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Volume 3, Chapter 1: The Boundary Line between Heaven and Hell Part 3

The moment we set foot into the woods, we were struck by the lush and overgrown greenery around us. It was much better that we avoided the direct sunlight that hit us on the beach, but still, the dampness and humidity made the heat unbearable. Suddenly, I feel a rush of coolness in the back of my neck, like a fan flapping…. I had the feeling that this mission was about to fail.

It’s, hot, it’s hot and as I am thinking about it, it’s getting even hotter. I have to talk to someone, here so as to divert my mind, even for a little.

“Hey, Kouenji!”

“Ah! Beautiful! To be able to walk calmly surrounded by nature! This is just perfect…. The ultimate beauty!”

It’s hopeless. I cannot have a proper conversation with him, now. Actually, there is nobody around that I can have a substantial conversation with.

“This is remarkable!”

“Eh?…”

I thought that I heard just fragments of a voice behind me, as Sakura leapt beside me.

“You said that you wanted one more person, so I raised my hand. There are a lot of things that I can help with”

“When the team said they needed another one member and I raised my hand.. You thought she is not ready to do it”

“I did not think anything in particular, really, not at all… why are you bringing this up, now? It is somehow confusing”

Sakura is a docile character, but somehow she did not seem to back out from this conversation. When we began this trip as a school trip, she seemed to be rather passive. I thought that Sakura would excuse herself, but although her shyness was apparent, we continued walking side by side.

Walking from the beach towards the woods, in other words, to move towards the inner part of the island, suddenly steals away a lot of our stamina. This is not a simple, convenient route, it gets a lot worse and cranky on the road. It looks like walking on a long winding hill road.

“So, why did you raise your hand in order to participate in a troublesome exploration of the woods?”

“Well…. Because there are a large number of people in the camp, I feel uncomfortable”

“I really do not understand your feeling, even when there are few people, still it is not enjoyable”

Now, it looks like it is the time to talk to someone, even If I become a little unpleasant.

“But…. Ayanokouji, you raised your hand, too, after all”.

Sakura raised her head and made a happy face, then looking rather confused, made gestures with her hands and protested in a loud voice.

“It’s not that…. It’s not like that! It’s just that there are not many people that I can talk to, that’s what I mean”

Sakura kept denying with fervor while walking in a hurry when…

“Hey!… Be careful!”

“Ouch”

As she was talking to me looking back and forth, her foot was grabbed by a root from a large tree, causing her to fall backwards. Hurriedly I reached with my hands to grab her, but I ended up not being in time.

“Are you alright?”

“ Erm… It hurts a little”

Thankfully, she landed on her hands rather on her bottom, it was careless but not something serious.

“If you do not walk carefully in the woods, you might get hurt, hey now, hold my hand”

“Ah… Thank you”

Without any more excuses Sakura offered her hand but then she realised it was dirty by her fall, she drew it back. Ignoring this, I grabbed her hand, anyway, holding it tenderly.

“I’m…. I’m sorry”

“It is not like you have to apologise over something like this”

Thoughtfully, I brushed off the soil from Sakura’s hands. Anyway, this forest, it looks like it is the first time that people have set foot in this place. In the beginning I thought we had a level of direction walking in the woods. But, now I feel like this was a wrong guess.

First and foremost, we cannot always walk straightforward. We should be climbing to overcome natural obstacles. By all means, following a compulsory route that does not change we go no left or right . This situation continues for many more minutes, I feel like I am forgetting myself, which route we were supposed to take. The vanguard keeps pushing forward to a degree that I can barely see Kouenji, anymore.

However, Sakura does not seem that she wants to keep going, staring hazily at my left hand, where I held her.

“Sakura! We have to hurry up a little”

“Eh?! Uh, yeah!”

Confused by my sudden remark, she started running. I guess it cannot be helped again….

“He sure walks fast, that Kouenji”.

Kouenji without thinking at all, about the pace of a girl, he kept walking deeper into the forest. Ignoring that he leads us steadily into unfamiliar territory. On an unknown path, there is nothing to do but rely on our feet and stamina and admire the obedience.

“Nevertheless, he would never….”

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing”

What is the meaning of this. Is this a coincidence? No! There is no hesitation in Kouenji’s pace. For example, we chose the place for our base camp in discretion for the sake of the whole team. How is it normal for someone to walk straight forward without looking left or right in unfamiliar territory?. It is like that Kouenji has a pretty clear aim on his mind. Above all the quick progress on the route surprised me. There is a chance that Kouenji just not push forward blindly.

“I will turn my ideals into a path” So I do not get lost willingly.

But there is a problem here. I have to accompany Sakura into matching Kouenji’s pace, so I take a deep breath and move forward.

“Hey Kouenji! Don’t you think we’ve come too far away from our base?, We might get lost out here!”

Sakura looked both my way and Kouenji’s looking concerned as I called out to him. Kouenji’s silhouette stopped and turned our way to face us, as he fixed a strand of his hair.

“I am a genius with the perfect physical ability, there is no way that I will get us lost in a forest of this size. If anything might happen to you that’s because you might have lost sight of me and then let’s be honest, it would be better if you’d give up”

As I would expect of him, maybe with the exception of myself to make a declaration as a man. The situation around here is not entertaining at all.

“I would like to ask you, ordinary people, don’t you think that this is truly beautiful?”

Thinking that he showed us of his perfect nature as always, Kouenji flashed us a daring smile, asking us that question.

“Well…. It is only natural for the forest to be a mysterious place, although, I mostly feel that it is beautiful”

More or less this is how I felt and tried to transmit it. However, Kouenji did not expect this kind of reply, feeling a little disappointed he took a deep breath.

“What are you talking about? This is not what I asked you about! Having a perfect physical condition, myself, I can shine beautifully in this place. You do not understand?

So when you have a perfect body physique, you have to make self proclamation remarks about your body abilities.. Ah, you are right, then. I do not understand.

“Blame it on the heat, it makes the head feel weird…… do not mind that, Sakura”

“Uh, yes, it’s ok because Kouenji has been acting weird from the start”

Oh! Even though that is the truth, to say such a severe thing so easily, seriously this kid…

Kouenji decided to test my physical capabilities some other time, so he turned his back and continued walking. From this point onwards I should not fuss over advices or wishes.

“There is no need to worry, whatever happens in this forest more or less there won’t be any problem”

“Kouenji, what is the meaning of this?”

“I cannot call this a natural forest. At least during daytime, the chances of getting lost while wandering around are pretty low. For this very reason, there is a certain level of curiosity”

He left the conversation hanging with significant words. Kouenji, having lost his interest in us some time ago has started walking again at a quick pace. In a quick pace that Sakura could not follow.

“Hey!!”

“Well.. Ermmm. I am feeling better, so I will try my best to continue”

Sakura while sweating, decided to show that she has guts and raised a fist pump. It kind of draws a feeling that it is quite dangerous.

The worst thing is Kouenji’s resolution, but Sakura starting from now on, putting aside her wishes to endure, followed Kouenji’s pace. Sometimes the figure became too shabby, it is dangerous, but we have to persevere on our own determination for both of our sakes. I do not mind this kind of a painful effort, but Kouenji keeps stubbornly pushing forward. Even though I thought that we would not stop unless we get out of the woods, suddenly he stopped in front of my eyes and turned his head towards this way, pulling his hair upwards with a fearless smile.

“Can I give a question to you ordinary people?”

Then, before we even get to reply, Kouenji, continued

“Won’t you let me hear you of what do you think of this place? What kind of feeling do you get when looking at this around you?”

“Eh? What.. What is the meaning of this question, Ayanokouji?” Suddenly Kouenji’s sharp glance got hidden by Sakura’s back as she came closer to listen.

What feeling this place is giving me? Let me see the surroundings, look around the area, first. However, there is nothing anything really odd about this place. It looks like an ordinary forest. Purposely trying to get some kind of confirmation, what is that he is trying to do.

“I understand clearly, do not worry, ordinary people will just remain ordinary”

Again, not getting a reply Kouenji once again turned his back and continue his pace into the forest.

“Did I do something… odd?”

“No”

There’s really no end if you start taking into consideration of Kouenji’s remarks. He is a man of many lies. But he is still in denial of the possibility that we cannot see what he sees in this place and there is no time for us to search this place at ease. Kouenji once again picked up his pace.

“Sakura do you have a handkerchief?”

“Ah! Yes, I have”

As I would expect from a girl, she prepared handy things.

“Is it ok with you, to lend it to me? It may get dirty.”

“It is perfectly ok….”

As she said this without any objections, Sakura gave me her handkerchief.

I borrowed it gratefully and tied it up to a tree nearby, on a branch that wouldn’t break easily. Doing so we will also mark it and it’ll be useful for when we’ll return this place later.

“Ahh, I lost sight of Kouenji-kun…hurry up, Ayanokoji-kun!”

Sakura was getting anxious but, as exhaustion was accumulating, I tripped and nearly fell. After all, Sakura’s physical strength was already close to the limit. Even if I pushed myself, I wouldn’t be able to keep up as well.

“Sorry but this is a bit too physically demanding. Do you mind if we walk a bit slowly?”

That said, I was the first to slow down the pace. Sakura wasn’t really sorry, she just used a pretext on this. I’ve probably seen right through her but it doesn’t matter, because there’s no way to confirm the truth.

Whether he could hear my voice or not, before long we couldn’t see Kouenji anymore. From far ahead, sometimes I could hear a sound of someone pushing through the high grass and stepping firmly on the ground.

“What an all-rounder, I am”

With an excellent intelligent and an incredible nervus motorius, I can adapt perfectly to a nature like in this wood without even flinching, and with a partner too.

If I had a personality similar to Hirata’s, I’d been an ultra perfect superman.

……………………………

Sakura’s gaze, who observed the situation silently since before, became uneasy.

Eventually, Sakura didn’t say anything to me and we walked together in the wood to explore.

“It’ll be great if we can secure drinking water. Or it’d be better to first secure a place where we can shelter ourselves from the elements?”

Since I have nothing to fill my time with, I’ll try to speak to her gently. So that it’s easy for her to understand. If you can secure a spot, there’s the possibility of saving points, and it’d be an extremely easy expansion.

“Well, 2 tents won’t be enough…but I can’t come up with anything else”

No matter how much I look out over the landscape and walk, I can’t even find one man-made thing. Well, even if we say we’re walking all around, it can be confirmed that we’re seeing an area of only the 1% of the island.This school probably isn’t lenient enough to spoil us with easy-to-find stuff in a small-scale search.

And then a few minutes later, when going ahead while walking on a way without a proper road, a new place opened halfway.

“This here……isn’t it a road?”

“It looks like it”

From the woods that were on the desert island, a road came out appearing to cut out a path for people. Of course, it wasn’t paved but there was trace of chopped down trees and a well-beaten path. If this is something that the school did for us, beyond this point there may possibly be a spot.

I proceeded to the next steps with Sakura and we took the road that cut through the woods.

“Wow……Amazing…….”

Soon we reached a place. It was the entrance of a cave, empty and unoccupied, built as a large gaping hole in a part of the mountain. At first sight, it seemed like a natural cave, but when you looked at it closely the inside of the cave seemed to be firmly enforced and supported. Maybe the hole itself might have been created by human hands.

“Could it be……a spot, possibly?“

“Well, I’m not sure”

Since time immemorial, caves have fulfilled an outstanding function as people’s dwellings. If this is the place designated as a spot, there should be an evidence or proof inscribed somewhere.

When I tried to approach the cave to confirm and check this, I saw a man coming out from the inner depths of the hole.

Immediately, I pulled Sakura’s arm, retracting in the shade and hiding. I feel sorry for her and I hope she will forgive me for pulling her abruptly because I’ve already seen the figure. When the man stopped at the entrance, he stood quietly facing the southwest direction without moving. Did he stand there for a minute or two?

Without wasting any time, this is how you should secure a spot promptly. It seemed like he came straight into the cave without hesitation. However, apart from that, the problem is that the man gripped something similar to a card tightly in his hand. Then, a voice directed to the man could be heard from inside. I retracted immediately in a fluster.

“If this is the size of the cave, two tents are enough, Katsuragi-san. Even so, we were just lucky. We got to hold down such a spot this quickly”

I listened carefully, trying to grasp the situation from a faint voice I was hearing.

“Luck? What have you seen until now? I’ve figured out there’s a cave here since before landing. It was inevitable to find it. Be wary of words and deeds. We don’t know if someone’s eavesdropping on us somewhere. I have a responsibility as a leader. Let’s keep in mind not to do even a slightest mistake.“

“… S, sorry. But what does it mean since before landing…?”

“For some reason, before the ship was attached to the pier it went around the island’s outer circumference to make a detour. It was probably an act of the school to give students some hints on where to proceed because I’ve already seen the road that opened to the forest from the deck of the ship. All they had to do later is to go forward the shortest route from the landing pier to the road.”

“So, rather than just an ordinary sightseeing, isn’t there a possibility that was a forethought to enjoy the scenery?“

“The turn was too far for a sightseeing. Besides, the content of the announcement was strange.”

“I could not feel it at all but… Katsuragi-san has seen through the school’s intentions. Because of that he realized there is a cave here… As expected!”

“Let’s move to the next one, Yahiko. It’s useless to stay longer since the spot has been seized. There was a road seen from the ship from two more places. Before that, there must be something like a facility.”

“Y-yes! But if you leave the result like this, Sakayanagi has no choice but to be silent!“

“When you turn your eyes on the inside, be careful or you’ll trip.”

“That’s right, but shouldn’t we be cautious of B class? Isn’t D class an assembly of defectives? Even if we think about the point difference, we can ignore it.”

There was a similar story on the ship as well thatD class was out of consideration to A class. We were treated like a stone dropped on the corner of the roadside.

“Enough with the chit-chat. Let’s go Yahiko.”

I waited until I couldn’t hear the voices and footsteps of the two. Then I waited two minutes more for caution’s sake.

“They left…”

I took a quick look to check, but I couldn’t see the two from a little while ago. I noticed that the weight of the warmth on my hands had become heavier as I’d caught my breath. I kept suppressing it after I’d embraced it in a hurry.

“Sorry Sakura… Sakura?”

“Mmm……!?”

Sakura was somehow there, exhausted and half-conscious.

“Are, are you okay?”

“O, o, o, k, okay, ay ay…”

Her face turned red as if the steam was about to rise from her body, sitting helplessly on that place. Perhaps she was held down with a much stronger force than I thought.

“Ouch, ou, ou… I thought I died… And my heart stopped…”

That was as one would expect as exaggerated. Sakura’s breathing stabilized as she fixed her slippery glasses.

“Those two before. It looks like they’re from A class based on their conversation.”

However, to abandon this place and leave is what I was worried about. There was also a possibility that the spot might be usurped unless we let someone to stand guard.

After we waited for Sakura’s stamina to return, we went to the entrance of the cave once again. In other words, they left this place without hesitation…

Inside the cave a terminal device with a monitor was installed, embedded in the wall. There was a letter of an A class on the screen and a countdown displaying 7 hours 55 minutes left.

Was it a proof of owning a spot? We can absolutely not interfere until the countdown reaches zero. It is also impossible to forcibly use this place. That’s why the two from A class have peacefully left the place. No – the problem wasn’t only that.

As long as it keeps being updated without being deprived of the ownership points of other classes, A class will keep acquiring one point every eight hours as well. Although people would lose 30 points for absence due to sickness sick, more than half of them will decide to call it quits.

Moreover, it looked like the guy named Katsuragi was still figuring out a few facilities as well. Can other classes establish a lead again if it’s a spot with food and water?

“I said to put it in a corner of your head since before landing on the island…”

They remembered a terrain of the island and used it as a hint to find out the spot. That idea was brilliant.

As might be expected, being in A class means that even the world you can see, in its minimal necessities, is different. However, points that are hard to swallow appear like that as well.

“Hey, hey, Ayanokouji-kun. The person before … is he a leader….?”

Right — this incident was a proof that a fatal mistake was made. Although it was in order to securely seize the cave, A class passed a key card in order to obtain point ownership. It became clearly known to us know that he is the leader. Of course, he didn’t think someone from the other class will be watching… It’s clearly inadvertent. Just to be sure we’ve examined the inside of the cave, but as expected the people were not hiding.

“Wha, wha, what should we do. We’ve found a terrible secret…!”

Said Sakura, a little excitedly as she’d heard the information that gives a heavy blow to A class.

“We’ll report it to Hirata later.”

I’ve let Sakura, who’s a poor talker, relieved as I said she doesn’t need to report it herself.