18 P.E. class (2/2)

”Sasaki-sensei said he had something to do today, so I’m here in place of him,” said their homeroom teacher, a 29-year-old unmarried woman who was named Keiko Satou.

And thus, P.E. class began.

Seiji was hesitating whether or not he should excel in class today and draw everyone’s attention.

He didn’t actually enjoy attention, but he somehow managed to increase the favorability rating of a large number of girls towards him in the tennis club yesterday, thus unlocking several new options in his system. If he grinded even more girls’ favorability ratings, then there was a possibility he would gain new options yet again.

After deliberating over it, he decided against it.

He had barely discovered his recently unlocked options, and he hadn’t been able to fully take advantage of it yet, so it would be far too greedy to desire more. Besides, he didn’t feel comfortable doing things that were against his nature. Finally, the boys in his class already had a negative impression of him—if he kept standing out, something strange or unexpected may occur.

It was better to keep the relationships with everyone in his class balanced.

After class had begun, the first activity was a two-person warmup. Seiji instantly chose Kazufuru Ooike, without giving him a chance to reject, in order to avoid the danger of being alone at the end of pairing.

Kazufuru’s expression was grim, but he could only accept—after all, what else could he do as Seiji’s ‘friend’?

After the warmup was long-distance running. It was a fairly usual activity with a substitute teacher.

Seiji ran in the middle of the pack for the duration of the entire run.

Honestly, this was a first for him, as he experienced the difficulty of going easy on everyone in sports.

After one lap, most of the boys had begun breathing hard, but he didn’t feel a thing. He could only pretend to have breathing difficulties as he kept running. And close to the end, he was forced to further reduce his pace, in order to prevent himself becoming the leader of the pack. He also had to copy everyone’s panting, and he had to attempt to act naturally exhausted. The whole process could almost be described as torturous.

When all the boys finished, there were still a few girls running. The one at the very end was the fattest girl in the class.

She wasn’t nearly as fat as Seiji used to be, but compared to the other girls in class, she was definitely the least attractive.

She could barely catch her breath as she swung her head around, and her hair was ragged and wild. Her sweat and drool were also flying everywhere—it definitely wasn’t a pretty sight.

”Urgh—that Miyamoto… She’s still so disgusting…”

”Her running is so terrible—why doesn’t she just give up?”

”Hey, she’s trying her best! Don’t say that!”

The boys were gossiping with each other.

Seiji frowned in discontent.

Suddenly, the fat girl tripped and fell over with a resounding smack, which sent dust flying everywhere.

”Miyamoto?” The other girls that hadn’t yet finished running turned around and immediately went to go check on her out of concern.

The homeroom teacher also ran over together with some of the other girls.

After a minute, the substitute teacher Satou-sensei’s voice rang out: ”Miyamoto injured her foot. One of the boys come over and carry her to the infirmary!”

”What?”

”I definitely don’t want to carry that Miyamoto.”

”You’ll be flattened, haha.”

Seiji’s frown deepened.

He didn’t want to hear their chitchat anymore, so he walked out in front of everyone.

Instantly, everyone’s eyes were gathered on him.

”Oh my, the hero has arrived.” Chiaki quietly praised him, but nobody heard her other than Mika who was standing next to Chiaki.

As everyone stared, Seiji briskly walked towards the group of girls were standing over Miyamoto.

”Harano-san, can I ask you to do it?” Satou-sensei had an anxious expression, and when she noticed that it was the new transfer student who volunteered, her countenance changed slightly.

”Not a problem.” Seiji smiled at her and all the other girls.

Then, he went over to the weeping fat girl and carried her. Contrary to the expectations of the others, he didn’t carry her with his back...

Instead, he princess-carried her!

”Miyamoto-san, right? This is my first time speaking with you.” Seiji smiled at the stunned girl in his arms: ”Please wait for just a moment—your personal ambulance will take you to the infirmary immediately.”

Then, he started running whilst carrying her.

”Wow!”

”Amazing—a princess-carry!”

”That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a princess-carry in real life, and he can even run while doing it!?”

”Harano-san is so cool, and he’s so strong!”

All the girls instantly fell in love with the valiant youth.

And once again, all the boys had incredulous expressions on their faces.

”No way! Just how much does Miyamoto weigh!?” One boy exclaimed in surprise.

In reality, almost all of the boys were thinking that to themselves and were mentally comparing their own strength to Seiji’s. Soon after, they all came to the realization that they wouldn’t be able to accomplish what he had just done.

”Harano-san is so cool—he volunteered to carry her!”

”I think I’m in love with him—I want him to carry me like that!”

”Me too, me too! I’d love to be carried like that!”

The girls kept chattering endlessly, and even the homeroom teacher’s face was flushed slightly red.

In this type of atmosphere, the boys could only remain awkwardly silent.

This included Kazufuru Ooike, whose expression was grim.

He had actually wanted to step out and help her, as it was an excellent chance to improve his reputation, but he had used up a lot of stamina when running earlier, so he hesitated—if he tried carrying her but failed instead, he would only lose face.

He couldn’t imagine that Seigo Harano still had such great reserves of stamina remaining.

‘I truly lost this time…’ Kazufuru Ooike reluctantly thought to himself.