Chapter 19:

My Crazy Sports Festival

My Crazy American Father


Sora 0932 October 9, 2046

“Those participating in the 100-meter dash to the starting line. I repeat, Those participating in the 100-meter dash to the starting line,” the loudspeakers called. The first event kicking off sports day. Both Tobias and I take our poses on the line and await the starting gun. “On your marks, get set.” “BANG” the fire of the starting gun lets out, and I sprint full force. My eyes narrow and focus on the ribbon. I hear the voice of the cheer squad, but the only voice I can make out is my Iori-chan. “GO, BABE!!” I hear her cheer, giving me the extra boost to pull ahead and win the event by a hair. I place my hands on my knees and breath deeply for a moment before looking at the score. The first event, and we already have a solid 10 point lead? Hell yeah. I fist bump Tobias as we look at the score. “Those gym sessions really helped me out,” I say, still panting.

“Yeah, glad we did them,” he responds. Uncle Sam had put us through the wringer when we said we wanted to train up a bit before sports day. For the first week, I went home every day with sore muscles, and it frequently hurt to move for days. But by the second week, my body had gotten used to it to the point that now I barely felt it. We hear the girls calling us and make our way over.

“You guys did great. Our team is ahead,” Sara says, handing us water.

“I knew you could do it, Babe,” Iori-chan praises.

“It was because he had his cute cheerleader girlfriend calling for him,” Niǎo-san declares. Both Iori-chan and I blush at this, and I have to look away. Niǎo-san decides this is the perfect time to walk up close and whisper in my ear. “She’s too shy to say it, but she would really like to be princess carried at some point. Just keep that in mind,” she says before pulling back and winking.

“Kano-chan, what are you whispering in his ear?” Iori-chan says, pulling her away.

“Just the things you can’t seem to say yourself.”

“Kano-chan, stop it.”

“You have to be honest with your emotions. How else will you get the romantic third-act kiss?” Niǎo-san asks as Iori-chan begins shaking her. It’s good that they get along. Double dates will definitely be interesting once Niǎo-san is going out with Tobias, I think. I hear the call for the next event and have to excuse myself. The festival is going really well. Our team manages to keep a small but steady lead over the other throughout the day. The cheer squad keeps the crowd’s energy up, and Sara, Iori-chan, and Niǎo-san are the stars of it all. I don’t know how but she’s no longer the robot she once was. I was skeptical about whether she’d be a good match for Tobias, but now I’m delighted he chose her. “The next event will be the three-legged race. Participants of the three-legged race to the starting line.” Oh, that’s me, I think. Tobias and I had initially planned to do it together but found out it had to be boy-girl pairs, so I paid up with Iori-chan while he paired up with Sara. I turn and look over to them just as I hear a scream. “Ahh,” I hear as I turn to see Sara fall from atop the two of them. Oh crap. I think as I run over to them.

Sara 1132 October 9, 2046

“Participants of the three-legged race to the starting line.” I heard the loudspeakers call as I try to balance on top of Kano-chan and Iori-chan.

“Oh, that’s us, Sara-chan,” Iori-chan says. “Kano-chan, how do we get her down,” she asks. Kano had suggested that the two of them hoist me up like cheerleaders do in American movies. She said I should be on top because I’m the smallest, and she somehow managed to get me to agree. They’d managed to get me up alright; I felt a bit unstable but wasn’t too afraid of falling.

“Yeah, Kano-chan, I need to get to the starting line,” I say as I wobble back and forth. Kano-chan was quiet for the first time today as we wobbled more and more precariously. “Kano-chan?”

“Uhh… Well…. They never actually showed that in the movies.” she says timidly.

“WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DO- AHH” I scream as I lose my balance and fall. I hit the ground hard, and my knee begins to ache immediately.

“Are you okay?” Iori-chan asks, looking at my knee. “Oh no, you’re bleeding,” she says. I open my eyes and see the blood begin to ooze from my cut knee. Others from the cheer squad begin to crowd around.

“Hey, sis, are you ok ?” I hear Sora ask.

“I’m fine, but I don’t think I can do the race,” I say, disappointed. I had been so excited when Tobias-kun asked to do the race with me, but now I couldn’t.

“Sara-chan, this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have tried that without knowing how to get you down safely, and now you can’t do your race.” Kano-chan says gingerly.

“It’s ok,” I lie, trying to make her feel better. “I wasn’t that excited about the race anyway.”

“Still, I shall take responsibility and win the race in your place.” she says stoically.”Who was to be your partner?”

“Ahh, no, you don’t have to do that besides, you're probably tired, an-” I begin to protest, but Sora cuts me off.

“Her partner was Tobias,” he says, grabbing her and Iori-chan. “Come on; the race is about to start. The cheer squad can make sure she gets to the nurse,” he says, dragging them away.

“But I-” I try to shout, but they pull away too quickly. The other cheer squad members help me to my feet and begin to carry me to the nurse’s office. “No, I want to see the race,” I say defiantly. They sit me in a chair after I make a fuss. I’m just in time to see it start. I see Iori-chan and Sora lock arms as they prepare to start. Tobias-kun seems reluctant to do so with Kano-chan, but she insists, and they do so as well. Noooo. I was supposed to do that with him. The announcer calls ready, set, and the starting pistol is fired. Immediately Sora and Iori-san take the lead in perfect sync. My heart drops when I see Kano-chan fall almost immediately. Tobias-kun being the kind soul he is, tries to catch Kano-chan, but all that accomplishes is him falling on top of her. I’m too far away to tell, but their faces look awful close from where I’m sitting.

“GET UP, YOU TW-” I try to stand and call, but my knee gives out, and I fall flat on my face. This time my pleading gets me nowhere as two boys grab both my arms and carry me to the nurse’s office. The nurse looks and says it’s not too bad, but I shouldn’t participate in any more events today. Not a problem, I think. The only event I was competing in was the three-legged race, and now I can’t even do that. She gives me a patch and knee brace before saying I can rejoin the activities. I come back to see Tobias-kun, Sora, Iori-chan, and Niǎo-san all sitting enjoying the Bentos Iori-chan, Niǎo-san, and I had made for the five of us. When she sees me, Niǎo-san instantly snaps into a Dogeza.

“I’m so sorry, Sara-sama, not only did I prevent you from participating in the three-legged race but failed to achieve victory as I promised. I held up GoKegawa-kun and even made him fall on top of me.”

“I already said that was my fault” Tobias-kun tries to protests

“Please forgive me,” she begs. I had come down planning to chew her out a bit, but the heartfelt dogeza is enough to sway me. Besides, if I didn’t forgive her, Tobias-kun might think less of me.

“Oh, get up,” I say, trying to retain the calm atmosphere. “These things happen; there’s no reason to beat yourself up about them.” I take my seat, and Iori-chan hands me my bento, asking about my knee as she does so. “The nurse said I shouldn’t participate in any more events but that I should be fine by the end of the day. Who won the race?” Iori-chan giggles a bit at my question.

“We did, of course,” Sora says, smiling like a fool. Niǎo-san tries to bow again, try to apologize to Tobias-kun for pulling him down to last place.

“Stop it. I already said it’s fine.”

“But now the other team has pulled ahead of us all because of my actions.”

“Kano-chan, you can’t be so hard on yourself; we’re here to have fun, the points do really matter at the end of the day,” Iori-chan says, trying to lift her spirits. And while she seems to succeed with Niǎo-san, I catch a faint look of dread cross both Sora and Tobias-kun’s faces.

We finish eating, and Tobias-kun praises the bento I made for him, saying only his mother knows his tastes better. My heart flutters at his praise and continues as he and Sora help me to a chair near the cheer squad. Even though I can’t do the movements, I can still lend my voice to the cause. Everyone tries their best, but we can’t seem to retake our lead. We come to the last few events, the borrowing race. Tobias-kun crouches at the starting line, and the pistol goes off. He grabs his note and immediately looks straight at me, and begins a dead sprint. He calls something to me, but I can’t make it out.

“WHAT?” I call back.

“He says he needs your ribbon,” Iori-chan says, shaking my shoulder.

“Oh, my ribbon, okay,” I say as I reach for it. I grab it and try to take it off, but my hair is caught on it, and It won’t come out.

“Ribbon! Now!” he commands once he reaches me, holding out his hand.

“I can’t get it out; it’s stuck,” I say as I try yanking it off.

“Hurry up,” he says, looking back at the finish line.

“There’s no time; just carry her,” Iori-chan says, pushing me forward. What? He can’t carry me. He’s been working so hard all day he must be exhausted; I just need to-. My thoughts are cut short as Tobias-kun shoves the note into my hands and squats down to lift me in a princess hold. He makes a mad dash for the finish with me in his arms. I grasp around his head, clutching to him on instinct when he stumbles. I’m so close I can feel his breath on my arm and hear his heartbeat as I press my head to his chest. Or is it my heartbeat? I can’t tell; I’ve never felt like this before. He makes a slow stop as we reach the finish line, and I hold out the note and show my ribbon to the judge. He looks and calls it our victory. Tobias managed to take first place while carrying me, and with that, our team retakes the lead. He jumps and spins with me in his arms in celebration. For a moment, he forgets I’m there and almost drops me but catches me at the last moment. “Oh sorry, I got over-excited,” he says

“No, it’s fine; you retook the lead after all.” He carries me back to my seat and sets me down. “I’m gonna go get some water,” he says as he leaves. I’m so jubilant that I don’t notice Kano-chan creeping up behind me.

“You seem awfully red for someone who wasn’t too sure about princess carries the other day,” she says smugly.

“Oh… shut up, don’t you have someone else to drop,” I say a bit too harshly, causing her to begin apologizing again.

Tobias 1443 October 9, 2046

This is it; here he comes, I think as Sora sprints to me, baton raised. The final event of the day. Dozens of competitions, and it all came down to the relay race. Though I’d managed to make a surprise victory with the borrowing race and retake the lead, it was only by 5 points. We’d managed to keep that lead, but if we failed here, then it was all over. Sora was just behind the other team’s player. The German student Hanz Wilhelm, a third-year. He’d been a significant competitor in the strength-based events; I heard he was planning to go to the Olympics, and it showed. He wasn’t as tall as my father, but he was easily more muscular. He made some of the bodybuilders at my father’s gym look puny by comparison. The two barreled towards the other competitor and me. Wilhelm-san managed to take the lead from Sora and stretched out his arm. The other competitor began to run for the finish. I remained still with my arm, ready to accept the baton. “Go start running,” I heard Sora call, so I began to start forward. I hadn’t taken three steps before I felt a freight train crash into me. I tumble and fall a bit dizzy. I look up and see Wilhelm-san in front of me. I lay for a moment before Sora helps me up, hands me the baton, and begins to push me to the finish. I regain my bearings and sprint as fast as my legs can manage. I can hear the faint sounds of people cheering; I look over and see Sara, Suki-san, and Niǎo-san. I hear Niǎo-san, the clearest of all. “Win for me,” he says, or at least that’s what I think she says. I kick it up a gear and begin to push as hard as I can. I look forward and see that I’m catching up. At this rate, I’ll pass him before the finish line; I can do this, I’m going to win the race, I’m going to win Niǎo-san, I’m gonn- No sooner had I passed him than my ankle gave out. I tumbled and rolled, losing the baton, my orientation, and all sense of what I was doing. When I open my eyes, I’m covered in scratches; Sora quickly comes over to me. “Hey, man, are you ok?”

“That depends. Did I win?” I ask.

“No, you never even crossed the finish line,” he says. I must’ve made quite a devastating face because he immediately bursts out laughing.” Aww, man, if I’d know you were going to look like that, I’d have pulled my punch a bit. Yeah, you crazy redneck, you won.”

“I won?”

“You won!” he picks me up as a crowd begins to form. Everyone from my team crowds around us and cheers; they hoist me up and hand me the flagpole. I hoist it high in triumph, and the crowd cheers louder. It’s not till they set me down and I instantly fall to the ground that I realize how busted my ankle is. “Let’s get you to the nurse,” Sora says, taking my arm and carrying me.

We manage to dodge the crowd but take the back way around the school to avoid being mobbed. But as we do, we hear familiar voices arguing. “I pulled up my end, not my fault the South African squandered the huge lead I gave him, now pay up,” one says.

“No, the deal was you prevent him from winning, and you’ll pay you, he won, so you get nothing,” says another

“Do you hear that?” Sora asks as we creep closer.

“Yeah, sounds like Demont-kun.” As we get closer, we see that it’s Wilhelm-san arguing with Grant-kun and Demont-kun.

“What are they saying?” Sora asks. Oh yeah, you can’t understand English very well, I think before explaining it to him. Demont-kun and Grant-kun promised to pay Wilhelm-san if he sabotaged me, and they won the competition. Wilhelm-san said that he held up his end so he should get his money, but the others argued that since I still won, the deal was off. It wasn’t long until Wilhelm-san got very heated. We crouch and watch as he finally blows his lid and socks Demont-kun causing him to spin and fall. Grant-kun looks nervous as Wilhelm-san towers over him.

“Hey, now no need to-” he can’t finish before Wilhelm-san punches him in the gut. Grant-kun falls to his knees and pants.

“The money,” he demands, holding his hand out. Grant-kun tries to speak but can’t manage to get the words out. All he can do is flip him off before Wilhelm-san kicks him. Sora and I sit and watch as Wilhelm-san beats the two with ease. Should I help them? I wonder. They did try to hire him to break my ankle but then again, I did kinda start this whole rivalry when I sabotaged Grant-kun… I eventually stand and limp from our hiding spot. Sora grabs my arm to stop me.

“What are you doing?” he asks, confused

“I’m gonna go help them,” I proclaim

“Are you crazy? They’re the ones who started this and then tried to cheat.”

“I know, but it’s the right thing to do.” Sora looks at me dumbfounded for a moment before standing as well.

“You’re buying me a bowl of ramen for this one,” he says. We emerge from our hiding spot, and Wilhelm-san is not pleased. We try to get him to leave, but he refuses. We join the fight, but even with the four of us, Wilhelm-san is too overpowering. After knocking us down a few times, he decides it’s not worth it and leaves the four of us beat. We sit and lay there for a few minutes, bleeding, bruising, and panting for a minute before Demont-kun speaks.

“Why the hell would you help us after knowing what we did?’

“Honestly, I’ve no idea… It must be some kind of innate American reflex… I can’t just sit and do nothing while I watch a Brit and a Frenchman get their butts kicked by a German,” I say. We all laugh and stand.

“Ya know GoKegawa… I hate to admit it, but you beat us.” Grant-kun says.”As promised, Niǎo-san is all yours. We won’t get in the way, but you best believe that when she rejects you, we’ll be right there to swoop in.”

“I’d expect nothing less from you deplorable vultures,” I say back.

Sora and I finally make it to the nurse’s office, where Sara, Suki-chan, and Niǎo-san are waiting for us. They ask what took us so long and why we look more beat up, but Sora doesn’t tell them. I’m speechless. There’s really nothing in my way. I think as I look at Niǎo-san. All I have to do is confess, and she’ll be mine

Janelle E.
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