COTE Year 2 Reimagined

Volume 7:Part 13

After one knock on the door, the person who set this entire situation up entered the room calmly.

It was Ayanokoji-kun. As soon as I saw him, I knew my suspicions were correct. He used all of us to reach this conclusion and intervened at the last moment.

Everyone in the room turned their attention to him immediately. Ryuen-kun and I were completely surprised, Yagami-kun had a smile on his face now, and Nagumo-senpai was completely unphased. He had to have known Ayanokoji-kun's plan somehow.

I looked into Ayanokoji-kun's eyes and instantly got that same feeling of fear I had during the unanimous special exam. His eyes were completely empty like a ghost. He glanced at everyone in the room within less than a second, analysing the situation and gathering his thoughts, then immediately fixated his gaze on Yagami-kun and ignored everyone else.

"Ayanokoji-senpai wait... don't hurt Takuya. Please."

Amasawa-san was the first to speak. She had a look of despair on her face while she pleaded with Ayanokoji-kun, but he completely ignored her as if she wasn't in the same room as him. He was staring at Yagami-kun as if he's the only person in the world right now. Was he waiting for Yagami-kun to make a decision? Attack or surrender?

Ryuen-kun and I could do nothing but helplessly watch this situation unfold. It was very clear that our presence here was so insignificant to those two that they'd dispose of us in an instant if we got in their way.

Mashima sensei started regaining consciousness, but he couldn't move quite yet. He had his back against the wall and watched while Ryuen-kun and I stood by his side. Amasawa-san noticed that her pleading didn't reach him and immediately got out of the way with tears in her eyes.

"You finally showed up? I thought you were too good for me? Well, I was going to find you anyway, so I guess you'd rather do this discreetly, huh?"

Yagami-kun was smiling from ear to ear as if he'd just achieved a lifelong dream of his. Ayanokoji-kun, on the other hand, was completely expressionless. He didn't even respond to Yagami-kun. Yagami-kun's smile faded slowly when he noticed Ayanokoji-kun wasn't willing to respond.

He scoffed at him and rushed at Ayanokoji-kun with full speed, throwing a punch with his right hand, Ayanokoji-kun grabbed his hand and immediately moved his body to dodge the second punch that Yagami-kun threw using his left hand. It was almost like Ayanokoji-kun knew exactly what Yagami-kun was going to do. Instead of taking advantage of the situation, Ayanokoji-kun let go of his hand, giving Yagami-kun another chance to attack.

I never took Ayanokoji-kun for someone to act so inefficiently. I would expect him to end this fight as soon as possible. Why wasn't he? What was his plan? I had to analyse his every move.

Yagami-kun backed away and started thinking. He knew Ayanokoji-kun was a worthy opponent, and he wasn't going to risk losing by being too aggressive.

This time, however, Ayanokoji-kun was the one to take the initiative and rushed ahead. Yagami-kun tried to dodge back, but Ayanokoji-kun grabbed his sleeve and tugged at them with enough force to pull Yagami-kun back towards him. He grabbed Yagami-kun's right arm and pushed him against while facing away from his left arm.

But this was disadvantageous? This way, Yagami-kun's left arm was still free, and he could use it to punch Ayanokoji-kun in the back until he lets him go. Yagami-kun did just as I thought and punched Ayanokoji-kun's back with full force. As soon as that punch landed Ayanokoji-kun, let go of Yagami-kun and backed off.

Wait... maybe this was his intention. Did he want Yagami-kun to punch him? I don't understand why, but there's no other explanation. He intentionally left his arm open and faced the other direction to avoid receiving a punch to the face, which could potentially knock him out depending on its strength. However, his back would be much more durable and sustain that punch.