Episode 71 – Break Time

“What the hell was that !?”

Immediately after the pole topple was over, the boys in the class were verbally complaining. Some were calling it cowardly and foul, and Hayama, the leader of the group, was quieting them down on the way back to the waiting area.

“I fell down when I got my foot caught in it ! How is that even possible !?”

“Damn, those first-years…..totally suck up to us upperclassmen.”

“More than that, it’s that little bastard ! What the hell is that guy !?”

The target of this complaint was directed at a first-year boy called Yukihana, who’s the MVP in the pole topple earlier. Some of them had suffered minor injuries such as bruises during that match, and tremendous hate was being directed at him.

“Shiina, you weren’t hurt?”

“Eh, yeah. I’m fine.”

“Well, that’s good. I’ll try to file a complaint for the time being, but from what I’ve heard, it’s like the guys who poked themselves into it went to hurt themselves, so it’s probably impossible.”

Saying that, Hayama told everyone to head to the waiting room and walked towards the administration. I’m going to go back to the waiting area and try to find Yukihana. Maybe I can get some information from her.

The rest of the pole topple team, except for Hayama, joined the girls and boys who had not participated in the pole topple event. Although Kisaragi greeted them warmly, the other students’ expressions were gloomy. And among the faces, as usual, Yukihana wasn’t there. And so the topic of conversation shifted again to the boy from earlier.

“I wonder who that boy was?”

“I thought he was an icky freshman, but he’s really strong.”

“And did you see that? He did a somersault in the air.”

“Not only that, but he was able to cling to a nearly three-meter pole……”

My classmates were excited to talk about that first year. The pole toppling contest went on and before you knew it, it was the finals. A boy named Yukihana belongs to class 2 of the first year, and he was advancing to the finals without any difficulty. The last pole topple was about to begin.

(From their point of view, it must’ve been a sudden appearance of a dark horse.)

Certainly that a tremendous threat has emerged. But there’s one more person left in that year 2 class who cannot be discarded.

[Senpai !]

That’s right, Nanase Natsume, who can run as fast as I can and can perform a tremendous kicking technique, is enrolled in the same class as that boy. Far from being a dark horse, she is probably one of the winning candidates at this sports festival.

(I should’ve observed the surroundings a little more when I went to Yukihana’s house.)

Come to think of it, one of the yakuza underlings at the house said the words [Young master] and I guess that boy Yukihana was the one. At the time, I wasn’t aware that it was that important, but now I regret it a little. I had no idea that such an extraordinary person was hiding in the same school.

“Ruri chan isn’t here either, and I thought we could definitely win the poole topple, but we lost. It’s messed up.”

Kisaragi commented as she watched the pole topple taking place on the field. What is currently being held is the final match between that guy’s class and the 3rd grade class. The third-year students, perhaps knowing that this was coming, chose to defend rather than attack, waiting near the pole to keep Yukihana away from it, with many students supporting it.

(Well, if that guy wanted to, he could probably ignore everything and get to the pole.)

His leaping ability, let’s be honest, is not something I would have expected from him. He also has a trunk that doesn’t shake even when he stands on top of the pole. And his explosive power, including his arm strength to knock down the pole at once. Overall, there is probably no one there with more athleticism than that guy. He was not only ahead of the third-year students, who had the advantage in terms of physique, but he was ahead of them by a wide margin.

“Just look, he’s running at it again.”

“I didn’t know there was a guy like that.”

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s his name?”

My class and the other classes around me are talking about this freshman. Some of them were trying to recruit him into their club activities, and there was a lot of commotion in various ways. And with the third-year students resisting, the game came down to the wire in no time.

[The winner of the pole vaulting competition was the second year class of the first grade ! The first-year students beat the upperclassmen ! !]

The 1st year group 2 students were declared the winners of the pole topple. They scored 50 points in this pole topple. They had also performed well in the first ball game, scoring a total of 80 points. Our class had only gotten 10 points for the ball toss, so the difference was obvious. At the very least, it would be very difficult to turn things around from here.

Just as I was thinking that, another announcement came on the air.

[After a 45-minute lunch break, the obstacle race will begin. Please remember to come to the waiting area on time if you are going to compete.]

After the pole topple was over, the sports festival went into the lunch break. Some students returned to their classrooms, while others brought their lunch boxes or sheets to the waiting area and started eating. In other words, it’s allowed to have lunch anywhere, to a certain extent, only for today. By the way, I always eat at my seat in the classroom. Of course, I’m alone when I eat, since I don’t have any friends.

(Today, well……let’s go to the equipment room, shall we?)

The equipment room I have some kind of connection with. I was just about to go there again this time when I spotted two people. a boy and a girl heading toward the back of the school building. I was a little curious, so I headed towards the back of the school building, trying not to be noticed. I turn to the back of the school building and peek in on the two students.

“……Are you okay? With all that attention?”

“It’s not like I’m hiding it. I mean, you also tried to push me, Sis.”

“……I didn’t think you’d go this far.”

“I didn’t think you’d leave your class and take pictures of me from the balcony of an empty classroom, either.”

“……Did you notice that?”

“I made a peace sign in the middle. I think that made people think I was trying to stir things up.”

“…..Sorry.”

“If you’re going to apologize, don’t do it in the first place.”

“……Well, I don’t regret it.”

“I knew you would say that.”

There, the Yukihana siblings were eating slightly larger lunches while sitting on the steps behind the school building. Moreover, it was a large-scale two-tiered box, and the ingredients that would have taken a lot of time were spread out.

(After all, were they really sister and brother.)

I left the place before Yukihana and her brother noticed me. Of course, they probably didn’t notice me because I completely killed my presence. As soon as I left the place, I realized something.

(Ah, is that why I’m not good with Yukihana?)

I was confident that I could handle Kisaragi and Shinkai, but I had the impression that Yukihana was somewhat difficult to deal with. I thought she had some ability or special talent that even I couldn’t read, but the truth is different.

(Sister element….huh)

My step sister is the only being in this world that I cannot deal with. I had a strange sensation from the first time I met Yukihana, and I guess I instinctively sensed the same kind of presence as my step sister. I unconsciously put Yukihana and my step sister together and somehow I let my guard down. Otherwise, I would never let her invite me and leave without warning.

“There really are a lot of landmines around me.”

It’s not that I have to do something about it right now, but I’ll try to stay away from that sister and brother as much as possible. I see something dark between those two, completely separate from my past. There must be some kind of fate between them that I want to forget, just like my past. At least, that’s what I felt.

“Well, I’ll think about it later, after the sports festival is over.”

From now on, I would have to be a little more careful. I opened the door of the equipment room with this realization. For now, I’m going to eat the bento that my step sister made for me. I then stepped into the equipment room, which was always empty.

“Oh, Senpai !”

Inside the equipment room I was about to enter was a blonde girl sitting on top of a vaulting box eating her lunch. She was surprised to see me, but spoke to me with a smile.

“…….”

I took a step back and quietly closed the door.