COTE : Oh No, I've Become the Substitute

Advanced Nurturing High School teaching building.

On the weekend, very few students were bored enough to wander the school corridors. The pale white fluorescent lights illuminated the empty hallways, and the intermittent, pattering sound of rain dripped against the windows, drifting through the corridors with an indescribable, unsettling unease.

Bang—!

A tremendous crash suddenly exploded through the silent teaching building. The motion-sensor lights in the stairwell lit up one by one, starting from the eastern restroom and cascading upward until they reached the top floor.

"AAARGH! Damn it!"

Inside the eastern restroom of the teaching building, after delivering a full-force kick to one of the stall doors, Ryuen Kakeru—panting slightly—bent over and slammed his fist sideways into the concrete wall.

Just what the hell had happened?

How had he, the great Ryuen Kakeru, been reduced to this state?!

The searing pain radiating from his hand sobered him up a little. He steadied his breathing, straightened his back, and swept his gaze over the layout of the restroom once more.

He had been to this restroom countless times, and had replayed the events of that day countless times as well.

Yet he had found not a single clue about that mastermind. Instead, time and time again, he had been led by the nose, reduced to this sorry state...

This place was the turning point of his fate after arriving at Advanced Nurturing High.

His perfect life plan—unifying Class C, using that to consolidate the entire first year, and finally making every last person in the school grovel at his feet—had been shattered into pieces by that damned mastermind at that very moment...

Right now, the rhythm of the rain striking the windows suddenly grew crisp and distinct.

Ryuen lowered his head and stared at his fist, still pressed against the wall. Threads of blood seeped from his knuckles. The pain was sharp, but his mind was exceptionally clear.

What the hell am I doing?!

The thought drilled into his mind without any warning, clinging tenaciously to every nerve.

In order to drag out that damned mastermind, he had lunged like a rabid dog at every suspicious target.

Hirata Yosuke. The honors students of Class A. The defectives of Class D...

He had even gone so far as to threaten and coerce that bunch in his own class. And the result? Class C was on the verge of falling apart. He had become the laughingstock of the entire grade. Even that trash in his class looked at him with pity.

Rule Advanced Nurturing High?

He let out a derisive snort, the sound crashing and echoing through the empty restroom.

Don't make me laugh with that kind of joke. He couldn't even unify his own Class C.

A faucet hadn't been fully tightened. A single drop of water hung suspended on the gleaming metal edge, on the verge of falling yet not quite falling.

Ryuen stared at it and suddenly recalled the first day of school.

He had kicked open the door of the Class C classroom and, facing all their terrified gazes, declared to everyone: "Starting today, I'm the king here. You worthless garbage—from now on, you follow my orders. I will lead you to crush every single class in this school!"

Back then, the sunlight had poured through the windows, illuminating every single indignant face in Class C.

Where had that excitement from back then gone? What he had wanted was never "to drag out the mastermind." It was "to make everyone kneel and listen to what I have to say."

—And now?

The mastermind had become his fig leaf for failure.

Lost an exam? Must have been the mastermind stirring up trouble on the forums! Can't unify the class? Must have been the mastermind's doing!

Even getting launched by a goat had to be blamed on the mastermind for wrecking his mental state...

"Ha!"

Ryuen abruptly raised a hand and wiped his face. His palm scraped across the bruise on his cheekbone that still hadn't faded. "Fuck! Ryuen Kakeru, since when did you become this pathetic?!"

Back in middle school, wouldn't he have been thrilled that such an interesting opponent existed in the same school as him, and then, no matter the method, used every dirty trick and underhanded means at his disposal to take him down?!

Just because he used underhanded tactics himself, others weren't allowed to use dirty tricks?

A loss was a loss. What was there to make excuses about?

The world had always been survival of the fittest. Advanced Nurturing High had always been about meritocracy. Making excuses would only make him seem no different from that worthless trash.

The restroom's motion-sensor lights suddenly went out, plunging the entire space into darkness.

In the pitch black, a dark silhouette stood as still as a stone statue in the very center of the restroom, gazing at everything around it.

Damp, cold air seeped in through the window cracks. Wave after wave of pattering rain drifted in, unending as the ocean tide...

An indeterminate stretch of time passed.

A faint sound suddenly stirred within the restroom. The fluorescent lights illuminated the space once more.

Ryuen walked over to the sink, scooped up a handful of cold water, and splashed it fiercely across his face.

Streams of water dripped down from his chin, mingling with traces of blood that bloomed crimson across the tiles. The person in the mirror had bloodshot eyes, disheveled hair, and a twisted, contorted grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Fine..." He bared his teeth at his own reflection. "Whether you're a rat hiding in a restroom stall, a hypocrite shrinking back in Class B pretending to be a good person, the most serious piece of trash among the Class D defectives, or one of the honors students in Class A—"

Bang—!

A muffled crash echoed through the dead-silent restroom.

Ryuen slammed his fist once more into the mirror before him. Spiderweb-like cracks spread outward from the center of the impact. Drops of blood dripped steadily from his wrist.

"I admit defeat!" The words were forced out one by one through clenched teeth.

He turned and kicked open the restroom door. Shaking the bloodstains and water droplets from his hand, he pulled out his phone.

Beneath the spiderweb cracks on the shattered screen, the class group chat was frantically buzzing with discussions about the Sports Festival arrangements.

Seems that Kaneda guy was doing a decent job after all. At least he had managed to stir up some motivation among that bunch.

Thinking this, Ryuen hovered his thumb over the "Leave Group" icon for two seconds before ultimately tapping open his private chat window with Sakagami Kazuma.

[Ryuen Kakeru: Oi! Sakagami, schedule another homeroom session for me tomorrow.]

The moment he pressed send, something seemed to flake off from within his chest.

Soon, the phone screen lit up once more.

[Sakagami Kazuma: Ho~ Not going to end up as miserable as last time, are you? Also, not going to go looking for that mastermind you're so hung up on anymore?]

[Ryuen Kakeru: Just shut up and watch. That kind of petty squabbling from before was nothing but child's play. I'll show them who truly has the right to rule over Advanced Nurturing High.]

As for that stinking rat in the gutter...

Clutching his phone, Ryuen let out a savage, vicious sneer.

"Once I've unified the first year of Advanced Nurturing High, he'll crawl out on his own. Then I'll kill him!"

A few seconds later.

[Sakagami Kazuma: Very well. I'm still quite supportive of capable students like you. Since you're this confident...]

Having received the answer he wanted, Ryuen slipped his phone back into his pocket and cast one last glance at the restroom.

The stall door hung crookedly askew, like a mouth stretched wide in mocking laughter.

"The Crap-Eating King?"

Slowly exhaling a breath, Ryuen let out a scoff. He shoved both hands into his pockets and turned, striding into the harsh white light of the corridor. "Once I've trampled Class A under my feet..."

"You can call me whatever the hell you want!"

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