Initial Awareness

The after-school clamor ebbed quickly from Class D's classroom, like a receding tide. Golden rays of sunset slanted through the windows, casting long shadows between the empty desks and chairs. Only a handful of students remained.

Kazama In slipped the copy of Love Song of Green Seasons from his desk into his bag, unhurriedly. He stood up, intending to head to the school convenience store to buy some necessities. He had barely taken a step when a warm voice called out to him.

"Hey, Kazama."

Hirata Yosuke walked over with an exceptionally friendly smile, sunlight falling across his handsome face. "Heading to the convenience store? I need to pick up a few things too. Want to go together?"

Kazama In stopped, his dark eyes resting calmly on Hirata. He wasn't opposed to a friendly overture, even if instinct made him more accustomed to going alone. He gave a slight nod. "Sure."

Hirata's smile brightened. He seemed glad Kazama In hadn't turned him down. "Great. We can chat on the way. Those skills you mentioned before are really impressive, Kazama. Especially your computer skills. If the class ever needs help with something like that..."

"Yosuke!" A woman's voice, tinged with urgency, interrupted him.

Karuizawa Kei stood in the classroom doorway, wearing just the right hint of worry and apology. Her gaze flicked quickly over Kazama In before settling on Hirata. "Sorry to interrupt! Um... could I ask you to come over for a moment? There's a little something going on with club recruitment... We might need your help sorting things out..." Her voice carried a hint of pleading, and her eyes seemed to hold a subtle air of dependence.

Hirata Yosuke paused, then immediately looked understanding and concerned. "Oh, sure! No problem!" He turned to Kazama In apologetically. "Sorry, Kazama. It looks like something's come up. Can we talk another time?"

Kazama In's gaze lingered on Karuizawa Kei's face for a moment. Deep in her seemingly worried eyes, a flash of tension betrayed her desperate effort to hide her need for protection. He nodded without giving anything away. "No problem."

Hirata hurried after Karuizawa Kei and left the classroom. Kazama In watched them disappear through the doorway, his expression unchanged. Then he turned and looked toward the other side of the room.

Koenji Rokusuke was leaning against the window. The golden sunset made his signature pale blond hair gleam even brighter. With both hands in his uniform pockets, he looked relaxed and elegant as he watched Kazama In with keen interest, a playful smile on his lips.

Kazama In walked over and stopped in front of him.

"Tsk." Koenji Rokusuke let out a noncommittal sigh. His pale blond hair swayed slightly as he shook his head. "It seems our virtuous knight Hirata has been summoned by his princess again." He put special emphasis on the word "princess," teasingly.

Kazama In didn't take the bait. He simply raised a hand and gave Koenji Rokusuke's shoulder a casual pat, with the familiar ease of brothers.

"What about you, beautiful boy?" Kazama In's voice was low and calm, but an exceedingly faint glimmer of teasing—rare for him—shone in his dark eyes. "Aren't you going to chase after those... 'fleeting beauties' of yours?" He deliberately imitated Koenji's usual over-the-top manner of speaking.

Koenji Rokusuke clearly hadn't expected Kazama In to tease him. His beautiful, almond-shaped eyes widened, then lit up even more brightly. Far from taking offense, he seemed thrilled to have discovered a new world.

"Oh? My dear Arbiter!" Koenji Rokusuke pressed a hand to his chest dramatically, as if he'd been struck in the heart, though his smile was dazzlingly smug. "You've learned to joke? What a delightful breakthrough! It seems the 'mediocre' air of this school is beginning to corrode your frozen soul?"

He stepped closer and reached out as well, slapping Kazama In's shoulder twice with an affectionate show of force. The blows would have made an ordinary person wince, but Kazama In barely swayed, as immovable as a rock.

"As for me," Koenji Rokusuke said, withdrawing his hand and tossing back his blond hair with a flourish, his smile as confident and irreverent as ever, "beauty is like inspiration: you must keep your distance to appreciate its eternity. But you, Arbiter boy..." He changed tack, his gaze growing more penetrating, with a hint of curiosity only Kazama In could understand. "Go find a 'beauty' of your own. The rules of this school may be more interesting than you think."

With that, he didn't linger. He left Kazama In with a jaunty stride, walking out of the classroom like a runway model. His pale blond hair bounced in the sunset like flowing gold.

Kazama In was alone in the empty classroom. The sunset stretched his tall figure across the floor. He remained where he stood, Koenji Rokusuke's last words seemingly still lingering in the air.

"Looks like your shadow hasn't disappeared completely, my brother." The near-whisper faded into the quiet air as Koenji left.

Kazama In's fingertips unconsciously brushed the cold silver pocket watch inside his uniform. The shadow... A subtle current stirred in the depths of his dark eyes. He fell silent for a moment, then started walking and left the classroom.

The school convenience store was brightly lit, its shelves packed with goods. The air smelled of sweet bread, savory oden, and cleaning products. It was fairly busy after school, but orderly enough.

Kazama In pushed a small shopping basket, scanning the shelves quickly. Towels, toothbrushes, a rinsing cup... He picked out items with remarkable efficiency, his movements precise and brisk, as if carrying out a carefully planned task.

At the end of the shelf stocked with shampoo and body wash, he spotted two familiar figures.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stood in front of a row of bar soaps, holding two different brands as though comparing their prices and ingredients. His expression was as impassive as ever, as if he were studying some complicated scientific problem. Not far from him stood Horikita Suzune. She was also pushing a shopping basket, which already held a few items. Now she frowned slightly as she examined the notebooks and pencil cases on the shelf, seemingly judging their style or quality. An unapproachable chill radiated from her. The two stood a few steps apart without speaking, the air between them subtly tense.

Kazama In pushed his basket over, breaking through the invisible barrier.

"Ayanokoji. Horikita." His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to both of them.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked up at the sound and turned his calm gaze toward Kazama In, giving him a nod. "Kazama." That was his greeting.

Horikita Suzune turned as well. When she saw Kazama In, her cold expression softened by the tiniest fraction—barely perceptibly. She nodded too. "Kazama."

"Shopping for necessities?" Kazama In glanced at the things they were holding, his tone as casual as any ordinary greeting.

"Yeah." Ayanokoji gave a brief reply, returned the bar soap he'd finished comparing to the shelf, then picked up a cheaper one and put it in his basket.

Horikita Suzune seemed to have found something to distract herself with. She looked away from the stationery and turned to Kazama In. Her tone was still flat, but direct. "What do you think of the points system? Class D only gets a hundred thousand points a month. That's a serious limitation." She was clearly still reeling from the rules their homeroom teacher had announced.

Kazama In picked up a tube of toothpaste and examined the ingredients, his movements unhurried. "It's a handicap at the starting line." His reply was concise. His gaze swept over the shelves. "But the rules also make the path upward clear. The key is figuring out how to raise the class's points." He put down the toothpaste, picked up a reasonably priced pack of towels, and placed it in his basket.

"Raise them? Easier said than done." Horikita Suzune's tone carried a hint of frustration and pride. "Those people in Class A started out so far ahead of us." She seemed to disdain being lumped together with Class D, but she had no choice but to face reality.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't join the discussion. He silently picked up a pack of the cheapest shampoo in a pouch and added it to his basket. His eyes drifted to the end of the shelf, where an area was marked with a bright green sign: "Free Items." Neatly arranged inside were a few basic disposable toothbrushes, small travel-size tubes of toothpaste, several plain white washcloths, and a few bottles of unbranded water with unknown ingredients.

Kazama In and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's gazes landed on the "Free Items" area almost at the same time. Their eyes met briefly.

A glimmer of understanding passed through Kazama In's eyes. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's gaze remained calm, but he seemed to understand as well.

"Free items?" Horikita Suzune noticed it too. She frowned slightly, her tone tinged with baffled certainty. "The school is being generous? They're giving out free toiletries?"

Kazama In put a cup of instant noodles in his basket and spoke in a flat voice, as if stating an objective fact. "It's not generosity. It's the bare minimum." His gaze swept over the extremely limited, basic items in the area. "It ensures that even if a class runs out of points and a student exhausts their personal points, they can still meet their most basic hygiene needs and won't be forced to leave school immediately over it. It's necessary to keep the school running and the 'rules' stable."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka listened quietly beside him. He didn't say anything, but his eyes showed agreement. He'd reached the same conclusion.

Horikita Suzune paused. Realization flickered across her face, only to be replaced at once by deeper resentment and humiliation. The free items... They were a last resort for people with nowhere else to turn! How could she, Horikita Suzune, ever sink to using things like that? The thought made her even more irritable.

"Even so..." She had just started to say something.

Suddenly!

A huge commotion, brimming with anger and despair, erupted outside the convenience store! Like a thunderclap, it shattered the calm inside!

"Don't look down on us!"

"You're a first-year, right?" "So what!"

The voices were noisy and confused, charged with tension that had been suppressed to its breaking point.

The convenience store fell silent in an instant. Every customer stared toward the entrance in shock. The clerk stood up nervously.

Kazama In, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, and Horikita Suzune all looked toward the entrance at once. Through the huge glass doors, they could see two or three D-class students gathered outside, worked up and waving their arms as they shouted their protests. One of them even pounded on the glass doors, making them thud.

Horikita Suzune's face turned extremely grim. Her brows knit, her eyes filled with disgust and the mortification of wanting nothing to do with them. She instinctively took half a step back, as if trying to distance herself from those "noisy failures."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka remained expressionless. He quietly pushed the items in his basket farther in and turned slightly toward the shelves, as if trying to make himself less conspicuous.

Kazama In remained where he was, one hand still resting on the edge of his basket. The sunset shone through the glass doors, casting alternating bands of light and shadow across his still profile. His dark eyes were like a deep pool, reflecting the furious, desperate figures of his fellow students, howling like trapped beasts. For the first time, the cold points system laid bare before him, in all its brutal violence, the cruel reality imposed by the bottom-tier label of Class D.

The furious roar of the crowd swept over the convenience store like a cold tide, swallowing the brief moment of peace inside.