#91 Substituting

"You bastard, do you think this is a joke?!" When we walked into the cottage we immediately spotted Sudo and Koenji. They were only ones inside the cottage aside from us.

"Sudo-kun, what is going on?" Hirata immediately rushed over to them and asked with a serious expression.

"Hirata and Walker? ...This guy wants to quit, apparently, he doesn't feel good!" Sudo was slightly surprised by our presence but he still told us the problem.

After hearing Sudo's words, Hirata's expression immediately turned to helpless because he had no idea how to convince Koenji.

"...Are you sure, Koenji-kun?" Hirata asked with a worried expression.

"Hirata boy, I have no idea what's this monkey's problem...I already ran one race and even sprained my ankle while getting the 1st place for our class." Koenji answered with a clueless expression while shaking his head, as if he was saying that Sudo was simply accusing him.

He is going to hit him, at least try to... I thought while calmly observing them arguing.

"You-! Koenji!" Since no one beside us was inside the cottage, Sudo shouted at Koenji and threw a punch right into his face.

By observing Koenji's expression it seems that I don't need to do anything, but I have to step in because if he is going to block Sudo's punch it will only humiliate Sudo and make him even angrier. If he wouldn't be able to block that punch, I wouldn't even care to step in.

When Sudo's fist was halfway to Koenji's face, I stopped it with my palm and clenched it so Sudo couldn't get away from my grip.

"Wha-? Walker?" Sudo looked slightly surprised how effortlessly I was able to block his punch. After all, I was blocking it for someone with my stretched out arm to the side and not in front of me which is much easier since you have an entire body to support your arm to stop the force behind the punch.

"Stop it, Sudo-kun. It doesn't matter whether he is telling the truth or not, he already acquired the 1st place for our class while some people didn't do anything. " I tried to use the logic to calm him down.

"...I-" Sudo wasn't able to utter a word when he saw how I stopped his punch from such a bad position with an indifferent face. He probably didn't hold back since it surprised him that much.

"It seems there are still smart people here. I already obtained 15 points for our Class while others obtained nothing...How is that fair treatment if I can't quit when I am not feeling well." Koenji agreed with a smile and a satisfied nod.

"You! Don't talk like you are seriously feeling ill! You have done the same thing before during the survival test!" Sudo immediately redirected his attention to Koenji with an angry face. He was glaring at me as if he wanted to beat him to a pulp. He tried to retract his fist but I firmly hold it in my grip until he calms down.

Sudo, you don't realize that he is much stronger than you, do you? I thought while shaking my head with disappointment.

"Sudo-kun, what if the teachers suddenly come in? Please stop this, what Koenji-kun and Felix-kun said is the truth even though it sounds bad." Hirata put his hand on Sudo's shoulder and tried his best to calm him down with a firm expression.

"...Tch, fine, but who is going to compete in his stead? There are 7 more contests he needs to compete at." Sudo said with a dissatisfied expression but at least he calmed down a bit so I let go of his hand.

"About that...Let me take care of that" I said in an apathetic tone.

When I said this with an indifferent tone, everyone looked at me with a surprised face, even Koenji was slightly surprised after hearing my words.

"This isn't funny! You will have to compete in at least 14 contests, not to mention that you are also taking part in some recommended only contests! You will die out of exhaustion before you will get to those recommended only contests!" Sudo immediately recovered from the shock and tried to talk some sense into me.

"Felix-kun, I also think that's too much for you to handle..." Hirata agreed with Sudo's logic while looking at me with a worried expression.

"Why not let him do it? He said that he will do it so he will do it. Let's go Walker boy!" Koenji said with a satisfied smile and walked out of the cottage and I followed right after him, leaving both Sudo and Hirata stunned in place.

...

While we were walking towards the teachers' tent...

"Pretty good plan, you must have a lot of connections to be able to carry it out." Koenji who was walking in front of me said in a confident tone.

It seems like he has seen through it, he was always much more observant than others. Even though it looks like he never pays attention to anyone aside from himself, he is actually observing everything around him and storing and processing all that information.

Since he has seen through, I stopped the act and a cold smile appeared on my face while I was walking behind him.

"Thank you, you are not bad yourself." I said with the same confidence in my voice.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Koenji sensed that something about the atmosphere behind him changed so he stopped to look behind.

"Your strategy to get to Class A. Should I say, as expected from the rich 'young master'?" I said with a cold smile and a sarcastic tone.

"...Hah, you are really interesting, Walker boy. Is this your true nature?" He chuckled and asked with a calm face as if he wasn't surprised by this change.

"My true nature? Hehe, far from it." I said with a creepy laugh and resumed walking once again.

"I also have a warning for you..." I said with sharp eyes. Our positions reversed and now he was walking behind me.

"I don't mind what you are doing as long as you don't drag this class down, however, if you are thinking about revealing anything about me or about our class to the others...believe me that I can easily destroy that strategy of yours." I said in cold tone and took a glance behind me, noticing Koenji who was frowning while looking at my back. This was the most serious expression I have seen on his face ever since meeting him.

When we arrived at the teachers' tent...

"Is there a problem, you two?" Sae-chan approached us when she noticed us and asked us with an inquiring expression.

"Yes, I want to retire from this sports festival. I am not feeling very well." Koenji didn't waste time and frankly said what he wanted.

"...Are you sure? You won't be able to compete for the rest of the sports festival and someone will have to replace you." She was looking at him with a suspicious expression, perhaps even she noticed that there was nothing wrong with him, however, if he was feeling bad then there is no way to confirm if he is saying the truth.

Can't he even decide on what's his problem? Previously it was a sprained ankle, now it is an illness...

"Yes, it will be better this way." I answered in Koenji's stead.

Sae-chan looked at me and then back at Koenji before nodding.

"You still need to tell me who is going to substitute for you." She told Koenji while writing something on paper.

"That's Walker boy's job. If you will excuse me, I will now go to the cottage and continue my recovery." Koenji said with a satisfied smile and left me and Sae-chan alone.

"Is this also part of your predictions?" She asked me with a small smile.

"Slightly different but yeah. I actually expected him to leave before the first contest but he actually decided to take a part of it which slightly surprised me." I lazily rested my hands and head on the table where Sae-chan was doing her work.

"Stop it...anyone could come in and see you" She continued doing her work but she still reprimanded me. What I was doing could be viewed as too rude or even intimate since Sae-chan wasn't actually angry at my actions.

"But no one is coming no? Don't worry, I will react fast enough." I lazily said with a smile and she just smiled while shaking her head.

"You are indeed fast, even I was surprised when I first saw you run..." She said with a furrowed brows continued doing paperwork regarding Koenji's withdrawal from the sports festival.

"Thank you for the compliment but it wasn't that fast. It probably only looked that way for the spectators." I replied with a smile while looking at her with one eye closed.

I continued lazing on her table and from time to time I was replying to her.

"Alright, enough of the small talk. Can you tell me who is going to replace your classmate?" She asked me with her usual poker face.

"Hehe, who else but me?" I laughed a bit and raised my hand.

Seeing this, she narrowed her eyes and glared at me for some time.

When she noticed that I wasn't joking she disapprovingly shook her head.

"I can't let you take part in so many contests..." She dejectedly said.

"What do you mean 'you can't'? If I am right, there is no limit for any student. Anyone can attend as many contests as he wants." I asked with a puzzled expression. I had no idea why wouldn't she let me do it.

"I know but your body won't be able to take it..." She couldn't say this while looking straight into my eyes.

"Why do you even want to compete in so many contests? Do you want to gather as many private points as possible during the next 3 years?" She asked me with an expression that didn't suit her.

What's her problem? Why did the mood drop down so much? ...Let me try something.

"I want my class to get as many points as possible. If you think that I want to transfer to Class A with private points then you are wrong. I am not that kind of person plus I wouldn't want to change my homeroom teacher. I am already too accustomed to my current homeroom teacher." I tilted my head to the side and said with a teasing smile while looking at her with soft eyes.

"...You...whatever, if you really want to do this then I won't stop you anymore" When she saw my smile and eyes she thought for a while before giving up. However, she sounded a bit annoyed by my stubbornness.

"Don't worry I will win everything for you, teach. haha" I laughed, trying to cheer her up.

"You'd better! Now leave me alone, I still have some paperwork to do." She blushed a bit after hearing my words but she still replied in a firm tone.

"Alright, thanks for your constant help, I really appreciate it." I thanked her with a genuine smile.

When she heard my words and saw my smile, she blushed once again and just shooed me away with her hand while trying to focus on her work.

...Well, that was pretty cute. Normally, if some teenage girl did this to me I would think of her as an obnoxious person but in Sae-chan's case, it looked quite cute. Maybe it was due to her age...or maybe because of that blush...

I thought when I exited the teacher's tent with a satisfied smile across my face.

...

When I returned to our tent, I explained everything that happened to everyone. Of course, everyone immediately started to question me why I took all of it on myself. But there wasn't much time for explaining before the next contest started with me being in the first group to start.

This was one of a few groups where I placed myself against slower opponents and it was evident that people who were against me immediately lost their spirit when they saw me appear on the starting line, except for a few students from Class B. They are really optimistic.

There wasn't anything interesting in that race but I won the 1st place once again with an only 1-meter gap between me and the 2nd person. But what did change is that the 2nd person was someone from Class D. In this first Hurdle race, we were able to secure the first 2 positions, motivating the entire class. The start is always the most important, if you already lose at the start, your spirit will only grow weaker the entire competition unless you make a big comeback which within my plans is impossible.