บท 132: Chapter 132 – Class C’s efforts
After the comical near-fall incident, Ibuki became much more serious and stopped fussing about anything. She allowed Yukio to wrap his left arm around her shoulder, while she gently encircled him with her right hand.
Though still a bit nervous and shy, Ibuki suppressed the various emotions inside her heart and, along with Yukio, shouted a count and tried to run forward.
Only the first few steps were somewhat manageable. Without coordination, it's difficult to achieve a certain speed in a three-legged race.
Their steps were mismatched; one fast, the other slow. Even when they tried to adjust, it wasn't simple. Sometimes, Yukio would try to wait for Ibuki, slowing down his pace.
But then Ibuki, trying to catch up, would speed up, leading to a mismatch in pace and nearly causing another fall.
Yukio had no choice but to forcefully come to a stop, bringing Ibuki to a halt with him: "This won't work. We need to find a proper pace that suits us both."
Ibuki was clearly aware that brute force wasn't going to solve this issue: "Sorry, I'm not used to this. I'm used to doing things alone and rarely work with others."
Yukio appreciated this honesty. Ibuki was actually quite a good person, maybe a bit haughty in front of others.
But with people she was familiar with, she was straightforward, aside from being occasionally a bit tsundere, she was indeed sincere.
"It's okay, with more practice, we'll get the hang of it. We still have a month," Yukio said with a smile, comforting Ibuki, reminding her not to worry too much as there was still plenty of time.
"Yeah!" Hearing this, a spark of determination lit up in Ibuki's eyes. Faced with difficulty, she wasn't the type to give up!
As a result, Yukio paid the price, running with Ibuki for over half an hour, going from stumbling to managing to run forward in a somewhat coordinated manner.
When they finally took off the band, Yukio felt a bit of pain around his ankles. At that moment, Shiina, still dressed in her school uniform shirt, came over with two bottles of water: "Good work."
Behind her was Ishizaki, looking a bit pained, after all, those two bottles were meant for him to drink later...
"Hiyori, thanks." Yukio took the water and gulped it down, while Ibuki, feeling a bit embarrassed, also quietly thanked Shiina.
For some reason, Ibuki didn't know why Shiina had sought her out to bring her water, which inexplicably made her feel a bit guilty. So, when she took the mineral water, she couldn't even meet Shiina's gaze as she thanked her.
Perhaps it was the upbringing of a warrior's daughter that made Ibuki shift her gaze away initially, only to immediately feel that this was wrong. What was there to be afraid of?
So what if Shiina was academically excellent? When it came to the physical demands of the sports festival, wasn't she just a weakling? Why should Ibuki feel the need to avert her gaze out of guilt?
Thus, Ibuki forcefully shifted her gaze back, locking eyes with Shiina. Their gazes intertwined, neither looking away.
However, perhaps due to the prolonged eye contact, Shiina seemed a bit tired and slightly lowered her gaze, briefly scanning Ibuki's chest before slowly lifting the corners of her mouth in a smirk, as if she had won.
'Damn it!' Ibuki cursed inwardly, frustrated. Why the smugness? She was only a first-year in high school and would continue to grow. This was what potential and a promising future looked like, right?
Besides, what was the use of winning that? Running or fighting would only be hindered by it, wouldn't it?
Ibuki was somewhat speechless, internally resentful. She really didn't understand what these girls ate to grow up.
Why did each of them develop so well? Not to mention Shiina, there were others like Ichinose and Kushida, whose appearances Ibuki might despise, but she couldn't help envying their figures.
Others couldn't see their toes when looking down, but Ibuki could even see her shoelaces. She wondered if there was a huge difference in their diets that led to such outcomes.
But Shiina couldn't hear Ibuki's thoughts, and with the air of a victor, she turned to Yukio: "Are we going to train like this for the entire month?"
It seemed like a question for the whole class, but in reality, she was asking if Yukio was going to practice like this with Ibuki for a month.
Ibuki, who might have picked up on the implication, couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, listening intently for Yukio's response.
"It's up to everyone," Yukio replied, closing the mineral water bottle and looking around at the classmates diligently training.
There are young boys racing against the wind on the track, their sweat being flung behind them.
Members are teaching their classmates how to exert force to win at tug-of-war, sharing their insights while the rest listen intently.
Even Manabe and her group of friends, who usually love causing trouble, are earnestly asking Nishino for tips on how to jump further.
The positive energy and youthfulness of everyone, conveyed through their zeal and sweat, bring a hint of satisfaction to Yukio's face: "I've never really cared about the rankings in the sports festival."
"As long as we can keep Nagumo's class at the bottom, that's good enough. With so many athletically talented people in our class, breaking into the top three and getting a reward from the school shouldn't be a problem."
"After all, everyone is truly working hard during practice."
Perhaps this is what unrestrained youth is about? Yukio felt somewhat out of place, thinking that he had moved beyond that stage of life and that blending in again wouldn't be so straightforward.
It's as if a wall has been erected between his calmness and the fiery passion that teenagers should have.
"Don't worry, Yukio-san!" Ishizaki seized the opportunity to chime in, beating his chest like Tarzan: "We'll definitely train hard and aim to be the best among all three grades!"
"After all, in the past exams and special tests, it was all thanks to you and Ryuen leading us. Now that we finally have a chance to shine, we'll give it our all!"
Yukio patted Ishizaki on the shoulder, feeling pretty good about this group of followers. They were proving to be useful when it really mattered.
Shiina and Ibuki, who had been waiting for Yukio's response, were at a loss for words. This situation was completely different from what they had imagined.
"Wait, what's going on over there?" Ibuki, with her sharp eyes, noticed something off while Yukio was answering off-topic, preparing to practice something else out of boredom.
Seeing Ishizaki and the others putting in so much effort, Ibuki felt she couldn't fall behind.
But upon looking, she saw their classmates gathered together, seemingly in the midst of a discussion with members from another class.
***
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