Stealing Spree

1840 Do you know what I will do?

Continuing with the task without the other two, Hino and I picked up anything that could be used as firewood along the way. The quota wasn’t really that high considering there were more than fifty of us. Getting a bundle of twigs, thick enough for our arms to hold should be enough. With each of us being given a sack to put the firewood in, the burden of collecting and carrying them was fairly eased up. The risk of injuries and scratches from carrying dried twigs in bulk using our naked arms was also removed. And with the sack being thick enough to not let those branches pierce through, carrying it over the shoulder lowered the difficulty of the activity.

The only reason I would sweat here was because it was hard navigating through this woodland that we were exploring for the first time.

In any case, despite saying that it’s easy, relaxing was out of the question. Just the fact that I was grouped with Ogawa and Fukuda put me into a spot. Who knows? Fukuda might just choose to not pick up anything because he can’t hurt me with his useless jabs. And even though I managed to deal with and manipulate Ogawa into helping me out, his late start guaranteed him to get the least amount of firewood. Unless... he gets to pluck some out from the trees.

This was a maintained environment, finding a log would be impossible. And we didn’t even have an axe to be used for chopping trees.

Thinking about it from the camp managers’ perspective, this task’s aim was different. The amount of firewood we could collect was not that important. They’re trying to measure how well we fit in within our group. Those who stick together will most likely get a high evaluation even if they don’t get the top spot while groups like us will get a lower one because of being unable to get along.

Of course, we can make an argument or an excuse about separating to cover more area. Unfortunately, those camp managers followed us into the woods to observe us properly. There’s no way they missed Fukuda separating with us after getting worked up and Ogawa being left behind.

If I could rate our group, I’d give it the second lowest grade.

Thanks to that self-evaluation, I decided not to separate from Hino. I endured his incessant ramblings to create a false impression that we were getting along well.

However, after thirty minutes, I kept mulling over the idea of plugging my ears or sticking the twigs we picked up in his mouth just to stop him from gushing about the girl he only spoke a few words with.

He’s lucky I managed to endure it. And to continue with the act, I even played along by replying to him at times. And through it, I gathered more information about why he thought he had a chance. The girl, Yoneda, approached him first.

Is it really because she’s interested in him? On their first time interacting with each other? Obviously not.

With how he narrated it, that girl approached him not because he was special. He’s simply the only one closest to them who could separate those stools for them. And as one would expect, he disregarded that fact.

Really, this was the classic assumption that most boys experience at least once in their lifetime.

A girl talked to you nicely? She must’ve been interested, no?

With that mindset, the virgin idiots would delude themselves in that fantasy and act like they’re already in the process of capturing their hearts. They just need to continue appealing to them.

Then, when they suddenly found out that it was not the case, they’d be in despair or worse, blame the girl for giving them the wrong idea.

Ah. Of course, the most usual case was the deluded idiot confessing and being turned down. For it to happen the other way around, a guy should at least be at the level of having an attractive appearance and personality.

Yeah. Boys always have lower standards. As long as they’re cute enough for their taste, they’ll fall head over heels for a girl.

And that’s Hino’s current state.

Normally, this should happen at least twice or thrice. But this guy was already deep into it with just one instance.

I guess that means he was never given any attention before. Poor guy. I mean, since he’s with Fukuda, that guy was absorbing all the attention to himself. In most girls’ eyes, Hino is nothing but a decoration around him especially when he’s truly acting that way. A decoration lifting Fukuda’s value.

“Alright. Let’s go back. It’s about time. We won’t have any free time if we get back late.”

After seeing that we were near the border of this woodland, I signaled for Hino who was walking ahead of me to come back.

“Oh. Sure! Do you think this will be enough, Onoda?”

“I don’t know. It depends if those two also collected some. If not... we might get the last place.”

“Tsk. That Fukuda is not motivated at all.”

Clicking his tongue, Hino brusquely walked back to me. Looking at his expression, his displeasure towards Fukuda was growing. However, that’s still not enough to break off whatever comradery that they built upon years of being delinquents together. Besides, Fukuda could fuck him over if he stepped out of his line. This guy had nothing else to his fate but to be someone else’s lackey.

And I have no plans to take him in as a follower.

“It’s fine. We’re still a group. We can work on that later. Even if they both hate me, they’ll still be forced to cooperate.”

“Haa. No wonder it’s hard to make you stumble. You’re resilient, Onoda.”

“Hmm? I don’t think so. I simply don’t care if all guys eventually hate me.”

“What the hell, man? You’re dedicated to the girls. Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Yeah. That’s my secret why I’m well-liked.”

“I see. I’ll try to fix my act.”

“Sure. Just remember that there’s a thin line between being dedicated and obsessed. You can be branded as a creep.”

“A-alright! I’ll remember that.”

This guy... As if it was that easy. According to my girls, my appearance was still one of the factors. I inherited my parents’ good looks and with my endless consideration that always put them on top of my priority – even unconsciously during my desire-driven days – they eventually fell for me... And with my consideration being already second nature for me, it’ll be hard for someone to emulate it

Anyway, as there’s no point for me to correct his perception, I didn’t say anything else. We started our return journey to the cabin area.

On the way, we ran into Sakuma, Shirai, and Kobayashi’s group and we somehow produced an easygoing atmosphere around us even if I acted normally and only talked at a bare minimum.

Once everyone was accounted for, Sawano and Sarah’s boyfriend stepped out to check our hauls.

Fukuda and Ogawa joined our group much later and as I expected, the two failed to fill half of their sacks. In the end, we narrowly escaped being the group with the least firewood gathered.

This isn’t good. I have to do something.

Hino was about to barrage the two cucks for barely collecting anything but I stopped him. I doubt it would be beneficial to us if we’re branded as a group filled with conflict.

Instead, I approached Ogawa, “Next time, start earlier than the others or you can come and join us. We’re in a group here. I still have to take care of you even if I don’t want to.”

Upon saying that, I then turned to Fukuda who was still in a foul mood. He’s probably going to be in that state for the rest of this camp.

“The same goes for you, Fukuda. I don’t care if you hate me because of Chii. But if you’re not going to cooperate... Do you know what I will do? I heard from Hino that you have a sister one year older than us and a childhood friend who both went to another school. What do you think will happen if I introduce myself to them?”

“You! What the fuck are you saying? Don’t you dare involve—"

Before he could raise his voice, I cut him off.

“What? I’m threatening you. It’s quite fitting for me to use that, right? If you wish to continue in this useless endeavor of getting in my way... Sure. Be my guest. You should start practicing calling me brother-in-law in the future.”

Ending my sentence there, I turned around and walked away to join the crowd, congratulating the group who got the privilege to sit the next activity out.

Yep. That’s a new kind of threat. Couple that with my unyielding confidence, it’s enough to shake his bearing. He knew what I was capable of.