◆
It was finally lunch break.
We were supposed to eat our lunches in our own classrooms, so naturally, Riran and I, along with Ryūya, Neika, and Rio, had gathered together.
By the way, Hiyori was with Kurosetani and Midorikawa. Suwabe-san was eating with a different group.
“Mufun~”
“Riran-chan, you’re in a good mood.”
“Of course I am! After all, today was the first time I ever reached the goal in a sports festival event. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I’ve carved my name into history!”
It is an exaggeration.
Well, she looks happy, so I don’t intend to say anything. As I gratefully ate the lunch Riran had made for me, Neika looked over here with a smirk.
“I heard about it, Akky. You’re going to give Rira a reward?”
“...Who did you hear that from?”
“What do you mean who? Rira was talking about it quite triumphantly.”
What is this girl doing?
I get that her tension is high, but still.
“Hey, Riran.”
“............ (Pui)”
“Look at me.”
“I-It’s fine, isn’t it? I was just so happy.”
I understand being happy, but please calm down a bit more. I’ve thought this for a while, but when Riran gets excited or flustered, she does things I would never expect.
Still, I didn’t think she’d talk about the reward.
“So, what kind of reward are you planning to give her, Akky?”
“I’m not telling.”
“My, how lewd!”
“Don’t have weird delusions.”
“Auh.”
I poked Neika’s forehead repeatedly.
Who would do something like that? And besides, what even is a ‘lewd’ reward?
“But Akito-kun. Riran-chan doesn’t seem to mind at all.”
“Eh?”
Following Rio’s words, I looked at Riran.
There, I saw Riran, her face bright red, writhing in embarrassment.
“L-L-L-Lewd...!? E-Eh, l-le... n-no, Akito. Something like that... b-b-b-but if Akito wants it, I... auuu~...!”
It’s not that she ‘doesn’t mind,’ she’s just completely lost in a weird delusion and her thoughts have turned to mush!
As always, your imagination is way too powerful, Riran-san! Also, could you please not say things like that in the classroom!?
“Kuonji-san looks so happy~”
“Yeah, yeah. So cute.”
“As I thought, it’s better to be on good terms than to be at each other's throats.”
“Ah—now I want to meet my fated person too.”
“I went to see them in the summer, but watching those two makes me want to be together with mine.”
“Since tomorrow is a holiday, maybe I’ll go see mine too.”
Ugh... look, everyone is watching us and feeling all warm and fuzzy...! This is incredibly embarrassing...!
“Look, Riran-chan. If you don’t eat quickly, lunch break will be over.”
“Ehe, ehehe... Hah!? T-That was dangerous, I was about to trip out.”
“You’re drooling.”
“Eh, seriously!?”
Yeah, seriously.
Honestly, I wish she could do something about this habit of tripping into her own world.
“Well, it might be an object, or it might not be. I’ll just say that much.”
“Hey, hey, Akito. That’s the same as saying nothing at all.”
“It won’t be a surprise if I say it now, will it?”
Well, it’ll be for after the sports festival is over. I’ve already decided what the present will be, and I hope she’ll be happy with it.
◆
Lunch break ended, and we returned to the grounds.
The scoreboards for the Red, White, and Blue teams hanging on the school building showed 310, 280, and 300 points respectively—it was a close race. Apparently, it’s the most intense battle seen in recent years.
The remaining afternoon events were the cheering competition, the 1st-year-only borrowed item race, the 2nd-year-only gender-separated pole pulling, the 3rd-year-only gender-separated Flower Stage, the cavalry battle, and the team-based relay.
The ‘Flower Stage’ is a competition to see how many people can get onto a stage within a certain time limit. Since having men and women together would be problematic, it’s counted as separate events.
During the first afternoon event, the cheering competition, Ryūya, who was next to me, was smirking while looking at the sports festival pamphlet. How gross.
“Man, the Flower Stage... girls hugging each other while squealing is just the best, isn’t it?”
“Ryūya’s starting to say stupid things again...”
“No, no, you get to see girls legally hugging each other. It’s the best, right?”
“Neika will get mad if she hears you.”
“Nei is on my side with this, so it’s no problem.”
That’s right, these two were those kinds of people.
“Akito, think about it carefully.”
“About what?”
“When you say 3rd-years, they’re almost 18... many things become legal, but they’re still at that incomplete, immature age. Right?”
“That sounds like an old man's way of thinking.”
“I’m only 16, though.”
I don’t think age has anything to do with that kind of thinking, but what on earth is this guy saying with such a bright smile? Also, am I the only one who has no idea what he means by ‘Right?’
“The borrowed item race is next, so I’m going.”
“Oh. I believe that you’ll pull off something crazy, Akito.”
“I’m not going to mess up like that.”
“I believe in you.”
“This is the first time I’ve received such unwanted trust.”
It’s just one event in a sports festival. There’s no way anything crazy could happen.
...Right?