Fated to Meet(COTE X Tomodachi Game)

Chapter 4: Suzune Horikita

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Horikita lead us to the mall Cafe. When we got there, she told us to find seats in the corner.
Me and Katagiri went to our usual table, and while she was getting our drinks, we talked about what she might want.

"If she can pay for drinks she probably has money. I guess we can rule out a loan," said Katagiri

"Are we sure she wants something?"
"If she really wanted to just hang out, she would have asked us what we wanted."

Horikita had told us to go find a table with out asking us anything.
"I suppose your right."
Katagiri looked over at the counter where Horikita stood.
"Can't help but wonder what your getting, huh?"
"That's not what I'm worried about."

I had similar thoughts to the ones he was probably having. This Coffee was going to be used as a negotiation tactic. The second we accepted, we would caught be in her trap.

Horikita sat down and sat something that looked strange in front of both us.
She has gotten nothing for herself.
"Well, you can drink it."
Me and Katagiri picked them up.

"What are you waiting for?"
"I'm just not sure I like this flavor, right Ayanokoji?"
I nodded. This drink a actually looks like something Katagiri would get, but he was unsure whether or not to fall for this trap.

"You haven't tried it before, right? So, drink it."
Her tone was stern, and it couldn't be ignored.
It seemed both us knew what was at play. But the question was, do we purposely fall for it?
Drinking it could lead to hard work, which I didn't feel like doing, but it also guaranteed help and cooperation from Horikita, possibly in the future. This one sip could create a thin connection.

I decided to do it, and Katagiri followed.
"Now, I need your help with something."

I decided to play dumb. "Why do we need to help you?"

"This class is at a big risk for major expulsion of many students, I could use your help tutoring, you did drink what I bought, correct?"

The drink tasted strange, and it was 80% sugar. But, for better or for worse, I had taken the bait, and so had Katagiri.

"I really don't get great grades. I can pass, but barely. The only thing I can do for our classmates is to convince them to study, I can't actually teach anything," said Katagiri

"That's fine. That's all I want you to do."

I decided to ask her something. "What are you going to do?"
"I am going to help teach the students that you two convince to study."

Katagiri seemed skeptical at that. "Are they going to accept help from you?"

"Of course they will. They are about to be expelled. If a student with all 100s offers them help, they will accept it, as it is all they can do."

The plan still was not a guaranteed success. But I decided to help, and Katagiri nodded.
"Okay we can help you. I mean after all we did acccept..."
He picked up the drink.
"...this"
It was a jab on how strange the drink looked. I wasn't even sure what color had been combined to make a a strange green color.

She looked at him for a few seconds, before getting up and leaving. "Yeah I'm not drinking that."
"Me neither."

On the way out I saw that she had ordered us something called the "Alien Drink".
The least expensive drink on the menu.

After class was over the next day, me and Katagiri would begin to talk to people. Interacting with our classmates for the first time.
We would talk to two people:

Yōsuke Hirata and Kikyō Kushida.
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Next Chapter: A Strange Group of Six 8-31-22