Kuroi was looking very enthusiastic as she entered the classroom that day. Quite different from her usual state - either bitterly annoyed for some reason, or rushing in at the last minute, declaring herself "not late" to a class of blank stares.

"Settle down everyone! In case you've forgotten, we've got the athletic festival coming up soon!" she said. The announcement was met with the usual blank stares.

"Athletic festival...?" Jason said.

Konata looked up. "It's time for that already...?"

Kuroi seemed disappointed in the lack of enthusiasm. "If you keep on acting like that, we'll never win this thing! We need to get fired up!" The classroom was still silent, half the eyes staring back at her with the rest looking off into unspecified points in the room. She turned around and began listing off the events on the board - obstacle course, relay races, and so on. "Come on, isn't anyone going to volunteer?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do..." Tsukasa muttered. "I hope this doesn't go as badly as last year did."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Konata said. She had already seen this episode, though, and if things went as they had in the show then this would be in fact worse than last year. "Just put me down for 100 meter dash, I guess."

It seemed it was time for another part of her life that Konata had already watched in anime format. She couldn't believe that most organization members didn't want to experience the work they were a part of - Konata looked forward to these occasions, wanting to see what would be different. Of course, having an undercover interdimensional agent present always changed things slightly, but that wasn't the point.

If she worked with Tsukasa during training, would she be able to do any better than she had in the anime? Konata almost winced remembering how that had gone. And... well, maybe she'd just let Kagami do her thing on the bread eating race. That had actually been really funny. And she was still debating whether or not to talk Miyuki out of the obstacle course. Both that and the relay race would end in spectacular fanservice, so maybe it didn't matter.

As for Konata herself... This was just going to be more of what went on every day in gym class. Her athletic abilities had always been good, so she tried to keep them at that level instead of being superhuman as she was now. In order to compete against her classmates and still look normal, that would mean nothing more than minimal effort. Not that sports had ever been that much fun, anyway.

Chapter 10

Break the Mold

"So the athletic festival is already coming up..." Konata said. It was lunch, everyone was in their usual spots around the table. "I completely forgot about it."

Jason spoke up. "Sorry, I still don't quite get it. What's this all about?"

"Oh, it's just some athletic events. It's a school-wide competition. It'll be on Sunday, but the week before we'll have practice," Konata replied.

"You have nothing to worry about, Jason," Kagami said. "You're pretty good with this kind of stuff. I heard about your kendo tournament, by the way. Great job."

"Thanks," he said. Calling it a "great job" was in fact a bit of an understatement - he had actually placed high enough in regionals that he had been chosen to go on to the national level. It wasn't typical for an exchange student to do so well, but either way the Ryoo team had been thrilled to receive any kind of recognition.

And still, Konata knew that he had been holding back in the tournament matches. She herself could only put forth minimal effort in gym class, since anything more would seem unnaturally skillful. Really, when you're capable of single-handedly taking on twenty ninjas in a fight to the death, high school gym class is no problem.

"If we're not in our regular classes for a whole week, I'm missing out on some valuable time," Konata said in a regretful tone. "For sleep, obviously."

"That's what you're worried about?" Kagami said. "Isn't that what you're supposed to do, you know, at night, like a normal person?"

"No, I'm way too busy then," Konata said.

"'Busy.' So that's what you're calling it now?"

"I still don't know what event I should try to do..." Tsukasa said, with a visible look of worry on her face.

"I don't know," Konata said. "You could try to do the hurdles. Just make sure you don't mess up your timing and run straight into every single one."

Tsukasa was shocked. "You actually think I'd do something like that?"

Konata didn't think that would happen. She knew that was what would happen. "Hey, you've got a week to practice and make sure you don't mess up on the real thing. I'll help you out on it, if you want."

"She's got a point," Jason said, holding some of his curry in his chopsticks and holding them in the air, gesturing vaguely. "We've all got a week to train for it, so we might as well take advantage of it."

"Excellent point, Ellis-san," Miyuki said. "Speaking of which, what event will you be participating in?"

"I thought I'd wait a while and see. I'm good with just about any of them, so I'll take whatever's left."

"You and Kona-chan are both so good at sports. You really don't have anything to worry about," Tsukasa said.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about except setting new world records..." Konata said, hoping it sounded sarcastic but actually in complete honesty. She would have to make sure not to run faster than about nine and a half kilometers per hour, not to jump any higher than about half a meter off the ground. Not to mention resist the urge to backflip when she jumped. Those were about the averages for normal, non-magically enhanced human ability. The kind of things she was able to do... You really did only see this kind of thing in anime and games, but you never thought about it as being weird when you saw it there.

"I would think you would be very enthusiastic about the competition, Izumi-san," Miyuki said. "I'm very impressed by your physical ability."

"Nah, it's all too much of a hassle, in my opinion. But my dad loves to watch all the events. Only when the girls are competing, though. Of course."

As usual, Konata's bluntness left the conversation hanging in silence for several moments.

"I remember doing something like this in elementary school," Jason said, standing in the crowd on that Sunday. "We'd do sports, obstacle courses, games. But this... This looks like serious business."

"Sensei sure seems to think so," Konata agreed. "That was some speech she gave back there, wasn't it?"

The entire student body was present, along with faculty, family members, and those people who just kind of showed up (some of them with cameras, Konata noted, proving her dad wasn't entirely out of the ordinary). The next event coming up was the bread eating race. And what an event it was.

"So the bread's attached to the frame with clips, right?" Konata said. "How strong do you suppose those are?"

"Um... I don't know," Tsukasa said.

"Cause it sure would be embarrassing if you tried to grab the bread and you ended up bringing down the entire setup," Konata said, chuckling at the thought. "Don't you think so?"

"I'm sure Kagami-san will be quite alright," Miyuki said. "Besides, I'm sure that the chances of that happening are very slim."

The pistol fired off, starting the race. The other students failed to catch the buns, but as Kagami sped towards them and leapt into the air...

There was a creak as the frame slowly collapsed, pulled down by the bun that Kagami had caught but failed to release from the clip. The crowd gasped as it hit the ground.

"Huh...?" Tsukasa said. "It actually...?"

"I should probably just keep these thoughts to myself, shouldn't I?" Konata said with a grin.

"That was quite a strange coincidence..." Miyuki said.

"Hey, you're doing the hundred meter dash, right?" Kagami asked. "It's up next."

"Yeah, I better get ready for that." Konata left to get into place on the track.

This was considered the "long" dash, but for Konata it was no big deal. If she put forth her usual amount of effort, she could clear this kind of distance in about five seconds, even when fully armed. Of course, that kind of thing was considered impossible in this universe.

"On your marks... Get set..." The pistol was fired.

Konata started off at what she considered a brisk jog, listening to the rhythm of footsteps from the girl in second place and trying to keep her about two or three meters behind her. She tried to keep a look on her face that would suggest she was straining herself to run as fast as possible, but that just wasn't the case.

As she broke the tape at the finish line, there was a loud cheer from the spectators. She slowed to a halt, and looked over as the girl in second place came up next to her about ten seconds later, panting as she stood with her hands on her knees. Maybe Konata had misjudged her own speed a bit.

"Hey, good race," Konata said.

"Yeah..." the other girl responded. "How... do you... do that? I couldn't... keep up!"

"Practice," Konata said, and left to watch the next event.

As she rejoined her group in the crowd of spectators, everyone congratulated her.

"Wow, you're not even out of breath, Kona-chan! That was amazing!" Tsukasa said. "How do you run so fast?"

"It's really no big deal. Just imagine yourself winning. It's always worked that way." Or at least it had, before things had changed earlier this year.

"Good luck, Tsukasa. Your event's up next," Jason said.

"Wh-what? I didn't even realize..." Tsukasa looked up frantically. "Where am I supposed to be?"

"Gotta stay alert. Remember how I showed you last week?" Konata said.

"Yeah..." Tsukasa seemed nervous.

"You'll do fine," Kagami said. "Just give it your best shot."

Konata watched Tsukasa, standing at the starting place with a look of determination on her face. Maybe this would turn out differently than it had in the anime. It was kind of like an experiment, to see just how much she would be able to change things. Tsukasa had done well in the practice runs, here was the real deal.

As the race began, Konata braced herself for what she was sure was about to happen. Surprisingly, there was no "thud" or crowd reaction as Tsukasa sped towards the first hurdle. In fact, she jumped over it cleanly.

"Whoa, she got one!" Konata said. Was it possible Tsukasa could actually do this...?

"You sound surprised," Kagami said. "But, actually..." She gave a slight smile. "I guess I wasn't expecting her to make it, either..."

Thud. A squeal of pain, the hurdle clattering as it fell and hit the track.

"Well, she got one, anyway," Konata said. So it turns out there were some things just so deeply ingrained in a person's nature they could never be changed... "On the bright side, running straight into hurdles in front of the entire school adds to her moe points. Her ranking's going up."

Thud.

"Way up..." she added.

Thud.

"I didn't even expect her to hit all of them..." Kagami said.

"Hmm, isn't this depressing..." Jason said.

Both Miyuki and Jason were participating in the next event, a three-part relay race. Jason would go second, and hand the baton off to Miyuki to finish the race. But first, they had to wait for the other member of the team to get done with his part.

Jason stood in place, waiting for the race to start. He glanced over at Miyuki, standing partway down the track. And then he looked over at Yuji, a skinny boy in their class, who never seemed to do very well in these sorts of things...

The race started, and Jason watched as Yuji was left behind by one other boy and two girls.

"Come on, Kihara," Jason said under his breath. "You can do this..." But he knew that Yuji really couldn't. Jason's heart was pounding, anticipating the moment he would have to get into action... He was surprised at how much the excitement was getting to him, now that he was participating in his own event.

One of the girls reached her teammate first, who grabbed the baton and took off. Shortly after was the boy and the other girl. Yuji came last, holding out the baton weakly. Jason grabbed it and started running, already behind.

Meanwhile, Konata, Kagami, and Tsukasa were watching anxiously.

"You think he'll be able to catch up?" Tsukasa asked.

"It's not looking very good..." Kagami said.

"Who knows, let's see how he does," Konata said.

Jason was picking up speed, almost catching up to the third place runner. Then passing him. Kuroi's team cheered him on - he seemed to be going faster. Now he was passing the second place - now in first place, and still going faster.

Konata stared at him. "Seriously?" Hadn't he been the one reminding her not to go too fast? How it wouldn't look natural?

"I had no idea he could run that fast! Must be an American thing," Kagami said.

"Something like that..." Konata said.

Jason had reached the end of the second third of the race, where he would pass the baton to Miyuki to finish. She stared at him.

"Ellis-san, that was amazing!" she said.

"Never mind that right now, just take it and go!" Jason said. The other runners were still quite a few meters behind, and a little dumbstruck at how he had just passed all of them.

"Oh, right!" She took it and ran.

Konata was watching with excitement now. "Miyuki-san looks pretty good when she's running..."

"That's just... an unbelievably creepy thing to say. You do realize that, right?" Kagami said.

Konata ignored her.

"Hey, she's almost to the finish!" Tsukasa said.

"Yeah! Keep going!" Kagami cheered.

"Wait for it..." Konata said. She watched as Miyuki braced herself, preparing to run into the tape to break it... "Yes!" Konata said. Just like it was supposed to happen - the cameras at the finish line snapped a picture right as Miyuki's breasts came into contact with and broke the tape. That was the kind of shot her dad was probably dreaming of. "Great job, Miyuki-san! Always thinking of your fans..."

"Do you ever think before you say something like that?" Kagami said.

Jason and Miyuki rejoined them a few minutes later.

"Jason-kun, that was... incredible..." Tsukasa said. "I'm so jealous of you and Kona-chan. You're really good at these things."

"Oh, it wasn't anything much, really," he said. "I've just always been fast, I guess."

"You did a wonderful job, Ellis-san. Without you we couldn't have won the race," Miyuki said.

"Hey, you're the one who finished. It wasn't all me."

"And what a spectacular finish it was..." Konata said.

"Why, thank you, Izumi-san." Miyuki apparently had no idea what Konata meant by that. It was probably for the best.

"Back to regular classes again..." Konata said the next day at lunch. "And back to getting my daily naps. Where would I be without them?"

Kagami sighed. "So Jason, what did you think of your first Japanese Sports Festival?"

"What can I say..." he said. "I wish we had these back at my old school. I personally didn't mind getting a week off of classes. Not a problem at all."

"But what was that, during that relay race? You were going even faster than I was," Konata said, hoping he got the hint.

"Oh, yeah. That," he said, hesitating before he continued, "I guess all the excitement just got to me. I was really trying to push myself. Looks like it paid off."

"Thanks for trying to help me, Kona-chan," Tsukasa said. "I think I just forgot everything we trained on once I was under all that pressure..." She looked down at the table, trying not to remember the trail of fallen hurdles she had left in her wake.

"It's no problem," Konata said, smiling. "We've got it easy, since when girls mess up on something like that it's cute. It's why we have so many fans."

"Yeah. Sure. And where do you suppose all these 'fans' are? We're not exactly what you'd call popular," Kagami said. "Seriously, it's like you can't tell the difference between real life and anime sometimes..."