Chapter 42: The Entire Audience Was Shocked (Patreon)

At the front of the line, Gin Dojima turned his head slightly.

Lowering his voice, he quietly asked Joichiro beside him, "Did you feel that force just now?"

Joichiro nodded, just as surprised. "Honestly, I wasn't putting any real strength into it, yet the rope yanked toward our side without warning. It must have been Ramsay, pulling hard from the end of the line."

"Tsss… Terrifying. His strength is outrageous. This makes the tug-of-war interesting after all."

*

Tweet-tweet!

"The first round is over. Both sides, switch sides!"

At the referee's command, the two teams shuffled across in an orderly line and swapped positions.

Hiroshi Nakamori stepped up and glared at Kazuko Minami across the rope, keeping his voice low. "Don't gloat too soon. Last round we just let our guard down. This round, don't expect to get away with a thing."

Kazuko met his stare without flinching, one corner of her mouth curling in mockery. "Luck? You're just soft and weak."

"Today, I'll make sure you understand. On this field, you're destined to lose and go home humiliated!"

*

The referee's whistle sounded again, and the second round began.

This time, every member of the Chanko Research Society held nothing back. Ten burly men sank their weight in unison, dug their feet into the ground, clamped their thick hands around the hemp rope, and hauled backward with everything they had!

But the next instant, the confidence on every face turned to horror.

No matter how hard they strained, the red marker at the center of the rope kept creeping, bit by bit and beyond their control, toward the Local Cuisine Research Society.

"Didn't you eat?! Everyone, pull harder!" Nakamori bellowed in a furious rage.

The members redoubled their efforts at his shout. Their round faces turned beet red, ragged roars rose all around, and veins bulged at their temples.

"Aaagh…"

Yet no matter how they struggled, that overwhelming force kept pulling steadily forward.

At last, a sharp, piercing whistle cut through the noisy field. The referee bent to confirm that the red marker had been dragged fully over the center line, then raised his voice to announce the result.

"Second round: the Local Cuisine Research Society wins!"

"The match is best of three. The final winner is… the Local Cuisine Research Society!"

*

The moment the words fell, the Local Cuisine Research Society members erupted.

"Yes!"

"We won!"

"We actually beat the Chanko Research Society!"

"Our president is amazing, we did it!"

Kazuko stood at the front of the group, unable to hide the joy in her eyes. She raised a hand to calm her excited members and said with a bright laugh, "Everyone gave their all today. Tonight, it's on me. We're all going to a fancy restaurant off campus!"

*

But just then, a furious, bitter shout cut through the celebration.

"No! I refuse to accept this result!"

Nakamori, his face flushed red and his fists clenched, strode forward, his heavy frame trembling with anger.

Kazuko Minami's smile vanished. She stepped in front of her members and met his gaze coldly. "The match is decided. A loss is a loss. Can't you stand to lose?"

"Hmph! It's not that I can't stand to lose."

Nakamori gritted his teeth and growled, "It's that this match was ridiculous. It defies all common sense."

"Ridiculous?"

Kazuko Minami raised a brow and pointed at the team behind her. "Both sides fielded ten people, the numbers are plain as day, and the referee watched the whole match. What exactly is unreasonable?"

Nakamori swept his eyes over the members behind her, and his brow furrowed even tighter. "I can't see the flaw, but this result makes no sense."

"In a contest of brute strength, every member of our sumo club has trained their bodies since childhood. There's no way we lose to a bunch of local cuisine specialists, not unless you give me an explanation that convinces me!"

Kazuko felt a headache coming on.

Deep down, she also sensed that this victory had come far too strangely.

Before the match, she had already prepared herself to lose. The Chanko Research Society was all brawn, and in raw strength there was no way to match them.

Yet over two rounds of tug-of-war, her team had won steadily.

Still, she had acted honestly, and her club had competed above board, with no tricks at all. She was about to argue the point with Nakamori when a calm male voice suddenly rang out from the edge of the crowd.

*

"Nakamori."

Gin Dojima walked up, a steady aura around him, with Joichiro Saiba following quietly at his side.

The moment Nakamori saw him, the aggression drained from his face. He bowed respectfully. "Senior Dojima!"

Gin only glanced at him, then said evenly, "Do you want to know the real reason you lost?"

"The answer is simple. She brought in a junior with natural, monstrous strength."

"Huh? A strongman?"

Nakamori was baffled. His eyes darted quickly over everyone on the Local Cuisine Research Society team!

Apart from Gin Dojima and Joichiro Saiba, the rest were slender girls and three delicate-looking boys. Only the clean-featured, fresh-faced youth at the end of the line looked unfamiliar.

Hm! No matter how he looked at it, none of them fit the word "strongman."

*

"Senior, you know me. I… I never make trouble for no reason."

Nakamori gave a wry laugh, then said in confusion, "In cooking, I know I'm far below you, but when it comes to strength, I'm completely confident."

"Our whole club has done sumo training all year round. We're all muscle. How could we lose the tug-of-war so completely?"

Gin didn't bother explaining. He simply raised his voice and waved toward the back. "Ramsay, come here."

The youth stepped forward, tall and clean-cut, slender and scholarly-looking, with nothing about him to suggest immense strength.

Gin turned to Nakamori and said, word by word, "Nakamori, if I told you that the brute strength of your entire sumo club combined doesn't match this junior's, would you believe me?"

"What?"

Nakamori was stunned!