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

Chapter 58 - Camouflage

( Takeyama POV )

The first day of winter vacations.

After waking up this morning, I stared up at the ceiling absentmindedly, and let out a small sigh.

"So today's the day, huh....."

I picked myself off my exceedingly comfortable bed, and washed up.

As I made my way down to the lobby, there were several first-years gathered around the mailboxes, seemingly whispering frantically about something. I lifted my eyebrows at the unimpressive spectacle.

"What's going on?"

I approached Kanzaki-kun, who was clutching onto a piece of paper tightly, almost as though he had some sort of personal vendetta against it.

Kanzaki turned to look at me with a sour look on his face.

"Damn that Ryuuen."

"I..... what?" I replied blankly.

"Check your mailbox. You'll probably find it as well," was Kanzaki's short reply.

I nodded in understanding, and pushed my way through the crowd towards my mailbox. I flicked out the key from my pocket, proceeded to open the box.

Inside, was a sheet of paper, folded aggressively, almost like it were thrown inside with real hatred.

I narrowed my eyes, and picked up the sheet.

Ichinose Honami has been illegally collecting Private Points.

~~ Ryuuen

"The hell is this.....?"

Did Ryuuen really write this?

If he did, why would he write his name at the bottom of the sheet? Why was he advertising to the rest of the grade that he was the one who came up with this plan?

I stared at the scribbled untidy handwriting on the paper. I haven't seen this handwriting before. It didn't belong to anyone in our class, if I remember correctly. But it is entirely possible that the person who wrote this changed their handwriting to avoid suspicion. I wasn't a handwriting analyzer, so I couldn't possibly know more than this.

"What do you think?"

Kanzaki approached me, and pointed to the sheet of paper. It seemed that everyone in the grade had received these letters, and all letters had the same contents.

"It's weird. Why would Ryuuen do this?" I asked no one in particular.

I slowly widened my eyes, and looked around the crowd, surreptitiously searching for a tuft of brown hair in the midst.

I found Kiyotaka towards the end, and he was chatting with Katsuragi.

Didn't know they were close.

Kiyotaka's eyes met mine, and after 2 seconds of staring, he nodded lightly.

I concluded that Kiyotaka was the one who wrote these letters.

There cannot be anyone else. He just confirmed it.

Did he write this to throw Ryuuen off track? Once Ryuuen comes to know of this letter, won't he immediately try to dispel the rumors?