[] COTE - Curious Hearts [] Love Triangle [] Alternative []

[] Chapter 2 :- Rivalry in shadows []

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Click! Click! Click!

The sound of rapid typing filled a dim, spacious room, with a faint glow from a computer screen casting light around.

'Preparation for high school cultural festival' was typed into the Google search bar on the monitor.

"I did agree to help Prez with the festival prep, yea, but I don't know a single thing about this stuff," muttered the chestnut-haired boy, his indifferent eyes fixed on the screen in front of him.

Kiyotaka figured it was probably good to get some info first instead of going in blind and clowning himself in front of classmates he barely knew.

Moving his mouse, Kiyotaka clicked on a site with an orange logo and a robot face in the middle.

That's right—Reddit. The place for everything, from casual advice to... questionable tangents.

There were tons of forums there, some totally unrelated, like one random post he stumbled on that read.

Anyone following NNN?

'What does NNN mean?' Kiyotaka wondered, curious.

Who's gonna tell him?

But really, he was better off not knowing.

Ignoring that, he found a forum that seemed right on track with what he needed.

High school cultural festival posted by a redditor named Giganigga69.

"What a weird name," he muttered, raising an eyebrow.

Skipping past the username, he zeroed in on the post content.

"I see..." Kiyotaka murmured, scanning the post while skipping over some comment threads full of random hate.

"Haters," he mumbled to himself. They were just about everywhere these days.

'Looks like Prez’s big aim is to put our school in the spotlight with this fest.' Refocusing on the post, he mused.

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Loads of people were gonna be there—potential future students, parents, alumni, even folks from the neighborhood.

As pumped as he’d been about this fest, now that he thought it through, the whole idea of facing all those people was making him slightly uneasy. After all, he wasn’t exactly Mr. Social.

Just as he was staring at his monitor...

Knock Knock

A soft knocking sound filled the room.

"You can enter," Kiyotaka muttered, his gaze still fixed on the screen.

Click

The doorknob turned, and Matsuo, Kiyotaka’s butler, stepped in.

"Sorry to interrupt, Kiyotaka-sama, but it’s time for dinner," Matsuo said with a slight bow, waiting for Kiyotaka’s response.

It was already past 9 p.m., and Matsuo had come to give his young master a reminder.

"Uh huh, I’ll be there in a few," replied Kiyotaka. The old man nodded and then exited.

Shutting down his desktop, Kiyotaka stood and stretched his slightly stiff limbs.

With that, he headed out of his room, descending the stairs straight to the dining area.

But what surprised him was the room’s emptiness—only Matsuo and a couple of maids were present. His mother was nowhere to be seen, which was unusual.