COTE : Oh No, I've Become the Substitute

Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and before anyone knew it, the second weekend of September had arrived.

Over the past few days, Fuyuji Mikage had been steadily carrying out his physical training according to plan.

Every morning, he went for his regular morning run. Most of the time, he'd run into the fidgety, awkward Horikita-girl. Sometimes he'd go together with Kito Hayato and the others. On the occasional unlucky day, one or two Student Council President-level bosses would spawn, leading to a tense, thrilling morning race.

When the weather was bad—when it rained or some other unavoidable emergency cropped up—he'd run a few laps of the dormitory stairwell, then head back to his room and do a dozen or so sets of compound exercises.

In the evenings, he'd head to the gym as usual for one-on-one guidance from his senpai. Though he was often chased around until he was scrambling for cover, it was through this mixture of pain and pleasure that he stumbled and fumbled his way into learning a few combat techniques.

Every so often, he'd throw in some other form of exercise for extra training. After getting back, he'd take a shower and collapse into bed, then wake up the next day full of vigor and energy, ready to run again.

Mm... even Horikita-girl said he wasn't normal.

...

The afternoon sky was a uniform pale grey. The clouds weren't thick, hanging loosely over Advanced Nurturing High like a sheet of thin, water-soaked cotton paper.

The air in the library was saturated with the dry, inky scent of paper, mingled with the earthy smell drifting in from outside.

It's going to rain...

With this thought, Shiina Hiyori stepped forward in her small leather shoes, making her way with practiced ease toward the American literature section.

The beams of light slanting in through the high windows had been filtered through the thick layers of cloud, turning pale and soft. Only a hazy grey veil remained, shrouding the quiet forest of bookshelves.

She rose up on her tiptoes, her grey knee-high socks forming several adorable little folds at her ankles, straining to reach the Japanese translation of "The Big Sleep" on the upper shelf. Bit by bit, her fingertips just barely grazed the edge of the book's spine.

Just then, a figure naturally appeared beside her. Slender fingers easily surpassed her height and precisely plucked the book out.

"Here..." A familiar voice, carrying a trace of crisp clarity, sounded closer than usual.

Shiina paused briefly, instinctively withdrawing her hand. Her lips swiftly curved into a faint, shallow arc as she turned around, her voice tinged with eager anticipation.

"Good afternoon, Mister Wat—eh?" Her lilting voice came to an abrupt halt.

"Hm?" Fuyuji blinked and waved a hand before the girl's eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I feel like..."

Shiina opened her mouth, tilting her head as her gaze flowed over Fuyuji.

"Fuyuji-kun... seems to have changed a little."

Fuyuji's movements froze. He lowered his head and looked himself over left and right, a trace of bewilderment surfacing on his face. "I have? Still the same school uniform, and my hairstyle hasn't changed either..."

"It's not those..." Shiina gently shook her head, her silver-white hair swaying beside her cheeks with the motion. "Mm... your lines. The lines of your body seem sharper somehow. And also... your aura."

She paused, as if searching for more precise words, her voice soft as a feather brushing across the pages of a book. "Your type has changed..."

"Type?"

"Mm." Shiina nodded, her fingertip lightly tapping her chin. In a dazed, adorable tone, she said, "If Mister Watson used to be a very, very interesting mystery novel, now he's more like... one of those thick, weighty literary classics."

"..."

This peculiar analogy left Fuyuji momentarily unable to quite keep up with Shiina's train of thought.

"Maybe it's because I've been doing a little bit of physical training lately."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Fuyuji decided to swiftly gloss over this topic. He gently extended the book in his hand once more.

"Here..."

"Thank you, Fuyuji-kun."

Shiina accepted the book with both hands. Their fingertips brushed past each other with exceeding brevity, like a tiny jolt of static electricity. Her fingers curled inward slightly as she quickly hugged the book to her chest, a hint of pink rising at the base of her ears.

Fuyuji also withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened. The faint, cool sensation lingering at his fingertips made his heart skip a beat.

Outside the window, the first drop of rain finally fell, striking the library's tall glass windows with a soft, dense patter. Soon, it merged into a continuous, fine, rustling sound.

"Mister Watson, is the reason you've been doing this... the Sports Festival?"

Beside a desk near the window, Shiina pressed down her skirt and sat upright in her chair, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Fuyuji. She seemed very interested in his recent changes.

"Partly. But Miss Holmes probably doesn't care much for this kind of class strife, does she? Let's talk about something else." Fuyuji's eyes drifted toward the window.

In front of Miss Holmes, he—the great Moriarty—still had his dignity to maintain. Physical training wasn't exactly the most riveting topic of conversation. That dark history of being chased around by two freakish Student Council Presidents was better off quietly buried in the dirt.

Besides, quietly staying in the library and reading suited Miss Shiina's character far better. She shouldn't get involved in class conflicts. She absolutely must not be led astray by Class C's delinquent culture.

"Nn..."

Unexpectedly, Shiina gently shook her head, her eyes half-lowered. "That's not right, you know. I'm also a member of Class C, I've seen the efforts my classmates have put in. If it becomes necessary..."

The girl did not continue. Her lips pressed gently into a thin line as her head drooped bit by bit.

Beneath the desk, on her snow-white thighs wrapped in grey knee-high socks, a fair hand unconsciously gripped the hem of her skirt. Her gaze quietly slipped past the black-haired boy before her.

But... do I really have to compete against Mister Watson?

As long as Class C wanted to graduate from Class A, a day would surely come when the two of them would face each other head-on. When that time came...

For a moment, facing the boy before her, the girl once again hesitated—just as she had when she first came to know him.

Fuyuji's fingers, mid-page-turn, paused. Without letting anything show, he said, "I've been training my body lately. What about Hiyori? These past two weeks, have you been reading all along?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Shiina's drooping head snapped up. Her eyes abruptly lit up, her voice turning light and buoyant.

"Mm, mm! With the new semester here, the library has restocked lots of books! For instance, 'The Invisible Man,' 'Genesis Distorted,' and 'Satan's Diary'—they were all purchased recently..."

As she spoke, Shiina gestured animatedly in the air. A faint pink blush swiftly surfaced on her cheeks as she vividly described the general contents of those books to Fuyuji.

Her pace of speech was even a few degrees faster than usual.

"Mm, mm."

Fuyuji nodded repeatedly, responding to the content with a smile and occasionally asking a question or two.

As expected... this version of Miss Holmes is so much better...

An indeterminate stretch of time passed.

The sound of rain outside the window gradually thickened. What had begun as a light patter coalesced into an unbroken expanse of white noise. The already sparse readers in the library had departed one after another. In the empty space, only the faint rustle of turning pages and the steady drumming of the rain outside remained.

"...And so, the charm of setting-based mysteries lies precisely in their ability to construct astonishing, logically self-consistent solutions within seemingly impossible frameworks."

Shiina closed the Japanese translation of "The Invisible Man" in her hands, her fingertips lightly brushing over the gilded cover.

"Indeed. A premise that breaks convention is, in itself, a puzzle that challenges the reader's imagination."

Fuyuji nodded in agreement, yet his gaze involuntarily drifted toward the window.

Under the shroud of rain, the sky had already completely darkened. The warm yellow lights of the library reflected off the wet glass windows, casting a blurred halo.

The rain showed no signs of weakening. If anything, it seemed to be intensifying.

Shiina followed his line of sight and also noticed the torrential downpour outside. Her petite nose flared gently. "The rain has gotten so heavy. And it's already completely dark out."

Pulling out his phone and glancing at it, Fuyuji saw that it was nearly dinnertime. If he didn't head back soon, Miki would be upset.

He stretched his shoulders, which had grown somewhat stiff from sitting for so long, and spoke with a touch of helplessness. "Seems like I'll have to make a run for it. At least the dorms aren't far." He stood up and began gathering the several books spread open on the desk.

"Well then, Miss Hiyori, let's stop here for today. We'll continue next time."

Just as Fuyuji picked up his backpack and was about to step forward, a hurried voice drifted past.

"Um... Mister Watson."

Fuyuji stopped in his tracks and turned back to look at her. "Hm?"

The girl lowered her head slightly, her silver-white hair cascading down and veiling half of her pink-flushed cheeks.

She opened the white canvas bag at her feet and rummaged through it with a rustling sound. Very quickly, an umbrella—neatly folded and printed with a simple, tiny floral pattern—was pulled out.

"I... I brought an umbrella." Shiina held the small umbrella in both hands and extended it toward Fuyuji. "So, we could... walk back together."

Her voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, the final words nearly drowning in the sound of the rain outside.

This scene inexplicably reminded her of those moments long ago in the library—the countless times she had wanted to step forward and strike up a conversation, yet always hesitated. Only... this time, her body had acted faster than her thoughts...

Fuyuji paused, looking at the umbrella extended before him, then at the girl—her face lowered, her lashes fluttering faintly.

The warm yellow lights of the library cast a soft halo over the crown of her silver-white hair. The old-book ink scent permeating the air seemed to carry a faint, almost imperceptible, delicate fragrance.

"I see..." Fuyuji reached out and accepted the umbrella, still carrying the faint warmth of her fingertips. With a light laugh, he said, "Then I'll be troubling Miss Holmes."

Hearing the teasing lilt in his voice, Shiina's taut shoulders seemed to relax a little. She lifted her eyes, and within those violet-hued pupils, tiny, fragmented lights rekindled.

"Mm!"

At the library's main entrance.

With a soft click, the umbrella ribs spread open beneath the tiny floral canopy, carving out a small patch of sky.

The two walked side by side into the rain-drenched, glistening night outside the library porch.

Raindrops drummed densely against the umbrella's surface, producing crisp, rattling bursts. They gathered along the umbrella's edge into slender streams of water, trickling down in a steady patter. The space beneath the umbrella had, in an instant, become narrow and intimate, shut off from the curtain of rain outside. All that remained were their faint footsteps and the symphony of the rain beyond the umbrella.

Fuyuji deliberately slowed his pace, tilting the umbrella so that most of its coverage fell toward Shiina's side.

The girl hugged her canvas bag and walked quietly beside him. The tips of her silver-white hair, occasionally brushed by wind-borne strands of rain, clung to the porcelain-white skin of her neck.

"Mister Watson has really... gotten stronger lately, hasn't he?" After walking a short stretch in silence, Shiina suddenly spoke softly, breaking the rhythm of the rain.

Fuyuji turned his head to look at her and met her upward gaze. The light from the street lamps filtered through the rain-soaked umbrella canopy, reflecting tiny, fragmented points of light in her violet eyes—like a lake mirroring the starry river above.

"You noticed." He smiled, not denying it. "To avoid being a burden at the Sports Festival, I had to do some last-minute cramming. Still, I'm a long way from 'strong.' At best, I've gone from... a lightweight mystery magazine to a slightly thicker paperback?"

Shiina was coaxed into a pursed-lip smile by his words, and her airy, drifting voice carried a note of seriousness. "No. A hardcover edition. Both the cover and the spine have become more... forceful." She paused, as if recalling something, and her voice softened again. "...Is it to defeat our Class C?"

The sound of raindrops striking the umbrella seemed to amplify in that moment—drip, drip, drip—unbroken, unending...

"No."

Fuyuji's footsteps didn't falter. His gaze looked toward the hazy outline of the dormitory building deep within the rain, and he spoke in a soft voice.

"It's to avoid being defeated by your Class C."

"Hm?" A trace of bewilderment seeped from Shiina's eyes. "Is there a difference?"

"There is. Didn't Miss Shiina say earlier that you wanted to contribute as a member of your class?"

The rain was blown diagonally beneath the umbrella by the wind, bringing a trace of chill. Fuyuji instinctively drew closer to Shiina's side, helping block the cold breeze from her.

"To be honest, deep down, I didn't want Miss Hiyori to do that. But thinking it over carefully, this might be the real Hiyori." He lowered his head. Within his line of sight, those violet eyes seemed especially clear and limpid in the rainy night. "Normally, you hesitate before important choices. But once you've made your decision, you see it through and keep walking toward your goal."

"Even the quietest book—once its cover is closed—can become a shield."

Shiina slowly lowered her head and buried it against her canvas bag. This time, it wasn't just her face—her neck, the nape of her neck, the shells of her ears—all of it grew hot and flushed.

"So, Miss Holmes..."

Fuyuji gazed at the silver-haired girl beside him. His voice, in this moment, was utterly resolute. "If one day you decide to contribute your strength to your class, don't hesitate. Try to defeat our Class A."

The rain suddenly intensified, the wind-blown strands slanting beneath the umbrella and bringing a trace of coolness.

Shiina did not shrink back. Instead, she clutched the book and bag in her arms even tighter and raised her head to look directly into Fuyuji's deep, dark eyes. Her petite chin lifted slightly, and for the first time, her airy, drifting voice was mingled with a clear, resolute fighting spirit.

"I understand, Mister Watson. If such a day comes..."

She drew a deep breath, as if issuing a solemn declaration of war. "I will—with everything I have—defeat Class A."

"Alright. However..." Fuyuji's brows curved upward, and with a touch of smug pride, he said, "That'll have to wait quite a while, won't it? After all, Miss Holmes is a thoroughgoing sports dunce. This time, it'll be our Class A's victory."

In an instant, Shiina's cheeks flew up in a mortified blush. Urgently, she protested.

"No! We haven't competed yet! How can Mister Watson conclude that our class will lose?!"

"Obviously because I'm in Class A, training my body hard, while Hiyori is in Class C, reading books every day. That's victory condition number one."

"Nn... Fuyuji-kun, you're far too sly! You can't compare like that!"

"Then how would you compare?"

"Mm... let me think..."

"If you can't come up with something in ten seconds, you lose. Ten, nine, eight..."

"W-Wait!"

...

Their idle chatter, footsteps, and the sound of the rain intertwined, leaving two trails of shallow and deep puddles along the wet campus path, slowly stretching toward the brightly lit Keyaki Mall in the distance.

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