“Cheer up.”
“I’m over it. I wasn’t really bothered anyway.”
Still, like Saito, Shuri wasn’t the type to dwell on things for long.
She bounced back quickly with a grin.
“Speaking of reconciliations though, I was surprised you and Minachi made up. She’s usually the type to really dislike someone once she dislikes them. What trick did you use? Hypnosis?”
“…Why do you two always jump to those conclusions?”
The topic shifted to Saito and Minaka’s recently improved relationship.
Apparently, it was unexpected for the two, who had been at odds right after enrollment, to be getting along better lately despite their still rude way of speaking.
Shuri suspected Saito must have done something unconventional,
Like Minaka, Saito wonder how Lily’s friends come up with this kind of idea
which made him slightly worried about his childhood friend’s criteria for judging character.
“We just naturally got along better. Kanzaki was never ill-intentioned at the core, right?”
When Saito explained he didn’t do anything special, Shuri looked unconvinced.
“I get that, but whether she actually warms up to you is another story. I guess you just came across as dumb enough for her to let her guard down.”
However, that was soon brushed aside.
She arbitrarily came to her own conclusion and accepted it, though part of it didn’t sit well with Saito.
“Hey, what do you mean calling me dumb?”
“Don’t get so worked up. I’m actually complimenting you.”
“Well, if you say so.”
“…I’m a mess myself, but you sure switch gears quickly too, huh Itocchi?”
When Saito pressed her on the dumb remark, Shuri explained she meant it as a compliment, defusing his irritation.
While Shuri stared at Saito’s quick acceptance in bewilderment, she had been holding grudges until recently.
However, lately, he’s been called an idiot in a good way more often, so he just stopped paying attention to it.
It’s the same principle as when he stopped caring about people’s stares after being with Lily for so long.
“Anyway, I want you to stay friends with Minacchi. She doesn’t have many people to talk to besides me and Lily. As her best friend, I hope you’ll cherish this bond.”
Shuri, returning to her usual cheerful expression, asked Saito to take care of their friend.
“Of course, you don’t need to tell me that. We’re classmates, after all.”
To Saito, it was obvious.
Seeing Saito take it in stride, Shuri looked satisfied.
From just that look, Saito understood how much Shuri cherished Minaka.
Surely, Shuri must love Minaka dearly.
“Yeah, I know. But, just in case. Call it my grandmotherly instinct?”
“That’s such an old-fashioned thought.”
“Hey! Don’t call a girl an old lady! You lack delicacy, you know.”
“I didn’t say that! You’re being paranoid, Yakumo.”
But, until the very end, Shuri kept pushing, resembling a nagging aunt.
When Saito pointed this out, Shuri got angry, started yelling, and it escalated into an argument.
This continued until the game event began, by which time they had both lost their energy and the matter was left unresolved.
“So, you’re up next.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing.”
The next event after was the three-legged race.
This was another pair event, and the girl next to him changed from Shuri to Minaka.
Evaluating overall compatibility, speed, and ease of running, Lily was still the best partner.
However, since Minaka didn’t match well with other boys, she ended up pairing with Saito.
Incidentally, Lily was paired with Haruki.
They were well-matched and had good times compared to the other students.
Until the decision was made, Lily protested with Mizuki, but the PE teacher threatened to fail them, so she reluctantly agreed. Haruki seemed very upset and pitiful.
“Sigh, because of that bakazuki (dumb moon), I’ve been suffering from muscle pain until today.”
While tying their legs together, Minaka sighed, perhaps recalling all the practice.
“That’s just because you’re bad at sports. After all that practice, you can barely run one lap. That’s pretty bad.”
Using Saito, a valuable asset, they expected results.
Minaka had to at least be able to run one lap at full speed,
so Saito trained her until she barely managed to do it before the sports festival.
[……My legs hurt, I can’t do this anymore.]
[We’ve only run twice, that’s really bad!]
Minaka was much weaker than expected.
Saito remembered the frustration when progress was five times slower than imagined due to Minaka constantly complaining of muscle pain.
Well, it all worked out in the end, so it’s a good memory now.
“Well, thanks to all the effort, we can impress your middle school friends. Not bad, right?”
“……Yeah. Thinking like that, it’s not so bad.”
When Saito smiled wryly and bumped his fist out, Minaka smiled too, gently bumping her fist against his.
Feeling they had gotten a bit closer, Saito glanced at Lily to see if she was getting along with Haruki.
“…………”
“Hey, should we do that too?”
“No way.”
“Oof.”
But Lily was as harsh as ever, flatly rejecting Haruki’s suggestion and making him dejected.
Thinking she shouldn’t lower their morale, Saito realized it was pointless to expect anything different from his childhood friend.
(Just make sure to run properly.)
With that prayer in his heart, Saito faced forward.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
A minute later.
“The three-legged race is starting!”
Bang!
With the announcer’s call, the pistol fired, and the three-legged race began.
“Run, run!”
“……Go, go!”
“Take it slow, it’s fine!”
“Don’t rush, make sure not to fall!”
At this point, the athletes were focused solely on winning, with their class cheering them on desperately.
“Sorry, it’s up to you now.”
“Do your best!”
“Yeah, leave it to me.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
By the time it was Saito and Minaka’s turn, the competition was intense, with three classes vying for first place.
As soon as they received the baton, Saito and Minaka started running instinctively,
without needing to synchronize.
“Whoa, amazing start!”
“Perfect sync!”
Their flawless start drew cheers from the crowd, making Saito grin.
Given Minaka’s slow pace, they had practiced to gain an early lead.
Thanks to this, they jumped into first place, leaving Saito very pleased.
“We’re in trouble. They’re catching up.”
But that moment of relief was brief.
Immediately, the pairs from other classes started closing in at a pace faster than Saito and Minaka’s, making Saito break into a cold sweat.
“Hey Kanzaki, do you want to win?”
Realizing they were about to be overtaken, Saito asked Minaka as they ran.
“Of course, after all that practice, I definitely want to win!”
Out of breath, Minaka responded, speeding up without needing to be told.
“Yeah, you really do match my pace.”
With a twisted smile of joy, Saito pushed the pace even more.
“Wait, that’s too fast!”
Surprised and almost panicking, Minaka kept up, managing to match the other pairs’ speed.
“Please, Lily-chan!”
“Lily, Haruki, we leave the rest to you!”
With a slight lead, they managed to hand off the baton in first place.
“Leave it to us. We’ll blow them away.”
“Yeah, let’s go, Lily.”
“Don’t call me by my name, idiot.”
Lily and Haruki responded energetically, starting almost at a full sprint.
“Ha ha, those two don’t get along but they sure match each other’s pace.”
“Yeah, right.”
Watching their backs, Saito laughed, and Minaka, though exhausted, agreed with a smile.
“Whoa, we did it! First place!”
“We did it!”
“You’re the best, Machigane and Nishizono!”
“Since we got first place, I’ll let it slide, you harem idiot!”
As declared by Lily, they finished with a significant lead over the other classes,
greeted by loud cheers from their classmates under the tent and the participating athletes.
“Tch, unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable.”
One particular student glared at this scene with bitter resentment.
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