#46 The target

I did everything I could... I thought when I modified my and Karuizawa's phones. I never told her about me being the target but I guess she already realized it from my actions.

...

I went to Karuizawa's room and knocked on the door.

"Oh? You are already done?" Thankfully, the one who opened the door was none other than Karuizawa and not one of her roommates.

"Yep, here you go. I also copied all applications and mails so no one would be able to recognize which phone is whose, if I forget about it then even I won't be able to tell the difference." I threw her my phone which now became hers for a certain amount of time.

She caught it and then put it aside.

"*sigh* To think it was you, yet you didn't tell me anything" She peeked out of the room to check if anyone was currently in the hallway before pouting her lips and complaining to me.

"Sorry, will you forgive me if I give you a share of my prize?" I said in a teasing tone.

"Hmph! If you think you can buy my forgiveness then you are wrong...Do you want to go inside? My roommates aren't here and the last meeting is still 40 minutes away." She turned her head to the side to show her dissatisfaction and then invited me in a whispering voice.

"And you want to repeat the previous situation with Ike-kun? To be honest, maybe it's not a bad idea, at least it will be your turn to explain it to your roommates" I hold my chin and said with a mischievous smile.

After hearing this and seeing my smile she shivered a bit and had panicked look on her face.

"Hihi, it was just a joke! After all, you must have things to do before the meeting begins right?!" Karuizawa awkwardly laughed and started waving her hand from right to left.

"It's indeed better for me to go before anyone spots us but I still haven't paid you back for that thing with Ike-kun" I tilted my head to the side and with a kind smile I started to ruffle her hair. But I guess it looked more like a smile of the demon rather than a kind smile to her because she shivered a bit once again when I started to ruffle her hair.

"Please spare me, Felix-kun! I won't request any shares from the prize you will win from this exam!" She said with pleading puppy eyes.

This girl... Didn't she said that she won't accept any points a while ago?!

I started to ruffle her hair with more force, of course not to hurt her but to make it uncomfortable for her.

"Ouch, ouch! Ok, I get it!" It seems that she also realized the reason behind it and apologized.

"I should go now, see you soon. By the way, I hope you can act as usual during the meeting because everyone will be much more focused during this last meeting..." I retracted my hand and waved at her before leaving.

Would it be anyone else, I would perhaps be more worried but I think Karuizawa won't change her behavior just because she knows I am the target. Everyone also knows that she usually sits next to me so even if she started talking to me out of nervousness it wouldn't be that suspicious. Either way, there is nothing more for me to do...

...

It was still 30 minutes until the meeting begins but I already did everything I could and I had nothing better to do so I decided to arrive much earlier.

When I arrived in front of the door and opened it, extremely weird sight welcomed me.

Sleeping Ichinose and Ayanokoji suspiciously too near her. I noticed a phone lying right beside her which gave me an idea of why was he sneaking around like that. But if it was anyone else who would come in then he would be definitely regarded as a pervert.

He also looked at me with a surprised expression when he heard a quiet sound of the opening door.

"I am sorry for the intrusion!" I said quietly not to wake up Ichinose with an amusing smile on my face.

"Hello" Ayanokoji greeted me with an extremely awkward expression but after he saw that I wasn't interested in what I just witnessed, his expression returned to his casual one.

"Stealing isn't an admirable act, you know?" I teasingly said.

He just nodded his head, I don't know if he realized that what I just said was a joke or if he really thought that I was lecturing him...

I looked towards the sleeping Ichinose and my eyes twitched a bit after seeing her pose. Her smooth thighs fully on display, her skirt just long enough to cover the important parts yet if someone looked from a good angle he could see everything. Her big chest moving every time she breathes, her sleeping face full of naivety... This pose is simply saying 'Please take me'.

I am impressed that Ayanokoji didn't react to this. I thought while redirecting my gaze at him.

Even though I didn't show much of reaction towards her sleeping pose, I am still a man and I feel lust, it's just that I don't want to be controlled by that emotion. I don't mind anger/hatred but lust is disgusting if you feel it towards someone you have no feelings for.

I walked up to her and she didn't react a bit which surprised Ayanokoji. It seems that he already tried to take her phone a few times but in vain.

I can see that she is definitely light-sleeper but if you have no ill intention towards her then no matter how light-sleeper she is, she won't wake up just from you standing beside her. I could take her phone right now but even if I tried to mask my ill intent I wouldn't be able to erase it completely...

"Oi." I poked her cheek with my finger.

"5 more minutes..." She mumbled and turned around which left me baffled.

A vein appeared on my forehead.

Light-sleeper my ass!

"Hey, Ichinose-san!" I decided to call her name aloud.

"Hmm? Walker-kun?! And Ayanokoji?" She rubbed her eyes and when she saw me standing practically right beside her, she panicked slightly but she calmed down in a matter of seconds.

"You shouldn't be sleeping here..." I lightly reprimanded her while taking a seat near the window.

"Hehe, I know but I wanted to collect my thoughts and I happened to fall asleep. Both of you arrived quite early too." She released an awkward laugh while scratching the back of her head.

"Ayanokoji-kun was already here when I arrived..." I answered and I noticed from the corner of my eye that Ayanokoji tensed up when I mentioned him being here before me.

"I see~ You should have just woke me up, Ayanokoji-kun!" She didn't seem to be bothered that he was here alone with her while she was asleep.

"Sorry" He shortly replied with his stoic expression.

"Oh- now that only 3 of us are here it makes it a good opportunity for me to ask Walker-kun something that was bothering me for a while. Of course, if you don't mind that is." Ichinose redirected her gaze at me.

"Ask whatever you want...I will answer if it won't be inconvenient" I replied while looking through the window.

"Walker-kun seems to be close to Karuizawa-san. I was wondering if..." She didn't finish her sentence, instead, she was observing my changes in expression.

Her statement didn't surprise me a bit. As for her reason, maybe she was asking me because she noticed her changes and it made it harder for her to actually discover who is the target.

"There is nothing between us" I said in a disinterested voice to show that I wasn't able to guess what she wanted to ask. I have to be careful when I speak with a person named Honami Ichinose.

"Oh...I didn't mean that...I was wondering if you noticed changes in her attitude and if you know something." She corrected me with slightly red cheeks.

"I see, I indeed noticed it but I have no idea why. But why bother thinking about it when the changes are actually for the better rather than worse." I shrugged my shoulders.

We kept on talking until everyone arrived.

Karuizawa sat down right next to me as usual.

"Honestly, we weren't even able to hold proper discussion until the last day, so I would like to propose something." Hamaguchi, from Class B, said with a determined expression.

If they won't actually propose to check everyone's phones as the last resolve, I will have to make that proposal myself which could be slightly troublesome for me. The one who proposes the plan to discover the target is the most suspicious and also the least suspicious person. Anyone could risk it by writing my name down which I wouldn't want to risk even if there is a low chance for that to happen.

"Oh? please go ahead" Ichinose seemed that she also wanted to propose something but she let her classmate go first.

"There is almost no chance for us to discover the target just by talking when it's already the last day. I propose that everyone shows their phone. I will be the first one." Thankfully, he proposed the strategy I wanted to use.

I noticed that Karuizawa stiffened for a bit when she heard his words but quickly recovered. However, this didn't go unnoticed by Ichinose. If I could I would already be smiling.

"This is stupid. Why should we show our mails when anyone can betray us the moment the target is discovered?!" Machida from Class A was the first one to complain about this strategy.

I glared at Manabe and when she noticed my glare she shivered a bit.

"I- I think it's a good idea. After all, there is not much we can do since the exam is ending very soon." Manabe was the one who supported Hamaguchi's strategy.

"So you want to make it game who betrays faster wins?" Machida asked her.

"I also support this strategy. I will show my phone right after Hamaguchi." Ichinose agreed too and soon entire Class B followed her.

"What about Class D?" Ichinose turned at me and I had slightly uneasy expression, I "uncounciously" took a peek at Karuizawa which didn't go unnoticed.

"If everyone except for Class A agrees then we agree too" Yukimura was the one who replied to her with a hesitant expression.

After that everyone started showing their phones and when it was my turn...

I gave Ichinose "my" phone and she quickly checked it and smiled at me.

"It seems that Walker-kun isn't the target"

When it came to Karuizawa's turn, she was hesitating.

"Why should we show our phones to everyone?! I have some private mails there too, I don't want anyone to read them!" She tried to reason with Ichinose.

"But you are the last one to show their phone except for Class A...You can't be so selfish after seeing other people's phones. It's only given that you will follow their lead." Hamaguchi was the one who answered with furrowed brows.

"Then I want everyone to take out their phones and put it on the table, including Class A!" She said while pointing at them.

"*sigh* Can you do at least this?" Hamaguchi was probably tired just from this small exchange with Karuizawa so he pleaded Class A.

They just shrugged their shoulders and did what was asked of them without any complaints. It's not like they could vote only during the meeting so it didn't matter.

*sigh* Karuizawa sighed and gave her phone to Ichinose who showed the display to everyone.

"Looks like Karuizawa-san was target all along..." Ichinose said without any surprise in her voice.

All of us from Class D looked surprised when we learned that Karuizawa is the target.

"Since we were able to discover the target, I hope everyone will cooperate to achieve the first outcome." Hamaguchi said while looking towards Class A.

"You don't have to worry-" Machida wanted to say something but was interrupted by the ringing sound.

I recognized that it was "my" phone so I got up and picked up "my" phone from the table and saw on the display name of the caller 'Ichinose'. I looked with a confused expression towards Ichinose who had surprised expression.

"...I am sorry, Walker-kun" She apologized to me and I just had confused expression but I shrugged it off.

The last meeting passed extremely fast and we had some time to betray our group before we would be all forced to answer.

Not even after a minute after the meeting ended and most of the students left, my phone vibrated numerous times. Basically almost all groups turned to have "traitor" even our (Rabbit) group wasn't an exception.

"Walker-kun, wait!" Ichinose run up to me when I wanted to leave the room.

"What is it?" I turned at her with a patient expression on my face.

"Since it seems that someone already betrayed our group I wanted to ask you something. Was Karuizawa-san really the target?" She frowned and asked me with a serious expression.

I guess it wasn't enough to totally fool her.

"Well, she showed her phone with a mail stating that she is the target... But I wasn't aware of that beforehand." I told her.

"You already knew about her being the target, right? I noticed how you were occasionally looking at her when Hamaguchi proposed that strategy. You also know the reason for her changes..." She calmly said without any hint of anger even though I just lied to her.

*sigh* I sighed and just nodded. I didn't want to tell her more than necessary.

"I am not blaming you for lying to me or anything like that, I know where you are coming from..." Ichinose mentioned when she saw that I wasn't answering. She probably thought that I was feeling guilty.

...

I left the room.

Hehehe, that should do it. I chuckled inside while having a creepy smile across my face.

During this exam, I noticed how small a circle of people I have around myself. I will have to make more "friends" if I want to make a bigger impact during the similar exams.