COTE: The Mad Demon

Chapter 13 - Forgiveness

At Horikita's sincere apology, Okuma spoke to her.

"Horikita Suzune..." he trailed off.

After that, he finally opened his mouth, "Your apology is not accepted" he said while he look at Horikita with lowly gaze.

What?!

"What?!" shouted by the Idiot Trio and Kushida.

Because of his response, Horikita can't help but bit her lower lip in frustration. She even gave up her pride just to appease his anger, but in the end, it became futile.

Okuma then continued, "Do you think that words alone could relieve my anger? No, Horikita. The world is not as easy as you think. If you became drunk while driving, and on the way, you killed someone, do you think that by saying, "I truly apologize, I was drunk on that day" help them relieve their anger? No, Horikita. Instead of relieving their anger, you're just fanning the flames, their drive to kill you to death. And it won't happen if you didn't became drunk at the beginning".

His words were right. People will always seek revenge if the people who messed up their life will face the suffering they deserve.

"And because of that, I won't forgive you... yet".

Huh?

"That's why prove yourself that you are really sorry, not by words, but by your action. I'm giving you another chance to atone for what you did, Horikita".

... Woah, I didn't know that Okuma was the type that could forgive people. I mean, my first impression of him was that he was a guy that always beat someone if they anger him. I guess not all people are evil as they look.

At his word, Horikita felt as though the burden on her shoulder were finally lifted.

"... Thank you, Okuma-kun" she said in reply.

After that, we started planning for the study group.

===

When our study group was conducted yesterday, the trio was faced with difficulties at first, but today, it seems that they were able to adapt on Horikita's schedule that was tailor-made for them. Although, Sudou look tired, he still tried his best to focus on his studies.

After the previous period ended, lunch period began. I tried to ask Horikita to join me on the cafeteria, but I was interrupted by Kushida by asking me to join her on eating lunch. But since she has her leash on me when I tried to give her back the bunny strap, I have no choice but comply on her request.

After agreeing to her request, we went to a popular cafe that was liked by most students.

Looking at the inside, majority of the customer were girls. Although, there are some boys, the number of girls are still overwhelming.

We then look around for our seats, and after discovering a table that was not used by customers, we immediately went there and ordered our food.

While eating, I said, "Now that I think about it, it feels totally uncomfortable when there are many people".

"Don't worry, there are some boys who eat here, just like Koenji" Kushida replied.

Wait, Koenji?

When she mentioned his name, I looked around, and the first thing I saw was a blonde-haired boy that was surrounded by women. Yep, that's Koenji. But looking at their faces, they don't seem like a first-year.

As if to answer my question, Kushida added, "Those girls are all third-years. Class D mostly".

Looking at their faces, it seems that they really didn't want to be with him, but because of circumstances, they have no choice but to resort on this tactic.