Chapter 8
TL: Akabane
***
Because of the deviation from yesterday's incident when I was attacked by Rin-chan and my sister was scared out of her wits.
Today, I'm suffering not from mental stress, but from the physical stress of my intense fatigue.
Why is the first week of the new school year always so hard?
Today, the gym is filled with sounds that most people find annoying or scary to hear.
The sound is a musical scale that beats one after another in a steady rhythm.
It was getting faster and faster, and the sound of the rubber soles of my shoes scraping against the gym floor began to echo along with it.
"The narrowness...!"
When I was doing this test, I had to avoid talking about unnecessary things, but I couldn't calm down if I didn't say it.
Right now, I was doing the 20-meter shuttle run, one of the physical fitness tests held during the spring.
Some schools may have an endurance test, but at this high school, we do this one.
This is the hardest workout of the year in my opinion, since I'm not in the athletic club, nor do I even participate in any club activities.
Even though it's spring, the weather was hot today, so I was sweating like crazy.
It's hard to do this at the beginning of the school year, but since the weather is going to get hotter, it might be better to do it sooner.
"Whoa, Touma's working hard."
Haruki and the others, who weren't on the field at the moment, seemed to enjoy looking at me who was working so hard.
I would normally be angry, but I didn't even have time to do that.
"He's usually annoying, but he's very serious about this."
"Yeah, right. It looks like he's trying to say something."
This kind of thing was tiring, so many people stopped at the right place, but I didn't.
If I don't take this opportunity to do it for real, then I won't know how much I've lost of my physical strength.
Besides, this was something the whole class had to do, so of course the girls were watching.
Although I acted as if I didn't want to act aggressively in front of the girls, but I still wanted to show them my good points.
If I did it in earnest, then I could use the physical fitness test as an excuse, and if I got the results, I could show that I could move.
Normally, it was annoying to show off, but the situation this time was different, so I decided to give it my all.
"But this is hard...!"
The number I'd already done exceeded 115.
This was probably more than the average number for a second-year high schooler.
The other people in my group who started at the same time as me, had finished and their numbers were dwindling.
"Touma, 120, okay?"
"No, 130!"
They were saying crazy things.
Their level of performance was at the level of athletics and ball games.
That's not something you can expect from members of the club back home.
After this, I ended up lasting until 125, where I finally reached my body's limit and was exhausted.
In fact, this wasn't a good thing to do because it put a strain on my heart.
"I-I can't do it anymore...!"
"Good, go home club guy. You have more endurance than most of us."
"Seriously. Where do you get that kind of energy?"
It seemed like I was able to maintain my physical strength enough to impress them both.
"Well, I do at least some physical training..."
"How embarrassing. I guess this is what they call a waste of talent."
They said that, but it didn't matter because the only time I would use it was to look good in front of the girls.
"Wow, Itohara-kun. Your physical stamina is still nice and healthy."
"Thank you..."
The gym teacher called out to me.
"You're in the club back home, aren't you?"
"Yes. That's why it's so hard for me to stay in shape."
"If that's the case, why don't you join our club?"
"Please give me a break. Even if I do it now, I won't be able to feel the aura of real fighting anymore."
I used to play kendo until junior high school.
But after I dislocated my knee and shifted into an unnatural position, I was really bothered by the pain that limited my ability to do anything.
Then, I started to really hate the OK push from high school.
I still remember doing it briefly in junior high for Kata practice, but I was too scared and the girls younger than me who saw it, looked very worried at me.
At the last tournament in junior high, I performed too well, and the advisor tried to get me to join the club.
Well, but I ran away, and here I am now.
"Well, you'll always be welcome. Okay now, let's go to the next group! Get ready!"
The teacher invited me and said a few words as usual and went back to work as a gym teacher.
I moved to the gym door and sat there.
The sun was scorching, but the breeze was cool, which was something I was grateful for right now.
"Good job!"
"Oh, Chairman."
"You're so great. You can still run like that."
"I never thought that I would be able to get that far."
"Come on, I'll cheer you!"
The Chairman folded the carpet mat and sent me a breeze.
It's not as flexible as the plastic mat, so there's not much wind coming out, but it's not bad.
"I want the breeze too, so come on! Come closer to me!"
"Chairman...! It's... a little too close!"
The Chairman, who ran the same way I did before, also wanted to catch the wind, so she closed the distance between us.
"Oh? What are you worried about?"
"Nothing, I'm just sweating a lot."
"Ahahaha! You're sweating so much that you look like you've had water poured over your head!"
"That's why I feel embarrassed when you get this close..."
It's not good for a girl to approach me in this condition.
"Hoo~ You don't seem to be very interested in girls, but you care about them."
"That's not what I mean, it's more of an image problem."
Although I'm not popular, but I don't want to be judged as a jerk.
"Well, we've been friends since first year, and I knew that after the shuttle run, so don't worry about it!"
She said so, and sat next to me as if it was normal.
No matter what the chairman said, I still felt uneasy.
"We've been close since first year, but I don't remember there being many conversations like this between the two of us. That's why, yesterday and now, it feels quite refreshing."
"Oh, I guess you're right! It's because I'm friends with Haruki so it feels like we only talk occasionally! Well, the reason I don't is because I'm Haruki's friend and I don't have a bad first impression when I talk to him."
"Well, yeah, maybe so!"
I'm not sure if the chairman is aware of Haruki's feelings or not, and I don't want this to turn into a question mark, so I just want to make it clear.
Based on the chairman's personality and experience, I'm sure she'll definitely be fine, but depending on how I answer her, there's also the possibility that it will have a negative impact on Haruki and his girlfriend.
I'll talk about it in a way that won't create unnecessary waves.
"So that's the reason! I never talked to you personally on LINE, but only in the class group!"
"Well, that's true. You said you already had a boyfriend at the time, and if we could comfortably talk in person, that would be fine too. I've never talked to anyone in person."
"Hmm, well, Yukito and I talked normally, didn't we?"
Huh, Yukito?
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, well, it was a long time ago. Yukito got a girlfriend, and since then he hasn't talked to me at all. The same goes for Haruki as well."
"Well, that's how it is~"
"That's normal, isn't it~? It feels awkward for us to keep talking too much."
The two of them are more relaxed now that they have girlfriends, but I'm sure there are many guys out there who have girlfriends but don't stop having intimate relationships with the chairman.
"Touma, do you have any female friends who keep in touch with you personally?"
"Not really. I don't have any girls to talk to in private, so it didn't develop into anything of that sort."
With the exception of one person. I didn't even know if our relationship was friends or not.
"Hoo~ so I'm the most likely person to be related to you!"
"Well... do you want to?"
"Do you want me to be the first person to contact you?"
"Huh?"
That's what the chairman said to me.
"Touma is attractive, and you don't have a girlfriend either, so I think it's okay."
"Yeah, that's fine."
I had no reason to refuse, so I decided to accept the invitation.
"Yes, it's decided!"
The chairman smiled and nodded in satisfaction.
As Haruki and Yukito frantically did their shuttle run, the unexpected friendship had developed further.
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