CH. 47 - The First Match Ends! The Rest Begins

Kenzo rolls his eyes at Shiori and Hikigaya's determination. Emiko smiles widely with anticipation, feeling the fire within her burn brightly, kindled by their persistence.

“Alright Shiori. Let’s see what you got!” Emiko shouts.

Suddenly, both Shiori and Emiko dash to grab a ball from the ground. They both pull back and wind up their throws in perfect mirrored form before releasing incredibly fast throws. Their aim being the same, the balls collide with each other right above the centerline. 

“Woah, would you look at that! It seems the final contestants have begun the final phase of this match with astounding speed and precision! Both sides want this win, but who wants it more? Who will take the lead in the first match of the day?!”

Shuhei riles up the crowd. The balls shove each other for a moment before they both snap back from the force. Shiori and Emiko then rush around the court grabbing balls and throwing or defending, each strike missing its target with a close dodge. Meanwhile, Hikigaya makes the first move against Kenzo. He quickly grabs two balls off the ground and aims for him.

“Two hands, huh? In that case…” Kenzo says with an unimpressed look. He then closes his eyes and bends to the side a bit. Hikigaya’s eyes widen in surprise, but he follows through with his throw anyway. The ball shoots for Kenzo and curves as it does, but it barely misses him due to the way he bent.

As soon as the ball passes him, he then leans back a bit. Hikigaya follows up his first throw with his second ball immediately. This too misses its target by almost nothing. Hikigaya grits his teeth in frustration as Kenzo opens his eyes and stands up straight.

“Your ball curve is quite impressive. It seems you even aim with it. I’d expect nothing less of Mr. Goda’s second pick, but nevertheless, you cannot defeat me. I am well versed in all types of sports and am a master of strategy. Any move you make, I will see it coming a while away. Observe.”

Kenzo then picks up a ball from the ground and lifts it up. He stares at it for a moment before looking at Hikigaya. After a second, he pulls his arm back and prepares to throw the ball. As he launches it at him, Hikigaya sweats and darts in a different direction.

“You fool.” Kenzo says while pushing up his glasses. The ball then hits the floor at high speed but doesn’t bounce immediately. After a moment of spinning at high speeds on the ground, it changes directions all together and bounces up after Hikigaya. He looks back with shock on his face as the ball tags him on the back. It bounces away as Hikigaya strains with a look of intense shock. He slowly looks up at Kenzo.

“Of course, the ball hit the ground first, so you’re not out, but I thought I’d give you a little demonstration of what I’m capable of. You see, I knew what direction you’d try to escape to. It was the most predictable path after all. So once I knew where you’d be, I just needed to send something after you. Adding a slight flick of my wrist with the right amount of force was the perfect trick to get the ball to hit the floor and spin in your direction. Pretty fascinating, isn’t it?” Kenzo asks, genuinely a little entertained by the demonstration. Hikigaya sweats as his mind races. Shiori looks over at them and sweats too.

“That doesn’t sound good…”

“Don’t lose your focus!” Emiko shouts. Shiori snaps her head back in Emiko’s direction before dodging at the last second. The ball barely misses her shoulder, and as soon as she looks back, she jumps in the air, barely dodging another ball.

“Take your eyes off me for a second and you’ll lose!” Emiko shouts with a wicked smile on her face. As soon as Shiori lands, she grabs a ball and jets it at Emiko.

‘I’m sorry, Hikigaya, she’s right. I can’t stop focusing on her. You’re on your own here…’ Shiori thinks to herself while worrying about Hikigaya. Hikigaya pants as he gazes intensely at Kenzo.

“Racking your brain for ideas won’t do you any good. I’ve already thought of them all. Soon enough, you’ll just run out of steam, and that’s when I’ll make my move.” Kenzo says as if reading the future.

“Oh yeah? Well, if you’ve got all these ideas, I’ll just have to keep striking you to make sure you can’t make any moves at all!” Hikigaya shouts as he picks up another couple of balls and yells as he throws them at Kenzo.

“Completely useless. I can see the most likely shots you’ll make to strike me out and dodge before they leave your hand.”

As Kenzo stares at Hikigaya preparing to throw the ball, he sees multiple different paths they’ll take and leans in the direction where no ball is. Just as he thought, Hikigaya throws the balls, and neither one hits him.

The other students around the court area roll the balls back onto the court as the students cheer for their classes. Hikigaya picks up another two and throws again only for Kenzo to dodge effortlessly. He continues to do his best to keep attacking but quickly begins to tire out.

“You have to realize by now that this isn’t going to work.” Kenzo says.

“Shut up! I’ll do what I want!” Hikigaya bites back. Kenzo is taken aback by his aggressive tone before sharpening his gaze.

“Fine, then I’ll do the same.” Kenzo says sharply, then grabs a ball from the ground while dodging a couple of balls from Hikigaya. He steps in deep to the centerline and pulls back to throw a ball at the now open and vulnerable Hikigaya. Hikigaya is standing with his legs apart and hands thrown up into the air, leaving his whole body open.

“Goodbye, second year.” Kenzo says under his breath. Shiori’s eyes widen as she looks at him from the side. Emiko smiles for a moment before her eyes widen too. Kenzo then throws the ball hard straight at his body as Hikigaya looks down.

Suddenly, a ball comes falling from the air above it and collides with Kenzo’s ball heading straight for him. This causes Kenzo’s ball to change direction and slam right between Hikigaya’s legs, missing his target. Kenzo sweats and is shocked.

“When did you..?”

“What? You’re not the only one who can make plays like that.” Hikigaya says with a smug smirk. Kenzo thinks back to the moment Hikigaya threw the balls at him, and the third one Kenzo lost track of right before he threw directly at Hikigaya.

As Kenzo is lost in the thought about what just happened, Hikigaya grabs another ball from the ground and pulls his arm back.

“Let’s go, Shiori!” Hikigaya shouts. Shiori gets a look of sudden determination as she prepares to throw too. Not letting himself stay distracted, Kenzo focuses up.

“It’s no use! I can see your paths clear as day! I’ll just dodge!” His eyes widen again as he sees Hikigaya turn and aim away from him.

‘What..? He’s aiming at Emiko? That must mean..!’ He turns his head to see Shiori aim her throw for him. He is shocked but stays focused. ‘Emiko will be fine. I just need to dodge! You may have me at the last second, but it’s no match for my strategy!’ Kenzo thinks rapidly, then sees all the new paths Shiori’s ball will take. ‘It’s over!’ Kenzo thinks as his eyes stay sharp at the coming attack.

“Now!” Hikigaya shouts before throwing his ball at an intense speed. Shiori throws hers at the exact same time, matching his speed. With the sudden change of targets, both of them were now throwing across each other in an ‘X’ fashion to hit their targets. Having thrown at the same time and at the same angle, their balls fly at high speed but suddenly collide with each other midair.

Kenzo and Emiko’s eyes widen at the surprising action when suddenly the balls change direction from the impact. They head straight for their original targets, Shiori for Emiko and Hikigaya for Kenzo. Emiko instantly reacts and prepares to dodge, but she notices Kenzo isn’t reacting. He has a look of shock on his face as he focuses on the balls.

“Kenzo, move!” Emiko shouts.

‘I can’t see their paths yet! They changed direction, I have to find their paths to dodge! The most likely outcome! I can’t-’ Kenzo focuses on the balls to try to see the paths they would go, but can’t find them in time. He is struck across the face with the ball and falls on his side as the ball bounces across the ground. Emiko dodges Shiori’s attack quickly. In the same moment, her eyes sharpen as she thinks to herself.

‘I’m not letting you go that easy!’ She then quickly turns around and dashes after the ball she just dodged. In an instant, her arm is stretched out as far as she can, just barely grabbing Shiori’s throw before it hits the ground. She pants as she holds the ball mere centimeters above the ground before quickly spinning and cocking her arm back.

She then slams her other foot on the ground and launches the ball at Hikigaya. He looks at Emiko with wide eyes as the ball suddenly collides with his stomach. He stumbles back a bit from the hit but quickly lifts his head with a look of shock and realization as the ball bounces on the ground. Emiko glares at Hikigaya, who looks back at her, panting.

“Wait… Did we just..?”

Shiori pants as she stands up straight. She looks down with a look of disappointment. 

“Damnit… we were so close!..” Shiori says quietly through gritted teeth. The other students help get Kenzo off the court as Shiori and Hikigaya walk off, hanging their heads low. Shiori faces her classmates as she speaks.

“I’m sorry, guys. I wanted to give us a head start since beating Emiko later is gonna be so difficult, but… we couldn’t do it.” Shiori apologizes. They all look at her confused.

“What are you talking about?” Haru asks.

“Yeah, the game isn’t over.” Chizuru says. Shiori looks at them confused before turning around. Both Hikigaya and Shiori get looks of extreme surprise when they see Hisana still on the court. She has her back facing away from the rest of the court as she looks at the slightly cloudy sky.

“Hehe~ The clouds are so cute today! Look, a frog!” She says, playfully pointing at the sky.

“And it seems we have made it to the final two. I’m sure Shiori and Hikigaya were counting on that amazing cross play to finish them off, but who could’ve guessed Emiko would do something so miraculous as catch Shiori’s ball then strike Hikigaya out? That’s the number one for you! Now let’s see where this goes!” Shuhei announces loudly. Emiko, who had her fist in the air in victory facing her class, turns around surprised. Her eyes grow wide as she sees Hisana.

“What?! How could I have not seen her?! Could she have been..?” Emiko trails off as her eyes express her understanding. Kenzo slightly opens one eye from the lap of another student holding him. 

“Heh… Clever… Standing in the same place I was…” Kenzo says with a smirk. Emiko lowers her head a bit with an intense look in her eyes. Hisana stares off into the sky, not paying attention to anything going on around her as the others try to get her attention.

“Hisana, Hisana! Turn around!” Haru calls out to her.

“You need to focus!” Shiori shouts. As the class shouts desperately, Kitaro stares at her for a moment before speaking up.

“Hisana.” Kitaro says casually. As soon as he says her name, she softly turns and looks at him.

“Hmm? Do you need something, Kitaro?” Hisana asks, slowly walking towards them on the other end of the court.

“No! No! Turn around!” Sugawara shouts.

“Don’t come this way!” Suiyoubi sweats nervously. Emiko then quickly grabs a ball from the ground and pulls back to throw it.

‘This girl is dangerous, I can tell. I have to get her out quickly!’ Emiko thinks, then throws the ball fast and straight for Hisana’s back. The others are shouting and pointing at her as she just smiles and stares at them, not understanding what they’re doing.

“Win this for us, yeah?” Kitaro says clearly and calmly. She looks at him and smiles warmly before sharply spinning and grabbing the ball right before her. Emiko’s eyes widen as she stares at Hisana, now holding her ball, casually. She then turns and looks back at Kitaro with a cute smile.

“Did I do good?” She asks. He smiles back at her, approaching her.

“You did great.” He pats her on the head as everyone begins to cheer and jump with joy, the crowd erupting with cheer and excitement. Emiko looks stunned as she lowers her arm slowly, letting her body relax a bit.

“Hisana! You did it!” Lucy shouts.

“That was incredible!” Shiori says with a big smile.

“How did you do that!?” Chizuru asks excitedly. As they crowd around her and the crowd watching cheers too, Emiko approaches Hikigaya, smiling despite her defeat. He is surprised when she comes up to him.

“It seems I’ve lost the first game, but don’t you worry. I’ve got lots more fire left in me. The day has just begun, so I hope you’re ready.” Emiko gives him a big, determined smile and a thumbs up before turning and walking away. He nods in response with a look of slight confusion.

“I have never seen anything like that in all my years announcing for the Sports Festival! That was truly a sight to behold! Who would’ve thought that she of all people would’ve been able to pull it off?! Truly incredible, but the day is still young! There are many more events planned for the day, so let us tally up our score for the first event and get moving!” Shuhei announces.

A scorekeeper approaches the desk the three judges are sitting at and talks to them for a moment, collecting their notes and counting the points before walking away and approaching the large scoreboard with the three years and classes in them along with different columns for each event.

“Mind you, in each event, the most points you can earn in total is 20 points, making it possible to earn a total of 200 points today! Although that rarely happens, let’s see where our classes lie right now! First off, we have class 3-2 earning the third years… 10 points! Not a bad start, but they’ll definitely need to pick it up if they want to stay in the game!” As Shuhei announces the points, the scorekeeper puts the numbers on the scoreboard for him to read.

“Coming in second place in dodgeball is class 4-1 with a total of… 13 points! A little low for class 4-1, but then again, I’m sure they’ve never faced challengers like this year’s second years! Speaking of, let’s see how many points we, the judges, came up with that they earned!” They pause as the scorekeeper puts the numbers up. Everyone watches in anticipation to see how far of a lead they got over the other classes.

“A whopping 19 points! Almost a perfect score! And I’m sure you all know they earned it!” Shuhei says. The class cheers as they are thrilled with the score. Tom looks disappointed and annoyed while Emiko shakes her head with a smile on her face.

“Looks like we’re really gonna have to pick up the pace.” She says with a look of determination.

“Alright, let’s move it along to our next event! Long jumps! Remember, you are judged on gusto and elegance, so do your best in all aspects of your performance!”

A third-year starts and does a long jump into the sand area, landing a slightly above average score. She gets up as the twin Frank readies himself for his jump.

“I will redeem myself here!” He shouts. The referee blows his whistle as he runs and jumps as far as he can, getting almost twice as far as the third year. He gets up and rubs his nose confidently with a smirk. ‘Heh. I’d like to see any of those second years jump as far as me.’

He then opens his eyes with surprise when he sees a shadow pass over him. His jaw drops when he sees Touma flying through the air. Touma goes so far that he almost jumps over the entire sand area. He lands and slides in the sand a bit before hitting the end of it, causing him to awkwardly trip and fall onto the ground.

“Wow! Such physical prowess! I’d expect nothing less from Emiko’s little brother!” Shuhei shouts excitedly. Touma lifts himself up a bit with a shaky thumbs up. The score is then put up: 12 points for the third years, 15 for the fourth years and 17 for the second years.

“Sorry about that…” Frank apologizes.

“No worries. It’s fine.” Emiko says with a slight smile on her face and an intense look in her eyes.

“Next up, a relay race!” Shuhei announces. Himiko, Haru and a third year student line up along the running track.

“You’re going down, sunshine.” Himiko says aggressively to Haru.

“Aw, that’s so kind of you to say.” Haru says back sarcastically with a determined smile on his face. The referee sharply blows his whistle to signal the start of the race. The runners take off with a baton in hand as Himiko quickly gains the lead. Haru stays pretty close behind but can’t seem to catch up. 

“Main, she’s fast.”

“Better luck next time, beanpole!”

“Oh, you did not!” Haru says angrily. Himiko then hands off her baton to Kage, who takes off running. Haru then quickly makes it to Suiyoubi, who grabs the baton with no problem.

“Kick their asses.” Haru says as he passes the baton. She gets a big smile on her face as she too bolts with the third year following right behind. As Kage runs, holding the baton at his side like ninja do, Suiyoubi quickly catches up. He is surprised but keeps up the pace as the third year catches up too.

They all run evenly before coming to the last group of people—Emiko, Sky and Tom. As they each pass off their batons, Sky fumbles with hers for a moment before actually beginning to sprint. Emiko looks back and smirks a bit as Tom looks forward.

“Rookie.” Tom says under his breath.

“Oh no, this is bad! I guess I have to go all out!” Sky says as she takes a sharp breath in. “Ultimate technique: Speedster Breathing!” She runs as fast as she can but still ends up coming in last, with Emiko in first. Sky pants as she places her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Emiko pats her on the back.

“Better luck next time.” Emiko walks away as the others come up to Sky.

“I’m sorry, guys, I let you down…” Sky says, a bit more genuinely than her usual silly tone.

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” Kitaro shrugs.

“Yeah, we’ll make up the points later!” Chizuru says with determination still strong. Sky smiles a bit shakily as they walk off the track. The points for that event: 10 points for the second years, 15 points for the third years and 16 for the fourth years.

“I can tell things are getting really heated out there! Tensions among the classes are high because they all want to bring victory to their class! But we’re not even halfway through yet! Next up, tug of war!” Shuhei cheers with a big smile on his face.