COTE: A Man On A Mission || Love is War?

“Ah—it seems to have come out.”

Because teaching building where the command tower is located is very close to playground, and people usually pass by when coming down from above, so Shiina Hiyori, who was sitting here on the lawn, immediately spotted Hachiman coming down.

Unlike Ibuki and the others, Hiyori did not leave.

Because she had doubts in her heart and wanted to resolve.

“Hey-----”

She was reading a book, and when found Hachiman, she immediately stood up and said, “Hikigaya-kun, what a pity! Sakayanagi-san’s class is so lucky this time. Otherwise, your class would be winner!”

When learning that Sakayanagi’s class could not participate in Go event due to diarrhea, clever Shiina immediately thought of Hikigaya’s game plan.

Probably same as their class. She also knew about project of Hikigaya.

The five projects selected are all must-wins.

If you are selected, you win.

But, unfortunately, according to the information she received, Hikigaya’s class was only selected for 2 projects.

So, it was all down to luck.

“Congratulations on your victory,” Hachiman walked towards her, “Score finally broke through 0.”

“.....” Hiyori.

For a moment, Shiina-san wondered if Hikigaya-kun was being sincere or just complaining.

“.... Ryuen-kun now has a total of more than 8 million points in his hands. More than 3 million of them are remaining money from Nagumo’s previous ticket purchase. And the remaining 5 million was obtained from Class B.”

Class B, now means Sakayanagi’s.

“Their class was originally A, and it is necessary for them to return to Class A by the end of semester. And you know, there are two ways to climb back. One is for them to get points themselves, and other is to defeat the opponent. For this exam, we were actually hired by Sakayanagi-san to bring down Ichinose-san’s class....”

That’s why such a crazy battle ratio.

Class D won 6 games, while Ichinose only 1. They lost 150 points.

It was clearly a private transaction between their class, but Hiyori didn’t mind it being exposed.

Because she also thinks...Hikigaya Hachiman is dangerous.

’Ryuen-kun is so dirty, so it’s okay to use dark means....Only, you, Hikigaya-kun, are also someone who can break the bottom line, but your plan is much safer than Ryuen-kun’s.....’ Hiyori also thought about reason why Ryuen always lost.

’Every time handle is caught. This is also Ryuen-kun’s weakness, he is always too high-profile. Take the sports meet for example, when Ryuen-kun was planning, he did it in front of the whole class, so he was betrayed by traitor at that time. Now, scope of the drugging was too large. If it weren’t for the fact that Ichinose-san’s class was composed of honest people and couldn’t accept the fact there was a spy in class or couldn’t catch betrayal, then Ryuen-kun would have to be sent miles away again.....Because if you drug a large number of opponents, you may be punished or even expelled from school. So the next time he faces Hikigaya-kun, it will definitely be dangerous....Let’s just follow the plan chosen by Ryuen-kun. Buy Hikigaya-kun.’

“If gather another 12 million points, I can buy you,” Shiina-san said in a friendly manner.

xxxxxxx

“It was a really beautiful duel.”

Meanwhile, Sakayanagi was still in the empty classroom after exam, but she wasn’t waiting for anyone.

She received a phone call.

It was an unfamiliar number, and a second-grade teacher was waiting at the door for her to return it.

This mobile phone was given to her by a second grade teacher, and it seems to be able to connect to the outside world.

This second-grade teacher was examiner in chess competition just now.

This was after the exam, and she wanted to talk to Hikigaya-kun who left early, but then she was stopped by the intruding teacher.

After taking phone, voice of Tsukishiro, Acting Director came through the phone.

“I also had someone at the hospital specially live-record it. I am a chess player, so other people may not know what happened in your game, but I can see it. It was really exciting.....So unlike ordinary people, I know your strength. It’s a clash of geniuses.”

Tsukishiro’s tone seemed a little agitated, and Sakayanagi thought it was normal, because that’s what people who understand will understand, and people who don’t, simply can’t.

There are actually only a few people in this school who know how to play chess, and for those few, they may not understand the game from moment they start.

But if it is a high-level expert, then in their eyes, indeed a very good chess game.

Sakayanagi admitted that when she followed her father to the white room, she saw Kiyotaka through glass.

At that time, he displayed very high chess skills.

She felt a little frustrated. Now, that has disappeared. Because she got her revenge.

“...You have good taste...” Sakayanagi wanted to say this softly, but the smile soon disappeared from her lips.

Because she then heard Tsukishiro say, “So, do you think you won? Didn’t you have any doubts about that wonderful chess move?”

“…”

Although Sakayanagi hates Tsukishiro, she cannot deny that current words has attracted her attention.

That is to say.

That is to say.

Did Tsukishiro take action during her game? Did you cause trouble?

“I intervened in chess game. At the final stage of the game, I arranged for someone to use command tower to pass orders to Ayanokoji-kun. Of course, this is not a random order. We also prepared a large number of people and machines, and were forced to make a very difficult judgment under guidance of the top international chess experts we hired. Then you can’t tell whether this is not the move he really wants to make.”

That is to say.

She was cheated in this exam!

He replaced chess moves that Kiyotaka wanted to make with ones of the people he arranged.

So, Sakayanagi didn’t actually get back her competitive spirit from childhood.

“You wanted to fight with Ayanokoji-kun to regain your confidence as a genius, but it turned out to be a lie. Are you sad?”

“.....” Sakayanagi, who is indeed in a very bad mood. And what’s even more terrifying is that she thought of other places, “That is to say, since you can directly interfere with Commander, you can also interfere with project items. So the 5 items that Class B has drawn are......”

“Yes. It’s easy to imagine that your class is incredibly lucky. So, in fact, the real test questions extracted by system at beginning were 3 projects from Class C, 3 projects from your class, and chess was my fixed choice.”

If 3 projects were selected for Class C, then Class C would definitely win independently.

Then, was the news that players in her class’s Go program were drugged.

Class C can be sure to win 4 games.

Arisu thought she won the final exam this time, but didn’t. ’Hikigaya-kun really did... give it his all.’

She lost duel with the opponent.

What’s even more scary is that Sakayanagi remembered Hikigaya didn’t wear headphones during other games.

Only Chess.

’If Tsukishiro wants to interfere with game, then Hikigaya-kun, as commander, will definitely know about it.....In other words, he guessed that Tsukishiro would take action, so he deliberately put on headphones.....Then I guess some kind of deal was reached. So this is probably the complete victory that Hikigaya Hachiman was prepared for.....’ Sakayanagi thought she knew him very well.

.....You may even feel that you have a mutual understanding with each other.

“…”

Sakayanagi still couldn’t completely understand the other person. This made her feel very uncomfortable.

“I interfered with your game as punishment for not following my orders before. And now, congratulations, your class has returned to Class A, and I still mean that. If you are willing to follow orders and drop Ayanokoji-kun out of school, then your father will be back very soon. That Adult will also owe you a favor.”

’In other words, after going around in circles like this, does Tsukishiro actually hope to make peace?’

Sakayanagi is the only candidate for next student council president, and in Advanced Nurturing High School, although Tsukishiro is Director, but has to follow certain rules.

The Student Council of this school has great authority.

Therefore, if Tsukishiro wants to fight a long war, there is no benefit in being in opposition to Sakayanagi.

This is like giving someone a blow but preparing to give a sweet reward.

At least, judging from the results, Sakayanagi’s class won.

The favorable part of mid-term control test of Tsukishiro was given to Sakayanagi’s class.

At the same time, we can also conclude that although Tsukishiro left school, he did not give up on dropping Ayanokoji and was prepared to fight a long battle.

“....What was the deal between Hikigaya-kun and you?” Sakayanagi suddenly raised her voice, as if feeling quite emotional, “Or what did he want?”

“?” Although he didn’t expect Sakayanagi to change the subject so quickly, Tsukishiro still responded. “He hopes that I can still set the questions for future special exams, and that Ayanokoji-kun can continue to be assigned to withdrawal exams. However, he hopes that value of the evaluation scores given by school for each exam will be increased, as well as number of private points. For example, a normal test is worth 100 points, and he hopes to increase it to 300.”

“......” Sakayanagi understood as soon as she heard it.

’Why was Class D so willing to take over task from my class this time, and asked for cash directly? It’s like he’s trying hard to gather points or something....’ She just knew it.

Just now she felt that she didn’t understand Hikigaya-kun, but now, Sakayanagi felt that she is good at grasping what’s going inside his heart.

Very well understood.

’It must be Ryuen-kun who proposed to buy him over and agreed to give him a certain amount based on class evaluation score. So to speak. This is Class D learning to make concessions and then inviting Hikigaya-kun over.....Well done, Dragon Boy.’

xxxxxx

Hachiman separated from Hiyori and went to the library.

He wanted to return a borrowed book on introductory chess.

After returning the book, he found that it was gradually raining outside.

It should be said that school chose a good time, otherwise the competition would have become more difficult if it rained.

While he was talking to Hiyori, teacher should have announced to the students that exams were over.

Therefore, all first-year students are free to move around.

Turned on the phone that was off and found several invitations on it.

....There are ordinary classmates such as Yukimura who hope to have a life talk.

Talking about life?

Perhaps it was because of the failure of Class C in exam that Yukimura felt that he was largely responsible.

He probably felt that if he had not insisted on participating in Mental abacus competition, there might have been a chance of winning.

Actually, it’s not that bad.

Because class only lost 30 points, but ranking unexpectedly rose by one level, so you can spend this holiday as students in Class B.

Of course, Hachiman also lost a protection spot.

But he doesn’t care about this stuff.

Not to mention that he has 20 million points. The fact although quota is worth 20 million and is exempt from expulsion, it can only be exempted if you are in danger.

The student retirement protection quota cannot be transferred.

But Hachiman didn’t think he would be expelled so easily.

Especially this time, since he had established contact with New Chairman Tsukishiro, risk of him being expelled from school was reduced to the lowest.

(I’m doing Chairman, since I am used to writing that for Sakayanagi)

This time, exam fulfilled the promise with Sakayanagi and fought with opponent with all her strength.

At the same time.

Since he lost to the opponent, it was considered decent for her to defend her class’s A-class status.

Even if she felt dissatisfied afterwards, she couldn’t get angry.

Then, he also came into contact with the person in charge of Ayanokoji, Acting Chairman Tsukishiro.

Add a patch to his stable campus life.

Then, Ichinose’s class also experienced the dangers of society in advance and was able to grow.

Thinking of this, Hachiman ignored Yukimura and looked at other information.

An invitation from Hirata-kun.

Then, girls, such as Sato, who hope to get together because exams are over and everyone will have a holiday, so they will have to study together then.

Studying.

It is indeed necessary for this class.

Especially since those students were arranged to go on stage before and they couldn’t do anything and lost face, everyone vaguely had the idea of being prepared for danger in times of peace.

Hachiman found himself receiving a photo from Karuizawa.

It is a photo of an orange cat.

And although Sakura is a bit shy, she seems to think Hachiman failed the exam and lost his place in protection, he might be feeling down, so she’s asking if they want to have dinner together and so on.

Sakura-san is so kind.

Even Suzune also sent a message, but it was just to ask what to eat tonight.

She now knows more dishes.

It can be seen that everyone is preparing for special exam.

In other words, after this, it is generally believed, will be no more major exams.

Then, students would like to spend the last days of first grade peacefully.

Current scores of four classes are acceptable to the students.

Class A (Sakayanagi) 1380

Class B (Horikita) 1155.7

Class C (Ichinose) 1148

Class D (Ryuen) 250 points

So even though first grade ended with such results, no one was dissatisfied.

That’s supposed to be case.

Hachiman walked to open-air corridor and stretched out his hand to touch raindrops falling from the sky.

The gray sky can easily bring depression.

The reason why Hachiman paid attention to this was that he looked down in corridor and saw a person silently getting wet in the rain.



.....The rain wet her beautiful long hair, soaked her clothes, and even hit her face directly, but she didn’t react at all. As if accepting punishment.

His phone received messages from people he usually interacted with, but there was one person missing.

Ichinose Honami.

For her, this exam was probably her biggest mistake.

Not only was her insight not fully developed, was only concerned with guarding against Ryuen and others, but she didn’t expect there was a traitor in her class.

Then, she was unable to seek justice from the school and could only passively accept the bitter fruit.

It can be said that with this kind of result, students in Sakayanagi’s class were in a good mood, because they finally returned to their rightful position.

People can laugh.

Ryuen and his friends who dropped to Class D finally broke through 0 points and received living expenses, so they could also finally be happy.

Although some points were lost in this exam, class can end first year as Class B, students in Horikita’s class can also go cinemas, and do shopping.

There is only Ichinose class, and it is only raining inside her breaking heart.

Not only was it raining, but it was also raining in a self-torturing way.

“Hikigaya-kun—”

....Hachiman was at entrance of the library, and his classmates happened to be there.

“Lend me your umbrella.”

The other person just came in from outside and was about to close it.

“...Yeah.” This student has no objection.

It should be said that although he failed exam, got promoted but everyone agreed that Hikigaya-kun lost the protection quota and was the one who suffered most.

So, she readily lent umbrella to him.

xxxxxx

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