Hirata Wept at Huarong, Bai-kun Was Unstoppable

Ding—

The crisp bell shattered the usual silence of the school building, but it failed to reach the tennis court, where enthusiasm was still running high.

Though the players on the court no longer possessed the vigor they had shown at the start, the spectators still generously offered their cheers and applause.

A girl assigned to classroom duty that day walked over carrying a bag of tied-up trash. When she reached the tennis court, her attention was inevitably drawn to the lively scene inside.

Curious, she temporarily set the trash bag by the court and approached the only person she recognized. Gently poking her arm with a finger, she asked in a low voice, "Kikyo, are they your classmates? Why are they still playing tennis when class has already ended?"

Kikyo Kushida turned back in confusion, looking somewhat startled.

"Huh? Class is already over?"

"It ended five minutes ago. Our class has already finished cleaning the classroom."

Shironami Chihiro weakly gestured toward the trash bag she had left at the entrance to the court.

"Ah, then I need to hurry and remind the PE teacher to gather everyone in class..."

Kikyo Kushida immediately came to her senses and quickly looked around.

Across the vast field, there was no sign of the PE teacher who had been calmly picking his favorites beneath the shade of the trees.

She could not help frowning and dryly laughing. "Ahaha... the teachers at this school really are quite special."

Shironami Chihiro looked at her strained smile, fell silent for a moment, then raised her head and said rather proudly, "Why not have one of your class leaders organize things? Class B has always done it that way."

"That's true."

Kikyo Kushida glanced toward Hirata Yosuke beneath the scoreboard, who was explaining the match with even greater passion now that someone had suddenly given up trying. For a moment, she hesitated over whether to go find him... or perhaps she could take over herself? But that sounded too troublesome. After hesitating, she decided to dump this troublesome task on him.

Perhaps Bai-kun really was terrifying. A sense of awe gradually rose within her.

"Go, President!"

"President..."

"Ah, that's Bai Yu from our class. He claims he wants to establish a club within the first month of school. Ayanokoji is currently one of his club members."

"What kind of club?"

Shironami Chihiro was a little curious.

"The Service Club..."

Kikyo Kushida answered truthfully.

Shironami Chihiro regretted being curious and took a step back.

Kikyo Kushida hurriedly explained, "Wait, it has nothing to do with me! Although they can sort of be considered friends... Bai, Bai-kun's club was actually created to help people solve their problems!"

Shironami Chihiro tilted her head in confusion. "Kun?"

"A slip of the tongue... just a slip of the tongue."

Kikyo Kushida's smile began to twitch. "So it isn't some suspicious club, and I don't have any suspicious friends."

"I see."

Shironami Chihiro let out a breath of relief, one hand resting on her chest.

Kikyo Kushida also sighed in relief.

Soon after, she bid farewell to the Class B girl beside her and headed toward Hirata Yosuke, who was happily playing the role of commentator. At the same time, she wondered whether she ought to keep an appropriate distance from him...

"Helping others solve their problems..."

Shironami Chihiro watched Kikyo Kushida's departing figure and muttered softly to herself. Realizing it was getting late, she turned and left as well, continuing with her classroom duty for the day.

"Huff, huff..."

"Puff puff puff!"

On the tennis court.

The duel between the two masters had yet to end, but both seemed to have reached the limits of their stamina.

Horikita Suzune barely adjusted her breathing, looked toward the other side, and said with feigned calmness, "Bai-kun, do you want to try surrendering? Your breathing sounds pretty bad."

"My heart rate is merely above the limit."

Bai Yu remained standing sideways, facing the setting sun, utterly unafraid to continue fighting.

"Heart rate? Are you sure you're not just out of stamina?"

"No need to worry. Once the sun sets, the evening breeze blows, visibility decreases, and the sweat on my body evaporates, I shall regain my former glory!"

Bai Yu declared confidently.

"? Don't you need to eat dinner?"

Horikita Suzune was somewhat speechless. Seeing the surrounding crowd gradually disperse, and with their afternoon-long battle still producing no result, she was beginning to care a little less about victory or defeat.

After all, the condition he had proposed at the start had been somewhat appealing to her. But for some reason, she had wanted the chance to lecture him, and coupled with the irritation she had accumulated over the past few days, she had suggested settling things through tennis.

However, judging by the level he had displayed just now and her clear understanding of her own usual training... she was the one who was beginning to run out of options.

"Oh, oh, is the Hero inviting me to dinner? Sorry, although your invitation sounds tempting, I already have dinner plans with Ayanokoji."

"How did you get that from anything I said?" Horikita Suzune sighed. After a brief silence, she relaxed her shoulders, then straightened up and looked across the court. "Do you still want to continue?"

"The Hero knows that isn't what the Demon King wants to hear."

The sun was sinking behind the western hills.

Under the twilight's golden wash, their gazes met amid the languid air. The sharpness in both their eyes had faded, leaving behind only exhaustion and calm.

After another unconscious blink, Horikita Suzune tossed the ball—bang.

She served an ordinary straight ball without the slightest pressure behind it.

The tennis ball, which had been infused with all sorts of bizarre power and had raced back and forth like the wind all afternoon, now flew toward the boy's half of the court at a visibly traceable, utterly harmless speed. It slowly rolled to a stop at his feet, marking the most ordinary end to a rally.

Horikita Suzune lowered the racket she had been gripping tightly. With a motion of brushing back her hair, she lifted her face and sent a calm gaze across the court.

After silently watching for several seconds, she said nothing. She simply turned and walked alone toward the equipment basket where the rackets had originally been placed.

"So... Horikita won by a single point in the end?"

From the commentary stand, Hirata Yosuke, who appeared somewhat lonely, uncertainly announced the result.

"Bai Yu won."

"? And you are?"

"The commentator who ran away."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka slowly walked back from the edge of the court. The moment he remembered that they still had to carry all those tennis rackets back, he could not help wanting to slip away again.

"But didn't Horikita score the final point?"

Hirata Yosuke was still delighted that his partner had returned to his old post, smiling as he invited him onto the commentary stand.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka waved him away, signaling him not to come too close. Your condition was already showing faint signs of surpassing his own. "The president deliberately didn't return that ball. You could say he gave her a way out. Besides, he should have achieved his goal anyway."

"Goal?"

As Hirata Yosuke looked confused, Bai Yu walked over, twirling his racket in one hand and swinging the other arm as if loosening his muscles. A satisfied smile rested on his face.

...Then he was unexpectedly intercepted halfway by a spectator who still lingered on the court.

"B-Bai! Can I upload the video I took of your tennis match to my blog as material for a post about campus life?"

Bai Yu gave her a brief look. She was a pink-haired girl with glasses, holding a camera. She looked somewhat familiar, but he could not remember her name... a fan?

" I don't mind, but who are you?"

"Cough, cough..."

The girl who had spoken seemed to choke and coughed. Nervously, she lowered her head even further. "I'm Sakura Airi... from the same class as you..."

"Oh, oh, then there's no problem."

Bai Yu kindly reminded her, "But you should probably ask the other participant for her opinion too."

"You mean... Horikita?"

"That's right. Out of a certain sense of principle, I personally don't object to people filming or recording me, but I don't know how she feels about it."

"Out of courtesy, I think it would be better to ask her first."

Bai Yu said considerately, then craned his neck to look behind the girl.

Two gossip-loving people were smiling as they occasionally glanced in this direction, while whispering conspiratorially to each other.

Bai Yu felt he could not let them continue freely inventing plotlines over there. Looking at the girl, he said, "How about I ask her another day? If she agrees, I'll let you know. Want to add me on LINE?"

"Huh? Oh... o-okay!"

Bai Yu took out his phone and scanned her QR code.

"Th-then, thank you, Bai!"

After hearing the successful scan notification, the girl quickly nodded twice in thanks, then bolted away like a rabbit.

"? Why was she in such a hurry? We haven't even added each other yet."

Bai Yu muttered gloomily. She was another strange girl.

He continued walking toward the two allies who were still improvising, then suddenly joined them with his arms spread wide and shouted, "Hirata, Ayanokoji, let us conquer every club in this school together!"

"President, what kind of leap in logic is that... First, we need to conquer those two baskets of tennis rackets in front of us."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka promptly extinguished this sudden burst of enthusiasm.

Bai Yu refused. "I no longer wish to return to that dark place."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka offered a constructive suggestion. "Then how about we abandon Hirata?"

"Excellent!" Bai Yu immediately smiled in agreement.

"Ahahaha..."

Hirata Yosuke laughed three times to play along, then looked at the two of them uncertainly. "You don't really mean that, do you?"

"Good!"

Bai Yu suddenly gave another impassioned shout, reached out to press a hand onto Hirata's shoulder, and said cheerfully, "Then Hirata can stand in the middle while the two of us support one side each. That way, we can carry both baskets of rackets at once and settle it once and for all."

"If we do that, my life will probably be settled once and for all too."

Hirata Yosuke could not help protesting. He turned toward Ayanokoji Kiyotaka with a pleading expression.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said nothing. His face was full of sorrow and helplessness, utterly abandoning the camaraderie they had shared moments ago. "Brother Hirata, do you know where we are?"

"?"

Hirata Yosuke looked confused and startled. In a daze, he looked toward the other boy and discovered that his comrade and partner, who had been standing on the same side as him, had also reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, becoming Lord Bai's accomplice!

Grief and indignation filled his heart. For a moment, he wanted to say something, to unleash a torrent of words and fiercely condemn this betrayal without principles.

Yet the hand on his shoulder did not move in the slightest, representing a conviction as unwavering as iron.

He did not understand. He was perplexed. He could not believe it... He could not help turning toward the other side, trying to find an answer from that cunning enemy. What method had he used to turn his loyal comrade against him?

Whoosh!

As if a roaring tidal wave had crashed fiercely into his face, Hirata Yosuke turned his head through the pain and saw Bai Yu standing atop a majestic warship, holding a magnificent battle flag.

The words on that banner were unmistakable—White Road Alliance?!

"Th-this is Red Cliff!?"

Hirata Yosuke cried out in shock, instantly breaking into a cold sweat as his entire body turned icy.

He was just about to take out his phone to call for reinforcements, but it was already too late.

The two beside him wore sinister smiles. The way they looked at him was as though he were Emperor Wu of Wei, fleeing left and right from a blaze, nearly losing his only path to survival.

"Come, let us review history together!"

Lord Bai now possessed Zhuge's wisdom as well. The hand gripping his shoulder was heavy and powerful, scorching like the rain of arrows that had descended upon him that night. "Binding the ships together with iron chains really is a fine strategy. How about you serve as the chain? What do you say, Hirata—"

"I... I... I have treated you well."

Hirata Yosuke howled at the sky, tears spilling at Huarong.

Thus.

The two burning warships, through Hirata Yosuke's efforts and the assistance of two warriors who contributed strength whenever they felt like it, smoothly sailed toward the sports equipment storeroom...

"Today has been the most exhausting day since school began..."

In the school cafeteria.

Hirata Yosuke dropped his head onto the table before the food had even arrived, letting out a weak, dying groan.

"Well, you could call it a brand-new experience."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka scrolled through his phone to order food, not forgetting to add insult to injury. "At least the president is treating us to this meal."

"We get a hundred thousand points every month. What does treating us even mean...?"

Hirata Yosuke moved his lips in complaint.

"A hundred thousand every month?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka casually glanced around and said, "Then some of the upperclassmen really are living frugally."

"Maybe they want a change of pace." Hirata Yosuke did not think much of it.

As the two chatted idly, Bai Yu walked over carrying a set meal that looked extremely expensive.

He placed the seafood rice bowl, which seemed to shine with golden light, onto the table, poured over the accompanying special sauce, clasped his hands together, and after giving a bold call to eat, picked up his utensils and began battling the calorie monster before him.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Hirata Yosuke exchanged glances, deeply impressed by his bold appetite, which matched his personality perfectly.

Then they too began ordering boldly.

Since someone was foolish enough to insist on treating them, there was no need to be polite.

"I'll have a deluxe premium beef set!"

"The deluxe standard set meal."

Their lavish-sounding orders earned them lightning-fast service, with the only drawback being that they had to pick it up themselves.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka brought back a standard set meal and sat down in his original seat. As he considered what posture to use to begin enjoying it, he spoke to Bai Yu, who was buried in his food.

"President, did you and Horikita make some kind of bet?"