After reading the sentence without any emotion, Natsuha suddenly snapped back to reality and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Wow! That student is amazing! They actually won the national competition!"
No wonder Natsuha was surprised. Osaka High isn't exactly a top-tier school, and a national-level champion like that might not appear even once in several years.
And that Yotsumoto Ryouka sounded like she might be a girl, so Natsuha naturally couldn't help being astonished.
Hikari just smiled and said, "Natsuha-chan, if you competed in aikido right now, you could probably win too."
Hearing Hikari, Natsuha smiled, hooked her arm through his, and cooed, "Maybe, but even if I won it wouldn't be an honorable victory. After all, I've barely trained my strength myself. Almost everything was taught to me bit by bit by Hikari-kun, including various fighting techniques."
"If it weren't for him, my aikido would only be three-paws-cat level, just enough to beat some oaf. It's Hikari-kun who gave me a new life."
"But really, Hikari-kun, you're so strong. Why don't you ever join these competitions? Whether it's aikido, kendo, karate, taekwondo, if Hikari-kun entered any of them you'd win easily, right?"
Hikari smiled and said, "At my level, do you think those contests would be interesting?"
Natsuha blinked, thinking carefully. Her physical ability was already beyond that of ordinary people, and that national high school karate champion Yotsumoto Ryouka might not even be a match for her.
But yesterday Hikari had easily flipped her over with the Holy Sword of Physics and had even beaten the legendary snow woman at the same time.
Thinking of that terrifying combat power, Natsuha's delicate body shivered unconsciously.
Then, thinking that Hikari didn't seem to lack money and didn't appear to want fame, she nodded knowingly, "If Hikari-kun really entered, it'd be like an adult bullying a child, like humans stepping on ants. It really wouldn't be interesting."
Hikari nodded with a smile, "Yeah, and my ambitions aren't there."
Natsuha smiled too, "I know, Hikari-kun still likes hunting those minotaurs lost in darkness."
Hearing this, Hikari smiled faintly and was about to speak.
But at that moment a voice suddenly called from beside them.
"Hik… Hikari-kun?"
Hikari and Natsuha both turned their heads to the left.
They saw a girl in a JK uniform walking toward them, her expression slightly hesitant, as if afraid she might have mistaken the person.
When she recognized Hikari's face and confirmed it, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Hikari didn't recognize the neat, pretty girl who had come up to greet him at first.
Her skin was fair, her figure slender and graceful. Her black long hair was tied into a high ponytail with a white ribbon; her blue eyes were bright and charming, and her lips were lightly pressed.
Although she was rather pretty, truly a beautiful girl, Hikari had seen many beautiful girls and didn't immediately recall her; she seemed unfamiliar.
But since he had a memory like a photographic recall, his mind turned and he quickly recognized who she was.
———
Seeing a pretty stranger come up and greet Hikari, Natsuha instantly went on alert.
"Sayaka, good morning," Hikari said with a smile, having just remembered her identity.
This high-ponytail beauty, Katsuragi Sayaka, wasn't someone Hikari was close with, but he had met her twice.
He recalled the first time: it was at the pool when he met Akane; Sayaka was there then. Akane and Sayaka had been middle school classmates and members of the girls' swim club, so they had greeted each other.
Later, Sayaka and her mother Katsuragi Shouko and sister Katsuragi Yuki moved to the apartment next door to him because their house was being renovated.
So she became his neighbor in Asou Apartments. Also the step-sister of his neighbor and resident security guard, Kareki Tsunetaka.
At that time, Katsuragi Shouko came to greet him and asked him to fix a faucet, and that was the second time he met Katsuragi Sayaka.
These pieces of information about Katsuragi Sayaka flashed through Hikari's mind.
Sayaka didn't think much in those few seconds; she just smiled and said to Hikari, "What a coincidence to meet you at the school gate this morning, Hikari-kun. I was actually going to call you after class at noon."
Curious, Hikari asked, "What's up, Sayaka? Did you need something from me?"
Sayaka explained, "We temporarily put my mother's and sister's luggage at Hikari-kun's house before, remember? We said we'd pick it up in three or four days, but then some things came up and it got delayed several days. I'm really sorry."
"Today my mother and I plan to move to Tsunetaka's house to stay temporarily, so… I wanted to ask Hikari-kun, if it's convenient today, could I come by your house and take our luggage?"
After hearing Sayaka, Hikari immediately understood and waved his hand, "No problem, it's fine. If you're coming to get the luggage today, just give me a call ahead."
"Thank you, Hikari-kun!", Sayaka bowed gratefully.
Her motion was quick; as she stood up the soft parts in front of her jostled a few times.
After Hikari politely returned a few of her thanks, she stepped off first.
Watching Sayaka's graceful figure walk away, and after she disappeared completely, the previously quiet Natsuha finally spoke, "Hikari-kun, that girl called Katsuragi Sayaka just now is…"
Hikari casually explained, "She's a new neighbor who moved in next to my place."
Natsuha felt it wasn't that simple and couldn't help asking, "Um… Hikari-kun, what's your relationship with her?"
Seeing Natsuha acting like a little jealous pot wanting to pry but afraid to make a fuss, Hikari found it a bit funny and said, "Don't worry, Sayaka and I have no other relationship. She's just a neighbor."
"Oh, and by the way, Akane and Sayaka are middle school classmates from the swim club. They're pretty good friends. So don't worry."
Hikari told Natsuha that Akane and Sayaka were friends to stop Natsuha, the little jealous one, from overthinking things.
But when she heard that, Natsuha became even more on guard, "Sayaka is friends with Akane? Then I'll have to be extra careful!"
Seeing Natsuha like that, Hikari understood and was a little helplessly amused.
It seemed Akane's strict personality was obvious not just to him but to Natsuha too. Hikari shook his head with a smile.
"All right, class is starting, stop thinking about this and go back to your classroom."
Hikari saw Natsuha to the classroom door and urged the slightly reluctant girl to hurry inside.
He then went back to the classroom, quickly changed into his gym uniform, and headed to the field behind the teaching building.
The first period this morning was PE.
Because he wasn't sure whether some other teacher like math or Chinese might possess him, Hikari arrived a bit late to class, so naturally he wasn't early to the field either.
When he reached the field, the class had already gathered and lined up.
The bell had just rung, so Hikari still had time to hurry into the row.
Standing in the class formation, many classmates whispered to each other, especially the boys, and their topic was the rare female PE teacher at the front.
PE class was popular, and Hikari knew that besides the class itself, the pretty PE teacher, Amami Marika, was also part of the reason.
She was composed and capable, tall with a slim, well-proportioned body, an oval fair face, and long black hair tied in a high ponytail, giving a neat, crisp impression.
Looking at the attractive PE teacher at the front, Hikari heard a few boys whispering nearby.
"Ayato, Marika-sensei's figure is amazing, don't you think?", Matsuzono Ayumu whispered to his deskmate.
"Uh… it is great, but she's so tall, much taller than the two of us…", the petite Haruno Ayato replied shyly; he wasn't the type to openly discuss a teacher's figure.
"Hey, so what if she's tall? Tall and slender like that are the best! Legs are super long! And I feel like Marika-sensei likes boys who are short and compact like us, she wouldn't like a dumb, big guy like Hikari-kun," Matsuzono Ayumu muttered.
Hikari glanced at him.
Matsuzono immediately drew in his neck, "Hikari-kun… I… I was joking…"
Hikari didn't bother chasing that playful talk, but Amami Marika seemed to have heard some of the noise.
The impressive, tall female teacher shouted, "Hey, Matsuzono, can you be quiet? You're always whispering with other students! I'm taking roll call, quiet down!"
Although female, she still carried the authority of a teacher. Besides, Amami Marika's build wasn't exaggerated like some male PE teachers. She was just evenly muscled and solid, looking stronger than many boys but still elegant because of her tall figure.
After her stern reprimand, everyone quieted down and stopped whispering.
Amami Marika nodded in satisfaction and took out the attendance book to call names.
When roll call finished, she seemed to remember something and said, "Today's lesson is free activity, but don't go to the track. There's a competition over there, don't disturb them."
"All right, dismissed!"
At her words, the students scattered.
Free activity during PE was the favorite time for many small groups.
Boys could gather to play ball, girls could cluster to check out handsome guys or gossip.
But students who were shy and not in any group would feel awkward.
Seeing Yoshida Saki, who usually sat at the desk in front of him and often kept to herself, still standing alone after Amami Marika dismissed the class and not joining any girl group, looking like she wanted to hide in a corner. Hikari walked over.
"Yoshida," he called casually, easing the awkwardness of Saki standing there unsure of what to do.
Saki seemed to notice his intention; surprised, she brightened and walked quickly toward him.
Before she could speak, several girls suddenly surrounded Hikari.
"Hey! Hikari-kun, so you're here secretly picking up girls after dismissal instead of coming to play with the three of us!", Reina teased.
"We were waiting for Hikari-kun to take us to play ball, remember?" Yukina said.
"Hikari-kun wants to play ball too, right? Come to the equipment room with Ruri-chan. Ruri said you can play ball~", The more forward walnut-haired Ruri grabbed half of Hikari's arm without caring who was watching.
Seeing the three pretty girls clustered around him, many boys nearby cast envious looks.
"You three…", Hikari looked at them helplessly and smiled.
Yoshida Saki, who had been planning to greet him happily, only dared a weak hello.
After the joking, the three girls also greeted Yoshida Saki with smiles.
Although not close, the three girls had been to visit Hikari before and had used Saki's seat, so they weren't total strangers.
Saki looked a bit flattered by the attention.
Around the three girls there were another two or three other classmates who also greeted Hikari and Saki.
The three girls were the center of a small group, outgoing and friendly, and naturally the rest followed.
After the greetings, one girl named Yoshino turned to Ruri and said, "Teacher said there's a track meet over there involving several schools. Ruri, should we go watch?"
"Yeah! I heard there are star athletes from other schools. Reina, Yukina, do you want to go watch?"
The girls murmured and most looked to the core three for the decision.
The three girls looked at Hikari.
"Hikari-kun, want to go see the meet?", they asked.
With no pure-love radar alarm and no minotaur to hunt at the moment, PE was free time anyway. Hikari glanced at the lively track and nodded, "Sure, let's go see."
After he agreed, the three girls decided to go, and the other girls naturally followed; the small group headed toward the track.
At the track's edge, Hikari found many students and schoolmates had already gathered. Not packed three or four deep, but nearly circling the track.
A lot of people were shouting encouragements to the runners.
"Inoue! Go! Inoue! Number one!"
"Mia! Go! Mia's the best!"
"Asuka! Go! Asuka's the true number one!"
Hearing the shouts and seeing the sign for the girls' 100-meter race, Hikari's expression changed.
'Could it be… they're competing?', he thought.
Pushing through the crowd with the three girls, his view opened and he could clearly see the runners.
Seeing the most popular competitors' faces, he realized exactly as he'd suspected: they were the two sprinters he already knew.
Mia Sturson, the blonde, blue-eyed transfer student from America at Seishimizu Academy, and Ogura Asuka.
Because of Mia and Asuka's outstanding looks, top-tier figures, and solid ability, they naturally were the two most popular female athletes.
Those shouts earlier were for these two girls.
Besides Mia and Asuka, there was another runner whose looks weren't as pretty but whose figure was decent and who was also popular, surrounded by especially many female students.
This Inoue runner seemed to be saying something about women's independence, and many girls were listening seriously, even calling her the representative for female athletes.
Hikari didn't pay much more attention and walked straight toward Mia and Asuka.
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