Chapter 50

Chapter 50

"Even if you're sure that she's a spy, that doesn't change the fact that she has nowhere to go and it's getting dark!" Kururugi passionately waved his hand at the darkening sky.

"Who says she has nowhere to go, Suzaku? She can just go back to there." Lelouch pointed in the direction of the starting beach, through the trees.

"To where?" Kururugi responded quizzically.

"To the boat and drop out. Duh." Sora mocked as if it was obvious.

"That's practically on the other side of the island. She'll have to walk all that way on her own! What if she gets hurt half-way?" Light argued.

Well then there's a feature on our lovely watches just for that occasion, isn't there?"

"Besides, if you're so worried about her, you can just escort her yourself, prince charming." Lelouch added condescendingly.

"This is going nowhere. How about we ask everybody else for their opinions?" Kururugi asked, being the reasonable guy he is. "Ryuzaki, what do you think?"

"I think this whole argument is fruitless. There's a simple solution to it." He replied disinterestedly.

"A simple solution?" They all asked in unison.

"Yes. Lelouch and Sora, you two are blinded by your suspicions while Light and Kururugi are blinded by their principles. Just take a second to calm yourself and think objectively."

I considered Ryuzaki's words, and felt that I could probably guess what his solution was. There was still some confusion, so I decided to speak to clear it up while also confirming whether Ryuzaki had the same thought as me or not.

"You just want to search her bag, right Ryuzaki?"

"That's right. You can buy equipment like radio transceivers and cameras with your points. If Shiina has any item like that in her bag, it'll be clear whether she is a spy or not. We just need to confiscate those items and then we can be safe."

Things seemed to click in the brains of the four debaters, because they all adopted an expression of understanding. Sora even hit himself in the head, seemingly annoyed that he'd overlooked such a simple fix to the problem.

"Won't there still be a chance that she could find out our leader when we renew our spot?" Kururugi asked cautiously.

"We can just have her turn around, I suppose." Lelouch sighed, agreeing with Ryuzaki's proposal. "Besides, Ryūen is probably looking for more definitive proof."

"What makes you say that?" Light asked.

"Ryūen isn't the kind of guy who will trust the words of his classmates. Photographic evidence is likely what he's looking for." Lelouch clarified his simple deduction.

"Yeah. If there's one thing that Class C lacks, it's unity." Sora added.

It looked like the matter was settled, then. Noting this, I turned to the Shiina that was sitting next to me.

"Will you let us search your bag so that you can stay here?"

"Oh, uh, uhm..." Shiina stuttered, looking flustered.

From her body language, it was pretty clear at this point that she was, in fact, on an espionage mission. Her reaction to being caught was quite cute, though.

"You can search my belongings. It's the least I can do to respect your hospitality." Eventually, she made up her mind, and handed her bag to me.

"A wise choice," Lelouch nodded approvingly.

I began to open her bag, but I was stopped by a voice.

"Hey, uh, Ayanokōji, you should probably let Shiro be the one to do the searching." Light called out, embarrassed.

"Huh? Why does it matter who searches the bag?" I asked, not grasping the implication.

"She probably has certain... female-specific items in there. That's why we should also use a girl to look through those, uh, items." Sora explained awkwardly.

"Oh, right. I didn't think about that." I responded, handing the bag over to Blank.

"You know, for a genius, you're quite stupid." Lelouch laughed at me, which I ignored.

I couldn't deny that I felt a little silly for not considering the intersex aspect. Social norms were still foreign to me.

Shiro opened the bag, and began carefully sorting through Shiina's belongings. Eventually, her hands found two hard objects, and she pulled them both out at the same time.

"So it's confirmed," Kururugi sighed dissatisfied. It appeared that he'd really wanted to believe that Shiina had no ulterior motive.

In Shiro's hands, she held a walkie-talkie and a disposable camera, confirming that she was here for spying purposes. Without these two items hidden, though, it was unlikely that she'd be able to cause any damage to us.

"A radio transceiver..." Lelouch muttered reflexively. He was probably thinking about something.

"So, Shiina, you're all right with staying here without these two things, right?" Sora asked.

"Yes, I suppose I have no choice." She replied amicably.

"That solves everything, then." Light said with a smile.

After that, we turned our attention to the topic of food. Ryuzaki and Kururugi had returned with quite a lot of food. They'd even managed to catch fish, which baffled me, considering the fact they didn't take any tools. We decided that one, maybe two, purchased rations would be enough to supplement the naturally harvested food we'd found and get us through the week. That would cost us twenty to forty points.

We bought one ration from Ishihara-sensei and created a meal by combining it with our harvested resources. After eating, it was time for roll call. Ishihara-sensei commented on the extra person as she surveyed us, and then called out our names. Since nobody was absent, we didn't incur the five-point penalty.

After a bit of idle talk, we decided to call it a day. We all helped to turn the leaves that'd been collected into makeshift bedding, and Shiina volunteered to help as well as thanks for sheltering her with us. Once that was done, we put out the fire and prepared to go to bed. Before that, though, there was one more thing that had to be done.

"Hey, Shiina, do you mind waiting out here for a few seconds while we go inside to renew our spot?" I asked.

"Of course." Shiina happily obliged.

We all went back into the cave as a disguise, and I swiftly reclaimed our spot, gaining one bonus point, before returning outside to call Shiina in.

"Thank you for your cooperation," I said as I walked with her into the blackness.

"It's nothing. You were kind enough to compromise for me, so respecting the boundary when it comes to your spot is expected from me."

The eight 'beds' were lined up in a straight row, spanning the wall of the cave. Shiina was given the bed at the far side, so that she could be next to Shiro only, which would be more comfortable. Obviously, Sora was the other one next to Shiro, and then after that was me, then Light, then Ryuzaki, then Lelouch and then finally Kururugi on the other end.

As we lay in bed, a small conversation was started by the amethyst-eyed boy. A rather disconcerting conversation.

"Going back to what I said earlier, Ayanokōji..." When he started off with that, I already knew that he was going to say something troublesome. "How did you and Kushida get together?"

A laugh escaped the lips of the two boys lying on each side of me.

"We aren't dating," I responded monotonously.

"Do you really think anyone would believe you? We've seen you sneaking around alone with her occasionally, you know?" Sora said, nudging my side with his elbow.

"We're just friends. There's nothing going on between us."

"Haha! We've learned quite a few interesting things about each other today! First, we learned that Sora, Shiro and Lelouch need to exercise for once, and now we've learned that Ayanokōji needs to practice lying!" Light chuckled.

"They need to exercise?" I questioned, not knowing what he was referring to.

"You should've heard them when we went out to collect leaves. They didn't stop complaining about having to walk! And they were panting like dogs just from a small round-trip of the area."

"Oi. Watch it, playboy-kun." Lelouch shot from the opposite side of the row.

"He isn't wrong though." Kururugi commented from next to him.

"Even so, there are just some things you don't say. Hmph." Sora huffed.

"Anyway, your deduction was wrong. I really wasn't lying." I interjected.

"You said 'there's nothing going on between us.' Even if you aren't dating, then you're still a liar, considering that there's something you two have to secretly meet up for." Ryuzaki attacked unexpectedly.

"What could I possibly have with Kushida?" I feigned ignorance.

"That's what we're asking, boyfriend-kun." Lelouch gave me yet another nickname.

I sighed. "It's really nothing."

"Yeah, it'd better be." Sora growled at me.

"Don't worry, Ayanokōji. Nii is just worried that you got a girlfriend while he's still a super-virgin." Shiro said the most devastating thing yet, which caused the entire cave to burst out laughing. Even Shiina giggled.

"W-w-what are you saying, dear sister of mine?!" Sora panicked, flustered.

"You've never even touched a girl other than me."

"Shiro, he's already dead." Light laughed.

I thought about my life here at this school so far. I'd thought that I'd just lay low and live a normal life, but my expectations were subverted quickly, and I found myself in this class, surrounded by these people.

I couldn't say that I disliked it, though. Our class was becoming more and more like a close group every day, and this interaction was proof of that. Everybody was able to joke around together in this manner, which wasn't something that just any collection of individuals could do.

I felt the darkness swirling within my heart, and tried my best to push it down. All I could do was hope, hope that this opportunity to live comfortably among these people wouldn't be crushed by the weight of my past. The mindset that'd been instilled in me ever since I could remember.

I feel asleep with those thoughts, within this blissful atmosphere