" They're all gone...." Mori said as she skipped a stone at the ocean.

Horikita sighs.

' Could this have been their plan? Simply spend all their points and leave?' Horikita thought.

" Hey, Horikita-san. What's that Ryuuen guy like?" Mori suddenly asked.

Horikita turned to look at her.

" A tyrant. I'm sure you've heard the rumors that he rules his class with an iron fist." She responded.

" Well, yeah. And it adds even more with how that guy treated Ibuki." Mori said and skipped another stone at the ocean.

It made 8 skips.

' Yes!' Mori thought proudly.

" You're seriously skipping stones at this time?" Horikita asked with a brow raised.

Mori grins and nods.

" Have you done this before?" She said while holding a stone.

" Yes I have." Horikita responded.

" Oh! Then show me how you do!"

" No tha-"

" Come on, Horikita-san! I'm curious to see it !" Mori said while quickly handing it to Horikita's hand.

"....."

Horikita looked at the stone and then to the ocean.

' I haven't done this in so long......' Horikita thought to herself as she remembered her first time doing this.

' It's all in the wrist and angle......if you throw it faster, then the reaction force from the water will increase, thereby, bouncing the stone back and so on and so forth, until it loses it's speed....' Horikita remembered Manabu's words.

She got into position.

Horikita flicks her wrist quickly and throws the stone on the water.

* plop*

*plop*

*plop

*plop

*plop*

*plop*

*plop*

The stone kept on skipping and finally stopped after 40 skips.

" S-Sugoi!" Mori said in shock.

" Were you some sort of stone-skipping champion or something?!" She asked.

" No. I'm not, it was simply something I used to practice for no particular reason." Horikita replied.

" Ehhh? Is that really it?" She asked.

Horikita nodded.

" If you say so...." Mori decided to accept her answer.

" Let's check out Class A." Horikita said. " Class C wasn't the only class I wanted to check out."

Horikita then suddenly remembered something that Kiyopon had said to her.

She looked towards Mori.

" You were with Ayanokoji-kun at the time, right? " she asked.

" Yes." Mori replied.

" Then lead the way, Mori-san."

" Hai! Horikita-san." She jokingly said before walking.

Horikita sighed, shooked her head and then followed her.

" Horikita-san, what are you planning to do when we get to their base? I mean, Class A would surely brush us off...." Mori said.

" We'll see how it goes." Horikita replied.

" Well, I hope tha- WAH!!!" Suddenly, before she could finish what she was about to say, Mori fell in the ground.

" Mori-san?!" Horikita said in suprise.

Mori had stepped into a trap and fell down into a manmade hole.

" Ouch...." Mori muttered.

' Tch. Class A....quite cunning...' Horikita thought before checking if Mori was okay.

" Are you alright?" She asked.

" Yeaaahh....." Mori responded.

Suddenly, Horikita heard voices from a distance.

" Wait! Yahiko, I think our trap worked!" A voice said.

" Huh, really?" Yahiko responded

Horikita widened her eyes and immediately lent her hand to Mori.

" Mori-san! Take it! " Horikita whisper yelled.

Mori also heard the voices, so she quickly took Horikita's hand.

" Alright....3.....2....1!"

Horikita pulled Mori with all her might but she was still struggling.

" M-Mori-san-"

The two voices started coming closer to the two best girls.

" Man, I wonder what kind of animal we caught." Yahiko said.

" Im still confused, why did we set this trap? Didn't sensei inform us that there are no animals?"

" Eh? He did?" Yahiko asked.

' Shit.' Horikita cursed in her thoughts.

" Come on....one more time!"

" A-Alright!" Mori responded.

" 1...2....3!"

Horikita pulled Mori up with all her might and Mori also tried to climb the walls of the hole.

Mori finally managed to get out of the hole.

" Horikita-san...we-"

" We've finally arrived!" Yahiko said in excitement.

" Woah....Did the trap actually work?" The other boy asked.

" Of course it did! Im a genius after all! " Yahiko replied proudly.

The two boys walked to the hole and checked what's inside.

.

.

.

.

" What?! There's nothing?!" Yahiko said.

The boy beside him sighed in disappointment and quickly turned back.

" What a waste of time...." he muttered.

" Ugh, I thought there were actually animals!" Yahiko reasoned.

" Sensei already told us that there weren't! " the other boy replied.

They both bickered as they walked away.

Horikita and Mori let out a sigh of relief.

They were both hidden by the trees as they watched the two boys walked away.

" That...was...close" Mori said.

" Mori-san....please watch your steps, next time..." Horikita said.

" Nobody would've expected that! Can you blame me?" She shot back. " Besides....that was quite thrilling....right, Horikita-san?"

" We would've been caught...." Horikita said. " and then our investigation would've failed..."

" But it didn't! Though...we did get dirty..." Mori said while looking at her clothes.

They were both currently covered in dirt.

Horikita sighed.

" Nothing we can do about it for now....let's just check out Class A and call it a day..." Horikita said.

" I agree...." Mori replied.

Mori and Horikita entered Class A's territory and Yahiko with some of the boys immediately surrounded them.

" Hey! What are you two doing here!" Yahiko said.

The two girls wore angry looks as they both glared at Yahiko for indirectly dirtying their attire.

Yahiko noticed this and stuttered.

" W-Why are you looking at me like that?!"

" Yahiko, what is going on." Katsuragi said as he came out from the cave.

" K-Katsuragi-san, there are intruders!" Yahiko reported.

" Shut up...." Horikita muttered.

" Rude intruders!" Yahiko then added.

' I wanna hit him....' Mori thought as she glared at him.

Katsuragi nodded and took a good look at Horikita and Mori.

His eyes widened.

" Before anything else.....why are you two dirty?" Katsuragi asked.

" Oh....I wonder, why....." they both said.

Kiyopon had finished fishing with Ike an hour ago, and he was told that both Horikita and Mori were out investigating a few places.

Kiyopon thought that it was a weird duo at first, and he considered looking for them, but he wanted Horikita to have a girl friend.

Horikita was pretty isolated to everyone, besides him after all.

So he decided that it was a good time for both of his friends to get along.

Kiyopon was picking berries until he saw the same white bird from 4 days ago, on a tree branch.

The bird tilted it's head as it seemingly looked at Kiyopon's direction.

Kiyopon tilted his head in response.

Suddenly, the bird finally recognized Kiyopon and immediately flew from the branch to him.

The bird landed on Kiyopon's shoulder.

" It's nice to see you again......" Kiyopon greeted the bird softly.

The bird nuzzles it's head on Kiyopon's cheek as a response.

Kiyopon took a small berry and tried to feed the bird.

The bird took it in gratitude.

Kiyopon smiled slightly.

Then, he noticed something on the bird's wing.

It has dried blood on it's feathers.

Kiyopon wondered if the bird had injured itself, or if someone had tried to kill it.

Well, it's a good thing that the bird had found him.

Kiyopon kept feeding the bird berries as he walked deeper into the forest with the bird on his shoulder.

While walking into the forest, he heard noises from deeper within.

Kiyopon stopped and stayed silent.

He contemplated whether he should check it out or not.

But his curiosity got the best of him.

" Bird....stay quiet..." Kiyopon whispered.

Although the bird did not understand Kiyopon's language, it stayed silent nonetheless.

Kiyopon then went deeper into the forest, in search of where the noises are coming from.

Kiyopon kept walking until he heard a voice.

" Tch. These fishes are so damn bland......if only I killed that juicy fucking bird..."

Kiyopon quickly hid behind the trees and looked at the person.

It was Ryuuen Kakeru.

Ryuuen was eating a fish on a stick, but he seemed to be annoyed with how bland it was.

" I should've killed that damned bird sooner...." he muttered while taking another bite.

Kiyopon narrowed his eyes.

So it was him who tried to kill his favorite bird.

Kiyopon was not one to hold grudges......but he didn't like how his bird friend almost died.

Then suddenly, Kiyopon realized something else.

Why was Ryuuen here? Isn't Ryuuen supposed to be spending his time, partying with Class C?

Then why is he currently munching on poorly cooked while looking rugged?

Actually, this whole scene confirmed a suspicion of Kiyopon.

A day ago, Kiyopon had followed Ibuki without her knowing, and he saw her dug up a walkie talkie.

It was the same object he saw on Ryuuen's table from when he and Horikita stumbled into their base.

Things were finally starting to piece together......

But he doesn't plan to say a word to Horikita.

Kiyopon was curious to see if Horikita can truly lead the class.

So he'll let her have this one.

After all, he only promised doing the bare-minimum.

Kiyopon quickly left the scene and started walking back to the camp.

While walking, Kiyopon wondered about something else.

What should he name his bird?

Kiyopon started brainstorming in his head.

The bird was flapping it's wings on his shoulder.

Kiyopon suddenly remembered a name that Sotomura or mostly referred to as ' The Professor' had mentioned before.

" Eren...." Kiyopon said and the bird stopped flapping it's wings.

" From now on.....your name is.....Eren..." Kiyopon said.

The white bird made sounds of approval ( ? ) and Kiyopon nodded.

After nearing the base, the bird decided to fly away.

Kiyopon bid it goodbye and then entered back into the camp.

" Oh, there you are! Where have you been?" Matsushita asked.

Kiyopon only shrugged in response.

Suddenly a voice yelled.

" M-MORI-SAN AND HORIKITA-SAN?! WHY ARE YOU TWO COVERED IN DIRT?!"

Kiyopon's eyes widened in suprise and immediately tried to see what was going on.

Kiyopon looked at the dirt-covered Mori and Horikita.

They both wore annoyed looks.

" It's nothing..." they both said and immediately brushed past everyone.

And then they stopped at Kiyopon.

" Ayanokoji-kun.....next time, you are going to be the one dirty...." They both said and then brushed past him.

Kiyopon watched as they both walked to the path leading to the waterfall to rinse off the dirt.

It seemed that they've gotten along....right?

Kiyopon let out a sigh

" Oi, Ayanokoji! Come here! We're gonna cook all these fish!" Ike called.

Kiyopon nodded and then went to Ike.