After a short rest, everyone took advantage of the remaining time and headed toward the next task site.
Considering what had just happened, however, they decided to split up this time and regroup at the next designated zone.
Everyone agreed with the suggestion, so Kaoru temporarily returned to acting alone. He visited two task sites in succession, only to arrive too late for both.
At one in the afternoon, the others gradually reached the new designated zone. They waited for quite a while before Kaoru finally appeared.
"Senpai, you're so slow. Which zone did you run off to?"
Amasawa Ichika naturally began complaining.
"Or did you meet another pretty girl along the way?"
"There aren't pretty girls hiding behind every tree. I found some wild fruit. Do you want any?"
Kaoru had removed his jacket earlier and used it to carry a small pile of fruit. He finally opened it and showed them.
As expected, the girls crowded around in surprise.
"What kind of fruit is this?"
Ichika picked up several dark, almost black berries and examined them suspiciously.
"Senpai, are we going to drop dead after eating these?"
"Eat them or don't."
Kaoru slapped her hand away.
She might as well have asked whether they were aphrodisiac berries.
Ichika pouted, while Ai suddenly looked rather excited.
"These are rose myrtle berries."
Recognizing them with one of the outdoor survival tips she had learned filled Ai with pride.
"I have no idea what that means."
Ichika did not care in the slightest. "I only want to know whether this ugly black thing is edible."
"Of course it is. Although I haven't eaten one before."
Ai studied the fruit again and realized there was another variety she could not identify.
"Japanese raspberries."
Kaoru separated several small clusters and handed them to Tsubasa, Miki, and the others.
"They ripen around this time of year. They're sweet and sour. I already ate quite a few."
Ai nodded in realization and instinctively reached for her guidebook, only to remember that she had not brought it with her.
She looked faintly disappointed.
She had also wanted to transform into a wilderness expert.
"President knows how to identify these things?"
Tsubasa sounded genuinely surprised.
Forget recognizing wild fruit and vegetables. These days, a high school student who could tell weeds apart from chives was practically an expert.
It would not be shocking if someone believed food simply appeared on supermarket shelves.
"I read a survival guide beforehand."
Kaoru lied without changing expression.
He had never actually studied one. He had once received a wilderness survival manual as a reward.
Its effect was essentially identification. It allowed him to recognize almost every natural plant and animal, determine whether it was edible or poisonous, and identify any medicinal properties.
It was practically an encyclopedia of nature.
Had Shennong known he could earn such knowledge by indulging in certain questionable rewards, he might never have poisoned himself tasting herbs.
"So you studied too? Then let's camp together tonight!"
Ai's eyes lit up.
"I bought instant noodles. You can catch a few fish, and we can have noodles with grilled fish!"
"I'll catch fish with my bare hands after you finish eating."
Perhaps because Kaoru had spent too much time around Kei and the others, he instinctively pushed a raspberry toward Ai's mouth to stop her from talking endlessly.
His fingertip brushed against the girl's soft lips, and a faint damp warmth touched his skin.
The moment their eyes met, Kaoru came back to his senses.
'This is bad. She's going to bite me.'
The expected pain never came.
Instead, something soft and slippery briefly touched his fingertip before his hand left Ai's lips.
"Sour."
Ai calmly chewed the raspberry he had fed her. A little juice remained at the corner of her mouth, making her lips look slightly glossy.
While Kaoru was still frozen, she picked up several rose myrtle berries and ate those too, occasionally showing the tip of her tongue as she tested the unfamiliar flavor.
"Tsk, tsk."
Ichika's eyes filled with suggestive amusement. She bumped Kaoru's shoulder with her own.
"What should I do? I want Senpai to feed me too."
"You might end up dying beside me."
Kaoru steadied himself.
Ai probably did not care about such minor physical contact, but he could not be entirely certain.
"Mm. Dying beside Senpai would be an honor."
Ichika puckered her lips and looked annoyed when he refused to feed her.
Miki took a bite and immediately stiffened.
It really was sour.
Kaoru had not gathered much fruit, so once everyone shared it, the small pile quickly disappeared.
"Should we split up again, or focus on reaching the next task?"
Tsubasa asked.
"The next movement instruction will be today's last designated zone. By the time we arrive, it'll almost be time to set up camp."
Kaoru said, "There's no reason to separate again. Besides, none of us has eaten a proper meal."
They had been relying on breakfast from the cruise ship since morning. Along the way, they had only consumed energy bars and water.
"I agree. We shouldn't use up all our energy bars and biscuits this early."
Tsubasa supported his decision.
"Even if we rush toward a task, there's no guarantee we'll be able to register. The groups still haven't spread far enough across the island. Too many are gathered around the same zones, so competition is intense."
Because the students were still clustered together, groups from neighboring routes could easily rush over and compete for the same tasks.
At the mention of that problem, all the girls showed similar frustration.
"Let's aim for an early-arrival bonus instead."
Ichika proudly patted her chest.
"While everyone else fights over tasks, we can steal the destination from under them. Don't let my super-cute appearance fool you—I'm extremely fast. Even Senpai can't catch me!"
Watching her boast, Kaoru felt she was becoming less reliable with every word.
Miki timidly raised one hand.
"I-I'm not very good at running..."
"That's fine. Mitoma-senpai can carry you."
Ichika blinked mischievously.
"I'm sure he'd enjoy it too."
Miki's face turned bright red, and she fell silent.
"You don't need to be exceptionally fast. You only need to be slightly faster than the other groups."
Kaoru spoke up for her.
"The next zone shouldn't be too far. We'll leave early."
The following designated area would appear somewhere within two vertical or horizontal grid spaces of their current zone, or within one diagonal space.
However, once per day, the school would choose a completely random location.
That random destination probably existed to prevent groups on the same route from reducing the exam to a marathon where only stamina mattered.
With the random element, even physically weaker groups could occasionally earn an early-arrival bonus through luck.
Since this was the first day, the school did not use the random selection.
Their next destination appeared in Zone H6, close to their current position.
...
The moment the new destination appeared, Hayato and Ichika moved to the front and led the way. Ai and Tsubasa followed behind them.
Just as Miki had warned, she began falling behind after only a short distance, panting heavily.
Kaoru slowed down and remained beside her, taking her backpack.
"M-Mitoma-kun, you don't need to worry about me. You should run ahead... You can still earn the early-arrival bonus..."
Miki struggled to speak between breaths.
Her face had already turned red, and sweat dampened her bangs. The skin along her pale neck was flushed from exertion.
Kaoru was a solo group.
As long as he reached the designated zone before everyone else, the early-arrival reward would belong to him.
"If I leave you alone, you're going to collapse."
Kaoru caught her arm when she nearly tripped over a stone.
The route was difficult. Bushes, rocks, and fallen branches constantly blocked the way, and one careless step could easily result in a fall.
"Uuu..."
Miki's eyes became watery.
She felt completely useless.
Kaoru was about to suggest resting when he suddenly noticed Hayato returning from the front.
Without saying a single word, Hayato took both Kaoru's and Miki's packs, then turned around and continued walking.
Kaoru watched him with a strange expression.
Was Hayato one of those people who looked cold and frightening but was actually gentle?
"Yamamura-san, I think we should rest for a moment."
Miki knew she could no longer force herself to continue, so she accepted his suggestion.
She sat down and breathed heavily.
It had been a long time since she had traveled across such uneven terrain. Thorny bushes frequently caught on her sleeves. Had she not been wearing a jacket, her skin might already have been scratched.
After using so much stamina, Miki felt overheated and drenched in sweat. She instinctively reached to remove her jacket.
"Don't. You'll become cold in a few minutes."
Kaoru stopped her.
The sweat clinging to her body would begin drawing away heat once she stopped moving.
Miki froze.
She looked at Kaoru, who did not appear to have broken a sweat at all, then awkwardly lowered her gaze and tightened her jacket.
Kaoru looked away.
He had not meant anything strange by the warning, though the damp athletic shirt did make it obvious how hard she had been pushing herself.
"We haven't spent time alone in quite a while."
"I-I think it hasn't been that long. Mitoma-kun has girlfriends to accompany, doesn't he?"
"Has Kaka been complaining about me behind my back?"
"N-no."
"It's fine even if she has. I barely came to your gatherings this semester, so I feel a little guilty."
Miki did not know how to comfort him and looked helpless.
Then she saw Kaoru smile.
"But Airi told me you've all been getting along well. Even without me around, you can go out and have fun together."
Kaoru's expression relaxed.
"That puts me at ease."
Without Kaoru present, Miki, Airi, and Hasebe Haruka had essentially become a close-knit group of friends who spent nearly every day together.
Kikyō and Masumi occasionally joined them as well.
Why did Masumi participate?
Because she was one of Miki's few friends.
Masumi would never admit it aloud, but she paid close attention to whether Miki might meet dangerous people.
Once she discovered that Airi was another girl who shared Miki's tendency to disappear into the background, and that Haruka was merely an ordinary high school girl, Masumi relaxed.
"Kaka is the one who always takes us places... Airi and I cause her a lot of trouble."
Miki looked embarrassed.
She and Airi were both socially anxious, but in different ways.
Miki had grown accustomed to nobody noticing her, leaving her confused and uncertain whenever she attracted someone's attention.
Airi seemed genuinely frightened of interacting with others.
Speaking of Airi, however, Miki had recently become curious about her.
"Has Airi been spending time with you lately?"
Even Haruka had already noticed Airi's romance, and Miki had become somewhat sensitive to it as well.
How was Kaoru supposed to answer?
Should he say that he and Airi now had the kind of relationship where they slept in the same bed?
After considering it for a while, Kaoru decided to be honest.
"Airi and I are dating. She's my girlfriend."
There was no need for them to maintain a secret relationship anymore.
Was he supposed to hide his relationship with Airi from everyone forever?
He could openly go on dates with Honami, so why should Airi be treated differently?
If Airi were not painfully shy, Kaoru would already have dragged her outside on a proper date.
He failed to notice that the instant those words left his mouth, Miki went completely still.
"Y-you're dating?"
"Yes. During spring break, I thought she might reject me after learning everything about me. She didn't, so I confessed, and we started going out."
"I-I see..."
Miki lowered her head.
Her hands tightened around the hem of her jacket and began trembling faintly.
She did not even understand why she felt like crying.
Her eyes burned, and her chest felt painfully tight.
She had always known Kaoru had girlfriends—many girlfriends.
Even so, hearing him say those words made her heart lurch.
"What's wrong?"
Kaoru noticed that something seemed off.
"N-nothing. I think I really am becoming a little cold."
Miki forced a smile and wrapped the jacket more tightly around herself.
'Am I jealous?'
But what exactly was she jealous of?
Was she jealous of Sakura Airi?
Come to think of it, Kaoru and everyone else often said that she and Airi were alike.
They were both gloomy girls hiding in the corners of their classes. They were both timid, nearly invisible, and easily panicked whenever someone looked directly at them.
But Miki had always believed they were nothing alike.
Airi refused to interact with people because she was afraid of them. She closed herself away while secretly envying everyone around her.
And eventually, Kaoru found her.
Miki was different.
Nobody had ever cared about her for as long as she could remember.
It was as though she had always been part of the scenery.
Once, during an elementary-school play, she was assigned the role of a tree. That had already been miserable enough, but on the day of the performance, everyone forgot about her and never brought her onto the stage.
In middle school, teachers often skipped her name during attendance. Even at graduation, some classmates asked whether she had truly been in their class.
Miki had believed she would eventually become accustomed to such a life.
Then she met the first person who noticed her.
Sakayanagi Arisu.
Miki still did not understand how Arisu had discovered her. Arisu had seemed pleased with her for some reason, and because Miki did not know how to refuse, she obediently completed every task Arisu gave her.
That was how she eventually met Kaoru.
For the first time, she stepped out of her transparent world.
For the first time, she made friends.
Those should have been two separate reasons to be happy.
So why did she feel this way?
Miki froze as the answer finally surfaced in her mind.
'Do I... like Mitoma-kun too?'