Chaoskouji

Arc 6 Chapter 7 - Festival Part 2

The 100m Hurdle Event was next, and I made my way down to the starting line. The first-year boys were the last group to go, and I was in the first group to run, along with all of the same competitors as last race.

Watching the girls, it was clear that the White Team was still doubting the participation tables somewhat, and had changed up the order of their runners, just in case we had done so as well. This resulted in slightly better results for them, but now it was clear just how this festival would play out.

My group, however, had stayed the same. Clearly Sakayanagi and Ryuuen trusted me enough to keep my group the same and hadn't bothered trying to gamble any faster runners where I said I would be. The sacrificial students were still running against Kouenji and I, along with Kanzaki and Shibata.

"I guess we're doing this again. Is there any chance you would consider letting us win?" Kanzaki half-heartedly tried.

"Ha! I wouldn't dream of sacrificing the MVP rewards for a peasant like you. To degrade myself in such a fashion would be shameful," Kouenji rejected.

"What he said," I added.

Shibata and Kanzaki looked rather frustrated, but I was sure they could guess our response. Class D got no benefit out of letting them win this race, since after all it was still a competition.

"I understand. But we won't take it easy on you," Shibata sarcastically added. He understood there was no comparison between the Class A and Class D representatives.

The starter called us to the line, and once again I was next to Kouenji. This time, I was prepared to win.

I could hear the boy next to me faintly boasting his own worth to himself but ignored that too.

The starter fired the pistol, and everyone took off, leaping over the hurdles as fast as possible.

It's a difficult thing to do, especially for someone without much practice. To jump a hurdle while running is a very different technique, and some people are simply incapable of doing it.

I pushed myself even harder than before. For the first time in my life, today I could run for myself, because I wanted to, and I reached speeds faster than I had ever gone.

In no time at all, I crossed the finish line, having cleared all 10 hurdles, narrowly beating Kouenji.

This time, the race wasn't close enough to warrant a video confirmation, and so I took first place, with Kouenji in a close second.

Shibata and Kanzaki finished in third and fourth respectively, while three of the other four students simply walked along, pushing over the hurdles as they did so.

Obviously, they had been told that their results didn't matter at all.

"Truly an incredible race. You are the perfect opponent for the perfect existence, Ayanokouji-boy," Kouenji remarked.

"I guess we're one for one now. I'm sure we can determine a winner by the end of the day." I was confident I could pull ahead and not lose another race after this.

"Very true. Challenge me again in the 200m race, and I shall see you for the team events. As promised, you held up your end of the bargain, so I shall participate." Saying this, Kouenji once again disappeared into the crowd, leaving me behind with Shibata and Kanzaki. Luckily, he was willing to participate, and I had a good idea of why.

"I'm glad to hear that he's participating in other events. Your class leaders were worried about that," Kanzaki said.

"Was that really a topic of conversation?"