「 Then, let"s begin 」Captain Takes.h.i.+ba said while looking at Megu, Nikita, and Edie standing in the start position.
A lot of students are already surrounding the grounds.
The club members are looking worried.
Nei and I also are watching intently.
Nikita"s a girl who respects those who won against her in a match.
The race is a marathon of three laps around the grounds.
If it"s a short-distance race, then Nikita"s high power output would overwhelm.
In a medium distance race, Megu who regularly trains herself has a chance of winning.
「 On your mark 」
Megu"s the only one wearing a full three-piece set for the girl"s athletic club, short-pants, tank-top, and spiked shoes, she does a crouching pose.
Edie in her school uniform is making short jumps.
Nikita who"s wearing a jumpsuit and long boots wave at the students with a smile.
「 Ready! 」
Megu lifts up her cute a.s.s.
The two American girls, brown and white don"t feel tense at all.
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba grabs the whistle hanging on her neck.
Piiii!!!
A sharp sound of a whistle rings.
「 GO! 」
Edie"s the first one to jump out.
I mean.
What"s with that?
A savanna cheetah?
She dashed with a momentum of a rocket boost.
Zubababababababa!!!
Oh, she"s already turned on the first corner.
She"s rus.h.i.+ng through the uneven soil like she"s flying.
Megu"s the second.
Megu"s running on her own pace, not getting dragged by Edie"s speed.
She"s breathing rhythmically.
She swings her hands and runs with enormous strides.
Nikita"s following immediately behind.
Hey.
Nikita"s putting her hands behind her head, smiling.
It"s as if she"s just taking a stroll.
Even so, her foot kicks the ground at high speed that she sticks behind Megu.
「 That b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s underestimating her 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba said while looking at Nikita.
「 Hey, take it seriously! You two are having a match, weren"t you?! 」
Nikita waves at captain Takes.h.i.+ba, smiling.
「 Oh? I"m running seriously though! 」
Even so, she"s not taking further than one-meter distance behind Megu.
「 Well, I could just win right away 」
Nikita waves her hand towards us.
「 Lap 2 」
Meanwhile, Edie"s finished a lap so fast.
What the h.e.l.l?
She"s not slowing down at all.
If she continues this momentum, she"ll finish the second lap right away.
「 Ooooh! What"s that?! 」
「 She"s running like a racehorse! 」
「 That looks like a wild boar! 」
「 Isn"t that three times faster than average? 」
「 In Soul command, that"s “Acceleration” x2, “Awakening,” “Concentration,” “Fighting Spirit” x3. 」
「 Black Lightning? 」
「 Edie-san! Amazing! 」
The audience only looks at Edie who"s blasting away.
Ah, Megu and Nikita are a lap behind.
「 Yo-chan 」
Nei whispers while we watch the race.
「Someone is standing out in the right crowd, around the middle, right? 」
Huh?
Oh, right, there"s a beauty in school uniform over there.
A girl, having a headband and short-cut hair.
She"s the only girl who stands out in beauty among her surroundings.
Is she a senior?
「 That"s a second year, Hos.h.i.+zaki Kansan 」
Hos.h.i.+zaki-san?
「 When the day is over, Yo-chan"s s.e.m.e.n will be flowing inside that girl"s womb! 」
Nei?
「 Ah, she"s a virgin. Although we"ll check it out later 」
No, why are you making plans on my affair when Megu"s working hard here?
「 Yeah. She"s older than Yo-chan, yet she feels child-like, quite lewd, isn"t it? According to her data this year, she has quite the bod even when she looks like that. She"s got long legs and thin ankles. Did you know, Yo-chan? Girls with small ankles have great tightness 」
Nei said. I stare at Hos.h.i.+zaki-san unconsciously.
Hos.h.i.+zaki-san"s wearing her skirt a bit shorter, just like the other girls.
Right above her kneecap, her thighs look so fair and slippery.
「 By the way, Hos.h.i.+zaki-san"s dating a guy of the same year. They"re on the first month of their relations.h.i.+p, still lovey-dovey 」
Huh? Hos.h.i.+zaki-san has a boyfriend?
「 Pus.h.i.+ng the boyfriend aside, Yo-chan will take Hos.h.i.+zaki-san"s first time! Looks fun 」
T-That"s.
Then.
「 Kyaa! 」
I hear Megu"s scream on the other side of the grounds.
Oh, looks like her foot slipped on the gra.s.s due to the uneven terrain.
「 Caught Ya! 」
Nikita immediately supports Megu who was about to fall down.
She grabs Megu"s waist with both hands.
Megu lost her balance received Nikita"s support, then they continued running without her falling down.
「 That Russian b.a.s.t.a.r.d 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba looks at Megu and Nikita with a bitter face.
「 Is that why she"s staying behind Yamamine? 」
Huh?
Ah, Megu tripped on the b.u.mpy road again.
「 Auuu?! 」
「 Catch 」
Nikita pushes her up with perfect timing from behind.
Therefore, Megu doesn"t fall down, and she continues to run.
「 Lap 3! 」
At that time, Edie"s entering her final lap.
She continues her fast run with her never-slowing speed.
「 Speaking of which, that tanned foreigner is wearing leather shoes 」
One of the male students notices the abnormality.
「 How can she run at that speed on a rough place with that kind of shoes? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba glares at the man.
「 She must be used to running on mountain paths with that shoes 」
Well, she runs around the mansion a lot.
The back side of the mansion has a road leading uphill.
It"s a b.u.mpy road.
「 Leaving that aside, the problem is that white girl, she"s running with such heavy boots. Even so, she"s sticking precisely behind Yamamine. She looks like she"s got more to spare 」
Right, Nikita"s the abnormal here.
She just keeps on smiling, as if she"s just playing around. She"s waving at us and our surroundings, helping out Megu when she"s about to fall. She"s putting strength only on her lower body, and she keeps up with Megu who"s swinging her hands a lot.
「 Okay, that"s the goal! 」
Even though Megu and Nikita just entered the second lap.
Edie already crossed the goal, and she jumped at me.
「 Darling!!! 」
「 Hey, stop, don"t get so frolic here! 」
「 Why not? Let her do what she wants Yo-chan 」
「 But you know, hmm! 」
Edie hugs my back and rubs her cheeks on me. Then I feel something out of place.
Wait.
「 Edie, you"re not sweating at all 」
Edie looks at me blankly.
「 That"s obvious, I wasn"t doing exercise that would sweat me 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba"s startled.
「 You just run three full laps around the grounds at full speed!! 」
She retorted to Edie so loud that it almost echoed.
「 What do you mean? 」
「 It meant, Edie, didn"t you run three laps with all your speed? 」
I tried to simplify it.
「 Nonon, I didn"t run at full speed 」
Huh?
「 It"s still early in the morning, if I run with all my strength then I"d feel sleepy during cla.s.ses. Then, I"d get hungry before noon. That"s why I only run with 80% of my speed 」
That was just 80%?
「 Also, Darling would hate it if I get sweaty. That"s why I controlled my run, so I don"t sweat 」
「 Can you even do that? 」
「 Obviously! 」
Ah, she"s a woman who mastered the a.s.sa.s.sination techniques from her cult.
In cases where they mark the target for an extended period, they mastered tech of controlling their sweat not to cause dehydration.
「 Oh, Megumi"s back now! 」
Ah, Megu also finished three laps and is now coming here.
But.
「 Uwan! 」
「 Here! 」
「 Kyaa! 」
「 There! 」
「 Ahn! 」
「 Catch! 」
Megu"s totally exhausted, her running speed is falling down.
She"s tripped so many times due to the uneven road and gra.s.s.
Then, every time Megu"s about to fall, Nikita scoops Megu.
「 Look, Yamamine, last spurt! 」
The last thirty meters is in front of the grounds, so it"s a well-paved road.
She can"t trip now.
「 Yes, Captain! 」
Megu motivates herself and speeds up, but.
「 Goodbye, Megumi! 」
Nikita leaves Megu behind on the last ten meters.
She reaches the goal while waving her hand at us.
「 Haa, haa, haa, haa 」
Megu pa.s.ses the goal after five seconds.
Then, she lied down on the ground.
Megu"s covered in sweat.
「 Haa, haa, haa, haa 」
She"s breathing so roughly that she can"t speak right now.
Her heart must be beating so hard.
Blood runs through her whole body and sweat spills out.
「 Yamamine 」
Takes.h.i.+bsenpai looks at Megu feeling sorry.
On the other hand, Edie and Nikita.
「 Heey~ 」
「 Yoooo~ 」
They ran the same distance yet they don"t show fatigue.
The two of them are doing a kung-fu show or something to the audience.
Nikita avoids Edie"s high-kick with a backflip.
They do not have short breaths at all.
This time, Nikita throws consecutive punches to Edie.
Edie avoids all of it and then does a dropkick to Nikita.
「 Oooh!! 」
The audience claps and cheers to the skillful display of the two.
If they had hats, money would come flying there.
「 Stop it now 」
Captain stops the two with a sharp voice.
Nikita laughs.
「 Oh, right. I had a match with Megumi, I forgot about it because it didn"t feel like it was 」
Nikita speaks in her arrogant att.i.tude.
「 Hey now, are you okay, Megu-chan? 」
Nei takes out a sports drink from her bag and lets Megu drink from it.
To think that she had this prepared.
Nei predicted that Megu will lose to Nikita.
「 Leaving that aside, how about you explain yourself? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba glares at Nikita.
「 Oh? About what? 」
「 Sure, you"re trained better than Yamamine, and you have the strength. I can see that. And yet, why were you looking down on Yamamine? 」
Nikita laughs.
「 Are you misunderstanding something? I"m not that kind of woman 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba;
「 If you ran with serious effort, you could have finished it together with the brown girl, right? 」
I see.
Edie ran together with Nikita to show the actual speed of Nikita.
「 What are you talking about? Edie didn"t run at her full speed, right? Besides, if I get serious, I"m faster than Edie when it comes to marathon 」
「 In that case, why did you not take your match with Yamamine seriously?! j.a.panese women always fight at their full strength no matter how inferior their opponents are. Do you not have the j.a.panese spirit of “Being the lion?” 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba.
These two are Americans.
「 You don"t get what"s the main point, do you? 」
Nikita snorts.
「 What do you mean? 」
Captian Takes.h.i.+ba"s breathing roughly but she can"t see that Nikita belongs to an actual criminal organization.
「 It was our match, you know? If that"s the case, it"s my win as long as I get to the goal before Megumi, right? I don"t need to be fussed over the time at all 」
Nikita laughs.
「 I mean, you said this before the race “track-and-field events are inherently a fight against ourselves.” In short, your goal is to improve your best no matter who you are running with, right? 」
「 Yes 」
「 But, that wasn"t a track-and-field event. You said that our match isn"t recognized as one, isn"t that why you had us run outside the grounds? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba fell silent.
「 So, how many meters is the outer circ.u.mference of the grounds? You know the exact number, right? 」
「 No 」
「 Then, there"s no point in competing for time, is there? What nonsense 」
Nikita laughs loudly.
「 If all I need is to win against Megumi, shouldn"t I take the most efficient method? I"m not someone who"s always full of energy like Edie 」
「 Is that why you were only chasing behind Yamamine and then overtake her on the last sprint? 」
「 Do you even have eyeb.a.l.l.s? Or what is that? A gla.s.s ball? 」
Nikita provokes Captain Takes.h.i.+ba, but.
Captain bows her head to Nikita.
「 No, I was wrong. Sorry 」
Huh?
「 You stayed behind Yamamine to keep her safe 」
Nikita.
「 It"s your fault! Megumi only trains on compet.i.tion tracks, right? To think that you"d let a girl who only runs on a flat ground run to a dangerous course 」
Nikita"s angry?
「 I train myself on irregular terrains on cross-country races. Even so, I carry dozens of kilos of equipment. Your track and field discipline is for a different fight! That"s why all I can do was to run while keeping in mind not letting Megumi hurt 」
Nikita is Miss Cordelia"s subordinate.
She"s trained to carry guns, ammo, food, water, in mountains and such.
「 I don"t know how sacred you feel athletics is but, isn"t it wrong to let Megumi get injured from a match? 」
「 No, you"re right. Sorry. I was wrong 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba bows her head to Nikita and Megu.
「 I didn"t think about how dangerous that could"ve been 」
「 Either way, I look like I was playing around, so you thought that Megumi"s going to win in the end, right? 」
「 Certainly 」
I see. Captain Takes.h.i.+ba.
She thought that Nikita couldn"t catch up with Megu"s speed.
Therefore, she didn"t think that Megu would lose her footing and reach exhaustion in the end.
In reality.
Nikita"s sticking to Megu"s pace.
Megu can only raise her pace to keep ahead of Nikita.
Then, even when she speeds up, Nikita"s following her with the same feel.
It may feel painful, but she can"t slow down her pace.
Therefore, she"s acc.u.mulating fatigue more than expected that the second half of the race was her slipping.
「 I"ve been lacking in consideration. Forgive me Yamamine 」
Seeing captain Takes.h.i.+ba bow to her, Megu.
「 Haa, haa, haa. It"s me who lost, it"s not Captain"s fault 」
Megu"s breathing isn"t restored yet.
I.
「 For now, thanks. Megu isn"t hurt thanks to Nikita 」
I bow my head to Nikita.
「 Geez, you"re so helpless 」
Nikita tells me showing a huge smile on her face.
「 Megumi is Yos.h.i.+da"s most cherished girl, isn"t she?! If she got injured while Yos.h.i.+da"s watching, I"m sure that Yos.h.i.+da will get sad! 」
She speaks loudly so the people could hear it.
「 Seriously!!! 」
Edie"s also smiling.
「 Hey. Yamamine earlier was a bit hysteric that I didn"t understand what exactly she was talking about, so I wasn"t able to get the whole picture 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba glares at me.
「 What are these foreign girls got to do with you? 」
Err.
Ah.
The people around look at me now.
「 What I heard from Yamamine, it seems that these girls were flirting with you, and that"s why Yamamine got angry or something, I don"t get it 」
Well, that"s.
「 What? Nikita flirting with him? 」
「 No way! 」
「 Must be a joke 」
「 But, aren"t those two engaged? 」
「 Yes, that"s right. He"s the breadboy, right? 」
「 It"s the First year Yos.h.i.+da and Yamamine, right? 」
「 Still, I can"t believe that a first year is engaged to that cute girl 」
「 Aren"t they already living together? I heard that there were some who went and played at their home 」
「 I mean, they sleep on the same bed, right? 」
「 Yes, that! I heard that when you"re engaged, you can have s.e.x as much as you want 」
「 That gets on my nerves, that"s why I don"t buy the bread he sells 」
「 I also don"t buy from him, I can"t forgive him 」
「 Yeah, it"s a bit shameless 」
I see.
The reason why the sales in my bakery aren"t going up is that.
「 No, I"m still buying bread, it"s said that you"d be graced with a girlfriend when you eat the bread he makes 」
「 Are you serious? 」
「 I mean, he"s got her. Furthermore, he"s banging her like every day 」
Megu.
「 We"re not doing it every day! *Cough Cough* 」
Megu still hasn"t recovered yet.
「 BUt you know, you"re still doing it 」
「 I"ll stop buying bread from him 」
「 Me too 」
「 Yeah, somehow, I can"t get satisfied with it 」
Then.
「 Who told you to speak so selfishly!! 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba condemns the audience.
「 He and Yamamine are dating earnestly, he persuaded her parents, the school. They made a decision in their lives. Even his work in the bakery, it"s his thought of doing the job right now to earn a living for their future 」
「 Y-Yes 」
For now, I replied to captain Takes.h.i.+ba.
「 So, who are these foreigners to you?! Explain it to me in a way I would understand 」
Err.
「 Well, you see, Takes.h.i.+bsan 」
Nei gets in between.
「 What about you too?! You got close to Yamamine and this guy before anyone noticed, also, weren"t you helping them out in the bakery?! 」
Oh, Takes.h.i.+bsan"s looking at us, mainly Megu.
She can"t see Nei"s relations.h.i.+p between us.
「 Helper? I"m just a seller! 」
「 I know! Nei-chan!! 」
「 I buy the bread for Nei-chan!! 」
「 I mean, is that seriously Natou-san? 」
Oh, right.
They"ve always been wondering about it.
「 I heard that he had Natou-san stop dying her hair blonde 」
「 But, her black hair right now looks lovely! 」
「 I like the one now! Kyaa! I said it. 」
「 I"ve been a fan of Natou-senpai since she"s got blonde hair 」
「 I mean, Nei-chan"s cute! Justice! 」
「 Nei-chan! Hey, hey!! Nenana! Neeeaaa!!! 」
Oh, she"s got a lot of fans.
Well, she"s got some hidden fans since her hair was blonde.
Then when she changed it back, they all turned up.
「 In my case, I"m close to Yamamine, so I don"t want to have some strange worried, but. You"ve got some bad rumors around you from before. I”m a bit concerned that you are a bit closer to these two 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba said.
Now then.
How should we explain this?
「 I only want to become an Onee-chan for Yo-chan and Megu-chan! I love them as an elder sister 」
Nei said with a smile.
「 As an elder sister? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba gives Nei a suspecting look.
「 Yes, as an elder sister 」
Nei"s smile is fresh.
「 Ooh, then that means my chances of getting Nei-chan as my girlfriend is now at a particle level! 」
「 That"s not going to happen! Try saying that again but look in the mirror this time 」
Nei said. The audience laughs.
「 Don"t say that 」
「 No, no, no, “the count of sands in Ganges river is the same as all of the sands in Ganges river,” that there"s not a single percent of possibility for it 」
「 Ouch! 」
Err.
「 I see. If you say it like that then I won"t ask further, but 」
No, Takes.h.i.+bsan.
This cheerful looking elder sister loves having s.e.x with her younger brother though.
「 Then, what about these two foreign girls? Yamamine got angry and cried to me, I think that there"s a problem with them, but 」
Nikita"s smiling.
「 I think everyone already knows. First of all, I"m Edie"s close friend 」
The two of them are foreigners.
Hearing that, everyone agrees with her.
「 Then, Yos.h.i.+da here is also a precious friend of mine 」
Nikita smiles at me.
「 Are you sure that it"s just friends? 」
「 Yes, just friends. I won"t lie there 」
Well, yeah.
s.e.x friend is also a friend.
「 Well, I get it. In that case, what about this brown girl? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba asks Edie.
「 Me? 」
「 Yes, you. You"ve entered the school last May and finally admitted into school this September. Back then, you said that you were a homestay at his house, but now, he and Yamamine are living together, you"re in a different home now, aren"t you? 」
Edie, I beg you.
Don"t say something strange in front of all these people.
「 You see, I like Darling! I love him 」
She said, showing an innocent smile.
「 Also, Darling says that he likes me too! 」