Beihai had never imagined there would be a second test.
Now that Kiyotaka was sitting beside him, they could pass notes more easily, but that also meant Beihai had one more person to look after.
Normally, all he had to do was take care of Airisu Sakura. Now he had to make sure someone else was looked after, too.
Beihai wasn't used to it. Everyone had already found their own circles, and he'd settled into the little circle he shared with the two of them. But now there was another person.
If nothing changed, getting through the after-school hours might not be so easy.
The day's classes came to an end, and school was out for the afternoon.
Airisu Sakura packed her schoolbag. As usual, she had planned to walk back to the dorms in silence alongside Beihai.
They never talked on the way, but it was still a chance to spend time together. Today, though, things weren't going to go as planned.
Kiyotaka only had to stand up and take a couple of steps to reach Beihai. Meanwhile, Beihai was nowhere near as quick at packing up.
Usually, Beihai would naturally walk alongside his adorable pet, which saved him a lot of time. No one would bother them during the walk, either. But today, he had an extra plan: he needed to ask Kiyotaka to watch a movie with him.
"Come on, bro. Let's go."
"Sure. Um, Sakura..."
Beihai had just started to say goodbye to Airisu Sakura and explain.
She'd already packed her things and was standing off to the side, waiting like a little dummy. At that, her face turned red.
She felt flustered. Wait, what? Why was this happening? It wasn't usually like this. So had she just been getting her hopes up for nothing?
Huh? What should I do?
The adorable Sakura lowered her head and clutched the straps of her bag, hurriedly cutting him off.
"N-no, it's okay. I'm the one who's bothering you, Beihai."
Then she rushed away. She was in such a hurry that she smacked her head against the classroom doorframe as she went out.
She let out a small whimper, rubbed her forehead, and hurried off.
Beihai raised a hand, feeling awkward. All he could do was take out his Terminal and message her, telling her not to overthink it.
"Okay, let's go."
Kiyotaka also looked away and nodded to Beihai. The two of them left the classroom and walked down the corridor together. With the evening sun shining on them, they looked like two ordinary students.
Kiyotaka had said in class that he wanted to earn points and had already settled on a goal, so Beihai figured he should help him earn some first.
The two of them made their way to the cluster of club rooms.
"So your way of earning points is to challenge the clubs?"
Beihai wasn't surprised. He just thought Kiyotaka was impressive. Challenging a club would make you famous on the school forums, and you also needed to be strong enough to pull it off.
After all, each club was different, and some weren't even suited to competition.
The clubs where competition was possible included basketball, martial arts, archery, and the Kendo Club.
Those activities were very popular in Japan, so every school was bound to have them.
Other clubs were more laid-back, like the tea ceremony club. There was no way Beihai could imagine competing with them. How would they even do it? See who could make tea faster? Or who followed the rules better?
Kiyotaka had come up with a plan, and, naturally, walked ahead of Beihai into the club area.
"You're right. If you're too weak, people will bully you. If you're too strong, they'll be wary of you. For the sake of campus life, you have to be about the same as everyone else.
"If you're stuck at the bottom of the pecking order with Yamauchi and the others, you won't get to experience friendship, either."
Beihai nodded. He didn't disagree. Those weirdos like Yamauchi could talk about girls' private parts in public.
They really were in a league of their own. Even some perverted old lechers wouldn't stoop to their level.
At least their sexual orientation was normal. Otherwise, Beihai really didn't want to imagine them getting together.
"So you're finally going to show what you can do? No more hiding your strength?"
"No, bro, you've got it wrong. I just want to be like you: have a stable circle, a friend I can talk to, and stay out of the spotlight. Then I can get through these three years of school."
Beihai looked at him strangely. So that was what Kiyotaka thought keeping a low profile meant?
To avoid drawing attention, Beihai didn't even come to places like this. After all, if you wanted to earn a lot of points, sooner or later you'd end up in the public eye.
Besides, Beihai had a system that let him surpass human limits. Winning points here would be easy. He didn't come here because if he challenged a club, not just the Student Council but the teachers would find out.
Beihai watched Kiyotaka walk into the Archery Club.
Kiyotaka found one of the club members and proposed a Bet Agreement. To make sure they could go through with the challenge and win, Beihai contributed his points.
Yesterday, Kiyotaka had carried a Game Console over to Beihai's place, spending the few points he had. He didn't have enough to make a proper bet now. Unless they signed an agreement, he couldn't get into the competition—but that would be too much trouble.
When Kiyotaka saw the more than 1.4 million points on Beihai's Terminal, he understood. His bro hadn't just done a great job hiding himself; he'd even managed to earn points without Kiyotaka noticing.
The senior from the Archery Club agreed to the bet, but kindly gave Beihai a warning.
"Be careful your friend doesn't cheat you. I won't go easy on him, and I won't hold back. You can still back out now and keep your points."
"Thank you for the warning, senior. I trust my bro's abilities."
Kiyotaka's expression didn't change. He simply picked up a bow and started practicing, but his thoughts were completely different.
Beihai trusted him this much, even though Kiyotaka had never shown off his abilities in front of him.
If he had to put it simply, they'd only met once, then spent a day playing games together. And Beihai trusted him this much?
Having a close friend really did make a difference. I think I've learned something.
If they were just surface-level friends, they definitely wouldn't have handed over the points. They'd think it was a hassle, or even feel like they'd been deceived.
Beihai, on the other hand, didn't give it a second thought. He figured Kiyotaka knew what he was doing. If he didn't, why would he have come here? It wasn't as if anyone would be stupid enough to just hand over their points.
He drew the bow, nocked an arrow, and scored a ten.
As expected, with the two of them thinking about different things but somehow reaching the same conclusion, the feeling of being on the same wavelength was a little strange.
Put simply, the whole process was wrong, but somehow the result was right. So neither of them was worried. Kiyotaka decisively beat his opponent and won the points.
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