COTE Year 2 Reimagined

Volume 3:Part 6

The 4th day of the exam began, and I managed to snatch the early bird bonus on my first designated area. I was acquiring points at a steady pace. Nanase kept up with me much easier after actually eating yesterday, we also ate before heading out this morning, so she was in a way better condition overall.

On my way to my second area, I noticed Ryuen and Katsuragi camping. I decided to give up on the early bird bonus and speak to them instead.

"Where are you going, Senpai?"

"Let's rest here. I want to speak with someone."

She nodded and followed me.

"Ryuen. Katsuragi."

They noticed my presence and looked somewhat surprised. Ryuen turned his attention to Nanase and laughed.

"And who's that? Are you sick of Karuizawa already?"

"Karuizawa?"

Katsuragi didn't seem to understand, but Ryuen ignored him.

"The hell you want Ayanokoji?"

He was still smirking as usual.

"I just thought I'd help you out."

"Help me?"

"Yes. Two of your classmates got eliminated yesterday. They were attacked."

His smile faded instantly. Ryuen used to be a tyrant who didn't care about his class one bit, but now he actually protected his classmates. Unless they disobeyed his orders, of course.

"What?"

"Komiya and Kinoshita were attacked yesterday. Shinohara is staying with three of my classmates. They wanted to combine groups, but I'm not sure if they've managed to do so."

"Any idea who the hell did it?"

"No clue. I just saw you and thought I'd warn you."

Katsuragi looked troubled this entire conversation but listened without saying a word.

"Thank you for your help, Ayanokoji."

He was grateful. I nodded at him and then turned my attention to Ryuen.

"If I had to guess, then I'd say it was a first year."

I had no doubt that the person who attacked Komiya and Kinoshita was the agent sent by that man. No regular student could be skilled enough to pull something like that off without being seen. When I returned to Sudo, he said that Komiya didn't see anyone push him.

The strange detail was the fact that Shinohara claimed the attacker was a male, but Nanase claimed that the stalked was a female. So, were they not the sane person? If that was the case, I'd be dealing with two different insanely skilled students. But there's also a chance that either Shinohara or Nanase were mistaken.

Ryuen scoffed at my response and pulled something out of his bag.

"Here. I don't owe you shit Ayanokoji. You got that?"

He threw a box containing multiple pieces of jerky at me. I suppose this was his way of thanking me.

"Good luck on your test. Make good use of my card."

Ryuend laughed, and Katsuragi nodded. I left their campsite, and Nanase followed closely.

We managed to make it to the second area in time, but due to us being late, we were forced to head to the third area immediately and skip out on any tasks or we'd miss the bonus.

We made it to the third area without any problems and grabbed the first place bonus. I checked my tablet to see what tasks were around and noticed a task on a nearby mountain. It was tug of war. The task gave you point and food for simply participating. It was a generous offer but made sense considering it was on a mountain. Nanase agreed to my idea, and we headed there. It should've been an easy win, but unfortunately, Koenji of all people was here.