A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 24 - Zodiac Exam (3)

(Zodiac Exam, Day 1, Fukumoto Akio, POV)

"Hey, Fukumoto?"

I felt a strong hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me, trying to get my attention.

"What?" I asked.

"Are you alright? You spaced out for a moment."

"Oh, yeah, I think I'm fine. I must have just been rambling..."

The man beside me paused for a moment. It took me a moment that I was talking to Ayanokouji again.

"Sorry, if you don't mind me asking," I said.

"Hm?"

"But, what were we talking about. I zoned out for a moment there."

"We were finishing our conversation about how our first discussions went," Ayanokouji replied.

"I see... Do you think it might be best to speak with Horikita too? Ask her how her meeting went?"

"That's probably for the best."

Ayanokouji and I left our spot just outside the Rabbit Group's meeting room and made our way to the Dragon Group.

It shouldn't have been too long since their meeting finished, so we could still catch Horikita leaving the discussion.

We quickly made our way to the conference room for the Dragon Group. But to our surprise, no one was around, and the doors were still closed.

Not wanting to stand around and wait, Ayanokouji and I took a seat nearby and patiently waited to see if anyone would come out.

10 minutes passed.

20 minutes passed.

"Do you think they left before we got here?" Ayanokouji asked.

"I don't know, they may have. We could call Horikita and as-."

Before I could finish my sentence, the doors to the conference room swung open.

The first one out; was none other than the dictator of Class C himself, Ryuuen.

"Oh, sure took long in there, Ryuuen. Were some group members using too big of words for you, so you had to ask them all to explain it to you in a dumber way?"

Ryuuen shot a side glance toward me. "You really think you're funny, eh?"

"Whatever annoys you seems funny to me," I replied.

"Piss off, ant."

Ryuuen paid no further attention to us and left in a hurry, with his Class C lackeys following close behind.

"Ayanokouji-kun? Fukumoto-kun? What are you two doing here?" Kushida had exited the conference room with Horikita and Hirata following close behind.

"We came to see how the illustrious Dragon Group was fairing," I replied.

"Hehe~ it went fairly well, I'd say. We all got along very well!"

Seems like Kushida was only concerned about how well the group cooperated, not the outcome.

"Huh, that's always nice..."

"That's not completely true," Horikita stepped in. "Class A, led by Katsuragi-kun, has adopted a complete defense strategy. No one from Class A is going to participate in these discussions. As for Class C, it's a burden trying to deal with Ryuuen," Horikita rubbed both her temples to emphasize the pain that is Ryuuen.

"It's not all bad," Hirata joined in. "Class B seems willing to cooperate with us."

"Yes, but other than that, I have almost no idea how anything will get done in this group," Horikita replied.