Co-ed Swedish Relay (1)
After happily enjoying Hasumin’s lovingly handmade bento—
Since I didn’t have any events scheduled until the final one of the afternoon, the co-ed Swedish relay, I was diligently cheering for our class together with Hasumin.
“Yes! We came in first for the three-legged race! And Class 1-4—our archrivals—finished dead last!”
“That narrows the gap between us and the leading Class 1-4. We’ve got a real shot at stealing the win.”
As the sports festival reached its final stages, Class 1-5—my class—had pulled off an incredible comeback, now sitting in second place by the slimmest of margins.
Only a few events remained.
At this rate, the overall victory would almost certainly come down to the final event: the co-ed Swedish relay.
Just then, perfectly timed during a break in the action, the announcement came over the speakers.
Pin-pon-pan-pon—
[All participants in the Co-ed Swedish Relay, please gather in front of the entrance gate. I repeat, all participants in the Co-ed Swedish Relay—]
“That’s us. Let’s go.”
“Aye-aye!”
Together with Hasumin, Date, and Nitta-san, I headed for the entrance gate.
While we waited for the other runners to arrive, the four of us worked on getting into the right headspace.
“Nitta-san, we’re counting on you for the start.”
“Out of the four of us, I’m probably the slowest, so I can’t exactly say ‘Leave it to me.’ But I have practiced my starts, so… I’ll do my best.”
“Pfft. Mei always pulls through when it counts. You’ll be fine—no worries.”
“Why are you sounding so smug about me, Hasumin…?”
Nitta-san sighed, casting a half-exasperated glance at Hasumin’s ridiculously proud grin.
“Because that’s just the kind of bond we have. We’ve been together since elementary school, after all.”
“More like a classic case of a stubborn old attachment.”
“Aww, Mei~ Are you getting embarrassed? That’s so cute!”
“I am not embarrassed.”
“Oh! I know—since this is a big moment, why don’t we do a team huddle?”
Ignoring Nitta-san’s dry remark, Hasumin suddenly perked up with the idea.
“I like that. It’s our last event—let’s do it.”
“A huddle, huh? Kinda reminds me of our pre-game rituals back in basketball. It’s getting me fired up.”
“You’re right. It’s the final event—we should do it together.”
And so, prompted by Hasumin’s idea, the four of us formed a circle.
“Alright, no pressure—just stay relaxed. The results will follow.”
“Wait, Shuhei-kun, isn’t this where you’re supposed to say, ‘Let’s take first place and win it all!’ or something?”
“Look, I just don’t see the point in piling on pressure before we’ve even started. We all know what’s at stake. And in the end, it’s just a school event. It’s not like the world ends if we lose. So let’s aim to win—but have fun doing it.”
It wasn’t like we were facing the Demon King Kanan, where losing wasn’t an option.
Sure, results mattered—but I believed the process, the experience, was just as important.
“I’m with Oda. This isn’t the prefectural finals to qualify for nationals. Yeah, of course we want to win—but what matters more is giving it our all, showing the results of all the baton-passing practice we put in.”
Date said it with a dazzling, sunshine-bright smile—so charming that 99 out of 100 girls would’ve swooned on the spot.
“Same here. So that’s three against one. You lose, Hasumin. You’ve always been way too obsessed with winning.”
Nitta-san turned the conversation toward Hasumin with a teasing smile.
“Why does it feel like I’m the only one being made out to be the bad guy…?”
“Hehe, I’m just kidding—don’t pout. You’ve got 300 meters to run, after all. We’re counting on you.”
“Yeah, Hasumin. I’ll be waiting—make sure you get the baton to me, alright?”
I grinned at Hasumin, still standing with my arm around her shoulder.
“Ah, uh… Y-Yeah. I’ll get it to you. Promise…”
“Hmm~? Hmm~? Hasumin, your face is kinda red, isn’t it? Could it be—”
“H-Huh!? What are you talking about!? My face isn’t red at all! And there’s no ‘could it be’! Mei, don’t go making up weird stuff!”
“Oh my, I was just going to say, ‘Could it be that you’re feeling hot?’ But now I’m very curious—what exactly were you thinking, Hasumin?”
“Ughhhhhh!!”
Pffft.
Nitta-san burst out laughing, while Hasumin stomped the ground and glared at her in frustration.
Maybe it was the festive, dreamlike atmosphere of the sports festival, but seeing the usually composed Hasumin acting like a sulky little kid… honestly, it just made her even more adorable.
Seriously, those two are so close.
The very picture of childhood best friends.
As someone who’d spent most of my life as a loner, without a single friend like that, I couldn’t help but feel a little dazzled watching them.
While we were still caught up in the moment, the entrance march suddenly began.
After we entered the field, Nitta-san and I stayed in place while—
“Alright, we’ll head over there.”
“Let’s do our best out there.”
The second runner, Date, and third runner, Hasumin, walked to the opposite side of the track.
As I absentmindedly watched the two of them disappear into the distance—Nitta-san suddenly spoke to me.