COTE : All Out

V1 : Chapter 3

Ayanokoji POV

We are currently sitting in the back of Pallet Café, away from the other students in order to discuss about the school.

"Okay, so... Let's begin!" Matsushita spoke with excitement in her voice. "First of all, Ayanokoji-kun, you said earlier that you wanted to have proof before talking to the rest of the class, why is that? Wouldn't it be better to have more people on this? They say 'two heads are better than one', so wouldn't forty be even better?"

Her idea made sense, to some extent. But...

"I don't think it's always better to have more people. Having people that can suggest good ideas would be great, but can you be sure that even a tenth of their ideas will be of any use?" I responded logically. Even someone who wasn't paying attention to the class would realise that they would likely just make a fuss and slow everything down.

"I'm sorry, Ayanokoji-kun, but i have to disagree. We don't know the others well enough to judge them yet." Hirata said, though it was pretty obvious that he didn't believe it either.

"If you want to tell the others, you are free to do so. But when they start laughing at you, don't be surprised."

"Well, they didn't laugh at your question, why would they laugh at me?" He tried to argue.

"Karuizawa" She slightly jumped after I suddenly spoke to her. "Why did you not laugh at my question?"

"Huh, oh, well, Chabashira-sensei said that you were the one who got a perfect score. So it felt like there was no way what you asked was stupid, i guess." She finished saying, taking a sip of her milkshake.

I looked back to face Hirata.

"And even then, most quickly forgot about it. Why do you think they'd hear you out? You may have gained a lot of popularity on the first day, but it probably isn't enough to maintain order in the class, no?"

"Yeah... I guess you are right..." He spoke again, a sad smile on his face.

I decided to speak up again.

"However" Everyone turned towards me. "That doesn't mean it's going to be just us."

"Then who else?" Satou spoke for the first time in a while.

"Those who can help us." The people who remained skeptical after my question and didn't brush it off would probably be able to help at least a bit.

"Like?" Karuizawa questioned, unsure since she was one of those who dismissed the question.

"Hmm." I pretended that I'm trying to come up with an answer and took a thoughtful pose. "Yukimura and that girl that sits next to me. They, along with Matsushita and Hirata, were the ones who didn't dismiss the question. Kushida too."

I was reluctant to include Kushida here. There is something weird about her. Something that makes me distrust her.

"Yeah, that does sound like a good indicator of whether they'll be useful or not." Matsushita said while nodding to herself.

"Then it's settled! We'll talk to them tomorrow." Hirata stated to which I nodded.

"Umm, what about us though?" Satou said, referring to herself and Karuizawa."We dismissed the question. Are we gonna be there?" Looks like she's afraid that she'll be left out.

Karuizawa also looked a bit anxious.

"You can be there. Don't worry." Hirata reassured the two.

"Yeah, you already know most of it already, there's no reason to leave you out." Matsushita supported Hirata's answer.