#86 Real forming of groups

I and Mii-chan continued practicing for the three-legged race until our PE class ended. In the end, we were the fastest pair and there were also 5 more pairs that got along with their partner without any problems. Although they weren't as fast as us, it could be improved with more practice.

Mii-chan's mood was at its peak of happiness. And why wouldn't be...she, after all, defeated all other people who are much more athletic than her. Even Hirata who she respects and likes wasn't as good as us with his partner.

"Thank you for today, Walker-kun!" She took hold of my hand and enclosed it with her two small hands and then she thanked me with a bright innocent smile across her face.

"Don't thank me, it's your own effort that made this possible..." I shook my head with a smile and used my free hand to gently free the other hand that was at her mercy.

What I have said was the truth. If she wouldn't have been able to push herself to accept my previous offer, our teamwork wouldn't be near as good as it is right now.

"Hihi, even then, thank you very much! I have never had this much fun during the PE class before today." She giggled when she heard my "praise"

"Well, we should go, after all, we are full of sweat." I told her and she immediately opened her eyes wide when she heard me and then quickly moved a few steps away from me.

"You are right! Umm..." She looked embarrassed for some reason and she seemed that she wanted to say more but she was only fidgeting her fingers... Although I have a few theories about why she moved away from me so suddenly, I am not exactly sure.

"Yes? We are now partners for the three-legged race so you can tell me anything you need." I tried to encourage her to speak her mind.

"Umm...forget it, it's nothing important anyway. See you later in the class?" She shook her head with a smile and then asked me with an uncertain expression.

"Alright, heh and sure, see you later in the class" I chuckled hearing her question filled with uncertainty. Did she think that I would ignore her once the PE class ended? Heh, what a silly girl...

I can see in her eyes that she has genuine respect for me. I wouldn't ignore anyone who genuinely respects me. That's also one of the reasons why I tolerated Sae-chan's little attempt at blackmailing me.

With that said we parted ways and we went to our respective locker rooms to take a quick shower and get ready for another class.

-----(Mii-chan's POV)-----

When I entered the girl's locker room, almost everyone turned their attention to me.

What is this? I was slightly scared, seeing how everyone's eyes were on me, however, I quickly calmed down when I noticed that there was no contempt or any other ill feelings in their eyes.

"Mii-chan!!! That was amazing but I would have never thought that you would let a boy be so close to you..." Maya-chan immediately approached me and started staring at me with a teasing and mischevious smile.

"Huu" Her smile scared me a bit so I was able to only release a pathetic sound out of my mouth.

"Maya-chan, let's not make Mii-chan uncomfortable. But even I am extremely curious what had happened there, between you and Walker-kun." My eyes brightened when Chiaki-chan came to my rescue however it wasn't for long before I was feeling pressure once again when she turned her attention at me.

However, remembering what had happened out there made me immediately blush so I immediately looked downward. ...Our bodies were close, too close... I started to recall the time when we were running together before returning to reality.

"I- I just thought that it will be for the best. I had problems with balance and keeping up the steady pace." I answered while not daring to raise my head, afraid that they would notice my blushing face.

...Like this

I had to endure hundreds of questions, some of them were easy to answer, however, there were even bolder girls who have asked if he tried to take advantage of that position and if he tried to touch me. I did my best to answer those questions even though I was extremely embarrassed because I didn't want them to misunderstand and cause problems for Walker-kun but either way, I will have trauma because of this matter for the rest of my life...

However, what I found slightly strange is...whenever it looked like someone was about to get a wrong idea about Walker-kun due to my slow replying, Chiaki-chan helped me to clear any misunderstanding and even Kei-chan interrupted a few people when the questions grew too extreme. I am aware that Chiaki-chan has a pretty good relationship with Walker-kun but Kei-chan defending him is big news for me.

Although this will probably become the biggest traumatic moment in my life, I definitely don't mind it after everything that happened today with Walker-kun. He always appealed to me as a cold and indifferent individual. After today, I have realized how wrong I was with judging him, I judged a book by its cover instead of being more open-minded but I guess there is no time for regret. I can only try to make more fun and nice memories with him from this moment on...

...But it's really funny... When one doesn't know anything about Walker-kun, they will easily overlook him, however, once they know more, only then they will realize how mysterious he is. It's like living in the never-ending plains for numerous months but only then realize that there is a tall mountain standing right in the middle of the plains. Lonely yet proudly standing mountain.

"What are you thinking about, Mii-chan?" Chiaki-chan question dragged me out of my thoughts.

"Hihi, it's nothing" I giggled and told her not to worry.

Hearing my decisive yet happy reply made Chiaki look at me with a puzzled look.

-----(Mii-chan's POV END)-----

In Class D's classroom...

"Now that we roughly decided on pairs for the three-legged race we can more to the other contests." Hirata said with a satisfied smile while standing in front of Class D's students.

"Hirata-kun, can I add something before we will start with forming groups for the other contests?" The one who interrupted Hirata was Matsushita herself.

Hm? Even I was slightly curious about what someone like Matsushita wanted to say. She usually keeps quiet and goes with a flow except for the times when I told her to do so.

"Of course, please..." Hirata smiled after hearing her question and gestured with his hand for her to continue.

"I don't want to accuse someone, however, everyone is aware of how important is the participation table, right?" She asked with a serious expression while looking around the entire class.

Hearing her question, everyone instantly nodded their heads. They were aware that if our participation table gets leaked out, we would be in trouble. Everyone would be able to counter our weaker and even stronger groups. It would be no longer about luck.

"I want all of us to agree that once we give our participation table to Chabashira-sensei, we will no longer be able to view it until the start of the actual sports festival." When Matsushita said this, I immediately noticed a strange glint in Kushida's eyes, making it too hard for me to hold back a cold and evil smile that wanted to come out on the surface

Hehe, they are working together now? I just hope she didn't say anything unnecessary to her. I thought while taking a glance at Kei who was silent the entire time.

"But what if I forget in which group and position I am?" Ike interrupted her with a thoughtful expression.

"...Can't you even remember in which group you are? As for in which position you will be going, there is no need for you to even remember that, after all, we will be able to view it once again when the sports festival starts" Matsushita said while giving Ike a weird look.

There was indeed no need to even remember in which order the groups will be going because everyone should stretch themselves right before the sports festival starts. What else you want to do? Some mental preparation? If you will do everything you should do then hearing school calling out your group should be enough for you.

"I understand Matsushita-san's point but...is that really necessary?" Hirata asked with a helpless expression.

"Isn't this against the rules anyway?" Yamauchi added.

"No... there is a restriction that says once we give our participation table to the sensei then we can't make any changes but we are ABLE to view it." Hirata shook his head at Yamauchi's question.

"Sensei never said that we can't put our own restrictions. I think that if we will tell sensei that the entire class agreed to not being able to view it, sensei will probably allow this change." Hirata asked with a thoughtful expression.

"But why should we do it anyway?" Someone asked a question that was bothering a lot of people but none of them wanted to be first one to ask.

"Yeah...why?" More people started to ask for the reason, pressuring Matsushita who had a calm expression the entire time.

"I support this idea" Everyone turned at who said this and it was Kei, standing with her folded arms while glaring at people who were pressuring Matsushita.

Everyone calmed down and she used this chance to continue.

"Personally, I myself am not so familiar with everyone and as of lately there were some strange things happening inside our class." She said while giving the boys suspicious look and 3 idiots immediately took a step back with slightly horrified expressions but no one found it too strange considering Kei's threatening glare.

"Alright, alright, let's calm down everyone. Does anyone have any complaints about this? I myself don't really see any downsides to this so I don't really have anything against Matsushita-san's idea" Hirata tried to calm down everyone because the air inside our class became suddenly too tense.

"I guess there is no harm in this..." The girls were first to agree with this idea, thanks to Kei's influence.

Seeing how most of the girls were fine with this, boys had no other chance but to accept it unless they wanted to induce girls' wrath.

...

Inside my room, at night...

I was sitting at my table with a lot of papers scattered on it.

It was already late at night but I still had a lot of work to do.

...If I want to complete it in one go, I will have to go until the early morning.

*sigh* Thankfully, tomorrow is Saturday so no school. Although 1 night without sleep wouldn't do any harm to me neither it would slow down my mind but sleep is one of a few things I really like so I would like to reduce days without any sleep as much as possible.

As I was writing down something on the paper, Yukina approached me and jumped on the table. She came up to my hand and gently bit me.

I looked at her with a helpless expression.

"I can't, you will have to sleep tonight without using my chest as your pillow..." I said and she understood meaning behind my words thanks to my tone and my expression.

Instead of leaving for the bed, she remained next to my hand while curiously looking and tilting her head at what I was writing.

"Fine, if you don't want to sleep without me, I won't force you but neither will I take pity and go sleep before completing all of this." I said to her and she just tilted her head while sleepily looking at me.

...Why do I even try to sound reasonable when I am talking to a kitten? Why the hell am I even talking to the kitten in the dead of night?

...I need to focus to finish this quickly.

...

After 4 hours spent on writing, I finally finished what I was doing, however, all of that writing and concentrating made me fully awake so I had no desire to sleep anymore. On the other hand, Yukina was already motionlessly lying right next to my hand as if she was dead.

I carefully moved her on her own pillow.

Now what... I thought but it didn't take me even a minute to decide on what to do next.

I set up the chessboard I previously bought on my table and started to practice, however, instead of practicing chess, I was practicing for a sports festival.

I closed my eyes.

Each unit will be a different group, each game will be a different contest. I thought and sharply opened my eyes, glaring at the chessboard in full concentration.

...

Hehe, and this is where the "KING" will step in. I creepily smiled when I moved the Pawn piece forward. Only the chessboard was illuminated with a small lamp while my entire body was shrouded in darkness, only my evil creepy smile was slightly visible together with my shining red eyes.

"The time when pawn will shed its skin, will also be the time when the real KING will be exposed!" I muttered in low voice and knocked down the King piece while replacing it with the Pawn piece.