Chapter 178 – Second Day

Of the boys who went on the raid last night, about two-thirds of them were caught and punished by the teachers.

Takei was one of the few lucky boys that had managed to escape from certain doom, so he was spared from the torture of cleaning the restrooms.

"Dude you really saved my butt last night," Takei gratefully shook Eiji's hands.

"Us bros need to stick together and help one another out," Eiji patted Takei's back.

At about noon, the teachers called all of the students to meet up in the middle of the campsite to announce the activity of the day.

When Takei met up with Akari, she playfully teased him by seductively whispering in his ear. "If you wanted to see me so bad, you could've just asked me to send pictures~"

"I-I'm really sorry about what happened last night," Talei awkwardly scratched his neck in embarrassment.

"You don't have to be sorry," Akari chuckled. "I know you were dragged along against your will."

Even though Takei hadn't said anything about his involvement, Akari had already accurately deduced the reason for his participation.

"Thanks for believing in me," Takei smiled.

"No problem, it's my job to believe in you," Akari rubbed Takei's back.

After everyone had gathered in the specified area, one of the teachers began explaining what the activity of the day would be.

"We will be doing a scavenger hunt today for some prizes that will be announced at the end of the event. Please group up into groups of six to eight people and get ready for further instructions."

Luckily for Takei, he didn't have to anxiously look out for potential group members like the previous years.

He walked over towards the location of his friends and greeted them. "Hey everyone."

"Takeichi, you were such a perv for last night~" Helena smirked.

"I-It wasn't his fault!" Arisa tried to defend him.

"What if he really did want a peek of all the girls?" Rikka asked, while playing the devil's advocate.

"That can't be true," Ryuto denied. "The only one that Takei wanted to look at was Akari."

"I can vouch for his unwavering loyalty," Eiji spoke up.

"That's my boyfriend for you!" Akari happily stated with her chest puffed out.

They're quite a riot this early in the morning.

Although Takei wasn't the most happy camper when it came to loud scenarios, he had begun to enjoy them more when his friends were having fun.

Once everyone was situated in their groups, the teacher began to speak again.

"Your groups will have two hours to collect as many of the items on this list as possible. There will be hints towards the location of the items, so try your best. Winners will be the groups with the most items collected. Top three groups will all receive prizes based on their position, so try your best. That is all now, good luck everyone!"

The rest of the teachers distributed the maps to all of the groups when the instructions were finished being relayed.

Glancing over the map, Takei realized that the items were separated into four quadrants.

That made it obvious to everyone that a conquer and divide method would be the most efficient way of collecting the items.

In the end, it was decided for there to be two groups of 2 and one group of 3.

Takei and Akari would cover the northwest part of the map, Eiji and Ryuto would cover the northeast part of the map, and Helena, Rikka, and Arisa would cover the entire south portion of the map since they had more group members.

Before splitting off, Takei got them all together in a group huddle and chanted for motivation. "3...2...1... Go team!"

""Go team!"" Everyone else recited.

With that, they split off to their respective areas and began to look for the items on the list.

"Alright, the first thing on our list is an item that tells time. Where would a clock be hidden in the forest?" Akari murmured.

"The hint says to think outside of the box a bit," Takei replied. "What if we're not looking for a clock, but an item that tells time?"

I know that sounds pretty confusing, but I think this is the line of thought that is going to lead us to victory.

"Let's start looking then."

Takei and Akari looked around in the specified area that the item was supposed to be in.

They spent about 15 minutes looking for anything out of the blue, but had ended up finding nothing.

Right before they were about to give up and go on to the next item, Takei noticed something suspicious. "Hey, why is there just a random metal pole in the middle of nowhere?"

"I think that's what we might be looking for," Akari looked at the pole with a hopeful expression.

When they got closer to the pole, they noticed that the ground had some small markings on them with multiple numbers at different places.

"A sundial..."

It was something that could tell time, but couldn't really be considered a clock by modern day standards.

A primitive item of this type would be the best way to trick people looking for a modernized clock.

The shadow of the pole was constantly changing due to the sun, which was where the time-telling part came from.

Takei noticed a small mound next to the pole and crouched beside it to inspect it further.

As a result of his curiosity, Takei moved the pile of dirt that was obviously hiding something under it.

"A miniature sundial..." Akari gasped.

"Looks like we got our first item," Takei held out the sundial to Akari. "Let's go onto the next one."

"Mhm!"

As they were leaving, Takei couldn't help but think about the complexity of the puzzle.

Are all of the items this hard to find or was this item just something special?

—

Go Explode! Idiot Couple Meter: 87 -> 89%

Takei should become a detective!

Serious-san: If only there was a side story with him as a detective...

Sugar-chan: Heehee...

A/N: Once again, please join if you want chapter notifications and discussion on the series https://discord.gg/Hh6kpfxE