It was only an in-school marathon. It was not a large-scale event, and it would not affect anyone's grades. Hardly anyone felt enthusiastic about an activity that forced students to run through the freezing wind.
Except for that one sort of person.
Hayama, burdened with the mission of maintaining his winning streak, could not reasonably post too poor a result, nor could he blatantly throw the race.
Hayama stood at the very front of the starting line, with several people between us. To use a racing term, he had pole position. Hayama stretched there, and the girls standing beside him to see him off immediately cheered.
The girls' start time was half an hour later than the boys'. Until then, they seemed to be cheering for the boys or watching the race.
Hayama lightly waved in response to the cheers. Ahead of him stood Miura, keeping some distance from the restless female students.
Miura merely kept glancing this way inconspicuously, perhaps intimidated by the girls around her. Ebina and Yuihama stood beside her, while Yukino stood a step away from them.
At that moment, Isshiki arrived too.
When Miura saw Isshiki, she gave a halfhearted nod. Isshiki also lightly bowed to her, her gaze moving back and forth between Miura and Hayama as she gave Miura a smug smile.
She put a hand to her mouth and shouted:
"Go, Hayama-senpai──! ...Oh, and you too, senpai."
Hayama responded with a wry smile and a wave. For some reason, Tobe, standing a little farther away, answered with a loud shout as well.
"Whoa──"
"Um, I wasn't talking to Tobe-senpai."
Isshiki said as she waved dismissively. Miura, who had been silently watching, made up her mind. She took a deep breath, then shouted as she exhaled:
"Hayato, Hayato... G-go for it!"
Her carefully