COTE: The Quiet One Can Be Dangerous

Vol. 11 Chp. 4: Final Exam

Upon seeing who it was, Ichinose showed a completely dumbfounded expression.

While Sakayanagi was just as surprised as Ichinose, her expression quickly changed as she narrowed her eyes in amusement.

"...Ryuuen-kun? Why... Why are you here...?"

A clear, distinctive feeling of unrest coursed through Ichinose.

No, neither Sakayanagi nor I had seen this coming either.

"What's wrong with you? What's got you shaking there?"

Ryuuen, the former leader of Class D, deliberately drew attention to Ichinose's trembling.

"I see... I hadn't expected this to happen. I had wrongly convinced myself that the commanders for this special exam would be those of us who received protection points."

Sakayanagi was the first to put the pieces together. Indeed, this man, Ryuuen, had come here alone. Kaneda was nowhere to be seen.

"The special exam can't even start without the commanders. In other words, if the commander is absent, then someone else will naturally have to fill in for them. Isn't that right?"

It's understandable for a student to miss an exam day unexpectedly. There is likely a backup system in place where one or two individuals are prepared to take on the role of the commander. 

In the event of a loss, the substitute commander will be responsible for the class's exam performance.

"Even so, I never even considered that you might show up, Ryūen-kun."

"Well, duh? Considering the type of person you are, Ichinose, even if you broke out in a fever or got yourself injured, you'd come crawling here on your hands and knees to prevent your classmates from risking getting expelled."

If they lose the exam, there would be no way to prevent the commander's expulsion other than using a protection point. As Sakayanagi had said, the preconceived notion that the people with protection points would become the commanders had been a critical misconception.

Ichinose nervously cleared her throat.

When the special exam was first announced, Ichinose was naturally cautious about the opposing commanders. However, when Kaneda was chosen as the commander, she probably dismissed the possibility of facing a strong opponent altogether. 

In her mind, the process of elimination had occurred without her even realizing it. She concluded that the special exam would be a competition between the students who had managed to obtain protection points.

"Surely there must be some sort of penalty for you to participate as a substitute, right?"

"Yeah, Kaneda isn't allowed to participate in any events. It ain't that unreasonable."

Ryuuen was saying that this penalty was something he had already considered.

"Did you do this to throw me off? Even if you did, isn't it disadvantageous for you that Kaneda-kun can't participate?"

While I didn't know the full extent of Kaneda's abilities, he was most likely a vital asset for Class D.

This meant that they had devised a clever scheme that involved giving up on Kaneda's potential. Subconsciously, it would lead one to start pondering why.

When had they decided that Ryuuen would become the commander? If it was from the beginning, did that mean this had all been planned from the start? With questions like these running through her mind, Ichinose was probably terribly confused.

"Kukuku. I'm just their sacrifice. If my class loses, the commander will be expelled. It's a perfect chance for those Class D guys to kick me out here. That's all there is to it, right?"