I was walking with Kiyotaka to get to our places. "Kushida admitted to me she was the traitor." Kiyotaka informed me.
"Finally, god the dumb act is boring." I sighed annoyed.
"Well, you can see what you want soon." Kiyotaka patted my head and walked me to my spot where there were girls from the other classes that I will race against.
"Use your umbrella as you run." Kiyotaka demanded of me. "Then you can go all out running, but still not be at your best."
"Don't put yourself in danger over this." He felt my forehead.
"Will do!" I exclaimed. "Actually do run. It's fun."
Kiyotaka nodded and made his way to the last part of the field since he will be the last person running. "Why do you have that?" The girls with me asked and pointed at my umbrella.
"Heat kills me!" I grinned, and I looked at their bodies then sighed. "I will need four more umbrellas."
We heard the shot meaning the race has begun, and Sudo was in the lead as we expected.
Sudo passed the baton to Hirata, and he kept up the pace Sudo made, but when it went to the first girl she got taken over by many of the other classes and fell to the back.
The next girl didn't help either, and she put us in last place, but now it's my turn. All the other girls with me had begun running to where Kiyotaka is. "Sorry! Rekka." The one who brought the baton to me apologised while trying to catch her breath.
"You got it to me! Thanks!" I grinned as I finally was able to take off. I was easily able to get to the middle of the pack in a couple of seconds shocking them all. "You guys are slow!"
"Go on, Rekka!" Everyone from our class cheered me on.
"She has an umbrella! How the hell is she running that fast?!" Someone yelled and I made it to first place and then made a big lead. "Can't stop!"
"Got it." Kiyotaka nodded while the rest of the boys panicked. I jumped, and Kiyotaka caught me and took a couple of steps back then put me down and I handed him the baton.
"Was it fun?" Kiyotaka asked me.
"So much! I wanna do this again next year!" I exclaimed.
"You..." Manabu let out making me look at him.
"Why do kissy and sniffy boys keep appearing?" I asked myself.
"How did you run so fast?" He questioned me.
"By running." I answered. "You know use your legs."
He smirked at me and got his baton next. "Before we race, let me tell you one thing." Kiyotaka spoke up.
"What is it?" Manabu asked him.
"Run with all of your strength." Kiyotaka demanded making him smirk.
"Well then! Go!" I exclaimed seeing this was a personal race for them and they ran at my yell and they were pretty fast, but Manabu was just in the lead.
Everyone cheered loudly as they passed nearly all the other boys. "Looks like Kiyo lost some of his speed since we left there." I hummed. "Doesn't mean much since that guy is going to fall."
And as I said that the one in front of Kiyotaka fell making him slow down and come in 2nd annoying most.
I was rubbing my eyes as we were in our classroom reading the results. We came in last, but all the other classes lost points to so it really doesn't mean much.
"You were both pretty fast back there." Kei informed us.
"The others were just slow." We both answered making her laugh.
"I couldn't beat the president in the end." Kiyotaka mumbled.
"You would have..." I mumbled.
"You look tired." Kei commented.
"Kiyo." I pulled on his shirt and rubbed my eyes. "Pick me up after."
He nodded. "Rekka! Ayanokoji! You two were so fast!" Sudo wrapped his arms around our necks.
"Eh?" I let out.
"It really was incredible!" Hirata excitedly added. "Thank you, Rekka!"
"I misjudged you, Ayanokoji! I always knew Rekka was cool!" Ike added.
"Oh yeah, here." Kiyotaka handed me something, and I hugged it trapping his hand, but he was able to get out.
"What's that?" Sudo poked it.
"A plush egg." I answered as I squeezed it happily making some of them let out sounds they make when they watch puppy videos.
"She sat in front of a store and stared at it for an hour, so I got it for her." Kiyotaka explained.
"I was expecting you to like cute things." Ike laughed.
"It is cute!" I retorted.
"It is." Hirata agreed with me.
I then heard Kiyotaka groan and I saw Suzune had punched him in the stomach, I patted his head. "Is that any way to treat a soldier who just gave his all in battle for you?" Kiyotaka asked her. "It hurts."
"If you'd run like that from the start, we'd be in a totally different situation. You stopped for so long after Rekka got us a big lead!" Suzune complained.
"I needed to make sure Rekka wouldn't faint." Kiyotaka explained, and I saw Kei leave the classroom.
"I failed this time, thoroughly." Suzune admitted. "Still, I feel that this sports festival has brought me to new levels of growth. Though I never thought I'd find myself talking about learning from failure..."
"It's a good thing to grow, you said you wanted to grow something." I mumbled and she blushed.
"This class will become strong. In time, we will become the top class." Suzune declared.
"We? Much better." I grinned.
"That was so unlike you, it sent a chill up my spine." Kiyotaka admitted.
"I suppose, it's not like me at all." She hummed.
"It's just not you." I added annoying her. I saw she looked worried meaning she will be meeting with them soon, so I went off to go find where they will be meeting.
I followed Kushida who was very loud even when alone.
The meeting spot was out of the way of the school, but it was still on the school campus. It was in an alleyway between two buildings, so I just climbed up the shorter one. I sat on the roof and waited for the show to begin.
Ryuen was just laying down on some wood while waiting, and Kushida was standing there awkwardly.
I could tell just from this that they aren't good allies and will throw each other under the bus at the first chance they get.
"Yo." Ryuen grinned when Suzune arrived. "I'm impressed you were brave enough to come, Suzune."
"If I ran away, I don't think I'd ever forgive myself." Suzune admitted. "I'm ready."
"Impressive resolve, do you feel like you have improved?" He asked her.
"But before I deal with you...could you drop the act already?" Suzune directed her question to Kushida.
"What in the world are you talking about?" Kushida let out boring me and I was ready to fall asleep.
"Egg, isn't she annoying?" I asked my plush. "Her shell needs to break."
Suzune informed Kushida that she knows of her leaking our information to Ryuen. "Why don't you just come clean already?" Suzune demanded.
"Come clean? About what?" Kushida was still playing dumb.
"I didn't recognize you at first. But...I just remembered. There was someone like you at my middle school." Suzune admitted as I was recording this on my phone. I smirked seeing Kushida's expression finally fall to her usual one.
"Yeah, I was kind of a problem child, huh?" Kushida admitted. "And if you have put that all together, I imagine you know what I'm really after, right?"
"You intend to drive me from this school." Suzune answered. "But to attempt that presents a tremendous risk to you, doesn't it?"
"Very true! However, if you ever tell anyone about me, that's when I will really apply the thumbscrews." Kushida threatened. "And if that happens, you won't be able to keep your precious big brother out of it."
"What? She's threatening to bring someone stronger than herself into this?" I mumbled confused at how stupid she is being. "Of course, Suzune wouldn't want him involved. He will still find out and that means Kushida would just let her past get outed to another person who is much smarter than her."
"Why not just ignore me?" Suzune asked her.
"In order to be the person I am, I really need everyone who knows about my past gone." Kushida explained.
"Oh, really? Would that put me in your sights, too?" Ryuen spoke up.
"It maybe could, someday!" Kushida went back to her stupid ditzy attitude.
"Smart girl." Ryuen laughed.
"Let me tell you, Horikita. I am going to have you expelled." Kushida went back to her real self. "I will even make a deal with the devil to do it."
"And it will all be for nothing in the end." I giggled to myself.
"You got the better of me this time." Suzune admitted as I got my text ready. "You planned the entire sports festival, too, didn't you?"
"Such a persecution complex...but since you insist, I will indulge your little fantasy." Ryuen smirked. "That's right. Before the sports festival started, I had Kikyo send me all of Class D's participation rosters. And I arranged the matchups to be good for us and bad for you."
"Brilliant manoeuvring." Suzune praised him for some reason. "Luck was on your side, as well."
"Luck?" He asked.
"The fact that I was taken out of the running through injury and that Kinoshita tripped and was badly injured. Neither could have been done intentionally." Suzune pointed out and I faceplamed.
It's obvious that Ryuen lacks morals.
"You really think Kinoshita's injury was luck?" He asked and she flinched. "She did fall, but a fall like that couldn't hurt you that bad, so I had her pretend to be in pain and took her out of the sports festival."
"I see." Suzune mumbled then took out her phone. "I'm recording this, you know."
I saw both Ryuen and Kushida frown. "If you try to take this to the student council or blackmail me for points and prostrations, I will fight back, with this as proof!" Suzune declared.
Ryuen laughed. "What an entertaining woman you are. I told you from the start...That was all hypothetical. I was just indulging your little fantasy."
"I can still erase the part where you call it a fantasy." She retorted then he took out his phone.
"I will just present the original then, I have been recording the whole thing, start to finish." Ryuen informed her and she flinched.
I saw pain come up in Suzune's expression seeing she is done for and will have to do whatever he says. I enjoyed every part of it. "Now, grovel, Suzune." Ryuen demanded.
"I rather see other people in pain. Her expressions aren't that interesting anymore." I sent the text to Ryuen making them all look at him as his phone went off. "Now, let's have some new victims."
Ryuen looked at the message I sent then played the first recording and held it to his ear and his eyes widened making me smirk.
He started to laugh. "Well, isn't that something? Suzune whoever is pulling your strings is something special."
"I am very special." I hummed.
"They planned the whole thing out." Ryuen played the first recording of him explaining the plan to Kinoshita of taking down Suzune. Then he played the second recording of him trying to blackmail Suzune in the nurse's office.
"What in the world?" Kushida let out and her expression started to break and I got excited.
"Looks like we had a traitor, too." Ryuen smirked. "You have been used, Kikyo. Your betrayal, all of it was anticipated in advance."
Kushida looked terrified and I loved seeing it. All her effort was for nothing, she will be left alone if this all gets out.
"Someone who could prepare a recording like this won't make themselves known easily...but I will track them down." Ryuen declared and I was disappointed he was only frowning.
"I guess Ryuen does need a beat down for me to see those expressions." I hummed. "Break him so much he gets scared of even talking."
"One more thing." Ryuen's smile fell even more. "That Rekka girl." Ryuen spoke up confusing them both. "What's with her and Ayanokoji?"
"What is with you all and Rekka?" Kushida questioned him and she sounded angry.
"You don't seem to like her." Ryuen commented and even Suzune seemed surprised that she doesn't like me.
"What do you mean exactly?" Suzune asked Ryuen.
"Their relationship." He explained and she kept quiet. "So you know something?"
"They seemed to have known each other before they even came to this school. They seem close, but aren't dating." Suzune answered. "He's her caretaker. There's nothing more to them."
"Caretaker? Would a caretaker push their patient to the floor?" Ryuen laughed and they were shocked.
"What did you say?!" Suzune yelled.
"I'm speaking the truth, ask Rekka herself." Ryuen smirked. "I ran into her when she walked off then so-called fainted. She was acting weird...weirder than usual, she asked me where something was. Then Ayanokoji came along and pulled her away from me. She resisted quite strongly then he said he knew where it was. She ran off around a corner, and he followed. I went to leave, but I heard a very loud thump."
Kushida and Suzune were listening very intently to what he was saying.
I'm curious as to why he is even talking about this. "No way, is he actually nice? He did give me some food earlier..." I mumbled. "He's stupid."
"Rekka was on the floor laughing like her usual self and Ayanokoji lied saying she fell over on her own. But he was dirty to and how loud the sound of the thump was showed he took her to the floor and she seemed used to it." Ryuen explained. "So what's really going on between them?"
"..." Suzune just looked confused. "With Rekka...I don't know. Ayanokoji, he could be using her or even bullying her, but why should I care?"
"You show a lot of care for that girl." Ryuen retorted. "You wouldn't stand for her getting hurt. Seems I need to look into her m-"
"Why do you care?!" Suzune exclaimed.
"...Curious." He answered with a smirk.
"And curiosity killed the cat." I smirked. "I can't wait."
"Suzune, this is over for now." Ryuen informed her and I yawned then rolled over onto my side and hugged my egg plush then I fell asleep.