Magician of Cote

Vol-2 Ch-8 The Gaff

The summer sun hanging in the sky was dazzlingly hot. As I took each step along the tree-lined path to school, my body screamed in agony. Sweat poured down my face.

A cheerful student ran alongside and overtook me. She certainly looked lively. Alternatively, perhaps she was crazy? I probably wouldn't run even if I were being chased by the apocalypse.

I noticed a change as soon as I set foot inside the classroom. Sakura, who usually made it to school just in the nick of time, was already sitting at her desk. Had she come here early for any specific reason?

"Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun." she said.

"Good morning, Sakura. You look nervous, is something wrong?"

"It's because everyone's doing their best. I thought I'd do my best, too."

It felt like that she was saying that to herself, rather than to me.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

"Well, if there's something I need to move forward... I'll do it." she said.

"Hey, Sakura. Do you have any time later? I wanted to talk to you about something."

Sakura gently shook her head.

"I have plans today. Maybe tomorrow?"

I let the subject rest.

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It was past 3:40. With classes over for the day, I went to the special building. This place had become increasingly hot and humid as the summer wore on.

If things proceeded as planned, then the person I was expecting should arrive soon. Shortly thereafter, three guys showed up, all grumbling about how unbearably hot it was. They appeared happy, though, wearing optimistic expressions.

That was because the three of them had received emails from the Class D sweetheart, Kushida.

"Do you think Kushida-chan was impressed by us, so she called us here to ask us out."

"Don't be delusional, she definitely wants to ask only me. But she was shy so she called both of you too."

They were probably dreaming about getting an invitation for a date, or even a romantic confession.

When they saw me, their fantasies were crushed.

"What's going on? Why are you here?"

Apparently they remembered me from the student council room. Ishizaki, the group's leader, stepped forward as if to intimidate me. He was rather forceful when no one was around to see.

"Kushida won't be here. I asked her to send an email to compel you all to come."

Ishizaki looked incredibly ill-tempered as he closed the distance between us.

"This isn't funny. What did you do this for, huh?"

"If I hadn't used an underhanded method, you would've just ignored me, right? I wanted to talk to you."

"Talk to us? Why would we want to do that? Has the heat scrambled your brain or something?"

Ishizaki, who clearly was affected by the heat, grabbed his shirt and flapped it.

"No matter what you do, you can't hide the truth. Sudou called us over here and beat us up. That's our answer. Now he needs to quietly accept his punishment."

"I have no intention of arguing. That would be a waste of time. I fully understand that neither Class C nor Class D will retract what they claimed yesterday."