Sudou, who had started acting in his capacity as leader, had the students assemble on the next day and began coaching them. It appears Sudou’s job on his first day as leader is to teach them to get the hang of tug of war. I watched from a slight distance. 

“You’re pointlessly straining too much. There’s no strength at all behind your tug. At this rate you won’t win what can be won”.

Saying that, perhaps he intends on giving a practical demonstration, Sudou gripped in his hands a short rope. Facing him were two people, Ike and Yamauchi. It appears he intends on taking them on alone.

The two of them must surely have expected to win but when the match began, Sudou pulled on the rope with overwhelming strength. Not too long after, the two of them fell before Sudou and sat down on the ground.

“See? You’re not putting any strength into it”.

“I don’t get it…..hey Sudou. Is there a trick or something behind this?”.

“Power is also vital but in cases like this it’s not just your arm but rather you use your hips, you know, hips”.

Even as he spoke roughly, Sudou was giving each and every student complete and thorough instructions.

“Hey, Sudou-kun. Can you have a look here later? The horseman isn’t going too well”.

“Wait a minute. I’ll be right there”.

There were more than a few students who aren’t especially good at sports and so there were quite a lot of voices calling out to ask for Sudou’s opinion. Surprisingly enough, I honestly didn’t expect that even the girls would ask him for his opinion.

“He surprisingly appears to be doing it seriously”.

“It’s the first time his surroundings have relied on him after all. The role of leader may yet surprisingly befit him, don’t you think?”.

In theory, having people rely on you would make just about anyone feel good. It’s especially true for students like Sudou who have lived in solitude.

“As for me, if it weren’t for ‘that’, I wouldn’t mind praising him though……”.

‘That’? As I was about to ask her about that, an angry voice rang out.

“I’m telling you that’s not it!”.

Kicking the dirt on the ground, he blew up a dust cloud towards Ike and the others.

“Dowa! Peh, peh! Please stop!”.

Seeing that, Horikita sighed. Certainly, him being quick to get physical is a problem. A leader must have proper awareness that the people they interact with are fundamentally different from them. On the other hand, the leader who always employs kind teaching methods is Hirata. Underneath the girl waiting for Sudou’s instructions, he was checking their positions in order to ensure a comfortable posture and to establish a foundation in preparation for the cavalry battle.

“Yeah, I think this is fine. But don’t you feel a bit cramped?”.

“That’s right….my shoulders hurt a bit, I guess”.

“Let’s try changing positions a bit, shall we? I think just by moving a few centimeters it’ll be different”.

“Ohh—you’re right, it feels rather comfortable now. Thank you, Hirata-kun”.

“Please help out here a bit too, Hirata”.

Yet another cavalry group asked for help and Hirata responded with a smile.

“How about you teach the girls too?”.

Horikita too, within her class, is top class as far as athleticism goes. She has quite a lot of potential as a leader.

“I have no intention of teaching them. In the first place, I doubt there’s anyone who wants to be taught by me”.

Boldly saying something that she shouldn’t be proud of, she begins warming up on her own.

“I have my hands full with making sure I can produce results. Can you afford to be laid-back? If you’re confident you can win no matter who you fight against, then that’s fine though”.

“I have no such confidence”.

“Sounds about right. Your results are always mediocre after all. You’re neither fast nor are you slow, inconspicuous results”.

“You knew?”.

“For the record, I intend on ascertaining the abilities of my classmates”.

It appears even in physical education classes, she’s been closely observing me.

“I’ll ask you this once but…..by any chance would you happen to be holding back like you did with your test scores?”.

“Do you think I’d do something that pointless?”.

“I’d say it’s 50/50. So, what about it?”.

“I apologize for partly betraying your expectations but my usual results are my ability”.

“In other words, you’re neither good nor bad. Meaning I shouldn’t expect good results from you, then?”.

“That’s how it is”.

“Then you’d better endeavor to practice right away”.

“It wouldn’t be a problem if I could improve by practicing in this short period of time. Unlike studies, last-minute cramming is impossible for this”.

One’s physical ability will only improve through daily accumulation of experience.

“I think it’ll be a different story if you focus on contests that can be supplemented with technique though? The way you grip the rope or the way you form the horseman. Just by learning those you should be able to add to our manpower”.

“…perhaps”.

I had tried to slack off but she’s done a good job besieging me. It can’t be helped then, I think I’ll practice for the Recommended Only Participation events I ended up becoming a participant in.

“…hey”.

Having been urged to do so, I was about to move when Horikita once again called out to me.

“Hmm?”.

“What’s going to decide victory or defeat in the sports festival is the physical ability of each class. That is correct, is it not?”.

“It is a sports festival. You do realize that physical ability is the key here, don’t you?”.

“That’s right…..but that way of thinking is limited to times when I fight alone. If I focus on my own results, then I’m confident I can leave behind a good outcome. But recently I no longer quite understand. That just by elevating one’s own abilities, perhaps you might not be able to reach Class A”.

It was an uncharacteristically timid remark. It’s likely proof that all her mistakes in the exams leading up to now are causing her to respond like this to this extent.

“Then let me ask this. What needs to be done in order to produce results in this sports festival? To climb up to Class A?”.

As I replied with a question, Horikita closed her mouth right away. She only sends me a gaze that seems to be telling me she’s asking me that precisely because she doesn’t know.

“Isn’t it that you’ll win if you enjoyed it? This is the long-awaited sports festival, you know. Forgetting that this is an exam and amusing ourselves is also an option”.

I said that as though avoiding the topic.

“You promised me you’d cooperate, right? That you’d help me climb up to Class A”.

“I’m doing it now, aren’t I?”.

I spread out my hands lightly as if to show my body.

“I will participate in the sports festival. That is cooperation”.

“…are you serious?”.

“You said so yourself, right? That what will decide victory or defeat in the sports festival is physical ability. That is correct”.

“But…..what I wanted to say is about elements other than that”.

In other words, something other than physical ability capable of influencing the outcome.

“If so, on the day of the sports festival, shall we give the guys from Class C and Class B stomach aches and have them be absent? If we do that then we’ll be completely victorious. It’ll be our victory by an overwhelmingly wide margin”.

“Don’t joke around”.

“The answer you’re hoping for from me is something like that right? This sports festival is a task that should be challenged up front. Clumsy tricks will backfire, each and every person should elevate their abilities and triumph in the contests”.

What the school side is looking for also undoubtedly leans strongly towards that aspect.

“It’s just if I have to strongly add onto your way of thinking then even if your physical ability is high, it would mean it’s still impossible”.

“…in other words? Is something else necessary?”.

“It would seem you’ll understand the answer soon”.

I turned my gaze towards the person walking towards us.

“Horikita-san, for the three-legged race practice, the next one up is you, Horikita-san”.

“I understand”.

Having been called, Horikita heads over. Apparently the one who will be pairing up with Horikita is Onodera. Onodera is a girl who belongs to the swimming club but according to rumors, she’s also quite a sprinter.

For the sports festival, the important things are: your individual ability and cooperation with your classmate.

I wonder if Horikita will be able to make it go well. Horikita and Onodera mutually tie the string and the girls start in their battle formation. If we’re only talking about coordination then the Horikita/Onodera pair would be number one. However, the result is something yet unknown. It was by no means slow but neither can the result be called fast, they came in at 3rd place.

By the way, the slowest ones were the unathletic Sakura/Inogashira pair. Decisively slow.

The Horikita/Onodera pair who shouldered the expectations of the class, in response to their dissatisfactory results, challenged it again and again but their time did not improve.

“They’re rather slow, those two”.

From the high levels of attention they were receiving, Sudou unexpectedly uttered that from an outsider’s perspective.

“That’s true”.

Having returned after their sprint, the two of them immediately untied the string and faced each other.

“Hey, Horikita-san, would you mind keeping pace with me a bit more?”.

Onodera, slightly annoyed, said that.

“Indeed our rhythms are mismatched. But it’s not my fault. Rather it’s because you’re slow”.

“What…..”.

“Isn’t it natural to keep pace with the rhythm of the faster one? To bother slowing down just to compromise would be strange after all”.

The development I had feared will soon be at hand it seems. It’s no easy matter to keep pace with Horikita, who’s running at her maximum pace selfishly.

“Then shall we have a go at it too, Ayanokouji-kun?”.

“Roger”.

I have no time to either help out or laugh at the quarreling Horikita. Three-legged racing is a first for me too.

“For now let’s try running and then fix our shortcomings, shall we?”.

Nodding and following Hirata’s instructions I tied our legs together.

It was far tighter than I had imagined or rather, it felt like I was deprived of my freedom. Besides, even though we’re both males, if we’re this close to each other it’s slightly embarrassing. More so if it’s Hirata, who garners attention from the girls.

“Then, let’s go. Let’s try using our tied feet for the first step”.

I nodded and waited for Hirata’s foot to move and then stepped forth to match it. And with the same rhythm, this time, I moved my free foot on the outside.

“…feels terribly uncomfortable”.

“Right? But as you run you’ll get used to it, I guess. I’m going to start running a bit then”.

Hirata said that as he picked up the pace and I too, started running to match him.

Well, I say run but it was only at the speed of a trot though.

“Yep, that’s it, you’re doing great”.

It was probably a speed almost anyone can keep up with but being praised like that made it easier. And then as I got used to it, I realized it was something surprisingly simple to do.

To properly understand your partner’s pace. Then if your partner, too, grasps your pace, the next step will come smoothly.

“As expected of Hirata-kun! So fast!”.

Shrill cheers came flying from the girls. We ran a small lap and then returned, untying the string.

“It’s extremely easy to do if Ayanokouji-kun’s my partner. Let’s practice countless times then work hard at the actual event, shall we?”.

Yes, he sure is invigorating. Furthermore, even after finishing practice, without resting, he headed over to advise the other students. This is probably the daily life of Hirata, a man capable of doing this.