Chapter 4 has arrived! Now it's time for the Athletics Festival. This part might be two or three chapters long. In general, I'm using a guideline for the Japanese school year I found online and the events of the anime for the basic time flow of this story. As usual, nothing belongs to me except for the OCs.
A couple months passed, and by the time the Athletics Festival came around, Yukari, Minamo, and their friends were well-adjusted to high school life. That morning, Yamanashi-sensei was more vibrant than usual. There was a light of determination in his eyes, and he addressed the class with a fervor no one had ever expected of him. "Today, as you all know is the annual Athletics Festival. Now, for the past five years or so, Katashi-sensei's class has won this even with ease, but things will be different this year!" He slammed his fist on his desk, startling the students. Then, he pointed a finger at Minamo. "Kurosawa! You are the secret weapon!"
"S-Secret weapon?" said Minamo, shaken by her instructor's loud voice.
Yamanashi-sensei nodded firmly. "Yes. You may be a failure at the English language, but I've seen you in gym class."
"What are you doing watching Nyamo during gym class, sensei?" Yukari asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Actually, it's quite entertaining to see you, my best student, get hit in the head and fall down so many times," Yamanashi-sensei answered frankly. The whole class broke out into a muted laughter save for Chia, who silently slept with her head buried in her arms.
Yukari glared at everyone, then suddenly pointed her finger in Minamo's face. "Nyamo, I challenge you! Whoever wins the Athletics Festival gets 2,000 yen from the loser!"
"Yukari, we're in the same class."
"Exactly! If I win more events than you, you'll give me 2,000 yen!"
"But Yukari--
"Don't back out! We have a bet!"
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Outside, the late June heat was already making the students sweat even though they hadn't started yet. A mass of white shirts, sprinkled here and there with the casual clothes the teacher wore, covered the field and surrounded the track.
Yukari, Minamo, Chia, and Hako stood directly in Yamanashi-sensei's shadow. The aged man had changed into a green track suit and remained totally still, but it was obvious that he was trying to suppress the competitiveness that surged through his body. Chia was staring at the grass, contemplating which spots would be the softest for sleeping. Having been rudely awakened by Yukari's bet-making earlier that day, she felt the overwhelming desire to curl up and take a nap. Hako was, not surprisingly, clinging to Minamo's arm, squeezing it until Minamo could hardly feel it. Yukari went on and on about the "bet" and Minamo rolled her eyes every time she heard Yukari say, "and when you lose, you will give me my 2,000 yen and then you will buy me juice and desserts!"
Honestly, Yukari, you can barely keep yourself free from injury during gym class. How can you expect to win everything in the Athletics Festival? You'll never change. You--
"Kurosawa, look alive!" Yamanashi-sensei's command jolted Minamo out of her daydreaming. She stared at her teacher and blinked a few times. "You better not lose, Kurosawa. I've got plans for you!"
"Nyamo will never lose! She'll beat everyone so fast that she'll have to go and beat them again, right, Nyamo?" said Hako energetically, tugging Minamo's arm.
Plans? What kind of plans? Minamo didn't know what to make of her teacher's attitude, but was also excited for the competitions. She figured there were only a few students in her class who would take this day as seriously as she.
"Calm down a little, sensei," Yukari said brightly. "What kind of plans do you have for Nyamo anyway?"
"Yukari," Yamanashi-sensei said dramatically, clenching his fist, "when you're older and someone keeps beating you at something, and when they eventually take almost all of your spending money, you'll understand."
"Sensei, this is strange. You're acting just like Yukari today," said Minamo. Her comment earned a punch in the stomach from Yukari.
"Ah! Don't kill her! I need her!" Yamanashi-sensei bent down to help Minamo as she fell on her knees, clutching her stomach and gasping for breath.
Hako, who had since released Minamo's arm, took a great interest in the scene until she noticed Chia searching the ground, ready to fall asleep. Hako thought it strange that Chia would be this tired, even though she usually slept through class.
"Chia, what are you doing?"
"My sister got some sort of award at work, so my parents made us stay up late to celebrate. Really, all she got was a piece of paper with her name on it. Then, after we finished praising her, my parents kept me up asking me why I can't be more like her. So, I'm trying to find a nice, fluffy patch of grass to sleep on."
"Oh, I see. . .but how are you gonna get away with sleeping on the grass?"
"Hako, would you ask a bird how it gets away with sleeping on the grass?"
"Chia, birds don't--
"Hush! Don't ruin my moment!" Chia quickly shoved a hand in Hako's face and Hako could do nothing but remain silent as Chia curled up like a kitten in a patch of very soft looking grass.
It was then that Hako noticed Minamo standing beside her--in one piece, no less, despite Yukari's attack--also staring at Chia. Hako latched herself onto Minamo's arm, but kept her eyes on Chia. Minamo didn't take notice; her focus was fixed on Chia.
"Hako, why--
"Nyamo, there are some questions that just aren't meant to be answered."
"Chia!" Yukari shouted at the top of her lungs, causing Minamo and Hako to jump. She ran over to Chia and began bouncing on her back. "Chia, you can't sleep now! I must beat Nyamo and collect my 2,000 yen, and I need your help!"
". . .No thanks. . .I'll just have the diet fish sticks. . .No! I'm allergic to salmon cream, but I would love to try your fried miso soup. Oh? It comes with a side of yogurt? Yeah. . .I'll have that. I even brought my own spoon. . ." Chia's sleep-talk rendered everyone silent for a moment, even Yukari, who say still on Chia's back.
"Chia, what kinds of restaurants do you go to?" Yukari asked, pulling on Chia's red and black hair.
". . .Well, sometimes I like fuzzy blankets. . .but if they're too fuzzy, they get hot and I get all sweaty. . .yeah. . ."
"Chisaki! Wake-up!" Yamanashi-sensei's voice boomed. Chia's eyes instantly snapped open and her head turned to find Yukari sitting on her back with her hair in her hands.
"Yukari. . .what exactly are you doing?" said Chia, giving Yukari a strange look.
"I think the real question is, what are you doing?" Yukari smiled broadly, believing that she had said something clever.
"Well, you're the one sitting on my back. Besides, I asked you first."
"We don't have time for this!" Yamanashi-sensei interrupted. "The first event is about to begin! Kurosawa! Tanizaki! You two are doing the Duck Hunt!"
Yukari's eyes widened in excitement. "You mean we get to shoot real live ducks?"
That's a weird event. What kind of school is this? thought Minamo, arching an eyebrow.
"No, let me explain," Yamanashi-Sensei pointed a wrinkled finger at a collection of trees surrounding the far curves of the track. "You see those woods out there? Scattered in that great forest are twelve wooden duck. Your mission, and you have no choice but to accept it, is to collect all of those ducks before the other classes even get a chance to see them! Especially Katashi's class." He growled as he spoke Master Katashi's name. "Kurosawa, you'll be capturing the ducks. Tanizaki, you'll be providing defense and back-up. Ward off all enemies. I want those ducks brought back with no injuries, understood?"
Yukari and Minamo nodded firmly, passively wondering when they had turned into soldiers as they lined up with the rest of the students participating in the event.
The gunshot sounded and Yukari bolted off in front of the other students, pushing down anyone who stood in her path. Minamo, embarrassed by Yukari's behavior, ran close behind her, apologizing to everyone who had fallen to the ground. Within moments, the two of them were in the woods, their eyes searching for any part of the ducks that might reveal their hiding places.
"Nyamo, I found a duck!" Yukari shouted, triumphantly waving the wooden animal in the air.
Without a word, Minamo nodded, changed direction, and darted her eyes left and right in search of more ducks. Suddenly, she spotted one above her head, nestled between the trunk and a thick branch. Minamo jumped and could almost feel the smooth, wooden surface, but suddenly another hand opposite of hers snatched it away. The other girl's feet hit the ground a second before Minamo's and ran off with her team mate.
"Ha! Not so fast!" Yukari shouted, firing the duck in her hand at the back of one of the girls' heads, causing her to fall on her face and forcing her more agile team mate to stop. Yukari and Minamo caught up with the girls, Minamo wondering if the girl on the ground was all right and Yukari grinning confidently at the defeat of her enemies.
"Surrender now! You've been defeated!" Yukari proclaimed, pointing her finger at the standing girl, whose expression was a mixture of boredom and irritation.
"Do you know how tempted I am to bite your finger right now?" she asked in a flat tone.
"Kaya," said the girl on the ground slowly, "am I dead?"
Kaya sighed as though that question were a regular occurrence. "Teiko, you get hit in the head a lot and you never die. This time is no different, dear."
"Hand over the duck before I unleash my secret weapon!" said Yukari, still pointing in Kaya's face.
"Don't tempt me when I'm hungry."
Yukari pulled her finger away and gave Kaya a strange look, unsure of how serious Kaya was an not wanting to find out.
"Don't worry Kaya," said Teiko, sitting up, a broad smile on her face, "we'll have lunch soon. We can have some melon bread, or some croquettes, or some noodles, or some rice, or some sushi, or some--
"Okay, Teiko," Kaya said quickly.
"And for dessert we can have some pie, or some cake, or some ice cream. We should get some tea, too. What kind of tea do you want?"
A long silence followed as the other three gave Teiko blank stares.
"The duck is ours!" Yukari shouted at last, startling Minamo and Kaya. "Behold, my secret weapon!"
Suddenly, Chia appeared, holding a cup of yogurt and a spoon. After carefully studying the substance, she rapidly stirred it while Yukari, Minamo, Teiko, and Kaya watched intensely.
"That's your secret weapon?" Minamo whispered.
"No, my secret weapon was just a bluff. This is just good timing."
"Hey, where'd you get that yogurt from?" Teiko asked brightly.
Chia blinked and stared at the group for a few moments, then started moving her head around while trying to come up with a response.
"Hey, Kaya, how come she's moving her head like that?"
"Maybe she's an alien," said Kaya, suppressing a laugh.
Teiko's eyes widened in amazement; she stared at Chia with her mouth wide open. "Are you really an alien?"
"Woah, Chia! When did you become an alien?" asked Yukari, equally fascinated as Teiko.
"I'm an alien?"
"Chia is not an alien," said Minamo, annoyed.
"Then why does she always show up out of nowhere with yogurt?"
"What, a girl can't have a cup of yogurt every now and then?" said Chia.
"Calm down," said Minamo. "No one here is an alien or anything like that."
Everyone stood still. It seemed that they had all completely forgotten about the Duck Hunt and didn't even notice that the other classes were returning to the track with bundles of them in their arms. Kaya still held the duck she had taken from Minamo and the one that Yukari had thrown at Teiko's head.
"So what now?" asked Chia.
"We should go back," said Kaya, turning and seeing that the event was basically over. "Everyone else is already there." The others nodded and they walked out of the woods together.
"Are you sure you're not an alien?" asked Teiko. Chia made a face, but didn't say anything.
They walked back together in silence, eventually falling into step. When they reached their classes, they broke off without a word and waited for instructions on the next event.
Well, that's all for now. Now you know where the whole betting thing came from, XD. I would've made it 10,000 yen like it is in the anime, but I did some research and found that 10,000 yen is over $100. 2,000 is like $20, so I figured that's a more realistic amount for high school kids to have. Also, there will be some more normal events in the athletics festival next chapter. This one was just kind of ridiculous on purpose, XD.
Comments are lovely.
-LadyRushia
