Another Like Me - Part II (CoTE x OC)

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟛𝟘 - 𝕂𝕒𝕣𝕦𝕚𝕫𝕒𝕨𝕒'𝕤 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕖

"Manabe-san. Can I speak with you for a moment?"

Shiho Manabe looked up from her desk, and into my eyes. Classes had just ended, and we were all just on the verge of heading back to our dorms.

"M-me?"

"Yes. There's something important that we need to discuss."

"Important to discuss......?" Manabe repeated slowly under her breath. She shivered lightly, before nodding hesitantly.

"That's great. Would you mind meeting me in the Special Building? Third floor?"

"Can we not talk about it here?"

"I don't think you'd want others listening in to the conversation. It involves you, after all."

Manabe widened her eyes, but retained her composure. "Oh..... I see."

"So I assume I'll see you there?"

"S-sure."

[ ----- ----- ----- ]

"Go on without me today."

"Hmm? But why~~" Chiaki whimpered. I patted the girl on her head.

"I've got some work. I need to meet someone."

"Aww, okay. I'll see you later then, Kei-chan."

"Yup."

I watched as Chiaki bounded off along the corridor, humming a happy tune to herself. As soon as her back disappeared around the corner, I took an immediate U-turn and walked towards the back exit of the Academic Block, which led to the Special Building.

I found myself on the third floor of the building quite soon. And by the looks of it, I had been beaten to it by none other than Manabe-san.

But with her, were two other girls I hadn't seen before.

"Thank you for coming, Manabe-san. And who might these two girls be?"

"They're m-my friends," Manabe spurted out. "Nanami-chan and Saki-chan."

"And why're they here?"

Manabe flinched at my sharp tone. "You d-didn't say that I couldn't bring friends."

Well, she did have a point.

"Well, Manabe-san. I really don't care. In fact, I'm glad the three of you are here together. It makes it much easier for me to get this done with."

"Get this done with....." Manabe repeated under her breath. "Takeyama-kun, you're being incredibly silent about this....."

I slowly moved forward, advancing onto the three girls. Nanami and Saki instinctively hid behind Manabe, and slowly nudged her forward instead.

"H-hey!"

I stopped just in front of the three of them, and stared deep into Manabe's eyes.

"Say, Manabe-san — if someone were to behave very badly with your friends, then would you be angry at that person?"

Manabe stared at me cluelessly, as though I had just spoken ancient Latin. "H-huh?"

"You heard me the first time — if someone were to behave very badly with your friends, then would you be angry at them?"

Manabe fidgeted uncomfortably, and so did her two miscreant friends. "I mean, obviously! That's not something y-you should be asking!"

"I see. Then Manabe-san, it's really natural if the same kind of reaction were to manifest in me, right?"