CH 72

Now… I had made a lot of progress with my personal business, but another troublesome school-related thing had appeared. The second semester meant fall, and fall meant sports festival. An athletic festival, a sports festival; whatever you called it, Touka Academy was holding an sports festival for elementary in October.

There wasn’t a cultural festival in elementary. In my past life, I didn’t even have a cultural festival until I was in highschool. Maybe some places had it in elementary and middle school, or maybe it was just a difference in generations. At the very least, I only had cultural festivals in my past life in highschool and older.

Touka Academy also didn’t have a cultural festival in elementary. Well, even if you did think of holding a cultural festival, you’d then have to think about what lower elementary schoolers could actually do. They could sing at a music festival or hold a play, but managing a cultural festival was probably beyond them.

Touka Academy was a private school, so they could probably hold a cultural festival if someone thought to do it. They could be much more flexible with time and budget compared to public schools. But that’d mean the students weren’t holding it; they’d just be getting vendors to sell items in stalls.

Basically, there was no such thing as a cultural festival in elementary. I didn’t know about middle school. The game “Love Flowers” confirmed that there was one in highschool.

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Putting that aside, my current worry was the sports festival. You could say that it wouldn’t be that bad since we were still a first grader, but… this was somewhat of a restless time.

It looked like today we’d decide on who’d participate in what. The sports festival was in early-, or rather mid-October, which was quite a bit of time, but you could also say that we only had one month. Although first-graders had really pushed to prepare, we still have practice for the sports festival in PE classes.

It looked like the sports festival events wouldn’t be that weird. If they held a bunch of showy events, it’d lead to injuries and other things. The upper class school Touka Academy probably wouldn’t hold such dangerous events. 

R byed’v plld eydtlaswp lhldvp zkjl nyhyzau cyvvzlp sa vsrrzkdt vbl srrsdldv’p rszl kd alyz zkql, lhld kd xu rypv zkql. Mblu bye yrrlyale y zsv kd qknvksdyz vbkdtp zkjl ydkxl sa xydty, cwv… oyp vblal alyzzu y pnbssz vbyv blze lhldvp zkjl vbyv?

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“Mbld, zlv’p elnkel sd obs’zz ryavknkryvl kd lynb lhldv. Wkapvzu…”

Mbl bsxlassx vlynbla ypjle qsa hszwdvllap. Ebyv oswze R es…? Wasx obyv R’e plld kd VO, R nswze cypknyzzu okd kd lhlau lhldv. Jlnywpl R oyp y xyd obs’e zkhle qsa iwkvl y obkzl sd vbl kdpkel, R bye y zsv sq VO lmrlakldnl. R nswze schkswpzu pvweu. Rv’e cl oyu vss rasczlxyvkn kq R nswzed’v lhld qszzso yzsdt vs y qkapv-tayel zlppsd.

There wasn’t much difference in inherent physical ability between both boys and girls and from person-to-person since we were all first-graders. What mattered was how the person themself felt. Because you could tell the difference in stamina between first-graders, long-distances races were just a matter of how far you could endure and run. There’d be a small difference in talent for short-distance running, though…

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I definitely wouldn’t lose to first graders, so I could participate in anything, but…

“I think that Sakuya-sama would be excellent in short-distance running and the relay!”

“Huh…?”

As I thought of what I was going to do, Azami-chan suddenly raised her hand and said that. Short-distance running and relays were similar, but they were completely different events. With short-distance running, each race would end in one lap. For example, first-graders would run once and someone would win. The second-graders would then race, then the third-graders, and so on.

Compared to that, a relay was run by representatives of each team in relay format. At Touka Academy, the teams were divided into Team One, Team Two, and Team Three; I was on Team Three. Representatives of each grade from Team Three would form the relay team. 

By the way, this was a mixed-gender relay event, so it looked like there’d be a mix of boys and girls. The representatives were one boy and one girl from each grade. There wasn’t a set running order, though, and the strategising on who’d run in what order was key… but was it really? I didn’t see much difference, though…

Each person had to compete in one or two events; at the very least, they had to compete in one event.

Short-distance running wasn’t bad. It’d be annoying if the event went on for too long, so I thought it was good that I got an event that’d end quickly. But it was pretty annoying to also participate in the relay… Relay and short-distance running were almost the same, so I could understand getting fast kids to participate in both events, but… I didn’t want to participate in a second event…

“This is great! You should definitely participate in the short-distance and relay events, Sakuya-chan!”

Oh~… I’d be fine participating in either, but could I at least participate in only one? I wasn’t really interested in tama-ire, rolling a large ball, or centipede races. I wanted to participate in an individual event that’d end quickly.

“Then, Kujou-san shall participate in the short-distance race and relay. Moving on…”

Hey! Teacher! What was up with “Moving on”? I hadn’t even said anything, you know? But the class already accepted that I was going to do that. Well, whatever… Doing team sports with first-graders at my age was a little harsh. I was fine as long as it was an individual event.

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Thus, I’d been automatically entered into an event even though I didn’t say anything. I was already in two events, so I couldn’t be forced to enter in another. If I said that I really wanted to, then I could probably enter in a third. Since I wasn’t that excited for the sports festival, I didn’t do that.

Since I’d been entered into events early, I just watched everyone and waited. It was nice to see innocent first-graders enthusiastically talk about how they wanted to participate in this or do that.

“Oi, Kujou Sakuya! Are you really fine with that?”

“…what are you referring to? Nishigori Yanagi-kun?”

Everyone had pretty much already decided on the events they were participating in and gathered with people participating in the same event. There were three boys and girls per grade for the short-distance relay, and one boy and one girl each for the mixed-gender relay.

Right now, I was with everyone who was participating in the short-distance relay. One of them, an arrogant brat named Nishigori Yanagi, called out to me snobbishly. It reminded me of a certain someone and made me feel slightly annoyed.

“The mixed-gender relay! No matter how badly you fail in the short-distance relay, you only lose that race, but your whole team loses if you bring them down in the relay!”

Woah~… I was pretty tolerant of kids, but not these types… Right… It wasn’t that I was intolerant of kids, but that the kids attending Touka Academy were mostly serious and polite, so they just didn’t annoy me much. It was just the occasional kid like this that annoyed me. 

Nishigori Yanagi was also participating in the short-distance race and was a representative for the mixed relay. I knew what this guy wanted to say. He was here to tell me that I’d probably drag the whole team down on the relay. His arrogant attitude really reminded me of a certain someone.

The reason behind that was simple. This guy was part of that certain someone’s—the Konoe monryuu. It looked like Ibuki was nothing but a bad influence on them. Even though they were pretty cute first-graders at Touka Academy who were serious and mature, a lot of kids got this arrogant and foul-mouthed from Ibuki’s influence. Enju, the exception, was polite and not foul-mouthed, though…

“Oi! Say something!”

He was pretty annoying… this first-grade brat…

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“*sigh*… Nishigori-kun… Would you not, as a member of the Konoe monryuu, give way to the representative of Team One?”

“What!? Are you saying that I’d lose on purpose!?”

He was taken in by my simple provocation. He was easy to deal with. It was surprisingly easy to make guys like Ibuki and Yanagi stumble, which made them easy opponents. Well, they were pretty arrogant, which was annoying, but if I wanted them to act in a certain way, I could easily provoke them to make them act in that way. They were easy to deal with in that sense.

“No… it is just that… you always stick behind Konoe-sama. I was merely wondering that whether you would stick behind him as you usually do if he is Team One’s representative during the relay?”

“I-I wouldn’t lose on purpose, even if Ibuki-kun’s my opponent!”

Mhm. Ibuki’s group were really easy to manipulate. They were annoying because of their arrogance, but if you ignored that, they made easy opponents.

“One can say anything, correct? Please prove that during the race.”

“I know! And you, don’t drag me down!”

Saying that, Yanagi noisily walked away. Hey~. That was all well and good for the relay, but right now, we were gathering as representatives for the short-distance race, right? Maybe don’t just go off somewhere?

～～～～～～～

Then, after we’d all decided on the events we were participating in, everyone was pretty restless for some reason. We had done sports festivals in nursery and kindergarten, so it was almost no one’s first time experiencing it, but everyone seemed to be looking forward to the sports festival. They were all still first-graders towards these types of events. It was pleasant to look at.

The teacher tried to calm everyone and start the lesson, but they couldn’t really contain this atmosphere. Everyone was feeling excited even though the sports festival was still over a month away. 

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In the blink of an eye, the day had passed and I was heading to the salon after school. All conversations during breaks and at lunch were about the sports festival, but would it be like that at the salon? Five Norths Association members wouldn’t be that excited about a sports festival, right?

“Greetings.”

“Oh! Sakuya! What events are you in?”

“Konoe-sama… greetings…”

The moment I entered the salon, Ibuki came up to me and asked. He was totally excited… Really, all the kids in Ibuki’s group were, or something…

“Hold on, Ibuki… won’t you give her this first?”

Then Enju came and prompted Ibuki to do something. Ibuki, who made a face like he’d forgotten, immediately turned to me and presented me with something. 

“I know! …Sakuya, here!”

“*sigh*…”

He had presented me with an invitation. This was probably the party invitation he’d mentioned before. He was fidgeting ever since he’d given me the invitation; I guess he wanted me to open and respond to it now.

Even if I didn’t do that, Ibuki and I had decided the dates and times, so I knew the party would be held on a date when I could attend… Anyway, it’d be too depressing for him to fidget in front of me forever, so I broke the seal.

“Understood… I shall gladly participate.”

“Alright! Absolutely! Absolutely come!”

Yes, yes… I know… We’d decided on a day when I could definitely participate, so it was practically decided that I’d go. After that, he finally gave out invitations to the other participants like Kaya-san, Azami-chan, and Satsuki-chan. Invitations had also been posted to the members of Azami-chan’s group who weren’t here.

And this was the nearest date. In the list of potential dates, the nearest one was also the one where the most people could come. That was why I thought it’d turn out like this, but there really weren’t many days left until the party. 

Well, that was fine. There’d be the sports festival in October, so I was thankful that one less troublesome thing would happen since the party ended in September.

“By the way, what did you enter in the sports festival, Sakuya?”

Was he still asking me that…? How rude… I didn’t really need to hide it, so fine, but…

“I have entered the short-distance race and the mixed gender relay.”

“Oh! The same as me! That’s fun!”

No… that wasn’t really fun though, you know? In the first place, boys and girls would race  separately during the short-distance race, so all my opponents would be girls… In the mixed-gender relay, there wasn’t really an order in which boys and girls should go, so we might actually run together. There wasn’t anything special in running together at a relay, though…

Even so… I thought tons of things would happen in the second semester, but with Ibuki’s party and my outing with everyone on top of that, my second semester was tirning out to be pretty busy.