COTE Year 2 Reimagined

Volume 4:Part 14

I woke up on the cruise ship and noticed it had already moved away from the island. I checked the time, and the results of the exam had yet to be announced. I decided to rest until the time came, then made my way over to the stage.

I found an empty seat near the back of the room, and coincidently, my seatmate was Horikita. I sat next to her and looked to the front, but she was staring at me.

"Is my face funny?"

I decided to make a joke.

"It always is. But no, that's not why I'm staring. Are you okay?"

She insulted me and checked if I was okay in the same sentence.

"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

I tried to pry and see what she knew. Judging by what Kiryuin said, Horikita had been making her way over to I2 for some reason.

"You passed out from exhaustion near the end of the exam, right? I ran into Kiryuin-senpai by accident, and she told me."

Horikita accepted the lie Kiryuin told her, but she clearly suspected something more was going on. She didn't say more, so I decided to investigate it later.

"Yeah, I guess I was a little tired."

"I find that hard to believe."

Before I could respond, the announcements began. We got the usual formal talk and gratitude before they announced the expulsions.

Surprisingly, every student who got expelled was a third year. It seems Nagumo took his anger out on them. Nagumo's emotion was his biggest weakest. Even though it might seem trivial to him, his hold over the third year students was shaken today.

Tsukishiro then came on stage.

"Now to announce the winners of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam."

He paused for a moment, then started reading a list.

"In fifth place, we have Ryuen Kakeru from class 2-D."

It seems that even though he was forced to drop out after his fight with Hosen, he was high enough to maintain a position in the top 5. Since he had the trials card, he would also receive double the class points.

"In fourth place, we have Koenji Rokusuke from class 2-C."

Koenji kept his word and stayed out of first place, but he was having fun and ended up accidentally placing fourth. Koenji, who was sitting a few rows ahead, looked back and smirked at me. Horikita noticed his gaze and looked towards me.

"What did you do??"

"Absolutely nothing."

I shrugged and kept looking forward, and then she gave up in an irritated manner.

"In third place, we have Sakayanagi Arisu from class 2-A."

Even after Ichinose went rogue on the 13th day, Arisu managed to place third. It was quite impressive.

"In second place, we have Nagumo Miyabi from class 3-A"

That was unexpected, but if I had to guess, I'd say Nagumo was focusing too hard on sabotaging the other grade levels like Koenji instead of actually trying to win. He focused too hard on making sure that the entire top 5 was just third years that he ended up missing on first himself. His emotions really were his greatest weakness.

"In first place, we have Kiriyama Ikuto from class 3-B."

Kiriyama probably only focused on the win rather than trying to sabotage others. Since Kiriyama and Nagumo were directly competing, Nagumo couldn't force Kiriyama to stray away from any tasks or areas to help him.

I noticed Nagumo wasn't even here. He probably expected the results and didn't want to be humiliated by earning second place in front of everyone.

I also noticed Kei, who was a few rows ahead looking at me. Our eyes met for a moment, but then we both shifted our gazes and looked back forward. She had probably heard about me "passing out" and wanted to know what happened.

Due to this exam, the class rankings were changed.

Sakayanagi's Class A:1151
Ichinose's Class B:750
Ryuen's Class C:658
Horikita's Class D:627

And just like that, we were back to being Class D again. Horikita and Ryuen had been neck and neck in terms of class points ever since the second year started. Ichinose, however, while still at the top, was gaining fewer points overall. Slowly, but surely both Ryuen and Horikita were catching up to her and would shortly surpass her, moving her to class D.

I left my seat and walked towards the place where the person who messaged me had asked me to go.

When I got closer, I saw him waiting for me, looking over the back of the ship.

"You did well on the exam, Ryuen."

"I could've gotten fourth or third if not for that stupid meathead."

"Do you regret helping Arisu?"

"Nah. It'll be worth it."

"I see."

I leaned on the railing as well and watched the ocean next to him.

"My my, you didn't just ask me here to make me jealous. Did you Ryuen-kun?"

Arisu arrived and sat down at the bench behind us. Ryuen chuckled at her words and then looked at me in a creepy manner. I moved away from him for my own safety and listened to them talk.

"I called you here about my favour."

"I had expected as much. I don't understand why Ayanokoji-kun is here, though."

"Because this is about him."

"In what way exactly?"

"During our second year, I'll keep getting stronger. By the end of the year, I'll challenge ya Sakayanagi. Whoever loses will drop out. Whoever wins will challenge Ayanokoji in our final year. That's what you want too, isn't it?"

"Well, isn't this an interesting little proposal?"

Ryuen turned back to look at her while still smirking.

"I shall accept. Do you think you'll be strong enough to beat me by then?"

"I'll have to be."

He chuckled again. Ryuen was taking quite a risk here, but he didn't seem too worried. I was intrigued to see how this would turn out, but...

"Shouldn't Ichinose be at this leader gathering?"

Ryuen chuckled at my words like I had made a ridiculous joke.

"Ichinose is a clown. She isn't even worth worrying about by the end of the year she'll have already destroyed herself."

"I wonder about that."

I walked off and felt them both staring at my back.

Ryuen wasn't wrong. At her current level, Ichinose Honami was undoubtedly weak. She'd self-destruct and lead her class to their doom.

But that wouldn't always be the case. When I came to this school, I met many people with many different backgrounds,personalities, and traits. But a few of them particularly caught my eye. People like Ryuen Kakeru and Horikita Suzune. But there was someone else.

Ichinose Honami.

I had judged all of them of having near infinite potential. One that they couldn't unlock on their own. I pushed Horikita and Ryuen forward, and they've been growing ever since. Now, I was going to push Ichinose. I'm going to send her down to the deepest level of despair. When she crawls her way back up, she'll be someone that Ryuen and Horikita can't ignore.

Seeing humans grow and evolve until reaching their full potential was something that intrigued me. It was one of the reasons I wanted to stay at this school. I wonder who will come out on top when all of this is over?

Who will end up graduating from Class A?