Sato waited till 12pm for his running event to start. Even though there was no expectations placed on him, he had a sense of responsibility to try his very best. Not only that, it was exciting to find out how you place in a competition.
Sato wore the engineering school dryfit shirt. It was a striking yellow that was different from the other department's shirts. Standing on the race track were 15 other individuals that would be running concurrently. The shirts worn by the different departments basically made a rainbow on the track.
The 2500m had 2 rounds. In the end of both rounds, the fastest 10 individuals from the runners would give points to their respective school departments. Only the top 3 would get a medal of excellence.
In Sato's round, he was the only Engineering student. Standing amongst the crowd of runners, there were 2 individuals that stuck out from everyone else. One was Jacob Williams, a long distance runner that broke the national record last year. The other was the current captain of the track and field team, Michael Sanders. To top it off, more than half of Sato's group were from the track and field team.
Even so, when the race had started, Sato gave it his best. Jogging at a good pace from the start, Sato maintained his position in the middle of the pack. If he could maintain at this pace for the remaining 5 laps, he could hope to be in the top ten.
Unfortunately, things started to spice up during the 4th lap. As expected, both Jacob Williams and Michael Sanders were neck in neck at 1st and 2nd place. Everyone else were more or less grouped together. The more seasoned runners knew that it was time to kick it up a notch if they wanted a chance to get a better placing. And so, with the 5th lap coming close, half of the pack had split up and started to increase their speed.
Sato noticed this change in momentum and decided that he should follow along. Even though he was already tired from the quick paced jogging, he wanted to not dissapoint himself if he didn't put in his best effort. Kicking the tired mindset away, Sato ran onwards.
In the viewing point, that was supposed to be the president's office, there stood the three famous alumni from University Z. Pete Kouglas held a martini class in his hand as he spectated the race from above. The 3rd floor view allowed him to see everything clearly.
"Oh? I just saw something interesting." Pete smirked while watching the race.
"Hmm? What is it?" Marion came towards the wide glass pane, looking at what Pete was talking about.
"You see that boy in the yellow t-shirt?"
"Yeah? What's wrong with him? He looks pretty normal to me."
"That student may look normal, but his identity is rather special." When Pete dropped the hint, both the president and vice-president came to check out what he was talking about. Only Jesslyn remained seated, not curious whatsoever.
When he realised that he caught the attention of Marion, he continued to speak. "That boy over there has a special relationship with Gray."
"Gray? Serious?" Marion asked questionably. "What kind of relationship?"
Both of the heads of University Z didn't know much about who Gray was. The only person that was famous in Country Z with the name Gray was none other than the Major General of their country. The alumni couldn't be talking about him right? If there was someone related to the General, wouldn't they know about it?
When Sato was able to come back to university, Gray's brother, Noah had done the admission process quietly. There was no need to broadcast to the whole world about Sato's relationship with his brother. So, it was as expected that the president and vice-president knew nothing about it.
"Well, I'm actually not sure myself. All I know was that the last time I had encountered the two together, there was this protective instinct that rose out of Gray." Pete retold his story to Marion, to which he raised his eyebrows.
"That's an eye-opener." Marion commented back. He looked at Sato that was trying his best to run the last lap.
"Yeah. Just like you, I have never seen Gray act like that since he was young."
"Who exactly are you talking about?" The President decided to ask the alumni.
"Ah, it's none of your business, Solomon." Pete called out the President by his last name, disrespectfully. In spite of that, the President could only quietly back away from the two individuals by the glass pane.
"Sorry..." The president gritted his teeth. He bowed slightly, not looking into Pete's eyes.
The reason why the president had to be so respectful had to do with an important reason. Behind Pete's job as the CEO of Jfront Clothing, his family background, could be said to be more than stellar. The Kouglas family was one of the major shareholders of University Z. Pete's Family was the founder of Geneva United Bank. They were one of the founding families that settled in Country Z, back when the economy just started. They moved their original base of operations to this promise land and had grown their bank exponentially ever since.
"It seems that we should at least go say hi to this young man." Ignoring what had happened with the President, Marion continued to speak. Just like Pete, Marion's family background was far from normal.