Shuhei "Let's take a look at the scoreboard! Rounding off our points currently, we have class 3-2 in third place with 133 points! Then, in second, we have class 4-1 with 137 points! A little lower than usual but nevertheless, still a great amount of points! And finally, we have class 2-1 in first place with 144 points!"
Everyone cheers with excitement since they are in the lead. Emiko looks on with an agitated look.
Emiko 'Cheer while you can, but I know something you don't! It doesn't matter how far behind I am, all I have to do is win the final event and the victory is all mine!'
She smirks with an evil smile on her face as Shuhei continues.
Shuhei "You may be excited about that but let's not forget the final event! Here, anyone has a chance to win! That is because… the final event is worth 5,000 points!"
Everyone gasps as Emiko smirks to herself. The group is shocked.
Kitaro "5,000..?"
Lucy "So whoever wins will instantly become the winner?"
Suiyoubi "That's not stressful at all."
Shuhei "Bet you didn't see that twist coming."
He snickers to himself away from the mic before coming back.
Shuhei "Yes, 5,000 points! And the final event will be… an obstacle course! 30 meters in length, 60 meters in total! The class leads will have to duck, dive, sprint and jump through this fun and exhilarating course and make it to the end where they will hit a button of their own color before turning around and sprinting back to where they started down the specified path! Now this will be lots of fun! They will push their bodies to the max and fight to claim victory! That's what it means to be class lead!"
He shouts as Shiori stares in awe and disbelief. Hikigaya stands next to her as she speaks.
Shiori "I can't do this!"
Hikigaya "C'mon, how is this any different than how you jumped around as Fullsky?"
Shiori "It's very different! Not only was I using my powers, but I wasn't in a competition with hundreds of people staring and judging me!"
Hikigaya "Look, I know it's scary, but we've faced much worse, right?"
Shiori "Yeah, I guess…"
Hikigaya "Then go out there and face this like you've always done. Don't back down now."
She looks at him for a second before exhaling.
Shiori "You're right. I can do this. I can win! Thanks Hikigaya."
He nods as she turns and heads to her position. As he smiles softly and stares at her, his smile begins to disappear.
Hikigaya 'Fullsky could do it. But… Watchdog couldn't…'
He thinks before getting a flash of his sister in his arms. He twitches a bit as he closes his eyes before shaking his head.
Chizuru "Hikigaya, are you okay?"
Chizuru comes out of nowhere and surprises him. He looks at her for a second before smiling a bit.
Hikigaya "Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, let's get ready to cheer for Shiori."
He then walks away from her and to the side where the rest of the class is. Chizuru pauses for a moment with a look of concern on her face before following along.
Shuhei "Alright class leads! Are you ready?!"
Tom, Emiko and Shiori all stand before the entrances to their obstacle courses. They ready themselves to rush into the courses. There is a moment of silence and anticipation before the referee blows their whistle sharply. They rush the courses, Emiko's pink, Tom's blue and Shiori's red. They run forward before jumping onto a first platform, then the next higher and the final one higher than that. The crowds cheer for their favorites as well as their classes supporting their leads. After getting onto the highest platform, they come to a long, vertically curved, thin, wooden bridge that they run over with ease. They run along the short platform before jumping down one level to another platform before coming to multiple small, progressively lowering in height, platforms. Each one can hardly hold both of their feet before running out of space.
Shuhei "These bad boys tend to give most leads trouble every year! They may look easy but trust me, you can really take a tumble if you don't watch your step!"
Shiori and Tom stop for a moment to access their jumping patterns while Emiko rushes ahead without hesitation. She quickly hops on each platform back and forth before landing on the ground and continuing to run.
Shuhei "Oh, but not for Emiko! She's seen this enough times to know the pattern and clears it with ease!"
Both Tom and Shiori get annoyed looks before rushing their own platforms. They too manage to complete it quickly and run along to the next obstacle. There is a platform slightly raised off the ground that they must crawl under. Emiko already began crawling by the time the other two catch up. They start crawling but since Shiori is the smallest of them all, she is able to make quick work of the crawling portion. She climbs out from underneath the platform and starts running again. Her path then curves to the right a bit, crossing over the other two paths painted on the ground. She runs as the other two begin to catch up. She passes the white spot where all three paths cross, then Emiko comes down her path that curves left, then Tom who stays going a straight path. The next obstacle Shiori comes to is multiple bars that they must swing from across. She sharpens her eyes as she jumps up and grabs onto the bar.
Shuhei "These bars may not seem to be that difficult but with all the sweat on their hands and the stress they're under, one little mistake could cost them! Even worse, if they fall on any of the four bars, they have to run back to the beginning of the bar section and try again until they complete it without fail!"
Shiori swings from the first to the second in one swoop. She hangs for a moment on the second before swinging to the third. She looks back a bit and sees Emiko on her second bar and Tom on his first. Shiori focuses and swings onto the fourth then swings off of it immediately onto the ground before taking off running. Emiko gets an irritated look before swinging onto her third bar.
Emiko 'I can't fall behind!'
She swings hard and reaches for the fourth bar but her hand slips. Shock comes across her face as she hits the ground. The crowd gasps as Tom continues past her. She gets an angry look as she slams the ground while getting back up and rushing to the first bar again. She jumps up and swings swiftly through the bars. As Emiko goes through her swings again, Shiori rushes into the next part, the log jumps. She jumps on the short, wide beam and hops on one to the next and the next until she clears it. Her log jumps were angled to the left just as Emiko's are angled to the right with Tom's being forward facing. This leads the three paths to converge after the log jumps leading into the next obstacle. There are three small platforms, the first one, that is lower than the next, she jumps over as Tom quickly catches up and jumps over it right behind her. She then dives under the next one and quickly gets up to jump over the last one again. Emiko rushes over her log jumps and jumps over the first platform as Shiori and Tom make their way to the last real obstacle. They run to the large rock wall as Shiori starts quickly climbing up it. Tom pauses for a moment and looks up the fairly tall wall. His eyes dart around a bit as he finds an efficient path.
Tom "Got it."
He then starts climbing up the wall with good speed. Emiko jumps over the last platform and rushes to the wall. She sees Shiori already half way up the wall and Tom close behind her. She gets an angry look.
Emiko "I can't lose to a second year!"
She runs fast to the wall and jumps up as high as she can, latching onto the wall.
Shuhei "Woah! Look at that! I've never seen anyone use a technique like that! She cleared a good portion of the wall just by jumping up onto it!"
Shiori looks back for a second before hurrying up the wall. Tom passes her quickly and jumps over the edge and down the slide on the other side. Emiko climbs hastily, missing her footing and slipping a bit every now and then.
Shuhei "I've never seen Emiko with such poor technique before! Something must be bugging her. Let's cheer her on! Come on fourth years!"
Shiori then makes it over the wall and slides down with Emiko behind her. Tom hits his blue button first and follows the path on the ground to the right. Shiori hits her's as fast as she can then follows behind Tom with Emiko right on her tail. The last part of the obstacle course is a sprint back to the finish line right next to their starting points. Tom leads in his full sprint as Shiori chases but within moments, Emiko is able to pass her. Slowly, Emiko makes ground on Shiori and ends up right behind Tom. Emiko's intense smile comes back when she realizes she is leaving Shiori behind. Shiori closes her eyes tightly as she pushes as hard as she can. When she opens them, she looks over to her left to see Amy staring directly at her. Her eyes widen a bit as Amy puts up an 'L' on her forehead with her fingers and mouths the word 'Loser.' to her. Shiori gets angry a little before she hears someone shout at her.
Lucy "Shiori, look out!"
Shiori snaps out of it and looks forward with only enough time to notice that she had started leaning to the right and headed off course causing her to trip a bar on the ground from the course. She falls and rolls, hitting the ground hard. She lay on her side for a second as everyone gasps at what happened.
Hikigaya "Shiori!"
Chizuru "Shiori, no!"
Emiko smiles to herself for a second before looking back and seeing Shiori on the ground, trying to prop herself back up with her arms a bit. Emiko's smile fades as she slows down before coming to a halt.
Emiko 'What am I doing..? I want to win, don't I? So why am I going back?'
Shiori looks up to see Emiko, panting and holding out a hand to help her up. Shiori pants for a moment too before taking her hand. Emiko props her up, pulling Shiori's left arm around her neck. Shiori holds her right arm close to her body as it bleeds a bit from her elbow.
Emiko "You okay?"
Shiori "Yeah…"
They take a step forward as Tom looks back as well. He slows down right before the finish line. He pants and looks at them before letting his head fall back as if frustrated. He then looks down as he catches his breath.
Tom "Sorry guys. I know you wanted the win real bad."
As Emiko helps Shiori towards the finish line, Tom jogs back to them.
Emiko "Tom? What are you doing? You were gonna win."
Tom "Yeah, but if I win now, I'd look like a real jerk."
He says as he puts his hand on her back and helps her along, being careful of her arm. Shiori looks at them surprised then smiles warmly. Everyone watches in silence, some people even crying, as Shuhei sniffles into the mic.
Shuhei "This *sniffle* has got to be the best sportsmanship I've ever seen! Amazing!"
The crowd cheers as they get close to the finish line. Shiori looks up at Emiko then down as if getting an idea. As they get close enough to the end, Shiori puts her arm behind Emiko and shoves her through the finish line. Emiko stumbles through the white tape and tears it. She quickly turns around with shock.
Emiko "What was that for??"
Shiori "We all know you would've totally won anyway."
They smile at her as she smiles warmly back.
Tom "Well if that's the case."
He then shoves Shiori through the finish line as well, Emiko catching her.
Shiori "Tom! You sure?"
Tom "Eh, who needs winning anyway? It's overrated."
He smiles at them before crossing the line himself. Emiko grabs Shiori and Tom's hands and lifts them in the air as the crowd cheers.
Shuhei "That was beautiful! Absolutely amazing! In all my years, I have never before seen such a poetic Sports Festival! Okay, okay! Let us wrap this up so we can celebrate!"
He rubs his eyes under his glasses as he speaks. Amy watches from her position then rolls her eyes with an irritated look and walks away.