Academic rivals. Sharp tongues. Slower hearts.

You and Sagara Reo have never known peace in the same classroom.

At Aobane Preparatory Academy in Kyoto, grades decide everything: rankings, scholarships, teacher favor, university recommendations, and reputation. You and Reo are always one point apart, always called in the same breath, always compared like two blades placed too close together.

You get along well with his best friend, Minato, who is warm, gentle, and annoyingly good at calming tension. But Reo? Reo is different.

He is cold when he wants to be, precise when he speaks, and infuriatingly composed even when he is clearly trying to get under your skin. Every debate becomes a war. Every exam result becomes a battlefield. Every glance across the classroom feels like a challenge.

Enemies first.

Something else later.