The Sports Festival opens.
The entire school's students lined up and entered the field, listening to Senior Fujimaki's opening declaration.
Around the rubber track...
...many of the school's medical staff were setting up medical tents, and there were scattered spectators in the stands, mostly employees from the Keyaki Mall.
Unlike other schools...
...the schedule for this school's athletic meet was quite tight, and there wouldn't be many spectators.
Hikigaya breathed a slight sigh of relief.
After finishing the Wool Club's activity report, he had been training with Ichinose and the others.
Although he hadn't slacked off, the actual results were not ideal.
There were too many outstanding people around.
Even though he hadn't slacked off, people like Shibata not only had outstanding talent but also worked even harder. He really couldn't win.
"Ichinose."
"Leave this Sports Festival to me."
"I will definitely take first place in the individual events!"
Shibata jogged in place, his brilliant smile truly putting one's heart at ease.
"So reliable."
Ichinose stretched out her snowy white hand in the middle and smiled: "But we can't leave everything to Shibata and the others. We have to work hard too!"
"I... I will also do my best."
Shirami Chihiro mustered her courage, nodded, and placed her small hand on Ichinose's. Then, the others followed suit, piling their hands on.
"Hikigaya-kun."
Ichinose looked at Hikigaya and smiled.
"Oh..."
Hikigaya's face turned red.
He walked over somewhat awkwardly and placed his hand on the very top.
If they expected him to achieve some great results, it would be quite troubling. Over-expectations only end up crushing people.
He could only do his best.
"Everyone, one, two, three, fight!"
With Ichinose's shout, Hikigaya joined in the hand-stacking with a bashful face.
This is truly embarrassing.
How can these people do this?
Soon.
The 100-meter sprint began.
The first-year students moved to one end of the playground to prepare for the race.
The girls lined up last, waiting for the subsequent girls' 100-meter sprint.
Hikigaya looked at the simple entry list.
He was in the eighth group, lane six; his companion was the "megaphone" of Class B, Tetsuya Hamaguchi.
Other familiar faces seemed to be only Haruki Yamauchi and Kanji Ike from Class D.
The reason he remembered those two was simply because they were so noisy and stupid that they stood out significantly; from another perspective, they were school celebrities.
This group didn't look very strong.
"Hikigaya, do your best~"
Hamaguchi smiled and raised his fist, seemingly wanting to do a fist bump.
"Ah, oh."
Hikigaya, feeling a bit embarrassed, bumped fists with him.
Are these guys foreigners?
Does a fist bump really improve your performance?
Bang.
Just then, the starting pistol fired.
Hikigaya turned his head to look at the track.
The first group of first-year boys immediately sprinted out.
A red-haired baboon instantly left his opponents behind, taking first place with overwhelming dominance.
"Hey, is that a human? He's like a monster."
Hikigaya was utterly stunned.
He must have traveled to a parallel world; it felt like this monster was running faster than Usain Bolt.
That might be an exaggeration, but it felt like this guy could totally be a professional athlete.
Why was he even in school?
"You should recognize him; that's Sudo from Class D. He's probably Class D's ace and the opponent we need to watch out for most."
As he spoke, Tetsuya Hamaguchi smiled and patted his shoulder: "But don't be too nervous; we just need to do our own part."
"Oh."
Hikigaya nodded.
He felt Hamaguchi was trying to comfort him, but he didn't need comforting.
He couldn't beat a monster like Sudo anyway.
If you can't win, just give up—that was his style; he only gave his all in races where he had a chance.
At this time, the starting pistol sounded again, roughly once every twenty seconds.
It would only take four minutes for all the boys to finish, followed by the girls' races, and then the upperclassmen.
The first-year 100-meter sprint would probably take about thirty minutes.
Therefore, on the soccer field inside the playground, many girls who were waiting in line were cheering for their classmates.
However, those who could make girls cheer were basically the school's popular characters and class aces.
Even if he didn't want to know, names like Hirata, Shibata, Machida, Sudo, and Kitou still entered his mind like noise.
These damn "normies"—why haven't they exploded yet?
Soon, it was the eighth group's turn.
Hikigaya stepped onto lane six to prepare for the race.
"Hikigaya, do your best!"
Just then, a cheer caught his attention. Hikigaya's face flushed as he quickly turned to look.
Yuki Himeno placed her snowy white hands by her mouth, acting as a megaphone to cheer for him.
"Hamaguchi too~"
Hamaguchi smiled and waved, then whispered: "Hikigaya, you and Himeno have a good relationship."
"No, you idiot. She's just cheering for a classmate. Didn't she cheer for you too?"
"But it felt like I was just an afterthought..."
"It's probably because you're in lane five; she didn't see you just now."
Hikigaya crouched on the ground, assuming a crouch start position.
It turned out that regardless of who was competing, Class B students would cheer for them.
"Hikigaya, do your best!"
Seriously, can you stop shouting?
It's embarrassing.
As the starting pistol fired, Hikigaya's feet exerted sudden force as he gritted his teeth and dashed forward.
Unfortunately, he was quickly overtaken by a figure beside him.
Before he could see who it was, the group reached the finish line almost simultaneously.
Regrettably, he only took second place. First place went to his classmate, Tetsuya Hamaguchi.
Hikigaya once again recognized his own strength.
Even in the eighth group, which had no top-tier athletes, he could only get second even after giving it his all.
Fine. Second place is already good.
Given his stats, being able to get second place could be considered a blessing from the Goddess of Fortune.
Otherwise, in a normal group, his athletic score would likely put him around fourth or fifth place.
He couldn't demand too much.
Under the teacher's urging, Hikigaya and Tetsuya Hamaguchi returned to the Class B camp to wait for the next event.
As for the competition, Hikigaya just took a simple glance.
Although there were many beautiful girls in this school, Hikigaya, like any ordinary boy, just watched them with appreciative eyes.
Yuki Himeno flew across the field with her ponytail fluttering.
Regrettably, she took second place.
Ichinose, seemingly due to the "weight" on her chest, unfortunately only took fourth place.
His athletic performance was indeed similar to Ichinose's.
Soon, Ichinose and the others returned to the camp to watch the upperclassmen's races.
The first-year competition felt like a back-and-forth battle.
However, the 3rd-year Class A led by Manabu Horikita and the 2nd-year Class A led by Miyabi Nagumo achieved an overwhelming advantage.
Under these conditions, it was almost impossible for the White Team to beat the Red Team; it might be easier to shift the goal to ranking first within the grade.
"Hey."
Yuki Himeno stealthily walked up to Hikigaya, gave his calf a light kick, and said in a low, displeased tone: "I cheered for you just now, so why did you only get second place?"
"Heh."
Hikigaya gave a dry laugh.
Just because you cheered for me, I have to get first? What kind of logic is that?
"Nothing I could do. That's just my level of ability. Besides, the first place in our group was Hamaguchi, so it doesn't make a difference, right?"
Since both first and second place belonged to Class B, what was there to complain about?
"I suppose so."
Separated by one seat, Yuki Himeno lowered her voice: "But don't you want to get more individual points?"
"No chance, and I'm not interested," Hikigaya said flatly.
While he did want individual points, if it was too difficult, he'd forget it. The Sports Festival clearly exceeded his personal physical capabilities.
As for Yuki Himeno keeping a one-seat distance, Hikigaya had no objection.
This girl acted like a "good girl" in front of the class...
If anything, Hikigaya was a bit surprised that Yuki Himeno would come over to talk at this time.
"And," Hikigaya retorted directly, "you only got second place too. How can you have the nerve to talk about me?"
"Eh?"
Yuki Himeno's face flushed, and her voice softened: "So you saw that..."
"Is there a problem?" Hikigaya said, somewhat speechlessly. "I'm still a member of Class B. Since I'm just sitting here with nothing to do, I'm going to watch my classmates' races."
"But Ichinose only got fourth. Your results were better than hers. By the way, were you slacking off? I feel like you ran much faster than you do in PE class."
Competing in the same group as Yuki Himeno was Suzune Horikita from Class D, but Himeno took second place by only a small margin.
This made Hikigaya suspect that this girl had been slacking off.
However, considering Himeno always acted the part of a "good girl" in class, it was indeed possible.
If her results were too excellent, she might be ostracized by the other girls.
While he didn't think such a thing would happen in Class B, on the other hand, she would be burdened with excessively high expectations and have all the work pushed onto her as a capable person.
In fact, Class B was currently running solely on Ichinose's efforts, with Kanzaki acting as her deputy.
Although Yuki Himeno didn't reject social gatherings, she fundamentally preferred being alone.
Wanting to slack off was understandable.
However, upon hearing his words, Yuki Himeno's face stiffened for a moment before she said with some dissatisfaction: "You're always alone, so how do you see things so clearly? You even know the results of Ichinose and the others. Gross!"
This girl is really harsh.
Hikigaya glanced at her but didn't say much; after all, Yuki Himeno was just trying to change the subject.
Since she didn't want to talk about it, Hikigaya wouldn't pry into her life.
"I told you, I'm a member of Class B. I'm not limited to Ichinose; I watch the others too," Hikigaya said, making small talk while looking at Manabu Horikita on the field.
As expected of the commander, he was overwhelmingly powerful.
"Who are you kidding? You're definitely just looking at the girls with perverted eyes!" Yuki Himeno said with a hint of mockery in her tone.
She understood these boys too well; after all, it was only human nature.
"I am not!" Hikigaya quickly denied. Although he was looking at girls, he wasn't that kind of person.
"Then tell me, what place did Kanzaki get?"
"First in the second group. Katsuragi from Class A was second in the same group."
"..."
Hearing his answer, Yuki Himeno was stunned. She hadn't expected this guy to really be watching more than just the girls.
"Can you really observe the whole situation?" Yuki Himeno asked in shock.
With a race happening almost every few minutes, observing the entire situation was by no means an easy task.
"It's not that big a deal," Hikigaya said flatly. "I'm just watching because I'm bored. Besides, I don't know most of the people, so watching doesn't really do anything; it's just to pass the time."
After all, there really was nothing to do sitting here.
Though he saw a few guys with outstanding abilities, he didn't know most of them; the only ones he'd had contact with were Sudo and Hirata.
"Then do you think we can win this time?"
Knowing that Hikigaya didn't have a strong desire to reach Class A, Yuki Himeno didn't push too hard. Whether or not to assist Ichinose was entirely up to his personal choice.
"We probably can't win."
Hikigaya looked toward the upperclassmen. Fearing Himeno might not recognize them, he explained: "That Student Council President Manabu Horikita and Vice President Miyabi Nagumo are overwhelmingly strong. The seniors standing near them also consistently rank in the top two."
"True."
It turned out he was overthinking; Yuki Himeno said somewhat helplessly: "I heard those two are rated by the school as the two most outstanding students in fifty years."
In terms of school intelligence, Yuki Himeno would only know more than he did.
"What kind of protagonist template is that?" Hikigaya was speechless.
Two geniuses that only appear once every fifty years—they sounded like light novel protagonists.
If they followed that template, there'd probably be a once-in-a-century genius in the first year specifically meant to slap their faces.
How terrifying.