Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Self-Test

Vol. 3: Chapter 5.1 - Under the Willow Tree

After a good seven hours of sleep, I woke up at around 4:30 AM. I checked Kikyou's tent where Ibuki was supposed to rest. After seeing her sleeping peacefully, I proceeded towards the mechanism, alone.

Our right of exclusive possession got revoked at 11:10 PM last night, but we decided against reinvoking it immediately. After doing so, I returned to camp and swiftly scouted the perimeter. There are still no signs of Chabashira-sensei's arrival nor any other person's presence. With that, I sneakily approached the girls' area to check one student's luggage.

Ibuki Mio of Class D. Since her bag looks different from ours, it was fairly easy to find. I grabbed it without hesitation. Speed was essential if I don't want to be labeled as a pervert should anyone spot me doing this. Inside, I found the same kinds of things that everyone else had, like towels, a change of clothes, underwear, etc. However, one item had me intrigued.

"A digital camera, huh?" I muttered softly.

This item shouldn't have any practical use for surviving on a deserted island. I turned the camera upside down and found a rental sticker plastered at the bottom. I switched it on to check its usage. Surprisingly, there weren't any signs that it's been used at all. The battery was very much full and it didn't have any existing data.

Why did Ibuki have this?

Before long, I placed the camera back inside her bag. A lot of possible reasons were formulated inside my head. However, I can only ever know the truth once I get more information. I decided to kill some time by leaning against a nearby tree.

I observed the calming ambiance of nature. It was refreshing... and liberating.

"Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun." A pretty face entered my distracted vision. "You're very early."

"Matsushita... Good morning." My inattentive greeting was met with Matsushita's smile.

She's really early too. If Matsushita woke up any earlier, she might've seen me rummaging through Ibuki's bag.

"Are you sleepy or something?" she asked before sitting down beside me.

"Not really... You can probably say that I'm just... captivated by nature... or something along those lines," I answered.

"So even Ayanokouji-kun can be this sentimental," she chuckled before looking at the sky, which slowly got illuminated by the sunrise. "But... I get what you mean."

I silently admired the soothing atmosphere of our place while being accompanied by a beautiful girl.

"Say..." Hearing Matsushita, I turned to my side to face her. Our faces got extremely close to each other. She's probably aware of what's happening given how flushed her cheeks looked. However, she acted like everything was normal and asked me a simple question. "Is it hard being a class leader?"

I turned away, feeling flustered with our actions. I don't know if my nervousness was seen from my facial expression, but I had to stop staring at her face at such a close distance. My male, teenage heart simply couldn't handle it.

"It sure is, but my position only requires me to think and move. As a "class leader", Hirata's position is much harder, in my opinion."

"Oh, that's true. I wouldn't want to babysit a whole group of teenagers. I feel bad for Hirata-kun sometimes."

"See? It's especially hard during an exam which requires us to survive on a deserted island," I joked.

"The two of you have been doing a really great job so far, I think. I can't imagine our base being this cozy without your instructions."