cote react to

part 16

"But what advantage is there in going into the cave if you don't have a keycard?"

"Well, I'd intended to explore various things, but in the end I discovered the leader's identity."

"Well, I suppose that Katsuragi-kun was careless."

No, that wasn't it.

"There was that guy, Yahiko, remember? The one following Katsuragi around? He was the leader. I saw Katsuragi and Yahiko at the cave, but I didn't see the moment they occupied it. After the two of them walked away, I checked if the cave was occupied or not."

"His most trusted lackey, huh?" Karuizawa pondered.

"He should have brought several other students with him. With the two of them, the leader was narrowed considerably fast." Matsushita said.

"It's not like Katsuragi-kun can trust anyone at that time." Horikita said. "Their class was divided. He's cautious of even his classmates, not knowing when he would be stab in the back. And it did happened."

"Poor Katsuragi-kun." Sato said.

I explained the situation. When I saw them, Katsuragi had been standing near the entrance with the card in his hand. Yahiko came out of the cave, and they left together.

"Wouldn't you have mistaken Katsuragi-kun as the leader?" she asked.

"Do you think that the leader would have shown off the card so carelessly in front of people?"

"I guess no." Ike said slowly.

"Then why is the card with Katsuragi-kun then?" Haruka asked.

"To throw off possible people spying on them." Hirata replied.

"He's so smart, I'm jealous!" Ike whined.

Horikita should have known how unbelievably stupid that was, precisely because she'd been appointed as the leader.

"But why? Why bother deliberately holding onto the card, then?"

Because he didn't have any other choice. As far as I can tell, Katsuragi is a calm and collected man, excessively cautious. There's no way he didn't understand the high risk of occupying a spot immediately after finding it. In other words, the person who occupied it was enticed by shortsighted greed."

"Oh you're right, Hirata-kun!" Sato gushed.

Ayanokoji looked at her way when she squealed loudly. Several of their classmates also glanced at her direction. Sato, realizing this, buried her face in her palms.

'Does she like him?' Ayanokoji thought curiously.

How does one even realized that they are crushing on a person? What is even love? He can't understand why love is so important to people. Love overrides your reasoning. It makes you act carelessly and rashly. What does it even mean to fall in love? To be in love? What's the purpose? Is it to procreate between to people?

All the books he read said that love is between two people that wants to share everything with them. Whether it's pain, happiness, regret, past, or their life together. It made love sound like a fairy tale when in reality it's not. Those fairy tale books must have mislead many people.

"That's…why there was another person."

"Yes."

When Katsuragi found the cave, he didn't intend to occupy it. Nevertheless, he was holding the space down, probably because Yahiko had been careless. Even though he thought no one would be watching them, he'd probably wanted insurance.