Translator: Haruto.

In the morning, we participated in various activities concerning life in the woods, such as cutting down trees and peeling their logs. Some of the boys got weirdly anxious when they were told to “peel the log,” but hey, that’s just teenage boys for you. They’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. I, on the other hand, had my perfectly impressive buddy downstairs be scoffed at by Hibari. That’s something that really takes a toll on your pride as a man…

Cutting trees was supposed to be a relatively easy task since we just had to take them down with a chainsaw, but it was surprisingly tricky. Unlike a knife, the blade of a chainsaw is always in motion, which can make getting a clean cut quite difficult if you’re not careful. So yeah, to put it simply, it was more complicated than it looked.

And so, the hours flew by, and at last—

“This will be the final lunch we have together at the school camp! Eat to your heart’s content, guys!”

Lunchtime has arrived, and today we’re having a nice barbeque outdoors, surrounded by nature. First, we cook our food using the barbeque grill each group got, and then we get to enjoy it together.   

“Hmm! Delicious!” Mahiro exclaims.

“It is! Although, I think the fact that we get to eat in the middle of nature with friends makes it even better!” Yuito says.

“I’d love some more!” requests Rina.

And I answer, “Alright, alright. Coming right up.”

I put more vegetables, fish, and other seafood on the grill, which produces a pleasant sizzling sound and a mouth-watering smell. Man, talk about a wonderful time.

Now, here’s a little tip from your friendly neighborhood villain, Kasashima Yuuji: When cooking meat or fish on a grill, there are times when pieces of food stick to it, right? To prevent this from happening, you can apply a bit of vinegar on it beforehand and you won’t even have to worry about fish skin sticking to the grill anymore.

I love grilling food. That’s why I nominated myself for this role.

“Yuito, you’ve got to taste this meat!! It’s delicious! If you want, I can even feed it to you,” Mahiro offers.

“You’ve been giving him way too much meat, Sis! Here are some carrots, Yui-kun,” Rina says.

“I told you guys that I can eat by myself,” responds Yuito.

I turn my eyes away from the flirting trio once again and focus solely on the grill. As long as they’re enjoying themselves, that’s all that matters. Like sure, Yuito’s aware that the envelope has gone missing, but the sisters still have no idea. There’s just no reason to tell them, make them worry, and spoil their fun, or at least not yet.

As I’m watching the meat on the grill, Mahiro walks over to me.

“Kasashima-kun, would you like me to take over the grill?”

“No, it’s okay. Just stay over there and don’t touch anything, please.”

Considering what happened yesterday at lunch, I feel even something as simple as grilling meat might be a little too much for her to handle.

“Your eyes are saying that you think I’ll burn all of our food if you leave the grill to me.”

“Not all of our food… But wait, you don’t sound surprised…”

“After all those failures, there’s no way I wouldn’t be aware of my own lack of skill. People say that success is built on failure, but I still haven’t succeeded even once.”

“Perhaps you should start by learning what cooking utensils and equipment are for and how they work… definitely… But anyway, I’m eating a few pieces here and there as I grill the meat, so you really don’t have to worry about me. You can just go relax with Yuito and Rina-san.”

“Okay. I’ll do that, then,” she says and returns to the other two.

“…Kasashima.”

“Hm? Oh, Tajima.”

Tajima talks to me from behind. I totally forgot this guy’s group took the spot beside ours.

“How did it go?” I ask and he shakes his head in response.

…I see. So, as I expected, he had no luck finding the money even after inquiring about it with all the boys in our class.

“Should we ask the girls now?” Tajima asks.

“No, there’s no need.”

“W-Why, though?!”

“I told you to stay calm, didn’t I? There’s something else that needs to be done.”

“Something that needs to be done…?”

“I’ll give you the details after the barbeque. Focus on eating and enjoying yourself as much as you can for now. We still got plenty of time left before our 50-minute-long lunch break ends, right? Just drop by my room when you’re done eating.”

***

“I can’t believe someone stole the money. That’s terrible!”   

“…”

Yuito, Tajima, and I have gathered in my room, together with Mahiro and Rina. I obviously already informed them of the missing money.

“The fact that you called us here means that you need something from us, right, Kasashima-kun?” asks Mahiro.

“You sure are quick on the uptake, Mahiro-san. The thing is, I believe that the culprit is someone that holds a grudge against Rina-san…”

“Huh?! Against Rina-chan?!” Tajima and Yuito cry out at the same time.

Mahiro’s expression is indecipherable. And Rina has that same dark look in her eyes that I saw before. I guess she already knew that’d be my conclusion before I even finished talking.

“Rina-san, do you know the name of the girl that was yelling at you yesterday?” I ask, purposely leaving a few details out.

Rina opens her mouth slowly and answers, “I don’t know her surname, but her first name is… Risa, I think.”

“And that Risa-san has brown-dyed hair and wears heavy makeup, right? Tajima, isn’t she your ex-girlfriend?”

I throw a glance at Tajima and he’s got an awkward look on his face.

“Judging by that reaction, she really is your ex, huh?”

“R-Rina-chan, I’m sorry my ex has caused you so much trouble!!”

“…It’s okay…”

I want to tell them why that girl holds such a grudge against Rina, but I guess we can leave that for later…

“Now, assuming that Tajima’s ex is the real culprit, I think her objective is to blame Rina for the stolen envelope and destroy her reputation not only in our class but in the entire school… I think so anyway, and even if that’s not entirely the case, I still consider this an act of revenge. The problem is that I don’t have any proof.”

“And that’s where we come in, right?” Mahiro asks.

It’s nice how Mahiro knows what I’m going to say before I even say it.

“Yeah, there’s something I need each of you to help me with… Can I count on you?”

“Of course, I’ll help you!” Yuito exclaims.

“Me, too. I won’t allow anyone to harm my cute sister!” Mahiro chimes in.

And Tajima says, “I-I’ll help you! If my ex is actually behind all of this… then I’m also partly to blame…”

Alright, that’s three on board. Finally, I look at Rina, and… she gives me a little nod.

“Great, I’ll tell you what you all need to do, then. After that, you can just leave the rest to me. I’ll be taking full advantage of my role as the villain… Mwahahaha!”

“Um, Kasashima…? You’re scaring me more than usual right now… Try not to take it too far, okay?”

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