Motivated to be lazy

Chapter 22

My concerns were for nothing, the leisure set was well received. A few of the girls were playing with the badminton set, the guys made a makeshift football goal with a couple of sticks laying on the ground and another group was playing cards.

In the center of a fallen log, Arisu was sitting playing chess with Horikita while Honami helped her out. Arisu couldn't sit on the ground so instead she was calling out moves and Honami was moving the pieces for her.

I was at the river fishing. It was fun, relaxing and I had some peace. I had been running around this damn island since we got here so it was nice to have a moment of peaceful silence. I couldn't help but glance every so often at the two as they sat with each other. Honami didn't look bored in the slightest even though I wasn't sure if she knew how to play.

It gave me reprieve though, I didn't want to think about anything I just wanted silence for right now. I needed to collect my thoughts and figure out what was going on with me.

Class C and Class B working together was a bit of a surprise and it seemed like they were going for a zero point strategy. I wasn't sure if points could go into the minus, I hadn't asked any questions about the parameters of the exam because it wasn't my responsibility. I had kept my hands clear of this test and let them do as they wished.

I never questioned any of their strategies and I also didn't get involved at all. I participated only in what I was asked and I was left to care for Arisu. Outside of checking prices in the manual, I had left them to their own devices. There was one thing that I recognized from early on. The second leader that I had identified aside from Class A's when I was with Koenji.

Ichinose Honami was the leader of Class B.

I knew it from the beginning, the interaction with Kanzaki was too much of a coincidence. I know Honami well, I can tell when she's lying or hiding something. She wasn't bad at it, I just knew what to look for. I knew the queues of when she was doing something sneakily or if she wanted something or even if she was fibbing.

The interaction with Kanzaki last night though, Honami knew nothing about it. She looked at it as a random chance thing but after meeting with Himeno today I was convinced that I was on the money with this.

While I didn't think much of Himeno, she actually did come up with somewhat of a conniving strategy for this exam. She played Class B masterfully, either she was brilliant or they really were just mindless sheep.

Making Honami the leader was a good move on multiple fronts. For one thing, it wasn't obvious. She was the former leader before she had taken over, for leaders like Katsuragi who could only trust their closest allies, it would be unthinkable to empower your enemy.

Hiding in plain sight. Since it was unthinkable for Katsuragi, he wouldn't vote for her. He'd need tangible proof before he did anything like that. Also by aligning herself with Ryuen, she was attempting to mitigate another potential identifier.

The only issue is that this is Ryuen. I had no doubt that he would have no issues whatsoever stabbing her in the back so the only thing I could think of was that they had some sort of contract. We were on an island though with no phones so I didn't even know if one could be in place.

Finally, Class D. I'm sure that Honami really did hear from Koenji that I was taking that route but Kanzaki appearing was too much of a coincidence. It's fairly obvious to everyone that there's something between the two of us. The moment Kanzaki told her not to see me, she would have disobeyed.

She's stubborn so it was to be expected that when he told her Himeno wanted her to come back that she would dig her heels in. By provoking Kanzaki and then challenging that Honami wouldn't be able to find our leader, things had been set into motion. I can see now that no matter what happens in this exam, Himeno wins.