COTE Year 2 Reimagined

Volume 2:Part 3

I went back to my dorm and decided I'd lay in bed and read through the guide given to us by Chabashira and try learn everything I can but then my peace was disrupted by a knock on my door.

I got up to see who it was, and it was Kei. This was earlier than our normal meetings, so I was confused, but I let her in regardless.

Whenever Kei was in my room lately, she'd bring a drink and some food, but she looked to be empty-handed this time. I told her to sit down and went into the kitchen to make her something.

"You're here early."

"Sorry for not calling, but I wanted to discuss the exam. What do you think?"

I figured this was probably why she came here.

"The rules are vague. We only got the basics so far, so I can't really say."

"Hmph, I guess."

Kei seemed upset. Apparently, she thought I could read minds or look into the future. I couldn't.

I brought her the drink and sat next to her.

"We should be getting our cards in a few minutes. Is that why you came here now?"

"Yeah, I wanted to be with you when we received them so you could tell me what to do."

"I see."

We went over the rules again, and I explained to Kei anything she didn't understand about the exam until we received our cards... and finally, they were here.

"What did you get??"

Kei was curious about what I got before even checking out her own phone.

I looked at the message I received, and my card was...Trials. It was one of the three special cards,it would give me double the class points but it would also get me expelled if I didn't make it into the top 25%

Kei was very excited to see me get a special card.

"This is perfect, Kiyotaka! If you get first place, you'll earn 600 class points!"

"First place?"

"You can do that, right?"

"I don't know. There's still a lot of mystery about the rules of this exam. I'd say it's a 50% chance for now."

"Saying you have a 50% chance is amazing enough as it is, though."

"Even if I could, I don't know if I will."

Kei pouted. She was disappointed.

"Since when did you care about the class so much?"

"I've always cared about the class! I mean, we gotta make it to class A together, right?"

"Mhmm."

She seemed proud when I agreed with her.

"So you just want 60,000 extra private points per month?"

"What! I mean.. they wouldn't hurt, but like I'm obviously just thinking about the class first. How low do you think I am Kiyotaka??"

"Low."

Her mouth hung open in shock. She didn't expect that response, apparently. She gathered her thoughts and proceeded to punch my shoulder.

"Well, you're not wrong. I was thinking of the private points, but you're supposed to support me anyway!"

That didn't make any sense.

She proceeded to look at her own card now.

"Is this one useful, Kiyotaka?"

No. It wasn't.

"It can help."

She looked at me suspiciously. She knew I was lying.

"Jerk! Don't lie about that!"

"You said I was supposed to support you anyway."

"Yes, support ME, not my useless card!"

I looked at her in confusion, but even though she was yelling a second ago, she started to laugh suddenly. I didn't understand what was so funny but she seemed to be enjoying herself so I let her be.

After she was laughing, we sat in silence for a while, but it was surprisingly not awkward at all.

"Kiyotaka?"

"Yes?"

"Who will you partner up with on this exam?"

"I'm not sure. I think I might go alone but I haven't decided."

"I see. Well... I thought you could partner with me? So you can protect me, you know.. I'm worried."

I did consider partnering up with Kei, but it was too risky. I didn't know how Tsukishiro would attack me during this exam. If he chose to attack me by sabotaging my points in some way to drop me to the bottom 5, then Kei might get needlessly dragged into it.

"Why are you worried? Only 5 groups are getting expelled. The chances of you being in the bottom 5 are very low."

"But I don't have anyone I can trust. I don't know who to partner up with."

"Do you want me to help you find a group?"

"No...its not that."

"Are you really that worried?"

"Yes. I feel like I might get expelled here."

"How many private points do you have?"

"What? About...500,000, I think. Why?"

"I have around 200,000."

I was missing 300,000.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll gather up point for you. So even if you end up in the bottom 5, you won't be expelled. We have 700,000. If I can buy a card that reduces the price by half, then you'd only need 1,000,000, assuming you're in a group of three. If you manage to get a group of six, then you'd only need 500,000.
Right now, we're missing 300,000."

"W-wait Kiyotaka its fine, really! You don't have to do all of that."

"I want to. I don't want you to get expelled. I don't think you will be normally, but if you spend your time worrying, you'll perform worse and might actually end up in the bottom 5."

That was true. Kei was strong enough to make it through this exam even without me, but if she spent the whole time on edge and worrying about expulsion, she might end up actually getting expelled. I didn't want that,Kei was a useful ally, and her company was enjoyable. If I had to judge whether she was worth a million points, I'd say yes, so that's a trade I was willing to make.

"I'll sell my special card. It should get me enough points to buy a half off card and reach 1,000,000 in total."

"But wouldn't Horikita-san object? I mean, this card gives a good chance at passing the other classes."

"It's my card. I'll sell it to save you."

Her eyes lit up when I said that.

"Alright then... thank you."

Kei was significantly more cheerful after that. We started studying as usual, and then I lay in bed while listening to her ridiculous stories. We've done this exact same routine so many times now, but I didn't feel bored. Probably because the stories Kei told got more ridiculous every time.

It was time for her to leave, so I walked her to the door. She stood there for a second before quickly moving her face towards mine and kissing me on the cheek. After doing that, she ran away like she had just stolen something from my room. I could still feel her lips on my cheek,it felt warm. I wonder how I was supposed to feel during that moment. Should my heartbeat have risen? Should my face have turned red in embarrassment? The thought of that was nice, but I didn't know if I was even capable of such emotions.

When I walked back into my room, I noticed Kei had left her drink untouched yet again...this was the third time she's done this. Did she disapprove of my coffee making skills? Is that why she's been bringing her own food and drinks lately? I felt offended. I needed to investigate further and deduce if my skills really were the problem.