After returning to the inn, we decided to take a bath first to wash away the fatigue from the trip.

“Nagisa… so you really are a guy after all.”

“I am a guy!! What did you think I was until now?!”

“Bad joke. I knew you were a guy.”

“Really? Karma-kun and Nakamura-san say it to me a lot too though…”

“Karma and Nakamura are just teasing you for fun. You’re easy to read, so they probably treat you like a good toy. They know the truth, so relax.”

“Is that something I should be happy about? I’m still getting teased… How can I stop letting my face show things like you, Ayanokōji-kun?”

“Being easy to read isn’t all bad. In combat, it can be a disadvantage, but in assassination it’s different. Skills aside, between someone who’s always expressionless like me and you, they’d definitely be wary of me. Because I feel creepy.”

“I see… so you can blend into daily life and assassinate.”

“Exactly. If I take it to the extreme, as long as you don’t give off killing intent, you could even take down a Mach 20 monster.”

“Yeah! I’ll do my best!”

So that strange feeling I had when I first met him was this… Nagisa is unusually good at hiding killing intent. If trained properly, he might really become a first-rate assassin.

But in my current plan, surprise-based interpersonal combat skills aren’t necessary. What I should prioritize is strengthening coordination within the class. While I was thinking that, I heard Terasaka and the others shouting behind us.

“Maybe something happened. Should we go check it out, Ayanokōji-kun?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Nagisa and I headed toward the voices.

“What’s all this noise about?”

“Oh, it’s Ayanokōji and Nagisa. We were competing over who’s number one. You guys wanna join?”

“What kind of competition?”

“What else would you compete over in a bath? The symbol of a man, of course.”

“So who’s winning right now?”

“Obviously, it’s me!!”

With that, Terasaka confidently showed us his goods.

“I see. I’ll pass.”

“Hey, hey, now that you’ve heard the results, you’re joining too. Or what, you don’t think you can beat mine, huh? lol”

“That’s not what I’m saying, but…”

As we went back and forth, other classmates who heard the commotion came over. Of all people, Maehara and Okajima showed up too.

“What’s going on with you guys?”

“Yo, you guys, Ayanokōji’s about to compete in size. Hurry up and show it, Ayanokōji.”

When Terasaka said that, Maehara and Okajima started chanting.

“‘Take it off! Take it off!’”

At this point, there was no way to escape… I reluctantly removed the towel wrapped around my waist. The noise from earlier vanished as if it had been a lie, replaced by a heavy silence.

“N-no way… Ayanokōji’s…”

“I can’t believe it…”

Whispers spread as everyone talked about me in hushed voices. Even Terasaka, after seeing my goods, raised the white flag.

“It’s like a T-rex… this is the king of the wild…”

“The birth of King!!”

“‘Kiiing! Kiiing!’”

Please stop shouting king chants so loudly.

“Let’s go, Nagisa.”

“Y-yeah… you’re amazing, Ayanokōji-kun…”

“Give me a break…”

As Nagisa and I were about to leave the bath, the octopus peeked in through the door.

“Hmm hmm, Ayanokōji-kun’s son is king-size, I see…”

With that, the octopus closed the door and fled somewhere.

This is the worst…

* * *

After getting out of the bath, Nagisa and I took a short break before heading to the meeting place.

“Yo, Nagisa-kun, Kiyotaka-kun.”

“Karma. Where have you been this whole time?”

“Here. Looks like there’s an arcade and stuff, so I went to play a bit. Where’s everyone else?”

“Looks like they just got here.”

When I looked ahead, Sugino and Kayano, dressed in yukata, were walking toward us.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Did we make you wait long?”

“No, we just got here too.”

“That’s good, I didn’t want to keep you waiting. Anyway, don’t you boys have something to say about your classmates in yukata?”

Kayano struck a pose as she asked us.

“Nia— ‘You look amazing!’”

“Yeah, all three of you look great.”

I was about to say something safe like that, but Sugino and Nagisa beat me to it. What should I do…

“Well, Ayanokōji-kun?”

Urged on by Kayano, I looked to Karma for help, but he grinned and dropped a ridiculous bomb.

“Kiyotaka-kun was totally mesmerized by you girls in yukata♪”

This guy… well, no need to deny it.

“Something like that. All three of you look very beautiful.”

When I said that, the area went dead silent.

“Ayanokōji-kun, you can say stuff like that with a straight face. Are you a natural flirt?”

Did I say something weird? I glanced at Kanzaki with that thought, but when our eyes met, she quickly looked away.

“Sigh… whatever. Let’s all go over there. There’s an arcade, apparently♪”

I never figured out what I did wrong, but we followed Kayano toward the arcade.

* * *

“Whoa! Kanzaki-san, you’re insanely good! I can’t even tell how you’re dodging!”

“This is embarrassing…”

“I’m surprised! I didn’t know Kanzaki-san was this good at games!”

“I kept it to myself until now. Even if I could play, at home I’d just get cold looks. I hated being tied down by my status and lacked confidence. But after what Ayanokōji-kun said, I realized what matters is facing forward as my true self and doing my best.”

“Hm hm, that’s what she says. What do you think, Ayanokōji-kun?”

“I don’t think I did anything that impressive.”

Looks like my answer back then really was the right one… Kanzaki feels lighter somehow.

“Do you want to try too, Ayanokōji-kun?”

“I’d like to, but I’ve never touched this kind of thing before.”

“Then I’ll teach you♪”

As she said that, Kanzaki leaned close to my ear so no one else would notice.

“Thank you♪”

After that, we played crane games and table tennis. At one point, Hayami caught me and, since I lost at a shooting game, I had to buy her ice cream, but we had a fun time.

* * *

Boys POV

After a while, Karma and I returned to the big room and found the boys gathered in one spot.

“What’s this gathering about?”

“Oh, it’s King and Nagisa. We’re ranking the girls in class. For now, Kanzaki is in first place.”

“So? How did it go with Sugino and the others, pulling them into the group?”

“Well, there was some trouble, so it was hard to get a good chance to talk.”

“Ah, sounds like it was rough. Tough luck.”

“So? Who are King and Karma voting for?”

“I’m going with Okuda-san. Looks like she could make shady drugs or something and that would widen my prank options♪”

“‘Those are two people we absolutely don’t want to see together!’”

“First of all, stop calling me King, Maehara. I’m just going to go with Kanzaki too—hey, someone’s peeking.”

“Nyuya?! So you noticed. Nurufufu Sensei’s super speed is for gathering information like this!!”

Korosensei fled at a speed too fast to see and everyone chased after him.

* * *

Girls POV

“Huh? Your favorite guy?”

“Yeah. Times like this call for love talk.”

“In our class, the decent ones are Isogai and Maehara, right? Maehara’s a womanizer so that’s a shame, but Isogai is prime material!”

“Just based on looks, Karma-kun and Ayanokōji-kun are handsome too♪”

“Ayanokōji-kun is kind of dark and Karma-kun’s behavior is questionable.”

“‘Yeah, that’s true.’”

“But normally he’s quiet and not that scary.”

“And Ayanokōji-kun is actually pretty kind too.”

“What about Kanzaki-san?”

“U-um, I…”

“Oh my oh my♪ Who could it be? Come on, tell us.”

“Hey… stop it…”

“Yeah, yeah♪ Sensei, tell us about romance too.”

“‘……’”

“Why are you just casually here?”

“As a teacher, keeping track of students’ romantic situations is a natural duty.”

“And what about you, Sensei? You hide your own and pry into others, that’s unfair.”

“Nyuyaa…”

Thud

“H-he ran!”

“Nurufufu, of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, running away is best. Retreat is victory! Eh?! I’m surrounded!”

* * *

We chased after Korosensei out of the room and ran into him being chased by the girls too. But there’s no way we could kill him over something like this, so I slipped away and stared out the window. Nagisa came over.

“That was fun, wasn’t it? The school trip. It was great seeing everyone’s different sides♪”

“Yeah, it was. So what’s wrong, Nagisa? You look kind of down.”

“It showed on my face? I thought I hid it pretty well…”

“Still not good enough. So?”

“Well, I was just thinking… a school trip feels like the end is getting close, right? When I think that this class will definitely end next March, it makes me a little sad…”

“The world might end before that.”

“Haha, that’s true. If the Earth is still here next year, I want us all to go on another trip together.”

“…Yeah.”

I answered while looking at the chipped moon floating in the night sky. And so our school trip comes to a close.

* * *

Nagisa → Friend
Karma → Friend
Boys → King
Kanzaki → Aware of her?
Kayano → Natural womanizer

Nagisa ← Friend, surprisingly close
Karma ← Friend, says too much unnecessary stuff
Boys ← Don’t call me King
Kanzaki ← Good at games
Kayano ← Energetic