COTE : All Out

V1 : Chapter 8

Ayanokoji POV

I checked my phone.

Karuizawa

Can we talk?

Ayanokoji

Sure. What is it?

Karuizawa

In person would be better

Ayanokoji

Fine

Come to my room

A few minutes later, I heard the doorbell ring.

Opening the door, I saw Karuizawa, still in her uniform, looking down, she was obviously nervous about something. I let her in.

"You can sit at the bed, I'll make something to drink. Is black tea fine."

She nodded and sat on the bed.

"It is fine." She sounded... sad?... worried?... I'm not exactly sure.

I went to the kitchen and prepared the tea. I left one cup for her on the table and took a sip from mine.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked, trying to get to the topic.

"I- I need your help..." She asked.

I signaled her to continue.

She took a deep breath, calming herself down.

"I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend, please..."

I was confused. Why does she want me to do that?

"You see... I used to be bullied... a lot..."

She wasn't looking at me, but I could tell she was holding back tears.

"I need you to protect me... please..."

She tried to re-compose herself.

"You are the most popular guy, maybe even student, from our year. If I were to become your girlfriend, there is no way anyone would try to bully me."

"So you are trying to put yourself at the top of the social ladder? So you can be safe?" I asked my first question.

She nodded.

"Why me, and not someone like Hirata?" If Karuizawa had gone to Hirata with this, he would undoubtedly agree, that is the type of person he is, always helping others. Coming to me could be a risky decision.

"I thought about approaching him at first, but you are a better choice."

"You said you were bullied, but going to these lengths is too far." She looked up at me with a slightly shocked expression.

"Unless that's not the whole story. You are hiding something else..."

I moved closer to her. She instinctively clutched the left part of her stomach.

"What is it?"

I was looking at her with an intense, cold glare. She was looking at me too. Neither of us broke eye contact. The aura around the room turned ominous...

You can tell a lot of thing about a person by looking at their eyes.

Her eyes... They showed fear... Not the common type of fear, the one people feel about little things... She has experienced actual fear, the kind you feel when you are put in an extremely dangerous situation... When you think 'Is this the end?'....