Since that day, Hakushi never said anything about casually taking Ayane out for a meal again.
Because that might mean he'd go bankrupt.
This girl's appetite—me, Chiba Hakushi, I hereby call her the strongest!
Time quietly passed by, day after day.
Thanks to the ramen incident, the three of them got a lot closer.
After all, nothing builds a deep friendship like sharing ramen together.
Hakushi's performance in the class was still pretty low-profile. Compared to his two genius desk mates, his grades were totally average.
And in the blink of an eye, another month had gone by.
Within that month, Hakushi and Ayane grew much closer, but his relationship with Ruri deepened even faster.
Of course, it was purely platonic friendship.
After all, Ruri was the only one who knew he was hiding his true strength. If he showed his real ability, he'd definitely rank in the top three of the class.
The main reason his relationship with Ruri improved was because she often looked for Hakushi after school to practice their combat skills—physically.
And in these hand-to-hand skill matches, both Hakushi and Ruri were extremely impressed by each other's advanced techniques.
Hakushi was short on real combat experience, but he learned a ton from Ruri. She had private tutors in the Uchiha Clan teaching her fighting skills, and she passed those tricks on to Hakushi, so he slowly caught up with her practical level and they grew together, comparing progress.
Hakushi's improvement totally caught Ruri off guard.
The more she interacted with Hakushi, the more she found herself barely able to hold him down. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he flipped the script and pinned her instead.
This kind of thing was hard to accept for Uchiha Ruri, a self-proclaimed genius.
She got weekly lessons from elite Jonin in the clan, but in just a couple months, the boy she always held down turned the tables on her. That totally stained her reputation as an Uchiha genius.
So, she needed to regain the initiative and put him back under her again.
Bring back the glory of the Uchiha Clan.
"Why is your strength improving so fast?"
Ruri voiced her inner doubts.
From her point of view, Hakushi must be hiding some trick to quickly get stronger.
Otherwise, there was no way a civilian could keep up with her rate of improvement without anyone teaching him.
If not, then the problem was with Hakushi himself.
"Hm?" Hakushi was slightly stunned and said, "I'm just training step by step, you know."
"Impossible. If that's all, you couldn't grow this fast. You must be hiding something!"
"I'm really not hiding anything."
"Is that so?"
Ruri continued to eye Hakushi with suspicion.
"Yup, I've always been training in my own way, that's it."
Hakushi replied seriously.
He genuinely wasn't hiding anything.
Ruri had taught him tons of fighting techniques and he was very grateful. Without her, his strength wouldn't have grown this fast either.
"Your method?"
Ruri caught onto a loophole.
"Yeah—I made a custom scientific training regime for myself that effectively boosts my dynamic vision and neural response time."
Hakushi answered honestly.
"Then show me your so-called scientific plan."
Hearing Ruri's demand, Hakushi didn't refuse. If it were anyone else, he'd have to think twice, but his fast improvement was thanks to Ruri's help.
He wanted to be sincere, so he couldn't be stingy.
He took out a small notebook from his Ninja Tool Bag and handed it to Ruri.
His scientific body-training plan was all written in that notebook.
Ruri opened it and started reading carefully. The more she read, the weirder her expression got.
Because it was so ordinary.
The training methods Hakushi wrote down mostly weren't secret; Ruri already knew many of them—aside from a few odd ones she wasn't familiar with.
Could you really get stronger just by training this way?
Ruri had a huge question mark in her mind.
Hakushi knew Ruri had doubts, because his custom training plan didn't seem all that hard when you looked at it overall. Some were tricky, but most were straightforward and easy to understand.
But Hakushi knew this was the most scientific training plan suited for the human body.
Compared to this scientific training though, Hakushi felt the world's Chakra was what was truly unbelievable.
Why could Chakra turn into fire, lightning, storms… that was the really interesting stuff.
Compared to the wonders of Chakra, Hakushi thought his scientific training plan was pretty childish.
This training method was really just to enhance his dynamic vision and neural reflexes, keep his body flexible, and give him some resistance to getting hit.
Compared with mysterious energy like Chakra, it's honestly nothing special.
Ruri's doubts made sense to Hakushi.
"If I train using this scientific plan, would I also get strong as fast as you?"
That was what Ruri really cared about.
"Well, that's kinda hard to say, since I constantly adjust it based on my body's growth. Basically, I update it every month."
Hakushi said.
Ruri nodded in understanding.
What worked for Hakushi wouldn't automatically work for her.
So Ruri looked at him seriously and said, "Make a custom training plan for me."
She wanted to see if Hakushi's method was actually effective.
"I mean, sure... but..."
Hakushi awkwardly scratched his head, a little embarrassed to speak.
"What? You don't want to?"
Ruri's black-and-white eyes instantly turned dangerous, sparkling with a murderous aura.
"Ah, that's not it. It's just—to make a scientific training plan for someone else, you'd have to start from their physical… cough, to put it simply, you gotta be practical… so, only after understanding your physical condition could I tailor one for you…"
Hakushi's gaze suddenly got weird; he accidentally glanced at Ruri's petite frame and quickly looked away, nervous.
Really, he's not a lolicon or anything!
"..."
Ruri's usually cold face suddenly turned red.
She totally understood the subtext in Hakushi's words.
Ruri took a deep breath and looked at Hakushi with an icy glare, as if staring at a dead man.
"Come touch me."
"Huh? Okay! Wait—wait, what did you just say? Touch… touch what?"
Hakushi was dumbstruck.
He thought Ruri would chicken out, but he didn't expect her to say that.
"Hurry up and touch me! If you dare touch the wrong place, you're dead!"
Ruri threatened him fiercely.
Hakushi felt like he was walking to his own execution.
...
In the end, Hakushi managed to make a scientific training plan just for Ruri.
Before leaving, Ruri said if this plan didn't work, she would make sure he's biologically and physically DEAD!