Tal steps back into the bustling classroom. The sliding door clicks shut behind him, sealing away the quiet tension of the hallway. Most of the students are already gathered in chaotic little clusters around the desks, their voices a loud, overlapping buzz of nervous excitement.
He adjusts the canvas strap on his shoulder and walks to his assigned seat near the back corner. The wood of the desk feels rough and cold against his palm as he drops his bag onto the floor.
A boy with neat, un-dyed brown hair stands up near the front of the room. Hirata Yousuke.
"Starting today, we're all going to be classmates," Hirata says, projecting his voice easily over the chatter. He flashes a warm, disarming smile. "Therefore, I think it'd be good for us to introduce ourselves and become friends as soon as possible. We still have some time until the entrance ceremony. What do you say?"
The room goes completely quiet for a second. Then, eager voices rise up from the desks.
"Agreed! After all, we still don't know a thing about each other, not even our names," someone shouts from the middle row.
Hirata nods gratefully. "My name's Hirata Yousuke. Back in junior high, lots of people called me Yousuke. Feel free to use my first name! I guess my hobby is sports in general, but I especially like soccer. I'm planning on playing soccer here, too. Nice to meet you!"
The girls sitting nearby instantly swoon, their eyes wide with admiration. Tal leans back in his hard wooden chair and crosses his arms over his chest.
The soccer club.
Tal tilts his head slightly and looks at Hirata's athletic build. Then, his gaze shifts across the room to a tall, muscular boy with fiery red hair. Sudou Ken, lounging aggressively with his heavy shoes kicked out into the narrow aisle.
The basketball club.
A huge logical gap exists in this universe. Why do sports clubs operate in a small school built specifically to isolate its students from the outside world? If athletes eventually go outside the campus to participate in the Interhigh tournaments, the isolation rule breaks entirely. They play in massive public stadiums. Their parents, relatives, and junior high friends buy tickets and watch them from the bleachers. The media interviews them.
He stares up at the dull, white ceiling tiles.
The schedule alone is a physical impossibility.
The Regional Qualifiers for basketball run through May and June. That directly overlaps with the brutal preparations for the island exams and the school's internal academic testing.
The Uninhabited Island Exam for the first and second years occurs from July 20th to August 3rd. That is the exact window of the Summer Interhigh. Sudou and Hirata are physically trapped on a tropical island. They are sweating in the dirt, rationing bottled water, and fighting for S-points. They cannot simultaneously be on the mainland dribbling a ball on a polished hardwood court.
Following the island, the Cruise Ship Special Exam runs from August 4th to August 11th. Students remain isolated at sea. There is zero possibility of post-tournament participation or late entries.
And the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament happens from December 28th to January 12th. That completely overlaps with the winter break on campus, a time filled with intense factional plotting. Hirata remains continuously present in the dorms during that entire period.
In my previous life, the Interhigh puzzle made my head ache.
Tal remembers sitting in his cramped bedroom late at night, scribbling fictional schedules on yellow notepads. He tried for hours to force the dates to align. He could never find a single perfect timeline where Sudou and Hirata were off-campus competing without missing a crucial special exam.