With Megami at the front, Shimizu in the middle, and me at the back, we exited the cavern. At first, everything was going fine, but once we hit the incline, things started to become harder.

Since the only way out of the dip was through the way we entered, the path we used to slide down had flipped into a steep hill that we had to hike out of.

It didn't help that the rain turned the ground into a slipshod mess. In some areas, the mud was just too soft to get any sort of footing on without slipping. This left us with no choice but to hold onto the ground in order to move upwards.

Somehow, the mud ended up getting inside my shoes too. It was already bad enough that it clumped under my nails and encased my hand, but getting my feet squelched in it felt worse than the heavy feeling of my hair getting soaked in the rain.

"How are you two holding up?"

As we exited the dip, Megami looked back at the two of us to check our condition. I was fine, if not feeling a bit cold. Though, that might've been because my clothes were drenched, or because the clouds blocked the sun out of the sky.

To my surprise, Shimizu looked unfazed. If anything, she looked even more determined to make it through to the caverns in this extreme weather. She nodded at Megami, even giving a thumbs up caked in mud.

"Alright, then let's keep moving forward."

We followed Megami into the forest, where we were shielded from the rain a little by the tree leaves and branches. We took a quick stop to wipe our muddy hands on a separate towel Megami packed.

The worst part about being with two girls in this weather was needing to look away from them, since their clothes had become semi-permeable from the rain.

It didn't help their shirts were white, giving me a clearer look as to what was underneath. In some ways, I was glad that I was the only guy with them right now, since anyone less decent would probably take advantage of this situation to ogle at their chests.

"M-Megami-san, you're so well prepared for this... when or where did you get these towels?" Shimizu said.

"I grabbed them from the dorm bathroom before our group set off. I figured they might be useful out in the wild."

Megami then turned to me, poking me on the shoulder.

"...what?"

"What are you doing, standing over there in the corner? Come join us."

"I'm keeping my distance for a reason."

"Oh... I see, I see."

Megami nodded before sighing.

"This is why you're a virgin, Takanori-san."

Upon hearing such bold words, Shimizu's face turned red. Oi, why are you getting embarrassed when I'm the one being called out here?

"Have you never seen a bra in your life? Not even your mother's?"

"...huh?"

I was taken massively off guard by that question. Was she trying to get me in trouble or something?

"Don't tell me you don't even know what a bra is..."

"I know what it is. I'm just trying to act appropriately, since both of you are women... being accused of sexual harassment is a fate worse than death."

Of course, I say this with full knowledge that Megami tried doing this to me before in the past. Though, I blame Mikazuchi-sensei for that one, he was the one who forced me to approach Megami and her friends...

"Still traumatised from that time, huh? I was just joking, you know."

"I don't think that's something you should joke about, Megami-san..."

Megami clapped her hands together and did a closed eye smile, acting like that would make the situation any better. As she did, her chest bounced, unintentionally drawing my eyes towards them.

I was able to glimpse that she was wearing a dark turquoise bra with lacy black frills. They cupped her surprisingly large breasts fairly loosely.

Of course, my view of them had been mostly obscured by the rain on my sunglasses, but even I could make out that much when the colour contrast was so obvious.

"Ah."

Her smile faded as she opened her eyes to meet mine.

"You totally just looked now, didn't you?"

"...I didn't."

She could gaze into my eyes all she wanted, but the only thing she'd see would be an honest man wearing misty claret sunglasses.

"Once a sexual harasser, always a sexual harasser, huh?"

"Please don't lump me in with the rest of them."

I rolled my eyes.

"Besides, if you have enough breath to waste making fun out of me, then you have enough breath to make the rest of this journey. We're wasting valuable time standing around and cleaning ourselves up."

Megami scoffed.

"Well excuse me for wanting to get rid of this muck on my hands. Self-care is important, you know? Try it sometime. Maybe it'll help fix those dead eyes you have."

"I'll pass. I'd rather go blind so I don't get accused of sexual harassment just because I looked at someone the wrong way."

"You were stalking us, Takanori-san."

I'm starting to think me and Megami got on as well as Matsushita and Kouji. Or maybe, Matsushita and Alice...? Regardless, we were on pretty bad terms.

"Y-you two, p-please don't argue... w-we're all working together, you know?"

I felt bad for Shimizu, who was going back and forth between us, urging to cut the attitude. I was fine with dropping it, but Megami continued to give me sass anyways.

"I'm not arguing with him, Shimizu-san. We're just joking around."

"Yeah... it's just banter."

I just wanted to get this over with, so I went along with Megami's answer. It made me wonder if all A Class girls were like this. The only decent interaction I've had with one so far is probably Tamaki, but that's because she's a very empathetic person.

Nearly every A Class girl I've met, such as Yogen, Senzaki, Minamoto, Shigaisoshi-sama, and even Kurosaki, were all whimsical people, but had the confidence to back it up. Some were straight up pompous or acted superior just because I was below them.

I guess that's one of the perks of being from the most prestigious nation... I wonder if we'll ever be afforded these same privileges when we reach A Class someday.

Though, come to think of it, I guess most A Class students were like this. There were a few exceptions of course, but most of the A Class guys I've met were also jerks. Shimada, Oozora, Kaido, and to some extent, Ryouta, were all real pieces of work.

"Even so... I don't think Takanori-san likes it. C-can't you just be nicer to him, Megami-san...?"

"I am being nice to him though. Takanori-san doesn't smile, so it's hard to tell, but he's secretly enjoying it. Boys like him are the masochistic type."

"M-maso... eh?"

"Never mind. No need to worry about it if you don't know."

Megami pat Shimizu's head, causing her to squeak.

"I just... don't like that you keep saying mean things about him. E-especially when it's in his face..."

"Oh? How come?"

"Well, that's because... Takanori-san is... T-Takanori-san is... um... h-he's a really... g-good person, s-so... I think you should be kinder to him."

"If he's really that good of a person, why did it take you that long to find a nice thing to say about him?"

"I-I'm... I'm just bad at giving c-compliments... o-okay...?"

Shimizu whimpered as her words came out in jittery stammers. I could tell she was trying her best, but I wanted to tell her that she didn't need to defend me on my behalf. I wasn't worth that sort of effort. However, just before I could, Megami continued.

"What do you even find good in Takanori-san? His little scheme during the Test Shuffle was slightly impressive, but everything else about him... doesn't it leave a sour taste in your mouth?"

"E-eh...? A sour taste...?"

Much like Shimizu, I didn't understand where Megami was going with this.

"You must've heard the rumours."

"Well... yes, I have..."

Shimizu was in the centre of one of them, after all.

"...but, I know they're false. He didn't hit me, or any girl in my class, or any girl in the school. It was just a false rumour made up by some delinquents in my class to justify why they hit Takanori-san!"

"Oh, I'm not talking about those rumours. I'm talking about the other ones."

"T... there are... o-other rumours?"

Megami looked back at me briefly before leaning towards Shimizu and whispering into her ear. As she did, Shimizu's face turned dark red, and she glanced at me with panicked eyes.

"A... a-awawawawa?!"

Shimizu started making strange sounds after Megami finished whispering in her ear. I raised an eyebrow, casting a glance her way.

"What did you just tell her...?"

"Oh, I don't know... just everything I've heard about you from Yogen-san."

I silently gulped. This can't be good.

"You're... uh, friends with her?"

"Not really. More like acquaintances, I suppose? Comes from being in the same class as her."

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they were friends. Both of them enjoyed abusing the hell out of me.

"Right... unfortunately, that doesn't narrow it down at all. Yogen-san knows a concerning amount of gossip about me."

"Oh, I'm aware. I'm very aware. I swear that girl has a crush on you or something. Otherwise, I don't understand why she would be willing to spend time with a weirdo like you. Maybe her fetish is loser boys?"

I tried imagining Yogen having a crush on me... yeah, there's no way. There's absolutely zero chance that she would have a crush on me of all people. The mere idea of it was so out of this world, it hadn't even been discovered by astrologists yet.

"You can't exactly call me that now I'm a class leader."

"That makes you even more of a loser for being a try hard. At least back when you were a loner, you had a "my pace" energy. You did things your way, which I respected. Now you just seem like the rest of those dorks who are obsessed with reaching A Class."

I'm surprised that Megami thought this way about the class leaders. Though, considering she had an easygoing personality, I guess it makes sense that she was unimpressed by those who tried too hard or took things too seriously.

At the same time though, I disagreed with it. Sure, even if it looks pathetic when you fail after giving it your all, if you didn't strive to be the best or reach your goals, then you wouldn't be able to achieve anything in life.

Being an A Class student, I'm sure she understood that. Otherwise, why else would the school evaluate her so highly? It didn't make sense to me why she looked down on these sorts of people.

"Anyways, if you're so curious as to what I told Shimizu-san... come closer."

Doing as instructed, Megami whispered in my ear.

"I told her about the rumour of you groping a girl."

I narrowed my eyes.

"...since when was that a thing?"

"Around a week or two ago. It was just before that 2nd Year stalker got expelled."

Oh for god's sake... I sighed in my mind.

Of course Oozora left me a nice little parting gift to clean up after I revealed to him my beneficiary was Kaido. If you can't gun down the big guy, just go after the little dude instead, I guess.

I could just imagine Oozora laughing like a maniac as he poured gasoline all over my name and igniting it with rumours to start a firestorm before leaving. Knowing him, he probably also posted the picture he took of it too...

"For the record, that did not happen."

"Oh, I believe that. I don't think any girl would let you get within 2 metres of her, except maybe your mother and Kazuraba-san."

"What do you mean by "maybe"...?"

"You also seem like the type who didn't get enough attention from his mother."

"Oi."

Okay, that one was just a straight up insult... even if it was a little true.

"Alright, we've spent enough time here. Let's hurry up and get a move on."

Just before I could even clear up this blatant misconception Shimizu heard about me, Megami was already ushering us to move along.

"Wait, but..."

"Huh? I thought you were the one who didn't want to stick around any longer. Why do you want to stop now?"

I was stunned by Megami's audacity to use my own logic against me in order to get us moving again. What a cheeky yet crafty way of making things go her way...

"You know exactly why..."

"If you have something to say to Shimizu-san, do it while we're walking."

For once, I actually agreed with Megami on something. Doing things this way would be more efficient.

Once we were on the move again, I approached Shimizu, who seemed a bit more wary of me, and gently brought up what Megami said earlier.

"Hey, uh... look, I don't know what Megami-san told you, but I hope you didn't take it seriously."

Shimizu, noticing the awkwardness in my voice, scratched her cheek and shook her head.

"I-I didn't. A-at least, I'm trying not to..."

"...so you believe in it a little?"

"N-no! I-it's just, um... I don't think T-Takanori-san is the type of boy to do something like t-that... p-probably... b-but still, hearing about it is um... awawawa..."

Once again, Shimizu made strange noises as she remembered what Megami had told her.

"Weird?"

"K-kind of... n-no, it's more unsettling than anything else, actually."

Great. Taking into account how I met her earlier in this challenge as well, I'm pretty sure Shimizu's evaluation of me had dropped from a quiet person to a straight up pervert.

Was there nothing I could do to stop the damage done to my reputation? I'm starting to think my only saving grace was Shimizu's kind personality, as despite her lowered perception of me, she had yet to treat me badly once so far.

I appreciated it a lot, especially since Megami made it her life's mission to bully me any chance she could get. It was like I was talking to a less bitchy version of Fujimura before she had a crush on Nora.

"...I see. Look... whatever she told you, just know it's not true. That's all I wanted to let you know."

Not expecting such an honest response from me, Shimizu laughed a little and nodded.

"He he... Takanori-san actually cares a lot about his image, huh?"

"I try not to, but it's kind of become a necessity now that I'm class leader..."

"Zyriot-kun is the same way. He tries his best to look tough to keep our class online, but also to strike fear into the other classes... o-or so he tells me."

As she giggled, my mind cast back to the war we had against their class.

When Zyriot used his Balance Breaker, the distorted face he made was terrifying. He really was like a mafia boss.

"...I think it's working, that's for sure."

Shimizu gave a small nod in agreement.

As the topic of our conversation shifted away from the rumour, I felt slightly better about it, even if I don't know if saying that actually cleared up anything. Regardless, I shouldn't dwell on it too much... if I do, I'd just be giving unnecessary credence to it.

Besides, I'm sure Shimizu has enough common sense to come to the conclusion that it's just a bunch of crap anyways. Whether or not Megami will keep spreading it is up in the air, but I hope she doesn't. If she does... well, I'd be in all sorts of trouble.

"...the future is looking bleak for me, huh?"

This is why I didn't want to stand out when I first arrived at GEN Academy. Gossip like this spreads around way too fast, especially in an era where everyone is connected through modern technology.

"If you ever need anyone to fall back on, at least you'll have Yogen-san."

Overhearing me mutter to myself, Megami passed by me with a snicker, and seized the opportunity to tease me. What a cheeky girl... in some ways, dealing with her was more stressful than dealing with Yogen.

At least with Yogen, she teases me with a flirtatious playfulness that makes it obvious she's joking around. But with Megami, all I get is a bitter undertone and the intent to hurt me. It was really annoying, especially since I never know what to say back to her.

"Gee, that's so reassuring."

By the time I managed to come up with that response, the two girls were already way further ahead than me. Damn, why did I even bother?

I caught up to them, and from there we faced our next biggest challenge.