by Takehaya
“Heh...”
Just before they made it to the school gates, Kiriha looked back and flashed a smile in the direction of the starting line. Kiriha then sprinted through the gate and was out of sight.
“We’ve been had! Damn Kiriha! So this is what she was planning!” Theia’s shrill voice screamed.
A large man in an old-fashioned uniform stood up in the crowd. Below him was Theia, looking quite irritated. Theia had also gotten caught up in the incident, but she didn’t seem be hurt. In the midst of everything, she’d had her partner protect her.
“Did she seduce them or did she bribe them...? Either way, I’ve been totally had! Damn it!”
Once she was up, Theia grit her teeth in frustration. She was certain this was Kiriha’s doing. The collapse occurred immediately after the girls’ track and field team had stolen the lead. Theia couldn’t believe that was just a coincidence.
“As I suspected, I can’t let my guard down around that woman!”
And Theia was right on the money. Kiriha had bribed several influential clubs to get them to fall at the start of the race. Doing so reduced the number of potential rivals while also giving her a substantial lead. It was a splendid strategy, killing two birds with one stone.
“I won’t just let that woman have her way! Hey, throw me over to the other side of the crowd!”
“Hail to the princess!”
The large man immediately took action upon hearing Theia’s orders. He easily lifted her up and threw her so effortlessly it looked like he was tossing a basketball. It was a feat only made possibly because of Theia’s small size and the man’s strength.
“I will go on ahead! Meet up with me later!”
“Hail to the princess!”
Theia sailed right over the human traffic jam and landed with both of her feet on the track. She then sprinted off without even looking back. She was a quick runner for her small size.
“A-Are you okay, Sakuraba-senpai?!”
“Thank you, Satomi-kun. I’m fine, but what happened?”
“I don’t know. It looks like almost everyone in the front group fell over at the same time.”
A few seconds after Theia had made a run for it, Koutarou lifted up Harumi and was now carrying her in his arms.
When the front group collapsed, Koutarou and Harumi were in the middle of the pack. They had been trapped between the people who had fallen and the people who were pushing forward from behind. Even now, they were just picking themselves back up.
“Huh?!”
That was when Koutarou saw Theia running. She was already finished with the track and heading for the school gates.
Not good! We’re already behind!
Koutarou looked ahead to the starting line, but it was still in an uproar.
“What to do...? Even if I try to pass through there...”
People were clustered up and it didn’t look like they were going to disperse any time soon. But Koutarou had to do something. He knew that Kiriha and Theia had taken the lead.
“Koutarou, over there! Those three!”
“Oh?”
Sanae, who was clinging on to Koutarou in her typical fashion, pointed to the front of the crowd. There he saw three robust boys trying to stand up. They were members of the rugby club, the judo club, and the sumo club, each clearly distinguishable by their outfit.
“Now’s our chance!”
The moment he saw them, he smiled and made a break for it.
“Here we go, Sakuraba-senpai!”
“Satomi-kun?!”
Before Harumi could even respond, Koutarou was running straight for them and gradually speeding up.
“Hold on, Sakuraba-senpai!”
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
“Juuuuump!”
Koutarou deftly trampled the members of the rugby, judo, and sumo clubs in turn, making a daring leap off of the last one. Their backs made the perfect stepping stones as they were trying to stand up.
“Sorry! Excuse me!”
“Who’s stepping on me?!”
“I’m being used as a stepping stone?!”
“Gottsan desu?!”1
Koutarou and Harumi seemed to hang in the air as they soared over the group crowding the starting line. It was all so sudden that Harumi was desperately holding on to Koutarou, afraid of falling. Their combined weight was over a hundred kilograms, so there was quite a sound as they hit the ground. But Koutarou landed with both feet firmly planted on the track.
“Kyaah!”
“Are you okay, Sakuraba-senpai?!”
Before Harumi could recover from the shock of landing, Koutarou was already running again.
“That’s my line! Are you okay, Satomi-kun?!”
“I’m fine! I’m well trained, after all!”
Collecting herself, Harumi was worried about Koutarou’s well-being, but he was smiling confidently. As a catcher in his middle school baseball days, Koutarou was used to wearing protective gear weighing several kilos including the glove. In order to train his mobility, he would practice while wearing the heavy gear or run around while dragging a tire along behind him. After all that, his lower body was very robust.
“...Really?”
“Please save that line until you’ve gotten fatter, Sakuraba-senpai.”
Koutarou smiled as he ran around the track while carrying Harumi.
He seems fine... You’re amazing, Satomi-kun...
Harumi was a frail girl, so Koutarou’s strength made quite an impression on her.
Oh?
After letting out a sigh of relief, Harumi realized something felt odd. There was still a fuss at the starting area and there weren’t many people on the track, so the spectators had their eyes on her and Koutarou. After looking around, she still couldn’t put her finger on it.
“What’s the matter?”
“Um, Satomi-k—”
Just as she was about to respond to Koutarou, Harumi realized exactly what was so strange.
“Senpai?”
“Uh, uhh...”
Harumi was at a loss for words and her eyes were wide open. Koutarou was much too close. She could feel his breath on her cheeks, his arms across her back and legs, and his chest against her side as he carried her. Worst of all, she had wrapped her arms around Koutarou’s neck.
“Oh, Senpai, please keep tensing up like that. It makes it easier to run.”
“Um, S-Satomi-kun— Whaaat?!”
Koutarou sped up, oblivious to Harumi’s stupor. As she tensed up and her body got stiffer, it became easier for Koutarou to balance and run faster. At the same time, he put more force into his arms and pulled her closer to him. In turn, Harumi tensed up even more.
“L-Let me down! I can run on my own!”
“It’s okay! We’ll gain a bit of a lead this way.”
Flustered, Harumi tried to get down on her own, but Koutarou shook his head. It would be faster for him to carry her for a while instead of her running on her own. Koutarou wanted Harumi to finish the race, so he was planning on making it as far as he could like this.
“Th-This is troubling me!”
“Why is that?”
“...”
Harumi was unable to respond. Instead, she started blushing furiously. She couldn’t say that being carried like this was embarrassing. Moreover, she didn’t actually dislike her current situation. All she could do was look down. Her heart was throbbing, she began to feel lightheaded, and she was having trouble breathing. It might have actually been easier for her to run on her own.
“Just keep holding on tight like that.”
“Um... Excuse me!”
“Yes?”
“N-Never mind!”
As usual, Koutarou was ignorant of Harumi’s feelings. He just kept running. They were the only two on the track still, so the crowd naturally kept watching Koutarou and Harumi.
“Ah, ahh... Auuugh...”
Harumi tried not to think about the people looking at her. Otherwise, she felt like her hea
rt would explode.
“All right! I’m in top form today!”
“...I feel like I’m going to lose my mind...”
Eventually, they finished their run on the track, passed through the school gate, and made it out onto the road.
As Koutarou left the schoolyard, the commotion at the starting area finally started to die down as the competitors started taking off.
“Damn it! That first-year brat won’t get away with this!”
“You want a piece of him too, judo club?”
“Damn right! What about you, rugby club? Sumo club?”
“You don’t even need to ask! I’ll show him!”
“Gottsan desu!”
“I hate him for stepping on me, but even more so for having a girl!”
“That’s right! Unforgivable! Damn enviable!”
“Gottsan desu!”
While some were wrestling with their emotions, most students had now left the starting line behind them. However, there was one participant in particular who hadn’t even thought about starting.
“Uh... Uuuuuhh...”
She was lying on the ground and staring up at the sky. Her partner had vanished in the commotion and she was left all alone.
“Wh-Why does this always happen to me...?”
She was wearing a black dress with an apron over it and a white headpiece. The once beautiful ensemble was now covered with dirt and footprints, complementary to the one smack in the middle of her face. When she’d gotten caught up in the chaos, the other competitors had trampled her.
“But I need to go, or I’ll lose even more points... Uuuhh...”
The girl slowly stood up. She then tried to brush the dirt off of her outfit, but try as she might, nothing would get rid of the footprints.
“F-Fight! Y-Yurika, fight! Fight!”
It was Nijino Yurika, the girl known for her over the top cosplay hobby. Eventually Yurika dragged herself forward and began shakily running.
“I at least wanted someone to see it before it got dirty...”
Just a few moments ago, she was in tears because she was forced into the outfit and makeup, but now that it was dirty and ruined, she felt like crying all over again. However, even Yurika’s tears seemed like some sort of joke with that footprint on her face.
The first obstacle was five hundred meters from the starting line. After running half of the four hundred meter track, it was roughly three hundred meters outside the school gate. It was next to a playground by the foot of the small hill that the school was situated on.
After passing the first obstacle, the course continued on to a promenade through the coastal area, and then down the road that followed the coastline. The other obstacles were placed at parks and rest areas along the way.
Koutarou reached the first obstacle just as Theia had finished it. She flashed him a provocative smile as they crossed paths.
“Hahaha, you’re finally here, pleb! But at this rate, you have no chance of beating me! It would be best for you to just give up now!”
“Shut up, Tulip! As if I’d lose to the likes of you!”
“Your mouth sure flaps a lot! I’d like to teach you a lesson, but I don’t have time to play with you now! I’m going after Kiriha!” Theia shouted as she ran off. Once she got going, she didn’t turn back to look at Koutarou.
“Crap, Kiriha is already up ahead? Senpai...”
“Yes?”
Koutarou put Harumi down and quickly approached the first obstacle. Harumi followed after him. Sanae, who had been clinging to Koutarou up until this point, watched Theia as she ran off into the distance for a while before chasing after Koutarou.
The first obstacle was a math quiz. Several desks had been prepared in the playground, and there they had to solve ten easy math problems. Participants had to get all ten answers right before moving on. There was also the option of giving up, but that meant the competitor would be forced to wait one minute for each problem they were unable to solve. It was a rule put in place to prevent competitors from getting stuck on a single obstacle for too long.
“Ahh, I don’t get it. Help meeee, Kiri-chan!”
There was already someone sitting at one of the desks. It was Kiriha’s partner, Takahashi. Since she was less intelligent, Kiriha had left her behind. She was desperately toiling away at the problems, but she had only solved half of them so far. At this rate, she would probably be forced to give up and wait it out.
Koutarou took a seat next to her, picked up a pencil, and got to work on solving the problems. Harumi did the same.
“Come on, Koutarou, don’t space out! Hurry up and solve them! Theia’s already gone!” Sanae barked.
“Let’s see here... ‘What is 5,682 plus 7,940?’ Wow, what a pain...”
All ten problems were elementary school level arithmetic, but the numbers were large enough to make them a pain to calculate.
“Damn, I wish I had a calculator... Two, then four and eight... Carry the one into nine and six, then...”
Koutarou was so bad at math that he slowly counted it up using his fingers.
“That’s so easy! Just hurry up and solve it!”
“Don’t shout at me like that! I’ll lose track of where I am!”
“Jeez...”
Sanae floated in front of Koutarou, crossed her arms, and puffed up her cheeks. She was getting frustrated that Koutarou couldn’t solve a problem even she could handle easily. Her points were riding on Koutarou’s success, so she couldn’t stay out of it.
“All right, next is...”
By the time Koutarou had solved his third problem, Harumi put down her pencil.
“I’m done.”
“Huh? Already?!”
“Yes. What about you, Satomi-kun?”
“I still have a ways to go. Please go on ahead, Senpai.”
“But...”
Harumi peeked at Koutarou’s answer sheet and furrowed her brow. She didn’t want to leave him behind. Koutarou realized that and smiled at her.
“Really, go on without me. I’ll catch up with you in no time.”
“Satomi-kun...”
“You’re going to reach the goal, right, Sakuraba-senpai? If you bother too much with me, you might not be able to finish.”
Though Harumi was hesitating, as soon as Koutarou mentioned finishing the race, she nodded her head.
“I understand. I’ll go on ahead. But in return, promise me this...”
“Yes?”
“When I get stuck, leave me behind too.”
“I understand. I promise.”
Koutarou agreed without hesitation. He wanted her to run at her own pace while he worked his hardest to put her up on the podium. In order to do that, he would need to leave her on her own as well. If Harumi was forced to run at Koutarou’s pace, she would eventually collapse. They needed to split up at some point.
“Then we’ll meet up again later.”
“Just focus on finishing, Senpai.”
“Of course, Satomi-kun.”
Harumi left with a smile and handed her paper to the committee member in charge of the obstacle.
“Senpai...”
Her smile was more positive and powerful than normal. It made Koutarou want to put her on the podium even more. But in order to do that, he needed to make sure he caught up to Theia and Kiriha no matter what.
“Hey, was that your girlfriend?”
That was when Takahashi, who was sitting next to Koutarou, tugged on his shirt.
“Ahaha, that would be nice.” Koutarou smiled a little and shrugged.
“You don’t see that type a lot nowadays. You should get her while you can,” whispered Takahashi as she watched Harumi running out of the playground.
“I’d love to, but I’d feel bad for her getting stuck with someone crude like me.”
“Ahaha, you don’t see a lot of your type either.”
“You think?”
Koutarou and Takahashi laughed as they got back to solving the problems.
As Koutarou began working on the final problem, Sanae couldn’t keep quiet anymore.
“You know, you really are stupid...”
“Just leave me alone!”
“Why do you need this much time on problems like that? Good grief!”
It was only natural for Sanae to be so dumbfounded. She’d watched several participants come and go while Koutarou was still struggling with basic calculations. Even Takahashi from the girls’ track and field team had just completed the obstacle just a few moments ago.
“I’ll be going on ahead, Satomi-kun!”
“Wahaha, eat my dust, Kou! I’m looking forward to my lunch!”
Before Koutarou could finish solving the last problem, Shizuka and Kenji got up from their desks too. Although Koutarou had a head start on them, neither of them had any trouble with math. They were done in a flash.
“You’re both done already?!”
“You’re just too slow!”
“See ya!”
“Uwah, Kasagi-san, wait for me!”
“Jeez, just let me tell you the answer already!”
“You can’t, Sanae.”
Sanae started feeling rushed as Kenji and Shizuka left. She tried to give Koutarou the answer anyway, but he swiftly covered her mouth.
“Mrrmmph! Hrrmmph?!”
What does it matter?! We’ll lose at this rate!
Sanae protested with her eyes, but Koutarou simply shook his head.
“You can’t. This isn’t just between you and me.”
If this had just been about Koutarou and the invaders, he might have listened to Sanae. However, Koutarou wanted Harumi to win, and he wanted to do it fair and square. She wouldn’t be satisfied with cheating either. On top of that, there was his bet with Kenji and Shizuka. He couldn’t simply let Sanae answer for him. As Sanae listened to Koutarou’s response, she pulled his hand away from her mouth.
“Then hurry up already!”
“I know, I know. Don’t rush me.”
Koutarou smiled dryly as he continued on solving the last problem.
“God, you’re stubborn on top of stupid!” Sanae cried, both exasperated and amazed.
But... friends, huh? I want friends too...
