Chapter 193: I Have to Race Against Koenji Rokusuke?

The October wind carried a crisp, clear chill as it swept across the bowl-shaped sports field. The enormous electronic screen hung high above, switching between live competition footage and result announcements.

"Damn you, Katsuragi Kohei, you sniveling coward! To actually pull something like that on Ryuen-aniki! Trash Class A!" Komiya Kyogo took the lead in stirring up trouble.

Matoba Shinji refused to back down, sneering in retort. "Hmph! When dealing with you Class C lot, there's no need to talk about fairness! A class led by the Crap-Eating King who can only resort to petty tricks... forget it. I can't be bothered to reason with you!"

"What did you say?! You've got guts—come over here and I'll take you down in one punch!"

"Then why don't you come over here?! Everyone, let's take him out together!"

"You come here!"

"You come here."

For a time, the first-year Class A, led by Matoba, and the first-year Class C, led by Komiya, hurled insults at each other across the track of the sports field. Thrust and parry, back and forth—what a lively scene.

Then, after a round of fierce exchange...

Both sides simultaneously turned their heads to look at their own teammates.

"Class D students! What are you standing there dumbstruck for?! Get over here and join in!"

"Oi, Class B guys! We didn't team up with you just so you could watch the show! Get over here and help me take him down!"

The Class B and Class D students who had been watching from the sidelines froze, exchanging glances, then immediately snapped back to their senses.

"Oh, oh. Coming, coming..."

"Um... cursing people isn't good. It's the Sports Festival right now. How about everyone shakes hands and makes peace, and settles things on the competition field?"

"..."

Matoba was the first to reveal a satisfied smile, casting a faintly mocking glance at Komiya. "Seems the outcome is already decided..."

"Damn it all!"

Faced with an opposing force twice their own numbers, Komiya pounded his thigh in frustration, then turned around and began pressuring his own teammates.

"What's wrong with you Class B people?! Where did these goody-two-shoes students come from?! This is the merit-based Advanced Nurturing High! A class like yours actually ranks above our Class C—it's absolutely outrageous!"

"Uh... well, if there are any problems, we can just sit down and talk it out. Rashly starting a war with Class A like this would make things very difficult for Ichinose-san, our class president."

"Talk, talk, talk—talk my ass! You're pissing me off just listening to you! And is that Ichinose woman your Class B's mom or something?! You listen to her for everything!"

"..."

The entire Class B student body opened their mouths as if to say something, but in the end, by unspoken agreement, closed them and sank into a long, profound silence.

At the very same time, on the red rubber track not far away.

Standing in the preliminary group, Fuyuji Mikage tugged at the corner of his mouth with extreme difficulty, then silently turned his head and fixed a somber, piercing stare on Katsuragi Kohei. A wave of pressure from the first-year mastermind came crashing down.

[This is the opponent you arranged for me?!]

[This... my apologies. I originally thought he would simply slack off like last time. But rest assured—for the events after this, he won't be competing.]

Katsuragi pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a long sigh.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the beast-man, the ogre, the half-giant—in any case, something not human—Koenji Rokusuke was holding his hand mirror, gazing entranced at his own reflection, utterly intoxicated by his own beauty and unable to extricate himself.

"Ah~ exquisite~ Too beautiful! And me, galloping freely across the track in just a moment—even more incomparably beautiful!"

Fuyuji Mikage: "..."

I knew it. This is definitely some kind of species yet undiscovered by humanity—one that looks human but is actually a new type of silverback gorilla, secretly infiltrating our human society.

Senpai, forgive me for ever lumping you together with him. Compared to him, you're adorable beyond measure!

"Student, please quickly stow your personal belongings." The referee beside them timely stepped in to interrupt his self-absorption.

"No problem! Having a treasure that reflects my countenance fall onto the track—such an unbeautiful act, I would never allow. However..."

His voice, originally carrying that strange, affected inflection, suddenly rose in pitch. Koenji casually snapped his fingers with a sharp crack and turned his head toward the referee.

"Indeed, there are regulations in official competitions prohibiting the carrying of mirrors. Isn't that right, referee?"

"Th-that," the sudden question caught the referee off guard for a moment, "is indeed the case."

"In that case, allow even this beautiful me to abide by the rules..."

With that, he stepped out of the line and handed his mirror to Hirata Yosuke, who was watching from the sidelines.

"Hirata-boy, count yourself honored. This personal item, bearing the image of my dewy, radiant face, shall be entrusted to your care for the time being."

"Oh, alright." Hirata paused briefly, then swiftly donned his signature gentle smile. "I'll return it to you intact in just a moment."

Perhaps because he had inadvertently screwed Class D over during the last cruise ship exam, Koenji, that man of freedom, against all precedent, deigned to contribute his efforts on the competition field.

"Then..."

Returning to the preliminary group, Koenji spread his arms wide with grandiose abandon, closed his eyes, and let the sunlight pour down upon him.

"In a moment, all you ladies—please, without reservation, feast your eyes upon my gallant figure on the competition field!"

The moment the words left his mouth—

"Fuyuji-kun, do your best~"

"Hmph hmph, boyfriend-kun, if you lose, tonight's movie will be Kamen Rider."

"Fuyuji, so cool~"

"..."

A sea breeze swept past, stirring up the fallen leaves on the ground. Layer upon layer of white clouds drifted leisurely across the sky, briefly veiling the sun directly overhead. Koenji, who just one second ago had been bathed in sunlight, now found his background colors turning dim and gloomy.

Opening his eyes, he looked at the sparse, pitifully few people beside his own class—all of them boys—then at the flock of lively, twittering beauties on the opposite side. Even with a heart as formidable as Koenji's, his movements couldn't help but falter for a moment.

He unhurriedly swept a hand through that golden—or perhaps yellow—hair and muttered to himself. "It seems the ladies of our class have yet to realize my beauty, to not have shown up to cheer for me."

"No matter. I shall simply get a little more serious. In just a few seconds, they will be cheering for my gallant figure on the field."

Fuyuji Mikage: "..."

Are you serious? I have to race against Koenji Rokusuke?

In the span of just a few breaths, Fuyuji swiftly came to terms with reality.

You're dead for sure, bro!

Katsuragi Kohei, I trusted you so completely—I finally spend a whole month training my body, and you arrange for the guy who could kill a wild boar with one punch to elbow me in the face?!

Spit it out! Was this deliberate?! Trying to take me down and seize total control of Class A?!

Before Fuyuji could sort out his deeply troubled feelings, the starter's voice followed right on its heels.

"Next group! On the track!"

In no time, the eight students from the four first-year classes took their respective lanes and assumed their starting postures.

Forget it. Though it stings a little, still...

Fuyuji let out a long breath, then drew a deep inhale. His gaze slowly sank, staring straight ahead.

This is fine too. At the very least, it'll let me know where my physical ability currently stands.

"On your marks... Ready— Bang!"

The moment the gunshot fell, Fuyuji shot forward like an arrow loosed from its bowstring.

In that instant, the surrounding students erupted into thunderous cheers. And then... the flow of time itself seemed to slow.

The shouts and screams beside his ears, as if separated by a thick layer of soundproof glass, rapidly attenuated and blurred, finally dissolving into a droning hum of white noise, then sinking into total, utter silence.

Within his field of vision, the vivid red rubber track stretched endlessly forward. The jostling figures and riotous colors on both sides bled into swaying, shifting blobs of color.

In the distance—

The Class A students, led by Morishita Ai, Shiraishi Asuka, Yamamura Miki, and Kamuro Masumi, had already arrived at the finish line ahead of time and were cheering with all their might in his direction;

Kiryuin Fuka, dressed in white athletic wear, stood beneath the shade of a roadside tree, arms folded as she leaned against the trunk. A satisfied smile lingered at the corner of her lips, her gaze locked onto him;

At the Red Team tent, Kushida Kikyo had, at some unknown point, slipped away from her group of friends. She watched while pursing her small lips;

Horikita Suzune stood beside the track. Sensing Fuyuji's gaze, she subconsciously turned her head away and raised a hand to brush back her hair;

On the opposing White Team side, Ichinose Honami was beaming her signature energetic, radiant smile, jumping and bouncing as she waved frantically in this direction, utterly unstoppable by the girls beside her;

Shiina Hiyori sat with her legs pressed together on the track to the side, a book resting on her lap, a warm, serene smile on her face. As Fuyuji ran past her, he flipped open another page of her book;

Sakayanagi Arisu was seated far off in the spectator stands, her cane set aside. Both hands rested elegantly on her lap, a trace of astonishment surfacing on her face.

There were so many more details like these, so very many...

Regrettably, before Fuyuji could engrave each and every one of them deep into his heart, the race was already over...

Fuyuji stood dazedly at the finish line. Before he could even fully collect himself, the Class A crowd had surged over him like a tide.

"OOOOH! Fuyuji-san! My idol!"

"Too incredible! Is this really Fuyuji-san?! In just one month, you've surpassed every previous record in our class! Don't tell me you actually have the bloodline of the legendary Frieza race, with a despair-inducing three-stage transformation on top of that?!"

"Sasuga Fuyuji-san!" xN

"So..." Fuyuji scratched his head. "Did I lose?"

"Idiot!"

A furious curse suddenly burst from within the crowd. Kamuro strode forward and slapped him across the back—and then, slowly... wrapped her arms around him.

"How can second place be called losing..." Her delicate chin rested on his shoulder, her voice soft and gentle.

"Hmph hahaha! Well said!"

Koenji walked over from the side and reassessed Fuyuji with a fresh look. Lifting his chin and closing his eyes, he basked in his own self-adoration. "A truly splendid race. It perfectly highlighted the beauty of my physique. Your beauty—I acknowledge it!"

"...No thanks. Keep that kind of praise for yourself." The overwhelming narcissism crashing over him made Fuyuji subconsciously retreat two steps.

"Then, strange-boy, what is your name?"

"..."

At this moment, Fuyuji desperately wanted to tell him that his true name was the Invincible Battle Greymon. But the moment he remembered that names would soon be displayed on the electronic bulletin board, he abandoned his deathbed struggle.

"Fuyuji Mikage."

"Very well, strange-boy. Count yourself honored, for I have remembered you. Perhaps, someday in the future, we shall have further beautiful contests."

Having spoken, Koenji waved a hand and strode off on his own through the crowd, returning to the Class D camp.

"..."

In this moment, Fuyuji once again deeply understood precisely why this man had been assigned to Class D.

The starting gun for the next group had already sounded. To avoid causing any disruption to the students behind them, the Class A group quickly walked back to their own camp.

"So, how far behind was I from that gorilla?" Fuyuji turned his head and asked Kamuro curiously.

"Ha?" Kamuro narrowed her eyes and spoke in exasperation. "He was in the lane right next to you. You didn't even see that?"

"..."

Could I possibly tell you that I was too busy looking at all the pretty girls?

"About that—roughly three or four body lengths, I'd say." Yamamura tugged at the corner of Fuyuji's clothes, wagged a finger, and spoke in a gentle tone.

"At the very start, you were neck and neck with him on the track for a little while. But later, he slowly pulled ahead." Shiraishi held his hand and added with a beaming smile. "Still... you were very cool, Fuyuji~"

"Is that so..."

That Koenji probably wasn't even using his full strength from the very beginning. Judging by how he looked just now, he wasn't even breathing heavily.

"Hmph hmph." Morishita darted out from behind and ran to the front, lifting her chin slightly. "Boyfriend-kun, after losing, you must really want to cry, right? It's fine. I permit it. In a moment, you may weep to your heart's content in Morishita-sama's embrace!"

Fuyuji looked at his girlfriend's modestly swelling chest, then at his Shiraishi-mama's perfectly curved bosom. His gaze silently drifted elsewhere.

"I'll pass..."

"You actually refuse?!" Morishita-sama flew into a towering rage. "Boyfriend-kun, where are you looking?!"

"Nowhere."

"Look at me!"

...

With a resounding thud, Ryuen Kakeru kicked Yamawaki sprawling onto the grass, grinding his teeth as he demanded.

"This is the intelligence work you did? Tell me—where the hell did that Koenji Rokusuke come from?!"

These two who had suddenly burst onto the scene had directly snatched away the rankings Class C had originally planned to secure. The seeded contestants for this group had been arranged for nothing.

That black-haired guy with the generic-looking back—fine, whatever. The defeated weren't worthy of being remembered by Ryuen Kakeru. But that blond gorilla—that speed... Ryuen's instincts were frantically warning him that this guy was going to be incredibly troublesome to deal with.

If they let him keep competing like this, it was hard to say whether Class C could still follow the original plan and elbow Class D down in this exam.

"Ryuen-aniki, I don't know about this either." Yamawaki clutched his own lower back with one hand, his face full of deep bewilderment. "That Koenji is an oddball. Last time on the uninhabited island, he withdrew from the exam on his own. The VIP exam too. This time, he should have—"

"'Should have' my ass!" Another big foot came crashing over.

Retracting his right foot, Ryuen once again fixed his gaze upon the opposing Red Team camp.

With that blond gorilla's physical ability, the next several events were probably more or less in the bag as well.

If the Red Team still won like this, then wouldn't all his suffering from the past few days have been for nothing?

But right now, with the track separating them, going over to sabotage things was basically impossible. If he wanted to pull any dirty tricks, it would have to be on the competition field itself.

His thoughts reaching this point, Ryuen's expression flickered through shades of uncertainty. After delivering yet another kick to Yamawaki, he shoved both hands into his pockets, turned, and strode toward the White Team camp, leaving behind a single sentence through gritted teeth.

"It's all that damned mastermind's fault!"

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