It was finally the day of the Sports Festival.

After the opening ceremony had ended, we all separated into two big groups, the Red Team and the White Team, and then we split up into our classes.

The preparations for the festival included medical staff, tents for each class, and cameras set up to help with judgement calls for every event.

The first event was the classic 100-Metre Dash.

Ken ran in the first group and easily took first place.

Kouenji said he was feeling unwell and refused to participate, causing chaos in our tent as not participating is equivalent to coming in last place. Depending on the event, it could definitely hurt the class' total points.

The groups passed one by one and before I knew it, it was my turn.

I took my starting position and looked to my left and then my right to see who my opponents were. My opponents were all students I had never talked to, but that didn't matter. I decided that I will finish first.

Up until the third-legged race, I will finish first. However, it had already been decided that the Universal Participation third-legged race would be the second event, so this worked out well.

After hearing the gunshot, I accelerated at incredible speed, but I still held back. I still managed to earn first place with a time of 11.23 seconds.

I head back to Class D's tent.

"What the hell, Ayanokouji, you were so fast!" Ken said.

"You better finish first place in everything you bastard!" Yamauchi screamed.

"Good job, Ayanokouji," Hirata said.

"I told you guys I would do my best, didn't I?"

They all had mixed feelings about my attitude.

Before I knew it, the 100-Metre Dash event had ended.

The last group of first-year girls finished with Horikita beating Ibuki by a small margin.

The Third-Legged Race was the next event.

Kushida and I were lucky enough to be part of the first group.

"You got this Kushida!" Ike cried out.

Kushida got a bunch of cheers from our classmates as we took our starting positions.

The race started with Kushida and I racing somewhat normally. It definitely wasn't the fastest we could go, but it was fast enough to avoid suspicions and slow enough to not be in the lead. We started speeding up. Then, I intentionally took a shorter step than usual, causing us to lose balance and fall.

"Kushida! Ayanokouji!" Hirata was the first one to cry out.

There was commotion inside the tent as we pretended to struggle to get off the ground. I must say Kushida did a good job. Too good of a job, perhaps. It seemed like she had actually twisted her ankle.

The other duos completed the race, even though some looked back at us to see what happened. Our group's race quickly ended, and students started coming onto the field towards us.

"What happened?" Horikita said.

Don't you have eyes, Horikita?

"I guess we were unlucky to fall... Maybe we didn't practice enough... Ouch!" Kushida said as she touched her ankle, "I... I think I sprained my ankle..."

I had let myself fall face first onto the ground. There were bruises and cuts all over my face and forearms.

My classmates looked at me.

"Ayanokouji, Kushida, I think you two should head to the infirmary," Hirata suggested.

"Is that fine?" I said.

"Of course, you guys are hurt. I don't think you should continue if you're unable to do so."

"I'll do my best to get better soon. If I don't come back before the final relay race, please come to the infirmary and get us back here."

"If that's what you want, I'll do it."

"Dude, Hirata... Why are you being so nice to Ayanokouji?" Ike said.

"He obviously fell on purpose..." Yamauchi muttered.

"Can you guys stop? You guys should let this go for once."

With that, Kushida and I slowly head to the infirmary to rest. Kushida had trouble walking, so she grabbed my arm and leaned on my shoulders.

"Tch... that bastard," Ike and Yamauchi were visibly jealous.

After the nurse checked our injuries and gave us the necessary treatment, she left us alone to rest. Kushida and I were resting on separate beds in the infirmary. There was a TV in front of us for us to watch the Sports Festival.

"Ayanokouji, are you okay?"

"I never thought you would ask me that."

"Idiot... you didn't have to exaggerate that much, you know," Kushida had more or less taken her mask off, but wasn't the Kushida that I saw that day in the dark alley. I wonder if this was her actual self.

"How's your ankle?"

"It hurts a little bit, I think I'll take a nap to rest. I don't think I'll head back to the tent anytime soon."

"Are you not going to watch the Sports Festival?"

"I really want to rest, and I don't care about the results."

"I see, well, rest well, I guess."

As Kushida became quiet, I continued watching the Sports Festival unfold on TV.

It seemed like while we were getting treatment from the nurse, the Hurdle Race event had ended. I didn't pay attention to the results.

The next event was Capture the Flag. Class A and Class D were facing Class B and Class C, the latter of which consisted of Ryuuen leading a team of his classmates who seemed fairly strong.

The first match began. Class D and Class C were on the offensive straight away, which left Class A and Class B on defence. Despite Ken's strength, he wasn't enough to breakthrough, Class C, and the first capture went to the White Team.

Class D switched to defence for the second match while Class A fixed an offensive. Class C attacked again, and in the chaos, Ken was punched and kicked several times by Class C, who made it look natural so that no foul play was called. In the end, the White Team won the second match of Capture the Flag as well.

Ryuuen really likes dirty tricks, huh?

Next was the Tug of War event for the boys while the girls competed in the Tamaire event. The Red Team came out the winner for the latter, and the Tug of War began.

The first match began, and the Red Team won. Ryuuen then rearranged his classmates' positions along the rope, and the second match began, ending with the White Team's victory this time. Then the third match began, but after some struggling, Class C suddenly let go, and while the Red Team wins, they also caused most of Class A and Class D's students to fall over.

Next was the Obstacle Course Race. Ken ended up in the same group as Shibata, but also two unathletic students from Class C. He took first place once again.

Meanwhile for the girls' event, Horikita was matched up against Class C's Mariko Yajima and Minori Kinoshita this time. She managed to overtake them during the race but repeatedly looked back at Kinoshita back for some reason, and shortly before reaching the finishing line, the two seemingly collide with each other. Horikita ended up getting injured and finished in seventh place while Kinoshita was unable to finish due to injury.

So that's what he wants to do.

I must say, Ryuuen seemed like he held a personal grudge against Horikita. She certainly was specifically targeted and the bad matchups were the results of the participation tables sent to Class C by Kushida.

I assumed Horikita's injury wasn't that bad, as she stayed inside the tent.

There was a short break, and Kinoshita entered the resting room after she got treated by the nurse. We didn't talk, and she just laid down on the bed next to Kushida. She was visibly in pain. It seemed like Ryuuen would go to extreme lengths to take down his opponents.

After the break, the girls' Cavalry Battle began. The four horsemen from Class C completely ignored Class A and focuses on attacking Horikita instead, who decided to participate despite her injury. Her headband is taken, and the rest of Class D was defeated shortly after, with only Karuizawa succeeding in taking one headband from the opposing team before she too lost her own.

The boys' Cavalry Battle was next. Ken formed a team with Ike, Akito, and Hirata. While they were able to defeat most of the White Team with Class A, they ran into trouble when faced with Ryuuen, who managed to provoke Ken into accepting a one-on-one challenge instead of continuing to work with Class A's team. It seemed like Ken was really pissed off because of Horikita's injury.

Hirata was unable to grab Ryuuen's headband from him and ended up getting his own headband taken, and the Red Team lost the Cavalry Battle.

The events up until lunch break produced similar results. Class C were completely beating Class D, who definitely had the least points between the first-year classes.

When lunch break came, the nurse gave us bento boxes made by the school. I woke Kushida up, and I told her about the results.

Meanwhile, Kinoshita was in severe pain. Her ankle was swollen. She was crying.

The nurse simply told her to put some ice on it.

Ryuuen entered the infirmary and came over to us.

"Oi, Ayanokouji."

"What is it?"

"Since you're already taking Class D down, why don't you help me in my little act?"

"How so?"

"Bring Suzune here."

I see where this is going.

"I see. I'll do that."

"Kukuku... I didn't think you would agree straight away. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"It will work out in my favor too."

I left the infirmary after I told the nurse I felt much better.

I came back to Class D tent.

"Ayanokouji! How's Kushida?" Ike and Yamauchi asked me.

Sigh.

"She's fine. There's no need to worry."

"You bastard, you injured her on purpose, we know it," they muttered.

I ignored them and went over to Horikita who was sitting on a bench, visibly in pain.

"Horikita."

"Ayanokouji? You're back?"

"You should head to the infirmary. I was there, and Kinoshita is in extremely bad shape. I think you should go take a look. Perhaps you should apologize."

"Apologize? She was the one that ran into me. She kept calling my name over and over, forcing me to look back."

"That doesn't change the fact that her ankle is completely swollen and that she's crying in pain. It's basic sportsmanship, Horikita."

"Tch... I'll go."

After she told everyone that she'll be heading to the infirmary, she left while struggling to walk.

What will you do, Horikita?

Ryuuen will probably accuse Horikita for deliberately injuring Kinoshita, while making Kinoshita support the accusation, backing Horikita into a corner. He will then blackmail Horikita and strike a deal with her in return of not reporting the matter to the school.

A wise man once said, man is an animal that makes bargains. No other animal does this - no dog exchanges bones with another.

Striking deals is simply part of the human nature.

********

The latter half of the sports festival began with the Recommended Only Participation events, where students chosen from within the ranks of the class were expected to participate.

Horikita came back, but she was awfully quiet. I wonder what happened in the infirmary's resting room.

"Come on, let's win this!"

Ken was surprisingly motivated. I wouldn't have been surprised if he angrily left the field after being beaten in every single team competition. It seemed like he really worked on his anger issues.

After Class D were somewhat successful in the Scavenger Hunt, Class D also barely defeated Class B in the Four-Way Tug of War event.

After the next events, it was finally time for the final event.

The long-awaited 1200 Meters Relay Race.

********

Author's Notes

Hey!

In this timeline, Ken didn't rage quit the Sports Festival.

See you in the next part for the relay race!