Motivated to be lazy

SS Hiding in plain sight

"Why did you call me here?" Kanzaki asked curtly.

"I wanted to spend some quality time with my 'boyfriend'." I said sarcastically.

"Unless you have something to discuss with me, I'm leaving. I don't have time to waste with meaningless pleasantries, I have to prepare for whatever comes next."

"Fine. Go and do whatever you had planned. Who even cares anymore."

Kanzaki regarded me carefully, unsure about where this sudden attitude shift had come from. I'd voiced a few of my concerns in the past, I wasn't completely sold on Kanzaki's plan of action. I agreed that if we wanted to reach Class A, then we needed to have Ichinose committed to the class. It's why I agreed to help him when he asked. Now that our plans had blown up in our face though, it wasn't Kanzaki who was suffering the consequences; I was.

"The last two special tests haven't been ideal but the competition is close. We just have to plan for the next special test without Ichinose being the focus. Next special test, we play to win."

"We?" I repeated in disbelief. "When did you start speaking french?"

Kanzaki frowned in annoyance at my slight, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Your fucking mindgames are destroying this class, don't you dare look at me like that!" I spat angrily.

"You and I both know that the way things were, we would slowly start to lose ground. Ichinose isn't dedicated to our class, she's dedicated to Ayanokouji. It was costly but at least now we know for sure."

"No, we don't! We don't know any more now than we already did before because you had to double down, didn't you? All we were supposed to do was propose a reckless plan to see what Ichinose-san would do. We should have stopped the moment she didn't push back.

I could feel a rant coming on, all of the pent up anger and frustration of feeling like I was the only one who saw the cracks in the illusion that was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. The embarrassment of looking like a fool in front of my classmates and the school. The desperation of being lured into a trap with no way out. I had to let it out, before I went insane.

" 'All we need to do is propose a leadership change. Don't worry, Himeno. Once she fights it, we'll push her to commit that her priorities will remain with the class'. 'All we need to do is propose a reckless plan. Don't worry Himeno, it'll just be temporary. Ichinose won't allow us to go through with a zero point strategy'. 'It's okay, Himeno. The class doesn't blame you, they know Ryuen betrayed us. Once Ichinose sees the state of our class, she'll take over and we'll be stronger than ever. It's a small sacrifice for the long term.' " I quoted mockingly, reminding him of all the times he was wrong.

"I knew I shouldn't have listened to you, look at us! We've taken two huge losses back to back, Ichinose-san doesn't want the representative role back and for what? All because you had to go into a dick measuring contest with Ayanokouji-kun!"

"That's what you think this was about?"

"Of course that's what this is about!"

"I don't have time to waste with foolish pride and 'dick measuring contests' as you've put it. My only goal is to reach Class A. Nothing more, nothing less. My issues with Ayanokouji are solely because he impedes that goal. If he wasn't distracting and leading Ichinose astray, I could care less what she does in her spare time or who she sees." Kanzaki said, rolling his eyes.

"Furthermore this whole friendship and class unity rubbish only works if everyone plays by that rule set. Katsuragi has a firm hold of Class A now, he will do whatever it takes to ensure victory. Ryuen is willing to play dirty, outright betraying allies in order to win. If Ichinose isn't willing to fight fire with fire then we will lose ground. It won't be long until we're Class D if that continues.