Display Of Humility

“Are you really that strong?”, Akihiro asked Natsume.

“Oh um…I’m strong, but yea Shinoda-san is stronger.”

“Then you were bluffing?”

“Hehe...”

“Then why would you even take it up?”

“Hahahaha I’m counting on you, obviously.”

“Agh, I knew it...” Akihiro said.

“Well well, there’s nothing to worry about. I’m very confident in your physical abilities. There’s no way we could lose.” Natsume paused for a second. “Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“I might be able to finally confirm it…”, Natsume didn’t realise he was thinking out loud.

“Confirm what?”

He snapped out of it. “Never mind. Anyways if we win, let’s go for some ramen!”

“And I hope you’ll be paying for it...” Akihiro said.

“All men are equal. Each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.” Natsume began imitating their history professor.

“We don’t live under a communist system. You are paying for the ramen.”

“Eeeeeehhhhhh have mercy on me, I don’t have any money.”, Natsume begged comically.

“Then I guess we just have to lose the bet.”

“Oh no anything but that! I’ll pay for ramen, I’ll pay for anything!”

“Anything?”

“Only ramen…”

“You just said ‘anything’...”

“Forgive me Aki-kunnnn! Let it slide, we are best friends after all!”, Natsume laughed.

----

The sports festival had begun. Mizouchi and Ayane were sitting together and talking under their team’s tent. Natsume and Akihiro were sitting together, slightly further away.

“Ah, I hate our school. There are literally so many useless events and so many team sports. The only event where we can actually settle things with Shinoda-san is the relay race. In a way, I’d be holding you back, but at the same time, we’d beat Shinoda-san together, hehe.”, Natsume said.

“Yeah, you would be holding me back.”

“Oiiii!! You were supposed to say ‘let’s beat Shinoda-san together!’ or something like that.” Natsume said and laughed.

----

The teams competed ferociously, and not a single team seemed to have victory in their hands. Every time a team grabbed the lead, they would lose it immediately.

The sports festival was coming to an end. The sun was about to set, and everyone was anxious to see the final race which would decide the results.

“And finally, we have the ‘Senior Boys Relay Race 400m’. The scores between the teams are very close. This race is going to decide the winner of the sports festival!”, the commentator announced.

Akihiro was the last runner in his team and Natsume was second last. The second and first runners were other students from the same class. Meanwhile, Shinoda was the last runner, and the remaining three runners were his friends from the same grade and fellow members of the ‘Renji-kai’.

“I’ll run as fast as I can. I’m counting on you, Aki-kun.”, Natsume said.

Akihiro nodded as he was warming up. His heart rate began to increase.

It was time.

“3...2...1...GO!!!”

The race had begun. Shinoda’s team had taken the lead. The crowds cheered on. The runners were very close.

The baton was passed to the second runners of both the teams.

Shinoda’s team members were fast. Their lead just kept getting bigger and bigger. No doubt, the members of the ‘Renji-kai’ were physically strong after all.

The baton was then passed on to the third runners. Natsume ran as fast as he could. Although he was faster than the other runner, he wasn’t fast enough to close the gap between them.

The baton was handed to Shinoda first and he ran with everything he could. The lead was too big. There was no way someone could catch up to Shinoda now.

Natsume passed on the baton to Akihiro. He looked at Akihiro with a smile. “Go get him!”

Blood flowed into Akihiro’s legs and his heart rate increased even more. His legs started moving with such speed, he was able to catch up to Shinoda and compete for the lead. His sudden lightning-fast speed shocked everyone. The crowd’s cheering became louder and louder.

Shinoda knew that something like this would happen. They were only a small distance away from the finish line. As they were running side by side, trying to race the other, Shinoda slightly encroached into Akihiro’s track and put his leg to the side, making Akihiro lose his balance.

Akihiro tripped and fell. His momentum dragged him across the ground, scraping his legs and hands. Shinoda had completed the race. He lifted his hand in victory, but no one was looking at him.

“Akihiro!!” Ayane shouted as she ran towards him. “Oh no! Your leg is scraped. It’s bleeding!”

“SHINODA!! How dare you cheat like that!”, Natsume yelled as he ran up to him.

“Huh? I won fair and square. What are you talking about?”, Shinoda said.

“Don’t mess around with me. I saw what you did. Apologise right now or I’ll have to beat the shit out of you!”

“You lost fair and square. That’s all.”, Shinoda affirmed.

“Do you think Rumi will even look at you after I tell her what you just did?”

“Rumi has nothing to do with this.”

“She does! You are a cheating piece of shit. Scum like you should just give up on her. She’s way out of your league!”

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE CALLING SCUM, HUH?” Shinoda raged as his friends tried to hold him back.

“Ah, don’t try fighting with me here. I really don’t want to apologise to your mother after I beat the living crap out of you.”, Natsume said in a condescending tone.

“WHA-” Shinoda was stopped by the teachers who had just arrived to check on Akihiro and de-escalate the brawl.

Shinoda struggled to break free from the teacher’s grip but eventually gave up and took a deep breath.

“Let the referee decide whether I cheated or not.”

“Fine with me.” Natsume said.

Mizouchi ran behind Ayane, “I’ll go get the first aid kit.”

Natsume had just realised that Akihiro was hurt. Amidst the whole chaos, he had completely forgotten his first priority.

“No it would be better to take him to the infirma-” Ayane was interrupted by Natsume who had rushed over to Akihiro’s side.

Without any concern for Akihiro, Natsume grabbed his legs and wiped the blood with his fingers to make sure he could see the wound.

“What the hell are you doing, Natsume!”, Ayane scolded.

“Uhh…checking if there was a cut?”

“Of course there is! Can’t you see the blood?”

“The wound is slightly deep but if we take him to the infirmary and bandage it up, it should be fine,” Natsume said.

“Yea that was what I was going to do anyway,” Ayane said as she helped Akihiro get up. “I’ll take him to the infirmary.”

They went to the infirmary. Everyone else went back to their tents.

----

“Hehe, are you jealous?” Natsume asked Mizouchi who was staring at them walking towards the infirmary.

“N-no?”, Mizouchi replied.

“Hahaha, you don’t have to be so scared of me. But if you touch Ayane….”

“No I would never do that,” Mizouchi replied earnestly.

“Hahaha, you take everything so seriously.”, Natsume laughed. “But I like that part about you.”

“Geh, that compliment doesn’t make me happy. Especially because it’s coming from you.”

“Hahaha, it’s alright. I’m still the most straight alpha male Japan has ever seen.”, Natsume said proudly as he flexed his biceps.

“Yea yea sure…”

----

The sports festival had ended. The referee didn’t call the foul and Shinoda’s team had won the race and thus his team won the festival. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the day, except for Natsume. He had just lost the bet.

“Haha, after all your big talk, I was so disappointed to see you run. You were no match for me without Akihiro.”, Shinoda said in a condescending tone.

Natsume couldn’t say anything. Even though Shinoda had cheated to win, the referee didn’t count it as a violation.

“You better go and apologise to Rumi-chan right away, and make sure Akihiro goes along too.” Shinoda san said.

“She’s never gonna look at you.”, Natsume said.

“I’ve won, Natsume. No point provoking me now. Go apologise to her already.”

Natsume was frustrated. He probably would have apologised to Rumi anyways, but now due to this circumstance, he didn’t want to.

“Calm down Natsume, you just have to apologise and it will all be over,” Natsume muttered to himself.

He went up to Rumi, who was standing and talking with her friends. Rumi turned towards him. He stood in front of her, his hands clenched tightly.

But then he remembered he had to calm down. He took a deep breath and calmed down. His eyes looked indifferent, as if he didn’t care about anything in this world. He looked straight at Rumi and then bowed down.

“I’m sorry for hurting you with my words that day.”

Rumi was shocked to see the egoistic boy bow down and apologize. But it was evident that it wasn’t a display of humility.

“I would have never expected you to apologise.”

“People change.”

“I thought you struggled to change.”

“Yea...”

“Well, seeing the all high and mighty Natsume apologizing, I have to forgive him.”, Rumi said. “Will you ever hurt someone like that ever again?”

“I hope not.”, Natsume said as he looked at Rumi.

“It must have hurt your ego to come here and apologise,” Rumi said.

Natsume knew he was being provoked. He would have normally taken the bait, but he just stood there and took a deep breath. He turned around and started walking away as the cold breeze blew.

“Your turn will come soon, Rumi-chan.”