Upon hearing Sawano’s voice calling our names, Shiina’s reaction to it turned out to be a little lukewarm. She only stopped for a moment before acting like she was still out of sorts from earlier. Perhaps to complete the act, she didn't even glance back at him.

A moment later, she leaned closer to me and whispered while squeezing my hand.

“Is he coming over? Onoda-kun, tell him I’m not feeling well. It won’t be good for you if he turns hostile because of this.”

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but narrow my gaze which I directed at her. Did I hear that right? She was more concerned about the possible result of this rather than the fact that he saw us in this situation.

There wasn’t even any hesitation from her.

In any case, I kind of agree with what she said.

It wouldn’t be good for me if Sawano started crossing me out in his list of good students and hindering me on my plans to leave our cabin area.

Of course, I have no concrete proof of whether he likes Shiina or not. He had yet to show no clear indication of it. Furthermore, Shiina didn’t even talk about him during our time together.

True. He’s possibly the closest to her but he’s more like a follower, considering she could put him up on the task of sending me to her.

Anyway, the reason why I find it bad to be on his bad side is that in this camp, he's currently someone in a position of higher authority.

Since there wouldn’t be any other choice but to wait it out until this camp ends, having him staring at me like a hawk in everything I do won't be favorable for me.

And I can’t risk that even if the chances of him being into Shiina were only 50%. For now, the best course of action was the woman’s suggestion.

“Sir!” I started after glancing back at him. “Is there a problem?”

I tried to sound as oblivious as possible. Whether he would buy it or not, I had no idea. That’s better than straight-up denying what his eyes caught, right? It felt more natural.

And sure enough, his gaze soon raised to meet mine and then it quickly switched to the girl remaining unmoved on my side.

Shiina’s hand was starting to become sweaty. She’s possibly feeling nervous about this. But because she trusted me enough to pull this off, she’s going to continue with her act.

Maybe sensing that Shiina wasn’t reacting to his voice, his eyebrows curled unpleasantly as he began walking towards us, “What happened to her?”

Shiina’s hand clenched tighter, warning me to hurry up and stop him.

“Ah. She’s not feeling well, Sir. I chanced upon her on my back. I offered to help her. There’s no one in their cabin area so I thought of bringing her back to the girls’ side instead.”

Pulling out that lie sprinkled with some truth, Sawano’s eyebrows curled further. He then looked at the direction we came from and then behind him where the Dean and the professors were about to emerge.

Of course, he wouldn’t just believe my words even if they sounded reasonable. He witnessed us walking hand-in-hand, after all. Instead, he’d recreate the scenario in his head and simulate it according to what I just said.

A few seconds later, his expression relaxed before it was replaced by his concern. He walked over and checked on Shiina’s state himself. He had some designs to take over guiding her but he eventually took a step back.

“You don’t have to bring her to the girls’ area anymore. The professors are returning. Bring her back to the cabin instead.” Sawano pointed to their direction and naturally, I followed it before acting surprised.

I readily nodded before turning us around.

Unfortunately, since we’re already deep in this act, we could only follow through. Our return to the girls’ area would be delayed. Nonetheless, it was the correct call in this situation.

I mean, what good would it do if we were forced to continue going to the girls’ area? We had already been caught. Not only would we need to explain why we’re together, but it would also be impossible for her to sneak me in there.

In this way, she just had to act sick for a while and receive treatment. I’d be off the hook from his suspicion and maybe he’d be grateful to me for my help.

Shiina also seemed to understand our current situation. She didn’t make another move or signal again through her whispers.

And with that, we started walking back to where we came from. Sawano attempted to help but perhaps afraid to touch Shiina without her permission, he hesitated. Besides, seeing that I wasn’t even having trouble guiding her, he simply followed from behind us.

When the professors emerged and spotted us, I felt like the Goddess of Luck blessed me again.

Shio and Eguchi-sensei were among them.

As soon as they spotted me from afar, the two didn’t hesitate to come over and check.

Of course, they first tried to probe the situation through me before they asked the same questions as Sawano.

Eguchi-sensei then checked on Shiina. She grabbed her other hand and felt her pulse before concluding the truthfulness of my statement.

With Shio explaining it to the Dean, the professors, and the other teachers, they guided us back to their cabin area.

Sawano could only follow us halfway through it. He had to return to our area, after all. The reason he was there was because he was trying to look for me.

I don’t know the exact reason. However, it’s fairly easy to guess. He was trying to see if I was successful with my plan to visit the girls, right?

In any case, I also got sent away soon after I delivered Shiina to where she could be treated. Eguchi-sensei took over for me and she assured me that she’d look after her – there’s a double meaning to it, of course.

The lie that Shiina wasn’t feeling well wouldn’t escape her notice. She’s going to look after her to hold that lie up and ensure that we won’t be exposed.

On my way out, almost everyone in there praised me for what I did, including the dean. Sounds like I’ve done a good deed but obviously, some of them questioned why I was even outside of our cabin area in the first place.

I thought of making up another excuse but the Dean helped me out for that, telling them that if not for me spotting her there, a different scenario could play out. For example, Shiina might’ve been found lying on the ground, unconscious.

Yeah. They totally bought her act and our story. Thanks to Shio and Eguchi-sensei being there, we smoothly passed this hurdle.

Too bad though… Instead of being smuggled into the girls’ area by Shiina to spice up their activity, I now have to sneak in myself. She would have to ‘recuperate’ before she could return to her duty.

My consolation was having Shio accompany me out of there, using her identity as my Class Advisor.

“Ruru, be careful. You passed this hurdle this time but you might not be so lucky next time. Can’t you two think of a better lie than having her pretend to be sick?”

Perhaps finding it silly that we managed to make that work, Shio laughed as she gave me that reminder.