I didn’t care about winning the tournament... but there was a certain pair I wanted to beat.
At 11:30 AM, an announcement was broadcast over the school intercom system:
“Any team with fewer than four flowers by the 12 o’clock lunch break will be disqualified.”
They’d put this rule in place to weed out any pairs who were actively avoiding battles. To me, it sounded a lot like “Get out there and try to win at least twice, you cowards.” But since each pair carried a variable number of flowers, and battles were “winner takes all” style, the fact was, it was theoretically possible to acquire more than the bare minimum through just one battle. That said, it did feel awkward to challenge a pair with more flowers than you, since it was kind of unfair. This was something that me and my partner, Enjouji Shino, were really struggling with.
But then, at last, we found our opponents.
“Hey Uwa! This must be destiny or fate or whatever! Since we both have two flowers, I challenge you to a fair fight!” shouted Kimura Ittetsu from the tennis club, his voice needlessly theatrical, as we stood in the hallway.
“Hi, guys!” his partner, Higashino Michiko, chimed in cheerfully.
We seemed perfectly matched, but before we could get started, another pair arrived on the scene.
“Hey! Don’t forget about us! We’re here, too!” said Shimono Kazuhiro, an infamous slacker with messy hair and thick, black-rimmed glasses.
“C’mon, don’t be so uptight! Just let us join you!” said Tada Satoshi, a guy with semi-long bleached hair and a playboy vibe.
All six of us had been assigned to the same class for two years in a row now.
“Oh, hey, it’s Kimura-kun and Higashino-san. I didn’t realize you two teamed up,” Enjouji mused vaguely. With her poofy brown bob, she was reminiscent of a small woodland creature.
“Well, we already knew you two were going to pair up, so we didn’t bother telling you, but the rest of our class decided our guy-girl pairs by drawing names from a hat,” Higashino explained.
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” I shot back, but she ignored me.
“So yeah, that’s how I got stuck with this.”
“What the hell, Higashino?! For your information, you pretty much won the jackpot, because I’m planning to win this tournament!”
“Ooooh... Yikes... That’s unfortunate...”
“Enjouji-san?!”
“Anyways! Moving on!” Higashino clapped her hands together. “Let’s get this show started, shall we?”
“Now hold on a minute! We’re here too, y’know! Don’t start battling without us! And for the record, the two of us only ended up together because the girls were all taken by the time we drew our lots. It’s a tragedy, I tell you! The girls all whined about how none of them got to pair up with their beloved Tada-kun, but no one said a peep about me!”
“I don’t care about any of that. Listen up, Shimono: You’re going to need four flowers by noon. Good luck.” I said dismissively.
“Uwa! We’ve already got two, thank you very much! We’re looking for opponents!”
“While the rules allow more than two pairs to compete in a single battle, there can still only be one winner. It’s too risky.”
“Ugh!”
Then Tada stepped forward. “How very rational of you, Uwa. But that’s not what a real man would do.”
“Yeah! You’re not a real man!”
“Man up, Uwa!”
“Not very manly of you, Uwa-kun...”
“Wait... Chihiro-kun, you’re not a man?!”
“Would all of you kindly shut the hell up?! Especially you, Enjouji!”
As much as I didn’t appreciate their stupid jokes, it would be pretty sad if my loser friends got eliminated because they couldn’t find anyone else to fight. And so it was decided that we would have a three-way battle.
“Now, what kind of battle should we have?”
Noon was fast approaching, so we needed to make it quick.
“Oh, um, I know! We can use voice clips to play Guess The Voice Actor!”
“...Sounds like we’re drawing from the Battle Box.”
“Et tu, Chihiro-kun...?”
We walked into the classroom with the nearest Battle Box, where I drew a challenge for the group: Three-Legged Obstacle Course. On the back of the paper was a small map indicating the start and finish lines.
I had to win this. I couldn’t afford to lose. Not until I battled the pair I had in mind.
The starting line was located at the far edge of the athletic field. When we arrived, sure enough, they’d marked it out with crisp, white chalk. The course was littered with classic obstacle course fare, like cargo netting, burlap sacks, jump ropes, small square blocks with spoons and ping-pong balls on top, and more.
“Man, they really worked hard to plan all this out. If we lose, we’d better go see what we can help with,” Tada mused as he began his warm-up stretches.
Next to him, Higashino and Kimura were busy tying their legs together.
“I can’t believe I have to do a three-legged race with you... I wish I got paired with someone hotter...”
“I feel like a three-legged race is already enough of an ‘obstacle course,’ but then they had to go and add actual obstacles to it... Man, I’m so pumped!”
“Y’know, I kinda feel bad, since me and Tada have an overwhelming advantage here. There’s no way Kimura and Higashino will actually work as a team. And while you might be speedy, you’ve got Enjouji-san weighing you down,” Shimono whispered into my ear so my partner couldn’t hear, even though she was literally tied to me.
Yes, Enjouji was slow, and she had poor reflexes. Not exactly an asset for an athletic competition. Beside me, she was taking big, deep breaths — completely overreacting, if you asked me. Then she noticed me looking at her.
“Let’s do our best, Chihiro-kun!”
For that matter, why was I even paired with her? Then again, if I didn’t beat that pair with her, then it was all pointless... Yeah, that’s why.
Our ankles were pressed right up next to each other. My skin itched where it touched hers.
The six of us lined up at the starting line. Then some previously eliminated students showed up to serve as judges for our battle, followed by a crowd of nosy onlookers.
“On your mark... Get set...”
With the sunny weather, gym clothes, and spectators, it almost felt like the Sports Festival all over again.
“GO!”
The voice rang out to the clear blue sky, signaling the start of the Three-Legged Obstacle Course. The two of us took our first step.
“Starting from the right!”
“Right! Got it!”
“Three, two, one... Whoa!”
“Eeeek!”
My leg went in a direction I wasn’t expecting, and I lost my balance. The ground rushed up to meet me.
Splat. Flat on my face. Snickers erupted from the crowd.
“Nnnn...”
“Quit whining and get your ass up!” I shouted as I pushed myself off the ground and dusted myself off. “The hell were you doing?! I literally said starting from the right!”
“W-Well, if we’re starting with your right leg, then that means my left!”
“No, I was telling you to use your right leg!”
I thought she understood that, but evidently I should have been more clear. Apparently the two of us weren’t quite on the same page. But we were at a distinct disadvantage here, so we needed to get in sync if we wanted to stand a chance of winning.
“Okay, let’s try this again! This time, we’re starting with our joined leg! Ready? Three, two, one, go!”
I counted out loud so she could grasp the timing.
“One, two... One, two...”
Our steps were two different sizes. She kept yanking my leg backwards, causing the ropes to dig into my skin. This time I tried to match my step size to hers. Keep trying. Keep trying.
Eventually, we managed to make (slow, unsteady) progress, even if I did feel incredibly weighed down. And thanks to our slip-up right out of the gate, we were now in third place, with Kimura/Higashino in second and Shimono/Tada in first.
Beyond the minefield of obstacles, I could see the finish line. So close, and yet so far. If only I could untie these ropes, I could easily win this whole race solo... The thought was frustrating. Seriously, why did I have to pair up with Enjouji?
Admittedly, part of me felt like I needed to in order to represent the Cultural Research Club for the sake of my own personal goal. We were a couple of bumbling idiots, but starting this year, we were going to have to run the whole club on our own.
When it came to solo activities, like karate or schoolwork, I could generally manage just fine. But in terms of club activities, we needed other people simply to survive. Sure, the third-years were still on the club roster, and they popped in from time to time, but they had already passed the torch to us.
From now on, the CRC is yours to shape as you see fit, they said to us. But what sort of “shape” were we supposed to make? Yeah, we had taken charge of recruiting, but it wasn’t exactly going well...
Then we arrived at our first obstacle: the cargo net crawl.
“No need to get all the way down on our knees. Let’s just crouch down!”
Together, we stooped down low to pass under the net. Fortunately Enjouji was already on the short side, so she had no trouble at all. This first obstacle was a piece of cake.
On the other side of the net, we arrived at the burlap sacks. From here, we would need to step into a sack, pull it up to our waists, and bunny-hop our way forward until we reached the end of the section a few meters away. Fortunately, the sacks here were big enough to accommodate two people.