Another Like Me - Part II (CoTE x OC)

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟘 - 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕔𝕪

A/N's:

The chapter the entire community has been waiting for :)

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( Takeyama POV )

It's finally over. A full holiday week in the mountains was coming to a close for Class 1-S, and the results of the Mixed Training Camp were announced soon after. There were two expellees, a girl named Ikari Momoko from Class 3-B, and surprisingly, ex-SC Secretary Akane Tachibana. However, none of the expulsions happened, since Classes 3-A and 3-B cancelled them with a payment of Private Points and Class Points.

 The first years were safe this time around. Students who were in danger of being expelled for their low overall performance, were pulled up by the more superior students. Similarly, the meritorious students were dragged down by the less meritorious ones, but it wasn't enough for any expellees.

I let out a sigh, and proceeded to climb onto the bus back to ANHS. Class Points were not affected much, but there were a few ups and downs. It wasn't major enough to affect the rankings in any way.

I pulled out my earphones, and browsed through the list of songs in my playlist to vibe to. Sudo and Miyake had introduced me to metal music, and I had become an overnight fan of the soft metal genre. This is some stuff that I've been really missing out on during my time in the White Room. Besides the 'real' classical music, there was nothing else of taste in that place.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Chiaki enter the bus, and her eyes fell on the empty seat next to mine. She hesitated a bit, wondering whether she really should sit next to me.

I decided to ease off her tension.

"Chiaki?"

She let out a soft yelp, attracting the attention of everyone in the bus. After apologizing for the mild inconvenience, she made a beeline for the seat next to mine, and plopped down onto it before anyone else could steal it.

That was cute.

A few eyes followed her every movement, those few being Karuizawa, Sato and Hirata. I happened to get into the bus that had most of Class D in. It seems Chiaki has some sort of support system behind her when it comes to interacting with me.

"Kei-chan. This seat's free, right?"

"I've been saving it for you."

Chiaki turned a little pink in embarrassment, but kept her cool. "T-Thanks."

"Don't mention it. It's nothing."

"Y-yeah."

Saying so, she quietened down a bit, and clutched her bag tighter, as though suddenly not wanting to continue the conversation any further. I found this behavior slightly disturbing, so I pulled my earphones out, wrapped them around, and shoved them into my bag.

Chiaki watched me do my stuff out of the corner of her eye.

"You're not going to listen to songs.....?" she asked apprehensively, having figured out that she would have to make conversation with me in that case.

"Nope. Not when I've got you around."

She widened her eyes, and bit her lips. "Don't..... don't say stuff like that....."

"Hmm? Why not?"

"..... it's e-embarrassing....."

"I mean, it's true right? I'm not going to waste my time listening to songs when I've got you next to me. I don't think I even have to think about that," I replied listlessly. Chiaki turned even redder.