cote react to

part 16

Horikita saw the way his body tense for a moment and concluded that this must be serious. She remembered that this should be after he left her to answer the class's questions and before she came to question him.

"Is it safe to say that for the time being, you're satisfied?" I asked.

"Yes. First, I'd like to say that you did wonderfully. I'm honestly impressed."

"Satisfied? Impressed?" Matsushita glanced at Ayanokoji interested before focusing her gaze at the screen.

What's Sae-chan-sensei's talking about?" Ike whispered to Yamauchi who shrugged.

Even Kushida was interested to know.

"Well, tell me something. Is it really true? Did he demand I be expelled from school?"

"Huh? Expelled?" Karuizawa said shocked.

"Why would Ayanokoji-kun be expelled?" Hirata couldn't believe that a classmate and a friend of his was a target of expulsion.

Yukimura frowned, "Ayanokoji-kun did nothing to be expelled, and how can a person demand a student to be expelled? That's impossible. This school is unreachable and communications are cut off outside the school."

"The person must have enough power and influence to demand the government sponsored school to head their demands." Miyake agreed.

Chabashira-sensei leaned against the railing and looked toward the sky.

"Do you have any basis for saying that the story is true?"

"I know quite a lot about you. Might not that be the reason, more than anything else? Other teachers don't know about your true abilities. But I have no doubts."

'True abilities? I saw some of them already, but did I saw all of them? Even I, the closest to him know absolutely nothing about him except that he practiced calligraphy, piano, tea ceremony, smart and can fight somewhat.' Horikita observed the boy called Ayanokoji Kiyotaka through her peripheral vision.

I certainly had my doubts. It was true that I stood out because of the entrance examination, but it shouldn't have been something all the teachers had inside knowledge of. But still, the sequence of events was rather odd. Chabashira-sensei had said that man had contacted the school directly. As
expected, this person was hiding something.

Miyake snorted, "Of course you're bound to stand up after scoring straight fifties."

"Why did you even did that?" Sato asked.

"I didn't knew the average score in the test." Ayanokoji admitted, "To be on the safe side, I scored fifty in every subject."

"Didn't know?" Karuizawa hummed, "Are you homeschooled, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"I am." Ayanokoji said, "This is my first time attending school and being around this many people." He played with his phone, his voice a bit weaker than before.

Horikita noted this, "What do you mean, 'this is my first time being around this many people'? She took advantage of the situation to know him better.

"My father was always strict. To the way I dress, my diet, the classes and subject I took, exercise, you name it." Ayanokoji averted his eyes.

"That's sad." Sato looked at him sadly.

"I see." Horikita said. 'You didn't answer the question though. But this is enough for me right now.'

"I'm sure that you've heard of this rather famous myth, the wings of
Icarus."

"Why do you bring that up?" I asked.