The purpose of the mixed training camp often involves mental training and activities not typically done at school.
Our group was tackling the camp's assigned task—*zazen* meditation.
"Ugh—my legs are totally numb..."
After finishing the session, we headed to the cafeteria for meals. Thanks to the prolonged *zazen*, everyone except me and Kitou seemed to have severely numb legs, their walking noticeably awkward.
"Why are Kitou and Hikigaya fine? Is there some kind of trick to it?"
Kondou looked at me and Kitou, but I'd never done *zazen* before—I had no clue about any tricks.
"Dunno. Maybe we just got lucky and didn't go numb?"
"...Yeah."
"Seriously? C'mon!"
Ignoring Kondou's dry response, my gaze drifted toward the edge of the cafeteria.
A small crowd of students had gathered there.
Curious, I approached and saw—
"Ah, sorry, sorry! You okay?"
"No need to worry."
At the center of the group was Arisu, trying to stand up, and Yamauchi from Class D, offering her a hand.
Just this much was enough to understand what happened. Most likely, Yamauchi had bumped into her.
I considered stepping in, but before I could, Arisu stood up on her own.
"Uh, well, I'll be going then..."
"Right, no worries."
Yamauchi awkwardly withdrew his hand, and Arisu seemed to avert her eyes from him. The nearby students, having lost interest, dispersed.
I thought things would end peacefully—until...
"Man, Sakayanagi's cute, but she's kinda clumsy, huh?"
I reflexively turned at those words.
What the hell was he saying? The whole school knew Arisu had a weak constitution. Insulting her for that—what kind of person does that?
But more importantly...
"Oh, if it isn't Hikigaya-kun?"
Arisu noticed me and approached with a smile, but beneath that smile was unmistakable hostility toward Yamauchi.
"...You alright?"
"Yes. How embarrassing to let you see me like this. I'm happy you're concerned for me."
As she spoke, her eyes flicked briefly toward Yamauchi, who was walking away nonchalantly. Her gaze narrowed slightly.
Yeah, he's done for. Until now, she probably just disliked him—but now, I actually pitied him.
"Well, if anything happens, let me know. As long as it's not class-wide, I'll help however I can."
Saying that, I patted her head to calm her down. She'd seemed happy when I did this before Hiyori, so this was probably the right move.
Her silky, smooth hair felt nice to touch, and as I stroked it, her face gradually turned red. She looked a little embarrassed, but she didn't ask me to stop.
"...Doing something like this in front of so many people... How bold of you."
...Oh.
I hadn't noticed until now, but we were in the cafeteria—a place packed with people.
Glancing around, I realized many students were staring. The only saving grace was that we were near the edge. Still, the situation was bad. The girls were giving me approving looks, but the guys? Their jealous glares stabbed into me.
"...I should go."
Realizing my mistake, I tried to slip into the crowd to disappear, but before I could—
*Tug, tug.*
My sleeve was pulled lightly.
"If... if it's alright with you... would you like to eat together?"
Turning around, I saw Arisu looking up at me with pleading eyes.
"...No?"
Hmm. A beautiful girl really does look good no matter what she does. This was unfair. No guy could refuse this.
Besides, my standing in class was pretty high. Since I hadn't leaked any strategies for this exam, nobody would suspect me of betrayal.
Arisu knew that, which was why she made the offer.
"Nah, it's fine. Let's go."
"Fufu, I'm glad. Then, shall we?"
Whatever anger she'd felt toward Yamauchi earlier seemed gone—she happily took my hand.
We ended up holding hands naturally, but... I decided not to overthink it.
"..."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing... Let's sit over there."
For a brief moment, Arisu scanned the area around the seats.
Her eyes seemed calculating, but once we picked a spot, it shouldn't matter.
I let Arisu save the seats while I went to grab food for both of us.
"Thank you for going out of your way."
"Don't worry about it."
Bringing the food to the table, we clasped our hands together and began eating. Glancing up, I noticed Arisu's refined table manners. Every movement was elegant—proper etiquette in action.
"You're staring... It's embarrassing..."
Noticing my gaze, she fidgeted shyly.
"...By the way, have you been in touch with Sakayanagi-san?"
"That was a blatant subject change."
...I tried my best to play it off, but she wasn't fooled.
As I scrambled for an excuse, Arisu spoke up instead.
"I do talk with Father occasionally. We spoke recently, actually."
"I see. Makes sense you'd have his contact info, being family."
"Yes. Last time, we even talked about you."
Huh? About me?
"Why me?"
"Because your achievements make us happy. Father said he was glad to see you becoming more active—like during the sports festival—when you weren't very proactive at first. And I feel the same, of course."
Why were this father-daughter pair so invested in talking about me? And my actions were just forced by circumstances—like the Ryuuen-shaped circumstance.
"What else do you talk about?"
I asked out of curiosity, but Arisu's chopsticks paused mid-air. Her face instantly flushed red.
"...Well, last time... we also discussed my engagement to you."
She averted her eyes, murmuring something outrageous.
Was he seriously considering that? That's way too reckless...
"O-Oh... Speaking of, are you planning anything after this exam?"
Desperate to change the subject, I scrambled for another topic. Arisu gave me a dissatisfied look but didn't press further.
After a small sigh, she switched back to her usual smile.
"Well, I'm thinking of spending time with Ichinose-san."
She'd reworded it carefully, but her target was clearly Ichinose's class—or rather, Ichinose herself.
"I won't ask for details. I'm curious what you'll do, though."
"Fufu, I'm glad you're looking forward to it."
We chatted a bit more until the cafeteria's closing time neared.
After clearing our trays, I returned to the table to find Arisu smirking at me.
"Hikigaya-kun, haven't you noticed something?"
"What are you talking about?"
She giggled, leaning closer—
"I'm happy you were so engrossed in our conversation, but you really should pay more attention to your surroundings."
With those words and a graceful bow, she walked away.
And then, I finally realized.
Looking around slowly, I saw Hiyori, Matsushita, and Ibuki at nearby tables.
Their gazes were all different—Hiyori puffed her cheeks, glaring at me with teary, half-lidded eyes, while Ibuki and Matsushita stared daggers at me.
Ah. So they'd all seen me eating with Arisu the whole time.
"But why did she do this?"
I didn't get her goal.
Maybe it was just coincidence—maybe I was overthinking it because I wasn't used to this kind of attention...
"No idea..."
In the end, her true intentions remained a mystery.
For now, the weight of their stares was too much—I decided to leave the cafeteria as quickly as possible.
.....
After finishing my meal, I returned to my room to prepare for a bath.
I grabbed a change of clothes from my bag on the bed and headed to the changing area.
As I approached, loud voices echoed from inside—what could possibly be so exciting in a bathhouse?
A little curious, I undressed, wrapped a towel around my waist, and stepped in.
"Katsuragi is number one!"
"The hell you say! Sudo Ken is the top dog here!"
At the center of the bathhouse, Totsuka from Class A and Sudo from Class D were arguing, surrounded by most of the male students, who were cheering them on.
"What the hell is this…?"
"It's a contest of 'that.' Right now, Sudo and Katsuragi are competing—though Katsuragi seems to have been dragged into it."
Kanzaki, who happened to be next to me, answered my muttering.
Since neither of us had any intention of joining the fray, we ended up chatting peacefully while washing up—until…
"Ha! You guys don't stand a chance against us!"
A loud voice made both Kanzaki and me turn around. Ishizaki was shouting in the middle of the commotion.
"W-What, you wanna go next or somethin'?!"
"Nah, not me! The real number one is this guy! Go, Albert!"
"OK."
From behind Ishizaki, Albert's massive, tanned figure emerged.
"W-Wait, that's…! That's cheating!!"
"Y-Yeah, no fair!"
Sudo and Totsuka immediately protested.
Well, obviously. Albert's sheer physique was on a completely different level—there was no way they could win.
"If we're deciding the best in the grade, it's gotta be fair! Albert, show 'em what you got!"
"Grrr… I ain't losin'!"
The two faced off. Sudo confidently presented his, and then—
Ishizaki yanked off Albert's towel in one swift motion.
The moment it happened—
"I… lost."
Sudo, who had been so confident, dropped to his knees in defeat.
The bathhouse erupted in cheers from the other guys.
"Pathetic."
"Agreed."
"Seriously, how can they get so worked up over this?"
Katsuragi, Kanzaki, and I—the peacekeeping faction—sighed in unison as we soaked in the bath.
Who would've thought the three of us would end up on the same side?
"Ha ha ha. Quite the childish competition, boys."
Koenji, rising dramatically from the bath, slicked back his hair as he spoke.
"What's that, Koenji? You all talk, no show?"
Sudo, still on his knees from defeat, snapped at him.
"What a foolish question. I am perfection in all aspects—naturally, as a man, I am the ultimate."
"Yeah, yeah. Bet you're nothin' special."
"There's no need for competition. In fact, I'm worried you might shrink in despair."
"Then prove it!"
Even under the full attention of everyone, Koenji's cool expression didn't waver.
"Ordinarily, I don't display myself to other men. But just this once, I'll indulge you."
The most unnecessary service in the world.
With a flourish, Koenji removed his towel—
"Wha—?!"
An overwhelming, despair-inducing difference in firepower.
Albert, who had been standing tall just moments ago, dropped to his knees just like Sudo.
A stunned silence filled the air.
No one dared challenge Koenji's ultimate form.
"Kuku. Hold on, Koenji."
Just as things were settling, Ryuuen—who had been quietly washing up—spoke up.
"What is it, Dragon Boy? Surely you're not foolish enough to challenge me?"
"Even I know I can't beat you. But there might be someone here who can."
What nonsense is he spouting now? Whoever gets dragged into this is in for a bad time.
"Oh? And who might that be?"
"Kuku. If I'm not mistaken… there are 'two' guys here hiding their strength under their towels."
Hiding under towels…?
Not me, right?
Sure, I had a towel on, but I was just trying to get into the bath—I wasn't part of this stupid contest.
My eyes accidentally met Ayanokouji's.
He, too, had a towel around his waist and was trying to slip into the bath—
"Wait… you two?!"
Before we could escape, Sudo grabbed us by the shoulders.
All eyes locked onto us.
Only Ryuuen wore a wicked grin—seems he's dead set on making us lose.
"Uh, Ayanokouji aside, I'm not involved."
"Hey, no fair, Hikigaya!"
Trying to throw Ayanokouji under the bus didn't work.
"Call for it, boys. Give 'em the call."
At Ryuuen's words, the majority of the guys erupted.
"Off! Off! Off!"
Think. There's gotta be a way out of this.
…But the more I thought, the louder the chanting got.
"Fine, fine. Just calm down."
In the end, I gave up. Ayanokouji seemed to have resigned himself too.
"Need someone to hold your hand? You poor bastards."
Sudo mockingly offered, but I waved him off.
Ayanokouji and I both gripped our towels.
And then—
"…No way?!"
When we finally revealed ourselves, what stood before them was something on par with Koenji.
The bathhouse fell silent.
All eyes were on us—even Ryuuen looked shocked.
"My, my. Ayanokouji-boy and Monster-boy… To think there were Japanese men who could rival me. I'm honestly impressed."
Koenji stepped forward, examining us.
"It's like a battle between T-rexes."
What a ridiculous comparison. I'd appreciate it if he stopped using grand metaphors for something so trivial.
"Fufufu. But experience gives me the edge. Still, well done, you two. I'd advise caution when dealing with women, though."
With that ambiguous advice, Koenji returned to the bath.
"This makes them Kings, right?! Right?!"
Hashimoto's shout reignited the chaos.
"King! King! King!"
The bathhouse roared with chants of King centered around us.
I just wanted to relax—why did I have to leave the bath more exhausted than when I entered?
In the end, the legend of our… assets… became the hot topic long after we left.
=================================
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