A little after five the next morning, Kitahara Kaede headed out.
The streets were nearly empty.
She started along her training route, keeping a steady pace.
On her fifteenth lap, she heard the rhythmic slap of footsteps behind her.
"One thousand seven hundred and thirty-two! One thousand seven hundred and thirty-three!"
Kitahara Kaede glanced over.
She'd run into Guy again.
As he rushed past her, Guy shot her a glance with those round eyes.
He didn't stop. He kept charging forward on his hands, never breaking his counting rhythm.
The last time they'd crossed paths, five months ago, Kitahara Kaede had run only a few dozen laps before slipping away.
Guy clearly didn't remember her.
She had no intention of greeting him either, so she kept running.
One ran upright, the other upside down. They each kept to their own pace, paying the other no mind.
After the system's enhancements and five months of nonstop training, Kitahara Kaede's stamina had long since surpassed the limits of a Chunin.
After a hundred laps, her heart rate was steady, and her breathing had barely changed.
At some point, Guy shifted from running on his hands to running normally, and his speed surged.
As he swept past Kitahara Kaede, his green jumpsuit flashed by like a gust of wind.
He lapped her several times in one go.
But she neither sped up nor slowed down. She kept to her own pace, running lap after lap.
At three hundred laps, Guy lapped her again.
This time, though, that bowl-cut head tilted noticeably as he passed.
His gaze lingered in Kitahara Kaede's direction for half a second longer.
Five hundred laps.
Kitahara Kaede stopped at the starting point.
She was breathing a little hard. Sweat dripped from her chin to the ground, and her back