26 Leader?

When we finally returned to the first spot we found, the others were already there, waiting for us.

"You are finally here, I started worrying that you might have gotten lost" Hirata approached us with a relieved expression, however, the rest of the students were staring our way with their mouths agape.

"By the way...where did you get all of that?" Hirata asked and took two "bags" from my hand. He was really considerate despite being shocked at the moment since he must have noticed that my hand was already slightly trembling and my biceps was already visibly tense.

While those two bags didn't weigh that much, the environment and heat made every physical activity twice as hard. Not to mention I couldn't switch it between my hands since I was also carrying a cooking set.

"So cool! Ike, you are like a real protagonist here!" Sotomura was the first one to speak out with an excited face.

"You might not be ripped enough, however, I believe it's still fitting to say you look to be in your natural habitat." He added while rubbing his chin.

"...Are you insinuating that I am some kind of wild animal?" I asked him with a blank expression.

"Forget about him, where did you find so much food?" Karuizawa urged with an impressed expression.

"We happened to find a small corn field and hut nearby it." I gave a vague answer but for most people, it was enough.

A blue text once again informed me that the affection of almost everyone raised a bit again.

Eyes of the Reader lv. 1 (52/100, active) -> Eyes of the Reader lv. 1 (54/100, active)

Silver Tongue lv. 1 (40/100, passive) -> Silver Tongue lv. 1 (41/100, passive)

"Isn't that place a spot?" Hirata asked with an interested tone.

"It sure is, however, I took a look around that place and it is not suitable to set up as our basecamp. Did you find anything useful?"

"I see. I am sorry but...we didn't find anything" Hirata replied with an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry about it, the most important thing is that we found enough food and we even have a good source of water being this close to the river, however, we should quickly decide who is going to be the leader before someone will snatch this spot from us." I urged them and Hirata nodded his head with a resolute expression.

"But who should we choose?" Someone finally asked the question everyone was most likely wondering about.

"What about Horikita-san? If we were to choose someone like Hirata-kun, it would be too predictable." Kushida suggested and everyone's eyes landed on Horikita who was barely spoke till now.

*sigh* "Alrig-" When Horikita was about to agree someone interrupted her.

"How about Ike-kun?" It was Yukimura who said this and everyone looked at me while I was stretching my arms to relieve the tension in my muscles.

"Eh?" I finally looked at the others with a confused expression. I never expected Yukimura to actually voice out objection.

"He isn't going to just waste our points and it seems just logical to pick someone who is actually experienced at camping out. I would dare to say he acted as a good leader until now, he even found a good spot, food, and cooking tools." He explained to everyone and adjusted his glasses.

"..." No one said anything for a good while.

"Ugh...he certainly acts more mature than usual." Karuizawa was the first one to reluctantly agree.

"Well, I am fine with that as long as everyone else is" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Alright, let's vote. Who is for this idea?" Hirata asked and students slowly began raising their hands.

"...Are you fine, with this, Horikita-san?" Hirata looked towards Horikita who had her arms crossed under her chest.

"Of course" She answered without showing any dissatisfaction on her face.

"In that case, I will go tell Chabashira-sensei" I said but I was quickly stopped by Hirata.

"Wait, wouldn't be better if someone other than the leader went for the card?"

"Then I will go with him. We might even confuse others since no one would expect the leader to go for his own card plus as it has been mentioned, choosing Ike is far from being predictable. If somebody from the other class saw us, they might even eliminate him as a potential leader." Miyake raised his hand and tried to reason with Hirata.

"Hmm...it's quite risky"

"Anyone who knows Ike-kun is aware that he is far from being responsible so this strategy might be worth the risk" Yukimura hesitantly agreed with Miyake's idea.

*sigh* "Fine but try to be as discreet as possible"

With Hirata's approval, we got practically approval from most of the girls and since no one objected we went back to the beach to inform the teacher.

When we finally arrived at the tent where our homeroom teacher was waiting, she seemed slightly intrigued to see us.

"So, did you finally choose your leader?" She asked disinterestedly.

"Yeah, but before we tell sensei, I have something to ask"

"Hm? Go ahead" Her interest was piqued and she replied with an amused smile.

"I would like to buy something with my private points and if not possible then with our points"

"Ho? And what would it be?" Her eyebrows raised in surprise.

I explained what I wanted and if it was possible and she...

"haha" She started laughing, though I had no idea whether she was laughing at me or if she found my inquiry amusing.

---Sae Chabashira---

Affection: 7 -> 8

???

???

Miyake glanced at me with a confused expression but didn't say anything as I have already told him a bit of my plan.

"How did you come up with that idea?" She asked out of curiosity since she most likely never imagined me requesting something like that, still, she didn't even bother asking whether it was my or someone else's idea.

"Money talks" I gave a very vague reply, nevertheless, she smiled at me as if she understood me, a sight I saw very rarely unless it was a contempt smile.

"It's going to cost you quite a bit, you are aware of that. right?" She asked with what I would describe as a sadistic smile.

I nodded with a calm expression.

"Fine, I will get them ready quickly so who is going to be the leader?" She asked, looking back and forth between me and Miyake with a knowing smile.