"Although there are a few who are somewhat excellent, the others are simply beyond imagination for high school students." Horikita Suzune was still quite dismissive. She glanced at the labeled plastic bottles on the ground. "Did you do all this work by yourself?"
"Eh?" Hikigaya finally realized she was asking him. "I suppose so."
"It's just a water-boiling job." Horikita Suzune said this as if to prove she was right. "Class D needed 3 people to get it done; those people can't sit still, it's like they can't work without chatting."
Bastard. Don't look down on the water-boiling job! Boiling water is hard work too! However, for some unknown reason, those people loved to gather together for every little thing, as if they would die if they didn't. Hikigaya understood that perfectly, so feel free to talk more trash.
The group chatted a bit more, then Horikita Suzune and the others prepared to leave. Looking at Ichinose's energetic smile, Hikigaya somehow felt a bit guilty.
"Um... Horikita-san?" Hikigaya said somewhat uncertainly. "Could we have a word in private?"
"Hmm? No problem." Horikita Suzune turned to Ayanokouji. "Don't wait for me, you can go ahead."
"There's not much point in going ahead." Ayanokouji added expressionlessly, "I'll stay and look around; call me when you're done."
"This way." Hikigaya led the way, and Horikita Suzune followed him. In any case, escaping was the priority. Though he likely couldn't truly escape, what if Ichinose forgot?
Ayanokouji observed the surroundings, his gaze eventually landing on a blonde man who was busy—he looked like Class C's Kaneda. However, Ayanokouji didn't know many people and couldn't be certain either.
"He looks very tired." Ayanokouji turned to Ichinose. "Aren't you guys going to help share the load?"
"Oh?" Ichinose followed his gaze and said somewhat helplessly, "Like Ibuki-san, Kaneda-kun is also from Class C. I told him he didn't need to do this, but he seems a bit uneasy and insists on helping voluntarily."
"However, thanks to Kaneda-kun's help, the burden on Class B has decreased a lot."
"I see." Ayanokouji nodded inwardly. The zero-point strategy. If that's the case, Class B could just be left alone. Even if they did nothing, Class B would likely fail by having their leader guessed by Class C. After all, the person Ryuen chose to carry out the plan would definitely have the necessary agility and observation skills. Defending for too long inevitably leads to a lapse. Given enough time, Kaneda would likely discover something. Besides, he didn't think Kaneda was an idiot.
Elsewhere, Hikigaya and Horikita Suzune walked into the small grove, gradually moving away from the crowd.
"Just so you know," Horikita Suzune said expressionlessly behind him, "I'm an 8th Dan in Aikido."
Wow. Hikigaya's mouth twitched. He read a wide variety of things and was a standard "keyboard warrior"—knowing a little bit about everything but nothing deeply. 9th and 10th Dan seemed to require significant contributions to Aikido, so 8th Dan was essentially the highest level. Truly, the people in this school were all too excellent; even Class D had such an outstanding student.
However, although Horikita Suzune was beautiful—the most beautiful person he had ever seen—who would be interested in such an arrogant woman? He only came out here to seek refuge.
"Aren't you being a bit too presumptuous?" Hikigaya leaned against a tree and chatted casually.
"Is that so?" Horikita Suzune stopped and mocked, "You dare say you're not interested in me?"
"Hah?" Hikigaya's face turned red, and he quickly began to quibble. "Don't think that high school boys spend every day with their heads full of lewd thoughts."
How about world peace or something? Though he once thought about getting intimate with beautiful girls or having a harem, he had long since recognized reality and no longer held such unrealistic fantasies. Girls were only interested in handsome guys and were the type to engage in improper relationships with them. Simply put, all are enemies! A loner won't fall in the same spot a second time.
"Forget it." Horikita Suzune was clearly uninterested. "So, what do you want with me?"
"Uh..." Hikigaya was choked up. This was too direct. He didn't actually have anything to talk about; he just came out to hide. Being asked so suddenly, it seemed there really wasn't much to say. After all, he and this girl had only met twice. But going back now would mean facing Ichinose's questioning.
"How should I put it..." Hikigaya racked his brain for a topic. By the way, he wasn't an interesting character to begin with; if he were truly interesting, he would have been the class favorite long ago. Finding a topic was indeed difficult for him.
"Are you sick?" Hikigaya breathed a sigh of relief. He had to kill at least half an hour before going back, otherwise he'd miss lunch.
"How could that be?" Horikita Suzune's eyes grew sharp, and she instantly became alert. Even though they were in a cooperative relationship with Class B, she didn't fully trust them. This should be normal; Ichinose was just too kind.
"No?" Hikigaya scratched his head. "Haven't you been rubbing your arm? You probably feel cold, right? That's one of the signs of a fever, isn't it?"
"Mind your own business." Horikita Suzune was stunned for a moment, then quickly lowered her arm and said coldly, "I was just bitten by a mosquito and it's a bit itchy."
This girl actually refused to admit it. Well, this kind of wariness seemed normal to Hikigaya. It was just that her excuse was poorly made.
"There shouldn't be many mosquitoes on Sakurajima, right?"
"This is a deserted island. I suggest you open those dead-fish eyes of yours wider."
"That has nothing to do with my eyes," Hikigaya said, somewhat speechless. "I haven't felt many mosquitoes either." He wondered if the school had cleared them out. He hadn't felt any mosquitoes, and everyone was wearing short sleeves.
"Then your physical senses have deteriorated. I suggest you withdraw and go get a checkup immediately."
Since it was just small talk anyway, he didn't mind continuing to kill time with Horikita Suzune.
"I actually think so too." Hikigaya said nonchalantly. "I'm really jealous that you could catch a cold at a time like this; your luck is too good."
"Hah?" Horikita Suzune furrowed her brow. "What nonsense are you talking about? How is catching a cold good luck? And I told you, I don't have a cold. If you have nothing else to say, I'm going back."
This girl. Still refusing to admit it until the end.