COTE- Who are you?

Chapter 1

Advanced nurturing high school is the best school in japan. The school's biggest selling point came from being a member of Class A upon graduation. The students who managed to win it all were granted the luxury of being able to move forward to any university or employment opportunity they desired. Even in the most extreme cases, whether it be a university boasting the lowest imaginable acceptance rates or a major first-class company, the students would be guaranteed to get in with a free pass. However, this didn't mean they could afford to be overly optimistic. After being accepted, if one's raw potential wasn't enough to get the job done, it's only natural that they would be screened out and eliminated eventually.

I, Ayanokoji kiyotaka, am currently a student in this remarkable high school where I'll soon be embarking on a second year.

As of April 1st, I'm a student in Class D, with a total of 275 class points. This means that every month, I'll receive approximately 30,000 yen's worth private points. Incidentally, the current highest ranked class, Class A, was led by sakayanagi by an overwhelming number of 1119 points. Following behind that is Class B led by ichinose, with 542 points. And following only just barely behind that was Class C, , led by Ryūen, with 540.

When comparing our class with the other classes, the difference in class points may seem large, but even so, it may be more accurate to say that the gap between us has shrunk.

The extent to which we can close this gap over the course of this next year would make all the difference.

After a long and yet somehow short spring break had come to an end, the day of the opening ceremony finally arrived. We moved out of our old, familiar first-year classroom and relocated to a new one for second-years. At a glance, the desk and chairs seemed to be the same, but for whatever reason, the room gave off a different feeling.

"Yo."

I was leisurely surfing the internet on my phone when I heard a voice call out to me.

It was my classmate Miyake Akito, a member of a small group I had become good friends with.

"I've been a little worried about you cuz you didn't really hang out with the group all that much over spring break."

What Akito said was true. I hadn't interacted with the Ayanokōji group over the break almost at all.

Or rather, I had been so occupied with other matters that I ended up neglecting them.

"Don't get me wrong, there's no rule stating you've gotta hang out with us, but even Haruka was kinda worried, and on top of that, Airi really seemed like she was thinking about you a lot."

Akito was essentially advising me to keep the feelings of the girls in our group in mind.

"My bad. I'll hang out with you guys more often moving forward."

"That sounds good to me. I was feeling pretty lonely without you too, you know."

I felt sorta uneasy hearing a friend tell me something like that, but it wasn't exactly a bad feeling.

It didn't seem like Akito planned on staying for very long, as he casually raised his hand and went back to his own seat.

As he did, I found myself thinking about how I had found myself a truly good friend.

After all, he had gone out of his way to give me some good-natured advice like that.

As I thought back on what had happened while I listened in on others discussions, a surprised voice more akin to a scream spread throughout the classroom. I looked over to see what was going on and immediately noticed what had caused the commotion.