Asuma, stemming from the pride and arrogance typical of young male students, didn't want others to know which female student had caught his attention.
So, before Mizuki could say anything, he simply gave him a vague glare.
Mizuki, knowing full well that Asuma came from one of the village's most influential families, dared not oppose him and quickly lowered his head, though his eyes were filled with resentment.
At that moment, Yagami suddenly spoke up, "Asuma, are you also running for class representative?"
"That's right." Asuma raised his chin proudly. "What? Am I not qualified?"
"Of course, anyone in the class has the right to run," Yagami responded casually. He didn't think too much of it—Asuma was likely just doing this on a whim.
However, what concerned Asuma was the possibility of shimizu losing. He had observed the situation carefully and knew that Asuma held a significant advantage in terms of social connections.
His real worry wasn't Asuma winning, but what would happen if he lost. Yagami feared that after losing, Asuma would hold a grudge against shimizu and make trouble for him.
Even though he was sure Lord Hokage wouldn't concern himself with such a trivial matter, as the son of the Hokage, Asuma could easily find upperclassmen willing to teach shimizu a lesson.
Having come from the Academy himself, Yagami was well aware of the unspoken rule of bullying. If a powerful student harbored resentment, teachers intervening would only make things worse.
"We need more candidates so that Asuma won't lose too badly," Yagami thought. He then looked around at his classroom, trying to encourage them. "Why don't more of us run for class rep? It doesn't matter if you lose—you don't have to take it too seriously!"
Unfortunately, none of the other students seemed to be on the same page.
Instead, murmurs of support for shimizu filled the room.
"Who dares to compete against shimizu? Not on my watch!"
"That's right! Other than shimizu, I won't acknowledge anyone else!"
"We'll show that arrogant guy—civilian ninja aren't so easily bullied!"
Seeing this reaction, Yagami sighed internally. "Looks like I can only hope that Asuma status as the Hokage's son keeps this from becoming too ugly."
The class quickly wrote their votes on paper and handed them in.
Yagami began counting, and as he did, his expression changed slightly. After rubbing his face, he finally announced, "Alright, the results are in..."
"Wait!" Asuma interrupted. "Teacher, you haven't announced the number of votes!"
"Is that necessary?" Yagami asked with a forced smile.
"Of course it is! The vote count should be transparent!"
"Well..."
"If you don't want to, I'll do it myself!"
Asuma stepped forward and grabbed the stack of votes. As he walked past shimizu, he cast him a challenging glance.
He unfolded the first vote.
"Asuma—one vote!"
Asuma smirked and glanced at shimizu with satisfaction.
However, shimizu simply smiled as if he didn't care at all, making Asuma feel like he had just punched cotton—completely ineffective.
Annoyed, Asuma cleared his throat and continued.
"shimizu—one vote."
"shimizu—two votes."
"shimizu..."
With each vote he read, Asuma face darkened further.
By the end, his voice was barely a whisper.
"Asuma—one vote."
"shimizu—sixty-nine votes."
"shimizu wins."
Those final words seemed to drain all the strength from his body. He lowered his head, convinced that everyone was mocking him.
But in reality, no one was paying attention to him at all.
People only care about the winner.
The defeated? Not even worth mocking.
"I knew shimizu would win!"
"Yeah! But I wonder who that one rebel vote was for?"
At that moment, it dawned on Asuma.
"Wait... that vote... was mine?!"
Realizing that, in his excitement, he had unknowingly written his own name, Asuma was so embarrassed he wanted to crawl into a hole.
"shimizu, I won't let this end here!" His face flushed red with frustration.
"Since I lost, I challenge you again! This time, we'll settle it the ninja way!"
Yagami frowned. "Asuma, you've already started learning to refine chakra. Isn't it unfair for you to challenge someone who hasn't?"
"...He doesn't know how to use chakra?" Asuma was taken aback.
The Academy typically started training students in chakra control at age five, and by this age, most from ninja families had already started.
Yagami nodded. "Ishi is different from you. He doesn't have anyone to teach him."
Asuma was momentarily speechless. "So... he doesn't know anything at all?"
Feeling awkward, he muttered under his breath, "S-Sorry. I didn't know you didn't have chakra training."
The class was surprised—this arrogant guy actually apologized?
Yagami sighed in relief. As expected, the Hokage's son wasn't completely unreasonable.
"Ahem, but this isn't over!" Asuma quickly regained his confidence. "Once you learn chakra control, I'll challenge you again!"
Yagami shook his head. "That's quite an assumption, Asuma. Who says shimizu will learn at the same pace as you?"
Asuma grinned. "Who said anything about me using my clan's method?"
Yagami narrowed his eyes. "Wait... you're going to teach him chakra refinement yourself?"
Asuma gave a smug smirk. "Don't forget—he's a professor of ninjutsu, after all!"
Yagami felt his eyelid twitch.
Why did Asuma refer to the Hokage as that person?
Somehow, the Hokage's son seemed even weirder than the Hokage himself.