COTE : Backed By Black Technology System-Chapter 189 - : So I Was the One Kneeling? Never Mind Then

Sudou, who had been feeling down about losing the MVP title, suddenly perked up after Horikita said something to him.

Just then, Kamuro unexpectedly showed up in Class 1-D's area.

"Is something wrong, Masumi?"

"Yeah, Sakayanagi asked me to find someone named Ayanokouji."

Kanda Shuichi paused for a moment.

Sakayanagi had been off the radar for a while, and now that she was back, the first person she wanted to see was Ayanokouji?

"You hear that, Ayanokouji? Looks like someone took notice of your big moment earlier."

Following Kanda Shuichi's gaze, Kamuro spotted Ayanokouji.

"You're Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, right? There's something going on. Come to the entrance at five."

Wait a second, Kamuro. What do you mean, *"You're Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, right?"* We've met before, haven't we?

"Why me?"

"You'll have to ask Sakayanagi that. He didn't tell me the reason." Kamuro flatly refused to answer Ayanokouji's question. Then she turned to Kanda Shuichi.

"Shuichi, nice job in the scavenger hunt."

"It wasn't too bad. My body's been feeling better lately."

After exchanging a few words, Kamuro left. This was still Class 1-D's area, after all.

The moment she was gone, a buzz of chatter spread through the class.

"Ayanokouji, she said Sakayanagi is calling you!"

"Sakayanagi? Isn't she that really cute girl from Class B we saw at the gym before?"

"What, is this your love story beginning?"

While the Class D students teased him with envy, Ayanokouji didn't react. He just quietly went back to the locker room, changed clothes, and returned to the classroom.

After getting changed, Kanda Shuichi patted Miyake on the shoulder. "Let's go."

"Yeah."

It was obvious that Miyake still felt a little down about not being able to join the final relay race.

Back in the classroom, the students listened to a bunch of pointless words from Chabashira-sensei before they were finally dismissed to rest in their dorms.

Kanda Shuichi also stood up, ready to leave.

"This time, we really lost completely." Horikita sighed, but there was no gloom on her face. "But this failure taught me a lot, and it gave me the confidence to keep moving forward."

"Yeah? Well, good for you then." Kanda Shuichi smiled. "So, what are you planning to do next?"

"Next? I think I'll have to go and apologize properly." Horikita let out another sigh and walked away from her seat.

Apologize properly? To Ryuen?

The thought of seeing Horikita kneeling in humiliation was tempting, but when he imagined her bowing to Ryuen, Kanda Shuichi felt oddly uncomfortable.

Hmm, somehow, I just can't accept that. If she has to kneel, she should kneel to me!

Or maybe Kushida? That wouldn't be too bad either...

"Shuichi, you're not going back?"

Just as he thought of Kushida, she appeared right in front of him.

"Yeah, there's something I want to talk about. Can you keep me company for a bit?"

"Of course!"

Kushida agreed without hesitation. She quickly explained to her friends before walking back to Kanda Shuichi.

The two of them made their way up to the rooftop of the school building.

A guy and a girl, alone on the rooftop—what a classic setup. Wait, is Shuichi about to confess to me? Just thinking about it made Kushida's heart start pounding.

"So, here's the thing..."

Kanda Shuichi explained how Horikita was probably about to kneel and apologize to Ryuen. Kushida's eyes immediately lit up as she nodded along, eager to rush over and witness Horikita's humiliation firsthand.

"But somehow, I just can't accept her kneeling to Ryuen," he added.

"Huh?" Kushida frowned. "You're not thinking of doing something, are you?"

"I mean, it's Ryuen we're talking about. If it were you, I wouldn't stop it."

"So you're saying you are going to stop her?"

Kanda Shuichi hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Well, whatever happens, let's just see how it plays out first."

The reason he came to the rooftop was to watch how things unfolded.

Horikita and Ryuen were currently behind the school building, a spot where few people passed by, though there were surveillance cameras. Because of that, Horikita wasn't too worried about what Ryuen might do to her.

As for Kanda Shuichi, he was here just to see how things would develop.

He had expected Horikita to follow through with the agreement and kneel before Ryuen, but what happened next was completely unexpected.

"Just throw away your pride and bow down to apologize, Suzune."

Ryuen looked excited as he watched Horikita about to kneel before him. Her last little trick had been exposed, and now there was nothing she could do.

But at that moment, Horikita suddenly lifted her head and looked straight at Ryuen.

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"Sorry, Ryuen, but I still can't kneel and apologize to you."

Ryuen's smile froze.

"If you don't kneel, aren't you afraid this will get even bigger?"

"If this were before, I would've been scared," Horikita said seriously. "If things escalated, the student council would definitely step in, and my brother would end up getting involved. That was something I always tried to avoid."

"But now, I've realized something. If I kneeled to you over this, my brother would probably be even more disappointed in me."

Horikita hadn't been doing nothing all afternoon. While Ryuen was busy enjoying his victory in the recommended event, she had already gone to confirm things with Chabashira-sensei.

The cameras did capture her looking back twice, but there was no footage of her kicking Kinoshita. The two of them had been nearly side by side at the time.

Besides, after that race, both of them had suffered injuries and didn't participate in any more events. The results they got were the same, so there was no real argument for the so-called "weaker player compensation rule."

More importantly, even though Kinoshita's leg showed clear signs of being affected by an external force, no one could prove that Horikita was the one who did it.

After all, there was plenty of time between the end of the race and when Kinoshita arrived at the infirmary. Anyone could've had a chance to do something in that gap.

So even if the school investigated, they wouldn't be able to pin the blame on anyone. The most likely outcome would be that the whole thing just faded away.

Since both sides had their own version of the story and there wasn't enough evidence, there was no way to reach a clear verdict.

For Horikita, as long as she could get past the doubt in her own heart, Ryuen's scheme wasn't a big deal.

Ryuen knew that Horikita Suzune was the younger sister of Horikita Manabu. He had even guessed the nature of their relationship and figured out that Horikita cared a lot about her brother's opinion.

Horikita had even mentioned this once in class.

That was exactly why Ryuen tried to use it against her.

But what he hadn't expected was that Horikita Suzune would have a sudden realization at this moment, completely ruining his plan.

...

Watching from the rooftop, Kanda Shuichi couldn't help but feel that Horikita had changed a lot.

But wasn't she supposed to kneel?

She didn't kneel at all.

Did she trick me?

Meanwhile, Kushida, who had originally come to watch Horikita kneel and was expecting a confession from Kanda Shuichi, was in a bad mood. She later stormed into Kanda Shuichi's dorm room just to yell at him.

And later that night, Kanda Shuichi had yet another visitor—Horikita Suzune.

"What are you doing here?"

Kanda Shuichi was surprised by Horikita's visit since she rarely ever came to his place.

"I have something to talk about. Aren't you going to invite me in?"

Since she put it that way, Kanda Shuichi had no choice but to let her inside.

The last thing he expected was for Horikita to walk in, lift her skirt slightly, and kneel right in front of Kanda Shuichi, bowing respectfully.

"What are you doing?"

Horikita's sudden kneeling startled Kanda Shuichi. He instinctively glanced at the peephole on the door.

Horikita then looked up at Kanda Shuichi and reached out her hand.

"Can you help me up? My feet hurt, so I can't stand."

Seeing how serious she looked, Kanda Shuichi was speechless, but he still reached out his hand to help her up.

"I'm really sorry that you paid 20 million points to Ryuen because of Sudou."

"This has nothing to do with you, does it?"

Kanda Shuichi was a bit confused.

"No. If I had handled Sudou better, he might not have lost control. Then you wouldn't have had to spend 20 million points."

Kanda Shuichi looked at Horikita with a strange expression.

Why was she suddenly taking responsibility for things? Did getting tricked by Ryuen change her that much?

As she looked at Kanda Shuichi, Horikita Suzune felt a strange emotion.

Both times, she had to kneel and apologize. But when it was Ryuen, she hated it. Yet with Kanda Shuichi, it didn't feel as unbearable.

How strange.

"You've become a lot more honest, haven't you?"

"After everything that's happened, I figured I should change too. Just like Ayanokouji."

Hearing that, Kanda Shuichi let out a short laugh.

"Ayanokouji? That guy just didn't want to be the most useless one on the expulsion list, so he used the sports festival to prove himself."

"Whatever his reasons, he still contributed to the class. At least, he performed way better than I did."

That was true. No matter his reasons, Ayanokouji's performance in the afternoon event had gotten him noticed by more people in the class.

"I'll find a way to pay you back the 300,000 points for switching competitors in the afternoon event."

Before leaving, Horikita looked at Kanda Shuichi seriously.

"No, no, don't bother. Just consider it my gift to you."

Kanda Shuichi quickly waved his hand. She had already given him such a grand bow—he might as well treat it as an early New Year's gift.

"I see. Then, thanks."

Huh? Shouldn't she have insisted a little more? Why did she just accept it so easily?

Looking at the small smile on Horikita's face, Kanda Shuichi scratched his head.

"Oh, right. Take this with you."

As if he suddenly remembered something, Kanda Shuichi turned back into his room and grabbed something to hand to Horikita.

"What's this?"

"Red flower oil. It's for bruises and injuries. Wash your feet when you get back, then apply this to the injured area. If you need details, just check the instructions."

Horikita was silent for a moment before taking it from his hand.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Consider it my way of apologizing. After all, I shouldn't be the only one who gets to see you kneeling like that, right?

Clarification

Just because the sports festival is over doesn't mean the story is done... There's still so much left to write...

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