COTE Year 2 Reimagined

Volume 4:Part 3

My next step was to approach the task that would allow me to add two members to my group. I managed to arrive in time and secure the reward with ease, but I ran into someone I didn't expect to see.

"You're as impressive as ever, Ayanokoji-kun."

"Was that sarcasm?"

Horikita shrugged, refusing to give me an answer.

"Were you trying to gain more members, too?"

"No, I'm only here for the participation prize,I've been running low on food."

"I see."

"I'm surprised that you want additional members. What are you planning?"

I shrugged while closing my eyes.

"Absolutely nothing."

She sighed at my uncooperative nature and tried to walk away.

"Horikita. Take this."

I handed the box of jerky that Ryuen had given me earlier. Nanase and I had eaten some of it, but over half of it was still untouched.

"I can't accept this."

"If you get expelled, that'll be troublesome. Has Ibuki left you alone the entire time?'

"Yes. I haven't even seen Ibuki-san once, but she's been doing an acceptable number of tasks. Currently, our total points are close, but I'm slightly in the lead."

If Ibuki had been cooperating, then Horikita might've been in the top 15-20% at least.

"Just take it."

Horikita sighed and accepted my offer.

"Are you going to be okay Ayanokoji-kun?"

"Yes, I still have an acceptable portion of food, and my points aren't too bad."

"Have you been holding back?"

"Who knows?"

Horikita didn't appreciate my answer and decided to mock me by imitating my voice. It was quite childish.

She told me to take care, and we parted ways shortly after.

I made my way to Keisei and Akito while completing a few tasks if I happened to run into them. While scanning for Keisei, I also noticed someone else close by and decided to visit them after I combined my group.

"Kiyotaka? What a coincidence."

Keisei was the first to notice me. He looked exhausted even though they were just walking.

"It's not a coincidence I came here to check on you."

"Really? Yeah, I guess you noticed, huh Keisei and I are near the bottom right now. We might be at risk, honestly."

"That's why I'm here. Join my group, I've already combined my group with Haruka and Airi. If you join, we'll have five members."

They looked at me in surprise. Probably not expecting me to take the lead like this since I've always just let them do whatever they wanted.

"I see. But aren't you worried we'll drag you down, Kiyotaka?"

Keisei had the same thought as Haruka.

"No, it's fine,we're just out of the top 50%. We're not really near the bottom."

Keisei nodded and started to think about my proposal. He pulled out his tablet and looked at me.

"Very well. Thank you for your help, Kiyotaka."

I nodded at him and completed the process. After combining groups once more, I dropped down again, but it wasn't much. However, if someone tried to sabotage me, then I might be at risk, so I really needed to go all out tomorrow.

"Try and meet up with Haruka tomorrow. Since I'm the one who combined groups, you'll all follow my designated areas, and I'll be assigned as the leader, so my name would be the one on the leaderboard."

Keisei nodded again, and Akito patted me on the back, and we went our separate ways.

It was just about the end of the 8th day when I spotted the person I had noticed one the GPS earlier.

Ibuki was setting up her tent and preparing to sleep, I noticed immediately that her face was pale and her lips were breaking.

"You look rough."

She turned around in shock and immediately got angry when she realised it was me. I ignored her and started setting up my tent next to her.

"What the hell are you doing?? Are you going to stay here?"

I ignored her again, and she started packing up her tent that she had just set down.

"If you leave, you won't find a place to sleep. Do you want to lose to Horikita?"

I touched a nerve.

"I won't lose to her!"

"You don't seem to be doing too good to me."

"That's none of your business!"

I walked up to her and grabbed her arm so she couldn't move. I examined her face, and my observation was correct. Ibuki was obviously dehydrated. She was trying to free herself from my grip while yelling at me, but I asked instead.

"When did you last drink?"

"Huh? I don't know! Yesterday! No, the day before! Whatever!"

"Did your alarm go off?"

She didn't respond, but the look in her eye told me everything I needed to know.

I let her go, and she stopped trying to yell or take apart her tent. I pulled a water bottle out of my bag and threw it to her.

The reason Horikita was so low was because she couldn't even earn any early bird bonuses because Ibuki wasn't with her. If Ibuki got eliminated or stopped performing ideally, then Horikita might actually get expelled. That would be troublesome for me, so I had to do something.

"Take this and give me something in return."

She stared at me in confusion.

"You need water. I need resources. Give me something I need and I'll give you something you need."

She clicked her tongue but immediately started scouring through her bag. She pulled out a box of jerky and threw it on the ground. That was convenient since I had just given my last portion to Horikita. But it's not like I actually needed it. Due to my time in the white room, I was used to eating anything no matter how disgusting it tasted. As long as it was safe and edible, I could eat it. So having jerky didn't make much difference than the meals we'd get as participation prizes for me. Still, I took it anyway and pretended to be excited so Ibuki would take the water.

"Now drink, if you need more water, then you'll find a task tomorrow due north. If you get first, you'll probably end up with at least three bottles."

After doing so many tasks during the first half of the exam, I could easily see through the patterns that they used. The water would actually be at a task south of here, but knowing Ibuki then...

"I don't want your help! You know what, then I'm going south tomorrow screw you!!"

"Do whatever you want."

She was really predictable.

I ignored her after that, and we both went into our own tents, I lay down and started to think about what was next. Tomorrow was the day points would be doubled. I would go all out and at least reach the top 25%. That meant I need to deal with Koenji on the 10th day. If I took too long, the first years or Tsukishiro might make their move.

For some odd reason, I was looking forward to confronting Koenji.