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

Chapter 52 - Realization

"Peep peep, coming through....."

Chiaki strutted into my room while making cute choo-choo train noises, and Yosuke, Horikita, Kiyotaka and Karuizawa walked in soon after.

"Excuse the intrusion," Yosuke said politely, and I locked the door behind us.

"What is it that you wanted to tell us, Kei-chan?" Chiaki asked, and she plopped herself down on my bed.

Remind me not to wash that bed cover.

"It's got to do with the Paper Shuffle," I replied. "And it's extremely important. Horikita gets the gist of it already, so please listen very closely."

Chiaki's smile faded from her face, and it was replaced with a serious look more befitting the atmosphere of the room.

"So? What is it?" Kiyotaka asked me.

"We have a potential spy working for us from Class C."

Silence.

More silence.

"Huh?"

Yosuke muttered incomprehensibly, and Karuizawa tilted her head questioningly. Kiyotaka furrowed his eyebrows.

"I meant exactly what I said. We have a spy working for us from Class C."

"Wait, hold on," Chiaki interjected. "Aren't you making a mistake? Don't you mean there is a spy from Class D working for us?"

"No. I know what I said," I replied crisply. "Hiroya Tokito from Class C. He's working for me."

"But I don't understand, Takeyama-kun," Karuizawa-san spoke up. "Why would someone from Class C work for you?"

"I think he's coming to that, Karuizawa-san," Horikita spoke up for the first time in the room. "I've already confirmed its authenticity. We indeed have someone from Class C working for us. But whether he means good or bad, that is something only time will tell."

"But that still doesn't answer a major question," Yosuke pointed out. "Why? Why would someone from Class C be willing to sabotage their own class? I would understand if they had a huge personal gain out of it, but....."

"There's no personal gain for Tokito here," I said. "He's acting out of pure resistance against Ryuuen."

"Resistance..... against Ryuuen?"

"Precisely. Chiaki had herself told me that there still exists a discontent faction within Class C, wholly opposing Ryuuen's regime," I said. "And Hiroya Tokito is the only one left in this group."

"So..... he's planning to sabotage his entire class just so he can topple Ryuuen-kun?" Chiaki wondered. "That's so not smart....."

"That's what it looks like on the surface though, right?" Yosuke observed. "I mean, what if he's just pretending to be a spy for us? A potential double-agent with only one true allegiance to Class C?"

"I've thought of that, and I haven't dismissed the possibility at all," I said. "But it is still true that Hiroya Tokito has been giving me quite some useful intel on Class C's internal affairs. Whether it's fake or not, I'll figure it out soon."

"Wait, so like, you haven't figured it out yet?" Karuizawa-san wondered aloud. "I thought someone like Takeyama-kun would have figured that out very quickly....."

I sighed.

"It's not about whether I can figure out his true intentions or not. It's just that currently he's working for me, and it makes little sense to shoo away a potential trump card when there's clearly no underlying risk."