A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 33 - Challenges

"I knew I was winning from the start," Horikita said. "I know my skill, and I know it's better than hers."

I don't know if that was confidence or arrogance coming from Horikita.

Horikita looked around the tent for a brief moment. "Where's Kouenji-kun? I was fairly interested in seeing his race. But I never saw him."

Ayanokouji pointed toward the medical tent. "He's in there. He told us his body wasn't feeling 100% and would have to sit out for the rest of the festival."

Horikita's cold glare shot directly at me as soon as Ayanokouji finished his sentence.

"Wasn't my fault, I promise. I tried reasoning with him, but he's Kouenji."

Horikita let out a deep and disappointed sigh in response. "I guess there is nothing to do. Team Red will be receiving quite a hefty amount of point deductions considering Sakayanagi-san and Kouenji-kun's absence then."

That is true, both participants would be considered 'last' in their races and receive deductions for doing so.

"Guess we will have to make up for their lack of participation."

The 100m dash for the second year started almost immediately after the girl's races. There weren't many second years I was acquainted with besides the idiot Nagumo and Kiryuuin-senpai, but I was still interested to see how the results would turn out.

Nagumo was in the first group for the boys 100m dash and finished with an overwhelming victory. No one even came close. He gave a small wave and smile toward the crowd as he crossed the finish line. But he didn't seem to be having all that much fun.

Kiryuuin-senpai was in the fourth group for the girls 100m dash. She too, had an overwhelming victory, displaying athletic skills which seemed far superior even to the likes of Horikita.

Once Kiryuuin-senpai crossed the finish line, another second-year girl which had already competed, pounced on her with a great big hug.

From what I remember, that girl placed second in the first group. She had chocolate-brown hair that flowed down to her waist and was blessed with generous proportions. There was also a bright, yellow sunflower hairpin, that held her hair back from falling in front of her face.

When Kiryuuin-senpai had broken free from the other girl's grasp, I swear she caught my gaze and shot me a wink. It could be my imagination, but Kiryuuin-senpai is a rather eccentric individual.

There was no one else among the second years that I recognized, so those races were all pretty boring to me.

The third years were finally up. Horikita Manabu was part of group 4, and needless to say, he devastated his competition. With almost a 3-second gap between the closest runner and setting the 100m time record for the day. It was a performance befitting The Student Council President.

I looked toward Horikita to see how she was handling this. She intently stared toward her brother and was nervously rubbing both her hands together.

I thought it would be best to keep my comments about the scene to myself. Maybe I'll expose her later. I know she doesn't talk to him much, but that was a weird reaction.

After all the races had finished, I took a glance at the electronic scoreboard that would be displaying the collective scores for the red and white teams.

It only took the school a few minutes after the final race to calculate the team scores after one event.

Team Red: 2011

Team White: 1891

The competition had finally begun, with Team Red gaining a slight edge over Team White.