COTE: Class D's Masked Guardian

Vol 1. Chapter 12 - Horikita Suzune

We had just finished our interviews, and there was only about ten minutes left of lunch. Ichinose and I had agreed on fulfilling my end of the deal tomorrow, during lunch. However, additions had been made to the exchange. First of all, I would now be given an extra favour (to be used at any time) in exchange for why I was chosen to be vice president so early on in the school year. Secondly, she also wanted to know why I had chosen her as my secretary.

These additions to our exchange mostly benefited Ichinose, however I also had a lot that I could potentially gain.

The favour could be used for practically anything that was within the rules and laws of morality.

While I (unfortunately) couldn't ask for something as degenerate as 'please be my sex slave!' I could request for something like an alliance between Class D and Class B.

Additionally, having Ichinose Honami as my secretary was incredibly beneficial. Currently, I had no information on the rest of the classes, but Ichinose seemed to be talented in the field of socialising. This made her the best bet for me to gather intel on the rest of the year level, or even the school.

Of course, Kushida and Hirata had also seen their popularity grow in the past two days, but it would do good for me to not stress my already defective classmates with extra tasks. Ichinose was in Class B, so she was most likely beyond just capable, so I had no doubt that she could easily balance her work as a secretary and her class matters.

As I made my way to my seat and took out a lunch set that I had bought from the convenience store this morning, I saw my seatmate slowly nibbling on a sandwich.

Was Horikita always this cute?

"Ayanokouji-kun, you're staring at me again," she said, pulling me out of my quickly generating fantasies.

Hey, don't judge. I'm still a teenage boy, you know?

"Ah, I'm sorry. I was just going to tell you something but I decided against it." There was no point in telling her that I had become the vice-president, it would be announced later anyway.

"What were you going to tell me, Ayanokouji-kun?" she asked, eyebrows arched and curiosity peaked.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, Horikita."

I tried to drop the topic, but she persisted, "I feel like I do need to worry about it. It's about the student council isn't it?" Horikita was no longer her 'ice queen' demeanour, she was more softly spoken and seemed a lot more like a normal girl than she had been only this morning.

Was this because the topic was linked to her brother?

"You'll know about it later, anyway. They're going to announce whether any of the students were able to secure a spot in the council."

"Fine. It looks like you're not going to tell me, so I'll let it go for now. But, since it would be beneficial for the class to have you in the student council..." she stopped abruptly, seemingly gathering the courage to continue speaking, "I wish you good luck."

A/N: Not being subtle here, I want her progression to be a lot faster than the light novels, but still not too unrealistically paced.

Startled by her unusual behaviour, I stared into her eyes as she reciprocated with a vulnerable look of her own; there were no hints that she was lying. In fact, she seemed a little surprised that she was able to say that herself.

Perhaps Horikita really did have a lot of potential? I mean, I don't know what she is capable of just yet, but she was able to develop quite easily under the influence of me rather than her brother. Was his method really that bad? While mine was straightforward and truthful, Horikita Manabu must have chosen an indirect way that confused and hurt her little sister.