Utaha Kasumigaoka glanced at Mai Sakurajima, who was currently recording with her phone. Mimicking the tone Mai had used earlier when talking to Kisara Tendo, she said, "Little Kotomi probably won't run that fast. You're not seriously planning to record the whole thing, are you?"
"My, my, is the great author Utako Kasumi really this possessive? You're allowed to take photos of Kotomi-chan, but no one else can record video of her? You know she's not your personal property, right?" Mai Sakurajima shot back with a smile.
"I just don't want Kotomi to be startled when she runs past and sees a weird upperclassman filming her."
"Before you say that about me, maybe you and Kisara should put down your phone and binoculars first?" Mai replied dryly.
So it's okay when you do it, but not when others do?
"Girls' 800-meter—looks like the referee's raising their hand. It's about to start. You two quiet down a bit," Kisara Tendo reminded them.
Utaha and Mai finally calmed down. The two normally got along well, but whenever it came to Kotomi, they couldn't resist digging pits for each other—even when Kotomi wasn't around. If she were here, who knew what kind of explosive tension would erupt between them?
"Ugh... little Kotomi's about to start. I'm getting nervous too. Kisara, do you think she'll win?" Utaha asked.
"Eh? Even if you ask me that out of nowhere, I really don't know..." Kisara shrugged, indicating she had no clue.
"Long-distance running is all about stamina. And kendo practice also builds stamina. Isn't Kotomi the honorary captain of your kendo club? She must've trained a few times, right? From that, can't you tell if she has good endurance or not?"
Utaha had heard during a previous chat that Kotomi had been made the honorary captain of the kendo club. But she didn't know whether Kotomi had actually practiced there.
Still, she figured Kotomi must have shown up at least a few times—even if she wasn't serious about practicing. Knowing Kotomi's personality, she probably went just to flaunt her honorary title a bit and get familiar with the club members.
No club would seriously resent someone suddenly becoming their honorary captain. After all, it was a symbolic position with no real power or authority. It mostly served as a mascot role.
And if the honorary captain was kind and easy to get along with, she might even become the club's darling.
Hearing Utaha bring it up, Kisara gave a helpless smile.
"Ever since Kotomi became our honorary kendo captain, she hasn't shown up even once. The only time she came was when I brought her and Mai Sakurajima to tour the club. Other than that? She hasn't even walked past the club room!"
"Ehhh... that's one seriously lazy honorary captain," Utaha muttered, then suddenly noticed something odd. She quickly asked, "Wait! Did you say you brought little Kotomi and Mai Sakurajima to the kendo club!?"
"Yep," Kisara nodded.
Mai Sakurajima even flashed a V-sign at Utaha.
"So that means... Mai, you've already met Kotomi?!"
"That's right~ I met Kotomi-chan a while ago. But since I kept hearing you brag about your connection with her, I decided to keep quiet and pretend we hadn't met yet," Mai said with a dazzling smile that somehow carried a slightly dark edge.
"You little—"
"Nope, it's just that every time the great writer Utako Kasumi brags about how close she is with Kotomi-chan, your expressions are so amusing—I couldn't help but keep it to myself for a while. Originally, I planned to have Kotomi-chan tell you in person the next time we met."
Mai Sakurajima clasped her hands together and winked her left eye. It looked playful, but really, it was her showing off.
"Didn't expect it to slip out early. Kisara, you ruined my plan. You owe me lunch tomorrow," she added.
"Yeah, yeah," Kisara Tendo nodded helplessly. How did she end up getting dragged into this battleground between Mai and Utaha?
"Ugh... fine then. Mai, you're buying me lunch tomorrow too," Utaha muttered, clearly not pleased. She sat with her legs crossed, the black sheer tights on her fair, slender legs peeking from under her skirt. Her brown leather shoes contrasted nicely with her upperclassman elegance.
"So I'm buying lunch for both of you now?"
Kisara let out a sigh. This kind of playful bickering was their daily norm, and if nothing unexpected happened, it would probably stay that way until they graduated. But Kotomi's presence was like a pebble dropped into a still lake, sending ripples through it all.
Off in the distance, the referee for the long-distance race was adjusting the starting pistol. The noisy field quieted slightly. Some well-informed students already knew: in this upcoming heat, aside from the runner in lane 8, all the other girls were from the sports department.
And Kotomi, standing in lane 8, was already a bit of a celebrity at Sobu High. Not just for topping the grade twice in a row and placing first in all of Tokyo, but also due to the rumors that she was romantically involved with three beautiful girls at once.
Yes, that's right—the midterm results from every high school in Tokyo had come in, and Kotomi had once again secured the number one spot.
The principal and director of Sobu High had popped champagne in their office.
The head of academics happily visited Class 1-B.
Which explained why Class 1-B currently looked like a funeral procession.
Everyone else? Pretty thrilled.
Kotomi was very popular at school. It wasn't just the boys who sent her love letters—many girls would sneak over to Class 1-F's door, and if they didn't see Kotomi inside, they'd blush shyly, fidget, and after encouragement from their friends, tiptoe in and carefully leave a love letter on Kotomi's desk before hurrying out in embarrassment.
What they might not realize, however, was that Kotomi really wasn't in the classroom when they slipped those letters onto her desk...
But Megumi Kato was.
Faced with all those boys and girls sneaking in to drop off love letters, Megumi would keep a neutral expression, or chat with Yukino and the others—like nothing was happening.
Graceful, because Megumi didn't see herself as petty.
But after those letter-bringers left, Megumi would "accidentally" reach toward Kotomi's desk...
And a while later, the trash bin at the back of the classroom would be mysteriously filled with torn-up scraps of paper.
Despite Kotomi's popularity, not many thought she had a chance of winning this race. After all, she was up against students from the sports department.
800-meter runs were no joke. Even during warm-up jogs in PE, many students would end up walking halfway through.
"To be honest, I don't think Kotomi-chan has a great chance of winning. If she'd been training regularly at the kendo club, even if she couldn't beat the others, at least stamina wouldn't be an issue."
"Still, Kotomi-chan has never shown up to the kendo club, not even once. She's a total ghost member. Whenever she goes to a club activity, it's always the art club," Kisara Tendo commented.
"Ehh... I really thought she would've at least shown up a couple times, being honorary captain and all. Ah, Hibiki, did you bribe Kotomi-chan or something to keep her glued to the art club, even after taking on the kendo club title?" Utaha teased.
Hearing her name out of nowhere, Hibiki Naegi, who had been looking down at her phone, quickly lifted her head and smiled awkwardly.
"I didn't give Kotomi-chan anything. Maybe she just thinks art club activities are more relaxing than kendo practice."
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Utaha nodded. She found the explanation reasonable. Kotomi and she were both the type to avoid strenuous activity. Given a choice, she'd also go for art club over swinging a shinai in the dojo.
There were no rules that honorary captains had to attend club activities a certain number of times per term. Some honorary captains didn't show up once between freshman and senior year. Some didn't even know where their clubroom was.
"Whether she wins or not doesn't matter. It's just a school sports festival. I doubt Kotomi-chan even signed up willingly. It's probably her homeroom teacher, Ms. Hiratsuka, who roped her into it."
"Actually, if she runs a bit slower, it'll help me get clearer footage," Mai Sakurajima added casually.
If Kotomi had heard that, she'd probably slam the table and yell, Sakurajima-senpai, you nailed it!
"True, Kotomi-chan really doesn't seem like the type to volunteer for a long-distance event like the 800 meters."
"Say... should I go wait at the finish line and catch her when she finishes?" Kisara suddenly suggested.
"If you want to be the center of attention, you're welcome to try," Mai said with a knowing smile.
"I don't know what would happen, but if you really do that, Kisara, I can promise this much: the two of us are done being friends for life," Utaha said sweetly, her warm smile as radiant as early summer sunlight.
After that, Utaha returned to her usual expression and tone.
"But hey, Kisara, you finally went back to calling her 'Kotomi-chan' instead of 'Izumi-san.' I was wondering why you suddenly sounded so distant earlier."
"That was just to match Mai's act. She was pretending she didn't know Kotomi in front of you, so I played along to not ruin it for her," Kisara explained. Even a superstar like Mai Sakurajima had her childish moments.
"Seriously?" Utaha gave Mai a sideways glance.
"Very seriously," Mai replied without backing down.
However, unlike usual, Hibiki Naegi wasn't joining in the chat. She was strangely quiet. Even when Utaha and the others called her name, she'd just nod or give a dry laugh, then go back to looking at her phone.
She kept glancing up from time to time, as if worried someone might be peeking at her screen.
After confirming that no one was watching, Hibiki lowered her head again.
Her phone was open to a LINE conversation.
She had been chatting on LINE this whole time—with Eiren Kanagawa.
Eiren Kanagawa: [Just got out of the meeting. All minor stuff, but the school execs love dragging each thing out like it matters. I honestly suspect they keep a notebook just for jotting down nonsense to save up for a two-hour staff meeting. Not a single serious topic discussed.]
Hibiki Naegi: [Sounds exhausting.]
Eiren Kanagawa: [Image]
Eiren Kanagawa: [Kyoto University's cafeteria meals are still solid. Had tonkatsu rice and okonomiyaki for lunch today. Loaded with red pickled ginger. Red pickled ginger is the best. Eating okonomiyaki in Kyoto, haha. When you come to Kyoto University, I recommend the second floor of the small dining hall. The food's better there.]
Hibiki Naegi: [Image]
To keep the conversation going, Hibiki had reluctantly snapped a photo of her own lunch—a self-heating grilled fish bento.
And just now, she'd received a new message.
Eiren Kanagawa: [I got my leave approved. Booked a ticket for tomorrow. Destination: Chiba. Don't ask why I'm coming so early. If I say "Because I missed you and want to see you sooner," you won't believe me anyway.]
That last message left Hibiki Naegi frozen in her seat, unable to come up with any reply at all.
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