First night

After a long discussion, we decided to keep Ibuki at our camp as long as she would follow a few simple rules. The reason most people agreed was that if she is going to stay with us, Class C is bound to lose points by missing the daily roll call.

I asked Sudo and other more physically capable people to get some seawater and bring it here.

When I distributed most of the tasks, trying to efficiently make use of the time we had before dusk, Horikita approached me.

"Aren't you acting too careless around someone who could possibly be a spy?" She asked with a slightly uncomfortable expression, her forehead was covered in sweat despite the fact that the temperature had already gone down by a few degrees.

"What do you mean?" I glanced at her, confused.

"Any outsider would be able to see that you are the central figure of the class during this test."

"Hmm...you really think so? Well, I doubt Ibuki-san is the spy but I guess I should be careful of the others who might be watching us from distance." I replied with a thoughtful expression while rubbing my chin.

"...Why do you act this way?" She waited for a while before asking another question, keeping her strong gaze on me.

"What do you mean?" I was slightly confused by her unnatural question.

"This obviously faked obliviousness. Why did you use Inograshira-san to give me advice on how to resolve Sudo-kun's problem instead of telling me yourself?" It seems like she was using this chance to ask about my intentions. She most definitely has to be confused. In Ayanokoji's case, she can at least see that he is quiet and lacks social skills so he is in some sense mysterious, however, me? I don't appear mysterious at all.

I glanced around us and when I saw that none of our classmates nor Ibuki were paying attention to us, the oblivious expression on my face was replaced with an extremely calm one, with a hint of calculative coldness in my brown eyes.

She slightly flinched seeing my change but in the end, decided to meet my gaze with a frown.

"It's not as if I don't wish to cooperate with you to reach Class A or that I am trying to hide anything...at least from you." The playful and friendly tone I previously used also changed to a monotonous one.

"...from me?" She raised her eyebrow in question.

"That's right, once you show any of your capabilities to the public, don't you think both your allies and enemies will start to estimate your value and dangerousness? Once the enemies will be aware of the danger you pose to them, they will constantly target you, trying to get rid of you in one way or another. While I am not afraid of fending such people off, it would be bothersome to constantly watch my back."

The reason for this change and why I was telling her such things even though I didn't have to?

I wanted to give her a hint..."as long as you cover for me, I wouldn't have a problem helping you"

As for the very slight chance of her revealing my true self? HAH! Who would even believe her? Horikita is not that type of person and even if she really tried to somehow blackmail me it would be for naught.

"Hmm, since you went out of your way to assume the post of the leader, are you trying to win against the other classes?" She recovered to her neutral expression and asked while observing the others and I followed her gaze.

"I am more interested in how many points I can accumulate during this test rather." I turned to her and tilted my head to the right replying with a wide smile and closed eyes.

Her eyes widened as she noticed unimaginably high confidence in my tone making her turn back to me. She quickly narrowed her eyes at me.

"Don't you think you are too arrogant? You sound like you are already sure of your victory, it might be your downfall even if you were some genius."

'I am not a genius, but I practically know the future.' I inwardly felt like shrugging my shoulders at her with a smile saying "Whatever you say"

'What I have learned is that if you are surrounded by certain types of people, you have to adapt and become like them or bluff your way through. If you are part of some gang, acting high and mighty might earn you respect or make you ostracized if played wrong.'

"Funny you say that, the way I see it, you are the one being arrogant, Horikita" My tone became a bit hostile and I specifically didn't add honorifics I usually use.

"What do you mean?"

'Scaaary, hehe' If the glare could cast curses, I would already have to seek some shaman or priest's attention.

"I don't see my allies as a hindrance. You on the other hand look down on almost everybody" 'You can't even bother trying to use them, that's why you are practically just a walking encyclopedia. You can't do everything alone.'

"Your friends will end up being your weakness one day" She folded her arms and fired back.

"While on the other days, they will be my strength. Something you can't even begin to imagine. Make sure you eat and drink enough, I will go to continue supervising the others."

Her surprised expression told me that she understood my "advice" letting her know that I am aware of her condition.

Silver Tongue lv. 1 (50/100, passive) -> Silver Tongue lv. 1 (53/100, passive)

If she wants to rise up to Class A that much, she is going to accept my offer. I will help her and she will cover for me, a perfectly harmonious trade.

Later on, in the evening roll call, Chabashira announced that Koenji retired from the test, causing quite a conflict to rise within our class. Therefore we were down 30 points without even spending them on anything. Actually, I was contemplating before the test began whether I should rein Koenji in, however, I decided against making enemies with him for measly 30 points.

We also spent points on another simple toilet that cost only 3 points. I decided to buy 2 more and use its tarp to make an improvised shower. At first, girls were against it and wanted to buy a whole portable shower for 20 points, but after seeing the final product they calmed down a bit. We also bought another tent for boys which cost us 20 points.

Overall, we should currently have around 241 points.

As the sun fell and the moon rose high, we pretty much made a few circles around a few campfires we created. Even though this was a special test, everyone's morale was quite high since they were happily engaging in conversations while grilling the boiled corns. We even had salt to season them a bit thanks to seawater.

"Ike-kun, do you really believe Ibuki-san isn't Class C's spy?" Inogashira asked as Miyake and Sakura listened in, seated close by.

"I don't think so, either way, we shouldn't be too careless around her even if she isn't a spy, don't you think so?" I lowered my voice and asked the group.

"If you say so...it's just that I don't trust her much" Inogashira nodded her head but still secretly glanced at Ibuki who was sitting with her back against the tree a good distance from everybody else.

"Give me a second" I took my just freshly grilled corn, and sprinkled some salt over it before approaching Ibuki.

"Here, eat" I offered her the corn which made her raise her head with a shocked expression, still, she hesitated to take it so I brought my hand a bit closer as to urge her, and only then did she accept.

"...Thanks" She looked down as if to hide her face before replying in a weak tone.

I sat down next to her and leaned against another tree to rest my back.

"? Where is yours?" Only after she took a few bites, did Ibuki turn to me and asked with a confused expression, maybe thinking that I should have gone back to get one myself by now.

"The one in your hand, we have agreed to have only one each" I pointed at the corn in her hands with a faint smile.

"..." She looked down at it with a surprised expression.

"Why would you do that?!"

"Your class...is it really worth it? I know that you don't wish to report the violence since it's your own class, however, isn't that too much?" I asked while looking down with a sad expression.

"...You are really naive if you have time to worry about your enemy"

"Ha-ha, I know but I can't help thinking that beating one's own allies is wrong. Anyway, I don't want to disturb you any longer since you seemed quite content being left alone, enjoy your corn" I got up and dusted off my clothes.

Silver Tongue lv. 1 (53/100, passive) -> Silver Tongue lv. 1 (54/100, passive)