We returned to camp and the first person to greet us before we could even fully get in was Yamauchi. He ran up to me and dragged me away from Sakura. He was distressed and enraged.

Yamauchi: Y-Y-You, Y/N! What the hell do you think you're doing alone with Sakura-san?!

Y/N: Dude...

Yamauchi: And why's her jacket off?! And why is she sweating through her shirt?!

I walked past him to go put the corn down at a table. He followed me in a frenzy waiting for an answer to all of his dumb questions. I put the corn down on the table and dusted off Sakura's jacket before sticking it out to Yamauchi.

Y/N: There's her jacket. Go give it back to her.

He hurriedly took the jacket and went back to Sakura to swap her jacket for the corn she was carrying. All the while, Kushida had noticed the haul and came over.

Kushida: Wow, Y/N! Where did you find this?

Some other students saw the corn and began to come over.

Y/N: It wasn't me who found it. It was-

I didn't want to bring any unnecessary attention to Sakura because she wouldn't like the attention.

Y/N: It was a gift.

Hirata: A gift?

Y/N: Don't worry about it. There's more, though. We came back to see if we could get a few willing people to collect the rest.

Sudo: I'll go.

Ike: I'll go with you.

Hirata: Great. Could you maybe find a few more people, then?

We formed a group of people to collect the corn and I led them back over to get the rest. Eventually, we harvested it all and added corn to our lineup of food items available for the rest of the test.

{Later}

I still had Hiyori fresh on my mind and couldn't help but feel like I had messed up. I decided to ask Ibuki about her. I found Ibuki at her usual spot just far enough away from the other students to be on her own.

Y/N: Ibuki...

Ibuki: What?

Y/N: When are you gonna loosen up already? It's been days... Clearly, nobody here is trying to force you out of here.

She glared at me.

Ibuki: Nobody..?

**What's that look supposed to mean?**

Y/N: Do you know a girl named Hiyori Shiina?

Ibuki: What about her?

Y/N: So you do know her.

Ibuki: What about her..?

Y/N: Sheesh, I just wanted to know about her. I met her in the woods earlier.

Ibuki: Then you should've asked her whatever you wanted to know about her.

Y/N: She's an open book, huh?

Ibuki: I wouldn't say that, but she's blunt and honest. If she feels that she can safely share information, then she will.

Y/N: So then I can take her word for things?

Ibuki: She's not a liar, I'll say that much.

**So Class C really is dropping out and she really has no idea what's going on in her class. Or maybe Ibuki's lying to me right now. Ugh, overthinking is such a pain...**

Ibuki: Why? What did she tell you?

Y/N: Hm?

Ibuki: Why do you always zone out mid-conversation..?

Y/N: I wasn't zoned out! And she didn't say anything, really. I was just curious about something.

Ibuki: Something?

Kushida: Hey, guys!

Kushida had come walking over.

Y/N: Hey, Kushida.

Kushida: Is everything okay? You don't need anything, do you, Ibuki-san?

Ibuki: No, I'm fine.

Y/N: Actually, we were just talking about some things.

Kushida: Like what?

Y/N: Well, apparently all of Class C intends to drop out of the test today.

Kushida: Huh? An entire class?

I looked at Ibuki.

**Not all of them...**

Y/N: They used up all their points already. They have nothing to gain or lose from just quitting now.

Kushida: What about you, Ibuki-san? What will you do?

Ibuki: I don't even want to look at those people. I'll stay here.

**That's a little worrying. As long as even one member of Class C stays behind, they could cause problems. I'd better keep an even closer eye on her if she's serious about staying.**

???: Seems kinda suspicious to me...

Sudo had appeared. He had been skeptical of Ibuki ever since the first day we brought her back, but he prevented himself from saying anything about it.

Kushida: Sudo-kun.

Sudo: Class C is dropping out? Do you know anything about this?

Ibuki: Huh? I don't know what you're talking about.

Ibuki, who seemed to dislike company, was beginning to become annoyed by how many people were entering her personal space. She got up and started walking off.

Sudo: Hold it!

He reached over and grabbed her shoulder. She brushed him off.

Ibuki: Keep your hands off me!

Sudo: What's with that attitude? We helped you. You ought to help us a little!

Ibuki: I didn't ask you to help me. Your people just decided to. Wasting your valuable points... How stupid can you get?

Sudo: You little!

He grabbed her uniform by the collar, but she didn't even flinch.

Ibuki: Hit me if you want to.

**She was already physically assaulted by her own classmates. Our class will never stoop that low. Besides, she'd be able to report Sudp for hitting her since he's in a different class. This won't end well for anybody.**

Y/N: Hey, hey, let's relax.

Kushida: Everybody calm down, okay?

Other students noticed the commotion and Hirata had come over.

Hirata: Calm down both of you. We're all friends here-

Ibuki: Friends? How trusting can you people be?

She started walking off again.

Kushida: Ibuki-san, are you okay?

She looked back as she walked, but didn't say another word. Nobody went after her, but Hirata made sure Sudo didn't try to follow her.

Sudo: Damn it! What's her problem?!

Y/N: She's just frustrated is all. She was kicked out by her own class, and now they're dropping out.

Hirata: She either stays here with a bunch of people she doesn't really know or...

Kushida: Drop out of the test and be stuck on a boat with the people she's fighting with right now... Poor Ibuki-san.

Sudo: Or she can go leech off a different class, damn it!

Sudo angrily walked off. Hirata and Kushida went after him to calm him down, and I took advantage of the time I had now to slip away. I left the campsite and trailed Ibuki from a safe distance.

**I wonder where she's going. Is it to that tree, or what?**

Whatever suspicions I had were debunked as I watched Ibuki simply head into the woods and sit down under a tree by herself. I watched her for a bit as she sat there doing nothing at all. She seemed upset in more ways than one. The better part of me wanted to go talk to her and see how she was doing, but the part of me that didn't trust her won. I left her alone and headed through the woods to go check on Class C's situation. As I was making my way to their campsite at the beach, I stumbled across a certain somebody that was also spying on them.

**Huh? Ichinose? What's she doing over here?**

I made my way over to her and crouched down near her to see what she was seeing.

Y/N: Hey-

Ichinose: Woah- Y/N, you startled me.

Y/N: What're you doing?

Ichinose: I'm in charge of food. I was just walking around and found myself here, so I thought I'd take a look.

Y/N: It's dangerous to be out here alone.

Ichinose: Thanks for the warning, but...

She looked around.

Ichinose: You're alone, too.

Y/N: I guess so.

Ichinose: Besides, I'm not by myself. You're here.

Y/N: It doesn't work like that...

Ichinose: Says who?

Y/N: Whatever, but hey. Have you found anything out about Class C?

We looked back down at their campgrounds. It was a ghost town. Completely vacated.

**Looks like Class C already decided to drop out. What a shame that we couldn't get anything out of them.**

Y/N: That's rough... I was hoping to find out Class C's leader before they dropped out.

Ichinose: Same here.

She sighed.

Ichinose: Was all of this for nothing? If they've gone back to the boat, we won't even be able to find out any hints.

**Not completely true.**

Y/N: Did Kaneda return to the boat with the rest of Class C?

Ichinose: Kaneda-kun? No, he stuck around.

Y/N: He might know something. Don't give up just yet.

**And if he or Ibuki needs to, they could technically claim leadership of their class whenever they want to. The options left for Class C's leader aren't many.**

Ichinose took her attention off of their campgrounds and looked off into the water.

Y/N: Hey, Ichinose...

Ichinose: Yes?

Y/N: Want to cooperate on something?

Ichinose: You've got my interest. What do you have in mind?

Y/N: If I find out any information on Class C's leader, I will share it with you. However, I would like something of equal value in return.

Ichinose: Such as? The leader of Class B?

Y/N: Or Class A. Whatever information you can provide. If you happen to find out Class C's leader first, then I'll share whatever I know.

Ichinose thought about it for a moment.

Ichinose: I don't know. This sounds like a pretty crazy agreement.

Y/N: We don't have to shake on it. I'm just laying the offer on the table. I'd love to cooperate since I see you as a good friend. If we can both succeed, I'd prefer that.

Ichinose: I won't promise anything, but I'll keep your offer fresh in my mind.

Y/N: Great. I won't forget either. And before we go our separate ways, Ichinose, could I ask you something?

Ichinose: What is it?

Y/N: Do you know anything about Katsuragi and Class A?

Ichinose: Katsuragi-san, hm? Well, Sakayanagi-san is sitting the test out, so Katsuragi-san seems to have taken leadership of Class A, but...

**Sakayanagi?**

Ichinose: Katsuragi-san's followers and Sakayanagi-san's followers don't always see eye to eye. I doubt they'll suffer any internal discord during this test, though.

**Class A is divided into two factions? Hmm, that's similar to Class D's division. Yet somehow, they remain in Class A. I need to figure out what the difference is.**

Ichinose: But still, they're extremely opposites. One's a reformist the other's a conservative. They're always butting heads I've heard.

Y/N: I see. Thanks for filling me in.

Ichinose: Any time. But we should both get going before it gets dark.

Y/N: Agreed, don't forget my offer, though. I'll see you later.

Ichinose: See ya.

We went our separate ways and I collected branches on my way back to save myself some time. The rest of the day went by with nothing in particular happening. Ibuki decided to return to camp after a while, so I just kept a close eye on her. Everything was perfectly fine until the next morning.

{Tomorrow Morning}

As with every other night, I opted to sleep away from the tents and outside of the camp in order to keep watch. I was a very light sleeper, and I was awoken by the sound of commotion coming from back at camp. I got up and headed back. A bunch of the girls were standing outside of the boys' tent demanding they come out. I stayed away, but after a moment, Hirata stepped out.

Hirata: What's wrong?

Satsuki: Umm. Sorry. Hirata-kun, could you wake up all the boys in there? It's serious.

He was confused, but he agreed regardless.

Hirata: They'll be out in a moment after I give 'em a shout.

I sat down to watch what was about to unfold as the guys came out of the tent.

Hirata: What could it be this early in the morning?

Satsuki: It probably has nothing to do with you, Hirata-kun... But there's something we need to find out.

The situation looked serious, and I was getting anxious waiting to find out what had all the girls so upset right now.

Satsuki: This morning... Karuizawa-san's underwear went missing.

Hirata: Huh?!

Even Hirata who was normally composed found that news surprising.

Satsuki: Karuizawa-san's in our tent crying. Kushida-san and the others are there comforting her, but...

Ike: W-Wait a minute! Why are you suspecting us?!-

Satsuki: Why do you think? It's obvious that one of you took them overnight!

Sudo: It was probably that Ibuki girl, not us!

Satsuki: Why would she steal something like that?!

Ike: You can't be so sure!

Satsuki: The point is, we can't camp in the same place as an underwear thief.

**I was safeguarding the camp through the night, but it looks like I should've been watching the tents instead... How did something like this even happen?**

The other girls started to chime in and voice their frustration. I considered going over there but decided to see how things would unfold.

Hirata: Hey, everybody calm down. Do you have any proof that it was a boy who stole them?

Satsuki: That's why we came to you, Hirata-kun. We want you to find the culprit. First, we request a search of all the boys' bags!

Yamauchi: Huh?!-

Hirata: Okay. But to protect their privacy, could you allow the boys to handle the search?

Satsuki: Fine. We'll wait-

It seemed like somebody finally noticed I was watching from a distance.

Ike: H-Hey, you're blaming us for no reason! What about Y/N?

He pointed at where I was and they all looked over.

Y/N: What the hell..?

Hirata: Y/N wasn't with you girls last night?

Satsuki: No, they weren't.

Hirata: Oh, well they weren't with us boys either.

He gestured for me to come over. Thanks to Ike, I couldn't be an innocent third-party any longer. I got up and went over.

Y/N: I heard everything. I didn't do it, but technically, since I was unaccounted for, I'll let Hirata check my bag as well.

Satsuki: Okay, then. You all get to it!

We all retrieved our bags and headed off into the forest away from the girls.

Sudo: This is starting to piss me off...

Yamauchi: They don't have any evidence that a boy did it. This is nuts!

It was nuts. There were many attractive girls in our class, and Kei was the only one that was currently dating.

**If any of the boys wanted to target a girl, literally anybody other than Karuizawa would've been easier. It doesn't make sense to go for her. And what makes Hirata any more innocent than the rest of the guys? If anything, he should be a top suspect considering his relationship with Karuizawa...**

Ike, who I was standing near, started to sweat profusely as he looked into his bag. I elbowed him.

Y/N: What..?

Ike: Uh- nothing.

Yamauchi: Hang on... Are you the one who stole them?

Ike: Dumbass! N-No way!

Yamauchi: Hey... Don't tell me...

Ike: What? Are you suspecting me?

Yamauchi: Show me your bag!

Ike: Hey, cut it out!

I stepped aside as they started to tussle over the bag. After a moment, Yamauchi pulled out what looked to be a pair of women's underwear.

Y/N: Dang... Busted...

Ike: I-I'm telling you it wasn't me! Th-They were just in there somehow!

Yamauchi: No need to make excuses, man.

Ike: I'm telling the truth! Hey, Y/N, you believe me, right?!

Y/N: I mean... Under these circumstances, you do look pretty suspicious.

Ike: Y/N!

Y/N: But I do believe that if you were the culprit, you wouldn't be this careless...

Yamauchi: So you think someone snuck the panties in Ike's bag?

I shrugged.

Ike: That's what it's got to be!

An annoyed and impatient Sudo looked back at us as the rest of the guys were already getting their bags checked by Hirata.

Sudo: Hey, hurry up!

Ike: Wh-What do I do? I'm in serious trouble here!

Yamauchi handed him the underwear back and walked off.

Yamauchi: Good luck.

Y/N: You'll just have to hide them.

Ike: Hide them?! Where?

Y/N: I don't know... Throw them off into the forest, or something.

Ike: If you think I should hide them, you handle it!

He pressed them against my chest for me to take them.

Ike: Okay? Okay!

Y/N: Woah, take it easy! This is not my problem-

He dropped them into my hand and ran off to catch up with the others.

**Are you kidding me right now..? What do I do with these? I told Ike to throw them into the forest, but if he got caught, it would've been his problem, not mine. I could bury them, but then they'd be in no condition to return to her.**

I sighed and stuck them in my pocket.

**Guess I'll take the fall for this one. I've been trying to get on good terms with the girls, so I hope they don't start hating me after this...**

I reluctantly went over to just get myself checked. I went from not being a part of this problem to getting dragged in by the main source of the problem. Now I had to take the blame for it. After some time, Hirata checked my bag and obviously found nothing of interest. We returned to the girls to relay the news.

Hirata: We searched them all.

Satsuki: For real?

Hirata: Yeah. It's clear now. None of the boys did it. We can let everyone put their stuff away now, right?

Satsuki arched her eyebrows and wasn't satisfied yet.

Satsuki: I demand a pat-down. An underwear thief is a pervert. You don't know where they might be keeping them.

Ike: G-Give us a break!

**You just shut up...**

The girls started to debrief with each other.

Haruka: Ike-kun's been acting weird this whole time...

Nene: You think he's the one who did it?

Mei-Yu: Gross!

Ike: Fine, I get it!

He pulled out his pockets.

Ike: Search me if you want!

**Shut up, shut up, shut up! What are you doing, Ike?!**

Satsuki: We will, then. Hirata-kun, if you please.

**You're screwing me over, Ike... This is literally all your fault!**

It didn't take long for Hirata to pat everybody down one by one. Of course, since I had the underwear, everybody else came up clean. I was the last one being checked, and Hirata began to pat me down.

Hirata: Sorry. I'll make this fast.

He paused for a moment as he felt near my pocket. I was busted.

Hirata: Y/N doesn't have them, either. It wasn't them. It wasn't any of the boys.

Satsuki: Really?

It looked like they were finally giving up.

Satsuki: We'll believe you, then.

Hirata: Thanks.

The girls headed off feeling unsatisfied that the culprit wasn't found. The boys went off feeling annoyed that they just had to waste all of that time. I watched Hirata as he walked off.

**Why didn't he snitch on me?

Somebody tapped on my back as I watched him. I looked back to see Haruka hadn't returned with the other girls yet. I stiffened up. Not just because she still put me on edge, but because I also still had the underwear on me.

Haruka: Oh, sorry, Y-Aka. I didn't realize you were so focused.

Y/N: I-It's okay. What's up?

Haruka: I don't think you were the one to take Karuizawa-san's underwear. You're not that type of person. Honestly, I don't think any of the girls felt that you did it...

Y/N: You don't have to explain anything to me. I'm not upset. I get it.

Haruka: But did any of the boys do it?

Y/N: Hm? You're asking me? Hirata searched everybody and came up empty-handed.

Haruka: I know, but...

She wasn't so convinced that Hirata had told the full truth. Her intuition was correct. Hirata lied.

Haruka: I just don't think it's smart to blindly trust Hirata like that.

Y/N: Yet you'll blindly trust me if I give you an answer?

She slowly nodded and then shrugged. Hirata may have been the most trustworthy person in class amongst both boys and girls, but it was apparent that I had won the absolute trust of a few people in class myself.

Y/N: I don't know who stole the