Chapter 31: Closed Doors, Open Eyes
The final year began with sunlight and chatter, but Mao walked through the school gates with a different energy.
Not the cold fire of ambition.
Not the desperate hunger for love or validation.
But focus—clean and quiet.
And with it came a choice he made before the term even started:
He wouldn't date. Not this year.
No distractions.
No romantic tension.
No soft words tangled in stress.
Just his path—whatever that was now.
---
It didn't take long for people to notice.
One of the girls from the previous council approached him on the second week.
"So... are you and Rika... something?"
"No," Mao answered, calmly.
"But you're always together."
"She listens," he said simply. "That doesn't mean I owe her anything."
Word spread.
> "He's sworn off dating."
"Mao's gone monk mode."
"He's doing the 'lonely genius' thing again."
Even Rika heard it.
One afternoon at the tea shop, she raised an eyebrow. "So it's official?"
"What is?"
"You're emotionally unavailable," she teased, half-smiling.
Mao didn't laugh. He just looked at her, steady and honest.
"I'm just not ready to carry anyone else right now. Not when I've barely figured out myself."
Rika looked at him, quiet, then nodded. "Fair."
---
Meanwhile, Ren and Kenji started working together in a strange, competitive friendship.
Kaito stayed silent, still near the top, never chasing glory.
Mao hovered in the middle—present, respected, unshaken.
---
But even as he chose to close one door, he began to see more clearly than ever before.
How students faked confidence.
How teachers played favorites.
How every title, every award, every handshake… came with strings.
And for the first time, Mao wasn't trying to pull them.
He was trying to understand them.
And in doing so, something new began to form.
Not a romance.
Not a rivalry.
But a legacy.