A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 40 - Resolve (1)

"These feelings are my own. Why would you be the intermediate between Ryuuen and me? Why would you still be here now? It took me some time, but I finally realized why you always gave me this feeling of uneasiness."

"Oh?"

"Kushida Kikyo-san, you and I attended the same junior high," I said.

"You finally remembered. You must've also remembered I was quite the problem child," Kushida replied.

"I don't think you're the same problem child. Everyone in Class D trusts you-."

"Stop! Just stop already! Who wants to relive their past?!"

Ryuuen was smiling the entire time as our confrontation continued.

"Now," Kushida continued. "You must understand what I'm after, right? Why I'm working with Ryuuen-kun."

"Yes. You can't risk the possibility that I know what happened in junior high. So you're seeking out any option to eliminate me."

"We have a winner."

"Isn't that quite a large risk, though?" I asked. "There's a large possibility that I don't know what happened in junior high."

"A possibility is still a possibility. You are a pain to my existence. I think it's only natural to want to get rid of any pain in one's life."

"Even if you do, I could still expose your true self to the school," I fired back.

"I wonder who they'd believe. Horikita, the loner, cold-hearted ice princess. Or Kushida. The sweet angel everyone adores. Besides, I'm willing to pull a certain beloved brother into this mess if it means getting rid of you."

I stiffened at the mention of my brother. A perfect defense against me. I couldn't exploit any opening.

"Doesn't involving Ryuuen in this also make him a target? Since he knows your true self?" I asked.

"If it means expelling you, I'd make a deal with the devil to do so. That being said I could always target him next if I wanted to."

"I think your talk has gone on long enough," Ryuuen interjected. "It took quite some time to get you here."

Kushida and I remained quiet as Ryuuen continued to speak.

"I'll paint the picture for you. Long before the festival, I had Kushida acquire the Class D participation table. I planned out Class C's participation table to have the best match-ups against yours. But, I made sure to thoroughly research Class A too."

"Brilliant, outstanding move," I replied. "But wouldn't have there been a more efficient way to win? You pitted two of your aces against me, and one of them was even put out of commission doing so, seems rather incomprehensible to me."

"What's so incomprehensible about wanting to crush you? That was reason enough for me to do what I did."

"Didn't you rely too much on luck, though? When Kinoshita-san crashed into me, you got lucky on two fronts. One that I got injured. And two, that Kinoshita-san herself got injured too."

"Well, your injury was coincidental, I'll give you that. But could you really think Kinoshita's injury was accidental?"

"What?"

BAM!

Ryuuen slammed his foot into the ground with all his strength. "That's what I did to her. I made sure she wasn't going to be able to participate in any other events."

"You... you injured her?"

"The power of money is a scary thing," Ryuuen replied. "500,000 points was all it took."