Volume 3 - CH 16

At marathons, the girls are supposed to start running first and then the boys a little later.

Why this is done in this order, no one knows…

Perhaps it’s to avoid crowding.

In general, if you compare boys and girls, you can assume that the boys are faster.

And although there is a difference in distance, 10km for boys and 7km for girls… Within this distance, the lead group of boys will soon catch up with the back group of girls.

This is why they delay the start of the boy’s race.

As a result of this, it was time for Yuzuru and the company to run after seeing off Arisa and others.

At the signal, all the boys started running at once.

Yuzuru also started to run alongside Soichiro and the others.

(… At first, there is no difference, or rather, everyone goes along with the others.)

Was this because of the unique Japanese tendency to adjust to the group, to look around, and then decide what to do?

Or do boys and girls all over the world adjust to their surroundings?

Or was it because they simply run slowly in the beginning, so they don’t make a significant gap?

No idea why, but it’s customary for everyone to start out in a dumpling-like formation and keep in step.

Then, a few people would start to break away from the group…

The first thing that happened was that the lead group and the back group began to diverge.

The next thing you know, there’s a big gap between the lead group and the back group.

“……” (Now what to do?)

The one running in front of Yuzuru was Soichiro.

The one running behind him was Hijiri.

Soichiro doesn’t intend to let Yuzuru and Hijiri get ahead of him, and Hijiri was probably planning to overtake Yuzuru and Soichiro at the end of the race.

And of course, Yuzuru doesn’t intend to be overtaken by Hijiri, but rather he intends to overtake Soichiro.

It’s the beginning of the race, so they are keeping a certain distance to see how each other is doing, but from the middle of the race, it will become a psychological battle.

(Well, maybe we should keep this distance for now.)

Yuzuru’s first priority was to preserve his physical strength.

Yuzuru and the others are relatively in the lead group, which means, they soon began to catch up with the back group of women.

And in the back group,… Tenka was there.

Even though it was still early in the race, she was already looking distressed.

“Are you okay?”

“…z~ee~, don’t, z~ee~, speak to me….”

Such a conversation could be heard from behind.

It seemed that Hijiri had called out to Tenka.

But Tenka didn’t seem to have much room to answer.

Now, as they passed Tenka and approached the middle section…

Just on the other side of the lane was the lead group of girls running past the turnaround point.

And among them were… Ayaka and Chiharu.

The two of them are not the type to hold back or take a wait-and-see attitude in their personalities, so they must have been in the lead from the beginning.

But it seemed that they were having a hard time.

They only made light eye contact with each other and passed on.

And a short time after that…

He spotted a group of girls among the middle group ahead of him, about to turn the “girls” turning point.

(Ah…)

And in it was a uniform number with the surname ‘Yukishiro’ written on it.

Her beautiful flaxen hair, tucked into a bun at the back, swayed.

Circling the triangular cone placed as a landmark, … Arisa turned in the direction of Yuzuru and the others.

Her white skin was flushed and there was sweat on her skin.

She looked a little harried.

…. And slightly, her large breasts were swaying.

A pair of healthy white legs are peeking out from the short pants.

The gym uniform was a little sweaty, and the camisole was slightly transparent.

As Yuzuru was giving a hot stare to the slightly sexy Arisa…

As expected, Arisa also noticed Yuzuru.

And then, as if she misunderstood something, she gave a smile towards Yuzuru.

(Cute… )

His body suddenly felt full of strength.

But at the same time, he felt a bit bewildered.

(I don’t want any other man to see this…)

This fairy-like, pretty, and glamorous “fiancée” is only for me, and I don’t want any other man to see her.

Such a desire for exclusivity arose in him.

(No, but… I also want to show off…)

At the same time, he wanted to show off his fiancée.

Like, ‘My “fiancée” is cute, isn’t she? Don’t you envy me?’

(Oh, this is not good.)

After thinking that much, Yuzuru hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand.

Without realizing it, his facial muscles had loosened up and he was grinning.

A man running with a grin on his face…

It would be a quite uncomfortable sight, to say the least.

He tightened his expression… and arrived at the turnaround point for the “boys”.

If the start point is the same for both women and men, it is only natural that the turnaround would be different.

Yuzuru went around the triangle cone…

Then he noticed.

He found Hijiri running beside him.

He was catching up to Yuzuru.

Yuzuru sped up so that he didn’t get overtaken by Hijiri, and also tried to overtake Soichiro.

In response, Soichiro and Hijiri increased their speed.

“……”

“……”

“…ha~”

The three of them, side by side, began to play a game of cat and mouse.

(…This was a mistake, wasn’t it?)

Finally, Yuzuru realized.

If the three of them were to compete, it would only make things harder.

It was easier to just take it easy and run.

However, now the meal is at stake.

In addition, Yuzuru has to give a proper gift to Arisa, so there is no money to spend on buying Soichiro and Hijiri a meal.

Yuzuru runs anyway, thinking about Arisa with all his heart.

However, there will be no concept of physical strength in this world if you can get by only on willpower

Soichiro, Yuzuru, and Hijiri were all reasonably good at exercise, but …

Among them, Soichiro was the one who stood out.

Inevitably, Soichiro took a slight lead, followed by Yuzuru and Hijiri.

(This is not good… not good at all.)

Just behind Yuzuru, Hijiri was following closely.

It seemed that he had decided to catch up with him just before the finish line.

He has been slowly putting pressure on Soichiro and Yuzuru.

They didn’t like it when he pretended to speed up from time to time.

In the meantime, the goal was in sight.

Near the goal, the students who had already arrived were watching from afar.

“Soichiro-kun, hang in there!”

“You’re almost there…”

The voices were of Ayaka and Chiharu.

Then, blatantly, Soichiro’s speed increased.

To be energized by the cheers of women…

What a cash cow!　Yuzuru was inwardly indignant.

By the way, isn’t the love of my life cheering me on?

Thinking so, he searched for her.

Arisa was right next to Ayaka and Chiharu.

She had her hand on her chest and was looking at him.

Arisa’s pretty lips moved slightly.

Please do your best.

That’s what it seemed like.

Strictly speaking, he felt like Arisa gave her support in such a manner.

(That’s right. I have to do my best for Arisa.)

Yuzuru put his last bit of energy into it.

Hijiri also made a final push, but… Yuzuru didn’t care.

Who cares about that guy?

All Yuzuru could think of was Arisa.

And…

“I haven’t had a wrapped hamburger in a long time.”

“I don’t care what it is. As long as it is free.”

While Soichiro and Yuzuru were talking about which diner to go to,

“… You guys, in a fight between men, that kind of thing is not fair… Go die!”

Hijiri let out a vindictive voice.

Incidentally, Tenka crossed the finish line at the end with a huge round of applause.

Everyone felt sorry for her, so they decided not to mention anything about it.