Chapter 132: Ichinose's Restraint, Kushida's Surprise Attack (2-in-1 5k) (Patreon)

In the nighttime forest.

Hikaru Naruse drew back his hand. Once he and Honami Ichinose had separated, the girl quickly straightened her collar, her face still a little flushed.

After a moment, Honami Ichinose's heartbeat gradually settled.

As a clever girl, her mind began racing.

It was so late — nearly midnight — yet Naruse-san had appeared alone deep in the forest of the deserted island, a backpack stuffed with various items slung over his shoulders.

She immediately guessed that his purpose might be the same as hers — searching for bases.

But — even with that suspicion, he'd just saved her. If she pressed him with questions now, things would get awkward fast.

Class A and Class B were currently rivals, and since Naruse-san had seen her here at this hour, he'd probably reach the same conclusion about her.

After a moment's thought, Honami Ichinose smiled faintly, forcing herself to sound composed.

"Naruse-san, thank you for lending me a hand just now."

Her tone was gentle, her big eyes fixed on Naruse's face.

"I'll treat you to a meal once we're back at school."

The remark was perfectly measured, and it struck Naruse — Honami Ichinose really did know how to keep things in proportion.

If they started talking about their goals or bases right now, it would only cause trouble.

At the same time, he knew that stepping in to help had created this awkward situation in the first place.

He'd run into three girls in the forest before this — Kei Karuizawa, Airi Sakura, and Ai Morishita.

But he was extremely close with all of them. Even though Kei Karuizawa and Airi Sakura were both from first-year Class D, they wouldn't care if he told them outright that he was wandering the forest to search for bases — let alone report it to their class.

Honami Ichinose was different.

She wasn't just a Class B student — she was Class B's actual leader, and now she almost certainly suspected that Naruse was also collecting bases.

She might not announce it to her whole class, but the fact itself was a liability waiting to happen.

In the original storyline, Class B's core strategy had been to play it safe.

They hadn't bothered gathering intelligence, so when it came time to guess the other classes' leaders, they hadn't filled in a single name.

Then a mole planted by Ryuen had learned their real leader's identity, costing them 50 points; combined with the 110 points spent on supplies, their final score came to 140 — second place.

But everything had already changed now, so he needed a different approach.

Naruse quickly came up with a plan — he'd use a little moral pressure on Honami Ichinose.

"Ichinose really is understanding."

A gentle smile spread across the boy's face as he spoke, unhurried.

"Honestly, running into each other in the forest at this hour — I'm sure we both already have some idea what the other's thinking."

"I won't say what, though — no point borrowing trouble."

Naruse smiled, then went on, looking straight at the girl across from him.

"How about this — to avoid any misunderstanding, let's make a gentleman's agreement."

"A gentleman's agreement?"

At those words, a flicker crossed Honami Ichinose's clear, deep-blue eyes, and the corner of her mouth curved into a smile.

She understood what he meant — he wanted to lay their mutual suspicions out in the open and settle them directly.

"It's this late, and we still ran into each other in the forest — we must both be after the same thing."

Naruse paused, then continued.

"And according to the exam rules, the final stage involves guessing the other classes' leaders."

"Right, I know."

Honami Ichinose nodded.

"The gentleman's agreement I'm talking about is just between the two of us."

"When it comes to guessing names at the end," Naruse's voice dropped slightly, "I won't write down Ichinose's name, and you won't write down mine. How does that sound?"

In terms of information gathering, if Naruse simply hadn't shown up just now, none of this would even be an issue.

But since he'd gone and saved her, covering his bases like this was only natural — and he trusted Ichinose's word.

It also let him exploit an information gap — in the original storyline, Class B's leader was Chihiro Shiranami, but right now he could pretend his guess was that the leader was Honami Ichinose.

For her, a probe like that would surely be acceptable.

"I see."

The girl's eyes brightened further. This really was a good arrangement — Class B's leader wouldn't have to be exposed, and she wouldn't have to write down Naruse-san's name either.

He'd just saved her, after all, and repaying kindness with betrayal wasn't how Honami Ichinose operated.

Not to mention, deep down, she felt a particular fondness for Naruse that she couldn't quite name.

"If that's the kind of gentleman's agreement it is, then I think it's fine."

The girl seemed to accept the idea. "Looks like Naruse-san is really going all out for his class this time."

"Can't be helped — I have to serve the collective too."

The matter was quickly settled, and Honami Ichinose nodded with a smile, then asked.

"So, should we sign a contract?"

"No need."

Naruse trusted Honami Ichinose's word completely; signing a contract would actually be beneath them.

"A gentleman's agreement just needs a spoken promise. I trust Honami Ichinose's character."

"And I trust Naruse-san's character too."

"Let's seal it with a high five."

The boy smiled and held out his hand, pressing it together with Honami Ichinose's small one.

Smack!

"It's a deal."

Watching Honami Ichinose's smiling face, Naruse felt a weight settle off his mind.

At its core, the proposal was just a simple verbal agreement, a bit of damage control after the fact — as long as Honami Ichinose didn't write down his name, everything else was a minor matter.

The original leader had been Chihiro Shiranami, but after running into Honami Ichinose tonight, Naruse could no longer be certain everything would still play out exactly as in the original story.

Since that was the case, he'd settle for a win-win for now.

According to the original plan, after buying Class C's supplies, the exam points Class A had left over, combined with what they'd earn from occupying bases, would already add up to quite a bit.

For the final name-guessing round, they could pick Class C and Class D, which would net them another 100 points.

As long as things kept moving steadily, Class A's final total would surely top 300 points — which was more than enough.

With the matter settled, the atmosphere between the two of them relaxed considerably.

For Honami Ichinose, her whole body finally eased.

Throughout today's search for bases, she'd been operating the entire time on nothing but sheer nerve.

As a girl, her courage wasn't anything extraordinary — just average.

During the day, moving together with her Class B classmates, Honami Ichinose felt no fear at all.

But moving alone through the forest deep in the night, as she was now, was a real test of nerve for her.

Ever since leaving Class B's camp, she'd pressed forward purely on willpower. It wasn't that she felt no fear at all — she simply refused to let her mind wander to anything else, and that was the only way she could stay focused.

But now, ever since running into Naruse, having him nearby had made that fear vanish completely.

With him beside her, she felt an overwhelming sense of security.

It was as though she'd fallen into cold, deep water, only to feel a lifeline suddenly cinch tight around her waist the very next instant.

The overwhelming security made her feel like she didn't need to worry about anything at all.

The two of them walked side by side through the moonlit forest for a while, chatting idly, until Naruse glanced at the school-issued watch on his wrist and decided it was time to get down to business.

"Ichinose, it's really late — let's leave it here for now. I'll head back to camp."

"Are you going to keep going?"

By "keep going," she meant: was he going to keep searching for bases?

Hearing her own question, Honami Ichinose knew perfectly well that base-hunting like this really only worked as a solo job.

If Naruse tagged along with her, it wouldn't be appropriate no matter how she looked at it.

Besides, it was already very late, so she said with a smile.

"Got it. I'll head back too, then."

It really was late — Honami Ichinose decided to continue tomorrow.

"See you, then. Good night, Ichinose."

"Good night, Naruse-san."

Just as she turned to go, Naruse suddenly called out.

"Ichinose."

"Hm?" She turned her head, her pink hair swaying slightly.

"Do you remember what I told you last time?"

"...I remember."

Of course she remembered. It had been an important conversation, and the first time Naruse had left a deep impression on her.

Naruse nodded slightly at her answer.

"Good."

His voice softened further as he looked at her pretty face and spoke slowly.

"Just remember — don't push yourself too hard."

"Your classmates might really be important companions to you, but Ichinose, you're still your own person."

"Don't let yourself get swept along. You're the leader and the manager — not some idol everyone's taken hostage."

"Understand?"

A tremor ran through Honami Ichinose's chest, and for a moment she didn't know how to answer.

The real reason she'd taken the initiative on this base search was that Class B simply had no one better suited to lead it.

Everyone was genuinely good — kind, gentle, united and orderly.

But in an environment like that, if they wanted to make progress, someone had to push forward, or else something like Class C's setup from last time could easily happen again.

So this time, her plan was to lead by example and help her class earn more points.

But that was exactly... pushing herself too hard.

"Ichinose, we're friends, aren't we? Just take it as advice from a friend."

Naruse's tone stayed light — he genuinely wanted her to grow, after all; otherwise, what would be the point?

"...Mm."

"We're friends! Good friends!"

Honami Ichinose seemed to have found an outlet for her emotions, and she called out the words loudly, laughing.

"Good."

Hearing her answer, a faint smile touched the corners of Naruse's mouth.

"I'll head back now, then. Good night."

With that, Naruse turned without a trace of reluctance and strode off toward Class A's camp.

His figure shrank smaller and smaller in the moonlight, until it finally vanished around a bend in the trees.

Honami Ichinose watched his silhouette disappear, then stood there for a good ten seconds or so.

Pushing herself too hard?

The girl let out a sudden, bitter little laugh. Maybe she was, a little.

But if she didn't do it, who else would step up to help?

She remembered something Mako Amikura had said once.

If... if only Naruse-san were part of our class, how wonderful would that be...

But how could he ever become one of them?

Was there any way?

Meanwhile, after parting from Honami Ichinose, Naruse picked up his pace.

In under ten minutes, he arrived at the location of the last base.

The metal device gleamed a cold silver-gray in the moonlight, its side-mounted LCD screen displaying a countdown.

[00:02:27]

With two minutes and twenty-seven seconds left until the reset, Naruse took a sip of water and leaned against a large tree to wait.

After a while, the instant the countdown hit zero, he pulled the real key card from his pocket and swiped it quickly through the device's slot.

Beep!

The green words "Capture Successful" flashed briefly in the moonlight, and the screen reset to display a fresh eight-hour countdown.

Today's four bases had all been refreshed once again.

Once he'd swiped the card, Naruse ambled leisurely toward Class A's camp.

It was August, and since the day had been clear without a cloud in the sky, the moonlight that night was especially bright.

Pale silver light poured down from the sky, laying out a clearly visible path through the trees.

As he walked, he found himself reflecting on the past two days.

Honestly, the boy wondered if this deserted island had some kind of special magic to it.

He'd only wandered the forest for two days, yet he'd run into three girls from other classes.

Kei Karuizawa, Airi Sakura, Honami Ichinose — and on top of that, Ai Morishita from his own class.

The odds of that many chance encounters certainly weren't small, especially since the island wasn't something you could explore in just ten-odd minutes — even crossing it in a straight line from east to west took close to forty minutes.

So running into all these girls really did feel like fate, in a way.

On another note, aside from Airi Sakura, both Kei Karuizawa and Honami Ichinose he'd run into at night.

Were none of them afraid of the dark?

He sighed inwardly, half-exasperated.

He kept walking through the forest for a while, and with Class A's camp still some distance off, he'd just passed a bend where a boulder stood close beside some trees.

Suddenly, a smaller figure burst straight out of the bushes beside him.

She moved fast, without the slightest hesitation, charging straight at him as if he were her target from the start.

Naruse's reflexes were fast, but no sooner had he thrown out his arms and stumbled back several steps than he realized he needn't have bothered.

Because the next instant, a soft body was already pressed against his chest.

The contact was soft and warm, and with it came a familiar scent.

He was no expert at telling women apart by scent alone, but he could easily distinguish the girls close to him by smell.

Kei Karuizawa carried a faint floral scent; Airi Sakura, the smell of milk; Ai Morishita, a crisp, herbal scent; and Miki Yamamura, the fragrance of lavender.

This scent now was richer — warm, and sweet.

It was Kikyo Kushida.

The instant Naruse's mind placed her, his movements shifted.

Her sudden rush had thrown him off balance, and as he began to fall backward, he wrapped his arms around the girl in his embrace, using his own body as a cushion.

Thump!

His back slammed hard into the soft grass with a dull thud.

But a fall like that was nothing to him, not with the physical condition he was in now.

The two of them rolled across the grass a couple of times before coming to a stop.

Naruse lay flat on his back in the grass, with Kushida sprawled on top of him, her sharp little chin propped on his chest, a smile on her face.

"What's this? Making quite the entrance tonight."

Naruse smiled warmly, but by then Kushida's gaze had already found his.

She stared at his face with burning intensity, her eyes blazing with emotion, as fierce as a starving she-wolf who'd just spotted her prey.

"Uh, why aren't you saying anything?"

She didn't answer, only her breathing grew faster and faster.

The quickened breathing showed itself as Kushida, like some small animal, began panting little breaths against Naruse's face, each one carrying her own sweet scent.

"If you keep not talking, I really am leaving."

Naruse teased with a smile, his arm around her slender waist.

"No!"

Kushida pressed her head against his chest, listening for a moment before slowly lifting her head again.

In the moonlight, flames practically leapt from her eyes — she'd stopped pretending entirely.

Her breath came warm and sweet.

"I want to eat you up."

"Uh, eat me how?"