Chapter 205: Do Your Best (Bonus Chapter)

The distant broadcast began the final three-minute countdown reminder, and the atmosphere on the field grew increasingly heated.

Horikita Suzune drew a deep breath and released Fuyuji Mikage's wrist—yet didn't let go entirely. Instead, she shifted to gently clutching the hem of his clothes. Though her eyelids still drooped low, her steps were no longer as hurried and flustered as when she had left earlier.

Passing through the clamorous crowd, the two of them returned to the center of the sports field once more.

Horikita Manabu, who had just turned to leave, halted mid-step. The gaze behind his lenses watched them approach with calm composure, the sharp, piercing edge now considerably muted.

Horikita came to a stop a few paces away from her brother. At last, she raised her head and looked directly into Horikita Manabu's eyes.

The area around her wine-red eyes was still faintly reddened, like gemstones washed clean by water. Yet she no longer evaded his gaze. Instead, a clear, limpid resolve shone through.

"Nii-san." Her voice wasn't loud, yet it pierced through the surrounding clamor with perfect clarity.

Horikita Manabu inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment. He didn't speak immediately, merely waiting.

After a brief silence, Horikita spoke once more, her voice steadier than before. "Regarding the matter of my Class D classmates... as the class leader, I was indeed negligent and derelict in my duties." She paused.

Unlike before, she did not immediately apologize. "I will take responsibility and do everything within my power to remedy and resolve the subsequent issues. But right now..." Her gaze swept across the other competitors already in position around them, finally settling back upon Horikita Manabu's face. "Right now, please allow me to focus on the competition before us. The points for Class A... no, for the Red Team—I will do my utmost to win them back."

Horikita Manabu listened in silence, his face betraying no expression whatsoever.

After a few seconds of stillness, he once again reassessed his little sister—from her faintly reddened eyes, to her tightly pursed lips, to that straight, unbending spine...

Just like when she was little. Stubborn as a mule, dead-set and obstinate. Even when she admitted her mistakes—as long as she still looked like this—she'd probably keep making them again next time.

Still...

"In that case, don't hold your classmates back."

Having spoken, Horikita Manabu looked at them no longer. With steady, measured strides, he turned and walked toward the relay zone.

Horikita watched her brother's retreating figure. Her taut shoulders finally relaxed.

"Let's go get ready too." She spoke softly, releasing the hem of his clothes. She too strode toward their positions.

"Hey, hey. Suzune, Suzune—wait a moment." Fuyuji hurriedly strode after her, his tone carrying a hint of temptation. "I've got a secret here about your brother..."

"Was my brother doing it on purpose? He wasn't actually blaming me?"

Before Fuyuji could finish, Horikita flatly cut off his words. Her footsteps didn't pause. She merely cast a sidelong glance at him.

"Huh? You could tell?"

"This kind of sudden shift in attitude from my brother—I've encountered it many times since I was little."

"Then why were you so upset just now?"

"That... is none of your business. In any case, hurry up."

Horikita was instantly at a loss for words. The fair skin at the base of her ears swiftly flushed a thin layer of red. Carrying a trace of mortified irritation, her footsteps quickened even further, nearly breaking into a jog.

The sea breeze brushed past her faintly burning cheeks, bringing a thread of coolness.

There was no way she could tell him—that she'd been completely stunned and dumbfounded by her brother's scolding just now, and that was why that layer of reasoning hadn't occurred to her.

Five minutes later, the students responsible for the final leg of each class had completed their check-ins.

As the sun gradually slanted westward, its rays were no longer fierce and intense, but had grown gentle and languid. The sea breeze swept past, bringing with it a hint of early autumn's chill.

Under the collective, unified gaze of the entire student body and faculty, the starting runners of the twelve classes stood side by side at the starting line. Batons in hand, their bodies sinking low, they stared straight ahead with rapt, unwavering focus.

The murmur of discussion in the spectator stands began to diminish and fade, gradually swallowed by the distant crash of the ocean waves. The atmosphere on the field grew heavier and more solemn, bit by bit.

Bang—!

The moment the gunshot fell, the volume in the spectator stands abruptly skyrocketed. The entire field erupted into fervent, passionate cheers.

Kito Hayato and Class D's first runner, Sudo Ken, launched into their first steps at nearly identical speeds. Immediately after, they fiercely contested the optimal position of the inner lane, their shoulders practically colliding, neither willing to yield.

Two afterimages whooshed past before Fuyuji's eyes. In the span of a few breaths, the leader emerged from the pack. Kito, regrettably, had fallen just a single move short, doggedly biting at Sudo's heels.

The third runner was probably some upperclassman from third-year Class A. Kanzaki Ryuji firmly held the fourth position. Behind them was a vast, crowded mass of runners—perhaps due to starting too late, or lacking sufficient speed, unable to pull any significant distance from those behind them, their pace perpetually unable to rise.

Still...

The corner of Fuyuji's eye twitched.

There—that tomboy from Class C, Ibuki Mio, who had come to him for a fortune-telling last time—was currently trapped dead in the middle of the pack, unable to advance or retreat.

That Ryu-chan really was ruthless. He'd probably anticipated from the very start that even sending a faster runner for the first leg wouldn't open up a gap. So he'd simply dispatched her and saved his combat strength for the very end.

"Come to think of it..."

Raising a hand to his forehead, Fuyuji spotted, from a great distance, that dazzling, glittering human Tarzan positioned at the fourth leg. The corner of his mouth twitched violently.

"Your class really does have a ton of athletic prodigies. A special talents class?"

Never mind the boys—Koenji Rokusuke, Hirata Yosuke, Sudo Ken, every single one of them an athletic standout. And on the girls' side, there was actually Horikita Suzune, and that Onodera girl whose physical ability was reportedly above hers.

In comparison—if he didn't count himself—Class A only had Kito, Hashimoto, and Bro.

Could it be that it was precisely because there were too many back-row heavy hitters, plus a few non-humans thrown into the mix, that they'd burned through all their points in the very first month?

"I won't deny that point. However, it's precisely because they're too outstanding that they're all... mm." Horikita rubbed her temples with a headache. After a moment of contemplation, she summarized. "Each has their own distinctive traits!"

Even as they spoke, Sudo had already handed off the baton to the second runner with a razor-thin advantage. And because the inner lane had been seized by Class D, Kito was forced to run a few extra steps before passing the baton to Motodoi Chikako, who was responsible for the second leg.

"Your Class D really is..." Fuyuji marveled with a sigh. "Just bursting with talent!"

Horikita cast a sidelong glance at him. "Fuyuji-kun, are you mocking me?"

"If it weren't the case, with Class D's strength, competing against Class A would be utterly impossible." A calm, steady voice sounded beside them, abruptly inserting itself into their conversation.

At some unknown point, Horikita Manabu had already come to stand beside the two of them. He held the Red Team's headband in hand and, with practiced ease, tied it around his forehead.

The two ends of the headband fluttered and danced behind his head in the wind. Paired with that meticulously stern, humorless face of his, it inexplicably gave off a rather comical, absurd impression.

"In order to promote competition among the classes, the school screens and selects suitable students from across the entire nation. Theoretically speaking, every class possesses the latent potential to graduate from Class A. It's just that..." His gaze lingered on Horikita for a single moment. "Up to this point, no Class D has ever managed to do so. Even Class B has succeeded only pitifully rarely. That is why I chose to leave the position of Student Council President to Nagumo."

Class A's students were what society deemed as outstanding. After three years of hard work, smoothly graduating from Advanced Nurturing High was hardly surprising.

And the students of Class B—successfully defeating the original Class A—was indeed a manifestation of Advanced Nurturing High's educational philosophy.

"Nii-san..."

Horikita, startled, was just about to open her mouth when Horikita Manabu raised a hand and stopped her.

"What needed to be said has already been said. There's no need to repeat it."

"Hai!" Horikita lowered her head and subconsciously drew half a step closer to Fuyuji.

"What are you still doing here?"

Fuyuji surreptitiously shot Horikita Manabu a look.

[What you needed to do is already done. There's no place for you in this household anymore!]

Having received Fuyuji's message, Horikita Manabu coolly turned his head and decisively ignored him, gazing out at the distant track.

"All the final-leg runners of the entire grade are gathered here. Pretending not to know each other isn't my style."

"..." Then just who the hell was that heartless, sadistic older brother who didn't even see his own little sister once in the entire first month of school?!

Receiving no response, Fuyuji silently flipped him the middle finger and similarly gazed out in that direction.

The order of the front few runners in the second leg still hadn't changed. But the gap that Class D and Class A had opened up in the first leg had clearly, visibly been narrowed. Class A's baton smoothly arrived in the hands of Hashimoto Masayoshi.

"Ara ara~ In that case, not coming over to say hello would just be inexcusable."

Yet another voice—this one carrying a faint trace of frivolity—inserted itself. Nagumo Miyabi, sporting his flashy, flamboyant head of blond hair, wearing that slightly greasy grin of his, strolled over from the side.

Blond Senpai, unseen for an entire day, had made his grand, imposing entrance!

Judging by his facial expression and the clearly less vigorous tone of his voice—he'd probably been run ragged and utterly frazzled by the four students in his class who'd fallen ill.

"So you're Horikita-senpai's little sister?"

The moment he came to a stop, Nagumo cupped his chin and surveyed Horikita, standing beside Fuyuji, with keen, amused interest. Then he glanced at Horikita Manabu, whose brow had quietly furrowed.

"As expected. You can tell at a single glance that you're siblings."

"Hello."

Horikita unleashed a wave of bone-chilling cold in a single second. Her voice was as frigid as a Siberian gale. She was clearly not the slightest bit receptive to Nagumo.

After that brief exchange of greetings—without even a single second of hesitation—Nagumo immediately raised his burning, fiery gaze and looked toward Horikita Manabu.

"How about it, Horikita-senpai? Shall we have a match? As a warm-up for the competition ahead."

"We'll discuss that in a moment." Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses, his gaze sharpening. "As the leader of second-year Class A—to actually commit an error of this caliber. Leading your entire class to the movie theater two days before the competition to celebrate victory in advance... Nagumo—you are far too self-absorbed."

"Hai, hai. The setback of this Sports Festival is indeed partly my responsibility."

Faced with Horikita Manabu's reprimand, Nagumo didn't deny it. Instead, he crisply raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. Then, his tone shifted.

"Still, this is also Horikita-senpai's fault. That bunch in the second year can no longer provide me with any amusement. Horikita-senpai also refused to agree to a duel with me. That's why I grew so lax to that extent. This is fine too. After this Sports Festival is over, I can properly take my time and play with them." Nagumo's voice instantly turned cold.

Due to the absence of class personnel, Kiryuin Fuka's sudden, whimsical decision to participate in this Sports Festival, and the unique point-deduction rules of this particular Sports Festival—which made it fundamentally impossible to fleece the school's resources across the entire grade in one go—the three classes beneath the second year had offered only superficial compliance while secretly acting in defiance. Inexplicably, second-year Class A's score had plummeted all the way to third place.

Truly, well done!

Just then, the cheers of the entire spectator stands suddenly surged in volume by an entire notch—like a thunderclap from a clear sky—instantly drawing everyone's attention.

"What a monstrous physique."

On the track, Koenji Rokusuke, positioned at the fourth leg, was sprinting across the field at an unprecedented speed. His movements were fluid and expansive, brimming with a wild, primal sense of power. His golden hair fluttered and danced madly behind him. Coupled with the advantage accumulated over the previous legs, he had actually, unbelievably, pulled ahead of second place by a terrifying margin of nearly fifty meters.

Meanwhile, Class A—despite Kamuro Masumi chasing with everything she had—had already slowly dropped to fourth.

Contrary to all expectations—it was actually the last-place first-year Class D that had been the first to seize match point. Horikita turned her head and looked at Fuyuji.

"Then... I'll be going on ahead."

"Alright." Fuyuji waved her off with a bright, cheerful farewell. "Don't let me catch up to you in a moment."

Her pure white athletic shoes tread across the grass for a few steps, then slowed and grew hesitant. After a moment of wavering, Horikita still turned her head back and glanced at Horikita Manabu. Her lips moved faintly. Drawing a deep breath, she forced the words out with great difficulty.

"Nii-san... I'll be going now."

"Mm." Horikita Manabu nodded with his usual expression.

Having spoken, Horikita felt as though a great burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She turned her body around, and her steps instantly became light and buoyant.

"Suzune."

A flat, even voice abruptly exploded beside Horikita. She spun around in shock.

Horikita Manabu stood upon the grass. The golden radiance of the sun traced the silhouette of his figure. At the corner of his mouth—for an exceedingly rare, unprecedented moment—a faint, almost nonexistent smile had emerged.

"Do your best."

Time itself seemed to freeze in that very moment.

After a few seconds of stillness, Horikita nodded emphatically. She strode swiftly toward the track with small, hurried steps. Her footsteps grew faster and faster, until finally she was nearly jogging.

Her billowing, jet-black strands of hair shimmered beneath the sunlight with a radiance never before seen.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Fuyuji at the edge of the track, Horikita Manabu gazed quietly at Horikita, now standing on the track, looking back at them.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I did what I did just now?"

Horikita slowly began running forward.

"I more or less understand. If the Red Team loses this time, Suzune—as the leader of Class D, the chief culprit—would probably face criticism and reproach from the upperclassmen. Rather than let that happen, it was better to first reprimand your little sister in your capacity as her older brother, and publicly disclose the relationship between you two ahead of time. That way, the upperclassmen would more or less give you some face."

The girl with the long, straight black hair accepted the baton. Her firm, toned legs swung wide in great, sweeping strides. Both eyes stared straight ahead.

"A stretch." Horikita Manabu rendered his assessment.

"Ha? It's not?" Fuyuji turned his head in shock.

Horikita Manabu didn't answer. He merely stared blankly at the track.

Horikita was already running at full speed, like an arrow loosed from its bowstring. Her long black hair traced a clean, sharp arc behind her, gradually shrinking within his field of vision, until finally becoming a tiny dot.

Once, long ago, that little sister who had always watched him from beneath the stage... had now, slowly, run far, far away...

Two more students stepped onto the track, accepted their batons, and bolted wildly forward, kicking up a cloud of dust.

At that very moment, three figures burst forth from the curve of the track—second-year Class A, third-year Class A, first-year Class A, in that order. The gap between the three of them was roughly a dozen or so meters each.

Morishita-sama held the baton. Her small face was flushed bright red. Her long, slender legs pumped furiously as she doggedly chased after the figure ahead of her.

Already standing on the track, Horikita Manabu—who had been somewhat dazed and lost in thought—abruptly wrenched his head around. Staring directly into Fuyuji's eyes, his tone carried an unprecedented, absolute sincerity.

"That challenge I proposed just now—I wasn't joking. How about it? Shall we compete?"

"...I see." The threads of Fuyuji's thoughts connected. "Fine. If you lose—you, the most outstanding Student Council President in history—will suffer a severe blow to your reputation."

"Now that's interesting. Three Class A students competing together on the same stage?" Nagumo invited himself along uninvited, his voice saturated with excitement.

"Do you need me to wait a moment?"

Watching Morishita Ai, who was gradually being left behind by the two ahead of her, Horikita Manabu suggested.

"No need." Gazing at his girlfriend—drawing closer and closer, her small face flushed bright red, yet her eyes stubborn and unyielding—Fuyuji revealed a smile that came from the very depths of his heart. "A victory for just one person doesn't count as victory."

"In that case—I'll be going on ahead."

Before the words had even fully fallen, Nagumo, unable to wait a moment longer, had already lunged forward in a single, swift stride. He accepted the baton handed over by his classmate with pinpoint precision. The muscles of his legs bulged and expanded, his thighs detonating with explosive force as he transformed into a blur of afterimages and bolted forward. The wind stirred by his passage lifted the hems of the clothes of those nearby.

Almost simultaneously, Horikita Manabu also moved. He looked back at his classmate, now so close at hand, and began to jog.

"An excellent answer. One last time—any interest in joining the Student Council?"

"None."

"What a pity..." A sigh, so faint as to be nearly inaudible, scattered and vanished upon the wind.

With a sharp slap, he seized the baton. Horikita Manabu immediately quickened his stride frequency. The fierce, howling gale rushed headlong toward him, buffeting the ends of his headband, which fluttered and danced behind him, as he bolted straight toward Nagumo up ahead.

Roughly two or three seconds later, a voice sounded from behind.

"Well done, Morishita-sama."

"Huff... huff... Please do not speak to me. Morishita-sama is... about to turn into a dried blueberry..."

A gap of two or three seconds, huh... With the remaining two hundred meters of the final leg, coupled with his own pace—two or three seconds was, in truth, already enough to completely and utterly decide the outcome of this race.

One... two... The students who had started ahead of them sprinted with desperate, all-out effort, only to be overtaken one after another.

Around the perimeter of the sports field, the atmosphere had already reached its boiling point!

Shouts and cheers, screams and applause—all converged into a single, earth-shaking, heaven-trembling roar. The sound surged and swelled like ocean waves, wave after wave, as though about to tear the very sky above Advanced Nurturing High wide open.

Amidst the frantic, furious churning of both legs, the rubber track rapidly retreated beneath their feet. Horikita Manabu's figure carried an unstoppable, all-conquering momentum, slowly, steadily closing the distance toward Nagumo.

Nagumo had also sensed Horikita Manabu's approach. A surge of unprecedented, unparalleled excitement burst forth from within his eyes. Propping up his body—trembling and quivering with exhilaration—his speed accelerated once more.

The two figures shot out from the curve like bolts of lightning. Just as everyone believed the two of them would remain deadlocked in this manner all the way to the finish line—Horikita Manabu, at this very moment, once again erupted with explosive force. Beneath Nagumo's gaze—filled with disbelief, yet tinged with a trace of release and acceptance—he slowly, steadily pulled away.

The fierce, howling gale roared past his ears. The deafening, earth-shaking cheers were flung behind him by the wind. Gazing into the distance—Horikita Suzune, having already reached the finish line, stood there quietly, waiting, both hands tightly clasped before her chest.

In a dazed, trance-like haze, Horikita Manabu felt as though he had returned to his childhood—standing upon the competition stage, watching that little sister of his, who so rarely ever smiled, frantically, fervently cheering him on.

Whoosh—!

Horikita Manabu's pupils—behind his glasses—abruptly, violently constricted. In utter disbelief, he looked to his side. A black silhouette had arrived, tearing through the air itself, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

This speed... it's even faster than this morning!

The instant the two figures drew near—his athletic shirt already plastered tightly against his torso by the fierce, howling gale—Fuyuji Mikage wrenched his head around. Beads of sweat flew and scattered from his temples. The corner of his mouth split upward.

"On your left!"

Before the words had even finished—like a fighter jet instantly accelerating and producing a sonic boom cloud—Fuyuji's speed unbelievably, inconceivably surged by yet another notch! Amidst the sky-shaking, heaven-trembling cheers of the entire crowd, he burst through the finish line.

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100 [Power Stones] = Bonus Chapter!