A/N1: Not mine.
Sports Festival, Part One
Kinnosuke arrived at the school building even before the administration. He wanted everything to go perfectly and for nothing to fall by the wayside.
"Okay, two weeks of White Strips(TM) to make my ivories gleam. Check.
"Brushing for three solid minutes. Check.
"Mouthwash rinsing for one minute. Check.
"Mouthwash spritz in case I need a refresh." He pumped some on his tongue just to be on the safe side. Cough, cough. "Check.
"Deodorant, Extra Strength." He sniffed his armpits. "Check.
"Special 'love' clue for scavenger hunt with marked envelope. Check.
"Manly cologne to put on the baton so Kotoko thinks of me while running. Check.
"Hmm. I wonder if there's anything I missed?"
Apparently he had missed quite a bit, not yet being acquainted with Mrs. Irie. "Wha-a-a-at?!" he yowled, pointing at a garishly decorated patch of field.
Naoki turned around and saw his thunderstruck face. "I never thought The Idiot and I would agree on anything," he muttered to Kotoko, who had closed her eyes in the hopes that the abomination would disappear.
"Your mother has serious issues," she whispered.
"I've been aware of that for almost two decades," he informed her. "Damn, she's seen us."
She let out what only could be a whimper. "Do we have to go over there?"
"That depends on if you want to make our greeting as private as possible, considering this ostentatious display. Because she is waving us over and any minute she'll–"
"Yoo-hoo! Onii-chan! Kotoko-chan!"
"Is that Yuuki-kun behind her?" Kotoko dragged her feet as she went. "I am so going to razz him for not warning us."
"Even worse," he intoned. "Both fathers are here."
She craned her neck. "What?"
"And they're armed with cameras."
Kotoko's embarrassment was easily seen while Naoki's expression remained stoic. This proved difficult to hold as the Irie/Aihara booth became the most popular spot of the venue. Everyone was offered a sign of some sort to support the students, and their friends were settled in folding chairs and served snacks.
"Wow, Kotoko," Jinko said after swallowing, "Irie-kun's mom sure knows how to party."
As Naoki walked to his first event he realized that he had two shadows. "Yuuki?"
"I want a good spot to watch you race," he declared.
"Okay," he nodded, "and why are you here, Kotoko?"
"Two reasons," she replied. "One is that I'm not sure I can take much more of your mother being…well, herself. Drat, I'm not accomplishing anything by coming over here, am I?"
"No, Nee-chan," Yuuki grinned up at her, "but you can keep me company while Onii-chan grinds stalker boy into the dirt."
"Oh, yeah, that's the other reason: I want to see that." She rubbed hands together. "And no backsies," she pointed at Naoki, "you promised to win!"
He bowed–not a proper Japanese bow but a flourishing European one. "I shall put forth my best effort."
Naoki stretched in his assigned lane while the race officials argued over some last minute changes. Concentrating on how flexible his muscles felt–despite the stresses brought on by Mrs. Irie's 's elaborate ambush–helped him ignore the half-witted ranting and assorted insults from the competitor next to him.
Why is that? he wondered. Our classes are based on the English alphabet. It doesn't make any sense for me to be next to the Class F ape.
Kotoko ran back to the family enclave and returned with two of the folding chairs. She and Yuuki carefully propped them against one of the few trees near the track. They may have made flimsy step-stools, but by holding on to the tree's trunk and branches, the two had a great view of the upcoming race.
"Hey, Nee-chan," Yuuki pointed, "isn't that Mr. Rudesby in the lane next to Onii-chan?"
Kotoko squinted. "Yeah, it is. That doesn't make any sense. I mean, it's not my first language, but at least I know it's supposed to go ABCDEF."
"Here," Yuuki handed her a small pair of binoculars and shrugged at her inquisitive look, "Mom came prepared."
Her lip curled. "And you didn't even give us a hint. Oh, well," she held the glasses to her eyes and focused, "this can be your partial makeup."
"Partial–?" he yelped.
"Be glad I'm not your brother. Now, hush." Her gaze drifted across the field of competitors. "B, D, A, F, C, E. That doesn't make a lick of sense."
"I bet that moron pulled some strings," Yuuki postulated. "Didn't you say he was strutting around, acting like he was in charge of everything?"
"You're right. His dirty tricks are how I'm stuck in that relay this afternoon."
"Dirty tricks," Yuuki mused. "You don't think he'll try anything on Onii-chan, do you?"
"Don't be silly," she scoffed. "Kin-chan may be stupid, but he's not that stupid."
Damn! Kinnosuke's plan was not proceeding as predicted. His trash talk before the starter's gun should have knocked that blasted Irie into hesitation. I mean, he huffed, that's why I made sure the lane assignments would be all mixed up.
Instead, the Class A competitor was matching him step by step. And, as the race was short, he had very little time to change that. Able to discern that Naoki was his only real opponent, he swerved and knocked the other sideways.
Granted, the resultant stumble cost him a couple seconds in time, but as he, the originator of the collision, was expecting it, Kinnosuke quickly recovered and broke the tape ahead of Naoki and the rest of the field.
While he took a self-aggrandizing victory lap, he was unaware of an ever-increasing clump of protesters surrounding the referee, several of them brandishing cell phones with incriminating videos.
Loud were his wails when he was informed that Class F would receive no points at all for the event and that he would be meeting with the assistant principal the following week.
"Damn interfering Irie," he groused as he stomped away, ignoring the fact that Naoki had been the one approached by the judges instead of the other way around. "Well, after the scavenger hunt," he sniffed, "I'll have smooth sailing. Yeah," his mood quickly rebounded, "once Kotoko sees the light, the entire team will be fired up and Class F will rule supreme."
A/N2: Sorry for the delay. I'm currently on vacation and it took this long to find a quiet spell.