COTE: A Mute Guy

Vol. 4 Chp. 6: End Of Cruise Ship

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

It was thirty minutes before the discussion, and I arrived early. I wasn't expecting to find someone sleeping on the floor.

Ichinose was sleeping peacefully, and I couldn't help but look at her briefly.

I remained calm as I attempted to walk past her.

"Oh... Umm..." Ichinose muttered something unintelligible.

I ignored her as I moved to the other side of the room. Some cute-sounding music played throughout the room about twenty minutes before the discussion. It was coming from Ichinose's phone.

"Mmm..." Ichinose mumbled.

Ichinose grabbed her phone, stopped the music, and sat up, noticing me immediately with sleepy eyes.

A yawn escaped Ichinose's lips, "Oh, it's nice to see you, Kagurazaka-kun. Sorry, did my alarm startle you?"

I shook my head.

'How long have you been here?'

"I have been here for an hour. I just wanted to spend some time quietly. If it's in my room, it's quite rowdy with my friends going in and out after all," she replied.

It seemed this was the best place for her to take a nap.

'Did you get any results?'

"More or less."

Standing up, Ichinose walked across the room to me and sat beside me.

"There's still time left before the exam, so shall we chat briefly? If I'm not annoying you, that is?" She asks.

'I don't mind.'

"Then it's decided. The truth is, there's something I wanted to ask Kagurazaka-kun. I've also asked all my classmates about this, including the boys like Kanzaki-kun. But I haven't heard the opinions of the other classes either, so I am curious. Kagurazaka-kun, have you ever strongly wanted to rise to Class A?" She asks me.

'It would be nice. How does it feel being Class A?'

"I still can't believe it. I don't think my classmates have had time to process and adjust, including me," Ichinose giggled.

"Did you hear there are also exceptions to those rules?" Ichinose asked.

I nodded, 'The twenty million points.'

"Yep. It seems no one has achieved something like that in the school's history, but it's theoretically possible. If we factor that in too, it's possible both of us graduate from Class A," Ichinose said.

'Ichinose, I know you have over two million points.'

Ichinose suddenly closes the distance with me and turns to face me while staring at my face.

"Looks like you saw it, after all, a while back."

'It was hard to miss.'

She pulled her face away and giggled, "You don't need to feel guilty about it. I'm not blaming you. Besides, it's a lot of points."

As the time for the group discussion began to draw closer, members of the group started appearing one after the other. The Class A (B) students were the first to arrive; however, they took their seats without exchanging a greeting.

"What? You're already here, Kagurazaka?"

"Together with Ichinose-dono. Just the two of you. What kind of secret rendezvous were you planning here?".