A(lie)ment Isekai (Part 1) (Completed Part)

Chapter 0:

Most of the crowd in the stands all marvel at the starting spectacle– the 100 meter dash. On the blocks, the runners set themselves up, with their partners holding the blocks in place. The field announcer looks at his fellow announcer from across the green brushed field for the thumbs-ups. To which he saw, and began to start the race.

"Ready....set.....!!!" The field official announced, raising his starter gun into the air. There was a brief pause, though to everyone else, I'm sure it felt like an eternity, as their heart beats were almost vibrating from the every-increasing adrenaline.

With a loudbang, like alert rabbits, they sprung into action. Thrusting arms back and forth, in sync with their legs; they all were in the zone. Though they all looked like they were running in sync, after 50 meters, they began to diverge. It wasn't as if they were lagging behind. In this world, though you may be able to give it all in a single moment, if you don't put effort throughout all of the moments, your 100% will be less than someone else's 100%.

Though it may seem like it blurs with inevitable things; such as genetics and even where you were born in the social hierarchy, you still can climb up the ladder. If anything, a vicious alley dog could take on a domesticated tame dog almost all the time. It is when the alley dog gives up its ambitions is when it degrades even further than the domesticated dog in the first place.

However, even if climbing up the ladder was that hard, it isn't. All you have to do is the following: seek out the opportunities; persistence has a more likely-hood of succeeding than not. Don't be optimistically naive; there are people who seem like they mean will, only to have a knife in their hands behind their back- it only makes sense that even when you are at the top, the competition from below is the most of your worries. They will kick you down if you are unable. And finally, the most important part; put in effort. If you bleed; with your body, soul, and mind, even a mortal body can reach the cosmic tapestry of the divine.

I am such a hypocrite. Perhaps that should be another rule: don't be a hypocrite. I mean, if the crowd were spectators for the racers, hypocrites are spectators of life. They may see, and even may point out their flaws and others. But because they are on the side-lines, they don't actually run that race.

Unironically, I am not one of those people racing. I am not even standing on the blocks. At least then, my hypocrisy might not be in vain, as I would end up racing afterward. Heck, I am not even the field official or even the crowd. I am just....a passerby.

A quick glance from the nostalgic field, I turned my head to face where I was going. Walking out of the school area, there were a few students who walked past me; people who probably just got out of their clubs. As nice as it would have been for them to not acknowledge me, their eyes darted into my direction, before they began to murmur to one another. They didn't have to be two girls talking to one another to know that they weren't good things. I could even hear wisps of statements that I could patch up together to come up with that answer.

"Isn't that the ex-track star, Senjobu Hikabe?" They murmured

"Look at how unkempt his school uniform is. No wonder he was thrown off the team."

"What a disgrace- to the high school and his family"

They aren't wrong. I did fail. As much as saying otherwise would just be me running from it. I could blame everything that started the moment I decided to ask a girl out.

"Excuse me, Nahara, but...would you please go out with me-" I asked the star of the female track team. Though reasons are typically because of looks, at that time, it was because of the way she ran; the blend of grace and effort, that I asked her out. It was so entrancing.