(V5) Chapter 5: A Turning Point

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THE last event of the sports festival, the 1200-meter relay, was about to begin. Everyone—other than Class C, and Class B I suppose—was amped.

"The final event, huh? I guess we need to choose a substitute for this one, too."

"Huh...! Puh...! Hey, sorry to keep you all waiting! What's going on?" Sudou, completely out of breath, returned with Horikita lagging slightly behind him.

"Sudou-kun, you came back!"

"Yeah, sorry. My bad. It took way longer to take a dump than I thought."

Sudou looked as if he was in a bright, cheerful mood—all smiles. However, many students glared at him icily. He didn't flinch from their stares.

"Sorry. I punched Hirata and crashed our morale because I lost my temper. It's my fault that Class D is about to lose." he continued.

Sudou bowed deeply. After a stunned moment, Hirata laughed happily. His cheek was slightly swollen, and looked painful, but he didn't seem to care about that.

"The heck, Ken? This isn't like you." said Ike.

"I gotta admit, I did somethin' wrong after doing somethin' wrong. I want to apologize to you, too, Kanji." Sudou replied.

"It's not like it's your fault I lost or anything. I'm just no good at sports, really. Sorry I wasn't useful." said Ike.

"You're the only person we'd want doing this, Sudou-kun. Right, everyone?" said Hirata.

Both guys and girls would run the final 1200-meter relay. Three guys and three girls from each class had to participate.

"Can I ask for a substitute? I wouldn't run very well with my leg like this." said Horikita. She sounded apologetic.

"Are you okay with that, Horikita?" Hirata asked. "You really wanted to be in this relay."

"There's nothing I can do about it. In the state I'm in right now, I'm not sure I could even win against Ike-kun. Sorry." Horikita replied.

She bowed deeply, as Sudou had done earlier. I wondered if she'd ever been that honest before. Ryuuen had crushed Horikita's body and spirit. She'd craved the anchor position, reached for it, because she envisioned herself running alongside her brother. Now—though her hands trembled in apparent frustration—she accepted the reality that, 1f she forced herself to compete, then Class C would lose the relay.

Hirata nodded, and decided that Kushida would take Horikita's place. Our list included me, Miyake, Maezono, and Onodera, with Sudou at the top. Yeah... Hirata decided not to participate early on as I was the one who volunteered to be here. With Kushida as Horikita's replacement, that made six people. There really weren't any other sprinters in Class D who stood a chance.

After confirming the team members, Hirata opened his mouth to speak. "Um, I apologize for the suddenness of this, but..."

However, someone else cut Hirata off. "Sorry, but...would you please let me withdraw, too?"

Miyake was speaking. He looked as though he was dragging his right leg a little.

"To tell you the truth, I twisted my ankle before lunch during the 200meter dash. I thought it would feel better after I rested, but it still hurts."

"In that case, it looks like we'll need a replacement from the boys as well." Hirata looked around, but no volunteers came forward.

"In that case, would it be okay if I ran? I'll pay the points to go in as a substitute, of course." Ayanokouji spoke.

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