It was inevitable that Elizabeth would be at the lead. The race had just begun yet she was already leagues ahead of the others, her long legs pumping as she effortlessly sprinted around the track.

Breaking character, Kuro dropped the whistle from her mouth and sauntered towards Yuki who was sitting against one of the bleacher's rails, his hands behind him for support and an unusually thoughtful expression on his face. "Master, I believe Elizabeth is going a little bit too fast."

She was right. The other guys had regained their senses and were intensely watching the run. A few strides ahead wouldn't be too significant, but Elizabeth was already on her way to lapping the slowest girls! Yuki murmured in agreement, casting some magic. He could have just told her outright to go slower, but where would the fun be in that?

Instead, he just threw a slowness debuff on her, instantly making it as if she was running with enormous weights on her feet. Seeing her eyes widen as she gasped in surprise, Yuki and Kuro suppressed a giggle as she began to stumble, likely startled at the sudden slowness.

Even so, she still looked determined to keep blasting through. Her pale skin was turning red from exertion and she was beginning to sweat profusely as she struggled to keep running. And it was working! Even affected by Yuki's magic, she was still far ahead of the other girls, albeit with a smaller gap.

Kuro, still giggling at Elizabeth, smiled as she blew the whistle again, this time at a few of the girls who were straggling and seemed more intent on chatting rather than finishing the run. "Lets get moving ladies!" Kuro clapped her hands to wake them up prompting them to murmur in disgruntlement but nonetheless start running.

Looking at Kuro's blissful expression as she bossed people around, Yuki smirked. "You seem to like your new job."

"Hmph. I have to admit it's nice to be the one giving the orders instead of the one receiving."

"Yeah, I suppose."

Seeing Yuki's smile, Kuro felt a little hot near her stomach. Unconsciously the magic maintaining the illusion began to falter as her own emotions began to swell up. Yuki's eyes tore away from Elizabeth's exhausted frame, his eyes catching a sliver in the air. There was a distortion behind Kuro's back and as he watched closely, he saw the hint of a spectacular tail being revealed. He quickly leaned in and whispered. "Hey watch it! Your tail's showin."

Kuro laughed again. "I'm sorry, it's just been a while since I've seen you look so happy."

Yuki shook his head. "Who said I'm happy? Relieved is the better word. I was worried I'd have to spend the rest of my life in Falanir constantly having to attend royal ceremonies or banquets. But now I can actually settle down here and live out a normal life. No swords, no monsters, no wars."

Back in Falanir, even before he had gone on his final journey to the demon king's castle, he had been given countless invitations from nobles who were looking to marry him into their families, gain a powerful backer, or simply blackmail him into allying with them. Though he didn't necessarily mind fighting to save the world, he didn't want to deal with all that hectic political bull.

Breaking their thoughts, Elizabeth had finally crossed the finish line, gasping as she plopped on the artificial grass of the field, her legs and arms splayed. Her cheeks were dyed crimson and her hair was in a mess and she was simply taking deep breaths with her eyes closed.

Kuro left him, heading towards the student with the clipboard, glancing at her stopwatch and nodding with a slight smile.

There was still a few seconds before the other girls would cross the finish line so Yuki quickly jogged over to Elizabeth who was still lying down. "Good job out there, you did great."

Hearing his insufferable voice, Elizabeth snorted slightly. "I had a feeling it was you."

"Meaning?"

"You cast the spell didn't you?" She sounded a bit miffed but nothing more.

"Yeah, you were going too fast and it would've brought too many questions. Even with the slowness, you still were blazing. But at least it was more reasonable this time."

Elizabeth opened her eyes, frowning. "I did get a little overexcited but I didn't think that humans of this world were so...unathletic?"

This was obviously not true. She was a special freak of nature even in Falanir. All the rigorous training she had received in the Princess Knights had changed her sense of "normal" to be very, very skewed.

Yuki didn't bother answering, seeing out of the corner of his eye as the other girls began trailing in, the majority of them gasping for breath similar to Elizabeth. As they all seemed to congregate around Elizabeth, Yuki chuckled, reaching his hand down towards Elizabeth which she took with a sigh. After helping her up much to the annoyance of the other girls, Yuki gave her a quick peck on the cheek which caused her to instantly blush and swat his face away.

A collective grumbling could be heard from all the classmates who had watched in shock as their idol/older sister had just been kissed by a man! Yuki was snickering at the chaos he was causing, pointedly walking away with a stutter faking his ignorance to the killing intent behind him.

Kuro blew on her whistle before anyone could shout in protest.

"Boys! Get in line!"

The last girl had crossed the finish line and it was now time for the boys race. Kuro suddenly had a mischievous thought, her lips curling into a slight grin. "Ah!" she cried out. "I can't tell all you boys apart with the matching uniforms! It'll be too hard to keep track of all the white shirts so half of you will be going topless!"

"HAAAAH?"

Every guy in the class cried out, momentarily forgetting about the kiss that had happened just now. They all looked at each other thinking things like "what the hell is she saying?"

Kuro had her nose high in the air, her hands on her hips. She barked out a few names.

"Sato! Tanaka! Takahashi! Sasaki!"

Was it really a surprise that he heard his name being called out? Yuki suspected something was up and he smiled at the mischief Kuro was thinking about. If she wanted him to show off...then it couldn't be helped!

Yuki made it a point to take his shirt off as slowly as possible, each centimeter of exposed skin getting a new reaction from the girls who had quieted down and were sitting on the field.

With his tan skin and defined muscles, he looked like a god! To make things worse, he even started moving his pecs around! For the average schoolgirl, this was too much. Their eyes were instantly drawn to the lines of his abs and the veins around his arms and muscles, but most importantly to the mermaid v-line near his hips...

*GULP*

Though Kuro and Elizabeth were plenty used to Yuki's presence and had even occasionally seen him shirtless, it was still a delicious sight to behold. They watched mesmerized as he stood up to the finish line and began stretching, his muscles rippling as he began moving his arms and legs around.

Behind him, the other guys who had been chosen could only curse their rotten luck. Even if they weren't fat or too skinny, they were nothing compared to him! They could only squirm uncomfortably, trying to put as much distance between themselves and Yuki's perfect body.

With tensions running high, the boys had all lined up, their elbows jostling each other as they fought for a good spot. Their blood was boiling. Not only was he making them feel self-conscious, he had also attracted the attention of every single girl in the place!

'This damn guy cannot be allowed to win!'

There was a nonverbal agreement amongst the boys of Yuki's class. He had been given free rein for far too long! If they couldn't show him up now, they could potentially lose the hearts of the transfer students and the weirdly sexy gym teacher to this bastard!

The second the whistle blew, Yuki felt a countless flurry of hands reaching towards him, looking to either outright tackle him or smack him hard enough to knock the wind out of him. He slipped through the gauntlet and burst ahead, a loud cry behind him as he began to run at a speed just barely faster than the speediest boy.

For the girls, it looked like the boys were moving in a collective pack, chasing after the carefree idiot running ahead of them with a stupid grin on his face and his model-like body waving around.

Hearing Yuki start laughing only enraged the guys further. All the resentment that had been building up suddenly burst into adrenaline as they began breaking the limits of their bodies to hopefully thrash this hateful playboy as soon as possible!

But no matter how many limits they broke, at the end of the day, they weren't the hero. He would frustratingly somehow always pull ahead, just barely out of their reach.

By the time the race was over, the girls were looking at Yuki's slightly sweaty body in a daze while Kuro was happily reading out the times to a bewildered timekeeper. That day, nearly every boy in the class had times that rivaled national trackstars.

*

*

After the run, the other guys had been too exhausted, the effects of their crazed dash finally coming through as they walked half-dead into the locker room. Yuki was the first one to get changed and had ran out the door before anyone could complain, planning to grab something from a nearby convenience store.

He was running down the hallway, glancing at the clocks in the halls praying that he'd make it back in the twenty minutes before the next class began. He sped down the stairs so fast that he didn't see the person crouching in wait on the next flight. He felt himself run over a foot and cried out, his hands outstretched as he smashed against the wall.

If it wasn't for magic, he would've crashed clean through the wall.

He rubbed his head in pain and looked around for the person he had tripped over. It was Ichika. She had woken up already? He smiled brightly, hoping that this wouldn't take long. He was starving and really, really wanted some food!

"Oh hey Ichika, you feel better? I'm heading to the -"

SLAM

Ichika slammed her palm against the wall, right next to his face. In a move that basketball players all around would praise her for, she moved to almost pin Yuki, preventing him from any escape.

"Who?"

Her voice had dropped several octaves and her eyes weren't shining with the usual cheerfulness she had. In Yuki's head, alarm bells were ringing. Several excuses or lies were rapidly cycling through his brain as he stared stoically at the scary-looking girl in front of him.

With the excitement of gym class, he had temporarily forgotten what had happened asides from Ichika going to the nurse for collapsing.

"Who what?"

"The...girl..."

"Huh?"

"The blonde transfer student!" She yelled out, frustrated with his cluelessness.

Yuki's mouth opened with puzzlement then he suddenly realized what she was talking about. 'So that's how it is,' he thought. His brain began racing as he tried to come up with a suitable response. Seeing the sheer amount of options he had, he chose one at random, praying it wouldn't sound too dumb. "I was asked to guide her around the school. That's all."

A fabulous lie. At least for the moment. There would certainly be complications but for now, it seemed to appease the angered girl. Her facial features visibly relaxed and the warmth returned to Ichika's eyes. She still didn't move her hand away from his face though.

She simply breathed in and out, tickling Yuki's neck with her hot breaths. "I see...you're just showing her around the school right?"

Yuki nodded fervently. Seeing his reaction, Ichika was still a little suspicious but tucked her dark thoughts in the back of her mind. She returned to the bubbly smile she typically wore. "Then, there should be no problems right Yuki?"

"Uh-huh."

Yuki glanced at the arm still blocking him. His stomach grumbled, reminding him of the reason he had been running so fast. Hearing the sound, Ichika began to smile even wider. "Yuki? By any chance, are you hungry?"

She looked up at him, brushing a few of her dark locks off her face. She was still remarkably close and he could smell a rosy scent coming from her hair. It was a little distracting and he thoughtlessly nodded. "Yeah, I was actually on my way to the store to get something to eat..."

"What a shame!" Though she said this, the grin on her face clearly showed she was thinking quite the opposite. "It can't be helped! Would you like to share some of my lunch? I packed a little too much and I wouldn't mind giving you some of it?"

His stomach growled at the thought of Ichika's mother's homecooking. "Is it your mom's special!"

Her smile soured, hearing him talk about another woman. It was her mother and she shouldn't be feeling jealous! But she couldn't help but grit her teeth. "...No, I cooked it myself."

"Oh?" Yuki didn't know she cooked, but he didn't really care. Knowing how much of a perfectionist she usually was, it would surely be delicious. "Then don't mind if I do!"

Ichika nodded, happy that he was willing, and reached down and grabbed Yuki's hand. He was surprised, seeing her forcefulness, but he didn't mind it. They were about to go to class when they heard a clattering on the stairs. Looking behind, they saw the figure of Anna, standing in the middle of the stairwell, looking up at them with a strange expression on her face.

The book she had been carrying was on the ground, face-down, and her hands were still spread out. She tilted her hand seeing Yuki and her eyes darted towards his hand which was still being held by Ichika.

"Yuki?"