5.8

A man with a large build weaved through the poorly lit forest. His goal was to reach the campsite where Tsubaki Sakurako, Yagami Takuya, and Utomiya Riku were situated. Sakayanagi had instructed him with the task of unmasking the person who was in charge of the first-years plan.

As Kitō approached the camp, he saw another student's silhouette not too far away from him. The student was standing stil as if to block Kitō's way. Kitō did not recognize the face of whoever it was but immediately realized that they were not an ally. He tried to change course while there was distance, but when the other student saw it, they began to move as well.

Kitō recognized the person as an enemy, and he stopped running away and turned towards the student.

"What are you doing here?" Utomiya said in a hostile tone.

Although he was facing a senior, he didn't use honorifics.

"Aren't you Kitō Hayato-senpai from second-year Class A?" Utomiya said, calming down and remembering to add honorifics this time.

Utomiya remembered that Kitō was acting alone but had decided to join a group later on. However, acting as if he knew from the beginning would be suspicious, so he pretended like he didn't know.

"I'm busy right now."

Kitō uttered these words of rejection and tried to move past Utomiya.

However, Utomiya grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back.

"What are you doing?" Kitō said as he shot Utomiya an annoyed look.

"I'm sorry, but you aren't going to go any further." Utomiya said, returning the look with a sharp stare.

"What did you say?"

Utomiya clenched his fists as Kitō moved back, away from Utomiya's grasp. He shot his hand out and grabbed Kitō by the collar of his jacket.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kitō asked, even more irritated now.

"I said, you aren't going any further."

"What's your name?" Kitō calmly asks.

"Utomiya, first year Class C."

Utomiya. One of the students, Sakayanagi, had told him to investigate.

If he was here, it was very unlikely he was the commander.

Utomiya guessed that Kitō had received instructions to find out who was leading their operation.

"Who told you to come here?"

Utomiya asked, but Kitō showed no signs of answering.

"I'm not going to show any compassion, even if you are a senpai."

After hearing these words, Kitō's eyes became sharp, and his fists flew towards Utomiya's neck. Utomiya didn't panic; he simply pulled away, easily avoiding the attack. In the process, however, Utomiya's walkie-talkie fell out of his pockets?

"Not good..."

Utomiya wanted to rush in, but he couldn't have gotten past Kitō, who was maintaining a defensive stance.

They stared at each other, waiting for someone to make a move until a voice broke the silence.

"Utomiya-kun? What are you doing?"

"Tch..." Utomiya looked down at the walkie-talkie.

"Weren't you supposed to listen to my orders?"

Tsubaki realized there would be no reply and gave up trying to get through. Just as Utomiya was about to rush towards Kitō, Kitō held out his hand to show a sign of peace. He picked up the walkie-talkie and tossed it towards Utomiya.

"Why are you...?" Utomiya says in a discouraged voice.

"I got what I came here for."

Kitō saw no need to fight any longer, so he turned around and left. He had already heard Tsubaki's voice from the walkie-talkie, which was all the proof he needed.

Utomiya saw that Kitō's back was completely defenseless.

"Utomiya-kun please calm down. There's no reason to fight Kitō-senpai here."

Utomiya did not reply as he watched Kitō disappear into the forest.

When he was alone, Utomiya raised the walkie-talkie.

"He just left..."

"Why would you do something like that? You want to be expelled too?

Or are you trying to keep the second-year students away from me?"

"That's not true... Sorry. I acted without permission. Even if the strategy didn't work, I didn't want them to learn everything about us. I wanted to prevent them from reaching you."

"I don't want to talk about things that already happened, but is this really what you thought, Utomiya?"

After a short silence, Utomiya raised the walkie-talkie.

"No... yes, yes. It was just something I decided to do over an impulse."

Tsubaki could tell Utomiya was shaken, and Tsubaki fell silent.

"I see. Anyway, if you can still move, please hurry back."

"Alright."

Closing the walkie-talkie, Utomiya looked at his tablet. He picked up the walkie-talkie and changed the communication code.

"I got rid of the second-year nuisances. They should be satisfied now that they know Tsubaki is commander."

"You're really something, Utomiya-kun." Came a voice from the other side.

"So, how did Tsubaki's plan go?"

"It failed, just as expected. Even if I hadn't tipped off Ayanokōji-senpai in advance, I think it was a rotten strategy that couldn't have worked."

"Alright. I'm hanging up,"

Utomiya was careful not to let the call stretch on and turned off the walkie-talkie.

He turned around and started to walk back to camp.