Chapter 274: The Girls' Night Talk

When the dark golden sun finally sank completely behind the mountain, the sky began to settle. First, the tiles on the school building's roof lost their warm color and turned a cold, hard blue-gray. Then the dark green of the pine forest was ground down into a dusky black. Finally, the boundary between sky and mountain vanished entirely.

As thick white steam drifted up from the boys' and girls' bathhouses respectively, the students who had spent the day exhausting themselves in the wild finally found a bit of spiritual comfort soaking in the hot water.

After taking longer than usual to bathe, their energy spent, they had no interest in lingering in the increasingly cold campus. They filed back to their dormitories one after another.

Forest school, girls' dormitory.

The Shiraishi group's bed layout, unlike the boys' freely chosen ones, was different for each class.

On the first day, in order to make the group's members unite and face the final day's exam together, Ichinose Honami, whose social stats were maxed out, had suggested that students from each class stagger their bed arrangements so they could get to know each other faster.

By the fifth night, the effect was visibly good.

"Horikita!"

No sooner had Horikita Suzune, just out of the bath, pushed the door open with her wet hair, than Ibuki Mio, sleeping in the bunk next to hers, jumped down from the top bunk in one thunderous leap and landed right in front of her.

"Where did you go this morning? Why didn't I see you when I got up?"

Tilting her head slightly, wiping her lead-powder-black, glossy long hair with a clean white towel, Horikita walked into the room with an indifferent air and said flatly, "That has nothing to do with you, Ibuki-san. I don't think I woke you up, did I?"

Scheming with Tachibana-senpai to turn the tables on the current Student Council President was something best kept to as few people as possible.

"Huh? What nonsense are you spouting? We agreed to have a match on the last day of the exam. Sneaking out to train early in the morning is too sneaky."

"There's no such thing, Ibuki-san. Please don't make wild guesses."

Horikita sat back on her bed and pressed a hand to her forehead with a headache.

She shouldn't have agreed to such a meaningless contest a couple of days ago. At the time, she'd thought it would make Ibuki go all out in the final relay, and had agreed on impulse. Now that she thought about it, it seemed completely pointless. Given Ibuki's drive, she'd give it her all even without a contest.

Besides, this was clearly a group led by a Class A student. If she won, the gap between Class A and Class D would widen even more. Wasn't that just aiding the enemy?

"Huh? Your tone is really infuriating. Are you looking down on me?" Ibuki asked fiercely, her face sour.

After a moment of quiet thought, Horikita closed her eyes and continued. "I was just—"

"There's no such thing, Ibuki-san. Horikita-san's personality has always been like this. If she offended you, I'll apologize on her behalf." A sweet voice cut into their conversation.

Kushida Kikyo, who had come in right behind, sat down next to Horikita, then, without changing her expression, nudged Horikita and shot her a provocative look.

No matter who was going after Horikita Suzune, Kushida Kikyo would be the first to come help the scene!

"..."

A barely audible sigh escaped her throat. Horikita wearily closed her eyes again. This was exactly why she hadn't made friends in the first place. Socializing was really exhausting!

"Kushida-san, weren't you going to Inogashira and the others' room? It's better to be on time."

"No need to rush." Kushida pressed her hands together and smiled sweetly. "More than that, I'd rather get along well with Horikita-san..."

"Aren't we... already friends?"

"But not best friends. I made up my mind on the very first day of school to become your closest friend (enemy)..." She spread a hand amicably toward Ibuki and apologized earnestly again. "I'm sorry, Ibuki-san. Please continue. Horikita-san is just like this. Please, please don't blame her~"

And then, the grade's social expert, Cha-Cha, right in front of Horikita herself, smiled and listened to Ibuki's face-to-face trash-talking of Horikita's personality.

She even secretly tugged at Horikita's clothes to keep her from fleeing the battlefield, her gaze toward Ibuki growing brighter and brighter. This person was practically her best mouthpiece, voicing all the feelings she'd always held toward that Horikita bitch!

More, more!

At the same time, with a soft click.

Ichinose Honami pushed the door open and wobbled over to the bed opposite, flopping down dejectedly, her full, soft chest flattened against the bedding, her lovely figure on full display.

"Um... what's wrong? Ichinose-san?"

Beside her, Wang Mei-Yu, blow-drying her hair, poked her head over and asked cautiously.

"Ah!" Ichinose forced a smile and braced her hands to get up. "Gomen, Mei-Yu-chan. Did I press down on your blanket?"

"It's fine, it's fine. Ichinose-san, do whatever you like." Wang Mei-Yu hurriedly waved her hands in a fluster and pressed the rising Ichinose back down. She asked tentatively, a little hesitantly. "May I ask... is it because of the other group's problems?"

"Yeah..."

Her fair cheek pressed against the bedding, Ichinose let out a long sigh, her voice flattened. "They've been arguing since the first day..."

The girls' side grouping was similar to the boys'. Six large groups. Each of the four classes formed a group with its own class member as leader. But since the group where Class A held the majority had adopted a conservative grouping method, and the girls each had their own little circles, the relationships among the members of the last group were incredibly complicated.

Ichinose had gone to mediate for several nights in a row. The effect was minimal. Fires everywhere.

"Even the always energetic Ichinose-san..." A cold sweat slid down Wang Mei-Yu's forehead.

"It's because Ichinose is too easygoing that it turned out this way."

A flat voice came from the balcony. Another Class B member, Himeno Yuki, propped her cheek on her hand, gazing at the stars in the night sky, her expression blank.

"Nyahaha, Yuki-chan..." Ichinose gave an awkward laugh, unable to refute. Then she turned her head, her gaze resting on Shiraishi Asuka to her right, who was helping Yamamura Miki organize her speech.

Her tone carried a bit of envy. "Speaking of which, Class A doesn't seem to have any news of similar disputes at all. Our group is pretty harmonious too. Does Shiraishi-san have some special technique?"

The flip of a page paused. Shiraishi, sitting upright in her chair, curved an elegant arc at the corner of her mouth and lowered her head to continue flipping through the speech in her hands.

"No, actually Ichinose-san is already incredibly impressive. Relying purely on social means, you've gotten girls who don't get along to temporarily set aside their grudges and barely work together."

Anyone familiar with the unspoken rules of girls' social dynamics knew how absurd that ability was. Girls who didn't get along—not stabbing each other in the back was already good enough. To actually get them to cooperate temporarily?!

"Class A's group is harmonious because we're all familiar with each other. We spent seven days together on the uninhabited island too, so we tolerate each other. And besides..."

Shiraishi paused, lifted her bright face, her violet eyes flickering, the smile on her face growing deeper.

"Ichinose-san, our group actually isn't all that harmonious either, is it?"

The moment the words landed.

At the desk, Sakayanagi Arisu, playing chess with an already yawning Kamuro Masumi, paused with her fingers on the queen, a faint smile rising at the corner of her mouth, and mercilessly took the opponent's knight.

On the top bunk, Morishita Ai, who had played all day yesterday and walked all afternoon today, turned over with a cold little face and expressionlessly asked her good sister Yamamura to keep massaging her.

Nearby, the D-class love-hate duo, still trading insults, shut their mouths at the same time and exchanged a glance. Under Ibuki's puzzled gaze, they quietly scanned the girls around them, and finally fixed their eyes on Shiraishi.

At this moment, Shiina Hiyori, who had been sitting quietly in the corner reading, gently closed her book and tilted her head in confusion.

"Ahaha, i-is that so?" Ichinose gave an awkward smile. "I didn't notice at all. Everyone's very friendly classmates."

"I'm so glad Ichinose-san can think that way..." Shiraishi said meaningfully.

The moment those words landed, everyone felt the atmosphere of the room change instantly, though it was hard to describe. They could only go back to doing their own things.

Taking it all in, Shiraishi lowered her head with a smile, tidied her speech manuscript, and slowly walked to her own bed.

"Everyone, rest early. Tomorrow our outdoor class has been switched to the morning. If you don't sleep enough, you'll be prone to fatigue tomorrow."

"Okay..."

A few absent-minded voices rose from around the room.

Compared to the boys, the girls' dormitory got no special extra perks. No air conditioning. Lights out promptly at ten every night. The only perk was an independent toilet outside on the balcony, so the girls didn't have to grope their way several hundred meters in the dark to use the bathroom at night.

With the speaker broadcast in the room, the girls' dormitory lights went out on time.

To keep the room warm, the balcony door and windows were locked from the inside, leaving only a small ventilation window. Moonlight could only fall obliquely outside the balcony. It couldn't get in.

In the darkness, a faint rustle of fabric rose. Kushida turned over, lying on her side facing the darkness in the center of the room, her pupils glinting faintly in the dark. The room was pitch black. Only the vague outlines of objects around her were visible.

After a moment of thought, she slowly spoke. "Ano, Ichinose-san, have you ever had a boyfriend?"

"Huh?" Ichinose was clearly startled by the sudden question and hurried to answer. "N-no, I haven't. Frankly, I have no dating experience at all. Why is Kushida-chan asking this all of a sudden?"

"Because I'm really curious." Kushida's voice was as sweet as ever. "After all, Ichinose-san is so outstanding, and so popular."

As if!

Her slender hand reached out from under the covers, and Kushida gritted her teeth, clenching the blanket.

Of course it was to find out which little bitch was that bastard's favorite. Shiraishi Asuka had only told her that the bastard had someone on the outside, but who exactly those people were, Kushida had no idea at all.

That strange atmosphere just now had only strengthened Kushida's guess. Those little bitches had to be in this group!

"There's no such thing. Kushida-san is the same, isn't she?" Ichinose's voice carried its usual gentleness and humility.

"Yeah, yeah." The moment romance came up, Class D's Sato Maya immediately perked up, her voice rising a notch. She asked impatiently, "What about you, Kushida-chan? Do you have someone you like?"

The previously stuffy air in the room seemed to be pricked open by these successive questions. A thread of lightness began to spread.

"Mm... well, I haven't dated anyone either, you know..." Kushida's tone was as usual, carrying just the right amount of shyness.

"Huh?" Even the usually shy Wang Mei-Yu joined in. "Even Kushida-san hasn't? Then what about Shiraishi-san?"

Shiraishi's smiling voice echoed in the darkness. "I haven't either..."

"Why do none of you popular girls have boyfriends?" Sato's voice sounded a little disappointed.

"It's normal. After all, most couples break up when they graduate high school. The popular guys on the boys' side don't seem to have girlfriends either." Kushida quietly tried to steer the topic.

"That seems true. Even though Satonaka-kun is often seen talking with girls, most of the time he's with guys." Sato said.

"But Hirata-kun has a girlfriend, doesn't he? That Karuizawa-san." Another voice, tinged with amusement, chimed in. Nishikawa Ryoko said, "Kanzaki-kun doesn't, though. He always has that serious look."

"Because he always has that unsmiling face, right?"

"True."

Several girls chuckled in unison.

At this moment, Sato seemed to suddenly remember something and said with great interest. "Oh right, isn't there another handsome guy? Shiraishi-san, from your Class A. At the start of school, I saw him from a distance beside the line. Super~ handsome~! A cool-faced handsome guy. I think his name was Fuyu..."

"Heh heh! That's my boyfriend, Fuyuji Mikage!"

Morishita Ai's utterly flat voice rose in the darkness, instantly blasting the eyes of the vast majority of the girls in the room wide open.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Horikita Suzune, Kushida Kikyo, Ichinose Honami, Shiina Hiyori, and even Sakayanagi Arisu, who had been listening to the idle chatter as a sleep aid, all shot up from their beds at the same time, heads whipping toward the curled-up bundle of bedding in the darkness.

That girl, whose behavior was usually a little odd, who was very cute but whose every word somehow left people at a loss.

Shiraishi let out a light laugh and shook her head helplessly.

Yamamura silently pulled the blanket up, covering half her flushed face.

Kamuro sneered and wrapped her blanket tighter, wearing a look of someone enjoying the show.

One sentence, and the whole room fell silent for her.

Ai-sama, with the strength of one, had ended the entire conversation!

That night, the girls' dormitory was destined to be sleepless.

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