84 #83 Survival Test 7

'Is there any real reason why he chose me to help him? He would have probably been better off asking Ike's group instead of me...Ayanokoji...you have been oddly too proactive ever since the survival test began, this isn't your style at all.' Yuichi thought while looking at Ayanokoji's back with cold eyes.

"Um, excuse me?" When they were about to enter the forest, someone called out from behind them in low voice.

"Hm? Sakura?" Both of them turned around and seemed a bit confused about what she could want.

"I-I have overheard what you were just talking about...if it's all right with you, can I join?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Overheard?" Yuichi asked with a teasing smile which pressured Sakura a little bit but it was enough to break her.

"I-I swear I wasn't eavesdropping on you two! I just happened to be nearby and...since I was both of you together...I thought that..." She quickly denied a claim that hasn't even been mentioned before she tried to explain herself but with every word, her voice got lower until both were unable to decipher what is he muttering to herself.

"We would welcome more helping hands but are you sure? Aren't you too tired?" Ayanokoji asked her without mentioning any stuff she has said just a second ago.

'Is he asking out of worry or because he wants to talk to me in private? Anyway...' Yuichi put his hands into his pockets and glanced behind Sakura at the group of girls engaging in conversation and immediately understood her slightly uncomfortable expression.

"Forget it, if she wants to tag along let her. She knows that two of us should be enough so there shouldn't be any "sense of responsibility" within her consciousness." Yuichi said before taking the first few steps inside the forest and two quickly followed but before they could completely leave their base, someone else arrived who wanted to join in. It was Yamauchi who was together with Ike when they found their current base's spot so it was kind of weird for him to offer help but Yuichi accepted his help since they can bring many more branches this way.

Four of them set off to pick up nearby branches for the campfire and Yuichi hoped that no one else will come running to join in since 4 people were already enough to pick some branches, not to mention, he was still suspicious of Yamauchi's true intentions for helping them out.

When they found suitable they decided to split up a little bit but not too far away from each other.

While Ayanokoji and Yamauchi went together with some distance away from Sakura to pick some branches, Yuichi took it easy and first started drawing terrain into his map before he also went to pick some branches.

After a few minutes, Yamauchi approached him with almost empty hands which made him take a quick glance at Ayanokoji who was carrying quite a lot of branches all alone.

"Hey, Iwamura...How is it going?" Yamauchi asked in a low voice while occasionally glancing towards Sakura.

"...Good, is something the matters?" Yuichi asked while bending his knee to pick up a few more branches.

"No, no, everything is good...It's just that I have something to ask you...How well do you know Sakura?"

'Hm? I see...he is just horny, that's why he chose to help. I knew from the beginning that he isn't the type of person who would just help without any reason.'

"Not good enough...I probably know as much as you do, well, probably even less." Yuichi shook his head and replied. Yamauchi then tried to convince him to make Ayanokoji a little busy so he can be alone with Sakura and get to know her a bit closer, of course, Yuichi couldn't care any less about Yamauchi's lower member's feelings but he wouldn't go out of his way just to help him in his love life, not to mention that he most likely just wanted to get into her pants since he changed his target from Kushida to Sakura.

'Was this what those two were talking about? No...it can also be just a disguise to make it look like they were talking about such trivial things, however, I doubt that Yamauchi would be able to play it well like that...Maybe I am a little bit too cautious of Ayanokoji and I should divert my attention to other classes.' Yuichi thought while looking at the ground with a thoughtful expression on their way back, however, the group in front of him suddenly stopped so he followed their exemplar and looked forward at what's happening.

There was a girl sitting on the ground, leaning against the tree. Yuichi was sure that she wasn't from his class which would make him just ignore her for now but she was in an alarming state. Her cheek was all red and swollen which suggested that the one who hit her didn't take her gender into consideration at all.

She looked up at the group of four before quickly averting her eyes, acting as if all of this was humiliating to her.

Yuichi noticed that if it wasn't for Ayanokoji, Yamauchi would have happily continued bragging in front of Sakura but when he finally noticed the girl, he stopped right in front of her.

"What?" The girl finally asked and the tone of her voice if described would definitely be the unpleasant one. It was clear that she wasn't happy at all to run into them.

"Oi! Are you all right?!" Yamauchi asked with a worried expression when he finally noticed a big red swollen mark on her cheek.

'I have can't pinpoint this girl's class but considering she is here without her classmates...Either Class A or Class C.' Yuichi thought and glanced at the dirt next to her, the ground was too perfectly smoothed and there was no grass at all which didn't make any sense at all. He also noticed her sorry state, she was quite dirty but what he found interesting that her fingers and palms were much dirtier than her clothes.

'I see...Someone is already on the move, perhaps?' Yuichi thought of many possibilities while the 3 of them were chatting until others discovered that it was just a class dispute so there was no need to call the teacher if she wouldn't report the person who did it to her herself.

"Why won't you come with us? We are from Class D." Yamauchi asked before looking at Sakura for approval.

Both Sakura and Ayanokoji nodded which shocked Yuichi a bit.

Noticing that Yuichi didn't respond, Ayanokoji glanced at him questioningly which was caught by Yuichi.

'?! ...Ayanokoji knows better than that...She isn't someone we can just take back with us, he is much smarter than this, and I refuse to believe he agreed out of pity. He might have agreed just because others did but what was up with that quick glance, it felt as if he was awaiting my next move... If I agree right away, he will know that I have an ulterior motive in doing so but if I disagree, they will question my morality.' Yuichi quickly covered his mouth with a thoughtful expression.

'For now, I will redirect it to the others.'

"Is that really all right? Shouldn't we get others' permission first?" Yuichi asked with a worried tone.

"Yeah, what are you saying doesn't make any sense. I am from Class C therefore I am your enemy. I won't be welcomed there even though I was kicked out of my class' base." She said in an almost angry tone as if she was angry with others to agree so easily.

'Class C, HA! Ryuen is already on the move and it looks like he can even be ruthless to the girls, haha, good!' Yuichi immediately frowned when he heard from which class she is from.

"Don't talk nonsense, we can't just leave you here! It's going to be dark soon so we won't let you remain here on your own! Don't you think that's the right thing to do, Iwamura?" Yamauchi said heroically, trying to score some points with Sakura.

"I guess you are right...You can '(fuck off to the boat and lose your class 30 points instead of joining our camp to play a cheap-ass spy)' come with us" Yuichi muttered before he leaned forward and said with a smile and closed eyes while extending his hand to help her up.

'What about leaving her here at night? I don't see where is the problem when she can just retire from this test if her class hates her so much. Ryuen...if your strategy is to plant a spy in every class by making them look like a pitiful beaten puppy then I must say I am very disappointed and that I overestimated you.'

However, the girl actually slapped his hand away, saying that she doesn't need their pity and help but after Yamauchi said that they wouldn't leave without her which was once again just to improve Sakura's opinion of him, she finally agreed to come with them, of course without attacking them with insults for being idiots.

'Truly...They are being idiots, well, at least Yamauchi and Sakura. Ayanokoji...you have agreed with others but furthermore, you have gone out of your way to reassure the girl that others will accept her...I have changed my primary target. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, I want to see what you are plotting behind everyone's backs!' Yuichi thought on their way as he kept staring at Ayanokoji's back with dull green eyes.

Obviously, Ayanokoji noticed him staring a few times which made him turn around but all he saw was Yuichi's bright smiling face with closed eyes.

On their way back to the camp, they slowly succeeded in breaking the ice and the girl finally introduced herself as Ibuki Mio.