1834 Picking the Representatives

Eventually, the Kobayashi and the Class 2 President agreed to volunteer as well. Either they’re pressured by the situation or they just want to convince themselves that it would be easier to volunteer for it.

I don’t know. From what I observed, Umeda was confident with her skills while the other two possibly didn’t have that much experience. But at this point, judging from how many portable stoves they brought for us, five or seven should be enough students to handle the cooking.

Without rice cookers, the staple of every household’s breakfast, cooked rice, would become limited. We had to switch to an alternative instead. For example, chicken porridge. That way, a huge pot could be used to make it and it would simplify the need for other side dishes.

At the moment, I let the three girls handle the selection of volunteers. Given the circumstances, even if a lot of them raised their hands to help out in the cooking, I told them to only select those with experience and know how to hold a kitchen knife properly.

If someone fooled around and got hurt, it would just slow us all down.

And that’s why I also stepped down on having the power to select, otherwise, I’d probably be biased and select all of my girls who are volunteering. I checked on them and found Satsuki, Nami, Misaki and Rae weren’t raising their hands.

Satsuki and Nami didn’t want to cook for everyone, they only wanted to reserve that privilege for me. Rae has Yoko-san, even if she already knows how to do some simple dishes, she doesn’t want to be a burden just in case. And that’s the same for Misaki. That forehead girl didn’t want to cause trouble for me. How admirable.

What’s surprising was Hana volunteering herself. She had just started learning how to do household chores from her Aunt this week. It’s impossible for her to excel at cooking right away, right?

As for Aya, Hina, Saki, and Chii, I could vouch for them myself in case they get selected. Maaya, on the other hand... was a surprise. Did she have enough time for it? I imagine her day-to-

day chores don't include cooking.

Well, Himeko knows her way in the kitchen. Maaya might’ve picked that up from her beloved Nee-sama.

Regarding the other girls like Komoe, Sachi, Kaede, and Watanabe, they didn’t volunteer.

Since we didn’t have the luxury of time to decide, Kanzaki and Umeda started selecting them.

In the end, they picked at least two more from each class. That way, it was an even distribution that would lessen the conflict if ever it arose.

Hina and Chii were selected for our class. One girl and that guy who rejected Komoe from Class 2. Maaya and another boy from Class 3. And lastly, two girls from Class 4.

I don’t know their names but I heard good things about them from the Class Presidents.

Following that, Kobayashi and I started dividing up the rest of the class to assign those who would set up the tables, help us prepare ingredients, and fetch some water we would use for cooking– they probably won’t get it from the river but at the water tank facility nearby.

With that decided, everyone returned to their lines while we, the representatives, approached Shiina and the rest of the camp managers.

“That’s pretty organized considering this should be your first cooperation with each other. I’m impressed.” Shiina praised.

Taking the role of their leader, she went to check on us one by one. When she eventually stopped in front of me, I found her creasing her eyebrows again.

And then, she asked, “Student, what is your name again? I didn’t quite catch it during your discussions.”

From behind her, I also saw Sara looking in my direction while wearing the same expression. As for the others, they’re curious but like the other girls, some of the women were already enamored by my appearance.

“I’m Onoda. Onoda Ruki.” I raised my gaze and matched her eyes. As soon as I mentioned my name, Shiina's mouth opened wide in shock and her face was overcome by her surprise.

For sure, she already connected me to the guy they met at that mountain.

“I see. What a coincidence. I never thought—"

“Miss Shiina, let’s keep that a secret, shall we?” Before she could bring up that instance we met weeks ago, I cut her off by whispering those words and ended it with a wink. “Please tell Miss Sara too.

I get it. Even with just this much, I’d already gathered another bout of attention to me. Luckily, only Shiina and her friend Sara recognized me with that name. Her bastard boyfriend was clueless. Still, he’s looking at me as though I’m a conceited brat – just as I expected from the kind of guy he is.

Shiina took a while before she could respond to me, prompting Sawano to check on her. In the end, he took over and eventually handed us our task.

The other camp managers then scattered to supervise the rest of the students.

As we walked into where they set up the cooking area and the ingredients, only Shiina, Sawano and two other camp managers followed us. Like the others, they’d be going to watch over us to make sure that we finish this task without any accidents.

As I started walking towards my girls to ask them what they wanted to do, someone approached me from behind and teasingly remarked.

“Onoda-kun, I smell something fishy about you and that camp manager. Do you know each other?”

I glanced at the speaker and saw Umeda, her hands stuffed in her pockets. She seems to be the type to recklessly do things at her own pace. Much like Aoi but not as unruly as her. How should I say it? She knew how to do things in moderation.

She’s still acting reserved and possibly only at the stage of probing me.

“You can say that, yes. We met once.”

“Oh! Nice. That does sound like a great leverage to use. Who knows? She can grant you access to our cabins.”

“As if it’s that easy. Anyway, Umeda-san, I never thought you could be this talkative.”

“I’m just interested, that’s all. You’re shrouded in mystery Onoda-kun. I want to uncover that and find out what’s beneath all the rumors about you.”

“I guess you’ll be up for disappointment. What you're seeing right now is the real me.”

“Is that so? I cannot be convinced that easily.”

Umeda giggled at the end of her sentence before running ahead of me to join up with Maaya and the other guy from her class.

Somehow, despite the selection, we still ended up grouping according to our classes. And so, before long, Kanzaki, Hina, and Chii gathered around me.

“Ruki, that girl. Is she interested in you?” Kanzaki brought that up after Umeda and her group widened the distance between us.

I could’ve called for Maaya to join us but I guess it’s not the right moment yet.

“Umeda? Interested, yes. But aren’t there a lot of girls who are interested in me at that level? She’s probably just like them. She wanted to discover what I’m hiding.”

“Pfft. Should we warn her? She might trip herself in front of you.” Hina remarked, knowing full well what she meant by it. I mean, almost everyone who expressed their interest in front of my face somehow ended up stumbling to me. And they cannot tear themselves off anymore. For example, Sachi.

“It’s not worth it. And Kii doesn’t look as interested. Am I right?” Chii then popped up from behind me, her hands landing on my shoulders. She’s as cheerful as ever. And given her clumsy nature, she’s the one who almost tripped. Good thing, she put herself behind me. My back caught her.

“Say that again later, clumsy girl. Let’s not talk about her. What shall we prepare? We agreed to have each class cook something. While we settle for a place, we have to decide.”

I grabbed Chii’s hand and pulled her closer to me. Likewise, Kanzaki and Hina narrowed our distance.

If someone was observing us, they’d naturally find this situation bizarre. And for sure, there weren’t only one or two pairs of eyes focused on our backs.

It doesn’t matter anyway. Having decided to not be as low-key as before when it comes to my closeness with my girls, this is just an extension of it. If they get curious enough, I won’t mind answering their questions – not as informative as they will hope though.