It was now a bit over four weeks into the first semester and I was presently in P.E. We had our first real fitness test today.
It was honestly one of the things I hated the most as it required us to pair up with a partner. And with my luck as a man without friends I was the odd one out. Everyone quickly grouped up together, Rosa was surrounded by several guys trying to partner up with her while I stood a ways away watching while sighing internally to myself. Girls typically didn't approach Rosa, but the guys definitely did. As one would expect, she was extremely popular with all the guys in the class from what I picked up from the occasional chatter amongst them.
I figured I'd wait until the dust settled so I'd be able to pair up with whoever the other leftover would turn out to be.
Seeing as it might take a while since it was our class's first time pairing up for a fitness test, I took a seat on the ground and waited patiently by myself. I laid down on my back atop the grass with my knees bent forming a perpendicular line to the ground as I stared up at the clouds slowly drifting by in the sky.
A few minutes passed by and by the sound of my surroundings, it seemed for the most part everyone had paired up. When I was thinking of sitting up to see who was a fellow left over, someone walked over to my side and looked down at me from above.
The only person who would willingly approach me was naturally my nosy neighbor Rosa.
"What? Come here to poke the wounds of the odd one out who couldn't pair up with anyone?"
"Yeah, I did."
"What a cruel woman. Which lucky guy did you grace today by pairing up with them?"
She raised her dainty hand and pointed at the ground with her index finger.
"Earth? Was there a guy named Earth in our class?"
"No."
"Then… Dirt? Or maybe Ground? Maybe Grass?"
"What sick parent would name their child any of those names?"
"I'd like to know that as well. So which one among the guys is named Dirt, Ground, or Grass?"
"The one lying down in the grass."
I sat up then took a look around and verified there was no other guy presently lying down on the ground. I tilted my head to the side and put on a confused expression like I couldn't comprehend.
"Stop messing around. You're my partner. It took a while to swat down all the pesky flies swarming around me."
"Isn't it a bit cruel to call them pesky flies? They have feelings too, you know."
"Like I care. Anyway, hurry up and get up. The teacher is about to start the girls' 100-meter dash. I need you to record my time."
"You sure seem unmotivated as usual."
"What's there to be motivated about? It's just a fitness test, I don't get anything out of it by expending my oh so limited energy by putting in extra effort."
"So you're saying you'd be willing to expend energy if you got something out of it?"
"Foods not going to work if that's was what you were thinking."
"Tch. I thought you were hooked by now and I could use that against you."
She'd been sharing her lunch with me every day since the first time she'd done so.
"Your food is certainly good, but there's something I value far more than food."
"Oh? What is that?"
"Sleeping in peace."
"Hmm, that is true. You do seem to enjoy sleeping to an abnormal level."
"Sleep while you can, when you're an adult who's forced to work long hours every day, you won't be able to."
"It sounds like those words are spoken from experience."
"I just heard them from somewhere."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
I rose to my feet, she handed me the stopwatch with the record-keeping sheet in her hands as we walked over to the track together. On our way there she opened her mouth and said, "How about if you can get the fastest time among the boys in the 100 meter and run the most laps in the 12 minute run I'll not stare at you for a full day so you can sleep in peace?"
When I heard her offer, my sleepy eyes opened up a bit more seriously than usual and I immediately agreed, "Sure, deal."
"You sure jumped on that offer pretty fast, but are you even confident you can do it?"
"Not really, but I do ride a bike to school most days. Though sometimes I'm forced to walk or run to school if I can't use my bike. I shouldn't be too slow... I think."
"But you haven't eaten anything, right? Do you even have enough energy?"
Heh, who does she think she's talking to? I do this routine on an empty stomach every day, both back and forth to school and then back and forth to my part-time job.
If I just need to exert myself for an hour I should be able to somehow make it through… but… the backlash will be a high fever and extreme exhaustion. The reason I knew this was because I used to do it all the time in P.E. my first time through high school.
"Make it three days, rather than one."
"If you asked me to stop forever I wouldn't have agreed, but I guess I can accept three. As a bonus… if you also beat me in both as well, I'll bump it up to a full week, however… if you lose to me in either one, you'll have to agree to help me with something."
"Oh, are you confident in your athletic ability?"
"A little, at least I don't think I'll lose to you. Based on the last few test scores we've had this week, it seems like you're better than me in that area, but I doubt you'll have enough energy to last in a test of fitness."
"If you're so confident then sure."
The class as a group spent five minutes stretching before we began. The girls line up at the opposite end of the track as the boys. We kept close eyes on our partner for when it was their turn to begin and water at the 100-meter mark. The girls lined up six at a time. There was a 1:1 ratio of boys and girls in the class meaning there would be three heats of girls followed by three heats of guys with thirty-six students in all.
Two heats of girls went before the heat Rosa was in. When it was her turn to line up I stepped up to the front and readied the stopwatch in my hand. When the signal went off I instantly pressed the button to start the time. Rosa quickly widened the gap between the other girls in her heat and took a respectable lead by the time she crossed the finish line. Counting in my head the girl in second place was behind by about three seconds.
Rosa had finished in 12.1 seconds. I didn't know whether that was good or bad compared to the guys in my class. I never paid attention to them my first time through high school either so I had no idea what a good time for the guys would be.
Rosa confidently walked over to me, her breathing still steady, and asked, "Well? What was my time?"
"12.1 seconds. I think it's the fastest among the girls. I timed the fastest in each group and they took about 13.5 seconds."
"Hmm, so you're checking out other girls?" She lightly poked me with her elbow while grinning.
"I'm not checking them out. I'm just timing how fast they are."
"Sure, sure. So which girl caught your eye? If you want, I can help you out with them."
"There isn't any."
"Well, if you say so. But if there does happen to be one, you better let me know so I can play wingman for you."
I shook my head, unable to wrap my head around this nosy neighbor of mine.
With the girls finished it was the boys' turn next. While lining up I'd intended to go to the back of the pack so I could get a better grasp of the competition so I'd know how much energy I needed to expend. However, something unexpected happened. A few guys opened up a gap and pushed me to the front. It appeared I'd been singled out.
With my plans foiled, I scratched my head as I debated over what to do now. Without a reference frame, not knowing the abilities of the people in the next two heats, I'd really have to try.
The first heat took their positions at the starting line. While everyone was hunched over I was still standing around troubled.
"Ran Sozen, take your mark." The teacher called out to me in irritation when he noticed me twiddling my thumbs and holding everyone back.
I reluctantly bent forward and positioned my feet on the starting blocks. To my left, a kid looked at me and scoffed, "Don't think you're hot shit because Rosa picked you as a partner. She just felt you looked pitiful being left out."
I raised an eyebrow wondering who shoved a pole up his ass, but I decided to forget it. I wordlessly returned my eyes to the track ahead and entered a zone. My muscles fully tensed up ready to explode out with all the energy I could muster. My gaze intensified as I forgot about everyone else around me. The world faded to darkness. The only thing that remained was the two straight solid white lines and the ground between them.
Amidst the darkness, I waited patiently for the signal.
Three.
Two.
One.
Bang!
I pushed off the starting block with my full strength. I took a big stride forward and immediately followed up with a second. Twisting my body I allowed it to move in its most natural form as I rapidly closed the distance to the 100-meter mark finish.
To me, it was a completely dead silent world, not a single person around to be heard. Alone, I crossed the line unaware of what place I'd gotten or just how fast I ran.
Only when I stopped in place did the darkness fade and the surrounding scenery reappear. The fatigue settled in and I laid down on the ground face flat in the grass off the track.
I just wanted to go to sleep. I'm not cut out for trying hard.
A few seconds later a girl walked over to my side and squatted down in front of me with a slightly irked expression.
"Well… 12.2 seconds."
"Hmm, you sure about that?" I had my doubts only because she looked a bit annoyed.
"Yeah. I pressed the button a bit late so I have to count that in. The timer may show 11.5 seconds, but you actually got 12.2, you got that? You didn't beat me, okay?"
"You know, the look on your face is betraying your words."
"Fine, I get it, I get it. You managed to get the fastest time, 11.5 seconds. You happy? But even if you got it you still have to run the most laps in the 12-minute run. Jeez, trying so hard when the reward is a girl not paying attention to you. Are you sure you're okay in the head?"
"Probably not."
"You look like a slug right now. "
"I just want to sleep."
"You should at least eat properly on the day of a fitness test, you know."
"It's not like I was planning to try or anything. If I was slacking off there would be no reason to get tired at all."
"Whatever, hurry up and get up. You don't have any time to sleep since the boys are going first next for the 12-minute run."
"The teacher is a tyrant. A monster. A devil."
"Just get up already."
"Fine."
I lazily stood up and we returned indoors as we were going to use a smaller indoor track for the 12-minute run. A lot of dust would get kicked up outside on the outdoor track which greatly impacted a runner when breathing in and out so this arrangement was made. On our way there I asked Rosa, "Could you slow down my time a bit or something to behind whoever was second? It seems the guys in the class are singling me out because of you. The fact that I had the fastest time can just stay a secret between the two of us."
"I mean I can, but are you sure you want to do that?"
"Yeah, I'd prefer to do that. I don't want people to start doing troublesome things like approaching me to join a club or something."
"If you say so. You're lucky since the second-fastest time seems to be from the second heat. From what I heard from the girls squealing, that guy got 12.2 seconds, just a bit slower than me."
"Then just enter mine as 12.5 seconds. That should be good enough."
"What a troublesome guy."
"I don't want to hear that from you."