The Defectives (CotE x Male Reader)

The School Sports Festival

(Y/N)'s POV

Horikita: The surnames of the students divided up in order of the zodiac animals were the key to figuring out the VIP then.

Summer vacation had just ended, and I was seated with a bizarre crew that included Hirata, Karuizawa, and Horikita at a table in the back of the cafe. The purpose was to review the shipboard special exam that had taken place in the midst of the summer vacation.

Horikita: The rabbit is fourth in the zodiac. If you put the names of the students in the rabbit group in alphabetical order, it would be (L/N)-kun, Ichinose-san, Ibuki-san, and then Karuizawa-san.

Karuizawa put her hand on her chin.

Karuizawa: I see. If that's the order then I'm the 4th. That's why I was chosen as VIP.

She seemed impressed. At first glance, you'd have thought that the two girls sitting with me were completely incompatible, but Hirata's presence made the discomfort between them mysteriously disappear.

Karuizawa: But isn't that really, really simple? I mean, practically anyone could figure it out.

Having heard the answer, Karuizawa inserted the straw into the pack and sipped milk from it.

Horikita: It was that simple. However, figuring that out in the middle of an exam wasn't so easy. With only three VIPs in your own class, you wouldn't have had enough solid data to determine the system behind the selection.

If we'd known the names of the three VIPs in another class, we might have seen the pattern. However, even if we'd had a theory about how the VIPs were chosen, it would have been risky. If we were off, we could have taken considerable damage.

Hirata: What worries me is Class C. I think during the middle of the exam, Ryuuen-kun discovered the hidden rules.

Hirata addressed the elephant in the room. If that's not the case, he would not have been able to do all that.

Karuizawa: But, isn't it strange? If that's the case, why did he make a mistake?

However, judging from the situation, Class C gave a wrong answer. Horikita then voiced her deduction she had made from a slightly different perspective.

Horikita: Though it appears that Ryuuen-kun rules Class C alone, perhaps that isn't actually true. More than a handful of people are probably deeply dissatisfied with his dictatorship.

Hirata: Perhaps. The right to answer is given to all students, so students who did not comply with Ryuuen-kun's plan or those he failed to control making a blunder. That line of thought cannot be ruled out either.

The conjectures of Horikita and Hirata follow a good line of thought. However, it's also a fact that one cannot say that for certain. If there was a traitor, Ryuuen would've searched for them relentlessly. The traitor will surely know what's the consequences.

Then, Horikita suddenly directed her attention to me as I was drinking latte while sitting comfortably.

Horikita: What do you think, (L/N)-kun? You haven't participate in our discussion since the beginning.

I ended up unconsciously choking from that overconcentrated gaze of both Hirata and Karuizawa on me.

(Y/N): Eh? I don't know.

As I said that to deceive them, perhaps they lost interest in me in one stroke but their gazes scattered away. Horikita gave me a questionable glance before looking away. Somehow, only Karuizawa still stared at me. I returned her gaze and after a slight delay, she averted her eyes.