"I'm heading out first."
After saying a quick goodbye to the two of them, Watanabe Tetsu walked toward the club building.
On the way, he tossed his empty strawberry-milk carton into a trash bin from about three meters away. A female discipline committee member happened to witness it and scolded him on the spot.
Her expression was as severe as a warrior monk from a wuxia tale — and she clearly had some kind of opinion about him.
Tetsu guessed it was probably because of the "indecent betting incident" involving the Human Observation Club.
After two straight days of rain, the sky finally cleared. The humid heat from earlier in the week had been swept away, leaving the temperature perfectly balanced — not too hot, not too cold.
Even the roadside trees between Yotsuya Station and Shinagawa Private Academy looked greener and more vibrant than usual.
Suddenly, Watanabe Tetsu wanted to look at the sky, so for once, he took the fifth-floor skywalk toward the club building.
The vast stretch of blue above the school campus looked like the photos he saw in a travel magazine at the bookstore yesterday. The only difference was a long white contrail neatly splitting the sky in half.
Walking across the skywalk, watching the airplane trail slowly drift, Tetsu felt as if he himself had become one of those lazy white clouds.
Of course, that was just a metaphor — he didn't even know what clouds were made of, let alone understand their "mood."
So instead, he began guessing where the plane had come from and where it was going.
"Maybe it's flying from Hokkaido to Shanghai? Hmm… or maybe it started in Okinawa and is heading to Hawaii? Moscow could work too."
Moscow reminded him of Russia. Russia reminded him of the Northern Territories dispute.
His history teacher's voice echoed in his mind.
"In what year did the Soviet Union occupy the four northern islands?"
"September 3rd, 1945. And in January 1947, they were officially incorporated into Soviet territory."
Perfect.
"Name the four islands involved in the territorial dispute."
"Kunashiri, Shikotan, Habomai…"
And then his mind went blank.
There was one more, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall it.
No matter how much knowledge he claimed to possess, he was certainly no photographic memory.
"Huh?"
A familiar voice jolted him back to the present.
He looked ahead and saw a group of girls sitting on the signature metal tube-chairs that only the club building had. They were eating bento lunches, musical instruments resting beside them.
Tetsu was embarrassingly ignorant when it came to instruments — he could only recognize a cello and a euphonium. There was something that looked like a flute but wasn't quite a flute, and he had no idea what it was called.
Among the group was Hanada Asako, small and delicate enough to be mistaken for an elementary schooler.
Startled, Asako jumped to her feet with her lunch box in hand, thinking Tetsu had come specifically to see her.
Tetsu felt like he had intruded into someone else's living room. He wanted to pretend he hadn't noticed them at all — but Asako was staring wide-eyed at him, so he had no choice but to greet her.
Smiling, he waved. "Good afternoon, Hanada-senpai."
The other girls didn't respond — they were all frozen in surprise.
Hanada Asako buried her crimson-red face into the oversized ribbon at her collar, looking impossibly adorable.
"Damn it, I've been thinking about history so hard I forgot I'm not supposed to smile casually!"
Tetsu quickly wiped the smile off his face and hurried away.
That magical, enchanting smile — the one that could make anyone happy just by seeing it — bloomed for only an instant on the skywalk.
When he arrived at the Human Observation Club's activity room, the only one there was the overly beautiful and excessively intelligent literature girl, Kiyono Rin, sitting by the window reading.
Tetsu grabbed three colorful donuts and, just as he was about to leave, turned back and asked casually:
"Kiyono-san, let me test you. Do you know the names of the four islands in the Northern Territories dispute?"
"Kunashiri, Shikotan, Habomai, and Etorofu."
Rin answered without even lifting her eyes from her book.
Fine. You were superior a moment ago, but now we're even.
Feeling victorious, Tetsu shot her a smug glance and firmly planted the new word — Etorofu — into his memory.
Noticing his unfriendly look, Rin lifted her head.
Brushing her long hair back behind her ear, letting the summer breeze flow past her, she revealed a smile as serene as a saint's.
"Watanabe-kun, is there anything else you don't understand?"
"I was just testing you. I never said I didn't know the answer."
"Lies. And close the door on your way out."
Everything about Rin — her smile, her tone — was tinged with arrogance.
As expected, aside from her beauty and intelligence, she was good for absolutely nothing.
Unlike her, he, Watanabe Tetsu, did not have such a terrible personality!
On his way back to the main school building, he deliberately avoided the fifth floor and returned via the third floor.
Inside Class 2-B, Yuki Miki was surrounded by several girls chatting.
Well… "chatting" wasn't quite accurate. It looked more like the girls carefully tossing out topics, waiting to see which ones Miki might take interest in. Only when she approved would a conversation actually begin.
"Aren't you exhausted living like that? If it weren't for threats, I would never deal with a stuck-up princess like her."
Tetsu genuinely could not understand the appeal of fussing over someone like Yuki Miki.
But the moment he stepped inside, the class's attention shifted to him. Understandable — he was a celebrity here.
Even without the exam-bet incident, Watanabe Tetsu himself was handsome enough that nearly every girl in school wanted to marry him.
Why "nearly"?
You all understand, so there's no need to explain.
Ever since "The Rain-Running Incident ft. Kiyono Rin's Mockery," Tetsu had become less bothered by other people's stares — at least on the surface.
Calmly, he walked to Miki's desk. One of the girls politely moved aside for him.
He nodded and said, "Thank you."
"Miki, I brought you something to eat — donuts."
The classroom erupted in murmurs.
"He called her Miki! By her first name!"
"Are they dating?"
"They must be! He even brought sweets for her!"
"Huh? Why? I think Kiyono-san suits him better. They both look literary — they'd make a perfect pair."
"Now that you say it… but maybe Watanabe-kun just likes the princess type?"
"I bet he just likes money."
Wrong, all of you. I'm not dating Yuki Miki, I absolutely do not match with literature girl Kiyono Rin, and I don't care about money either!
Miki didn't take the beautifully boxed donuts. Instead, she glanced sideways at the girl who had said "Kiyono-san is better," and the corners of her mouth curled up.
A chill ran down Tetsu's back.
Don't tell me this girl is going to murder someone at school…?!
With a faint, leisurely smile, Miki said:
"I don't want to eat this. Go get me something else."
"Something else?"
Ah. So she was venting her irritation on him.
"Do I need to repeat myself?"
"…"
Tetsu silently recited:
'Gentle, understanding, loyal.'
'A gentleman's revenge can wait ten years.'
He hypnotized himself into calmness.
With a warm smile he said, "My mistake, Miki. I should've realized you weren't in the mood for donuts. As an apology… what would you like? Custard tart? Sachertorte? Fruit? Anything else?"
Several nearby girls practically melted at his voice and smile — only Miki remained completely unmoved.
Her expression remained regal, as if silently questioning:
Let's see what you're really after.
But Miki said nothing, letting the silence grow heavy.
"Miki, you're beautiful even when you're angry."
"Oh? Which part is beautiful?"
Tetsu could guarantee that her smiling face right now had nothing to do with delight. If his answer displeased her, she would absolutely use it as an excuse to punish him.
Something humiliating, like forcing him to strip and perform radio calisthenics or something.
"Even though you're wearing the same uniform, it looks completely different on you. The way your black thigh-high socks hug your legs… or your white cotton socks… or even your indoor shoes that fit just right."
"Where exactly are you looking?"
"At your legs."
Without warning, Miki aimed a sharp kick straight at him.
But as a master of freestyle combat, Watanabe Tetsu caught her leg easily.
"Miki, we should save things like this for when we're alone. Doing this here…"
He glanced at the stunned students of Class 2-B.
"…probably isn't appropriate, right?"
"Watanabe," Miki said coldly, pointing at her raised right leg.
"Take it off."
At that moment, Tetsu truly wished he could twist that leg off and toss her out the third-floor window like an empty strawberry-milk carton.
"Jealous! I'm so jealous!"
"That bastard Watanabe needs to die!"
"Miki's legs—!!"
The voices of the male students were… disturbing.
Shouldn't they be criticizing Miki for going too far right now?
Hopeless. They were all hopeless.
Watanabe Tetsu felt like he was the only normal male student left in all of Shinagawa Private Academy.
He gently lowered Miki's leg.
"Miki's legs belong to me alone. I won't let anyone else see them."
Miki froze slightly, narrowing her eyes.
"Are you giving me an order?"
"I'm jealous, that's all."
"Jealous?"
"Yes. I don't want other guys looking at your legs."
Miki smiled.
"Fine. I'll only show them to you. Tonight, I'll come to your place."
In that moment, the crushing weight in Tetsu's heart, and the burning jealousy of every boy in the room, were about equal in intensity.
"M-Miki, listen… The exams are tomorrow. Resting well is really important."
Miki said the one word she loved most to say to him:
"No."
Boy A shouted, "We should kill him!"
Boy B agreed, "We can't let shameless Watanabe walk out of school alive today!"
Friend, I won't argue about you calling me shameless, but if you can actually do it, please hurry — I don't want to go home tonight either!
Just as the tension reached its peak, a sharp voice cut through the air like a divine blessing.
"Watanabe Tetsu! You again!"
The severe discipline committee girl marched into Class 2-B like a righteous warrior.
"I'm sorry, I'm guilty," Tetsu said immediately.
"I failed to restrain my desire for Miki's legs and did something improper in front of everyone."
The discipline officer blinked.
"W-What improper thing?! What did you do!?"
"What a boy wants to do when he sees a girl's legs."
"You—You what!?"
The discipline officer stared at Miki's legs, then suspiciously sniffed the air.
"W-What are you doing?! I only touched them for a second!"
Tetsu stared at her like she was some kind of pervert, disbelief in his eyes.
Her pretty face flushed with both anger and embarrassment.
"You, Watanabe Tetsu! Come with me!"
"Is it wrong to touch my girlfriend? Miki, help me out here!"
Tetsu hoped desperately to be taken away — by the discipline committee, the police, anyone!
"I don't know this guy. Please punish him properly," Miki said with a bright, mischievous smile.
"M-Miki?!"
Tetsu turned back in shock, just in time to see her wicked grin.
This girl was impossible to predict.
He had thought he understood her nature — that she would never let him off easily.
Was she trying to get him punished? Planning to use his student record and parents to threaten him?
From a tiny rural school with only five teachers and students combined, he had clawed his way into a prestigious Tokyo academy through self-study and endless effort.
There was no way he would let her ruin it.
"Discipline officer, let me explain — just now, Yuki-san kicked me first, so I—"
"Silence! We're going to the principal's office!"
"The principal's office?! Isn't that too much? I'm a first-time offender!"
Off to the side, Yuki Miki happily took the donut she had said she didn't want earlie