Preparations

Chapter 8 - Preparations

Upon hearing the news about sports day, half of the class started groaning and whimpering in agony, while the other half happily and wholeheartedly cheered. 

Clearly Akamine-sensei’s declaration was quite the over-exaggeration, but many were excited, including Keisuke, Noa and Sakura. The events students could choose to participate in included a scavenger hunt, VR dodgeball, a VR obstacle course, tug of war and a relay race.

“Sensei, why is there no cheerleading?” Sakura asked, raising an arm.

“Last year no one wanted to do it, so we didn’t want to force it this year, but if there are enough people who want to do it, we can add it to the list. Let’s do a count right now. Who wants to do cheerleading?”

I didn’t really plan on cheerleading, but I guess I can help Sakura out.

Keisuke was the first to raise his hand alongside Sakura, who looked at him with sparkling eyes after. Emi and Giichi followed his example, and soon after, their friends and a few others also raised their hands.

“Looks like we have enough people. We can provide you guys with equipment, but you will have to come up with a dance yourself. Everyone can officially apply at my office by the end of tomorrow, so make sure you all do so for at least one event.”

“Thank you, everyone!” Sakura said as the class quieted down and the lesson started.

During lunch break, Keisuke felt a tugging on his shoulder from behind. Turning around, he saw Sakura leaning over from her table.

“Thanks for your help, Keisuke! Let’s do our best together!”

“Yeah… No worries.”

“Does that mean we’ll see you in a cheerleading uniform?” Noa joined in with a teasing smile.

“Ooh, I want to see that!” Cho added.

Keisuke looked at them blankly as the heat started rushing to his head.

“I think the dancing part is going to be a bit more embarrassing, personally.”

“Then why did you raise your hand?” Noa asked.

“I wanted to help a friend, naturally. And it could be fun; I mean, I’ve never tried it before, you know?”

“I’ll make sure to make the dance good! All right, I’ve got to go, get the others in a group chat, and sign up for cheerleading and tug of war. See you guys later!” Sakura said, strolling off.

“If you need help, let me know!” Keisuke shouted after her, which made her wave back.

Keisuke started munching on his ham sandwich when he heard a stomach growl from beside him. He looked over to his left, where Noa was almost drooling from taking glances at her classmates’ food.

“Noa-chan, do you want half of my sandwich?”

“Eh? Are you sure?”

“Of course! It seems like you don’t have lunch, so here you go.”

“Yeah, I forgot it at home. Thank you so much!”

“You can have some of mine as well, Noa-chan…” Said Cho with a shaky voice as she held up a meatball on a stick towards Noa.

Noa looked a bit flustered at first, but then she quickly ate the meatball in one bite. The problem was that it was still in Cho’s hand when she did so, which made both of them even more embarrassed. Keisuke looked at this incredibly innocent and wholesome interaction with his chin practically on the floor.

What have I just witnessed?

Even though he wasn’t technically participating in the scene, the secondhand embarrassment and the awkward atmosphere were very much real.

“By the way, are you guys excited for Sports Day?” Said Keisuke, desperately trying to change the topic.

“I’m not really the sporty type, but it’s just like you said; it could be fun. It might also help with my manga, so I’m more excited than normally.” Cho replied.

“I’m excited naturally! I’ve always wanted to participate in a relay race. It sounds so cool!”

“That suits you.” Keisuke said, giggling. “What about you, Cho-chan? What event will you sign up for?”

“I think I’ll do the scavenger hunt. It sounds like the most relaxing one.”

“I see. That’s true; you might get an easy item and won’t have to do much physical activity.”

Should I sign up for that as well? We’re allowed to participate in multiple events after all.

Noa destroyed her half of Keisuke’s ham sandwich in the meantime and said:

“That was delicious! Thanks for the food again, you two! I hope we’re going to be on one team so we can win together.”

“Yeah, I hope so too. Sakura made the sandwich, by the way, so make sure to thank her as well!”

Upon hearing that, Noa started grinning ear to ear.

“Ooh? Did she now?”

“Stop, I know what you’re thinking.”

“I think I also know.” Cho remarked.

“Well, I was just thinking that you guys are really close, you know?” Noa said, poking Keisuke‘s side with her elbow.

Keisuke just silently sighed, while Cho chuckled.

At the end of the day, Keisuke ended up signing up for the scavenger hunt, alongside cheerleading. He went to Akamine-sensei’s office together with Noa, Cho and Sakura. Noa wrote her name down for the relay race; Cho also went with the scavenger hunt, while Sakura just accompanied them, since she had already signed up for cheerleading and tug of war before, just as she initially said.

“Come on! Don’t you guys want to do an event together? Let’s do tug of war! With the four of us.” Sakura has been trying to convince them to join her.

“I didn’t really plan to…” Cho said, almost whispering.

“I’ll go if you really want to.” Keisuke gave in.

“I’ll consider it if Cho-chan goes.” Noa stated.

“Cho-san, please!”

“Uuum, we can only do that if we’re on one team, right? We have to wait for that announcement tomorrow.”

“White, gray and black teams, huh?” Sakura sighed. “But if we’re on one team, you guys will have to join me! Pretty please?”

“Okay, fine... But only if we’re on the same team, got it?”

“There’s no way all four of us will be in the same group, anyway.” Noa said, dismissing the option.

“We’ll see about that…”

Keisuke could swear he saw a sinister smile creep up on Sakura’s face for a moment, and knowing her, despite being cunning about it, it wasn’t impossible that she would somehow rig the selection just so that they could have a good memory together.

To Sakura’s request, after parting ways with Noa and Cho, Keisuke and Sakura started brainstorming ideas for their cheerleading performance.