Hikaru Naruse’s alarm clock went off right on time at 6 a.m.
Outside the window, the sky had just begun to pale into a fish-belly white.
Even though it was summer, the morning breeze still carried a faint, chilly edge.
After getting up, Naruse quickly changed into a set of workout clothes.
This was one of the uniforms that paired with the school outfit—everyone had been issued two sets at the start of term.
He splashed some water on his face, drank a glass of water, then pushed open the door and stepped out of the dormitory.
The athletic facilities at the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School were extremely well-equipped.
Aside from the various grounds reserved exclusively for the sports clubs, there was also a massive track-and-field stadium on the eastern side of the campus, surrounded by spectator stands, floodlight towers, and all sorts of timing equipment.
This field was mainly used to host all kinds of large-scale competitions and events, and it was normally open to all students.
When he arrived at the field, Hikaru Naruse found that quite a few people were already there.
A dozen or so figures were scattered sparsely along the track—some were jogging, some were stretching, and others were doing short-distance sprint training.
A few people were also sitting up in the stands, water bottles in hand, looking as though they had just finished exercising and were now resting.
Hikaru Naruse quickly swept his gaze over these people’s condition.
There were very few new students.
Most of them were second- and third-year upperclassmen.
After all, it was only the second day of the term, and new students who could actually remember to do morning training were practically nonexistent.
“Let’s begin.”
After drawing in a deep breath, Naruse officially started his workout.
His athletic ability was fairly average—not good, but not bad either.
After running for about ten minutes, Naruse’s breathing began to grow ragged, and a faint, aching soreness started to creep into both his legs.
This was the honest reflection of his physical fitness.
He could only be counted as an ordinary high schooler; there was no comparing himself to those monsters with overwhelming stamina.
He gritted his teeth and prepared to keep pushing on.
Just as he reached his second lap, two figures suddenly burst into Naruse’s field of vision.
Off to the front-side of the track, two people were running at a rather brisk pace.
The man in the lead was on the second lane, and the one following behind him was on the third; the distance between them was extremely close, barely under half a meter.
The one in the lead was tall and upright, his running form very textbook.
He wore a pair of black-framed glasses, and his whole presence was sharp and commanding.
As for the one chasing after him, he had a head of blond hair.
His running posture was more agile and aggressive, every stride carrying an obvious intent to catch up.
Hikaru Naruse glanced at these two, and his heart stirred slightly.
So it was these two.
The black-haired man running in front was Manabu Horikita—the student council president of the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, and the absolute king of the third year.
And the blond-haired man running behind him was Miyabi Nagumo, who was currently the student council vice-president, as well as the leading figure who had consolidated the entire second year.
In the original work, this guy was the most powerful figure in the second year—ruthless in his methods, and constantly searching for opportunities to challenge Manabu Horikita’s authority.
Of course, if it came down to a pure comparison of individual ability, Miyabi Nagumo was still a long way from Manabu Horikita.
As he ran, Hikaru Naruse observed the two ahead of him out of the corner of his eye.
He could see clearly that Miyabi Nagumo was pouring every ounce of his effort into chasing Manabu Horikita’s pace.
Even in something as ordinary as running, he wanted to overtake Horikita.
“If I remember correctly, in the end he pulled a dirty trick on Horikita, didn’t he?”
Naruse recalled the parts of the plot he could still remember, continuing to jog along at his own unhurried pace.
He had grown accustomed to the rhythm of his breathing and was beginning to settle into the feel of the run.
After a while, Manabu Horikita seemed to have finished today’s morning training, and Miyabi Nagumo had failed to catch up to him even on that final lap.
Once this great third-year senior had left, Nagumo braced both hands against his knees, gasping for breath in great heaving gulps.
The next moment, he suddenly lifted his head, his gaze locking onto Hikaru Naruse, who was jogging nearby.
“Heh heh.”
A somewhat peculiar smile surfaced on Miyabi Nagumo’s face.
“Hey!
You over there, the first-year boy!”
“?”
Hikaru Naruse eased off his speed slightly, then came to a stop, turned around, and took a look—only to find Miyabi Nagumo walking toward him.
Up close, this man stood about one meter seventy-five, roughly the same height as Hikaru Naruse, though his aura was far more confident and flamboyant.
“You’re the first-year, Naruse, aren’t you?”
“…Yes.”
Naruse didn’t recall ever having had any contact with Miyabi Nagumo—so why did the man know his name?
“And you are, senior?”
Of course he knew perfectly well who the man was, but for now he couldn’t let it show.
Miyabi Nagumo smiled faintly, a glint of appreciation flashing through his eyes.
“I’m Miyabi Nagumo—second year, vice-president of the student council.”
The way this guy introduced himself was concise and self-assured, without any superfluous embellishment, as if that title alone was enough to make the new students look up to him in reverence.
“Your classmate Katsuragi came to see me yesterday.”
“Hm?”
Hikaru Naruse couldn’t help but feel a little surprised.
Could this be a butterfly effect too?
It made him think of another matter.
Around noon the day before, Arisu Sakayanagi had chosen to go to the cafeteria to seek out an upperclassman to gather the hidden rules, while Kohei Katsuragi had said he’d already arranged to meet with a senior.
At the time, Hikaru Naruse had assumed the person Katsuragi arranged to meet was just some ordinary upperclassman—he never imagined it would actually be Miyabi Nagumo.
But then…
how had he managed to make contact with this guy?
“Heh heh, this Katsuragi is quite an interesting person too.
He reached out to me directly through the student council’s recruitment post, saying he wanted to know the school’s hidden rules.”
The upward curve at the corner of Miyabi Nagumo’s mouth grew even more pronounced, his eyes glimmering with a look of thoughtful contemplation.
“So, I told my junior Katsuragi everything I knew.”
“…Thank you very much for your generosity, senior.”
If Miyabi Nagumo wasn’t lying, then in today’s homeroom class, Katsuragi would probably drop some “big news.”
“But…
compared to Katsuragi, who came to me asking about the school’s hidden rules on the very first day of term, it’s clearly you, Naruse, who has me far more curious.”
“Why is that?”
The corners of Miyabi Nagumo’s mouth curled slightly upward, revealing a smile heavy with meaning.
“Because your classmate Katsuragi is a very honest person.”
“I just casually asked him one thing—was it entirely on your own that you noticed the matter of the hidden rules?”
“And then he admitted it.”
“…”
Naruse understood why the man had suddenly come looking for him—Katsuragi had probably let slip the whole affair of the intelligence-gathering contest and the competition for leadership.
“Katsuragi said that this information contest—the one using the collection of hidden rules to decide the class’s leader—was your idea, Naruse.
You really are quite something.”
“…Senior Nagumo flatters me.”
Hikaru Naruse felt rather uninterested.
Honestly, because he knew the original story, his interest in Manabu Horikita was far greater than in this blond fellow.
Nagumo was always talking about fair competition, but at his core he was someone who couldn’t take a loss.
He always liked to secretly pull his little tricks, and a person like that didn’t have much personal charm to speak of.
“Naruse-kun.”
Miyabi Nagumo suddenly switched to a different form of address, as if trying to close the distance between himself and Hikaru Naruse.
“As a new student who’s only been enrolled for a single day, you were able to keenly discover the school’s hidden rules, and then use that very thing to make your classmates compete for the title of leader.
Such a skill at toying with people’s hearts—I find it quite admirable!”
“You praise me too highly, senior.
I merely paid attention to a few more details than others did.”
“Hahaha, there’s no need to be modest.”
Miyabi Nagumo brushed back the blond hair hanging over his forehead, his tone suddenly sinking.
“Naruse-kun, do you want to join the student council?”
“?”
____
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