Chapter 262: Opening of the Sports Festival / Long-Distance Run? I'm Way Too Familiar With That!
September 1st.
Today is the first day of the second semester.
Shimizu Akira suddenly felt that summer vacation had passed exceptionally quickly.
When he thought back carefully, he realized that although the summer break lasted a full month, half of it was spent on the cruise ship. Two consecutive special exams had taken up most of the time, and the vacation he could truly manage freely only amounted to about half a month in total.
This school implements a three-semester system. After finishing this second semester, there is still a third. Each semester lasts three to four months, while the breaks between semesters are very short. The head of the boxing club, Sato, had mentioned to him yesterday that the winter break following the second semester didn't even seem to be half a month long.
However, to Shimizu Akira, this bit of hardship was nothing; he treated it as just another way of taking annual leave. After all, this school distributes personal points on time every month.
He glanced at the time; it was exactly 7:00 AM.
Sure enough, the points for the previous month issued by the school arrived on time, clearly jumping by +86,000 points.
Just then, his phone vibrated. He clicked it open to see. It was a message from Ichinose Honami.
Ichinose Honami: Shimizu, the 150,000 points we agreed on for this month—I've sent them over~ ( ^ ω ^)*
Back during the deserted island exam, Shimizu Akira had done a huge favor for Class B. Sending 150,000 points every month was the exact thank-you gift agreed upon at the time. Adding the 86,000 given by the school, he had already banked 236,000 points on the first day of the month.
Counting his previous savings, the personal points in his hand now totaled a full 22 million.
Having just finished one semester, to be able to save an amount that ordinary students wouldn't dare dream of—it would be a lie to say he wasn't proud.
Yet, even with twenty million in hand, Shimizu Akira didn't have the slightest intention of "lying flat." There were too many people he cared about in his heart, making the burden on his shoulders feel even heavier.
Kushida Kikyo, Horikita Suzune, Kamuro Masumi, Ichinose Honami... if any of these people encountered an accident and needed points to resolve it, he wouldn't hesitate to use his twenty million.
However, thinking carefully, it seemed a bit different for some. Horikita Suzune had an older brother at the school, Horikita Manabu. Even if he usually seemed to disdain his sister, if Suzune truly got into trouble, Manabu wouldn't just sit idly by, right?
On Kamuro Masumi's side, there was still Sakayanagi Arisu in first-year Class A. That little princess had, like him, found many excuses to give Kamuro pocket money over the past few months; she likely wouldn't watch her be expelled either.
As for Ichinose Honami, as the leader of Class B, her prestige in the class was extremely high and she had class funds at her disposal, so there shouldn't be much to worry about.
As he counted them down one by one, Shimizu Akira suddenly froze.
'Wait, does that mean only Kushida Kikyo has no extra safety net? ...'
Shimizu Akira walked into the classroom of first-year Class D and went straight to his seat. He arrived fairly early; only a scattered few people had made it to the class. Since it was the first day of school, everyone's rhythm hadn't quite adjusted yet.
Just as he sat down, he noticed a gaze coming from beside him.
Turning his head, he saw his seatmate, Horikita Suzune, looking at him with eyes full of an indescribable complexity.
"Horikita? Good morning," Shimizu Akira spoke first, taking the initiative to greet her.
The summer vacation was over, and the matter of Horikita being scolded by her brother should have dissipated by now. However, Horikita Suzune didn't respond as usual. She simply maintained her posture, her eyes never leaving him.
"Why are you staring at me?" Shimizu Akira couldn't help but ask.
"...It's nothing." Horikita Suzune finally snapped out of it, her gaze shifting forward, her tone carrying its habitual coldness.
Shimizu Akira didn't care much about her slightly distant response; Horikita Suzune had always been like this. Just then, as it turned 8:00 AM, the Daily Information popped up as scheduled.
Ichinose Honami of first-year Class B still keeps the windbreaker that Shimizu Akira once wore. A new sports event will be added to this Sports Festival; this was a supplementary decision made by the Chairman. Horikita Suzune of first-year Class D clicked on her chat dialog with Shimizu Akira 86 times during the summer vacation, wanting to invite him to go to a fortune-teller together, but because of her brother's previous scolding, she felt awkward and ultimately failed to take the initiative to talk to him.
'Huh?! The windbreaker?!' Shimizu Akira was momentarily stunned.
That's right! After his date with Ichinose Honami last time, his windbreaker had indeed been taken by her! So much time had passed, yet she had never mentioned returning it.
'Did she keep it on purpose? Or did she just forget?' He somehow felt the former was more likely.
Regarding the second piece of information, Shimizu Akira had actually heard it vaguely from the Student Council President—that a Sports Festival would be held in the second semester. The President had even specifically mentioned wanting to have a proper competition with him during the festival. It seemed a new event had indeed been added.
And the one that shocked him first was undoubtedly Horikita Suzune's private info at the end.
'Wait! Why so many times?!' "86?"
One must realize the entire summer break was only half a month; on average, that was at least five or six times a day. Horikita Suzune was actually holding her phone, hesitating repeatedly because she wanted to contact him?
'This is too awkward! Awkward to the extreme! If you want to go, just send a message. What's there to struggle with?' Just as he muttered the number, Horikita Suzune's ears beside him suddenly perked up, and her body stiffened almost imperceptibly for a split second.
"What are you saying? What '86'? What does that mean?"
'What else could it be? It's the total number of times you were embarrassingly indecisive over the summer!'
Shimizu Akira looked at her serious face, as if nothing had happened, and couldn't help but squint his eyes. If the Daily Information hadn't pointed it out, who could have imagined that this serious girl in front of him had such a convoluted mindset over the break? The contrast was too great.
He said, "Nothing, I just received a notification that 86,000 points arrived, and our class's current points happen to be 860."
Hearing this, Horikita Suzune nodded.
"860 points is considered a decent result."
Shimizu Akira paused. "By the way, did you really want to visit the fortune-telling shop during the summer vacation?"
"A fortune-teller?" Horikita Suzune shook her head slightly.
"Indeed, it seems a quite famous fortune-teller came during the summer break; I have some impression of it. Other students kept saying she was very accurate, but to be honest, I feel
that so-called 'seeing the future' doesn't exist. It's likely just a technique similar to cold reading."
She added: "However... even if I truly wanted to try it now, that shop has likely already left the school, right? Besides, the school forbids students from going outside, so there's no chance for fortune-telling anymore."
Shimizu Akira followed her lead: "There really is no chance. However, are you free tonight? I want to invite you, your brother, and Tachibana-senpai for a meal. After the last special exam, I promised to arrange a meal for you and President Horikita, but then the President had to renovate the Student Council office, so it was shelved. He said he would be free after the start of this semester. What do you think?"
"I can!" Horikita Suzune agreed immediately without a hint of hesitation.
To her, being able to eat with her brother was an irresistible temptation. Although her EQ wasn't high, she vaguely sensed that Shimizu Akira bringing up the meal might be because he knew she didn't get to go to the fortune-teller and wanted to use this excuse to make her happy.
The figure of Ibuki Mio inexplicably flashed through her mind. Last time, that woman was quite blunt, stating that Shimizu Akira was exceptionally attentive to her and even calling her a "love-brain".
She agreed with the first half—Shimizu Akira was indeed very good to her. But the second half? She would never admit to that. She had some good feelings for Shimizu Akira, sure, but how could she be at the point where her head was entirely full of him?
Horikita Suzune cleared her throat, trying to suppress the strange ripples in her heart, and added with feigned calm: "...This can also be an opportunity to get closer to my brother. As we agreed, come directly to my dorm tonight; we can continue to the next step."
After speaking, she quietly looked up, her gaze falling on Shimizu Akira's face, carefully observing his micro-expressions. In her expectation, he should at least show some look of anticipation; after all, he was coming to her dorm to be alone, and they could even continue to the "next step."
But to her surprise, Shimizu Akira only responded with a calm face: "Okay."
Horikita Suzune was stunned, inexplicably feeling that his reaction was way too plain. She pursed her lips, a thin layer of red creeping onto her earlobes, and reminded him as if casually: "I mean... the next step from the hug we mentioned last time. This time, I will specifically set aside half an hour."
As soon as she finished, she heard Shimizu Akira respond in that same unruffled tone: "Oh."
'Wait! Why does this guy have absolutely no reaction?! ...'
The afternoon classes were about to begin, but today's first period had been replaced by a two-hour-long class meeting.
Chabashira Sae, still in her capable OL suit, entered the classroom with her usual cold expression.
"From today, we officially enter the second semester. From September to early October, physical education classes will be added to prepare for the Sports Festival. I will distribute the new schedule and materials related to the Sports Festival. Students in the first row, pass them back. Additionally, the activity details have been made public on the school homepage. If you accidentally lose the materials, you can check the website."
As soon as she spoke, the expressions of some students became subtle. To them, attending PE and participating in sports meets were things they weren't good at.
The thought of preparing for the Sports Festival and drilling their bodies was inevitably intimidating.
Conversely, those students in the class who belonged to sports clubs clearly showed excited expressions, their eyes full of anticipation.
Before the materials reached Shimizu Akira's hand, Chabashira Sae's gaze suddenly swept across the class, her tone carrying a hint of hidden meaning: "One more thing. This Sports Festival will adopt a cross-grade group confrontation format. Class D and Class A belong to the Red Team; Class B and Class C are the White Team."
"Oh? We're in a group with the honors students from Class A!" Sudo Ken blurted out instinctively.
"Ken! You've got it wrong! Didn't you look at the sign by the door when you came to the classroom? We are already first-year Class C now, not the old Class D!" Ike Kanji immediately spoke up to correct him.
"That's right! Now Ryuen Kakeru's group is Class D! We've moved up a rank!"
"After all, we gained a lot of class points in the last two special exams. It's only right that we leveled up!"
The surrounding classmates chimed in one after another. To them, shedding the label of the school-bottom Class D and becoming Class C was indeed something worth being happy about.
Shimizu Akira carefully recalled the notification Chabashira-sensei had posted in the class group this morning regarding the point rankings of the four classes at this stage:
Class A: 1,210 points Class B: 985 points Class C (Former D): 860 points
Class D (Former C): 640 points
Looking at the class points alone, even though Sakayanagi Arisu had done quite a few small maneuvers behind the scenes, first-year Class A was still firmly in first place. Class B was in second; they originally had over a thousand points, but 100 points were deducted during the last VIP exam, landing them in this position.
As for his own class, they were now the third-place Class C. Ryuen Kakeru's new Class D didn't even have 700 points, leaving a gap of over two hundred points between them.
But Shimizu Akira knew in his heart that these were only the class points on the surface. In secret, Ryuen Kakeru's personal point income was actually much higher—especially since Class A had to transfer a fixed 780,000 points to him every month.
At this moment, Chabashira-sensei's voice rang out again, her tone carrying an indescribable dissatisfaction. "Correct. That is to say, for this Sports Festival, your partner is Class B."
But the people in the class didn't care about the teacher's minor mood at all. Hearing that their partner was Class B, many people immediately got excited:
"It's Class B! Great! We're saved!"
"We've cooperated with Class B so many times already, we're practically family!"
Some students immediately counted down past cooperation experiences: the Sudo fight incident where Class B participated in the Student Council debate; the deserted island special exam where Ichinose's group worked with Shimizu Akira using the crucial voice recorder; and even the last VIP exam where Class B agreed to the proposal for the remaining groups to reach Result 1. Including this Sports Festival, it was already their fourth cooperation.
To the newly upgraded Class C, Class B was undoubtedly the most reliable partner right now, bar none.
Finally, the Sports Festival materials reached Shimizu Akira's hand. He wasn't in a hurry to read the rules and explanations; his gaze immediately fell on the list of participation events at the bottom:
All-Participation Events 100-Meter Dash Hurdle Race Pole-Toppling (Men only) Ball-Toss (Women only) Tug-of-War (Divided by Gender) Obstacle Race Three-Legged Race Cavalry Battle 200-Meter Dash Recommended/Selective Events 10. Scavenger Hunt Four-Way Tug-of-War Mixed-Gender Three-Legged Race Cross-Grade Unified 1,200-Meter Relay Cross-Grade Unified 10,000-Meter Long-Distance Run
'Hmm?!' Shimizu Akira's eyes suddenly stopped on the final item, and his gaze brightened significantly.
'A ten-kilometer run? I'm way too familiar with that!'
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