15 Chapter 6.1: Part 1

The second destination they showed me today was I2, the northeast corner of the uninhabited island.

Now that we've managed to stop the penalty, I can head there with some ease. After 3:00 pm when the exam ends, you basically walk back to the starting point, but in some cases there seems to be a plan to pick up students at any time in a patrol boat. Looks like a patrol boat will arrive at J6 at 5pm if it's close.

"It's the end of the day, and they have put designated areas in the most absurd places. ......"

The test environment remains the same, with problems concentrated on the south side of the island, but the designated area is the most northeast. I am convinced to regret the fact that it is obviously a trap; it will be of no use.

It would be easier if it could be distributed that way, but I was starting to feel somewhat unsettling here. Since this morning, none of the other students have crossed paths or seen each other first. Although the island is large, there are many opportunities to see or hear someone's voice whenever you are on the move.

Of course, I couldn't get to the final designated area yesterday, so I'm not sure I can't meet the students in the same square as me.

The test environment remains the same, with problems concentrated on the south side of the island, but the designated area is the most northeast. It may be a good idea to step on I2 and then ignore the designated end zone to get to the challenges.

H3 has a narrow river that divides the area.

This river cannot be used as a shortcut, so it is a troublesome place where you are forced to take a detour.

The advantage is that you can walk along the river and do not have to worry about getting lost. Don't be in a hurry, go down the river to the southwest, get to the point where you can cross the river, and go northeast. You can walk along the river until you reach the mountains. That's when I got to the other side of the river, near the center of H3.

"Ayanokouji-kun———!"

I was walking while listening to the sound of flowing water when a voice calling my name came from a distance. The direction of the voice was the north side of the river I had just gone around.

Over there was Ichinose, covered in mud, looking at me, gasping.

"Ichinose... You came to H3?"

According to Sakayanagi, Ichinose should have been in E3 now.

Now that the time was after 10 A.M if the sun started to rise at 5:30 A.M, Ichinose probably had to walk continuously for 4 and a half hours to get here. Despite that, it was relatively quick as well.

"I....I, I came here because I wanted to see you, Ayanokouji-kun."

Even though she looked like she could barely speak, exhausted, she called out from across the river.

"I'll come over to your side now!"

Saying that, Ichinose ran staggeringly along the river.

Because her backpack was in the way being too heavy, she left it there.

No matter how you look at it, the place where Ichinose was walking was pretty dangerous. And it should be difficult to walk over here with her strength that was reaching it's limit. I turned back the way I came, and hurriedly met up with her.

It took about 5 minutes to meet up with her along the river, and then walk to a place where we could congregate.

Since I couldn't let Ichinose exert herself like that, I crossed the river to the north.

"I, fin-finally, finally caught up... Wait, I'll come to your side."

Did she feel responsible due to calling out to me first that she kept chasing after me like this?

"Ah."

Ichinose fell, and I caught her in a hug.

"So-sorry! Ah, heheh? Why? My feet... They aren't obeying me..."

She panicked, and wanted to leave my touch, but her knees were trembling, as if she couldn't stand up.

"What's going on, Ichinose?"

Ichinose looked up at me, and spoke, desperately trying to sort the situation out.

"I, I have something I have to tell you, no matter what, Ayanokouji-kun!"

"Something you have to tell me?"

"I've been troubled, troubled. I've always been troubled... to protect my friends and classmates..."

What exactly was she trying to say? I didn't know specifically, but her desperate effort was real.

"But, despipte this, I'm still worried about your safety, Ayanokouji0kun, no matter what..."

In this special exam, Ichinose and I didn't have a consistent point of contact.

Did something unexpected happen? In order to tell me about this, Ichinose spent more than 4 hours walking to me, desperately.

"I, my watch broke, so I wanted to go back to the starting point to change it... And then, Acting Director Tsukishiro, and Shiba-sensei, those two, they were there...!"

Ichinose was so tired that her breathing hadn't even stabilized yet, as she stammered along Although I didn't know when this was, I guess she had been distressed about this for a few days now.

"If you're safe in the last day, Ayanokouji-kun, you'll be called to I2 and be buried." Words such as "I2" as well as "bury". Indeed, just hearing those words would fill one with dread. The reason why Tsukishiro and Shiba were overheard by her was because her watch was broken, so the GPS didn't respond?

"Saying that you wanted to protect your classmates, were you threatened by Tsukishiro?"

Ichinose seemed to be surprised for a moment that I had guessed it, but nodded then after.

"If I told this to you... Acting Director Tsukishiro would make my classmates drop out... But I can't turn my back on you no matter what, Ayanokouji-kun...!"

"You should give up telling me this, without caring about the consequences. I'm your enemy."

If only she could think in such a way of the plan could be carried out to make me drop out of school.

Ichinose shook her head strongly to express her disagreement after hearing something I said.

"It can never be like that! Ayanokouji-kun, Ayanokouji-kun.... Is not my enemy!"

Ichinose clutched my shirt near my chest. "I think I'm an enemy."

"Because....Because to me, Ayanokouji-kun is..."

The hand that was clutching my shirt tightened once more.

"Because I, because I like you, Ayanokouji-kun...!"

Those are words that Ichinose herself probably didn't expect to say out loud. As soon as those words came out, Ichinose averted her eyes, as if she was trying to shut herself up.

"No, that's not right! That, eh, just now, why did I, eh, ehhhhhhhh!?"

She herself probably didn't understand it, and fell into panic, shaking her head repeatedly.

"What did I, just, say?!?"

It was like the memory of what she just said had suddenly disappeared and fell into a panic, not understanding.

"Can I say something? About what you just said to me."

"Um, um ...... ah, no, no! Ah, so I haven't said it yet and I remembered wrong!!!"

"-Thank you, Ichinose."

"Eh? Eh? Ehhhh!?!"

I expressed my gratitude to Ichinose once again. She gave priority to me rather than her classmates, and her group that was formed for the purpose of winning. I won't belittle that sentiment of hers.

"If you hadn't told me of something like that, Ichinose, I don't know what would have become of me."

I guess this was a big watershed moment for me.

If I hadn't met Ichinose here, I wouldn't have thought that Tsukishiro would have gone to I2. Tsukishiro had threatened Ichinose, but even so, she was here, right before my eyes. Despite the danger, she told me everything.

"Did you mean what you just said?"

"That, that, so, um, it's not, that, that, right?"

"If not, deny it now, it'll be my misunderstanding."

"...That.... misunderstanding... it's not a misunderstanding..."

Ichinose originally wanted to deny it, but she felt that she couldn't run away from this anymore.

".....I like... you..."

She admitted in a faint, hoarse voice, that sounded as if it was about to disappear. "I think, I probably just noticed this myself too.... S-sorry." She didn't need to apologize. "To be honest, I'm a little surprised that you would think that, Ichinose."

"So-sorry.... It's a pain, isn't it?"

"Nothing of the sort, I just can't respond to your feelings this right now."

"Well....well, my words, aren't worthy of Ayanokouji..."

"That's not it. I think that there's still a few things that has to be addressed, and I don't think someone can answer yes or no in this state."

And it's also necessary to avoid telling her about Kei right now.

Even though she would be hurt if she found out afterwards, this was the climax of the uninhabited island exam. Since there was still a bit of time left, it wasn't worth taking away energy for the battle because of it.

"It may not be acceptable, but that's the answer I can give you right now."

"Well....I understand."

Ichinose nodded, neither disdainful nor dissatisfied.

"I'm going to go to I2 now, there are things that have to be done there."

"No, you can't! It's dangerous!"

"If I don't do that, I won't be able to protect you, Ichinose, and your precious classmates, right?"

It's because she herself had been so troubled that she understood. Since Ichinose contacted me and told me about it, it wasn't hard to imagine that Tsukishiro would also know.

However, it's necessary for me to tell Tsukishiro, that it wasn't the end of the road for me. Rather, it'd be akin to coming back from the dead. "You get some rest, and then rejoin your group, alright?" I patted her head, and headed to I2.