The Mystery of the Kaido

For Shinoda Akito, life is best lived in a state of minimal energy expenditure. Why bother with unnecessary effort or attention when a quiet, low-key existence is far more efficient? His high school career is meticulously planned around this philosophy, aiming for average grades and joining the most inactive club imaginable: the Classic Cerebrum Club. However, Akito's perfectly curated low-energy life is quickly disrupted by Emiri, the club's only other member. With boundless, overwhelming curiosity and a passion for dusty archives, Emiri is determined to revitalize the club by investigating a fifty-year-old mystery found in the club's records: a missing key, a vanished box, and cryptic clues hinting at a secret hidden within the school's past, tied to a name – "Kaidō." Reluctantly pulled into this historical puzzle by Emiri's unwavering "I'm curious!", Akito finds himself applying his sharp, hidden intelligence – a capability he usually suppresses to avoid unwanted attention, a lesson learned from difficult past experiences where his deductions caused friction. Just as they begin to uncover the secrets of the past, a sudden, high-stakes crisis strikes the school. The administration announces a "Special Evaluation Exam" for all clubs. This comprehensive and difficult test has a clear consequence: failure means permanent termination. Suddenly, the Classic Cerebrum Club's very existence is on the line. Faced with Emiri's genuine distress and the threat to his carefully chosen low-energy haven, Akito realizes inaction is no longer an option. He must deploy the strategic mind he usually keeps hidden. Joined by the pragmatic and observant Rina, and later by the energetic and willing Yamato Kenta (intrigued by both the mystery and the exam's challenge), the Classic Cerebrum Club forms an unlikely team. The mystery of the past is temporarily postponed as they focus on the urgent, high-energy demands of the present exam. Akito, the reluctant strategist, must now navigate this complex, competitive system, leveraging his hidden abilities to guide his team, while trying to avoid drawing the kind of attention he so carefully avoids – attention that the sharp-eyed, analytical new student seems poised to give after noticing a discrepancy in his test performance. Can this small, initially inefficient team, led by a hidden genius who prefers doing nothing, survive the Special Evaluation Exam? And what secrets still lie buried in the school's history, waiting to be uncovered in "Kaidō no Nazo"?