Chapter 159 – Gym Woes

Today would be the day where the annual student physical assessment test would happen for all grades and genders.

The general vibe of today would be somewhat similar to the sports festival, but the main purpose of this test was to gauge the physical abilities of the average high school student.

Most students didn't get the average one hour of exercise a day that was recommended, so educators and higher-ups wanted to adjust the physical education curriculum accordingly.

In order to do that, they needed to know where the current students stood in terms of physical ability.

All classes were canceled for the day in order to get all of the physical activities and paperwork done.

Takei had woken up considerably earlier than he normally did in order to prepare for today's physical activities.

Last year, he had abysmal scores all across the board due to his negligence towards his physical health.

However, Takei had been working hard at steadily increasing his strength, stamina, and endurance ever since he met Akari.

There was no way he could afford to act like a loser in front of his beloved girlfriend.

Perhaps knowing that about him, Akari had joined Takei on his early morning jog and kept him company until he finished his workout.

"You don't have to try this hard?" Akari mentioned. "It's just something to test the health of the students."

"This is the one thing I need to try hard in," Takei said. "My pride as a man won't let me stop until I show you my cool side."

"I already know you're cool though..." Akari mumbled.

Takei stopped mid-job and turned towards her. "Did you say something?"

"N-nope!" Akari stammered. "Give it your best, I'll be rooting for you!"

They finished their early-morning jog and hit the showers to get cleaned up before heading to school.

Luckily for Takei, he managed to avoid any lucky pervert scenarios from happening.

Instead of wearing their usual school uniforms, the students would be wearing the gym uniforms today.

Both Takei and Akari decided to wear tracksuits today since it was a bit chilly this morning and that the school also allowed the use of them.

"Got everything ready?" Akari asked.

Takei nodded. "Yep, let's go."

The two left the house and embarked to the school just like always.

They would be headed to the school gymnasium today since all of the procedures would be handled inside the gym.

When they finally got to the gym, there was a thin divider that separated the two genders from each other in order to make the tests easier to conduct.

"I'll see you later then," Takei ruffled her hair.

"Mmm, I'll do my best as well!" Akari smiled.

They gave each other a light hug before separating and entering the different entrances that was specific to them.

When Takei went through his entrance, he noticed that there were already two familiar faces inside.

"Took you long enough," Eiji grinned.

Ryuto bowed when he caught sight of Takei. "I was doing some last minute exercising so that I don't tarnish my lord's reputation!" .

God damn it. I thought we made progress with stopping the master and servant shtick?! Wait, is it my fault that he relapsed due to me being gone for so long? Oh god...

Takei internally facepalmed before he walked up to them with a wry smile. "You two ready to get some high scores?"

"My herculean strength won't lose to anyone else!" Ryuto roared.

"Uh huh... What about you, Eiji?" Takei asked the more sane one in the group.

"Eh, I'm not that interested in getting good scores," Eiji shrugged. "Color me surprised, but I thought you would be the same."

Indeed, it was true that Takei wouldn't usually try in anything that requires a lot of effort.

However, that line for logic only applied when his reputation wasn't at stake.

If his girlfriend was watching, there was no way Takei could be a slouch and do nothing.

"I have to be cool sometimes," Takei winked.

Eiji just scratched his head in annoyance. "Ugh, go explode you normies!"

Once their little banter session finished, everyone lined up in a single-file formation and followed the instructions given to them.

The first task would be a timed mile-run that would have all the boys running a mile around the track with the coaches recording their time using stopwatches.

Once the whistles were blown, it was every boy for himself.

There was a group of boys who went full-throttle right off the bat and essentially burned through all of their stamina trying to become the first ones to finish.

In contrast, Takei was regulating his breathing and making sure he had a consistent pace to follow.

Ryuto and Eiji were doing pretty good as well, but they quickly gave up when they saw the sheer determination in Takei's eyes.

There was no way they were going to be able to beat a man who was trying to impress his woman.

When Takei reached the final stretch, he gave up on focusing on the consistent pace and went into a full-on sprint.

"Fight, fight, fight!" Takei yelled.

He passed several people and even managed to lap a couple more people before Takei eventually crossed the finish line.

"Good job kid. Your time was 5 minutes and 20 seconds. Pretty darn good time for a mile," the coach smiled. "Ever thought of joining the track team?"

"Ahaha, I'm flattered," Takei chuckled. "I'll have to decline though, my girlfriend wouldn't be happy if I spent less time with her."

The coach heartily slapped Takei's back with great vigor when he heard the reason as to why he couldn't join.

"Something like happy wife, happy life, right? You got a good head on your shoulders kid, so the track and field club will always be open to you if you ever decide to join," the coach smiled. "I mean, you were the fastest out of all the boys here, so an invite shouldn't be too much of a surprise."

"Wait, the fastest?!" Takei gasped.

He had been too absorbed in the conversation with the coach to notice that he was the only one done with the distance test.

It was probably due to the coach's nonchalant attitude, but Takei didn't notice that he was the first to finish until now.

I... was the fastest boy in my whole grade. Yahoo! These are the fruits of my labor! Take that me of last year! That pitiful near-last place means nothing to me anymore!

While Takei was rejoicing inside his head with a creepy smile, Eiji stared at him with an exasperated expression.

"Weirdo."

—

Go Explode! Idiot Couple Meter: 21 -> 25%

So this is the supposed girlfriend buff...

Serious-san: I can vouch for it

Sugar-chan: Hehehe, you're welcome~