The Physical Education training consisted of learning how to steal the ball from your opponent in handball. Yukino, eight years old, was standing face-to-face with the girl who had accused her of pulling her hair.

The whistle blew, and the teacher threw the ball into the air for one of the two to grab first. The girl jumped high; Yukino gave a short, unmotivated leap.

The girl dashed toward the goal. Yukino paused and waited for her to move away. No one understood anything; some even complained about her standing still.

Suddenly, she started to run, gaining speed and reaching out her hand. All Yukino wanted was to find the right distance and the perfect moment…

That’s when she reached the girl's ponytail. She grabbed it and pulled hard. The momentum caused the girl to fall and lose the ball.

The classmates and teachers watching were confused and wondered what was going on.

"THERE! NOW IT'S FOR REAL. NOW I ACTUALLY PULLED IT!" Yukino shouted.

The teachers rushed over to Yukino to ask what had happened. She explained the incident to them in detail. They listened carefully, looked at the class, and asked who had lied.

Silence fell over the court. No student spoke up, but it seemed the teachers already suspected this outcome. Yukino wasn’t sent to the principal's office, and class resumed as normal. That fact scared those who bullied her, they started to think she was “protected” by the teachers.

But some things changed after that day. Yukino’s drawings were no longer torn apart, and her art supplies stopped mysteriously showing up broken.

A few days later, the girl who had accused Yukino came up and apologized. She had found out who had really pulled her hair and realized it wasn’t fair what she had done.

Yukino apologized too, feeling that she had also acted foolishly. The truth was, they had both been deceived by the same person.

The year went by, and although things bothered her less, Yukino remained a lonely child, until the following year, in third grade…

The Next Year – Start of Classes, Third Grade

It was the beginning of another school year, and like every year, there was always a new student. This time, it was a tall girl for her age; she entered the classroom quietly, and the teacher introduced her to the class:

"Hey, class, this is our new student, Aino!"

The students greeted the new girl. The teacher walked over to her and, seeing where there was an empty seat, pointed it out:

"You can sit over there, next to Yukino!"

She pointed to the empty desk beside Yukino, who at that moment was absorbed in her drawings before class started.

Aino walked to the desk but paused as her eyes locked onto the sketches coming from the hands of the class artist.

"Hm?" murmured Yukino, realizing she was being watched.

"Your drawing is really pretty!" said Aino, genuinely impressed.

At first, Yukino wasn’t sure whether Aino really liked it or if it was just a first-day nicety. She was used to initial admiration followed by later indifference.

But over time, she realized Aino truly meant it. The two quickly became friends. Yukino was thrilled, it was the first time someone genuinely paid attention to what she did.

They exchanged ideas; Aino gave sincere feedback and suggested cool things to draw and create.

Soon, they discovered they were distant relatives. They spent lots of time together, especially during breaks. Eventually, they made friends with other girls too. But when Yukino found out about one of Aino’s talents, she realized her friend had rather peculiar preferences:

"No, Yukino, I don’t want anyone to know I write poems. Anyone who’s different gets picked on. Your drawing, I think it’s awesome, but people call you weird for it. Isn’t it enough they already say I look sick because I’m so pale? And my voice is higher than normal, and people won’t let that go. I can’t help it, I was born like this. I just don’t want more reasons for them to come after me."

Despite all the excuses, Yukino insisted that she should enter the school’s poetry contest. Eventually, Aino mustered up the courage, wrote a poem, and submitted it. She got selected.

Yukino also entered the contest to design the poetry book cover. It took longer than usual for the results to come out, but finally, the day arrived, and the teacher came into class with the sample book to present to the students.

"Kids! Check this out, the winning cover is from someone in our class!" the teacher announced.

The class got excited. Everyone was curious to find out who had been chosen.

"Yukino, everyone agreed yours was the most beautiful. But since you’re the only one who knows how to draw at school, it wouldn’t be fair to give you the prize. I hope you’re not upset."

Yukino was stunned. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. She tried, but it was impossible to make sense of it, there simply wasn’t any logic. She never participated in another contest at that school again.

Aino tried to cheer her up, but Yukino pretended everything was fine. She was already not great at expressing her feelings and knew how to mask them. Her face said one thing, but her heart said another. Inside, her blood boiled with rage.

The following year, Aino left the school, and Yukino’s fourth-grade experience became a nightmare again. Their parents ran into each other by chance and had a conversation. They discovered Aino had been severely bullied at school. Yukino, despite being her friend, had no idea this was happening.

The bullying Yukino faced was loud and obvious. Aino’s was silent, harder to detect.

Since Aino's mom said she was doing much better at her new school, when Yukino reached fifth grade, they transferred her as well.

By fate or coincidence, they ended up in the same class. And compared to the old school, the new one really was much better.

Fights and bullying still existed, but no one was ever alone, there was always someone willing to step in.

The teachers weren’t oblivious either. If they saw a problem, they took action and resolved it. Because of that, issues didn’t drag on for months or years like before.

Yukino learned to make friends with the teachers, which helped a lot. She also improved her communication skills. She was still known as “the creepy weirdo who likes to draw.” But she learned to let that go—and when it crossed the line, she dealt with it head-on.

At age 12, she started practicing martial arts. People assumed it was for self-defense, but her real reason was seeking discipline and self-control.

The problems of "you didn’t really draw that" and "it’s not fair because only you know how to draw" kept happening. She just learned to live with them and apply the self-control she was developing.

Back to the Present…

Yukino’s mind had wandered far, recalling many moments from the past when she had faced countless conflicts.

"This flashback turned out huge… and still left out so much… Like the time a ‘friend’ asked her boyfriend to beat me up… Yeah, no wonder these situations keep triggering those memories…" Yukino thought, troubled by her lack of control over her memories.

School – April 3rd, Day 6 of the School Games, Saturday

Only a school games event could get students excited to go to school on a Saturday morning. The sun was shining brightly in the blue sky.

The covered court would host the final showdown between the Firefighters, Glaciers, and Oceanics teams. Around this time of year, the place was more packed than on any other day, and the excitement in the air was palpable.

The teams were chanting their war cries. The stadium was ready for battle. The dance teacher, Rubi, would lead this round and was fully in the competition spirit.

"And now, let’s move on to the final challenge! Time to test our students' intellect! Let’s get to the Q&A!" Rubi announced as she took the mic on stage.

She stretched out her hand to present the contenders.

"The participants are in position! Who will come out on top!?"

Then she pointed toward Miyu:

"The smart botanical woman!? Who arrived this year and already outshined the nerds?"

"The what woman?" Miyu muttered.

"Or the tallest girl in school, whose intellect is as high as she is?" Rubi continued, referring to Naoko.

Naoko didn’t comment, but her expression showed discomfort.

"Or will it be our Greek god, who’s proven to be more than just a pretty one?" the teacher said, talking about Adonis.

"What the heck does ‘pretty one’ even mean?" Adonis asked, confused.

"Now let’s go to the first question! And to warm up, this one’s easy! What numeral does ‘five hundredth’ refer to?" Rubi asked, officially starting the round.

Naoko quickly hit her bell and answered:

"500!"

"She’s fast!" thought Adonis and Miyu simultaneously, realizing they didn’t even have time to react.

"What’s the most expensive metal in the world?" Rubi asked next.

"Gold!" Adonis answered quickly.

"Wrong!" the teacher said.

"Rhodium!" said Miyu, jumping on the opportunity.

"Correct!" Rubi confirmed, awarding a point to the Firefighters.

"When did World War I start and end?" the teacher asked another.

"1915 to 1918," said Miyu.

"Incorrect!" Rubi replied.

"1915 to 1919," Adonis answered.

"Incorrect! Oceanics, do you know?"

"1914 to 1918," Naoko replied.

"Correct!" said the teacher, giving a point to the Oceanics.

"When was the Brazilian National Library founded? And why on that date?" Rubi asked.

"October 29, 1810, it was when the first collection of books arrived, transferred from the Royal Portuguese Library," Adonis answered promptly.

"Very good! That one was two in one!" Rubi said, giving two points to the Glaciers.

The competition stayed tight; players hit and missed questions. The audience was tense, it was nearly impossible to tell who was in the lead. There were all kinds of questions, from school subjects to general knowledge.

After almost an hour, the Q&A challenge finally ended. The teacher blew the whistle and announced:

"And that’s it, guys! We’ve reached the end of the final event, and now we’re going to announce the results!"

Now it was time to wait. Miyu, Naoko, and Adonis were tense, awaiting the results. Who would win the title of the smartest in school?