COTE\OC Unpolished Diamond Year 2

Volume 3: Day 4

Chapter 6

Touma Pov:

After all the events and the mysterious incident concerning Takashige, Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai, I accompanied Mizuse-san and started heading back where we left Kimuko-san.

On our way to join Kumiko-san ...Mizuse stayed silent the whole way...

When Sakagami-sensei was questioning Shinohara, I decided not to mention what we saw and what happened to us before we arrived where Komiya and the others were unconscious...about the mysterious person we encountered and what happened with Kumiko and her group.

But Mizuse also decided to stay silent about this... the same thing occurred when Nanase asked some questions about what happened. Instead, she looked at me, waiting for me to talk...

Did she stay silent cause I did?

I'm unsure, but I didn't mention this topic as it was convenient for me to not...

Maybe if I had spoken about what happened to Sakagami-sensei, it might have helped Shinohara's case...but I have doubts about this. After all, when I asked about Masachika's broken watch, he told me that he broke it on his way to the incident...way after we encountered this shadow in the forest or that Komiya-senpai and the other first emergency alarm. That means there is no way that he was the one we encountered in the forest and pushed Mizuse-san...because I can't imagine how he would have bypassed the signal of his watch...

But when I brought up the possibility that there was someone around who had no signal due to having a broken watch...Sakagami-sensei's answer led me to think that they had already looked at all the lost signals but that there must have been more than one...so it couldn't give them a proper suspect. Since Shinohara and the others couldn't give a proper description of their supposed aggressor...the school had no choice but to reach the conclusion that they were finding some excuse to avoid expulsion or any consequences... 

That's why even if I would have affirmed that I saw someone running close to the incident...Since I couldn't see his face, I testified what I saw was a waste of time.

Anyway...if the few assumptions I made so far end up being true...reporting to the school might not be the best thing to do...

Touma: ...

As we walked, I noticed only a small number of footprints that were not ours. The guy that we were running after was something else. His movements, presence...

A moment later, we found Kumiko-san and made our way to their camp, which we hadn't found yesterday but managed to do with the sunlight, which made things easier for us.

Kumiko-san was obviously still in shock as these events really affected her. The sun rising helped her calm herself as she wasn't alone in the dark in the forest.

I was concerned for her and her ability to focus on the exam for the next week, but with Takashige, who should come back tomorrow, their morale might increase a bit despite all that had happened. I would be curious to see what Hosen would do for them if he heard what happened to his classmates...I was expecting Nanase to speak with them, but she hurried and followed Ayanakoji-senpai after Sakagami-sensei and Chabashria-sensei left.

There were a few things I wanted to check out, but it was already 7:45 a.m. The first designated area was announced 45 minutes ago, and we still haven't started moving...

Mizuse: Once again Fukazawa-kun...thank you. Without you, I wouldn't be able to gather everyone and find Takashige-kun...

They were close to having no choice but to drop out of this exam...but since Kumiko is relatively fine and Takashige should be able to return tomorrow...they don't have to worry.