“Put it out!!!”

“Wake uuuuup, anikiiii!”

I wake up to the noise next to me.

“Aniki!! Thank god, you’re up!! We need you to give orders!!!”

Ken suddenly begs me.

I don’t know what he’s talking about, but has Ibuki finally made her move?

Or maybe I’ve gotten pretty dull.

To think I wouldn’t wake up until someone shook me awake.

Seems like over these past few months, I’ve gotten used to living a relatively peaceful life.

Or maybe I’ve been a little worn out by this life.

Either way, today is already day six.

If we wait until tomorrow to move, it’ll be too late, so if we’re moving, it has to be today.

I look outside and see a blazing fire.

“No… this is too much...”

I mutter under my breath.

It’s a little away from our houses and tents, but a tree is completely on fire and the flames are about to spread to everything around it.

This is… we should cut down the surrounding trees and make some space so it doesn’t spread as easily.

Trying to carry water from the river to put it out would be tough since it’s a fair distance away.

Even so, even if it’s just for show, we still need to get everyone moving and try to put the fire out.

‘She probably set it expecting rain would come later, so it’d be easier to extinguish. And it’s also camouflage to buy time while Ibuki disappears. If it gets this big, I might end up tied up here and unable to move. I was planning to deal with the cleanup afterward, but…’

* * *

I chase after Ibuki-san.

Compared to normal, my body is clearly heavier.

I run carefully so I don’t get out of breath.

I’ve been taking a lot of rest and pushing myself little by little to make it this far, but it looks like I’m close to my limit.

But this is probably exactly what he intended.

When I was chosen as leader, I decided I would hide my poor condition to the end, but partway through I realized that wasn’t something I needed to do.

The day that felt most suspicious was the morning of day three.

For some reason, he postponed going to Class B and took a detour.

That was surely because he wanted to make me walk longer and tire me out.

I judged that I couldn’t change leaders, but that isn’t true.

If you can’t change leaders without a legitimate reason, then that means if you do have a legitimate reason, you can change leaders.

In other words, if it’s truly poor health, there’s a high chance a leader change would be approved.

It isn’t a fake illness and because it’s me, he chose me as leader.

And depending on what the other classes did, he probably planned to decide whether to make me retire or not.

If nothing happened, he might have had me rest and kept me going until the final day, but the moment Ibuki-san came to Class D, that option disappeared in his mind.

‘He’s truly awful. Even though he knows I’m unwell, he’s trying to worsen it for CP.’

And yet, the moment he saw that I understood his plan, he told me I could rest, assuming I would voluntarily retire.

The carrot and the stick are far too cruel.

‘I can’t let Ibuki-san become suspicious. To do that, I have to catch up and on top of that, I can’t let my poor condition be exposed.’

If I don’t catch up, she might think, ‘If you were wary of me, why didn’t you chase me?’ and decide it was a trap.

And even if I do catch up, if she tells Ryūen-kun that I was unwell, it could expose our intentions and I absolutely have to avoid raising that risk.

For my part, I want this settled quickly.

“Stop right there, Ibuki—!”

* * *

Phew.

I was worried what would happen, but the fact that I hit her with an opening shoulder throw the instant she caught up was a good choice, even if I say so myself.

She passed out when I threw her to the ground, but she’ll be fine.

All that’s left is to hand the key card over to Ryūen and my job is done.

If the digital camera had worked, I could’ve just taken a photo and been done, but it was broken and totally useless.

Probably because the guy who brought me to Class D’s base hit my bag against a tree when I refused to let him carry it.

Just unbelievably bad luck.

Horikita had hidden the key card in her bag.

Keeping it on her even when showering and hiding it in her bag both carry similar risks.

I’d heard from Kushida that Horikita was the leader, but it was still huge that I could confirm it myself from a distance.

I don’t really know what happened with the fire, though.

And Horikita moved to shower early in the morning and if the one watching me hadn’t been Kushida, I might not have been able to go and get it.

I couldn’t afford to waste this chance.

And that fire.

Kushida probably started it, but wasn’t that too much?

It’s probably to blur the impression that I vanished, but still.

“…Tch, rain, huh. Let’s finish this quickly and get back to the ship.”

Because I threw her right away, I lost the chance to observe Horikita.

And I never realized until the very end that someone was watching me.

* * *

Since it started raining right away and turned into a downpour, the fire went out surprisingly fast, which was good.

Thanks to that, we managed somehow.

It seems almost nobody noticed that Horikita wasn’t called at roll call at eight in the morning.

The ones who noticed are the people who were close to Horikita.

In other words, to put it bluntly, it’s still within the inner circle.

They got yanked awake at an early hour and had to desperately put out the fire, so it’s only natural everyone else is exhausted.

Even if it had been exposed, I think we could’ve covered it up, but you could say our insurance paid off.

For now, Ibuki’s retirement is confirmed.

And thanks to that blond bastard yesterday, it’s also confirmed that the only one Class A is hiding is Ryūen.

Well, from Class A’s perspective, there’s no reason to hide multiple people.

Still, it’s only a matter of time before people realize both Ibuki and Horikita are missing.

It’d be better if we strike first from our side.

“There’s something I want to tell everyone first. It looks like not many of you have noticed yet, but Horikita isn’t here because she’s doing exactly what I told her to do, so don’t worry. We won’t be able to update the spot, but with this heavy rain, we won’t be using the river anyway, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Until the exam ends tomorrow, you can all rest.”

“No, no, no, there’s no way I can rest after hearing that! What do you mean the leader’s absent!? And this morning’s fire too, everything’s way too weird!!”

Yamauchi freaks out.

That’s a fair reaction.

But it isn’t wise to explain everything right now and reassure everyone.

The exam isn’t over yet.

Once the results are out, then it’ll be fine to tell them some of it.

“You’re not wrong, but I don’t feel like answering right now. After the exam ends, I’ll tell you everything that happened. So don’t worry. It might only be empty reassurance, but still.”

As everyone falls silent, Kōenji speaks to me.

“Fufufu. Since I’m perfect, I’ll show just a little kindness and ask on behalf of your classmates. In this exam, from where to where is all of it within your scheme, Monster Boy?”

That’s obvious.

From start to finish, everything is in the palm of my hand.