The Penalty Relay Race.
At first glance, one might wonder what kind of event this is. But there's no need to overthink it. It is, as the name suggests, a relay race on the beach where penalties are imposed on the athletes.
Before the race, each team draws a total of five slips of paper, each with a different penalty written on it. The teams are free to decide which penalty is applied to which runner. They then discuss the running order accordingly right before the start.
What does it mean for something to be 'Kivotos-like'? For me, the definition is 'Unwelcome School.'
If a situation immediately makes that soundtrack play in your head, then it's a Kivotos-like situation.
And to create that perfect Kivotos-like situation, Hina and I had agreed that each academy's relay team must include one "hole." The moment we each heard the other's nomination, we knew we had to accept it.
Other than that one pick, we had tried to build the strongest teams possible.
Tsurugi, who was no longer restricted by the rules of individual events, was one of the first options that came to mind. But considering her surprisingly considerate nature displayed at the Halos Festival, I decided not to select her.
That's not to say I picked Hasumi, either. I did want to win, after all. With two deadweights on the team, victory would be a distant dream.
And so, our dream team was decided: Saori, Ichika, Suzumi, and Azusa. A team of four aces, all doing their best to carry a single log.
The Gehenna side was no different, though their team was composed entirely of Prefect Team members. I couldn't just write them off as lacking talent—I had lost countless medals to Gehenna's mob students, after all. The Prefect Team, led by Iori, was certainly a force to be reckoned with.
So, who was our log, you ask?
"Mika-san. You added that condition just because you wanted to see me compete, didn't you?"
"Ahaha. Well, who can say? I will neither confirm nor deny☆"
"Sigh…"
There she was, awkwardly warming up near the starting line: the pride of our Tea Party, Nagisa.
With a hand on her forehead, Nagisa's gaze drifted toward the Gehenna camp. There, Gehenna's own log was doing something similar and happened to look this way.
The moment their eyes met, the two logs seemed to feel a sense of kinship, nodding at each other before letting out a simultaneous sigh.
Gehenna's log was none other than the Prefect Team's Senior Administrator, Ako. Thanks to her, their side had successfully managed to form a team composed entirely of Prefect Team members.
Between Ako and Nagisa, who was the lesser of two evils?
It was hard to say for sure, but I suspected Nagisa might be slightly worse. But such a minor difference could be covered by the other members.
[Alright, it's time to reveal the five penalties for each team☆]
For the record, today's commentary would be handled by me and Makoto. After this race, I might have to leave in case of an emergency—that is, if Wakamo makes a move, in which case Nagisa would take over. But for now, that was the lineup.
The Gehenna team was the first to draw their penalties.
To prove there was no tampering, we used a transparent box where the slips of paper were constantly shuffled by an artificial breeze, and each athlete drew their own penalty.
The five penalties drawn by the Gehenna team were as follows:
[Hop on one foot.] [Maintain a stride of over 1 meter.] [Run while looking backward.] [Run only while holding your breath.] [Do at least five somersaults while running.]
"Wait, hold on. This is a joke, right? Are you people insane?!"
Ako, upon seeing the penalties, recoiled in disgust and voiced her complaint. Well, I could understand how she felt.
[Yep, all those conditions are completely serious. So, instead of wasting time complaining to me, how about you start discussing who gets which penalty?]
"Ugh. Since the president agreed to this, I'll let it slide just this once."
But I wasn't the one running, so naturally, I didn't care. I might understand how Ako felt, but that didn't change a single thing!
Poor Ako. What are you going to do if you don't let it slide? What can you possibly do besides complain about the unfairness of it all? You are a sacrifice chosen by Hina's own hand, so just accept your fate!
In any case, fairness was not a consideration when choosing the penalties. They were selected purely for the sake of seeing the athletes suffer.
And for this race, I had sold out my own girlfriend. All for the sake of seeing her be broken.
To see our Nagisa—who always maintained her composure, who strove to be dignified, the very picture of elegance—completely fall apart. Was this not the ultimate gourmet experience?
"…"
Nagisa, having heard the penalties drawn by the Gehenna team, was giving me a death glare. But like Ako, she had no choice but to accept the situation.
Nagisa, you can glare at me all you want, but it won't change a thing. So please stop…
Next, after replacing the drawn slips with new ones containing the same penalties, it was Trinity's turn to draw.
[Run while doing a handstand.] [Run sideways.] [Run only while holding your breath.] [A three-legged race with the next runner.] [No Penalty.]
…?!
[What…?! What do you mean 'no penalty' in a penalty race?!]
[What, who put that in there?! Are you messing with me?]
Makoto and I, who had been leisurely observing the penalties, both shot up from our seats. After realizing what had happened, we glanced at each other for a moment, then decided that was irrelevant and continued to voice our complaints in unison.
[Hey, think about it rationally. Putting 'no penalty' in a penalty race is fundamentally wrong! This should be voided, and they should draw again!]
[Yeah! I never thought I'd see the day I agreed with Makoto, but I feel the same way. And who put 'no penalty' in there, anyway? That's no fun at all! It's void! Redraw, redraw!]
As I was complaining, a Gehenna student in charge of running the event approached me and spoke cautiously.
"Um, I'm sorry to say this… but I believe President Hina was the one who put that in."
No, Hina. Why would you do that?!
Don't tell me you put that in there hoping the Gehenna team would draw it, so you could give it to Ako. What were you going to do if our team drew it, like we just did? This is bad for both of us!
[Hah! The Prefect Team president is completely useless. If she had even half my ability, she wouldn't have done something so foolish!]
[Hey, no matter what, that's not it. Just because you're a little handsome doesn't mean you can say whatever you want. It's pathetic, so just be quiet! Seriously, I'm already stressed out, and now I have to listen to this nonsense from the person next to me.]
[Uh, what… Hey. Why are you the one getting angry when your team just got an advantage?]
[What? What does being at an advantage have to do with anything?! All I wanted was to see Nagi-chan get wrecked—ah.]
As I was answering Makoto's question, my true feelings accidentally slipped out. My gaze slowly turned toward Nagisa.
And what I saw was Nagisa, staring at me with an expression colder than I had ever seen before.
It appeared that I was, as they say, 'wow-ed.'
[Ah, whatever! It's void! Redraw, redraw!]
[Yes! Redraw! Do you think the great Makoto would ever accept such an unfair contest?!]
Naturally, Makoto did accept it, and there was no redrawing of penalties. The authority to manage the event didn't lie with me, so no matter how much we yelled, it wouldn't change a thing.
Nagisa, who had been glaring at me with a frosty expression, suddenly broke into a smile so bright it was almost radiant. The sudden change was, for some reason, terrifying.
Alright, let's think positively. 'No penalty' meant that our chances of winning had just increased astronomically.
I had wanted Nagisa to run with a penalty because I believed we could win even with an equal number of penalties, but this result wasn't so bad either.
It was just that I was incredibly resentful that the one event Nagisa was participating in had turned out to be so boring. Damn it.
After deciding on their running order and penalties, the athletes took their positions.
Starting for Trinity was Ichika, who had the "three-legged race with the next runner" penalty. With the no-penalty Nagisa as the next runner, it was clear they were planning to get through the early part of the race with a simple three-legged run.
Gehenna, on the other hand, was starting with Ako, who had chosen the relatively manageable "run only while holding your breath" penalty. It seemed they were also planning to get their log out of the way early.
The two runners assigned the "hold your breath" penalty were each given a mask.
The mask would light up while they were breathing, and they were only allowed to run when the light was off. It was also designed to emit a beeping sound to the athlete themselves to let them know when they couldn't run. When the beep stopped, that was the signal to go.
[It looks like all the athletes are ready at their starting lines. In this race, each athlete must run 200m, for a total of a 1km straight course. You're allowed to wait up to 20m ahead for the baton pass, but if you exchange the baton outside the designated zone, you'll be disqualified, so be careful not to make any mistakes☆]
When you broke it down, it was just a normal relay race…
But this race was worth a whopping 10 points.
That 12-point gap between us and Gehenna? We could make it all back in the team events.
That wasn't to say the medals in the individual events weren't important, but in the end, the winner would be decided in the team events, starting with this one.
Perhaps that was why the silence before the starting whistle blew was so incredibly tense. The athletes seemed to feel it too; I could see them fidgeting.
Fweeeeeeeeet—!!!
The sand of the white beach began to fly.