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Part 6
"Oi! Ayanokouji! Yagami! Get the hell back here!"
Nagumo, shouting as he pushed himself, tried to catch up with the two boys he was "fighting" against in this triathlon. They were all on the final running section of the triathlon, having just finished the swimming section not too long ago.
On the note of the swimming part, in Kiyotaka's mind, it was pretty uneventful. All the Commanders were good at swimming, but none of them excelled at it like Onodera, a swimming prodigy. That was in exception to the two obvious White Room students, Kiyotaka and Takuya, who unsurprisingly swam both elegantly and quickly, finishing the 8 laps pretty quickly.
That annoyed Nagumo. It took every ounce of his power to ensure he caught up to Kiyotaka and Takuya. Now that he had caught up, his breathing was slightly erratic as he ran with the two.
"Nagumo-senpai. Stay out of this. I told you already, you aren't a good enough opponent for Ayanokouji-senpai. He and I will be the ones to duke it out. You've had your chance."
Takuya was unsurprisingly bothered by Nagumo's persistence to continue the fight. From Kiyotaka's point of view, the amount of hatred Takuya had for Kiyotaka was quite high, which meant that anyone who got in the way would also be the target of that hatred. However, Takuya still spoke with Nagumo with a respectful tone. It probably took every drop of his White Room willpower to control his tone and speak with Nagumo.
"You had your chance in the archery and badminton events. So shut up and let me have my fight with Ayanokouji now! You listen to your Student Council President and boss, Yagami."
The same bickering that they had started in the cycling part of the triathlon returned, causing Kiyotaka to sigh since he was in the middle of it.
[However. Since Nagumo is here... This could play to my advantage.] He thought.
"Have you thought about my question from earlier a little more, President Nagumo?"
This caught his attention. Not only did Nagumo turn to glare at him, but Yagami also turned with raised eyebrows.
"Are you talking about the question about whether I was proud of what I've done at this school? Ayanokouji. If you want an answer then of course I'm proud of what I've done. But I don't like the way you asked that question. It's like you're looking down on me."
"That's because he is." Kiyotaka heard Takuya mumble but he ignored it.
"So you are mocking me. Damn you Ayanokouji! I'm slowly starting to see what Horikita-senpai saw in you, bit by bit. But that still doesn't mean you can just look down on someone like me!"
It seemed Nagumo heard Takuya's mumble and took it seriously. Kiyotaka cursed Takuya in his mind for causing this, but he decided to just go along with it anyway.
"I've never really looked down on anyone." Kiyotaka told the truth.
At least he told the truth in the case of after he escaped the White Room. While he was in the White Room, it would be a lie to say he didn't somewhat look down on others in the White Room. But that was only with those who were extremely struggling with the curriculum he went through.
"Hmph. I don't believe you there. What the hell is your point anyway with that question? It's almost as if you're telling me my time is over when in reality I'm staying as the Student Council President until graduation like I said I would back when I was appointed. Is that what you're trying to say!?"
"Who knows? The future is always on the brink of change."
Kiyotaka's nonsensical reply only pissed off Nagumo even more, but Kiyotaka no longer paid attention to that. He put his complete focus on running and nothing else. They were not too far away from the finish line after all.
They were approaching the final stretch of the triathlon. It was a straight section, with the end just at the end of the athletics field, a large banner indicating it. On the sides of the straight section were the audience stands, both for all the classes and the outside spectators, which Kiyotaka noted that it included his father.
Seeing the three of them approaching, the audience began to cheer, motivating the three boys to keep up their run.
"So this is the final stretch then. I'll show you, Ayanokouji, and you two Yagami. That you shouldn't mess with the Student Council President," Nagumo said to the two of them.
Kiyotaka then turned to face Nagumo and Takuya, face still as expressionless as always. However, both noticed the glint in his eyes was very different than before. It was almost as if he was saying "you think you can beat me?"
"If you're saying that President Nagumo, then..."
He then turned away and looked ahead, eyes stuck to the finish line in front of him. His next words sent a cold chill down Nagumo's spine and Takuya also felt a slight chill too.
"Run as fast as you can to beat me."
Kiyotaka immediately zoomed off from Takuya and Nagumo, surprising both of them. Of course, Nagumo knew about Kiyotaka's race with Horikita Manabu and how the two of them pretty much rivalled each other in terms of speed. But he was confident in his own speed too, so he ran off to catch up to Kiyotaka. Takuya also pushed himself to the max and ran as fast as he could.
The three of them zoomed past each year/class and spectator stand at speed, making a performance to them akin to the Olympics 100m event. It was that enjoyable to them that the cheers grew louder.
"Go Ayanokouji!"
"Shred them, President Nagumo!"
"You can do it Yagami-kun!"
Each student and surprisingly a few of the outside spectators gave cheers to the favourite in the final stretch of the race. There was only 300m left until all three of them reached the finish line. The winner was about to be decided in the last few moments.
Kiyotaka, Nagumo and Takuya were close together, tightly matched. Kiyotaka and Takuya were just a tiny bit ahead of Nagumo, but the latter was really close to them so they were pretty much matched.
...At least that's what it was currently in the eyes of everyone.
"Ayanokouji-senpai. I think it's time the two of us take it up a notch. After all, this isn't our fastest speed."
When Takuya said that, Nagumo's eyes froze. He himself was already running with full speed, evident by the sweat forming on his forehead and his erratic breathing as he ran. He couldn't go any faster than this, yet the two boys he was fighting against could actually go faster?
"You're right. I should up the ante so I can win. I did say to run as fast as your legs can handle to beat me."
With that, both Kiyotaka and Takuya increased their speed and zoomed off again, leaving Nagumo in the dust. In reality, they weren't going that much faster, however in the eyes of everyone watching, this huge boost in speed from the two felt like that of a rally car overtaking that of a normal one in the streets.
200m left and it was now only between Kiyotaka and Takuya. The glint in each of their eyes was both focused and competitive. Everything was likely blanked out around them so they could put their entire focus on this race and their opponent.
100m left. Takuya turned his gaze to Kiyotaka with the latter doing the same. The smirking smile on Takuya's face indicated he believed he was about to win and was enjoying this final battle. He managed to push himself just a little ahead of Kiyotaka, the end now in reach.
"YOU CAN DO IT KIYOTAKA! YOU CAN WIN!"
That cheer caught Kiyotaka's attention. It was from none other than his girlfriend Kei, and it stood out more than any other cheer that was aimed toward him. Whether that was because of his love for her or not, he did not know. But what he did know was that he didn't want to disappoint that cheer, to disappoint Kei.
With just 50 metres left and Takuya just slightly ahead, Kiyotaka finally increased his speed further. He quickly caught up to Takuya, and then immediately zoomed past him with just 20 metres left. Takuya had no room to react in time, despite his fast reaction speed.
ZIP.
Both boys finally crossed the finish line, however, Takuya's expression was one of frustration. It was obvious why that was.
Kiyotaka himself was still, trying to catch his breath. Even with the final run against Horikita Manabu in last year's sports festival, this was the fastest Kiyotaka had ever run outside of the White Room. Not even the investors during the New York City trip Kiyotaka went on with his father knew about this speed from him.
"What the hell type of speed was that? You were even holding back against Horikita-senpai back then!?" Nagumo said to Kiyotaka after he finished.
Kiyotaka turned to Nagumo and saw him with a frustrated face. Of course, he lost completely in all three events to Kiyotaka, something which Nagumo really didn't think would happen. Understanding that saying something would probably trigger Nagumo's frustration further, Kiyotaka continued to stay silent.
"I told you that you were not a good enough opponent for Ayanokouji-senpai, President Nagumo-senpai."
However, it seemed that Takuya wanted to make a mockery out of Nagumo a little more. Unsurprisingly, Nagumo got a little more frustrated and glared at Takuya, but he held it back as much as possible so that he wouldn't blow over. He sighed and then turned back to face Kiyotaka.
"Well whatever. You absolutely beat me in the Commander Events, so I will keep my promise and stop all the third year stares on you. They won't be constantly watching you anymore, however I cannot stop them from gazing at you out of curiosity since I forced them to be watching you."
Kiyotaka understood that. Human curiosity went far. He himself was a great example to that, so he wouldn't be surprised at some of the stares still being directed at him from a few of the third years. But as long as all of them weren't staring and watching his every movement every time he appeared, that would be a win for Kiyotaka.
But there was one thing Kiyotaka noted that Nagumo hadn't mentioned. Thanks to his partnership with Nanase Tsubasa from Class 1D, Kiyotaka was able to find out about the bounty that should have ended when Acting Director Tsukishiro left the school was still intact. This was because Nagumo decided to secretly continue it without the knowledge of the school.
Nagumo did not mention it here nor during the agreement of this little showdown weeks ago. It would be in Kiyotaka's best interest to mention it here and get Nagumo to call off the bounty. However, Kiyotaka stayed silent about it, deciding that was better in the long run. After all, despite what Nagumo said here, Kiyotaka barely trusted the fact that he would keep his entire promise.
"That is it for the obstacle triathlon event. Congratulations to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka who just scraped first place there from Yagami Takuya who came second. With that, we will now count the points and count the scores for the sports festival. Please go mingle with your classes and we will announce the results in 5-10 minutes."
Hearing that announcement, Nagumo and Takuya gave one last glare towards Kiyotaka before leaving to join their own classes. Kiyotaka sighed and did the same. As he arrived at his class's tent, he was immediately greeted by his classmates.
"Ayanokouji! The hell was that? You absolutely destroyed that first year and the Student Council President."
"Ayanokouji-kun. You were so amazing. Satou-san was right, you really are handsome when you're running at full speed."
"Kiyotaka. Nice job. You definitely got first place in the Commander Events."
"You did it, Kiyopon."
"Fufufu. As expected of you, Ayanokouji-boy."
Words of praise for his achievements dominated his surrounding circle of classmates. It was evident they were all surprised about his win, but they were all happy for it. Even though they picked Kiyotaka as the Commander for their class in this sports festival, they didn't think he would be so athletic to win in the Commander Events. Kiyotaka himself understood that.
After finally giving him some space to move, Kiyotaka walked over to Kei, who had been outside of the circle, smiling in pride at her boyfriend. If she had a tail, it would have been wagging like a puppy finally happy to see her owner approaching her. Kiyotaka couldn't help but think maybe her ponytail would count if it had a mind of its own.
"Congratulations, Kiyotaka. You were amazing out there," Kei said to Kiyotaka as he approached her.
"Thank you Kei. I heard you cheering for me at the end. It was thanks to you that I managed to win there."
He raised his hand and stroked her hair, a smile present in his eyes and his lips curved just a very tiny bit. Unsurprisingly, Kei felt flustered by this as her cheeks went red and swirls looked like they were going to appear in her eyes.
"E-eh!? Ahh mou! Don't embarrass me like that, Kiyotaka!"
Arms flailing alongside her embarrassment, she garnered attention of the class from her antics, though this was mostly her friend group, Mori and Haruka specifically teasing her. Seeing all of this in front of him, Kiyotaka couldn't help but be reminded of the situation he was now in.
Thanks to the wins he just managed to get in these Commander Events, he managed to gain enough points to be confident enough that he was going to get the Commander Event rewards. Gaining that reward was important for him and so was the position Class B would be when the results were announced.
[Everything is all coming together. Once the rewards are released, it will be time to add the finishing touches. This will be a huge step for Class B and for myself. Now I just have to wait.] He thought.
End of Chapter 5...
A/N:
And that concludes the Commander Battle. We all know who won in the end. Next Chapter will be the results and the very last chapter of the main story. Tune in to see the Epilogue of the Sports Festival and what happens after gaining all these results. See ya then!
- rainy26541 (G-String)