A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 16 - Deserted Island Exam (3)

(Day 2, 5:45 am, Ayanokouji Kioytaka, POV)

It was quite early in the morning before anyone had woken up yet.

I quietly got up from the mass of bodies inside the tent and stepped outside.

The sun had not yet begun to rise; the air on the island was still cool from the long night. Not many beings on this island would be awake at this time.

I walked over to the class's pile of bags. We had all decided to place our belongings in one big pile outside our tents to make more room for people inside them.

As I approached the pile, I quietly rummaged through all the bags, looking for one in particular.

After a few moments of scouring through all the bags, I found my target.

Ibuki's bag.

Ever since meeting her suspiciously by our camp yesterday, I've had my doubts about her. The best way to confirm her motives for staying with our class would be inside her bag. I opened up the bag to find nothing special, just extra changes of clothes, a flashlight and... a camera?

I never got a clear look at the manual, but I'm sure a digital camera was an item you could buy.

Why would she need a camera?

I conjured up several possibilities in my mind as to why Ibuki would need a camera for this deserted island test. After a few moments, a few clear possibilities surfaced in my mind.

I flipped the camera around to check for its power source. On the bottom of the camera, I found a rental sticker and its power port.

Quickly opening it, I checked that it had no data, which meant it hadn't been used.

I stuffed the camera into the bag and placed it back on the pile, it was nearing 6 am now, and I wouldn't want to be labeled a pervert looking through someone's bag.

Leaving the mass pile of bags, I went to return to my tent, but as soon as I did, a silent rustling of leaves caught my attention coming from behind me.

I turned my gaze to see what could be moving around at this time.

Mere moments later and a face emerged from the thicket of leaves.

"Oh? Ayanokouji? What are you doing up this early?"

It was Fukumoto. What could he be doing up this early?

"I could say the same to you. You seem to have been moving around for a while."

I pointed to his damp clothing that clung to his body. No doubt, he had been sweating for some time now, which had to mean he had to have woken up before me. But he never alerted me when he left the tent. Fukumoto would have to be an expert in sneaking around to not alert me.

"Well, I claimed the spot early this morning and couldn't fall back asleep. So, I went for a little swim."

So, he had woken up before me to reclaim our spot. But, even so, to swim by yourself for almost 2 hours seems odd.

"I see. Well, everyone should be waking up for role call soon, so I'll go freshen up."

I turned away from the tent and headed to a secluded spot by the stream to prepare myself for the day ahead.

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(6:45 am, Fukumoto Akio, POV)

By now, most of our class had woken up.

It was quite early to walk up at 6:45 am for some people. But, waking up early and accomplishing a few tasks before the morning roll call would be essential in passing this test.