COTE: Class D's Masked Guardian

Vol 1. Chapter 6 - Introductions

Today was the second day of school, and the first day of classes. I had never had a class at school before, so I couldn't help but feel excited as I woke up.

It was around 6 am, and since I still had no points, I couldn't exactly make myself breakfast. So I skipped it, despite how hungry I felt after not eating anything for more than 16 hours.

I went out for my daily run, which I needed to do to maintain my physique which had been dwindling during my time at the mansion. After about 10 kilometres and an hour, I went back to my dorm room to take a quick shower.

Despite being in agony after running on an empty stomach, I still managed to trudge myself all the way to class. Opening the door to the room labelled 'Class 1-D', I saw all my classmates already there, talking with each other.

I made my way to my seat, ignoring all the greetings I got from the people around me. I had no energy to talk to anyone, so I just slumped onto my desk, head in arms and tried my best to sleep. When I slept, the pain of hunger wouldn't affect me, so all I could do was pray to god that this one instance of sleeping wouldn't lower our class points.

As I almost drifted to sleep, I heard a voice come from my right.

"You look awfully tired, did you not get enough sleep?" I looked up and turned to my seatmate, who had her nose buried in her book. Was she worried about me? How cute.

"No, I think I got enough sleep. It's just that I've been living on 0 private points so I couldn't exactly afford food. I haven't eaten in 18 hours."

Horikita gave me a disapproving look. Hey, what's with that expression? Didn't I just say I haven't eaten in 18 hours? It isn't even my fault I have 0 points to begin with. Yes, I did spend them, but if I didn't, Class D would be in a world of trouble.

"Ayanokouji-kun, can I speak with you for a bit?" Horikita asked, turning towards me.

"Sure, Horikita," I said.

"Alright. Yesterday, the red haired boy over there was almost blackmailed by three upperclassmen. They provoked him in front of the cameras to try and get his points. Fortunately for him, I was there to stop things from getting any worse," Horikita explained, pointing towards the student named 'Sudou Ken'

I let out a sigh. Currently, Sudou Ken is one of the weakest links in our classroom. He looks and acts like a delinquent, and has an incredibly short fuse. These things would make him an easy target for the other classes. I had to fix this looming disaster at some point, and ideally, I had to do it now.

"I know you're worried about our class point, but please don't be. I'll fix this little issue with Sudou."

Horikita just nodded, then started to read her book again, and I went back to sleep.

After about ten minutes, I heard the bell ring, which woke me up as I jerked up into a sitting position. Shortly after the sound of the bell, Chabashira walked into the room.

"My, my, looks like Ayanokouji's efforts didn't go to waste on you lot. Sitting up straight and paying attention, no latencies or absences. Maybe you might have a chance at Class A after all," mocked Chabashira. This woman was a clear sadist, no matter what she said, I would not change my mind.

"You know, the higher ups were incredibly surprised when I reported what happened yesterday. Their expressions after hearing that Class D of all classes bought the information about the s-system were priceless. Of course, I had to omit the part about my deal with Ayanokouji." Chabashira's tone then became serious, "however, I am now under investigation, which is quite troublesome. Of course, they won't find anything thanks to Ayanokouji, but they will still be suspicious of me."