Ishigami was the type to go all out for the girl he liked. After hearing Rinji and Kazeno's advice, he resolved to change himself.

"Rinji! Rush B site! Hurry!!"

"Wait, my skills are still on cooldown!"

That same evening the two duo queued for ranked matches.

Change? Usually after deciding, people give themselves a day of leisure, thinking it's fine to start tomorrow.

"We won!"

"By the way, can we stop playing FPS with controllers next time?"

Throwing the controller aside, Rinji looked at Ishigami.

"I just set an appointment with the coach, tomorrow morning at the gym. How's that?"

"Sure, though I haven't worked out in a while, I did join a sports club in middle school, so I've still got some base," Ishigami had no objections.

Rinji checked his phone. Dinnertime was long past, and at this hour...

"Ishigami, it's getting late, go home and rest, I'll take you to the gym tomorrow."

"Alright... hey, want to grab dinner together? Honestly, we've been playing since afternoon, I'm hungry."

"Next time, I've got things to handle tonight."

"Okay."

Ishigami changed shoes and left Rinji's place. After seeing him off, Rinji shut the door and stepped onto the balcony.

Looking down at the streets lit with lamps, he took out a cigarette, lit it, placed it between his lips, then set his phone on the windowsill to check the clock.

It was 9 p.m. Based on his consciousness-swapping with Kaguya, the window usually fell between 9 and 10 at night.

Minutes ticked by, cigarette butts piling one after another.

When the phone showed 10:01, Rinji slipped it back into his pocket.

Taking out the meteorite fragment, he muttered, "So there's a distance limit to triggering the swap. With Shinomiya in Kyoto and me in Tokyo, 370.55 km apart, no consciousness exchange happened. That means as long as she's at the main house, we won't swap..."

It was a good result, but Shinomiya would eventually return to Tokyo when winter break ended, and the problem would arise again.

Thankfully next semester Rinji might not be around school much, since he'd be going home for New Year's, far away from Japan.

"Better solve this soon."

---

Next morning.

Without a consciousness swap, Rinji enjoyed a rare good sleep.

After waking, he washed up and went with Ishigami to the gym he once frequented, SILVERMAN GYM.

"Coach Machio, long time no see."

"So it's you, Rinji. Yeah, been a while. Say, how long's it been since you last trained here? Perfect muscles need consistent work."

"Sorry, sorry, I had some things to deal with."

Rinji smiled and pushed Ishigami, who had been following behind him, forward.

"This time I came not only because I need to resume training myself, but also because my friend wants to work out."

Ishigami: "…Hello, Coach Machio, my name is Ishigami Yuu."

"Hello, Ishigami-kun." Machio replied with his trademark smile. "My name is Machio Naruzo, the trainer of this gym. What are you looking for, Ishigami-kun? Adjust your posture? Or build muscle?"

"…Build muscle, I want to put on some."

As he spoke, Ishigami also observed Machio. From that cheerful smile and handsome face, Ishigami could already deduce one thing. This guy was definitely a normie. That sunny grin alone was far beyond his own deadpan otaku face, and it was clear he was the type girls liked. Even though he hated normies, Ishigami knew exactly what he had to do. To make Tsubame like him, he needed to learn the ways of a normie.

"Then come do a physical test with me first. After that I'll make a training plan for you."

"Alright."

Ishigami followed Machio away for the test. Rinji glanced at the big men lifting weights in the gym, then casually picked an empty bench, loaded all the plates on the barbell, and began bench pressing. He still hadn't achieved his goal from last year of becoming a muscular hunk.

"Huh? Rinji-kun, you're here too?"

"Hm?"

At that familiar voice, Rinji lifted his head slightly. He saw a golden twin-tailed girl and a black-haired straight-haired girl—Sakura Hibiki and Soryuin Akemi, the high school girls he often ran into here.

"Oh, it's you two."

"Rinji-kun hasn't been coming for a while, has he?" Sakura leaned closer. "Last year you came pretty often, but after summer break you suddenly disappeared."

"Well… busy with school."

In truth, not busy at all. Rinji was the type to usually slack off and only cram before exams. The real reason was that right after summer break, several things kept him tied up. First was the student council election, then he was forced to transfer to Hyakkaou Academy, followed by the sports festival and the Hoshin Festival. During that time, he completely forgot about the annual gym membership he had signed up for.

"But it's great to see you back here." Sakura smiled. "After seeing all those musclebound men every day, I felt like my sense of beauty was getting skewed. Rinji-kun being here lets me recharge with a little 'pretty boy energy.'"

"I never saw myself as a pretty boy. Sooner or later I'll build muscles like Coach Machio."

"No way, that'd be a total waste."

"Speaking of which, Rinji-kun." Akemi looked at him curiously. "After summer break, my sister started mentioning you often. What happened during that time?"

"Your sister… oh, her."

Soryuin Shion, a member of the Kengan Association. She probably mentioned him because his performance in the Kengan Annihilation Matches shocked her. Plus, since her younger sister also knew him, she likely wanted to use that connection for greater benefit in the Association.

"I just joined a tournament, and happened to run into your sister there."

"I see…"