Chie Hoshinomiya's steps abruptly stopped where the corridor's shadow began. The smile at the corner of her mouth had yet to fade, but a thin layer of ice had already formed in her eyes.
"How could he possibly know what I'm after...?" she repeated softly, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the intricate embroidery on her cuff. A cherry blossom petal drifted in through the window and landed on her shoulder. She gently brushed it away, with the elegance of someone dusting off something unclean.
"Trying to replace Class A while acting like Class D... How laughable. Overstepping your station is a capital offense, you know..." she murmured aloud, the final syllables rising slightly in the empty corridor with a certain sweet cruelty. Yes, rules, hierarchy, an unbridgeable chasm—those were the true bones of this world. And dreams? They were merely illusory flesh draped over those bones, ready to fall apart at the slightest tug.
"Anyone can rise to Class A. Anyone but you, Sae Chabashira," Chie Hoshinomiya murmured to herself.
Before long, the afternoon opening ceremony arrived.
The opening ceremony at Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School was no different from those at other schools.
The leaders droned on and on from the stage, while the students swayed sleepily in their seats.
It was a scene of perfect, natural harmony.
But finally, the outstanding student representative—the Student Council President, Manabu Horikita—stepped forward to speak.
Footsteps came from behind the curtain, unhurried, making a soft thud as they crossed the wooden steps to the podium. The faint commotion below subsided like the ebbing tide. He stopped and adjusted the microphone's height—a gesture so simple it seemed almost casual, yet it made several drowsy Class D students in the front rows sit up without thinking.
"I am the Student Council President, Manabu Horikita."
His voice came through the speakers. It wasn't loud, but it had a strange penetrating quality that swept away the thin veil of sleepiness hanging over the auditorium. He didn't look at any notes. His gaze swept steadily over the packed crowd, seeming to linger half a second longer over the new students.
"This school operates on the principle of meritocracy. Everything in your past—your middle school, your family background, your entrance exam results—starts from zero here." His pace was steady, each word as clear as a stone landing on ice. "From today on, your only measure of worth is what you can accomplish at this school. I wish you all success."
He gave a slight nod, then turned and stepped down. The teacher hosting the ceremony seemed momentarily stunned, then hurried forward to announce the dismissal.
Sunlight poured through the auditorium's towering glass doors, bright enough to sting the eyes. The crowd broke into countless streams, spilling through the corridors dappled with West Moon's light and dispersing toward their respective classes. Unease, curiosity, and a faint excitement rippled among the brand-new uniforms. Someone began softly humming an off-key tune, but it was quickly swallowed by the jumble of footsteps.
In the shadows of the second-floor connecting corridor, Manabu Horikita stopped and looked down at the surging crowd. His gaze behind his silver-rimmed glasses was calm and unreadable, as though he were inspecting a batch of raw materials newly delivered and not yet tested.
The wind blew in through an open window, flipping up the corner of the new students' register in his hand.
Beside one name, a faint pencil mark formed a triangle so tiny it was almost invisible.
After the opening ceremony ended, Yun Lan first went to the dormitory's ground floor to pick up his room key card. He took a brief look around campus, then headed to the cafeteria to wait for Honami Ichinose. By his reckoning, she should be arriving soon.
"Brother Lan, I'm here~ (~￣▽￣)~"
The pink-haired girl barreled into Yun Lan's arms, her ample chest leading the way.
Feeling her weight in his arms, Yun Lan couldn't help marveling at how well-endowed little Honami was.
"Have you been waiting long?"
The lively, beautiful girl came to Yun Lan's side and naturally took his left arm.
"I just got here, too."
Yun Lan gave Honami Ichinose the familiar answer he remembered, though this time it was true.
"Oh, good. Then let's go eat together!"
"Sure. By the way, this is my room key card. You can have the dorm supervisor make a copy later. I think they should allow it."
Yun Lan handed Honami Ichinose the key to his dorm room—in other words, his key card. It was a sign of his absolute trust in her.
"Of course. I was going to do that even without you telling me, Brother Lan."
Hm? When did this girl get so bold? Yun Lan wondered to himself.
After their meal, Yun Lan asked Honami Ichinose what she planned to do that afternoon.
"Honami, do you have any plans this afternoon?"
"Hmm... I'll probably go to the shopping mall with my classmates."
He followed Honami Ichinose's gaze. Her eyes curved into bright crescents, and her voice held its usual lighthearted knowingness. "Look, they're over there watching us right now~"
Yun Lan turned his neck almost mechanically. Through the cafeteria's spotless glass and past the brightly lit display case of model food, his gaze landed on a group of girls gathered around the dessert display nearby. They held juice in their hands and tapped at the glass with their fingertips, but their gazes, like dragonflies flitting by, kept landing lightly and precisely on him and Honami. When they whispered to each other, their shoulders brushed, and then a burst of laughter bloomed behind half-raised hands. Their eyes glittered with undisguised curiosity and a good-natured, keen interest.
"...I see them." Yun Lan's voice sounded a little strained. He felt as though he'd suddenly been pushed onto a stage he hadn't rehearsed for, with a spotlight shining on him and leaving him at a loss. He could even imagine what they were whispering about—probably the usual school chatter: "They're so close," "Are they dating?" "Honami really is popular." But being surrounded by such pointed attention still made Yun Lan, the heir to his family, feel a little awkward.
Honami seemed completely unaffected. If anything, she found it amusing. She stirred the last of her drink with a straw, the ice cubes clinking crisply. "They're just curious," she said, amusement in her voice and such frankness that it was hard to take offense. "Everyone's really curious about my relationship with you, Brother Lan."
Her words made Yun Lan even more uncomfortable. He tried to focus on the food in front of him, but the distant, glittering gazes seemed to have drained away most of its appeal. The cafeteria's chatter, the clink of dishes, and the smell of food all became background noise to the whispers, making the silent attention seem all the more obvious.
"Should we... go somewhere else?" he finally suggested in a low voice.
Honami blinked and looked at him, then glanced back at her friends, who were still "choosing desserts." Suddenly, she let out a giggle. Her bright smile was like sunlight breaking through the glass, dispelling some of the invisible awkwardness around him.
"It's all right," she said reassuringly, setting down her cup. "They mean no harm. Besides—" She paused, a hint of mischief entering her smile. "If we leave now, it'll just make us look more 'guilty,' won't it, Brother Lan?"
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