A Worthy Opponent

An unexpected yet not entirely surprising visitor had shown up at the Chairman's Office today.

"Thank you, Father. You're the best."

Sakayanagi Arisu took the file and gave Sakayanagi Narimori a sweet, adorable smile.

Her father was the chairman of Advanced Nurturing High School, one of the two people who ran the school alongside the principal.

All Arisu had to do to get Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's file was bat her eyelashes at Narimori.

Narimori gazed at his daughter, pride filling his eyes. "I didn't expect you to notice him so quickly. You really are my daughter."

His beloved daughter had been exceptionally bright from a young age, but she had been born with a physical disability. According to the school's rules, she should have been placed in Class D, the class representing "defects."

He had gone to great lengths to persuade the other school executives to let his daughter enter Class A.

Advanced Nurturing placed certain outstanding students in Class D in the hope that they would recognize their own shortcomings after learning the class assignment rules, then make up for them.

Unlike the other Class D students, Arisu's shortcoming was something she had been born with. There was no way to overcome it through effort.

Putting her in Class D would only damage her confidence. It would bring no positive results.

No matter how strange Advanced Nurturing High School might be, it was still a school. It shouldn't reject a student just because she had been born with a disability.

Besides, Arisu's excellence in other areas more than made up for her physical disability.

Narimori could say with complete confidence that he hadn't pulled any strings.

He had simply followed the proper process to get his daughter into Class A.

As for whether an ordinary student could get the chairman to help ensure she was treated fairly, well, in this fair world, some people were simply treated more fairly than others.

Arisu flipped through Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's file, the corner of her mouth curling into a meaningful smile. "No. I wasn't the first to notice him."

She thought again of what Makoto Nishikado had said.

A childhood friend she hadn't seen in eight years and 243 days.

The number of days was wrong, and she had only met Ayanokoji once. He probably didn't even know who she was, so how could they be childhood friends?

But if Nishikado knew even something like that, what was his story?

It certainly made her curious.

"Oh? Who noticed him first? Do you want me to get that person's file, too?"

Narimori was curious.

There weren't many boys his daughter took such an interest in.

Arisu closed the file and shook her head. "No, Father. I want to find out everything about him for myself."

Excitement glimmered in her eyes. At this school, she had already found two geniuses she wanted to crush.

Compared to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's cold indifference, Makoto Nishikado interested her more.

Getting to the bottom of who he was would surely be a fascinating experience.

"That student named Makoto Nishikado is most talented at Go. He's already at a professional level," Narimori reminded her.

He knew that was the information Arisu wanted most.

"Father, you haven't been following me around and keeping tabs on what I do, have you?"

Arisu couldn't figure out how her father knew about Nishikado.

The only explanation was that Narimori had been secretly watching her every move.

That wouldn't do. Even her father had no right to monitor her.

Seeing a hint of displeasure in his daughter's eyes, Narimori quickly explained, "You've got the wrong idea. I simply thought that anyone who caught my daughter's attention must be an outstanding genius."

"Outstanding?"

Arisu let the distraction get the better of her, and her interest was piqued.

"Going by the school's current evaluations, if we look only at individual performance, Nishikado is the best so far. That's how I guessed."

Narimori glanced toward his desk.

Based on the information gathered over the past few days, Nishikado's overall performance was undoubtedly the strongest across the board.

Even his clever daughter fell a little short of him.

"Oh? Now I'm even more interested."

Arisu smiled brightly, like a gamer who had finally been able to get their hands on GTA 6.

"Father, in that case, I'll be going now."

Arisu tucked the file away and turned to leave the office.

She decided to create a Go account as soon as she got back and improve her skills as quickly as possible.

Then she would challenge Nishikado and defeat him at the very thing he prided himself on most.

She longed for a worthy opponent and hoped Nishikado wouldn't disappoint her.

"That girl. She's always in such a hurry."

Narimori smiled helplessly, but fondly.

In truth, as long as his beloved daughter was happy, that was enough for him.

As for Nishikado, he was already an exceptional student, and his talent for Go was extraordinary.

Even though Narimori had faith in his daughter, he still thought her chances of winning were slim.

"Arisu, win or lose, you're sure to gain something from this match."

Narimori looked over the file in front of him, which documented everything Nishikado had done since arriving at the school.

Nishikado had already become one of the students under close observation at Advanced Nurturing.

Even something as minor as Yuki Himeno becoming his follower had caught the school's attention.

"Which of you is more outstanding, you or that boy Ayanokoji?"

As soon as the question came to him, Narimori shook his head.

He knew that an ordinary student couldn't measure up to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

It wasn't that Nishikado wasn't good enough. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was simply too exceptional.

"Even if you end up being a whetstone for someone else, don't lose the will to improve."

Narimori sighed.

He wasn't sure whether he was saying that to Arisu or to Nishikado.

That night, before going to bed, Nishikado went out for a thirty-minute run.

It was already the fifth day since school began, and he had accumulated just over three million emotion points altogether.

Tonight, he spent 2.7 million to purchase Hayato Shibata's athletic ability.

Out of everyone in Class B, Shibata had the best athletic ability.

After copying Shibata's athletic ability, Nishikado's own physical attributes and talent stacked with it, giving him abilities worth more than three million points.

Now Nishikado was the most athletic student in Class B.

"The effect is immediate. That's ridiculous."

Nishikado stopped and took a couple of deep breaths.

Normally, after running for this long, his legs felt like they weren't even his.

But now he was only just getting warmed up.

If Shibata was that strong, what kind of level were Koenji Rokusuke and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka on?

There were too many physically powerful people at Advanced Nurturing. How could anyone say this wasn't a school that valued strength above all?

Nishikado went over to the vending machine to buy a drink.

After taking a couple of sips, he noticed Horikita Suzune hurrying out of the first floor.

Perhaps the darkness had concealed him. She didn't even notice him.

"Out at this hour?"

Curious, Nishikado thought of the events in the original story.

To keep Horikita Suzune from getting beaten up, he decided to follow her.

"Does this part happen around this time? Did I change things?"

Nishikado hadn't expected Horikita Suzune to care so much about this.

At the club orientation, he had told her that Horikita Manabu was having trouble with the Student Council.

He'd assumed that after thinking it over carefully, she would dismiss what he'd said outright.

"No way. She hasn't noticed me?"

Nishikado followed right behind Horikita Suzune without even trying to hide.

But her mind was elsewhere. Even with someone tailing her, she still didn't notice.

Nishikado found it amusing. He didn't call out to her. Instead, he deliberately softened his footsteps and followed her all the way to her destination.

Just as he'd expected, the person Horikita Suzune had gone out of her way to meet that night was her older brother, Horikita Manabu.

Horikita Manabu glanced at Nishikado, who had followed them and was ready to watch the show.

His movements were obvious, but unfortunately, Horikita Suzune still hadn't noticed him.

Horikita Manabu let out a long sigh. He didn't tell Nishikado to leave; instead, he tacitly allowed him to watch from the sidelines.

"Suzune, I didn't expect you to follow me all the way here."