The news that Mashima-sensei was about to leave Class A's camp spread like wildfire throughout Class A.
Totsuka, who had just taken the key card from Katsuragi and was planning to temporarily fulfill the duties of Class A's leader, was immediately stunned.
Not knowing what had happened, he could only find Mashima-sensei to inquire about it.
But Mashima-sensei only told him it was for personal reasons, urging Totsuka to manage the class well and never be careless.
As a member of Class A, he naturally knew that Mashima-sensei had something difficult to say, and he could also sense the deeper hints in Mashima-sensei's eyes, but unfortunately… he was Totsuka Yahiko. If Katsuragi were here, he would surely understand what Mashima-sensei wanted to tell Class A, right?
Totsuka knew that his abilities were no match for monsters like Katsuragi or Sakayanagi, but he had no intention of competing for the class leader position, so there was no need to compare himself to those monsters.
From the beginning, Totsuka had positioned himself as the class leader's deputy.
In that case, the person he needed to benchmark himself against was Hashimoto.
After watching the noisy Class D group leave, Totsuka glared unpleasantly at the disheveled Hashimoto.
Because Katsuragi was afraid of losing face, he hadn't told Totsuka about Hashimoto's actions, which led Totsuka to still believe that the two classes had a violent conflict, and especially with Hashimoto's appearance, it seemed highly likely that he had lost the fight and was sent back.
This gave Totsuka the idea of stepping on him.
He wouldn't get such a good opportunity next time.
"Hey! Hashimoto, you've been causing trouble for Class A from morning till night. Are Katsuragi-kun being in solitary confinement and Mashima-sensei leaving the camp both related to you?"
Facing Totsuka's accusations, Hashimoto showed a handsome smile and then slowly spoke.
"Trash."
Huh?
Totsuka was momentarily stunned.
He hadn't expected Hashimoto to insult him with such vulgar language.
"Hashimoto! Have you lost the honor of a Class A student?"
Totsuka's furious scolding made Hashimoto smile even more happily.
He no longer had the sense of urgency he had before.
Everything was going according to plan.
Hashimoto was not the kind of person to fear a useless guy like Totsuka.
"Honor? Can honor be eaten? Heh heh."
Hashimoto's sneer angered Totsuka, who moved as if to confront Hashimoto and reason with him.
But then Kitou bit off his glove, his fierce eyes fixed on Totsuka's throat.
Even though he had never seen Kitou fight.
However, Kitou's first-place scores in all sports during physical education were enough to illustrate the huge gap in physical ability between Totsuka and Kitou.
"Hmph, this time I'll be magnanimous and not argue with you, but don't forget, my not arguing doesn't mean Katsuragi-kun won't. When Katsuragi-kun is released from confinement tomorrow, you'll have it coming."
After saying that, Totsuka glared fiercely at Kitou and then quickly left.
He was afraid that if he lingered for another second, Kitou would choke him.
"Pfft! What is Totsuka? Just a dog kept by Katsuragi, yet he dares to be so arrogant."
Kitou's indignant words were stopped by Hashimoto raising his hand.
"Let him be proud for a while longer. There's a good show waiting for him tonight. Go tell our people to rest early. Tonight will probably be a sleepless night…"
...Class D camp.
When Horikita and Amane came out after showering, Ayanokoji and the others had also returned to the camp.
"See? It's all your fault. The shower area is already small, and you insisted on squeezing in with me. Do you think this is a dorm?"
Horikita wiped away the remaining foam with a towel.
They were using a simple shower room heated by burning gas, and only one person could enter at a time.
The small room, which was already a bit cramped for one person, ended up with Amane insisting on showering with Horikita to save gas costs. The result was that the two of them squeezed into a small room and couldn't properly wash themselves, and Horikita was constantly being taken advantage of by Amane.
"That's not my fault. I said I wanted to wash Suzune clean, but you were the one who refused."
Amane turned her head away, completely avoiding Horikita's gaze.
"You call that helping me get clean? You clearly wanted to…"
"Wanted what? I'm a decent person."
...Amane's single sentence made Horikita so angry that she wanted to pin her to the ground and beat her up to vent her frustration.
If Amane was considered a decent person, then there wouldn't be many indecent people in the world.
Just as Horikita was thinking about how to teach Amane a lesson, Ayanokoji walked past them with a drink, seemingly intending to go back to catch up on sleep.
"Horikita-san and Amane-san are finally awake. I called you for a long time this morning, but you didn't respond, so I had to take them to Class A by myself."
Ayanokoji's words startled Horikita.
"To Class A? Ayanokoji, what did you go to Class A for?"
At this moment, Horikita was still completely unaware of the plan.
Ayanokoji looked at Horikita's confused expression, feeling a bit strange himself, but he immediately realized that Amane hadn't told Horikita yet.
In that case… was it correct for him to deliver this news?
Seeing Amane looking at him unpleasantly, Ayanokoji reacted quickly and covered his stomach with his hand.
"Horikita-san, I'm sorry, I suddenly have a stomach ache and need to go to the restroom. What happened today, I acted according to Amane-san's instructions. If you have any questions, you can ask Amane-san."
"Ayanokoji, you dog…"
"Amane?"
Horikita ignored Ayanokoji, who used the restroom as an excuse but ran towards the lighthouse.
Her attention was focused on Amane, who was trying to sneak away beside her.
"It's nothing, I just asked Ayanokoji-kun to scout Class A's situation."
Amane's obedient demeanor intensified Horikita's suspicion.
"Was it really just scouting for information?"
"Mhm, mhm, mhm."
"Then why did so many people go? Half the class was empty when we woke up this morning. I felt strange about it then, and Amane, you didn't seem surprised by such an unusual phenomenon at all… Now that I think about it, both what happened this morning and your insistence on me taking a shower seem to have been delaying tactics. Don't you need to explain this, Amane?"
Horikita placed her hand on Amane's shoulder.
Amane's body trembled involuntarily.
"Um… Suzune, listen to me… explain. Here's what happened…"
Amane roughly told Horikita about encountering Hashimoto last night, then explained Hashimoto's intentions and the plan Ayanokoji had discussed. When she heard that Amane intended to launch an attack on Class A tonight, Horikita almost thought she had misheard.
After all, there was only one day, no, even only one or two hours, since the action would only start at night.
Causing irreparable damage to Class A or even defeating Katsuragi in two hours?
Such an absurd thing, not only could Horikita not understand it, but in Horikita's opinion, even if her older brother came, he would probably be at a loss.
Despite the numerous internal conflicts within Class A, achieving all of this within two hours was nothing short of a fantasy.
However… none of this was Horikita's main concern. What Horikita was most curious about was why Amane prevented her from knowing this news.
Could it be that… her secret had been discovered?
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 70 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!