COTE: Mysterious Siblings(DISCONTINUED)

Volume 6: Respite

"You sure you aren't just trying to poison me or some shit?" 

"The school doesn't let us buy such things." 

He slowly took the paper bag from the bench and looked inside. A few seconds afterwards, he was laughing like a maniac. 

"You're a fucking psychopath sometimes." He commented. 

The reason he said so is because I bought him a book filled with strategies used for wars. 

"It'll make the battle more enjoyable, don't you think?" I said. 

"Kukuku. After all those years taking down my gang, you actually began to understand me." 

The bench shifted creaked a bit as Ryuuen stood up and faced me. 

"I appreciate it. As for gratitude, I'm gonna read this whole thing and use all the strategies against you." He stated. 

I stood up to face him directly. 

"Improvise, adapt, overcome. I'll say this now, but I'm not your only enemy." 

"You think I don't know that? I understand you have allies in those chicks that surround you most of the time, and that beta male under Suzune." 

"Then it's all the more reason for you to accept my gift." 

I held out my hand to him. 

"I've respected you for what you do, especially since we're basically arch-enemies. For old time's sake, lets get along for a good hour or two." 

Of course, he was suspicious of this, but after knowing me for so long, he knew I meant it. Soon after, he took my hand in his own and shook it firmly. 

"Just this once. So, what did you want to talk about?" He asked with a sinister smirk. 

"Why don't we clear the air between us? Sit down, let's start over from the very beginning."

__________________________________________

After my little meeting with Ryuuen, the days went by very smoothly. For today, we were at the library, currently on going with one of the study sessions led by Horikita, and joined by Ichinose's classmates. I had the honor of tutoring some of them, thankfully Ike and Yamauchi weren't amongst that bunch.

It was just a bunch of girls that I wasn't too familiar with, save for Matsushita. There were four of them in total including her, the other girls were Inogashira, Shinohara and Ichihashi. 

"Alright, you understand this thoroughly?" I asked Inogashira as she just finished solving a math problem. 

"Y-Yes, thank you."

"Good. How about the rest of you? All done?" I turned to look at the other three girls. 

"Just finished." Ichihashi said, handing me her solution paper. 

"Same." 

"All done!" 

"That should conclude all the time we have for today. Go ahead and pack up." 

I looked over to Horikita and the others. Ike was stretching his arms and making a bit of a fuss, while Ayanokouji separated from Satou. Ichinose went up to Horikita as I did the same. 

"Good work everybody." I commented. 

"You too. Those girls under your tutelage are slowly improving, unlike some people." Horikita said, glaring at a shrinking Ike. 

"You can be a pretty good tutor Toma-kun." Ichinose said. 

"I just do what I need to do. At any rate, I'll just head to the study session tonight after getting some rest at my room."