CotE: The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 5: The Shadow in the Dark

Uh, hi. I uploaded... late. Sorry about that.

The rain fell. And it fell hard.

However, it wasn't so strong that it was a thunderstorm. Just some rain. But, doubtless, it would definitely develop further into a fully-fledged storm. The only question would be in how much time.

"Rain already? Woah, that was quick."

The class had migrated to cover under the trees, as the sky continued to darken further. I looked around and saw that most people had settled down already, as there were only a few drops of rain creeping through the canopy.

"Aw, I'm so sweaty!"

"Yeah... this is a rather uncomfortable situation."

Even if there was rain to cool things down, it was still summer, and the whole class had been moving around to get food, of course some more successful than others.

There was a line of girls waiting outside of the shower that we had set up, and it didn't seem like anyone was going to move out of line. Yet, if you looked just past them, towards the waterfall, some boys in our class decided earlier, or just recently, that it would be more efficient to shower - or play - in the waterfall area.

I guess there were very few times where you could experience something different or just let loose in general...

"Hey, Kaneda-kun, Ayanokōji-kun, you guys should join the rest of the class!"

"I-I'm alright if I stay out, I-I would rather use the shower room, Hamaguchi-kun."

"I'll think about it..."

I got up and wandered to the boy's luggage pile, took a glance at the boys, and then wandered around our general vicinity, taking note of the camp vicinity. I then returned to the central camp area, next to Kanzaki, who decided that swimming in the rain wasn't something that he was interested in either. Yet, when I looked at him, he appeared extremely lost in thought.

"Hey, Kanzaki."

"Oh, Ayanokōji-kun."

"You appear lost in thought."

"Yeah... I guess you could say that. Look at everyone - it's like someone's switched their mode to 'off'. A great class, full of good-natured people."

"...I guess."

The rain had slightly calmed down, but I could tell it was bound to get worse.

"So, what brings you to me? Has your identity as our leader been leaked?" Kanzaki asked the question in a more hushed voice. Kanzaki was kind, like the rest of the class, but he held others in a lot more suspicion than... others in Class B. Ichinose has probably told him about the transceiver.

"That's an unlikely scenario, and Kaneda shows no signs of knowing that it's me."

"If you say so. He's probably getting desperate and narrowed it down to a few suspects, right?"

"Probably. He might try something."

"..."

We both watched the boys mess about in the water and then walked into the forest, where Kanzaki confronted me.

"Ayanokōji-kun, answer me honestly." Kanzaki completely changed the tone of the conversation.

"Hm?"

"What on earth have you been doing in the middle of the night?"

1

The rain didn't stop its downpour, but a flash of lightning followed by thunder soon made fears come true of a thunderstorm coming down on the island. The wind picked up, and since we were by a river surrounded by rocks, we felt, and heard, it especially well.