"That's strange. Why isn't Dekisugi at school today?"
Shizuka usually had a pretty good relationship with Dekisugi. Before Lin Feng transferred, she would often ask the gentle, scholarly Dekisugi for help with any homework problems she didn't understand.
So, seeing that Dekisugi wasn't in class today, Shizuka was a little worried.
You see, Dekisugi was different from Doraemon.
If Doraemon wasn't in his seat, he was probably sleeping in at home.
But Dekisugi was usually very disciplined. Being late was something you rarely saw from him.
As classmates for so many years, Shizuka knew Dekisugi... well, she knew Dekisugi. If nothing special had happened, he definitely wouldn't be absent from class.
"Hmm... Maybe he went to the restroom? Perhaps he'll be back soon."
Lin Feng sat back down with Shizuka, and speculated,
"Although it's unlikely, it's not impossible. After all, everyone has their needs."
"Uh..."
Shizuka didn't know what to say about Lin Feng's guess.
But I didn't realize Lin Feng had such a sense of humor...
As time passed, Lin Feng's conjecture turned out to be wrong.
Because even when Ichinose Eiichiro walked into the classroom for class, Dekisugi's seat was still empty.
He really didn't come to class today.
That's even more unexpected, Doraemon didn't even arrive late on the first day of school after a week-long vacation.
But perhaps because he woke up too early, he was entirely listless, resting his head on his desk, drifting in and out of sleep.
"Ahem... Good morning, everyone!"
"The teacher is very happy to see everyone looking so energetic after the vacation!"
"And taking this opportunity, the teacher has an announcement to make!"
After entering the classroom, Ichinose Eiichiro-sensei first stood on the podium and scanned the students below. Then, he cleared his throat and announced to the class.
"The Summer Sports Festival this year, the competition items between the classes have been decided. The final decision is the twenty-person Centipede Race."
To ensure the students could hear and see clearly, Ichinose Eiichiro-sensei wrote the competition item for the Summer Sports Festival on the blackboard behind him with white chalk.
"Eh…?"
"Such a hassle…"
"How can this be…"
"It's going to be exhausting…"
When they heard that the collective competition item between the classes this time was the twenty-person Centipede Race, it almost caused a chorus of boos from more than half of the students in the class.
The Centipede Race, as the name suggests, is a team sports event.
When participating in such a sports event, two very long wooden logs are needed. On these two very long wooden logs, approximately every other person's position will have two ropes and two foot rings fixed respectively.
Each participant needed to line up on a log, securing their feet with ankle rings to the two logs. Then, they had to grab the ropes attached to the logs on either side.
This formed a long queue, resembling a centipede.
Just imagining it made it clear how difficult this would be.
After all, twenty people needed to lift their left and right feet in unison to ensure the two logs under their feet moved forward in an orderly fashion.
Getting twenty people to maintain the same rhythm and speed would be impossible without a certain level of training and teamwork.
Because they understood how challenging this Summer Sports Festival event was, the class responded with so many negative murmurs after Ichinose Eiichiro-sensei announced the news.
Perhaps in their eyes, this task wouldn't be so easy to complete.
Lin Feng was somewhat helpless about this.
Japan loves putting on these flashy athletic competitions. I guess it's to cultivate a competitive spirit and teamwork in every student from a young age.
I have to say, the Japanese, who live quite comfortably, are indeed strict when it comes to raising the next generation.
"Teacher!"
"I have a question!"
As the classroom buzzed with whispers, everyone quietly discussing how the Summer Sports Festival this time seemed a bit too difficult, Suneo was the first to raise his hand.
"Oh? Suneo, what's your question?"
Seeing Suneo suddenly raise his hand, Ichinose Eiichiro looked at him with some confusion.
"If there are twenty people, doesn't that mean almost everyone in the class has to participate?"
"What if there's one or two people missing...?"
Because Suneo usually has a lot of clever ideas, he quickly seized on the loophole in Ichinose Eiichiro-sensei's words.
You see, the total number of students in the class is only just over twenty. Getting the whole class to join in is obviously not going to be easy.
"Suneo's question is a very good one. Currently, the Centipede Race sport is indeed a bit tricky."
"That is to say, if the whole class can't work together, it will be difficult to succeed."
"So, pre-training is also very necessary. But since the physical education class time is needed to learn the collective exercises, my suggestion is that everyone organize training voluntarily after school."
"Originally, the teacher was going to arrange for class monitor Dekisugi to be the centipede head, leading everyone to organize training after school. However, it's a pity that Dekisugi hasn't been feeling well these past few days, so he has taken leave to rest."
"So, who wants to be the centipede head to organize the whole class to train?"
As Ichinose Eiichiro's words fell, his gaze swept over the students sitting in the classroom below.
The students who were caught by this gaze instinctively lowered their heads.
Clearly, they didn't want to be the first to speak up.
So Dekisugi isn't here today because he's sick and took a leave of absence...
After hearing Ichinose Eiichiro's words, Shizuka realized that Dekisugi wasn't at school today because he was sick.
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