COTE: Mysterious Siblings(DISCONTINUED)

Volume 6: Respite

Not wanting to make him think I wasn't interested in it, I cut off the tag and quickly put it on, trying it out. At the very least, it fit me, if not a bit oversized but hey it's a coat. 

"It suits you, I'm relieved."

"Thanks." 

I'll use this during the winter.

I took the coat off and looked through the other paper bags, there were six left. One of them, I found the tag that said it was from Ichinose. Toma-kun wasn't joking when he said he contacted the few that actually cared. 

There was a short message from Ichinose's tag, greeting me a happy birthday and whatnot. I opened the paper bag to find a...what is this thing? A stuffed toy?

"The hell is that?" Toma-kun said, taking a closer look.

"Is this custom made?" 

"Wait, hold it up facing the front, then look at me." 

I did as told, then Toma-kun held his chin with his hand. 

"Nah, doesn't look like you. But it's still a plushie wearing the school uniform." He said. 

How did Ichinose get this?

"This had to have been made to order, right?" I asked him. 

"Probably. It has a visible face, which takes hours to sew. Then again, I contacted everyone two weeks prior to today."

Ah, then that explains it. Picking out gifts takes a while, huh?

"Huh. Guess you should open the rest on your own. It's about to hit curfew hour."

"From what I remember, curfew hour only applies to the girls dorms, not ours." I told him.

"Isn't that pretty sexist of the school to do? Then again, people like Ike and Yamauchi exist." 

"That's certainly true."

"Either way, I'll just go back to my room for now. I tapped out of the study session for today just so I could gather everything and get these to you."

He went towards the door and put on his shoes, opening the door itself to leave. 

"Enjoy the gifts, and happy birthday, Ayanokouji."

"Thank you." 

He nodded at me then left my dorm, closing the door behind him. 

Perhaps there was more I could learn from them than I initially thought. 

_______________________________________________

Toma Hisoka POV

The next day after classes, I met with a certain someone. It was hard to get into contact with him, so instead I used my connections in his class to tell him to meet me at this very location. I was sitting on a bench, looking at the vast body of water that was in between us and the rest of Tokyo. 

"Heh. What'd you want, eh?" My guest had arrived, sitting beside me. 

"Here I thought you would bring a few other people with you." 

"Oh don't worry, I've got Albert nearby, and I can call in reinforcements anytime. This is the only time I'll be speaking with you casually."

Amid the tension of the exams, I called upon my arch-nemesis, Ryuuen Kakeru. Why you ask? For old times sake, I decided to get him a gift. 

"Here. Don't think much of it, but yesterday was your birthday, so I thought why not?"

I put the paper bag in-between us, and naturally, he eyed me suspiciously.