A Late Bloomer's Powerful Restart ~My Second Life Starts at a Prestigious School Where the Gender Ratio Is Totally Off, and for Some Reason, All These Talented Girls Get Attached to Me...!?~ - 16

Chapter 16: Let’s Make Some Guy Friends (2)

The match against Aoyagi ended up being decided as hurdles and a long-distance run.

Aoyagi suggested the hurdles, so I chose track events in return. Basically, it turned into an endurance battle… a pure test of stamina.

Everything was fine up to that point, but one new worry appeared.

“C-Can I join the match too…?”

Ousei also ended up participating in the contest.

But whether Ousei’s stamina would hold out… that was what worried me.

On top of that, probably because one more participant suddenly drew extra attention, the girls were watching too.

I finally realized this might actually be quite a dangerous tightrope walk, but it was already too late to back out.

Right away, ten hurdles were placed evenly across the 110-meter distance, and we were going to compete for time.

Apparently, the gym teacher—who seemed to think this was fun—would act as the timekeeper.

“Aoyagi! Don’t lose to someone like Kashiwado!!”

“Tateakawa, don’t lose either!!”

Tano and Yūki’s voices rang out from around us. It looked like I had no one on my side.

But—the moment we started running, those voices completely disappeared.

What makes it different from a sprint is how hard it is to accelerate. So there are two crucial techniques.

A stable rhythm, and the entry into the first hurdle… basically, the approach to the first one.

You jump over the first hurdle at the perfect moment, then land calmly.

After that, you clear the remaining nine with the same steps… and reach the finish.

“14 seconds 11…!?”

The gym teacher looked at the stopwatch and let out a stunned shout.

When I glanced back, Aoyagi reached the finish line right after me, but since we weren’t even racing neck-and-neck over 110 meters, the gap was already huge.

In the end, his time was 15 seconds 39—which is fast for a normal high school student—but the difference between us was more than one second.

“Damn it… so you’re not just a nerd…”

On the other hand, did I really look like some bookworm to him…? Well, if you enter school as the top student, I guess it’s unavoidable that people get that kind of prejudice.

It’s hard to see the kind of body training an athlete does just by looking at someone with clothes on.

“No way…”

“That was too fast, dude.”

“Who the hell is that guy…?”

The effect of going all out was bigger than I had expected.

Of course, Tano and Yūki—who had been absolutely sure Aoyagi would win—were raising confused voices.

“So, what about the long-distance run? Still wanna do it?”

“No way I can just keep losing like this!”

I think I managed to show my physical ability clearly enough, but Aoyagi still wanted to continue the contest.

I had a feeling he would.

Because the way he looked reminded me of myself back in the first lap—when I hadn’t managed to grow at all yet.

By the way, it seems Ousei got caught on the first hurdle and ended up going over 17 seconds.

I say “seems” because I was so focused while running that I didn’t hear a single sound.

Even though Ousei suffered a crushing defeat, he didn’t look particularly down and said he would join the long-distance run too.

He might actually have the strongest mental toughness out of all of us.

Next came the long-distance run… apparently one lap around the school field was exactly 200 meters, so we would race 25 laps for a total of 5000 meters.

“Ready—GO!!”

It looked like not only students but even teachers started paying attention, but we just began running like normal.

A little after we entered the 7th lap, I lapped Ousei, who was falling behind.

“Tateakawa… hang in there!!”

“Don’t give up!! Finish it!!”

Maybe because the race was longer this time, my classmates’ voices actually reached my ears, but more of the cheers seemed to be for Ousei than for me or Aoyagi.

Well, I thought there still wasn’t anyone cheering for me—but then—

“Taiki~!! Only five more laps!!”

Sasa’s cheering voice reached me.

Running alone and lonely had always been my specialty… but just hearing that one voice somehow made me feel like I had even more strength.

The dead point lasted only a moment. Second wind.

—In the end, while I didn’t lap Aoyagi, he never caught up to me either, and I finished the race.

While I slowed down to catch my breath, Aoyagi also completed the run.

“Haa… haa…”

“…Satisfied now?”

There was no need to check the time—my win was obvious, but Aoyagi was still fast.

I went all out, yet it seemed my body still wasn’t fully used to long-distance running; maybe it’s not at a national level yet.

I felt one new thing to work on.

“This… is my loss… damn it, at this rate… I’ll stay a virgin forever…”

Hey, you’re still just a high school guy… isn’t it way too early to be worrying about that?

Even in this situation, the guts he has to still be thinking about popularity is honestly impressive.

…I can’t exactly respect it, though.

“Tell me! How the hell are you… that fast?”

“I just run every single day and built up my stamina. Anyway, you should focus on fixing your breathing first.”

“Yeah… the third event…”

Aoyagi still hadn’t broken.

Even though he should have already understood the gap between us after two events, he still wanted to compete.

I thought he would be more shocked, but his recovery was quick.

“Next time then. I also wanna do ball games, so come with me for those.”

“…Don’t forget it.”

I expected him to cling on stubbornly, but surprisingly he accepted it pretty well.

Even so, seeing him refuse to give up like that felt a little like looking at my past self.

Maybe, in an unexpected way, I actually managed to make a second male friend.

Tano and Yūki’s reactions weren’t bad either.

“Dude, you seriously can do everything, huh.”

“Pisses me off, but I gotta admit it.”

Tano was still acting all high and mighty, but just hearing him say that much already made me grateful.

Suddenly I felt a sharp stare from the girls’ side… looks like the people who don’t like me won’t just disappear completely.

Still, running at full power for the first time in a while felt great, so I’ll call it a win.

Then, from behind, I saw Ousei walking unsteadily like a zombie, his breathing completely ragged.

“Haa… haa… haa…”

Considering how little stamina he normally has, he must have pushed himself way beyond his limits.

He probably joined because he thought about what would happen if I lost, so I’m thankful… but man, he gets really passionate, huh.

Ousei always seems so mature, so seeing this surprisingly normal high-school-boy side of him felt kind of fresh.

At that moment, I spotted Sasa chatting with the other girls in the distance.

(…Ah.)

I only looked casually, but our eyes suddenly met.

Then she secretly gave me a small wave toward me.

It felt rude not to respond, so I waved back… and she smiled happily in my direction, this time waving her hand big enough that she wasn’t even trying to hide it from everyone around.

(Wait, you’re not keeping it secret anymore!?)
(I’m getting stared at like crazy right now… well, whatever.)

Seriously, she does this kind of thing completely naturally—being a sheltered young lady really is troublesome.

Isn’t that exactly why weird rumors start?

Even while thinking that, I felt like I had been able to go beyond full power thanks to her cheering, so I decided not to overthink it and just thank her properly later.