On the soccer field.
A handsome blond man stood out, drawing nearly everyone's attention.
His expression was cocky, a disdainful smile playing at the corners of his mouth. After easily dribbling past several players, he stood just outside the penalty area, not far from the goal, and taunted the goalkeeper.
The Class D students, already down two goals, looked grim.
But before the goalkeeper could react, the ball curved at an impossible angle and slammed into the net. His desperate dive came up empty.
3:0!
Cheers erupted from the sidelines.
"Nagumo-senpai is amazing!"
"He's so handsome! I want to marry him!"
"As expected of Nagumo—he beat the underclassmen with ease."
Hearing the screams from the sidelines, Hirata Yousuke ran onto the field and shook his head helplessly.
In the end, he raised his hand. "We give up."
Meanwhile, in the stands farther away—
"He's probably here for you. Aren't you going to face him?" asked the handsome, expressionless Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
Bai Ye sighed. "I don't like soccer... We're not making it to the World Cup anyway, so what's the point?"
"?"
"You wouldn't understand even if I explained." Bai Ye shook his head, then looked toward the arrogant young man waving to the crowd on the field. "Ayanokoji, do you think you could beat him?"
"I'm not sure. If the conditions were in my favor, I'd have a good chance."
"No. I think you'd only need one punch."
Ayanokoji gave him a perplexed look.
"Sometimes you underestimate yourself too much—or overestimate other people. Of course, that's a good habit. You can never let your guard down. You should use your full strength against whatever enemy is in front of you, even if it's just an ant."
"I know."
Ayanokoji naturally removed Bai Ye's hand from his shoulder.
"How do you think we should deal with this Nagumo?" he asked.
Ayanokoji fell silent for a long while before answering:
"His biggest weakness is his pride. If we provoke him, we can make him lose his temper and walk right into our trap..."
"As expected of you, Ayanokoji-kun. I'll leave this to you, then."
"..."
"Don't look at me like that. I'm very busy. Look over there—my wife's getting impatient waiting for me."
"She hasn't even looked this way. She's reading by herself. How is she impatient?"
"You don't understand. That's just how Horikita is. No matter how much she misses me, she'd never show it."
Liar.
Ayanokoji knew perfectly well Bai Ye just wanted to dump the troublesome job on him.
Meanwhile, he'd be off flirting with his girlfriend. If a man like that ran a factory, it would be emptied out by thieves in three days.
Then again, a boss who trusted his employees that much could inspire fierce loyalty.
Ayanokoji already felt entrusted with a great responsibility, even developing the absurd notion that he'd devote himself to the task until his dying breath.
Just as Bai Ye was about to leave, the handsome blond from earlier—Miyabi Nagumo—appeared beside them.
"Trying to run away, Jingu?"
Bai Ye stopped and looked at him in bewilderment. "Who are you? Did you need something?"
What an act.
Ayanokoji muttered to himself, then stepped back and left the stage to the two of them.
He also secretly switched on the voice recorder in his pocket.
Nagumo's mouth twitched. His tone was hostile as he said:
"I'm the Student Council vice president. You're a Student Council member, yet you don't even know who I am? Do you take the Student Council's responsibilities seriously?"
"No." Bai Ye answered frankly. "The president forced me to join. I don't even care about the Student Council, so why should I care about you, an arrogant vice president?"
"Big words. Do you think you can do whatever you want at this school?"
"I don't know about that, but dealing with you would be easy."
"In that case, compete against me. Whoever loses has to apologize to the other and admit they're inferior."
"Fine." Bai Ye glanced at the people slowly gathering around them. "But let me make one thing clear: I won't compete in a team sport like that. I'm not the kind of person who picks on underclassmen."
He was alluding to Nagumo's match against their class, when he'd relied on having an extra year of soccer training.
Shamelessly, Miyabi Nagumo ignored the remark. "Then let's run two thousand meters. It's one of the best ways to show what you're capable of."
"Sure."
Bai Ye laughed to himself. Of all things, he'd chosen a race.
Although he'd repeatedly ignored the old man's training plan over the years, he'd kept up his morning runs.
He didn't even know why he'd stuck with running. Maybe he needed something meaningful to do.
In the past, he hadn't even known how long he'd live. Anyone in his kind of predicament would lose hope in life.
The system's appearance had given him a goal, as well as hope that he could keep on living.
Otherwise, no matter how hard he trained, he'd never beat those naturally gifted competitors.
He knew perfectly well that effort alone couldn't make your goals come true in this world. If Ayanokoji hadn't possessed such monstrous talent to begin with, he could never have become the White Room's finest "experimental subject."
And his grudge couldn't be settled by a mere skilled fighter, either.
But now, his physical abilities had been enhanced to twice those of an average adult.
Sometimes one plus one was greater than two. Being twice as strong as an adult didn't mean he could only beat two adults—his strength grew exponentially.
He still didn't know how strong Nagumo was, but even before, he hadn't been afraid of him in a race. Now, there was even less to worry about.
When word spread that he and Nagumo were going to race, the students who'd been scattered around resting quickly gathered.
Among them were students from Class B, Year One.
Shironami Chihiro led Ichinose toward the school track. In the distance, they spotted Kanzaki Ryuji, who had also come to watch.
The usually composed honor student looked troubled.
"What's bothering you, Kanzaki-kun?" Ichinose asked curiously.
"Nothing..." Kanzaki noticed Ichinose and shook his head. "Are you here to observe the enemy?"
"The enemy? Who?" Ichinose tilted her head, looking confused.
"Jingu. He joined the Student Council, didn't he? Didn't you come to see how to beat him?"
"Maybe..." Ichinose gave an awkward laugh and looked at the two men standing side by side at the starting line. "Who do you think will win, Kanzaki-kun?"
"The vice president."
"Oh..." Ichinose nodded. "Then I think Jingu-kun will win."
Kanzaki turned to look at her. "Do you know him well?"
"Not really... Why?" Ichinose suddenly had a feeling Kanzaki was about to reveal something important.
Sure enough.
"Actually, I knew him... when we were very young."
Kanzaki frowned, looking lost in memory.
"Then... could you tell me what he was like back then?" Ichinose asked tentatively. "If it's something you can't talk about, that's okay."
"It's nothing much," Kanzaki said. "When I was little, I went out to play by myself and ran into him... I accidentally splashed paint all over him while someone else was painting."
"And then?"
"Then he sicced a dog on me and chased me around with it for ages..."
"..."
Ichinose covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling.
She had to hold it in. If she laughed, Kanzaki-kun would definitely scold her.
But Shironami Chihiro, beside her, burst out laughing. "Kanzaki-kun, I never knew you had a past like that..."
"..."
Kanzaki didn't mention that after that, he'd worked hard to build up his body so he'd never be caught in such an embarrassing situation again.
That was also how he'd developed his exceptional athletic ability.
Ichinose finally managed to suppress her laughter and looked toward the two men in the distance.
"The race is starting."
Before you continue