The Ice Princess

—Shibahime Jinka's Perspective

Hero High was slowly settling into the sultry warmth of early summer nights. The heat, the kind that made others fan themselves, did nothing to break the icy composure of Shibahime Jinka. The air was sticky, but her demeanor remained as cool as ever.

Shibahime had just finished her duties as part of the sports festival committee and returned to the girls' dormitory. Yet her day was far from over. She still had her nightly training session to complete, and as always, she planned to focus on honing herself to perfection, not missing a single day of practice.

"Hey, have you heard? This year's representative trial for the sports festival is supposed to be insane!"

"Mie-chan, how do you know that?"

"A senior was talking about it earlier. I just happened to overhear."