房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

The last class for the day was PE, and even though the teacher responsible for the subject was on an emergency sick leave the class itself wasn't canceled leaving Zoemi and his class in the gentle care of the Rokiana-like math teacher...

...also known as the iron lady...

"Teacher Maki didn't leave me with any guidelines, and since I don't want to mess with her curriculum and the weather is so nice, you will be running laps."

The woman that changed into a tracksuit that fit her perfectly causing her to give sport-maniac vibes shrugged her shoulders and waved her index finger around as a demonstration.

"How many laps...?"

Some brave soul dared to ask despite the nervousness.

"As many as you can. For the three students of both genders each with the most laps, I will talk with teacher Maki to give you extra credits."

The woman shrugged said grabbing a hold of the whistle hanging around her neck.

"What are you waiting for? The class already started! Go!"

She called out and blew the whistle making the students react like a flock of sheep to the herding dog's barks and rush to the track.

"You little bastard, I saw that the iron lady was glaring at you! We are running laps as punishment for you making a fool of her this morning!"

The Kierul-like Sato slithered her way amongst her other classmates and hissed furiously at Zoemi.

"Whaaa?! Noo....! Nooo... No way...!"

"At least look as if you're sorry!"

Zoemi openly mocked her in her face, causing the already annoyed Sato to get really angry and scoff at him while running ahead so she didn't have to be subjected to his company... even though she was the one to seek him first...

But that was more or less what Zoemi was aiming for.

Not that he disliked the Kierul-like girl, it was only that during all the previous classes he continued to meditate whenever there was a chance for it, and once again he could sense the spiritual power orbiting almost within his reach.

For him, meditating while moving was no problem at all, especially during the repetitive motions of running in a circle – the opportunity was perfect, and riding the hype of progress with the Burushi-like girl the black-haired boy wanted to push himself.

And so, Zoemi set his body to repeat the cycle running after one of the more athletic classmates of his while focusing internally on the meditation method he learned in the small lumberjack village on the edge of the sea of trees in the Heavenly Star Nation.

After a few laps, the spiritual energy felt closer than ever before.

During his meditation – both in the present and past – Zoemi wasn't focusing on one specific star power and law but instead was aiming for the general basis of it all, the spiritual energy. But for whatever reason, while he was running around he would experience the sensation of the star power corresponding to the law of Capricorn.

It really felt like a breakthrough could happen at any second now!

Zoemi wanted to try out pushing himself a bit more in order to test whether the physical activity had any correlation with the spiritual energy – and luckily the boy in front of him that he was following from the start sped up significantly, leaving everyone else behind.

"~!"

...to which Zoemi reacted with a devilish smirk and followed him, keeping up three steps behind...

They weren't keeping up the same speed that Zoemi could achieve – and which he showcased in the morning when running to school – but because the exercise was more of a marathon than a sprint, even he found himself with his muscles screaming for mercy.

But the greater the strain, the closer the spiritual energy felt – so after he and the boy in front of him lapped the rest of their class, Zoemi decided it was time to go even further and speed up even more...

"...GHHH...! GHHHHH...!"

"...?"

But just as he was about to take the lead, the boy he was following on autopilot started letting out rather disturbing sounds as if he became a locomotive and increased the tempo on his own, confusing Zoemi.

Why was he trying so hard? He wasn't trying to unlock the spiritual powers sealed inside of him like Zoemi was!

The surprise soon turned into annoyance – Zoemi adjusted to the tempo but felt that he needs to go even faster if he wants the law of Capricorn to truly activate – but whenever he tried to move and pass the boy the lead, the audacious kid would move in front of him just so it would be impossible for anyone else take away the lead...!

And since it was impossible for any of the lapped people to catch up to them, it was rather obvious and that much more infuriating that the desperate leader was doing this to get on Zoemi's nerves.

Zoemi gritted his tears holding himself back from just ramming into the other guy and instead paid attention to his face.

The huffing and puffing guy with his face bright red from exhaustion baring his teeth while glancing back at him looked just like Grazio – of course following the trend of having dark hair instead of the color he had in the past timeline.

"..."

Zoemi'sexpression darkened and his glare grew cold at the discovery.

During the original run with the earliest timeline that he could remember, Grazio was a misunderstood kid that managed to grow up into a decent human being.

But during the next timeline...

Although the current Zoemi didn't have his face messed up by a treacherous fireball his face still stung when he looked at the twisted visage of the trash who killed the armored wolf that he tamed.

|In memory of Cat I should at least break both of his legs...|

The intrusive and definitely dangerous thoughts entered Zoemi's mind and he didn't quite feel the need to control the urges that arose despite this Grazio-like boy having nothing to do with his previous incarnation.

...meanwhile...

The Grazio-like boy was in fact a star of the track and field club giving all of his seniors a run for their money. Without a doubt, he was the best athlete in his grade with multiple medals from various sports meets and competitions.

But now... during a stupid little PE class, he ended up stuck in some sort of nightmare.

Despite easily taking the lead from the bunch of nobodies he couldn't revel in his superiority – far from it. The most random nobody that was well known for being a game nerd that didn't have anything else to talk about was keeping up with it!

No! Even worse!

After half an intense run that should be far above a normal high schooler's capabilities – and definitely way over some nerd's – that nobody was actually about to overtake him!

That wasn't something that he could allow at any cost...!

Some of his upperclassmen classes had a perfect view of the school's field and they could be watching him right then and there!

Getting a go-home club member to trample over him in something so simple as running laps was absolutely unforgivable!'

But then the real nightmare began – despite basically sprinting all the way, the Grazio-like boy not only wasn't able to shake off the nerd – the guy who had nothing more than his face to stand out actually was a single step behind him, breathing on his neck like some serial killer in a cheap horror flick.

At first, the Grazio-like boy was trying to block Zoemi, but after full five minutes of the full-speed sprint, it was clear that not only was he isn't able to keep him back, but now Zoemi was following him on purpose, mentally torturing the star of the track and field club.

The Grazio-like boy started growing desperate. For whatever reason, he recalled a history lesson from way back about prehistoric humans following their pray until they died of exhaustion...

...and he felt actual fear despite Zoemi not taking any action against him...!

"TAKAHASHI! What, do you want to faint?! Slow down and move out of the way if you can't keep up!"

"!!!"

All of a sudden the teacher replacing the PE teacher called out making all of the Grazio-like boy's worries come true.

He... was unable to keep up... to some nobody...

"...orn..."

"!!!"

Just then, at a moment that the Grazio-like Takahashi thought was his lowest, he heard a triumphant snicker coming from behind and...

*THUMP* *THUMP* *WHOOOSH*

The go-home club guy whom the Grazio-like boy never bothered to learn the name of dashed to the side and then leaped in front of him before suddenly accelerating as if he was a speed-up video, leaving the star of the track and field club in the dust.

Whether it was his imagination or not – the Grazio-like boy could swear that the initial leaps done by Zoemi weren't even touching the ground – just as if the handsome boy was able to find a stable foothold in the thin air a few inches over the actual track...

...because that was exactly what happened!

All of Zoemi's anger had been cleared out as he felt something deep within him break apart and a surge of spiritual energy that transformed directly into the star power of the law of Capricorn!

What's more, it wasn't just some lukewarm first star level of mastery but the full-blown supernova that the black-haired boy managed to achieve in the previous timeline!

Of course, Zoemi remembered to control himself as much as possible but still the initial burst of speed pushed him to lap the rest of his class one more time before he managed to slow down.

There was no reason to do anything else.

Zoemi slowed down and jogged lightly until the Kierul-like Sato reached him.

"...du..dude... what the hell...?"

The girl gaped looking annoyed at the cheerful-looking friend of hers.

"Want me to carry you?"

"Shut up!"

Zoemi winked and giggled getting Sato to glare at him.