COTE :  Oh No, I've Become the Substitute

Around four in the afternoon, on the grounds of Advanced Nurturing High School.

The clear, limpid light of the setting sun poured generously over the grey-white school path. Ginkgo trees stood arrayed along both sides, the edges of their fan-shaped leaves tinged with pale gold. The sea breeze swept through, occasionally shaking loose a few green leaves that spun soundlessly through the air before drifting to the ground.

"Can those Class D guys even pull this off? I hope that Hirata-kun steps it up. I've heard his physical ability is pretty impressive too—he's a key player on the soccer team."

"On that topic, you'd better sort yourself out first. Forget the Sports Festival—we've got Kito and the others for that. What about that cross-campus race? There's no point if you don't take first place, right?"

"I'll just take it one step at a time. Participation matters most. I'm actually pretty curious about how the school is going to set up that event."

"Ha? Where did all that brimming confidence from just now go?"

"Well, I was facing a Class D leader. I had to put out some tough talk."

Fuyuji Mikage and Kamuro Masumi walked side by side along the path back toward the teaching building, chatting idly about one thing or another. Fuyuji had his hands stuffed in his pockets, his posture relaxed and indolent, while Kamuro turned her head slightly, watching the leaves drifting down along the roadside.

"What events are you planning to enter for the Sports Festival?"

Suddenly, Kamuro halted her steps and spoke without warning, her voice a shade lower than usual. Yet her gaze remained fixed on the swaying shadows of the distant trees.

Excluding someone like Sakayanagi Arisu who genuinely could not engage in strenuous exercise, the individual events in this Sports Festival were mandatory for all students, while the higher-point recommended events would be filled by students selected from within each class.

Still, for Fuyuji, all of this was merely going through the motions.

With his standing in the class, even if he stepped onto the field and simply strolled across the track, the Class A students would probably applaud and say that Fuyuji-san surely had some profound deeper meaning behind it.

"Well..."

Fuyuji rubbed his chin, his gaze distant as he looked toward the teaching building bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, its surface gilded with a layer of orange-red radiance. "Just pick a couple of events that look interesting and join in for the fun of it. Leave the rest to Katsuragi and Kito."

Compared to the previous two special exams, this one felt a bit like more thunder than rain.

After all, this Sports Festival was a cross-year group competition. Given the current strength of the Red group, it was genuinely hard to imagine the second and third years—with Horikita Manabu and Nagumo Miyabi in their ranks—losing to the corresponding White group. So, in truth, the Red group already had this competition in the bag.

As for the intra-year competition among the first-years, even if they came in dead last, Class A would at most lose a hundred points. And taking first place only netted fifty points. It was honestly hard to muster any real motivation.

"However..."

Fuyuji abruptly raised his head and, in a one-second opera face-change, swept away his earlier lack of interest. In a few steps, he circled around behind Kamuro. Reaching out, he kneaded her shoulders with just the right amount of force, a hint of ingratiation in the gesture.

"As the girl with the best physical ability in our class, I really do want to see Masumi in action during the competition. I'll come cheer for you when the time comes—I'll definitely drown out that measly Sakayanagi Arisu's support."

"Interested?" Kamuro's body stiffened slightly at his sudden gesture, her shoulders shrinking back instinctively. Only then did she turn her gaze toward the distant forest, her tone sounding even more casual and indifferent, even tinged with a barely perceptible airiness. "So, are there any recommended events that interest you?"

"Hmm..." Fuyuji pondered for a moment, withdrew his hands, and followed her gaze toward the forest as well. "Probably the scavenger race? I've never done one of those before. I'd kind of like to try it."

"What are you, some kind of antique? Never even done a scavenger race..." An almost inaudible murmur drifted from Kamuro's lips.

"Ha?"

Fuyuji instinctively leaned his ear closer, wanting to catch what she had said.

"Nothing."

Kamuro replied flatly, then swiftly recomposed her expression. Struggling to keep her face taut, she looked at Fuyuji and spoke with solemn gravity.

"You do understand that even fifty class points are an incredibly precious asset for the class, don't you? It could very well be that, in the end, it's precisely this missing fifty points that prevents us from graduating as Class A. Therefore, for this Sports Festival, we must give it our absolute all and strive to win every single event."

Fuyuji Mikage: "..."

Bro, do you even hear what you're saying right now?

Just who was it, back when we first got to know each other, who told me she had no interest in graduating from Class A and to stop ordering her around in the name of the class?

Fuyuji probed with a tentative utterance. "So..."

"So..."

A timely breeze swept past. The myriad tiny fans of the ginkgo tree overhead rustled and swayed, sifting down dancing flecks of light that scattered like shattered gold across Kamuro's flushed face.

That forcibly mustered solemn gravity receded like the tide, leaving only the fair shell of her ear, dyed at a speed visible to the naked eye with a thin layer of crimson. The girl did not—as she usually would in her tsundere fashion—turn her head away. She merely stared at the small patch of ground before the toes of her shoes and spoke in a low, quiet voice.

"Mixed-gender three-legged race... let's... enter together?"

"..."

Fuyuji's breath caught. His heart felt as though it had been softly bumped by that fine, delicate voice.

He gazed at this young woman—proud and prickly to the very marrow of her bones—now standing before him with her head lowered, revealing a rare and precious expression of shyness. The golden radiance of the sun outlined the blushing contour of her profile. It was as though the entire world had been washed clean by this sudden, unexpected candor, turning extraordinarily bright and tender...

A long moment passed.

"Okay..." A single, dry syllable spilled from his throat, carrying a hoarseness even he himself hadn't noticed.

Fuyuji slowly extended his hand and gently plucked the leaf that had landed atop Kamuro's head, cradling it in his palm.

"W-well, in that case, I'm going on ahead."

As if utterly unable to bear the suddenly thick, charged atmosphere that had condensed between them, Kamuro raised her head, her gaze darting about in frantic disarray. As though scalded, she spun around abruptly and swung her long legs—usually so swift and sure, yet now appearing somewhat panicked and directionless—into a desperate sprint, fleeing toward the teaching building.

She left behind Fuyuji, still holding the green ginkgo leaf, standing rooted in place mid-emotional-buildup, utterly disheveled in the breeze.

"Eh?!"

Belatedly snapping back to his senses, Fuyuji watched that slender silhouette—purple hair bouncing under the sunlight, rapidly receding into the distance—and hastily lifted his legs to give chase.

"W-wait, wait up! Bro!"

"..." Kamuro did not answer. She continued sprinting forward, head down, her white pleated skirt fluttering frantically like the wings of a startled butterfly.

"Why are you running even faster?! I still have things I want to say to you! At least hear me out—I spent a long time building up to this!"

"Don't want to hear it! Goodbye!"

The wind suddenly took on a visible shape, lifting the hem of the girl's white pleated skirt like an unfinished letter unfurling halfway. The boy chased after the girl's retreating steps, plunging headlong into a pillar of light thick with swirling dust, catching sight—at just the right moment—of the arc traced by the ends of her purple hair...

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50 [Power Stones] = Bonus Chapter!