"Hey! Pick up the pace, Fukumoto!" Sudo yelled at me as I made my way toward the track.
The festival was nearing its beginning, and a majority of the students in Class D had been practicing non-stop after school since the announcement a few days ago.
It had been decided that Sudo and I would partner up for practice with the three-legged race. Most people within our class wouldn't be able to keep up with Sudo's athletic prowess, so I was deemed his partner since I may have been the closest to him in terms of skill. And today would be our first time practicing for the event together.
Sudo seemed rather annoyed at me today for some reason, so this training might not be the most enjoyable experience.
Once I was close enough to Sudo, he tossed me the rope we would use to anchor our legs together.
"You tie it," Sudo grunted.
"Fine," I muttered.
I bent down near Sudo and began to tie the rope around both our legs in a comfortable position.
"What were you doing with Horikita yesterday?" Sudo asked but didn't make any effort to make eye contact with me.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said as I finished tying up the rope.
"Don't play dumb with me, Fukumoto." Sudo sounded pretty angry about this topic. "Everyone knows you were walking around the school grounds with Horikita."
"Oh, that," I replied. "We were doing some reconnaissance on the other classes. Nothing more."
"We go to a small school, you know," Sudo continued. "Any action like that would gather lots of attention."
Sure. Going to a smaller school, especially without any outside contact, meant everyone kept a close eye on each other. Also, being somewhere higher up in the class hierarchy meant more attention directed toward me. But I don't see how a simple walk with someone of the opposite sex would cause such a commotion.
"Well, why do you ask? Does Horikita and I walking around campus affect you in any way?"
Sudo's jaw tightened, and he clenched his fist. But he showed no sign of responding.
Instead, he started walking toward the track and dragging me along with him.
"Let's just get started," he grunted.
Sudo took an athletic stance with me beside him.
"I'm going to leave you in the dust," Sudo said.
Isn't this a partner race, though?
"Fine, fine. I'll try and keep up."
Once I got into my stance, Sudo started sprinting with all his might down the track.
The key to three-legged races isn't absolute speed. It's about coordination, teamwork, and timing.
If you can stay in sync with your partner's movements, the speed portion will follow ensuite. But you'll need a great amount of skill to master the timing and coordination to match their movements. That being said, trying to do it for the first time with someone wouldn't be easy.
Luckily for me, Sudo wasn't all too hard to match.
His form was above average, and he kept a constant rhythm, which made it far easier to keep pace with him.
As we were about to finish our lap around the track. I could hear the cheering and encouragement of fellow classmates as we made our last turn.
"Woah! Look how fast they are!"
"Fukumoto-kun is so fast!"
Sudo didn't seem to take to this too kindly, as he kept picking up his pace.
I didn't particularly like having to show off more skill than necessary, but Class D may need this as motivation.
I picked up my pace to match Sudo once again. His eyes widened in response as he saw how well I was keeping up with him.
We finished the lap together. Sudo's breath was laboring more than mine, but we both put in a good effort.
I stuck my hand out toward him as we finished. "Great effort, can't wait for the real race."
Sudo looked at my hand for a moment before shaking it. "Yeah, looks like you got some skill. But I'll still beat you."
"Well, I'm looking forward to it," I replied.
After breaking the handshake, Sudo went off to go help other students of Class D with their training.
As for myself, I immediately took a seat off to the side. Not wanting to practice anymore. I hadn't done much intense training since arriving at this school so that one lap did take more out of me than expected.
A few of the girls from Class D, alongside Hirata, made their way over to me.
"That was amazing, Fukumoto-kun!"
"You're really athletic!"
Hirata politely pushed his way through the crowd and handed me a cold water bottle.
"Alright, everyone. I know we are all impressed by Fukumoto-kun's performance, but I think he needs some space."
The crowd was displeased with his actions but agreed nonetheless. In one swift move, he dispersed the huge crowd around me.
"You have a talent, you know," I said.
Hirata turned to face me with a gracious smile. "What do you mean?"
"I can't believe you could read someone's mind. I never knew."
"I can't do that," Hirata replied with a slight laugh.
"What am I thinking about right now?"
"I'm serious. I can't do that, Fukumoto-kun."
"Wrong. I was thinking about how you could make a hit new anime based on a super spy who adopts a pink-haired orphan with psychic powers and fake marry an assassin, all for world peace."
Hirata broke out into laughter at my response. "Yeah, that definitely be a hit show!"
After his little laughing fit, Hirata excused himself to help manage the practice.
"Now, what were you two talking about?"
A familiar person suddenly took a seat right beside me.
"You don't care about that."
"You're right. I wouldn't care unless it was vital information that could be useful to the class," Horikita replied.
"So, why'd you come here," I asked.
"I watched your race with Sudo," Horikita continued. "If I'm not mistaken, he is the most athletic individual in our class, but somehow you kept up with him the entire time."
"Well, I expected you to know I'm somewhat athletic. I mean you did stare at me quite a bit during that swim class."
Horikita shot me a deadly glare in response. "I'm not afraid to stab you."
"You're weird," I muttered under my breath. "If you must know, I did do some intensive training and Kendo practice. I haven't done much since entering this school, but it used to be a daily thing."
"I still don't understand how that correlates to your speed and endurance."
"I did try out some other activities," I replied.
There was a long silence before Horikita spoke up again. "Your hiding something, aren't you?"
"Nooo. Me? I would never..."
"So why not go all out?" Horikita asked. "It's blatantly obvious your holding back."
"I don't think it's that obvious. But going 100% wouldn't be a smart idea."
"Why is that?"
"Think of me as a trump card. Once it is played it can flip the whole game around. But if you keep playing it multiple times, people start to find ways to work around it, making it far less effective."
"So you're saying we should save you for a later date?"
"Essentially. I can still perform well, but just not at 100%."
"So tell me," Horikita continued her questioning. "Say, in the grip strength test a couple days ago, were you holding back?"
"Yep," I replied.
"Then what is your true score?" Horikita raised an eyebrow in response.
"You promise not to tell anyone?"
"I promise. I assume it is above Sudo's, but considering your build, not by much. So in the range of 83-85kg," Horikita flipped her beautiful long black hair as she spoke.
"Nope. More like 93kg."
Horikita's eyes grew wide, and her entire body stiffened for a second as she heard my response.
Of course, I did downplay the true score I got. We were friends, but I can never fully trust anyone.
"T-that's impossible," she replied.
"It's possible, and I did it."
"You're inhuman. How could you possibly get a score that high?"
"Call it the Akio impact," I replied jokingly.
Horikita quickly brushed aside my joke. "I see why you chose to hold back now. Anyone who sees that score would be scared or doubt who you truly are."
"Exactly. There may be times when I can mask using my full strength, like in tug-of-war, but most of the time, I won't be able to do so."
Horikita turned her gaze back toward our class practicing. "You are a mystery, Fukumoto-kun."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Room 501, Fukumoto, Akio POV)
Knock, knock.
Hm? What was that noise? Why would someone want to disturb my sleep?
Knock! Knock!
Who could it be?
I rolled out of my bed and checked the time on my phone.
7:31pm.
I also noticed quite a numerous amount of notifications on my phone.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
And they were all from... One person...
Realizing the mistake I made, I quickly jumped out of bed and rushed to the door.
"Sorry for the wait," I said as I opened the door to my guest.
"You were sleeping just now, weren't you?" Horikita shot me her classic glare at my failure.
"Could I convince you I wasn't?"
Horikita didn't care to answer and pushed her way into my room.
"Why did you ask me to meet here?" Horikita asked as she took a seat on my bed.
"Yeah, take a seat," I muttered. "Do you want anything to drink?"
"No. It's already bothersome talking to you once today. So I want to get this over with and leave."
"Well, I can't quite tell you what this meeting is about yet. We're still waiting on one more person."
"Who," her flurry of antagonizing questions continued.
"Ayanokouji."
"Ayanokouji-kun? Why him?"
"He may have some information or connection to what I'm going to discuss with you."
"So, anything to drink? I don't know when he'll be here."
"Coffee," Horikita replied.
After finishing brewing a new batch of coffee for Horikita, I handed it to her as she sat on my bed.
"Your room is fairly plain," Horikita said after taking a sip.
"No real use in decorating if we're only going to be here for three years."
"It looks almost exactly like the rooms on the first day we came here," Horikita's eyes wandered every inch of my room. "Well, except for that."
She pointed toward a bookshelf I had got at the start of the year that lay by my desk. Most of it was filled with books I had read or was planning to read. Even some books Hiyori suggested were there too.
But she directed her finger to my sword on top of it.
It was in its saya at the moment. But you could clearly see the design of the hilt shining in my room.
The kashira was a golden cap, while a neatly wound black cord wrapped around the tsuka and golden clasp in the middle. Finally, to tie it together, a golden tsuba; shaped like a rounded cross pattée, separated the handle from the blade.
"It was a family heirloom I was bestowed," I replied. "Lots of members of my family practiced kendo, and this sword was passed down through the generations."
"I see..."
Before Horikita could continue, a few knocks were heard at my door.
"Looks like everyone is here now."
Ayanokouji had finally arrived and took a seat on my bed next to Horikita.
I grabbed the seat from my desk and aligned it across from the pair.
"Now we can finally discuss why I brought you two here today."
Neither spoke up but kept their gaze glued to me.
"I want to know more about Kushida."
"What? Why, Kushida?" Horikita was the first to speak out. "Did you ask us to come here to help you get closer to a crush of yours? If so, you should've asked those friends of yours."
"No. This isn't about that. And even if it was, I wouldn't have asked you or Kei, Maya, and Chiaki about that. This is serious."
Horikita adjusted her position on my bed. "Fine, continue."
"What do you two know about Kushida? Anything besides the way she usually acts at school."
Horikita and Ayanokouji shot a quick glance at each other before Horikita continued.
"We did attend the same middle school."
"I see..." I muttered.
"But why do you need to know more about Kushida?" Ayanokouji asked.
"It was something I was curious about. Kushida is seen as an angel by all, but for some reason, she and Horikita don't seem to get along."
"True, I don't exactly agree with her or like her personality, but I don't see how that warrants your interest in Kushida."
"It's extremely subtle, but she acts differently around you," I replied. "Anyways, is that all the extra information you have on her?"
Ayanokouji shot me a curious glance after I finished my statement. Could he have known something crucial about Kushida too?
"Well..." Horikita continued as she seemed to be recalling a past memory. "There was this rumor in my last year of middle school that a class was torn apart by one student."
"What do you mean?" Ayanokouji asked as he seemed rather interested in this information.
"It was only a rumor. I never heard if it was Kushida or not, but supposedly, a class was torn apart by one person. The class turned on each other in an instant. It was a terrible mess and the school even notified other students to stay quiet about the topic. But I never learned how the class fell into such turmoil."
"Hm... Well, if what you're saying is true, there's obviously more to this story. Because as far as I can tell, Kushida doesn't exhibit any hostile behavior. At least in public."
"What do you mean?" Horikita asked.
"It's only a theory, but since you may or may not know something that Kushida wants to keep hidden, she attacks you in ways that aren't so public."
"Why would she do that, though? Wouldn't that harm the class?"
"I believe she cares more about keeping that past hidden than helping the class. Think about how the dragon group ended with the zodiac exam."
"What does she have to do with the results of the dragon group?" Horikita asked.
"Kushida betrayed us," Ayanokouji spoke up.
Horikita looked shocked by the news, but it seemed that Ayanokouji knew where I was going with this.
"This is only a theory. But I believe she may have done a backroom deal with Ryuuen, maybe an exchange of Private Points, so that Class D would not achieve any favorable results in the dragon group. Because of you," I pointed toward Horikita.
"What do you mean me?"
"Like I said before, you know about her past-"
"I don't know anything about her past, it was only a rumor to me," Horikita cut me off.
"Regardless if you do or do not actually know about her past, Kushida can't take that chance of you knowing about her past and exposing her. She views that as a serious threat."
"Ultimately," Ayanokouji continued. "Because you were part of her group, she wanted you to fail, even if that meant the class suffered. I could see in the near future that she decides to commit more actions against the class to get back at you."
Horikita was slowly digesting all the information. It was a hard realization to come to that someone was actively trying to destroy your future to protect their past.
"You could say, that this is a role Kushida is playing. Or a mask she has perhaps," Ayanokouji said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I have a feeling that there are two versions of Kushida. The one that we see every day. The bubbly and kind person. But her true persona could be the one that brought down that entire middle school class and is seeking to destroy Horikita."
"But what's in it for Kushida-san to betray the class or target me?" Horikita asked.
"A safety net, perhaps."
"But what you're saying, Ayanokouji, is that Kushida could be playing this kind, angel-type role; as a way to get close to others or gather dirt on them. A way to hide her true intent?"
"Precisely," Ayanokouji replied. "But this is still a theory, we would only know the truth if she told us directly."
There was a long drawn-out silence in the room as we all digested this information. We knew Kushida could be a threat to us and the class, but we had no concrete evidence yet as to what her motives and goals are; we only have hypotheticals at the moment.
"Is Kushida the one who is going to betray us during the festival?" Horikita asked.
"I couldn't tell you."
"Should we confront Kushida about her betraying the class?" Horikita offered an idea.
"No," Ayanokouji immediately shot her down. "We don't want to directly confront her, we never know what she could do to us. She has a lot of influence within our year already, she could be a tough foe to fight."
"I guess you're right," Horikita said. "I believe we should all be on our guards too. Since you two are closer to me than anyone else here-"
"Wait, what did you say?" I interrupted.
"Since you're both close acquaintances of mine, she may think I leaked her past to you two, hence making you two targets of her anger too."
"That is true," I continued. "While we may not know her true end goal... She still brings her value to the class and is extremely vital to it. She possesses skills that none of us do. So if anything, the best outcome would be to convince her to stop targeting Horikita or the class. But at the moment... She's a rouge entity within the class, that should be dealt with fairly soon."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HELLO EVERYONE
GUESS WHO'S BACK!
wow, it's been a long time. How are all of you? it's felt so long since I last posted a chapter
Finally, school isn't so brutal anymore as I have 2 days left and some final exams. then I'll be back to posting more often
I'm really glad to be back and I'm super happy to see all the support this book gets.
YOU ARE ALL THE BEST!