Chapter 157: The Three-Legged Race Duel, Shiraishi VS Morishita (Combined 5k) (Patreon)

After the two consecutive class meetings ended, Kohei Katsuragi and Yosuke Hirata reached a brief agreement to cooperate.

"When it comes to joint training, our two classes can help each other."

Kohei Katsuragi studied Yosuke Hirata's face, his expression steady.

"And since we're partners this time, we can share basic intelligence as well."

"What do you think, Hirata-san?"

"Of course I agree to work with you. Class D will cooperate fully. Let's do our best together."

Yosuke Hirata had thought it through. This Sports Festival was a great opportunity, and it might even let Class D overtake Class C ahead of them. After all, the gap between the two classes was under a hundred points.

"Good. We can sort out the finer details at the joint PE class later."

"Mm, sounds good."

Class A and Class D were partners this time, but they were still rivals, so on the most critical matter, the "participant roster," both class leaders tacitly kept their mouths shut.

From then on, all through September, students in all three grades had PE added to their timetables.

For the first-years, six extra periods were added each week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons from three to five.

Normally, once classes let out around three, everyone either went to club activities or straight back to the dorms to rest. With the Sports Festival approaching, that time was now being put to use.

On top of that, the school's fields and gymnasiums were limited, so naturally not every class could use them at once. Schedules were staggered by grade and class.

In the First-year Class A classroom, before the first PE session, Kohei Katsuragi was leading a discussion on who would compete.

The [All-Participant Events] were mandatory for everyone, so those only needed a discussion about running order. The [Recommended Events] were the crux, and who would take the field there needed careful thought.

Watching his classmates debate, Hikaru Naruse had already made up his mind.

The system panel was quiet at the moment. The next-tier [Body Remodeling Mission] hadn't arrived, but that was fine.

With his current [Body Remodeling (Intermediate)] strength, he wouldn't fall behind even against Rokusuke Koenji or Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

So he could easily enter all four of the [Recommended Events].

Those were the Scavenger Hunt, the Four-Way Tug-of-War, the Mixed Two-Person Three-Legged Race, and finally the all-grade joint 1,200-meter relay.

They did sound like more of a hassle than the other events, but for Hikaru Naruse they were no problem at all.

"Does anyone have any good ideas? About who should enter the [Recommended Events]?"

Katsuragi stood on the podium and pinned a white chart to the blackboard, wanting to gather everyone's opinions.

"Katsuragi-san, I'd like to enter all of the [Recommended Events]."

The moment he said it, every Class A student turned to look, and the mood in the room lifted at once.

"Really? Naruse-san, you're going to do all of them?"

"That's wonderful! Naruse-san can definitely win us a lot of points."

"Yeah! Naruse-san, I'll be cheering for you right at the track!"

The First-year Class A students were delighted. After all, Hikaru Naruse had shown superhuman physical ability on the Uninhabited Island, and everyone knew about his feat of solo-clearing the Spots.

A performance that strong meant Hikaru Naruse had a body far beyond an ordinary person's, so everyone felt reassured.

Besides, none of these four [Recommended Events] were single-person, winner-takes-all contests. Even the Mixed Two-Person Three-Legged Race had to be run in several heats with different pairs.

As for the other three, the tug-of-war, the Scavenger Hunt and the relay, they needed even more participants.

So with Hikaru Naruse in, his group would at least be guaranteed a decent result, and that was the deeper reason everyone was so happy.

Even though Class A had built its current lead, that didn't mean anyone had grown complacent.

Everyone still took this Sports Festival contest very seriously.

"Naruse-san, are you really going to enter all four [Recommended Events]?" Katsuragi asked, quite pleased himself, a faint smile on his face.

"Yes. But if I perform badly in the end, please don't blame me." Hikaru Naruse shrugged and said modestly.

"Of course not. We trust your ability, Naruse-san!"

"Yeah, Naruse-san will definitely take first place."

"Mm-hm, you can do it, Naruse-san!"

Katsuragi nodded, then said gravely.

"All right. I'll put Naruse-san's name down first."

Just then, a pleasant voice rang out from the back of the classroom.

"Um, I'd like to enter the Mixed Two-Person Three-Legged Race."

A blonde girl was smiling brightly with her hand raised, her pretty violet eyes curved into two gentle crescents.

"Naruse-san… you promised ahead of time that you'd team up with me."

The moment she said it, the air in the classroom froze for an instant.

Hikaru Naruse looked back and saw that Asuka Shiraishi looked perfectly serious.

"Hm?"

"Naruse-san, didn't you agree last time?"

"Last time was…"

"Then you did agree!"

Last time Hikaru Naruse had just said it offhand, only teasing her. He never expected her to bring it up at a moment like this.

At her words, the rest of the class went a little blank.

"Naruse-san's going to run the three-legged race with Shiraishi-san?"

"Is Shiraishi-san good at sports?"

"That's not the real question."

Quite a few people instinctively looked toward Ai Morishita at the front, and sure enough, she had already stood up.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The blue-haired girl's gaze turned cold as she fixed it on Asuka Shiraishi.

After her unabashed intimacy with Hikaru Naruse in the classroom last term, everyone had long assumed the two of them had been together for ages.

For the Mixed Two-Person Three-Legged Race, Ai Morishita should have been Class A's best choice, since the two of them would obviously work together better.

Across the room, Miki Yamamura looked over as well. She gave Asuka Shiraishi a complicated look, her expression a little delicate.

After all, plenty of people knew the rumors about Asuka Shiraishi.

Hikaru Naruse knew the truth behind the so-called "Hundred-Man Slayer," but many people believed Asuka Shiraishi's private life was a mess.

Now that she'd brought this up of her own accord, the atmosphere in the classroom turned strange.

"I want to team up with Naruse too, in the Mixed Two-Person Three-Legged Race."

Ai Morishita's blunt declaration put Katsuragi on the podium in an awkward spot, but he quickly thought of a simpler solution.

"The [Recommended Events] are the key to scoring. Naruse-san, since two people want to team up with you, I'll leave the final decision to you."

"…"

Hikaru Naruse thought it over, then asked straight out.

"Do you two really want to do this event?"

"Yes." Ai Morishita nodded firmly.

"That's right. I want to fight side by side with Naruse-san." Asuka Shiraishi's tone was still soft.

"Then here's what we'll do. At PE later, you two race each other, one lap, 400 meters. Whoever's faster, I'll pick."

It was actually a very simple solution, and it even leaned a little in Ai Morishita's favor.

Ai Morishita's physical ability was C+, while Asuka Shiraishi's was D. In a footrace, Morishita would most likely win.

But if Hikaru Naruse had simply said he'd pair with Morishita, Asuka Shiraishi would have lost face, since she was the one who'd raised it first.

In private, the two of them could whisper whatever they liked.

But now that she'd made sure the whole class knew, he couldn't leave the girl too humiliated. Settling it with a contest was more fitting.

"Do you both agree?"

Katsuragi thought it was a fine way to decide too. It was a sports event, after all, so naturally physical ability was what should be compared.

"No problem for me." Ai Morishita nodded.

"Me too." Asuka Shiraishi nodded as well.

Watching this, the Class A students were suddenly all intrigued, dying to know how it would turn out.

Asuka Shiraishi and Ai Morishita were both beauties, and the "rumors" about each of them had circulated in Class A for a long time. Everyone had a different opinion of the two.

One was Ai Morishita, who had kept getting close to him on purpose even after Hikaru Naruse officially had a girlfriend.

The other was Asuka Shiraishi, the rumored "Hundred-Man Slayer," who was said to be intimate with Hikaru Naruse in private too.

So the race between these two instantly gripped everyone's attention, and all of them wanted to know who would win.

Only the winner would get to have Hikaru Naruse.

*

During the break, Ryoko Nishikawa went up to Asuka Shiraishi, curious.

"Asuka, are you really going to race Morishita-san? Are you confident?"

"Not confident at all. But I want to give it a try."

"You want to try even though you're not confident?" Ryoko Nishikawa had long known her best friend's feelings for Hikaru Naruse.

"Yeah."

Asuka Shiraishi's voice was soft. She could roughly guess how the race would end, but she still had a backup plan.

"If I happen to win, I can train with Naruse-san."

"And if you lose?"

Ryoko Nishikawa watched Asuka Shiraishi with a complicated look.

"It's fine if I lose."

"Fine?"

"Mm, fine."

"Okay, then. If you win, I'll cheer for you two when you train with Naruse-san."

A smile finally appeared on Ryoko Nishikawa's face. Since the VIP Exam ended, she had grown much more familiar with Hikaru Naruse.

On that night aboard the cruise ship when the three of them played Old Maid together, it had been just an ordinary game, but she felt she'd gotten a lot closer to Hikaru Naruse.

Of course, she hadn't told her best friend Asuka Shiraishi about any of that.

Meanwhile, Miki Yamamura had come to Ai Morishita's seat. That was the upside of having a best friend.

"Morishita-san, are you confident?"

"Yes." Ai Morishita answered without a second thought.

"…All right, Morishita-san. I'll cheer for you later."

"Don't worry. Little Asuka? She's a piece of cake."

Ai Morishita made a little fist on purpose, looking very sure of herself.

"…"

"That's good, then."

Miki Yamamura actually wanted to team up with Hikaru Naruse for the Mixed Two-Person Three-Legged Race too, but on second thought, something that conspicuous wasn't her style.

In the past, Miki Yamamura had agonized over how little presence she had.

But now that Hikaru Naruse could always find her the instant he looked, she no longer minded much.

If other people didn't notice her, Miki Yamamura felt more at ease, too. As long as she knew there was one person who was always watching her, that was enough.

So it was better to sit out a contest like this.

What she wanted now was simple: to be someone with little presence, staying at Hikaru Naruse's side forever and ever.

*

Three in the afternoon. PE class.

For today's two hours, the PE teacher had arranged two kinds of training: running and ball-throwing practice.

Since so many Sports Festival events involved running, running practice came first.

Everyone changed into their gym clothes and warmed up. After about half an hour, free training began.

Katsuragi promptly took on the role of referee, and the others cleared the track on their own so Ai Morishita and Asuka Shiraishi could go head to head.

The PE teacher stood to one side, enjoying the show, while Hikaru Naruse waited for the result alongside Miki Yamamura and Ryoko Nishikawa.

On the track.

Ai Morishita and Asuka Shiraishi were ready.

The two stood at the starting line, one expressionless and one smiling brightly, showing how different their personalities were.

Katsuragi checked his watch and began the countdown.

"Three. Two."

The next instant, the bald man bellowed.

"Go!"

In a flash, the two shot out.

Ai Morishita's running form was fairly ordinary. Her stride rate wasn't especially high, but each step was steady and her rhythm was good.

Hikaru Naruse also noticed that Asuka Shiraishi's burst was decent, but after a hundred-odd meters, something clearly went wrong.

Physical ability C+ against physical ability D. On paper the gap didn't look huge, but in an actual race it was very noticeable.

Asuka Shiraishi had been sent by the White Room to monitor Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, but this girl clearly wasn't the type who excelled physically.

Her running form was reasonably correct, but her overall stamina and endurance fell short. She used her burst to pull ahead of Ai Morishita for a stretch at the start, but afterward she plainly couldn't keep up.

"Wow! Morishita-san's taken the lead!"

"Yeah, Morishita-san's so fast!"

"Shiraishi-san, go!"

The Class A students, who loved a good show, watched the two compete, and some shouted encouragement to the runners.

Hikaru Naruse watched closely, and sure enough, in the last two hundred meters Asuka Shiraishi's lack of physical strength stood out all at once.

Asuka Shiraishi's breathing grew more and more ragged, and her stride rate began to drop slightly.

Ai Morishita, ahead of her, was also gasping by now, but her stamina was clearly a notch better, so she kept her lead over the girl behind her.

In the final hundred meters, Ai Morishita gritted her teeth, drew a deep breath and surged forward, widening the gap on Asuka Shiraishi more and more.

In the end, Ai Morishita was the first to cross the finish line.

The race to decide Hikaru Naruse's three-legged partner ended with Ai Morishita's victory.

"Morishita-san, water." Miki Yamamura, always true to her instincts as a member of the trio, immediately carried a cup of water over to Ai Morishita.

"Glug… glug…"

After downing the bottled water in big gulps, Ai Morishita smiled at Hikaru Naruse standing nearby and flashed him a peace sign.

"I won, Naruse."

"Yeah, nicely done, Morishita."

Hikaru Naruse applauded for her, and the others joined in to show respect. Not that 400 meters was anything remarkable. They were just playing along with the mood.

Meanwhile, Ryoko Nishikawa had gone to her best friend's side, holding out the water and tissues she'd prepared long ago.

"Asuka, water—"

But before she could finish, Asuka Shiraishi walked straight toward Hikaru Naruse.

"?"

Watching Asuka Shiraishi come closer and closer, Ai Morishita instinctively sensed something was off, and the other students noticed it too, wondering what she was about to do.

"Shiraishi-san… what's wrong?"

Hikaru Naruse looked over the blonde girl, her forehead covered in sweat, and asked gently with a smile.

"Naruse-san…"

Asuka Shiraishi's chest rose and fell slightly. Half her golden hair was soaked with sweat, and she really did look worn out.

She panted softly, not so much as glancing at Ai Morishita beside her, and said to Hikaru Naruse, very abruptly:

"I think my legs have gone a little numb. Could you take me to the infirmary?"

"?"

When those words came out, Ai Morishita froze on the spot.

What was that supposed to mean?

The Class A students nearby were clearly startled by Asuka Shiraishi's sudden request too.

"Shiraishi-san… your legs are okay?"

Hikaru Naruse asked reflexively.

"They've gone a little numb… Naruse-san, would you like to touch them?"

Asuka Shiraishi leaned closer to Hikaru Naruse. She looked frail, but there was a smile at the corner of her mouth.

"Could you take me to the infirmary? Maybe I'll be fine after lying down for a bit."

She said it again, and Naruse was dumbfounded.

"…"