A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 40 - Resolve (1)

(Horikita Suzune, POV)

All the students were fairly tired from today's events. They left the classroom one by one looking completely drained from their activities.

With no club activities today, students such as Sudo-kun, got to leave at their own leisure while chatting with their friends.

Even Ayanokouji-kun seemed as tired as the other students since he decided to leave rather quickly. He did give me a glance before leaving, though, maybe he was curious as to why I was still staying.

"Not leaving yet?" he asked.

"No, I have some matters to attend to. But I'm grateful for your help today," I responded.

Ayanokouji-kun didn't offer any words in response, he gave me a slight wave as he made his way back to the dorms.

"You know there's no reason to be staying behind," a voice called out to me. "There are no club activities today, and I'm sure you're not in one. Unless it's some secret nerd club, that would be funny."

I looked up from my bag to see a familiar face looming over me.

"I hate when you stand that close to me, Fukumoto-kun."

He took a step back while raising his hands in defeat. "My bad, my bad. But seriously, shouldn't you be going back to the dorms? You have to recover from your injury."

"I appreciate the concern. But I have some matters to attend to that prohibit me from recovering just yet."

"Ah... I see. You need some assistance?" Fukumoto asked.

"No. This is something I must atone for. I've realized where I need to mature and grow," I replied, picking up my bag. "This is my own doing."

"If you say so..."

Finally, everyone had left the room. It was time to give my response to Ryuuen. He had played me like a fiddle this entire festival. It's my own fault our class and myself ended up in this position. I needed to be the one to atone for this.

Even though I felt this crushing weight of defeat. There was also a sense of clarity I found within it. Suffering this devastating loss to Ryuuen made me realize many things. Had I not gone through this, I would've been stuck in a cycle of helplessness never truly improving on myself.

"Sorry, Horikita-san. I got distracted for a minute," Kushida said as she brought her hands up in an apologetic gesture.

"That's fine. We should get this over with."

~~~

"Kukuku. I'm impressed. I had you pegged as the coward-type, Suzune. I'm glad you proved me wrong," Ryuuen said.

"Running away wasn't an option. I don't want to satisfy your outlandish desires anymore," I replied.

"You've really grown now, haven't you."

"Tch. Before we discuss, I ask for one simple thing."

"What is it?"

I turned to look Kushida-san dead in the eyes. "Drop the charade. It must get tiresome being like this all the time."

"Huh? Uh? Charade? I don't quite understand what you mean?" Kushida replied while sheepishly rubbing her forearm.

"I don't particularly care for your act as a good person. But the main reason why we are here now is because of you. You leaked vital information to Class C, you worked with Ryuuen to get me here."

Kushida's radiant smile quickly turned into an icy scowl. "My, my. Did Fukumoto-kun, Ayanokouji-kun, or Hirata-kun put these dastardly thoughts in your head?"