Volume 1

Chapter 5.6

I was waiting 15 minutes in front of the boys’ tent for Horikita to come out . She stood stock still for a while, laying her eyes down to check up her condition . She then slowly raised her head looking around . When her eyes met mine, her pupils swayed for a moment . Her figure approaching me with heavy footsteps didn’t seem to be frail .

“… Ayanokouji-kun . Could you come for a moment…”

I turned around once again to check if Ibuki lined in front of the shower room .

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Follow me… We can’t talk here . ”

With only uttering this, Horikita left the camp moving towards the forest .

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“What happened? Are we going to enter the forest searching for food again?”

Horikita kept on walking without answering my calls . She stopped once we couldn’t see the camp anymore . Horikita turned back wanting to say something, but hesitated for a moment as if having second thoughts .

“… It was my negligence . I wanted to say to you after I realized it was a mistake . Is that alright?”

“Mistake?”

“… It is stolen . ”

“Y-you aren’t saying you underwears were stolen, are you?”

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“No . Even worse . The thing stolen is… key card . It was a complete mistake . ”

Falling into self-hatred, Horikita showed a facial expression I hadn’t seen until now .

“I wanted to talk to you since I trust you . I couldn’t consult with someone who might be a culprit . It’s so embarrassing I want to die…”

I was honored to hear that, but I couldn’t possibly rejoice in front of her when she was feeling down .

“Such a big mistake…”

“No, the one who stole it is to blame . Alright?”

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“Even so, it’s a matter of responsibility . It has nothing to do with me being in a bad physical condition or covered in mud . ” Said Horikita regretfully, casting her eyes down . The leakage of information could bring big damage in the trial .

“I shouldn’t have let go of the card even for one second . But instead, I…”

“Don’t blame yourself . Maybe it won’t console you, but I think you did the best you could do . ”

I didn’t know if she had heard me . All she did was bit her lower lip as in regret .

“We shouldn’t announce this publicly for now . We should grasp the situation first . ”

“Yes… I think so too . ”

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Everyone would have panicked if they had known the truth . I wanted to avoid that at least .

“I suspect two persons . Karuizawa and Ibuki . ”

The former one would have done it out of simple hatred . Horikita hurriedly explained she could have stolen it out of fun .

“The chances are low . Karuizawa was the whole time in front of the shower room . ”

“Are you sure…?”

“Yes, I can affirm . The same thing about the two girls who were receiving orders from her . ”

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“If that’s correct, the chances of Ibuki being the culprit is high . She could have known about the existence of the card in the morning and the timing was just too good . However, don’t you think stealing is a very dangerous stake? Since the name of the leader is carved on the key card, only looking at it is supposed to be enough . Maybe she’s mimicking crime on purpose . ”

As if seeking for my answer, she looked at me with suspense . I laid my hand on Horikita’s shoulder and calmly said:

“We could understand that if we examine the timing and inquire Ibuki . If we’re going to doubt Ibuki then we shouldn’t keep our eyes off her . Her escaping away would be the worst scenario . ”

“That’s right . But excuse me, I wonder if you could return before me to follow her immediately . ”

“… Is that so? I get it . I’ll go back and look out for Ibuki . ”

She probably had the urge to be alone in order to throw up . I left Horikita by herself and returned to the base camp .