an Empty Victory

Something that I won't forget is how much I hated P.E in middle school, I didn't have any physical abilities so I always had to be the burden of the team.

but that has nothing to do with me now, thag weak Sawano Aru isn't here anymore!

today we are going to have a race organized by the school for some stupid reasons I dont care about, the only important thing that It's finally my chance to be the protagonist again and show everything I went through!

"why are you smiling like this? it's creepy"

Makoto commented as usual, little did he now that this day is his last day as the protagonist of the story

"when I take everyone's heart make sure to not fall for me alright?"

"where did you get this confidence from?"

I can't blame him for doubting me because I, Sawano Aru is not the same guy he now

"Hey Makoto!"

Kiriyama came running the moment she noticed that Makoto is here

"Yo Naru, are you in good shape for today?"

"Of course I am! I was training hard to impress you today!"

my existence dissappeared once the two of them started talking. boys race will start soon so I didn't mind it as much.

"Please everyone from class A and B from the first year line up to start"

the announcement could be heard clearly so Kiriyama stopped the conversation with an annoyed face

"We will be running next so yeah see you later"

"Oh Sawano-Kun you were here?"

"you little...."

it's not about the "title" she really was ignoring me!

there's no need to be angry, she will come to me later when she sees my full potential!

after saying goodbye to Kiriyama we started stretching our bodies as we watchef the other classrs results

23 boys are standing next to each other waiting for the sign to start running.

after hearing a loud voice everyone started sprinting as fast as they could, the race is 800 meters so it should take about 3 minutes to finish for the faster ones. as I watched them I felt excitement I didn't feel before in those events, on the other side....

"Ugh...I hate sport, why do they force us to do this?"

just as I was, Makoto isn't good with sports. what a pathetic man, I smiled confidentially

"You can always give up if you can't keep up"

"Huh that's some surprising crap to hear from someone worse than I"

after some minutes of useless fighting with each other the other classes race finished and it's our turn now

I copied the form of Tachibana who is the ace of the soccer club, he always won this kind of events so he should be a good refrence to copy, I have to control how fast I'm going to go so no one can doubt me.

once I heard the signal time started slowing down, if I ran with my all power I should be able to finish the race in less than a second.

I controlled my pace to be equal to Tachibana, he wasn't happy because I was close to him so I decided to go even faster!

I'm closing the distance with the finish line, but somehow it doesn't feel good at all, there's a bad tase in my mouth that I couldn't understand.

why am I sad even when winning?maybe I should just lose

I can't keep running the same way, I turned to check on Tachibana secretly, he was....crying, I don't understand why is he taking some stupid event so seriously.

"Ah, I'm taking it seriously too..."

I won the race with a huge gap between tge first and the second, it felt like stealing candy from a lost child and then throwing it without eating it.

some girls came directly to the end line to see the winner,but I wasn't the attention center.

"are you okay Tachibana-kun? yoy don't have to take it so seriously! it's just your bad day"

sweat and tears are all over his face,he tried to talk but decided not to. he understood the huge difference in our abilities.

I trained hard for six years to get this power, than why am I feeling like a dirty cheater? I tried hard too!

"that doesn't look like a winner face"

I turned around to see the voice owner, Kiriyama was standing next to me still looking at the race

"I love Makoto "

"huh? what does that have to do with me?"

I'm not feeling well enough to listen to her crap so I decided to walk away.

"he isn't strong, smart or even kind at all,he can do nothing right since we were childs, but do you know what's the best thing about him?"

I stopped moving unconsciously and turned around to check on Makoto, he's still running even though everyone is far ahead from him

, he cant breath at all and I can smell the sweat from three kilometers

"I love how he is struggling, he could just give up like most of the other weak boys, but he decided to run knowing that he will lose."

"how is that any good? shouldn't he just give up if he's going to lose anyway?"

"Indeed this is a valid idea...yes, maybe he isn't doing the right thing but isn't that the reason it feels charming?"

charming? this crazy girl lost her mind long ago.

"because Tachibana-kun was struggling, because he was crying, everyone is around him now boys and girls. it's never about winning it's about who and how"

"so no matter how hard I tried I will just stay in the shadows, is that what you say?"

I'm getting angry that I really was going to hit her, but when I saw a smile on her face I stopped.

"you can't see it yet?"

I looked at the race again, Makoto is coming to us after he finished the race

"that wss nuts Aru, how did you get so fast when you were worse than me"

Suzuki and Hiragi-senpai were waiting for Makoto so we can all talk together

"you were amazing Sawano-kun!"

"I can't expect less from you, but Tsukasa-kun did a great work too."

"ah yes! he wasn't fast but he was trying his best, it looked cool!"

Suzuki tried to express her feelings awkwardly while senpai praised us with an emotionless face attached

I understand what Kiriyama meant now, they were watching Makoto because he was struggling, everyone love an underdog story but it's impact will be greater when they see the hero trying his best to achieve the impossible

I won easily, for me it was my suffering's reward but for everyone it's just that someone is good because he is good,they can't relate to me.

"I think I won't be running for a while"

"huh? you really should think about it seriously you can achieve huge success!"

"No! he can't go anywhere, as the president of the literature club I won't let him abandon books!"

they started arguing without asking the topic of their discussion about what he want, I couldn't help but to laugh.

maybe it's not so bad to be a side character, I'll just have to find my way to enjoy it