Shirogane Miyuki in COTE

22:59.

When Shirogane and Kushida returned to the dorm, the curfew alarm finally went off.

Shirogane had already returned the phone to Kushida.

The two of them walked into the dorm together.

The dorm manager poked his head out.

"Thanks so much, Shirogane. If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't have been able to pay."

Kushida showed a grateful look.

"I actually got your phone from someone in your class. But it's not good that you went out so late to buy something," Shirogane said.

Oh.

So it was two students, and one of them forgot their phone.

The dorm manager pulled his head back inside.

With a beep, the elevator arrived.

Shirogane and Kushida stepped into the elevator together.

But just moments ago, Kushida looked so cute in the lounge on the first floor.

Now, as the elevator doors closed, her face suddenly went dark.

"What's your deal..."

But—

"There are cameras in the elevator too," Shirogane said suddenly.

Uh.

Kushida quickly switched back to her cute expression.

It was like she was suddenly interrupted mid-spell.

"Shirogane, are you sure you want me to go back alone now?" Kushida asked.

"Of course."

Shirogane said.

"I already sent you the details."

"Also, this is my floor."

With that, Shirogane stepped out as the elevator doors opened, leaving Kushida alone inside.

"..."

Kushida.

Honestly, Shirogane is pretty strange.

Really strange.

He tried to hold her by getting her fingerprint, but that failed.

And the audio recording she made wasn't deleted right away either.

So if he goes back to the dorm now, wouldn't that mean he could copy or even back up the recording and send it to someone else?

This thought made Kushida really anxious.

And just earlier on the way back to the dorm, she said that to solve this, she might even go to his room or have him come to hers.

But Shirogane refused.

"Your phone is the one I got from Ayanokouji, but I can't be sure if he'll be hanging around the dorm. If he takes photos of you coming to my room late at night, or me going to your room..."

"This test was his solo act. It looks like he's focusing on class battles now. Since your class is the worst right now, he might use other tricks to get help for your class to move up together."

"And Kushida, you're pretty valuable in this."

Valuable.

So that means Ayanokouji bringing her the phone probably had a reason behind it?

But is Ayanokouji really that scary?

Shirogane needed to take precautions like this.

Thinking that,

"Ding,"

The elevator doors opened, and Kushida started walking toward her room.

Her room was 609, a bit of a walk, but there was a stairway near the elevator. Usually no one takes the stairs when there's an elevator, but now she felt nervous... maybe someone was by the stairs.

Even though the other person was hiding, she could sense some breathing.

So Shirogane was right? Maybe someone really was lying in wait.

If she went to her room with Shirogane's visit or if someone took pictures of her going to his room...

The consequences would be just a bit worse than the recording Shirogane had made.

Damn.

Kushida calmly walked up to her dorm door, swiped her card, and went inside.

"Bang."

The door finally closed. Kushida then opened her phone.

On it was a message Shirogane had already prepared in the elevator.

[Meet at noon tomorrow. The meeting place is Horikita Suzune's room. I won't handle the recording file myself, so don't worry, it will be taken care of then.]

...Kushida.

Why did it have to be Horikita Suzune's room?

Wait a second.

Kushida suddenly thought of a scary possibility.

Could it be, Shirogane, that you plan to play that recording *in front of* Horikita Suzune?

If that happened, her real self would be completely exposed.

And then it would be even more impossible for Horikita to be friends with her.

Kushida felt a bit shaken again.

...

Time passed quickly.

Since there were no classes today, all the students were pretty relaxed.

After eating a simple breakfast, Shirogane started his usual study routine.

When it comes to "study routine"…

[Every time I see your room, I'm kind of shocked.]

Just after 9:30 a.m., the narrator system came online.

It was a bit more talkative than usual today.

But this *was* Shirogane's own room.

"It's not a big deal."

Shirogane's dorm was the same as everyone else's, but after living there for almost two months, it had naturally taken on his own style.

If it were someone like Sakayanagi—a cute girl—her room would probably have some cute decorations.

But for someone like Shirogane, who puts all his focus into studying…

There was a desk, a chair, and shelves filled with textbooks and notes.

He had a cup holding used-up pen refills on his bookshelf.

And on the walls and in places he could see while sitting, he'd stuck up motivational quotes.

He had already gotten used to this kind of setup.

"After all, I've taken on Sakayanagi's challenge to beat a genius."

"And the only way to beat a genius…"

Shirogane started working on problems. "...is to put in more time than they do."

That's why he worked so hard—studying 12 hours a day.

[By the way, did anything happen last night?]

"I went to the railing spot where Kushida usually goes. Saw her yelling."

Oh.

So that's what happened.

Looks like something happened after the narrator system went to sleep last night.

[Kushida… hmm, Kushida Kikyo was yelling?]

"She seems to be pretending to be friends with people even when she doesn't want to. She puts on this sweet, angel-like act around others, but behind the scenes, she talks badly about them. It's like she's just trying to make people like her on the surface."

"And last night, I saw her kicking the railing and cursing out Horikita."

Shirogane said.

[So she's that kind of person?]

The narrator sounded a little surprised.

"You sound surprised."

[Uh, yeah, I guess I'm a little shocked. But... did anything else happen? Like, I don't know, handprints or something?]

?

Shirogane started to wonder if this narrator system had some kind of connection to Kushida.

There *was* that "Aunt Kushida" from before—it made him feel like they might know each other.

But Kushida, why do you tell everything to other people?

Do you really have no shame?

"I'm honestly pretty disappointed."

Shirogane said.

[So… did you press your handprint or not?]

Narrator:

"..."

Shirogane.

He was clearly trying to avoid that part, so why do you keep bringing it up?

"Kushida's actions—"

Shirogane said.

[So… did you press your handprint or not?]

Narrator:

"..."

Looks like it won't stop until it gets an answer today.

"She found out I recorded her kicking the rail and swearing,"

Shirogane said, "so she tried to blame me and make it look like I tried something on her."

[So… did you press your handprint or not?]

"..."

Shirogane.

"Do you not even know what shame is?"

Shirogane said.

[I'm just curious. So, did you press it? How did it feel? Did your heart skip a beat?]

"..."

Shirogane.

"I didn't really feel anything. At first I was surprised, but then I realized I wasn't really affected."

Shirogane decided to just tell the truth.

[Well, you're in full-on study mode right now. Unless something makes you forget about studying for a moment, you won't care about girls.]

Shirogane didn't disagree with that comment.

Because for someone like him with no money, all he could do now was study, study, and more study.

As for points—even if someone gives up and stops trying, they still get 40 class points, which means 160,000 private points per month. Over three years, that adds up to close to 5 million private points.

By the time you graduate, you can exchange that for 4 million yen in cash.

To him, that would already be a good outcome.

But Shirogane wasn't satisfied with just that. He wanted to push his class to Class A and win the school's reward, so he wouldn't have to pay for college.

To make that happen and keep things stable, finishing Sakayanagi's task was the best choice.

Finish Sakayanagi's task, get 20 million points, then use those points to "buy" Sakayanagi.

Graduate from Class A with a secure spot.

Sounds satisfying.

But then...

[Even if you say you're not affected by Kushida... well, maybe that's a bit rude to say. But if it were Sakayanagi Arisu instead, would you feel differently?]

"Sakayanagi?"

[Yeah. If she held your hand and asked for your fingerprint, what would you do?]

If it were Sakayanagi instead...

"I think that would be rude. She's so small."

Shirogane said.

"And she's really flat. I don't think she'd ever do something like that."

"I just can't picture it."

Shirogane said honestly.

[Yeah, she definitely has some... natural disadvantages, and she probably wouldn't try anything like that... Okay, let's try someone else. What if it was Shiina, the girl who sits in front of you?]

"Shiina? Hmm, that would be pretty shocking. I always thought she was the type to follow rules and do the right thing. If she suddenly did something like that…"

Shirogane paused.

"I'd probably be completely caught off guard."

[So you actually like Shiina quite a bit?]