The Quintessential quintuplets in ANHS

8.2 Class-C's Strategy

Ayanokouji POV

I woke up much earlier that morning than I'd anticipated. The heat and humidity had made me toss and turn in my sleep. It finally roused me, and I wasn't very well-rested. My bed felt warm, and I remembered that we'd kept the lamp on throughout the whole night. Our tent stank like sweat. Fortunately, we'd formed the tent with a mesh material because it allowed for the night breeze to blow through. But once the night had ended, the temperature rose significantly. I carefully slipped out of the tent to not wake anyone else and approached our mountain of piled luggage.

We'd kept the luggage outside in order to make the tents as spacious as possible. After looking around to make sure I was alone, I found a singularly colored piece of luggage. It was Ibuki's bag. Since her bag was different, it was easy to spot. I grabbed it without hesitation and checked inside. If someone saw me doing this, I'd be instantly labeled a pervert. Inside, I found the same kinds of things that everyone else had, like towels, a change of clothes, underwear, etc. However...

"A digital camera, huh?"

 That explained the dull sound I'd heard yesterday when she dropped the bag against a tree. This item wasn't appropriate for a deserted island. On the bottom of the camera, I found a rental sticker. Why did Ibuki have this? I considered the possible reasons, trying to think from her perspective. After conjuring up an image of her in my head, several possibilities suggested themselves.

I checked the camera's power source. It had no data and no sign that it'd been used. After I finished my inspection, I returned the item to the bag and went back to the tent. 

"Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun. Heading to the bathroom?" 

Hirata was awake. He turned around as he greeted me. Maybe he noticed that I was sweatier than usual.

 "Ah. Did I wake you, by any chance?" 

"Oh no. I can't exactly sleep soundly in this environment. Ouch, ouch... Ah, my back hurts. Well, I guess that's only natural without a proper mattress." 

It certainly wasn't easy to sleep when we were so crowded together, and without real beds to boot. But somehow, everyone else was still asleep. They were probably tired out from yesterday's activity.

"If you include Kouenji-kun's penalty, we spent almost 100 points yesterday. I told everyone that in the worst possible outcome we'd be left with 120 points, but now I'm not even sure about that. I guess the anxiety woke me." 

Hirata took out the manual to confirm his fears. Kouenji's retirement had been a pretty serious blow. 

"This is tough, even for the class peacemaker." I couldn't possibly fathom carrying this kind of responsibility. 

I peeked at the manual, and Hirata adjusted his position so that I could comfortably look at it. I was grateful for such small acts of consideration.

"I'm only doing this because I like it. If my hard work makes everyone in class happy, then I'm satisfied. But it's surprisingly difficult. How many points we have after this special test will have a huge impact on our lives. I think it's wrong to freak everybody out."

 Make everyone in class happy, huh? If such a thing were possible, it would be amazing. But it was probably close to impossible. The school's system dictated as much.

"So, if we have students who want to aim for Class A, and students who want to stay in Class D, what do you do?"

While I knew that was a meaningless question, it accidentally came out sounding rather unkind. I guess I wanted Hirata's opinion since he was basically just a mass of good intentions.