Chaoskouji

Arc 3 Chapter 3 - Exploring

Moving at a fast pace, Kouenji and I quickly made it out of earshot of our classmates' insults. We moved quickly through the lush jungle of the island, neither of us really pushing ourselves, but also bordering on the edge of effort, as if daring the other to lose.

While I didn't much care for competing with others, Kouenji was always interesting. At least he gave me the chance to keep my physical skills up to scratch, because I was certain they would degrade over time if I didn't have a reason to keep training them.

"I assume we will be taking a look at the cave?"

I hadn't told Kouenji where we were going yet, but he had been able to make the same deduction I had.

"Yep. Katsuragi had a noticeable reaction to the hints the school gave us. I thought it would be likely he would go to the cave."

"Hahaha Baldy-kun must think no one else would notice the hint then. He must have forgotten about my amazing self."

Of course, it was only a gamble. There was no evidence that Katsuragi would go to the cave, or that he had even noticed. But if he had, I suspected he was smart enough to recognise it as the best location to claim.

"Even if he doesn't show up someone will. It's the best spot, so we can always just wait and see."

"If you're expecting me to simply sit and wait for a possibility of entertainment, you seem to have no idea of who I am, Ayanokouji-boy."

That was true. Kouenji only did things that interested him, so if he felt the situation grew tedious he would leave without a second thought.

"Of course, I know. But you're going to retire from the exam anyway, right?"

We both stopped jogging at the top of a small mound, Kouenji turning to face me with a deadly grin on his face.

"Are you intending to win?"

"Unlike you, I find this competition interesting enough for me to care."

That was the crux of the matter. I was invested in winning the exam. Kouenji was not. The only reason he had stuck around this long was probably because he had no valid reason to drop out yet. But running around in the jungle was an easy way to acquire an injury enough to put him out of the special exam.

"Then there should be no problem with my departure. Do you plan to stop me?"

"Not at all. I've already been planning on the basis that you leave. It's just a shame to lose your talents."

"It would be a shame to waste my talents on something as mediocre as surviving on an island."

I couldn't argue with that.

"Besides, those ugly defects don't deserve having me around while they camp. It would degrade my very soul to have to sleep in a tent with such lesser people."

Now he was just being his narcissistic self.

"You don't think there is value in leading them? With their incompetence, it wouldn't take much to turn most of the class into your loyal slaves."

"What use is a slave if they're incompetent. The effort I would expend on taking control of the class would be wasted on such disgusting creatures. Besides, you are not controlling the class either. It's much more fun to watch them run around like animals with no idea what's going on."

We really did have similar ideas on fun. A class divided was a lot more enjoyable to deal with than a class united. And their inability to understand how they ever did well would be a powerful smoke screen to all but a few in the grade. If our own class didn't know what was going on how was anyone else supposed to.