COTE :  Oh No, I've Become the Substitute

After the meal, the Class A students dispersed freely, making the most of the brief moment of relaxation following the exam.

By evening, the sun had slanted westward, its rays no longer harsh.

On the open deck, the afternoon heat had yet to fully fade. A massive white parasol cast a wedge-shaped shadow across the teak deck, enveloping Fuyuji's languid figure within it.

In the distance, the rippling water of the pool reflected the golden glow of the setting sun, shimmering across the students from various classes who lingered lazily on the deck. Faint laughter and chatter drifted over, making the space beneath the parasol feel all the more tranquil.

A waiter carrying drinks moved soundlessly between the deck chairs with unhurried steps. Droplets of condensation slid slowly down the icy beverages, leaving long, trailing lines.

On a rattan chair beneath the parasol, Fuyuji was comfortably savoring the midsummer moment after the exam's end, occasionally sipping his ice-cold drink. Idly, he switched to his alt account, intending to have a long-overdue showdown with Cha-Cha in the style of two Zaunites.

He hadn't traded barbs with her in days, and it was starting to feel strangely off.

Half a second later, the rattan chair let out a sharp creak.

He launched upright, propping himself up, eyes wide. His fingers tightened around his phone as he stared at the chat history from days ago with the expression of a man facing imminent catastrophe.

"I'm done for..."

In the distance, the sunset glow spilled across the sea like blood, dyeing the clouds at the horizon a dark crimson.

It seemed he had been well and truly played by Cha-Cha. No—played by luck itself!

[We're All Good Friends: Here, you dog. Look.] (5 days ago)

[We're All Good Friends: Hurry up and look. Once you're done, let me curse you out!] (5 days ago)

Right after came a photo, probably taken at the open-air pool on the deck.

Simple and unadorned. Her bare feet, pale and glowing softly in the sunlight, rested one against the other with a lazy, unselfconscious grace. Nearby, her open-toed sandals lay where she'd kicked them off, straps askew.

Fuyuji's throat bobbed as he swallowed quietly.

[We're All Good Friends: Also, I'm thinking of trying nail polish. Which color do you think is best? Give me an answer.] (5 days ago)

Then came a barrage of nail polish photos.

No, no, no. Cha-Cha, please don't go putting random stuff on them.

And besides, aren't these nail polishes all the same color? What's the difference between them?

Alas, Cha-Cha did not hear his silent plea. Instead, she belatedly discovered the blind spot.

[We're All Good Friends: Oi, pervert, why aren't you replying? You haven't even looked at the photos I sent you. It's still showing as unread?] (5 days ago)

He slumped back into the rattan chair, gripping his phone and staring at the screen with a sour grimace.

At that time, I was still on the deserted island, miserably gnawing on compressed biscuits. My phone had been confiscated. I'd have to be a ghost to have seen any of this!

A few more minutes passed, and it seemed Cha-Cha had finally pieced her thoughts together.

[We're All Good Friends: You dog... don't tell me you're on the deserted island?] (5 days ago)

Just as expected.

He scratched his head and let out a helpless sigh.

After hiding it for so long, she'd managed to stumble onto the truth through sheer blind luck.

Under normal circumstances, the two accounts would have had no communication whatsoever for those seven days. But since Cha-Cha was usually the one initiating messages, even without any exchanges, she would most likely have assumed the problem was on her end. Any suspicion would have been slight, nothing she could be certain of.

However, thanks to Ryuen sticking his foot in, Class D had returned to the cruise ship early.

Probably driven to her wit's end by Horikita's little sister on the deserted island, Cha-Cha had come to him to vent the moment she got back—and, by pure accident, had uncovered the weak point.

He was almost afraid to read what came next.

Cha-Cha clearly already knew he was male. If the suspect pool merely encompassed all the boys in the entire school, that would be one thing—she might not be that familiar with the boys from other grades.

But if it were limited to just the boys from Classes A, B, and C... with her social skills, simply based on her existing knowledge of each male student, she could eliminate a huge swath of candidates.

[We're All Good Friends: You dog, if you reply to me right now, I might make an exception and send you a photo in my swimsuit. Oh, and by the way, I saw a black bikini at the swimsuit shop on the 7th floor today. Do you think it would suit me?] (5 days ago)

Fuyuji silently covered his nose.

You're ruthless, Cha-Cha. To go so far as to sacrifice your own allure just to ferret out my true identity?

He picked up the ice-cold drink beside him. The sweet-and-sour liquid slid down his throat, the chill spreading through his chest and limbs, calming his suddenly racing heartbeat.

Another day had passed in the chat log. It was only just past six-thirty. Message after message came flooding in, and he could feel Cha-Cha's exhilaration even through the screen.

[We're All Good Friends: You're done for, you dog. Before, even if you didn't reply on the spot, you'd always respond that same night. The fact that you haven't means only one thing—right now, there is absolutely no way for you to reply to me.] (4 days ago)

[We're All Good Friends: I asked some second and third-year senpais. They can all reply to messages normally. So... you're on the deserted island right now, aren't you?] (4 days ago)

[We're All Good Friends: Classes A, B, and C. You're definitely in one of them. And you're a boy!] (4 days ago)

"..."

The suspended heart had, at last, met its death. He pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a long sigh.

Cha-Cha, this isn't like you.

When facing Horikita's little sister, you're so dumbed down. Last time, I had you running in circles. So how come the moment it's me, that little head of yours suddenly becomes so sharp?

Finally, Cha-Cha broke from her usual pattern and sent a voice message.

He pressed play. That honey-sweet, faintly coquettish voice drifted out.

"Pervert~ tell me who you are. We're already so familiar with each other. I won't do anything to you, I promise. And I'll even send you more photos. What kind of photos do you like? Tell me~" (4 days ago)

He half-narrowed his eyes. That's right, Cha-Cha. We're already this familiar. Why play these games? It's not like I haven't seen your inner Kushida side. If I really told you, you—with your pinnacle-of-perfection good-girl act—would cook up who knows what kind of scheme for me.

Besides, I think this arrangement is fine as is. You send me some eye-catching treats every now and then, and I help you vent all that pent-up frustration from being oppressed by Horikita's little sister while having to maintain a smile on the surface.

It seemed she had definitively confirmed that the suspect was on the deserted island. After sending that message, she sent nothing more to this account for the next several days.

Now that it had come to this—attack!

He cupped his chin and thought for a moment, then rapidly tapped out a message on his phone.

[Chirp Chirp and Chirp Again: Don't be like that, Cha-Cha. Can't we just remain each other's most familiar strangers?]

This game of hide-and-seek had already been half-lost the moment he logged into his alt and saw the messages she had sent.

Knowing her personality, she would definitely be checking the message status every single day.

If he had opened it a few more days later, he might still have been able to talk his way out of it. But with the deserted island exam having just ended, messages that had gone unread for days were suddenly marked as read.

It was already ironclad proof.

Barely a dozen seconds after sending the message, her reply came.

[We're All Good Friends: No can do. I'm curious about your identity. And this isn't 'most familiar strangers' either. You know me inside and out, but I don't know a single thing about you. Don't you think that's unfair? pitiful.jpg]

[Chirp Chirp and Chirp Again: Someone like me, who only lurks in the dark corners of his room, isn't worthy of being friends with a radiant, outgoing girl like Kushida-san. Let's leave it to the internet—preserve a patch of pure land for each other... sigh.jpg]

[We're All Good Friends: I won't despise you. You're the only one who knows this side of me. And... I actually... don't find you that repulsive. So... please, tell me your name. Alright?!]

His mouth twitched as he stared at the tea-infused words she had sent.

What did she mean, "You're the only one who knows this side of me"?

Was Fuyuji Mikage not a person? Hah, tell me—is Fuyuji Mikage a person or not?!

And what did she mean, "I actually don't find you that repulsive, so please tell me your name"? Wasn't this blatant, barefaced fishing? Even Shiraishi Mama hadn't fished for me this transparently back then.

[Chirp Chirp and Chirp Again: Really? Kushida-san...]

[We're All Good Friends: Of course it's true. From now on... let's guard each other's secrets together, okay?]

The messages fell silent for a moment. As if genuinely moved by her words, his reply came belatedly.

[Chirp Chirp and Chirp Again: Okay!]

Her response arrived in an instant.

[We're All Good Friends: Then your name is?]

[Chirp Chirp and Chirp Again: Kono Horikita Suzune da!]

The moment he pressed send, he flipped the phone face-down onto his knee as if electrocuted, holding his breath as he stared at the shimmering reflections on the pool's surface, as though a raging crocodile might leap out at any second.

On the deck, the wall clock in the open-air pool area ticked and tocked. The waves crashed against the hull. Time seemed to stretch on for an entire century.

At last, his phone vibrated again. The screen lit up. Cha-Cha's shelling of curses came crashing down upon him.

[We're All Good Friends: I'm giving you one last chance. Spill it! Who are you?! Because once I find you, you're dead, you gutter-dwelling stinking rat!]

Now that's more like it. The same old face-changing routine. This is the Cha-Cha I know.

[Chirp Chirp and Chirp Again: Kushida-san, please refrain from sending me any further harassing messages. I have already stated that I have no need for things like friends.]

[We're All Good Friends: You actually dare use that bitch Horikita to provoke me?! Once I find you, I'll make sure you suffer social death!]

Fuyuji nodded with immense approval.

Yes, yes. Many thanks to Master Kushida for her generous sponsorship of free fanservice. I've already saved over fifty of them. If you send just a few more of different types, I'll be well on my way to social death.

[Chirp Chirp and Chirp Again: Kushida-san, wantonly referring to others with derogatory terms like 'bitch' is exceedingly impolite behavior. Though, of course, it may also be that Kushida-san's cerebral nutrients have been diverted elsewhere.]

Tch...

He clicked his tongue, looking at the sent message with a touch of regret.

Still not quite there. He couldn't capture that cold, yet inadvertently cutting quality of Horikita's little sister—the way she'd unknowingly jab at someone's sore spot due to her sheer lack of emotional intelligence.

[We're All Good Friends: You damned rat! Just you wait! I will find you and kick you to death! That railing from back then—that's exactly how you'll end up!]

[Chirp Chirp and Chirp Again: Ganbatte~ I'm sure you can do it.]

This time, the chat interface fell deathly silent. For a long while, no new messages came.

After waiting a little longer and confirming that Cha-Cha's side had thoroughly died down—

Grinning, he turned off his phone and logged out of the account once more.

He casually grabbed the glass of ice-cold drink on the table, now mostly melted, and tilted his head back, pouring the last of the sweet-and-sour liquid down his throat. Then he rose from the rattan chair, stretched his limbs, and headed toward the brightly lit interior of the ship.

It couldn't be helped. Cha-Cha seemed to be just a tad too sharp lately. He had to drag Horikita's little sister back out to dumb her down a bit. Otherwise, she really might manage to track him dow—

His leisurely stride suddenly nailed itself to the deck. His entire body froze. His gaze shot straight ahead.

A gust of sea breeze, heavy with salt, swept across the deck and stirred the decorative drapes hanging at the entrance.

"Hi~"

At the corner at the far end of the corridor, a cream-white sun cardigan billowed in the draft like the spreading wings of a butterfly, outlining the faint silhouette of a swimsuit beneath. Below slender ankles, strappy sandals stepped onto the warm teak deck with soft tap, tap sounds. Kushida Kikyo emerged slowly from the shadows of the corridor. One hand was casually tucked behind her back; the other lifted with an air of nonchalance, her fingertips waving lightly in Fuyuji's direction.

"Finally found you, Fuyuji-kun~"

A sweet smile bloomed in the twilight.

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