Chapter 3 Part 3

 On the tenth day, the sun had faded making it dark and it was after nine in the evening. It was when I was checking the stored GPS information in my tablet with the top 10 groups.

Suddenly a bright light flickered from outside the tent. "Who moves at this time    ?"

It's risky, but you might be able to go through the last designated area that you couldn't step on in the middle of the night. I couldn't help but follow the light from inside the tent. It didn't shine on me, but it seems to glow here and there as it moved. The movement of the flashlight light is unstable and seems to be desperately searching for something. I was curious to know what was going on, so I decided to leave the tent. The light from the flashlight illuminates the forest slightly and gradually moves away from me. It seems the person is desperately looking for someone.

Maybe it's Amasawa who came to do something to me, is she looking for me? No, if she did, I don't think she would use a flashlight this carelessly.

Once they have closed the distance with the GPS, I will take advantage of the darkness to get closer.

"... Yume… Yume-chan"

From where the flashlight was, I heard a faint voice say a few words. I don't know who owns the voice, but apart from the nickname, there is only one person in the school named "Yume".

There is no doubt that it refers to Yume Kobashi of 2nd year of class C. So, is it correct to assume that the owner of the voice is a member of that class? I'm sure there was a girl in Kobashi's group; it was ‘Shiranami Chihiro’.

Anyway, the owner of the voice seems to start crying at the moment. I can ignore it as it is, but being a C class sophomore it should now have a deep connection to Class A's Sakayanagi.

I took my tablet out of the tent and turned on the flashlight. The light source is not reliable enough to function as an electric light, but it is enough for the other party to notice.

Soon after, the person noticed that light and turned on the flashlight. "Yume-chan?"

While saying that I hear a voice of panic, the sound of approaching. After the dazzling light illuminated, the owner of the lantern slowly came into view.

"Yume-chan!"

"No, sorry, I'm not Yume"

 "Ah.    "

What appeared from behind the trees was Shiranami Chihiro. "Um, Ayanokouji-kun    good night."

Although we are not close at all, she somehow showed a bit of relief. I wonder if this is how dangerous the situation was. “It is quite dangerous to go out alone in the middle of the night. What happened to Kobashi and Takemoto? "

"Oh, I lost track of where I was ... I was in a hurry and didn't know where I was going"

I'm not going to ask her why she was in the woods alone in the middle of the night. It is in the forest where the same landscape extends 360 degrees, even if you advance with a calm heart, you will lose your sense of direction in the blink of an eye.

As a result, Shiranami must have seen herself away from the group. "How long has it been since you parted?"

"I don't know ...... 15 minutes or ... About 20 minutes or so    ?"

Even if we would be going in the exact opposite direction, it wouldn't be hopelessly far away, but at least it would have gotten to a point where I couldn't be able hear them.

"In any case, wandering aimlessly will only make things worse."

 "Uh-huh."

I took the lead and motion for her to follow me as I used my tablet to light the way. It would be troublesome if we got lost too. I can't go out to find Shiranami and the group, leaving the tent and luggage as is. More or less, some people have been in trouble like this. Now it's just a matter of knowing if you can get back on the road by accident or if it takes a while.

However, if you can't go back, spending the night in the woods in the middle of the night is not an easy thing to do. Because, even if you don't have a big physical problem, you will be mentally exhausted all at once.

Shortly after returning to my camp, I called out to the restless Shiranami.

“There are a lot of bugs. You may want to get into the tent first. "

 "Eh!?"

Her voice sounded somewhat fearful mixed with surprise. "I'm not going in there, so don't worry."

I had some problems with my explanation, but I somewhat forced Shiranami into the tent and closed the entrance.

"I'm sorry ...... I was just resting and    "

"Nothing happened. Instead, Kokobashi and Takemoto are fine right? " 

"Yes."

If that's the case, they’d probably be panicking right now because it looks like Shiranami isn't coming back. I must analyze whether to go looking for them or stay where we are.

"Is there a plan in case someone gets lost?"

I asked, but Shiranami shook her head from side to side.

“There is a possibility that Takemoto will go out alone to look for Shiranami, but there is also the possibility that would become an additional disaster. On the other hand, it would be quite risky for the two of them to leave their tents and luggage and go looking for you. "

If two people start moving together with a tent and luggage, it is not an effective means because even when Shiranami returns alone, it may be out of place. If safety is valued to the maximum, it is desirable not to go to the position where you lose sight of the tent, but to wait for Shiranami to notice by relying on the light and voice of the surrounding area. However, if there is no detailed arrangement and a girl deviates, is it possible to maintain a normal mind? You would often be in a hurry to go looking for them.

What should I do….

Instead of asking for opinion, I was talking to myself. You could say that it would be a minor mistake, but from another perspective, it would be a major mistake. It is not irrational to be attacked by impatience.

The problem is the two boys in the group. No, or more in some cases.

“Is the group still a small group of three? Or is it growing to more than four? "

"That's……"

Shiranami, who had explained in detail so far, was speechless. She knows her group very well, so there is another reason for her to hesitate. Ichinose's class now cooperates with Sakayanagi's class. Of course, there are some friendship groups that transcend these borders, but most of them are created by the agreements of the central nucleus.

Of course, telling me the details of what happens in the group can be called leaking information. In this sense, it can be assessed that Shiranami made the right decision by not talking about whether the group has been easily changed or not.

“Very good. You don't have to tell me the details of the situation. Just listen to what I have to say. "

In advance, I continued with my words.

"If I were a member of your group, I would be aware of the current situation. I would have concluded that my companion was wandering alone through the dark forest without being able to return."

Shiranami nodded a little. “Of course I wouldn't leave her alone. First, I would raise my voice and try to harden the sound. However, as I said before, if there is no reaction from this, we have to make the next move. Assuming, for example, that Kobashi deviates by himself, what would Shiranami and Takemoto do? "

"... I don't know ... I think we would go look for Yume-chan ..."

"Even if it causes an additional disaster and they risk getting injured and retiring?" "I couldn't leave her because she's my friend."

It's a typical response from Ichinose's class. Merits and demerits are another matter. Of course, telling me the details of the situation can be called leaking information. In that sense, it can be assessed that Shiranami made the right decision by not easily talking about whether the group had undergone a change or not.

In an emergency, they would come looking for her using GPS search. However, in this darkness, I don't know if it will work well even in the vicinity with one or two searches.

“Can you pay points? If you use it 2 times, would you be concerned about your rating after using it three times?

"That's ... I wonder. I don't think it's good. "

Not that she ranks high, huh? Because you won't know if you'll end up in the unaffected range or if consuming those scores will make a difference until after the exam.

Even someone like Shiranami would break her heart to use her score to come looking for her. After all, it is better to wait, but ... but there is also the possibility that there are patterns that do not appear in the search    , or that are not found, if this happens, I will not be able to use the tent, so I'll spend the night outside. It will be one of the factors that disturbs the rhythm that has been carried out so far without breaking the rhythm.

If we are going to act, it will be at this stage….

"How strong are you?"

 "What?"

"Do you have the strength to walk?"

 "Uh-huh. Okay, but    ”

I urged her to leave the camp and waited for her to come out. "Let's move so we can unite from now on"

“But how?"

“It is not a problem that can be solved by walking in the dark. We will use this. "

I showed her the tablet in my hand.

"We can use the GPS search to determine where we are going and the approximate distance travelled."

But it still won't be an easy reunion. It's very difficult to get through the forest properly in this dark. For average students like Shiranami, it would be impossible without using repeated GPS searches.

“But why….are you going out your way to help me    ?"

"Why? Since this exam is a battle based on the same year, that's one aspect of it. "But even using a GPS search is    "

For me, the use of one or two points is not such a burden. You can always pick up as long as you don't get more than 11th place. There's no point talking about it, so I'll try to be convincing here.

“If I must say. Maybe it's because you're in Ichinose's class. " The moment I answered that, Shiranami's face slightly hardened. "…Maybe..."

“Hmm?” . Could it be that I made an uncomfortable comment? "….Maybe it's because Ayanokouji-kun ... and Honami-chan .."

Although she said that, Shiranami closed her mouth. Somehow, I understood without delay what she meant. It's because I remembered many things that Ichinose's classmates told me when I met them the other day.

"It’s nothing."

I replied as I was going to move on, but Shiranami's expression remained dark and hard.

I interrupted the topic for now and start searching. The fact that the GPS of the two names, Kobashi and Takemoto, were displayed on top of the other, it seemed certain that they were still together. We continued walking, looking for Shiranami's group.

I must have walked in the direction of Kobashi and the others' GPS responses for the next ten minutes.

"Chihiro-chan!!!"

As we made our way through a gap in the dark forest, Kobashi, who was carrying a backpack, spotted us. Takemoto, from the same group, was at her side, also with a backpack. It seems that they have come to look for Shiranami with their entire luggage. Considering the fact that they came directly towards us, it was most likely a GPS search.

As a result, we all had to move to the place where I had set up the tent. "Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun, for helping Chihiro-chan"

"No, I think you would have found her eventually, it wasn't a big deal."

"Yes it was. If we had gone further, we would have run in the risk of injuring ourselves and, above all, we would have had a hard time finding her. "

Even for Takemoto who was in a different class, he was very relieved that Shiranami was found as soon as possible.

When it comes to chasing, one or two GPS may not be enough.

"I have something to ask, do you have a walkie-talkie?" That's what I told Takemoto at the time.

"What? A walkie-talkie? I have one, but ... "

"If you don't mind, I would like to have a little conversation with Sakayanagi. I would like to ask her if any of the class D students she dealt with have returned to the starting point.

“I'll help you with that. Give me a minute."

Not displeased, Takemoto quickly pulls out a walkie-talkie if that's what it takes to thank me.

The walkie-talkies provided by the school are, of course, digital and have a feature called Confidential Mode. So to speak, it is a feature that allows you to speak only to a specific person without being accepted by others. The group that prepared the walkie-talkier for this test should have prepared the code to prevent information leakage.

Takemoto used the walkie-talkie to call Sakayanagi to see if she answers. Soon after receiving a reply from Sakayanagi, he handed me the walkie-talkie.

"I just want to talk to her in private."

When I saw the three of them nodding happily, I kept my distance. Of course, to prove I wasn't doing any tricks, I made sure the walkie-talkie was visible, then after talking to Sakayanagi for a while, I handed the walkie-talkie back to Takemoto.

"That's it, Sakayanagi. Sorry to bother you at this time of night." Sakayanagi responds to Takemoto who tells her.

The call ended with an exchange that showed that everything was fine and that the conversation was over.

"You saved me; I got the information I needed from Sakayanagi."

'' Okay then. Also, Sakayanagi asked me to give this to you,Ayanokoji. "

 "Oh…thank you."

I got the walkie-talkie from Takemoto. Apparantly Sakyanagi had asked him the give the possession of the walkie-talkie to me.

"I'm the one who should thank you, huh?"

"No need, and again Ayanokouji-kun thank you for helping us."

Once again the three of them, including Shiranami thanked me, and the four of us decided to spend the night here.

I fell asleep listening to the stories of class A and class C, which I don't usually listen to.