COTE: Self-Preservation

Y2V4: Nanase's Troubled Heart

"Yo, dumbass, they're all pretty close to here now. I don't see all of them, but I'll give it 2 minutes for the next few to show up," Ryuuen remarked over the walkie-talkie.

I did one final GPS search for the day, and it seemed like Ryuuen was hidden off inside the forest, and within a clearing, 3 people could be seen. Yagami, Tsubaki, and Takahashi.

It was deathly quiet, almost like we were in our own world, a personal singularity.

In a moment, Ryuuen would report everything to me.

And it'll all be made clear.

"The Tsubaki person is a guy with short black hair. Yagami is a tall guy with a pretty good build, and reddish hair. Takahashi is someone who's pretty short and chubby. Utomiya is my height and he's got a buzzcut. And Hosen's a girl with blonde hair. What a wide array of people, eh, Ayanokouji?" Ryuuen chuckled as he finished his report.

So that's how it is, huh?

"Thank you, Ryuuen. Consider your end of the deal complete."

"Now you can leave me alone, right?"

"Yes, I won't bother you anymore. Do whatever you want with the walkie talkie."

"If you see someone from class C or class B, could ya hand it to 'em?"

Hmm, that's fine. It's not like I'll need this one anymore.

"Sure."

And with that, I turned the device off, placing it to my side as I looked towards Nanase.

But she didn't respond in kind. Her head was tilted downwards, looking at the grass blankly.

I knew what feelings were in her heart, though.

"Who are you exactly, Nanase?"

She sighed bitterly, reluctantly turning her head upward as her eyes finally met mine.

Hatred.

Unequivocal hatred could be seen within those orbs.

"I'm a person who wants to see you pay for your harmful actions," she said in a way that was most definitely a true reflection of her feelings.

Pay for my actions, huh?

"Would you like to stop with this farce, then? We can speak freely for the first time in a week. Of course, if you don't wish to, feel free to abstain," I requested.

Her reasoning for acting like this would be nice to know, but it isn't essential to me nor is this the only time to get it.

"I will... On the condition that you explain to me when you saw through me."

She spoke like a different person, and an odd calmness emanated from her body.

"From the beginning, I never trusted you."

She nodded, expecting such a thing to be said.

"And considering your name on that list, I expected that you could've been partnered with Yagami. I didn't have anything to prove it, of course, so I decided to test it. I wanted to see what type of person you really were."

She listened attentively, her previously calm gaze faltering, if only for a mere second.

"So, firstly I decided to let you listen to Ryuuen for the basis of this test. I'm sure anybody would've realised that you wanted me to leak that information but at the same time, you can't exactly let it slide, can you?"

If she did, I'd imagine things ending up much worse for Yagami. He'd waste time, he'd have to reconvene, or maybe the meeting would never happen at all.