76 #75 The beginning of Survival Test
"I apologize on their behalf, I will have a talk with them later." Katsuragi said with a calm expression as he closed his eyes for a second before opening them and sharply looking at the students from Class A.
'He must be their classmate since only 1st years are on this ship and those stuck up students from Class A seem to respect him or even feel intimidated by him. Is he some sort of a leader in their class?' Yuichi thought as he secretly pulled Mei's sleeve to gesture her to stand behind him.
Mei was overall pretty surprised by what just happened, from her point of view she only saw Yuichi struck his hand past her, and then she heard a student who was behind her groan in pain. When she turned around, she finally saw Yuichi holding a guy's wrist that was quite close to her shoulder.
"B-But Katsuragi-san-" They wanted to convince their leader that it wasn't their fault but Katsuragi was smarter than this.
"Do you think I don't know about your opinion on students of lower classes? Anyway, I hope they haven't caused you any trouble." Katsuragi said sharply to his classmate before redirecting his gaze to Yuichi.
'I already knew that Yuichi's spatial awareness is amazing from the basketball matches but he just caught that guy's wrist without even looking...Did anyone else find it strange?' Mei was still a bit surprised by the development of the situation but when she looked at others, no one was really paying attention to Yuichi except for Ayanokoji but she couldn't make out what was he thinking about with his stoic expression. She also noticed him glancing at Yuichi's hand before looking away after being discovered by her. She decided to look down at Yuichi's hand and noticed that it was slightly shaking and occasionally it looked as if it had a desire to grip something in a violent manner, of course, Mei couldn't see so much just from Yuichi's slightly shaking hand but the same couldn't be said for Ayanokoji.
"Nothing happened so there is no need to apologize, well, at least to me or my friend here. I don't know about others, I am in no position to talk for my classmates." Yuichi said to Katsuragi with a calm expression before intending to leave, this time, he intended to take the shorter way and get past the Class A students. He also indirectly said that he isn't the leader just in case this Katsuragi student misunderstood something.
"I see..." Katsuragi nodded in an approving manner after seeing how Yuichi handled the current situation, he also understood the meaning of Yuichi's words and looked around the group to find someone who can speak for everyone but no one really knew what he was looking for. When he was just about to explain, another announcement came, telling the students to change into the jerseys and everyone should also bring their phones with them and assemble on the front deck in 30 minutes.
"Let's go!" Ike exclaimed with an excited expression, as he practically ran towards the cabin area.
This time, even girls agreed with him as they were looking forward to having the entire private beach for themselves.
When Yuichi was about to follow their example and go back to his cabin to change into his jersey, someone pulled the sleeve of his blazer.
"Hm?" When he looked next to him, he saw Mei looking downwards.
"*Thank you...*"
That was all she whispered before running off after everyone else.
"..." Yuichi just watched her back for a few seconds before a slightly guilty smile appeared on his face.
'There is no need for you to thank me at all.'
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By the time everyone finally changed into the jerseys and assembled on the front deck, the ship was already anchored by the pier and all students were free to disembark.
After getting to the beach, the students were immediately instructed to split up into their respective classes.
'...What is this mood, doesn't seem to me like a long-planned vacation.' Yuichi thought as he observed the expression of the teacher holding a few papers in one hand and a megaphone in another.
"I will now start roll call. When you hear your name, please respond." Chabashira-sensei said with a clipboard in hand while wearing the same type of jersey.
The entire set-up didn't look like "vacation" more like training camp but despite all evidence, Yuichi couldn't find many students from his class that seemed to notice it.
While Chabashira was in the middle of taking attendance, Ike started lowly complaining about how he already wants to go on the beach. Yuichi found it quite interesting how he couldn't even take a hint from their required clothes...Every student was required to wear a jersey, no exceptions, how could this even be the beginning of a normal vacation?
"Ehm" The Class A's homeroom teacher holding the megaphone named Mashima Tomonari quickly gathered everyone's attention once the roll call was finished. He first welcomed us and then informed of the absence of one student due to illness.
When the illness was mentioned, Yuichi's eyes unconsciously darted Horikita's way. Her usual appearance was neat, be it her hair, uniform, or even her manners, however, this time she was acting rather quiet and even her hair were disheveled. She had folded arms but to Yuichi, it looked like she was feeling slightly cold but he couldn't judge just from the appearance, however, her acting still made him more cautious of her. He already made a mental note to keep an eye on her during this "vacation"
"Couldn't participate, huh? Poor guy." Even Ike who was restless to go, has shown sympathy for the student who was absent.
'Pretty weird to use 'participate' when it is supposed to be a vacation...' Yuichi rolled his eyes and hoped for the Class-A's homeroom teacher to reveal everything as soon as possible.
"Well then...We shall officially start the academic year's first special test." Mashima-sensei announced which immediately made a lot of students blinking, wondering if they have heard him right.
"S-Special test? What do you mean?!" Ike was most likely the most disappointed out of all students from Class D.
"The test starts right now and lasts for one week. This test will determine if you can live on a deserted island together as a group" Mashima-sensei explained through the megaphone.
Obviously, some students from Class B and C voiced out their worries regarding the place to sleep. Mashima-sensei explained that they will have to sleep outside and no one can board the ship without a suitably justifiable reason. He also immediately said what each class will get as items to survive on this island. One of the exceptions was the amount of sunscreen which was unlimited.
Students immediately made a fuss which was to be expected after hearing teachers say that they are expected to sleep outside, inside only 2 tents. Even if those 2 tents were extremely big, it would still be uncomfortable to sleep with so many people in one place.
Chabashira-sensei quickly scolded Ike and other students from Class D who were voicing out their complaints a bit too loud.
"Alright, I understand everything but isn't this supposed to be our summer vacation? Haven't we arrived here based on that pretext?" Ike calmed down and tried to calmly ask.
"You are not wrong there, but there is no need to worry because the theme of this special test is 'freedom'" Mashima-sensei said something which greatly confused students but he quickly proceeded to explain everything else.
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'Now I understand why they call it a special test...' Yuichi thought while looking around.
Each class receives 300 S-points as a budget and a survival manual where they can buy all kinds of items, be it food, water, or even luxurious things. When the test is over, the class's remaining points will be added to their total class points. There was no difficulty in this test and students weren't required to do anything except for surviving on this island for 1 week. Since a student from Class A was already absent, they were starting with only 270 points.
"Whoa, if we can keep as many points as possible, we can get close to even Class B, not to mention overtaking Class C!" Ike exclaimed with a dropped jaw.
His words garnered a lot of attention from Class D's students and Yuichi noticed that even Horikita was now interested more than ever, however, her slow and weak reaction really caught him a bit off guard.
'What is wrong with her? Is she on her period or is she really ill?' Yuichi frowned as he glanced at Horikita.
"But we don't have to save so many points, right? We already have quite a big allowance so no need to live here like vagabonds for the whole week." Naturally, the first one to voice such opinion were girls who couldn't stand the thought of sleeping outside and hunting for the food.
