“We’re gonna clean house, Aoki,” I told him as we sat in the courtyard near the entrance to the East Wing.
I was super embarrassed to enter this school-wide event as an official couple with Aoki, but you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
“You know why? Because your college education depends on it.”
“Yes, ma’am! With that Student Representative title, I can probably skip all the exam crap and go straight to the interview stage!”
“Will you quit joking around?! This is serious! Your sister begged me to help you, FYI!”
“Wha? She talked to you?!”
“Yeah. She was like, ‘My little brother’s a total dumbass who can’t study to save his life, but it’s really important to me that he goes to college. So if you could help him out to some extent, it would mean a lot.’”
“Wow, she must really be worried...”
“She prostrated herself on the floor and everything.”
“God, Sis, I’m so sorry...” He wiped his tears with his sleeve. Seriously, pull yourself together.
He generally knew when to step up, but if he couldn’t get into a good college and land himself a decent job, he wouldn’t be able to support a family...
“Not that I’m thinking about marrying you or anything, okay?!”
“Where’d that come from?”
“N-Nothing! My point is, we gotta win this!”
“Hell yeah! And I’d love nothing more than to win it with you.”
“Seriously, this isn’t a game... Okay, technically it is...”
I couldn’t argue with his pure, innocent smile. Maybe the most important part was just having fun together, and maybe that would lead us to victory on its own. There was power in fun.
“Oho! I found Yui and Aoki-kun!”
Just then, we crossed paths with girly, stylish Kurihara Yukina and slender, boyish Oosawa Misaki from the track team.
“I had a feeling you’d be with your boyfriend, Yui-chan. As for me, I’m paired up with Yukina.”
“Oh, and we’re both single and looking for boyfriends!”
“Do we really need to mention that part...?”
“Damn right we do! If we’re trying to reel in some big fish, then we need to advertise ourselves!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say...”
As usual, Misaki was the voice of reason when it came to Yukina’s antics.
“So anyway, seeing as we’re all here...”
There was a pregnant pause as Yukina twisted a strand of wavy hair around her finger. Oh, I get it. So this is how it starts.
“Wanna battle?” I suggested.
She grinned. “You sure you wanna lose this early in the game? How will you spend the rest of your Saturday?”
“I could ask you the same thing!”
“Oh, are we gonna battle Yui-chan? Sure, that sounds fun,” Misaki nodded cheerfully as she transitioned into warm-up stretches.
Our friendship had a competitive edge to it that I enjoyed a lot.
“Uh, hello? You do know I’m here, right, ladies? Or is this a two-on-one thing?”
“Misaki, let’s discuss!”
The two girls turned away and started whispering to each other.
“...Alright, we’ve decided!”
When Yukina turned back around, she held up a hand in the shape of a gun and aimed it at me.
“Yui, we’ve had a bone to pick with you ever since our first year.”
“But not in a bad way or anything. I’m sure a lot of people feel the same,” Misaki added.
“As a proud member of the track team... I have to beat you!” Yukina declared, a fire burning in her eyes. “Like, yeah, even though you have superhuman reflexes, you’re not obligated to join a sports team. But then you show up and surpass all my hard work with your God-given talent? I don’t think so!”
“I mean, I’m doing karate again...”
“But you’re not really trying, are you?”
“What? Of course I’m trying!”
“Look... I’m not trying to judge you, alright? I get it. But I need to do this for the sake of my own petty ego.”
If it came down to a matter of pride, then there was no getting around it.
“I’m going to beat you at a physical sport.”
“You’re on.”
“Since, quite frankly, you wouldn’t stand a chance of winning an intellectual challenge.”
“E-Excuse you! I’m not stupid!”
I’m just kinda slow, that’s all!
“Seriously, ladies, are we forgetting I’m here...? I’m a guy, so I’m gonna have an advantage at physical stuff...”
“Now then, what’s a sport we can do in pairs?”
Yukina squinted down at her pamphlet, where there was a list of example challenges in case anyone couldn’t think of one.
“Let’s see here... Oh, how about this? We could do a cavalry battle. It says ‘students without exceptional athletic ability should refrain from attempting this,’ but I’d say we’re okay on that front, yeah?”
“I mean, sure, but... you know I’m like, really good at that game, right?”
“Yeah, and that’s why we want to beat you at it,” Misaki replied like a total daredevil.
“Does this mean you guys are gonna include me after all? Whew!”
Normally a cavalry battle required at least two people to hold up the knight. But other than that, the rules were basically the same. All I had to do was steal their bandanna.
To make sure we wouldn’t get too hurt if we fell, we relocated away from the hard pavement to an area with soft grass. That way we only had to worry about, like, falling on our heads or something. Then Aoki boosted me onto his shoulders, and just like that, I was 150 centimeters taller.
“Whoa! Listen, I’m counting on you, okay? Don’t hold my legs too tight or I won’t be able to evade attacks.”
“Roger-dodger!”