Chaoskouji

Arc 6 Chapter 12 - Festival Part 7

Kouenji, Sudou, Hirata, Miyake, Onodera and myself.

That was the line-up Class 1-D prepared for the 1200m relay. Our best runners, all rested, stretched, and prepared to take the victory for our class. In the mind of my classmates, there was no possibility but victory.

The six of us made our way down to our starting positions, each separated by 200 meters. I was lined up with Sudou and Miyake, on the opposite side of the 400m track. Every class would make three laps in total, but surprisingly enough, the school wasn't staggering starts. Class D was in the inside lane and had a clear advantage in the race over 3-A in the outer. I supposed that this was the school's handicap.

Everyone cheered as our starters made their way to the line, Kouenji clearly enjoying the spotlight. I watched with Sudou and Miyake as he combed his hair, before throwing his comb to some third-year girls in the crowd, who surprisingly began to fight over it.

"Say what you want about his attitude, Kouenji has a sense of flair," Miyake remarked.

"He's annoying, but when he tries, he's impressive," Sudou grudgingly admitted.

"Let's focus on the race. Sudou, you've got to be ready to keep our lead."

"Yeah, yeah, Ayanokouji, don't worry. We don't have a chance of losing."

The starter gun was fired, and Kouenji took off like a bullet. In only one stride he was ahead of the other eleven runners, and after that he didn't slow down. Of course, the fastest runners didn't go first. They were reserved to be the anchors, but that just motivated Kouenji to run even more.

"I can't get over how fast he is. It's crazy."

"Yeah, and I thought I was gonna be the fastest in the class at the start of the year. Shows what I know, huh?" Sudou remarked.

We watched Kouenji round the bend, but I noticed he wasn't running his fastest. While he was easily outstripping his opponents, and an almost 50m gap had appeared, he continually turned to the crowd, waving and blowing kisses to them.

"Sudou, you better get into position," I warned. In the relay, we had to move onto the track to receive the baton from our teammate, and Kouenji was quickly coming up to our position.

"Oh right. You two better not let the team down!" He said, before lining up. As Kouenji passed him the baton, I couldn't help but feel that the still widening gap would be impossible to lose even if jogged on my turn.

"Your class has certainly had an interesting festival, Ayanokouji."

I turned to find two anchors had come over to talk to me, Nagumo and Manabu. Miyake took the opportunity to sneak away and go get ready for his turn.

"It's been ups and downs, but winning this race will be a good morale boost," I reasoned.

"To think Class 1-D would be in the lead. It's unthinkable. I'm going to be keeping a much closer eye on your class from now on, Ayanokouji," Nagumo warned with a deadly smile.

"Keep meddling in the affairs of my year Nagumo. It doesn't make a difference." Nagumo simply laughed in response.

"It certainly did something. But I must admit I am disappointed in your cohort. I expected more, to be honest"

The rest of the first handoffs happened, with fresh students running from each year, yet Sudou continued to extend our lead even further.

He was a third of the way around his lap.

"I guess this means you lose your bet Nagumo. I don't think you'll be able to win every event now," Manabu commented. Apparently Nagumo made such a bet.