When Kunimi Akira reached the front gate of Shiratorizawa Academy, Nomura Gasshu was already waiting. A club jersey with deep crimson lines running across white fabric. Fine crimson mesh woven through jet-black short hair. As Kunimi finished climbing the slope, Gasshu's heterochromatic eyes—left golden, right deep indigo—turned toward him. His serious expression remained unchanged, eyebrows drawn slightly inward. The air outside was that of an August morning. The hilly terrain of Izumi Ward was already thick with summer heat, and shadows from the trees beyond the stone wall stretched toward them. "[serious]You're three minutes late," "[serious]Save the complaints for the walk. Let's go," Gasshu nodded and headed not toward the main gate but toward a side entrance. In his Shiratorizawa uniform, Gasshu could walk through naturally. Kunimi wore practice clothes, but they blended in ambiguously enough—he could pass for some kind of external sports-related person. Once inside the gr