Four Arrivals

The gates of Shirogane Academy opened at exactly seven-thirty in the morning.

Beyond them stretched one of the most prestigious private academies in Japan—white stone buildings, immaculate gardens, massive athletic grounds, and the towering central hall that had stood over the campus for generations.

Students poured through the gates in freshly pressed uniforms.

Excited voices.

Nervous laughter.

Parents taking photographs.

Freshmen searching desperately for familiar faces.

For most of them, it was the beginning of something new.

For four students arriving that morning, the past had already followed them through the gates.

A black sedan stopped near the entrance.

Michael Yamaguchi stepped out.

Silver-white hair fell neatly around his face, his expression calm and almost completely unreadable.

He adjusted the cuff of his uniform jacket and looked toward the academy.

No excitement.

No nervousness.

Just observation.

His father had spent years preparing him for places like this.

Stand straight.

Speak clearly.

Never show uncertainty.

Michael closed the car door.

“Have a productive first day, young master,” the driver said.

Michael gave a small nod.

“Thank you.”

The sedan disappeared into morning traffic.

Michael turned toward the gate.

And immediately saw someone he wished he hadn’t.

Ryuu Hayakawa.

She stood several meters away beneath the cherry trees.

Long black hair.

Perfect posture.

A composed expression that fooled everyone except him.

Their eyes met.

Neither smiled.

Only a few weeks ago, seeing her would have meant something entirely different.

Quiet walks after school.

Hidden messages late at night.

Meetings where neither of them had to pretend their families controlled their futures.

They had spent most of middle school hiding what they were.

Then everything collapsed.

Michael’s father informed him that he would be engaged to Mikasa Mizushima.

Ryuu’s father informed her that she would be engaged to Taka Takahara.

There had been no negotiation.

No discussion.

Their relationship ended almost immediately.

Not because either of them wanted it to.

Because eventually someone would discover them.

And neither family would tolerate the humiliation.

Ryuu looked away first.

Michael continued walking.

They passed each other without a word.

Like strangers.

Exactly as they had agreed.

“RYUU!”

A voice shattered the silence.

Taka Takahara came jogging toward her, one hand raised above his head.

His uniform jacket was already unbuttoned despite the school day not having officially started.

Ryuu sighed.

“Taka.”

“There you are.”

He stopped beside her, grinning.

“You could at least pretend you’re happy to see your future husband.”

Ryuu gave him a flat stare.

“Absolutely not.”

Taka laughed.

Their engagement had been announced privately between their families less than two months earlier.

Neither of them had asked for it.

But unlike Michael and Mika, Taka seemed determined to treat the entire situation like an elaborate joke.

He noticed Michael walking ahead.

“Hey.”

Michael stopped.

Taka pointed toward him.

“Yamaguchi, right?”

Michael turned.

They had met briefly at several formal functions over the years, although never enough to consider each other friends.

“Takahara.”

Taka grinned.

“Looks like we’re classmates.”

“So it seems.”

Ryuu stood beside Taka.

For one brief moment, Michael looked at her again.

Her expression didn’t change.

Neither did his.

Taka noticed nothing.

“Come on,” he said. “We might as well find our classroom together.”

Michael hesitated.

Then nodded.

“Fine.”

The three began walking toward the main building.

Ryuu remained beside Taka.

Michael walked slightly ahead.

No one watching them could have possibly known that Ryuu knew exactly how Michael sounded when he laughed for real.

Or that Michael still carried one of her old handwritten notes hidden inside a book at home.

To everyone else, they were simply classmates.

That was how it needed to stay.

A second black car stopped near the academy entrance.

Michael noticed it immediately.

His pace slowed.

Taka nearly walked into him.

“What?”

Michael said nothing.

The rear door opened.

Mikasa Mizushima stepped out.

Blue hair moved gently in the morning breeze.

Her crimson eyes scanned the academy before settling briefly on Michael.

There was no smile.

Michael didn’t give her one either.

Three months earlier, Kuma Yamaguchi and Aoi Mizushima had decided their children would marry.

Michael had been called into his father’s study.

Mika had been summoned by her mother.

The families met.

Documents were prepared.

Rings were exchanged privately.

And just like that, two fourteen-year-olds became engaged.

Secretly.

Neither had wanted it.

Neither had been asked.

Their parents considered the arrangement mutually beneficial.

Michael considered it an order.

Mika considered it absurd.

Since then, they had spoken perhaps a dozen times.

Almost every conversation had been formal.

Cold.

Necessary.

Nobody at Shirogane knew.

And both of them intended to keep it that way.

Mika approached the group.

Taka looked between them.

“Oh, you two know each other?”

Michael answered first.

“Our families are acquainted.”

Mika’s crimson eyes moved toward him.

“Unfortunately.”

Taka burst out laughing.

Ryuu covered the smallest smile.

Michael stared at Mika.

“That was unnecessary.”

“It was accurate.”

“You’re irritating.”

“And you’re incredibly pleasant this morning.”

Taka looked delighted.

“Oh, this year is going to be great.”

Michael continued walking.

Mika followed several steps behind.

Ryuu watched the exchange quietly.

She knew.

Not officially.

Michael had told her shortly before they ended things.

He had told her everything.

Mika was the reason their relationship could no longer continue.

Not because Mika had stolen him.

Not because Michael loved her.

But because their families had made the decision for them.

Ryuu looked at the ringless hand hanging beside Michael.

His engagement ring wasn’t there.

Neither was hers.

Both rings were hidden.

Just like everything else.

The four eventually reached the freshman classroom listings.

Students crowded around the board.

Taka pushed through first.

“Let’s see…”

His finger moved down the page.

Then stopped.

He blinked.

“No way.”

Ryuu stepped closer.

“What?”

Taka slowly began smiling.

“Class 1-A.”

Michael looked at the list.

Yamaguchi, Michael.

Mizushima, Mikasa.

Hayakawa, Ryuu.

Takahara, Taka.

All four.

Same classroom.

Mika folded her arms.

“Wonderful.”

Michael looked at her.

“You sound thrilled.”

“I was hoping this campus would be large enough to avoid you.”

“Likewise.”

Taka threw an arm around Michael’s shoulder.

Michael immediately removed it.

Taka laughed.

“Come on, Yamaguchi. We’re going to be together for three years.”

Michael looked at him.

“That isn’t reassuring.”

Ryuu finally laughed quietly.

It was small.

Almost instinctive.

Michael heard it.

For half a second, his expression softened.

Ryuu noticed.

So did Michael.

The moment disappeared immediately.

Mika’s eyes moved between them.

Not suspicious.

Not yet.

Just observant.

The bell rang across the academy.

Students began moving toward their classrooms.

Taka walked ahead.

“Class 1-A! Let’s go!”

Ryuu followed.

Mika stepped forward.

Michael remained beside the board for another second.

Four names.

Four families.

Two engagements.

One buried relationship.

And none of them understood yet what Shirogane Academy was about to turn them into.

Mika stopped several steps away.

She looked back.

“Are you coming?”

Michael glanced at her.

His fiancée.

A girl he barely knew.

A future neither of them had chosen.

Then toward Ryuu disappearing through the doors beside the boy she was supposed to marry.

Michael slipped his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah.”

He followed them inside.

That morning, they entered Shirogane Academy as four ordinary freshmen.

By the end of the year, nearly every student on campus would know their names.

Michael Yamaguchi.

Mikasa Mizushima.

Ryuu Hayakawa.

Taka Takahara.

The four students who would eventually become known simply as—

The Elite Four.