Chapter 33

After both teams had stretched themselves, it was now time for war... I mean friendly ball games. So now it was time to decide what games their warriors... I mean students, would be playing today

"So what game do you want to lose first?"

"I should be the one saying that, and the answer is obvious..."

" "Dodgeball" "

*Dramatic BGM SFX*

"*Gasp*" (x59)

All the students gasped when they heard what game they would be playing first, dodgeball, the game that is known to break long-lasting friendships, and cause severe injuries and fear... ... ... Wait, is this thing correct?

Without any other choice, the students of each classroom went to their respective sides of the arena... sports field, as a series of balls were lined up in the very middle of the field. The most competitive students were making very evil-looking smiles as they prepared themselves to grab as many balls as possible... And most of the competitive students were girls for some reason

Then Masaru-sensei blew his whistle, signaling that the game was on, and almost immediately both sides ran towards the balls and grabbed as many as they could, even attempting to already eliminate some of their opponents, and just about a minute in, and there were already casualties on both sides, 2 losses on Class 1-1, Takeru's classroom, and 3 losses on Class 2-3, Yuriko's classroom. And that meant that their numbers were even

But that also meant that Yuriko's side now had more balls, and they used them with great effectiveness by taking out 5 of their enemies. Now it was time for Takeru's side to counter-attack, Chika, the unofficial leader of the girls in his classroom, stepped forward appearing as if she was really buffed, alongside her longtime friend Mika, who was also looking really buffed, but as she was coming forward to make her attack, on Yuriko's side...

"Alright, dude. This is our chance to show the girls our cool side"

"I don't think I can't anymore..."

"Daichi, my man. If you put your effort into this just like how you did with that photo. You might have a tiny bit of a chance of getting Nanami-san back to you"

"... Haa, fine let's do this"

Fueled by the fake hope inserted by Yamada, Daichi and Yamada both stepped forward as they carried a ball each, and then...

"Chika-nator shot!" "Mika crushing shot!"

Both Chika and Mika threw their balls with as much force as they could, and they went directly for...

"Bbbbbwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooohhhhhhhh!!!" *Slow motion SFX*

"Eeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!" *Slow motion SFX*

Daichi's face and Yamada's precious place respectively, sending both of them to the ground

"TIME!!"

Then Masaru-sensei, asked for a time-out as he went to check on the two downed idiots, first, he checked on Daichi and saw that he was still good to go, even if he had a very obvious ball hit on his face, as for Yamada, Masaru knowing the type of damage he had received, did the one right thing... He grabbed one of Yamada's arms and took him out of the field like a bearded lion dragging a gazelle through the Serengeti

Unfazed at losing two of their worst warriors, Yuriko's side tried to take out both Chika and Mika but failed to do so as they both dexterously dodged all of the balls aimed at them... Even if that meant that their classmates would get hit as result, that was the same on the other side as Yuriko, Aya, and another girl named Aiko, who was friends with Aya, as the three managed to dodge all of the balls thrown at them, but their classmates kept getting hit as result as well

Then just a couple of minutes later, there were only three students left on either side, while everyone else who was eliminated was lying on the floor from the pain of getting hit by either of the sides. Due to only the best dodgers being left, the game was at a stalemate. On class 2-3 side, only Yuriko, Aya, and Aiko remained, while on Class 1-1 side, only Chika and Mika remained, alongside a boy who had managed to avoid all of the shots

"Yuriko-sama, I'll leave that girl to you, while I take on the other one. Aiko, you take care of the boy"

"Sounds good to me... Wait, what boy?"

"Hm? That one, of course"

Aya then pointed at Takeru who was standing behind Chika and Mika with the face of someone who was really under a lot of pressure. And only then Yuriko finally noticed that Takeru was still in the field, which somewhat shocked Yuriko at the fact that she had completely forgotten about Takeru as she was playing dodgeball

"Alright! Here I go!"

Aiko going by Aya's instructions aimed at Takeru and was preparing to fire the ball in her hands at him, but Yuriko came back to her senses and glared at Aiko

"!? Eugh!"

Due to the amount of bloodlust aimed at her, Aiko froze on the spot and as consequence, she was hit by Mika's shot

"Aiko! Nooooooo!!! Eugh!"

Aya seeing her long-time friend being hit by a ball made a dramatic reaction only for her to be hit by Chika's shot, now only Yuriko was left

" "Yessu!" "

Chika and Mika did a high five from taking out two players from the enemy team

"Alright! Now we only need to take out Nanami-senpai and victory will be ours! Also, good work on avoiding all those balls aimed at you, Tanaka-san"

"Yeah! Thanks to you being the bait, we could fire all of our shots freely!"

"Ah! Thanks"

"..."

When Yuriko saw Chika and Mika friendly slapping Takeru's back, she felt a lot of jealousy rising inside her, and as a result of that she began to prepare to throw the ball in her hands right at the two girls

"Now let's do this! Gueh!?"

"Ack!"

And with a single shot Yuriko was able to take out both of the girls, leaving only her and Takeru on the field, seeing the amazing shot Yuriko just did, Takeru could only make a very shocked and concerned face

" "..." "

The two just stared at each other, Takeru fearing that Yuriko would throw the ball at full force at him since she was making a very serious face, Yuriko on the other hand closed her eyes and...

<I messed up... I should've just let Aiko throw the ball at Takeru... So I wouldn't have to throw it at him right now...>

Began reflecting on her mistakes, but as she was deep in her own thoughts, Aya and Aiko who were now ghosts had managed to pick up a ball each and they both aimed at Takeru...

"Huh? ! Uwah! Woah!... Whew!"

But he managed to notice both of them firing their balls at him so he was able to barely avoid both of their shots

"Wow! He's pretty good"

"Nah, he's just scared of getting hit by the balls"

Aya was right, Takeru has only been able to avoid all of the balls aimed at him because he was just scared of being hit. And now, because of both of his dodges, he had ended up moving right to the middle of the field, putting him right in front of Yuriko

" "Ah!" "

"..." <! Since he's close, I can throw the ball lightly and... !?>

As Yuriko was thinking of that, she then felt a very heavy blunt impact on her back, which made her lose her balance as she began to fall forward... Right on top of Takeru

" "Ah!" "

Takeru was able to safely catch Yuriko, but as he did a step back to maintain his balance, he accidentally tripped on one of the balls that were laying around on the field, which made him fall on his back as Yuriko was on top of him, and due to their considerable height difference, his face was buried by Yuriko's chest

Seeing that made all of the boys scream as they cried at Takeru's luck of getting Yuriko's chest pressed right on his face and getting to feel her body up close

"Victory! WOOOOOO!!!"

"Yeah, baby! WOOOOOO!!!"

As the boys were crying, the class 1-1 girls were celebrating their victory with Chic and Mika both giving high five to each other, while the class 2-3 girls were on their knees, angry at their defeat. As that was happening around them, Yuriko lifted herself

"Are you okay, Takeru?"

"Y-Yesh..."

Takeru said that as he had small tears in his eyes as he pouted with a pained face, due to the intense pain he was feeling on the back of his due to the fall

"Good grief, let me take you to the infirmary"

Yuriko got up and then picked up Takeru in a princess carry, just like the other time they ended up playing a ball game against each other. But this time, Takeru only made a very embarrassed face as Yuriko carried him like that

The girls seeing him get a princess carry from Yuriko felt a little jealous but they felt more enamored at Yuriko's cool prince image from giving Takeru a princess carry, as for the boys, they again cried from anger at seeing Takeru being really close to Yuriko

"Senseis, I'll be taking Takeru to the infirmary. So please, don't worry about continuing the lessons without us"

"Ah, yeah, yeah, sure"

"Okay, got it"

After receiving both Masaru and Haruga senseis' approval for taking Takeru to the infirmary, Yuriko left the sports field. The two senses kept quiet as they calculated their losses and how many warriors... Students still had left for the next two games, but then they finally realized something

" "... ... ... ?" "

They both lifted their faces with confused faces

< <Wait... Takeru?> >

And they both were confused at Yuriko calling Takeru by his given name and without honorifics, but they quickly ignored it as they went back on calculating their chances of victory