Three weeks after midterms, the campus was already bustling with activity. Students ran back and forth, preparing for the upcoming sports festival scheduled from late September to early October.
At the moment, the entire English Secondary Education Department was gathered for a meeting, specifically to see who was willing to participate in any of the events.
"For the mixed relay race," the program head said, scanning the room.
No one raised a hand.
No one except the girl sitting beside me.
"I'll be the anchor!" Anathasia said brightly, her hand shooting up.
She glanced around. Everyone else was either staring blankly at her or physically present while glued to their phones.
When it became clear no one else planned on volunteering, she turned to me with a smile.
Then she grabbed my arm and raised it.
"He'll be the third leg," Anathasia added, turning back to the program head without even asking for my consent.
[Oi.]
My expression flattened. [Why am I involved?]
She only shrugged, already looking away.
[Because I'm joining too? Besides, it's just running. You're athletic, so no big deal—right?]
Her smile widened.
I pinched her side.
Her face twisted instantly as she winced, a hand flying up to clamp over her mouth.
[What was that for?!]
[Payback.]
"Miss Dunaleff and Mr. Abe for the relay race," the program head said, nodding as he wrote. "Anyone else?"
A low murmur spread through the room. Some students nudged others, urging them to volunteer for the first and second legs. Others just whispered among themselves.
"Wait—Abe? Isn't that Professor Wang's favorite?" someone muttered.
I frowned slightly. I didn't get why that even mattered.
"Yeah, that guy… and Dunaleff—that's the girl who keeps getting chewed out by Mr. Wang," another voice replied.
The murmurs continued as the program head scribbled down names.
"Haven't they been dating since first year?"
"Yeah, I heard they're basically inseparable…"
The chatter was cut off abruptly.
"I'll be the first leg."
Near the front, a white-haired girl raised her hand.
Arianne.
The same Arianne Anathasia had traumatized roughly two months ago.
Anathasia and I exchanged a glance. She forced a small smile, then looked away.
"She doesn't know anyway…" she whispered.
"Well, of course she wouldn't," I murmured back, eyes shifting toward the front.
"No one even knew you froze an entire universe while doing it."
Anathasia kept her head lowered and didn't respond. After a moment, she took out her phone.
—
A few minutes later, the meeting wrapped up. And because of Anathasia's insistence, the two of us were officially listed as runners for the relay race, alongside Arianne and some other guy whose name I didn't bother remembering.
As we filed out of the classroom, Arianne was standing by the door. Waiting.
When she saw us, she walked over with an easy smile.
"Kyle. Anathasia," she said. "Good luck at the sports festival."
I smiled back. Anathasia glanced at me briefly before returning the smile.
"Yeah," I replied. "Likewise. Let's all do our best."
Arianne nodded.
"Will do." She waved lightly. "Take care, you two."
And with that, she walked off.
Anathasia stood beside me as we watched her go.
"She looks fine," she said, crossing her arms. "Just like I said she would be."
"She seemed a little nervous," I noted.
"That's normal," Anathasia replied with a shrug.
"There's nothing worse than the unknown—except the unexplainable."
She glanced at me.
"Forgetting something, but not knowing what you forgot. Feeling like something's missing and having no way to name it."
"It's worse than not knowing at all."
I raised an eyebrow.
She noticed immediately.
"What?"
"Nothing," I said. "Just didn't expect you to actually put it into words."
She huffed lightly, one hand settling on her hip.
"I felt like explaining," she said. "Besides—she's fine."
She flicked her wrist dismissively.
"That's what matters, right?"
"Y'know…" I said after a brief pause, "sometimes I wonder what it's like to *not* be unaffected by your whole cosmic-horror state."
She chuckled softly, then grabbed my wrist, tugging me along the hallway.
"Trust me," Anathasia said, shaking her head. "It's not pretty."
She continued casually.
"Those things you've read about in the Bible, angels descending before humans? People covering their eyes, collapsing, looking away?"
She glanced back at me.
"It's like that. But far, far worse."
"What you saw back in January was barely a fraction of it," she went on. "And even then, it didn't really affect you."
She paused, then corrected herself.
"Or rather— it couldn't."
"Right…" I mumbled as she tugged me along toward the campus canteen.
—
The sun had already begun sinking past the horizon by the time we stayed behind on the track along with Arianne and the guy assigned as the second leg for the relay.
"This entire track, huh?" Anathasia stepped forward, casually tying her hair into a ponytail as she looked it over. We'd already changed into our sportswear for a short practice earlier, so all that was left was coordination.
"Pretty much," I nodded, glancing at Arianne on my left, then at the guy beside her.
Now that he's dressed like that… he does look pretty muscular. Maybe a bit too much.
On the other hand…
I shifted my gaze to Anathasia as she stretched an arm over her head beside me.
Miss Outer God here looks way too fired up for a 'casual' practice.
With a small nod, I clapped my hands together.
"This is just a mock run," I said as we started down the slope toward the field. "So let's not push ourselves too hard. Winning isn't exactly the goal here, so let's just—"
"I'd prefer it if we won," the guy cut in flatly. "That's kind of the point of sports festivals."
[…Well. That's something.]
If I remembered correctly, his name was Robert John Mendoza. From what I'd heard, he was extremely capable, and aggressively competitive. He came from a family of teachers, which, according to campus rumor mill logic, meant he'd been groomed to come out on top.
I didn't want to generalize.
Still… from experience, students from those kinds of families were often expected to excel at everything, just because of where they came from. Which, personally, I thought was stupid.
I hoped he didn't actually fit that stereotype.
But I couldn't say much, I didn't know him well enough.
Suddenly, Anathasia leaned closer.
"Looks like we might have a bit of an issue," she whispered.
"Let's not butt heads with him just yet."
"Agreed…"
I offered him a light smile as we made our way toward the track.
"That too," I said. "In a way, this practice serves that purpose as well."
He was quiet for a moment, then gave a small nod before turning away.
"I'm already done with my warm-up," he said. "It'd be best if everyone else did the same."
"Just to avoid sore muscles, or tearing something by accident."
With that, he bolted off, circling the track while Arianne, Anathasia, and I stayed by the side, following his advice and warming up ourselves.
As Robert continued his laps, Arianne stood beside me, watching him run.
"How should I say this…" she began hesitantly. "I don't want to sound like I'm antagonizing him, but he seems… a little too competitive?"
I glanced at her, then back at Robert on the far end of the track.
"I noticed that too," I admitted. "But we don't really need to push ourselves past our limits."
"I'm sure he'll understand."
"Will he, though?" Anathasia chimed in, finishing her stretches as she hopped closer. "He looks pretty focused on winning."
I went quiet for a moment, letting that sink in.
Then I sighed, shaking my head as I stepped onto the track.
"Then we'll give him that."
I stopped and turned back to them.
"We're not exactly average ourselves, are we?"
Arianne's eyes widened slightly before a small smile appeared.
"That's true."
"Knew you'd say something like that," Anathasia shrugged as she followed me onto the track.
She clenched her fist and tapped it into her palm.
"Let's win it, then."