Chapter 5 : Invisible Enemy

It was 5 AM—the sun had just about risen.

In this time when over half of the students were still asleep, I heard

a strange sound outside of the tent and opened my eyes.

It was a truly tiny sound that made your ears buzz but was small

enough to mistake for a delusion.

To fully verify, I stuck my face outside of the tent. Sure enough, it

was faint, but a sound could be heard.

As if she had been similarly awakened by that sound, Nanase slowly

peeked her face out of her tent.

"Can you hear something?"

"Yes... Although it's vague, I can hear something that sounds like

electricity."

But as if there was a considerable distance to it, it was small enough

to mistake for one's ears buzzing on their own.

An alarm could be set on the tablet, but it took a long time.

"Could it be that it's an emergency alarm?"

"That's quite possible."

We woke up, taking off from our tents and once again listening for

the sound.

The sound Mashima-sensei broadcasted and had us listen to during

his explanation was almost the same as this.

But maybe because we were in the middle of the forest, the sound

reverberated before being heard.

"The ringing isn't showing any signs of stopping, isn't it?"

Since we noticed the alarm, 1 minute had already passed. The

warning alert should've sounded twice, but it was a mechanism that then cut off for 5 seconds. That being the case, if it continued to ring, the ringing couldn't be anything but an emergency alarm.

"If I recall correctly, after 5 minutes pass—"

"The wristwatch will calculate our current position and rescue will come, is what should happen."

In case the sound didn't stop for long enough, it would be enough to

assume a considerably dangerous situation had happened.

"Should we find out what's going on before the school's staff get

here?"

"Seeing the reason for ourselves, huh. Though it's dawn, we still

can't see much, and if we make a mistake we could also become victims of a disaster."

"When you're saving someone a reason is necessary isn't it?"

Instead of looking mad, her pupils sparkled with an exceeding pureness that shot through me.

Even if I didn't agree, I could see that she had determination strong enough to go by herself.

"If you will act then it's better to have more hands. Let's wake up Sudou and the others."

"Yes."

Sudou, Ike, and Hondou were sleeping in their tent, so we split up and woke them each up separately.

We took the half-awake trio outside of their tent and explained the situation to them while we moved.

The interior of the forest was dim and had poor visibility. It was necessary to carefully shine light at our feet since there was concern over our footing.

Nanase and I each had 1 flashlight, while Sudou's group had 1 flashlight altogether, giving a total of 3.

I couldn't say that we were able to guarantee enough light, but there was no choice but to make do with what we had.

From there, we brought 1 tablet in order to keep track of our location. "Anyway, I'll take the lead."

Despite the given situation and his own anxiousness, Ike volunteered

to take the lead.

"I truly apologize, but wouldn't you be willing to refrain?"

"Eh? W-Why?"

"As long as we can't see much, someone who cannot practically be

trusted cannot take the lead. That's because we should entrust the lead to someone who is skilled in emergencies and can pick the most appropriate route."

"No, but look, I'm probably the most capable here—"

"Couldn't you please do it, Ayanokouji-senpai? If it's senpai's judgement, I can follow without getting lost."

Without even listening to Ike's reply, Nanase pushed such a request onto me. The truth was it was a race against time.

I didn't have time to waste on giving these three a flimsy excuse.

"The ones who are holding pocket flashlights are me, Nanase, and Ike. Sudou and Hondou will be at Nanase's back, and Ike, we'll entrust the rear to you."

Explaining just that, I stood at the lead and started to walk without getting lost.

"N-No? Ah, that's fine though... Is it really okay, Ayanokōji?"

Ike was left behind by the fact that I was in the lead, and didn't understand the situation.

"It's fine, so hurry up. If it's Ayanokouji, it's probably fine."

As Sudou overbearingly pulled Ike's arm and said that, our party of five departed.

"If we're walking in this kind of situation, there really is a possibility of injury, isn't there?"

"Why are we moving at a time like this—"

The dissatisfied Hondou rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"It's not that surprising. If our next designated area is far, it'd be

especially necessary to start travelling at this time."

Even though the school was designating areas with consideration,

the random element coming into play could result in cases where forcing yourself to move at early mornings like this or late at night may appear.

The emergency alert sound that had been drawing closer bit by bit was still resonating strongly.

No, this was...

"If someone is there, answer me—!"

Sudou faced the direction where the emergency alert sound had been

coming from and called out, but neither his voice nor his movements were felt.

"Why isn't there a reply... I-It can't be a ghost's doing, can it?"

As if he just heard an ominous noise from this alert, Hondou's body started trembling.

"It's not like they are in a situation where they can't reply, are they?" "If that's the case it might be extremely serious."

Anyway, we'd made it far enough to make direct contact with the

source of the transmission, so there was nothing left to do but to verify

it with my own eyes.

Feeling an urge to hurry up, I aimed the light at my feet and

advanced towards the center of the forest.

"Everyone, wasn't that sound a bit bizarre?"

Nanase who was walking behind me noticed how out of place that

sound felt.

"Bizarre? Well, indeed, maybe it's because we're inside a dark

forest, I feel uneasy but..."

"No, that's not it—"

"The number of times we could hear it, right?"

When I turned around and answered, Nanase strongly nodded once. "I thought that this was a simple reverberation caused by noises that

have been coming from the center of the forest recently. But when we went closer I understood. These are 2 noises that are ringing."

In the case of an emergency alarm ringing, it would imply an extremely dangerous situation.

In my head I couldn't imagine that it would occur multiple times, so close to each other.

But after having come this far we could see it clearly.

The emergency alarms, which were sounds with a fixed rhythm, had been sounding from a similar place at similar times.

It's just that the timing had been a little bit different, and then we would hear it after it reverberated.

"Scary... after this point, is it okay for us to advance...?"

In this mountain road where little by little, the slope was becoming tougher and tougher, Hondou breathed out a weak complaint.

For those two who had fallen to dangerous situations continuously, it wasn't unreasonable to be scared.

We drew closer until we could hear a loud alert noise.

We stopped for a second and, shining our flashlights on anything we could shine them on, looked for the source of the transmission.

Not long after, as we shined light before us, we discovered the silhouette of someone who had collapsed.

"That's... Komiya?!"

The first one to recognize the identity of that silhouette was Sudou. There was no mistaking it. As he said, it was Class 2-B's Komiya. "O-Oi, what the hell is this... H-Hold on, Komiya!"

Maybe it was because they were in the same basketball club, but

Sudou panicked and rushed over to the collapsed Komiya. "Senpai..."

"Yeah, I'm here."

As expected, there weren't 1 but 2 wristwatches that were ringing. At a position a few meters away from Komiya, another alert was

echoing. It was Kinoshita Minori from the same B-class. It seemed that even Nanase got confused by the strange scene for a second, but from Komiya's position she rushed over to Kinoshita who had collapsed nearby.

To advance my understanding of the situation, I let the others confirm their well-being and surveyed the surroundings. The fact that Shinohara, who was in the same group, wasn't here, and that no backpack could be seen weighed on my mind.

"Oi Komiya! What happened to Shinohara?!"

"It's useless, Komiya isn't showing any signs of waking up..."

I could hear that exchange between Ike and Sudou.

After I manually disabled both of their emergency alerts, the forest

was once again quiet.

"Kinoshita-san will not wake up either. Based on the dirt on her

jersey and the state of her wounds, I fear that it's likely that..." Nanase looked at the tall side of the cliff and the steep inclination

and said that.

Since Sudou also confirmed Komiya's condition, he nodded. Either

one of them accidentally tumbled down because of the unexpected steep slope. Then the other one tried to help them and ended up suffering the same... huh.

If we take a close look at the slope, there were indeed traces of someone tumbling down that remain.

In other words, it was possible that both Komiya and Kinoshita had their feet slip on the side of the cliff.

In this darkness, it was quite possible to accidentally step outside of the path. The ground was also quite wet and damp, so would've been easy to slip. I shone a light on my feet. The ground was a little bit muddied, and there were small signs of footprints depending on where I stepped.

When I shined the light on the path of the two footprints which approached Komiya and Kinoshita, they were barely noticeable. Furthermore, the traces of something that could be thought to be more

of the person's footprints also remained, although barely.

Those footprints approached the position of the two and suddenly

turned around.

Its relevance was unclear, but it meant that there is a possibility that

someone else was here aside from Komiya and Kinoshita.

Shinohara? But it was hard to believe that she would disappear

without helping her teammates.

Even if we were to go and call someone, they would probably just

come near enough to verify that we're safe and leave.

If I compared the size of the tracks left behind to my own feet, I

understood a small detail. The size of my shoes was 26cm. On the other hand, the size of the footprints left behind were 1.5-2cm smaller. The chance that it was a man couldn't be eliminated, but the chance that it was a woman seemed higher.

Suddenly feeling a presence, I shone the light and turned my face towards the northwest.

But in this forest where my vision was filled with thick trees and cover-providing darkness, I couldn't see anyone.

Maybe they had some reason to feel guilty, and weren't coming close.

For now, I decided to forget about that presence and checked what was at Kinoshita's feet.

Because there was a possibility that by some chance, Kinoshita was walking before she lost consciousness.

However, around the area where Kinoshita collapsed, there were no traces of walking at all.

As expected, it was probable that those footprints were traces left behind by a 3rd person.

Like Komiya, Kinoshita's face and clothes were cut up and covered with dirt, but there didn't seem to be any major wounds.

"Anyway, the bigger problem is what we will do when the teachers get here."

The extent of their injuries was unclear, but a medical check was without a mistake unavoidable. Even if they really did fall from that slope and lost consciousness, a detailed investigation was necessary and the development that they would be declared as "retired" was hard to avoid. The two in question probably didn't have the leeway to wake up and smooth things over with a lie.

If Shinohara ended up in a similar state somewhere, Komiya's group would've been forced to retire in a single blow.

None of them were carrying an insurance card either, so if that happened it'd be unavoidable for them to be expelled.

"Shinohara—!!"

Inside the dim forest, Ike raised his voice.

It wasn't strange to send out a signal for her to reply to, in case she

was nearby.

The fact that no voice came meant that as expected, Komiya and her

group were probably wrapped up in some sort of accident. Ike was about to start running to look for her, so I quickly grabbed him.

"If you recklessly thrust yourself into looking for her without even bringing a tablet, you'd get lost."

"Th-That's right, but still!"

"I understand you feel impatient. The fact that she didn't reply even though you loudly called for her is strange, after all."

"Y-Yeah. That's why we need to hurry up and look for her!"

"But if she had been seriously injured, it wouldn't be strange for her phone alert to start ringing like Komiya's as well. Right?"

But we haven't heard a single sound ringing aside of Komiya and Kinoshita's emergency alerts.

"That's... Well, that's true..."

"Just from the fact that Shinohara isn't nearby right now should mean that the chance that she's seriously injured is low."

"So she's lost, or something...?"

Of course, that line of thinking was quite feasible. "Ugh...uughh...!"

While we understood that the situation had long since gone beyond

our control and were feeling perplexed, a groaning voice coming through to us was heard.

"Komiya, can you hear me Komiya?!"

As if to answer Sudou's call, Komiya's arm gripped Sudou's jacket. It seemed that Komiya had somehow regained consciousness.

We were reassured of her safety, but at the same time we were about

to hear bad news.

"O-Ow...My leg...!"

Although his right leg was moving, his left leg was motionless, and

an expression of anguish appeared on Komiya's face.

"You—your left leg...!"

From Sudou's trembling, I understood the situation without having to see.

Nanase, also intending to check the situation, closely inspected Kinoshita.

"It's not just Komiya-kun, the state of Kinoshita-san's left foot is also in poor condition. At worst, we don't know if it's broken."

It was an accident where the two couldn't have just slipped off a steep slope, but where both of their left legs were injured.

It would've been ideal to directly examine their injuries in order to verify their conditions, but at that point it wouldn't have meant anything.

"If they took a blow or something strong enough to fracture their bones, there's no use arguing against a disqualification."

By the early morning of the fourth day, no one would have retired, so Komiya's group's defeat will become very likely. Even if Shinohara were safe, it would be difficult to accumulate a large number of points alone. That said, for starters, we didn't even know where Shinohara is right now.

That aside this coincidence was—.

More than anything else, the strange presence was still monitoring us from the northwest. Though they're deliberately doing nothing but monitoring the situation, it seemed that they're also maintaining a safe distance. From the beginning it was a truly weak and tiny presence. However, as I continued to pretend that I didn't notice, it was becoming more noticeable little by little. Almost as if it was saying, "Try to notice my presence".

Suddenly, Nanase separated herself from Kinoshita, who still wasn't waking up, and whispered in my ear.

"Don't you think this is a bit mysterious?"

Sudou and the others hadn't noticed it, but as she said, there was something strange about this situation.

"Yeah. We don't know for certain if these two didn't get wrapped up in something."

It would be understandable if this happened to either of them, but for both of them to end up in the same situation concerned me.

"Komiya. Do you remember what happened?"

So that we wouldn't continue guessing on our own, the conscious

Komiya responded.

If people from the school's side were rushing here, we didn't have

time to listen to him slowly.

"I-I don't know... I didn't feel anything there, then suddenly

something heavy hit my calf and I tumbled down-..."

Thinking that his calf was made to move on its own, his face was

twisted with bitterness.

"Something heavy hit your calf?"

"P-Probably. I don't really remember... sorry."

I couldn't blame him for it, but it seems that his memories of the

instant of the accident were somehow blurry.

"Kinoshita is also lying collapsed nearby. Do you know anything

about that?"

"Eh... n-no, nothing. Why even Kinoshita... If I recall correctly, at

that time..."

Seeing Komiya's reaction, it didn't feel like he fell after Kinoshita

did.

If nothing else this should've been seen as a sign that Komiya fell

first.

"That's right...! Satsuki, what about Satsuki? Did Satsuki fall too?!" Perhaps his memories were becoming clear little by little, Komiya

bore his pain and shouted. Seeing Komiya use Shinohara's first name, Ike's expression darkened, but there was no time to be down over trivial things.

"We don't know where Shinohara is. Weren't you with her?" "Satsuki is—...!"

Perhaps because his left leg was in great pain, it seemed that it

wasn't simple for him to directly continue the conversation.

"Don't force yourself."

"N-No, I'm worried about Satsuki... Sorry Sudou, for having you

wake me up..."

"Y-Yeah. But don't force yourself."

With help from Sudou, Komiya raised up the upper half of his body. "Komiya, where's Shinohara?!"

Ike, who was naturally the most worried about her, shouted at him. Even if he were standing, Komiya would not have been able to

match Ike's motivated spirit.

"...I don't know... We were trying to hurry up..."

Although great pain would sometimes show in his expression, Komiya continued to explain the situation.

"Then, we waited... for Satsuki to return..."

"What do you mean you were waiting? I don't get it!"

As if to say that he couldn't explain the context, Komiya shook his

head left and right twice.

He was arranging the order of events in his head while carefully

remembering them.

"Let me explain from the beginning. Yesterday, we were feeling

panicked because we couldn't get to our designated areas twice in a row. Then we discussed what to do at night and decided to cover distance by early morning... Then, while being mindful of the darkness, we started to move, but Satsuki said that she needed to go to the toilet, so Kinoshita and I waited at a spot nearby. Of course, we were close enough to be able to see each other's positions with what light there was."

Komiya tried to keep himself calm. It was clear that even while fighting with the pain, he was still worried about Shinohara.

"We talked while waiting for Satsuki to return, and then took a peek at the slope. We were discussing if we could take a shortcut. Then, as we were thinking that this was going to be challenging—"

"Something heavy hit your calf, right?"

When Nanase went on ahead and said that, Komiya nodded slightly. "I remember that it was amazingly painful... But I feel like I forgot

about the pain for about an instant, tumbled down the slope at once, and... when I came to, Sudou and you guys were here."

Human limbs are never indestructible. That being the case, being injured in an instant happens.

Because of that pain, his leg moved on its own and fell on the slope that he had been looking down on.

If he were the only one in this incident, the explanation would end there.

But the fact that Kinoshita also ended up in a similar state meant that, as expected, something didn't add up.

Perhaps she saw Komiya slip, panicked, and tried to help him by herself...?

But whoever was looking here and the footprints we didn't know the true identity of, were also involved.

Crunch—

While I was thinking about the situation, from on top of the slope, a sound, as if something was moving, could be heard.

All at once we all turned our flashlights there, but no one could be seen.

It was a sound small enough to have been from a small animal, but... "Shinohara?!"

Ike was only starting to regain his composure, but when he heard

that sound he rushed towards the slope.

"Oi, Kanji! Wait, it's dangerous!"

A call for a friend would only uselessly echo around the forest. "Senpai, don't you think it's dangerous to let Ike-senpai go on his

own?"

"I know. I'll let you keep my tablet for a while so wait for me here." Since it was dangerous, I intended to follow him, but Ike was trying

to climb the cliff slope.

A small delay wasn't going to make a big difference.

"But if you don't bring a tablet, won't you be troubled?"

"It'd just get in the way of climbing this slope."

Besides, there was a possibility that Ike wouldn't be satisfied with

just climbing the slope. If by any chance it was going to come to that, the risk of injury would be much higher. And if I entrusted my tablet to Nanase, the chance that someone would look, realize there'd been an accident and come isn't 0. I followed Ike right away.

While using both of his hands, Ike eagerly climbed towards the direction where the sound came from. Without making any dangerous movements, I planned to overtake him, move ahead of him, and cut off his path. Even if I were just clumsily bringing him back down, just showing resistance would be clearer to him than lighting a fire.

"A-Ayanokouji?!"

As if the surprise he felt at what I was doing stopped him, he paused, and I pursued him even faster.

As a result, Ike panicked. Turning his attention towards me, his footing became clumsy and he almost slipped.

"O-Ah...?!"

Just as Ike was about to fall backwards, I grabbed his arm and pulled to raise him up.

"Can you calm down and come with me? If you can't, I'll take you

back down by force."

"I-I understand. Let's go Ayanokouji... so please don't bring me

back down."

I nodded, and continued to climb the cliff while guiding him.

Even though we couldn't see well yet, little by little, the sun's rays

were starting to shine and they began to light up our path.

Taking time to carefully climb the cliff, we came out onto the me

path from which Komiya and the others originally had been.

Even while Ike had both hands on the ground and was trying to

adjust his breathing, his eyes were scanning the surroundings.

You wouldn't be able to see anyone if you looked around

haphazardly.

"Shinohara—!!"

Thinking that he wanted his voice to reach her this time, he called

Shinohara's name with all he had.

There seemed to be only a few paths around, so you couldn't deny

the possibility of his voice reaching her.

Then, we discovered the backpack belonging to Komiya's three-

person group.

Just looking from the outside, there were no signs that pointed to

anyone damaging it.

Shinohara probably left the bag here until she came back from the

toilet.

Then it could be imagined that she saw the figures of her teammates

talking and thought to come down.

"Damn it, is she not here?!"

With no reply, Ike stomped the ground in agitation. Suddenly, at that

instant...

"...Ike, is that you?"

From within the distant shrubbery, we could just make out

Shinohara's squatting figure.

"Shinohara? Shinoharaa!"

After making sure the coast was clear, Shinohara ran towards us. Shinohara, who had run to Ike's chest, was visibly trembling and

crying.

"Did you stay here the whole time?"

"Y-Y eah."

"Then you should've answered me more quickly! How worried do

you think I was?!" "B-But..."

As if she just remembered something, Shinohara started shaking harder.

Ike also understood that she couldn't have been hiding just to be mean.

"W-What happened to Komiya-kun and Kinoshita-san?!"

"They were at the foot of a cliff with heavy injuries, what the heck happened to them?"

If her teammates had just fallen off a cliff, Shinohara should've been more frantic to help them.

But the fact that without even trying, she was single-mindedly hiding in a thicket isn't normal.

Shinohara paled when she heard "heavy injuries" and opened her trembling lips.

"I-I couldn't move... Scary, scary... W-What... I-I saw..."

"Saw? What did you see?"

"I saw when Komiya-kun and Kinoshita-san were, someone...

someone pushed them off."

Shinohara was saying that their fall wasn't a simple accident. "Someone? Who's someone?!"

"I-I don't know! I don't know! Why did something like this...!" As he watched Shinohara, who broke down crying and sat down on

the ground, Ike bit his lips in irritation.

In other words, Shinohara feared being seen by that someone, erased

her presence, and hid.

If that was the case, then not running to help a teammate right away

and not replying to Ike's calls was understandable. It wasn't as if we had decisive evidence, but there were no students who could pretend to fabricate an imaginary person.

However, for someone to come that close to them without them noticing anything was suitably almost impossible to pull off.

Because their presence would've been revealed if there were any light like from the pocket flashlights, they naturally struck in the dark.

"Haven't you seen anyone from last night until now? If there was a perpetrator, then all the groups camping nearby would become suspicious."

I changed my course of action a bit and questioned Shinohara.

"I think it was just past 8:30... uh, 1st year... yeah, we happened to come across a camp of 1st year students... maybe we passed by them there."

She said this then pointed to the north.

"What were the names of the 1st year students? It's fine if you only know one."

"Sorry, I still don't know much about the 1st years. Just that they were 3 girls and 1 boy."

If it was just that, then we couldn't really say that it was important information.

However, if they did that to Komiya as a practical joke, then the perpetrator should immediately be discovered.

"For starters, you should climb down and join up with Sudou and the others. The teachers might come soon."

"Y-Y eah."

Going back through the same path would've been risky for Shinohara and Ike, so it was wise to take a little detour.

1

It was about five minutes after Ayanokouji-senpai ran up the slope to chase after Ike-senpai.

Steadying the older male senpai, I gently laid him against the tree. Then, I stood up and stared silently at the deep forest behind him. "What's the matter?"

I felt sorry that Sudou-senpai was getting suspicious of me, but I

didn't have time to answer.

Someone was clearly watching us.

There were signs of a person being nearby, but he or she did not try

to confront us and instead watched us from afar.

It was quite obvious, but of course this was only a slight difference

in the air that most people would never notice.

Since when? Yes, right after Ayanokouji-senpai ran up the slope. They kept emitting their aura trying to get us to notice them.

I didn't know why, or what their purpose was, but it was fine

regardless.

Because whoever it was, they seemed to be well worth listening to, given the circumstances.

I gently placed the tablet on the ground and began catching my breath.

The other person realized that I'd noticed, but still didn't move.

They might have been confident in their legs, but that was the same case for me.

"Sudou-senpai... I'll leave both of them in your care!!"

"'What? Oh, hey!!!!!"

All I knew was that someone was spying on our situation.

I kicked off the ground and started running in the direction of the

place that kept showing signs of human presence.

Even if the other person ran away in a hurry, I could stay right on

their tail.

If they got caught up in something, even for a single moment, I

would be able to catch them.

The distance was around 10 to 20 meters at best. As the morning sun

began to rise, the field of my vision gradually opened up.

Even if I had a bad footing, it wouldn't take long for me to catch up. But...!

"Fast—!"

Even though I spotted the cuffs of their jersey for a moment at the

edge of the forest, their movement was quick.

They used the trees as a hand cloth, cleverly escaping without

showing their entire appearance to me.

I was chasing after them at full speed, but instead of closing the

distance, the gap was slowly widening. "Damn!"

I didn't think there was such a big difference between us in terms of pure leg strength.

However, the other party was running the shortest distance possible with a complete understanding of the routing on the island.

How did they do that?

My comprehension wouldn't help me catch up, but I still tried my best to chase after them.

"Wait! I just want to talk to you!!"

In the middle of the forest, I called out to a dashing, fleeing figure, but they showed no signs of stopping. Even though the figure heard my

call, they decided to ignore it.

It quickly dawned on me that the person on the run was suspicious. "Did you do something to cause those two to have major injuries?"

I decided to switch to a strategy of attempting to distract them with questions and taunts; if they made a mistake before I did, I could catch them in an instant.

Even if it was misguided, all I had to do was make them fall or trip over.

And yet, instead of showing agitation, the opponent accelerated even further.

At least in this school, I believed that I'd trained as hard as anyone else.

And yet, instead of getting closer, the distance between us started to widen even more and more. And yet, sometimes the distance closed in a strange way, which showed the obvious advantage that the opponent had.

A provocation, as if saying, if you can keep up with me, try to keep up.

Nevertheless, I was not going to give up until I caught them.

Even if they wouldn't make a mistake for me— I would win the stamina game. I was determined to do so, but suddenly the hair of the person running in front of me swayed in the wind and popped into view for a moment.

"What is that?!"

Their distinctive hair colour and hairstyle intensely burned into the back of my eyes.

I recognized it clearly.

"Damn it...!"

The chase in the forest came to an end without a hint of dismay, as

I got my feet caught in the roots of a tree.

"Haha, haha...!"

It was the unexpected realization of this fact that caused my

consciousness to blur.

I began breathing uncontrollably as a sudden rush of accumulated

fatigue hit me.

"Hah, hah, hah... ah, hah...!"

To calm my intense heart rate, I closed my eyes and started to

regulate my disorganized breathing.

I couldn't get a satisfying look at the person, but I was sure of it. "Don't tell me that person was the one who pushed down Kinoshita-

senpai and Komiya-senpai was... but why...?"

My gaze wandered for a while, as if searching for the back of someone who had already disappeared deep into the forest.

2

It took about 15 minutes to take the detour down the slope.

When we managed to find our way down, I met up with Nanase,

who was walking alone.

"Why are you here, Nanase?"

We were still quite far away from where Sudou and the others were. "It's because... well, Ayanokouji-senpai and the others suddenly

disappeared, so I went to ... to look for you guys."

Nanase replied that as though she was breathing calmly, but sweat

was visible on her forehead.

It appeared that she came to look for us in a hurry, but her eyes were

not directed at us.

"Are you looking for something?"

"No, it's nothing."

Nanase continued to stare at one place with a firm expression, but

did not talk about it any further.

At this point, Nanase turned her gaze towards Shinohara, as if

intentionally switching the direction of her gaze.

"I'm glad we were able to find Shinohara-senpai safely."

Seeing Shinohara being escorted by Ike, Nanase exhaled as if she

was truly relieved.

With Nanase and I in front, Ike and Shinohara followed us a short

distance away.

"That is where the senpais are."

She had a firm grasp of the path back to the spot they were at, and

led the way ahead of me.

In the meantime, I decided to tell Nanase what Shinohara had told

us earlier.

That she saw Komiya and Kinoshita being pushed down by

someone, but she didn't see if it was a man or a woman.

I told her how she was holding her breath of fear of being found out. And one more piece of information that could be important.

I heard Shinohara passed a group of first-years last night.

"A group of first-years, huh?"

"We think they camped nearby, but we can't rule out the possibility

because they passed each other."

"Yes, that's true. But who is this group of first-year students in the

vicinity? If we can find out, we might be able to get some clues by asking them."

Even if they were close by, they would be hard to find in this dense forest. The story might have been a little different if they stayed in a certain position, it would've been best to assume that they were moving away from us at that very moment.

That being said, we still knew that they were from the first-year class.

Of course, if it was a white room student, they'd be able to push them off the cliff without hesitation.

Nanase, who had been silent for a while, eventually opened her mouth.

"Senpai. If there really was... someone who would inflict you with physical abuse because they hated you, it would be strange for Komiya- senpai to not recognize the other person."

"Yeah. If he was someone Komiya knew, they would have had a conversation since he was familiar with the other party."

Even third-year and first-year students who didn't know them well must have told them their names at some point.

But in both of their cases, their memories were vague and they didn't remember being attacked at all.

Was it really just an accident?

Or was it possible that the culprit inflicted such a serious injury without being noticed?

Even if it was much darker at the time, they both still had their flashlights in their hand.

"Can Ayanokouji-senpai do the same thing to them without being noticed?"

"Me? Don't joke around."

That being said, it wouldn't be impossible if I really wanted to. Komiya's testimony indicated that he first received a strong shock

to his calf.

The person approached noiselessly from behind and likely kicked

his calf. Then he would've rolled down the slope with his face contorted in pain, without having time to turn around.

"I think... if I were to attack Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai, it wouldn't be impossible depending on the... timing. Of course, it would be quite a severe action."

That's what she concluded. As I suspected, with Shinohara's testimony, the tactics the culprit used to attack them was seen through by Nanase.

But even if there was a culprit, the purpose and merit of them injuring Komiya and Kinoshita was completely unknown.

An indirect warning to me? No, that'd be too big of a risk to take. Or was it an appeal to show that they were willing to take big risks? Or perhaps they had to do so because of an unexpected accident.

However, none of these theories were convincing enough at the moment. It was quite possible that it could've been someone else other than the white room student, and it was also possible that there was no criminal in the first place.

"But we don't know the purpose of the culprit's attack."

Around the same time, Nanase arrived at the same thought as I did. The reason for the attack. This was the most difficult to answer in

this incident.

Shortly after, we returned to Sudou and the others, but nothing had

changed.

"The question is, when will the teachers arrive?"

It would take a good amount of time to get to a place in the northeast

of the island, whether by boat or helicopter.

Already about 30 minutes had passed since the emergency alert

sounded, but there was still no sign of their arrival.

"'Um— what's going on...?'

As if to signal a change in the circumstances, a few new students

showed up at this location.

Nanase and I looked at each other for a moment. It was a group of

first years who called out to us: Ayumi Mitsui of class A, Mitsuko Dougami of class B, Sakurako Tsubaki of class C, and Takashige Makida of class D. A combination of 1 boy and 3 girls that matched Shinohara's testimony I mentioned earlier.

Ike recalled this and looked at the four of them with a somewhat wary attitude.

"A little trouble. A student got his foot caught in the slope and was seriously injured."

After hearing this, the first-years looked at each other.

"We were camping nearby. Then I heard an alert and someone shouting...We waited for it to lighten up a little bit and then came down here to check out the situation, just in case something happened."

It was the sound of a loud alert. If they were in the vicinity, they'd be able to hear it.

"Are the injured people okay?"

Dougami was taking the initiative in talking alone, and seemed to be taken aback by the situation along with Makida.

In contrast, Sakurako was very calm.

She didn't even seem to waver in front of two of her senpais, who were injured and surrounded by us.

"It doesn't look good, but I can't make an amateur judgment. So, we are waiting for the doctors to arrive."

It was 30 minutes since the first-year students showed up.

About an hour after the emergency alert sounded, school officials finally arrived.

The first to appear were Sakagami-sensei, the homeroom teacher for class B, and our homeroom teacher, Chabashira-sensei. In addition, there were three adults who I assumed were medical professionals, for a total of five people.

"Shall we get right to it?"

Sakagami-sensei took the initiative and approached the seated Komiya and the still unconscious Kinoshita.

Students began to gather on the spot to perform on-site verification.

I glanced at the situation and then approached Chabashira-sensei, who was looking at me.

"In this condition, it's unlikely that Komiya and Kinoshita will be able to continue."

"Yeah. They'll have to retire."

Standing next to the group of students she was responsible for, Chabashira-sensei wore a heavy expression.

"Was it just an accident?"

"I'd like to hear about what happened now."

Sakagami-sensei saw them beginning to receive treatment and asked

Shinohara, a member of the same group, to explain the situation.

But Shinohara took another look at the state of the two of them and began to cry again.

"Crying isn't going to help me understand the situation."

When she was warned in a stern tone, Ike took a step forward to protect her.

"Do you mind if I explain it to you? I heard about it from Shinohara."

Apparently, he intended to explain the situation to Sakagami-sensei as a spokesperson.

"...Well, that's fine. Tell me."

"Shinohara said they were pushed down."

I listened to the explanation as the two men looked at the incline they

had rolled down, but it seemed hard to believe it was sudden. "Someone pushed them down? ...What a disturbing story." "This isn't going to get them retired, right? Isn't that right?" "Of course, if that is the case, yes."

"It's really what happened, Shinohara said so!"

"So, do you have any evidence of this?"

On that note, both Ike and Shinohara choked on his words.

"We're not at school, we don't have cameras or anything!"

"But if someone pushed them, one of them would have at least seen

their face."

"That's because..."

"What is it, Shinohara-san? Will you stop crying and answer me?" The only evidence we had was the testimony of someone from the

same group, Shinohara.

The area around the footprints had already been trampled by a large

number of people. Even if they tried to explain about the footprints, it wouldn't matter, because there'd still be no leads to the culprit.

"It... was... dark."

"Dark? Was it too dark to see the other person's face?"

She nodded her head in succession, but Sakagami-sensei only sighed

deeply.

"It was so dark you couldn't see the culprit's face, but you clearly

saw someone push them off. It's a very convenient story, if I do say so myself."

Sakagami-sensei approacheed Shinohara, who continued to cry, and tried to ask her what really happened.

Shinohara was crying and couldn't talk about it satisfactorily, but

she nodded repeatedly and claimed it was true.

"Shinohara didn't lie!"

"You're a classmate of hers. Of course you'll say that."

"You have to believe her."

"It's a very serious matter, believing her will not change anything." "That's it! Then what will happen to Komiya and Kinoshita?" "What will happen is that there will be no choice but to retire. As

their homeroom teacher, I can't imagine that I would be happy about the expulsion of these two. But looking at the condition of their legs, it's impossible for them to continue."

I don't think Sakagami-sensei was trying to be mean, either.

However, their legs were not so lightly injured that they could recover in a day or two.

"As it stands now, we're in a situation where we have no choice but to assume that this is a lie and a way to cover up an accidental injury."

"You've got to be kidding me! That doesn't make sense to me!"

While Ike tried his best to explain while holding Shinohara's shoulder, Sakagami-sensei's response was cold.

"Anymore, and I'll take this as a rant coming from you, okay?"

"....!"

Ike bit his lower lip at the fact that he had gone too far with the teacher. It was a good thing that Ike and Shinohara were desperate enough to get to this point, but if you watched how Sakagami-sensei reacted to them, you'd understand.

"It seems you already have a lot of things figured out, Chabashira- sensei."

He asked Chabashira standing next to him, who nodded quietly.

We relied on Komiya and Kinoshita's GPS to get us here. Komiya's emergency alert sounded at 4:56:24 AM. In addition, Kinoshita's alert sounded 7 seconds later. The only GPS response that was present at that time was Shinohara's.

Chabashira replied as she looked at the tablet.

After all, it was quite a serious matter.

Sakagami-sensei should have had that information as well.

One suspicious reaction would have given them the benefit of the

doubt. However, the existence of a suspected "criminal" couldn't be confirmed by GPS. The only reason Sakagami-sensei was trying so hard was because he didn't want his students to get expelled. They were both desperately trying to find a third party and hoped that some sort of solution would be forthcoming.

"The first to reach Komiya and the others after the emergency alert sounded was Ayanokouji and another 5 students , then a group of four first-year students. Finally, it would be us."

There was no record of anyone having any prior contact with Komiya and Kinoshita.

This was information that was, to some extent, worthy of belief.

So was it possible that the culprit was not a student?

The teachers did not wear watches and therefore did not get a GPS

response.

No— wasn't that indeed the case?

I made one hypothesis, but there were many points that I hadn't yet

grasped, just as with Sakagami-sensei.

"Chabashira-sensei. After this, you'll take Komiya and Kinoshita

back to the starting point, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah. We'll be able to examine their injuries onboard the

ship."

"There is something I would like you to check in the meantime. This

is also secret."

When I whispered this in Chabashira-sensei's ear, she acted

surprised, but nodded once and agreed.

But that was it.

The retirement of Komiya and Kinoshita was final, leaving

Shinohara as the only one left.

It would be hopeless for Shinohara to get through the rest of the

examination by herself.

"It's no good... I'm not good enough... I can't do it alone...!"

Ike was unable to comfort Shinohara as he watched her crumble. He stood there, dumbfounded and unsure of what to do.

I wasn't the only one who was looking at Ike.

Komiya, who was about to be carried out by the adults, was one of

them.

"Ike... Come over here."

"Wh-What is it?"

Komiya called Ike to a position within his reach.

Then, with his aching body, he whipped his arms around Ike's neck,

forcing his face closer to Ike.

"Show me that you're a real man."

With that short reply, he collapsed onto the stretcher.

Komiya was planning to confess to Shinohara during this

uninhabited island test.

But so far, there was no indication showing that he had already done

so.

Perhaps, on the contrary, Shinohara might have already consulted

the matter with Komiya.

If that's the case, then he should have known that Shinohara cared

about Ike.

He decided that he could no longer protect Shinohara with his own

hands, and left her in the care of his love rival, Ike.

"It won't be easy..."

"Thank you, Sudou."

Seeing Komiya like that, it dawned on Sudou: our classmates

weren't the only ones growing up. Like Sudou, Komiya was also growing day by day.

Nanase said that she had a plan to break out of this difficult situation. "You can set up around our base with a minimum amount of

luggage. You can't accumulate any points from the designated areas anymore, but you should definitely avoid retiring."

Without a doubt, that was the best strategy Shinohara could take.

I still had hope that other groups would drop out after living on an uninhabited island for the remaining two weeks.

Of course, if no other groups retired, Shinohara's expulsion would be inevitable.

"Shinohara. I don't mean to tell you to drop out of school, but... what are you going to do? It's difficult to continue the examination on this island by yourself."

"Yes, I know..."

"Then you can at least return to the port and endure for the rest of the time, as Nanase just said. And it won't be impossible to try and do the challenges that will emerge in the vicinity."

Both of the proposals were cruel, but it was the best move Shinohara could take alone; if she acted alone, she would likely run out of energy on the way before the end of the exam. She'd also probably run out of both strength and food and have to retire.

However, if she persevered in the harbour and asked for assistance from the groups that stopped by, she had a chance of getting through to the end.

It would still be far better than making the decision to drop out here and now.

Shinohara wiped away her tears and slowly nodded once.

"You'll have to make it to the starting line on your own."

"Yes... I understand."

The school couldn't help the students, so Shinohara had to head to

the port on her own from here.

Ike hurriedly grabbed Shinohara's arm as she walked off to lift her

own luggage. "....what?"

"What do you mean... are you just going to have to go back to the starting point and wait?"

"It can't be helped. I don't have Komiya-kun or Kinoshita-san anymore... I can't survive this special exam by myself."

"But, but..."

"I'm going to drop out of school anyways, so just leave me alone." Shinohara shook off Ike's grip from her arm and started to leave.

"Ugh..."

Ike froze on the spot and gritted his teeth.

In the past, Ike would not have been able to go on from here.

But with the help from Komiya, Ike was able to push forward. "I'll... I'll do something about it!"

Ike shouted at Shinohara's small, curled up back.

"Stop it. You know you can't do that."

But instead of listening to Ike's words, Shinohara walked away. "It's not impossible!"

When he couldn't stand still, Ike ran over and grabbed Shinohara's

arm as she was walking away.

"Let go of me..."

"I'm not letting you go. I'm not going to let you get expelled for

this."

"Why not? It has nothing to do with you. In fact, if I'm expelled

from this school, that makes it less likely that you will be expelled for the same reason... why aren't you happy?"

"Happy? Don't be silly, I will never be happy about that!" "Huh...?"

"Because if you drop out, we'll lose a lot of class points... that's

why you have to believe in me, I'll help you to prevent that!"

"Well, yes, but... what are you going to do if I sink to the bottom of the groups? Besides, it would be a problem for Sudou-kun and the

others." "That's..."

"If you're still like this, you're going to get expelled sooner or later." Laughing somewhat listlessly, Shinohara waved her hand lightly. "Besides, I'll more or less make do on my own. You should also do

your best."

Shinohara refused to receive help, saying she didn't need Ike's help. "Wait, wait a minute..."

Ike's bullish demeanor, which had been so strong earlier, wilted

without a trace.

Shinohara, who was moving away, could no longer be retained. "Kan..ji..."

Sudou called out to Ike as he smiled wryly and told him not to worry

about it while tapping his own chest.

With the encouragement of his best friend, Ike was about to take a

step forward.

"Wait, wait... wait, Shinohara... I'm just... I'm just... so... it's..." Ike desperately tried to squeeze out his voice, but he couldn't get the

essential words out.

He almost pulled out his throat to get it out, but it still didn't come

out.

The final push. So close yet so far from it.

But it was not Sudou, me or Nanase who could've gotten those

words out of him.

Ike was the only one who could squeeze out the words he himself

wanted to say.

The only way to do this was to hold back his frightened heart, the

thought of the consequences, and step forward.

"I told you to wait!"

"What a surprise. I thought I already made it clear that I don't need

any help... Is there anything else?"

"Yes! There is a lot! I don't want you to drop out, so I'll help you!" A confession of love... is not an easy thing.

Nevertheless, Ike's words must be spoken with his own emotions to

the best of his ability.

"Well, if you say so, then let's have a strategy meeting, shall we?" "Oh, oh..."

Two people, Sudou and Hondou, who wrapped behind to support

Ike, beckoned and summoned Shinohara to get closer.

"Huh...? What is this, is this a joke? You should have just left me

alone..."

Unable to wait for Shinohara to come back, Ike ran over and grabbed

her arm.

A strong determination to never let go.

Seeing this scene, Chabashira, who usually looked so nonchalant,

smiled a little.

Perhaps she decided that it would be okay, so she left the forest to

chase after Sakagami-sensei.

That being said, I wasn't as optimistic. Saving Shinohara was not

going to be an easy thing to do.

"In order to save Shinohara, it is indispensable to join a group with

a maximum of 3 slots."

I called out to them as the four got together.

It was not clear if Sudou, Ike and others could win those three slots alone.

"It's realistic to rely on students from the same class, right?"

"There's no doubt about it, but with the rules of this special exam, it's impossible to know directly which group has gained the right to exceed the limit. Are you going to easily accept Shinohara-senpai's group, which already has two retirees? The effects of the confluence will definitely lower your score, and it's a definite risk. It may be more realistic to accumulate points instead of struggling to build a group. I think we should be steadily scoring points around the area and tackling the challenges in our free time."

Nanase recommended giving up on the confluence and allow Shinohara to score points by herself.

"But I think it's safe to say that there are very low chances for Shinohara-senpai to get to the top by herself. She can only hope for unexpected coincidences or good luck, such as a lack of participants."

"Is there another way for her to easily join other groups, Ayanokouji?"

Sudou asked me for a plan to overcome this difficult situation.

"Not that I don't have a plan, but we have a low probability of making it happen."

"Is that so? What kind of plan is it?"

I thought for a moment about mentioning the plan to them, but then I decided against it.

If we talked about our strategy here, there would be solid hope in the midst of despair.

But at the same time, their will to save Shinohara would slacken. It's hard to call that a good plan.

It was good that Ike and his team had a strong sense of urgency to fight in the special examination until the very end.

And there were several things that needed to be done to implement the strategy.

I walked towards my luggage, and told Nanase to get ready as well. "Hey, hey! Ayanokouji? What's the plan?"

"What we can do now is to protect Shinohara with Ike as the central

figure. And to collect as many points as possible. Then, if we have a chance, we will naturally take on the task of increasing the maximum limit of the group."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to start making contingency plans."

For that reason, I didn't have time to stay and spend time with Ike

and the others.

"But as I said, there is no certainty. And if other students don't fall

into the bottom five ... it may be necessary to cut off Shinohara."

I let them know beforehand that there was a possibility of cutting

Shinohara off.

Given the nature of this special exam, where the bottom five pairs

would be penalized, it was inevitable that some students would not be saved.

"Don't forget that, Ike."

"...Got it."

About two and a half hours after the commotion, we returned with

Shinohara to our camp. Kei and the others who were camping nearby seemed to have already left for the next designated area.

The backpacks left behind by Komiya and Kinoshita were brought in separately by Sudou and Ike.

"Sudou, take care of Ike and the others. You're currently the calmest in the group."

"Oh, leave it to me "

The designated area had already been announced, so I received my tablet back from Nanase.

"You used a lot of energy this morning..."

"Don't worry. I still have the strength to keep up."

From the fourth day onward, the top 10 and last 10 groups were

announced on a day-by-day basis. This was also the day when the task of lifting the large group ban was added, though I wasn't sure if I could do it right away.

But first, I had to check where the next designated area was.

I found that the area in question was G3, where we had come from, heading north on the island.

The delay was already 30 minutes. It would be impossible to get the top 3 arrival rewards.

Despite the possibility of the journey taking roughly an hour, I decided to check the rankings first because it interested me.

The higher levels were also of concern, but the lower five groups were the most important in order to know which ones could be

penalized for expulsion. Briefly asking for permission, Nanase also peeked at my tablet. On there was a list of the lowest 10 groups. Of course, it included who was in each group and the number of points they had. Even the classification of the points they possessed was exposed.

"This is..."

The bottom seven groups were all made up of students from classes B to D of the third-years. The lowest-ranked group was formed by three students in Class 3-D with a total score of 21 points. They only got 5 points from doing tasks and 16 points for reaching the designated areas. However, they were a group of students who retired on the day the special exam began. There was indeed room to show sympathy.

The remaining 3 groups were 1 group of second-year students and 2 groups of first-year students.

The only second-year group in the bottom half was my classmate, Akito, and his group of three.

"Senpais' classmates are in a dangerous position."

Right now, they were currently 9th from the bottom with 29 points. They're struggling even harder than expected. It's because an appropriate amount of stamina was necessary to keep travelling to the designated areas. It was hard for them to gain enough bonus points, especially because they had Airi.

On the other hand, there were 2 groups of 1st-year students in the lowest 10. But those groups were pairs of 2. As expected, the 4 1st- years from the start of the exam seemed to be collecting points to some extent.

"It was surprising that the third-year students were so low on the list..."

It was certainly a surprise, but it didn't seem to me that they were simply sinking to a lower level due to their lack of ability.

I decided to put the checking of the top-ranked groups on hold for now, and say what I needed to tell Nanase.

"For the time being, I'm going to aim for the arrival reward and go to G3. But after that, I might not get other arrival rewards for now."

"You have a place you want to go, even if it meant losing points from ignoring the designated area arrival rewards?"

"Oh. And if you want to aim for the designated area, you should separate from me from this point onwards."

"No, I'll accompany you. As for me, I should be able to go through with it as long as Amasawa-san and Housen-kun continue scoring points... and you've come up with a way to save Shinohara-senpai, right?"

Nodding briefly, I walked off, aiming for the starting point after G3. I hoped to get there before the next day, if possible.