Motivated to be lazy

Chapter 48

The moment that those vultures got her name, they would be relentless. They'd dig into her middle school friends, her family, her past and theirs. Any dirt they could bring up to drag her through the mud, they would do it. These disgusting parasites, they'd sell out a person and drive them to suicide if it meant that they could bring traffic to their cesspool of a website. Just by my association, they could destroy her without care. If they found nothing, they would create it.

"From Class 1-A Nakajima Riko,"

I watched as Nakajima hesitantly made her way to the stage. She looked surprised, in shock as if she was expecting one of the boys from their class would be chosen.

"From Class 1-B Shibata So,"

The friendliest class all got up excitedly whooping as Shibata got up with a smile and made his way to the stage. I could feel my blood pressure rising in jealousy as Honami clapped and cheered as Shibata took the stage. He stopped short for a moment and smiled at her before turning and waving to his class.

I knew it was in vain but I attempted it anyway. I knew my fate was sealed but I tried with all my might. Repeating a mantra in my mind to any divine being that may be gracious enough to hear my call.

'Please let it be Koenji, please let it be Koenji, please let it b-'

"From Class 1-C Ayanokouji Kiyotaka"

Sigh.

As I got up from my seat, I chanced a glance at Honami who, despite being mad at me at the moment, clapped and gave me a strained smile and a thumbs up. Catcalling to me as I walked to my spot in line.

Standing next to Shibata I gave him a hard look which he returned. In my case, I was annoyed with him. I understand that they're classmates but there was something about the look he gave Honami that made me want to beat him. When I turned to face the crowd, the lights were almost blinding with flashes but the fact that my class was screaming and cheering even louder than Class B had made my heart warm.

Karuizawa spared no energy, whooping and jumping up and down, cheering at the top of her lungs. Eiichiro and the guys were much the same.

"Finally, from Class 1-D Kinoshita Minori,"

Glancing down the line, I realized that in my distraction I missed two participants. The boy from Class 2-D and the girl from 2-C. The boy didn't look to be anything special, judging from his build he was an average athlete, someone who was the best of the worst.

Nagumo hadn't taken his eyes off me the moment my name was announced, his eyes hungry with a challenging inferno. This was the chance he was waiting for, I knew he'd be itching to attempt at asserting dominance over me.

"There you have it, our Representative Athletes," Sasaki announced while looking down at the reporters.

There was a part of me that thought that perhaps I could manage to stay in stay in fifth place. We had four students that were older than me, I could just compete on the day without any specialized training. There wasn't any need to take this competition too seriously. After all, I didn't want to give Nagumo what he wanted so easily.

"The Government has decided that because of this momentous occasion we are sponsoring this event financially. For our featured athletes, first place in each event will be awarded 100,000 points, 50,000 for second place and 25,000 for third place."

Alright, never mind going for fifth. I'm sure that I can go easy and place third in every event without much trouble even against older students at my current level...

"Out of the Featured Athletes there will be an MVP for the boys and the girls. Both MVPs will be given a prize that was created specifically for this event; an Exchange Ticket. This ticket will allow you to choose two students and switch their current classes. They may be used on yourself or you may select two students to switch from other classes.