COTE: Class D's Masked Guardian

Vol 1. Chapter 19 - Parasitic Feelings

"I'm sorry, Karuizawa, I really am."

Karuizawa was broken: she was crying and vulnerable, in every sense of the word.

The sight in front of me, the sight of what my actions had caused, the once headstrong and stubborn girl, sitting next to me in the foetal position, desperately trying to hide herself.

That sight was... wonderful. Yes, I thought it was wonderful.

Everything had gone to plan. Just like Horikita, I would attempt to break Karuizawa.

Why? Because she may have potential, and to release it, I have to rebuild her from the ground up.

Although Karuizawa Kei has been displaying rather aloof behaviour over the past week, her actions and her words seemed almost fake; a facade to hide something she did not want revealed. And I entertained the possibility that she possessed talents that one could not expect a 'gyaru' to have.

However, it seems I was wrong. What she was truly trying to keep hidden beneath the depths of her deceptive personality was something darker than I could have ever imagined.

On my goal to snuff out anyone with the potential to beat me and test the talents of those born in a 'normal' world, I had misfired, and caught Karuizawa in the crossfire. An innocent girl who had already suffered enough.

How unfortunate...

for her.

This was the second best scenario that could have possibly occurred. Her flirtatious actions and lustful look from earlier could be a sign of potential romantic feelings towards me, which I can utilise to ensure that Karuizawa will always attach herself to me. Agreeing with me, following me, doing whatever I ask her to, similar to how she has been acting with Hirata.

But there will be a significant difference between the treatment Hirata had received and what I could potentially receive, was love.

An emotion that I had long since abandoned to survive was easily identifiable in the looks that Karuizawa has been giving me. True, she has been giving Hirata the very same glances, but those were all fake.

There was no hint of emotions in any of her actions catered towards Class D's prince. She was so clingy, so outgoing with him, yet she never truly felt anything towards him like she wanted everyone to believe. I may not have been deceived, but everyone else had been.

While she doesn't possess the talents I was originally looking for, I must say, she did have masterful acting skills.

Regardless, her poking and prodding of my body during swimming classes may have been just an act, but her blush when I said a few specific words revealed the true feelings she harboured for me.

'You can do that anywhere else'.

To her, my words made it seem like I was fine with her touching me, as long as we weren't in public.

These connotations had her instinctively reacting as if I had blatantly confessed to her. After all, saying that she could touch my body in private was basically an admittance to my attraction towards her.

And that was exactly what I wanted. I wanted- no, I needed her to believe that there was a chance that I reciprocate her feelings. If she hadn't, then I would have had no use for her as my pawn.

However, things had gone the way I wanted, barring a few misjudgments, and Karuizawa was no longer just a pawn; with what had just occurred, she was promoted to parasite.

And now that she was broken, and in her most vulnerable moment, I would become her saviour, and the parasite's host.

"Karuizawa, what happened just now, there's no need to think too much into it. I'm on your side, remember? It'll be our first secret, like the ones couples share with each other," I commented, causing Karuizawa to blush.