Classroom of the Elite (LN)
chapter-5-4

Volume 3, Chapter 5: False Teamwork Part 4

I felt a strange warmth and stiffness on my cheek.

Having a bad feeling about this warmth already, I tried to move away by stretching my neck a little. However, I could not move. I felt something like an arm being fixed tightly around my neck.

“W… What?…”

Waking up with a sense of discomfort. I immediately realised that I was in a scary situation. Sudou was sleeping across my face, with both his legs around my thighs.

“Suzune… I…cannot hold it, anymore…”

“Arghhh”

I screamed, startling even myself and I escaped from Sudou’s headlock.

“Shut up… What is it Ayanokouji?.. . Don’t wake me up… Hmph”

He was trying to force something terrifying upon me, this fellow

Even if I think that I was mistaken as someone else. Still, this is not a thing to reveal in a crowd of men in the middle of the night.

The time on the wristwatch was still before 6 in the morning, but as soon as I felt the hot, humid air, my drowsiness vanished in an instant.

I exit the tent in order to get out of the steamed atmosphere. The moment I step outside, I realize that the scenery is completely different from yesterday.

“… Just my luck, isn’t it?”

It seemed that the curtain on the 6th day of the special examination test opened, early in the morning with trouble.

There are signs that it will begin to rain soon. Most probably around noon.

The weather was rough, towards the end of the exam.

There is no need to worry if it rains a little bit, but in some cases it rains heavily and strong winds are possible.

Then, we may have to act thinking the worst case scenario.

It seems that we will have a lot to do. Like checking the tent pegs and thinking what to do with the baggage.

In other words, that means that we are going to be busy and that will cause unnecessary attention.

Eventually, when everyone gets up, we will combine the food we gathered with the emergency food we’ve got in store, by using our points and make it into a pot, so we can eat.

In our everyday life here, there are naturally complaints here and there that gradually increase, but in the last couple of days, everyone showed their willingness to survive this test.

“Excellent. We have no incident, for days.”

Surely. This would not have been the case if there had been an incident today where underwear was stolen.

Now, In front of the boys’ tent, the guys who were guarding up until the morning were passed out like being drunk.

This is a deterrent that was devised to prevent the recurrence of underwear theft.

Hirata was gathering already a lot of students and giving them a final round of encouragement.

We should split into groups and start searching for food in order to survive today.

Once we get the food of the day. We don’t have to use points.

It can be said that this is a critical moment.

We, too gather around Hirata

“Shouldn’t we also come with you?”

Already standing on the riverbank with the fishing rod in one hand, Ike turned over his shoulder to ask.

“No. Ike and Sudou, I want you next to go fishing. From now on try to teach instructions about fishing to the other students. We have no time.”

As soon as the policy is decided, Hirata goes and gathers the group as many raise their hands.

Of course, I will not be able to raise my hand, but I will participate as a remainder this time.

The members chosen are Horikita, Sakura, Yamauchi and surprisingly, Kushida.

Horikita’s physical condition seems to be still bad, but she is struggling to look well so as her situation is not to be perceived by the people around.

“How did this happen and you are left behind? Where is your usual group of friends?”

Come to think of it, I can’t see any of the girls who were working with Kushida in this exam.

“Ah, yes. Well…”

Kushida whispered in Horikita’s ear, as if he was worried about the boys’ presence.

“The truth is, Mi-chan today is a girl’s day, right? … You look pretty sluggish, too and you look sick all the time. So, my other friends may attend you at the tent”

Standing close to Horikita and Kushida, I heard their conversation.

“I am safe from the effects of the menstrual phenomenon even if you say that I seem to be in a poor physical condition. It’s only natural, after all. But why bother with this group? I am sure there are many other options”

The only reason why Horikita goes on a fool’s errand is because she hates Kushida.

Basically, Horikita hates humans in general, but among them, it is Kushida the one that she particularly dislikes the most.

Why does she hate her so much?. The reason for this seems to be simple, it is because Kushida seems to hate Horikita, too.

However, whenever I think about the relationship between these two, I feel like there has always been a strange sense of discomfort between them.

Kushida Kikyou has a hidden side, especially towards girls. There is one side of her that changes suddenly so as to abuse a person calmly.

However, this is a fact that I happened to know by chance, and the usual Kushida is basically a bright and caring cute girl who is kind to everyone.

I don’t think there are any students who dislike her except for reasons such as jealousy, but I think I understand well that Horikita is not the kind of person who would be jealous of Kushida’s character.

There are some things that make even the philosophers suffer.

Such as the question “Which comes first, the chicken or the egg”.

A chicken is a creature born literally from an egg, but also a creature that lays eggs. So which came first, the egg or the chicken? That kind of story.

So, I do not know which one between these two was the first to dislike the other, Horikita or Kushida, or when did this started.

“I thought that it would be good to talk to you Horikita, since a lot has happened. You know, we haven’t talked that much during this trip. As soon as it gets dark, let’s go to sleep, together”

Kushida understands that she is hated and tries to make friends with her even though she hates her, too. Well, if her goal is to be friends with all her classmates, being friends with Horikita is a road that cannot be avoided.

There are a lot of complicated and confusing questions about the relationship between these two.

“I do not have free time to accompany you for unecessary things”

“You are so mean Horikita. Even though your sleeping face is so cute”

Horikita seemed a little annoyed, as Kushida said those things to make fun of her.

For the time being, though, it seems that I will search for food with these members.

“Hey, Ibuki, why don’t you come with us, too?

Just as we are ready to go, I call Ibuki who is resting under the shade of a tree.

“I…”

“Today is the last exam. I don’t want to pressure you if you don’t want”

“You’re right. Since I have a debt of gratitude with D class, I’ll help….Ok, I’ll take part in it”

Ibuki, who put her bag on her shoulder, wished to participate and Yamauchi was pleased by it.

“Ah, that’s good, that’s good! This feels like a harem though”

The more the girls’ percentage increased, the more Yamauchi’s tension increased too. But there was nothing better than having a lot of hands. With no reason to refuse, Horikita set foot into the forest without replying anything in particular.

“The dark forest is really ominous….or rather I should say are you afraid of the heat and the fact that it’s damp and humid”

The sky was actually pretty cloudy, and the inside of the forest changed considerably compared to yesterday. The visibility was scarce. Yamauchi, who was sweating from his armpits, proceeded to fan his own gym tracksuit with low spirit.

“Aren’t you hot, Sakura?”

Yamauchi, who wanted to talk about something, called out to Sakura. But, his eyes were fully concentrated on her breasts, and it was easy to understand that his only aim was that he wanted to see directly her tits.

“Eh? Ah, Ahhh, no. It’s okay”

All of sudden, Sakura tried to lean back like she wanted to indirectly escape his gaze. It is said that girls are really sensitive to men’s gaze because there’s always an ulterior motive to it. In Sakura’s case, this is particularly noticeable, since she already had many experience like this.

“Yesterday, Karuizawa was really terrible. You’re so gentle, Sakura, so Ayanokoji decided to protect you”

“Ah, yeah…………”

He had all the intentions of talking warmly but his gaze and the substance of it is a high-explosive bomb.

“Yamauchi. You might as well be mindful of the trees. It’s possible that they may bear fruits. Also, in this area the trees are tall, so please hold on tight too ”

“Oh, ohh. Of course”

Doing this, I’ll somewhat be able to prevent that Yamauchi’s gaze will turn again towards Sakura. Nevertheless, the boundless lust of a man will never run out.

“Rain clouds are approaching from south-west. The weather may be stormy sooner than we imagined”

Depending on the circumstances, it would be better to keep in mind that the rain will probably fall first thing in the afternoon. If this happens, it may be dangerous to go out looking for food for a long time. If we end up being caught up in the rain in the forest, far from being forced to a standstill, there’s the fear of injuries. In this case, a large quantity of points will be spewed out all at once.

“Mmm….”

While we kept walking quietly looking for food, Kushida repeatedly assumed a brooding and pondering expression while looking alternatingly between me and Horikita. Of course, Horikita was ignoring everything.

“What’s wrong Kushida-chan”

Yamauchi asked her, when he noticed her delayed actions.

“Ayanokoji-kun and Horikita-san are on good terms from the beginning, right? So, I was thinking about the reason”

“It looks like this. Why are you that close?”

Kushida opened a difficult topic as well.

“We don’t really get along well though”

“You always deny it but, you still get along. Even now you’re always walking next to each other”

Even if they say such a thing, I’m not really aware of it nor I particularly remember doing it.

“Ah. I may have found something that Ayanokoji-kun and Horikita-san have in common”

“What is the common point?

“Well, look at them properly Yamauchi-kun. Do you notice anything?”

“What?”

Yamauchi drew near and observed my face centimeter by centimeter. Then, after that, he rushed to Horikita and took a closer look to her face. Ah, so stupid. He got too close.

*Slap*

And so she struck his face in the most dry way. It’s just exploded a splendid slap in the face from an ashamed drama actress. Yamauchi started to hop up and down in a weird dance, first soundless from the vigor and the pain of the slap, then shouting and falling down. What is terrible is that Horikita doesn’t even glance to Yamauchi nor she cared about his words.

“What, what did you do?”

“You were too close. You better remember to keep away from my personal space”

It was something similar to what happened when Ike came out and made a pass at Horikita. I think everyone would feel uncomfortable when coming face to face, and at a really short distance, with a boy you don’t like to begin with.

“Ahahah….So..Sorry Yamauchi-kun. I said some unnecessary things. You okay?”

“You, you’re kind Kushida….”

Yamauchi took the hand that Kushida held out, and he stood up with a red face. Ibuki kept watching the whole story from beginning to end with a slight surprised face. She probably doesn’t see often this kind of stupid exchange in C class.

“Wha, What is the common feature that you noticed, Kushida?”

“You know? They both laugh very little! I mean, I think I never saw Ayanokoji-kun and Horikita-san smiling”

Kushida pointed out this unexpectedly, and she was convinced I would accept it obediently. Regarding Horikita. I saw her smiling several times like she wanted to fool the other party but that was nothing more than a smile of courtesy.

“I’ve never seen Horikita’s smiling face. But I smile, right?”

“I’ve seen your bitter smile but…I’ve never seen you smiling from the bottom of your heart or roaring with laughter. Or you just didn’t show it to me?”

I glanced to her a little displeased. Yes, this time my heart beat fast too. My pulse suddenly raced/increased.

While we’re still on this desert island, a lovely scent tickled my nose. I got embarrassed and I averted my eyes.

“It seems like it’s all genetic. The difference between a person who laugh often and a person who doesn’t”

“Uhm…I don’t like this kind of reason. Even if it’s true”

Well, that’s not all. There’s also the possibility that the environment, in which one is mainly brought up, influenced this kind of thing.

“Should we try practicing once? How about that? Smile”

“For the time being, let’s start with the center of this area”

Said Horikita.

“Eh? Laughing practice?”

“How long do you feel like travelling? We decided already that we need to find food”

Horikita put Kushida in her place with a strong tone and a flat refusal. And immediately she fired instructions to deploy the people for the search.

“Two persons should search without acting alone. Beware of that. Let’s go Ayanokouji-kun.“

Being called, I started walking with Horikita.

“A-… Au…”

Huh? I saw Sakura who was following us from behind dropping her shoulders.

“Let’s find food together Sakura.”

Yamauchi, who called behind Sakura’s back, suddenly showed me thumbs up. It seemed that was the sign of using the chance of only two of us being together.

“Take care, Ibuki-san.”

Ibuki and Kushida who stayed paired up. Ibuki is unsocial as well but there shouldn’t be problem being with Kushida.

“Horikita, how will you handle the custom key card?”

“I check it on the sixth day of the trial, right… I always have it on me.”

Saying this, she put her hands in the pocket of her jacket letting me know it’s right there.

“When I improve the device, I’ll slip it among the students arranged by Hirata-kun. Ibuki and the others aren’t supposed to know.”

Well, I wasn’t worried much concerning the circumstances. Since it was the thing I had to pay the most attention to I’ll do it well.

“Could you show it to me?”

“Huh? Here?”

“It’s rather convenient here. It’s too suspicious in the basecamp.“

“… That’s true, but what will you do when you see the card?”

I explained the situation to Horikita who was giving me suspicious look.

“To be honest, I was being silent until now. Since I was together with Sakura she can confirm it later, but I saw students having some kind of keycard on the first day.”

I told Horikita about Katsuragi obtaining the card in front of the cave.

“However, I’m not sure if that was really the keycard. I haven’t properly seen the thing. I wouldn’t joke about the thrown telephone card, right?”

“… Right. If you’re absolutely positive, then that’s a huge accomplishment.”

Being convinced of the reason, Horikita turned to alert Ibuki and secretly took out the card. I received and checked its front and back. The back side was the usual magnetic card, but as Ms Chabashira said the front side was having the proof of the leader. The name of Suzune Horikita was carved. Even when I tried touching it with hands, I understood it wasn’t something to be peeled off.

“Well? Is it the same card Katsuragi-kun had?”

“No… Hmm. I thought I’d know seeing it… But it’s of a different color than I remember.”

“There’s a possibility that the keycard is of different color depending on the class.”

“Indeed. But there’s a shortage of material to decide. If we make a mistake we can’t recover.”

When I tried to return the card, I dropped it from my hand on the ground.

“Oh!”

At the same time I let my voice in panic, Horikita immediately reached out her hand to pick it up. She put the card in her jacket, but due to the noise we naturally gathered the attention of surroundings.

“What happened?”

Kushida looked over here a bit worriedly. Ibuki as well.

“No, it’s nothing. There was a bug and I got surprised. Yuck.”

When I looked at Horikita apologizing, she glared at me terrified.

“S-sorry…”

Horikita became extremely furious and took a distance from me.

“Did she dump you?”

Yamauchi approached grinning.

“Look, Yamauchi. I have to ask for advice so would you lend me your ear?”

“What is it, is the consultation fee for love expensive?”

“This vicinity’s ground is full of mud due to rain, right? I want you to put this mud all over Horikita’s hair. Can I ask you that?”

“… Huh? If I do that I’d get killed! I certainly won’t do that!”

Of course, I understood I won’t get an agreement. However, this was an act that was too unnatural for me to carry out. Since Yamauchi is normally good at telling lies and doing pranks, I thought he could pull off this stunt.

“You know, even if Horikita gets mad at me it’s still uncool to do a revenge.”

“Maybe if you do it, you’ll get an opportunity to get an email address from Sakura.”

“Whaa—- !?”

“How’s that?”

“Huh, Sakura’s email address… Hm. I, I’ll do it.”

Boy that lives for love quickly decides to die for it. This decisiveness is amazing.

“Are you absolutely sure? If you’re lying I won’t do it.”

When I gave a sign, Yamauchi gathered up a lot of near-by mud with both hands and turned behind Horikita’s back. If she had not been ill, she might have noticed signs, but Horikita couldn’t afford to pay attention to her surroundings now. Kushida and Ibuki, noticing the bizarre behavior of Yamauchi, were watching curiously. And then, Yamauchi did it. With all one’s strength he covered Horikita’s beautiful black hair in mud with both hands. He filled her up all over with both hands. He didn’t have to overdo it, but well…

“Ahaha! Horikita, you’re full of mud! Funny!”

Like a youngster, Yamauchi laughed at the prank pointing finger.

As if she couldn’t grasp the situation for a moment, Horikita didn’t move for a while. However, when she understood it, she got up and without words grabbed Yamauchi’s hand that was pointing at her.

In a moment of confusion Horikita threw away Yamauchi.