CHANGED - Classroom of the Elite

45

July 19th:

The island exam is about a day's worth away (class 2-d is granted permission on the island at (time); it's currently 11am) and Suzune is debating whether she should sneak her mascara in her backpack.

Apparently, this plot of land was at least twice the size of the last one, which is just more land for the hoard of teenagers to colonize. Yay. (Is it obvious that she doesn't want to do this right now? Then again, she could just dip at the start after everyone leaves, but that would get people asking questions for the whole two weeks and she doesn't need her classmates dropping out just to see her leave-)

"You don't look very happy, Horikita-san." Hirata spoke up next to her on the cruise's wooden deck. Suzune blinked out of her train of thought. "Are you worried about the island exam? If so, you can travel with my group for the first few hours. We don't mind."

"I'll be okay." She declined. "It's mainly the island itself that's bothering me."

"You did just fine on the one last year." Ayanokoji said, glancing at her. "You had no trouble staying out in the forest, and you brought us to victory even though our classmates struggled."

No mention of his own red string pulling and weaving, of course.

"We'll have to stay cautious of heatstroke and dehydration." Hirata brought up, raising a hand to block the sun from his eyes. The other one was twitching against its tight clutch onto the metal railing.

"You can see the island's silhouette now." Ayanokoji pointed out. "The driver doesn't seem to be circling around it this time."

"Well, duh." Suzune twirled a ball point pen between her fingers after pulling it out of seemingly nowhere. "We're big boys now; no baby steps."

"I think even 'big boys' need baby steps sometimes, Horikita-san." Hirata said with a gentle smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Suzune idly hummed before pulling out a lollipop, unwrapping it, and shoving it in Hirata's mouth. "Have some candy, emo boy. Leadership is a necessity to make sure the other losers don't drop dead midway through."

"Emo-huh??"

---

"STUDENTS, PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE FULLY PREPARED. WE WILL BE ARRIVING AT THE ISLAND SOON. I REPEAT,"

Suzune waved goodbye to her comrades and went down the staircase that led out to the one of many corridors. She weaved her way through the ongoing crowd. After she made it through most of the ship's floor, she caught sight of Kei waving her over, blue nail polish reflecting in the sunlight. Suzune walked over to her, and the two girls were standing side by side.

Kei abruptly sighed with a petite smile. "The view really is amazing, huh?"

"... yeah." It was the little things that made Kei happy. Suzune knew that. "So... what's the plan for the island--"

"Are you going to come back?" Kei suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, Suzune, it really doesn't suit you." Kei ripped herself away from the railing to bore her eyes into Suzune's. "Are you going to return to us after the two weeks is over? Are you going to stay?"

"Where has this come from, Kei?" Suzune asked, turning to look at the other girl. "You're going to drive yourself mad with these questions."

"Then answer them." Kei said. "Answer them, and then I'll let you wallow in your own self-pity for the next two weeks. Alone."