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According to the novels that have accompanied her during many lonely nights while stuck recuperating inside her childhood home, high school is a time for a lot of excitement and drama. Fights over the attention of the school’s most handsome boy; throwing people under the bus once it’s the deadline for a fearsome group project; tripping each other for the chance of standing under the stage for the annual school festival.
Reality… is somehow both tamer and wilder than the scenarios that she has read in her book.
Oh, her classmates are all lovely. Her teachers are also very supportive of her, checking up on her wellbeing without making her feel like she’s being handled like breakable glass. Her health hasn’t been the best growing up, and she has worked hard with Akira-sensei so that her health would at least reach the level of being able to step outside and enjoy a public high school with some peers.
Her classmates are also very understanding. They’ve never excluded her, even if a lot of them have known each other since junior high. A bunch of them are neighbors who’ve known each other since preschool. They don’t disdain her for not being able to join in many after-school outings, owing to frequent trips to the hospital for check-ups.
The Student Council is also kind enough to assign Atsushi-kun and Kyouka-chan to help guide her in school. Due to her health, she has been homeschooled prior to this year, and there are so many things that are new to her.
That includes the Sports Festival, a legendary event that she’s only known in her webnovels.
But just as reality has told her that there really are too many kind people in this world, she has also learned that reality could be stranger than fiction.
“Um, I don’t understand,” she says, feeling a bit helpless as she watches the relay race open-mouthed. “Did I somehow give Chuuya-san the wrong paper slip?”
But that can’t be, right?
Because of her health, Kunikida-sensei has assigned her to help man the booths instead of actually participating in any of the sports activities. She’s immensely grateful for this assignment, because she doesn’t want to miss out on this experience, but she also knows not to push her body too hard.
One of her tasks is to man the booth that gives out the paper slips for certain events, like the relay race. It seems fairly straightforward: representatives from each class would occupy the school’s track-and-field area, and they’d run laps. Each section has a certain ‘challenge’, where participants would have to run to her booth, grab an ‘instruction slip’ and carry the object specified in said paper slip as they complete their lap.
3B, 3C and 3D are neck-and-neck in this relay race. 3A is a clear winner, not only in this event, but also in the overall rankings. After all, even if it’s the class with the highest average in test scores, and therefore the class with a lot of students more focused on their books rather than sports—it’s also the class that has Chuuya-san.
He’s an existence that she’s always thought would be more apt in novels. He has good grades, always in the top ten of the grade. He’s also quite rambunctious, and there are many videos floating around of him beating up delinquents from other schools who come to their neighborhood to cause trouble. There are even more videos of him participating in last year’s school festival while jumping on the stage and transforming it to a rock concert. There are countless videos of him joining various sports clubs and excelling in them, singlehandedly increasing the team’s chance to win the Nationals just by existing.
And even more countless than all of that—
“I’ve seen so much gossip about how much they hate each other,” she continues, watching Chuuya-san carry Dazai-san over his shoulders, as if he’s carrying a sack of potatoes. “So, why…?”
After all, the paper slip for this part of the relay should say ‘an important possession’.
Does this mean that 3A is going to end up disqualified? Chuuya-san’s running at a casual pace, but there’s no hope for the other classes to catch up to him. Over his shoulder, it’s obvious that Dazai-san is struggling against the hold, squirming wildly and flailing around while trying to kick his feet into the air.
She could only watch while beside Atsushi-kun and Kyouka-chan, as the rest of the event unfolds.
Kyouka-chan pats her hand. “They’re always like this,” she tells her in what’s probably supposed to be a soothing tone. “It’s best to just look elsewhere when this thing happens.” As she says this, she plays with her phone that has a cute bunny strap on it.
But she can’t look away.
Not even when Atsushi-kun lets out something that sounds like a strangled wheeze beside her.
She could only watch—along with the rest of the school—as Chuuya-san seemingly tires of Dazai-san’s flailing.
He doesn’t completely set him down, since that would violate the rules of the relay race. Instead, he shows off impressive arm strength as he sways Dazai-san’s entire body, shifting him in his arms so that he’s cradled in a princess carry. It should look comical, the way Dazai-san’s long legs stick out from this position.
But Chuuya-san’s annoyed and determined expression silences everyone. His arms are practically crushing Dazai-san’s form to his chest, as if he doesn’t wish for anyone else to see the other man’s body.
Even if he’s already way ahead of the pack, he speeds up like he’s not inconvenienced by the added weight in his arms, like he’s not at all bothered by the fact that Dazai-san seems to be using this chance to outright strangle him.
The result is crystal-clear.
The moment Chuuya-san crosses the finish line, the crowd erupts.
Perhaps her high school life would be more like the novels if not for the fact that this school’s ‘most handsome boy’ isn’t a title that’s split between two people. Surprisingly, even if there are supporters of both factions as to who’s the most handsome one, all of the students have tacitly agreed to never bother confessing to either people.
Dazai-san, because of his infamy of asking women to a double suicide.
Chuuya-san, because there are rumors about how anyone who attempts to confess to him end up being struck with severe bad luck.
“Fuck you, shitty Dazai,” rings loud, despite the cheers and shrieks around them. He drops Dazai-san to his feet, an action that doesn’t come to fruition because bandaged arms continue to cling to his neck, not giving up on the murder attempt in broad daylight. “I won our bet!”
“Come to think of it, what was the thing written on your paper slip?” Most of the time, Dazai-san acts like a gentle senior. Sometimes, he acts like a kid obsessed with pranking and teasing others. Whenever he’s with Chuuya-san, his childishness is at its maximum, along with the kind of meanness one reserves for their archnemesis. “Did you even read the content? Or were you just that excited to grab me and carry me around in hopes of appearing taller?”
…Um, they’re really, really childish too.
Perhaps that’s the biggest deterrent to any confessions coming their way.
However, that question is something that wants to know the answer to. She doesn’t think that she’d have been so absentminded that she ended up giving him the wrong slip, but she can’t think of any other explanation.
“An important possession,” Chuuya-san proudly declares, even showing a wrinkled paper slip and smacking it against Dazai-san’s chin. “You’re about to lose our bet, so it’s important that I hold onto you, or else you’ll just run away and renege on our bet!”
Is that really how it works…?
Beside her, Kyouka-chan pats her hand again. “Look elsewhere,” she reminds.
It’s a kind reminder, but she’s too late to look away.
Dazai-san huffs and puffs, but there’s a strangle smile on his face. “Oh, so I’m the most important possession of a chibikko,” is followed by laughter that would probably be considered creepy if done by someone less handsome. “Fufufu, quite bold of you, confessing to me so blatantly like this.”
Chuuya-san makes a face. “Oi, did I end up knocking your head somewhere? What kind of bullshit are you spouting now?”
Despite the acidic words, he actually stands on his tiptoes so he could check Dazai-san’s forehead for a fever. He’s seemingly dissatisfied with the result, because Dazai-san also stands on his tiptoes to make things difficult for him.
With a loud click of his tongue, he then pulls Dazai-san down by the lapels and inspects his body temperature by shoving a tongue inside his mouth.
…Oh.
She looks up at the blue sky, suddenly finding it very interesting.
Maybe she needs to read more novels in order to understand this kind of development better.
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end