COTE Year 2 Reimagined

Volume 1:Part 13

I decided to skip on school for the rest of this week, and so did Sudo. That was I could try to recover over the weekend, but it was unlikely that my hand would heal so quickly, which meant getting questions about it was unavoidable.

Horikita called me after school and told me that she worked with Nanase to form the pairs. Apparently, they managed to pair up almost the entire class in one day, and tomorrow, they'd take care of anyone left.

I sent a request for Hosen to partner up with me online, and he accepted. It seemed he managed to keep his word even though he's been skipping out on school as well.

I decided to take it easy and closed my eyes while I lay in bed.

_____________________________________________

Kiyotaka promised to explain what was going on, but I texted him all day and was completely ignored! I was ready to yell at him after school, but he didn't even show up. I was frustrated, but I was also worried. Lately, Kiyotaka has been working on his own, and for some reason, I was worried. I've never seen him lose, and yet this I had a bad feeling. That's why I told him to take care a few days ago when I noticed his weird behaviour.

I walked up to Horikita-san right after class ended.

"Hey..do you know why Sudo and Kiy-Ayanokoji aren't here? They were with you yesterday, right?"

"They're fine. I believe they're just slacking off after one victory."

She was just as vague as Kiyotaka. Ugh.

"Is that it, though? Yousuke-kun seemed worried, but he didn't want to bother you."

"Hirata-kun was worried? He seemed fine this morning."

"He didn't want to bother you I said!"

She was so dense that it was getting on my nerves.

Why did I care anyways...Kiyotaka was ignoring me..screw him.

"Is he okay?"

"He? Is something wrong, Karuizawa-san?"

"No..forget it. Sorry."

I walked away from her to try and get some space, but I was approached by someone I didn't want to see right now.

"Karuizawa-san...can I talk to you?"

"Satou-san, I have something right now, sorry."

Satou-san has been asking me to talk for a while now, but I've tried avoiding her. I knew what this was about, and I didn't want to face it. Especially not right now.

She looked down defeated and started to walk away...what's wrong with me?

"I can meet you later today...if you want?"

She looked back, and her eyes lit up in joy.

"Really? Thank you so much, Karuizawa-san!"

We decided on our meeting spot and parted ways,I told her to meet me later because I had something to do first.

I made my way to the boys' dorm, and thankfully, most of them were still at school or didn't head home immediately. I made my way to his floor and walked all the way over to his door before knocking.

I waited. It was already a minute. Then two. And three. He wasn't going to answer... I started to walk away but then I heard it. He opened the door and looked at me. I was so angry at him that I just wanted to yell. But then I looked down, and his hand was wrapped in bandages. I audibly gasped, but then my hand over my mouth so I don't make any noise. He acted so normal and just let into his room. As soon as he shut the door, I couldn't shut up anymore.

"Kiyotaka, what the hell? Your hand? What happened? Are you okay??"

I bombarded him with more questions than he could answer at once, but he didn't react he just stood next to me, looking at me with the same expressionless eyes he always had.

"I'm fine, really. Why did you come all the way here?"

I knew Kiyotaka better than most people at this school, but even I couldn't understand him right now.

"You're fine? What happened? I came here because I was worried about you! And it looks like I was right!"

He sat down on the bed and urged me to sit next to him. So I did as I was told.

"Did Horikita say something? Why were you worried?"

"No! She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. I just had a bad feeling about this whole exam. Ever since it started, you've been acting weird, and I was worried. I told you to take care, didn't I?"

He was still looking at me, but I could notice a change in his eyes. It was so insignificant that most people wouldn't even notice it, but I did. I've seen Kiyotaka's eyes so many times, and they never changed. I didn't know what it meant, and I was too scared to ask, so I didn't comment about it.

"You're right. I'm sorry for not including you, but I had my reasons."

"What reason?"

He proceeded to tell me the story, and he told me that someone was paying private points in order to have him expelled he told what Hosen and Amasawa were planning and how it all went down...and how his hand was stabbed...

I still didn't get why he didn't include me. Was he worried about me? No... as much as I would like that, I don't think that was it. Maybe he didn't think I could be of use? It bothered me to even think about it, but this was probably the only reason.

"Don't you have plans?"

Is he kicking me out...

"I did, but I'm going to cancel."

Sorry, Satou-san, I can't just leave him now.

"Why?"

He could be so dense sometimes...

"I can't just leave you like this..I mean do you even have any food? Can you do anything with your hand like this?"

"Horikita and I went to the convenience store yesterday. I bought all the food I would need till the exam day,I don't plan to leave until then. And he didn't stab my dominant hand, so I'm fine."

I guess it did make sense, but the way he was so calm about it was freaky.

"What will you say about your arm?"

"Who knows? I'll try to make up some excuse."

"Fine. But I'll visit you tomorrow to make sure you're fine."

"Sure. We can also use this time to study."

I wanted to hang out for fun... but I guess studying was inevitable.

"I'll get going now. I don't wanna be late."

"Bye. Thank you for worrying about me."

I didn't know if his words were genuine,i couldn't trust anything around Kiyotaka but...I was happy to hear them regardless.

And now my meeting with Satou-san...