COTE Year 2 Reimagined

Volume 3:Part 7

I had planned to leave before Kei and the others woke up, but to my surprise, they all woke up early. It seemed like Kei was really trying to keep them in check. I had some time before my first area, so we decided to have breakfast together.

"Can I ask the three of you a question?"

Nanase, who was sitting next to me, directed her attention to Kei's group

"Sure! What do you need, Nanase-san?"

Satou was quick to respond while giving Nanase a smile.

"Would you consider Ayanokoji-senpai a good person?"

There it is again. One of her odd questions. I kept eating my food and just listened.

Satou was taken aback by the question, and Matsushita was thinking about an answer. Kei, however, looked to already have an answer, but she didn't speak.

"Of course he is, I mean, Ayanokoji-kun always keeps to himself and avoids making many friends, but he's still a good person!"

Satou was the first to respond.

"I'm not sure since Ayanokoji-kun and I aren't that close, but I never got the impression that he was a bad person. Like Satou-san said, he always just keeps to himself and doesn't bother anyone. My impression would be that Ayanokoji-kun just wants a peaceful life away from trouble."

As always, Matsushita's deductions were on point. Nanase nodded and turned her attention to Kei.

"What do you think, Karuizawa-senpai?"

"Do you think you're a good person, Nanase-san?"

Kei gave her a glare and turned the situation around. She obviously couldn't call me a "good person" when she knew my true nature. As Matsushita said, I only want a peaceful life, but if anyone were to threaten that peace, I wouldn't hesitate to eliminate them with whatever means necessary. She's seen that firsthand last year.

Nanase couldn't respond. She was thinking for a while but then looked down in shame.

"I.. I don't really have an answer. I'm sorry for my strange question. I hope I didn't offend anyone."

She bowed her head to them and then started eating in silence. Matsushita gave Kei a confused look, but Satou seemed to somewhat understand.

We finished our food and parted ways. Nanase and I headed towards the first area of the day and made it there first as usual. As I expected, no one ever really tried to get the bonus on the first area since they all wanted to sleep in more. I opened my bag to pull out my tablet so I could check the nearby tasks but then noticed a piece of paper.

Good luck, Kiyotaka :)

It was a note left behind in my bag, probably by Kei. I put it in my pocket and then pulled out my tablet.

Nanase and I made our way through the island running for most of the day. We managed to secure a second early birth bonus and a plethora of tasks. I scored first in most of them, and Nanase always secured first or second as well. Even though I wasn't going all out, I was still surprised to see Nanase keep up at such a steady pace. My suspicions only kept rising, but I didn't say a word.

By the end of the day, we were looking for a spot to camp when we ran across Hamaguchi and Amikura from Ichinose's class. I knew Hamaguchi from the Zodiac exam last year, but I've never met Amikura personally.

I tried to ignore them and keep moving forward, but Hamaguchi recognised me.

"You're Ayanokoji-kun, right?"