COTE Alternative

Vol. 1: Chapter 2.1 - A Peculiar Morning

I had just woken up from a long night's rest. After I made the bed, I decided I'd do some training to maintain my physique. While I am no longer in the White Room, It would be a waste to let my physical capabilities waste away just because I'm free. I'll need it for the upcoming battles, not only against the students of this school, but whoever my father sends here to forcibly remove me from here.

I left my room and started heading towards the elevator. Since it was still 5 in the morning, I thought that I won't run into someone, but surprisingly once the elevator doors opened, I was met with the sight of an incredibly drained Kushida Kikyou. She seems to not have noticed me so I boarded the elevator.

Now that I took a good look at her, her slightly unkempt hair matched with the bags under her eyes that she tried to cover with makeup. I looked into her eyes to be meet with a familiar pair, eyes that looked like they had no life in them. She was slouching a little, her gaze set on the floor as if wanting to escape the world. In other words, she looked miserable.

If I took a picture of her right now and told people that the girl in the photo was Kushida, I'd probably be accused of being the reason she's in this state.

I could lend her a shoulder to lean on, but Kushida and I haven't built enough of a mutual trust to be able to do that, so I'll start building it then. If I can unravel the mind of Kushida Kikyou, then I can gain a paw-, I mean ally for information gathering and class control. The reason why that would be her purpose is because I predict that she will be come one of, if not, the most likeable girl not only in our class or school year, but possibly the entire school.

To do that I can use two methods. The easier but riskier one would be to find some blackmail material on her, then use that to force her to work for me. The reason this is risky, is that I won't gain her complete trust, meaning I would have to counter possible attacks against me, which would be troublesome.

While I could possibly gain her trust while blackmailing her, that's an even more difficult and arduous task than the second option.

The more difficult but with less risks option, would be to let her open up to me willingly. To do that I needed to gain her trust and favor, then set myself up as someone reliable and can keep secrets. Depending on how unstable Kushida's psyche is, this can be done by the end of the month or in a few months.

I would be working at both of these options simultaneously. While the second one is the more favourable option, sometimes things don't always go according to plan. Which option I inevitably pick, would be decided by Kushida herself, how she reacted to my actions, and finally

How long it will take for her to break.

But for now, I'll start laying down the foundations for the second option.

The elevator doors opened but Kushida made no move to leave, most likely spacing out not paying attention to her surroundings. I nudged her shoulder a bit to snap her back to reality.

"!" She jolted a bit at my touch, most likely not expecting someone to be awake at this time.

"H-huh? Ayanokouji-kun?!" Her face slightly fell when she looked at me. She was worried that I'd tell anyone about what I had seen.

"No no no no no no no no no. Already?!" she muttered dejected, with a hint of anger.

"Don't worry. I won't tell a soul." I reassured her.

"How can you be so sure?"

"How would I benefit from telling everyone that 'Kushida Kikyou of Class D looked tired and miserable'. If anything, people would be concerned for you." I countered, she still doesn't completely trust my word, but it gave her a peace of mind.