The school prince (♀) is only close to me (♂) Remake

Chapter 73

It was now midday, the sun was at its zenith, and so was its scorching light, yet not even the heat was enough to discourage the students after all, it was now or never for their school's last chance of victory! Yes, it was time for the last game of the sports festival, it was time for the relay race!

"..."

"..."

Right now, both Takeru and Sakurako were being toasted alive as they were forced to stand under the blazing sunlight since they, alongside the rest of their respective student councils, were all forced to participate in the relay race. Even worse for the two, they were to act as the anchors for their respective teams, meaning that they would have to keep standing under the sun the longest.

"Alright! Begin!" *Whistle sound*

With the sound of a whistle being blown, the relay race began, the first runner of Yama High was Hidaka Takane, the new vice-president of the student council, who was able to maintain a good pace alongside her adversary of Tani High.

She then passed the baton to Fujisawa Chiyoko, the treasurer of the student council, who just like Takane, was able to maintain a constant pace alongside her counterpart of the student council.

Chiyoko then passed the baton to Ishikawa Masami, the historian of the student council and someone whose gender was unknown to everyone, as they, different from the other two, managed to get a small lead against the third runner of Toni High, and now finally the batons were about to reach the fourth runners!

Nanami Yuriko and Ishii Himari, the current presidents of their respective student councils, and rivals! (As unilaterally declared by Himari alone). Receiving their batons with a few seconds of difference, the two immediately dashed at full speed towards their teams' anchors.

"ORAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

With a war cry, Himari pushed herself to the limits that she could afford to keep up with Yuriko, who didn't even appear to be breaking into a sweat, nor looked any more tired, even as she actively participated in most of the previous games on top of helping the teachers in managing the sports festival. Instead, Yuriko was slowly widening her lead against Himari, who was tired after attempting to compete against Yuriko in all of the previous games. But, she knew that this was not the end, after all, she still had Kogane Sakurako, Toni High's student council vice president, as her team's anchor!

... ... ... Okay, maybe that was the end, since Sakurako hated to do anything related to physical education, and she also sucked at sports. However! There was still one chance of victory, since the anchor for Yama High, Tanaka Takeru, was showing to be extremely weak to heat-based attacks! In other words the sun!

Yes, she could already see the figure of her cousin standing under the blazing sun... ... ... Not! Sakurako wasn't there. Instead, all that Himari saw was Yuriko standing as she looked down.

"... *Looks down as well*... Oi! Sacchan! I told you to not mess up here!"

Yes, both Takeru and Sakurako had melted into blobs in the time they were forced to stand under the sun, the once heart-pumping with some cool background music moment was ruined by the two anchors giving up on standing before they could even begin.

"... Up we go, Takkun"

Without much idea of what she could do, Yuriko simply made Takeru stand up again and gave him a tight hug as she was doing so, before handing the baton to him.

"Good luck, Takkun~. I'll be sure to give you a nice reward later!"

"..."

Without any energy to even give Yuriko a response, Takeru just began to slowly move towards the finish line with heavy steps.

"C'mon! Sacchan! Get! Up!"

Imitating Yuriko, Himari also forced Sakurako to stand up and handed her the baton, and just like Takeru, Sakurako began walking forward towards the finish line, but at a much slower pace than Takeru's already slow pace, the game was on! It was now a high-intensity race at a turtle's... No! A slug pace!

"... C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, where are you?"

Himari was rapidly stepping her right foot on the ground as if she was impatient about something while she kept looking around, then she noticed it.

"!"

A certain someone waving at her with his usual smile on his face, seeing that person, Himari began to signal to him with her arms about where he should go, to which he responded with a salute before moving to where she signaled for him to go.

"Kukukuku!... Yuriko-san..."

"Yes, Himari-san?"

"This time... I'll be the one winning this year's relay race!!! Because I brought a secret weapon!!!"

"... Okay?"

Yuriko who wasn't as competitive as Himari or the rest of the other students, simply looked at her with a slightly confused face at Himari's declaration.

"Now if you excuse me, I shall go greet my secret weapon"

"Take care, Himari-san"

And with that, Himari walked away and toward the finish line to greet her secret weapon.

"..."

"..."

As Takeru and Sakurako, had a high-intensity slug race against each other, they could already see the the finish line getting ever so slightly closer to them, and in turn, meaning that their suffering was ever so closer to ending.

"... ... ... Hm?"

But Takeru noticed something strange at the finish, rather, he noticed a certain someone he didn't want to see anytime soon... Yes, it was none other than...

Hirano Ichiro!

Sakurako's fiancée, and Takeru's cousin, who was standing behind the finish line with his usual suspicious smile as he had a cooler right next to him.

"Ahem... Sakurako-san! I brought a handmade iced coffee just for you!"

"!"

Hearing that from Ichiro, immediately caused Sakurako to perk up.

"Here! Look at it, Sakurako-san! It's still nice and cold, but it won't last for longer! So you need to get it now!"

"!?"

Seeing Ichiro hold the iced coffee in his hands, caused Sakurako to panic at the idea of letting it melt before she could drink, so as a consequence, Sakurako began to speed up into a sprint as her body extended her arms forward as she set her eyes on the iced coffee like a coffee-deprived zombie.

"Huaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!"

"Can you hold it for me, Himari-san"

"Of course, Ichiro-san"

"Thank you... Ahem. Takkun! I didn't forget about you either! Look! I brought your favorite choccy milkshake that you always begged to make when we were younger, and that you still ask for me to make with a red face every summer like last year!"

"..."

This time, Ichiro took out a chocolate milkshake from the cooler as he also took the opportunity to have some fun by loudly telling one of Takeru's embarrassing secrets for everyone to hear. This caused Takeru to stop moving as he began looking down, only for him to raise his head again with his face filled with anger and embarrassment as he glared at Ichiro. Then just as Sakurako was right next to Takeru, he also began running with the intent of getting that choccy milkshake and beating Ichiro's ass, in a fashion similar to Sakurako, of his arms extended forward.

Now! The turtle race turned into a zombie race! Which wasn't a whole lot faster because of how exhausted Sakurako and Takeru were, but it was still fast enough to be considered a sprint! So it's a race!

"..." <So Takkun likes chocolate milkshakes, huh?>

As for Yuriko, she was making a pensive expression and pose as she digested the words that Ichiro had said about Takeru's dessert preferences.