"You know, I thought the exams would've been more challenging with how much hype they got when we were second years." Ishi commented as they exited the classroom.
"Yeah." Rinse agreed with him as they stuck together after class. "But for me it's easy because I've already gotten plenty of tutoring during private learning." The girl was very fortunate to have some world class tutors, as well as the fact that her parents had her study college level courses.
"Speak for yourselves." Ryugi appeared to be very exhausted after their latest exam. Despite sitting in a chair all day, she felt like she just ran a marathon. "I don't even know if I passed."
"I'm sure you did." Youna had words of encouragement. "It looks like you've been studying a little harder these days."
"But that doesn't seem to cut into your hangout time with those girls." Ishi noted the trio of girls with the gyaru as she gathered some energy. "You'd probably be less tired if you sacrificed fun with study sometimes."
"Gosh, you're not her dad." Already there was defense being played by her friends. For some reason, Ritsuko really didn't like him. Not that he minded, for once someone seemed to have a proper reaction to his attitude. "She's a grown girl who doesn't need to listen to a boy like you."
"Heheh." Nervously, Ryugi laughed in regards to her friend's behavior. "Don't worry about it, Ishi's just someone who thinks he's better than everyone else."
"Am not." He responded, crossing his arms.
"I don't know." While they were chatting, another girl came into the conversation. "You always got an opinion on something." She had also just finished her exam in the other class. The bags under her eyes made it clear that she had also put in a lot of hard work preparing for it. That combined with her secret job as an idol definitely had its toll on her.
It was funny for him to think that he was forced to help her with homework back during the summer break. Now knowing the context of her career, it was a little more obvious why she let all that work pile up. Though how much of that was an excuse to be lazy about things was unknown to him.
"I don't remember asking everyone I know to surround me." Now Ishi was stuck with the girls for some reason. The boy was really bad at getting people to avoid him if a bunch of cute girls bothered to spend so much time with him. "Let's be real, you all know I prefer to be alone."
"Really?" Ryugi giggled. "Isn't it pretty much every boy's dream to be surrounded by beautiful ladies? Especially when you get to be graced with my presence."
"It's not every boy's dream." He certainly put himself as the outlier to that statistic, if one existed.
"Well, I'm only here because I got nowhere else to be." Chinae was a loner by nature, so she also had no friends in her class. On the other hand, she was rather acquainted with a fair bit of the members of his class. The one who mattered the most was Rinse, or perhaps it was turning more towards Ishi?
"Anyway, I'm just glad that it's the weekend." He said. Normally, weekends would be consisted of him being able to get away from most of them outside of Rinse. She usually didn't work on weekends unless there was a concert, which there wasn't this time.
"Yeah, I guess we'll see you next week." Said Youna. She was always disappointed to hear him speak like this. Since she was a part of the group that didn't see him, it appeared that he was excited to be rid of her when they weren't at school.
"Bet your days are just going to be the same lame things they always are." Just once, Ryugi wished she could take him out to show the boy all the wonders he was missing out on by being such a shut-in.
"And yet somehow you still hang out with this loser." Ritsuko muttered under her breath.
"I wish." Unfortunately for him, there was one major wrench in his desired plans for the weekend. "You girls all know about the camping trip for the first years, right?"
"I heard about it when I was first choosing the schools to transfer to." Rinse answered. She was a little disappointed that a trip like this was going to be missed out by her upon transferring. It seemed as it would be a lot of fun to see what the girl would be missing out on that her idol life had generally provided for her.
"And you all know that Koto's my cousin, who's also a first year."
"So what? Are you somehow going on that trip?" Asked Chinae. "Not sure how that's going to be allowed."
"Well, back when we went on it, there were some older students who also were there to help out with making sure everyone was safe." That was his explanation for why his presence there was possible. "And guess whose parents signed them up for it without asking permission."
"You really get forced to do a lot of things, don't you?" She had known him for a mere few weeks and it seemed that everything he did was because someone else wanted him to do it.
"True, but I'm fine with it this time." Ishi did have a small bit of worry for Koto going on a trip alone like this.
"You really care about your cousin." Said Youna.
"He's family, so I'm not shy about admitting it." He replied. "But the worse part about this is that I'm supposed to be responsible for getting some more third years to come help out too." His parents were the only ones to sign him up to chaperon. Apparently they told the teaching staff that he'd 'take care of the rest', whatever that was supposed to mean.
The biggest problem about this whole ordeal was that a lot of the students his age were very busy preparing for the exams they had just completed. So was Ishi, which was why he had forgotten to ask anyone to come to his aid. "So where am I going to get five other third years to help me out?" He asked out loud.
In response, all the girls he was talking with just stared at him with dead eyes. This fact wasn't lost on him as he felt the building pressure from their combined forces. "What's wrong?"
"Are you really dumb?" Ryugi scolded him. "You're talking to a bunch of third years right now. Maybe you should try asking us?"
"As if any of you would want to go camping."
"Actually, I'd love to help out." Rinse took the opportunity. A part of her wanted to experience camping at least once in her life. However, the main reason was that she wanted to spend time with Ishi in public, but with less people bothering them. "Plus, Koto would love if I came along, right?"
"I would like to help you out too." Youna made herself heard among the crowd. "You helped me out during our field trip, so I'd like to repay the favor."
"I got some free time on the weekend." Unlike Rinse, Chinae wasn't a popular idol yet, thus concerts were never a thing to concern her about scheduling. "So I can lend a hand."
"Great, then I'll come too." Ryugi cheerfully took the fourth spot effortlessly. "And which one of you-"
"No." Before being able to finish asking her question. Her trio of friends had already declined the request in unison. It turned out that gyarus preferred living in the urban jungle, rather than the real one. Either way, Ishi was now nearly complete assembling the team needed to chaperon the first year's field trip.
"Now all I need is one more person, but who could that be?"
"Guess it's my turn to come to the rescue." Of all the people he could rely on, Otoya was the last one on his mind. However, that boy was more than willing to help out. Camping sounded like a nice stress relief after their grueling exams. It sounded even better when he learned that girls like Ryugi and Rinse were coming along as well.
"This is just so you get more chances to flirt with Rinse." Ishi glared at him unimpressed. Sadly, there were practically no other options for him to choose from. "Fine." He relented. "Now we've got a complete set." That was cause for celebration from everyone but him.
"So, what's the plan then?" Chinae asked. "I assumed you already got everything all figured out now."
"We're just taking a bus, aren't we?" Youna assumed from their own personal experiences.
"Actually, my parents told me they were going to rent a big van to take my family and the students I picked out up to the mountains." The campsite wasn't far from the town at all. In fact, if one wanted to, they could've walked to get there. That was because this trip was for the first years to begin to acclimate getting used to a new level of independence.
Upon hearing this, one thing was very clear for all of them except Ishi. The seating arrangement was going to be very important.