Another Like Me - Part I (CoTE x OC) ✔

Chapter 09 - Witness

Sudo's expulsion was revoked the next day. Chabashira-sensei had walked in and announced this vital piece of information. Yosuke and Chiaki both turned to look at me, asking me what in the world I had done to achieve that. I shook my head saying that I hadn't done anything. My statement was absolutely true; I hadn't done anything to revoke Sudo's expulsion. But I had a fair idea of what might have taken place.

Horikita was the one who had payed her Private Points to buy one mark for Sudo's test paper, hence cancelling his expulsion. I knew this was the only possible option.

However, this was something that fueled my suspicions even more. I was sure Ayanokoji and Horikita had left the class together yesterday. Since it is unwise and rude to contact a teacher after school hours, I inferred they must have visited Chabashira-sensei then. Which would mean Ayanokoji was also with Horikita at the time of the point transfer with sensei, though I couldn't be too sure of the last part. All these unanswered questions and variables favored Ayanokoji, and I wasn't able to form any hypothesis as to why Horikita was the one who was taking credit.

Another reason of my suspicion was how Horikita had gathered the points required to pay for Sudo's mark. The new month had just begun, and everyone had definitely spent a large number of points already. If marks were that cheap to buy, everyone would be paying and getting out of failing grades. Was there someone else who had shared the cost? Ayanokoji, perhaps?

Was I overthinking it? Maybe Ayanokoji is just a normal student after all. Maybe he tagged along with Horikita because she had no one to call a friend. Maybe he was just accompanying her, and had nothing to actually do with it? Unless I find more concrete evidence and justification that Ayanokoji is indeed involved in the class affairs from behind the scenes, I had to go along with him just being a side character. Innocent until proven guilty.

Sudo was looking at Horikita like his savior, which she indeed was. Looks like she had found herself her first admirer. Too bad it had to be someone from the Idiot Trio.

Slowly, I could see it. Horikita was slowly making her way to the top of the class hierarchy. She had initially come off as distant, cold and unforgiving, but as she continued to help the class, she was gaining the trust of her fellow classmates, one by one. Yosuke was happy to see her development as well, and stated that he would love to work along with her in pursuit of reaching Class A. I nodded along with Yosuke, and while I did, I caught Chabashira-sensei's gaze on me, and when our eyes met, she averted her eyes, and left homeroom.

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I was contemplating whether to reveal my identity to Kikyo Kushida or not.

I was having a brainstorming session in my room ranging various topics, including Ayanokoji's actions, Horikita, and more importantly, Kushida. I had come to a conclusion that since Class A was the target, we must first overcome the hurdle of making it to Class C. I had heard that Class C was under a dictatorship rule, but their leader was unknown to me. It would be much easier to ascend to Class A if we focused on small targets first. Also, I had come to realize that class alliances would be of high strategic importance in the future. Sensei had never told us anything about how to gain Class Points as such. It was only known that Class Points would be awarded depending on our academic and physical performances.

Which would mean that Class D was at an overwhelming disadvantage, since our class consisted of most of the average to below average students.

I could not see a reason why this would be so. It almost felt like the school was designed to make Class D fail. If you're not given chances, you cannot possibly hope to reach Class A. This meant that there must be some other way to gain Class Points, something that was not based solely on academics and sports.