The turbulent opening ceremony finally came to an end, and we moved to our designated seating area. The 100m race was originally scheduled to follow, but the cancellation of all relay-style events had caused a bit of chaos in the preparations for the student entries. Consequently, the obstacle race—originally slated as the third event—had been moved to the top of the revised program.
"Well then, I’m heading out for a bit."
"Do your best. Within reason."
"Yeah, I’ll go give it a decent effort."
After receiving my words of encouragement—if you could even call them that—Yuji headed for the Entrance Gate with a wry smile. I was curious to see what he looked like when he was actually trying to win, but if Yuji ever got serious, it wouldn't be a laughing matter. It seemed entirely possible he could clear the whole course from start to finish in under ten seconds.
"So they’re canceling the relay-style events, but the obstacle race is still on."
"Hm? Oh, Shigemori."
Shigemori, who had arrived late to the stands, spoke to me as I watched Yuji leave. His voice carried a distinct note of either regret or resignation. Come to think of it, he had been scheduled to run in the 100m race.
"The obstacle race is probably still a go because they’ve placed obstacles on the corners, right? If there are hurdles at the turns, the runners can't build up too much speed. That should prevent any high-speed wipeouts where someone flies into the stands."
As I voiced my theory on why the obstacle race survived the cuts, Shigemori sat down next to me with a weary sigh.
"If it was a 100m race for non-explorers only, there wouldn't be any high-speed wipeouts anyway."
"Having already announced the cancellation of relay-style events, it’s probably difficult for them to hold a race that looks almost identical except for the distance. They might get protests from the parents."
I gestured toward the parents' seating area, which was still buzzing with unrest over the opening ceremony. Shigemori glanced over, and after a brief silence, he spoke up again.
"True. If they only ran the 100m race, people would probably start demanding to know why the other events were scrapped."
Shigemori finally seemed to accept the cancellation as he watched the numerous parents packing up cameras that had been fixed to tripods, withdrawing from the filming area set up beside the headquarters tent. After all, even the most dedicated parents couldn't occupy the filming space indefinitely if their own child wasn't participating.
As we cheered for the obstacle race, Shigemori and I discussed the sudden cancellation of the relay events. When I let one particular thought slip, Shigemori’s eyes widened in surprise.
"Wait, what?! You think the notice for the cancellation request might have arrived at the beginning of the week?"
"Yeah, probably. I mean, the Principal did say a notice had arrived, but he never actually said it arrived yesterday, did he?"
"...Now that you mention it, he definitely didn't say yesterday."
"That’s why I figured it probably arrived at the start of the week, right along with the report about the collision. It's natural to be on guard about collisions because one actually happened, but if you think about it cautiously, anyone could realize the danger of an explorer student taking a fall."
Perhaps a falling accident had occurred at the other school as well. It might have just been a case where their grounds were large enough that no one got hurt when the student wiped out, so it never became a public issue. If it had caused an accident involving spectators, it definitely would have made the news.
"But still, Kokonoe... If that’s the case, why did the Principal—or rather, the school—wait until today of all days to tell us the relays were canceled? If it was already decided, they should have just told us sooner."
"My guess? They probably thought it would destroy student motivation. Just look at the reaction when they announced they were separating the students with an Armed Exploration Permit for Special Underground Structures from the others and canceling contact events like the cavalry battle. If they’d scrapped all the relay-style events at the same time, morale would have hit zero instantly."
Shigemori looked around at the spectator seats where the teams were giving only half-hearted cheers. He nodded slowly, letting out another sigh. Compared to the excitement of yesterday's rehearsal, the current atmosphere was practically dead.
"Besides, if people hadn't actually seen that high-speed wipeout during the rehearsal, I doubt everyone would have accepted the cancellation this easily. It was only because they saw a runner go flying into the stands that they're begrudgingly going along with it, just like you, Shigemori."
No matter how politely you explain a danger, people rarely understand or accept a flat-out command until they’ve seen it or experienced it for themselves. It’s possible the school even included the relay in the rehearsal knowing an accident might happen. Seeing a fall with their own eyes gave the cancellation a layer of persuasion it otherwise lacked. It was a dangerous gamble, though.
"...I guess if I hadn't seen what happened yesterday, I wouldn't have been so ready to believe them."
"Right?"
At my remark, Shigemori’s expression turned weary. In the middle of our conversation, the turn for the explorer students finally arrived.
"Oh, Shigemori. It looks like the first-year explorers are up."
"Hm? So it seems..."
Shigemori and I focused on the first-year explorers lining up at the start. While many of them looked somewhat unmotivated, there was one guy who seemed particularly fired up. Or rather, he looked irritated... I wondered what was up with him.
"On your marks, get set..."
The explosive crack of the starting gun echoed, and the runners burst forward. Every single one of them displayed acceleration that was on a completely different level from the non-explorer students. Within two or three seconds, they reached the first obstacle at the entrance of the corner.
Then things got weird.
"Hey, Kokonoe? Is that even allowed?"
"Hmm. Well, no one’s making an announcement to stop them..."
Shigemori’s eyes widened slightly. The runners had lightly jumped from just in front of the balance beam, touched their feet down exactly once near the center, and leaped clear over it. Technically, they did step on the beam, but it was hard to say if that really counted.
While we were still questioning the legality of their move, the runners charged into the next obstacle: the net crawl.
"...That's surprisingly normal."
"Yeah, normal. But doesn't the movement look a bit... gross?"
Given their approach to the balance beam, I had expected them to just bulldoze through the netting. Instead, they used a low-crawling technique to break through the zone. However, seeing that strangely agile movement from our vantage point high in the stands was eerily reminiscent of the way cockroaches move. Apparently, Shigemori and I weren't the only ones who felt that way; the cheering from the students in the upper rows notably quieted down as the runners scuttled by.
Having quickly cleared the net, the runners headed toward the third obstacle.
"The next one is the burlap sack jump... but."
"That’s a completely different sport from the burlap sack jump I know."
Before our eyes, the runners in their burlap sacks were leaping across the course in three-meter bounds. When the non-explorer students had done it, they were hopping forward a few dozen centimeters at a time. The explorers finished the entire section in about three jumps.
"At that point, the obstacle isn't even an obstacle anymore."
"It just goes to show that for explorers, you can't use obstacles that can be beaten by pure physical ability. You need 'foot-dragging' obstacles like the candy-hunting race or the bread-eating race. Things like that would actually level the playing field between explorers and non-explorers."
"True."
Watching them breeze through the course, Shigemori and I grumbled about the deficiencies of an explorer-tier obstacle race. The bottom line was that it was impossible to use the same obstacles for both groups. Of course, asking a high school to prepare entirely different sets of equipment was a tall order.
"Oh, so even explorers can't beat the dizzy bat."
"That's a matter of equilibrium. Unless they train for it specifically, explorers aren't any better at that than anyone else."
The runners, having finished the required number of spins at the final dizzy bat station, were now stumbling toward the finish line in a drunken stagger. Unless they were trained to spin like figure skaters, normal explorers wouldn't have any special advantage here. Even if your physical stats level up, your basic senses only improve if you train them yourself.
"Oh, someone finished."
The winner was the runner who had looked so irritated at the start. While the others were wobbling all over the place, he managed to slide into the goal with a steady—if not exactly running—stride. I couldn't tell if his sense of balance was naturally superior or if he’d actually trained it, but it didn't really matter either way.
Once the last runner crossed the line, the second group waiting by the start quickly took their positions and burst forward at the signal.
The rest of the obstacle race proceeded smoothly without any spectators getting hit by flying runners. Yuji finished his heat in a safe second place, a perfectly reasonable result. As the final runner finished, the participants jogged out through the Exit Gates. While the explorer heats had been a bit questionable as far as 'obstacles' went, the crowd had actually gotten quite into it toward the end.
"I’m back."
"Welcome back, Yuji."
"That looked like quite a chore, Hirose."
"Well, yeah."
Shigemori and I offered Yuji some words of appreciation as he returned to the stands. He replied with a light wave and took his seat. I immediately asked for his take on the race.
"So, how was it actually being out there?"
"Exactly how it looked. It wasn't much of anything. Those kinds of obstacles don't slow an explorer down at all. They really need to include more things like that dizzy bat at the end."
"Yeah, I figured as much."
Hearing Yuji's thoughts confirmed my feeling that having explorers and non-explorers compete in the same events was just fundamentally difficult.
As the three of us talked, an announcement echoed over the grounds, signaling the start of the next event. It was the grade-level mixed-gender long rope jumping, which had been moved forward significantly.
"The next one is the group long rope jumping, right?"
"Yeah. And after that’s done, it's our turn for the club activity introduction."
"Sigh. Without the relays, our turn is coming up way too fast."
"Can't be helped, Daiki. We're up next, so let's go get changed."
"Roger that."
Yuji and I excused ourselves from Shigemori. We picked up Hiiragi-san and left the spectator area behind, leaving the crowd to cheer and groan over the successes and failures of the long rope jumping.
On our way to the gym locker rooms—which were being used as a changing space for the club introductions—we met up with Mika and Saori-chan.
"Yo, Mika. How is it? Any sign of Goto-kun and his group?"
"I mean... they seem to be behaving themselves for the most part."
"I see. So yesterday's warning did its job."
Mika frowned slightly and let out a small sigh before she started venting.
"The thing is, Onii-chan... instead of Goto-kun, his followers have started being really annoying. They keep glaring at us. Right, Saori-chan?"
"Yes. They haven't actually done anything, but it feels like they’re trying to protest by constantly directing hostile looks our way."
"I see..."
I thought about what Mika and Saori-chan said for a moment, then looked at Yuji.
"Hey, Yuji? Why don't we change the plan for our demonstration a bit?"
"Change it? You mean make it flashier than what we planned yesterday?"
"Exactly."
When I nodded, Yuji scratched the back of his head, his brows knitting together.
"I don't mind changing the demonstration, but... we have some Troublesome Guests in the audience, remember? Did you forget about them?"
"I haven't forgotten. In fact, that’s exactly why I want to change it. If we go with the original plan, the material used for the costumes might draw their attention."
"..."
"It’s a shame to waste the stuff we went to the trouble of preparing, but we achieved our main goal with yesterday's rehearsal anyway."
Based on what Mika said, our warning to Goto was already sufficient. The goal for today's demonstration should be to finish the job by intimidating his followers. In yesterday's rehearsal, Yuji and Hiiragi-san were the ones who stood out. If I, Mika’s brother, make a show of force in today’s demonstration, those followers will think twice before ever bothering Mika or her friend again.
"All right. If that’s the case, then changing the plan is probably the right move."
A look of relief washed over Yuji’s face as he agreed to my proposal. Clearly, he’d been dreading the thought of wearing a bear costume in front of the entire school.
As we walked toward the gym, we spent the rest of the trip persuading Hiiragi-san and the others, who were still disappointed that the bear costumes were being mothballed.