After Ryouta grabbed a pair of his underwear, the two of us headed to the library to get the dictionary. Luckily, we were the only ones here, so we weren't fighting against another group for it.

"The dictionaries are over there, in that corner." Ryouta said.

"Great."

As I approached the dictionaries, a thought sprung to my head. Couldn't we also monopolise these as well? Like the eggs, we could take all of them and use them as bargaining chips with other groups.

Granted, they'd be more of a hassle to carry than the eggs, and we can't eat them to make other groups fail the challenge on purpose. I suppose that's why Machida chose that over these.

I grabbed a dictionary off the shelf. As I did, Ryouta did a count on how many dictionaries were there.

"...there's still twelve available. Considering the other shelves fit fifteen books on each section, three must be already taken."

So, at minimum, three groups came here before us. That meant only three groups were missing a dictionary. In that sense, using these as bargaining chips would be worthless.

"I'll take one more, just in case."

I took another book off the shelf. Ryouta laughed a little.

"Are you trying to trick people into thinking there are more groups with dictionaries than there actually is?"

"Partially. But also, I have an idea on how we can utilise this dictionary."

"How so?"

"Similar to how Machida-san is using the eggs to trade for items, I'll do the same with this dictionary, but on the road."

"Oh, makes sense. Assuming Nora-san's group wants something in exchange for giving his glasses, you could offer this dictionary to them."

"Yeah. It'd save them a trip down to the library. But also, if we run into another group while trying to find them, and they have something rare like a Vanguard card, we could use this as potential trade fodder as well."

"Dual purpose, I like it. Let's hurry and find his group then."

We left the library in search for Nora's group. We quickly popped our heads into the kitchen to see if they were there, but they weren't. Instead, it was Akihiro's group who was offering their left trainer to Machida in exchange for an egg. At the very least, it seems our strategy was working.

"Where do you think those guys are likely to be?"

"...knowing Mitsuba-san, he's probably off on the girl's side begging for their underwear."

"W-why do you keep bringing up the underwear?!"

"Why do you get so embarrassed about it?"

"B-because... because, it's weird!"

"It makes me uncomfortable too, but for the sake of this challenge, I'll buck up and deal with it."

"Ueee... you're more intense than you first look."

Ryouta laughed a little, catching up with me. Together, we crossed the border between the boys and girls, a connecting hallway monitored by a few teachers. One of them was Chabashira-sensei, who looked surprised to see me with Ryouta.

"...it kind of feels like I'm doing something criminal."

Ryouta muttered, looking back at the stern gazes we were getting from them.

"Let's just hope we're not the only boys on this side then... otherwise, it'll be extremely awkward."

I couldn't help but feel the same way. If a girl suddenly ran into us, they might get the wrong idea, so we had to be prepared to explain ourselves.

Then again, the reason we're here in the first place is to find girl's underwear, which only makes explaining the situation even worse...

"You know, Takanori-san... I was thinking."

"Hm?"

"What if... the items the girls are finding are different to the boys?"

"...why would the school do that? Chabashira-sensei told us the contents of the bootcamp would be the same for us and them."

"By contents, did she specify which?"

"Now that you mention it... she didn't."

"That's what I'm saying. By contents, the teachers may just be referring to the contents of the bootcamp - in other words, our challenges. However, it doesn't necessarily mean the contents of each challenge are the exact same. Depending on how they set it up, we might have to approach it in different ways."

"...that's true. For something like that scavenger hunt, it'd be easy to edit the challenge to tailor it for the boys and girls respectively. I doubt this is the case though."

"Um, why do you think that?"

"Because the items we have to find are fairly mixed gender already. The biggest tip off is the azalea flower. Most girls would know what they look like, whereas most boys would not. Conversely, most boys would be wearing a watch or trainers as opposed to girls, meaning we'd have an advantage in finding those items compared to them."

"That's an interesting way of looking at it. I originally thought the azalea flower was there to encourage us to go outside and make the scavenger hunt more difficult for us."

"That could also be the case. In the end, we won't know until we confirm it with one of the girls."

"Yeah... by the way, we've been wandering for some time now. Do you know where you're headed?"

"Not really. I'm just trying to find Alice-san."

"Oh, that should be easy. All we have to do is look out for a blonde girl!"

"You'd be surprised at how many girls dye their hair. Blonde is a pretty common colour these days."

"Hmm, do you perhaps know any of the people in her group by chance?"

Ryouta peered into my eyes curiously. Truthfully, I did know someone who was also in that group, but that was because I asked her to join Alice.

"...not a clue."

However, I decided to lie about it since I didn't want Ryouta to find out I played a part in shaping the girl's groups. We haven't met any of them yet, so if I did tell him I knew someone, it would be a clear giveaway that I influenced the formation process.

"Ah, Yogen-san!"

While I was thinking, Ryouta spotted one of his classmates. Unfortunately for him, she was actually my ally, Yogen Emica.

"Ara? Ryouta-kun, and Takanori-san too?"

I wondered if Yogen was close to Ryouta, since she used the "kun" honorific for him.

"This is certainly a pair I didn't expect to run into here."

"Ah, we're in the same group."

"Ara? Who else is in your group?"

"Oh, we have Machida-san, Ikeda-san—"

Before Ryouta could continue, I nudged him in the ribs to throw him off.

"A-ah! Hey, what was that for?"

"I get that she's your classmate, but you shouldn't be rattling off information so easily like that. I thought you were a leader."

"It's fine, isn't it? The boys and girls are taking the exam separately, so this won't affect us at all."

"You don't know that. What if in the future, there's a challenge that involves us guessing the groups of the other gender? If we tell them who's in our group, they'd score an easy win. If Yahagi-san is doing a blockade in our side, who's to say the girls in A Class aren't doing the same thing on their side?"

"That's impossible, Takanori-san." Yogen said.

"What do you mean?"

Yogen shrugged lightly, leaving her words vague. Ryouta stiffened up for a moment, before quickly turning to me and carrying on in her place.

"I think she means that it's impossible for the girls in A Class to form a blockade."

I guess even a benevolent person like him can be sneaky... I don't like how Ryouta's acting.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, because I originally asked everyone in A Class to spread out and form five class groups as much as possible in this special exam."

I did hear about this from Masamoto. Judging by his interpretation of the exam, it fits too. If it's true, then the A Class girls should be spread out, and not doing a blockade.

"If you don't mind me asking, what did Yahagi-san do?" Yogen said.

"Ah... well, he kind of went against my word and..."

Ryouta, trying to be a neutral party and friend, attempted to frame Yahagi's disobedience as a misnomer, rather than a dent in his original strategy. However, since she was on my side, I wanted to set the record straight to Yogen.

"He disregarded Ryouta-san's order and formed a "mostly A Class" group with five other A Class boys. To ensure this group would go through, he even opened up the seventh slot for any class as an "immunity ticket", meaning that group would ensure that student wouldn't be sent to E Class no matter the circumstances. Ironically, an E Class student took it, making it useless."

Ryouta was surprised to see me so bluntly explain it. However, Yogen nodded and sighed.

"Gosh... that Yahagi-san is quite the troublemaker. Wouldn't you agree, Takanori-san?"

Yogen looked to me, probably because I've seen her confrontation with Yahagi in the past firsthand. He was mad at her conduct as an A Class student, since she was blatantly hanging out with people (mainly me) from the lower classes. Even some of Machida's goons got involved.

"...more or less."

"Takanori-san, you've been involved with Yahagi-san too...?" Ryouta said.

"Kind of. It's a long story, but we don't need to get into that."

"I agree. Right now, the three of us should be concentrating on this scavenger hunt, right?"

Yogen clasped her hands together, gently reminding us what our original purpose of being here was.

"You're right. Sorry for getting sidetracked, you two..."

"Aww, not at all! I don't mind, it's not a problem."

Yogen smiled at Ryouta, making him blush and smile back a little. Oi, why am I always the third wheeler...?

"Yogen-san, what items do you guys have to find?"

"Oh, hmm... I don't remember off the top of my head, since Sakigamiya-san has the full list, but she sent me out to find the white socks and left footed trainer."

Me and Ryouta looked at each other, familiar with the two items Yogen just said.

"You're in Sakigamiya-san's group? That's perfect! We were just looking for her!"

"Ara? You were?"

"Is it alright if you bring us to her?"

Yogen glanced at me, and I nodded slightly.

"Sure thing! But in exchange, I want one item from you boys."

"Eh? What do you want?"

Yogen pointed at me and grinned.

"Those sunglasses!"

I stared at her coldly.

"No."

At the very least, Yogen wanting my sunglasses meant it was a three for three match on items the girls were trying to find. I was confident that we shared the same lists now.

"Ehh? Why not?"

"Yogen-san, just forget about it... Takanori-san is very sensitive about those."

"Is he? But he let me touch them once before..."

"We tried convincing him to swap those with someone else who has glasses, but he didn't budge. He said they were a gift from someone special to him, so he didn't want to let someone else take them for a long period of time."

"Oh, wow... I had no clue. Sorry."

Yogen bowed her head slightly. I can't help but feel like she already knew that, but was just pretending she didn't because she was in front of Ryouta...

"Then, may I take something else?"

Ryouta started going red from embarrassment again, knowing exactly what she was going to ask for. He dug into his jersey pocket, preparing to pull out his spare underwear.

"G-go ahead."

Yogen pointed at me once more, this time smirking.

"Give me your underwear, Takanori-san!"

Ryouta's jaw dropped. My eyebrow twitched.

"Ryouta-san, give them over here... my underwear."

Ryouta, quickly understanding how I was going to get out of this situation, took out the boxers from his pocket and handed them over to me.

"H-here you go, Takanori-san! Your fresh, clean, pair of black boxers!"

I quickly snatched them, before presenting it to Yogen.

"Here... this is my underwear..."

Yogen stared at the boxers in disappointment.

"... I have several questions."

"How do you have any questions? You need boy's underwear, right? So go on... t-take it."

"First question!"

Me and Ryouta sighed as Yogen ignored my words.

"Why was Ryouta-kun carrying them?"

"I didn't wear my jersey, so I didn't have any pockets to put them in."

"But your jogging bottoms have pockets."

"They lack a zip, so my underwear could've slipped out."

"A believable excuse. Second question!"

"A believable excuse...?" Ryouta muttered.

"What kind of underwear do you usually wear?"

"...are you seriously asking me that?"

"This is an important question, so take it seriously."

"I... I usually wear boxers."

"You liar. I know you wear briefs."

"...I'm sorry?"

"These underwear are clearly Ryouta-san's! Not yours!"

Okay, this was getting creepy... it's true that I don't wear boxers, but how did she know I wore briefs? Unless, this is a bluff and she's trying to gaslight us into thinking she actually knows these are Ryouta's boxers?

But in that case, why? What does she gain from this? These are still boy's underwear, just not from me. Whoever owns it doesn't matter, does it? Unless...

...did Yogen actually want the underwear I was wearing right now...?

"H-how did you deduce that from those two questions so quickly?!" Ryouta exclaimed.

"So you admit these are yours?"

Oh my god, Ryouta... I thought you were the leader of A Class... how did you fall for such an obvious trap...

"Sorry, but if these are Ryouta-kun's, I don't want them. It's weird if I touch the underwear of one of my classmates."

Oi, we'll be classmates in the future, this is still going to be weird for us...!

"So... touching the underwear of a boy from another class is fine?"

"That's right, Ryouta-kun."

"...sorry Takanori-san, but you'll have to sacrifice your manhood for this one."

Ryouta, you backstabbing traitor... I thought you were prepared to give up your underwear, so how could you throw me under the bus like this? I can't believe it...

"Hold on, hold on. Can't we just grab one of the other guys and give you their underwear?"

"No. I want Takanori-san's."

"But why...? Why me in particular...? What have I ever done to you...?"

"Because I know you're not a pervert. Unlike other boys, I can be rest assured that your underwear will be clean."

Ryouta went red again as he understood the pretext of what Yogen meant.

"These boxers from Ryouta-san are clean too... he literally got them out of his bag."

Yogen shook her head and leaned in close to me, whispering into my ear.

"Sorry, but I don't trust it... apparently, he's already lost his virginity. There's no way he'd be clean as a virgin like you."

"...I can't tell if that's an insult or a compliment."

I sighed, while Yogen pulled back and giggled.

"Well, that's my reasoning. You can either take it or leave it. It's your choice."

"If it's going to be that way..."

I didn't want to do this, but if she's forcing me into this position, I don't have any other choice...

"...give me your underwear in exchange, Yogen-san."

That'll dissuade her. She'll call off the trade and I'll keep my underwear. That way, when we go visit Alice, I'll force a trade between her underwear and Ryouta's boxers, and she can't refuse because I have blackmail on her. This plan is flawless.

"Ara ara... you naughty boy. Fine, if you want them that badly, I'll give you my panties."

...huh?

I looked at Yogen, who smiled at me coyly as she said those words. Ryouta looked away, crouching to the floor with his hands on his head, and rocked back and forth in secondhand embarrassment.

"Wait, I was kidding, I..."

"No take backs. You wanted my underwear, didn't you?"

"Hang on, this is... t-this is a misunderstanding, I..."

"I heard it clearly. You said "give your underwear in exchange, Yogen-san". There isn't a Yogen-san here besides me, so you want my panties. Am I correct?"

How did it end up like this... why is she okay with giving me her underwear... GEN Academy, why did you make this an item in the first place...?!

"...was this your plan all along?"

"Hmm? Don't start blaming me if you're getting being embarrassed. You're the one who sprung the deal on me so suddenly. If I wasn't a kind girl, I'd report you for sexual harassment. You're lucky to ask that question to me, you know?"

"T-Takanori-san, just hurry up and trade undies... I can't handle this anymore..."

Ryouta wept in the corner. Why was he taking it worse than me, I'm the one sacrificing my briefs here...

"Oi, I thought you said he wasn't a virgin..."

I whispered to Yogen. She sighed, shaking her head.

"I said "apparently" - its all rumours and gossip in A Class, you know? I didn't say it was concrete fact."

"Ugh... how did it come to this...?"

"Don't look so sad. You'll get to touch a girl's used underwear for the first time! Isn't that exciting?"

"W-what do you mean, "used"? Aren't you going to give me a spare pair, or..."

"The only underwear I have on me right now are these..."

Yogen's finger traced along the shape of her pants.

"Don't tell me, you're going to go full commando..."

"What other choice do I have? It's far more quicker and efficient to give you the ones I have on me right now, rather than get a fresh pair from my stuff, which is really far away to walk to."

I'm starting to think this girl doesn't have any shame.

"...forget it. I'm not letting you go around without any panties on. Me and Ryouta-san will just go find Alice-san ourselves."

Yogen looked surprised as I flipped the deal back on her and declined it. She pouted a little, but seemed strangely satisfied at my response.

"Aw, are you sure? I don't mind, you know..."

"I said it's fine. You don't have to push yourself."

And I don't want to go around without wearing any underwear either.

"You're surprisingly thoughtful, Takanori-san."

"Save the nice words for someone else. Come on Ryouta-san, let's go."

Ryouta slowly got up, turning to face Yogen with a confident smile.

"Actually, I've got another proposal."

"Ara? What is it, Ryouta-kun?"

"You said you were trying to find white socks, weren't you?"

"Mhm, that's right."

"Well, I'm wearing black socks, but there is someone who is wearing white."

Ryouta looked at me. I looked down at my shoes. Yogen knelt down and lifted the ankle of my jogging bottoms up.

"Ara! He is wearing white!"

Oh my god, out of all days to wear white socks... how did Ryouta notice that? I didn't even realise I was wearing these socks either until now... and if he knew about them this entire time, why didn't he bring it up earlier with the other guys?

"In exchange for bringing us to Sakigamiya-san, we'll give you Takanori-san's socks. How does that sound?"

"Hmm, that's a fair deal. I get one of the items that I'm looking for, and you two get to see our leader. It's a win-win."

"Awesome! Isn't that great, Takanori-san?"

"...yeah, totally."

The sarcasm in my voice was obvious. While it was a bit of ingenuity from Ryouta, it was also him making use out of me, which annoyed me slightly. I didn't have much choice though, since if I didn't give her my socks, we would lose our chance to find Alice.

I handed Ryouta's underwear back to him and took off my socks, giving them to Yogen. She graciously (or rather, disgustedly) took them and put them into her jersey pockets.

"Alright, great! Let me show you where Sakigamiya-san is."

Yogen led me and Ryouta to outside, in the hilly wilderness, where the majority of girls were. It looks like everyone was trying to hunt down the azalea.

"Sakigamiya-san! There are two boys who want to speak with you!"

Alice, who was digging through some weeds, lifted her head up and saw me standing next to Yogen. Her concentrated expression turned bitter as she got up and sourly approached us, dirt on her face and in her fingernails.

"Takanori-san, Ryouta-san... what do you want?"

"Ryouta-san, mind if I handle this?"

"Oh, sure."

"Alright. Alice-san, can we speak privately?"

"Eh... but that's..."

"It'll only take five minutes. What I want is a little embarrassing."

Alice, slowly understanding what I meant, sighed and nodded her head.

"...alright. Let's head inside and use one of the bedrooms."

"Thanks. Ryouta-san, could you wait for me out here?"

"Uh, sure thing..."

As me and Alice went to go back into the outdoors school, Ryouta called out to us.

"Wait!"

"What is it?"

"I changed my mind... is it alright if I join you guys?"

I looked at Alice.

"I mean, if she's fine with it... but you know what I'm asking of her, right?"

"Well, I can more or less guess... but it's not an equal trade unless you have these, do you?"

Ryouta patted his jersey pockets.

"I was going to make you hand over them after she hands over hers. But if you want, I'll take them off your hands right now."

"Ah, it's fine. I'll hold onto them since they're mine."

Ryouta turned to Alice with an earnest smile.

"Sakigamiya-san, will you allow me to accompany you and Takanori-san?"

Alice, surprised by his question, looked at me for an answer. I turned my head away, signalling no.

"...sorry Ryouta-san, but I'd prefer if it was just us two."

"Is that so? No worries then. Be quick you two!"

Ryouta walked away, like he was going to stay outside, but with how suspiciously he was acting, I could tell he was probably planning on eavesdropping our conversation once he was out of our sight.

"Sure, sure..."

Alice led me into one of the vacant, unassigned bedrooms and sat down on a bed.

"So? What do you want?"

Her tone with me in private was quite rude. It was the only form of rebellion she had, since noncooperation wasn't an option. I didn't mind though, since it showed me how frustrated she was being stuck under my thumb.

"Do you have paper and pen?"

"Eh? I mean, there's some in the drawer, so..."

I rattled the desk's drawer open, taking out the notepad and pen inside. I sat down on the bed next to Alice and started writing on it.

"I want to make a trade with you."

To cover up the fact I was talking to her through paper, I started a verbal conversation with her. That much should satisfy Ryouta's curiosity. Really, I was communicating my true intentions through writing.

"Ryouta is eavesdropping outside. Act natural in the conversation. Answer these questions through the paper." is what I wrote.

"A... a trade? What trade are you thinking of...?"

Alice clearly looked panicked when she saw Ryouta was eavesdropping us. I bet she didn't expect a guy like him to do that.

"Who's in your group? Who's your leader? How many five class groups are on the girl side? What items are you trying to find?" I scribbled these questions down, handing the notepad over to Alice.

"Well... it's a little embarrassing to ask, which is why I wanted to do it in private, but..."

I glanced at the answers Alice was writing. So far, she wrote, "I'm the leader. My group has Ria, Yogen, Chikuji, Ginga, Kana, and Inoue." At the very least, Alice and Yogen being in the same group was according to plan.

Earlier, on the bus, I contacted Alice instructing her to make a five class group with minimum two D Class students, and become leader no matter what. Then, I sent a separate message to Yogen asking her to join Alice's group, and to guide them to victory.

Essentially, it was Alice's group and Yukina's group I was hoping to place on the girl's podium this special exam. As long as those two succeeded, that's all I needed from their side.

"...could we, trade underwear?"

Alice nearly dropped the pen as I asked that. Her face went completely red, and she looked at me with an angry expression. She was aware that this was less of a request, and more of a demand. If Ryouta wasn't spying on us, I'd be outright with it.

"I hate you", she quickly scribbled before continuing to answer my questions. I bowed my head to signal I was sorry.

"W-well, if that means getting a boy's underwear... I-I suppose it's not a bad deal..."

"Four five class groups. Shouko is the leader in one of them. The rest are regular members.", she wrote. It seems that Yukina wasn't able to become leader... at the very least, Shouko was one. I felt confident in her ability to lead due to her fierce personality.

"Yeah. Ryouta-san brought a spare pair of boxers with him, so you can take those."

"Huh... too much of a coward to give me one of yours, huh?"

"I feel like no girl would want to touch my underwear. At least with Ryouta-san, he's a well respected and trustworthy guy."

"That's true. I'd rather touch Mitsuba-san's filthy underwear before ever touching yours, pervert."

While we were bantering, instead of writing down the list of items for the scavenger hunt, she handed me the letter her group received. It was the exact same letter as we got, items and everything, with the only difference being to find boy's underwear.

"...ouch. That's harsh."

I passed the letter back to her and quickly wrote, "dispose of the evidence" on the notepad. Alice nodded and picked up the notepad, stashing it into her jersey pocket, presumably throw away later.

"But fine, let me go get some underwear from my bag. Meanwhile, you go get the underwear from Ryouta-san. I want to swap at the same time."

"Fine by me."

I signalled to Alice to keep seated for now. I got up and purposefully made a lot of noise to try and signal that we were going to leave. Then, I opened the door casually.

I looked to my left, and to my right. In both cases, Ryouta was nowhere to be found. Looks like he left before he could get caught...

I flicked my head to outside to signal that it was okay to leave. Alice got up and went to go look through her bag in the bus coach. I followed her, checking to see where Ryouta was.

In the distance, I could see him fraternising with some of the girls, chatting to them and looking at the flowers with them. He sure was a natural at conversation...

Alice grabbed her bag and dug through it to find some panties. She grabbed a pair of white cotton ones, before heading over to where Ryouta was.

"R-Ryouta-san."

Alice, blushing deeply, called out to him. She was hiding the underwear behind her back. Ryouta looked up, said goodbye to the girls he was talking to, and approached her casually.

"What's up, Sakigamiya-san?"

"D-don't "what's up" me. You know exactly what's up..."

"...e-eh?"

Ryouta looked a little confused, before slowly understanding as Alice discreetly presented her underwear to him. Ryouta gently took it off her hands and handed her his spare boxers.

"Thank you. I'll do my best to protect these."

"Y-you better return them after this is over... y-you hear?"

Alice, trying to act tough, was obviously embarrassed out of her wits from having to hand over to underwear to a boy. She looked a little humiliated, and even glared at me when she was walking back over to her bag.

"...thanks, Alice-san."

"...don't you dare ever speak of this."

She muttered through gritted teeth, leveraging her foot to kick me in the shin. In the end, the fear of her secret being revealed got the best of her, and she stopped herself before she could do anything rash.

I sighed and walked over back to Ryouta.

"Well, we have the underwear... just the glasses and teacher to go."

"Did you see Mitsuba-san's group while you were outside?"

"Unfortunately not. I tried asking the girls, but they haven't seen them either."

"I guess they're still on the boys side. Let's head back and try to find them."

"Sure."

Me and Ryouta said goodbye to the girls, and crossed back over to our side to try and find Mitsuba's group.