A Journey of a Thousand Miles Will Bring You Back to the Destination
Class 1-B, September 1st — the beginning of a new semester.
Hikigaya was lying on his desk, using his left arm as a pillow. He was exhausted.
During the summer break, he spent most of his time in the dormitory. Occasionally, he went out to grab some curry to spice up his meals. When watching movies, he even avoided the lower right corner of the screen — old habits die hard.
The most troublesome thing, though, was Hiyori Shiina constantly asking him to share his thoughts after reading books. At first, Hikigaya didn't care much about giving his honest, somewhat twisted opinions. But to his surprise, Shiina often agreed with him.
They had a lot in common. Both were loners, preferred quiet environments, and had minimal social interactions. Communication wasn't their strong suit either, although Hiyori was a bit better at it than him. But when it came to work, Hikigaya believed he had decent communication skills.
Despite her love for mystery novels, Hiyori also enjoyed trashy romance stories like Goodbye, My Love and dreamed of having close friendships and romance.
The beauty of being around her was that he didn't have to scramble for topics. Even moments of silence were comfortable.
Their conversations flowed naturally.
For the rest of the summer break, they met up in the library every few days. When Hikigaya returned books, they would chat about their thoughts on what they read. Since it was just reading, Hikigaya had no objections.
But Hiyori's enthusiasm was sometimes overwhelming. She even showed up at his dorm room occasionally, demanding the return of books. How much did this girl love reading?
Now, lying on his desk, Hikigaya glanced over at Ichinose and the others who were chatting away.
The class had seemingly accepted his presence, and no one bothered him during breaks. It was a familiar, reassuring environment.
Until the afternoon.
Their homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie, walked into the classroom, clinging to the wall with a hint of alcohol wafting in the air.
"Teacher Hoshinomiya, were you drinking again yesterday?"
Ichinose and the others looked at her with helpless expressions.
This woman was hungover almost sixty percent of the time. And yet, she hadn't been fired. The school's management must be too lenient. Hikigaya figured he could stay here and work after graduation if that was the standard.
"It's fine." Hoshinomiya waved her hand dismissively. "I took a nap at noon, so I'm good now."
"Alright, class is starting. From today, lessons will resume, but from September to October, we'll be adding special training for the upcoming sports festival."
She handed out the new class schedules and sports festival materials.
"If you have any questions, feel free to ask me~"
Hikigaya's face soured. Just hearing the words sports festival was unpleasant.
He recalled his miserable experience in middle school when he was forced to perform gymnastics with the teacher due to a lack of participants. The memory was still fresh and irritating.
He received the materials and passed the rest to Hiyori behind him. Hoshinomiya's "leave it to the students" attitude was nothing new, and everyone in Class B had already grown used to it.
The sports festival rules were straightforward. The entire grade would be split into two groups: Red (Class A and D) and White (Class B and C).
The point distribution for individual competitions was based on ranking:
1st place: 15 points.
2nd place: 12 points.
3rd place: 10 points.
4th place: 8 points.
Points decrease by one for each lower rank.
Winning a team event awarded 500 points.
Recommended team competitions earned more points:
1st place: 50 points.
2nd place: 30 points.
3rd place: 15 points.
4th place: 10 points.
Anything below 5th place meant losing two points, and the final relay race was worth triple.
The results of the Red vs. White battle were equally harsh. The losing group would have 100 class points deducted.
Then there were the rewards for individual competitions:
1st place: 5,000 personal points or 3 extra points for written exams.
2nd place: 3,000 personal points or 2 exam points.
3rd place: 1,000 personal points or 1 exam point.
Last place: A penalty of 1,000 personal points or losing 1 point on a written exam.
Top performers could earn hundreds of thousands of personal points, and the top three students in each grade would receive 10,000 personal points.
Hikigaya only skimmed the rules before losing interest. He was never going to be at the top, and he didn't need extra written test points. His grades were decent enough to avoid the risk of getting expelled.
The real kicker was that Class B and Class C were in the White group. This meant they would be competing against Class A's Horikita and the powerful Vice-President Nagumo from Class D.
It was a lost cause from the start. No point in getting his hopes up.
Then came the list of events:
100-meter race
Hurdle race
Men's reverse pole contest
Women's netball contest
Men's and women's tug-of-war
Obstacle race
Three-legged race
Horseback riding
200-meter race
Hikigaya's face twisted in disgust. This school really forced everyone to participate. No way to just sit out and avoid the embarrassment.
But if everyone was embarrassed, then nobody was embarrassed, right? Just a bunch of green leaves making the top athletes shine.
If he could choose, he wouldn't participate at all. But with Ichinose and the others counting on everyone to contribute, pretending to be sick wasn't an option. He didn't want to cause trouble for the class.
"Everyone, do you have any questions?" Ichinose asked, her cheerful tone cutting through his thoughts.
The rest of the class left the decision-making to her without hesitation. Hoshinomiya quickly left the room, leaving the discussion to them.
Ichinose turned her gaze to Hikigaya. "Hikigaya, are there any events you're interested in joining?"
"Eh?" Hikigaya was caught off guard. "Me? Not really. Just put me wherever you need to fill a spot."
He could already feel the judgment of the class. With his mediocre athletic skills, he was probably just average even within Class B, let alone the entire grade.
But then Ichinose smiled brightly and said, "I remember your sports scores aren't bad. It's about the same as mine. I'll figure something out."
Hikigaya felt a chill run down his spine. Why did she look at him like that?
Was she plotting something?
More importantly, why was she smiling at him like that?
Was this girl scary or what?
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