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

Yukinoshita on the side, immediately noticed Vice President’s dangerous gaze on her, “You mean forming a team? Replace her with reliable teammates. According to the rules, you can form a new team with people of same grade...”

“That’s about right. Besides, your physical condition is not very good, Yukinoshita. That’s why you are here now.”

“....” Of course Yukino’s physical fitness was terrible, she was well aware of that.

But you don’t have to say it to her face, when there are other people around.

And now because of Hachiman, she is actually thinking wther it would be better to choose to abstain.

She is in the same group as Amasawa who is very mobile, but because they are in same group, continuous and patient running around every time they have to go to designated area has tortured Yukino.

So, when forming a team, she didn’t think too much about it, but now, she has discovered that she might have become a burden to Amasawa.

Who even worse seemed to be slacking off and didn’t think about getting a ranking.

So, two of them are now 55th.

But Yukino felt that other party could be better, “I understand. I will forfeit. And Isshiki-san, you can team up with my group....”

Yukino looked up information about the entire grade and learned that Isshiki Iroha’s physical fitness was still okay, with a C+ evaluation.

’Although you still can’t keep up with a girl like Amasawa-san, should be much better than me who can’t last long. Therefore, it might be a good idea for these two to team up....’

“If teammates can stay mobile, it will be a boost because everyone can clock in and score points, and a little bit will add up to a lot. And some subjects are completed by multiple people. One person can’t do it alone, so they just miss it.....” Hachiman noticed Yukino’s sullen expression, so he added, “Having a teammate is also an extra layer of protection. In case of an emergency, if you can’t do it, then whole team will be wiped out and you will be the last one standing.”

’But after saying so much, I think you just don’t want Yukinoshita to give up....’ President Sakayanagi was quietly listening on side. ’However, I found that Hikigaya-kun’s attitude towards Yukinoshita seemed to be a little strange, and he seemed to be taking care of her unexpectedly....’

“So you mean -” Yukino also understood that Hikigaya-senpai was not asking her to give up and let Isshiki and Amasawa form a team.

“Take Isshiki with you. Because you guys definitely have no chance of getting into top three. Amasawa knows that, so she’s just slacking off. But if you bring Isshiki, it could help the group gain points....And in most dangerous situation, both sides can form a team, and you just need to wait here at the starting point.”

It’s Ichika Amasawa.

This is one of student council members personally recruited by President Sakayanagi, who certainly knows this. ’At the same time, I also know Amasawa Ichika is being highly praised by Yukinoshita....So it’s normal to be a little sullen.’

Hearing this, Yukino thought for a moment, looked at....

“Yukinoshita-san,” Isshiki acted cute.

’Because I thinks Hikigaya-senpai’s suggestion is a good one! If it can be carried out completely, I will appear in a reliable form as someone who is wrongly accused but is actually a good person....Then I can integrate well with small teams in class that seem to have good quality. At same time, seniors are all concerned about my isolation. Does that mean... being alone in this school is not a good thing? As well as, Hikigaya-senpai is now deliberately pulling Yukinoshita-san from Class A to me, probably trying to teach her how to get close to others in the future. She is in Class A and was also drafted into student council...This is incredible!’

“I understand,” Yukino was being fooled and manipulated so easily, “Then I will contact Amasawa-san to take you. And I will stay here. If you encounter something and need my help, I will ensure that you don’t get 0 points.....”

Although she said this, Yukino knew that she was not physically strong enough, otherwise Amasawa would still be able to get a place. As expected, she had to practice without slacking off.

Isshiki’s problem was almost solved, and went to find her companion.

According to her, solution to get the other party to withdraw is very simple.

Directly clarify the relationship.

It would not work if neither of them went out, but going out together would affect efficiency.

So either choose one person to give up, and remaining person will act alone.

When situation is the worst, team up with other first-year groups to avoid 0 points.

The person who will take on this important task have to choose one of them.

Her companion immediately and readily chose to abstain.

After all, no one wants to work hard.

Besides, she didn’t want to go to that island again, nor did she want to bear such a heavy responsibility.

Each has own duties.

Yukinoshita finally bought can of yellow peaches that she had been looking at for several seconds and left.

The space here in convenience store seemed to have suddenly become vacant.

“Hikigaya-kun, have you met Secretary Yukinoshita before?” This kind of tone and question makes people think you are very curious.

“She is the sister of my mentor’s friend,” There is nothing to hide about this matter. ’Because in future I may need to pay attention to the growth of Yukinoshita.....’

“I thought she was too lonely, so I thought about adding a first-year companion to her.....”

’In other words, it looks like Hikigaya Hachiman is helping Isshiki. But it also connects her and Yukinoshita. If two have had contact, may become friends in the future. So, Hikigaya-kun, you really don’t have other intentions? Just now I thought that he was being conquered by that girl Isshiki. He was offering help but was also shaken.....It seems that is not the case.’ It made Sakayanagi’s fragile heart calm down.

’Hikigaya-kun is the type who is completely insulated from love, and I never expect that he will be shaken by love matters. This is somewhat reassuring. But it also made me feel uncomfortable.’

xxxxx

After settling matter with the school girl, Hachiman and others started their action next day.

“Drop!”

”Score +1!”

”Score +!!”

”Congratulations on getting an extra 3 points for arriving as a complete group.”

Because they started from initial point, first designated area of day was too far away, so Hachiman and his friends chose to continue on their way, and then caught up with second designated area to check in and earn points.

Directly received group’s extra reward.

When he arrived at the scene, noticed that not many students coming to check in.

By the fifth day, as time on island increased, everyone’s enthusiasm was declining.

There should be quite a lot of groups that have started to play badly, just coming to four designated areas once or twice a day to ensure they score points every day and don’t get deducted points.

If the exam had just started, only about 10% of students would want to give up, but now level of giving up may have reached 30% or even 40%.

“Shinohara!”

“We should act together next!”

When Hachiman and his friends handed bracelets to teacher in charge of this area to refresh score records, met an acquaintance.

We were once students in same class.

Kiyotaka’s group, with Yukimura Teruhiko, Ike Kanji, who obviously noticed Shinohara being happy and immediately greeted her.

It’s not just them.

“Hello, Hikigaya-senpai.”

A polite schoolgirl with a golden ponytail greeted them, none other than Nanase Tsubasa.

“Hello, are you acting alone now?”

“Yeah, I’ve been separated from my teammates since yesterday. So now I can only rely on Ayanokoji-senpai’s team to lead me.”

Hachiman ignored her after this, and looked towards Shinohara instead.

“Shinohara, weren’t you teaming up with Karuizawa and others? How did you end up teaming up with people from Class D... and what the hell, Komiya?”

“Ike, you are so rude!” Shinohara said immediately, with her bangs swaying even though air is very stagnant today.

“Ah? It’s you, Shinohara, who obviously didn’t act according to the original plan!”

But look, girl immediately found Ike annoying.

Then she looked towards Komiya for help who also rushed over immediately.

“Although you are classmates, don’t you think attitude is too much? Girls are not meant to be scolded,” Komiya immediately expressed his licking attitude in front of his competition.

“Eh? Why are you two here?” It was only then Ike realized that he seemed to have lost something.

“....” Hachiman felt this kind of relationship that ended before it even started was not interesting to watch anymore. ’So, girls actually hate straight guys. Fortunately I am not....’

Losing his interest, his eyes moved towards Nanase to find some kind of entertainment.

“.....” Nanase who noticed everything, she decided to ignore his gaze for a while.

Although it was a chance encounter.

However, members of both teams agreed that going to designated area four times a day was a bit stressful.

So generally, people would go to the designated area once or twice a day, and then use rest of the time to participate in courses to see if you could get any extra points.

The minimum score for a topic is 5 and max is 15 points.

Generally, there are also 10 points.

Hachiman and his team’s plan to accumulate points basically comes from finding 10-point projects and doing them a few more times.

In this way, even if you can’t get first place, you will have 3 points as a minimum for 3rd place.

This is already a state of slacking off.

As a result, Ayanokoji’s group thought that such an itinerary was actually not bad.

In other words, their mission for today has been completed. By checking in for a project, you can get points and today’s task is completed.

That’s all Kiyotaka was doing, passing with bare minimum effort.

’So, are you actually satisfied as long as you get points every day? You know, Ayanokoji you were used as a secret weapon in sports festival in the past, you and Onodera scored a lot of points in one fell swoop. But it is used like this. Like a pearl covered with dust.....’

Probably because Kiyotaka felt himself getting observed and weird looks, so he nodded to Hachiman, and opened mouth to say, “Yo.”

“....Yo” Hachiman stopped looking, moving his eyes again because Nanase wasn’t responding either.

However, when he knew from the beginning that Ike Kanji asked Ayanokoji to form a team, Hachiman knew that he wanted freedom in this exam and chose not to show his true colors, so having some burdens behind him was exactly what he wanted.

In this way, Now both sides have the same desire to slack off.

Kiyotaka and Hachiman hit it off and prepared to act together.

“I knew you were best friends,” Nanase passed a comment like that without even trying to lower her voice, and felt satisfied with her conclusion, “You don’t even need to speak but team up so casually.”

Hachiman felt even more irritated with her after this.

After a while, a lot of topics appeared on the map.

Two are duplicates.

Grip strength measurement, one of which was fire-making project encountered on the first day.

It is still worth 5 points, and after so many days, most students have basically acquired the ability to make fire.

It’s not worth it to try to grab these 5 points now.

Another repeated item…grip strength measurement. Hachiman thought he could give it a try.

’This time, it’s probably not done by Hoshinomiya-sensei. The reason I say this is because I saw her with fluttering hair at the school’s supplies department at starting point in the morning.....’

This is also the reason why Hachiman left starting point early in the morning.

Someone who wants to avoid troublesome teacher like Hoshinomiya Chie.

After making such a comparison, he can choose the appropriate project.

Hachiman was going to go there for the grip strength measurement.

Yukimura volunteered to stay behind because his physical strength was almost exhausted after the check-in and scoring in designated area.

So, he chose to help everyone look after the luggage.

This allows everyone to travel light.

Seeing that Yukimura was willing to stay on his own initiative, Shinohara didn’t want to be a burden to others, so she chose to stay.

After Shinohara stayed, Komiya and Ike Kanji naturally squatted on the ground as well.

Then it became a group of four people, Hachiman, Ibuki, Ayanokoji, and junior Nanase who acted alone.

“Hikigaya-senpai.”

While heading to the assignment together, she took the initiative to talk to Hachiman again, who didn’t respond to her.

xxxxxx

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