Bait and Fish

In the shade by the edge of the field.

Horikita Suzune crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her knuckles turning white from the force.

Her gaze was cold enough to freeze water as she glared at Natsume Yu, who stood before her yawning, looking like he had not woken up yet.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stood to the side, expressionless, his presence so faint that he nearly blended into the background.

"You want Sudo to deliberately lose?"

Horikita Suzune's voice suppressed a raging fury, every word seeming to squeeze through clenched teeth.

"Do you have any idea what that means to him? What it means to Class D? It's an absolute humiliation!"

She could not understand it.

Yesterday's collective release during Tug-of-War had already made Class D into a laughingstock.

And today, they were supposed to make the class's only trump card, the fiercely prideful Sudo Ken, deliberately put on a performance of defeat?

What kind of brain-dead plan was that?!

"Shh, keep it down, my lady."

Natsume Yu raised one finger and lazily pressed it to his lips.

"Are you shouting so loudly because you're afraid Ryuen won't hear about our 'secret weapon'?"

"You!"

Horikita Suzune's chest heaved violently with anger.

"Natsume Yu! I need an explanation! A reasonable explanation!"

"An explanation, huh..."

Natsume Yu scratched his head, his gaze drifting into the distance, his casual tone irritatingly infuriating.

"It's simple."

"Sometimes, losing is more valuable than winning."

The second day of the Sports Festival.

The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder.

On the track for the boys' individual 100-meter race, Sudo Ken and Class C's sprinting ace, Ishizaki Daichi, stood at the starting line.

The atmosphere was taut with hostility.

"Hey, red-haired monkey."

Ishizaki Daichi cocked his head and looked Sudo Ken up and down with blatant contempt.

"You hid like a turtle during Tug-of-War yesterday. So how come you've got the guts to show yourself today? Ready to get crushed by me?"

Veins bulged at Sudo Ken's temples, and his fists cracked as he clenched them.

He gritted his teeth, the fury in his chest nearly bursting free.

Yet the words Ayanokoji had relayed kept echoing through his mind.

—Provoke him, then lose to him.

"The hell did you say?!"

Sudo Ken roared and shoved Ishizaki Daichi hard.

The referee's whistle sounded in time, separating the two and issuing Sudo Ken a stern warning.

A burst of mocking laughter came from Class C's side. Ryuen Kakeru stood there with his arms folded, wearing a grin as if he were watching a show.

"Bang!"

The starting pistol fired.

Sudo Ken shot forward like an arrow loosed from its bow, erupting with astonishing speed.

He turned all his humiliation and fury into strength in his legs.

He wanted to win!

He wanted it from the bottom of his heart!

However, just before crossing the finish line, Natsume Yu's lazy face flashed through his mind.

His stride faltered for an imperceptible moment.

It was that fraction of a second's hesitation.

Ishizaki Daichi crossed first, winning by the narrow margin of a chest.

"He won! Ishizaki won!"

Class C erupted in thunderous cheers.

Ishizaki Daichi raised both hands high and made a throat-slitting gesture at Sudo Ken, arrogant to the extreme.

Sudo Ken braced his hands against his knees and gasped for breath. Sweat and tears mingled as they slid down his flushed cheeks.

Class D's area fell deathly silent.

Everyone stared at Sudo Ken in disbelief, at the trump card who should have brought glory to the class.

"Why... even Sudo..."

"Our trump card lost..."

"It's over. There's no hope left."

Despair spread rapidly like a plague.

"Ayanokoji-kun."

For the first time, Hirata Yosuke's gentle smile vanished. He walked over to Ayanokoji, his tone more serious than ever.

"I need an explanation. Was this really Natsume-kun's plan? We're destroying the class's morale."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka merely watched the track in silence.

In the stands, Sakura Airi hugged her camera tightly, its lens fixed on the figure leaning lazily against the railing.

Even though everyone else had fallen into despair, that person still wore the same unruffled expression.

Just as Class C basked in the joy of consecutive victories and completely let down its guard against the "soft persimmon" that was Class D.

The real plan began.

The Borrowing Race event started.

It was Class D's Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's turn.

He ran to the center of the field and drew a slip of paper from a box.

The contents of the prompt rang out over the broadcast:

"Please borrow... Class B's leader's hair tie!"

The entire field erupted in uproar.

What a tricky prompt—one that even carried the flavor of a prank.

In a race where every second counted, they had to go to another class, find one specific person, and borrow such a personal item?

This was obviously a trap question!

Everyone waited to see Class D make fools of themselves again.

Ryuen Kakeru even laughed out loud, convinced Class D was hopelessly stupid.

However.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's expression did not change at all.

He glanced at the slip, then turned without hesitation and ran straight toward Class B's area.

The move caught everyone completely off guard.

"Ichinose-san."

Class B was somewhat dejected at the moment after unexpectedly losing a group event.

Ichinose Honami had been comforting her disappointed classmates when she suddenly heard someone call her.

She turned and saw the expressionless boy from Class D.

"Can I borrow your hair tie?" Ayanokoji asked succinctly.

Ichinose froze.

The classmates around her also looked surprised.

But when she heard the prompt being repeated over the distant broadcast, she immediately understood.

Without nearly any hesitation, she quickly untied the pink hair tie from around her wrist and handed it to Ayanokoji.

"Here! Good luck!"

"Thank you."

Ayanokoji took the hair tie, turned, and ran, his movements without the slightest hesitation.

He crossed the finish line first by an overwhelming margin.

Class D took first place in the event.

The sudden victory left the gloomy members of Class D struggling to process what had happened.

Meanwhile, on Class B's side, Ichinose Honami watched Ayanokoji's retreating back before looking at her own dejected classmates.

At this Sports Festival, where everyone competed and guarded against one another for points.

A request for help from the weakest Class D, a simple borrowed item, and that straightforward "thank you."

Made her feel an indescribable warmth.

It was as though, in the midst of hardship, she had received pure goodwill from someone equally weak.

In the stands.

Natsume Yu's gaze precisely caught the fleeting warm smile on Ichinose Honami's face.

He knew.

The first seed had been planted.

Sudo's defeat had successfully lulled Ryuen into complacency, making him view Class D as nothing more than ants he could crush at will, completely shifting his attention away from them.

And all of it had created the perfect conditions for Ayanokoji's earth-shattering strike.

Horikita Suzune stood in Class D's area and witnessed the whole process.

Her mind went blank.

From anger, to confusion, to shock.

She finally understood what Natsume Yu had meant.

—Sometimes, losing is more valuable than winning.

The loss of an insignificant individual race had been exchanged for a crucial victory. More importantly, it had earned them an excellent chance to build a connection with Class B.

For the first time, she realized that the gap between herself and Natsume Yu was not one of intelligence at all.

It was one of perspective.

Her eyes had been fixed only on the wins and losses before her, while that man's plan had already surpassed the entire field.

During a brief break in the competition.

Ichinose Honami took the initiative to approach Class D's area and found Ayanokoji, who was preparing for the next event.

"Ayanokoji-kun, thank you so much for earlier," she said with a smile. "Thanks to you, the mood in our class has improved a lot too."

"I only completed the race," Ayanokoji replied.

"But I'm curious."

Ichinose tilted her head, pure curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

"There were so many prompts. How were you so sure that you should come find me?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked at her and calmly gave a name in his utterly flat tone.

"It was Natsume-kun's suggestion."

The smile on Ichinose Honami's face paused slightly.

Natsume?

Following Ayanokoji's gaze, she looked toward the distant stands.

For the first time, she formed a clear impression of that Class D boy who always lounged against the railing, seemingly without any presence at all.