CH 80

Cleaning up everything afterwards was the hardest part. Well, we were first-graders, so cleaning up the equipment was left to the adults, the sports festival committee members, and the high schoolers. Us lower elementary just picked up our own chairs and returned to the classroom once the closing ceremony had ended. After we listened to precautions and other topics, it was almost the end.

Of course, we cleaned up the things that we could clean up. But, you know… as expected, even though we were polite students from Touka Academy, we’d just be wandering around aimlessly during cleanup. We’d be more of a disturbance.

Nishigori was crying during the closing ceremony and as we were returning our seats. He was even apologisde to me over and over again. I wanted to say “Enough already”, but…

I didn’t mean he was annoying and shouldn’t have come over here… it wasn’t like I didn’t understand how Nishigori felt. He was so enthusiastic during practicethat he cried whenever I lost to him. And, since he’d fallen over and lost in the real race, he must’ve felt the appropriate responsibility.

Nishigori falling did create a huge difference, but after I’d come in, Team Three was in second place by a small margin. That was how the relay ended. Basically, thinking about it normally, if Nishigori hadn’t fallen, we would’ve been able to gain more distance and win the race.

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That probably would’ve happened, but it wasn’t that simple in real life. If Nishigori hadn’t fallen, I wouldn’t have run that seriously. That was because I wouldn’t have run so fast to narrow the distance quickly, but maybe the older students running after me could’ve made Team Three first.

Running after people to chase them and being chased by someone while being ahead were different in many ways. It was easier to get faster times when you were chasing someone. You could say that the person in front was pulling you forward.

The distance and the opponent were different, so I couldn’t say anything as a rule, but you could say that Team Three wouldn’t have won anyway when looking at our results during the short-distance relay.

Elzz, yzz sq vbyv oyp xu kxytkdyvksd. Mbl lde alpwzv oyp vbyv Lkpbktsak qlzz shla yde ol tsv plnsde rzynl. Mbyv oyp vbl sdzu alyzkvu. Mbyv oyp wdpbyjyczl. Gde kv nswzed’v cl blzrle vbyv Lkpbktsak nyale ycswv kv. Ls xyvvla bso xydu vkxlp R pyke vbyv bl pbswzed’v xkde, kv oyp wr vs vbl rlapsd bkxplzq oblvbla vs ynvwyzzu ktdsal kv sa dsv.

‘Xb~… Sltalvvyczu, ol byhl nsxl kd plnsde rzynl, cwv lhlausdl vakle vblka hlau clpv. Mbld, ycswv vbl nzlydwr…”

Mbl vlynbla pxssvbzu oldv sd vs vbl dlmv vsrkn. Mbl nzypp pllxle vs cl vbkdjkdt vbyv ol bye zspv clnywpl Lkpbktsak bye qyzzld. Yu vlynbla pllxle vs ytall okvb vbyv. Jwv vblu eked’v xldvksd vbyv sd rwarspl.

Mbl vlynbla oypd’v czyxkdt Lkpbktsak, cwv vblu xwpv’hl vbswtbv vbl svbla pvweldvp olal vss yddsule ps vblu eked’v xldvksd kv sd rwarspl. Xa xyucl vblu eked’v oydv vs pvknj bkp blye kdvs psxlsdl lzpl’p cwpkdlpp cu pyukdt wddlnlppyau vbkdtp, ps vblu fwpv zlqv kv yzsdl. R eked’v jdso obyv xu vlynbla oyp vbkdjkdt, cwv vblu olald’u alyzzu vswnbkdt sd Lkpbktsak qyzzkdt sa wp nsxkdt plnsde.

Zsw’e vbkdj ol’e cl byrru kq ol nyxl kd plnsde, cwv qsa Uzypp Mball vblal oypd’v xwnb hyzwl kd plnsde rzynl. Ls sdl oyp vbkdjkdt “Usdtayvwzyvksdp qsa tlvvkdt plnsde”, cwv kdpvlye vbkdjkdt ycswv obspl qywzv kv oyp vbyv ol tsv plnsde rzynl.

Mbl vlynbla ldele vbl ekpnwppksd pkxrzu, yde ol cltyd nzlydkdt yde vkeukdt wr. Ohlausdl oyp xshkdt kd eashlp, cwv…

“Mnb… osdela obspl qywzv kv kp~”

“Slyzzu, alyzzu.”

They were trying to get Nishigori to hear what they were saying about him. As expected, even though this was a rich school with polite kids, there’d be things like this too. Rather, smart, polite kids might bully him in ingenious and dirty ways.

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It was probably uncommon to have an outright fistfight, but, well, that was also uncommon in normal schools, but… there were also schools like Touka Academy where kids were bullied behind the scenes. In the first place, I fully understood that this wouldn’t be a good school where no one was bullied because I’d had experiences like that. I had them, but… I thought this was too much.

“Oh, Team Three really could’ve won, but, you know.”

“…”

Even though everyone was saying that, Nishigori stayed silent. He didn’t object or get mad.

Nishigori had definitely fallen over and Team Three had gotten second place by a small margin. That was the unchangable truth. But Nishigori not falling wouldn’t have guaranteed Team Three’s win. Even so, everyone was saying that we lost because of Nishigori. They wanted Nishigori to take responsiblity.

Everyone saying that wanted us to win. I understood that. Maybe we could’ve won with a little more. They wanted to blame Nishigori for losing when we could’ve won. They wanted to hit Nishigori, who had fallen, with all the resentment they felt for not winning. It wasn’t like I couldn’t understand those feelings.

But… Nishigori was really the most frustrated. Because he’d fallen, I wasn’t able to catch up to Ibuki, and Team Three didn’t win. He was the most hurt and the one who felt the most responsiblity. Even so, wasn’t that too much?

Nishigori had undergone the appropriate training before the running order was decided. His form and time had become quite good. And, even so, he had lost, cried, and regretted. There was no way Nishigori wouldn’t be feeling anything. He would be the most regretful.

In the first place, Nishigori himself wasn’t responsible for tripping. I had unmistakably seen it. The girl from Team Two had tripped Nishigori at the corner.

I didn’t know what her goal was. Maybe she’d just stuck her hand out because it had become cramped. Maybe she wanted to disrupt the race from the beginning and was aiming for that moment. I didn’t know, but… I couldn’t think that the person who’d been tripped and had fallen was the only one at fault.

Well, everyone’s anger wasn’t just from Nishigori falling… Maybe it was because he didn’t immediately stand up after he fell and instead cried, but… I could support that alone. If he’d stood up immediately, maybe the result would be different. Everyone thought that was Nishigori’s mistake.

But that still wasn’t a good reason to bully Nishigori.

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“Because some idiot fell…”

“…”

“Please wait!”

As they surrounded Nishigori and talked badly about him, well, on purpose, but, as they surrounded him and talked about those things, I went in front of the guys and blocked their way.

“…what?”

“Kujou-san, you’re not involved, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. You worked that hard, Kujou-san, but… it’s this guy’s fault for messing everything up, right?”

The group of jeering guys who were standing in front of me… were saying those kinds of things. They thought I felt resentment against him, had the same opinion as them, and thought I was the biggest victim. But I couldn’t agree with any of that.

“Nishigori-kun had run his hardest. And Nishigori-kun himself is the one who holds the most regret. Ganging up on him because of that… even if we came second in the relay… That is true… Were you not third in the three-legged race? If your team came first, would that not have changed the results, allowing us to win? Then we did not win because you came third in the three-legged race.”

“What!”

The boy who I pointed out looked surprised. But it was true. In the race this guy had appeared in, Team One was first and Team Three was third. If they’d turned it around, we might’ve gotten first even if we’d botched the relay.

“You dragged everyone down during the centipede race. Were you not all over the place rolling the large ball? Thanks to Satsuki-chan and Azami-chan, you were able to turn it around, so does the responsibility not fall to you?”

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“W-We won, so it’s fine, right!?”

In reality, that was stupid. It was such a stupid rebuttal. These were so-called first-graders…?

“It is a mistake to blame Nishigori-kun because he fell when we might have achieved victory. If you had won all the previous matches and achieved an overwhelming point difference between Team Two, if you had won all of the matches that you had appeared in, Team Three may have won. Cowards who place the responsibility for not winning solely on Nishigori-kun… be ashamed of yourselves!”

“…”

The noisiness of the crowd had stopped and everyone fell completely silent. I was just rebutting the people in front of me surrounding Nishigori. But that wasn’t all.

“Is that fine? Gentlemen, ladies, listen carefully! Nishigori Yanagi did his very best. If you are still blaming him despite that, examine yourself carefully. Did you do all that you could? Did you make no mistakes, failures, nor are responsible for anything? Let the one who has not made a single mistake or is not a liability question the ones who have failed!”

“…”

I turned to the people who were listening, looked at them, and declared that. No one here didn’t fail or wasn’t a liability. The group activities were a class competition, so everyone probably had some failures or was a liability at some point.

In the first place, no one had worked as hard for this day as Nishigori. Everyone was half-playing during practice time as if it was just a different type of PE class. No one else had practiced in school and at home.

As everyone had fallen silent, I left that place.

～～～～～～～

I went to the area that Team Two was in charge of cleaning and called to a certain person. The two of us went to a courtyard that not many people were in.

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Normally, there’d be a lot of people at the courtyards. If you wanted to have a secret conversation, the balconies were the best place for it. But that was the reverse today. The balconies were being used for recording the sports festival, so the photographers were there and it was filled with people and luggage. Compared to that, the courtyard, which was far away from the grounds, was peaceful and no one was there. Right now, everyone was cleaning their assigned areas here and there, so almost no one would come here.

“Do you know why… I have called you? Hagiwara Shion-san.”

“…”

Even though I faced her directly and asked her that, Hagiwara Shion didn’t answer. She just stayed silent and glared at me.

“I do not know! Why have you called me? Kujou Sakuya-san.”

Oh… she wasn’t remaining silent at all; instead, she seemed to be getting mad. Then, it couldn’t be helped.

“Do you not know? Then, I will ask you a question. Why did you trip Nishigori Yanagi-kun during the relay?”

“What!?… what are you talking about?”

Hagiwara Shion was clearly surprised, but she still pretended that she didn’t know. Well, if she were to acknowledge it from the beginning, she probably wouldn’t have committed such an ingenious, planned act. Sending him flying and disguising it as an accident was probably all part of her plan.

“Is that so… You do not know, yes…? I was merely asking for your true motive, however… if you still feign innocence… must I release the video that my family has recorded to the public?”

“…huh?”

At my words, Hagiwara Shion quickly paled. It looked like she was able to understand the importance of the matter.

“My family… had many cameras trained on me as I was entered in the relay. Of course, that includes the moment before the baton was passed to me. To capture the whole race, cameras were placed at various angles and recorded that moment. Therefore, it is clearly recorded… the moment when you sent Nishigori Yanagi flying… Or will you perhaps say that you were unaware of it and that it did not happen?”

“Th-… That is…”

Hagiwara Shion had turned deathly pale and was shivering. Of course, the thing about the recording in the cameras was a bluff. I didn’t actually have any time to check if something was really recorded, you know? In the first place, I didn’t even know if I was being recorded. I wouldn’t know how much of the race had been recorded. Everything was just a bluff.

But the results were extreme. A first-grader wouldn’t calmly think of asking the teacher in the classroom or that I wouldn’t have any time to check the recording right after the sports festival. And it was true that many cameras were recording. It wasn’t impossible that one of those cameras had recorded it somewhere.

“B-Because! I had to do it! That guy—That guy made Konoe-sama fall and said those stupid things! The Nishigori family under the Konoe monryuu! The Nishigori family, who’s nothing more than a branch of the Hagiwara family! If the Konoe family’s eye falls on us because he did that, then the Hagiwara family’ll be destroyed! That’s why I made that guy meet that fate! It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault! Uwaaah!”

She said all the things that she wanted to say, screamed loudly, then started crying. I wanted to cry… I had imagined something like that, but in reality, that was pretty pointless.

The Nishigori family was a branch of the Hagiwara family. A member of the Nishigori family, who was part of the Konoe monryuu, said that he’d win against Konoe Ibuki. Hagiwara Shion, who felt a sense of impending danger, obstructed Nishigori Yanagi so he wouldn’t win. But that was it…

The contents themselves were pointless. Ibuki losing at the relay wouldn’t mean that they’d be expelled from the monryuu or would be removed from the related group. It was all a product of Hagiwara Shion’s overactive imagination.

Nishigori Yanagi was blamed that much in class and felt responsibility. If left alone, he might even start getting bullied. All of that happened because of one girl’s racing imagination… Something like that happening in real life was an impossibility within impossiblities…

“No one will be angered and kicked out of the monryuu because Konoe Ibuki had lost the relay. Rather, someone may be angered because you have disrupted the relay in such a way. Do you not understand that, despite being part of the Konoe monryuu?”

“Uwaaaaaah! *sniffle*! Agh… aaaaaah!”

She was just bawling… she couldn’t talk…

“*sigh*… I was not planning to blame you… at the very least… I wish for you to understand the importance of the mess you have made…”

I just said that, left Hagiwara Shion alone, and walked away from that place. I wasn’t going to accompany a crying child forever. More importantly, what’d happen to Nishigori and the people around the Konoes… I felt depressed from just thinking about that.