COTE : Oh No, I've Become the Substitute

The afternoon sun hung high in the sky, its rays slanting through the windows and into the Class C classroom, casting the silhouettes of several figures near the window onto the floor.

Soon after the class bell rang, Sakagami Kazuma appeared at the classroom door, right on schedule, the sound of his leather shoes echoing down the corridor.

Strangely, his hands were completely empty. He wasn't carrying anything at all.

As if sensing the Class C students' confusion, Sakagami unhurriedly raised a hand and pushed up his glasses, reflecting a glint of light.

"This period has been temporarily changed to a homeroom session."

"Eh? Why is it homeroom again?"

Sakagami did not answer the students' questions, nor did he step up to the lectern as he usually did. He merely stepped aside to clear the doorway, tilting his body slightly back and lifting his chin in a beckoning gesture.

The air in the entire classroom seemed to freeze for a moment. The drifting trajectory of chalk dust within the pillars of light became clearly visible.

Tap... tap... tap...

Footsteps struck crisply against the floor, abruptly amplified in the quiet classroom.

Ryuen Kakeru's figure appeared in the doorway, his silhouette outlined in sharp relief against the light of the corridor.

He did not, as he had in the last homeroom session, violently kick over a chair. Nor did he immediately unleash harsh threats upon the entire class. He simply walked, calmly, step by step, toward the lectern.

Yamawaki and Komiya instinctively moved to follow, but were stopped by a single gesture from Ryuen, freezing stiffly in place.

The two exchanged glances, seeing the same shock mirrored in each other's eyes.

The atmosphere in the classroom shifted in an instant.

Gone was the drowsy, mocking lethargy of the last homeroom session. A heavy, oppressive pressure—like the low-hanging cumulus clouds before a storm—came crashing over them.

Ryuen came to a stop at the center of the lectern. Casually pulling his hands out of his trouser pockets, he planted himself on the lectern itself.

Sunlight spilled across him. A fierce, untamed grin surfaced on his face.

He lifted his chin slightly, his sharp, piercing gaze sweeping over every face in the audience like a searchlight.

Nomura Yuji's mouth, which had just begun to open, closed soundlessly;

Yoshimoto Kōsetsu's body, sprawled across his desk, subconsciously straightened;

Tokito Hiroya's legs, propped up on his desk, had somehow already come down. His sneer froze, then slowly faded;

Even Kaneda Satoru, the most rational of them all, had his glasses-adjusting finger pause mid-air, staring blankly at Ryuen on the lectern.

"Haah..."

Someone let out an exceedingly faint, sharp intake of breath, then immediately stifled it tight.

Bracing both hands on the edge of the lectern, Ryuen spoke flatly.

"Same as always, I'll be direct. The Sports Festival objective has changed. You will assist me."

He paused, his gaze finally fixing on an empty point at the back of the classroom, as if piercing through the wall and looking up diagonally toward that class perched high above.

"That worthless bunch of defective trash in Class D—don't bother with them anymore."

"Our target is Class A."

The moment the words landed, expressions of sheer bewilderment surfaced on the faces of the Class C students in unison.

This was completely different from the last homeroom session, when he had been obsessively fixated on the mastermind and Class D. He was practically a different person.

Kaneda was the first to react. Setting aside his startled, uncertain gaze, he spoke coolly. "Ryuen-shi, state your reasoning. Without sufficient—"

"Of course I know that."

Ryuen cut him off, his tone utterly devoid of ripples. His eyes didn't even shift. A cold sneer tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"It's precisely because I know that we have to take them down. Otherwise... that goal of yours to graduate from Class A will probably remain nothing but a fantasy forever."

At present, Class A had already pulled ahead of Class C by a margin of over 1,300 points. Even if Class A stood still for every single special exam, and Class C took first place every time, it would still take at least a full year to catch up.

If they let the point gap widen any further—by then, aside from Class B still having a chance, everyone would sink into despair, with absolutely no hope of turning things around.

Therefore... in this exam, they absolutely had to drag Class A down from its lofty throne.

No matter what method it took!

"Easier said than done!"

Tokito couldn't help but sneer. "What are you going to hit them with? Your empty words? Or your crap-eat—"

Ryuen's gaze finally turned toward him. In that instant, the rest of Tokito's words were forcefully lodged in his throat.

"I already have a plan." Ryuen's voice remained steady, yet it was like a bowstring slowly drawn taut, tightening everyone's nerves.

He leaned forward slightly, bracing both hands on the edge of the lectern, his body casting an intensely oppressive shadow.

"But the premise is—I need people to cooperate."

The classroom fell so silent one could hear a pin drop.

"The core of the plan is..."

Ryuen suddenly stopped. He let out a scoff and cast a contemptuous glance at the classroom's surveillance camera.

"Take out your phones. I will only disclose part of the plan to certain people. The rest of you—obediently follow my orders and wait for victory."

...

"Ryuen-shi, have you lost your mind?!"

Kaneda shot up from his seat, his eyes wide open, staring in sheer horror at the information on his phone.

"This will get you expelled! You'll absolutely be expelled! If you get caught, the school has zero tolerance for this kind of behavior!"

"Who knows~ Just don't get caught, and it'll be fine..." His phone was tossed high into the air, caught as it fell, then tossed high again...

Ryuen leaned against the wall and replied with utter indifference.

"I'll personally arrange the specific execution. What you need to do is simply, inadvertently, 'accidentally' leak some information to me."

"And if, by some chance, the plan is exposed—"

With a sharp snap, he caught his phone. Ryuen wrenched his head around and faced the entire Class C, announcing calmly.

"Push all the responsibility onto me. I'll take the expulsion!"

The entire classroom was shrouded in a deathly stillness.

A long while passed.

Thud!

Someone's textbook had fallen to the floor. The sound was exceptionally jarring in the dead-silent classroom.

Bear it all alone?

That guy who did whatever he wanted—who, right at the start of the school year, had single-handedly driven Class C's class points nearly to zero...

Who, during the uninhabited island exam, had threatened the entire class that if they didn't listen to him, he'd burn through all their supply points...

That same guy was now saying he would "bear it all alone"?

"But..." Just then, a faint, drifting voice drew the attention of the entire class.

Shiina Hiyori, who never participated in class decision-making, had lowered her head. Her eyes were downcast, fixed on the contents of her phone screen.

"Ryuen-kun, is it really necessary to go this far? This plan... even you..."

Beside her, Ibuki Mio was also gazing at Ryuen on the lectern with a complicated expression. Her fist silently clenched, then loosened...

"Ryuen... you bastard..."

The corner of Ryuen's mouth split into a cruel grin. "I'm not like you lot. Rather than rot in the mud for three years, I'd rather gamble it all."

His voice dropped low once more, more penetrating than before. Every word struck the hearts of the Class C students like a heavy hammer.

"Do you want to win?"

"Do you want to trample that towering Class A underfoot and climb to the top?"

"Or rather—do you want to graduate from Class A?"

Beneath the lectern, dead silence.

Only the late-summer cicadas outside the window continued their relentless, piercing cries, penetrating the glass and buzzing in the stagnant air.

Chalk dust slowly settled within the pillars of sunlight.

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