[After 50 meters, rise and jump four meters; upon landing, perform five side flips toward the south, rotate 360 degrees in midair, then continue flipping sideways.]
[Quickly retreat eight meters.]
[Bend down and catch the basketball thrown from behind, using the crowd as cover.]
[Dribble past Ken Sudō, sending the ball beneath his legs, then face northeast.]
[Faint toward the southwest, then break through toward the northeast and catch the basketball that bounced here after being blocked.]
[Raise the ball above your head with your right hand, then jump...]
[After shooting, drop quickly, roll on the spot, perform seven side flips facing southeast, rotate 360 degrees in midair, and leap onto the treetop.]
After a series of smooth, flowing moves, he vanished. A rustling sound came from the tree.
"What was that just now?"
"Was that a person?"
"Who was that?"
"Stop talking and hurry up, find him!"
The entire sports field erupted in commotion.
With so many people chasing him, he could only run all over the place.
Half an hour later, after confirming he'd shaken them off, he sneaked back to his dorm and collapsed onto his bed.
"Who was that person just now? Where did he go?"
The ones who had chased him to the dormitory were members of the basketball club.
"Sudō, you don't know him? I thought you played basketball so well that you'd have some connection with him."
"I remember him calling Sudō's name. He must know Sudō."
"Yeah! Sudō, you definitely know him, right? Get him to join the basketball club."
"How would I know? I don't know him either." Sudō was just as confused. If he knew the guy, he should at least have some impression of him, but his mind was completely blank.
"Anyway, we'll leave the task of getting him to join the basketball club to you. First, find out which class he's in."
"I..."
The others had dumped the task on Sudō without asking, and he couldn't just refuse. He also wanted to meet the guy.
Behind him were two male students from Class A. After the others left, they whispered, "Don't you think that might've been Shizuka? His height and voice were really similar."
"I thought so too. They were almost identical. But is he really that athletic? Isn't he a bookworm?"
"Shh~ Don't tell anyone about this yet. It'd be bad if the other classes found out."
After lying in bed for half an hour, Yagami Shizuka finally recovered.
When he got up again, he felt much stronger, and his mind was unusually clear.
He got up, took a shower, changed his clothes, then realized he was starving.
Fortunately, the student cafeteria was still open at this hour.
They still had free meals, so he could eat as much as he wanted.
To replenish the nutrients his body needed, he ordered two plates of beef without hesitation.
There weren't many people in the cafeteria at this hour, and nobody would pay attention to him.
After he went back for his fifth serving, the cafeteria lady gave him a strange look.
"Sorry, I trained a lot today, so I'm eating more than usual." Yagami Shizuka gave an embarrassed smile.
The cafeteria lady said nothing. Perhaps Yagami Shizuka usually ate quite a lot anyway.
After finishing that meal, Yagami Shizuka went to the shopping district and ate again, then bought a whole pile of food to take back with him.
He needed to keep this stuff on hand at all times.
The next day.
He felt that his body had changed. The definition of his muscles was becoming more noticeable.
Following the system's instructions, he did targeted exercises: calisthenics, push-ups, and sit-ups. He also had to go out and run ten kilometers.
Nobody paid much attention to someone jogging, and he even wore a sun hat to conceal his identity.
"Did you hear? Some beast showed up here last night. He was like Bolt incarnate. Everyone chased him, but nobody caught him."
Several girls were chatting beside the track.
"Forget Bolt. That was Captain America."
"More like Spider-Man! He could even scale walls and leap across rooftops!"
"Isn't that a little too sci-fi?"
Yagami Shizuka lowered the brim of his hat and quietly passed by them.
Quite a few people were interested in the person from last night. Many had gotten up early on purpose, apparently waiting for him here.
But when they saw Yagami Shizuka, they quickly looked away. In their minds, the mysterious figure had to be taller than Yagami Shizuka, and his presence had to be far more imposing.
His stamina was incredible. He didn't even get winded after running ten kilometers.
He touched his feet and found they weren't even very warm.
It seemed like he could handle even more training, but right now, he only wanted to get used to his transformed body, not train for its own sake.
Inside the Student Council building.
Horikita Manabu drew back the curtains in the Student Council Room and looked outside. "Have you found that person?"
When he learned there was someone like that at the school, Horikita Manabu had been excited. Although he couldn't get Yagami Shizuka into the Student Council, finding this person would be great too.
"President, I checked all the footage from the sports field last night, but I couldn't see his face. He avoided every camera." Tachibana Akane held a stack of documents, still looking dazed.
Horikita Manabu took the documents from her. They contained the clearest photos they'd managed to capture, but every one showed only a profile.
Getting even a profile shot had been the limit, and none of the profiles were complete. Many images only showed his back.
It was hard to recognize a profile in the dark.
Whenever the shadow was about to enter the range of the next camera, he would usually turn around and walk backward, evade the camera, then turn back and keep running.
"President, take a look at this..." Tachibana Akane's hand trembled slightly as she held the laptop.
On the screen was a figure dribbling a basketball beneath the night lights. He'd precisely anticipated the position of every light and camera, using the basketball to block them.
Everything had gone just right. He'd even completed a dunk before making his escape.
That was a three-point hoop, and he'd looked as if he'd flown straight through the air.
That scene had fired up the students who were still playing basketball, driving them wild with the urge to find him.
Horikita Manabu was silent for a long time. He'd never encountered a situation like this before.
The other person had definitely been avoiding the cameras on purpose. He knew the locations of every camera at the school, even the exact areas they covered.
The reason he'd kicked the soccer ball and dribbled the basketball was to keep everyone's eyes on the balls.
"Even with so many people chasing him, he still managed to avoid the cameras and every student's line of sight..."
Just then, the phone on his desk rang. The caller's profile picture showed a long-haired girl with a single ponytail, and her nickname was "Little Sister."
Normally, he wouldn't have wanted to answer, but today was different.
He tapped the answer button.
A girl's voice immediately came through, choked with tears. "Why do you keep ignoring me, big brother!"
Horikita Manabu said nothing. He waited for the girl on the other end to vent incoherently, then hung up.
When it rang again, he didn't answer.
Yagami Shizuka kept a low profile. He didn't let his newly strengthened body go to his head, and his life remained much the same as before, except that he now exercised.
He noticed that a few classmates who liked playing basketball were looking at him strangely, but no prompt appeared, so he didn't pay it any mind.
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