Chapter 140 - She Was Here, After All

As we gathered around in the playground l, I could see a wave of blue and pink jackets all around me. The noise of several students as well as the microphone's echoes were surrounding us. 

Flags of different colours were flying high as well as the one which bore the school emblem. It was a jet black flag with the white logo imprinted in the middle of it.

The freshly cut grass beneath my foot felt different from usual. The barricades and the cones were kept in an organised way to separate each court and tracks.

Bunch of students and teachers could be seen gathered under the small tent where the announcements and other things were going on which was a few metres away from the racetrack.

Since it was a highschool, the crowd was rather less compared to those schools which were all the years together. Despite that, since parents and some other guests were also present, it definitely gave the impression of a dense crowd in a small area.

The good thing was that our playground was really vast, as when compared to our school buildings, three or four of them could fit there easily. It was an all purpose field, as it had courts and a football field surrounded by the tracks.

The excited conversation of students could be heard all around. The parents were slowly entering the ground as we were waiting for them so that the principal could continue with the proceedings.

"Man, I'm nervous!" Kana muttered under her breath while tapping her feet on the ground continuously.

Kizhashi said, nodding her head from left to right, "As you should be."

Kana narrowed her eyes at her and then a few moments later said, "Yeah, since the thought of you unluck-ing me haunts me."

"Can you stop that for god's sake!" Kizhashi was irritated already since this joke has been going on for the past few weeks, but I won't deny that it's kind of funny.

"Hehe… No." Kana just gave her a smug smile and kept staring in the direction people were entering from.

"You are so fucking annoying!" Kizhashi mumbled silently, but since I was standing close to her, I overheard it.

As they were all talking among themselves, the time was passing by, and the crowd of people were filling up the ground. All this while, Tsūmen and Gaisen also came back together.

I noticed the white kyudogi that Tsumen was wearing tucked into his hakama while accompanied by Gaisen, who was in his normal PE uniform. Gaisen's inter-school friendly match was tomorrow, so he had no events today.

(A/N: Kyudogi is the uniform worn during practicing archery along with the pants called Hakama)

They came and joined in on the conversation, and it seemed like all of them were enjoying it a lot, too. I got one of those sudden realisations that I don't really belong in their group. Since I was doing all this just to save my head, otherwise, I wouldn't even have talked with any of them.

All this chatter around me, but I found myself at an odd peace with my thoughts. It was almost like my brain waa filtering everything out at that moment. I had this eerie feeling of emptiness that I was feeling after many years.

Soon everyone was gathered around and the speech was about to start as our principal could be seen standing on the stage with the microphone close to his mouth.

Most of the crowd's attention was towards him. I could see students looking over one another to find their family members or people who had come to visit them. All in all, the environment around was way too hyped for a person like me.

I looked towards the podium again as I could see him standing there in this dark blue suit, talking with a teacher. Students from the council were also present there with papers in their hand, which I assume was the routine of events.

His dark hair combed backwards in a neat way, and he turned towards the crowd and adjusted his spectacles while gazing at us.He finally opened his mouth and started speaking as the sound of his deep voice reverberated all around us.

He went with the usual greeting of the parents and guest staff and then gave a small speech on the endeavours of our school's athletic side.He was applauded for his delivery.

With a respectful bow, he stepped aside and gestured for one of the student council representatives to come forth and continue the rest of the orientation program.

The girl who came in front of the mic was quite beautiful. Her lustrous brunette hair was flowing freely and a small braid came around the right side of her neck. Her name was Azumi something, if I'm not wrong and she was from our year too.

She glanced at us with her dark eyes and looked down at the piece of paper she was holding. She started speaking in her sharp, affirmative tone. As I was listening to the layout of the events, I caught a glimpse of Reina standing behind me on her tippy toes, trying to see in the front.

I turned around and looked at her, and noticing my eyes on her, she quickly became embarrassed and her cheeks became slightly tinted pink. As she was already feeling awkward, without saying a word, I stepped aside and gestured to her to stand in front of me.

She gave me a small nod and slowly paced in front of me and kept staring towards the podium. I guess she was feeling way too self-conscious to make eye contact with me or say anything.

Anyway, Azumi was done with her routine and I pretty much got an idea of how events were going to be. Unfortunately, Tsūmen' archery event and the Tennis event were in the same time slot so I won't be able to watch both of them.

The crowd around was reforming into groups of friends or other people as they were coming to visit here. As I was walking towards Gaisen and others, I heard a really familiar voice call out my name.

"Sai! Sai!" The voice sounded quite excited, as it attracted the attention of my friends too, as they looked at me with a confused look. I turned towards the direction of the voice. There she came walking towards me with a smug on her face.