COTE: A Mute Guy

Vol. 4 Chp. 2: Cruise Ship Exam

'Italic': Notebook
'Underline': Phone's A.I.

Breakfast time. I avoided the buffet popular with the students and returned to the ship's deck. On the deck is a cafe called "Blue Ocean," with hardly any students. I chose to sit there at an empty table in the shade.

The current time is 7:55 AM. One minute, just before the designated meeting time, the person I was waiting for appeared before me with an empty expression.

"You're here," Horikita says, sitting beside me.

'Who are your group members, and how many are there?'

I wasn't going to waste any time. Horikita seemed ready to begin our discussion.

"It was quite amazing actually, almost as if it was on purpose and not just coincidence," Horikita says.

Horikita hands me a slip of paper. It seems she memorized the names of her group members and wrote them on a separate piece of paper to show me.

The name of her group is Dragon, and below are the names of her group members.

Class A (B): Katsuragi Kohei, Nishikawa Ryouko, Shita Shinji, Koharu Yano

Class B (A): Ando Sayo, Kanzaki Ryuuji, Tsukabe Hitomi

Class C: Oda Takumi, Suzuki Hidetoshi, Sonoda Masashi, Ryuuen Kakeru

Class D: Kushida Kikyou, Hirata Yousuke, Horikita Suzune

Dragon and Rabbit...

I think I know what zodiac signs the school is using.

I will need to ask Mei-Yu Wang.

Hirata and Kushida have been selected from our class, Class D, to participate in this group. They are both excellent students and will represent our class well. If we disregard Horikita, who prefers to work alone, teaming up with Hirata and Kushida would create the most potent combination that Class D can offer now.

Kouenji is a wild card, so I understand why he isn't part of the Dragon group.

Are they keeping me and Horikita separated?

Even if I list the names I know, it'd be Katsuragi from Class A, Kanzaki from Class B, and Ryuuen from Class C. These are big names representing their classes.

Ichinose should be in that group, but she's in mine. Something doesn't feel right about this.

"It's about time; I wonder if the mail will come." 

Once the clock hit 8:00 AM, our phones vibrated at once, and we were not even a second apart. We will both confirm the arrival of the mail immediately. The moment I finished reading the contents of my mail, Horikita pushed her phone and the mail displayed on it towards me, and I did the same to check the details of the mail while comparing it to the others. It said the following:

After thorough consideration, you have not been chosen as the "target." Please act together as one and challenge the exam in that manner. The exam itself shall begin from 1:00 PM today onwards. The exam will be held for three days from this point onwards. If you belong to the Dragon group, please come up to the room marked as such on the second floor immediately.

I showed her mine, and I was the VIP in my group.

"I don't like it. It's almost as if they're telling me I don't qualify as the "target" student," Horikita frowned.

"I'll be looking forward to your results," Horikita said.

"In either case, I'll ask you now: Who in my group are you most suspicious of? Judging from the flow, most of the other classes should have already gotten the same information we have," Horikita said.