Chapter 93: Three Girls on One Stage, an Increasingly Chaotic Situation
Inside the Student Council office, the air seemed to solidify for a full five seconds.
Nagumo Miyabi maintained his leaning sitting posture, his entire being appearing as if someone had pressed the pause button.
"...What did you say?"
He realized his lapse in composure, so this time his voice was much lower than before, instead betraying a sense of profound bewilderment. What he had just heard was information sufficient to shatter his worldview.
Kiriyama Ikuto swallowed hard. Having followed Nagumo for so long, this was the first time he had seen the Vice President wear such an expression—it wasn't anger, but shock. Pure, unadulterated shock.
"That Kiryuin person, at ten o'clock this morning, at the entrance of the cafe..." He paused, as if confirming that the words he was about to speak were not a hallucination, "met with a first-year boy, and then the two of them headed toward the path behind the school together."
"A first-year boy," Nagumo repeated. "It wouldn't happen to be that Katsuragi Keima, would it?"
"Exactly."
"...That Kiryuin," Nagumo slowly leaned back into his chair, his lips curling into an ambiguous arc. "She can actually be interested in someone? And to go so far as to make a move like that."
This sentence sounded like a question to Kiriyama, yet also like a question to himself. Kiriyama Ikuto wisely maintained his silence.
Nagumo lowered his head to look at his terminal. On the screen, a post had just popped up:
[Has anyone seen Kiryuin-senpai and a first-year boy... are they on a date???]
The poster used a string of question marks and ellipses, clearly finding it unbelievable themselves. Below the post, a dozen replies had already followed, ranging from "Impossible" to "Definitely a misunderstanding" to "Wait, is that boy the one who plays games all day"...
Katsuragi Keima's "notoriety" had unknowingly spread throughout the entire school.
Kiriyama Ikuto pursed his lips, feeling it was necessary to give a report. After all, any movement by Kiryuin Fuuka ranked in the top three of the Student Council's watch list. However, Nagumo's reaction was within expectations.
Anyone would be shocked upon hearing this.
"...Interesting." The smile on Nagumo's face seemed to become more pronounced.
"Should I go confirm it?" Kiriyama asked tentatively.
"No," Nagumo said, his voice returning to its usual composure. "What Kiryuin does is her own freedom. I have no interest."
Kiriyama Ikuto nodded without pressing further and quickly left.
Nagumo, however, stood by the window. Despite saying he had no interest, his curiosity was actually on the verge of exploding.
"A person like Kiryuin actually going on a date with someone? For real?"
His curiosity regarding this matter even surpassed his competitive drive against Horikita Manabu. Especially concerning that person named Katsuragi Keima. Originally, Nagumo had planned to get in touch with him eventually. Now, it seemed that plan would have to be moved forward.
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Game Center.
The screen of the basketball machine was refreshing with a new record.
Kiryuin Fuuka sent the final basketball accurately into the hoop. Looking at the words [Current Score: 327] flashing on the screen, she narrowed her eyes slightly.
"The high score was 298," Katsuragi Keima's gaze fell on the record board at the top of the screen. "Missing only one shot before the sixth stage is already far beyond the record."
"Is it this easy? I was only just warming up," Kiryuin Fuuka said without changing her expression, casually tucking her stray white hair behind her ear.
This movement drew sideward glances from several boys nearby—a white-haired beauty with such a unique aura and outstanding looks working up a sweat on a basketball machine was an eye-catching sight in itself. Not to mention she was quite good at it.
"Your motor nerves are indeed excellent, Senpai," Keima pushed up his glasses, his tone steady. "To reach this score upon your first contact with a basketball machine makes you a natural talent."
"Are you praising me?"
"Stating a fact."
Kiryuin Fuuka gave a light laugh and didn't argue. She tilted her head, her red eyes landing on Keima's face: "Aren't you going to play a round?"
"Oh?"
"Since it's a date, there should be some interaction."
Katsuragi Keima was silent for a second, seemingly weighing something. Then he put down his handheld console and walked to another basketball machine.
"A fact."
He inserted a token. If it were real-life basketball, Keima would certainly be subpar. But this was a game. As long as it was a game, even if it wasn't a Galge, Keima still held a significant advantage.
He only needed to imagine this was the world of a game. No need to worry about whether the movements looked good; he only needed to get the ball into the hoop.
His shooting posture—had no posture to speak of. He neither aimed nor adjusted; the basketball flew from his hand as if programmed, tracing a nearly straight trajectory in the air and swishing through the net.
One, two, three...
The movements were too fast to see clearly, leaving only the continuous swish of the basketball hitting the net. The numbers on the screen jumped rapidly.
Stage one, cleared with a perfect score. Stage two, perfect. Stage three, still perfect.
The boys watching had already begun to whisper. Someone took out a phone to film secretly.
In stage four, the difficulty spiked. The hoop began to move left and right. Keima's movements didn't change at all. It was still that lack-of-aesthetic, near-mechanical shooting posture, but the basketball still landed steadily and accurately through the moving hoop.
Stage five. Stage six.
By the end of stage seven, a new number popped up on the screen.
[Current Score: 511]
The record board refreshed.
[1st Place: 511 points]
Kiryuin Fuuka watched as that name slowly rose on the screen and stopped at the very top.
"Oh? Interesting."
She hadn't expected Keima to easily break the record with a casual attempt. He clearly didn't look like the athletic type. Then again, Keima's movements couldn't even be called shooting; it was just throwing the ball, looking almost eerie.
Kiryuin Fuuka looked at him with a smile. Normally, she didn't care about breaking records. Even though she possessed academic and athletic abilities that gapped other students, she didn't like showing off. Staying in the top 50% was enough. She didn't even care about graduating from Class A.
Not making enemies, and not making allies—that was Kiryuin Fuuka's style, a lone wolf. Until she met Katsuragi Keima. She felt something interesting and special from him. It was an aura similar to her own.
This also sparked a bit of competitiveness in Kiryuin's heart. After all, if she got serious, no one should be able to beat her. Even Nagumo Miyabi was no exception.
Soon, she turned around and picked up a basketball again.
"Another round. I'm going to break your record."
"Based on your current hit rate growth curve, Senpai, it would take approximately 7 hours of continuous training to break 500 points."
"Then 7 hours it is."
"Good thing I brought a power bank."
He just stood to the side, quietly watching her insert another token, watching the basketball fly out, net, land, and bounce back from her hands time and again. The numbers on the screen climbed slowly but determinedly.
At the same time, at the entrance of the Game Center, the automatic doors slid open quietly. Sakura Airi and Karuizawa Kei stepped in almost simultaneously, and almost simultaneously froze at the entrance.
It wasn't because the lights inside were too dazzling, nor because the game sound effects were too noisy. It was because—
At a single glance, they saw that back in front of the basketball machine. Long white hair, a tall figure. Kiryuin-senpai was focused on shooting, the lines of her profile appearing soft under the arcade's fluorescent glow. And by her side, Katsuragi Keima stood quietly, having already picked up his handheld to play.
Airi's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
"...Did we come at a bad time?" Karuizawa Kei lowered her voice, her tone complex.
Sakura Airi didn't speak. She just gripped her camera strap tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white.
"Airi?"
"No..." Her voice was very light, nearly drowned out by the noise of the arcade. "Didn't we... come here to play games?"
She lifted her head and looked at Karuizawa Kei, her eyes determined. "So... we have to play games."
Kei looked at her and suddenly felt her heart struck by something soft.
"...I get it." She sighed softly. "Then, let's go."
Kei took a step forward and walked to a spot not far from the basketball machine, next to a two-player pinball-style game. It was the most convenient location to observe the two of them, and being a competitive two-player machine, it wouldn't look too awkward.
Sakura Airi took a deep breath, followed, and stood opposite Karuizawa Kei, pretending to play.
The electronic sound of the basketball machine paused for a moment—Kiryuin Fuuka finished her last shot, the score settling at 380. She turned around, and her red eyes happened to meet the two nearby.
No surprise, no displeasure, she simply raised an eyebrow as if she had long expected this scene.
"Here again?" Her tone carried a hint of playfulness as her gaze drifted between Sakura Airi and Karuizawa Kei, "Or... is it your first time?"
That word "again" felt like a fine needle pricking the tip of Airi's heart. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. Karuizawa Kei spoke up for her:
"We came to play games. Do you have an objection, Senpai?" Her tone carried a deliberate lightness, even a hint of provocation. But the fingers clutching the hem of her shirt betrayed her tension.
Kiryuin Fuuka looked at her and suddenly smiled. "No," she said, her tone unexpectedly peaceful. "However... the machine in front of you doesn't seem to be turned on."
"..."
"It doesn't matter, the more the merrier." She stepped aside, yielding the space in front of the basketball machine. "Want to try?"
Sakura Airi looked blankly at the vacated spot, then at Katsuragi Keima, who had remained silent. Keima was also looking at her—
'Airi really followed us after all?'
Keima had already detected Airi's stalking earlier. After all, this had happened before. Furthermore, Airi's stalking technique could be described as tragic; one could sense her presence from dozens of meters away. The problem was... why was Karuizawa Kei here too? Did she follow as well? And... together with Sakura Airi?
This was beyond Keima's expectations, but fortunately, he already had a plan in mind. Since it had turned into a chaotic situation, he might as well make it even more chaotic.
Using the networking function of his handheld, Keima sent a message to a certain person, then quickly turned his head to look at Airi and Kei: "Airi, Kei, are you two here as well?"
"I-I-I-I... we..."
"The two of us also agreed to come here and play." Seeing that Airi couldn't get a complete sentence out, Kei reacted quickly and answered. Except... that excuse was way too stiff. Sakura Airi and Karuizawa Kei were normally from two different worlds; if it weren't for the previous study group, it was highly likely they wouldn't have spoken a single word to each other all semester.
"Since you're here, let's play together."
"..."
Airi suddenly remembered the resolve she had made in her heart this morning—"Even if it's not me... I definitely have to... become that special person!"
She took a deep breath. Then, she took a step forward. Not toward the basketball machine, but toward Katsuragi Keima.
"...K-Keima-kun." Her voice was still small and trembling, but she didn't back down. "C-can I learn?"
She lifted her head and looked directly into his eyes. "Basketball. And... other games."
She didn't know what this sentence implied. Was it a confession? A declaration of war? Or just a small, clumsy request. But she said it.
Katsuragi Keima looked at her. The arcade lights shifted across his lenses, making his specific gaze hard to read. The silence lasted only a few seconds, but to Airi, it felt like an eternity.
Then he spoke. "You can."
Just two words. Calm, brief, and without any embellishment.
"...!" Airi nodded vigorously, revealing a bright and determined smile.
Karuizawa Kei stood to the side watching this and gave a soft "tch." She just crossed her arms, tilted her chin slightly, and said in an "I don't really care" tone: "Then I want to learn too. Don't just teach her alone."
Kiryuin Fuuka looked at these three first-year kouhais, an imperceptible smile flashing in her red eyes. She didn't speak, simply backing away a few steps from the basketball machine to leave the entire space to them.
—The subject of observation had turned from one into three. Today's observation material was unexpectedly abundant.
Kiryuin Fuuka narrowed her eyes slightly.
"I'll demonstrate first—" Keima proceeded to match his own record in front of the basketball machine.
Karuizawa Kei's brow nearby twitched slightly.
'Is that even a movement a human can make?'
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