Chapter 168: Tap that Ball

After a fulfilling lunch with the three girls at that empty clubroom, we're now back at the Gymnasium for our PE.

This time, that discipline freak of a teacher probably got reprimanded from the last PE Class where the 7th period had to be skipped due to the utter exhaustion of the students with low stamina.

"I wonder what she will have us do today."

Sakuma commented behind me. Even he was probably starting to get scared of this teacher's method.

"Probably nothing?"

I answered him which voiced out what everyone wished for.

As always, she had us stand up straight without breaking our posture. I looked around and saw Itou at the front of the Class 3 girls. Nami, Satsuki and Aya were together. Ah. Mori and Chii were also near them.

"Hopefully nothing."

Sakuma seconded my doubtful wish.

As if that will come true.

After 10 minutes, she told us that we will be divided into groups consisting of 10 students. The PE Teacher prepared another activity for us that she believed would be helpful. Not for our stamina but for our reflexes 

She then went on and picked 10 students who will demonstrate what the activity entails.

She had one of the 10 students stay in the middle while the other 9 circled around him before they were told to take 4 steps backwards.

With that kind of setup, she had someone push a cart full of dodgeball balls inside. Yep, the normal balls but I doubt it will all be used.

She picked up one ball and gave it to one of the students that were forming the circle before explaining the activity further.

The game is quite easy to understand. It can even be called 'Bullying the kid in the middle'.

Err… However, she named it 'Tap that Ball' instead.

Each student will be given 60 seconds to become the 'It' that will stand in the middle of the circle. He or she has to at least tap the ball that will be given to the 9 students for them to pass around.

Everyone from the group of 10 will have one try at being the 'It'. 

One student raised his hand to ask her about the benefit of winning the game as well as what will happen if they fail to tap it in 60 seconds.

"Those who will lose will be reorganized and will have to play another game amongst themselves. They'll do that until they eventually win the game."

"What about those who will win?"

"They're free for the rest of the PE Class, unlike the losers who will have to play it until they tap the ball. And I don't like to see you intentionally letting someone win. If you're caught, not only the two who cheated but everyone will have to run around the Gymnasium for 10 laps. Understand?"

Ah. Her tendency to use collective punishment was brought out again. At least that will mean that everyone won't deliberately cheat and will do the activity honestly. Unless someone wants the whole class to go down with him.

5 students from each class will be made into 1 group which means this joint PE class with Class 3 will produce 6 groups of 10 students.

Only three groups will play at one point while the others will spectate. This way, everyone will have sufficient rest and that discipline freak of a teacher will get away from another reprimanding for exhausting the students until they collapse.

At least she's not forcing us anymore but yeah, she's probably hoping for someone to cheat.

Sakuma and I were put into the same group together with Tadano, Ogawa and Fukuda. The five girls who I noticed earlier were separated into two groups though. Satsuki, Aya and Chii were together while Nami and Mori were together in the same group along with Kikuchi and Imada.

Right. That's like they were deliberately put to one group because they're friends.

She's really hoping for them to be lenient and let their friend win the game, eh? She really wanted to accuse someone of cheating so that she will have an excuse to have us run.

Itou together with four other girls in her class was grouped with Satsuki, Aya and Chii's group.

After the groupings, the activity will start and to avoid the hassle, our group opted to play first. Satsuki and Nami's group also opted to play alongside us.

With 60 seconds per student, it will end in less than 10 minutes so… that is something to look forward to.

"Alright. Start!"

The PE teacher blew her whistle indicating the start of the game. From the audience, she designated 3 students who will time us and another 3 who will become the referee that will determine whether a winning student cheated or not.

A Class 3 student opted to go first for our group. Sakuma, upon receiving the ball held onto it first and only when the guy was a step away did he pass it to his right which is me. Because of that, he swerved towards me but before he did that, I already passed the ball behind him by throwing it above his head.

There was an additional rule to the game, if one dropped the passed ball, his time would be deducted by seconds it took for him to pick up the ball when his turn came. And the deduction will be added to the time of who's playing at the moment.

And unluckily. The guy I passed the ball with dropped it and it took him two seconds to pick it up behind him, earning the 'It' two more seconds for his time.

Apart from that guy, no one dropped the ball again and the 'It' successfully tapped the ball at 59 seconds on the clock.

Once he did realize his win, he cheered his lungs out like he won the lottery. But yeah that was quite impressive. With the distance between us and the middle, it will be hard for the legs to make a quick turn.

I wonder. Will the girls be okay?

I looked at my left where Satsuki's group is. Aya was now about to play her turn, she had that determined look on her face that wanted to win the game.

When she saw me looking at her. She smiled beautifully and was seemingly energized when I whispered good luck to her.

Taking my eyes off their group, the 2nd guy already stepped in the middle of us. It's the guy who got his time deducted by two. He's glaring at me as if it's my fault that he got his time deducted.

Well, he's probably not expecting me to pass it over to him but that was not my fault. This guy, should I have him lose?

"Whoa. That guy is staring daggers at you Onoda."

Sakuma commented since he's next to me, he saw how that game seemed to bear a grudge against me.

"Seems like it."

I nodded at him. It's not like he will get anything from glaring at me.

"Yo. Wanna let him lose?"

Fukuda joined our conversation with an evil grin on his face.

"Let's have the rest of them lose. They will probably team up as well."

Tadano commented as well after hearing Fukuda.

It's true though, they were also conversing to each other right now.

"Right."

Ogawa added. Though he seems to be left out, he just had nothing to add to the conversation.

Having decided that, a secret competition was suddenly brewed in our group.

I noticed the PE teacher smiling while looking at us.

Ah. This is the effect she wanted to achieve, no? A rivalry between classes. Well, it's child's play compared to other schemes so this is fine.

And with the referee there, no one will attempt to cheat. This will be a battle of passes then. But of course, those from Class 3 won't give their all if they're passing to a classmate and same with us, we could either pass it among the 5 of us or pass it hard that the guy from another class will drop the ball.

Err… the game became harder for the student in the middle but that's not our concern anymore.

And due to that competition that happened, we managed to not let the 2nd guy win. 58 seconds passed by in a blink.

Aya won when she managed to tap the ball at the 50-second mark. That made Satsuki and Chii cheer with her.

Seeing that, the guy became more pissed as he gritted his teeth while looking around to whoever will take his turn next. He will take his place to reform the circle after all.

Since the other class already sent in two of them, I decided to take my turn this time.

When I passed by the guy, he whispered something to me with a somewhat mocking tone.

"Congrats. You'll lose as well."

"Don't worry, 20 seconds is enough for me."

I answered him calmly which made him grit his teeth harder. For sure, he'll try to give me a hard time.

Of all people, he chose to antagonize me. Haa… I didn't deliberately let him drop the ball but he blamed it on me.

This is how the world works. Others will just really blame you for their mistakes.

As I stood in the middle. My turn to play started.

Alright. Let's win this in 20 seconds to aggravate that guy further.