The next day, after school let out, Shikime Natsu once again came alone to Keyaki Mall to wander around. Today's Shikime Natsu still had no particular destination in mind; he simply let his gaze drift idly over the scenery on either side.
It was right at this moment that a strikingly beautiful figure appeared without any warning within Shikime Natsu's field of vision.
It was a girl with a head of dazzling, long silver hair.
Her silver strands lifted faintly in the air as she walked. She had a pair of sharp, pale-purple eyes, and her features were exquisite yet carried an innate, spirited briskness. Her figure was slender and tall.
Kiryuuin Fuuka wasn't wearing her school uniform at the moment. Even though it had only been half an hour since school ended, Kiryuuin Fuuka had unbelievably already changed into casual clothes.
Her upper body wore a simple black short-sleeved shirt that traced out her lovely curves.
Her lower body was clad in a pair of form-fitting, light-colored trousers.
These trousers showed off that pair of stunning, long legs of hers to the fullest, and with each stride she gave off a sort of resolute, decisive aura.
In the second year—indeed, in the entire Advanced Nurturing High School—there was only one person who possessed this kind of unique presence, and that was none other than Kiryuuin Fuuka of Class 2-B.
At the very same moment that Shikime Natsu spotted her.
Kiryuuin Fuuka's pair of pale-purple eyes, too, swept across the crowd and accurately captured Shikime Natsu's figure.
In the instant their gazes met.
The corners of Kiryuuin Fuuka's mouth lifted slightly, a curve tugging at her face. Then she raised her right hand, which held a chilled canned drink, and her wrist gave a seemingly casual flick.
"Whoosh——"
That can, beaded with condensation, traced a parabola straight through the air, hurtling directly toward Shikime Natsu.
The speed was fast, and the force was no small thing either.
Faced with this sudden can, Shikime Natsu calmly raised his hand and spread out his five fingers.
There was a soft "smack."
That can settled steadily into his palm.
Watching this effortless little move from Shikime Natsu, Kiryuuin Fuuka strode forward on her long legs and walked straight up in front of him.
"Nice reflexes."
Kiryuuin Fuuka looked him up and down, her tone carrying a few unstinting words of praise.
Feeling the icy-cold sensation transmitted into his palm, Shikime Natsu lowered his head to glance at the can of drink, then lifted his head and gave Kiryuuin Fuuka a smile.
"Kiryuuin-senpai."
Shikime Natsu spoke up, asking in a relaxed tone.
"This drink—did senpai specially buy it to treat me?"
Hearing this overly familiar remark from Shikime Natsu.
The smile in the depths of Kiryuuin Fuuka's eyes grew even thicker.
She folded her arms across her chest and looked at the junior before her.
"Since you were able to catch it."
Kiryuuin Fuuka spoke to Shikime Natsu with a smile.
"Then naturally, it's yours."
Shikime Natsu didn't stand on ceremony either.
He pulled the tab of the can open with one hand, tilted his head back, and took a sip of the ice-cold drink.
"Well then, thank you for the treat, Kiryuuin-senpai."
Shikime Natsu offered her a word of thanks.
Then he looked into Kiryuuin Fuuka's pale-purple eyes, which seemed to hold some deeper meaning.
"However."
Shikime Natsu spoke up to ask.
"Senpai suddenly showing up here, and casually gifting me a drink along the way."
"It shouldn't just be a coincidental passing-by, right?"
Shikime Natsu looked at Kiryuuin Fuuka, a glint flashing through those pale-golden eyes of his. It seemed Kiryuuin Fuuka had come specifically to find him—she'd even changed out of her student uniform.
"Kiryuuin-senpai, is there something you need from me?"
Hearing this blunt question from Shikime Natsu, Kiryuuin Fuuka once again revealed a smile.
"That's right."
Kiryuuin Fuuka spoke to Shikime Natsu, her tone crisp and decisive.
"I did indeed come specifically to find you."
"As for what the matter is?"
She didn't give an answer right away.
Instead she turned around and, with her back to Shikime Natsu, gave a wave of her hand.
"Come with me and you'll find out."
Kiryuuin Fuuka merely tossed out that line, then strode off on her long legs, taking the lead toward the direction of the mall's exit.
Shikime Natsu stood where he was, watching that brisk, spirited back of hers.
Although he still wasn't clear on just what this Kiryuuin Fuuka—who in the second year went her own way, never participating in any of the conflicts—intended to do today.
Still, Shikime Natsu didn't refuse. Instead he stepped forward and followed after her at an unhurried pace.
Walking along the way, Shikime Natsu found it a little amusing inside. Even he hadn't expected that over the span of two consecutive days, he would actually be proactively invited, one after another, by two second-year senpai with completely different personalities.
Yesterday it had been Asahina Nazuna, and today it was Kiryuuin Fuuka.
Here at the Advanced Nurturing High School, this really was quite a fortunate thing.
The two of them walked one in front of the other, and after about a dozen or so minutes, Shikime Natsu followed Kiryuuin Fuuka and arrived at the school's wide outdoor athletic field.
The field at this moment was empty, with basically no one around. Although the Sports Festival was coming up not long from now, at this hour no one had come over here to put in extra training.
Shikime Natsu stopped his steps. He looked at that ring of red plastic running track, then turned his head and looked at Kiryuuin Fuuka with a touch of puzzlement.
"Kiryuuin-senpai."
Shikime Natsu spoke up to ask.
"Bringing me to the athletic field—do you have some plan in mind?"
Kiryuuin Fuuka turned around to face Shikime Natsu.
A gust of wind blew past, stirring her long silver hair.
She merely gave Shikime Natsu a smile.
"It's actually nothing complicated."
Kiryuuin Fuuka looked at him and stated her purpose without holding back.
"It's simply that I've taken quite an interest in you, this first-year junior."
She extended a finger and lightly tapped at her own chin.
"Those maneuvers of yours during the summer-break Deserted Island Special Exam—I've heard a thing or two about them, more or less."
In Kiryuuin Fuuka's pair of purple eyes, a flicker of fighting spirit kindled.
"In this boring school, it's rare for an interesting fellow like you to show up."
"So, I want to come and test you out personally."
Hearing these words from Kiryuuin Fuuka, Shikime Natsu couldn't help but reveal a somewhat helpless expression.
He looked at this senpai with the formidable aura standing before him.
"Kiryuuin-senpai."
Shikime Natsu spoke up to Kiryuuin Fuuka.
"From my impression of you, you don't really seem like the type who enjoys being competitive and going around looking for people to challenge."
He knew that Kiryuuin Fuuka, in the second year, had always kept herself aloof from all the inter-class conflicts.
She neither deigned to join Nagumo Miyabi's faction, nor was she willing to lead her own class's students in vying for the position of Class A.
She was simply an independent individual who acted solely according to her own preferences.
Hearing this assessment from Shikime Natsu, Kiryuuin Fuuka gave a light chuckle.
"You're not wrong."
She looked at Shikime Natsu, an emotion flashing through those pale-purple eyes.
"I really don't like that kind of boring competition."
"Scheming and plotting against one another for the sake of a few hundred class points, or playing some kind of power game just to satisfy certain people's laughable desire for domination."
"Those sorts of things are, in my view, far too boring."
At this point, Kiryuuin Fuuka's tone took a turn.
"But."
"You're different."
She fixed her gaze tightly on Shikime Natsu.
"You're an interesting fellow."
After Shikime Natsu heard these words.
He turned them over in his mind a little, and more or less grasped just what Kiryuuin Fuuka meant by all this.
Her meaning was very clear.
In her eyes, things like the so-called domination Nagumo Miyabi had set up in the second year, and the challenges and exams he'd launched.
Were all utterly boring—she didn't even have the interest to spare them a single glance.
Perhaps it was also because the strength Nagumo Miyabi displayed hadn't been able to attract this Kiryuuin Fuuka, so Kiryuuin Fuuka had basically ignored Nagumo Miyabi's challenges, and then had taken a fancy to Shikime Natsu, this rather interesting junior.
Shikime Natsu smiled, then slowly spoke up.
"Since Kiryuuin-senpai has put it that way."
"Then, as your junior, naturally I'm happy to keep you company."
Shikime Natsu loosened up his wrist.
"But, what kind of method does senpai plan to use to conduct this test and contest?"
Kiryuuin Fuuka pointed at the track beneath her feet.
"This is the athletic field."
She said crisply and decisively.
"We'll use the most direct method."
"Let's just simply run a thousand meters."
In a direct contest of stamina and speed, there aren't all that many fancy tactics to speak of—what it relies on is purely physical fitness.
"A thousand meters?"
Shikime Natsu nodded and agreed.
"By the way, since it's a contest, then how about we add a wager?"
Kiryuuin Fuuka spoke up with a smile, as if she'd just thought of something.
"Then what wager does Kiryuuin-senpai want?"
Shikime Natsu's pale-golden eyes fell upon Kiryuuin Fuuka. He did rather want to know what this senpai of his wanted to obtain from him.
And after hearing this question from Shikime Natsu, Kiryuuin Fuuka knitted her brows slightly and sank into a brief moment of contemplation.
Her coming to find Shikime Natsu today had actually just been a spur-of-the-moment impulse; she hadn't thought in advance about the matter of the spoils after winning or losing.
After thinking it over for a while, Kiryuuin Fuuka shook her head.
"I haven't decided yet for now."
She said to Shikime Natsu.
"After this contest is over, we'll see based on the result."
Shikime Natsu agreed.
However, before he walked toward the starting point of the track, a thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Kiryuuin-senpai."
Shikime Natsu turned his head and spoke up to Kiryuuin Fuuka to confirm.
"Are you going to run a thousand meters too?"
Logically speaking, the running distance for girls is shorter than for boys.
Although Kiryuuin Fuuka's physical fitness was absolutely top-tier among girls.
But the gap in stamina between men and women, owing to physiological structure, was still a chasm very difficult to bridge.
Hearing these words from Shikime Natsu.
Kiryuuin Fuuka's brow arched slightly, and a glimmer of light flashed through those pale-purple eyes of hers.
"But of course."
Kiryuuin Fuuka spoke up, her tone without the slightest hesitation.
"Since it's the same contest, the distance naturally has to be the same."
She took a few steps forward and stood side by side with Shikime Natsu at the starting line.
"What?"
Kiryuuin Fuuka turned her head and looked at Shikime Natsu.
"Don't tell me Shiki-kun thinks I can't run a whole thousand meters?"
"Or could it be..."
"Shiki-kun is planning to give me a bit of a head start?"
Of course, when Kiryuuin Fuuka said these words, she was actually quite clear in her own heart.
She didn't really think that Shikime Natsu needed to give her a handicap.
After all, regarding Shikime Natsu's performance on the Deserted Island, she knew it perfectly well, down to every last detail.
Kiryuuin Fuuka had a good sense of it in her heart—that even if, over the coming thousand meters, she gave it her absolute all from start to finish.
In the end, she figured she still wouldn't be a match for Shikime Natsu.
But she simply wanted to see for herself just how large the gap was between her and this monster.
Faced with this persistence and pride of Kiryuuin Fuuka's.
Shikime Natsu nodded.
"I understand."
He expressed his understanding, then put away the casualness on his face and began to seriously make his pre-run preparation movements.
Seeing that Shikime Natsu had gotten into the zone.
Kiryuuin Fuuka wasted no more words either. She too assumed a standard standing-start posture.
The two of them looked at the plastic track ahead of them at the same time.
"Ready."
Kiryuuin Fuuka took a deep breath and personally called out the command.
"Start!"
As the last word fell.
With a "bang."
Kiryuuin Fuuka, like a cheetah that had been coiled and ready to spring, abruptly drove off with both legs, her entire body launching itself out in an instant.
In the initial phase of the start.
Kiryuuin Fuuka had no intention whatsoever of conserving her stamina.
Right from the beginning she used all her strength, directly pushing her speed to the very limit of what she could currently endure.
The sound of the wind whistled past her ears.
Her slender legs alternated swiftly on the track, every step brimming with astonishing explosive power and rhythm.
Her long silver hair streamed out behind her head.
However, when Kiryuuin Fuuka had run through the first bend and was about to adjust her breathing.
She instinctively glanced out of the corner of her eye toward her own side, and discovered that this fellow Shikime Natsu was unbelievably keeping pace right beside her, calm and unhurried.
He hadn't fallen behind, nor had he pulled ahead—he was maintaining a pace completely in sync with her own.
The most crucial thing was that his breathing was even and his footsteps light; he didn't look at all as though he were engaged in a high-intensity sprint.
Kiryuuin Fuuka turned her head while running and looked at Shikime Natsu beside her, the corner of her mouth tugging into a helpless smile.
"Shiki-kun."
She spoke up to Shikime Natsu, her voice carrying a slight pant from the running.
"I'm going to speed up now."
With that said, Kiryuuin Fuuka once again lowered her center of gravity and forcibly raised her stride frequency.
Her speed climbed up another notch.
But no matter how hard Kiryuuin Fuuka tried to accelerate, no matter how much she squeezed out of her own stamina.
Shikime Natsu still stuck doggedly right beside Kiryuuin Fuuka.
The distance between them hadn't been opened up by even half a step.
It was as if he were a shadow following her every move; no matter how Kiryuuin Fuuka ran, he could effortlessly cling to that fixed position.
By the time they reached six hundred meters, Kiryuuin Fuuka's breathing rhythm was still quite steady, but to push her speed up any further had basically become quite a challenge—while the expression on Shikime Natsu's face was still that same serene, untroubled look.
Seeing this scene, Kiryuuin Fuuka couldn't help but lament that this fellow Shikime Natsu really was a monster. Shikime Natsu's stamina and speed were far, far stronger than she had previously imagined.
In this current contest, Shikime Natsu hadn't even gone all out at all. Of course, even without going all out, simply maintaining the same pace as her own was enough to prove that Shikime Natsu's strength was far above hers.
"All right."
"Shiki-kun, go ahead and speed up. Let me see your all-out speed; let me see just how far apart you and I are."
After hearing this from Kiryuuin Fuuka.
Shikime Natsu nodded.
"Okay."
He gave a brief one-word reply.
Then, right before Kiryuuin Fuuka's eyes, the footwork beneath Shikime Natsu suddenly changed.
One could only hear what seemed like a faint whoosh of wind being cut through the air.
Shikime Natsu's figure, like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, opened up the distance between himself and Kiryuuin Fuuka at a terrifying speed.
Amid Kiryuuin Fuuka's disbelieving gaze.
Shikime Natsu's speed grew faster and faster, and he didn't decelerate in the slightest even at the final bend.
In the blink of an eye, he had already crossed the finish line.
When Kiryuuin Fuuka charged across the finish line, she adjusted her breathing a little, then straightened her body back up, and stood with both hands on her hips, looking at Shikime Natsu.
Kiryuuin Fuuka looked at him, her tone carrying a kind of emotion.
"It seems that when it comes to strength, the gap between you and me really is quite considerable."
"I'd long ago heard them say that the first-year Shikime Natsu is a downright, out-and-out monster."
Kiryuuin Fuuka smiled.
"Now, seeing it with my own eyes, it really is so."
After hearing these words from Kiryuuin Fuuka, Shikime Natsu walked over to Kiryuuin Fuuka's side and said with a smile.
"I'll just take those words senpai said just now as praise for me."
"It was praise for you to begin with."
Then Kiryuuin Fuuka's pale-purple eyes once again fell upon Shikime Natsu. "A bet's a bet, and I accept the loss."
"Since you won this test, then, Shiki-kun, according to our earlier agreement, what reward do you want?"
When Shikime Natsu heard these words from Kiryuuin Fuuka, his mind couldn't help but recall how, yesterday, that girl had said the very same thing to him.
Of course, Asahina Nazuna and Kiryuuin Fuuka differed quite a bit in personality, and in terms of familiarity, Shikime Natsu and Kiryuuin Fuuka weren't actually all that close—they'd merely met a few times and chatted a few times.
So naturally Shikime Natsu wasn't going to say anything like asking Kiryuuin Fuuka to become his girlfriend.
"Since Kiryuuin-senpai has put it that way, then please let senpai take me around to the places where you usually pass the time."
This request could be called quite simple, and upon hearing it, Kiryuuin Fuuka looked at Shikime Natsu with considerable surprise.
"Take a look around?"
"Just that?"
Shikime Natsu nodded seriously, then the corners of his mouth curled into a gentle smile.
"That's right, it's just a very simple thing. After all, it was only a little contest with Kiryuuin-senpai, so I'd feel bad making outrageous demands of senpai."
After hearing these words from Shikime Natsu, the corners of Kiryuuin Fuuka's mouth curled into a bright, radiant arc.
"Good."
____
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