A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 43 - The Changing Class D

"Wait, why don't we go to Pallet to talk about this? It would be so much better, right, Yosuke-kun?" Kei refuted as she clung to Hirata's arm.

Hirata, Ayanokouji, Kei, Horikita, and I were all planning to discuss this upcoming Paper Shuffle exam.

To pass this exam, we would need to be creative and have a collaborative effort on multiple fronts. So getting a variety of opinions, such as this group, would yield better results for us.

"The enemy could be anywhere, watching us, but... I suppose it's fine," Horikita replied to Kei's request.

Even a few weeks ago, Horikita would have never even responded to Kei's request, but now she was actually listening to others. And stepping into a powerful leadership role within Class D.

"Um, excuse me, could I join you all too?" Kushida asked as she snuck up on us.

"Of course," I immediately replied. "We need everyone's opinions. And you know the class very well, so you'll be a great help."

"I agree with, Fukumoto-kun," said Horikita. "Would you all mind heading to Pallet first? I need to collect my things before I join you."

"We don't mind at all," said Hirata.

All four of us turned to leave for the Pallet Cafe in hopes of securing an open spot. But as we walked away from Horikita, I couldn't help but notice Ayanokouji staying behind to talk with Horikita.

I know those two are close, but Ayanokouji wouldn't help Horikita gather her things out of the blue. It's not in his character.

Unless they were planning to discuss something entirely different.

Something only the two wanted to discuss.

~~~

"What took you guys so long?!" Kei fumed as Ayanokouji, Horikita, and even Sudo entered the cafe.

The four of us had already secured a spot for us all and ordered our drinks, but Kei seemed weirdly agitated by those two being late.

"We should get started right away," Horikita completely ignored Kei. "As Hirata-kun does have club activities."

"Should we discuss the upcoming short test?" I started.

"Why, though? It's a non-jeopardy test; shouldn't mean all that much to us," Kei replied.

"That is true, but I don't believe the school is forcing us to take this test to measure our academic ability, rather something else," Horikita said.

"So this test is not to measure our academic ability, but something else?" Hirata asked.

"Indeed, I believe the results of this test-,"

"Will determine the partner selection for the final, am I right?" I said.

Horikita looked slightly shocked for a moment but continued without a moment's hesitation. "Indeed, there must be some kind of process to select these pairs. Finding out how they are selected can give us a clear advantage for the final."

"Sudo, do you understand?" Ayanokouji suddenly asked.

"Uh, kind of, just barely."

Hirata and Kushida seemed to be having their doubts about this method of selecting pairs.

"Please, if you have any doubts, tell me," Horikita asked obviously sensing their worry.

"This seems like a shot in the dark to me," Hirata said. "There is a chance the final pairs are determined by this test. But if the test is the same as previous years, maybe asking an upperclassman to confirm would be best."