As it turned out, Hayama Hayato had immense confidence in himself.
The moment Shirase admitted it, Hayama didn't doubt him in the slightest. Instead, he asked if Shirase would allow him to share this conclusion with others.
Shirase agreed.
During a short break, Hayama dashed over and exchanged a few words with the club president.
Then Shirase saw the president staring at him with tears shimmering in his eyes—exactly like Daniel Wu looking at Nicholas Tse in Rob-B-Hood: "Thank goodness for you."
As club members gradually stopped for rest, no one bothered Shirase anymore. He calmly activated [Fixed Hosting] and focused entirely on his physical training.
Standing by the field, notebook in hand, Isshiki Iroha softly murmured, "Shirase's stamina is so much higher than everyone else's. The gap is huge—it's honestly not a good thing."
Having smoothly become Soccer Club manager, the girl naturally hadn't slacked off, carefully fulfilling her duties at every moment.
But now, witnessing Shirase utterly outpacing everyone in stamina, she couldn't help but feel worried.
Would the others really be able to keep up with Shirase on the field?
Perhaps only Hayama-kun and the club president could manage.
Isshiki sighed softly, gazing at the data in her charts.
Even outsiders knew that in team sports, any glaring weakness could be ruthlessly exploited by opponents.
"Why are you sighing?"
Just as Isshiki Iroha frowned gloomily, a sudden voice whispered from beside her.
She instinctively turned around—only to find Kojima Kana peering over her shoulder at the data sheets with a stern expression, Kirisu Mafuyu also watching closely.
Isshiki instantly felt pressured. "It's nothing...I was just thinking about the Soccer Club's friendly match."
"What about it?" Kojima Kana pressed. With Shirase in the club, she naturally cared about its condition.
Isshiki Iroha lowered her head, looking wronged. "Earlier, I promised Shirase-kun I would relay our request for a friendly match to the principal and try to get his approval, but…"
Her voice trembled with shame and frustration: "The principal was at school this morning, so I went to see him. But he said the Baseball Club was already arranging a friendly match, and since the Soccer Club's results have gotten worse every year—especially last year when we didn't even qualify—he said he didn't want to lose face in front of other schools again."
"So the principal refused?" Kojima Kana's brows furrowed.
Isshiki Iroha murmured quietly, "Not exactly. The principal is kind, so he only said he'd think about it and didn't reject me outright."
"That's basically a no," Kirisu Mafuyu cut in.
Kojima Kana thought for a moment, then said decisively, "I'll talk to the principal myself on Monday. If he still hesitates, I'll personally vouch for the club. That should persuade him to approve at least one friendly match."
"I'll come along," Kirisu Mafuyu added, unwilling to sit idly by as a friend.
But neither noticed Isshiki Iroha, head lowered, secretly smiling with relief.
She wasn't extraordinarily clever, unable to match Yukinoshita Yukino's genius—but she had her own little cleverness and plenty of subtle schemes.
Her earlier pitiful, upset look was half genuine and half intentional.
The principal really had brushed her off.
Everything was done to gain Kojima Kana and Kirisu Mafuyu's help.
Now that her goal was achieved, she naturally felt happy.
I've gotten even closer to becoming Shirase-kun's friend now.
...
When club activities ended, it was already five in the afternoon. With Kojima Kana and Kirisu Mafuyu watching closely, everyone trained especially hard—even Hayama Hayato was exhausted on his way home.
Before leaving, Hayama remarked jokingly to Shirase, "You don't need to hide your abilities anymore, you know? As your partner, seeing you suddenly grow stronger every few days really puts pressure on me."
Shirase replied calmly, "Wouldn't it be even worse if I got stronger every single day?"
Hayama laughed. "At least I'd be improving every day too. But if you suddenly widen the gap all at once again someday—that'd be truly despair-inducing."
At the school gate, Kojima Kana was also bidding farewell to Kirisu Mafuyu.
"About cleaning up the bugs in your apartment—how about I find you a helper in a couple of days?"
"By helper...you mean Shirase?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'll be counting on you, Kojima."
Hearing that, Kirisu Mafuyu finally relaxed.
And as for Shirase seeing her messy home?
She'd already figured it out—after all, Kojima Kana and Shirase had grown as close as real siblings, so her sloppy side would inevitably be exposed anyway. No need to pretend otherwise.
At worst, she'd just lose a bit of dignity in front of Shirase.
"So Kirisu-sensei has tsundere tendencies too?"
Remembering Shirase's earlier remark, Kirisu Mafuyu's cheeks flushed faintly.
I miscalculated again. That kid's definitely going to get bolder around me from now on.
On their way home, Kojima Kana brought up the earlier conversation. "Kirisu-sensei asked me to help with a thorough cleaning of her place… Well, she didn't explicitly say it, but she definitely meant it."
She'd already considered it thoroughly. If they wanted to eradicate cockroaches in one go, a large-scale cleaning and pesticide spraying would be absolutely necessary.
Shirase hadn't caught her implication yet, simply replying, "Then you should go. You and Kirisu-sensei are friends anyway."
Kojima Kana bit her lip, slowing her steps slightly. "I mean—when you're free, let's go together."
"Me?" Shirase turned his head, startled. Why drag him along for housecleaning?
Kojima Kana awkwardly averted her gaze, not daring to meet Shirase's eyes. Her long eyelashes fluttered nervously. "Kirisu-sensei has cockroaches at home—the kind that fly."
Ah, so that was it.
Shirase couldn't help but laugh.
Still, speaking of flying cockroaches reminded him of his past life's experiences in Guangdong Province—perpetually humid, a place where he'd personally suffered persecution from Guangdong cockroaches.
Flying cockroaches were nothing compared to the gigantic kind that made grown men's scalps crawl. If you or your neighbors didn't clean regularly, those creatures were everywhere.
"No problem, just leave it to me," Shirase agreed easily.
Kojima Kana's cheeks turned rosy. The awkward mixture of embarrassment and false bravado in her eyes somehow made her appear even more charming. "Just to be clear, I'm not scared of cockroaches—I'm just uncomfortable around the flying ones."
"Yes, yes, I know. You're only asking me because I clean faster than you."
"Right! You're especially fast—exactly!"
Kojima Kana happily hooked her arm around Shirase's.
Walking beside her, Shirase thought inwardly that this particular phrasing was pretty awkward.
After all, according to the saying, when a man is fast, women aren't happy; but when a woman calls a man fast, the man feels oddly accomplished.