The Entrance Ceremony

They reached the entrance to the gymnasium.

A wave of noisy voices washed over them.

Hundreds of new students had gathered there, wandering around like headless flies as they searched for their classes.

They found two adjacent empty seats in Class A's section and sat down.

Soon, the entrance ceremony officially began.

Student Council President Horikita Manabu stepped onto the stage and began his long, formulaic welcome address.

It was all about the school's glorious history, his expectations for the new students, and a few rules they were expected to follow.

For most of the new students, it was dreadfully dull. For Kazehara Tetsu, who knew the script, it was no different from a lullaby.

His attention wasn't on the stage at all.

His gaze swept across the crowd. He spotted a radiant figure among the Class B students—Ichinose Honami.

She was listening to the speech attentively. Perhaps sensing someone's gaze, she glanced casually in Class A's direction, though of course she couldn't see him.

Next, his gaze shifted to Class C's section.

There, a man with shoulder-length hair and a rebellious air yawned impatiently.

Ryuen Kakeru, a Dictator who believed in violence.

Finally, his eyes settled on the back rows of Class D.

In an inconspicuous corner, a black-haired girl stood quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on her older brother.

Horikita Suzune.

But he was more interested in the person beside her.

An ordinary-looking boy with no motivation in his eyes, so vacant he seemed ready to fall asleep at any moment, was listening to Horikita Manabu's speech.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

"The greatest masterpiece...?"

The corner of Kazehara Tetsu's mouth curled into a smile no one could understand.

"What are you looking at?"

Sakayanagi Arisu's voice suddenly came from beside him. At some point, she too had lost interest in the dull speech and turned her attention to Kazehara Tetsu.

"I'm looking at... someone who seems like an extra, but might turn out to be a 'Hidden Protagonist' who brings a surprise."

Kazehara Tetsu replied, his gaze still fixed in Ayanokoji's direction.

Sakayanagi Arisu followed his line of sight. She studied the students carefully, then fixed her eyes on the expressionless Horikita Suzune.

"That girl?" she ventured.

"No, not her."

Kazehara Tetsu shook his head. "The one beside her. That man who looks utterly unremarkable and painfully ordinary."

Sakayanagi Arisu looked again.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka?

For the first time, genuine, undisguised shock appeared in Sakayanagi Arisu's beautiful violet eyes.

"Him?"

The word slipped from her lips, which usually wore an elegant smile, with the faintest twist in its intonation.

There were very few things in the world that could stir such emotion in Sakayanagi Arisu.

And the name "Ayanokoji Kiyotaka" was one of them.

It was more than just a name. It was a code name, one her father had spoken of—a name from the White Room, sealed off from the world, and representing the greatest masterpiece of the Artificial Genius.

A large part of why she had come to This School was to personally "bury" the "greatest masterpiece" her father had told her about, proving that a Natural Genius would always surpass someone shaped through training.

It was the deepest, most secret obsession in her heart.

Yet here, on the first day of school, a man who had only just piqued her interest—Kazehara Tetsu—had picked out her target from the sea of faces with startling certainty.

How was that possible?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's existence was a secret in itself.

He should have been like a drop of water blending into the sea, perfectly hidden among the crowd.

How had the man before her seen through to his true nature?

Possibility one: coincidence.

Kazehara Tetsu had simply said whatever came to mind and happened to pick someone who looked ordinary. His claim had no basis.

But that was highly unlikely. From their earlier exchange in the classroom, it was clear that this man never acted without purpose. Every word he spoke had a specific aim.

Possibility two: he knew Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

Did they come from the same place?

Almost impossible. The existence of the White Room was a top secret, and its graduates were closely monitored. They couldn't have crossed paths with outsiders so easily.

Possibility three: he was perceptive enough to see through Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's disguise just by observing him.

The thought sent a thrill of excitement through Sakayanagi Arisu unlike anything she had felt before.

"Heh... Classmate Kazehara, your taste really is so unusual it's hard to understand. What is it about that perfectly ordinary man that makes him worthy of such praise?"

"Classmate Sakayanagi, have you ever played a game called 'spot the difference'?"

"You look at a picture and find the one thing that doesn't belong. Everyone is doing their best to show off their own 'color,' to announce their presence."

"But that man is absolute 'nothingness.' A kind of 'gray' that absorbs every emotion directed at him without leaving a trace. Don't you think something that can swallow everything is the most dangerous—and the most interesting—kind of 'special'?"

"...You think very highly of him."

After a long pause, Sakayanagi Arisu spoke slowly. "Perhaps he's simply what he appears to be: an unmotivated mediocrity. It's not impossible for the school's admissions system to let a few slip through the cracks."

"Classmate Sakayanagi, are you trying to fool yourself?"

His voice wasn't loud, but his words struck Sakayanagi Arisu like a heavy hammer.

"You're discussing him with me, and you're interested in what sounds like an absurd claim. Isn't that because... deep down, you've sensed something 'abnormal' about him too?"

Kazehara Tetsu offered no further evidence or explanation.

Sakayanagi Arisu fell completely silent.

In the gymnasium, Horikita Manabu's speech continued. Around them, students were either nodding off or paying no attention.

But the air around the two of them seemed to freeze, and time itself slowed.

For a long, long while.

Then Sakayanagi Arisu's face suddenly blossomed into a smile.

It was unlike any smile she had worn before. This one held none of her usual feigned elegance.

"Kazehara Tetsu..."

She murmured his name softly, as if engraving it deep in her memory.

"You're someone... I should take seriously."

Just then, the long entrance ceremony finally ended, and the students began to rise and file out.

"My body doesn't do well in crowds, so I'll be going ahead."

Sakayanagi Arisu gave a slight nod in farewell.

She didn't ask anything more about Ayanokoji.

For her, today's discoveries were more than enough.

Watching Sakayanagi Arisu walk away, Kazehara Tetsu let out a sigh of relief.

After years of working as a corporate drone, even a verbal probing match with Sakayanagi Arisu had taken a tremendous amount out of him.

He had to choose every word carefully, offering just enough bait to pique her interest without revealing his trump card: that he knew the plot in advance.