COTE: Class D's Masked Guardian

Vol 1. Chapter 23 - An Awkward Way to Start the Day

Today was Friday, May 1st. The day where the hell for many students would officially start, and the school's hidden purpose would slowly begin to unravel. As I lay there on my bed, resting the back of my head in my hands, I couldn't help but recall the month that had gone by so quickly.

So far, almost everything has been going according to plan. Although we were at a 200 class points disadvantage, it was necessary to spend that amount on the information about the s-system. I had to have Sae reveal it using legitimate means so as to not put both her and I in a compromising position that would garner the suspicion of the school board. If Sae were caught revealing the s-system to class D for free, the board would smell foul play, and most likely fire her, which would also lead me to trouble because of my attempt at blackmailing a teacher.

In hindsight, there were other ways for everything to have played out after the first day, but that certainly was the easiest way to gain information, something that I was initially lacking.

There was also my failed effort at calculating a way to gather over 800 million private points over the course of three years. To do such a thing, I would need to engage in a contract similar to the one that I had proposed to class B with at least 6 other classes. Such a thing would be virtually impossible to do, so I had naturally given up on such a prospect.

However, that would mean that I would have to rescind the contract between class B and I. And that is where the problem arises: I hadn't had any contact with Ichinose, nor any student of class B, since I proposed the contract.

I had feared such a thing would happen; they were class B, after all. They must have reevaluated the contract, and determined that losing such a large amount of private points wouldn't benefit them at all. Besides, they had no way of confirming that I could ensure their ascension to class A.

So, it was either Ichinose had been a lot more cautious than I expected, or there was someone else in class B who was both intelligent and attentive. How interesting...

Regardless, with the long awaited arrival of the first of May, they would have to confront me about the contract after their teacher revealed the truth to them.

At exactly 6 am, I got out of bed and continued my regular morning routine. Eat breakfast, a quick work out, shower, and then head off for school. But today, something was different. While I would regularly check my phone while I was working out for updates and messages in our class' group chat, today I received a message from the school itself.

Your account balance has just been updated by +230,000 private points.

230,000 private points... Subtracting the 150,000 I was promised by president Manabu, then I had been distributed 80,000 private points, which I can only assume to be our class points converted into private points.

As expected, we gained 800 class points after having bought the ins and outs of the s-system. Additionally, I had spent almost 200,000 private points to delete and alter camera footage, meaning that our class points shouldn't have decreased due to the rare blips in behaviour during class.

However, with everything going so perfectly for me and Class D, curiosity overcame me, and I was interested in how a class higher than ours would fare in the cruel climate of this school.

So, eager to find the answers to my questions, I quickly opened my phone and called my secretary, Ichinose Honami.

"Ayanokouji-kun? Is there something that you need?" Her voice was groggy, as if she had just woken up. Perhaps calling her at 7:00 am was a bit too early...

"Sorry for the early call Ichinose. I must have woken you up, didn't I?" I quickly apologised.

"No no, it's okay. I usually wake up around this time anyway. So, why did you call me?"