25 Exploration

"Are you alright?" After several minutes of walking through the dense forest, I turned at Inogashira and Sakura who were slightly lagging behind us. It was quite understandable since they didn't have much stamina even if Inogashira started occasionally jogging with me a few months ago. Even Miyake whose physical abilities weren't anything to scoff at was sweating a lot after a short walk.

*huff* "Yes, we are fine but I wouldn't mind a short break" Inogashira replied and Sakura nodded her head as well despite having a complicated expression, most likely not wanting to be a burden to us since she volunteered herself.

I smiled at their resolve and reassured them.

"Don't worry, we are almost there"

"What do you mean?" Miyake seemed to notice something while following me.

"It's just as you think, I already have a rough destination in mind"

"...so that's why it seemed like you knew where you are going from the start" Miyake muttered after hearing my answer.

"W-What does it mean? Isn't this Ike-kun's first time on this island? Sakura asked in her usual excessively polite manner.

"This is certainly my first time being on this island, however, I noticed a few interesting places when I was observing the island from the deck of the ship."

"So that's why you didn't follow everyone when they left after that incident with the other students?" Inogashira asked with a surprised expression and I just glanced back at her with a knowing wink.

"With your sight, it certainly isn't anything surprising"

I haven't officially joined the archery club yet but I did show up several times when Miyake was practicing so he knew I had very good vision.

.

.

After a short while of navigating through the forest, we ended up in a small clearing that was decently covered with the shade of surrounding trees, there was also a river nearby.

"Is this the "spot" Chabashira-sensei was talking about?" Miyake approached some kind of terminal with a small display.

"Sure looks like it, Miyake, do you still remember the way back to the beach?" I asked while finishing the road from the beach to this spot on the blank map.

"I should be able to return without any difficulties. Do you want me to go fetch the others?" He asked me while the girls were resting on the nearby logs.

"Please do, we might not be here when you get here so tell everyone to wait for us. Once our entire class gathers up here, we should resolve the matter of who should be the leader since we can't stop other classes from claiming this spot."

"You might not be here? Are you certain you won't get lost?" Miyake questioned with a bit of doubt, however, I wasn't insulted one bit since it was a natural reaction and this dense forest certainly wasn't anything to scoff at.

"Don't worry, I have a map so we will be fine." I waved with the manual a few times with a reassuring smile.

"...Alright, be careful" He nodded and began returning to the beach by the path we took.

*Clap* I capped my hands garnering the girls' attention.

"Are you girls ready for a little hike?" I asked with maybe a slightly sadistic smile which visibly scared them.

"Y-You don't mean it, right? The island shouldn't be big enough..." Inogashira asked with a weak voice but there was some doubt in her tone.

"Of course, I am just joking, however, it will still be quite a walk in such a hot temperature. Obviously, you can remain here and watch the spot in case the other classes show up"

"Count me in!" Inogashira quickly jumped to her feet and patted her backside to get rid off the dust.

"M-Me too!" Sakura most likely joined because she didn't want to be left alone, however, even I had my doubts regarding her reasons.

We continued walking through the forest until we finally got out of it, what greeted us was a larger clearing with a hut and a small corn field.

"Huh?" Both girls were quite shocked to see a corn field in such a place.

"This island has been artificially changed. I believe most of the items we can spend points on from the manual are actually discoverable on this island just lying around. This is obviously another spot, however, it's not as good as you might think" I explained, guessing their thoughts.

"Why?" Inogashira asked as we approached the display on one of the hut's outer walls.

"Look at the surroundings, it's quite high ground compared to our clearing so going out to forage food or scouting the area is going to be hard, specifically returning here will be quite difficult. Also, there is no water source around here, if you truly wanted to just survive, you could just drink water and skip eating for 7 days straight. The spot is also in a bad position so the others could spot the leader re-claiming it." I said while taking my sweatshirt off and making an improvised bag out of it.

"hehe" Inogashira giggled which caused me to pause and look at her with a confused expression.

"Sorry, it's just that you truly act like a leader right now. It's making me subconsciously agree with everything you say." She explained with a mysterious smile on her face.

"Heh" I grinned at her and silently thanked her by humbly lowering my head before I started putting the corn inside my new "bag"

"Isn't that against the rules?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Nope, it would be against the rules if the class already claimed this spot but since it's free, it's free for anyone to take just like when you find spare change lying on the ground without anyone nearby...Finders, keepers."

The girls looked at each other before Inogashira took off her own sweatshirt and followed after me. Sakura, on the other hand, was hesitating a bit but in the end, she bit her lower lip and took her sweatshirt off too.

We stuffed as much corn as possible into our bags, however, there was a limit to how much a bag made of sweatshirt could carry and I wanted to take as much as possible since we might not have another chance. With that thought, I started taking off my t-shirt but I was quickly disrupted by two shrieks next to me.

"W-What are you doing?" Inogashira asked with one hand covering her eyes. Sakura did the exact same thing, though I could notice a few gaps between both of their fingers. Right below their hands, I could see their faces shining with bright red color.

Aren't they overreacting? I mean, I can understand Sakura's reaction but Inogashira too?

"Using my t-shirt the same way as sweatshirt...Why this kind of reaction? Didn't you see me without a t-shirt many times at the swimming classes?" I took my t-shirt off while questioning their reaction.

"T-This is different you- you oaf!" Inogashira raised her voice, she was clearly embarrassed but her eyes were saying something else.

"Huuuuh" Sakura didn't look any better, actually, she looked worse. She couldn't even form words.

"If you were to stop peaking at me through those gaps between your fingers, I might actually take you seriously. Come on, it's for the sake of food, we need to take as much as possible to fill everyone's stomach." They both timidly nodded their heads and removed their hands, however they were still avoiding eye contact with me.

When I filled my t-shirt with enough corn, I took a look inside the hut just to find an older-looking cooking set. I put both of my bags in my right hand and took what I could fit in my left hand.

"Are you sure this isn't against the rules this time? Those items look like they were designed only for this spot." Inogashira asked skeptically, it seems like even she thought this is too much.

"The teachers didn't specify we couldn't take things from the unoccupied spots and there is no message stating it has to stay near this spot. If they are going to have a problem with this, I will have a problem with them." I replied with narrowed eyes. I obviously didn't truly mean it, however, I would certainly publicly question their capability to explain the rules.

"...cool" I heard Sakura mumble something under her nose but the moment I turned at the girls, they just looked at each other before they started giggling.

Silver Tongue lv. 1 (35/100, passive) -> Silver Tongue lv. 1 (37/100, passive)

...Weird, since when they were so close?