The daylight of late autumn is shorter than in summer, and as the fifty-two trainees wandered around the mountains, the round sun had unknowingly crossed over the mountain top.
After bustling for four or five hours, their only achievement was rescuing a teammate trapped in a rock crevice.
At noon, the trainees gathered again at a mountain depression. This time, everyone was present, all thirteen teams accounted for. After asking around, they realized no one had seen Fushimi Roku—though Yoshimura Yu had encountered him, but he was too embarrassed to admit it.
"We've searched everywhere, right? Nobody saw him at all..."
"Could he have escaped to another mountain peak?"
"Maybe Fushimi was never in this mountain to begin with? After all, having a single trainee play the role of a criminal seems too weird, doesn't it? Maybe the instructors are testing our judgment skills..."
