Motivated to be lazy

Chapter 25

Honami threw that information out to me as though she were trying to impress me. It was as though she were a new employee trying to justify that she was the right choice.

It wasn't like she was winning, the observation was meaningless. Even if she knew how I would move, she didn't have the tactical skill to use that information. She knew that though and suddenly I didn't want to play anymore, Ichinose Honami was slowly starting to be able to read me. I wasn't sure if I liked that.

"I don't want to play anymore," I said suddenly. I didn't notice, but before I even said anything Honami was putting the pieces away with a knowing smile.

"Who would have guessed?" Honami said with a smug grin.

"You're getting incredibly cocky. You don't think you actually have me figured out, do you?" I scoffed irritably.

"Who knows," Honami mused.

Women, honestly.

Before I could quip anything back, Kushida and some of the others were coming back from gathering food for the day. The corn stockpile was starting to go down but they had managed to find other vegetables on the island and other foods.

One of the benefits of having Class C and B going with a zero point strategy meant that there was more of an abundance of food on the island for us to take. It was blatantly obvious that this island was specifically cultivated and maintained for tests such as this and food was planted around in order for the camps to take. The amount of food was rather scarce if all classes were foraging. If we were all using similar strategies, we'd have to buy meal sets without a doubt.

It seemed like we were the only ones going about the test in a traditional sense though. As a result of that, the food that would have been stretched out between four classes was basically ours to have if we were able to find it. The bag had come in handy once again as it was now filled to the top with cabbages. No doubt they weren't able to get all of it and they were probably on the way to go back to collect more.

"Guys, we found some cabbages and we found potatoes too if anyone wants to co-" Kushida called out happily before she saw Honami with me. She suddenly stopped and for a brief moment I saw her glare at her before the friendly smile came back a microsecond later.

Honami noticed and leaned back on her hands, spreading out and relaxing. She raised a hand and gave a welcoming wave to Kushida but it almost looked as though she were gloating. Teasing her that even though it was decided that she shouldn't be allowed to enter our camp that she was there.

Kushida's friendly smile turned a little strained and she made her way over to us with a confident stride. Suddenly I wished I could be anywhere but here, how troublesome. I just want to go back to my couch and my manga as quickly as possible right now.

"Ayanokouji-kun, did you forget to tell Ichinose-san what we decided as a group yesterday?" Kushida asked.

"He didn't, I just chose to ignore him," Honami smiled at Kushida.

Finishing packing up the chess set, she got up to put it away with a bit of a skip in her step. Kushida looked at me with her hands on her hips with disappointment all over her face.

"Ayanokouji-kun, this is incredibly selfish. We're in a special exam and everyone is doing their best, it's not fair."

"You try telling her that she can't do something, stubborn woman. I can't make her do anything, what do you want me to do?" I shrugged.

"Well, if it isn't too much effort," Kushida forced out. "Perhaps you can be a little more assertive and tell your girlfriend that you can't see her until the exam is over."