A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 15 - Deserted Island Exam (2)

"Ah, mou~, why do we have to walk so much..."

Currently, Matsushita, Karuizawa, and I were walking toward the east side of the island. We had been tasked to search the island for food and anything of relevance to our special exam.

For most of this journey, I spent the time in the lead. Pushing through all the shrubbery for the two behind me. Man, if I had my katana, it would be so much easier to walk in this forest.

Matsushita and Karuizawa spent most of the search talking about the latest gossip, relationships, and news within the school. But now, Karuizawa had started to complain more about the amount of walking we were doing.

"We've only been walking for 40 minutes, Karuizawa."

"Fukumoto-kun... it's felt like forever; can we take a break?" It seemed Matsushita was also starting to tire out.

"Fine..." I replied with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

I took some cover from the sun under some big trees that were nearby.

"So, we have found 4 checkpoints and some food resources. But that's pretty much it."

I started to debrief our discoveries. 4 unspotted checkpoints could become good point producers for us, but the distance to travel wasn't very accommodating. The food we found was some berries, but we never know if they could be poisonous.

"Ahhh, don't start going into a debrief now! Let us rest."

Karuizawa complained even more now. Really even talking strategy was too much.

Matsushita had sat directly to my left, and Karuizawa sat directly to my right. Effectively trapping me between the two.

"You know, there are other trees nearby," as I pointed at the forest, "we don't all have to occupy this one."

"Are you listening to this guy, Karuizawa-san?" Matsushita leaned forward to grab her attention.

"I know, two beautiful girls sitting beside him, and he asks us to leave."

"I would like to be able to breathe, though."

"Aw, c'mon. Fukumoto-kun, you know, were your best friends." Matsushita gave me a playful shot in the side, and Karuizawa quickly copied her actions.

It's true; since we went to the mall and the formation of the study groups, I had started to get very close to Karuizawa, Matsushita, and Sato. I don't know if I'd consider them 'best friends', but I certainly did enjoy my time with them.

"Fine, just don't poke my sides again. Or I'll make us walk for another hour."

"Your cruel, Fukumoto-kun."

"Yeah, a true devil."

The girls gave a slight chuckle after their comebacks.

"Say, Fukumoto-kun, what's been going on with you?"

"Hmmm? What do you mean?"

I turned to look at Matsushita, such a weird question at a time like this. I don't think I've been doing anything weird since my enrolment at this school.

"Well, it's like, you seem to be getting more involved with our class, ya know. Leading study groups, helping with Sudo's case, helping out with this exam too."

"I don't think I'm getting that involved..."

"She's right," Karuizawa joined the conversation too, "you seem to be someone the class is beginning to trust, like Hirata-kun. Your influence within this class has grown too."