My love index is at its maximum.

"Something's not right between you two." Murakami Mizuiro suspiciously pinched her chin and asked in an interrogative tone, "Tell me honestly, Tazaki, have you and she already had a sexual relationship without Hoshino-sensei's knowledge?"

"...Eat your noodles, there's nothing between her and me!"

"No." Yui Kichikawa shook her head. "We've already kissed, doesn't that count as a sexual relationship?"

“Not bad.” Murakami Mizuiro looked at Tazaki Tsukasa with narrowed eyes, like a master looking at his favorite student, and slowly nodded: “As expected of my apprentice, you even managed to win over Kichikawa Yui.”

“Almost there.” Yui Kikawa stared at him and asked, “I don’t know him well enough right now, so I can’t take that final step. Can you tell me what kind of person you think Tsukasa Tazaki is?”

"You've come to the right person!"

Murakami Mizuiro patted her chest and assured him, "The person who understands Tsukasa Tazaki better than anyone else in this world is none other than me, Murakami Mizuiro."

"Please speak."

"Where to begin... Oh, he's quick-witted. That seems obvious. Rather, he has a certain unfathomable charm. It's difficult to read his thoughts and feelings from his expressions and voice, and he himself is generally disdainful of dissecting himself in front of others, which is a manifestation of his extreme pride."

"..." Tazaki Tsukasa silently drank his beer, listening casually as Murakami Mizuiro labeled himself, while enjoying the rich foam produced by the beer in his mouth.

“Extremely proud…” Qichuan Yui frowned and thought for a moment, then gently closed the beer can in her hands on the table: “Other people’s opinions are irrelevant to him. He is the type to think and make judgments based on his own heart. He has read a lot of books and has a huge amount of knowledge, but he will not show off unnecessarily.”

No… Tazaki Tsukasa thought to himself. If it were his old self saying this, it might have been true, but now he’s started to care about what other people think.

Otherwise, how could I have gotten dumped?!

“One thing I admire about this guy is…” Murakami Mizuiro picked up a spoon and pointed it at Tazaki Tsukasa like a conductor using a baton: “He’s not a talkative person, and he’s even a bit impatient with strangers. But when necessary, he can express his opinions eloquently. If he wants to, he can target the other person’s weakest point and pierce through their defenses with a few concise words in an instant.”

"Stop, stop, stop." Tsukasa Tazaki slapped the table. "This is getting more and more outrageous. You're making me sound like O. Henry."

Murakami Mizuiro turned his head curiously: "Who is O. Henry?"

"The father of the modern American short story, who was skilled at writing satirical novels."

"Did you see that, Kirikawa-kun?"

Murakami Mizuiro looked back at Kikawa Yui with excitement: "It's short, and it also has the element of satire. He himself has admitted it."

Tsukasa Tazaki: "..."

"Tasaki~" Yui Kikawa tilted her head and smiled slightly: "How have you been doing since you moved out? Can you tell me?"

"Why are you asking this?" Tsukasa Tazaki finished his noodles and gently shook the soup in his bowl.

"I just want to hear how a fifteen-year-old boy like you survives in Tokyo."

"Could it be that you're also planning to run away from home..." With this strange thought in mind, Tsukasa Tazaki sipped his soup and recounted his experiences living alone in Tokyo.

She talked about everything, including renting a house, part-time jobs, and travel; how to save money, how to avoid NHK TV toll collectors, and how she was dumped by Hoshino Hanami for 2000 million yen to improve her life.

Murakami Mizuiro's eyes widened as she listened, and she couldn't help but exclaim, "Being kept by Hoshino-sensei is one thing, but to be able to openly talk about it in front of other girls, Tazaki, you have a really thick skin."

Tsukasa Tazaki gave a self-deprecating laugh and then fell silent.

Like the rocks on the far side of the moon, it remained silent and almost expressionless, as if it had lost even its body temperature.

"He never hid this from the truth."

Kikawa looked at him and continued in a gentle yet decisive tone, "From the very beginning, he never hid his relationship with Hoshino-sensei from us. In fact, he would deliberately bring it up on many occasions to discourage us from doing so."

"you……?"

Murakami Mizuiro scratched his cheek, unable to understand this complicated relationship.

“There’s no point in talking about this now.” Tsukasa Tazaki stretched and loosened his neck, his gaze then sweeping over the Alpine landscape on the wall. The valleys were lush and green, cattle grazed leisurely on the grass, and bright white clouds floated above Mont Blanc.

That's enough for now, he thought. His darling had said she hated people who spread negativity. So, he'd better cheer himself up and prepare for tomorrow!

As my body relaxed, a hint of fatigue began to seep onto my face.

"Go to sleep early, you have a match tomorrow." After saying that, Tsukasa Tazaki stood up and went into the bathroom to wash up.

Murakami Mizuiro kept her mouth tightly shut, lost in thought for a long time before looking at the blonde girl: "What's wrong with him?"

"I got dumped by Hoshino-sensei." Yui Kiseki ate her beef slowly.

"Huh? I didn't realize that... Besides, you didn't explain it to me beforehand."

"He never wanted others to pry into his life, let alone something as shameful as a breakup."

"The competition starts tomorrow," Murakami Mizuiro said with some concern. "Will this have any impact? I bet he'll definitely win the Jade Dragon Flag."

“Don’t worry.” Yui Kichikawa pulled out a tissue to wipe the grease off her lips. “He’s a very strong person. Fifteen years old, living alone in Tokyo. Maintaining top grades while also working part-time and training, he would have collapsed long ago if he wasn’t strong.”

"Makes sense."

Murakami Mizuiro nodded in agreement.

In this matter, his feelings were far deeper than those of the blonde girl. From the athletic failure who was always out of breath to the present-day Tsukasa Tazaki, he saw it all more clearly than anyone else.

"I'm leaving. Pack your things." After wiping her mouth with a tissue and finishing her beer, Kikawa Yui looked at Murakami Mizuiro with a cold, sharp gaze: "I'm warning you, behave yourself these next few days. I brought you here to keep him company and relieve his boredom, not to corrupt him. If you can't do that, you're definitely marrying Ms. Kawagoe!"

The tone was extremely unfriendly and barbed.

Murakami Mizuiro shrank back.

When you meet Qichuan, don't argue back, and walk away with a smile, saving face.

Murakami understands this simple and easy-to-understand survival rule.

However, while outwardly enduring the humiliation, he secretly planned to find a few training videos for Tazaki Tsukasa to watch and learn from, so that he could use them all on the blonde in the future.

Thinking that he would do it immediately, he took out his phone and searched for keywords such as "training" on an app as soon as the blonde girl left.

When Tsukasa Tazaki finished washing up and came out, he ran into Tazaki holding up his phone, excitedly shouting, "Tazaki, you have to avenge me!!!"

"What revenge?"

"I can't say..."

"Completely nonsensical."

"Quick, open this."

"You actually watch this kind of stuff?"

Tazaki Tsukasa rubbed his forehead, rolled onto the bed, and after pulling the covers up, he whispered, "Let me borrow the membership for a few days."

"Haha~ Let's sleep together tonight, we can watch TV all night without any problem."

"roll!"

……

September 11, sunny.

At 7 a.m., the plaza outside Fukuoka Dome was already packed with people, including security personnel, event organizing committee staff, reporters carrying cameras, and students in various uniforms running around.

To make them easy to identify, the participating students all wore their own school uniforms, and only put on the uniform competition clothes when they went on stage.

At the stadium entrance, neatly dressed staff were doing their best to maintain order and guide spectators and athletes, while television reporters and cameras were filming and interviewing them.

"Wow~"

Which school is this from?

Amidst the noise, several screams suddenly rang out, and the people queuing to enter immediately turned their heads to look.

A high-end black bus with the license plate "Nerima" slowly drove in. The entire body, including the windows, was painted, and in the center was an oak-shaped school emblem.

"Nerima? That's a Tokyo license plate, isn't it?"

"That's right. In Tokyo's 23 wards, the license plates of vehicles from Shinjuku, Bunkyo, Nakano, Suginami, Toshima, Kita, Itabashi, and Nerima are all labeled 'Nerima'."

"Which school is it that actually sends a school bus from Tokyo to Fukuoka? That's quite a feat."

There were also many students from Tokyo at the entrance. Someone recognized the oak-shaped school badge and explained, "That's Kitagawa's school bus. Look at that oak tree, it's the century-old tree right inside their school gate."

"Hey, isn't Kitagawa a prestigious high school known for its college entrance exams? They don't participate in kendo competitions at all."

"That's right. In the past, during the Kanto selection trials, their school couldn't even make it out of the Kanto region. Now, it's only because kendo has declined that they've had a chance to shine, as the selection trials have been canceled and replaced with a unified national tournament."

"Tsk, other people's students are all rich, who would want to play a dirty and smelly sport like kendo?"

"Ah! Look!"

A commotion suddenly broke out at the entrance, and the girl's suppressed screams could be clearly heard.

"That person is so handsome."

"He's more handsome than any celebrity I've ever seen!!!"

All the cameras focused on him. Inside the car, a boy in a stylish uniform stepped out with his hands in his pockets and a blank expression.

With a fair and handsome face and a well-proportioned figure, he stood out like a spotlight in this sea of ​​people.

Especially those clear, cool eyes, full of mystery, are like a mirror, as if a single glance can reveal many hidden truths.

"No way, are high school students in Tokyo really this handsome?"

"Tell me quickly, is this a recent filming session?"

"I want to transfer to Beichuan high school too!!!"

The screams had barely subsided when, as the female commander, Yui Kikawa, became the second to get off the vehicle and stand next to him, the entrance erupted in noise again.

With snow-white, delicate skin, slender shoulders and waist, yet a tall and voluptuous figure, and a nose that was higher and more delicate than most girls', Kikkawa Yui stood next to Tazaki Tsukasa with her arms crossed, exuding an overwhelming presence like a prince and princess preparing to attend a banquet.

"Ah, blonde hair and blue eyes!"

"Is she a princess?"

"Are all the girls in Tokyo this pretty? And their school uniforms are so much more fashionable than ours."

"She's obviously a rich girl!"

"Ah~ such handsome men and beautiful women, may God assign one to our school too!"

High school students from over 800 schools across Japan stared at the two men's good looks and discussed them with undisguised envy.

Of course, there were also sour or questioning voices, but in an era where appearance is paramount, those questioning voices simply couldn't make a ripple.

The discussion reached its peak, especially after Shimamoto Kana and the remaining students got off the bus.

The television reporters, like sharks smelling blood, all swarmed around Kitagawa Academy.

Tazaki glanced at the cameras pointed at him, calmly looked down, and took out his phone.

[Tazaki: Shikami, has Onee-sama arrived yet?]