Chapter 140 – The Sports Festival begins

In early October, the sweltering heat of summer had gradually faded, leaving behind the last traces of warmth still lingering in the air. Yet, feeling the sun's rays, much gentler than those of August, one could sense the end of the summer heat.

The Advanced Nurturing High School's Sports Festival began under these ideal temperatures.

The vast sports field was surrounded by seats occupied by the school staff, who rarely had the opportunity to enjoy the excitement of a high school sports festival and didn't want to miss out.

Next to them, a complete medical team was on standby, along with facilities for emergency treatment and boxes of heatstroke prevention supplies provided by the school, signaling to the students that they could give their all in the competition with the assurance of immediate medical care if necessary.

Yukio glanced at the medical team stationed in the distance, sitting under his class's canopy, and silently commended the school's preparatory measures.

The school likely anticipated that the students competing in the festival would push themselves to the limit to win points for their class, hence the comprehensive medical arrangements.

However, at its core, transforming what should be a joyful sports event into such an intensely competitive affair, all due to the school's setup, made one deeply admire the school's ruthlessly efficient training approach.

While he was lost in thought, the announcement began: "The first event, the men's 100m race, is about to start. Competitors, please take your positions."

"Eh? It's starting just like that? How boring," Ishizaki, sitting behind Yukio, complained loudly. "I was hoping we'd get to see some cute cheerleading."

"Yeah, it's a shame," Komiya agreed from the side.

"Cheerleading?" Yukio turned around, intrigued. He had only seen cheerleading at major sporting events, such as certain basketball or football matches with global influence.

Usually, it involved spirited girls in attractive uniforms performing dance routines with high kicks to heat up the atmosphere before a game. But for a school sports festival, was there also supposed to be a cheerleading segment?

"Yeah, Yukio-san, you don't know?" Ishizaki scratched the back of his head in bewilderment, his confusion quickly turning into pride. "Not to brag, Yukio-san, but my middle school had a cheerleading club!"

"The most anticipated part of our three sports festivals during middle school was the cheerleading club's performance. Man, just thinking about it still gets me excited."

Komiya, chiming in, shared his sentiment: "Our middle school didn't have a cheerleading club, but we did have dance performances for the sports festival. All beautiful girls and their legs... I miss it."

This is the essence of boys' youth: in addition to passion and humor, there are also those forever memorable and beautiful cheerleaders' legs.

"…" Yukio suddenly felt that the students here seemed quite content. Reflecting on his own middle school sports festivals—no, they should be called sports meetings in his place—why weren't there cheerleading squads?

"Do you guys only have this on your minds every day?" Ibuki expressed her annoyance with a furrowed brow. "Oda is about to compete. Cheering him on would be much better than discussing cheerleaders here, right?"

"You're, you're right…" Under Ibuki's imposing glare, Ishizaki and Komiya awkwardly shrank back and dashed out of the canopy to the starting line to cheer for their classmate.

Yukio remained seated calmly, quietly watching the racetrack.

Ibuki first frowned deeply, her standard school-issue red sports pants not showcasing the best of her legs, which, despite the cotton pants, still appeared long and straight, honed from years of martial arts training at home.

She internally scoffed. Cheerleading? Could those girls' legs even compare to hers, a girl who had been practicing martial arts at home for years? Why bother discussing such things? If not for the school's dress code requiring these cotton pants, she'd have worn sports shorts. How could any cheerleading squad compare to her?

While maintaining her inner critique, she also glanced at Yukio: "Aren't you going to cheer? Or are you still thinking about cheerleading squads?"

"Huh?" Yukio hadn't followed Ibuki's line of thought at first, barely understanding her before chuckling: "What are you thinking about? I just want to see what Nagumo is up to."

"That guy talked big a month ago, but we've seen nothing from Nagumo so far. Now that the competition has officially started, he must have some tricks, right?"

Ibuki's face stiffened in embarrassment. Damn it! She had been so preoccupied with thoughts of cheerleading that she nearly forgot this crucial issue! She immediately focused on the track, ready to spring into action at any moment.

At the starting line, the boys waiting to run the first 100m race looked around cautiously. After a month of preparation, the track had been temporarily widened to avoid crowding and not hinder the athletes' performance.

Oda, a member of Yukio's class, looked around with vigilance, remembering Yukio's warning to be wary of any sabotage from Nagumo of the second-year A-class.

For his own safety, Yukio allowed him not to sprint with full concentration during the 100m sprint but to stay alert to his surroundings. Even if his performance suffered, it didn't matter; there were many more events to make up for it.

Oda's mission was essentially to protect himself while maximizing the exploration for his class and probing what Nagumo planned to do.

"Oda, good luck!" Before he had time to think further, he saw Ishizaki and Komiya rushing over to cheer him on. Oda smiled awkwardly; the race was about to start, and there was no time to explain Yukio's instructions in detail.

He decided to talk about it after the race.

"On your marks!" Following the referee's command, Oda stopped chatting, went to the first lane—the one closest to the inner circle—on the starting line, and silently awaited the sound of the starting pistol.

"Bang!"

With his ears keenly catching the gunshot, the information was transmitted through his auditory nerves to his brain, which quickly commanded his limbs. After a slight pause to ensure no false start, he sprinted out.

Watching from the starting line, Ishizaki was somewhat confused: "Is Oda nervous? He started so much slower?"

"It's okay, there are many more events to come. Just don't be nervous for the next ones." Komiya also looked a bit worried but still hurriedly spoke some encouraging words.

A slow start in a 100m dash means being slow step by step. The audience could notice that Oda had the slowest start among all runners, seemingly lagging by an entire beat and allowing others to gain a whole body length on him.

This amused many students, thinking how slow Oda was to lag so much and still dare to run first?

Especially the members of the first-year D-class, who had suffered losses to Yukio's class repeatedly, found this hilariously delightful. The enthusiastic jeers of Sudo were especially vigorous, annoying Ishizaki to no end.

But Oda wasn't weak. The dedicated training over the past month and Yukio's occasional picnic motivations had significantly improved Oda, at least enough not to fall too far behind in the 100m dash.

Straining every muscle to catch up, he was almost on par with the lead! Just as many spectators were amazed by Oda's performance, thinking he could have contended for the first place if he hadn't started a beat slower, an accident happened!

Suddenly, three second-year students slightly slowed down and then, for no apparent reason, squeezed and pushed their way in front of Oda's lane, completely blocking his path before slowly moving forward.

They didn't care about finishing last; it seemed they just needed to ensure Oda ended up at the bottom.

***

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