THE SKIES DECISIONS

XXVI

Narrator POV:
It was the day of the culture festival, and the whole school was buzzing with excitement and anticipation.

Everyone was busy with their final preparations, ensuring everything was ready.

For example, in class 1-A, the students finished the last touches on their haunted house. They had transformed their classroom into a dark and spooky maze, filled with creepy props, sound effects, and hidden surprises.

"Huwa~ I can't wait to see their reactions! They'll be screaming their heads off!" Megumi was more than surprised by how well their hard work paid off. "Me too!" said Hiro while holding his hand up for a high five. "Exactly! It'll be hilarious!" "And speaking of laughs, have you seen what class 3-B is doing? They're doing a comedy sketch show. I heard they're killing it!" "Really? I haven't seen them yet. What kind of sketches are they doing?" asked the taller male.

"Well, I heard they're doing parodies of famous movies, TV shows, and anime and so on... They're also doing some original jokes and gags!" "Wow, that sounds awesome! I want to see them!" said  Yuki, who came out of nowhere bouncing up and down in excitement. "But we'll have to wait until later. Right now, we have to focus on our project. Come on, let's do one more run-through before we open the doors." "OK, let's go!" said Hiro and Megumi, as they followed Yuki into the haunted house.

Meanwhile, in class 2-C, the students were busy with their projects. They had decided to do a musical theatre play, based on a popular fairy tale. They had written their script, composed their songs, and made their costumes and props on their own. They also practised their acting, singing, and dancing skills, hoping to impress the audience with their performance.

One last rehearsal later and the play ended, with a final song, celebrating the victory of the prince and the princess, and the defeat of the witch. The actors bowed, as the audience, consisting of a few teachers and other pupils, gave them a standing ovation. They had done a great job and were proud of their work.

Not long after the gates the school was filled with visitors, who came to see the various attractions that the students had prepared. There were food stands, selling delicious snacks and drinks, such as takoyaki, yakisoba, crepes, and lemonade. There were balloons, decorating the hallways and the classrooms, creating a festive atmosphere.

The sports clubs of soccer, kendo, archery, and basketball had their first matches against other schools that day. Ietsuna who helped Mochida out in the kendo club today was the crucial factor in their victory. In total, they had two defeats and five victories leaving them almost head-on-head with the archery club which did slightly better in their match. Unfortunately lost the basketball and the soccer teams in their tournaments. A hard blow, but only one can win. That's just how things go, even if it doesn't make the disappointment and pain of defeat any better.

Their long faces stood out quite a bit compared to the wide grins and laughter of today's winners.

Time flew and the spotlight event grew closer and closer. Everyone gathered at the school field, where the pole-knocking event was held. There was a large crowd of spectators formed by students, teachers and curious family members, who came to watch the game and cheer for their favourite teams. The referee was the student's council chairman Ichiro Suzuki backed up by the sports teachers, who explained the rules one more time before the game began. 

"Welcome to the pole-knocking event, the highlight of the culture festival!-" Within seconds he managed to capture everyone with his velvet voice, through a megaphone. "-We have three teams competing today, team A, team B, and team C. Each team has a leader, who sits on a platform that a two and a half-meter above the ground on top of a wooden pole, and several members, who hold the pole and protect their leader while attacking the other teams.-"

He stopped for a few seconds eying the audience while subtly trying to catch his breath. "-The objective is to knock down the leader of the other teams, by pushing, pulling, or hitting their pole. The last team standing wins the game. So, are you ready, teams?"

"Yes!" The teams shouted, in unison. "OK, then. Let the game begin!" Ichiro said and a smile graced his lips as he gave a sign to one of the teachers who then blew a whistle. 

Tsuna POV:

The game started, with a loud roar from the crowd and I had to take my position. 'Maybe if I fall on purpose-' Before I could think about another possibility to run away an arm wrapped around my neck and successfully caught me in a headlock. "Hoo~! Ototo! Are you extremely ready to win?" I winced a little as his loud voice echoed in my head. "S-Senpai... could you please let go?" "And let you flee? Never!" I mentally clicked my tongue as suddenly Hayato and Takeshi walked up to us. "Oi, Lawn head! Let Tsuna-sama go!"  Like a bliss in misfortune, he let go of me only to start a brawl with the hot-headed bomber. 

My hand instinctively held my throat as if to make sure that I wasn't bruised as I heard a muffled laugh next to me. " Ma~ ma~ seems like they have fun." My eyes switched back and forth for a moment and I huffed a little. "...some things don't change after all, huh..." "Did you say anything, Tsuna?" "No no, everything is alright, but we should go to the field or our team might get disqualified." At that word stopped Rohei and Hayato mid-motion in their quarrel and followed me with Takeshi wordlessly to the battleground. 

'I should be more cautious in the future, walls have ears after all. If someone other would have heard me... things could tight up drastically for me.' The atmosphere changed as we closed into the other teams to pick our pole as I overheard the others chattering. 

"Dame-Tsuna is here." "Hahaha! This will be an easy win for sure." "Look at him, he's so pathetic." "But somehow Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun always flock around him..." "Pah, he's probably paying them to keep him company because he doesn't have friends." Hahaha- that must be it!" 

I gritted my teeth trying to suppress a bloodbath, but apparently, I wasn't the only one who heard these fools. Without hesitations my friends' were in a protective formation around me ready to shut their mouths once and for all as a new voice popped up. A boy with shorter dark brown hair ran up to us. He was clearly out of breath but that didn't seem to bother him as he stuttered his reason. 

"Oshikiri-Senpai, leader of team A, was attacked by someone in the bathroom!!-" "What?!" The teams couldn't believe their ears.  "According to the witness it was done by someone in team B!-" The crowd was stunned by the speculation, and they couldn't quite believe what they just heard. They looked at each other in disbelief, wondering if it was true or not. "I even brought the witness. It's true, right?" He stepped a little to the side and a small elder with a beard and a walking cane appeared. 

"Yes that's true, the one who the other team's leader said it was under the order of the leader of team B, Sawada Tsuna."

The elders' black beady eyes shone with a mixture of mischief and mockery as he played with his curly sideburn.