COTE: Wishing Well

Chapter 9: Glimpse of Us

I spent the rest of my peaceful days in a routine of working out at the gym, playing basketball with Sudō, improving my cooking skills, and going to Keyaki Mall with the odd group of Okitani, Chiaki, Mori, Sudō, Satō, and Sotomura.

Kushida came to my room every few days. Sometimes, the suppressed shivering cued her adverse reaction, but, over time, it lessened further and further.

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and it was soon the end of the month. However, my beautiful teacher had a surprise for us.

"Alright everyone, since it is the end of the month, we are going to have a short test. Please pass these to the back. This test is just for future reference. It won't be reflected in your report cards. There is no risk involved, so don't worry. Of course, cheating is prohibited."

Chabashira-sensei began handing out tests. The class quickly silenced itself. Class D's behavior was much, much better than it had been at the beginning of the year. After Chabashira-sensei signaled that we could begin, I flipped the test over, reviewing the questions. There were only four questions per each of the five subjects, making twenty questions total.

The first seventeen of them should have been answerable for students of our grade level, but the last three were of much, much higher difficulty than the first seventeen. They were perhaps early collegiate-level questions. The last three were short answers as well, so that ensured no guesses would happen.

I cast a glance at Kōenji, who was flying through the papers with ease. I decided to answer all my questions a certain way, and I finished my test without issues, choosing to take a nap.

After class ended, I used the excuse of the Student Council to slip past many of my classmates. As I exited the building and turned left, I met Kōenji.

"Demon-boy."

There was only one probable reason that Rokusuke had confronted me. It was surprising that he had noticed. Had he seen and tracked my pencil movements? Since the test was multiple-choice, it was possible. From that angle, it was difficult because his seat was further forward, but it remained something that he could manage by discreetly moving his body. He must have tracked them while I was focusing on the test, during that brief moment when he finished and I hadn't, since I started slightly after him.

"It was a reference test." In my opinion, I hadn't broken the promise of competing with him in exams.

"It remains an exam, Demon-boy."

Neither of our arguments had logical fallacies; instead, we disagreed on the key point, that being whether or not it was a justifiable exam. This meant that consensus couldn't be reached because we disputed the fact.

Kōenji must have followed my line of reasoning because he crossed his arms in a displeased manner and began walking away. My eyes traced his large frame. I shouldn't antagonize him—that would be troublesome. However, it was likely that I couldn't earn his cooperation through any simple means. Except by using private points.

-o-o-o-

The next day was May 1. The morning bell rang, and soon afterward, Chabashira-sensei strode into the room. holding a rolled-up white poster, which probably contained our class point results. Her expression was even sterner than usual. Today, our class results would be revealed—our standing in comparison to other classes, that was. We had all received zero private points this morning.

"I suppose I don't need to give you kids any explanation. Here's the poster." She drew the rubber band off the poster and unrolled it, pinning it to the blackboard using some magnets.

Class D had -600 points. We hadn't lost any ever since we had purchased the S-System explanation. However...

Class C had 710. Class B had 980. Class A had 990.