Eyes in the Shadows

"I'm reading." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka answered without looking up.

"Is that so?" Kei Karuizawa's smile didn't change, but her eyes sharpened. "I thought someone like you would be interested in something more practical."

"Such as?"

"Such as... how to survive better at this school." Kei lowered her voice. "I've heard some interesting things. About you and Kushida."

As expected. The information had already spread.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka finally looked up at the girl before him. In the original story, Kei Karuizawa was a complicated person—on the surface, the glamorous leader of the popular crowd, but in reality, she had a painful past and deep-seated vulnerabilities.

"Rumors are always distorted," he said.

"Maybe." Kei shrugged. "But I'm more curious about something else—do you really have that kind of ability? I don't mean confessing your feelings, but... something else."

Her gaze swept over him, as if sizing him up.

"If you're asking whether I can protect myself," Ayanokoji closed his book and said calmly, "the answer is yes."

Kei's eyes widened slightly, then she smiled. This time, there was less pretense and more sincerity in her expression. "Interesting. You know, in this class, I've always thought only a few people were worth paying attention to. I might have to add you to the list."

She stood up. "Oh, and here's some friendly advice—watch out for Sudo. Kushida seems pretty interested in him, and Sudo's attitude toward you... isn't exactly friendly. You know how guys get jealous."

With that, she turned and left, leaving behind a faint scent of perfume.

Ayanokoji looked back out the window.

Ken Sudō... that troublemaker. If Kushida Kikyo really was egging him on to cause trouble, things could get complicated. Not because he couldn't beat Sudo—quite the opposite. With his current fighting ability, Sudo wasn't a threat at all.

The problem was that if things got out of hand, it would draw unnecessary attention, especially from the school and Student Council President Horikita Manabu.

"I need to avoid a direct confrontation, but I can't show weakness either." He worked out a strategy. "The best way is... to make the conflict pointless before it even happens."

An opportunity came during gym class that afternoon.

The lesson was devoted to basic basketball drills and group matches. The PE teacher divided the students into four groups for half-court three-on-three practice games.

By chance—or perhaps not—Ayanokoji and Ken Sudō were placed on opposing teams.

"Hey, Ayanokoji." During warm-ups, Sudo walked over, making no effort to hide his hostility. "I hear you've been getting pretty full of yourself lately."

His voice was loud enough that several nearby students turned to look.

"Is there something you need?" Ayanokoji asked calmly.

"Don't play dumb!" Sudo glared at him. "Stay away from Kushida, got it? Or you'll be sorry!"

A typical threat from a hormone-fueled teenager. Yang Ye almost sighed.

"My business with Kushida has nothing to do with you." He turned to leave.

"You little—" Sudo reached out to grab his shoulder.

Then something happened that stunned everyone.

Ayanokoji didn't even turn all the way around. He simply shifted to the side, raised a hand, and deflected Sudo's arm in one fluid motion, as if he'd practiced it thousands of times. Sudo's hand was brushed aside, and his own momentum made him stumble forward.

"What...?" Sudo froze.

The students around them froze, too. The usually taciturn Ayanokoji had just deflected Sudo's move with such ease? Sudo was a key player on the Basketball Club, and one of the most athletic students in Class D.

"Class is starting, Sudo." Ayanokoji walked over to his group.

He moved as naturally as if nothing had happened. But the students who had witnessed it stared at him in disbelief.

The group match began.

When Ayanokoji got the ball, everyone assumed he would pass it to a teammate right away, as usual. His performance in past gym classes had been ordinary, even mediocre.

But this time, he moved.

A simple, clean change of direction took him past his defender. When Sudo came over to help, Ayanokoji went behind his back with the ball and spun past him with ease. Facing the last defender beneath the basket, he jumped, extended smoothly, and flicked his wrist—

The ball traced a perfect arc and swished through the net.

Silence.

Then his teammates erupted in cheers.

"Ayanokoji, when did you get so good at basketball?!"

"That spin was so cool!"

Sudo's face turned ashen. As a member of the Basketball Club, he could tell just how much skill that sequence had required. That was beyond a beginner's ability—not even an ordinary basketball fan could pull it off.

"A fluke... It had to be a fluke!" he gritted his teeth.

But over the next few minutes, the flukes kept happening.

No matter how Sudo defended, Ayanokoji always found a way past him. No matter the angle of his shot, the ball seemed to find its way into the basket. What frustrated Sudo even more was that Ayanokoji's expression remained calm, as if he were doing something perfectly ordinary.

This wasn't a game. It was a demonstration.

When the whistle blew to end gym class, Sudo's face had gone from ashen to red, then from red to pale. His pride—as an athlete—had been completely shattered.

"You... You've been hiding your ability this whole time?" He glared at Ayanokoji, his voice full of resentment.

"I was just in good form today." Ayanokoji picked up a towel and wiped off his sweat, his tone flat.

That answer upset Sudo more than a straightforward admission would have. Good form? Could that level of skill really be explained by being in good form?

The students around them whispered among themselves, looking at Ayanokoji in an entirely new light. He'd gone from "that weird guy who confessed" to "the guy who's been hiding his skills."

Watching everything from the sidelines, Kushida Kikyo tightened her grip on her water bottle.

Her original plan—to egg Sudo on to teach Ayanokoji a lesson, so she could better control them both no matter how things turned out—had failed completely. Worse, it had subtly changed Ayanokoji's standing in the class.

"I miscalculated..." she murmured. Her smile remained radiant, but her eyes were cold.

What unsettled her even more was that the PE teacher had also been watching Ayanokoji and was jotting something down in a notebook.

After school, in the teachers' office.

Sae Chabashira read the classroom observation report submitted by the PE teacher, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka... His basketball skills have improved dramatically; assessed as being at varsity level?" She read the comment on the report. "Interesting. His physical fitness test at the start of the year clearly placed him at an average level."

"I was surprised, too." The PE teacher adjusted his glasses. "His movements were very polished, and he even had some habits of professional players. That isn't something someone could develop in a short time."

Sae looked out the window, a faint smile appearing at the corner of her mouth.

Every student at this school had their own secrets. But Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's secret seemed even more interesting than she'd imagined.

"Keep an eye on him," she said. "If he can keep performing this well, perhaps Class D really does have a chance..."

She left the sentence unfinished, but the PE teacher understood what she meant.

The game at this school had only just begun.

Meanwhile, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, at the center of the storm, was walking back to his dorm, a new system notification echoing in his mind:

[ DING! Random quest "Prove Your Worth" prerequisite met: Attracted a teacher's attention. Quest officially activated.]

[Please prove your worth in tomorrow's math quiz.]

Night deepened, and the lights of Advanced Nurturing High School came on one by one.

At this school, where ability was the only rule, someone who was supposed to stay hidden was quietly changing the rules of the game.

And in the shadows, more eyes had opened, watching the storm that was about to come.