Kanzaki Ryuuji POV
We eventually made it to the turnaround point. Chabashira, Class C's homeroom teacher, was waiting for us there, arms crossed.
"The second and third years have turned back. You guys are all that's left," she said.
"What time is it, sensei?" Sou asked.
"It's almost eleven o'clock now."
That meant we still had an hour to go until our lunch break. If this were a flat road, it wouldn't be too hard to make it back in time. However, we had already trudged nine kilometres up an incredibly steep, winding slope. Our stamina had been depleted considerably. If we didn't run at a solid pace, this exercise was going to take a bite out of our lunch break... and considering most of the Class C students, and Tetsuya could barely stand, I was convinced we would miss lunch.
The twelve of us had decided to stay in one group, adapting to the pace of the slower runners, even if we walked most of the time.
"Agh! At this rate we're gonna miss lunch," Sou and Ryouta complained.
"Before you leave," Chabashira spoke to us. "We'll be taking roll call before you head back down. Each person has to state their class and name."
A board was brought out, probably for the purposes of recorded students who'd made it to the turnaround point. Sou and Ryouta were the first ones to sign.
After making sure everyone gave their name and class, I did the same, and we ran off from the turnaround point.
"Let's go," I told the group who followed suit.
A while later, coming up on the sign warning us about wild boars again, I noticed one of the Class C students had fallen behind the group.
I slowed down and joined him to run, or jog by his side.
The one losing speed was Sotomura from Class C.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
He was drenched in sweat and was panting heavily as if he had trouble breathing.
"... Yeahh..." he nodded. "Just... Just... a bit—a bit tired."
"Are you sure? We can walk for a while. We will miss lunch anyhow, so it doesn't really matter..." I trailed off.
Once again, he nodded more frenetically than I would have liked.
"You don't have to push yourself that much. I understand you don't want to drag us down, but— Sotomura?"
I stopped talking as I noticed he began to wobble. The next second, he fell face first on the floor. I moved quickly, trying to catch him mid-air but failed to.
I called for the others to stop and calmly, laid Sotomura on his back, then, I made sure there were no injuries and checked his breathing and pulse before raising his legs to restore the flow of blood to the brain.
"What happened?" Eiichiro asked as soon as he joined me.
The others arrived but were smart enough to keep some distance so Sotomura could have fresh air and not be obstructed by the number of people around him.
"What does it look like?!" I uttered. "Sou, you're the fastest, go back and inform Chabashira-sensei about this."
Sou nodded and immediately stormed off back to the turnaround point. Hopefully, Chabashira would still be there.
Thankfully, Sotomura woke up rather quickly. He tried to get up, but I made sure he remained lying down, as sitting or standing up too quickly would be counterproductive. It was already bad enough that it came to this.
"How are you feeling now?" I asked once I made sure he looked more stable.
"Huh... A bit dizzy, I guess. But I can continue—"
"No," Eiichiro spoke bluntly. "You stop here. I prefer to be prudent and send you to the infirmary. Ryuuji and I will accompany you. The others can go."
"Are you sure, Eiichiro?" Ryouta interrogated. "We can—"
"Nah, it's okay. We don't need ten people here."
I turned towards the more exhausted students in the group.
"And you? Someone feels like fainting?"
They all denied it, assuring they were fine.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, dude, I'm just tired. I'm not gonna faint anytime soon," Ike defended himself.
The others supported Ike's statement, and after making sure none of them had symptoms of fainting or exhaustion, Eiichiro and I let them continue with the course.
Then, I turned back to Sotomura and asked him a few questions to check for symptoms and what caused him to faint.
"Did you eat well this morning?"
"I did... Well... I didn't finish my breakfast. I mean, it was good, but I was debating with Yamauchi-kun about this anime adaptation that came out last season so..."
I sighed in defeat. These Class C students were a pain.
In the end, we remained there until Sou arrived with Chabashira-sensei, and we got back to camp at 13:15. Sotomura was immediately sent to the infirmary for a check-up. He was also given food and water to hydrate. Eiichiro and I waited for him in the corridor for a while until he walked out of the infirmary.
"How are you?" asked Eiichiro. Sotomura smiled bitterly.
"Better. Although, the doctor said I shouldn't make too much effort."
"There's not much time until the exam. Will you be able to run?," I questioned.
"I'm not sure..." he answered. "Maybe I could run one kilometre but that'll make you have to run even more."
"Don't worry about it," Eiichiro assured. "We'll figure something out."
Sotomura apologised for causing trouble, and we left it at that for now.
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka POV
It was finally time for dinner. After nabbing our seats, Akito, Yukimura and I immediately started eating. Kikuchi and Minami once again went to eat with Okitani and their group of friends.
"Hey, Kiyopon, Miyacchi, can we sit here as well?"
That was Haruka's voice. When I turned around, I saw that she was accompanied by Airi. Naturally, we accepted them at our table, and they sat next to Yukimura.
"It's been a while since we ate together like this, hasn't it, everyone?" Airi spoke with a cheerful smile.
Because of the way the groups were set up, it wasn't that easy to reunite between friends in the same way we did in school.
Akito and I had been dining together every day, with Nao, Haruka and Hiyori joining us one or two times. Today, though, neither Nao nor Hiyori were here. I caught a glimpse of Nao eating with Sakayanagi and Kamuro earlier while I searched for my food, none of them looked happy but that wasn't my concern.
What was unusual was for us not to talk to Airi for almost a week. Even during the long holidays, we'd call or meet up. But she had been eating with the members of her own small group.
"And how're you three doing? You're in the same group as Ryuuen-kun, right?" Airi asked. She must have heard about that from Haruka, or maybe it was just common knowledge.
"Well. He's actually taking the classes seriously and participating," Akito pondered.
"Like, even zazen and the relay?"
"Yeah. He's acting so normal, it's almost scary. If anything, he's handling himself way better than everyone else. It's just, well, I've tried talking to him a few times, but he doesn't seem to want to hang out with anyone. Last time he had the semblance of a conversation was the other day when Kiyotaka talked to him."
"Really? That's weird. The fact that he's been so calm, I mean. Not that you managed to talk to him, Kiyotaka."
"Don't worry. I understood what you meant, Airi," I said.
Since our conversation, Ryuuen had stolen several glances at me as if suspecting I'd do something. I had no idea if he understood the advice I gave him, but his attitude was less the one of someone that doesn't care about anything and more that of someone that's always anticipating something will happen.
"Anyway, how about you? Are you getting along well with your group?"
"I am," Airi replied gleefully. "At first I was kind of worried since I didn't know anyone from the other classes, and Horikita-san decided to give me the role of representative, but everyone is really nice. Even if, Fukuyama-san and Nishikawa-san are always teasing people and Mio-san's patience is limited so Nishino-san and I always have to intervene to calm things down..."
"I'm glad your group is getting along," I told her. "It seems you're having more fun than Haruka."
"Eh? Really? Are there problems in your group, Haruka-chan?"
"Not really..." Haruka trailed off. "It's just that Nao-chan and Hiyori-chan are leading the group and are always helping everyone, so..."
"I see..."
Yukimura huffed. "At least your groups have a clear leader."
"Don't say that. We all know you're our representative," Akito told him.
"In name only. Our group must be the one with the most problems."
I wouldn't bet on that.
"Really?"
Haruka and Airi exchanged looks, like this was the first time they were hearing about it.
"Well, the Class A students basically obey Satonaka only. And the Class D ones obey Ishizaki. Kikuchi and Minami are more prompt to listen to Miyake than me, then, Hashimoto, Ayanokouji and Ryuuen are always doing their own thing. I don't even know why I keep trying."
"I obey you," I argued.
"It's okay, Ayanokouji. I don't blame you. I mean, at this point, if I were you I wouldn't obey me either."
It seemed Yukimura's moral was at the lowest right now. Although everyone was doing their own thing, I had to admire his perseverance at this point. Even with the metaphorical equivalent of a bomb strapped to his leg, he kept doing his best to unite the group.
"Your side seems to be in quite the predicament, huh?" Haruka thought.
"Yeah, as far as I know the groups on our side are all getting along and doing well," Airi said, before thinking of something. "Well, most of them..."
"Well, if you two are doing okay, that puts us at ease. Right, guys?" said Akito before taking the conversation away from what was happening with the other groups so we could relax from the stress of the exam.
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Yukimura's injury did happen, I just didn't write that scene and showed Kanzaki's group instead.