The Second Competition
"So we will be running a modified triathlon." Ryuuzaki explained.
"A tennis triathlon?" said Momo.
Ryuuzaki glared at Momo and then continued. "It will start with a three legged race run by the Mom and Dad. Then, they will pass the baton off to the Sister who will be swimming, then to the Brother who will be biking and finally, to the Pet who will do the running."
"I have a question." Gakuto raised his hand.
"If it has anything to do with tennis, then don't bother asking it." Sakaki warned.
"Well…it has a LITTLE to do with tennis." Gakuto admitted.
"Then don't ask it." Sakaki said.
"But it's really important." Gakuto pleaded.
"Very well, what is it?" Sakaki asked.
"I was just wondering if the part where we play tennis was before, after or in the middle of all this other stuff." Gakuto said.
The coaches were stupefied, but especially when all the other players agreed.
"THERE WILL BE NO TENNIS TODAY!" Sakaki yelled as he whipped out a tennis racket and hit Gakuto over the head with it.
"What about tomorrow then?" Gakuto asked as he shielded himself.
"NO!" yelled all the coaches.
"Just…please…" said Ojii. "Forget about tennis for a couple of days so we can actually teach you some values that just… don't… have anything to do with tennis…"
"But…" stuttered the students.
"ALL RIGHT." Said Banji. "The Moms and Dads accompany Ryuuzaki, the Sisters go with Ojii, the Brothers with Sakaki and the Pets with me. NOW."
Sadly, the players all obeyed their coaches.
Three Legged Race"All right," said Ryuuzaki as she went to each pair and handed them an item that which would be sufficient to tie their legs together. They were standing at the start of a track that was right next to the tennis courts. "The object of this portion of the race is to go around this track four times and then dash to the swimming pools that are off yonder."
"Four times?" repeated Atsushi in a tone of disbelief. "That's a mile! And the pools are at least a mile from here!"
"I'm sure you'll manage." Said Ryuuzaki.
"It's all right, everyone, just view it as conditioning training for tennis." Inui said.
"NO!" said Ryuuzaki. "Don't view it as such! View it as utterly pointless because that's what it is!"
The Moms and Dads stood there silently.
"All right, whatever, just tie your inside legs together." Said Ryuuzaki. "Moms on the right, Dads on the left."
"I am SO glad you're not Fuji." Said Taka to Yana.
"Well, yeah, I am too." Yana agreed.
"You're glad that you're not Fuji or you're glad that I'm not Fuji?" Taka said, looking confused.
"Um…both." Yana replied.
"There we go, we're all set." Said Choutarou as he stood up after tying his leg to Gakuto. Of course, whence he stood, it became quite apparent to them that he was a good foot taller than Gakuto. And Gakuto's knee only sort of went half way up his shin.
The two of them looked at each other blankly for a few seconds.
"Well." Said Gakuto. "It's not MY fault."
"It's not MY fault either." Said Choutarou.
"It's our parents' fault for having non-average genes." Gakuto said.
"Right." Said Choutarou. "I never thought of it that way!"
"Hey, Tezuka, are we going to win or what?" cheered David as he was ALL BY HIMSELF on the cheering squad for Team Three.
Tezuka was just standing there with his eyes closed looking like he was going to go Super Saiyan any second. And he looked even more so as such when he started glowing yellow and an ominous wind blew beneath him.
"ALL RIGHT!" David said. "The Tezuka Zone! I am so thrilled that I can't even think of a pun!"
He paused.
"…Is it safe for me to be this close to you while you're like this?" David asked hesitantly.
But of course Tezuka didn't respond.
Saeki and Sakurai looked at each other and nodded confidently.
"Even if we don't win the race as a whole, we have to at least win it individually." Saeki said.
"That's right." Said Sakurai. "Because we can't let Ryoma win."
"Yes, exactly!" agreed Saeki. "He has to remain in his place!"
"Where first years belong!" Sakurai said. Then they did their secret handshake again.
"I am SO in the rhythm!" said Kamio excitedly.
Shishido only stared at him. "Stop doing that." He ordered. "You're making yourself look totally lame."
"Shishido, I am the fastest one here by far!" said Kamio. "We are going to win this."
"If you haven't noticed, your leg is attached to mine." Shishido pointed out. "So it doesn't matter if you're the fastest one here. Because…" Shishido looked off into the distance. "I was not blessed with strength or height or speed or intelligence, or a sense of the game or anything at all really…"
"Then what are you good for?" Kamio questioned.
"I have good dashes!" Shishido said angrily.
"Hey, you were the one putting yourself down, not me!" Kamio reminded him.
Atsushi and Kaidou were both standing there silently.
"So anyway, Kaidou…" Atsushi said slowly.
Kaidou crossed his arms and turned away from him.
"What I wanted to say was…" Atsushi sighed. "I'm sorry."
Kaidou froze.
"I'm sorry." Atsushi repeated.
Kaidou looked at Atsushi. Then he paused. "I accept your apology." He said.
"Okay, good!" said Atsushi. "Yay!"
Kaidou didn't know what to make of Atsushi's response, so he just decided to disregard it entirely and win the race. NO ONE can beat him in a race of endurance! And even if this wasn't a race of endurance, why would you tell him something like that when he was so enthusiastic that we was practically in the KAIDOU ZONE?
Renji and Inui were making some last minute notes in their books.
"From this point on, we have to remember whatever data we happen to see." Inui commented as he put his book away.
"We shall collaborate our notes later." Renji said.
"For now, we must win this race." Inui said.
"Our chances for winning are a mere six percent." Renji observed, looking down the line of other participants.
"Our chances are very slim." Inui agreed.
"Still, even if our chances are so slim, we will rise triumphant." Renji decided.
Finally, Yuuta and Shinji were finishing up tying their legs together.
"Okay, are you ready to do this?" Yuuta asked.
Shinji sighed. "I guess."
Yuuta waited. "You're not still mad at me, are you?"
"Maybe I am." Shinji said, looking like he was trying to fight back the tears.
"I already apologized and you accepted my apology." Yuuta reminded him.
"Forgiveness is easy enough, but forgetting…that takes strength that I just don't think I have." Shinji said, covering his face and turning away dramatically.
Yuuta slapped his forehead.
"ON YOUR MARKS!" Ryuuzaki yelled. "GET SET…"
She paused for dramatic effect and waited for Kamio to falter since he was SO in the rhythm that he just had to start. Because of Shishido's absurdly good reflexes, he was waiting for the exact second that Ryuuzaki said go for him to go, so of course he was not ready for Kamio's false start. Within a split second, both of them ended up in a heap on the ground.
Ryuuzaki decided that that was the best time to say, "GO!"
Everyone took of sprinting.
"Aw man!" Kamio yelled as he looked up. "I am so off my rhythm now!"
"Just be quiet and get up!" Shishido ordered. They both scrambled to their feet and took off running to catch up.
Meanwhile, David and Tezuka were running at a totally average pace even though Tezuka was glowing like a firefly (except it was his WHOLE body, and not just his rear).
"Um…Tezuka…?" said David as Saeki and Sakurai passed them. "Is the Tezuka Zone going to do anything productive anytime soon?"
Then he watched as Atsushi and Kaidou passed them.
"We're in third now…" sniffed David.
Gakuto and Choutarou were having their fair share of problems.
"Ootori, your steps are too massive!" Gakuto yelled as they once again fell over. "My legs aren't as long as yours so I can't reach that far."
Choutarou sniffed sadly as Yuuta and Shinji ran by them. Then Kamio and Shishido ran by them as well.
"Oh!" Choutarou exclaimed. "Go Shishido, I believe in you!"
"Come on, we have to get moving again!" Gakuto slapped Choutarou across the face a few times to jerk him out of his trance.
"You're right!" said Choutarou. "Even though I want Shishido to win, I also want him to be proud of me for doing a good job so he doesn't have to be ashamed to call himself my doubles partner!"
Choutarou jumped to his feet.
"Uh…sure…whatever works." Said Gakuto.
"Let's go!" Choutarou said.
He took one average step forward, which caused Gakuto to do a split. It's not like Gakuto was in any pain from doing a split since he probably does it all the time, but it certainly came as a surprise and he ended up falling over, which of course brought Choutarou down with him.
"At this rate, I'll NEVER make Shishido proud!" said Choutarou since that was the only thing on his mind.
"I've got it." Said Gakuto. "Stand up, but not move at all."
The two of them stood up, and then Gakuto just wrapped his arms around Choutarou and put his other foot on top of Choutarou's.
"There, now you run and I'll just chill here." Said Gakuto.
"What a great plan!" said Choutarou as he started running.
Of course, they had a lot of ground to make up. Kaidou and Atsushi, the first place team, were coming close to lapping them.
"Kaidou, can't we slow down a little bit?" gasped Atsushi. "I haven't trained enough to go at this pace for this long!"
"We have to win!" Kaidou said desperately.
"I need…to rest…!" Atsushi said as he miss-stepped, causing them both to fall over.
Taka and Yana, who were making excellent time and had passed all the other teams, were thrilled to see this. They darted past the quarrelling team.
"We're almost at the third lap!" Yana exclaimed. "We just have to keep this up for a little while longer!"
"I am slightly fearful of the Tezuka Zone…" Taka admitted as he looked back at Tezuka and David slowly closing in on Saeki and Sakurai, the current second place team.
"Third lap, third lap, third lap!" said Yana enthusiastically as he picked up his pace without letting Taka know, which caused him to make them both fall.
"YES!" cheered Saeki and Sakurai as they bounded right over the heap and crossed the line to start the third lap before anyone else.
"One more lap and then we have to run to the pool!" said Saeki.
"Go Team Four!" Sakurai said, looking ULTRA determined.
"Good news, the Tezuka Zone doesn't seem to be doing ANYTHING!" Saeki reported.
David happened to overhear this comment, and he looked at Tezuka. "Are you just saving it until the last second or something?" David asked. "Just to make everything more dramatic?"
Tezuka suddenly winced and toppled to the ground. And you should know by now that David came along with him.
"My shoulder!" Tezuka cried as his glowing promptly ceased to exist. "My recurring injury that always comes back to haunt me at the worst of times!"
David only sat there.
"Is this part of your plan to utilize the Tezuka Zone?" David asked.
"I…can still…race…" Tezuka struggled to get to his feet but it was in vain because he was clearly in so much ultra pain and couldn't possibly race anymore.
One by one, each team passed them. First Atsushi and Kaidou, then Taka and Yana, then Kamio and Shishido, followed by Choutarou and Gakuto, then Renji and Inui, and finally, bringing up the rear, Yuuta and Shinji.
"My heart's just not in it…" Shinji admitted when he noticed Yuuta's endless frustrated grunts.
"I noticed." Yuuta responded. "Can't you just get over it? All I did was tell you that you needed a haircut."
"Oh," said Shinji dramatically as he covered his face.
"What?" said Yuuta with a sigh. "I tell my brother to get a haircut all the time."
"Oh," Shinji repeated as he struck a pose of despair.
"You're acting like a woman." Yuuta glared.
"Oh," Shinji went on, making expressions that suggested he was being stabbed. And for him, it felt like he was.
Taka and Yana were rounding the track to reach the last lap with only two teams in front of them. They were closing in on Saeki and Sakurai, and Atsushi and Kaidou were only a few steps in front of them.
Taka looked up to see that Fuji was standing at the line with his hands behind his back.
"Oh no." said Taka nervously.
"I see him too." Said Yana comfortingly.
"Oh good, it's not in my imagination." Taka gave a sigh of relief.
As they got closer, Fuji pulled his hand out from behind his back to reveal that he was holding a racket. But not just ANY racket. TAKA'S RACKET!
"Perfect!" said Yana.
"…What?" Taka said hesitantly.
"Got it!" Yana grabbed the racket from Fuji. Fuji only waved to Taka as the two of them passed him. "Take this, Taka!"
He handed the racket to Taka. Taka paused for a second and then suddenly exploded with BURNING!
"YEAH!" Taka yelled. "COME ON! BURRRRRRRRRRNING!"
Taka grabbed Yana and lifted him right up off his feet and then proceeded to run as if he was in the hundred-yard dash. But faster than humanly possible. It took only a matter of seconds for them to pass the other two teams who were both in shock at the trail of fire that was left behind. In fact, the force of Taka's running speed blew the other two teams halfway across the track.
The Kamio and Shishido team as well as the Gakuto and Choutarou team leapt at their opportunity to make up some ground and broke into a sprint coming up on the fourth lap.
Taka and Yana were well on their way to the pool before Renji and Inui finally left the track to make their way to the pool as well.
"The only two teams behind us are…" Renji looked behind him. "Yuuta and Shinji who appear to be having a quarrel, and Tezuka and David who are limping around their third lap."
"My data tells me that there is a twenty percent chance that this shortcut is a sixty percent faster route to the pool." Inui pointed to a street coming up.
"Can we take that chance?" Renji questioned.
"There's no other way we'll win." Inui pointed out.
"Then let us go that way." Said Renji.
And with that, the two of them veered off down a random road.