Motivated to be lazy

Chapter 23

"Sorry for missing roll call everyone, something happened on my way back to camp and I got held up," I offered the rest of the group, ignoring Yamauchi completely.

If he didn't remove that finger from my face soon he was going to lose it. Thankfully for him, the beginnings of an explanation caused him to back off for just a moment and he put his hand down.

"What happened?" Kushida asked with concern.

She moved closer to me inspecting me thinking I got into a fight. My eye must have started to darken a bit and now people noticed the bruise. It happened earlier on the beach but the rest hadn't noticed since it was fresh. Honami saw it instantly, how about that...

"Well actually, on my way back. Honami, she confessed. We're dating now," I explained as succinctly as I could.

I really wasn't sure if I was making a mistake, it's my first girlfriend. I didn't know what the protocol was. I didn't even ask Honami if we're supposed to tell anyone or anything, I'm not embarrassed I have nothing to hide. Still for some reason I felt like it was the sort of thing I was supposed to ask about but didn't realize at the time.

Karuizawa gave a whoop and the girls were blushing and excitedly gossiping amongst themselves. Karuizawa and I started out friendly with each other in the beginning when we first started but ever since she started dating Hirata we stopped hanging out as much. She was the one who was most interested in developments between Honami and I and now I was beginning to smell something.

"Pay up! Shinohara, the pool money's mine I called it! I told you guys you were wrong, I knew it!" Karuizawa exclaimed with glee.

"Pool money?" I repeated in confusion.

Horikita had come over to me during the disturbance, I noticed a foul look on Kushida's face but it was gone in a moment. The exam must have been really getting to her.

"The girls had a pool on who you'd end up dating, Karuizawa was the only one who called you and Ichinose-san. I didn't participate, it's all stupid. The first and second highest choices were beyond ridiculous." Horikita explained.

It was the first time I'd seen her up close since we got here and I noticed she looked far paler than usual. Frowning with concern, I took her face in my hands before feeling her neck and forehead to check her. She had a slightly elevated pulse and she was quite feverish.

Suddenly, Horikita's face went completely red and she got even hotter. Whatever it was, it was getting worse right now.

"You're sick?" I frowned.

I felt a little bad, Horikita and I are friends now. I was so caught up on everything going on that I hadn't even checked in with her very often. She slapped my hands away and averted her eyes.

"I am fine, I'm recovering well. Koenji-kun has removed me from my responsibilities and asked me to prioritize my recovery. So long as I take it easy, I should have recovered by tomorrow or the day after." Horikita explained quietly.

"If you need anything from me just ask," I offered.

Horikita nodded, and Kushida stayed quiet. Kushida had the ever present smile that she always had but for some reason it didn't reach her eyes like it normally does. Apparently she was still annoyed at me missing the roll call.

"Kiyotaka, I'm beginning to get annoyed that you continually forget that I am STILL ON YOUR BACK!" Arisu exclaimed in annoyance.

I scrambled to help her down quickly. This is ridiculous, so much is happening at once why was I being cursed like this?

"You were saying something about a betting pool?" I tried to bring it back to the topic at hand.

"The girls had a betting pool on who you'd end up dating and how long it would take," Kushida explained. "Karuizawa-san was the only one who guessed Ichinose-san while we were on the cruise trip. She technically lost because it happened during the exam and we're not on the shi-"