COTE: A Man On A Mission || Love is War?

“Did you really eat human flesh?”

“???” Carnivore Ichinose-san.

“....I ate what?”

“Human flesh?”

“• •” Ichinose who is a junglee, and meat lover. ’I am just a foodie girl, not a cannibal who eats human flesh or their internal organs or something weird and disgusting like that!!!’

“Hikigaya-kun!” She is very angry.

“Are you finally going to commit your sin? I know you did!”

Bam! Thwack!

xxxxxx

Rubbing his cheek a little, Hachiman looked at Ichinose, and began to listen to her story of how her kindness was taken advantage of and her past.



Ichinose fell into a sad mood.

Her thoughts went back to before she entered school.

[Honami, do you know there is such a special school where you can enroll for free, and after graduation you will even be recommended for a job or enter the university of your choice without taking an exam?

The most important thing is that it is a fully enclosed school with no tuition fees or even living expenses.]

During half year, head teacher told her this through door.

She came here.

She lost the trust of others in the past, and now if she wants to start over and gain it back, she has to move.

So, closing her eyes and thinking about painful things in past, she told Hikigaya-kun what she had not yet forgiven herself for.

Ichinose Honami was born into a single-parent family.

She has a mother and a younger sister. Her father abandoned them and ran away with another woman very early.

He has totally failed to fulfill responsibilities that a father should have.

The mother worked very hard but was strong. She worked two jobs to support her two daughters.

Ichinose was also very sensible.

She knew about scholarships in junior high school, so she studied hard and finally got a scholarship, but she had no intention of going to high school.

She planned to work after graduating from junior high school so as to reduce the burden on her mother.

But mother disagreed. She wanted her child to have a normal education no matter how tired she was.

But she eventually fell ill due to overwork.

The younger sister was also very well-behaved. She knew the difficult situation at home.

After her mother fell ill, she did not tell them where she wanted to go for fun, and she would not go shopping with her friends during the holidays.

But it was this sister who told her on her birthday that she really, really wanted to buy popular hairpins that stars wore last year in store.

Ten thousand yen each.

It was a huge amount of money for them, and it seemed that mother was exhausted from giving gift to her younger sister.

She persuaded her sister to give up the gift for now and said she would buy it for her when she reached working age.

But it seemed that repeated concessions and giving up made her sister become paranoid.

She cried and made a fuss, blaming her mother who was unable to do anything.

So, Ichinose made a decision.

On her sister’s birthday, she went to store and stole the hairpin.

Look, there are a lot of bad people in the world, right? She is just making a mistake for her sister.

And she hopes this is just a loan, and will definitely compensate the store when she has the ability to repay it in the future.

Because it was stolen, she didn’t wrap the hairpin, but her sister was still very happy.

“Looking at my sister’s smile, guilt in my heart was reduced a lot in an instant.....” Ichinose asked her to promise not to take it out casually.

But the younger sister broke promise, so she went to see her mother with hairpin and showed it off.

This was first time Honami saw her mother so angry.



She beat her severely and confiscated her sister’s gift.

Then, regardless of her physical condition being in the hospital, her mother dragged her to store and knelt down to admit her mistake.

The moment she kowtowed humbly, Honami realized how serious the sin she had committed was.

This is a fact that cannot be avoided no matter how many excuses you make.

She knew that her mother didn’t want her to go astray, nor did she want her to have a criminal record, which would ruin her life.

Looking at his crying sister and exhausted mother, Honami knew that it was all her fault.

The clerk did not hand her over to the police or report her to the school, but Honami just shut herself off.

She didn’t leave her room or go to school for half a year.

She didn’t know if this was a form of self-punishment, but she had no possibility of redemption.

It was not until her homeroom teacher told her through door the name of a school which did not require tuition and allowed her to find jobs anywhere after graduation.

For her, this might be her chance to redeem herself.

As expected, criminals cannot be forgiven. In the end, she still had nothing.

Trusting others only invites betrayal.

Having lost the heart to trust others, she can only leave alone in silence.

[Ichinose Honami is a criminal]



So, after Ichinose Honami discovered that her secret was exposed, she chose not to resist, but instead hoped to withdraw quietly alone.

After talking about her past, Ichinose felt a little depressed.

And Hachiman breathed a sigh of relief. He took back what he had said.

Some of angels in this school are real.

It is normal for people to make mistakes. But difficult to regret and grow from it.

Although Ichinose had a history of stealing things, Hachiman did not think she was no longer reliable.

Rather, he had changed his mind about her.

’Because she had been dragged by her mother to get the clerk’s forgiveness, but she still couldn’t move, so she punished herself.There are very few people in the world who can do this.’

”Ichinose.” Hachiman stared at the depressed girl, “What did you want to do by asking me out in Horikita’s room?”

“Oh……”

Ichinose smiled bitterly, “Actually, I want to drop out of school. Hikigaya-kun, you said before that you wanted to join my class, right? So, I would like to entrust it to you!”

???

Entrust the class. As a class representative, she did the right thing.

As for choosing to drop out of school, it must be because they hope to become a weapon for other classes to attack Class A before truth is fully exposed.

So she chose to exit on her own.

“How exactly are you going to drop out?” Hachiman was still calm, “The students in your class won’t agree to your sudden dropout. They think highly of you, otherwise wouldn’t have directly challenged Class C.”

“I think Sakayanagi-san probably knows something about me, but she’s not sure, so she arranged for Hashimoto-kun to spread the rumor.” Ichinose is very wise now, a very good source of information, ”I will bow to her and hope she will give me this opportunity. I will leave here by written exam this month at the latest.”

’Then you are quite smart, know that Sakayanagi is testing you.’ Hachiman thought to himself.

And Ichinose continued, “This month’s special exam is written, and it’s less than two weeks away. So, I will be absent on purpose. It will exhaust the patience of my classmates. Although I feel sorry, this is safest solution I can think of. If I stay in class, this kind of dark history will be discredited, or even attacked.”

“So, I will... let them abandon me. Then, I would show up on day of exam and deliberately fail it.”

In this written exam, only first-place class can get a 100-point bonus.

There are no rewards for other classes.

However, if your score is lower than class average, you will be expelled.

Therefore, if Ichinose does this, she will definitely be expelled from school.

Hachiman looked into Ichinose’s eyes and found that she was also looking at him.

There is determination in clear pupils.

It seems that Ichinose has made up her mind.

Hachiman then put his left hand in his pocket, “So have you made up your decision?”

“Yes,” Ichinose nodded seriously, ”This is the best solution I can think of.”

“Have you ever thought about yourself?”

Every guy with ’Man’ at last is not a super powerful being, our Hachiman is just an ordinary boy, who couldn’t help but ask this question.

”Eh?”

“Ichinose....Your family is in a difficult situation, and mother’s salary alone cannot afford the high school tuition for you and your sister. So it will be difficult for you to go to university.”

”Well...” Ichinose pursed her lips, “After I drop out of school, I will probably look for a job and see if there are any part-time available. I will find a way to collect the money for my sister’s tuition....”

“So your sister’s grades are very good?” Hachiman continued.

“This… is okay.” Ichinose said hesitantly.

“It seems that your sister’s grades are not as good as yours. So even if your sister finally finishes high school, she will not be able to get into a good university based on her academic ability,” Hachiman laid out the bare facts which she didn’t want to accept.

Look, Ichinose had fallen silent.

In fact, she knew the best plan, which was to rely on studying to get into a good university, and then get a good job with a good diploma.

And she is most suitable person for this kind of thing.

Moreover, her grade was also the most suitable.

Her sister was two years younger than her, so it would take another two years for her to go to high school, and to go to college, and then graduate would require even longer waiting before she could help this poor family.

Even if Ichinose dropped out of school and went out to find a part-time job, the points she would earn... no, the money she would earn would not be.

So maybe she and her mother alone couldn’t afford to send her sister to good college.

These are all practical difficulties.

“So,” Hachiman had been paying attention to Ichinose’s expression and felt that his time was about right.

So he said.

“Ichinose, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to drop out of school. At the very least, you will miss the biggest opportunity of your life.”

This made Ichinose look ashamed.

For her, this school is a new beginning, and whether it is tuition exemption, promotion to Class A and graduation with Class A, it is a temptation for her.

Or she can accumulate points and redeem them for cash when she graduates, which will be good for her family.

However, she is no longer worthy of staying in this school.

“Ichinose-san. Do you know what kind of person I am? For example, my ideals in life.”

“Meow—”

“Right—” Ichinose seemed a little embarrassed, “Hikigaya-kun is just like what he said in VIP exam in Rabbit Group. He wants to be a househusband. But……now that you have 20 million points, you can allow the girl to graduate with Class A, but requirement is that she must marry you after graduation, right?”

”Yeah,” Hachiman nodded feeling a bit surprised she knows, “By the way, how did you know that?”

“Well....Shiina-san looked conflicted. Sometimes I run into her when I go to the library....”

Forehead?

Is that so?

Shiina-san!

The fact that he hoped to invest in Hiyori to support him not only got leaked to Kushida, but now even Ichinose is doing the same?

After all, he was promoted to others, so Hachiman felt a little embarrassed for just a moment, but he managed to hold it in.

“Ahem…” Clearing his throat.

“So that’s about it. Ichinose, do you want to make a promise with me? Although I may choose to go to college, I don’t want to become a corporate slave.”

“And Ichinose, although you are in Class A right now, there is a high possibility that Sakayanagi will become the president next, and your class will be knocked down soon. So, the possibility of you graduating as Class A is extremely slim.....”

“At the same time, it’s useless to accumulate points in this school, because you are now acting as a bank in the class, which is to gather everyone’s points to deal with possible risks. And as long as you don’t want to abandon your companions, you won’t be able to make a fortune....”

“The reason is that President Horikita is very strong, but he is on the same side as you. He won’t give up on any of his classmates, so Class A of the third grade doesn’t have much money, and points allocated to each person are even less.”

Hachiman didn’t feel guilty at all.

“Ichinose, you don’t think you are stronger than President Horikita, do you? As strongest student council president in history, he can only do this much.....”

’Forehead. So, there is no hope at all if I stay in this school?’ Ichinose felt like jumping from his window right now and escaping outside.

Although you can find a job after graduating from high school, the salary will definitely not be as high as that of a college graduate.

Ichinose’s family did not support her continuing to study at university.

So……

“I can make an investment for you, guarantee that you will graduate as an A-class student. You can continue to study for free without taking an exam, and you can get a high salary if you go straight to work.”

“At the same time,” Hachiman hesitated for a moment, then continued, “I can support you with an additional 5 million points. It can be converted into cash right now. I will arrange for them to be sent to your home. It can help to improve your family’s financial situation temporarily. But....”

“We have to sign the agreement.”

xxxxx

Other side.

Student Council Office.

Suzune and Kushida have already arrived, latter starts knocking on the door.

“....” Kushida-chan.

She raised her hand but it suddenly stopped in mid-air, and then pressed her chest.

”?” Suzune looked at her strangely.

“What’s wrong?”

“I always feel a little nervous,” Kushida is obviously in good health now, why is her heart beating faster?

“Come in!”

A voice came from office.

xxxxxx

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