A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 19 - Deserted Island Exam (6)

"I should have understood this long ago..."

"Don't talk. You're sick."

No matter what I said, I knew Horikita wouldn't heed my words. For her, there was no one else to rely on. She lived a life of solidarity; using her own power to reach her goal.

"I'm going to rise to Class A... I'll definitely do it... using my own abilities." She weakly tightened her grip around my sleeve. "I'm prepared to bear the burden of hatred by everyone... This was all my fault."

"You can't make it anywhere without the help of others. Even in this school."

"I won't accept that. I'll take everything on. I have a goal of making it to Class A, a goal to be recognized by my brother."

"You can't bear all the responsibility. You're not that strong."

"So what? I should just give up?"

I tightened my grip around Horikita as I brought her closer to my chest.

"No one said to give up. If you can't fight, find those who will fight with you. There are people around you willing to do that. Including me."

"Why? Why would someone like you do that?"

"I wonder..."

Shortly afterward, Horikita's eyes closed once again, her energy was spent as she lost consciousness again. I didn't want anyone to notice her condition, so I had to continue the path down to the beach to retire her.

The weather was getting worse, and the route was getting harder to traverse. The rain continued to mercilessly pour down on us, sapping me of my physical strength. More than anything else, the heat radiating off of Horikita's body wasn't usual. Staying out in this rain any longer could make her condition far worse.

We were too deep in the forest to find any decent shelter from the weather. I had no choice but to rely on the power of nature to keep us safe. I found a remarkably large tree and moved under it. It didn't block all the rain, but the overgrown leaves did stop a lot of the rainfall.

I gently laid Horikita down on the ground beside me. She was already covered in dirt, but there wasn't much I could do about that. I placed her head in my lap as we sat there.

After some time, Horikita seemed to wake as she spat out some ragged breaths. She was still in a daze and could barely comprehend the situation.

"Why? Where..?"

She didn't seem to remember anything. So I recounted the past events to the best of my ability.

"Oh... I see.."

"That's good."

"I remember the mistake I made. It's all my fault."

"It's getting close to roll call time, this may sound harsh, but you should retire, Horikita. You're at your limit."

She had suffered through this whole test, but now it wouldn't be possible for her to carry on.

"I can't do that. We can't afford to lose 30 points because of me... not only that... the keycard was stolen from me, too."

"So Class D will lose another 50 points."

Horikita's arm covered her eyes as she gave a slight nod in response. With all the points the class desperately struggled to keep. This incident would wipe out a majority of those.

"Leave me here. Head back to roll call, so I'm the only one missing."

"What are you going to do then?"