A Horrible Human(2)

The sports festival had begun. Each event had a qualification round and the main round. There wasn't any specific rule putting a limit on the participation since this is a day where the school promotes the importance of physical health education, talent, and awareness. I was participating in the variants of sprints.

If you weren't participating you would be cheering your friends or classmates who were, and if you are not doing that then you would be sitting with them critiquing the competition. One group, however, stood out today, and not in a good way.

"What's the matter with their class?" I heard someone say.

"Aren't they pretty isolated?" came from another guy.

Class 1A showed the lowest activity among all. There were two reasons for that.

Ichika had warned them not to attract too much attention. Simply speaking if any of us performed abnormal feats, that would not be seen in a good way for our assignment. It might lead to people invading our privacy later in the future. This was the reason for half of them.

The other half simply didn't care about the sports festival, and they were blatant about their ennui. The reason I gave Ichika for participating was that I wanted to interact more with other people. It might seem like an illogical reason but if you ask people who were part of the screening, a good fraction of them might just relate to it.

The sports festival proceeded without a hitch as the day passed and in a matter of a few hours, the final event here was the 4x400 relay race. And I was the anchor.

The students lined up. It was an event where classes competing were divided by year. The first student in our lineup was Kelan. For the most part, he had not participated in this festival, but I had asked him to replace the guy who got injured.

"Thanks for finding a replacement," Keika said to me.

"It's nothing. How about the fourth member?"

"Oh, she's fine. She had some minor fatigue but she is ready to participate," she said and continued, "is Kelan going to do okay? He doesn't look the athletic type."

By the standards of those who participated in the screening, Kelan is a bit below average, but compared to a normal high school student, he will prevail in physical abilities. Given that this information is only available to me, her concern is expected.

"He isn't the fastest out there, but he'll manage," I said to her.

"I had hoped to get the podium on this one, that prize looks good," she looks at the announcer's screen where the prizes are listed, "But that is out of reach now."

"If you're going to carry this approach then we might as well forfeit," I stood up, "there's still hope you know."

"Oh please, you are injured and the only other good runner in the club is out. We are not even close," she said dejectedly

"How about a bet then?"

"Bet?"

"If I place us on the podium, I have a request. I want to meet your sister," I said.

"You're still hung up on that?" She asked.

"Your answer?" there wasn't much time till her turn.

"Okay. If you can place first, I'll put in a good word for you," she put a condition on her favor.

The race began. Kelan had perfect timing with his dash and in the first few seconds, it looked like he had separated himself from the pack.

"Whoa! You weren't joking about that," said Keika. But his ability is far from the truth. He purposely allowed his lead to grow up to a certain level and then let it shrink slowly. From that point, Kelan's physical prowess doesn't seem extraordinary.

As he got close to completing his lap, the person behind him was trailing by about 15 meters, Kelan handed over the baton to the girl who would be running next.

She was athletic, but there is a biological difference between the bodies of men and women, and as the first half of the second lap passed, the lead that our team had, shrunk slowly until one of the students passed our runner. In the second half, another runner passed her and we were in third place.

Keika had already gone to the stand in the line where she would be receiving the baton from her.

"I can manage if the trail doesn't extend much, it'll be fine," I said to myself, in an attempt to feel relaxed and focused and-

She just fell. Right before she had to hand over the baton to Keika, that girl fell.

"Why do I even have hope for everything to go as planned? Nothing ever works out in this cursed world," I complain to the god of fate, because if there is one then they need to give more attention to me.

Keika after taking the baton from her finally began her lap. After she passed, I took my position as the Anchor. Looking at the opponents I am going to face, the most athletic ones are from the third year. And at this point, they already have a lead of 5 or 6 seconds. The runners beside me pass one after the other as she gets to me.

She was out of breath, and could not speak at the moment, but from her face, she was hopeless about the outcome of this race.

"The bet's still on," I said to her right before I dashed at full throttle.

I was in the middle of the pack, a couple of runners behind me and more in the front. I have to separate from them. Alright, I am going to accelerate.

"Whoa, fast!" said a student who I left behind in the dust, astounded.

I took a moment to see the gap between the guy in front and my current position. There were still two people between us, I had to go past them with not much time left. Going easy was no longer an option. I revved further and went past two other people who had the same dumbfounded looks on them.

Beyond the straight line, to the curve, and again to the straight line. He was in reach. The distance between us was shrinking, since I was going faster than he was. Realizing my existence behind him, he rushed. But I accelerated again to shrink the gap even further. The finish line was in sight, with no more than a few seconds left.

"One last time."

"That was amazing!" Keika came to me after the race was over. I had a small crowd around me, none of them from my class.

"We don't know who won, right?" A voice from the crowd asked.

"They're reviewing the footage now," said another student.

With a final push, I erased any gap but I wasn't sure if I pulled ahead or not. This footage will determine the winner of the race and whether I succeeded in the bet I had placed or not. The teacher who was judging came with the results

"The winner of the 4x400 relay race is..." if my name or my class's name was uttered here, I would win that bet.

"The team of third years, led by Chizuru Maya," the teacher announced.

She was Keika's sister and even though she wasn't the anchor, she led the team throughout the sports festival.

I heard some sighs from the crowd.

"But you were really close Eric!" Said a girl from the crowd. After which followed praises from everyone around. I thanked them and they dispersed soon after. The sports festival was over.

* * *

"Oh god, my stomach is about to burst!" Words that came out of me were in no way exaggerating the pain I was feeling.

"Today's treat was extra good, right?" Keika asked me.

It sure was...I did not hold back in eating.

After the sports festival, seniors treated us for organizing a spectacular event. After all, this was their last sports festival at the school.

"But you were the highlight of today, my boy. I did not expect such an amazing performance," she said.

I was tired of hearing compliments. Not because I hated them, but the back of my mind was stuck on the fact that I lost that bet.

Was it okay for me to not respond to a compliment like this? I...don't know.

"You never performed that well during the club activities," she pointed out.

"I never had the motivation to perform my best on a regular day," I said.

In all honesty, I was running fast but not at my best. I didn't know at what point I would start looking like a freak monster and not an ordinary person. I am aware of my strength but it is normal to me, not to others.

"Even if you didn't win, the prize money wasn't that bad for the second place," she said.

"I don't care about the money."

She looked at me but I did not return her gaze.

"Why do you want to meet my sister so bad?"

"As I said, I have always wanted to excel in the field of journalism," I replied.

"You are lying. At this point you seem kinda obsessed," she said.

After putting this much effort into it, I guess my motivations would appear serious. She waited for my answer.

"If it was easy to tell you, I already would have," I said.

A couple of weeks before I entered high school, the Instructor kidnapped all of us and put us through that screening. Once that was done, we were told by him to do this assignment and hunt every single demon in the world. As impossible as it sounds, it is indeed easier than escaping all of this.

I cannot tell her this.

"If it is that important to you, I'll take you to her," she said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. We lost, but that wasn't your fault, so no need to worry there," she gave me a green light. I'm not the least bit happy about it, to be honest.

Relieved that I got what I wanted, hated that I had to do it. But there is no choice, right? I cannot be regarded as useless by the instructor, who has made me a horrible person.

Without allowing her to catch on to the emotions inside me, I quietly bowed down to her and uttered, "thank you."

Silence followed this conversation. I realized that I have changed in the course of a few months. Earlier I couldn't stand awkward silences like this one, but now I prefer them.

"By the way, did you know the guy who Kelan replaced- he confessed to Ichika from your class."

A sudden change in topic from her side. Maybe because she was the one who couldn't stand the silence imbued between us.

"I didn't know that," I replied honestly. Who confesses to who is nobody else's concern.

"Ichika seems to be really popular throughout the year," said Keika.

"She has a bubbly personality and gets along with everyone," I said. Almost everyone to be precise. In my statement, I disregarded the existence of people who don't give a damn about getting along with others.

"The rest of your class could win an oscar for being gloomy," she said.

Oi

"You're calling me gloomy?"

"No, no. Not you, but the fact is your class is kinda detached from the rest," she said.

She hit the nail right on the head there.

With the kind of circumstances we are in, it is stressful for any of us. Occasionally, I hear someone shouting and venting their anger by breaking stuff. I am not different from them.

"I guess you could say that," I replied.

"There was one guy you said withdrew from the school right?"

"What about him?" I asked.

"I don't know much but I heard some rumors about him. Some people were saying he had mental issues and was talking some strange stuff before he disappeared," she said.

The one survivor who was killed by the instructor for breaking the rules. We made up the story that he withdrew from the school.

"I agree on the fact that he was kind of weird but I have no certain clue," I lied through my teeth. I want to smash my head against a wall for insulting a dead person.

"You want me to ask someone and confirm?" I asked her again. She wasn't interested in this topic, so I tried to finish this subject by drawing out an answer from her.

"Not necessary," she said.

Silence filled the atmosphere. Someone had to change the topic and it couldn't be me. The place around us was quiet, we were crossing through a region that used to be for the industries in this district but had been closed recently.

"You'll be famous in the school from now on," I wondered what she was going to say but this again, I don't want it.

"Can't you stop?" I begged her. She laughed.

"I'm sorry, but I enjoy your reactions so much. Now I know you don't want to seek attention at all," she said. With a sinister laugh

"Is it a part of your bigger plot to take revenge on me?" I asked.

"Who knows?" I don't like her sinister expression at all.

Just as I was about to say something —

I heard a sharp screech somewhere on my left side. I turned to an empty alley.

It wasn't far...I'd say a couple of streets away.

I ran towards it, "What was that? Be careful!" Keika said behind me, her footsteps following mine.

I arrived at the source and my eyes widened. Two demons eating through the body of what looked like an old lady. She just died a few seconds ago. They were too engrossed in feasting, they didn't take note of my presence here.

I have to get out.

Just as I turned around, I heard a yell from Keika whose face contorted in confusion and fear.

A disaster.