163 -162- The final obstacle before the end

In the blink of an eye, the first special exam for the first-year students of Advanced Nurturing High School welcomed its sixth day.

In other words, the special exam, which lasted for a week, would be announced to end by tomorrow.

Due to the upcoming end of the exam tomorrow, the students of Class D, who had spent nearly a week living outdoors, seemed somewhat restless.

Although Hori's intervention made Class D appear exceptionally organized and there were no difficulties or problems in this special exam, there were still many inconveniences outdoors.

Leaving aside other things, without phones to play with and no entertainment to pass the time, it's imaginable how uncomfortable it was for urban boys and girls of their age who loved to have fun.

If it weren't for occasionally fishing during leisure time or swimming at the seaside, and exploring in the forest, perhaps these young boys and girls would have gone crazy long ago.

Therefore, with the exam ending tomorrow, the students of Class D seemed more excited than usual in the camp.

Unfortunately, this excitement was short-lived.

Moreover, it was shattered by the heavens.

"Drip..."

Just shortly after noon arrived, drops of water fell from the sky.

That was rain.

Unlike the clear and muggy days of the past few days, today's sky presented a gloomy gray.

And this gloomy gray finally accumulated to its limit, letting the rain fall from the dark clouds.

This was quite a troublesome matter.

Due to the rain, the campfire couldn't burn outdoors at all.

At the same time, due to the overwhelmingly inadequate light in the sky, the entire Class D could only rely on two flashlights to move around in the dark.

Although it wasn't as dim as at night, in the forest, if the field of vision wasn't wide enough, accidentally stepping into a gap while walking would be trivial, but falling off a cliff would be a big deal.

Furthermore, once it rained, in such a place outdoors, unless there was a cave like Class A's, otherwise, they could only hide under the trees or in tents. If they were unlucky and encountered strong winds, it would be even worse. Not only could they not hide in the tents, but they also had to consider whether the tents would be blown away, leading to various troubles.

Perhaps, this was a situation the school had long prepared for?

By intentionally checking the weather forecast in advance and selecting the period when such weather would occur for the special exam, the weather became an obstacle before the end of the special exam, testing the students' adaptability.

Such a thing, the school was capable of doing it.

If not handled properly, causing the students to get wet in the rain might lead to illnesses or accidents before the end of the exam.

Not to mention, they still had to consider how to spend the last night on the deserted island in such terrible weather.

So, this matter was considered a significant trouble.

Therefore, Hori made a decisive decision.

"Take down all the hammocks and sew the tent cloth into a hanging tent. The entire class will spend the night under the hanging tent tonight."

Hori made the best response.

Under the pressure of the weather, the students of Class D had no choice but to comply.

After all, it was the last night, and they could only endure it.

Immediately, the entire Class D started to act.

Taking down all the hammocks and sewing them into a large hanging tent.

Then, they dismantled the tents and used steel wires and nails to fix the hanging tent.

All luggage was moved under the hanging tent, and the entire class gathered within it.

To prevent the possibility of the hanging tent being blown away by strong winds, Hori even moved the camping site into the forest, relying on the forest as a barrier to block the wind, and placed the soft cushions used to pad the tent inside the hanging tent.

Tonight, everyone in Class D would stay under the hanging tent, lying on the cushions, and spend this approaching last night.

Naturally, there were complaints from those who constantly voiced their dissatisfaction.

However, apart from this, another problem occurred on this day.

As the classmates in the class were discussing with annoyed expressions, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka approached Hori, who was gazing at the sky.

"How long do you think this rain will last?" Ayanokouji Kiyotaka asked.

Hori naturally gave an answer. "I guess it's unlikely to clear completely until tomorrow morning."

Having survived for a whole year in a tropical forest, Hori had also acquired some ability to estimate the weather.

"Is that so?" Ayanokouji Kiyotaka nodded casually.

Then, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka spoke calmly. "I think you've noticed, haven't you?"

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka said this out of the blue.

But Hori wasn't surprised.

There was no way not to notice.

"Ibuki is missing, right?" Hori responded indifferently without looking at Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

Yes.

Ibuki Mio was missing.

On the way to the forest, as the rest of Class D shifted positions, Ibuki Mio seemed to have fallen behind and suddenly disappeared from the rear.

"Now, it seems like the others in the class haven't noticed yet," Ayanokouji Kiyotaka asked, "What should we do?"

This had to be dealt with.

Otherwise, once they knew Ibuki Mio was missing, especially in such terrible weather, Hirata Yousuke and Kushida Kikyou, along with others, would surely spontaneously want to search for her, right?

In that case, deliberately keeping these guys here would lose its meaning.

"In that case, I'll go find her. You tell the others that I've already gone, so Hirata and Kushida won't spontaneously go out to search." Hori said as if he had already made this decision.

"Just for show?" Ayanokouji Kiyotaka asked lightly.

"Even if it's just for show," Hori replied dismissively.

Then, Hori left the group of Class D and entered the forest alone.

"Whoosh..."

Finally, the rain poured down heavily.