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

Third Person's Point of View

IN A CERTAIN PLACE in the forest there is a girl who is currently looking at a piece of paper. She opens the paper and reads the message. Her eyes went wide and looked around. She looked again in the paper.

"Wh-Who...B-But how?" She said to herself while still looking at the paper, she cannot believe what the message she received. This is not what she expected.

She thought this was just a confession letter or message. She immediately tears the paper into small pieces. She held onto the trees behind her. She clenches her fist and her mask immediately falls.

"I will expel this bastard no matter what."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

Day 6

AXEL, KIYOTAKA, HORIKITA AND IKE are currently looking out to the river where the tide is high, the rain poured enough water to look like it's a perfect spot to hide something.

"I thought it might rain overnight, but this is more than I expected!" Ike said loudly,

"It's nice to be out of the sun, but.." Kiyotaka said and then paused.

"Storm clouds are approaching from the southwest. The weather might turn sooner than you'd expect." Horikita said and looked at the clouds.

"Oh."

Horikita turns her head to Kiyotaka and Axel in confusion.

"What?" the two boys said in unison. They tilt their head at the same time. That sight of the two boys tilting their heads is the most adorable ever.

"It's nothing." She said and then looked away.

"We'd better gather food before it starts to rain, then." Ike then pulled up his sleeves before walking forward.

"Okay, I'm gonna gather up a storm! Let's do this!"

"Ike's become quite reliable." Kiyotaka said while watching Ike doing his job. Axel nods as he agrees.

"You'd better do your best to be useful, too." Horikita said to Kiyotaka, she crossed her arms.

"You too, Horikita." Axel said while he grinned.

"I know. You don't have to tell me." She said making Axel puffed his cheeks with her cold reply. Kiyotaka sighs and walks forward and Horikita follows. Not far from the three, there's another group handling the foraging which is composed of Ibuki, Kushida, and Yamauchi.

Kushida looks like she's wondering about something regarding Kiyotaka, Axel and Horikita.

"Hmmm." she hummed.

Yamauchi, who was busy finding fruit, notices Kushida's behavior and walks to ask her.

"Ah. What's wrong, Kushida-chan?" Kushida turns to him.

"Horikita-san has always been close with Ayanokoji-kun and Arison-kun, hasn't she? I was wondering why that was." Kushida said and Yamauchi turned his head to the spoken three.

"That's true, now that you mention it. Maybe they're some kind of trio."

Yamauchi said, with that Kushida curiously tilt her head.

"Trio?"

"At first I knew that Arison and Ayanokoji were like a duo or something but when Horikita joined they became a trio. Well, like those kinds of people that suddenly get attached to each other and work together or something."

"Ahh Oh right." Kushida agreed and smiled. While, Ibuki looks in their direction too.

Meanwhile, the fishing team is ready to entrap some freshwater creatures. Ike called for his teammates. Kiyotaka grip the other end of the net tightly.

"Are you ready over there? Okay, I'm spreading it!" Ike said.

Horikita looked at Axel who was yawning. She crosses her arms and looks at him.

"Do you plan to just watch Ayanokoji? You're passing your job to him?" Axel looked at her and put his hand on his chin.

"Oh I am planning to do my job but.. He said that he will do it for me." With that answer Horikita just sighed and shook her head.

"He really likes you huh."

"EH!"

"Don't deny it."

"But we don't have a relationship so what are y-you saying, ha nonsense." Axel said while blushing, he wants to cover his face but if he does that Horikita will just tease him again and again.

"Hmm if you say so."

Going back to Kiyotaka and Ike, they walk backwards to make the net wide enough to catch the fishes. Kiyotaka turns to Axel, their eyes meet. Axel just sighs and looks at Horikita.

"Horikita."

"What?"

"How are you looking after the key card?"

"I have it on me at all times. When it's time to renew the spot, I do it while mixed in with students Hirata-kun has arranged." After that she turned to look at Ibuki who was helping Kushida's group.

"Ibuki and the other students shouldn't have been able to identify me."

"Could I see it?" Axel asked her innocently with slightly puppy eyes, Horikita sighed. Horikita looks at Axel like he's giving him a 'seriously' look.

"What? Here?" she asked.

Axel looks at her face and crosses his arms with a pout.

"It's actually easier to do it here. If we did it at base camp, we'd be totally obvious." He said, making Horikita a little guilty.

"I suppose, but. Why do you want to see the card?" she is still asking him. Axel sighed, he will answer her question but Kiyotaka just put it into their conversation.

"The truth is, on the first day, we saw a student holding what looked like a key card. He was in Class A." Kiyotaka said.

"But we don't know if it really was a key card or not because we've never seen a real one up close." Axel said, making Horikita nod.

"Good point. It wouldn't be worth anything without positive proof." Horikita walks closely to the two boys before she shows her card from her pocket.

"Well?"

Horikita didn't look at Axel and Kiyotaka to not make her suspicious. Kiyotaka took a peek shortly before focusing in front of him.

"Well, I don't know. I thought I'd be sure after I saw it, but the color might be different from what I remember." Kiyotaka bluntly said.

"It might be possible that each class could have a different color card too." Axel said while sighed. With that Kiyotaka and Horikita nod.

"Hey, look at this! A little secret chat? I think you guys are getting' too close!" Yamauchi shot and then Yamauchi approached Suzune, suddenly Horikita felt something cold on her head. Yamauchi seems to put mud on her hair to get a reaction from the two boys.

"Look! You're covered in mud, Muddy-kita. Haha! Muddy-kita!" Ibuki looked at him, 'he really is an idiot, but thanks'.

"H-Hey, Yamauchi-kun!" Kushida but her expression really showed a little interest. Yamauchi turned to Kushida and pointed at Horikita with a smile.

"C'mon, this is where the boyfriend's supposed to step in! Right, Ayanokoji? Eh?" Yamauchi then notices Horikita turning to him. Gripping his arm, she throws him to the ground.

"Ow. Hey, what–That hurt!" Yamauchi yelled.

"I'm not his boyfriend tho.." Kiyotaka said in a low tone voice. But Kushida clearly heard that. On the other hand, Axel who is currently crossing his arm and giving a death glared at Yamauchi who is in the ground.

"Horikita-san, you're covered in mud.You should wash that off right away."

"Indeed, I can't stay like this."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Axel asked Horikita, making Kushida slightly raise her brows but no one noticed that.

"I'm fine, Arison. I'll take care of myself." Axel just sighed and after that he nodded. They just watch her walking away.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

IT WAS DARK AND SILENT but the two boys didn't mind as they walked around and looking at some leaves towards their way, suddenly near them there was another crunch, footsteps noises.

Kiyotaka was about to uppen his guard, he saw a long strand of black hair.

"Horikita?" he said, Axel popped beside on Kiyotaka. Horikita looks up at the two boys before looking down. She was clearly not okay right now. It took a hesitant moment before Horikita spoke again.

"I got careless. I'm telling you this with full awareness of my mistake. Do you understand?" she said making the two boys confusedly looked at her.

"What? What is it that you're careless about?" Axel asked her.

"It was stolen."

"You're not talking about your underwear being stolen, are you?" Kiyotaka butt in, making the two glared at him. Kiyotaka sighed and looked away.

"Something much worse. What was stolen...was the key card." she said as she grip her arms tightly.

"I see, sorry for not telling you to be careful although I thought you would be by now. But, we should keep that as a secret for now, making our class panic is the least we want to happen." Kiyotaka said, making Horikita nod at him. She looked at Axel.

She is not scared of Kiyotaka, she is scared that Axel will be disappointed in her and he will cancel his deal with her and that deal is making the class D to become class A.

But when she looks at Axel, Axel is looking at her with a worried face.

"It's okay Horikita, but first calm down." he said to her, Horikita nodded and took a deep breath.

"I have two suspects. It was either Karuizawa-san or Ibuki-san." Axel crossed his arms.

"Are things that bad between you and Karuizawa?" he asked her, Horikita on the other hand just sighed.

"In ways you don't see. Though it was inevitable."

"But it seems unlikely. Karuizawa has been in front of the shower stall the whole time." Kiyotaka said, making Horikita look at him, Kiyotaka nodded.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. I can attest to it."

"Then the culprit is Ibuki." Horikita said as he looked at the two boys, the two boys looked at each other before they turned to her.

"Then can you catch her?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

IN A CERTAIN LOCATION OF THE FOREST, there is a girl named Horikita. She is currently hugging her knees alone where no one would easily spot her by the tall bushes. She felt almost useless. Useless to what her brother would state if he were to look at her now. Would it be right just to drop out?

To quit her dream for her brother to notice her, the fact that can't be avoided is that she blew it. The position where she's needed and the item that helps her class gain points is gone because of her lack of mindfulness.

Suddenly, as she raised her head she spotted something that made her gasp. Right in front of her, in the area to where her camp base was, is a sight of a big black smoke.

She runs toward Camp D and seems troubled as a big fire blocks their way. Sudo tried to make the fire small by using his jacket but it did not occur.

"Damn!"

"Could somebody bring some water?" Hirata said, making everybody nod. Everyone gets some bucket with water.

Horikita turned to Ibuki who was also watching the fire with fear.

'Does this mean she didn't do it?'

Horikita then ran towards the fire to see what was burning under there, she covered her nose and her eyes grew wide.

"Someone burned the manual?"

"Who would do something like this?" Hirata said in disbelief, his face clearly showing his worry.

"I bought an extinguisher. Everyone, step back!" Horikita, Sudo and Hirata Step back as Ike starts to spray directly at the fire. The fire quickly disappears revealing a completely burned book.

"Who would do something like this? Does this mean there's a traitor in our class?" Karuizawa asked everybody.

"Why are you suspecting us? This isn't like the panty theft thing." Ike said and angrily turned to the girls.

"We don't know that! Maybe you burned it to distract us!" Shinohara said.

"That's ridiculous. We'd never do that!" Sudo said and stepped up, his face clearly showing frustration and anger.

"We wouldn't burn anything in the forest!" Yamauchi yelled. On the other hand, Hirata immediately tried to calm the class down.

"Wait a minute, everyone. Let's calm down and talk things out!"

"I can't take the word of some underwear-stealing pervert." Sato yelled back.

"I'm telling you, no one here stole it!"

"Obviously, the perverts cover for each other." Surprisingly Matsushita spoke up.

"What bunch of creeps!" Shinohara said as she agreed with Matsushita. Sudo didn't make it any better.

"Takes a pervert to know a pervert!"

"Now I know you're an idiot." Sato said.

"What'd you say?"

Kiyotaka raised his head. 'It's just about ready to pour, a rain, wait Axel might get sick.' He immediately looked at Axel who is currently listening to the class D debate.

"I can't take it! You people are the worst! I can't believe I have a panty thief and arsonist in my class!" Shinohara said.

'Ah that's why I hate girls.' Axel on his thoughts.

Sudo angrily fought back.

"I'm telling you, it wasn't us! When are you gonna finally believe us?"

"Hey, is Ibuki-san here?" Kushida ran towards them.

"Huh? She was here just a minute ago." Shinohara murmured. On the other hand, Yamauchi looks around.

"Hey, wait, you mean."

"It is pretty suspicious." Ike remark. At least the girls finally stopped blaming them. Karuizawa understood and nervously asked.

"Because she started the fire? Does that mean?"

"I knew she was a spy! She ran away! Damn it!"

"Not good. Anyway, let's talk about it later. Hirata, give us instructions!" Ike said as he looked at Hirata's direction.

"U-Uh Hirata?"

"How could this.."

Karuizawa worriedly glanced at Hirata as he continued to whisper. Axel looked at him and observed him.

'He is panicking.'

"I haven't done anything wrong, Why would who would do this?"

Kiyotaka goes to Hirata and grips his arm to catch his attention. Axel is also beside him. Hirata's attention goes to Axel who is currently looking at him. Axel slowly approaches his ear and whispers.

"It's alright, Hirata. Calm down first, Yeah?" With that, Hirata regained his posture and pinched his legs. He nodded and he felt something, he slowly raised his head to look up.

"It's raining." After that Hirata looked at Axel.

"You should help them out. The clothes are still out to dry." Axel said then he smiled at Hirata.

Hirata went back to his usual expression as he looked almost determined.

"Y-You're right. We need to put them away. Anyway, let's get out of the rain. Girls, bring in the clothes we were drying. Boys, cover the firewood with a tarp so it doesn't get wet. Come on. Hurry!"

'That's the Hirata I knew.' In his thoughts and smiled.

"Right!" All the students responded then quickly did as instructed.

On the other hand, Kiyotaka looked at Axel and grabbed his Hand.

"Let's go?" Kiyotaka asked him. Axel looked at him and nodded. They both walked inside the forest, while it was raining.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───

Horikita's Point of View

I FORCED MY HEAVY BODY TO CHASE after Ibuki while the hard rain fell. The sky was covered with rain clouds that blocked out the sun, so visibility was poor. Even though I couldn't see Ibuki, she'd left footprints in the muddy ground. If I just followed them, they'd lead me right to her.

'She couldn't have gotten far.'

She'd walked about a hundred meters from the base camp, sometimes veering off to the right or left. Rather unexpectedly, I found her waiting, as if expecting me.

"Took you long enough." Ibuki spoke without even turning around. Her calm voice cut right through the sounds of the falling rain.

I walked up to her.

"The underwear theft and the arson panic.Class D is having its share of disasters."

"I didn't do that actually." She said to me, Wait? Why didn't she do that!? Then who is the culprit behind that?

"But thanks to that it's really helped me."

"Stop and let's settle this right here and now. Return what you took from me." I said to her, she looked at me with confused looks.

"I don't know what you mean."

I was breathing heavily. This is not good.

'My body feels heavy. Hot..No..cold? Things aren't looking good at all...and yet.' I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"This is my final warning. Return it now." I said.

"Do what you want."

She dropped the bag to the ground and raised her arms in the air, posing as if surrendering. She was obedient, but I saw no resignation in her face. Still, I couldn't let this opportunity pass. I reached to check the bag.

Instantly, Ibuki's leg went right toward my face. What little alertness I had left saved me. I flew backwards, avoiding her kick. Mud splashed me, and I struck a defensive posture with both arms raised.

"Oh? Not bad." she said to me, I glared at her.

"Violence is an automatic disqualification."

"And who's here to see it? Besides, I think you came here for a fight!"

While I wondered why she had such a sly grin on her face, she suddenly grabbed my shoulders and threw me down. I wasn't able to react in the face of such an unexpected action, and collapsed onto the muddy ground.

As I was on the ground, already wounded, she sneered at me from above. Her face looked all blurry. Ibuki grabbed my collar and yanked me up. If she hit me, I would definitely lose consciousness. I slipped out of her grip and rolled, escaping from her. I desperately tried to raise myself out of the mud.

That was the first time I was really thankful that I practiced martial arts.

"Hey, you move surprisingly well."

'If I can't do something, I'll be holding Class D back. I, who looked down my nose at the others and called them worthless... When it comes down to it, not only am I useless, I'm resolving things with violence. It's utterly absurd.' I laughed in my mind. Was I really still making excuses for myself?

"It was you, wasn't it? The one who stole the key card."

Ibuki stopped moving. I shortened the distance between us. She pretended like she was going to strike with her right arm, only to instead go with a high, fast kick. I avoided her attack, and then stretched out my arm as a counterattack. Ibuki was aware of the danger and avoided my strike. She then switched into her next attack, a dizzying back-and-forth of offense and defense.

The footing around here was bad, but she wasn't worried about her footwork. Clearly she had a degree of skill. In addition, she showed no hesitation in hurting people. Ibuki smiled, flashing her white teeth as if she were enjoying this. I never thought I'd see such a big smile on her face.

Because I'd been moving around so much, I was wracked by an intense cold. I was barely able to stand.

"As a reward for your hard work, I'll tell you." after she said that she put her hand into her pocket and slowly took the card out. She showed me the side with my name engraved upon it.

"Yeah, I'm the one who stole the card."

"You admitted it pretty easily after all that." I said.

"There's no proof that I hurt you. Isn't that right?"

"If I had that key card, I could analyze your fingerprints. I could prove the theft to the school, too!"

I wasn't sure if Ibuki had a reason to hurry or if she was underestimating me, but she rushed over and attacked, a hunter enjoying an easy kill. Her eyes glanced at my feet, but it was a fake-out.

While she was concentrating on the lower half of my body, she instantly swung at my face. I narrowly avoided getting hit, but it got so incredibly close that it grazed my hair.

I took advantage of her momentum and applied a little force. Ibuki lost her balance, but not enough to make her fall over. I tried to grab onto her arm, but she understood what was going on and slipped through my grasp. She probably realized I was trying to use her power and speed against her.

I mustered up the last of my strength and drove my left fist into her solar plexus.

Ibuki couldn't breathe, and fell to her knees in apparent agony. At the same time, my physical strength had reached its limits, and my field of vision grew distorted. I couldn't chase after her, so I kept her pinned down.

"I was sure you were involved in it." She said,

"What are you talking about?"

"Thereason... The reason I talked to you in such a roundabout way was to confirm that. You seem different. But I suppose this is probably really hard for you to swallow. Do you think he's in Class D? There's a guy who figured me out before you did."

"You mean.."

Right after I conjured the image of that person, I noticed that Ibuki had disappeared. In the next instant, a blunt instrument slammed me in the head, knocking me down hard.

"Sorry. I've got a busy schedule ahead of me. Our conversation is over."

My mind and body were at their limit, I took one last glance at Ibuki, my eyes slightly widened when Ibuki fell on the ground and after that my consciousness faded away.