Chapter 231: Capture that Flag

"Onoda-chi is the Flag. Heh. Interesting."

Chii commented after seeing me, she still has her Gyaru persona on but even so, the meaning of our gazes to each other changed ever since she revealed her identity to me.

"Let's all do our best together, Harada-san, Onoda-kun."

Kanzaki fixed her glasses and with an enthusiastic expression on her face, encouraged both of us.

"Likewise, President. Goodluck on stealing flags for our class. Leave Onoda-chi's protection to me."

Chii showed off her nonexistent muscles which garnered a giggle from the serious Class President.

"I'm basically a statue in this activity, I can only cheer on the two of you."

I smiled wryly and tapped on both of their shoulders.

I looked around and observed the girl representatives of the other classes.

Since our classes seldom interacted with each other, it's already a surprise to see an acquaintance from Class 2. One of the representatives is the Student Council Treasurer who I met just this Monday during my secretary work with Shizu-senpai.

Though we never had a conversation, we knew each other by face. As for her name, I never asked. I was focused on Shizu-senpai after all. We only nodded at each other as acknowledgement.

The other girl with her is someone who's somewhat popular due to her record in the 100-meter sprint. She had long hair which she would put up in a bun if she's about to run. She was often the talk of the boys and there were rumors that she already rejected five confessions since the start of the school year. I think her name is Yanagi Kaede.

For Class 3, there is Himeko's little sister, Itou Maaya, who's glaring hatefully at me which I somewhat expected after yesterday. Himeko messaged me this morning that Itou ended up sleeping with her. Just in case I tried to call Himeko, Itou would take the phone and would nag at me. That extreme siscon.

When our eyes matched, I smiled at her which made her turn her head away. The other girl with her was also someone I don't know, she had short green hair adorned by a hair clip with fruit design to hold her fringes to the side.

The other girl representative was probably Itou's friend who screamed high class as well just by the way she moved and acted. She even had a paper fan on her hand and with her hairstyle which showed off her wide forehead, I could feel the same noble vibes that I get from Otoha with her. But yeah, I don't know her name.

For Class 4, I'm a bit thankful that Rae's not included. Just like Aya, she was also on the low stamina side. Their representatives were a pair of tall and short girls. The tall girl was a bit shorter than Satsuki and she's at the Volleyball Club. The small girl was about the same height as Ria, she's the one who I saw at the Art Club painting the guy next to her.

And like the other girls, I don't know their names.

Since the start of the school year, I was mostly focused on my classmates and senior students such as Kana, Haruko and those around them. Rae was brought up because of the club and Itou because of her older sister, Himeko.

Aside from those who I came to know by chance, most 1st-year girls of the other classes were unknown to me.

When I was in middle school it's the other way around, I knew most of those in the other classes and I only knew some in my class.

A simple change of target place reversed everything and in the end evoked some kind of change in me.

If I never targeted Satsuki, will I ever realize how important Akane is to me?

If I didn't bother to try and help Aya get out of her shell, will I discover Haruko early on?

Probably not and I might've become the same guy as I was in middle school. The same Classmate A who's moving behind their backs to steal the girls of the other classes.

I gotta hand it to Sakuma, if not for his talkativeness, I wouldn't discover their hidden feelings for each other…

"Alright, Flags come here in the middle."

After settling down and preparing the field for the activity, Eguchi-sensei called out to us, Flagbearers, who were catching up with our classmates that would be responsible for winning this activity.

Orimura-sensei was at the side of the field with a scoring board. She'll be responsible for that.

Those who were not picked as representatives could now be seen filling up the audience stands upstairs. They were told to rest by both Eguchi and Orimura-sensei but I guess they caught on what the representatives are for. They already filled the stands up even before the activity started.

My eyes instantly discovered where Satsuki, Aya, Nami and Mori are. They were together at one side. Also, the quad of Sakuma, Ogawa, Tadano and Fukuda grouped up near them but yeah, except for Mori who would occasionally look at Ogawa, the three were all looking down from the stands to watch me.

Well, it was fine since Mori expressed what she really wanted. For now, I haven't fully conquered her yet. But that's all that Ogawa could get from her. Occasional looks.

The other three probably thought of cheering for me but they would soon know that my role here was just to stand and follow those who will touch the Flag that will be given to us.

Rae was with her friends but her eyes were focused on me as an undetected glint of excitement could be felt from her gaze.

That girl… Is she excited for our time later?

"Onoda-chi. Don't worry, I'll come to save you, Princess Pinch."

Chii jokingly whispered as she also tapped on my shoulder before I walked over to the middle where Eguchi-sensei is.

"Good luck then, Prince Charming. I'll give you a kiss if you succeed in rescuing me."

I returned her joke and that instantly made her flustered. If she's not careful, her Gyaru Persona would've been broken.

"Kiss…"

And Kanzaki who heard that exchange mumbled that word while looking down at the floor.

Don't tell me she still hasn't gone past that point with her boyfriend? How long was it already? I feel like that guy might be worse than Ogawa. Now I wonder who he is. If Kanzaki comes to ask for my help again, he only has himself to blame.

That guy might possibly be someone from these four classes.

Well, there's no point looking for him. But he should really take his chances when he still can.

"Here are your flags. Put this on your chest pocket. The Captor needs to take that flag. You don't need to do anything as long as your Class Flag is in your pocket. The Captor needs to take that from you and when one of them does, you don't need to follow them but you need to walk straight to their base."

Eguchi-sensei handed our Flag as she continued the explanation for the activity with a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. We instantly followed her instruction and put the Class Flag on our chest pocket.

So the earlier explanation was revised. We don't need to follow the Captor back to their base but we have to start walking as soon as they get the flag from us.

"You have to walk normally or you will fail. If the gap between you and the Captor reaches five steps, the Captor will fail and they have to put back the Flag on your chest pocket. The Rescuer needed to tap on you before you can go back to your original spot, here."

Eguchi-sensei continued and pointed at the four drawn-out circles in the middle, they were numbered one to four and were obviously for us to stand on.

"If the Flag is dropped by the Captor on the floor go back to your spot instantly without waiting for a Rescuer. Also, if you were successfully brought back to their base, go back to your spot after Orimura-sensei recorded that point. Understood?"

For a simple game of Capture the Flag and Tag, these rules were pretty detailed. They really thought it out well. Just like that Dodgeball Game and the Tap that Ball.

At least they're innovative. If only their activity wouldn't be too taxing, it would be fun to keep on playing them.

After she's done explaining to us, she then moved on to give an additional explanation to the girls.

During that time, I looked around the playfield. It's a square with the four corners of it as the bases for each of the class. There was an arc drawn at each corner which indicated the class' base. As soon as the Flags stepped inside it, a score would be gained. The distance from the center to the base is more or less twenty steps. It can be far or near depending on one's leg strides.

When Eguchi-sensei finished explaining to the girls, she stepped out of the playfield and put on the whistle on her mouth.

The Captors are Kanzaki for our class, Yanagi for Class 2, Itou for Class 3 and the Volleyball girl for Class 4.

Once they positioned themselves, Eguchi-sensei blew on the whistle first before shouting.

"Begin!"

As soon as she shouted, four girls started running in the middle as they picked on their targets.

5 seconds later, someone already reached us and took the Flag on my chest pocket.

"You're coming with me."

Itou harrumphed as she started to walk back to their base.