On the fifth day of the exam, I woke up at dawn and was on my way back after walking along the beach, letting the sea breeze hit me, scouting the surroundings.

Since there isn’t much left until the end, it was the time to be more tense and do our best.

If everyone in the class knew this fact, they would have to do their best more than before to save even a single point.

Yeah, that’s right.

That’s right, but...

“N-No, no, no?! Huh?! What is this?!”

“Come to think of it, Ike, yesterday... didn’t you go to the bathroom late at night? It felt like you took a pretty long time.”

“N-No, no, no! That was... it was so dark I was looking around!”

“Really? You’re not the one who stole Karuizawa’s underwear, are you?”

“N-No! Why would I do something like that!”

“Either way, I think this is a huge problem. It’s impossible to camp in the same space as an underwear thief.”

It looked like another incident had happened while I was away.

I approached Hirata, who was getting harassed by the girls.

“What happened? It’s way too noisy for the morning.”

“Ah, Ayanokoji. Well, it’s...”

“Karuizawa’s underwear is gone this morning! You’re a girl too, so there’s no way you don’t know what this means, right?”

An underwear thief...

An underwear thief at this point...

This is seriously annoying.

The girls were already convinced a boy was the culprit, glaring at the boys with eyes full of humiliation and even Hirata, who’s always rational, looked shaken by this unexpected situation.

“Where’s Karuizawa?”

“She’s crying inside the tent right now. Kushida and the others are comforting her.”

For now, it’s certain something malicious has happened in the class.

Clutching my head at this headache-inducing situation, I spoke to everyone.

“From the look of it, unless this is a mistake, there are three possibilities. First, someone who holds a grudge against Karuizawa. Second, some other class’s bastard is trying to cause trouble in Class D. Third... a perverted bastard who deserves to get beaten to death.”

At my disgust-filled words, everyone flinched.

I immediately gave Hirata an order.

“Hirata, from now on we’ll conduct bag inspections for all of Class D. You handle the boys. I’ll handle the girls.”

“H-Hold on! It’s fine to suspect the boys, but why do the girls have to be suspected too?”

At Shinohara’s words, saying she couldn’t understand, my expression didn’t change.

“Didn’t you hear? I said it could also be someone who holds a grudge against Karuizawa. Does having a grudge require you to separate male and female?”

“The only people who would do something like this are guys!”

“So there’s no evidence. If there’s no basis for saying a girl can’t be an underwear thief, then quietly accept the inspection. If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“What? By that logic, you’re the most suspicious! You openly hated Karuizawa!”

“Hah. This is ridiculous. Fine.”

I immediately went to where the bags were, grabbed mine and threw it to Shinohara.

“If you don’t trust me that much, I’ll prove it first. Hirata, you take yours out first too.”

“What? Why Hirata! There’s no way Hirata is the culprit!”

So a boy being the culprit is certain, but there’s no way Hirata is the culprit?

That’s a fresh kind of nonsense.

“You know what you’re saying doesn’t make sense too, right? Hirata is Karuizawa’s boyfriend, so there’s no way he’s the culprit!”

“By that logic, the words dating, violence and stalking wouldn’t even exist in this world.”

“What?!”

“Are you saying Hirata stalked her or something?!”

Ignoring Shinohara, whose brain was so clean she’d take an example used for logic at face value, I looked straight into Hirata’s eyes and spoke.

“Normally, considering your character, I’m convinced you’re not the culprit. But here, we need proof. This is something that requires a decision. So carry out bag inspections for everyone, male and female. Of course, you and I aren’t exceptions either.”

At my calm tone, Hirata hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“Guys, I want to believe everyone. I think there isn’t a culprit among us. I don’t want to suspect my classmates. So please. It’ll feel bad, but... cooperate with everyone’s bags being inspected.”

At those words, the boys grumbled but accepted it, while the girls made a fuss.

“Hirata! You can’t do this just because you listened to this show-off girl!”

“You’re talking pretty well, Shinohara. Could it be you’re the culprit?”

“W-What?! I don’t have any grudge against Karuizawa and I don’t steal underwear!”

“Then you can prove it. Right now the boys are taking out their bags to prove they aren’t the culprit even if they don’t like it. You’re not going to do something stupid where you just run your mouth but refuse to prove it, right? You’d better use that pumpkin-like head and think carefully.”

With her face turning so red it looked like it might burst, Shinohara lifted her bag and threw it in front of me.

“Then just look! I’m not the culprit!”

“It’s decided. Everyone take your bags out. Hirata will inspect the boys, I’ll inspect the girls.”

In the end, the girls also gave up and brought out their bags.

Hirata’s bag and mine were inspected first and of course, Karuizawa’s underwear didn’t come out.

Now there won’t be anyone who suspects the two of us are the culprit.

After that, we inspected the other students’ bags.

Even the ones who didn’t want to couldn’t go against the flow and ended up holding out their bags.

Maybe about 20 minutes passed.

When Hirata and I finished inspecting everyone’s belongings, we spoke to the waiting Class D students.

“We checked everyone and it still didn’t come out. Then there are two possibilities. Either it was Karuizawa’s own mistake, or it was done by another class. If it’s not the first, then we need to find the truth as soon as...”

“Wait a second!”

At that moment, Shinohara began checking inside the boys’ tent.

At this point, it felt like she was desperate for it to be a boy no matter what.

After searching through both tents, Shinohara went back to the girls and whispered to them and then said aloud, “Hey, Hirata. Couldn’t they have hidden it in a pocket or something?”

Haa.

Now we’re inspecting pockets too?

What a spectacle.

“Damn it, what have you been doing this whole time?”

“Cut it out already!”

When Ike protested, Shinohara and the other girls started attacking him all at once.

“Isn’t Ike suspicious from earlier? Did you hide it?”

“What did you say?! I told you I didn’t hide it! Fine, search me then!”

When Ike showed his pockets himself to claim innocence, the other boys ended up having to do body checks too.

Hirata had no choice but to accept the request and asked that if they couldn’t find it this time, they stop the investigation.

“Then should we start on the girls too? Shinohara, you come out first.”

“What? You’re still suspecting the girls?”

“I explained enough, didn’t I? As long as there’s a possibility, everyone is a suspect. If you understand, spread your arms.”

In the end, another 20 minutes were spent and it turned into body checks as well.

Hirata and I investigated extremely thoroughly.

We checked perfectly, even turning out pockets, but in the end...

It didn’t come out.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t come out on anyone.”

“B-but… It definitely...”

“That’s enough. We did everything you wanted, so what are you trying to do now? Go tell Karuizawa to search again carefully. Or should I go tell her myself?”

“N-No! Forget it! This is disgusting, like you ever cared about us from the start!”

When I tried to go to Karuizawa, Shinohara and a few girls hurriedly stopped me and fled into the tent.

I really don’t understand what they’re trying to do.

The boys grumbled as they went in after seeing that and Hirata approached me with a complicated expression.

“What do we do now? This became the worst possible situation.”

“Hirata, if it didn’t come out here, then if someone took it, it was definitely another class’s bastard.”

“But when we inspected Ibuki, it didn’t come out. So it has to be either Class A or B...”

“Haa... this is driving me crazy. We’re almost at the end and the teamwork we barely built is cracking.”

When I openly showed my dissatisfaction, Hirata lowered his head with a guilty expression.

“It’s all my fault. If I paid more attention...”

“What are you talking about, your fault? You’re not the one who stole the underwear, so what fault do you have? Go comfort your girlfriend. I want to think alone.”

“Alright. I’ll persuade the others too.”

The moment I confirmed no one was around, the gloomy expression vanished and I turned cold.

There was no way the underwear thief was going to come out.

Because I was the one who got rid of the underwear in the first place.

To give the conclusion, the underwear thief is Ibuki.

Every night, I pretended to sleep while watching Ibuki’s movements and last night, I confirmed Ibuki took something out of one of the girls’ bags in the pile and brought it over toward where the boys’ bags were.

Then, early in the morning, I woke up and opened every boy’s bag to check and the girls’ underwear, specifically Karuizawa’s underwear, came out of Ike’s bag.

I took it out, then picked up one branch from a campfire where the embers were still alive.

By now, Karuizawa’s underwear has probably turned to ashes and scattered somewhere along the beach.

Someone who knows this would be curious about the reason.

Why did I not leave it where it was and instead go all the way to the beach and burn it?

Because I hate Karuizawa?

Because it was so old it needed to be thrown away?

Because it was dirty and I tried to wash it but made a mistake?

None of that.

Ibuki’s act of causing trouble like this is part of my plan.

Now that Ibuki has started moving, it’s time to grow the conflict in the class even more.

Probably to the point it can’t be controlled...

Because this very moment, when we’ve maintained peace, will be a perfect timing to spark a dispute.

That’s how the bait I threw will function properly.