Chapter 207: The Sports Day Begins
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 207: The Sports Day Begins
Between my studies, workouts, duties as the student council secretary, and helping organize the Sports Day, the time flew by in the blink of an eye.
And finally, the day of the Sports Day arrived.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Woken by the familiar alarm, I rubbed my sleepy eyes and got out of bed.
Yaaawn—
I let out a long yawn and grabbed the tracksuit I’d left draped over a chair.
Rustle! Rustle!
The time was 4 a.m.
The weather was clear.
I turned off the still-blaring alarm, checked the time and weather on my phone's home screen, and after changing, quietly slipped out of the house.
'The weather's gotten pretty cold.'
It felt like just yesterday I was watching the cherry blossoms in April, starting my second year, but now it was already the end of October.
With autumn well underway, my morning jogs felt quite chilly.
Hoo! Hoo!
As I ran along the riverbank near my house, breathing rhythmically from my diaphragm, a familiar presence approached.
"Hyung-nim!"
"You're here."
It was Kazu, my gym buddy.
Slowing my pace slightly to run alongside him, I noticed something different about his appearance and asked.
"Did you change your style or something?"
Kazu beamed.
"Hehe! You noticed! I took the plunge and changed my hairstyle!"
Kazu, who used to sport an old-fashioned pompadour, now had a simple buzz cut.
…For some reason, I get the feeling he'd be great at basketball if he just dyed it red.
I offered a compliment while thinking that to myself.
"It suits you."
"Thanks!"
After exchanging greetings, Kazu and I ran together to the citizen's park.
As we were doing some light warm-ups and bodyweight exercises, Kazu spoke up as if he'd just remembered something.
"By the way, Hyung-nim, when's your school's festival?"
"Ours? Probably around mid-November."
"Ah, that's a relief. If you have time, you should come to my school's festival too."
As he said that, Kazu handed me an invitation to his cultural festival.
I stared at the invitation for a moment before shaking my head.
"Sorry, but I don't think I can take this."
"What?! Why not?! Did I do something to offend you, Hyung-nim?!"
"No, it's not that you did anything wrong..."
I said, pointing to the date written on the ticket.
"It's on a weekday. How am I supposed to go?"
I can't just skip school.
"Ah."
Kazu's face showed his belated understanding.
I let out a small sigh and told Kazu we should just get back to our workout.
*
After finishing my morning workout, I returned home, took a quick shower, and had breakfast.
Normally, I'd be eating alone, but since she moved in, the President has joined me every day.
"Your mother's curry is delicious, as always."
"I'm glad you like it."
"By the way, which team did you say your class was on, Yoo-Sung-kun?"
"Ah, I'm on the White Team. What about you, President?"
"The Red Team, unfortunately. It seems we're rivals this time."
"Please go easy on me."
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?"
The President covered her mouth and giggled, then her expression turned serious as she looked at me.
"More importantly, Yoo-Sung-kun, there's something I want to talk about. Will you hear me out?"
"Huh? So suddenly, in the middle of breakfast?"
"It's something I wanted to discuss when it was just the two of us."
With that, the President put down her spoon, took a small, deep breath, and spoke.
"I've been thinking... it might be time for me to go back home."
"Back home, you mean?"
"Yes. I can't keep imposing on your family forever."
She said this while looking at me intently.
"Will you let me go?"
The moment I heard that question, a thousand thoughts flooded my mind.
After a moment, I managed to regain my composure and asked.
"I don't think that's something you need my permission for—deciding where you live."
"But I've been indebted to your father and mother all this time. I felt it would be rude to come and go as I please."
"...May I speak honestly?"
"Yes. Of course."
I hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"I don't want you to go, President."
"Are you asking me to stay?"
I nodded honestly.
"Yes. But I can't just insist on my own selfishness, so I know I have to let you go in the end."
Perhaps satisfied with my answer, the President smiled and said.
"Thank you for saying that. I think it will help me leave without any lingering regrets."
After hearing her thanks, I asked cautiously.
"So, what do you plan to do when you go back home?"
"I'm thinking of trying what I mentioned before."
"What you mentioned before...?"
"Taking control of the family. After all, if I want to enjoy true freedom, it's a given that I must escape from my grandfather's shadow. And Shinji can only return to my side once I've regained some standing within the family."
And to do that, I'm prepared to do whatever it takes.
"...It's going to be a thorny path."
The President nodded with a serious expression.
"I've already prepared myself for it. If you hadn't said you'd be with me, Yoo-Sung-kun, I probably wouldn't have been able to muster the courage."
Will you support my choice?
I couldn't help but let out a small laugh at her question.
My answer had been decided from the very beginning.
"Of course. I'm your boyfriend, after all."
This was something I had prepared myself for ever since I decided to confess to her.
So there was no reason to get scared now.
"Thank you, Yoo-Sung-kun. I'm so happy that you're my boyfriend."
Sitting across from me, the President said this with a radiant smile.
*
After our pleasant breakfast, the President and I headed to school separately.
She in her family's limousine, and I on the subway.
When I arrived at school after the hour-long subway ride, including a transfer, my eyes were met with the sight of the sports field, which was decorated much more elaborately than usual.
This was the result of the hard work put in by the Sports Day staff, myself included, during every break yesterday.
"Good morning, sir."
"Morning."
I bowed my head to Yamada, the head of student discipline who was guarding the main gate again today. I was about to walk past him when a thought occurred to me, and I turned back to ask.
"By the way, sir, are the teachers participating in the Sports Day today?"
"In some of the events, yes."
"You're going to have a tough time, then."
There are a lot of students who've been holding a grudge against you, after all.
I swallowed the rest of my thought and turned to head to my classroom, but Yamada called out with an anxious look on his face.
"What was that! What was that ominous comment about!"
But I decided to pretend I hadn't heard him.
He'd find out soon enough anyway.
*
A Japanese sports day is fundamentally no different from a Korean one.
There's tug-of-war, group jump rope, the three-legged race, gourd smashing, and the cavalry battle, among others.
It takes the form of an inter-class competition mixed with tournament rules, with the final winner decided by the combined scores of the Red and White Teams.
Since it's an event everyone has experienced at least once during their school years, there was no need to explain how it worked.
"Let the Ichijo Academy Sports Daaaaaaaay~~~~~ begiiiiiiin~~~~~!"
Waaaaaaaaaah!!
With students from all grades gathered on the field, fireworks shot into the sky along with the principal's energetic voice.
"здо́рово!"
A single, awe-filled word from Sasha, who was experiencing such a large-scale sports day for the first time.
It was Russian, so I didn't know what it meant, but I guessed it was something along the lines of 'amazing'.
The basic spirit of a sports day is cooperation between all grades, so even the first and third-year students, whom I rarely saw, were all out on the field.
And there I was, squatting on the ground like the kids from the other classes, naturally exposed to all sorts of stares due to my tall sitting height.
"Yoo-Sung-ah, you're pretty popular today, huh?"
"Shut up."
I shot an irritated remark at a grinning Satoru before letting out a small sigh.
'I feel like a monkey in a zoo.'
They're treating me like some kind of rare animal.
Unlike the second-years, who I had more contact with, the first and third-years, who use different floors of the school, were staring at me as if I were a curiosity.
Anyway, the first event of the Sports Day was the group jump rope.
It was an event where one person's skill meant nothing, and it was also the only event where I—someone expected to dominate every other sport with sheer physicality—was considered the weak link.
When you're overwhelmingly taller than everyone else, you're bound to get caught in the rope, whether you stand at the end or in the middle.
"Yoo-Sung-ah, let's go. It's our class's turn."
"...Yeah."
At the instruction of the teacher acting as referee, the students of Class 2-B all rose to their feet.
Satoru led the way, followed by Sasha, a humming Rika, and the Class President, who pushed up her glasses.
Our classmates lined up to prepare for the group jump rope.
"Okay, I'm counting on you."
"Right."
I took the rope that the Class President handed me with a grim expression.
After exchanging a signal with the refereeing teacher, I began to swing the rope with all my might the moment the whistle blew.
Whoosh!
"Kyaa!"
Class 2-B.
Eliminated in the group jump rope preliminaries.