There's a cute pair of pink, frilly triangular panties in my bag.
…
Wow, damn. They say extreme shock renders you speechless—I guess this is what that feels like.
…Anyway, I didn’t steal them, so if I’m to entertain any theories, they are:
First, because of my sleepwalking, I could have wandered into the girls’ tent and accidentally taken the underwear without anyone noticing.
What a load of crap. That makes no sense at all.
Second, Ibuki—or someone else—stole them and planted the underwear in my bag.
Obviously this one, damn it.
"…Ibuki. Of all people, why me? Why leave them with idiots like Yamauchi or Ike?!"
Fuming silently at Ibuki, I quickly slipped the unmistakable evidence—Karuizawa’s underwear—into my pocket.
"I'm just checking the bags. This should be enough to clear me," I thought.
Even though no underwear turned up in the boys' bags, the girls' suspicions only grew, and the clueless Ike ended up rifling through his pockets, desperately insisting he was innocent.
Damn fool…!
In the end, the only way the girls could be placated was through a body search directed by Yosuke. And when it was my turn...
"What excuse am I supposed to give?"
Option one: Insist that I didn’t steal them!
No way that would work. Sure, I’ve been trying to make a good impression with the girls lately, but aside from Yosuke, I’m the only one who’s been hanging around the girls’ tent. In fact, I’m in the perfect position to be suspected… Ibuki probably knew this and set me up on purpose.
Option two: Claim that I have a cross-dressing hobby.
…That actually sounds plausible, doesn’t it?
No, let’s go with that. Being branded a cross-dressing pervert is far better than being labeled a panty thief.
"…Man, I’m really losing it."
…Maybe I should just drop out?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, Yosuke fiddled with my pocket and then said...
"Yeah. Ian doesn’t have anything either."
That was his testimony.
Huh? Huh? Huh?
Did I just get bailed out? Why? How?
I shot Yosuke a puzzled look, and with an awkward smile he just returned to his seat without further explanation.
Afterwards, even though no culprit emerged during the body searches, we decided to divide the area along the river to ease the girls’ distrust. Ayanokouji, who had proven himself unflappable, was picked as lookout by Horikita, and I helped Yosuke move the girls’ tent to the opposite side.
Later, when I finally caught Yosuke alone, he said,
"…I trust you."
And with that, he retrieved his girlfriend’s underwear.
Really—how can someone remain so calm when their girlfriend’s underwear goes missing?
"I appreciate the trust, but it’s odd to be believed for no reason," I muttered inwardly.
I figured Yosuke needed to be watched a bit more closely, and as time passed, even though the boys and girls had been separated into zones, we still shared food, daily routines, and even points. When it came time to cook, I headed over to the opposite side. The girls all claimed that after Yosuke, they trusted me the most—but then…
"…But that underwear was with me."
Knowing the truth made me force a tight smile, even as it ate away at me inside.
The next day—just one day before the island exam was to end—another incident broke out.
"Fire!"
Somebody had deliberately set it. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but several sets of gym clothes and the booklet for purchasing supplies were burning.
"This is awful..."
"Who on earth would do such a thing?!"
"Obviously it was the boys!"
"Huh? Hey, Shinohara! You’ve been blaming us nonstop lately—how about you take responsibility for your own clumsiness?!"
The bickering among our class’s raucous lot of troublemakers resumed.
Seriously, don’t they ever get tired of it?
Anyway, it seemed like the culprit had already made his move, so if the fire spread further it could become dangerous. We needed to act fast.
I grabbed the fire equipment with Ike and began to douse the flames. Thankfully, the blaze wasn’t huge, and soon the fire was out. Still, to be sure, I pressed down the remaining embers and covered them with a plastic sheet to cut off any remaining oxygen.
But the flames of distrust in the students' hearts flickered on, growing ever fiercer and stoking more chaos.
"I never liked your attitude from the start! You wasted points on useless stuff like bathroom renovations, and when it came to the panty thief issue, you forced the matter even though it wasn’t our fault!"
"Hah?! Why bring that up now? And you, Sudo—bleeding class points right from the start and swinging your fists around—you’re no saint either!"
"What did you say?!"
As Sudo ranted and threatened the girls, a few of them let out small screams and retreated, clearly unnerved by the danger.
"Ah..."
"Careful, Mi-chan."
"Ian... t-thank you,"
As Mi-chan nearly fell after being shoved by the others, I caught her from behind and moved over to Sudo.
"Calm down, Sudo. You haven’t forgotten what I told you last time, have you? Your behavior is scaring everyone," I admonished him.
"Tch...! You again, Ian...!"
"Just relax. No one’s been hurt, and with the exam ending tomorrow, there’s no reason for us to fight. Right, Yosuke?"
Normally, I would have expected Yosuke to step in and smooth things over at a time like this, but for some reason, he didn’t answer.
"Why… am I… doing this for everyone…" he mumbled.
The awkward tension that had been simmering finally seemed ready to explode. Yosuke didn’t respond to my call; instead, he stood there blankly, muttering to himself. And I wasn’t the only one who sensed something was off.
"Hirata…?"
Karuizawa, his girlfriend, approached and asked if something was wrong, but Yosuke only stared at the ground, continuing his incoherent mutterings.
Sigh...
I’d always wondered why a guy like him was assigned to Class D—clearly he was carrying some heavy burden.
But this wasn’t the time to pry. There was too much to do, too many problems to solve.
So I stepped up to Yosuke and gave him a firm pat on the back.
"Calm down, Yosuke. Nothing’s happened yet."
"…Ian. Yeah, there’s still time to fix this," he replied.
As if my words had reignited some courage in him, Yosuke snapped back to his usual self and began mediating among the students. Just when it seemed like the incident might be contained, the skies opened up.
It began to rain.
"The signs were there yesterday—why now, of all times?"
Judging by the direction of the clouds and the passing showers, it was more like a brief downpour—but getting soaked in these mountains was risky. Following Yosuke’s orders, everyone started retreating to their tents when, in that moment, Ayanokouji and I exchanged a look.
"…Okay," I said.
Taking that as the signal that the final phase had begun, I returned to the tent and devoted myself to comforting a dejected Yosuke.
And then…
"Listen up, Yosuke. Tomorrow, when you jot down the leader from the other class, include these names," I instructed.
I handed him a note bearing the following names:
A Class: Totsuka Yahiko
C Class: Ryuuen Kakeru
Final day.
All the classes gathered on the beach where we first landed on the island.
Well, “all” is a stretch—C Class was completely absent.
For your information, yesterday, after the shower had passed and we did a headcount, it was confirmed that Ibuki was missing. When Yosuke inquired with the homeroom teacher, the reply was that she had retired. That only strengthened the suspicion among the others that both the panty thief and the arsonist might be Ibuki—but let’s set that aside for now.
Horikita had also retired. I’d suspected as much from the start, given how run-down she looked.
Especially after Yamauchi threw mud at Horikita’s head on the sixth day—forcing her into an icy shower—by the time the fire broke out and Ibuki fled, her condition was probably at an all-time low.
Of course, I was well aware of all that and chose not to meddle further.
"Well, C Class isn’t entirely nonexistent," I mused.
Before I could dwell on it any longer, a voice rang out:
"Now, I’ll announce the exam results."
Just as Teacher Shima began tallying up the scores, he appeared.
"Hey, hey. We haven’t even gathered everyone yet, and you’re already in a hurry," he scolded.
Ryuuen Kakeru.
The rough, trunk-only look from Day Two was gone. Instead, Ryuuen appeared wild and haggard, his body marked by small cuts and streaks of filthy mud. He’d even grown a noticeable beard.
…As expected, he’d stayed on the island on his own.
At the very least, that secured him fifty points.
"What? Ryuuen…? I thought he retired," gasped Kanzaki from B Class, clearly shocked.
Meanwhile, Katsuragi from A Class grinned as he walked over to him.
"You look a mess, Ryuuen. Still, it turned out to be a good deal. Thanks to that, our A Class is definitely moving up the ranks."
"Oh? Looks like you got played. I never imagined A Class and C Class would team up," Ryuuen retorted.
At Katsuragi’s remark, Ichinose squinted slightly as if catching on to something, murmuring under her breath.
Meanwhile, the students in our class—ever the clueless bunch—exclaimed:
"What? Why is that guy here...?!"
They clearly hadn’t figured out what was going on yet.
"Heh, Katsuragi, it’s too soon to jump to conclusions," one of them chuckled.
"What are you talking about?"
"We already know that A Class’s leader is Totsuka Yahiko, don’t we?"
"?! Don’t you dare, you bastard...!"
"There was never any clause in our deal forbidding us from guessing your class leader. Sorry, but it looks like you trusted the wrong person. When you add up all the occupancy points, C Class barely beats A Class."
As though sensing something about Ryuuen’s true intentions, Katsuragi faltered for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, Ryuuen laughed and patted Katsuragi on the back.
"Good work. Thanks to you, this win is ours."
Soon after, Teacher Mashima announced the final rankings.
"First, in fourth place… C Class!"
"What…?!"
"Zero points."
Sorry, Ryuuen.
You were just a decoy.
"Next, third place: A Class—with 120 points."
"No…?!"
Something was clearly amiss; both Katsuragi and Ryuuen shared that impression.
"Second place: B Class with 140 points."
C, A, B.
Every class except ours had already been called.
This meant...
"And the long-awaited first place goes to… D Class! 225 points!"
The moment Teacher Mashima made the announcement,
"Woooooo!"
"We’re number one, we’re number one! Yes!"
"I have no idea what’s going on, but yay!"
Go ahead and celebrate, you foolish monkeys!
"What the hell is going on?"
Katsuragi kept glancing back and forth between us and Ryuuen, completely baffled. The same puzzled expressions were evident on Ichinose, Ryuuen, and several other students.
But Ayanokouji and I didn’t even bother looking at them. Instead, we silently replayed the exam in our minds.
…Not that I needed to—the exam had been a complete breeze.
So, shall I wrap this up?
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