Gathering firewood sounded simple on the surface, but in reality it was far harder than anyone could imagine. It required concentration, endurance, and an absurd amount of patience.
That was what I kept telling myself so I wouldn't grab a stick and start hitting the Class D students over the head one after another.
The idea of spending an entire week with them was already exhausting my nerves.
I continued collecting tree branches of various sizes and tucking them under my arm. I had to gather as much as possible and bring it back to camp. They wanted to boil water first — enough for the entire class to drink — and they also needed it to cook tonight's dinner.
My role in this equation was indispensable.
No, it was practically the most important role among them all. Even if they found food, it would be meaningless if they couldn't cook it.
I was the core of this group.
Damn it, I was comforting myself again.
After gathering a decent amount of firewood, I decided it would probably be enough if they used it carefully and headed back toward the camp. Most of the students were gathered around Ike, who was preparing a proper place to start the fire.
It seemed he was genuinely skilled at camping-related things.
Well, everyone had something they excelled at.
"Hey, where's the guy who went to collect firewood? He's taking forever!" Ike shouted irritably at my delay.
"I don't know, but he'll probably be here soon," one of the girls replied.
I approached the group, still fighting the urge to hit them with a stick, until they finally noticed my presence.
"Oh, looks like the firewood finally arrived," Karuizawa said.
"Hey, why did you take so long?" Ike stepped out from the crowd and started walking toward me while shouting as if he planned to scold me.
But suddenly, it was as though a cat had swallowed his tongue. He froze and awkwardly glanced at the people around him.
"Hahaha… The firewood's here now, so let's start the fire!"
Ike let out an awkward laugh and stepped back, making room for me to place the branches on the ground.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and retreated into the background, leaving the stage to Ike and his little performance.
He began arranging the sticks into a dome-like shape before taking out a match and lighting it. He carefully placed the flame beneath the wood, and soon the fire began devouring the branches and growing stronger.
"Amazing…"
"Wow…"
"As expected of Ike-kun…"
Voices of praise began pouring in from every direction. Ike looked both proud and embarrassed by the sudden attention and merely scratched his nose with his finger.
Well, he deserved at least a little praise for his effort. At least he was helping the class, unlike his friend.
...Wait a second.
Where was that bastard Yamauchi?
Almost as if he had been waiting for me to think about him, Yamauchi suddenly burst out from the forest running toward us.
"Hey, guys! There's something over there!" Yamauchi shouted while panting heavily.
Everyone's attention shifted away from the fire and toward him.
Was this another disaster?
Behind him appeared both Ayanokōji and Sakura. Maybe they had formed a group to explore the area together.
But there was also an unfamiliar sight among Class D.
A girl with short blue hair.
She was the same girl I had seen with Ryūen aboard the ship.
But this time, there was a bruise on her face, and her clothes were dirty.
Had she gotten into a fight with someone?
What was she doing here?
"Yamauchi-kun, what happened?" Hirata immediately moved toward him first to figure out what exactly was going on.
"Uh… We found her in the forest. Apparently she got kicked out of her class's camp," Yamauchi explained.
I understood now.
They had probably found her wandering somewhere, and Mr. Yamauchi here saw it as a perfect chance to show off in front of a girl.
"That's understandable. Guys, we should—"
Hirata started trying to convince the class to help her, but suddenly stopped as though he had just realized something.
"No… Yukinoshita-san, what should we do in this situation?"
Hirata turned toward the girl they had officially appointed as leader during the exam.
Yukinoshita was sitting calmly alone on a rock at the edge of the camp, quietly watching the entire exchange.
She placed a hand beneath her chin as though considering every possibility while staring into the distance.
Our eyes met for a brief moment.
I simply shrugged.
Yukinoshita nodded slightly to herself before clearing her throat and beginning to speak.
"The decision is yours. All I'll say is that this could be a trap from Class C to spy on us or cause problems inside our camp. At the same time, it's also possible this is real, and perhaps she truly was expelled despite being a girl left alone in the middle of this forest."
Yukinoshita finished her statement, leaving the decision to the class while placing the two most important possibilities directly before them.
"We shouldn't let her stay with us! She's from Class C — nothing but troublemakers!" Sudō shouted from the crowd.
He probably refused to trust her because of his terrible experiences with her class.
"But what if what she's saying is true?" Kushida asked while pretending to think deeply.
"Don't joke around. They're all bastards!"
Sudō refused to change his opinion, as though he was the only person in Class D capable of seeing the truth.
"I know this might sound biased, but we can't just abandon her in this condition," Hirata said.
As always, he never hesitated to help others, even if they were technically his enemies.
"Hm… If we keep an eye on her carefully, then she won't be able to sabotage our exam," Karuizawa suggested.
"Yeah, maybe you're right…"
"Guys, we're not going to abandon her, right?" Kushida pleaded with everyone to help.
Even if Kushida already knew Ibuki was probably a spy, she still had to agree to help in order to maintain her image.
I almost pitied Kushida.
She had to go through all this effort just to protect something so trivial.
The moment both Kushida and Hirata agreed to help her, the discussion was effectively over. Most of Class D immediately agreed to let her stay and provide her with shelter.
"Tch… Are you all idiots? Do whatever you want…" Sudō kicked the ground angrily before storming off toward the forest.
Maybe he felt betrayed seeing his class help someone from the group that used to target him.
Or maybe he simply didn't want the class to fall into such an obvious trap.
Either way, the matter was settled.
Class D had decided to help her.
This was merely the continuation of the little play Ryūen had started aboard the ship.
His entire goal back then had been to convince me that Ibuki opposed him within Class C, so getting "expelled" now because she disagreed with his decisions would naturally make the story believable.
It seemed he had already been planning this exam before we even arrived here.
Still, this was nothing more than a gamble.
I slowly ran my finger across the watch on my wrist.
Now that she had entered our camp, she was technically in our hands. We could easily frame her for sabotage and get Class C expelled from the exam entirely.
My finger stopped over the emergency button Chabashira-sensei had mentioned earlier.
No…
Keeping them in the competition was better.
We could gain fifty points by correctly identifying their leader.
And another fifty by making them guess our leader incorrectly.
Their little performance might be impressive…
But there was always the option of destroying the stage they were performing on.