23 | Searching For the Answer

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"It's not a mistake, is it?" Shindo smiled, still surprised about how they managed to survive the qualifiers.

"It says tenth right there." Musa nodded.

"It's like a TV show." Yuki grinned.

"This is reality." Nico-chan smiled.

Yukari quickly straightened her back as the cameraman pointed his camera at her and Kiyose. Even though the cameraman had been following them around for a while, Yukari still couldn't get used to the camera being pointed at her face.

"Uh, well! We proved that Hakone wasn't just a dream." Yukari scratched her neck awkwardly. Her 'senpais' laughed at how awkward she sounded as they watched her from behind. She frowned at them for teasing her about it.

"All that's left is to train and train until we reach the top." Kiyose chimed, "We'll do nothing but practice again starting tomorrow!" At Kiyose's words, the group who were watching shifted grey from shock.

"Can't we have tomorrow off?" Nico chan, King, and Yuki started to shake their leader by his collar.

"Let us rest!" 

"What more can we do?"

"I can't use this footage." The cameraman sighed, glancing towards Yukari who was beside the commotion.

"You can just edit it out." Yukari sweatdropped, smiling nervously.

Joji and Jota were suspiciously quiet after what happened. Megumi tilted her head towards where Joji and Jota were occupied with; they seemed to be intently staring at the leaderboard. Curious, Megumi decided to hop over to Yukari and question her about it. As soon as Megumi tapped Yukari's shoulder, she was surprised at how she didn't notice the two before.

"Do you think they're upset with the results?" Megumi questioned Yukari. 

"Who knows." Yukari frowned, should she be worried about them?

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As the team walked back to their van, they struck a light conversation on the way. After all, they were still excited about how they managed to pass the qualifiers. Yukari herself could barely believe that they made the cut.

"Were you guys nervous? Did your legs feel like water?" King started. "My heart was pounding."

"I get you." Yuki nodded, he had also experienced the feeling at the run earlier.

"Oh, I know. Let's predict which sections we'll run." King suggested, grinning widely. This made Yukari smile, she never thought she'd see King's enthusiasm in something other than girls.

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