Morning.
Bright sunlight streamed through the cottage window, illuminating the somewhat old bed.
Amane-san, sleeping soundly under the covers, had a rosy face, perhaps dreaming of something pleasant.
As everyone gradually woke up, the Class D camp also began to show signs of life.
Being in the prime of youth, many people were full of energy and started playing around early in the morning.
The noise made it impossible for the boys and girls who wanted to sleep a little longer to stay in bed any longer.
Amane-san was also woken up by the playful sounds.
Just as Amane-san was still a bit groggy.
The door burst open with a bang.
Several girls walked straight in.
Amane-san jumped, startled, completely unaware of what was happening.
"Onodera, which fishing rod do you think is better?"
"This one looks good... Compared to fishing, I prefer to just go into the river and catch them."
"Fishing is really fun, you know. Catching fish... Hmm, I can hardly imagine myself swimming around in the water catching fish."
"Fun? But I just find it boring."
"That's because you've never caught a fish, Onodera, right?"
"N-Noisy!!"
"Hahahaha, it seems Onodera isn't very good at fishing..."
"Good morning, everyone~"
The Class D girls, who were chatting and laughing, suddenly heard someone greeting them.
Turning their heads, they saw Amane-san, half-sitting up, awkwardly waving her small hand.
For a moment, both sides were stunned.
They had no idea that Amane-san would be sleeping in the cottage where the fishing gear was stored.
When they had come earlier, Amane-san hadn't been there.
"Good morning, Amane-san. By the way, why are you sleeping here? Shouldn't you be with Class C?"
Karuizawa was the first to recover from her surprise and spoke to Amane-san.
"They've already given up on the exam and all left, so I had nowhere to stay but to come back here. Suzune told me to stay here for now. I originally thought everyone would be unaccustomed to island life, but it seems everyone looks quite well."
Everyone's faces carried smiles, more or less.
This indicated that the class atmosphere had been quite good during this period.
As long as no one within the class dragged them down, the Class D students could actually get along quite well.
"Hmph hmph, of course! How could mere outdoor survival stump us? Although it was quite difficult at first, once we got used to it, it was just that. But... I heard from Horikita-san that you had a great time in Class C, with barbecues and iced drinks. I'm so envious!"
Karuizawa deliberately teased her with a mischievous smile.
Her group didn't have much contact with Amane-san, so only a few could talk to her. To lighten the tense atmosphere, Karuizawa deliberately made a joke.
Matsushita immediately understood Karuizawa's intention, so she also joined in teasing Amane-san.
"What? Barbecue! Amane-san, are you really here for outdoor survival? We've been eating lunchboxes every day!"
Facing their teasing, Amane-san deliberately leaned back on the bed, feigning an expression of enjoyment.
"Oh, you don't know, yesterday I ate so much barbecue my stomach almost burst. If it weren't for Suzune, I probably wouldn't have been able to come back. I wish I had known you were still eating lunchboxes, I would have brought some back for you. What a pity~"
Amane-san deliberately drew out her words, making it sound very fake just by listening.
"Oh! Look, Amane-san is showing off to us! That's really too much. But from today on, you'll also be eating lunchboxes, hehe."
Karuizawa showed a cute smile.
As expected of the first girl in the class to have a boyfriend, she performed remarkably well in both reading the atmosphere and enlivening it, and she was very skilled at using her cute appearance to increase others' goodwill.
Just as Amane-san was about to continue talking, a whistle interrupted their conversation.
"Oh no, it's roll call! Amane-san, you should get up quickly. Missing roll call will cost us points!"
Karuizawa, looking flustered, quickly warned her and then walked out with her small group.
"Her abilities are rather mediocre, and her charisma is a bit lacking compared to Kushida. A character who is not good enough to be at the top, but better than those at the bottom? But this level is not enough to take on heavy responsibilities. It's really difficult. It's also quite hard to tame Kushida... Never mind, I'll think about these things later."
Amane-san vigorously shook her head, interrupting the thoughts in her mind.
On the boys' side, although there were anomalies like Kouenji and Yukimura, most were ordinary people.
Although they resented Hirata, who was highly popular among the girls, they were highly dependent on Hirata for class matters as they lacked initiative. So, as long as Hirata cooperated, they could gain the support of most of the boys.
Ayanokoji only needed to demonstrate his abilities to gain the recognition of the Class D boys, and then he could control the boys' wishes through Hirata.
On the girls' side, Karuizawa, Amane-san, Kushida, and Shinohara currently each held a certain amount of influence.
In terms of ability, Amane-san could suppress all dissenting voices if she spoke, but Amane-san did not intend to permanently act as the leader of the Class D girls.
Therefore, she planned to have Horikita lead the Class D girls.
Although Horikita was still a bit naive in handling matters, people grow. Horikita Suzune will undoubtedly become an excellent talent capable of standing on her own in the future.
In terms of ability, Horikita has no flaws.
However, in social aspects, especially internal social interactions with classmates, Horikita's performance is truly too poor.
This led to her not even having a chance to speak in Class D.
What Amane needs to do now is to help Horikita find a spokesperson who is popular with the girls.
This person can make them support Horikita's decisions and accept Horikita's commands.
Amane and Shinohara were the first to be excluded.
Horikita Suzune's pride does not allow her to always hide behind Amane and use Amane to speak.
Shinohara, on the other hand, is a fence-sitter.
She used to be on good terms with Kushida, but ever since Kushida failed to protect Ichihashi Ruri, she and her group have been leaning towards Karuizawa.
The only remaining candidates are Karuizawa Kei and Kushida Kikyo.
In terms of ability, ten Karuizawa combined probably couldn't outwit Kushida's cunning.
However, Kushida is too independent; to tame her, strong medicine is needed, and one wrong move could make Kushida choose to self-destruct, revealing some private matters of classmates and inevitably affecting class unity.
Unless absolutely necessary, Amane doesn't want to deal with Kushida.
Moreover, the relationship between Kushida and Horikita is almost like fire and water.
They mutually despise each other, and this is no longer a problem that mediation can solve.
Just this point alone makes Amane uneasy about choosing Kushida to be Horikita's mouthpiece.
That leaves only one last option.
That is Karuizawa Kei.
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