Their Two Sides (COTE Fanfic)

Chapter 2 - The Start Of A Special Relationship

I was currently heading towards the library to observe Horikita's study group. I wasn't actually heading there alone. Walking by my side was the cheerful and bright girl, Kushida Kikyou.

She was happily talking about her friends, while I sometimes give my input if she ever asks for it. Occasionally though, she would slip up and not even realise it. Her true thoughts about some of her would sometimes be said. For example: When she was talking about Karuizawa's group earlier, she had accidentally slipped that she thinks of the girls going after Hirata even though he has a girlfriend was dumb and idiotic.

Now this may seem normal at first glance, the way she says just sells it for me.

"I was talking to Karuizawa and her friends earlier. But some of them won't just shut up about Hirata, even though his girlfriend's right there. Sometimes those girls can be so dumb." She said that last sentence with a bit of animosity.

I doubt Kushida was actually aware of what she had done. The reason why she she accidentally slipped was probably because she felt comfortable around me. I made sure not to respond too much to her, which means that she knows someone is listening but won't comment on what she's saying.

With this theory, it can also be possible that she's doing this to test my reaction to her statement. And since I didn't respond to strongly, she might think that I won't really care about her dark side. Although thinking about this now is absolutely worthless since I'll get to know if it later anyways.

Once Kushida and I arrived at the library, we spotted Horikita by her lonesome at a long table at the far end of the library. I also saw some students from other classes, particularly those from Class B, studying here too. Kushida noticed them and proceeded to wave at them, to which the Class B students imitated.

Once we were closer to Horikita's table she started to notice us. She heaved a sigh as soon as she saw Kushida. Was she really hoping that I could convince Kushida to not participate. If I couldn't convince the three idiots, because I didn't really try to do so, I can't even try to convince Kushida on this.

We took our seats, with Horikita at the long end of the table and Kushida and I sitting next to each other.

After a few minutes of waiting, the students whom this study group was supposed to be for, finally appeared.

As they sat down, Sudou posed a question.

"Scoring lower than thirty-two means failing. Do you fail if you get exactly thirty-two points, though?" Sudou asked.

"No, you're safe if you score at least thirty-two points. Sudou, you can manage that, right?" Ike said.

Even Ike was worried about Sudou. Of course those guys would want to know the exact threshold.

"It doesn't really matter. My goal is for everyone to score fifty," Horikita said.

“Gah, isn’t that going to be too tough?”

“Aiming to just skate by is dangerous. The fact that you can’t easily
reach that threshold troubles me.”
In the face of Horikita’s sound argument, the failures simply nodded
reluctantly.

“I included most of what will be covered on this test. We only have
about two weeks left, but I plan to thoroughly walk you through everything. If you don’t understand something, please ask.”

“Hey, I don’t understand the first question.” Sudou glared at Horikita. I
tried reading the first problem as well.

“A, B, and C collectively have 2,150 yen. A has 120 yen more than B
does. Also, after C gives B two-fifths of his money, B would have 220 yen
more than A. How much yen did A originally start with?”