Chaoskouji

Arc 6 Chapter 8 - Festival Part 3

There were only three events left until lunch. The school had broken up the day so that most of the individual events were in the morning and the recommended in the afternoon. From now until lunch, the first years would participate in the obstacle course, the three-legged race and the cavalry battle.

I went and lined up for the obstacle course. It was certainly different to any other event that I had participated in so far. A sprint, balance beams, crawling under a net and jumping in a sack to round it out. Certainly, a varied combination, but I wasn't worried about my winning chances.

I couldn't be sure Kouenji's larger frame could even fit under the net.

There was no conversation anymore as we lined up to the race. Kanzaki and Shibata were keeping to themselves at this point, and I had noticed that after each race they were more and more reserved in their actions, understandably so.

Their class was struggling badly. Races they had been expecting to win had ended in unsatisfactory results, and part of that involved their own teammates. There was nothing they could do about it at this point besides continuing to struggle, and the longer that went on, the longer the looming inevitability of their situation existed, the worse their mental would get.

I had no doubts that Class A could manage this scenario successfully. Yes, they might lose, but in the end, they were a united front. They might lose today, but there were always more opportunities to come in the future.

The starters pistol fired, and we were off. Much like the previous events, Kouenji and I pulled away from the pack at an equal speed. Going flat out here would only serve problems in the future. We only had to run a short distance, before hopping on a balance beam. Sprinting onto it at full speed with no control would only bring the possibility of slipping.

It was the balance beam where a noticeable difference form. Kouenji, for all his talents, couldn't match my speed, noticeably slowing down as to not fall off, not having the same balance that I did. It wasn't a long distance, but a small gap formed between us, as I hopped off the other end.

That slight disparity was made apparent in the short sprint to the net where I extended the lead even further. Without waiting for a moment, I threw myself forward onto the ground and crawled through the net. It was certainly an odd way of moving, but I didn't have time to relax. A quick look back showed that Kouenji was right behind me, not struggling at all with the net.

Reaching the end, I picked myself up and pulled my legs into a sack. I had been watching the training for this and had settled on the strategy of big powerful jumps. Some people preferred to do lots of small jumps as quickly as possible, but I had found that launching myself forward as far as possible with a lot more effort was the most successful method of moving.

It wasn't long before I crossed the finish line a couple of jumps before Kouenji did. A clear difference in our finishing time.

"Ah..."

"Are you satisfied with that?" I asked the man stretching out next to me. We had moved away from the finishing line at this point, and it was just the two of us, watching as the next group began their obstacle course race. Hearing my voice Kouenji looked over to me, a resigned look on his face.

"Just once, I suppose, I am capable of admitting there is someone better than me."

I wasn't expecting him to say that.

"I'm sure you understand, Ayanokouji-boy, that level of superiority. For years, I trained, and eventually defeated every single person I trained against. Not once have I come across someone to match me. I find it... disappointing."

In some ways I understood, and in others it was a completely foreign feeling.

"Right now, I can accept I may not be the best, the ultimate human."