<h4>Chapter 248: 5.3</h4>


    After a midday break, the sports festival proceeded into the second half of the day. More than half of the students had alreadypleted the minimum number of five events, and those who showed confidence in their athletic abilities were moving on to the sixth and seventh events. The ss A students Matoba and Shimizu were struggling without their leader, as they were up against Horikita and Ichinose, who were assessing the participation and members of thepetitions on a minute-by-minute basis.


    "Next is doubles table tennis in the gym. Satonaka reported earlier that there were no strong rivals. There are two more seats avable. There is a good chance we can win it."


    "We''ve got to keep winning and try not to getst ce."


    Sakayanagi''s non-participation cast a dark shadow over the second year ss A, and many students were discouraged, but on the other hand, there were many who were motivated by it.


    Hearing that the ping-pong doubles tournament, which was to close in 10 minutes, was running low, the students abandoned the penalty shootout match they had nned to participate in and hurriedly began to move.


    Ishizaki, who was walking from the direction in which the two students were proceeding, was looking slightly downcast and not looking ahead. Shimizu moved to the right to avoid the approaching Ishizaki, but Ishizaki also moved to the left at about the same time.


    Shimizu tried to avoid him as quickly as he could, but he could not avoid him and their shoulders collided. The impact was twice asrge as expected and could not have been an idental collision.


    Shimizu, judging that he had been forced to hit his shoulder, tried to raise his voice, but...


    "What the hell are you doing man?!"


    Ishizaki yelled and stepped up towards Shimizu.


    "Huh? Why are you acting like the victim when you bumped into me!" Shimizu from ss A and Ishizaki from ss D red at each other.


    "You''re the one who wasn''t looking ahead!"


    "Huh? You hit me on purpose!"


    "What, no? You bumped into me on purpose, no matter how you look at it. Right?" Shimizu calls for help and asks Matoba to cover him.


    "Ah. You weren''t looking straight ahead."


    "So I wasn''t looking at you and you took advantage of that? That''s nasty."


    "Nasty? It''s your fault."


    "Huh? Me? When you guys were too busy talking to watch?"


    The shoving of me continued, and time passed without any indication that Ishizaki was going to apologize. Convinced that they were right, the hasty Matoba urged Shimizu to calm down.


    "Leave him alone."


    "I''m not convinced we should let him go like this."


    "I understand how you feel. I do, but we have priorities right now."


    "I guess so."


    While taking in Shimizu''s emotions, he nailed him to remember to participate in thepetition and win. Reluctantly, Shimizu nodded his head, red at Ishizaki, and walked away.


    "You better be careful next time."


    "Ouch..."


    "What?"


    As he was about to walk past, Ishizaki suddenly held his left shoulder and mumbled, "I was caught up in the moment, I didn''t notice... I think I might have hurt myself just now."


    For a moment, the two could not understand what he was saying, but immediately after this, they realized everything.


    They realized that this was a cheap trap set by Ishizaki.


    The two looked at each other andughed. However, the situation takes a sudden turn immediately after that.


    "You''re making a lot of noise, aren''t you? What''s the matter, Ishizaki?"


    "Ryūen-san! Please listen to me! They started messing with me!"


    Just when things were starting to get tense, Ryūen appeared.


    "So Ryūen is involved? What a troublesome guy. I didn''t expect him to use such obvious tricks."


    "What are you even talking about? I only came here because I heard the stupidmotion, okay?"


    "You''ve got to be kidding me. You two have a record, you know that."


    "I guess we do have a reputation. What about it?"


    "You know what I mean."


    "Although, you know what? Even if we do have a track record, that''spletely irrelevant right now. If an exemry student was bullied and hurt by a ss A student, I''m going to report it, okay?"


    "What''s with the act? You''re the one who talked him into it, aren''t you? I''m calling the sensei''s for God''s sake!"


    "Kuku. Of course, you call the teachers when you''re in trouble. That''s pretty funny considering we''re the victims here. I''ll exin it thoroughly, don''t worry. Isn''t that right, Ishizaki?"


    "Yeah. I''m the victim."


    "What are you a victim of? You clearly aren''t even taking the sports festival seriously, so does it even matter to you? Go call sensei."


    Matoba decides that it is unavoidable and gives an earful to Shimizu, and sends him running somewhere.


    Soon after, Shimizu, who had gone to call the teacher, came back with an unttering expression on his face.


    "What''s wrong? Where''s the teacher?"


    "I didn''t..."


    Shimizu didn''t bring back a teacher but Hashimoto Masayoshi, who was in the same ss.


    "I saw Shimizu running all panicked so I asked him about it. If he called the teacher, themotion would get bigger. If you decide to turn it into a situation, you might not be able to participate in thepetition."


    "But-"


    "I know. Don''t forget that''s what Ryūen wants, to make a bigmotion. Don''t y into his hands."


    Instructing him to rx, Hashimoto ced his hand on Shimizu''s shoulder.


    "I''ll talk to him for now."


    "I understand. Deal with him swiftly please."


    Matoba, who had no choice but to leave the situation to Hashimoto, watches from a short distance away.


    "Please take it down a notch, Ryūen."


    Hashimoto, who heard the story, approaches with calm steps amid themotion.


    "The hell do you mean? It was you guys who set us up. We''re just buying a fight that was sold to us."


    "Sure. But if you don''t back off, we''ll both be in trouble. We''re the breadwinners of the sports festival, and we''re still holding back the main force. I''m sorry to say this, but Ishizaki can only go so far, right?"


    Hashimoto exploits this point and tries to hold Ryūen back so that he cannote on too strong.


    "Don''t be arrogant. Ishizaki has been working hard for this day. To show that he has the potential topete on equal terms with the breadwinners you speak of. Isn''t that right?"


    "Geez." Hashimoto, who had seen Ishizaki ying around on a regr basis many times, could not help but be stunned. "Damn. You always push things to the edge." Hashimoto knew that he could notpete in a proper debate, but he couldn''t resist scratching his head. "But this makes it clear. You''re really going to try to crush us in this sports festival, and that''s why the elite first-years are sticking around like freaks, right?"


    It was noticed early on that the physically gifted first-year students were being followed around to match thepetitions in which the talented students of the second-year ss A werepeting. However, there was no way to stop the entries once they were noticed, and so far they have only achieved less than expected.


    "Because of the princess'' absence on the day of thepetition, we''re pretty desperate to avoid the bottom of the standings. If we make an enemy of you too, we won''t stand a chance. Let''s just call this a painful split."


    "Painful split?" Ryūen''s attitude, which had been rtively friendly until now, changed drastically, and his smile disappeared. "I don''t know what''s going on in ss A. I''m in ss D. I''m doing everything I can to crawl up from the bottom. You''re making a big mistake if you think you can just interfere with that and get rid of me easily."


    Hashimoto''s expression, which had been smiling thinly, froze for a moment at the spirit that seemed to be attacking him


    "Then what should I do? Am I supposed to apologize unterally to you?"


    "You know that''s what I''m talking about. I''m not trying to get money from you. I just want a sincere apology. Right, Ishizaki?"


    "Sure. The pain in my arm has subsided a bit, so that''s good enough for me."


    What hurts more than anything is the loss of more time. After confirming that no special money or other demands would be made, Hashimoto decided to swallow the idea.


    "Give me some time to persuade Shimizu."


    "Hurry up. We have anotherpetitioning up."


    More than five minutes have already passed since the altercation began.


    It''s almost toote to apologize now and run to the gym in time.


    "You heard me. I know you''re not convinced, but you should apologize honestly here."


    "Don''t be silly. You said you would take care of it, so I kept my mouth shut and listened. I''m not going to go along with it."


    "So it''s okay if we don''t win? You might be able to protect your pride by being stubborn and sticking up for yourself here. But will this convince you when you lose by five or ten points?"


    "Well, that''s..."


    "What matters now is that the ss wins. Right? You stepped into some shit, so apologize and get over it."


    One word of apology and you can head right back to thepetition. Hashimoto urged him to do so.


    "Damn! Why do I..."


    Shimizu, who showed great irritation, finally cooled down and reluctantly agreed and stepped forward to apologize to Ishizaki.


    "Wait, Shimizu. Matoba is just as guilty as you. iming I was looking away and all that."


    "Matoba..."


    "Okay..."


    The two students have no choice but to stand side by side and bow to Ishizaki, albeit only slightly.


    "We''re sorry... Is this okay?"


    They quickly raised their lowered heads and were about to leave, but Ishizaki quickly stopped them.


    "Ryūen-san, are you seeing this? What the hell is this?"


    "It''s like they''re spitting on you. I don''t feel like he''s received a full apology. You don''t have enough sincerity."


    "Are you insane, Ryūen? I won''t back down any further."


    Previously, Hashimoto had tried to negotiate for Shimizu''s sake, but at this moment he had also decided that this was as far as he could go. Deciding that there was no other way but for the teacher to intervene, Hashimoto jogged over to the teacher.


    Within a minute or so, he returns to the scene with a teacher.


    "What in the world is the matter here?"


    "Actually..."


    "I ept your apology."


    Hashimoto was about to tell the teacher what happened, but just before he did, Ishizaki dered that the apology was epted.


    "I''m sorry, Ryūen-san. You stood up for me, but I wasn''t mature enough to say that it''s just a tiny bump on my shoulder. So, I think I''ll make it up to youter since these two apologized to me just now. Is that okay?"


    "If you''re okay with that, it''s none of my business."


    As soon as the teacher had arrived, Ryūen and Ishizaki cut the conversations short. Hashimoto, who had brought the teacher along because he knew Ryūen could not turn his back on the teacher, was also confused.


    The teacher, seeing only this situation, came to a conclusion.


    "You two bumped into Ishizaki and apologized. And he epted it. Is that correct?"


    "That''s not it-" Shimizu tries to speak up as the problem seems to have been solved, but Hashimoto stops him.


    "Apparently so. It has been resolved."


    "Good then. Avoid further trouble during the festival, okay?"


    Hashimoto pushes the two, who seem to be about to explode in anger, away from the scene.


    "Go quickly while the teacher is watching."


    They turned around several times to re at Ishizaki and Ryūen, but eventually they blended in with the crowd walking towards the gymnasium.


    Ryūen and the others also dispersed at the same time.


    When no one was left around Hashimoto, hemented deeply.


    "Man... you''d do something like that in a huge crowd? You''re not someone... I''d want to make enemies with, at all."


    Hashimoto was chilled to the bone, but even as he said this, heughed alone with joy.