Chaoskouji

Arc 7 Chapter 2 - The Gauntlet

I made my way to Pallet café now that I had finished my business with Chabashira. Kikyou had sent me a message to inform me that she'd managed to gather the important figures in our class, and they were now just waiting on me.

That was a tricky situation to manage. I didn't want to become a super important figure, someone relied upon, but I also didn't want to miss out on meetings like this. Sending a proxy simply didn't cut it, especially with the razor thin margins I was working with. One piece of missed information could be the difference at that point, and I wasn't willing to take that risk.

Walking in, the café was just as busy as ever, something I was thankful for. It was hard to get a seat here, but there was always plenty of noise cover for covert conversations.

Looking around, I quickly spotted Kikyou waving at me from a booth in the corner. Walking over, I took a seat beside her, a coffee already in front of me.

On Kikyou's other side was a disgruntled Horikita, glaring dangerously at Hirata, who was sitting across from us with Karuizawa sitting on the same side, but as far along the bench as she could possibly get from him. This was obviously going to be a tense meeting.

"Sorry to make you wait. I just wanted to confirm something with Chabashira," I explained.

"What were you asking her, Ayanokouji? You were a lot more involved yesterday than I expected, so I'd like to know how much you're going to participate this time." As expected, it was Hirata who pounced on the information. Neither Karuizawa nor Kikyou would particularly care about my conversation, trusting me to do what was best, and Horikita wasn't quite as nosy.

"I was just checking with her who submitted participation tables for the sports festival. I didn't want a repeat of that to happen," I lied.

Both Hirata and Horikita went rigid at that, obviously worried about what I found out, but relaxed when I didn't elabourate any further. I also didn't miss how Kikyou's eyes narrowed, observing the actions of our associates.

"Right, but that was a yesterday problem. What're we gonna do about the Paper Shuffle?" Karuizawa asked, clearly trying to move the conversation forward.

I took a sip of coffee, before making a decision. I had already shown I would be slightly more proactive in class, and while I wouldn't help with group tutoring there were other ways to help. At least, it would make this conversation somewhat productive.

"I'll write all the questions for the exam," I announced.

"To be honest, I did expect you to offer to do that," Horikita admitted, surprising me since I had only decided upon that course of action just then. "But I cannot allow you to be the sole person to write the questions."

"I too have a problem with this, Ayanokouji. You take action to help yourself, and I'm not satisfied leaving the exam questions in your hands. Unfortunately, I have to consider your betrayal as a possibility," Hirata bluntly said.

I was impressed by the two of them. I hadn't expected Hirata to outright state he was concerned by the thought of betrayal, and so his refusal and worry was surprising, to say the least.

"You think I'll give away our exam questions?" I asked curiously.

Hirata gave me a stony look in response. "If it gets you a personal advantage, I can't imagine you hesitating. You're a loose cannon, Ayanokouji, and while it's fine when our interests align, I can't bring myself to trust you."

That was a fair summation, I felt. It was true, that he shouldn't trust me, but right now our interests did align. The problem was, I had no way of proving that.