#84 Survival Test 8

Yuichi went back to his previous position once they arrived back at the camp.

'They have welcomed her quite easily...Some of them were a bit suspicious of her being a spy but after seeing her acting how she wants to leave, they let her stay. Hirata is also a smart guy so he probably wants to keep her here just so her class loses points on every roll call, however, would Ryuen really let that happen? He will be losing the points 2 times a day for the duration of the entire week, he can't be that stupid and thoughtless, even if he guessed our leader, he wouldn't get many points this way, unless...' Yuichi thought with a thoughtful expression while leaning against the tree and holding his chin. When he was about to think of something good, he was suddenly interrupted.

"What exactly happened and why do we have someone from Class C in our camp?" Horikita who approached him while he was thinking interrupted him from his thoughts.

"Maybe try asking your other friend, he seems quite proactive during this test, as far as helping her settle in." Yuichi said in a sarcastic tone with a faint smile without even looking at her.

"That's right, I find that pretty strange but do you know what I find even stranger?" Horikita asked with her folded arms while leaning her back against the tree right next to Yuichi.

'Hm?'

"No, I have no idea, please enlighten me." Yuichi snickered and replied.

"I find it strange that you aren't the one who is helping her in Ayanokoji-kun's stead. Aren't you the one who usually helps others? So why is it that when you came back from the forest, you were the only one who was alone and the other three were attending to Ibuki-san." Horikita narrowed her eyes and turned her sight at Yuichi, faintly noticing the corner of his mouth rising up as in amusement.

"Haha, I wonder. Maybe because I trust Ayanokoji-kun and Sakura-san to take care of her plus what good it would make if I joined in? Two people should be more than enough, not to mention three. Anyway, we should refrain from talking in private like that..." Yuichi said while noticing Ibuki taking occasional glances their direction from the corner of his eye.

"So you are suspicious of her, after all..." Horikita muttered and closed her eyes.

"Hm? Haha, not at all, it's just that others might misunderstand us. They would have scolded us for flirting all the time without working on anything so you should probably run along before anyone notices us talking too long..." Yuichi said with a short laugh while "shooing" her away in a comical way.

"Your jokes are not appropriate at all...I will surely come back later to continue our conversation." Horikita said with her back facing Yuichi as she was slowly walking away from him.

"Sure, just don't miss me too much, it would be bad if you were to come back too early from our previous interaction." Yuichi said shamelessly without a change in his expression.

His words made Horikita stop in her tracks and turn at him with furrowed brows.

"Your witty remarks won't stop me from coming back even though I really dislike them." Horikita said before she resumed walking.

"Can't hate me for trying." Yuichi muttered with closed eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

"Now..." Yuichi muttered and glanced at the bag in Ibuki's hand.

'She is keeping it really close by, I wonder what she is hiding in there? There should also be something back on the spot where we originally found her...If she is hiding two things...what could it be? And why not bury it with that other thing? ...Because the thing she is hiding in her bag is going to be useful while being here but the other thing will be useless during her stay in our camp.' Yuichi thought while holding his chin.

---Some distance away from Yuichi---

"Who is that guy?" Ibuki noticed Yuichi who was in a position he could observe almost the entire camp. The only reason why she asked was that she was feeling uneasy ever since she first saw his inviting smile with closed eyes.

"Who? Oh, him...That's Yuichi Iwamura, he is probably busy thinking about our strategy for this test so that's why he isn't attending to you, normally, he would be helping you right now, he is really nice person." Kushida who was helping Ibuki replied with a smile.

"?! That's not it at all!" Ibuki's face grew slightly red before she replied with an angry expression.

"Ehm, anyway, are you really fine telling me all that? You just told me that guy is your class's brains." Ibuki cleared her throat and continued in a calmer manner

"Hm? You are just a victim in this situation plus he isn't our brains, well, I mean he is very thoughtful and all but he is usually working with Horikita-san." Kushida replied with a friendly smile.

"...I see" Ibuki nodded her head and secretly glanced at Yuichi from the corner of her eye.

'But why do I feel so uneasy around him? It feels perhaps even worse than around that person but there is no reason for me to hate him therefore it makes me feel really weird.' Ibuki thought while grasping her bag tighter.

------

'Anyway, I should think about how to look into her bag without anyone noticing, however, maybe I shouldn't do anything until I see what exactly is Ayanokoji doing. Maybe I should just protect Horikita's identity but if I will protect her too much, it might become obvious. Well, whatever happens, there is still Horikita with her sickness so we can always secretly swap our leaders but I doubt she would be happy, I would probably have to knock her out and carry her out personally, haha' Yuichi thought and stood up straight before stretching his arms while yawning.

"Are you tired? It's nothing surprising since you went to explore the forest twice already." Mei joined next to him and asked while leaning forward with her hands behind her back.

"Oh, if it isn't my favorite girl...I can always find some energy to talk to you, Mii-chan" Yuichi acted surprised to see her appear almost instantly next to him before he teased her with a smile.

"?! W-Who is your favorite girl?! Hmph! It's not nice to play with a girl's feelings." Mei blushed a bit before she turned her head away from him and replied while keeping her voice low.

"Are you pouting again? How cute..." Yuichi leaned closer to look at her face she was currently hiding from him before he said with a wide smile.

'If he continues like this, I will have a heart attack.' Mei thought and as she wanted to turn around, she noticed how close Yuichi's face was to hers which completely froze her.

"Earth to Mii-chan..." Yuichi said while slightly pulling her cheeks.

"Ow! Really?" Mei finally woke up and started rubbing her cheeks as her blush only deepened.

"Oops, I guess we should stop, others are giving us a weird look." Yuichi muttered before taking a step away from her.

"Wha-?!" Mei's eyes widened as she quickly looked behind at the others but no one was looking at them. At that time she knew that she got tricked again.

"You-! ?!" Mei clenched her fists and got ready to rebuke him once she turns around but once she did, she froze once again but this time in a different manner.

"Thanks for talking to me, you have recharged some of my energy just by coming by to talk for a bit, Mii-chan." Yuichi said as he was looking at her with a big smile, his look in eyes however was the most distinct for Mei. Mei already knew him quite well so she could also sometimes tell what are his real emotions while looking into his eyes.

And this was probably the first time she saw him with such bright green eyes. She knew that right now, he was truly feeling happy, after all, she saw such eyes almost on daily basis until the matter with Ren.

"Ah!" Remembering the old days, Mei quickly hid her red face behind her hands.

"I-I see, I am glad I could be of help, see you later!" Mei said and quickly run off without giving him a chance to say goodbye.

Yuichi had a surprised expression on his face for a while before it changed to a gentle smile.

'A romance, huh? Could this be considered flirting?' Yuichi thought that if it was Mei, he might be able to enjoy the thing called romance but on the other hand, thinking about it this way, it felt to him as if he was using her.

.

.

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At night...

In the end, the class discussed the matter about tents and decided to buy an additional one for boys, they also spent a few points on a simple portable shower mostly for girls but boys were aware that none of them will get a turn to use the shower because girls usually take a long time showering. The portable shower was only for 1 person at the time so it would take a long time for all people to shower, therefore it was decided that boys would clean themselves in the river.

"Iwamura-kun, are you not tired? We should already go back to the tent to catch some sleep, the first night will probably be pretty tough. The campfire should hold on until the morning." Hirata asked Yuichi who was the only one sitting near the campfire, playing with one branch, sticking it into the fire occasionally.

"Hm? You go ahead, I will remain for half an hour and then go back, please don't worry. I won't wake anyone up.

"Eh? Alright, please don't push yourself too much" Hirata said and went back towards the boys' tent.

"I won't, good night." Yuichi said and waved to him with the back of his hand without even looking at him.

After 30 minutes...

"I guess I should go to sleep already." Yuichi muttered while stretching his back while also looking towards girls' tents and the pile of their bags. Since there was already too little space, they couldn't afford to keep their bags inside.

Yuichi approached the boys' tent and when he opened up the zip, a slightly surprised expression appeared on his face.

"I guess I should also go greet nature unless I want to wake everyone up in the middle of the night." Yuichi muttered before he closed the tent's entrance with the zip.

However, instead of going to the toilet, he threw a last glance towards girls' tent before disappearing behind the tent.

'Now...only wait 5 more minutes. Everyone inside here should be asleep, if no one gets out of the girls' tent I can do my thing...' Yuichi thought while sitting behind the boys' tent.

He waited long enough but no one came out so he decided it's time.

He went towards the pile of bags and looked for Ibuki's bag, fortunately, it was the first bag that was in the front.

'...Digital camera? Hmm, there is no time to think about it. As tempted as I might be to ruin it with the water, it would be the same as saying that someone is aware of her actions and my ultimate goal isn't to smoke her out as a spy, at least not yet.' Yuichi searched the bag and put the digital camera back into Ibuki's bag before putting it back in its original place.

He took a really small piece of leaf and put it between 2 strips of metal before closing the bag with the zip. He tried to blow some wind on the leaf but it remained stuck inside the zip, unless, someone opens it again, the leaf shouldn't be blown off by the wind. Then, he put another leaf with the hole in the middle right under the bag.

'Now...almost done.' Yuichi left and went back towards the tent where he planted another leaf inside the zip when he was inside the tent.

'Finally done, hope no one notices this.' Yuichi thought before lying down on his spot before slowly slipping into sleep.