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Originally, Asakura had only said that in a fit of pique, but he didn't expect Yukino Yukinoshita to actually follow closely behind him, step by step.
Even though he couldn't see the expression of the girl behind him, her gaze made him feel as if he had daggers in his back.
Perhaps it was hostility or something else; in any case, after that, no matter how Asakura quietly approached the cat or tried to lure it with cat treats, it seemed to be scared away.
They truly are quite sensitive creatures; it seems I won't be able to catch a cat today.
Asakura could only regretfully abandon his original plan.
Since he wasn't going to catch a cat, the best option now was to hurry to school and arrive just before the deadline to ensure he wasn't late.
Although he could have spent the entire day idly wandering around, wasting Yukino Yukinoshita's life through the strongest substitute, 'Wasting Time,' Asakura did not choose this option, considering his credibility at school.
After checking the time on his phone, he started running towards the school.
Because his actions were too sudden, Yukino Yukinoshita couldn't react in time; by the time she realized Asakura was running towards the school, the distance between them had already widened to nearly a hundred meters.
Since things had come to this, the girl could only grit her teeth and follow suit.
Her running posture was very standard; she was like a light and elegant fawn, a delightful sight.
If she could maintain this state, no one would think she couldn't catch up to the fleeing Asakura.
However, when she was still halfway to school, the sweat-drenched Yukino Yukinoshita was already breathing heavily, her running posture gradually deforming, and her figure becoming somewhat wobbly, looking as if she could fall at any moment.
Her running speed had directly dropped to about the pace of a normal person walking, and she could only watch Asakura's back get further and further away.
A moment later, Asakura discovered that the girl behind him hadn't kept up.
He turned his head curiously and saw Yukino Yukinoshita's disheveled appearance.
"So that's it, the weakness of Miss First in her grade is stamina?" Asakura exclaimed, feigning seriousness.
"Humans didn't... huff... evolve to this... huff... extent... huff... just for running!"
The girl was still stubbornly refusing to admit defeat.
She stumbled a few times, finally unable to maintain her running motion, and leaned on her waist, gasping for the fresh morning air.
"Ah," Asakura blinked, gestured towards the girl, and deadpanned, "There's a snake."
"What?"
Yukino Yukinoshita instinctively looked in the direction he pointed.
Then she saw a colorful little snake emerge from a manhole cover by the roadside, coiling itself at her feet, seemingly very interested in the girl's ankle.
The girl completely bristled.
It was as if a primal fear etched into her DNA suddenly gripped her heart; just a moment ago, she seemed to have exhausted her stamina and had to stop to rest, but at that instant, she was like an arrow released from a bow, sprinting wildly towards the school, as if her biological instinct was to flee from danger.
Asakura lightly whistled, and the small snake obediently crawled back into the sewer.
Then he leisurely followed behind the girl, running towards the school.
Originally, Yukino Yukinoshita's terrible endurance meant that they would be late for school—unless Asakura abandoned her and went ahead alone, which was a despicable act Asakura wasn't incapable of, but he had a feeling that if he really did that, it would take a long time to regain enough favor with Hiratsuka Shizuka.
But with the help of the snakes, the girl ran wildly as if fleeing for her life, and they actually managed to arrive at school safely just before the deadline.
"Safe," Asakura said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"But you're 'OUT' in front of me," Hiratsuka Shizuka, who was preparing for homeroom, teased after glancing at the two figures standing at the doorway, still panting heavily. "Yesterday you seemed like mortal enemies, but today you're close enough to come to school together? The values of this generation of young people are truly strange."
"You'd best apologize to all contemporary young people," Asakura said calmly. "Besides, the one who's slow is Miss First in her grade, it has nothing to do with me."
"Yukino, why are you coming to school with Asakura? I remember your homes aren't in the same direction," Hiratsuka Shizuka ignored Asakura's protest and asked Yukino Yukinoshita.
"It's just a coincidence... and also a precaution," the girl said defiantly, trying to steady her breathing, but she had no intention of revealing Asakura's cat-catching antics.
This made Asakura's opinion of her improve slightly.
Then he noticed the girl's gaze.
Unlike the pure hostility from before, this time it seemed to carry a hint of scrutiny.
Sure enough, the sudden appearance of that last bamboo viper aroused her suspicion... Thinking about it, being scared three times by different types of snakes along the way was indeed a bit excessive.
However, the advantage of supernatural powers is that Muggles cannot verify them; no matter how much Yukino Yukinoshita suspected, she could not guess that he could freely command snakes, or even make them perform actions far beyond a snake's normal intelligence.
"I am that illness," Asakura admitted seriously.
"Then your miserable..." Hiratsuka Shizuka glanced and saw that while Asakura had been a bit out of breath earlier, he was much better off than the disheveled Yukino Yukinoshita, barely even sweating. After his breathing stabilized, he looked completely unruffled. So she rephrased, "Then is Yukino's miserable appearance because of you?"
What nonsense was this old, unmarried woman spouting?
"What? Asakura usually seems so quiet, but is he actually such a sadistic person?" "Unable to surpass him academically, so he decided to eliminate him physically?" "As expected of Asakura-kun." "Now Yukinoshita is in trouble..." The students below whispered.
Asakura's mouth twitched. He always felt he had nothing in common with those guys. He had never noticed before, but his reputation in class... couldn't be considered bad, but it definitely wasn't great either.
"I'm just doing what I should be doing," the girl, finally having caught her breath, said in her usual indifferent tone, completely devoid of the pitiful appearance she had just moments ago when she was screaming in fear of the snake.
"Alright, that's enough, it's homeroom time now," Hiratsuka Shizuka clapped her hands on the desk, then gave Asakura a meaningful look and announced, "If you have anything to say, wait until lunch break. We'll have plenty of time then to communicate properly."
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