The special building.
A place set apart from the main school building, with hardly any foot traffic or surveillance cameras.
It's one of the best spots on campus for private conversations.
The only downside is that the air conditioning isn't running.
By late October it's no longer hot, but in early August the humidity would be unbearable—you couldn't stay long at all.
"It could only be fate."
I murmur to myself as I think back on the day.
Not about the sports festival results or how they came about.
No, it's the encounter with Izuru-kun and the talent he displayed.
His ability, which treated his classmates as if they were nothing, was the real thing.
Seeing those vivid movements up close made today a fortunate day.
Yet fate hadn't guided only him to me.
"…I really wanted to see you, Ayanokouji-kun."
Just remembering that scene makes my heart race.
The only student who could ever rival the genius I acknowledge.
From his profile alone, I knew it was him in an instant.
I could never forget. That masterpiece of the white space is someone incredibly precious to me.
"I brought him. Can I go now?"
Masumi-san spoke to me as I waited in the corridor of the special building.
She looked annoyed, but there was no sign she had failed.
In other words, she had successfully brought Ayanokouji-kun here as planned.
"Yes. Thank you for your trouble, Masumi-san. I'll be counting on you again."
"…Hm."
With a quiet nod, Masumi-san turned and left.
I immediately tapped my cane and headed toward the figure waiting around the corner.
As I walked, I composed my expression.
Right now, I was probably letting a rather unseemly smile slip.
To leave a good first impression, I needed to present myself as a proper, modest young lady.
"You're the one who called me out?"
The face I had seen so many times through glass was now right in front of me.
All the emotions I'd felt—wondering what his voice sounded like, how many times I had wanted to meet and speak with him—welled up and held me in place.
I grew nervous and failed to answer his question.
Our first words alone together, and I had already stumbled.
"The final relay was magnificent, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka-kun."
I began with something ordinary.
The desire to speak with him as long as possible rose inside me.
"Thanks."
Silence fell again.
We gazed at each other, trying to read feelings in one another's eyes.
Yet those eyes were exactly the same as they had been eight years and 243 days ago.
"Let me ask one more time. You're the one who summoned me?"
"Yes."
"…Then I'd appreciate it if you'd get to the point."
Oh, don't say that—let's talk more.
I desperately held back the words that nearly spilled out and continued the conversation.
"Watching you run, and the clash with Izuru-kun, brought something back to me.
I wanted to share that shock with you, so I called you here on impulse. It almost feels like the prelude to a confession, doesn't it?"
"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about…"
I tapped my cane and slowly closed the distance between us.
And then—
"It's been a while, Ayanokouji-kun. Eight years and 243 days, to be exact."
I managed to greet him properly.
"You're joking. I don't know you."
"Fufu. Of course. I'm the only one who knows you, after all."
As I spoke in circles, Ayanokouji-kun turned his back and started to walk away.
He seems to dislike pointless conversation.
So I cut straight to the heart of it.
"White Room."
His feet stopped instantly.
"It's unpleasant, isn't it? Being manipulated by information only the other side possesses."
"…You—"
He turned just his face toward me.
"Class D's actions have been puzzling in many ways, but you were the one pulling the strings, weren't you?
That would explain how you minimized damage on the uninhabited island exam and carried out a strategy that let three classes win on the cruise exam."
"I don't know what you mean. We have a few capable strategists in our class—maybe you're thinking of them?"
"There's no way I could focus on anyone else when you're right in front of me."
His eyes sharpened as he looked at me.
He was analyzing me. The realization filled me with uncontainable joy.
"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about you."
"Wouldn't it give you all sorts of advantages if you did?"
"It would only create more obstacles. Obstacles in the way of burying the 'false' genius."
His gaze grew even more intense.
Those eyes hadn't changed at all. It made me happy, yet it also brought sadness.
As ever, he seemed untouched by human warmth.
"May I ask one question?"
"It's an honor to be questioned by you. Please, go ahead. If you want to know why I know you, I'll gladly tell you."
"No, I'm not interested in that. There's just one thing I want to know."
Being brushed off like that stings a little.
Still, I was curious what would come next, so I listened closely.
"Can you really bury me?"
That was his question.
"Fufu."
Joy spilled out, and I couldn't help laughing.
"Fufufu, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mock you.
I know exactly how extraordinary you are—the masterpiece your father created.
And only by destroying you can my dearest wish be fulfilled."
My dearest wish: to prove that genius is decided the moment a person is born.
Raised in the White Room, he acquired astonishing abilities through training so rigorous that the word "effort" feels far too mild.
But those abilities are acquired, not innate.
Did he endure that brutal curriculum because he was a genius from the start, or can even an ordinary person surpass genius through effort alone?
I must determine which he truly is.
"If it's not too much trouble, may I ask one question as well?"
He had started to leave, but he stopped again and turned only his face toward me.
I took that as permission.
"What did you think of Izuru Kamukura?"
His cold eyes fixed on me, but he answered promptly.
"Borrowing your own words—he's what you'd call a 'real' genius, isn't he?"
He had reached the same conclusion I had.
Joy and the warning Izuru-kun had given me mingled, forming a complicated swirl of emotion.
"Is something wrong?"
"No. I feel the same. In fact, unless he's a White Room student I don't know about, he must be a genuine 'real' genius."
"For the record, I never saw him in the White Room.
It's possible he's from a different generation, but if someone that talented existed, my father wouldn't have let him slip away."
"That's true."
Ayanokouji-kun's father wields tremendous authority.
Setting aside the question of why he's here at all—if Izuru-kun had come from the White Room, his father would never have placed the two greatest products of that facility, Ayanokouji-kun and Izuru-kun, in this school.
He would have kept them close at hand.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going."
"Yes. Thank you for giving me your time today."
I bowed and watched him walk away.
That back I had seen so many times looked broader and stronger than any memory I held.
"Time for me to head back as well."
I tapped my cane and started home.
Today really had been a wonderful day.
I'll make dinner something special. It's the perfect chance to practice the cooking talent I analyzed from Izuru-kun.
A reunion after eight years and 243 days. It's one-sided, and I can't tell anyone else, but today I'll let myself bask in the afterglow.
***
Hi everyone, I hope you're all doing well. I just wanted to let you know that right now I'm working on a really good and promising naruto fanfic. If you're interested in reading it, feel free to give it a try:
[Naruto: Pathological Liar]
Synopsis:
After reincarnated as a worthless member of the Hyūga branch family...
Fate handed me the worst possible script, but that's fine... I was born to be the greatest actor.
Are you ready?
My name is Hyūga Kumokawa.
I'm going to weave one enormous lie.
And make the entire ninja world dance to it.
---