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After school, Shimizu Akira received a flyer from Club President Sato.
The flyer had photos of him and Yamada Albert, and also marked the location of the exhibition match—the location was not a school venue, but a comprehensive sports complex in the commercial district.
This venue was fully equipped, with not only professional swimming pools, basketball courts, and baseball stadiums, but also a dedicated boxing ring.
Since the school gymnasium was closed on weekends, many students often came here for activities: for example, Kushida Kikyo often came to the swimming pool to practice on the first month's weekends.
This time, the Boxing Club President specifically rented the venue there—first, to provide the best competition environment for the club members, and second, mainly for selling tickets.
Shimizu Akira had heard before that the Boxing Club had ticket-selling privileges. He curiously asked how many points it cost, and the other party replied that it was almost 10 million, with a portion also going to the school as commission.
He didn't quite understand the specific financial calculations, only knowing that his basic appearance fee for this match was 50,000 points, and with ticket sales commission, it added up to a pretty good sum—after all, he could get 50,000 from one match.
Boxing matches, compared to other sports events, are inherently more prone to injury, and there are only two people, including the opponent, in a match.
Such matches are not held often; after all, the Boxing Club has less than twenty members in total, and even with rotation, everyone would eventually get tired of watching.
This match, held after the start of the new year, was specially organized after the Boxing Club had trained a new batch of recruits for over two months, serving as a 'debut' for this year's freshmen.
Club President Sato also told him that with two new freshmen competing this time, many people were expected to come—school staff, employees from surrounding shops, plus students from first to third year, roughly adding up to about a hundred people, and mostly girls.
Shimizu Akira had a very clear concept of the number 'one hundred'—this was not a small number.
It's important to note that each grade in this school has four classes, with forty students per class, totaling four hundred eighty students across three grades, and even fewer actual students if you count dropouts. As for school staff and employees from surrounding shops, he hadn't calculated them specifically, but at most, it would be one or two hundred people. By this calculation, roughly one out of every six people would come to watch this boxing match.
It just goes to show that boxing, compared to other sports, with its raw, fist-to-flesh physical contact, is indeed more appealing.
As for why there were more girls... boxers usually fight shirtless, so perhaps people came to see the muscles.
Incidentally, ticket prices varied depending on the seating, with several tiers.
Standard seats were 3,000 points, and he hadn't paid much attention to the prices of other seats, only hearing that the closer you were, the higher the ticket price.
Moreover, those high-priced seats also came with special treatment—after the match, the winner would shake hands and high-five these audience members.
This was also why there was an additional share of profits.
The Boxing Club mainly made money from these luxury seats when holding matches.
The match was scheduled for 7 PM.
Club President Sato had also heard that First Year Class D and First Year Class C had some trouble recently, so he specifically inquired at the Student Council and learned that the Student Council President would preside over Sudo Ken's case at 4 PM, which conveniently avoided conflict with the boxing match.
Flyers and related information had already been taken by several club managers for printing and promotion.
This was why his homeroom teacher knew about his participation in the exhibition match... Today, at 4 PM, was the time he had arranged to meet Ichinose Honami.
While he was changing, Club President Sato kept sending messages to confirm the match time. Ichinose Honami also sent a smiling emoji, and Shimizu Akira replied with the same smiling emoji.
As he walked to the agreed-upon flowerbed, a clear and enthusiastic greeting from a girl immediately came from not far away: "Shimizu-kun, over here!"
Shimizu Akira looked in the direction of the voice and saw Ichinose Honami, dressed in a white off-the-shoulder top, standing there, smiling at him.
It had to be said, she was already beautiful and had a good figure, and in this outfit, she looked even more radiant and exceptionally eye-catching.
He glanced around and noticed many classmates secretly looking their way—hmm? There seemed to be a short-haired girl not far away, why was she constantly looking at Ichinose Honami?!
In any case, from every angle, Ichinose Honami at that moment was dazzling enough to be impossible to look away from.
"Ichinose-san, you're quite early. It seems I'm late this time." Shimizu Akira could feel that she had clearly arrived much earlier than him.
He had actually left at 3:30 PM, intending to arrive early, but unexpectedly, he was still a step behind.
"Actually, I'm a bit early!" A blush of embarrassment spread across Ichinose Honami's face.
Even though she was very popular, this was probably her first proper date, so she was inevitably a bit nervous—she barely slept well last night, and after school, she rushed back to her dorm, changed into casual clothes, and hurried over. Now that she thought about it, she did seem to have arrived a bit too early.
"Um... I've already made a reservation at that sushi restaurant, so we can just go straight there," Ichinose Honami said after some thought. "We should still have some time after dinner, Shimizu-kun, would you like to decide where to go next?" She naturally tossed the topic over, her eyes filled with a hint of anticipation.
Shimizu Akira hadn't expected there to be plans after dinner; he had originally thought it was just a simple meal.
It seemed Ichinose Honami was quite serious about this date, far from as simple as he had thought before.
He then realized he had misunderstood—she had no intention of being perfunctory; on the contrary, everything showed her thoughtfulness.
And she arranged dinner first, then gave him the decision-making power for the subsequent location, probably not wanting him to feel like he was being unilaterally arranged. This thoughtfulness touched him slightly.
"After dinner, how about we go bowling?" he tentatively suggested.
...Bowling?" Ichinose Honami blinked. "Actually, I haven't played in a long time either. Alright!"
...After settling their plans, the two walked side by side towards the conveyor belt sushi restaurant Ichinose Honami had mentioned.
As soon as they reached the entrance, the transparent glass door slid open automatically, and the cool air, carrying the scent of sushi vinegar, wafted towards them.
The conveyor belt snaked like a ribbon of light between the seats, with various sushi rolls, wrapped in vibrant ingredients, slowly circling.
"This way, please. My classmates and I have actually been here many times," Ichinose Honami said, leading him to a two-person table by the window. She looked up and smiled at him, "This restaurant's fatty tuna sushi is very famous, but you have to wait for the chef to make it fresh; it's rare to find it on the conveyor belt."
As soon as Shimizu Akira sat down, he saw a plate of tamagoyaki float by on the conveyor belt.
When he reached out to take it, Ichinose had already picked up a teacup and poured him some barley tea. "Have some tea first to settle your stomach. Boys should be able to eat a lot."
"Indeed." He picked up the teacup and took a sip. The aroma of the tea, mixed with the distant sound of the chef's wooden spoon making sushi, was more pleasant than he had imagined.
Just as he was about to say something, Ichinose suddenly pointed to the end of the conveyor belt, her eyes lighting up: "Look, it's sea urchin gunkan!"
As she reached for it, her fingertip accidentally brushed against a plate of eel sushi nearby, and some sauce got on her finger. Shimizu Akira was about to hand her a tissue when he saw her instinctively stick out her tongue and lick it. After doing this, she suddenly realized what she had done, her cheeks flushed instantly, and she hurriedly lowered her head to grab a napkin from the table. "S-sorry, that was a bit rude..."
"It's fine." He couldn't help but smile, picked up the plate of sea urchin gunkan, and pushed it in front of her. "Hurry and eat, or someone else will take it."
...The two of them began to eat, sushi plates piling up one after another between them.
Ichinose ate very delicately, taking small bites each time.
Shimizu Akira, however, was the complete opposite; sushi in his hand was always eaten in one bite, his mouth overflowing with fresh flavor.
The sushi tasted really good, but the portions were too small. In just a few minutes, he already had a stack of over ten empty plates in front of him.
When his peripheral vision caught Ichinose, he saw her wiping her hands with a tissue, her brows slightly furrowed, head down, rapidly replying to messages on her phone.
It seemed she was indeed very busy, even needing to handle things during meal breaks.
About ten seconds later, Ichinose put down her phone, looked up at Shimizu Akira, and then realized her rudeness, quickly apologizing: "I'm sorry! Someone asked me something just now, and replying took a little time."
Shimizu Akira glanced at her expression, noticing the faint dark circles under her eyes, clearly showing fatigue, and then teasingly said, "You've said 'I'm sorry' twice today, you know. Since you feel bad, why don't you agree to one condition of mine?"
Ichinose paused, then became serious. "Shimizu-kun, what do you want me to do? Just tell me."
"How about consolidating miscellaneous tasks into a unified time in the future?"
"Eh?!"
"You seem quite tired." Shimizu Akira's tone softened a bit. "Although I don't know what that classmate asked you just now, since it was a message, it's probably not an emergency. Instead of having your time fragmented by these trivial messages, it's better to choose a fixed period to respond to them all at once—this way, you can improve efficiency and avoid making yourself so tired."
Ichinose's hand, holding the chopsticks, paused, and a hint of bewilderment flashed in her eyes.
She lowered her gaze to the half-eaten tamagoyaki remaining in her bowl and softly said, "But... when people ask me for help, I always feel like I can't make them wait."
When she looked up, her eyes still held a hint of confusion, like a small animal that didn't know how to refuse others: "If I make them wait until a fixed time, will they feel like I'm being perfunctory?"
Shimizu Akira looked at the faint dark circles under her eyes, remembering her tightly furrowed brows when she replied to messages just now, and suddenly felt a bit helpless.
He picked up a piece of tuna sushi and slowly said, "For truly urgent matters, people would call directly, wouldn't they? Most who send messages can wait a bit."
He took a bite of sushi and mumbled, "If you always deal with things while exhausted, you're more likely to make mistakes. That's when you'll truly disappoint others."
Ichinose fell silent.
The sushi plates on the conveyor belt continued to turn slowly, and a cool, wasabi-scented breeze blew from the vent, rustling the hair by her cheeks.
After a long while, she softly hummed, "It seems... that's right."
She suddenly smiled, the weariness in her eyes fading a bit, replaced by a sense of relief: "Then I'll try? Next time someone sends a message, I'll just note it down and reply to them all when I have free time."
"You'll still be tired doing that. Take out your phone first."
"Huh?"
"Change your status," he explained. "Just write, 'I'll be replying to messages between 6 and 8 PM every evening.' Otherwise, are you going to tell everyone your schedule one by one?"
Ichinose's fingers, holding her phone, paused. She looked down and swiped open the settings interface, her fingertip hovering above the input box. She said softly, "Wouldn't that be too deliberate? What if everyone thinks I'm putting on airs...?"
"It's better than being chased by messages." Shimizu Akira reached for a plate of nori rolls from the conveyor belt. "You're helping others; you don't owe anyone anything. Setting rules will actually save everyone from bothering you unnecessarily."
He pushed the nori roll towards her. Seeing her still hesitate, he added, "If you really feel bad, just add, 'For urgent matters, please call.' That leaves room for exceptions and also lets you breathe a sigh of relief."
Ichinose bit her lower lip, thought for a moment, and finally typed a few lines into the memo field.
The moment she confirmed the save, she let out a soft sigh, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. "It really... feels much lighter."
"That's right." Shimizu Akira took a sip of his tea, and seeing her visibly relaxed, a smile also touched his lips. "If someone knowingly violates it in the future, just ignore them. I'm not like you; I'm quite a selfish person—I really don't like seeing my date busy replying to other people's messages during our date. Even for my sake, please make sure to do that."
"No way!" Ichinose quickly waved her hands, her cheeks flushing again, her voice filled with a hurried defense. "...You are so good to me, you are not selfish at all!"
No sooner had she finished speaking than her phone 'dinged,' and a new message notification popped up.
But this time, she only glanced at the screen, then calmly pressed the lock button, looked up, and smiled at Shimizu Akira: "I won't look before six. I'll focus on eating first. This time, I'll treat our date properly."
She raised her teacup and gently clinked it against Shimizu Akira's: "Thank you, Shimizu-kun. It seems I always have to bother you to remind me of these things."
"It's no trouble at all." Shimizu Akira also raised his cup and gently clinked it with hers. "I am your date, after all. Ensuring your physical and mental well-being is my basic duty."
This made Ichinose lower her eyes, feeling a little embarrassed.
A date should indeed be like this, but she always felt a little guilty—during dinner, she had been so busy dealing with messages that she hadn't done anything to make her date happy.
What would make Shimizu-kun happy?