"Ono-sensei!" cried Kona, bowing low as if worshipping him, while the strict teacher barely glanced at her through his nose. Other students were doing the same too, some with desperately pleading looks on their faces. Only Subaru Imai and Sakurano were looking calm, especially Imai. He had his eyes fixed on the book, averting slightly as he read each lines. Sakurano was amusing himself by watching their classmates.
"Please, sensei! We've a lot more to do!" Kona said, gripping his pants. He quickly pushed it back and thust forward, hitting her on the stomach. Kona drew in a surprised deep breath, not expecting the blow. This isn't allowed! Her reasons screamed, clutching her stomach.
"Kona!" yelled Erisu, alert, her ponytail bobbing along behind her.
Otonawa had his already wide eyes wider, glasses coming sideways through his ears, pixie-cut brown hair tussled. Kona gritted her teeth, temper almost flaring. So what if he was a teacher? Being kicked is abuse, no teachers are allowed to do that! Even just throwing chalks at students are prohibited, though alices are not. Okay, maybe Ono-sensei's alice is super strength, but a normal person could do that too, but Kona's anger was hard to cool. It meant problems for her; she had already spent so many years on a low-profile, not going overboard with her alice. She's heard bad stuff about the Dangerous ability class, even though she didn't know if she was qualified to it herself. But still, being watched by the academy is awful.
"Are you all right?" Otonawa voiced, putting a hand on Kona's shoulder.
She drew in another breath and pursed her lips before saying, "Yeah, pretty much."
"That's good," he replied, pushing his glasses onto the right place. He stood up and held out a hand for Erisu and Kona.
"Ugh," groaned Kona, holding her stomach. "Now I have an excuse not to attend."
"I'm afraid that's not possible, Anura-san," said Sakurano, his foot on the table behind them almost touching Kona's uniform. Kona noticed this too, as she flinched forward, huffing as she irritably dusted her top.
"Oh really?" sassed Kona, sarcasm deep in her voice.
"It's a matter of rules," interjected Imai, not looking up from his book, his glasses shining. Imai and Sakurano were beside each other, a full row behind Kona and Erisu. "Erin-senpai hasn't informed you yet?"
Kona scoffed, placing her chin on her arm, leaning forward on the table. "She's busy with the love of her life."
Imai's head shot forward, an amused slight smirk on his lips with his eyes sparkling. "Jealous?"
"Barely," deadpanned Kona, blowing her cheeks.
Sakurano tipped his head back and grinned. "Line up by height!" boomed Ono-sensei.
Kona groaned, slumping and dragged her feet to the middle, Erisu in front of her. They weren't very tall to tower over the boys, but they were tall enough to tower over the short ones. "Su," drawled Kona, sighing, "I'm hungry."
"You always are."
"Food is lovely." She reasoned, dreading the next hour and thirty minutes.
"Such a shame that we have to do this, though."
"Imai, Subaru!" shouted Ono-san, "Up front! To the grounds! Sakurano, follow!"
Erisu and Kona sighed again. They didn't like them very much, they seemed to be the teachers pet without really trying. It was always like that, Imai, Imai, Imai, Imai and Subaru. But Kona felt more indignance over Imai more than Sakurano. Sakurano was very charming indeed, but Erisu disliked him more than Imai. They felt opposite towards both; Erisu preferred Imai, Kona preferred Sakurano.
Partly because Sakurano tried to be her friend every now and then. They laughed with each other. Sakurano tried harder for Erisu, because she was more stubborn toward him. But everyone knew Kona was more stubborn than Erisu for more things, like having a proper conversation with Imai.
Kona trudged along with everyone, not anticipating anything. Even the air outside felt hostile.
It was very hot indeed, the sun glaring down at them. Kona covered her eyes with her hand, looking as if she was saluting. Ono-sensei nodded at her, looking pleased while a confused expression whirled over her face. Then she laughed. It always took two to three seconds for her to get thingshappening in the present, something she wished she didn't live on.
"Five minutes to run and change!" Ono-sensei gestured a hand to the pile of clothes on a table, messily thrown together.
"What?" they cried.
"How will we know what fits us?"
"That's not enough time!"
"Yeah, we won't reach the comfort rooms by then and return in time!"
"I can!" interjected the teleportation guy. Everyone glared at him while he grinned apologetically.
"Four and a half minutes!" clacked Ono-sensei. Kona and Erisu exchanged a glance while everyone ran to the table. They followed, going in along the mess. The sands of the ground seemed to evaporate in the air as dusts, choking them.
"Aha!" Kona cried, holding up a pair of jogging pants and shirt. There were two choices; short shorts and no-sleeved shirts. But Kona never felt comfortable with ones that showed too much skin, and she didn't care about their torments for her 'old-lady' styles. It was too nerve-wrecking.
Then she looked around confused, wondering if they were going to change there, right there, with everybody in sight. As she stared at her surroundings, she took a spare glance at the bushes.
"Good enough." She muttered, shrugging as she ran to it, throwing herself behind it. It was not quite a distance away from the group, but she was hidden. She unbuttoned her polo, untied her ribbon and unbuttoned two buttons from the top of her undershirt. Throwing the polo to the side she didn't see the place of, she ran a hand through her short hair. It was blocking her eyesight.
Even though she was seventeen now, she was still wearing a wife beater. She wasn't comfortable prancing around with only her bra in the open, even though she was wearing two more protective clothing – she was just used to it, ever since she started schooling on their small village. Throwing her white undershirt with another pile of clothes, she unzipped the side of the zipper of her skirt that reached her knee and struggled to pull the shorts she wore under it.
She stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, having a mental conversation whether she would wear it under the jogging pants, or try to take it off. It would probably be hot, but it was a hassle to take it off.
"Take it off or not?" she muttered, biting the skin under her lip in agitation. "Gahh!"
She banged her hands on the ground, palms downward. Raising her head slightly, she saw the pair of jogging pants and normal striped blue and white pants. She jumped – blue and white striped pants? They were wearing skirts!
Intruder alert! She hurriedly looked at her shirts, and sure enough, it was doubled. She saw someone taking off their undershirt, raising it over their head. Keep silent, he won't notice you… It was probably a 'he', no females were allowed to wear pants as their uniform.
She was still in the same position, legs slanted as she tried to pull her shorts away, hands beside her on the ground, steady as a rock. If only it was night time, she wouldn't be noticed. Why is it that if you want something, you don't have it?
As the person successfully removed his undershirt, she held back a startled gasp. Subaru Imai. He was touching around the grass for his glasses. Kona immediately tried to look busy pulling off her shorts. After all, he probably won't see her, and she won't bother to peek on him.
She was so busy trying not to be seen that she didn't have the chance to gape at his almost bare body. It was mostly done in packs by hormone-bursting teenage girls. She faced the side a little more, pulling her shorts off, attempting to be quiet. And she deemed it quiet enough, with the leaves of the bushes rustling as she hit it every few times. It was covered by the murmurs and laughs of the others, anyway.
As she successfully pulled it off, she reached for the jogging pants. Her hand hit a cold spot, and she immediately drew it back, surprised. She had her head fixed on the bushes, trying not to be seen by Imai. After touching around again for the jogging pants, something pulled on her wrist.
Kona let out a cry of shock, but it was muffled by a hand. She struggled, elbowing everywhere with her eyes closed. She thought in the chaos that if she did it, no one would see her. She let out a string of curses.
"Oh, it's you." Said an almost disappointed yet venomous voice, releasing the grip on her mouth and wrists.
She elbowed one last time, hitting a limb and moved a little away from the almost kidnapper. It was still him – he was naked upside, though, to Kona's relief, he was wearing the shorts provided. It reached the top of his knees, like her skirt, even though it wasn't a very good comparison.
"What do you mean, 'Oh, it's you!'? That was stupid and unbelievable!" she whisper-shouted, lowering her voice on purpose. "I thought I was being murdered!"
"Actually, the murderer should have stabbed you immediately. If he restrained you and muffled your mouth, and you're half-naked, he would have raped you." corrected Imai, coolly pushing the hair away from his forehead.
"Even worse!" Kona shivered, goose bumps invading her skin. "I haven't even thought of that!"
"Stop yelling, it's hurting my ears."
"Stop staring at me, look away! You're invading my privacy." Kona was grateful that his glasses wasn't on his face right now. At least her figure was blurred.
"You invaded my privacy," replied Imai, a 'duh' look on his face. Putting on his glasses, he continued, "I was on these bushes first."
"How would you know? I was first."
"No, I was."
"When I started changing," said Kona, forgetting that she was almost bare. "No one was here."
"Ditto," answered Imai, staring intensely at her eyes under his glasses. Oh yes, it did give her the creeps whenever she held eye contact with someone she didn't usually speak with.
She tensed, feeling awkward. And in that moment, she felt the shorts on her feet. "Oh!" she cried, crawling surreptitiously nearer the bushes. "Go away!"
Kona finished removing the short and reached for the jogging pants and shirt again. Someone tossed the articles of clothing at her. "Thanks, I guess," she murmured, blowing her cheeks to show boredom, even though there was no one to see it. But boredom was the least of her emotions; she felt excited, like there was a thrill, and nervous. Her heart thumped so hard against her chest that it threatened to explode. She hated that feeling. "Oh dear," she said out loud, facepalming. "At least it isn't Tono…"
Hearing a bunch of complaints from others that their clothes didn't fit right, Kona hurried and threw on the jogging pants and shirt. As she stood up, she realized her foot was numb. Almost everyone was gathering on the middle again. Sprinting painfully forward, she dragged her left foot and tried to look for a familiar face.
Well, everyone's face was familiar. Just their personalities aren't. "Erisu?" called Kona, looking around. "Otonawa? Where are you?"
She often wished she had a different alice, a more useful one. Even a levitating one would suffice, or even one that would help with everyday life or is very useful. An alice that would make your drawings come to life would be great too, though she couldn't draw. If drawing was replaced with writings, Kona would have grinned in joy. Scrawling letters is easier than drawing outlines.
"No questions asked before I introduce. I will only entertain queries after I speak," said Ono-san, scrutinizing the students rounded around him. "There will be four persons for each group. The winner shall get a two-thousand yen coupon for various shops at the town,"
Grinning inspiredly, Kona clenched her fists. Free money for a school-related work? Heavenly. Though she isn't good at any sports, not trying would be nonsense. Money revolves around everything.
"If you successfully complete the tasks first, that is. On the first obstacle, you must go through the pikes without stepping on the line. Cheating would be of no use, a motion detector Alice user is guarding you. For the second obstacle, you must climb the ten-foot wall within the time-limit. If you are still on the process of climbing the wall, you are out of the trials."
This was bound to be fun.