29 Class B's camp

The next morning...

"Ike-kun, what should we do now that we had decently set up our basecamp?" One of the girls named Nene Mori asked me and a few other girls behind her paid close attention to me.

"Well, we have a good amount of branches stocked up so we don't have to worry about that. Right now, it would be good to explore the area more thoroughly however we can't just let people aimlessly walk around since it's going to just tire them or worse they might get lost. We have an unlimited source of water but the food is still scarce, we have enough corn to last one or at most two nights. Let's see..." I faced the forest and thought while rubbing my chin.

"I say we form 3 groups that will explore the forest in more depth while the rest is going to explore the surroundings to forage some food. How about that?" I turned back at them and asked with a smile.

"Yeah! That sounds reasonable, we will tell the others. Do you wish to form those groups on your own, Ike-kun?"

"Nah, let the others volunteer and form the groups on their own" I waved my hand.

When the group left, another individual approached me and only then did I realized how tiring it is to act as a leader.

"You haven't eaten yesterday, didn't you? Take this" It was Shinohara who offered a handful of fruits while avoiding my eyes.

"Hm? Haha, I ate enough, there is no need to give me anything you and the girls foraged."

I certainly skipped meals yesterday, however that's because...

Iron Will lv. 1 (54/100) My skill was steadily increasing along with my stats.

"Are you sure? The girls wanted to give you at least this much for your efforts plus we have seen you giving up your own corn to Ibuki yesterday." Unlike the original, she was much more friendly with me and now she was even showing concern for me.

"I am experienced in this, I know what my body wants the best so tell the others not to worry about my health" I gave her thumbs up with a grin which made her reluctantly nod before leaving me alone.

Since everyone was somewhat busy, I decided to take a little stroll through the forest, slowly filling up the previously blank map. After around an hour of aimlessly walking around, I was met with a surprising sight. It was one class's camp and after observing it for a while from afar, I discover it to be Class B's camp.

'If I remember correctly, the girl who confessed to Ichinose should be their leader...I think Chihiro Shiranami is her name. Anyway, this is a good chance for me to prove something.' I approached the camp but still kept a reasonable distance since I wasn't invited and couldn't just walk in on my own.

After a moment, I saw that a few students noticed me and one of them run off somewhere, most likely to get Ichinose or Kanzaki and indeed, after a while, Ichinose appeared amongst the crowd.

"Oh?! Ike-kun!" After seeing me, she started waving at me with a bright smile, motioning for me to come in.

Despite this being a test, her expression is brighter than the morning's sun.

"Hello, Ichinose-san...and everyone else, I am Kanji Ike from Class D" I approached them and greeted Ichinose before turning to her classmates with just as friendly smile as when I greeted her.

Everyone politely nodded their heads and smiled, none of them introduced themselves since it would take a long time to do that so they just dispersed and continued doing their jobs.

"How did you find our camp? We were actually about to go look for your camp." She asked with a curious expression.

"Actually..." I explained how I got here.

"Hehehe, you accidentally found it when you were taking a stroll? Since you are already here, do you want a little tour of our humble camp?" She giggled a little after hearing my explanation.

"Sounds good" I gratefully accepted.

Ichinose showed me around and I even managed to see a student from Class C who was taken in by Class B just like our class took in Ibuki. At that point, I was sure Ryuen was attempting the same strategy just as in the original.

"Ichinose-san, can we go somewhere with a bit more privacy? I would like to ask you something." When I asked this, she stopped walking and turned at me with a surprised expression.

"...Sounds fishy but I owe you one so~...let's just go behind the tent, it should be an isolated place enough" She said with a playful tone before winking at me.

.

.

"I will be frank, Class D would like to form Collaborative partnerships with Class B. As of now, Class B's main concerns are Class A and Class C while Class D's only concern is Class C. We have a mutual enemy so I believe it might be beneficial for us to cooperate at least during this test."

"Oh, is this Horikita-san's idea? I helped her a little with Sudo-kun's incident before so she struck me as a vital person in your class." She sounded a bit interested.

"...It's my idea" After a while of hesitation I replied truthfully since I didn't know how much Horikita got involved with Ichinose and getting caught lying would probably destroy my relationship with her.

"Oh?! I see, I see! We certainly would like to cooperate with you guys since we already have some experience in working together." She leaned forward, looking a bit surprised that I took initiative instead of my class's leaders

"Could you share with me what your class spent points on till now?"

"Of course, we bought-"

"-overall we spent around 70 points!"

"I see, one of our classmates already retired and we spent around 29 points" I also told her what we bought and how we found a small corn field. Since we found cooking tools, we didn't have to buy another yet.

"Wow, you only spent 29 points?! How did you solve the trouble with the shower?" She sounded really impressed.

"Our camp right next to a river so we bought cheapest items made of tarps which in return we used to build fairly big shower area. We formed pairs for using the shower, one person is inside and the other is bringing hot water then both switch sides. There is enough space for like 4 people so it's fairly quick."

"I am surprised girls agreed to this, don't get me wrong, it doesn't sound bad but I can imagine some people having a problem with it"

"Yeah, we needed to have a really long discussion about it since the shower in the catalog is too small and it would take ages to take turns."

"Since we are now partners, I would like to ask something but I might appear pretentious" I avoided her beautiful blue eyes.

"Hmm? Go ahead!" Both her tone and expression reassured me so I decided to come out with it.

"To consolidate this cooperation, would your class be willing to share its leader?"

"?! That's..." Her eyes justifiedly widened.

"Obviously, I am not asking Ichinose-san to go first. Therefore..." I took out the card from my pocket and showed her my picture and name on it.

"Ike-kun is-?!" Her surprise only strengthened when she saw me casually showing the card to her.

'I am sorry...' I inwardly felt sorry for her, I was positive she wouldn't want to share this information with me therefore I took the card out before she could refuse. With Ichinose's personality, she wouldn't be able to just refuse after seeing me risking everything by putting my trust in her.

"I...can you please wait a moment, Ike-kun?" She had a complicated expression so I just nodded and waited behind the tent after she went back to her classmates.

After a while, she returned.

"Here..." She showed me the card that said "Chihiro Shiranami"

'Looks like my presence or actions till now didn't influence the choice of leaders which means Class A's leader should also be the same'

"With this, we are on the same boat, aren't we heh?" Her bright smile felt like a knife to my heart but as long as she wouldn't vote for me, she wouldn't discover I just tricked her.

"Yeah!" I replied with a similar bright smile.

I really am awful, ain't I? Though it's not like I am not aware of what a piece of shit I used to be and still am.