Classroom of the Elite: The 100 Elites Who Really, Really Love Him

by legalinmybooks

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka has been cursed (blessed) by The God of Love who accidentally linked Ayanokouji and 100 different girls/women. They are to become soulmates bounded by love and fate. If their relationship with Ayanokouji fails, the girls are fated to die in an accident. It's a matter of life or death. Will Ayanokouji survive ANHS with 100 potential soulmates waiting for him? Wil

27. Chapter 26: Sports Festival

*Timeskip (next morning)*

Ayanokouji took a deep breath as he inhaled the cool morning air. The cool air filled his lungs and his eyes rested upon the rising sun. It was a beautiful sunrise and the start of a new day. Ayanokouji was taking a light jog to start his day and after stopping at a nearby vending machine to get some water, he heard someone calling his name.

"Ayanokouji-kun!" called out Kinoshita.

Ayanokouji turned around and saw her jogging up to him. Kinoshita is wearing black running shorts along with her white school-issued gym shirt. Her hair tied in a short athletic ponytail and Ayanokouji could see the sweat glistening on her pale skin as it ran down her neck and towards her upper body. He could see some sweat stains by her armpit areas and other various areas Luckily Kinoshita's shirt is double-fabric otherwise the shirt would've been see-through and Ayanokouji would've seen more than Kinoshita's shirt.

"Good morning, Kinoshita. Out for another run again?" said Ayanokouji.

"Yeah! Wanna come with me?" asked Kinoshita, looking at him expectantly.

"Sure."

"Yay! Are you ready?"

Kinoshita's eyes sparkled in excitement and anticipation as Ayanokouji gazed at her. He could tell that she really enjoyed running and was ready to go. As he gazed at Kinoshita, he could see the passion that she had and how she looked quite cute with a determined and happy look on her face. Ayanokouji wished that he had that passion and determination, but he knew that he had lost it years ago.

"Yeah. I guess I'll follow you." said Ayanokouji, standing up and screwing the lid of his water bottle tightly.

"All right! Try and keep up!" said Kinoshita, excitedly.

With that, Kinoshita began jogging and Ayanokouji followed closely behind her. As the duo jogged down the main road, Ayanokouji could see how different it was. It usually had lots of students walking down this road, heading towards the Keyaki Mall, student dorms, or the school, but since it's early in the morning, there's no one walking. Ayanokouji enjoyed the peaceful silence of the early morning as the only sounds were Kinoshita's and his own panting along with the chirping of birds from the nearby trees.

After about 10 minutes of jogging, Kinoshita was slowing down and allowing Ayanokouji to catch up to her.

"Hey! We're about to hit the Keyaki Mall. There's a little detour I wanna take before we can arrive there when it opens. Are you fine with it?" asked Kinoshita.

"Sure. Hopefully, we'll take a break when we get there." said Ayanokouji.

"Oh, c'mon! We're just getting started and you don't look that tired!"

"I am very tired. I'm just good at hiding it." "Could've fooled me!"

Kinoshita led Ayanokouji down a path off the main road and he could see the trees along the path, providing the perfect amount of shade as the dim sunlight fell upon the duo as they jogged down the path. Ayanokouji has never been down this path and it wasn't the same path that he took with her during their last time running together. He was a little curious on where Kinoshita was taking him and after a few more minutes of jogging, the trees parted ways and the duo entered into a clearing.

The clearing was only a field, but there was an abundance of sunflowers all lined in a neat row and facing towards the sun. Ayanokouji could see the bright sun rise as he entered the field and the blinding light caused him to raise an arm to shield his eyes. After a few more moments of walking forward and adjusting his eyes, Ayanokouji can fully see the beauty of the spot that Kinoshita took him to.

"Whoa! So bright." said Ayanokouji. The duo stopped and took a seat on the ground, quite close to the sunflowers.

"This is the only place where sunflowers grow. Trust me, I've been almost everywhere and this is the only place where I found them." said Kinoshita.

"I didn't know that. Do you think that the school planted them there?"

"I don't know, but it's pretty cool to see, right?"

"I guess... you really like sunflowers?"

"Yeah... I really like the sun. I know it's kind of dumb for someone that likes to run to like the sun. The sun is hot and running in that heat will make you sweat and uncomfortable, but I like it because of my morning run. It's peaceful and the nice cool morning air makes it bearable to run in the sun and watching the sunrise is amazing."

"I see what you mean. To be honest, I think running in the morning is better than in the evening."

"I know right! It gets dark and it's harder to see where you are going. I mean imagine coming here in the evening. There are no lights around here."

"It could be troublesome. By the way, there's nothing else here, right?"

Ayanokouji noticed that it was just a clear field with sunflowers and trees with no other path leading anywhere else. He noticed that there was only a dirt path with no streetlights and cameras. Ayanokouji and Kinoshita are basically in the middle of nowhere and by a first glance, it would seem that they aren't in ANHS anymore and just in the middle of a beautiful clearing with sunflowers and trees, surrounded by nature rather than in an elite school.

"Yeah. Just reminds me of my hometown." said Kinoshita, with a hint of nostalgia and sadness in the tone of her voice.

"You live out in the countryside?" asked Ayanokouji.

"I'm not some country bumpkin, but I guess you can say that. What about you?"

"I lived in the city, and I rarely leave to see the outside world."

"Outside world? Don't tell me that you never leave your house? Are you a neet?!"

"Neet? I meant I rarely leave the city, so I guess you can say I'm a city boy." "Ahh... I see. For a second, I thought you were someone else."

Kinoshita chuckled before laying down with her hands under her head, acting like a cushion as she observed the surroundings and the sky. Ayanokouji glanced over and saw her beautiful eyes bounced around and a faint smile appeared on her face.

"It's my secret spot and a reminder of my home, so don't tell anyone about it." said Kinoshita.

"Why did you bring me here?" asked Ayanokouji.

"I... I just want to share it with someone. You know it gets lonely running early in the morning by yourself. I'm just happy that I have someone to run with me and talk to."

"What about Yajima?"

"That girl?! She's always asleep and says no every time I ask her to join me."

"I can see her doing that."

The duo fell into silence as they enjoyed the tranquil moment together and took their break. Ayanokouji took another sip of water and Kinoshita closed her eyes, soaking in the sunlight. After a few more minutes, Kinoshita stood up.

"All right! Let's go now! The Keyaki Mall should be open now." said Kinoshita.

With that, Kinoshita got up and reached her hand towards Ayanokouji, who was laying down. He sat up and took her hand as Kinoshita helped him to his feet.

The duo began jogging and retraced their way back to the main path. After a bit of light jogging, the duo entered the Keyaki Mall which is now open.

Ayanokouji found it strange that the Keyaki Mall is practically empty and with not many people since it's quite early in the morning. Most of the people that he saw were employees from various stores and businesses in the mall. He wondered where they were going as they took the escalator to the second floor. They made their way to an open food court and he saw a familiar girl with her head on the table with her arms acting as a cushion while she's sitting and seemed to be asleep.

"Morning, sleepyhead!" said Kinoshita, giving the girl a hardy slap on the back. The girl yelped out loud and lurched forward and her head shifted away from her comfortable arm cushion and her head banged against the table, making a satisfying and loud noise.

"Hey! Watch it. I was taking a nap!" said Yajima, turning towards them and yawning out loud while rubbing her eyes.

"I told you to meet me at the park an hour ago and I had the feeling that you bailed on me. And then you randomly texted me about meeting at the food court!" said Kinoshita.

"Your schedule interferes with my sleep schedule. Besides, I'm tired and running early in the morning is no fun."

"You're always tired!"

"Duh. Oh, Ayanokouji-kun? You're also dragged into Kinoshita's mess too?"

"Not really. I just happened to run into Kinoshita while taking a jog and she invited me to run with her." said Ayanokouji.

"Hmm... And you're still with her? Must be a decent runner." said Yajima.

"Nah. Kinoshita is way too fast and I'm trying my best to keep up."

"You actually did pretty good. You're a little behind, but at least I'm not leaving you in the dust." said Kinoshita.

"I think you give me too much credit." replied Ayanokouji, trying to downplay his running abilities. Kinoshita chuckled at what Ayanokouji said and silently doubted it after seeing Ayanokouji run.

'Yeah, no! I don't think so. Normally, it's hard for someone without any training or experience in long distance running to keep up with someone like me. Not to brag, but I was quite the star in my junior high track and field team. That's why I joined ANHS because I heard about their track and field team, but Ayanokouji- kun seems to be slowly catching up to me every time we run together. I thought he was slow, but getting a closer look, he's not that far behind and I'm pretty sure he's not in the track and field club. He seems to be improving every time I see him. I wanna have a race with him now!' thought Kinoshita, excitedly.

"So Yajima... are you going to run with us too?" asked Ayanokouji, curious about why Yajima is here. He knew that she's quite lazy and prefers to sleep, but she showed up and met them early in the morning and was curious to see her performance in running if Yajima decided to join them.

"Uhh... sure. I guess since I'm already awake and here." said Yajima, getting up and stretching. She was still wearing her pajamas and Ayanokouji could see that it's her style since Yajima is probably too lazy to change into a new set of clothes.

The trio left the food court and headed down the escalator, making their way to the exit of the Keyaki Mall. As Ayanokouji could see the sunlight through the exit of the Keyaki Mall, he saw that Yajima was doing some final stretches and preparing for a run.

"All right! Try and get up, Ayanokouji-kun!" said Kinoshita.

With that, the two girls began running and Ayanokouji watched for a brief moment before joining them. He saw that Yajima is faster than Kinoshita as she took the lead which he found surprising by her sudden speed. Yajima turned around and had a surprised look when she saw Ayanokouji.

"Oh? You're actually not bad." said Yajima.

"Kinoshita said the same thing." said Ayanokouji.

"Yeah. Well, it's the truth." said Kinoshita.

"Yajima, I didn't expect you to be that fast. You're faster than Kinoshita." said Ayanokouji.

"Hee hee! I was surprised about that too. I didn't expect someone so lazy to run that fast." said Kinoshita, smugly.

"Hey... that's a little rude. I prefer the term energy efficient. I like to save my energy and not waste it." protested Yajima.

"That's what a slacker will say."

Kinoshita chuckled and Yajima pouted cutely at Kinoshita's remarks. Ayanokouji could tell that they got along well as their interest in running and being a part of the school's track and field club aligned even though their personalities are the polar opposite.

The trio jogged down the main road and Ayanokouji slowly began to catch up but made sure not to get ahead of them. At least, he's gathering information on Class C and its participants. He could tell that Yajima and Kinoshita are quite athletic and if they were put in the various races, he suspects that they will get a high placement depending on if Ryuuen places them against other girls or people.

'Interesting, but it doesn't matter at this point. The outcome is already decided, but it seems I need to make my move before everything falls into place.' thought Ayanokouji .

*Timeskip (20 minutes later)*

"Wow! You're still with us?" asked Yajima.

"Whoa! This is the longest time that I've seen Ayanokouji-kun run with me." said Kinoshita.

"Yeah. Man, this is exhausting." said Ayanokouji, unscrewing the lid of his plastic water bottle before taking a sip.

The trio had finished their run and they stopped in front of the students' dorm and took a break. There were some students already leaving the dorm and some of them were heading towards the direction of the school. Luckily, it was for early goers and most people were probably waking up or sleeping in.

Ayanokouji was glad that none of his soulmates weren't around and he didn't want to deal with another situation. The trio chatted for a bit about the run and other topics related to running before he decided that it's time to go.

"I'm going to go now. Need to get some breakfast before school." said Ayanokouji.

"Later, Ayanokouji-kun." said Yajima, wiping her forehead with a towel.

"Bye, Ayanokouji-kun. Let's run again!" said Kinoshita.

"You should probably change out of your pajamas." said Ayanokouji. He noticed the sweat stains on Yajima's pajamas, and it was probably not the best attire to wear for an intense jogging session. Yajima glanced down and agreed with Ayanokouji.

"Yeah! I should! Kinoshita, are you coming?" asked Yajima, stepping next to Ayanokouji and glancing over at Kinoshita, who didn't move.

"Nah. I'm gonna get something to drink from the vending machine. That run took a lot out of me, more than expected." said Kinoshita. She said her goodbyes before walking towards the nearest vending machine and she rounded the corner, disappearing from Ayanokouji's view.

"Shall we go?" said Ayanokouji. Yajima nodded and followed him.

There were some questioning glances at the duo as Yajima was wearing sweat- stained pajamas and being accompanied by a boy. The duo quickly called over an elevator and luckily, it was empty. They selected their respective floors and waited for the elevator's doors to close and to rise.

Ayanokouji glanced over at Yajima and the alluring scent of her sweat and sweaty appearance could make any boy's heart rise especially when Yajima's clothes are somewhat seen through in some areas due to the sweat stains. He could catch a faint glimpse of what bra she is wearing as the color of dark blue is visible. He quickly averted his eyes and wished that his curiosity wasn't so big because he didn't want to be caught, trying to sneak a peek.

After a few more moments of silence, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened to the 2nd floor where Ayanokouji left the elevator.

"See you later, Yajima." said Ayanokouji.

"Bye, Ayanokouji-kun. You didn't do half bad." said Yajima. With those final goodbyes, the elevator doors closed, and Ayanokouji headed back towards his dorms. When he arrived back, Ayanokouji could hear some noises coming from the kitchen and he could also smell food which caused his stomach to growl.

"Ayanokouji-kun? Welcome back." said Satou, coming out of the kitchen. She was wearing a pink apron over her pajamas and was carrying two plates. He could see some scrambled eggs, toast, a salad, and some bacon on each plate.

"Satou? You cooked breakfast for us?" asked Ayanokouji.

"Yeah! I woke up and you weren't here, so I figured I can help you out and cook for once."

"Thank you... I really appreciate it. I'm going to get a quick shower before eating."

"Okay. I'm just going to finish some things before I eat. I'll wait for you."

"No need. I don't want the food to get cold."

With that, Ayanokouji headed into his room to grab his school uniform and a spare change of underwear before heading into the bathroom. He took a quick shower and washed the sweat off his body before changing into his school uniform and headed towards the dining room.

Ayanokouji found two plates full of food and a glass of orange juice. Satou was placing the silverware and napkins on the table and it seemed that everything was ready to go.

"Perfect timing, Ayanokouji-kun! Let's eat now!" said Satou.

"Itadakimasu." said the duo.

Ayanokouji took a bite of the scrambled eggs and realized immediately that it was overcooked and was far from soft like a regular scrambled egg. There was also a lack of seasoning, and he glanced at his plate and only saw a light sprinkle of pepper. He decided to try the rest of his breakfast with the bacon being decent and the fat not fully rendered, but it was acceptable for Ayanokouji since he wasn't a picky eater and a huge fan of bacon.

"Not bad, Satou. You need a little more work, but it's decent. Is this your first time cooking?" asked Ayanokouji.

"Well... I thought it wasn't bad, but this is the first time that I cooked for someone." said Satou.

"Not bad. I'll give you a few pointers if you want."

"Sure, go ahead."

"You slightly overcooked your eggs. Make sure to keep an eye on it and you have the right temperature on the stove. Also don't be afraid to add more salt and pepper. It's better to have more than less."

"Okay. That's good to know, by the way, give me a rating."

"Rating?"

"Yeah. One to ten!"

"Uhh... I'll say 5. It wasn't bad or good. It's just okay and acceptable."

"Hmm... I need to change that real quick!"

Ayanokouji glanced over at Satou, who was chatting to herself. She reminded Ayanokouji of a housewife based on appearance with an apron, hairstyle which is a side ponytail, and her cooking. If they looked from an outsider's perspective, it looked like Satou was cooking for Ayanokouji and awaiting his return. He was sure that guys like Ike and Yamauchi would kill to be in that situation. Satou noticed that Ayanokouji was staring at her and her face grew slightly red out of embarrassment by his stares.

'Eh?! What is Ayanokouji-kun looking at? Is it because my cooking is bad or my table manners?! I don't think it's that bad! Or... is it because of what I'm wearing?! Pajamas with an apron?! C'mon! I just woke up and cooked breakfast. I don't have time to change!' thought Satou.

"Sorry for staring. It's just that... it didn't expect you to do this all for me." said Ayanokouji, making his best excuse to justify him staring at her.

"I told you already. It's not a problem. Besides, it's a way for me to cook more and to improve." said Satou.

"I'll be there for you..." "Eh?!"

Satou blushed a little bit and was surprised by the unexpected move from Ayanokouji.

"If you need any more help." said Ayanokouji, finishing his sentence. Satou's face immediately deadpans when she heard what Ayanokouji said.

"Ayanokouji-kun... you need to work on how you phrase your sentences." said Satou.

"Hmmm... you think so?" "Y-Yeah! Definitely!"

"Okay. I guess I'll work on that."

With that, the duo enjoyed the rest of their breakfast together without any more troubles. Ayanokouji helped wash the dishes before the duo left for school together.

*Timeskip (few hours later)*

"All right! You can do it, Hirata-kun!"

"Kya! So fast!"

"I can't believe that he's taken!" "Tch.. damn ikeman."

"First, him and then there's Ayanokouji."

Ayanokouji and his class were on the school's outdoor track, practicing for the sports festival. Of course, the entire class knew which events they were participating in and some of them were practicing with their partners or people that are in the same event as them. He watched as Sudou was talking and demonstrating to Ike, Yamauchi, and other students on how to win the tug-of- war.

"You're just pointlessly strainin' yourself. There's no strength at all in your pull. At this rate, you wouldn't win, even if you could." said Sudou. He grabbed the short length of rope tightly with Ike and Yamauchi faced off against him. When the match began, Sudou pulled with an overwhelming amount of strength and Ike and Yamauchi fell down and sat on the ground.

"See? You ain't putting any power into it at all." said Sudo, proudly.

"I don't get it. Hey, Sudou, is there some kinda trick or something?" asked Ike.

"Well, power's important, but also, don't just use your arms. Use your hips, too," said Sudou. His manner was rough, but he gave each and every student thorough guidance.

"Hey, Sudou-kun. Can you come look at this for us? We're not doing well with our carriage for the cavalry battle." called out Maezono.

"Sure. Wait a sec. I'll be right there."

There were more than a few unathletic students in the class and several people asked Sudou for help. Ayanokouji was honestly surprised that even girls asked Sudou for his opinion.

'It all started when Hirata and Horikita agreed to give Sudou a leadership role in the sports festival. Sudou claimed that he could do it and could get us to first place with his guidance. Of course, they were hesitant, but Hirata, who often has a high degree of trust for classmates, agreed.' thought Ayanokouji.

"Look, I'm tellin' you that ain't it!" said Sudou, kicking at the dirt and sending it flying toward Ike and Yamauchi.

"Gah! Puh...yuck! Dude, c'mon. Stop!" protested Ike.

'Sudou's rashness was still a problem. A leader needed to be patient, like Hirata, who always employed gentle teaching methods. He was currently checking some girls' positions in the carriage formation, to make sure that they were comfortable. Obviously, Sudou's behavior can push some people away from him and make others fear or dislike him which is detrimental as a leader.' thought Ayanokouji.

Ayanokouji was with Horikita as they observed the class from a distance. After a brief moment of silence, Horikita spoke up.

"I'm not sure about Sudou-kun being our class leader. Clearly, his methods are quite harsh." said Horikita.

"Reminds me of someone." said Ayanokouji. Horikita glared at him, but what he was saying wasn't exactly a lie. Horikita scowled and made a cute hmph noise as she took a deep breath.

"Every class's physical abilities will determine who wins and who loses. Right?" said Horikita

"This is a sports festival. Physical abilities are key." replied Ayanokouji.

"Yes. Still, that kind of thinking is limited. If I focus on my own performance, I'm confident that I can produce good results, but something's been troubling me for a while. I might not be able to reach Class A just by improving my own skills."

"Okay. Let me ask you this. What should we do at the sports festival to produce results? To reach Class A?"

In reply to Ayanokouji's question, Horikita just gave him a confused look.

"I'll participate in the festival. That's cooperating." said Ayanokouji.

"Are you serious?" replied Horikita, questioning his lackluster response and lack of action. Ayanokouji is simply observing and watching from the background yet again.

"You said so yourself, didn't you? Physical ability will determine victory or defeat."

"But there are other aspects to the competition besides physical ability, too."

"Look. It sounds like you're saying that a high level of physical ability won't be enough. On paper, it would seem that Class D would win because of Sudou, but unfortunately something else is at play."

"Something else?"

"You'll learn the answer to that soon enough."

'You'll see soon, Horikita. I hope you can find your way to resolve this issue.' thought Ayanokouji.

Horikita's face morphed into one of confusion as she tried to process Ayanokouji's vague words. She frowned and furrowed her eyebrows as she went into deep thought, but before she could respond, a voice called out to her.

"Suzune! You have a minute?" called out Sudou, startling Horikita with his arrival. Sudou interrupting her train of thought clearly irritated her and Horikita's face showed it.

"I've told you numerous times. Please do not call me by my first name." said Horikita, coldly.

"Aw, what do you mean? Does it really bother you that much?"

"Yes. I don't want someone I'm not close to using my first name. If you continue to call me by my given name after this warning, I'll have to take more direct action to make you stop."

"In that case, if I get the best results out of anyone in Class D during the festival, will you let me call you by your first name?"

"Hard work is its own reward. Why should I agree to such an idiotic bet?"

"Well, it's just... Not too long ago, you saved me. That's why I want to do things properly, so we can... No, I think I'd like to be friends with you, first. This is the first step."

"I can't understand why you'd go out of your way to request something like that. But fine. If you produce the best results, I will allow you to use my first name.

However, I won't be satisfied if you're just the best in our class. Show me that you can be the best out of everyone in our grade." said Horikita, sighing. She'd given Sudou an incredibly high hurdle to clear. But Sudou showed no sign of balking.

"All right! It's a deal, then. If I place first in our grade level, I'll call you by your first name." said Sudou, happily and he looked eager to prove his worth.

"However, in the event that you don't get first place, I'll forever forbid you from saying my first name. Prepare yourself." said Horikita, shooting him a cold look.

"Y-yeah."

Then, Sudou left the duo with a happy and satisfied look on his face as if he found himself a new purpose which Ayanokouji believed that he did.

"That's one way to motivate Sudou." said Ayanokouji.

"I can't believe that's what he wanted." said Horikita. Ayanokouji glanced over at her and realized that there was something else at play and distracted her.

'Ugh... Why is Sudou-kun so insistent in calling me by my first name? Just hearing him say my name like that makes me feel so disgusted. If only… Ayanokouji-kun will call me by my given name... Just him and no one else... Wait! Why am I thinking about that?! These feelings... they are unnatural and unfitting for me. Yet at the same time, I don't mind it and feel at peace with those thoughts. Everything about Ayanokouji-kun is so complicated...' thought Horikita.

"Horikita?" asked Ayanokouji, confused by her silence, but Horikita quickly shook her head and gently slapped her face on both sides with her hands. That left a faint hand mark on both sides of her face, but it seemed to have snapped her out of her trance.

"It's nothing, Ayanokouji-kun. If you'll excuse me, I must check on the progress for the girls." said Horikita. She quickly left and Ayanokouji watched her retreating figure, and he wasn't sure if what Horikita said was true or if she wanted some space. Before Ayanokouji could decide, he heard someone softly calling his name.

"A-Ayanokouji-kun?" called out Sakura, in a soft tone. He turned around and saw Sakura, who was nervously approaching him. He glanced around and didn't see anyone nearby and he assumed that Sakura was watching for some time and looking for a perfect opportunity to talk to him when he's alone.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" asked Ayanokouji. He noticed that Sakura looked quite exhausted and looked like she was about to collapse. Sakura was participating in a race with some of the other girls and she came in last in most of the tests, demonstrating her lack of physical endurance.

"Hah...ah...phew! I-I'm fine. Just a little winded."

"How about you take a little break?"

"G-Good idea. Do you mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead. I'm taking a break myself."

Sakura thanked Ayanokouji and she joined him as the duo remained silent and watched the rest of their class on the track. Sakura was wheezing and trying to catch her breath and Ayanokouji decided not to speak yet and allowed her to catch her breath, so she could properly speak and reply to him. After he waited for a bit for Sakura's breathing to become more steady and her wheezing slowly becoming less frequent, Ayanokouji spoke up.

"Good work, Sakura. You really gave it your all." said Ayanokouji.

"E-Eh?! T-Thank, Ayanokouji-kun... but out of everyone, I'm still the worst. I came in last every time." said Sakura. Her face was slightly flustered by Ayanokouji's compliments.

"It may be true, but I could tell that out of everyone, you were trying your best. That's the only thing that matters, right?"

"I-I mean... yeah. But results matter the most in a sports festival."

Sakura looked down dejectedly as she knew that her lack of progress on her physical stamina and capabilities will affect her performance in the sports festival and the class.

"Sakura, that may be true. But don't discredit yourself and your efforts. Do you remember what I told you during Sudou's trial?" said Ayanokouji. Sakura nodded and looked at him with a questioning glance.

"Improve yourself for your own sake. It doesn't matter if it's for the class. The only thing that matters is if you truly feel like you can and will try to improve yourself for your own sake and for others. I believe that you're doing that, right? You want to improve yourself for your own sake and desires?" continued Ayanokouji. Sakura fell into silence as she digested his words.

'Ayanokouji-kun is right... I want to improve myself. After what happened with that man and Sudou-kun's trial, I want to move forward and become a stronger person for my own sake. No more hiding myself by becoming Shizuku. I don't want to... Don't want to become my old self and become someone else. Someone else is better.' thought Sakura.

"Y-Yeah... you're right, but I'm not so good at changing myself. I mean... you saw how bad I was at running." said Sakura.

"If you need some help, you're free to ask me for it. You clearly have the courage to take the first step to change yourself, but a little help won't hurt." said Ayanokouji.

"E-Eh?! Can you help m-me?!"

"Sure. I mean we're friends, aren't we?" "Y-Yeah. I guess we are, but..."

Sakura seemed to be struggling to say what's in her mind when Ayanokouji mentioned that they were friends, but he decided to let Sakura speak her mind and give her some time. After a bit, Sakura said softly and shyly as if she's too embarrassed to say it out loud.

"I-I'm not used to having friends and hearing you say that... makes me happy." said Sakura. Ayanokouji nodded as he also didn't have friends until he enrolled into the school.

"T-That being said... I'm not that used to talking with people. I know it sounds lame." continued Sakura.

"That's okay. I may have a suggestion for you to help you with your little problem. How about you practice and talk with me?" suggested Ayanokouji.

"Y-You don't have to do that! You're already helped me enough, Ayanokouji- kun." said Sakura, shaking her head and immediately rejecting his proposal.

"There is no shame in asking for help. All you have to do is find the courage to accept it."

"..."

After a brief moment of silence, Sakura reluctantly agreed to Ayanokouji's proposal.

"I-If that's okay with you, then I-I'll do it!" said Sakura.

"It's not. I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't want to help you." replied Ayanokouji.

"At any rate, you can talk to me anytime." continued Ayanokouji.

"T-Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun."

"If you're not comfortable about talking in public and wish to speak to me alone, you're welcome to come to my room."

"E-Eh?!"

Ayanokouji's remarks left Sakura dumbfounded as she stared at him with a mixed expression of embarrassment and shock. She quickly averted her eyes and Ayanokouji realized that his invitation could be misinterpreted as something else perverted and desperate. Of course, Ayanokouji had no intentions of that, but he didn't want the easily embarrassed and introverted Sakura to get the wrong impression of his invitation.

"Sorry... I didn't mean it like that. My room is a neutral space, but if you're not comfortable, then we can meet at the library or somewhere where it's quiet where we can be alone." said Ayanokouji. At his explanation, it seemed that some of the tension was relieved and Sakura took a small sigh of relief before speaking.

"H-Hee hee! You really caught me off guard by saying it out of nowhere. I-I'm fine with it. Are you sure? I don't want to bother Satou-san with my visits." said Sakura.

"Nah, Satou is fine with it. If you're not comfortable with it, I can ask Satou to stay in her room."

"N-No! It's fine. I'm just... nervous about it. S-Satou-san might see me and I'm not that comfortable if she joins in."

"Ahh... Don't worry. I'll be there for you and it's the best way for you to experience social conversations."

"Y-Yeah... I'll give it a try."

With Sakura's reluctant acceptance, it seemed that everything was in place and they agreed to meet up later in the evening to have their first session.

Ayanokouji casually stared at his classmates as they were preparing themselves for the sports festival, but the outcome was already determined and he wondered if he should get involved.

*Timeskip (several hours later)*

"Welcome in, Sakura. Glad that you can make it." said Ayanokouji, opening the door to his dorm room.

"P-Pardon the intrusion." said Sakura, nervously entering Ayanokouji's room. She removed her shoes and followed Ayanokouji deeper into his dorm.

"Take a seat. Would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"I already had dinner, but the water is fine. T-Thank you."

Ayanokouji nodded and headed into the kitchen, preparing some drinks and snacks. He had a feeling that this was going to be a long talk. After a few more moments of preparation, Ayanokouji arrived back at the living room with a tray with a pitcher of water, two glasses of water, and some snacks. He set them down and sat down across from Sakura, directly facing her.

"So... is there anything you want to talk about?" asked Ayanokouji.

"Umm... T-To be honest, I came here without any plans, so anything will do."

said Sakura, tapping her fingers nervously on her lap. "Okay. Let's just talk about anything."

'I guess I have to be the one making the first move.' thought Ayanokouji.

*Timeskip (20 minutes later)*

'So far so good… Sakura is slowly improving and becoming a little confident. However, it's most likely because it's me and she has grown a little more comfortable around me from the very beginning. It also helps that she's one of my soulmates. Her stuttering and hesitation is still there, but at least you can see bits of improvement. The real test is seeing Sakura having a lengthy conversation with someone else other than myself.' thought Ayanokouji.

"You're doing well, Sakura. How about you take off your glasses?" said Ayanokouji. He decided that it's time to spice things up and keeping things idle and easy won't help Sakura change in the long term.

"E-Eh?! M-My glasses?" stammered Sakura. He noticed that the signs of anxiety had returned, but this time it was even worse as Sakura's legs were slightly shaking and she nervously tapped her fingers on her lap with an increased pace.

"You don't have to, but you'll have to remove them eventually, right? I know these are not real and used to hide your face."

"Y-You're right... I just don't like all that staring I'm getting, but..."

Sakura hesitated and Ayanokouji noticed that her face was slightly red and her eyes were avoiding contact with him.

"I-If it's you, then I guess it's okay." said Sakura, shyly.

She slowly took off her glasses and set them gently down on the coffee table. Ayanokouji glanced over at Sakura as a few strands of her pink hair covered her right eye. Sakura quickly brushed the hair out of her face, but kept her eyes averted from Ayanokouji. As Ayanokouji glanced over at Sakura, he could see the beauty of her appearance and since this is the second time, he has ever seen her without her glasses, he noticed a few features that he missed from the first time such as her beautifully sculpted nose and her bright blue eyes which is filled with anxiety. He had a feeling that if Sakura was more confident, she would've been more popular.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to stare at you. It's just that... I wasn't expecting it." said Ayanokouji.

"T-That's okay! It's not like I hate it." said Sakura.

Ayanokouji glanced over at Sakura and based on her body language, he could tell that she was lying and wasn't all that comfortable about it. To further confirm his assessment, Ayanokouji noticed that Sakura was averting her eyes from him and wasn't able to make as much eye contact anymore with only a few side glances. Before Ayanokouji could say anything, he heard someone coming from the hallway and entering the living room.

"Ayanokouji-kun?" called out Satou. She froze when she noticed Sakura sitting with Ayanokouji.

"Wait? Who's that with you?" asked Satou, not recognizing Sakura.

Satou frowned and wasn't expecting a guest to be here since Ayanokouji didn't say anything about it over dinner. Sakura yelped out loud and lunged for her glasses in an act of desperation and panic, but she managed to knock the glasses off the table, and it fell on the ground with a sickening noise. Luckily, the glasses weren't broken, but due to Sakura's panic, she failed to retrieve and put on her glasses on time before Satou got a good look.

"Wait... Sakura-san?!" said Satou, with a surprised look on her face and clearly wasn't expecting Sakura to be here and the sight of her without her glasses.

"S-Satou-san! S-Sorry for the intrusion!" yelped Sakura, quickly slipping her glasses back on her face. Her face was a mixture of panic and embarrassment as she got caught off-guard and someone else saw her true face.

"Whoa! You're so cute without your glasses!" "E-Eh?!"

"Seriously! You should get contact lenses or something like that."

Satou's compliments caught Sakura off guard, who clearly wasn't expecting any compliments and praise. Due to her inexperience with compliments, Sakura just nodded shyly and averted her eyes from Satou.

"Sorry for not telling you, Satou." said Ayanokouji.

"That's okay. It was none of my business anyways. Here you go." said Satou. She handed Ayanokouji a piece of paper and at first glance, it looked like a shopping list.

"Shopping list?"

"Yep. We're running out of groceries. Do you mind if you do it? I'm going to hang out with Karuizawa-san and the others tomorrow after school."

"Sure... Wait. Does that mean you're cooking tomorrow?"

Ayanokouji glanced over at the list and saw a list of ingredients and wondered what she's planning to cook since she didn't consult with him earlier during dinner. There were some notable ingredients, and he had a vague idea on what dish Satou was planning to create. He was quite curious to see if Satou has the skills to successfully make it and make it taste delicious.

"Yeah! I'll pay you back with the points." said Satou.

"Why don't we split the cost? Since you're making dinner for me anyways, I might as well help pay for it." said Ayanokouji.

"If you insist, then I won't complain about it. By the way Ayanokouji-kun, what's the score for this dinner?"

"5.3 or 5.4. You still have a long way to go, but you're slowly making improvements."

"Improvements? Can you show me later?!"

"Sure. How about I cook the day after tomorrow? You can watch if you want, and I'll give you some pointers."

"Thanks!"

Sakura watched the duo's interaction and could feel a pang of jealousy and uneasiness as she watched Satou comfortably chatting with Ayanokouji. Not only did Satou sleep with Ayanokouji and get to spend a decent amount of time with him, they were acting like a married couple.

'E-Eh?! They're both cooking and eating together?! I don't think anyone else in the class is doing something like that. Just like a married couple... I wish I was in the same position and assuming I have the courage to do something like that.' thought Sakura.

"I'll leave you guys. That's all I wanted to tell you about Ayanokouji-kun. Good night, Sakura-san, Ayanokouji-kun." said Satou, saying her final goodbyes before making her way towards her room.

"G-Good night, Satou-san." said Sakura.

She managed to say her goodbyes, but she was shaken by Satou seeing her true face. She didn't like the attention and was secretly panicking and was wondering if Satou was going to tell anyone, especially Karuizawa, who verbally talked down to her during the island exam.

"Sorry about that, Sakura. I didn't mean for Satou to come in and see." said Ayanokouji, bowing his head in apology.

"I-It's okay. It was a risk for me and I took it. It's not your fault, Ayanokouji- kun." said Sakura, waving her hands in a panic. Now that Sakura has her glasses back on, Ayanokouji noticed that she could manage to look at him without being flustered or with too much embarrassment compared to when she had her glasses off.

'It's not good. If Sakura wants to change, she'll have to embrace her appearance and remove her glasses to truly change and take the first step of change.' thought Ayanokouji.

*Timeskip (next day)*

"Keep on going, Ayanokouji-kun! You got it!" called out Onodera. Ayanokouji was on the treadmill and was getting cheered on by Onodera, who was taking a break and watching him run. Ayanokouji decided to stay on for about two more minutes before getting off.

"That was exhausting." said Ayanokouji.

Onodera tossed him his water bottle and he quickly took a few massive sips of water to quench his thirst before grabbing his towel and wiping some of the sweat off his face. Ayanokouji decided to head to the gym, and he ran into Onodera, who was already there, and she invited him to join her as they went through the gym.

"Not bad. You got a decent amount of speed, Ayanokouji-kun." said Onodera.

"Thanks, but I think you're giving me too much credit." replied Ayanokouji.

"C'mon! At least take the compliment!"

Onodera chuckled at Ayanokouji's response, but she secretly kept an eye on him after going to the gym with him multiple times already.

'Oh, c'mon! I think Ayanokouji-kun is hiding something. His muscular body doesn't make any sense with his claims. He said that he's normal and only works out a little bit, but those muscles are obviously years of hard work. I'm not sure why he's hiding it, but it's a little obvious when you meet with him at the gym multiple times a week.' thought Onodera.

"Onodera?" said Ayanokouji, noticing that she's not responding to him and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Ahh!" said Onodera, snapping out of her trance.

"Are you okay? Do you need to take a seat?"

Ayanokouji gestured to a nearby empty bench, but Onodera shook her head.

"Nah, it's fine. I was just thinking about the sports festival." said Onodera, making up a lie because she didn't want to tell Ayanokouji that she was thinking about him.

"I see. That's understandable." replied Ayanokouji, nodding his head. Onodera

took a deep breath of relief, but as she glanced over at Ayanokouji, she was getting a bad premonition about him.

"Ayanokouji-kun?" asked Onodera, confused on why Ayanokouji was packing up, wiping down the machine that he used, and was getting ready to leave the gym. They only trained for about an hour and the duo usually stayed at the gym for two hours.

"Sorry, Onodera. I have someone to meet soon." replied Ayanokouji.

"Oh... Well, I was planning on leaving the gym too." said Onodera, curious on who that person is. She didn't want to say that she was coming with him, but she wanted to at least catch a glimpse of who Ayanokouji was meeting so early in the morning.

"Okay. See you later in class, Onodera."

The duo said their goodbyes and Ayanokouji grabbed his bag and water bottle before leaving the gym. Onodera followed slightly behind him, remaining out of Ayanokouji's sight, and was curious as to why he didn't go into the locker room and change his clothes.

Ayanokouji left the gym and headed on a nearby empty bench, sitting down and glancing at his phone. Onodera was nearby and was crouching behind some bushes, keeping an eye on Ayanokouji. After a few more minutes, someone called out to Ayanokouji.

"Ayanokouji-kun! Sorry, I'm late!" called out Kinoshita.

"Running late?" asked Ayanokouji.

"Literally! I was like halfway across the school before I realized that we're meeting at the Keyaki Mall."

"You ran over here that quickly?"

"Yep! It only took like ten minutes, but I made it on time, right?"

"You're about six minutes late but considering the fact that you basically traveled almost the entire length of the school to get here, that's fast."

"You kept track of time?!"

"Yep. Shall we go now?"

"Oh yeah! Before we go, there's one thing I gotta ask."

"What is it?"

"You can come out now!"

Kinoshita glanced over at the general direction of Onodera and pointed directly at the bush that Onodera was hiding behind. Onodera yelped out loud as she realized that she got caught and she quickly stood up.

"Oh, hey! Ayanokouji-kun!" said Onodera, chuckling awkwardly as she was caught spying on him.

"Onodera? I thought you went to the changing room and were busy." said Ayanokouji.

"Oh! I was planning to do something else before I changed! So, what are you guys up to?"

Onodera quickly changed the subject away from her because she didn't have any other plans and didn't want Ayanokouji to think that she was following him.

"We're going on a run." said Kinoshita.

"By the way, this is Kinoshita Minori from Class C." said Ayanokouji, introducing the two girls.

"Nice to meet you, Onodera-san."

"Likewise, Kinoshita-san. You're a part of the track club?"

"Yep! How did you know?"

"I always see you practicing with the track club when I'm on my way to the swimming pool."

"Are you a part of the swimming club?"

"Yeah... By the way, do you guys mind if I join you guys?"

Kinoshita and Ayanokouji both exchanged looks before Ayanokouji replied.

"Sure. If you're not too busy, then it's fine." said Ayanokouji.

"It's a good thing that you didn't change your gym clothes." said Kinoshita.

"Right..." muttered Onodera.

With that, the trio began making their way towards the exit of the Keyaki Mall. As they exited the mall, Ayanokouji watched as Onodera and Kinoshita chatted with each other as they jogged together. Ayanokouji stayed slightly behind but could hear their conversations. They were chatting about their respective clubs and their activities. Ayanokouji was a little surprised to find two girls from different classes are getting along pretty well despite the fact that their classes are going against each other next week during a sports festival. On the other hand, Onodera couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness.

'Another girl! From Class C too! I didn't even know that Ayanokouji-kun knew that many girls... This was so embarrassing that I got caught spying on Ayanokouji-kun. I didn't even see Kinoshita-san coming! At least... I'm spending time with Ayanokouji-kun even though Kinoshita-san is here...' thought Onodera.

As the trio jogged down the main road, Ayanokouji watched the two girls interact and knew that the interactions between Class D and Class C students will change due to the upcoming sports festival and he is curious to see if his relationship with his soulmates from Class C will change at all.

*Timeskip (next week)*

Ayanokouji watched the cheerful chattering of students as the first event of the sports festival, the 100-meter dash, was about to start. He glanced around and saw the entire student body wearing their sports jerseys along with white and red headbands or armbands to show which team they are in.

Besides the participating students, the crowd only had adults which Ayanokouji assumed were personnel from the school or the workers from Keyaki Mall. It was unlikely that the school allowed outsiders to watch their special exams. There were also medical personnel with a large tent along with a water cooler and air conditioner along with teachers observing the festival.

The school had provided tents for each team which faced each other on opposite sides of the track. Ayanokouji was in a tent with his own class as every class was given their own tents.

"Ayanokouji-kun? What group are you in?" asked Mii-chan.

"Seventh. What about you?" replied Ayanokouji.

"Fifth. Good luck, Ayanokouji-kun." "Thanks."

With that, Ayanokouji headed to the track with the rest of the first-year boys. The festival ordered events such as the 100-meter dash by grade level, starting with the first-year boys and ending with the third-year girls. Then there'd be a break, after which the order would switch. Each competition will be in the opposite direction, starting with third-year girls and ending with first-year boys, rotating to give everyone some breaks.

Ayanokouji stood in position as the first-year boys formed ten groups in total with each group containing eight people, two from each class. Sudou was in the first group and was the first one to go. Everybody held their breath as the signal was about to be sounded.

After a few tense and quiet moments, the signal blared out loud and Sudou shot forward like a bullet. He quickly outran all the other boys, leaving them in the dust. He reached the goal with such an overwhelming lead that no one else came anywhere close, winning by a landslide.

It was expected that Sudou would come in first place, but as Ayanokouji watched the rest of the races before his, he expected some of the results such as Sotomura being in last. When it came to the fifth race, Ayanokouji noticed that one of the lanes was missing and only one Class D student was present.

"Hirata... Isn't this Koenji's race?" asked Ayanokouji.

"Yeah... That's strange. I haven't seen him out on the track." said Hirata, with a concerned look on his face. Ayanokouji watched as one of the school officials

glanced around before marking something on a clipboard. Without Koenji, Class B secured another win and as Ayanokouji watched Kanzaki walking back towards his class's tent, Hirata tapped on his shoulders.

"Ayanokouji-kun. There." said Hirata, gesturing towards the medical tent where Koenji seemed to be inside and looking at his mirror, fussing over his hair.

"Apparently, he's not participating." said Ayanokouji.

"That's too bad... We'll talk later. It's showtime."

Ayanokouji and Hirata both got into position as the school announced their group and everybody waited in tense silence, waiting for the signal. As soon as the signal blared to life, Ayanokouji began jogging and started off with a medium dash, making sure to not be last. He could hear a loud roar as the screams and cheers of a sustainable number of girls were directed at Hirata, but Ayanokouji could also hear some cheers directed at him. He glanced over and saw Mii-chan, Mori, Azuma, Onodera, Shinohara, and Kushida cheering and waving at him. Ayanokouji could see Horikita nodding at him, but it seemed that she seemed quite embarrassed to be cheering for him publicly.

He watched as Hirata slowly passed him and joined the top runners. Ayanokouji saw four people's backs in front of him and knew that he was in fifth, the position that he wanted to be in. He kept the same pace, and the order didn't change with Hirata taking the first place and Ayanokouji coming in fifth place.

"Whew. Good job." said Hirata, taking a deep breath.

"Sorry. I dragged us down." said Ayanokouji.

"That's not true. Everyone was fast. It was a good race."

Despite Ayanokouji's disappointing results, Hirata didn't blame him and gave a smile as the duo hurried off the track and headed over to the tent. As they watched the rest of the boy's race, Ayanokouji glanced around and noticed that Sudou wasn't present and he figured he was doing some last minute preparations before it's time for the girls.

"Where's Sudou?" asked Ayanokouji. He got a bad feeling about Sudou's absence and thought he should have returned to his seat by now. Ayanokouji glanced over at the medical tent and saw Sudou approaching Koenji.

"This isn't good. I need to stop them." said Ayanokouji. Hirata looked over and saw where Ayanokouji was looking at.

"Yeah." replied Hirata. His face became alarmed as the duo ran towards the tent as things were apparently already heating up. Sudou's hand was balled tightly into a fist as he confronted Koenji.

"Hey, you. What's the big idea, sitting this out?! Don't disregard the rest of us, jerk!" snarled Sudou. Koenji didn't seem to notice that Sudou was even there. He just kept admiring his own reflection in the window, which only made Sudou angrier.

"Looks like you ain't gonna understand unless I beat you up, Koenji." growled Sudou.

"No. You can't do that, Sudou-kun. If the teachers find out..." said Hirata, trying to stop them, but Sudou wasn't the kind of guy to be deterred.

"I don't care. This is a class problem, right? It doesn't even matter if I beat him up, long as this punk doesn't go crying to the teachers."

"You're quite foul, aren't you? I came here to enjoy some time. Alone. As you can see, I'm feeling quite ill today. I decided to withdraw so that I wouldn't be a burden." said Koenji.

"Don't give me that bull crap! If this was just practice, that'd be one thing, but you're skipping out on the actual event!"

"No. Don't, Sudou-kun!" said Hirata, panicked by the sight of violence. But before he could intervene, Sudou threw a punch. He probably intended to knock sense into Koenji, but Koenji stopped the blow and caught the blow before slapping Sudou in the face.

"Stop. You cannot hope to beat me." said Koenji, who didn't even look at Sudou as he spoke.

Ayanokouji knew that Sudou hadn't held back with that blow, but Koenji casually blocked it easily, revealing his real strength. Sudou's eyes widened for a brief moment at Koenji's real strength, but it only seemed to fire him up even more.

"Bring it on. I'll smash in your nose." growled Sudou.

"Goodness. Both you and that girl seem to consider me unreliable." replied Koenji.

"'That girl?' Who?"

"That cold girl who's so inflamed your passion. She's been telling me over and over that she wants me to seriously participate in the sports festival."

"Horikita?"

"In any case, leave now. I'm not feeling well."

"You jerk!"

To prevent a second punch from flying, Hirata stepped between Sudou and Koenji.

"Let's all just calm down a little. Koenji-kun's attitude is a problem, but if he says he's not feeling well, then he has the right to rest. Besides, violence is bad, no matter the circumstances." said Hirata.

"But he's definitely lying! He said the same thing back on the island!" protested Sudou.

"That is a baseless accusation. My proud carriage serves to disguise how poor my health is." said Koenji.

"So, you're planning on skipping the rest of the competitions, too, huh?"

"If I recover, I will of course participate. If I recover."

"The next competition is about to begin, Sudou-kun. As our leader, your absence impacts our morale." said Hirata, switching tactics.

"Fine. I'll head on back." snarled Sudou.

"Thank you." said Hirata.

He escorted Sudou away from the tent and the trio made it back to their tent, where Sudou sat back down, clearly still irritated. As Horikita's race began, he calmed down a little and watched on with interest.

Ayanokouji focused on the other girls who would run against Horikita and one notable student was Ibuki. There were some chatters about Ibuki, Horikita, and the outcome of this race.

"Hey, I wonder if Ibuki-chan's good at sports?"

"Hell if I know. All I know is Horikita's gonna win, no doubt."

When the signal sounded, all of the girls dashed forward and Ibuki had the better start. Horikita's reaction was slightly delayed, so she lagged behind the rest of the group. However, she immediately picked up the pace and began to catch up to Ibuki, who seemed distracted. She glanced behind and the distance between them closed. Ibuki remained stuck in the middle of

the group, neither increasing nor decreasing her distance from Horikita.

As they neared the end of the race, Ibuki's expression stiffened. She and Horikita were neck and neck, running side by side. Horikita, looking quite pleased with herself, managed to nudge ahead of Ibuki by a narrow margin. Ibuki ran harder, fighting to close the distance between herself and Horikita, but Horikita managed to cross the finish line first. After an incredible race like that, everyone erupted into cheers. Ibuki kicked the ground in frustration.

"Those two completely outran everyone else." said Sudou. Some of the boys were stunned by this and agreed with him. Ayanokouji decided to check the results and as he was leaving the tent, he bumped into someone familiar.

"Ahh...ahh...! I-It hurts..." said Sakura, completely out of breath. It seemed that she must've used up all her energy when she ran as she was breathing very deeply, as though she was in a lot of pain.

"W-were you watching me, Ayanokouji-kun?" asked Sakura. She looked up at Ayanokouji, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses.

'Unfortunately, Sakura's race took place while I was chasing Sudou, so I hadn't seen anything. Of course, if I told her that, she'd probably be really sad. It would probably destroy her confidence and motivation to change.' thought Ayanokouji.

"You did well." said Ayanokouji.

"Th-thank you! This is the first time I didn't come in dead last." said Sakura, beaming. Ayanokouji realized how beautiful Sakura is, especially when she's smiling. Even though she's wearing her glasses to hide her face, he could still see how beautiful of a smile she has.

"It's all because of your hard work. Just don't push yourself too hard. You might hurt yourself."

"O-okay!"

Sakura stood beside Ayanokouji, still breathing heavily. It didn't look like she could stand further and should get some rest.

"Sakura, how about you take a seat? Get some rest. I'm going to check the results." said Ayanokouji.

"Good idea... see you later, A-Ayanokouji-kun." replied Sakura, sitting down roughly on a nearby chair.

"See you, Sakura."

Ayanokouji made his way to the results and found most of his class looking at the results. He glanced over at the results to see the placements.

'Athletic people like Sudou, Horikita, and Hirata had taken first place, as expected. However, the mid-tier students we'd hoped would do well hadn't performed so great after all.' thought Ayanokouji.

"Come on. Get it together, everyone. Especially you! Your speed's the only thing you're proud of, right?" said Sudou.

"Y-yeah, but that Shibata dude's just too good, man." protested Ike.

"Nothing we can do about it. Shibata-kun's even faster than me, after all." said Hirata.

As Sudou was talking with Hirata, Ayanokouji made his way to Horikita, who was off to the side. Judging from the sour look on her face, she must've seen their results already,

"That was close. Good work." said Ayanokouji.

"Yes, I suppose. Ibuki was faster than I expected." said Horikita, breathing a sigh of relief.

"So, you reached out to Koneji?"

"Who told you that? Well...it seems like it was meaningless anyway. I was worried he'd skip out on the competitions, and that's exactly what happened."

"It seems like he doesn't care about reaching Class A."

"Maybe if I was popular like Kushida, I could have gotten to him."

"I don't know about that. I don't think he's the type to listen to Kushida, or even Hirata."

"To think you'd wish you could be more like Kushida." said Ayanokouji, raising his eyebrow.

"I never hated her or anything." said Horikita. She froze and realized that she'd slipped up, and immediately clamped her mouth shut.

"You didn't hear that." said Horikita, glaring at him. It wasn't her typical cold glare that's used to deter their other classmates. Ayanokouji found it rather cute, but he didn't want to say anything about it.

"Okay." said Ayanokouji.

Horikita gestured for him to follow up and the duo headed off to a quiet area where they could watch the race. Horikita didn't look too interested in the races until it got to her older brother. She remained alert as his race began and her eyes were locked on his running figure. It wasn't even a competition as he blazed through the race with incredible speed which showed off Manabu's physical abilities.

"Wow. Your brother is fast." noted Ayanokouji.

"That's because my brother is perfect. No matter what he does, he's always number one." replied Horikita, saying it as if it were a simple fact.

Ayanokouji nodded and the overall results were presented on the jumbotron for the entire school. The first round of points for the Red and White teams were announced with the red team with 2011 points and white team with 1891 points.

*Timeskip (15 minutes later)*

The hurdle race came next. It was similar to the 100-meter dash in that it was based on speed. There were a few penalties such as knocking down or touching a hurdle which resulted in a time penalty.

'If you knocked the hurdle down, the penalty was 0.5 seconds. If you only touched it, 0.3 seconds. There were ten hurdles in all, placed at ten-meter intervals. If you knocked them all down, you'd have five seconds added to your time. It'd be completely hopeless.' thought Ayanokouji.

"If you guys place last, I'm gonna slap you." said Sudou.

The unathletic students trembled at the pressure. However, Shibata was in the race and easily came in first without much difficulty, defeating the first group. The other groups tried their best, but weren't able to secure 1st place, something that Sudou wanted badly.

"Next up is the fourth group. Please get ready." said the referee. Ayanokouji got into a lane and noticed that Kanzaki was standing in the next lane.

"We will meet again." said Kanzaki.

"Go easy on me." replied Ayanokouji.

"Ichinose says you're pretty fast."

Ayanokouji was confused on how she got the idea, but he didn't want to confirm that to Kanzaki.

"Didn't you see my ranking in the 100-meter dash earlier? I got fifth." said Ayanokouji, stretching his arms.

"It didn't seem to me that you were taking the race seriously." replied Kanzaki.

"There's no advantage to gain from holding back, right? You just lose."

"When you think of it as a strategy, it's not completely meaningless."

Ayanokouji raised his eyebrows and was surprised that Ichinose and Kanzaki knew about his little tricks and responses, but he didn't say anything to confirm or deny Kanzaki's response. He waited until the signal to begin the race, hoping that would cut off the conversation with Kanzaki.

When the signal came, Ayanokouji started running about as fast as he had before. Kanzaki overtook him and with another student closely behind him. Ayanokouji managed to get third place which he was satisfied with. As he was walking back to their tent, he ran into Yukimura, who seemed to be feeling down.

"Aah, jeez. I can't keep up." groaned Yukimura. He was grumbling to himself and judging from his sour look on his face, he hadn't gotten good results during his second event.

"That bad, huh?" asked Ayanokouji.

"Ayanokouji? Agh, I've been cursed. Seventh and seventh."

"It all depends on your mindset, Yukimura. Even if you fail here, you can ace the written tests. Right?"

"I won't fail, but my scores will plummet. Besides, I'll drag down my class and my team."

Ayanokouji decided to give Yukimura some space as he noticed that trying to comfort him is actually making it worse. It was better to let him think about it by himself rather than talking about it. The boy's hurdle race was over, and it was time for the girls.

Ayanokouji glanced at the lineup of girls and saw Horikita and Sakura representing Class D, but Yajima and Kinoshita from Class C. He knew from experience that they were quite fast, and Horikita was in for a challenge with the chances of winning quite low.

Ayanokouji watched as the race began, but both Kinoshita and Yajima got ahead of Horikita, and she ended in third place. He noticed something strange as he saw Kinoshita eyeing Horikita before, during, and after the hurdle race. It was an abnormal number of glances towards an opponent, and he had a bad premonition about what would happen next.

*Timeskip (50 minutes later)*

"All right. We're definitely winning this one, guys. Since that moron Koenji ain't here, we've gotta get that much more fired up!" shouted Sudou. He was trying to inspire the Class A and D guys assembled in front of him. It was time to capture the flag. There were some formidable opponents such as Kanzaki, Shibata, Ryuuen, Albert, and a few other athletic students.

During their earlier discussion when the event was announced, Katsuragi and Hirata had decided that both classes would swap back and forth between offense and defense. Class D

would be on the offensive first, while Class A would protect the flag.

"Well, don't worry. I'll beat our enemies to a pulp single-handed." said Sudou.

"Uh, but aren't you supposed to go after the flag?" said Hondo.

"Can't make any promises. I'm all pissed off, thanks to Koenji!"

The offensive team, mainly Sudou, waited impatiently, standing at the ready. On the other hand, the defensive team, consisting of Katsuragi and the others from Class A, checked the status of their formation several times over, making sure to establish a solid defense.

"Ugh. I'm starting to feel a little scared. This is the first time I've played capture the flag."

"Wait. Didn't you have it in a junior-high sports festival or something?"

"No one ever told me that it was gonna be dangerous!"

There were some doubts about the event as some of the boys from Class D were expressing their doubts. While everyone was talking, the referee blew the whistle and Sudou charged in headfirst, ahead of everyone else. Soon the more assertive players followed right after him.

"Dude, this is bad! Let's go, Ayanokouji! I really don't want Sudou to kill me for trying to skip out!" wailed Ike.

"You don't have to tell me twice." muttered Ayanokouji.

The less-aggressive students, which included Ayanokouji, followed behind the others. It seemed that their opponents had the same strategy as them with Class B defending the flag in the first round and Class C charging at them.

It was forbidden for an attacking team to come into contact with the other side's attacking team. The rules stated that the offense had to focus as much as possible on capturing the flag. It seemed that the school would allow a certain degree of rough-housing such as grabbing and shoving, but more extreme physical violence such as kicking and punching are prohibited with extreme penalties like disqualification.

"Anyone who wants to die, bring it!" shouted Sudou, diving right into the opponents' defensive line. Using his height, and a level of power unimaginable for a first-year high schooler, he tore through the students around the flag, one after another.

"Stop him! Stop Sudou!" shouted someone from Class B. A number of students on the defending team surrounded Sudou.

"Hey, you guys. Come quick! Here, I'll clear the way!" yelled Sudou, not even looking back while he shouted instructions at them. As the situation grew increasingly chaotic, the players kicked up dust to cloud the air. Ayanokouji decided to make himself as useless and inoffensive as possible and hoped to not look like a target.

Ayanokouji watched as four guys pushed up against Sudou, managing to overpower him. The problem was that many of the Class B students were above average in strength and they also seemed to have good coordination despite Sudou's offensive and penetrative powers.

"Dude. This is bad! Albert is pushing through!" yelled Yamauchi.

"Huh?!" said Sudou, turning around.

Class A's defensive position had been pushed back and they were closing the gap towards the flag and seemed to be winning. On the other hand, Ayanokouji's class was at a standstill as Sudou was blocked completely and unable to move.

Sudou desperately tried to race for the flag, but unfortunately, the whistle blew. In the end, the white team managed to get the first point.

"Ah, come on! What are you guys even doing?! C'mon, fight like your lives depend on it!" shouted Sudou.

"Dude, you telling us that doesn't help. It's just, like, those guys are really strong, you know? Ouch! Uh, I got a scrape, man." groaned Ike, rubbing his arm.

"Come on, it's just a scratch! Grit your teeth and man up. I don't care what you do. Bite, kick 'em in the knees, but do something to fight back, man! You're useless!"

"There's no use complaining. They won the first round. Next time, let's make sure to protect our flag properly." said Hirata, gently patting Sudou on the shoulder.

"Tch. All right, this time we're definitely gonna protect our flag. Right, everyone?!"

"Y-yeah, we got it. We'll do whatever we can." "W-We'll do our best."

"Not really inspiring, huh?"

Class D also lacked things such as unity and motivation. Meanwhile, Class B was completely united. The students were highly motivated, so they made formidable foes for Class D.

"They're coming! They're coming, they're coming!" shouted Ike.

Class C launched their attacks with Ryuuen laughing fearlessly from the rear. It was like he was a general commanding his troops in battle and had given the order to charge. With Sudou's command, the students of Class D charged alongside him and tried their best to stop the advancing Class C students. However, their outer wall of defense is rapidly crumbling.

"Stand! Grab their legs and pull them down!" yelled Sudou.

There was sheer panic among Ayanokouji's classmates as the class C students repeatedly used elbow strikes, which were nearly foul play. In practically no time at all, they broke through to the center.

"Gah!" cried Sudou, who was supporting the already-tilted flag. Albert has gotten up close and his physical power has surpassed Sudou's as he was overpowering him.

"Who the hell punched me in the stomach?!" yelled Sudou. Ayanokouji glanced over and judging by how angry and pained he sounded, it probably hadn't been just once or twice.

"Ow. Damn. That hurts, you jerks!" said Sudou.

Class C showed no sign of stopping and Sudou continued taking elbow strikes and eventually he fell to his knees in pain, and someone stomped on his back. Due to the messy and chaotic match, there was too much going on and the person that stomped on his back was Ryuuen.

"Y-you bastard! Ugh!" groaned Sudou. Ryuuen bore down hard again mercilessly and with such overwhelming force that Ayanokouji feared he might break Sudou's spine. When Sudou collapsed, the flag lost its support, producing a cloud of dust as it fell to the ground. Still collapsed on the ground, Sudou glared up at Ryuuen.

"Uh-uh, you jerk. That was foul play!" protested Sudou.

"Hmm? Oh, I didn't notice you." replied Ryuuen. He picked up the flag without any hesitation. Sudou tried to go after him, but due to the pain, couldn't yet stand back up. With that, the red team had suffered a great loss.

Sudou began cursing at Ryuuen and Class C with his colorful language. Ayanokouji's classmates avoided him like the plague and some of their allies from Class A glared at Sudou, but Katsuragi stopped them from retorting.

"I apologize that we weren't of much use." said Katsuragi.

"No, I should apologize. It's because we couldn't protect the flag. Let's do our best in the next game." replied Hirata. With that, the two classes disbanded and returned to their respective tents.

*Timeskip (50 minutes later)*

"Are you okay, Ken? You look exhausted." said Ike.

"Yeah! I'm just getting started!" said Sudou. He began chugging some water from a bottle, but Ayanokouji could tell that his stamina was taking a hit.

Class D managed to win the tug of war, but it was a bittersweet victory with a score of 2 to 1. Unfortunately, Ryuuen drew out the match and caused them to waste a lot of energy before throwing the match and ordering his classmates to let go of the rope on their last match. Ayanokouji could tell that his goal was to waste their energy, especially Sudou's, and try to provoke him to violence. However, Katsuragi stopped it, but Ayanokouji could tell that it was having an effect on Sudou.

Without any break, Sudou entered the obstacle course and had an intense match with Shibata and barely managed to beat him. Of course, the rest of the people participating didn't get first place and got various placements which didn't satisfy Sudou. Ayanokouji knew that these two events are taking a toll on Sudou's body, and he was wondering how much longer he can last especially under the barrage of attacks from Ryuuen, who seemed to be targeting him specifically.

It was time for the first year girl's obstacle course and Ayanokouji was watching Horikita go against Yajima and Kinoshita. He wondered if the outcome was going to be the same as before due to Kinoshita and Yajima revealing their superior speed.

When the race started, Kinoshita dashed forward, bolting straight toward the balance beam. She made it there first and put a lot of distance between herself and those behind her. Yajima was now in second place. Horikita followed in third. After the girls passed the balance beam, the distance between them shrank until they were practically all neck and neck.

"Looks like she's got a chance." said Sudou, cheering Horikita on with his hands tightly balled into fists.

By the time the girls started crawling through the net, Horikita had taken the lead. However, Kinoshita was fast and overtook her. Yajima was also behind them, but the true race was between Horikita and Kinoshita as they both were running with all of their might towards the finish line.

Horikita managed to get ahead of Kinoshita, but Ayanokouji noticed that Horikita was repeatedly glancing over her shoulder. That caused her speed to drop, and soon the two were once again side by side. Suddenly Horikita, who'd been trying to slip past Kinoshita, and Kinoshita, who was trying to catch up, became entangled and fell down.

There were some gasps amongst Ayanokouji's classmates as the unexpected happened. While the two girls were trying to get back up, other students passed them by, and Horikita and Kinoshita plummeted to the bottom of the rankings. They both desperately struggled to get back on their feet and as a result, Horikita finished in seventh place and Kinoshita ended up getting last place due to significant pain in her leg, which rendered her unable to continue to run.

"No... is Horikita-san all right?" asked Mii-chan, with a concerned expression on her face.

"That's a pretty hard fall. She should check up with the nurse." said Mori, agreeing with Mii-chan.

'Is it really an accident? Kinoshita could easily outrun Horikita, but this is too unbelievable.' thought Ayanokouji.

"I'll check on Horikita." said Ayanokouji, leaving the group. He noticed that Mori and Mii-chan were both pouting at Ayanokouji's abrupt exit, but they could understand why he's leaving. Ayanokouji approached Horikita, who had a sullen look on her face.

"Does it hurt?" asked Ayanokouji.

"A little. But it won't affect the competition. If I rest, I'll be okay." replied Horikita. He could tell that she's trying to look tough, but she was having a difficult time just sitting down. Ayanokouji sighed and lightly touched her injury.

"Ow!" yelped Horikita.

"This isn't going to affect the competition, huh?" said Ayanokouji.

"Don't just go touching me. Leave me alone. I'll grin and bear it."

"Well, I suppose you won't get any points if you withdraw. I understand your desire to hang on."

Horikita sighed before continuing.

"Because of Koenji-kun, we have to pay points for a replacement. Of course, I have no intentions in backing down and be the one holding the class back." said Horikita.

"What happened back there?" asked Ayanokouji.

"That girl's a sneak. It's like she was looking to hurt me."

"What do you mean?"

"While she was running behind me, she called my name over and over."

"That's why you kept looking back?"

"As soon as I turned back to see her, we ran into each other. It looked like an accident, but if so, then why was she calling my name?"

"Who knows?"

"Anyway... Don't worry about me. I'll participate, even if I have to crawl."

"I wouldn't do that, Horikita. You should get some rest before your three-legged race."

"O-Okay."

Ayanokouji offered Horikita his hand which she hesitantly took and he escorted her to the medical tent where a doctor can look at her leg.

"T-Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun." said Horikita, thanking him. He could see a visible blush on her face as she averted her eyes away from him.

"Take care, Horikita. If you'll excuse me, I have an event to attend to." said Ayanokouji.

"G-Good luck."

With that, Ayanokouji left the tent and prepared for the boy's three-legged race. Luckily, Ayanokouji's partner was Hirata, and they managed to take first place. The duo of Ayanokouji and Hirata has gotten a lot of cheering from the girls since Hirata was quite the popular person, but he could catch some people cheering for him as well.

Sudou also got first place and with his overwhelming stamina and power, he managed to take it with ease. However, his partner, Ike, looked exhausted as Sudou literally dragged him along during the entire race. Ayanokouji wasn't concerned about the boy's race but was curious about the girl's race as Horikita and Kushida were partners. He noticed that the duo was slower than usual, and Horikita's movement seemed stiffer than usual which resulted in the duo finishing in last place.

*Timeskip (30 minutes later)*

The next event ran in reverse order and It was the first-year girls' team cavalry battle. It was close to being finished and is reaching its climax. There were four horsemen to every cavalry unit. Four students from each class were horsemen, which meant it was an eight-versus-eight battle.

The cavalry battle ran on a time limit, and the rules were the same for boys and girls. They dictated that points would be awarded based on the number of enemy units your team defeated in a three-minute period, and how many allied units you had remaining. Extra students were kept as reserve units, to be substituted as needed. Each horseman was worth fifty points. One horseman in each class was designated the "general," and they were worth 100 points. Those were the rules, but Horikita was chosen to be a general.

"H-hey, what the hell?" "Whoa!"

"H-Horikita!"

The boys were alarmed to see the Class C students attacking Horikita's group, ignoring Class A and the rest of the groups. Class D horsemen were outnumbered, but Class A showed no sign of even trying to help.

"They're just going after Horikita, aren't they, dude?!"

"Damn. Ryuuen probably ordered that. Scumbag!" growled Sudou.

"There's nothing we can do about it. Everyone knows that Horikita is Class D's best player on this field."

Karuizawa and the remaining groups rushed to Horikita's rescue, but Class B blocked them and an intense battle ensued as Ichinose's group seemed to have the upper hand, but Karuizawa managed to get one of the headbands off one of the groups. However, Karuizawa was surrounded and eventually lost.

Unfortunately, Horikita was surrounded by all of Class C's group and she eventually got overwhelmed and lost her headband. With most of Class D's groups gone, the remaining Class B and Class C groups attacked the remaining Class D and Class A units and completely wiped them out, resulting in another loss.

"All right! Let's go, you guys!" shouted Sudou. Some of the boys glanced at each other and most of them seemed nervous, reluctant, and generally not excited to participate. Ayanokouji, Sudou, Miyake, and Hirata were in one group together with Hirata being the jockey.

"Hey, Hirata. Focus on not getting your headband stolen, and don't get knocked down. Okay?" said Sudou.

"So, we're using that strategy, huh?" asked Hirata.

"Well, it's 'cause we lost terribly at capturing the flag. We got beat really bad. This time, we're gonna show 'em no mercy!"

"I have an idea, if it's okay with you guys. While I was watching the girls' match earlier, I thought of a way to win. I already told Katsuragi-kun about it. We can't keep losing at this speed."

When the signal went off, Hirata gave the order. Class D's groups joined Class A's and became one large mass of people. Ryuuen laughed fearlessly and ordered his group to charge forward. Class B paused for a brief moment, as if they were stunned by Ryuuen's brazen and bold move, before joining him. It became a mosh pit of boys as they tried to push each other or steal each other's headbands.

Sudou roared and made a charge directly at Ryuuen. A Class B group tried to stop Sudou, but he roared and shoved them back as hard as he could, causing the group to collapse and be eliminated from the match. However, this strategy did have its drawbacks as knocking down a jockey, it would count as a self-KO, not stealing a headband thus resulting in no one receiving the fifty points.

"Sudou-kun, let's defeat the opponents around us first and leave Ryuuen-kun for last." said Hirata.

"Huh? C'mon, don't be boring, man. Let's aim right for the general's head!" said Sudou.

"If we get emotional, we'll play into his hands. Let's do what's necessary to win."

"Tch! Have it your way!"

Sudou glared and began assisting their allies. It was like he was using all of pent- up anger and frustration onto them and they didn't stand a chance. With Sudou's support, they managed to take down everyone except Ryuuen's group. Both Hirata and Katsuragi's units had survived, and one additional Class D horseman remained.

"Yeah! Yeah! It's three on one now, right? We got this!" said Sudou.

Ryuuen was surrounded by the three groups, and he didn't seem panicked, but he looked as though he was actually enjoying this.

"Oh, I remember your name. Sudou. When I stepped on you earlier, it looked quite painful." said Ryuuen.

"Yeah, keep talkin'. I'm gonna return the favor." replied Sudou.

"You talk about a pretty big game for a simple beast of burden. I have to say, it feels good to look down on you."

"Heh. Just because you're ridin' on top doesn't mean you're a big deal yourself."

"Oh? I guess this is all meaningless, unless we settle things one-on-one."

"Huh?"

"If you can only beat me when it's two against one, I suppose that's that. However, 'winning' only means something when the playing field is level. But could you handle that?"

"The heck?!"

"Sudou-kun, don't listen. This is a bad idea. Let's cooperate with Katsuragi-kun." said Hirata.

"You just don't get it." said Sudou to Ryuuen.

"No, you don't get it, Sudou. You've taken down those who got in your way before, but you used cowardly means to do so. You could never beat my trusted subordinates with a frontal attack." said Ryuuen.

"Stop screwing around. Those dudes are weak garbage who can't even fight!"

"Tough words, but with nothing to back them up. If you're so very strong, then face me one-on-one. If you can beat me then, I'll kneel before you."

"Fine. Don't forget what you just said, Ryuuen! You heard all that, Katsuragi? Don't you dare stick your nose in this!"

"What are you talking about? We can't let this chance go. We should use a pincer attack to defeat him." replied Katsuragi.

"Stick your nose in this, and I'll bust up your unit!" said Sudou. Ryuuen understood Sudou's personality and took full advantage of it, perfecting baiting into an one-on-one fight rather than a three vs one fight.

"You're determined to fight him one-on-one, Sudou-kun? Fine. If you're doing this, then win." said Hirata. He looked quite nervous and seemed to understand that once Sudou's switch was flipped, there was no stopping him.

"All right. Hirata, make sure your headband doesn't get snatched!"

With a bitter expression, Katsuragi watched the battle unfold as Sudou charged forward, ramming into the enemy. However, their horsemen weren't knocked down. Albert was one of the horsemen and his strength was incredible as he pushed back. Ayanokouji and Miyake stumbled backwards after the heavy shove. Sudou gritted his teeth and seemed to be trying to take most of Hirata's weight as they almost dropped Hirata because of Albert.

"Come on; come on, then. Or are you going to lose to my Albert?" taunted Ryuuen, gesturing at Sudou to attack him.

Hirata and Ryuuen exchanged lunges and tried to grab each other headbands, but Ryuuen seemed content in taunting the group as he rarely attacks. Sudou grunted in pain as Albert was now focusing his attacks on him.

"Hurry up, Hirata." grunted Sudou, taking another blow from Albert.

"Just a little more!" said Hirata. He extended his arm, feinting, before launching an attack. As Ryuuen tried to sway and dodge, Hirata grabbed hold of his headband, but only managed to snag the edge. Hirata tried his hardest to pull the headband off. He couldn't snatch it

away, and the headband slipped out of his hand.

"What are you doin', Hirata?! Take it! I'm usin' up an awful lot of strength here!" said Sudou.

"Sorry. My hand was slippery!" said Hirata.

Sudou and Hirata were both breathing heavily after their battle. Ryuuen remained calm and just smirked at them, unfazed by the battle.

"That all you got? Pathehic." said Ryuuen.

"Ugh! Sorry, Sudou-kun! Fall back for now!" said Hirata. The group put some distance between Ryuuen and themselves. They were catching their breaths as Ryuuen didn't move from his position and seemed to be saving their energy to deal with Katsuragi.

"Make the next try the last, Hirata... Make sure you snatch it!" said Sudou.

"Got it. I'll try my best!" said Hirata.

"Eat this!"

Sudou summoned the last of his strength and slammed into the enemy, but they still didn't fall down. Hirata took a gamble and extended his arm which left himself open, hoping to get the headband before Ryuuen could react or get his own headband.

"Got it!" said Hirata.

Hirata successfully grabbed hold of Ryuuen's headband. But once again, the headband slipped and Hirata was unable to pull it off Ryuuen's head.

"What?!" said Hirata, confused and bewildered.

Ryuuen took advantage of Hirata's bewilderment. He reached out to grab Hirata's headband, gripped it tightly, and effortlessly snatched it from Hirata's head. Ryuuen raised Hirata's headband up high. Soon afterward, a referee came over and warned us to leave the field. Hirata was dropped on the ground as Sudou glared at Ryuuen.

"Damn it!" snarled Sudou. Hirata pulled Sudou along and the group left the field, in order to not interfere with the match.

"How pathetic." said Ryuuen, with a snort.

They watched as Katsuragi, who was still in the fight, and the last remaining Class D horsemen began their two-against-one strategy. However, when they grabbed Ryuuen's headband, things played out in a similar way. They couldn't pull the headband off. In the end, Totsuka and another Class D jockey lost their headbands, resulting in their loss.

"Dang it, he's the one guy I didn't want to lose to! Get your head in the game, Hirata!" snapped Sudou, with his frustration at an all-time high.

"Sorry, Sudou-kun. His headband was so strangely wet, I couldn't seem to pull it off. At first, I thought it was sweat, but something was a little odd." said Hirata, showing his hands. Sudou and Ayanokouji glanced over and saw some kind of clear, slightly sticky fluid gleaming on Hirata's hands.

"That's not sweat." said Ayanokouji.

"Wait, that means... That jerk!" said Sudou. He charged over to confront Ryuuen.

"That's foul play! You slathered your headband with something!" said Sudou.

"I don't know what you're talking about. If there's anything on my headband, it's probably just hair gel. Don't be a sore loser." chided Ryuuen. He showed his headband, but Ryuuen's headband looked dirt and the evidence was gone.

"Sudou, we're going to cause a scene. Let's head back to our tent." said Ayanokouji, knowing that there's no evidence to prove their claims. Arguing and causing a scene will probably not go for the class's morale and would be pointless.

Sudou was cursing and his classmates that were inside of the tent gave him a wide berth. Due to Ryuuen's provocation, from stepping on Sudou to targeting Horikita, seemed to have finally had its intended effect as Sudou is losing his temper.

"I'm seriously going to beat the crap out of that jerk!" said Sudou, trying to make his way to Class C's tent. However, Hirata got in Sudou's way.

"I understand what you're saying, Sudou-kun, but you need to calm down. You know what'll happen if you get violent with Ryuuen-kun." said Hirata. Sudou shoved him aside.

"Shut it! He's the one who should be sorry! He's done nothing but cheat!"

"Okay, yes, I do think he's been cheating. But isn't that difficult for us to prove?"

"I'm the leader here! So, listen up, Hirata. Let's confront Ryuuen together."

"I know you're the leader. If we're talking about the sports festival, you're the leader without a doubt. But look around you. What do you think the class wants from you, as their leader?"

Sudou looked around, starting with Ike and the others, who cowered in fear. Most of the students kept their distance from Sudou now. They didn't want to suffer his wrath. Even Horikita looked at Sudou with worried exasperation. Currently, Class D was swimming in fear and discomfort.

"But I'm trying my hardest for the class's sake." said Sudou.

"Is that really the case?" said Yukimura. "It seems like you just want to show off how amazing you are. Your emotions are completely out of control, and they're making all your decisions for you. If you're going to pretend, you're the leader, then you need to act like it and help all of us."

"Shut up."

"I feel the same way, Sudou-kun. It's precisely because we're relying on you that I want you to see the bigger picture and take all your teammates' feelings into account." said Hirata.

"Shut up!" shouted Sudou.

"You should be able to do that, Sudou-kun. That's why—"

"I'm tellin' ya to shut up already!"

Ayanokouji saw Hirata, who'd been standing next to Sudou, topple over and hit the ground. Sudou didn't appear to realize the mistake he'd just made and looked like he's on the verge of punching Yukimura. That got everyone's attention on Sudou and the nearby people quickly backed away from him. Even the teachers were now eyeballing him.

"What's going on?" asked Chabashira-sensei, approaching Hirata, who still lay on the ground. When she saw how enraged Sudou looked, it was pretty easy for her to deduce what's happened.

"Did you hit him?" asked Chabashira-sensei.

"So what if I did? What then?" huffed Sudou. Hirata quickly climbed back to his feet and corrected Chabashira-sensei.

"No, that's not it, sensei. I just fell down, that's all." said Hirata.

"It hardly looks that way."

"Well, you'd be wrong to think he hit me. Look, I fell, so there shouldn't be a problem."

"If the victim says that nothing happened, then there's no problem. However, I can tell there's something going on here. Keep your distance from each other. I'll be giving my superiors a report later as a preventative measure." said Chabashira-sensei.

"There's no trouble here at all, but I understand."

Hirata's calm response avoided more troubles and saved Sudou, but Sudou wasn't unable to contain his anger and kicked a nearby chair, sending it flying.

"Whatever, do what you want. Go ahead and lose for all I care, you scum. This sports festival thing can go to hell." growled Sudou. He glanced over at Horikita for just an instant, but quickly averted his eyes and started walking back toward the dormitory. Ayanokouji knew without Sudou's assistance, Class D's chances of winning looked bleak.

As soon as Sudou left, Karuizawa and some of their girls quickly rushed over to Hirata, who had a red hand mark on his face.

"Hirata-kun! Are you okay?!"

"That Sudou-kun!"

"Why was he even the leader in the first place?!"

"It should've been you, not him."

Led by Karuizawa, who berated Sudou, the other girls followed suit and voiced their discontent about Sudou. If Sudou was here, most of the girls wouldn't have spoken up and if they did, it was probably spurred on by Karuizawa.

"Please, don't badmouth, Sudou-kun. He's just a little frustrated. He's doing his best for the class in his own way. It was my own fault for not properly speaking to him." said Hirata. Even though Sudou was clearly in the wrong, Hirata still defended him and even took the blame which Ayanokouji found strange.

"Hirata-kun is so nice!"

"Ugh! That Sudou-kun..."

As words of praise were being spread, Ayanokouji glanced over and saw Azuma, who was still next to him.

"Sudou-kun is really rough, huh?" said Azuma.

"Yeah. However, the results don't lie. Sudou did a wonderful job in keeping us out of last place."

"Yeah, but his attitude is really something else."

"I suppose."

"Ayanokouji-kun! What happened?!"

Azuma grabbed Ayanokouji's arm and studied it with a concerned look on her face. There were a few bruises and scrapes on his arm after the previous events of cavalry battle tug of war which was a result of Ryuuen's dirty tactics.

"It's nothing. Just got a little bang-up." said Ayanokouji.

"It looks painful. Maybe you should see the nurse." said Azuma. She gently touched a bruise and Ayanokouji could feel a little tang of pain running down his arm.

"Does it hurt?" asked Azuma.

"A little. It's fine, Azuma." said Ayanokouji.

"Don't push yourself too hard."

"Okay. Please don't worry about me."

"J-Just be careful."

Azuma said it with a visible blush on her face and Ayanokouji promised her that he'll be more careful and take it easy which seemed to put her at ease.

Ayanokouji glanced over at Horikita, who seemed quite distressed by Sudou's exit and the look of concern and worry on her face was visible.

'Let's see what happens next.' thought Ayanokouji.

*Timeskip (30 minutes later)*

The second- and third-year students' cavalry battle ended, but as Ayanokouji looked around, he noticed that Sudou didn't return to camp and the final event for the morning, the 200-meter dash, was about to begin.

"Hirata, what happened to Sudou? He taking a dump?" asked Ryuuen, with a smirk.

"Something came up. Sudou-kun is taking a break. He'll be back soon." said Hirata.

"Heh. I really don't think lying suits you."

"You've taken first place in all the individual competitions so far, right, Ryuuen- kun?"

"So?"

"It looks like the only reason you've come in first is because you went up against much weaker people. You're quite lucky, Ryuuen-kun."

"Guess luck is on my side."

"I don't know how much longer your luck will last, though. Anything can change."

"Huh?"

"I know what you're thinking."

"You got Class D's participation table, and you obtained detailed information about all our students' athletic abilities, too. You've made good use of that information. We're not stupid. We have a few tricks hidden up our sleeves."

"Ooh. I'd be scared if that weren't such an obvious bluff. Look at how far apart Classes C and D are now. Doesn't it fill you with despair? Even if you know the truth, it does you little good now."

"I just have one thing to say to you. Before the day ends, I'm going to show you something interesting."

"Something interesting, huh? I'll be looking forward to it."

Ryuuen didn't sound fazed in the slightest after Hirata's bluff. Ayanokouji noticed that the ever so calm and collected Hirata seemed to be losing it after what Ryuuen had done. Ryuuen chuckled before the signal for the 200-meter race started and Ryuuen easily took first place with the absence of Sudou.

The school announced that there will be a fifty-minute break where the students could get lunch before the afternoon part of the sports festival can begin.

Ayanokouji noticed that Horikita had a sour look on her face, and he could understand what she was feeling. She usually would get 1st or 2nd place, but due to her injuries, she managed to get 3rd place, or a placement lowered which shattered her expectations. He approached her and found her taking a deep breath, looking troubled.

"Horikita, do you know what happened with Sudou?" said Ayanokouji.

"I saw it. He realized what a disappointment he was, then ran away." replied Horikita, with a disappointed look on her face.

"Well...yeah, I guess that's true."

"Why are you here? You're not going to request that I bring Sudou-kun back, are you?"

"If you already know, then don't ask. Do you understand you're the only one who can help?"

"Help? Why me out of everyone?"

"You understand how important Sudou is to our class during this festival, right? Why do you think Ryuuen would try his best to eliminate him from participating in the competition?"

"Yes... his physical abilities are essential for our success. It would be in Class D's best interest for us to retrieve him."

"Of course. Instead of pitying yourself because of your injuries and hoping to carry your own weight, you should be looking at the bigger picture and finding a clear and effective way to win. You're throwing away a chance to obtain a weapon that belongs to you, and you are alone."

"A weapon for me alone?"

"If you're aiming for Class A, there's a limit to how much you can do on your own. Right now, you're in a situation where you can't do much of anything. You're going to face more and more exams like this in the future. When those take place, Sudou will definitely become a valuable asset. For you to make use of that asset, what should you do right now? Pray that your injured leg heals miraculously?"

"..."

"I'll let you think about it. That's my only advice."

Ayanokouji left Horikita to think about his words and advice, knowing that his words would have a tremendous effect on her. He didn't want to straight up say that Sudou would listen to her because he had taken a liking to her, but Ayanokouji knew that Horikita is a goal-oriented person and telling her a way to achieve her goals will easily get her attention, causing her to think about what Ayanokouji said and think more critically.

*Timeskip (30 minutes later)*

The morning half of the sports festival ended with Sudou being absent. The school has given them a fifty-minute break and some people ate lunch in the cafeteria, while others ate at a designated space on the field. The school provided a mountain of bento boxes and seemed to be prepared from a catering company rather than the school cafeteria. Only one type of lunch was free, so nearly everyone chose that option.

Some students left the field without touching the lunchboxes, though, and Horikita was among them. Ayanokouji wondered if his words had finally reached her, and she was looking for Sudou. Kushida also abstained, which he found strange since she got some invitations from my classmates, but she declined and said she had something to do.

"Ayanokouji-kun. Can I speak with you?" asked Hirata, holding a lunch box. Ayanokouji glanced over and saw Karuizawa and a small group of girls behind him, shooting him a disappointed look.

"Are you sure? It seems that you have some company." said Ayanokouji, nodding at Karuizawa and the girls.

"Let's just find someplace to eat for now."

"I'm sorry, everyone. There's something I want to say to Ayanokouji-kun. I'll be back as soon as possible." said Hirata, turning his attention towards the girls.

With his word, Karuizawa nodded, and the girls dispersed, heading out of the field with their lunch. Hirata gestured for Ayanokouji to follow him, and he led Ayanokouji to a quieter area on the field. They found a quiet spot on the bleachers and Hirata began unboxing his bento box.

"Looks like Ryuuen-kun's making his move, as expected." said Hirata.

"It looks that way." said Ayanokouji.

"Ayanokouji-kun... you're aware that there was a traitor that leaked our participation table to Class C."

"Yes... Horikita was aware of that, but she didn't anticipate Ryuuen's move to remove Sudou from the competition."

"That explains why Horikita-san changed his participation at the last minute, but the traitor still found out and reported it to Class C beforehand."

'Horikita had created a false participation table because she knew the traitor would report it to Class C. Her intention was to fool the traitor and give Class C false information by changing it on the last day, but she underestimated the traitor's abilities. Of course, Horikita gave the fake to Hirata which confused him when she switched up at the last minute. Sudou was pretty much in most of the events along with Onodera. The traitor was someone intelligent enough and had a history of backstabbing Class D and working with Class C. Someone that nobody expected but held a grudge against Horikita.' thought Ayanokouji.

"You know who the traitor was?" asked Hirata.

"Yes, but right now, we'd only throw the class into even more turmoil by identifying them. We need to deal with the traitor quietly and calmly." said Ayanokouji.

"Okay. I won't hound you. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Yeah. Everything is going according to Horikita's plan."

Hirata looked concerned but gave him a questioning look. Ultimately, Hirata decided to place his trust with Ayanokouji.

"So, where is Horikita-san? Don't tell me she's trying to get Sudou-kun." said Hirata.

"Something only she can do. At least, I hope that's what she's doing." replied Ayanokouji.

"Without Sudou, it won't be easy for us to win the second half of the sports festival, right?"

"Yeah. We're relying on Sudou-kun."

With that grim conversation, Hirata thanked Ayanokouji for his time and left with his half-eaten bento box. He glanced over at the school building and had a bad feeling about what Kushida and Horikita were up to. The last time he saw Kushida was her heading towards the school building, and it was about five minutes after Horikita left the field. To quench his premonition, he decided to head there himself.

*Timeskip (5 minutes later)*

As Ayanokouji was walking towards the school building, he heard a commotion happening nearby. It sounded like a female voice along with a couple of male voices, but it sounded like there was trouble. Out of curiosity, Ayanokouji decided to see what's going on, but unsure if he should get involved. As he got closer, he heard a familiar female voice, and it sounded like she was in trouble.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" snapped Koharu.

"Chill out! Nomura just wanted to talk to you, but you keep ignoring him!" said Kondo.

"Ugh! If he wanted to talk to me, then he should've done it alone and without you guys. And what were you thinking when you were dragging me to a place like this?!"

"It's not my fault! You weren't alone!"

"Oh! So ambushing me while I was going to the bathroom is fair game, huh?"

"We didn't know that! Nomura, I can't believe that you like this girl."

"S-Shut up! Don't ruin it!" yelped Nomura. He was shyly behind Kondo and Komiya and even though he was the one that wanted to speak to Koharu, he was hiding behind them. Kondo and Komiya stepped back and pushed him forward to face Koharu face to face.

"Wait... what are you talking about?! Can you hurry up? A girl's gotta use the bathroom." said Koharu, impatiently.

"U-Uhh..." said Nomura. He glanced over at Komiya and Kondo who both nodded at him before he clenched his fists tightly and turned back around towards Koharu.

"K-Koharu! I like you! P-Please go out with me!" said Nomura, bowing his head.

Koharu, who wasn't expecting a sudden confession, froze and stared at Noharu with a surprised, but horrified expression on her face.

"W-What?! A-Are you joking?!" asked Koharu, incredulously. Nomura didn't answer, but stared at the ground out of embarrassment and shyness after confessing his feelings. As soon as Koharu saw that, she knew that Nomura wasn't joking and was flabbergasted.

"Do you think this is a joke?" asked Komiya.

"I mean, c'mon! The guy just spilled his heart out and you said something like that!" said Kondo.

"I-I didn't mean like that... it's just... I don't even know the guy." protested Koharu.

"Yeah, right!"

"K-Koharu... how about... you go out with me if Class C get a higher ranking than Class A?" asked Nomura. It seems that he's quite desperate to go on a date with Koharu. Koharu hesitated before responding.

"Okay, I'll play your game. There's no way Class A will lose to Class C. If Class A wins, you'll leave me alone." said Koharu.

"O-Okay!" said Nomura. He seems quite confident about Class C's victory and Ayanokouji wonders what Ryuuen has in store for the future, but he could tell that the situation is dying down.

"Jeez... you guys are really holding me back, aren't you? Move out of the way. I gotta go." said Koharu. She pushed back Kondo and Komiya and seemed to be in a hurry.

"Damn, Nomura... What do you see in her?" asked Kondo.

Ayanokouji realized that he should leave since he didn't want to be caught eavesdropping on their conversation and quickly ran towards the school building, remembering his original mission.

* Horikita POV:

'Ayanokouji-kun's words have struck me to my very core. I'm conflicted by that boy's existence. I have never cared about my romantic life or any boys for my entire life. My goal wasn't to find love or find someone suitable to be my romantic partner like most girls. I just wanted to catch up to Nii-san. To be acknowledged and someone worthy to be Horikita Manabu's little sister. That's why... Why I chose to become what I am today. But... The presence of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka has shocked me to the core. First, watching Nii-san, someone that I admired, in a fight with Ayanokouji-kun. I have never seen someone dodge and deflect Nii-san's move. Even his instructors and adults were nervous to face him in a match, but Ayanokouji-kun effortlessly dodged and avoided his attacks.' thought Horikita.

'Second, what Ayanokouji-kun said during that night. Although I wish not to admit that I'm defective, Ayanokouji-kun's words do hold some merits. If you compared Class D as a whole, you could obviously see some flaws in each student. Ike-kun's perversion, Yamauchi-kun's compulsive lying, Kushida-san's past. My thoughts... My flaws... I didn't want to admit it during that night, but his words still haunt me till this day and have a greater effect than I initially thought.' thought Horikita.

'Lastly, what happened during the deserted island exam. My flawed thinking and stubbornness have clashed as instead of working together with my own class, I stubbornly believed that I could do everything by myself, but thanks to Ayanokouji- kun, my blunder and foolishness didn't cost the class precious class points. It's happening again right now and this time, my stubbornness still persists. My preparations to counter Kushida-san were futile. Should I eliminate Kushida- san? She has proven herself more a threat and hindrance to the class than an asset. But is Kushida-san worth the trouble? If I could manage to find a way to guarantee her compliance, it would be a step forward for Class D. However, I have a bad premonition on what's about to happen next.' thought Horikita.

Horikita took a deep breath before opening the doors of the infirmary where she found Chabashira-sensei.

"I had Kushida fetch you. Looks like she was quick about it." said Chabashira-sensei.

"What in the world is going on?" asked Horikita, confused by this sudden meeting.

Chabashira-sensei pulled the curtain open, giving Horikita a glimpse of a sobbing Kinoshita, who lay in the bed. Then Chabashira-sensei let the curtain fall back into place and gestured to her into the hallway.

"Kinoshita fell on the obstacle course this morning. Do you remember that?" said Chabashira-sensei.

"Of course. She bumped into me." replied Horikita.

"Well, Kinoshita says that you deliberately knocked her down, Horikita."

"That's not true at all. It was completely by accident. If anything, it—"

"'If anything, it's what?"

'It was part of Ryuuen-kun's strategy, but I can't say anything since I have no proof. Saying something baseless without any evidence will be pointless since the school won't believe me and it will hurt my credibility.' thought Horikita.

"Never mind. It was just a coincidence, that's all." said Horikita, deciding to say one of Ayanokouji's signature lines.

"I'd like to believe that, but the situation isn't good. Kinoshita claims that, during the race, you repeatedly looked back at her. We checked the video footage, and you certainly did look back twice." said Chabashira-sensei.

"That's because she called my name."

"She called your name? I see. Even if that's true, though, she claims you kicked her. In fact, she's been absent from all the subsequent competitions. We had a teacher inspect her injuries, which appeared rather severe. They believe those were caused intentionally."

"Even if she's badly injured, she's still lying. I didn't do anything."

"I believe you're innocent, but as long as we have no proof one way or the other, we must consider the matter."

"That's idiotic."

"That's not all. The other teachers already know about this, of course. But, if this drags on, the student council will hear of it. You haven't forgotten what happened to Sudou after his fight, have you?"

'If this continued, my brother would hear about the incident. He'd feel irritated and ashamed of his idiotic little sister. However, since I was innocent, I had no choice but to plead that innocence. Whether this was Ryuuen-kun's strategy or just an unfortunate accident, I couldn't lie. I must resolve this issue without troubling my brother.' thought Horikita.

"If you called me here to ask what happened, I told you the truth. I didn't do anything. Now, I have some business to take care of, so if you'd excuse me?" said Horikita.

"Under the circumstances, it would probably be easy for the school to believe that the incident was intentional rather than accidental. Kinoshita-san has been absent from festival events ever since the obstacle course. If we prove that you committed foul play, that will invalidate the scores you've acquired thus far, and you won't take part in the recommended participant

events. Well, with your leg in that condition, I suppose participating would be impossible anyway, but... Kinoshita is an athletic student. In terms of speed, she's as good or better than you. It's hard to believe that her injuries are a mere coincidence." said Chabashira-sensei.

"I was going to withdraw from the recommended-participant events, anyway. I don't mind being marked absent for those events, like Kinoshita-san. However, I didn't intentionally cause her to fall and get injured." replied Horikita.

"Kinoshita won't accept that. She says she'll report this incident to the school. Her testimony, and the footage, make this fairly damning. From her perspective, she's suffered a massive loss.

Class C is also in a tough spot due to Kinoshita's absence, and it seems unlikely that they'd sabotage themselves like that on purpose. You understand what this means, right?"

"How troublesome. How did you hear about this, Chabashira-sensei? Who else knows?"

"Kushida consulted me on the matter. She said she didn't want it to blow up, but didn't know what else to do."

"I see..."

Before Horikita could say anything, the duo heard footsteps in the hallway. Ryuuen rounded the corner with both hands in his pockets, strutting around as if he owned the place.

"Looks like things have gotten really serious." said Ryuuen.

"Ryuuen-kun..." muttered Horikita, trying to stay calm and collected.

"I rushed over after Kinoshita asked for me. To think someone did this on purpose..."

He passed the duo and entered the nurse's office. Chabashira-sensei and Horikita stared at each other before following him inside. Ryuuen ignored the nurse's attempts to stop him and opened the curtain to Kinoshita-san's bed.

"Hey, Kinoshita. You all right? Looks like you've had a rough time." said Ryuuen. Kinoshita-san looked startled upon seeing Ryuuen and trembled in fear.

"I heard your leg was injured. Show me." said Ryuuen. Without any care, he pulled Kinoshita's leg out from beneath the sheets, revealing her right leg bandaged tightly.

"Whoa, this looks bad. I'm impressed you've held up, considering all you're dealing with." said Ryuuen.

"Sorry. I tried my best, but...my leg just won't listen. That's why—hng!" groaned Kinoshita, as Ryuuen pressed on her leg tightly.

"Don't blame yourself, Kinoshita. I know you wanted to participate in the three- legged race."

"We ran into each other by accident, Kinoshita-san. Why are you saying that I made you fall?" said Horikita. Kinoshita averted her eyes, afraid to meet her eyes.

"You really did this on purpose, didn't you?" asked Ryuuen, with a smirk.

"Stop joking around. You think I'd do something like this?"

"You can never really know someone, can you? Convenient, isn't it? Kinoshita, who just so happens to be better at sports than you, suffers a serious injury and has to withdraw. She was going to compete in all the recommended-participant events, too. Meanwhile, you continue taking part despite your injuries. I'm not supposed to find that suspicious?"

'That's his angle? Why? Why would Ryuuen-kun do something like this? Kinoshita-san is one of the best female athletes in Class C. To throw away his chance to win the sports festival, in order to take me down.' thought Horikita.

"We can keep going back and forth on this, but it won't settle anything. Isn't that right, Kinoshita?" said Ryuuen, leaning in.

"Horikita-san... When I fell, you said...that I definitely wouldn't win." said Kinoshita, hesitantly.

"I said no such thing. Why are you lying?" asked Horikita.

"Horikita, you only looked behind you when you raced with Kinoshita. Why did you do that?" asked Chabashira-sensei.

"Because she kept calling my name when she was behind me. At first I ignored her, but then I thought something was strange, turned, and looked back."

"Is that true, Kinoshita?"

"I never called her name." said Kinoshita.

"She denies it, sensei. Besides, even if Kinoshita did call Suzune's name, what's the big deal? That doesn't constitute foul play. It was probably a cry of desperation, born from a desire to win. I mean, Kinoshita has way more spirit than anyone else. She's strong-willed and hates to lose. That's not a crime." said Ryuuen.

'This argument would go on forever. Besides, I was positive that Ryuuen and Kinoshita had rehearsed this whole act in secret.' thought Horikita.

"I can't forgive Horikita-san for this. Now I have to take a break from track and field practice." said Kinoshita.

"Don't you feel any shame at all? Is lying like this to entrap someone fun for you? Or did Ryuuen-kun devise all this? I can't imagine it was coincidental that he just happened to show up right now." said Horikita.

"So, you're saying it's my fault that Kinoshita got hurt? You really are a piece of work, aren't you?" said Ryuuen. Horikita could tell that Ryuuen was trying his hardest to not laugh out loud.

"Please. You messed with Sudou-kun earlier. Don't pretend you forgot about that. You're just trying to use the same trick this time around."

"I had nothing to do with that. It's ridiculous to try and tie those things together, anyway. It's clear you did this, isn't it? You bumped into Kinoshita deliberately. It's an open-and- shut case. There's no room for any further debate, so let's see how the higher-ups deal with it or... we could make a deal."

"Deal?"

"At least one of you has a good grasp of things. Let's see. If you hand over a million points, I'll have Kinoshita withdraw her complaint. That way, we can prepare a substitute for the recommended-participant events, and Kinoshita will receive some incidental income. Simple, right?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I haven't done anything wrong. I don't need to pay one single point."

"Then go ahead and prove that, Suzune. Lay it all out in black and white for us."

"You two sound sure of yourselves. You think your lies won't be exposed?"

"We can prove that we aren't lying. Let's hurry up and have the student council president render his judgment."

'Ryuuen-kun knew about my relationship with the president, my older brother, and was provoking me. I absolutely couldn't do anything to trouble my brother. If the rumor spread that his little sister deliberately hurt someone, it would do immeasurable damage to his reputation. The entire student body was a witness. Kinoshita-san was just as athletic as I was. Video evidence that showed me looking back. Kinoshita-san had planned to take part in all the recommended- participant events. There was nothing I could do to save myself.' thought

Horikita, realizing the full extent of her mistake.

"I'm going to assume that it's a no? Kinoshita, we're going to report this to the teachers, then to the student council." said Ryuuen.

"Wait." said Horikita, realizing that she had to strike a deal with Ryuuen right now. Pursuing the truth would be wasting time and everyone's trust.

"What is it, Suzune? Have anything to contribute?"

"If I pay you, you'll make it so this issue never happens, right?"

"You're admitting to foul play?"

"No, because I'm not a liar."

"Well then, why exactly are you paying us?"

"Your strategy beat mine. That's why."

"Did you hear that, Kinoshita? She doesn't think she's in the wrong. Can you forgive her?"

"No, I can't." replied Kinoshita. "Well, there you go."

"What do you want?"

"I know that you have your pride, too. I understand that you don't want to admit you're the bad guy in front of your teacher and class. That's why I'll accept your offer. I have a kind heart, after all. However, whether Kinoshita will accept your apology is another story."

"If I pay you a million points, you'll act like nothing ever happened. That's what you said. No other conditions, right?"

"That was certainly the previous offer. You declined it once, right? If we're going into a second round of negotiations, I have more conditions."

"What more do you want?"

"How about you get down on your knees and beg? Maybe then my feelings, and Kinoshita's, will change."

Chabashira-sensei looked like she wanted to speak up but didn't. It was probably because she knew that this was a student's affair, and the teachers don't have any right to interfere with it.

"I won't force you to decide right away. The teachers are watching us, too. I'll wait to hear your answer when the sports festival ends. Will you kneel before me and offer a million points, or will you let the school deliberate? Which will you choose?" said Ryuuen, setting up the final terms.

With that, he left and the nurse told Chabashira-sensei and Horikita that they should leave and give Kinoshita some time to rest. She closed Kinoshita's curtains, and the duo stood in the hallway.

"Sensei, how much time is left for our lunch break?" asked Horikita, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves. She remembered what she was planning to do during the lunch break and got a sense of urgency as she had gotten sidetracked thanks to Ryuuen.

"You still have about thirty minutes. You haven't eaten yet, right? You should hurry up." said Chabashira-sensei.

"Excuse me."

With a sense of urgency, Horikita ran from the nurse's office and headed towards the direction of the exit.

* Ayanokouji POV:

'Hurry up, Horikita. You don't have much time left.' thought Ayanokouji.

Ayanokouji was watching from around a corner as he watched the retreating figure of Horikita slowly disappear from view. Chabashira-sensei was standing there and watching Horikita's retreating figure for a few moments before walking away. With the coast clear, Ayanokouji sneaked quietly towards the open door of the nurse's office and peek inside.

The nurse seemed to be busy, and he watched silently and after a few minutes, the nurse stopped.

"Oh... I forgot something by the tent." said the nurse.

She got up and Ayanokouji quickly dashed behind a corner and watched as the nurse left the office, giving Ayanokouji the chance to slip into the office. He has been listening to Ryuuen's and Horikita's conversation and managed to sneak away when Ryuuen left. He entered the office and made his way towards Kinoshita's bed which was a wall of curtain for privacy.

"Nurse?" called out Kinoshita. She heard the footsteps and thought it was the nurse and not Ayanokouji.

"Kinoshita, it's me." said Ayanokouji.

"A-Ayanokouji-kun?! What are you doing here?!"

Ayanokouji could hear a sense of panic and confusion in Kinoshita's voice. He also heard some noise and he assumed that she was trying to sit up or move around on the bed.

"I just want to check up on you. Can I move the curtain?" asked Ayanokouji.

"U-Uhh... I-I'm not sure that's a good idea!" said Kinoshita.

"Okay, if you're not comfortable with it, then I'll just talk to you here then. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Your classmate, Horikita-san, really something else."

"Yeah. She can be a little rough around the edges."

"Rough? That girl attacked me and said it was my fault."

"How's the leg?"

"I can kind of walk, but it hurts a lot. I'm lucky that I don't need crutches."

"Is there anything I can get you? Perhaps some water?"

"Now that you mention it, some water would be good."

Ayanokouji glanced around the room and didn't see any spare water bottles around, but before he could reply back, he heard footsteps approaching the office and the nurse's voice.

"Man... this box is really heavy. I should've asked for one of those strong young men to help me out." said the nurse.

"The nurse is back?! Yikes! You'll be in big trouble, Ayanokouji-kun." said Kinoshita, with a sense of panic.

"Yeah. Maybe I can hide somewhere." said Ayanokouji.

Ayanokouji glanced around the room and couldn't find too many good places to hide. He spotted a door at the corner of the room with the restroom sign but could tell that it was a risky place to hide. If the nurse ever wanted to use the bathroom, he would be caught red handed. Before he could decide on a course of action, a pair of hands grabbed him and pulled him into the curtains. It was Kinoshita.

Due to the sudden grab, Ayanokouji bumped into Kinoshita, who yelped in pain as she stumbled backwards a little bit, putting pressure on her injured leg. She fell backwards and Ayanokouji lunged to catch her, resulting in the duo falling onto the bed together.

Their bodies were entangled, and Ayanokouji could feel the warmth from Kinoshita's body as he could feel her breasts pressed against his chest, enveloping that area with a soft and pleasant sensation. Kinoshita's face was slightly red due to their close contact, but before she could say or do anything, the nurse's voice called out.

"Kinoshita-san, are you okay?" asked the nurse.

"Y-Yeah. Everything is fine! I just moved a little too much on the bed." said Kinoshita.

"Okay. In just a little bit, I'm going to leave and get ready for the second half of the sports festival. If you need any help, there's a phone number on your bedside table."

"O-Okay. Thanks."

The nurse seemed to be sitting down at her desk and working while Ayanokouji and Kinoshita were both staring at each other in shock and disbelief in the situation that they are in. Ayanokouji couldn't believe that he was in this situation in the first place. He had seen it in anime and manga, but to experience it firsthand was another thing.

Kinoshita and Ayanokouji managed to separate themselves from the entangled mess and sat together on the bed, not making any noise. She gestured to him by putting her finger on her lip, gesturing to stay quiet. He nodded and remained silent, but he noticed how hot it was. Apparently, the air conditioning in the room is off or set as low. Kinoshita's face was sweating, and he could see some sweat stains around the armpit areas.

The duo avoided saying anything to each other and remained quiet, but due to the high temperature, Ayanokouji began to sweat. Kinoshita was sweating harder and had to toss the bed sheets on the ground. After a long few more minutes, the nurse seemed to be leaving the office.

"I'll be leaving, Kinoshita-san. Please let me know if you're feeling a little off." said the nurse.

"Yeah. Thank you." said Kinoshita. Ayanokouji heard the doors being closed and the sweet sound of silence ensued. Ayanokouji waited for a few more moments before getting up from the bed and pushing the curtains out of the way, revealing an empty office.

"Thank goodness. I thought we were dead." said Kinoshita.

"That was a close one." said Ayanokouji, agreeing with her. Ayanokouji studied her leg and realized how bad the injury was. It wasn't something that you will receive by simply running into someone, but someone had to purposely injure it.

"By the way, I hope you're not going to track and field practice with that leg." said Ayanokouji.

"No... I'm going to have to sit it out." said Kinoshita, staring at her leg.

"How long?"

"The nurse said around two weeks."

Ayanokouji glanced over at Kinoshita, who had a look of regret on her face. He remembered what Kinoshita said to Horikita when Ryuuen was in the office earlier, but the look on her face contradicted it. She looked sadder and more regretful.

"Kinoshita... is there something wrong?" asked Ayanokouji.

"N-Nothing.. I just really wanted to run, but I can't now." said Kinoshita.

"It's unfortunate because of your leg. I'm going to miss running with you."

"Me too."

Ayanokouji noticed that Kinoshita's voice became quieter, and her tone was more hesitant. He was talking about running, something that Kinoshita was passionate about, and he expected her to be more enthusiastic, but she seemed more reserved as if she's afraid of saying something that she's not supposed to.

'She's not revealing her true feelings, huh? Ryuuen must've done a good job in instilling fear and discipline. The conversation they had with Horikita seemed rehearsed, but our conversation was unexpected, and she had no idea on how to deal with it. I'm sure Ryuuen threatened her severely if she revealed anything to anyone else.' thought Ayanokouji.

"A-Ayanokouji-kun... you're really hiding that you're decent with running?" asked Kinoshita. Ayanokouji remained silent, not expecting Kinoshita to bring it up.

"No. What makes you think that?" asked Ayanokouji.

"Well... I mean you were able to somewhat keep up with me during our morning runs, but seeing you run, it's like you're slowing down on purpose. I mean you should be in 3rd or 4th place most of the time."

"There's no merit in slowing down. If I had the power to be as quick as you, I would've done it. The results are the only thing that matters."

"I guess you're right..."

Kinoshita shot Ayanokouji with a suspicious look as if she's buying Ayanokouji's logic. It reminded Ayanokouji of the time that Onodera was suspicious of his swimming speed, and he knew that he should be a little more careful in the near future.

"Anyways, do you need any help after the sports festival?" said Ayanokouji, deciding to change the subject. He didn't want to continue with this topic and had Kinoshita dig further with the topic of his running abilities.

"I should be fine. Thank you for asking. Yajima should be here to help me." said Kinoshita.

"Okay. I should be going." said Ayanokouji, glancing at the clock on the wall. There's not much time left for their lunch break.

"Yeah. Sorry for holding you for too long."

"I'll see you later. Let me know if you want to run with me again."

"Yeah. Let me give you my number."

The duo exchanged their numbers and Ayanokouji acquired another girl's phone number.

"See you, Kinoshita."

"Later, Ayanokouji-kun."

Ayanokouji gave his last greetings before leaving the nurse's office. As he was making his way back to the field, he was thinking about his conversation with Kinoshita.

'Humans are creatures of desire. Sometimes you can see their desires in their eyes, body language, tone of their voice, and various other factors. Based on my conversation with Kinoshita, she seemed regretful and conflicted. With her injured leg, it's certain that she wouldn't be able to run and attend track and field practice for a while which is detrimental for an athlete like Kinoshita. A long extended time off will result in being out of shape and missing important events such as competitions.' thought Ayanokouji.

'There's one thing that I'm confident of is that Kinoshita really wanted to run. Based on the few interactions I had with her, she seemed to have planned on taking the sports festival seriously, thus the morning runs and practice. However, due to Ryuuen's tyrannical rule, Kinoshita had no choice, but to agree with his plan. A tyrant is someone that rules with fear and with no regard for their subject's well-being and desires.' thought Ayanokouji.

Ayanokouji exited the school building and when he made it back to the field, he saw most of his classmates were present with the exception of Horikita and a few others. He was hoping that Horikita had taken his advice. When Ayanokouji entered the field and was making his way to the bleachers, he heard someone calling his name.

"Ayanokouji-kun!" called out Satou, waving at him and gesturing to him to come.

"Satou, what's up?" asked Ayanokouji. He nodded at Karuizawa and her group, who were with Satou. They seemed to be in the middle of eating lunch, and he wondered why Satou called him.

"Here. Try it."

Satou reached out with a toothpick with a piece of karaage and there was a bit of melted cheese on top of it.

"For me? I feel like I shouldn't take it. You'll need the energy for the sports festival and besides I already had lunch." said Ayanokouji.

"I don't want to force you, but can you consider it?" said Satou.

'I'm not going to say no to free food…' thought Ayanokouji.

Ayanokouji took the toothpick from Satou and ate the karaage. He wasn't expecting adding cheese to karaage and it was quite an interesting experience and taste in his mouth.

"Well?" asked Satou.

"6.3. I can't go any higher. I'm going to be honest: adding cheese was probably a bad move." said Ayanokouji.

"Dang it. I was just experimenting."

"Don't go experimenting by adding things to a perfectly fine karaage."

"Sorry! It just seemed good in my mind."

"At any rate, the karaage was perfect. Just don't add cheese."

"Noted. Thanks, Ayanokouji-kun."

Satou chuckled at her mistake and while the duo's conversation was going, Mori, Shinohara, and Azuma, who were a part of the group, were giving them looks of suspicion and shock. Of course, they were already jealous that Satou was partnered with Ayanokouji during the mini special exam like all of his soulmates, but they didn't know the full extent of their relationship. This public display could be misinterpreted as something else romantic or a really close relationship. Ayanokouji was glad that Satou didn't do anything extreme like feeding him the karaage which might be hard to explain your way out of to his soulmates.

"You two seemed rather close, Satou-san. Are you two dating?" asked Karuizawa, asking the question that was in everyone's mind, especially Ayanokouji's soulmates. Satou chuckled nervously and had an embarrassed look on her face, not expecting a misunderstanding. The other girls began asking questions as well, pressuring Satou to spill the beans.

"Really?!"

"I mean they're basically living together!"

"That means they're basically together for about two weeks."

"Actually, we're not dating. Just roommates and nothing more." said Ayanokouji, deciding to clear this misunderstanding before it gets out of hand. It didn't seem to have its intended effect as there were some suspicious glances directed at him, especially his soulmates.

"Y-Yeah!" said Satou, agreeing with Ayanokouji.

"Are you sure? Satou-san, you're basically doing what couples normally do." said Karuizawa, raising her eyebrows. Most of the girls nodded and seemed to agree with Karuizawa's points, but Ayanokouji spoke up.

"To be honest, it looks like we're dating, but we're not. Satou asked me to try out her food and give her feedback." said Ayanokouji. He decided not to bring up that they're eating together for most of their time together because it would obviously not help in this situation, and they didn't need to know about it. Satou looked relieved and nodded her head.

"Is that what it is?" "Yes."

Ayanokouji stared blankly at Karuizawa, who looked at him doubtfully and a few seconds passed, before Karuizawa just shrugged and didn't seem interested.

"I guess that's that." said Karuizawa. With Karuizawa's judgement, it seemed that most of the group believed what Ayanokouji said and seemed to be not interested when it involved some juicy topics such as dating and romance. Ayanokouji still got some glances from his soulmates, but he was glad that he dodged a bullet.

"Oh! By the way Karuizawa-san, have you and Hirata..." asked Maezano. As the group launched into a conversation regarding Karuizawa's relationship with Hirata, Ayanokouji decided that it was time to leave.

Although Ayanokouji knew that their relationship was fake, he was shocked on how easily Karuizawa can lie and fabricate stories and experiences that matches her fake relationship with Hirata thus satisfying the questions and interests of the girls in the group. He studied Karuizawa for a few moments before walking away. Ayanokouji stared at the clock which was rapidly running out and the minute hand hit 50.

'10 more minutes... Will Horikita make it in time? Who knows?' thought Ayanokouji.

Horikita POV

Due to her injuries and limited time, Horikita's legs were shaking as she was pushing herself to the limit. She managed to reach the dorms where she saw Sudou was heading before the break and found him sitting on a sofa in the dormitory lobby.

"Sudou-kun." called out Horikita, gently. Sudou turned to see a tired and out of breath, Horikita.

"Horikita. Why are you here? Don't tell me you came to persuade me to go back?" asked Sudou.

"Do I look like the type to come all the way here to persuade you?"

"That... No, you don't. So, did you come here just to scold me or somethin'?"

"I don't know about that. I must admit that I'm not sure what to say at all."

"Huh?"

"If you stay out of the competitions, Class D has no hope of winning."

"Probably not. Guess we're in a lot of trouble right now, huh?"

"Yes. We're at the very bottom of the rankings. To turn things around, we need to take first place in all the recommended-participant events. Even then, we won't make the top spot."

"And after I carried everyone on my back. That Hirata."

"He did nothing wrong by stopping you from going on a rampage. On the contrary, you should be grateful to him. If you'd hit Ryuuen-kun, you might have been disqualified."

"I just couldn't stand being on the receiving end of that. What Ryuuen did was foul play."

"You may be a bit of a problem child, but you certainly gave it your all today." Horikita scolded Sudou for his shortcomings, but gave him compliments on what he did right, so Sudou wouldn't think that Horikita came all the way here just to insult him and Horikita was hoping not to get him enraged which might lead to him not thinking clearly and listening to her.

"That said, there's still a lot you need to work on. The fact that you're here alone right now is proof." said Horikita.

"The heck does that mean?" asked Sudou, raising his eyebrows.

"If people could truly rely on and trust you, you'd have a lot of classmates coming after you, not just me. People who wanted to convince you to come back, I mean."

Sudou-kun kicked the table in irritation.

"That's the problem right there. You try to bully your way through Class D. It happened during the midterm exams, and during the dispute with Class C. Now you've snapped and flipped out." continued Horikita.

"You're seriously tryin' to preach to me? Give me a break, Horikita. I'm really pissed... Look, I messed up, but I just can't stop myself from doin' it. Nothing to do in that case, right?" said Sudou.

"I thought you said you were going to carry everyone in the class?"

"I never said that. The other guys were asking me, remember?"

"Even so, you have a certain degree of responsibility."

"God. Shut up, already. I don't care about that."

"You're as childish as always. That's not going to work in the real world, is it?"

"Shut up!"

Sudou shot Horikita a fierce glare, as if he's trying to intimidate her into being quiet. But Horikita wasn't going to give up.

"Your weakness is completely obvious. What will happen if you don't study? What will happen if you lash out? You lack the foresight to think ahead." said Horikita.

"Ah, enough already. Come on! Just leave me alone and knock it off! Your preaching is gonna make me puke!" snarled Sudou.

"If you don't like it, feel free to hit me."

"Huh? What? You... There ain't no way I could do somethin' like that!"

"Because I'm a woman? I've said this before, but I am quite strong. I'll knock you to the ground before your fist reaches me."

"You'll fight me? Man, you really are a weird lady. Well, like you said, no one else came after me. But you did. Just you."

'Actually, it was Ayanokouji-kun that pushed me into doing it…' thought Horikita.

"I took the leader's job because I thought the sports festival would be easy as pie. I haven't lost to anyone from the other classes. If we did the individual competitions again, I wouldn't lose to anybody. But when people are draggin' ya down in the team contests, there's nothin' you can do. We lost the capture of the flag and the cavalry battle 'cause of those useless guys. I couldn't stand that." said Sudou, mumbling his frustrations and original intentions.

"I can tell just by looking at you that you hate losing when you're good at something. But is that all there is to it?" said Horikita.

"Maybe I just wanted to see how it felt for people to pay attention to me and give me some respect. I guess I wanted to show all the people who made fun of me. Pretty lame, right? So, now I'm completely alone, huh? Well, that's fine. Things'll go back to exactly how they were in junior high."

"..."

'Sudou-kun was clumsy, the type of person to act impulsively. He had a volatile personality. But, if I changed my perspective, I could see that he had also been fighting all alone. The fact that he'd had the courage to confront his loneliness meant he was far superior to me. That fighting spirit is the key…' thought Horikita.

"You know, it's strange. My feelings are basically the same as yours." said Horikita, not knowing what she was saying, but she got the feeling that speaking from the heart is the best way to get through to Sudou.

"Huh? Whaddya mean?" asked Sudou, not expecting this from Horikita.

"The feeling of wanting to be respected. The desire to fight alone. I understand those. When I think back, there were signs. During the midterm exams, I felt irritated at the students who couldn't study, you included. I got angry when they couldn't do something so obvious. I didn't want to work with them at all. But in the sports festival, you performed impeccably. You did a lot to carry our unathletic classmates."

"Then you understand how I feel. Right now, I wanna be alone."

"And I truly, truly want to leave you be. But if we lose you now, Class D's defeat will be set in stone."

"You abandoned the class, though, just like me. Right? So, you don't have any right to lecture me."

"No, I suppose not."

"You're disappointed in me, right? I'm used to it. I was born to worthless people. That's why I'm worthless, too. I came here because I definitely didn't wanna end up like my parents, but I'm turning out just like them."

"It's incorrect to conclude that someone with worthless parents will inevitably turn out worthless themselves. You can't blame other people for how you are or will be. I reject your hypothesis."

"What do you mean?"

"You're still a nobody. Who you will become, though, depends on you and only you. At the very least, you possess incredible athletic ability. You have a rough manner of speaking, but you helped advise a lot of students during practice. That shows me you're not a worthless person. Right now, though, you're trying to run away. If you keep doing that, then you will be

worthless."

"Fine. Then just brand me worthless, already. Go ahead. I don't even care anymore."

"So, you're going to throw in the towel because things aren't going your way?"

"If you keeping being that way, then yes."

"Forget it. I knew things were not going to go my way."

Sudou got up and began walking towards the elevator, in an attempt to stop the conversation.

"Wait, Sudou-kun. There's one thing I would like to change." said Horikita, knowing that if she doesn't continue talking, Sudou would leave and Class D would be doomed.

"What is it? If you're dissing me, I'm out of here." said Sudou, sounding tired and frustrated at the same time.

"What kind of person I am, what kind of person you are... Things like that. I concluded that you and I really are similar after all."

"We ain't got anythin' in common. You and I are way too different."

"No. We're very similar. The more I think about it, the more I see that it's true."

"What do you mean by that? Comparing me and you is like comparing the Earth to the Sun."

"Always alone. Always solitary. From junior high and to the present. But you believed you could do it, and you tried. If there were a difference between us, it would be that one of us wants acknowledgement from a single person, and the other wants it from a large group. You already know a bit about the student council president, right?"

"Yeah, that prim-and-proper guy?"

"He's my older brother."

"Oh? So... Wait. You said something about fighting with him, right?"

"My relationship with him is far from good. Because I lack talent, we aren't close. My older brother is incredible, and dislikes being associated with someone incompetent like me. That's why I've tried my absolute hardest to become an incredible person, too. I put everything I had into trying to achieve that goal, from academics to athletics. Even right now, I'm trying."

"W-wait a minute. Aren't you already really smart and good at sports?"

"From the average person's perspective, I suppose. But compared to my brother, I'm nothing special. That's why I've been running straight ahead, not caring what anyone else thinks of me. As a result, I'm always alone. I thought that was fine, though. I believed that, as long as I was an astounding student, my brother would care about me. I thought that, if I participated in a ton of competitions, he would stop and look at me. That was why I told you that I wanted the anchor position in the relay. I had this idea that, if I was the anchor, he might cheer for me."

'By confronting Sudou-kun's weakness, I'd also confronted my own.' thought Horikita.

"He really doesn't acknowledge you? Even though you're tryin' so hard?" asked Sudou.

"He doesn't. But I finally realized something: I'm not incredible. Ryuuen-kun's thoroughly beaten me, and I haven't gotten one single result I'm satisfied with, either. I want to make it to Class A to earn my brother's respect. That hasn't changed. But the methods I've used to achieve that goal

have been wrong. I'm not alone. If I have allies, I'm closer to my goal." said Horikita.

"You're not givin' up?"

"If there's a difference between you and I, that might be it. I will never, ever give up. I'll strive to become someone worthy of my brother's admiration."

"That sounds like a painful path to take."

"I suppose. But we aren't alone in this world. There are billions of people on this planet, and innumerable people in our lives. We can't ignore them. It's not all about you."

"Yeah... I guess you're right about that."

"I said that you'd turn to violence again, then coldly pushed you away. But that wasn't the right answer. If you ever stray from your path in future, I'll bring you back to it. So, until we graduate, please lend me your strength. I promise that I'll lend you all mine, too."

Horikita looked Sudou right in the eye and didn't avert her gaze. Sudou froze and realized how serious Horikita was.

'My God... Horikita is so beautiful. Seeing her like that. Full of determination and passion. She's serious about this, isn't she?' thought Sudou, in awe.

"You just switched up on me. Why do your words seem so serious now?" asked Sudou.

"It might be because I've finally admitted the truth, which is that I'm a worthless person. I've avoided that fact. I'll ask you again, Sudou-kun. Lend me your strength." said Horikita.

"Horikita..."

Sudou-kun balled his hands tightly into fists, then hit himself on the forehead.

"Ah. What the hell am I feelin' right now?! I don't get it, but it's like... I feel like I've finally had my eyes opened."

He stepped toward Horikita, but this time, the deadly glare that he gave her was completely gone and was replaced by fiery determination.

"I'll work with you, Horikita. I...I feel like someone's finally noticed me outside basketball." said Sudou.

"Thank you, Sudou-kun. Let's get back. The others are waiting for us." said Horikita.

"Yeah!"

With that, the duo began quickly making their way back towards the sports festival and the pace quickened as time was running out. Horikita felt a little embarrassed by revealing such embarrassing feelings to someone especially Sudou, but she felt relieved and happy as she now as an ally beside Ayanokouji,

hoping she's finally taking steps forward to another direction.

'It's always been with Ayanokouji-kun. Every time it's been him. I hope this is going to be the last time that I will need his harsh and cold words. It's time for me to take my first steps forward, however I'm not foolish enough to not ask for advice if needed.' thought Horikita.

As those thoughts were racing in Horikita's mind, she realized that time was running out and she was slowing Sudou down. Horikita called out to Sudou, who was slightly ahead of her and was trying to not go too quickly and stay within a comfortable distance from Horikita.

* Ayanokouji POV:

"The next event is starting, huh?"

"I guess we need to choose a substitute."

"That Sudou!"

"Wait! Where's Horikita-san?"

"I haven't seen her since the lunch break!"

As Class D was dissatisfied with their disappearance, the inevitability of having to buy two substitutes was weighing in everyone's mind. Ayanokouji remained quiet and got ready for the event as he was taking part in it.

"Huh...! Puh...! Hey, sorry to keep you all waiting! What's going on?" called out Sudou, completely out of breath. Horikita was lagging slightly behind him.

"Sudou-kun, you came back!" said Hirata, looking pleased.

"Yeah, sorry. My bad. It took way longer to take a dump than I thought."

Sudou looked as if he was in a bright, cheerful mood, but many students glared at him icily. He didn't flinch from their stares.

"Sorry. I punched Hirata and crushed our morale because I lost my temper. It's my fault." said Sudou, bowing deeply. Everyone was stunned because about an hour ago, Sudou wouldn't have done something like that, but he's doing it right now.

After a stunned moment, Hirata laughed happily. His cheek was slightly swollen, and looked

painful, but he didn't seem to care about that.

"The heck, Ken? This isn't like you." said Ike, in shock. Yamauchi rubbed his eyes as if he's trying to snap out of a dream.

"I gotta admit, I did somethin' wrong after doing somethin' wrong. I want to apologize to you, too, Kanji." replied Sudou.

"It's not like it's your fault I lost or anything. I'm just no good at sports, really. Sorry I wasn't useful."

"It's time to turn things around!"

"Can I ask for a substitute? I wouldn't run very well with my leg like this and would like to get a substitute for the rest of my events." said Horikita. sounding apologetic.

"Are you okay with that, Horikita?" asked Hirata.

"There's nothing I can do about it. In the state I'm in right now, I'm not sure I could even win against Ike-kun. Sorry."

Horikita bowed deeply, as Sudou had done earlier, but Hirata immediately began looking for a replacement for Horikita for her events which involved a lot more physical activity. As Ayanokouji glanced over at Horikita, the duo locked eyes and she silently shot a look that basically told him that she will talk to him later about this. Ayanokouji nodded in response, and he wondered what would happen next.

'Will Sudou be alright? Horikita may have convinced him to come back and help the class, but his brash and impulsive attitude might prove to be a problem especially when Ryuuen is taking advantage of it. One thing is certain... The fight is not over yet.' thought Ayanokouji.

Soulmates

1) Horikita Suzune

2) Kushida Kikyou

3) Mii-chan

4) Tachibana Akane

5) Azuma Sana

6) Shinohara Satsuki

7) Onodera Kayano

8) Mori Nene

9) Hoshinomiya Chie

10) Ichihashi Ruri

11) Andou Sayo

12) Shiranami Chihiro

13) Yabu Nanami

14) Sakura Airi

15) Inogashira Kokoro

16) Morofuji Rika

17) Manabe Shiho

Author's Note:

Hello, everyone! It's been a while, huh? I know it's been over a month since I've uploaded a chapter, but I've been busy and something big is coming in my life, so I've been preparing for that. Unfortunately, that will probably mean even less time for me to write. Anyways, I'm going to be releasing an update in the next month, explaining about it, but for now, I'm going to write as much as I possibly can.

This chapter has been slow and I'm trying to set a few things up. Also, the sports festival is going to be basically the same with the same storyline and events. I would be changing a few things in the next chapter, but I'm setting things up.

I have future plans for some characters and would be focusing on Class C and Class D girls since the original story is focused on Class C and Class D's conflict in finding Ayanokouji.

The mini special exam is also coming to an end and I'm trying to build a solid or decent relationship between Ayanokouji and Satou before the ending. For those who are wondering about the previous votes for the next soulmate for Ayanokouji, I'm working, and it'll probably be going to be on the next chapter.

I'm a little curious about what you guys want to see for the next mini special exam and if you guys have any ideas. I have some ideas, but curious on what you guys have in mind.

Important: I forgot to ask this in my last chapter, but I'm asking right now. Are you interested in seeing a lemon chapter in this story? I have an idea and who is it going to be, but I'm very inexperienced in writing chapters. Of course, I will try to learn and write good lemons, but I'm seeing if a majority of my readers are interested in a lemon scene.

That's enough for today. Author-san is going to get some sleep.

Until next time, my dear readers.