Chapter 75

Chapter 75

It was finally time for our short stint on the uninhabited island to come to an end. Our minor saving grace was that we hadn't spent our time rigorously fighting to survive. At least we'd had a moderate amount of fun? There still wasn't any sign of Mashima-sensei or the others, even when the test ended around noon.

"We're now tallying up the test results. Please wait a moment. Feel free to use the rest area if you would like, or have a drink."

After that announcement, the students gathered together and headed toward the rest area. Underneath the provisional tents, they'd prepared tables and chairs for our use, so we could get comfortable. Beside me, Sora gazed up at the ship, Shiro's hand clutched in his.

"Well, that's that, then. Back to a life of normalcy. Well, relative normalcy."

He mused aloud as his crimson eyes scanned over the scenery. All signs of last night's storm had completely disappeared by now, and the sun pierced through the clear blue sky like a spear, casting a sweltering heat down onto us.

"Well, we still have a week to spend on a luxury liner. That's something, at least."

"Ah, yes, right. The ship where I get the privilege of sharing a room with you. A ship is just a house but worse."

Sora kicked up some sand with his foot, sending a screen of golden grains scattering through the air.

Somehow, I felt like his likening between a ship and a house was slightly off, but decided it was better not to question it.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Apparently, somebody else decided to question it on my behalf.

Lelouch walked up behind us accompanied by Kururugi, and slapped Sora on the back.

"We were just talking about some random crap while we waited for you!" Sora retorted as he whipped his head around.

"Oh? You were waiting for me, were you? Not Light and Ryuzaki, who are missing, a bit like your brain ce—"

"We're here,"

Stepped out from the shrubbery nearby and calling out in a raised voice to us stood the pair of Light and Ryuzaki.

"What took you guys so long?" I asked, before deciding to tack on an extra bit. "Wait, let me guess. You found some 'alone time' together in a secretive place just now?"

I mimicked the teasing that I'd endured earlier in this very exam regarding Kushida.

Sora, Lelouch and even Kururugi giggled at my question. It was most likely because such a thing was unexpected to come from me.

"I didn't know you two swung that way," Shiro said as the two of them reached our side.

"We don't," they said in unison.

"What were you doing, hiding together in a secret location, then?" Sora pressed.

"We weren't in a secret location," Light sighed, denying it once more.

"Oh my, you did it in public?" Lelouch snorted.

"I'm getting déjà vu from this..." Ryuzaki muttered in defeat.

"It's because you fell into the same trap that Ayanokōji did a few days ago." Kururugi reasoned with a light smile.

It seemed that Kururugi had started to get used to the antics of our class by now, and even looked to have started enjoying the interactions somewhat.

"Mhm. If you see an opportunity, you must take it, as described in the holy text; rule 34 of the—"

Sora began talking about this mysterious 'Rule 34' again, but was cut off and yelped in pain as he was chopped in the ribs by Shiro.

"Nii said we can't say that in front of Ayanokōji."

"Ah, you're right. My bad." The brother apologised sincerely to his sister.

This was the second time that 'Rule 34' had came up in the last twenty-four hours. Somehow, I got the impression that these two were deliberately mentioning it in order to pique my curiosity. I wonder why...

"Hey, look who's finally decided to show up." Lelouch said, nodding towards the trees.

We all turned to look, and saw a bizarre yet not unexpected sight. Ryūen alone emerged from the wilderness, clad in messy clothes stained by dirt.

"Why is he...? So Ryūen-kun didn't retire?"

Murmurs from Class B and E echoed across the beach in confusion.

"Oh, hey there, sycophants. What happened to Suzune?" said Ryūen as he drew closer, a paper cup in hand.

I noticed the veins in Sudō's head bulge as he heard the name 'Suzune' cross Ryūen's lips, and he shot Ryūen a glare.

That wasn't the main concern here, though.

"Wait, what did he just say?" Sora said with a serious expression.

"He's right... Horikita is missing." Ryuzaki confirmed.

This meant one of two things. Either Horikita missed roll call and her whereabouts were unknown, or she'd dropped out. If the latter was true, then that means...

"You know, maybe she just got lost?" Lelouch suggested.

"What, she got lost making her way to the beach, even though this beach is where she was staying?" Light snorted.

"Hmm..."

"Earlier today, when I met up with Ichinose to prove Class D's leader guess for Class A, she mentioned that Horikita was resting in that tent over there."

I pointed to the tent that Ichinose had indicated towards earlier.

There are 2 possibilities – either she was still there resting as there was no need for her to be out here for the results announcements, or Ichinose was lying and Horikita dropped out.

Ichinose didn't seem like she was lying, but she may just be a good actor. No, more importantly, would Class B and E be able to think of a scheme like this? Having Horikita drop out and hiding it in such a manner.

I averted my eyes towards were Class B were. Sure enough, Chihiro was still present. If they were going to pull this strategy off, wouldn't they have had both Horikita and Chihiro drop out?

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the click of a megaphone being turned on. Mashima-sensei appeared on the beach. The first-year students hurriedly tried to form a line, but Mashima-sensei waved his hands at them to stop.

"It's fine. We don't mind if you want to keep relaxing. The test has already concluded. Now we've entered the summer vacation part of the trip, so it's all right if you loosen up."

Even though he'd said that, tensions were naturally running high for the students. They all stopped their chatter in an instant. "Over this past week, we, your teachers, have closely watched your efforts in this special test. There were some students who took on the challenge honestly, head-on. There were some who devised schemes to tackle the test. Many things have happened, but overall, the test results were splendid. Good work."

The students appeared relieved to receive such straightforward praise from Mashima-sensei. It seemed like everyone was finally starting to believe the one-week test was really over.

"Well then, to get straight to the point. I would like to announce the results of the special test."

There wasn't a single person, not even our own homeroom teacher, who had seen these test results.

"We will not accept any questions regarding the results, no exceptions. We would like you to accept the results you have been given, analyse them, and use them to help you for the next test. It is what it is. Don't wet yourselves over these results. You must accept reality, you know?"

"See, he's telling us to accept that Ayanokōji's strategy failed and we ended up with 0 points." Sora said sarcastically.

"That's what we should be saying to you Class C people. You used up all of your points, right? Don't make us laugh." Sudō poked fun at Class C's reckless behaviour loudly.

"We have 125 points remaining. I think we'll be quite fine," Hirata said.

He said so proudly, probably irritated by Ryūen's provocation. Ryūen responded by making a gesture that looked like he was vomiting.

"Ha. I'm jealous of the nerve of you small fry. How you can be satisfied with that amount of points..."

"It doesn't really matter whatever you say; Class C is still going to stay at zero points."

"Heh heh heh. Don't be hasty. It's certainly true we used up 300 points. However, have you forgotten the additional rules of this test?"

"So you're going to expose a class leader?"

"That's right. I wrote it on the paper, didn't I? The name of Class D's leader."

Hirata looked mildly disconcerted, however Sudō showed visible shock.

"Also, those guys in A and B wrote the same thing, too. Do you know what this means?" Ryūen said.

"Hold on a minute. What are you talking about, huh?! I-If you're telling the truth, then..."

Then Class D would be hit with penalties, and they would lose 100 points. Mashima-sensei's voice sounded through the megaphone.

"Now, we will announce the rankings. The lowest class, in fifth place, is Class C, with zero points."

"Bwah ha ha ha! Hey, check it out! You guys have zero points after all!"

When Sudō heard the results, he clutched his stomach in mocking laughter.

"Zero?"

Ryūen didn't seem to understand the situation. Mashima-sensei continued the announcements matter-of-factly.

"In fourth place is Class A, with 20 points. Third place, Class B, with 40 points. Coming in second place is Class E, with 209 points. And then, Class D has come in first with 424 points. This concludes the announcements."

Silence enveloped the beach. A gust of wind rushed past the stunned students, kicking up a plume of sand.

"What's the meaning of this, Katsuragi?!"

Voices saying such things echoed from one end of the rest area to the other. Class A students circled around Katsuragi.

"Something is strange... What does this mean?" he muttered.

"Only 424 points..." Shiro muttered. "We should have 524 if we take our previous calculation and subtract the 30 we spent on fireworks."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Well, we kept our bonus points from the spots, which means our leader remained unguessed... Meaning we were wrong about one of our own guesses." Sora surmised.

"Horikita dropped out after all... Is it just a coincidence?" Ryuzaki muttered, clearly unnerved.

"Hey, guys, we still won by more than 200 points, right? It's not such a big deal!" Kururugi tried to brighten the mood.

"The point is that we had everything mapped out, yet we fell 100 points short because something unexpected happened... Everything was taken into account... How could this be?" Lelouch narrowed his eyes.

For the first time, Class D took a hit to our confidence. We'd carefully thought about everything in this exam, yet we'd still made a mistake that cost us 100 points. It could've easily made a much bigger difference than it did.

"It must be because Horikita dropped out. But then, why? Was it literally just because she was ill? That'd be quite the coincidence, if so." Light speculated.

"No chance. Horikita is far too stubborn to drop out of her own free will." Sora denied it instantly.

"Someone must've forced her to drop out... But who? Why? And how?" Lelouch wore visible confusion.

"Well, before we think too hard, let's get back to the ship." I suggested, noting how everybody had already began to leave.

The exam was over, and the first-year students scattered. The ship was going to depart in two hours, and although we were free to play in the sea, we were also free to go onto the ship. I walked aboard.

"What're you writing, Shiro?" Light asked.

Shiro was writing something in our manual as we walked, which Light had noticed.

"The class standings after this exam... These are my calculations."

We stopped to peer at the page as Shiro turned the manual towards us so that we could see. It read:

Class A: 1024

Class B: 775

Class C: 500

Class D: 832

Class E: 296

"So we're Class B now. Nice."

Lelouch nodded in approval as he saw the results.

"Won't be long now before we reach Class A. I must say, for an alleged three year long experiment, this is going rather quickly." Sora laughed in amusement.

"Assuming things carry on at this pace," I corrected. "The other classes will be much more wary of us after this. Also, the future exams may not enable such a big gap in point gain to occur."

"Well, given three years, we'll end as Class A by the end anyway. No sweat," retorted Sora gleefully.

"Well, I must admit that that's likely." Light said.

When that times comes, if I graduate from Class A with these people, I wonder...

Will I feel fulfilled? How much will I have changed from how I am now?

Well, I suppose there was no point in thinking about the end right now. I should just take my time to enjoy the journey