27 "Serious side"
"Is this really alright?" Miyake asked as put his hand over his pocket with a complicated expression while we were walking through the dense forest back to our class.
"Don't worry about it, this is a countermeasure in case of someone screws up and accidentally reveals who our leader is." I lightly patted him on his back with a reassuring smile.
"It still feels weird lying to everyone. How do you even intend to hide it from everybody when I will be required to reclaim the spots in 8 hours intervals?"
"I have that covered, though, we might not be able to fool everyone, however, fooling everybody wasn't my idea, to begin with."
"You really are different from the "you" at classes, aren't you?" Miyake exclaimed with a faint smile.
"Maybe...Anyway, you should appreciate it since you are my first male friend who has seen my serious side" I replied trying to appear a bit embarrassed.
"...haha, alright, I will put my trust in you for the time being" Miyake laughed and bumped his fist into my shoulder with a wide grin on his face.
---Akito Miyake---
Affection: 10 -> 20
???
???
Silver Tongue lv. 1 (45/100, passive) -> Silver Tongue lv. 1 (47/100, passive)
[Revealing your "secrets" to others helps you raise their affection significantly, however, be careful to whom you share your secrets]
Interesting...Just from saying that this is my "serious" side, his affection raised this much.
"Thanks! Since you said it yourself, I will now reveal our next steps once we return..." I replied with the same grin before explaining what we should do when we return and Miyake nodded at everything with a focused expression.
Good to see that he takes it seriously.
.
.
"Haha, you should seriously consider the archery club!" Miyake released a hearty laugh.
"I will certainly look into it later"
When we arrived back, there were a few students who were missing but those who remained there had their eyes glued to us.
"...What?" I asked with a confused expression when I saw them staring at us.
"Were they always such good friends?"
"I don't know but they look close"
"I have actually seen Ike-kun observing the archery club's practice, maybe they share the same interest"
Students began to whisper to each other and Hirata decided to step forward.
"You have returned faster than I anticipated, good. Shall we finally claim this spot?" Hirata suggested with a friendly smile.
"Yeah" I immediately went towards the device with Miyake following closely behind me.
"W-wait!" Hirata quickly called out to us when I was right next to the device called "spot".
"Hm? What is it? Shouldn't we claim it as soon as possible?" I acted confused.
"I agree, however, we should form a circle around it so nobody else can see who claims it" Hirata quickly explained with a lowered voice.
"Currently, most of the classes should be focused on finding the ideal spot to set up as their basecamp so I don't really think-" "Kyaaa!" Before I could finish, a shriek came from behind everybody making everyone turn that way with alarmed expressions.
It was Inogashira who was now the center of everyone's attention.
"...I-I have seen a spider on my shoulder...I hate spiders...sorry" Inogashira lowered her head for scaring everybody but Hirata only released a sigh of relief.
"It's alright, as long as nothing serious hap-"
"It really works like we were told...interesting" I muttered aloud, making everyone turn back at me just to see me standing in front of the device with the card in my hand.
"Ike-kun!"
"Chill, chill!" I quickly hid the card in my pocket.
"Who was it that said he is responsible?" One of the girls asked aloud but no one replied to her question.
After a while, everyone calmed down, however, while my eyes were scanning everyone, my eyes met with Ayanokoji's calm gaze.
'Yeah, you are probably already suspicious or most likely aware of the current situation.' Before I told Chabashira who the leader is, I have been contemplating whether I should name myself and get the fake card for Miyake since that should be able to confuse him a little, however, there was no merit in fooling Ayanokoji even if I managed to keep the truth from him for the full duration of this test.
His goal should be to win this test, if he doesn't even have to put in the effort, he might even be thankful to me.
---Kiyotaka Ayanokoji---
Affection: 0 -> 1
???
???
'?! What the fuck?' Those were my first thoughts from seeing the blue text, however, I quickly recovered and found a plausible explanation.
In his case, affection should be replaced with interest or curiosity instead then it would make some sense.
.
.
Like in the original, Shinohara was against drinking water from the river so I had to explain how we can just boil the water to get rid of any bacteria if the girls were that worried. It took some time to persuade them but in return, my Silver Tongue improved significantly
Silver Tongue lv. 1 (50/100, passive)
Spending all the time in such a hot temperature, running around, and organizing everyone took quite a toll on me which was actively helping me raise my Iron Will.
I helped set up the tents, created a campfire, and asked Yamauchi and Ayanokoji to collect some sticks to keep the fire from dying.
The moment they returned, they weren't alone but with one girl who wasn't from our class.
.
.
"What should we do? It's Ibuki from Class C after all..."
"Isn't it natural to help her?" I asked as if it goes without saying.
"I agree with Ike-kun" Hirata agreed and approached Ibuki to ask what happened to her.
"But what if she is a spy?" Sato asked without bothering to lower her voice.
"I doubt it, she has bruises on her face, it doesn't look like she willingly came to our camp to spy on us. Let's give her a chance" I said with the most charming smile I could produce.
"...A-Alright" Sato continued staring at me with her mouth agape for a few seconds before she quickly replied.
When I secretly glanced at Ibuki, she seemed a bit taken aback while looking my way.
'Seems like she heard everything, good'
