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On the day of the ball game tournament, dodgeball finals.
In Asakura's class, only Asakura himself remained on the court. Even the substitute throwers had been eliminated, while the opposing class still had seven or eight people scattered around, and two throwers stood menacingly behind Asakura.
Although he had slandered the Magic [Snake] in the Clubroom before, [Snake] actually had a certain boosting effect on the caster.
Aside from abilities like infrared vision, which manifest physiologically and generally cannot be used in front of ordinary people, the most significant effect is the ability to increase reaction speed—unless the temperature is low enough to affect Asakura, his normal reaction speed is about five times that of an ordinary person.
"Asakura-kun, surrender quickly! You have no chance of winning!"
As Asakura caught another ball with incredibly fast reflexes, the blue-haired, earring-wearing boy from the opposing class, probably their class representative, shouted loudly.
If it were Yukino, who remembered all the students' names, she would probably know what the opponent's name was, but Asakura certainly couldn't do that. He'd rather spend that time memorizing vocabulary.
Hmm, it seems he's found the reason why Yukino can't outscore him on tests.
"Asakura-kun, go for it!"
"Don't lose!"
"All our hopes are on you!"
Enthusiastic cheers came from his classmates in the stands.
The atmosphere, like the final episode of an anime, made Asakura feel a bit hot-blooded.
"It seems I need to get serious too."
So he said loudly.
"What? You weren't serious from the start?!"
The blue-haired earring boy looked at him in shock.
"That's right, actually…"
Asakura transferred the ball he was holding in his left hand to his right hand, then extended his right hand, which wasn't bandaged, and pointed the ball at the opponent, a cool smile on his face that said, 'We'll win!': "I'm right-handed."
Accompanied by Asakura's declaration, like a protagonist revealing their ultimate trump card, and a pose capable of intimidating all opponents, the atmosphere in the entire venue instantly reached its climax.
—Three minutes later—
"We lost."
Asakura walked off the court with an awkward smile: "Strange, I was quite confident…"
"You said it so coolly, but you got KO'd in an instant, didn't you?"
Yuigahama Yui complained while handing him a towel.
"Ah, how embarrassing."
Asakura wiped his face, which hadn't really sweated much, with the towel: "But I think those who were eliminated at the very beginning aren't qualified to talk about me."
Although Asakura could easily catch the balls thrown by the opponent with his super-fast reflexes, if he didn't catch it but instinctively dodged a ball, and that ball was caught by the thrower behind him, then the opponent could use the momentary stiffness of his dodging movement to directly send him out with a ball from behind.
"I… I was just getting out quickly to make space for other classmates to dodge the ball!"
Yuigahama Yui argued.
"After spending some time with Yukino, Yuigahama has also started to become stubborn."
Asakura sighed with emotion: "That young lady is truly harmful."
"That's not true! And Asakura-kun lost too, so you're not in a position to criticize me for being stubborn."
Yuigahama said with a pout, lacking confidence.
"Sure enough, even with quick reactions, you can't dodge combination attacks."
Asakura couldn't help but sigh.
Although he could also dodge by bending his body in incredible ways using abilities similar to Snake's soft tissue modification, or simply use the Magic [Scale] to create invisible obstacles in the ball's path to make it seem like the opponent made a throwing error, it was just a normal game. It was already too much to not use Snake's passive ability, and Asakura really couldn't bring himself to formally use Magic to bully children.
"I think Asakura-kun is already quite amazing, being able to eliminate almost half of the opposing team by himself."
Yanami appeared like a mushroom after a rain, seemingly out of nowhere, and said, "Rather, isn't it that our class of rabble-rousers only made it to the finals because of Asakura-kun? Everyone else is as weak as bean sprouts."
"Oh, I thought I heard Yanami cheering me on just now."
Asakura stroked his chin, recalling.
"Compared to such trivial matters, everyone in the Magic Club has finished their events! We can start 'that'!"
The girl rubbed her hands together gleefully.
Although she looked cute, there was a subtle hint of mischief about her.
"Yanami, you go with Yuigahama Yui. I'll go find Chihaya."
Asakura said.
"Is Asagumo Chihaya also participating?"
Yanami paused, then asked.
"I mentioned it to her yesterday when I had a moment, and she happily agreed. She even said she'd bring beef for the sukiyaki pot,"
Asakura nodded.
"That's great! As expected of Asagumo Chihaya, she really understands people's hearts!"
Yanami cheered softly, then covered her mouth, looking around cautiously.
After all, there were many Student Council members and Discipline Committee members patrolling the school today, so necessary vigilance was very important.
"Speaking of which, what ingredients did Yuigahama Yui bring?"
Yanami asked softly again.
"Something edible."
Yuigahama Yui replied.
Yanami: "?"
"Didn't we say we were making a dark pot? It's most fun when the ingredients aren't recognized until the last moment!"
Yuigahama Yui said mysteriously, "Asakura-kun, you agree, right?"
"Right, right?"
Asakura wasn't too sure either. If it were anyone else, maintaining a sense of mystery would be fine, but if it was Yuigahama Yui, then it seemed a bit off…
After cautiously confirming that there were no Student Council members nearby, Yanami left with Yuigahama Yui.
And Asakura began to search for Asagumo Chihaya's classroom.
He had barely taken two steps when he saw Asagumo Chihaya's signature shimmering forehead.
"Sorry, have you been waiting long?"
The girl quickly ran to Asakura's side. Unlike her usual well-behaved demeanor, the girl in sportswear looked more energetic, which made Asakura's eyes light up.
She had clearly just finished her own sports event. Although she wasn't drenched in sweat, there were fine beads of sweat on her forehead.
But it didn't smell of the common sour odor after sweating; instead, it had a faint, elegant fragrance.
Asakura had smelled similar scents on Yuigahama Yui and Yanami today, but the former was a faint lavender-like scent, while the latter was a sweet citrus scent.
Of course, it wasn't something as romantically masculine as a girl's unique virginal fragrance. According to Yanami, it was the scent of antiperspirant girls used to maintain their image.
After explaining, she even gave Asakura, who had asked such an unromantic question, a glare and the comment, "That's why Asakura-kun is lacking in that regard."
"I didn't wait long… rather, I hadn't even had a chance to look for Chihaya yet…"
Asakura subconsciously handed the towel to the sweating Asagumo Chihaya, and then realized that he had just used this towel to wipe his own sweat.
So, just as he was about to take the towel back to give the girl a clean one, she had already, with quick hands, used it to wipe her fair and graceful neck, even pulling down her collar slightly, revealing a hint of white skin and a not-so-obvious tan line.
"That… the towel…"
Asakura said somewhat awkwardly.
"What's wrong with the towel?"
Asagumo Chihaya didn't seem to notice that the towel had already been used, and asked in a very natural tone.
"…Never mind, let's hurry to the clubroom."
Feeling that continuing the conversation would make everyone awkward, Asakura simply pretended not to know about it and glossed over it.
"Takuma-kun is unexpectedly enthusiastic about hot pot."
"Not really. I just want to confirm Yuigahama's ingredients and condition as soon as possible, since today's hot pot depends on her."
"To entrust the entire flavor of the hot pot to Yuigahama Yui, Takuma-kun must really trust her cooking skills."
"No, what I'm entrusting to her is not the flavor of the hot pot,"
Asakura said with a serious expression, "It's our lives."
Asagumo Chihaya: "?"
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