Meeting Someone (Continued)

"If possible, please try to make Ya stumble a little."

He needs a real failure.

"..."

Asakusa Toru did not respond to her words.

He had no reason to promise to meet Asahina Nazuna's expectations.

He's not Miyabi Nagumo's father.

While waiting for the Sports Festival, some train to prepare for the competition, others skip exams to focus on cramming for the next written test to ensure they pass, and still others enjoy their school life and go on dates. Meanwhile, Asakusa Toru, in between dates, engages in a little...

Three-legged race, two men and one woman.

Logically speaking, he doesn't need any training; he doesn't need to rely on any exercise to maintain his physical fitness.

How can a well-trained body compare to the solid, reliable physique developed through studying Diary?

A superficial and ineffective physical training program will quickly decline and weaken if there is any slackening.

Snort.

Without a doubt, Asakusa Toru's teammate in the competition is Ichinose Honami.

There is no one more suitable than Honami.

Chihiro Onodera is a mascot; having her compete alongside you would only be a burden.

There were quite a few other female classmates, but none of them dared to offer to join Ichinose Honami.

Ibuki Mio might dare.

But she had just transferred to Class A and was still adjusting to the environment, so she had no intention of going to play three-legged race with Asakusa Toru.

She's not sick. This guy already has enough women; what would it mean if she offered herself up?

A tacit understanding, bodies moving in unison, a familiar feeling that synchronized their three-legged leaps...

Yeah, right.

Perhaps with a little practice, synchronization can be achieved, but it is clearly not as effective as the three-legged race achieved through 'cooperation'.

A three-legged race, where the two players accelerate with an absolute advantage, is more efficient.

Asakusa Toru could easily coordinate with Ichinose Honami's movements, allowing her to run at full speed without restraint.

He will keep up and match the movements.

Alternatively, you could completely ignore Ichinose Honami's actions and simply run with her, like an adult and a child tying their legs together in a hugely different three-legged race.

Regardless of the combination, there is no team in this school that can surpass him and take first place...

Oh no, there is still a combination.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Koenji Rokusuke.

If we disregard the fact that the competition is a three-legged race between two men and women, then if their legs are tied together and they practice with enough coordination...

Maybe we can win?

Unfortunately, both of them are men. Unless you put Feminization Filter on the judges and point to one of them and say that it doesn't matter because he is a woman.

In short, the boring preparation time for the Sports Festival flew by.

Soon, the moment for the opening of the Sports Festival arrived.

October.

Sports Festival.

Uniform sweatshirts, uniformly divided into lines.

Enter, then the exhibition.

October, according to the weather, should be considered the beginning of autumn.

But the sun still shone brightly, its rays blazing high in the sky.

The so-called opening ceremony was nothing more than students in sportswear sunbathing on the lawn below.

Sunbathe! Sunbathe intensely! Sunbathe for a full 180 days!

Make sure these students get a good, even tan!

The large drying ground for Advanced Nurturing crops is open to the public!

As for the school leaders...

Of course, I just sat under the gazebo's awning and parasol and watched everyone else sunbathe.

They even want school leaders and students to share it together? What are they thinking?

At the opening ceremony of the Sports Festival, the speaker from Class 3-A was not Student Council Horikita Manabu, but the general manager of the Fujimaki Red Team.

A prepared script, an upright posture, forceful words, but boring content.

It sounds boring.

Instead of focusing on the speech on stage, it's better to...

Take a close look around.

At the edge of the lawn, surrounding the entire open-air venue, was an open space that should have been mostly uninhabited.

But because of this open day event, some unfamiliar faces began to appear early in the morning.

They are neither school staff nor teachers.

It's simply, the 'audience'.

Having an audience is one thing, but a school's preparations for Sports Festival are quite another.

Perhaps because someone came to 'inspect' the school, preparations for this year's Sports Festival became much more thorough.

Sufficient medical staff were on hand to prevent accidents such as heatstroke and falls. There were separate rest tents equipped with air conditioning and water dispensers, and the red and white groups were separated by the running track as the dividing line for the 'base camp tents'.

These are all quite standard.

But more than these standard, expected things, there are things that this school didn't originally have.

For example, the infrared timing system on the track was originally intended to be based on simple camera-based results accurate to the second. However, the school apparently felt that this looked too cheap, so they upgraded the system overnight to include all the necessary equipment for the competition.

Although it's unclear whether they'll be dismantled later, at least they'll be able to use those things for this Sports Festival.

The simple task of manually flipping and counting cards using large standees has been replaced by a brightly lit electronic screen that hangs Advanced Nurturing. While the facility already had an electronic bulletin board, this upgraded screen seems to display every gain and loss in real time.

Further to the side, in the logistics area, one can also see pre-prepared obstacles and other miscellaneous items.

"..."

After confirming that he didn't recognize any familiar faces among the audience members, Asakusa Toru looked up at the electronic screen.

The scores for both the red and white teams are currently stuck at 0:0.

But soon, with the start of the competition, this balance will be broken.

In addition to scoring, the electronic screens constantly display the current matches and the list of upcoming matches.

The students only need to look up to clearly see what they are competing in now and what they will compete in next.

Without a doubt, the first event to begin was the 100-meter race.

Starting from first grade, students are divided into groups of eight, with ten groups for boys in total.

Enter the field, fire the gun, start the race, cross the finish line.

We secured first place in our group without breaking a sweat.

There were no extra cheers or celebrations, because every second counted at the Sports Festival.

Less than twenty seconds later, the starting gun for the next round of the competition went off with a bang.

Click, click.

The score on the electronic screen kept changing.

At this rate of firing, it should only take less than half an hour for all three grades to finish this event and move on to the next one.

Efficiency.

I like efficiency.

Hurdles.

Reverse the lever.

Tug-of-war.

Pitch.

After controlling and adjusting the roster of Class D, they didn't even have a chance of losing.

Miyabi Nagumo needs to consider his control over the grade level and the issue of public opinion, but Asakusa Toru does not.

He didn't care in the slightest what the other trash in Class D thought.

As for Class B, with Sakayanagi Arisu announcing her absence from the Sports Festival due to illness, they couldn't cause much of a stir.

Class C? Class C are their best friends from Class A.

This is what Ryuen Kakeru said.

Two people, three legs.

Women's obstacle course.

Men's obstacle course.

Then came a ten-minute halftime break.

Girls Cavalry Battle.

Boys Cavalry Battle.

A 200-meter race.

The morning session is over, and lunch break is here.

The mandatory events requiring full participation concluded in the morning, leaving only four events for participants to register for before the end of the Sports Festival.

All of this will take place in the afternoon.

So far, neither Asakusa Toru nor Miyabi Nagumo has ever lost first place in their group.

The data did show a clear difference, and the more Miyabi Nagumo saw the results of the other side's time in various races, the colder her heart became.

... He might really lose those twenty million.

If we don't do anything...

Miyabi Nagumo's thoughtful weighing of the pros and cons shows her intelligence.

In contrast, Asakusa Toru replenished his fluids a little and wiped away sweat that he couldn't tell if it was there or not, or whether it was from the Sports Festival or from the sun.

But they didn't care at all whether they would win in the end.

He planned to briefly meet two people.

The morning's competition events were a bit packed, but on average, there were at least twenty to thirty minutes of buffer time between each event, so it didn't feel too hectic.

Furthermore, there is a break of about ten minutes between each event. Except for those who are truly physically weak, such as Sakura Airi who only selectively participated in a few events to ensure that she would not be at the bottom, most people should not feel too tired.

Well, using Sakura Airi as the benchmark might not be appropriate, as both she and Karuizawa have a physical fitness rating of 'D', which is at the bottom.

Shouldn't the classification be based on Ichinose Honami was initially rated as having a physical fitness 'C'?

Yes, that's right. When the perfect Archangel first enrolled, his physical fitness wasn't actually outstanding; it was just average, not enough to hold him back.

After all, she's a girl, and it's a bit difficult to find extra time and energy for exercise while also satisfying her studies, social needs, and hobbies.

Of course, during this semester, Ichinose Honami's physical fitness has steadily improved. Although it probably hasn't reached the level of B, reaching C+ is definitely not a problem.