บท 241: Chapter 239 – Before the Sports Festival (1)
After that, both preparation and practice for the sports festival proceeded smoothly.
Or at least, that was according to the student council. With the vice-president returning to duty after recovering, they managed to do their work without issue. Nakamura-san was also regaining her usual cheerfulness. These days, I could see her practicing for the group events.
As for me, things went surprisingly well too.
"Alright, that seems good enough. How's the time, Nina?"
"Hm… One second off from your personal best. You two are good enough to compete with the other pairs now. I expected that you two would improve, but this is a surprise."
"See, Maki? Hard work pays off."
"I-I guess yeah. Well, this was only possible because of your coaching, Umi."
When we first started practicing, our pairing almost always finished last in the mock races because of my slow legs. Umi had to hold back a lot to match my pace. After a lot of practice though, I managed to get a sense of it and was able to keep up with Umi at full speed.
Other pairings of the three-legged races were made of people who belonged in the sports clubs, so they were way superior to us in regards to their physical capabilities. But, we could beat them in terms of cooperation because we were the so-called idiotic couple pairing.
"It's a little early, but let's take a break. You deserve it because we got a good time."
"Why don't we just end the practice as it is? Let's end everything in a good—"
"No. We'll take a fifteen minute break and after that we'll continue practice for real. I want both of us to get used to this mentally so we won't fall behind during the real thing."
"Uwah… Y-Yes ma'am.:"
Umi was still in her demon coach mode.
It seemed like I'd have to receive another Umi Massage today.
We went to our usual break spot together with Nitta-san, who was accompanying us for today's practice. The frozen barley tea we brought had already melted and it successfully quenched our thirst after long hours of practice.
This was the moment when everyone would say something like 'I'm alive again.' It was the first time I'd ever experienced this.
There were sports festivals back in grade school and middle school as well, but I'd never had to work this hard.
…Guess I was slacking too much.
"Phew, it's been a while since practice started, so I didn't realize that August was almost over. I couldn't hook a rich, kind, handsome guy to be my boyfriend this year too. What a bummer."
Said Nitta-san as she hung her head after chugging the sports drink she bought at the vending machine.
Apparently, she had been going on blind dates with students from other schools and didn't manage to find anyone that she fancied.
"Your standards are too high. What rich, kind, handsome guy? Just pick one of them and go with it. Like me for example, I prefer guys with a good personality, that's why I went with Maki. Right, Maki?"
"Don't ask me."
I don't think I fit the description of 'guys with a good personality,' but if that's what Umi thinks, then sure. To be honest, I'd only show my 'good personality' toward a select amount of people, mostly those I was close with like Umi, Amami-san and the others.
"Personality, huh?… Well, I understand where you're coming from, but it's human nature to want for more. I don't think a little bit of everything is bad… I just don't want to be cheated on again, you know?"
I didn't know the details, but I heard that Nitta-san had plenty of unsuccessful relationships. The reasons varied. From being cheated on as soon as she got into a relationship, to being gaslighted into thinking that she was getting into a relationship.
Her standards gradually becoming stricter was the result of that. It was understandable as she wasn't a fool. She definitely didn't want another failed relationship. But if she kept this up, it would turn into a vicious cycle where her standards kept getting stricter to the point that she wouldn't be able to find anyone.
"If you want a boyfriend so badly, why not try raising one to be your ideal type instead of looking for one? Looks, wealth, personality, everything could be changed with enough effort. Case and point, Maki."
"You don't understand. Rep has a decent base to begin with. I never noticed because no one knew him and he kept people away from him back then, but his personality is good. He also never really struggled with money. Although he's bad at sports, he could use his head. As for looks…Too bad he doesn't look as hot as his dad."
"Why are you bragging about someone else's boyfriend? …Anyway, if you put it that way, I guess I could see where you're coming from."
"See? In any case, you are lucky to find a diamond in the rough like him, Umi. Of course, Rep is lucky too."
Although Nitta-san usually teased me about a lot of things, sometimes she would give her objective opinion about me like this.
Honestly, I always thought that it'd be easy for her to get one or two boyfriends with those looks and personality. Too bad her picky nature got in the way.
In retrospect, both Umi and I were lucky in this regard. Other than Nitta-san who kept failing to find someone that fit her standards, we had Nozomu who still couldn't move on from his attachment to Amami-san and also Amami-san herself who didn't even think about love.
"Ah, what the hell am I talking about during our precious break time? Who cares about how my love life is going. Let's talk about something else like… Right! The first year who's gathering everyone's attention! Takizawa-kun!"
"Takizawa-kun? The guy who was chatting happily with Nakamura-san just now?"
"Yeah! Ugh, damn it, what's up with that?! Wait, our conversation didn't change that much from the previous topic, did it?!"
Regarding the relationship between the student council president and vice president, those two didn't make any effort to disclose or hide it. Though, if someone wanted to know the truth about their relationship, they had to ask them directly.
Nitta-san looked rather annoyed. It seemed like she was serious about trying to get closer to him.
"…Well I guess I have to look for the answer myself. Anyway, regarding Takizawa-kun, I heard that when he first entered middle school he looked dull. He was really short back then too."
"…I know, right? There are so many girls that are prettier or smarter than me… Ugh, if only I had golden hair and blue eyes like a certain someone…" (T/N: Both dialogues are by Nitta, the raw is like this, so I assume the author just omitted the rest of Nitta and Umi's chatters.)
I don't think the result would change much if that was the case since it was still Nitta-san in the end. Well, that was typical of her.
"Ah, speaking of which, where did Yuuchin go? I haven't seen her all day long."
"Amami-san? She should be working on the backboard since it's almost finished."
With the sports festival just around the corner, every team had already claimed their positions. The only thing we needed to do was install the backboards at the teams' respective positions. That was why the backboard team was giving their all to finish their pieces.
"Everyone!~ Ninacchi! Umi! Maki-kun!~"
Speak of the devil, Amami-san noticed us from the other side of the yard and ran over to our side.
There was a big smile on her face. That smile and the blue paint on her cheeks told us that she finished her job successfully.
"Heya, Yuu. Finished with everything?"
"Mhm! Thanks to everyone's efforts, we finished it sooner than expected! Our team was the first one!"
Even after receiving my advice, Amami-san still worked overtime, but unlike before, she never pushed herself too hard. I'd been watching her since that day and it seemed like she communicated with the rest of the group more and she seemed to be enjoying it more than before.
Well, that was just my speculation as she never told me anything about how her work went, but that smile was enough proof for me.
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