A/N: Not mine.
Sports Festival, Part Two
Ever since the end of the race (and the turnover of the suspect result) Yuuki had been nagging Naoki about what Kinnosuke had spoken to him before the race. The older boy had begun by merely shaking his head and finally was uncharacteristically abrupt in his response. "Leave it, Yuuki! You know that nothing good comes out of that baka's mouth."
"Yeah," he whined, "but I just wanted to hear so I can make fun of him some more."
Naoki ruffled his brother's messy hair. "Believe me, it's nothing you should be hearing." He glanced at Yuuki's companion. "Neither you nor Kotoko."
She shrugged. "I can probably guess the gist of his remarks. Wait," her eyes narrowed, "it must have been worse than normal for you not to want to tell me. Well, since it concerns me, I definitely deserve to hear it."
"But not now," Naoki broke in. "I believe your first event is being called."
"Drat," Kotoko muttered. "That stupid scavenger hunt. But don't think I've forgotten about it, Naoki!" she warned as she headed towards that half of the soccer field, now littered with white envelopes.
Noticing Kinnosuke standing on the opposite side, arms windmilling in her direction, she sniffed, "After that race, I wouldn't put it past the moron to have rigged this somehow. What to do? What to do?" She tapped her chin as her toes repeated the rhythm in anticipation of the pistol shot.
When the starting gun flared, she had still not come up with a plan. However, as it appeared that her classmate was leaping, pointing and waving to a particular envelope, she determined to avoid that one at all cost. She ran towards a different one as far away as possible, only to be beaten by a boy from Class D. Her bad luck held and eventually she picked up the inescapable envelope while Kinnosuke bent over, gasping from the exertions of guiding her. "What's … da matter … with her," he wheezed. "Oh well," he straightened and smoothed his hair, "gotta look pretty when she comes to fetch me."
"That asshole!" Kotoko breathed. "'The person you love'." She shot a glare at the preening boy. As if. Now, she pondered, if I pick Naoki–which is what everyone in Class F expects–it will cause problems for him, not to mention sending his mother into orbit with new plans for us. I can't really burden anyone else with Kin-chan's temper… Wait! She grinned evilly. He is someone that even Kin-chan can't argue about.
She and her father made a decent showing with second place. She beamed as the officials took their picture, enjoying her view of Kinnosuke on his knees, pounding the ground with his fists.
"Oh, how sweet that looked," gushed Mrs. Irie as she quickly scanned the images on her camera. "If only you weren't wearing a tee-shirt and shorts and so, uh, sweaty."
Kotoko shrugged. "Can't help that. It is what it is. I mean, it is a 'sports festival'."
Mrs. Irie espied the scrap of paper in her pocket. "Here! Hold that up and I'll take another picture of you two and try to avoid your damp armpits this time."
Both Kotoko and her father rolled their eyes and amiably posed until Mrs. Irie got a good view of the description and let out a screech.
Kotoko jiggled a pinkie in her ear canal. "Gosh, Obasama, you could give Kin-chan some good competition with that yell."
Momentarily startled, she ordered, "Never compare me to that colossal imbecile again. But Kotoko-chan," she wailed once more, "'the one you love'? Why didn't you grab Onii-chan?" Her eyes grew crafty. "I bet you and he could have finished higher than second place."
"Now, Missus," Aihara began.
The teen shoved him towards the rest of the family contingent. "I'll take care of this, Otosan."
"Sure, daughter." He beat a hasty retreat.
"Obasama, think for a minute," Kotoko said in a calm voice. "Naoki just finished a hard race and he has another one coming up. I don't know about you, but I personally want him in peak condition to–I can't believe I'm saying this–beat my own class. That idiot Kin-chan cheated in the first race because Naoki was better, but I want that fact shoved in his face, down his throat, and out his–"
"Kotoko-chan!"
The two housemates walked together to the track.
"I hope you don't mind that I'm going to do my best to defeat your team," Naoki said.
"Not at all," Kotoko replied. "As a matter of fact, I want you to make an effort of 110% to do so."
"You know that doesn't make any sense, don't you?"
"But it gets the message across, doesn't it?" she argued.
He sighed, "I suppose so. Just…don't mess up numbers that way in Mathematics class."
"No problem. We did percentages last year."
"Ri-i-ight," he drawled, "before I had the instruction of you."
"Well, if you had been helping me earlier, I might not have been placed in Class F."
"And what's wrong with Class F?" Kinnosuke interrupted suddenly. "Nothin', that's what! Irie, you bastard, stay away from her and don't start puttin' such ideas in her head."
"Yes, Buddha forbid that I have an original thought," Kotoko muttered as she hurried to Satomi's side while Naoki walked towards his classmates, giving Kinnosuke the silent treatment.
"Three! Two! One!" Bang!
Satomi took a quick lead in the first leg, followed by Classes D, C, B, A and E. Nemoto widened the lead as C and A surged forward to surpass D and B. Kotoko did not run flat out when it was her turn, allowing C and A to draw nearer. She gladly passed the baton to Kinnosuke and sent crossed fingers to Naoki before he set off.
"I saw that." Jinko grinned as Kotoko joined her and Satomi on the sidelines not too far past the finish line.
She widened her eyes and blinked. "Saw what?"
"Don't act all Miss Innocent," Satomi snorted. "And we don't blame you for cheering for Irie-kun, with Kin-chan acting the asshole this past month."
"Yeah," Jinko agreed, "what's so good about bragging rights in winning the sports festival when it doesn't go onto our academic record? I mean, we're not getting into college anyway."
"Well, you and I aren't," Satomi corrected her, "but our gal here has a good chance of it. Are you going to take the Nationals in January?"
"I haven't thought about it." Kotoko's eyes were glued to the field. "Look, Naoki is gaining on Kin-chan!"
"Great," Jinko grinned, "I'm looking forward to seeing him taken down a step or two."
"Um-hm," Satomi agreed, "especially with cheating in his first race. That was uncalled for."
All eyes were on the final few meters, in which the lead shifted from Naoki to Kinnosuke and then back to Naoki. With a final burst of speed the Class A student drew forward conclusively and broke the ribbon. The crowd went wild at the exciting finish and began jumping around, and the jostling knocked Kotoko onto the cinders in front of the slowing runners.
"Ack!" she grunted when she hit the ground. "Ow!" she moaned when a heavy foot landed in the middle of her back. "Just let me die in peace," she whined when she was gently turned over.
"Not on my watch," Naoki chuckled. "Now, I saw the footprint and," he lifted her arms, "elbow scrapes. Is there anything I missed?"
"My pride?"
"I'm speaking medically, not emotionally, but if you feel well enough to joke, I'm going to move you." He carefully set her on her feet and supported her weight as she limped to the first aid tent.
"Oi! Irie!" A shout came from behind them.
"Not again," they said together as they continued on their way without acknowledging the cry.
Kotoko tried to keep the whimpering to a minimum while Naoki cleaned her wounds and anointed them with antiseptic. "I'm surprised Kin-chan hasn't burst in yet," she commented as he applied the last bandage.
"I peeked behind us before we came in. It looks like your two girlfriends grabbed hold of him and were chewing him out pretty fiercely."
"I'm glad they stopped him because he would've really been annoying, but what are they mad at him for?"
"Oh," he grinned, "it seems that the footprint on your back is a match for his sneakers. They didn't think it would be…appropriate for him to care for you in that case."
"Well," she grumped, "I don't really want him 'caring' for me in any case. But the idiot just won't listen!"
