#95 Playing around

"*cough* You-!" Ishizaki coughed out some of the grass that has gotten into his mouth when he fell onto the ground and wanted to shout at me with an angered expression, however, when I turned at him and he saw my cold eyes, he stopped himself from shouting anything.

He probably still remembers the time before the trial when I "convinced" him and his 2 friends to admit guilty.

"Albert!" I heard Ryuen's strong voice behind me call out someone's name or more precisely it was the overgrown foreigner's name.

One more time when I wasn't looking, I sensed someone's hand going for the flag taped on my back but this time I jumped to the side to avoid the hand by the small margin.

I turned back at Ryuen and a person who wanted to snatch the flag from me.

"Impatient, aren't we? This is already the second time you tried to take our flag from behind me, but at least this time, you actually warned me. That was really nice of you, Ryuen. I owe you my 'flag'." I jokingly said with a playful smile.

"Walker-kun, you have to teach me how you are able to evade things that are out of your vision!" Ike immediately exclaimed in awe when he saw me dodge for the second time. His face was really bright as if he was about to watch some kind of supernatural fight...

What is he thinking...? That will be always mystery for me. I thought while taking a quick glance at Ike's face.

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'...That was something else...I get how he dodged that second attempt to snatch the flag since Ryuen shouted something, it must have alarmed him but what I don't get is...how did he dodge that first attempt? There was no way for him to see the person trying to snatch the flag. No one shouted anything, no warning...He could have heard his footsteps but even then it would have been difficult to estimate the distance of that person just from the sound. Not to mention how he flawlessly spun around his arm and also trip him over. All of it happened within one fluid and swift movement.' Sae-chan was thinking hard while observing the situation on the field with wide-open eyes.

'Anyway...it looks like it will end very soon.' Sae-chan calmed down and thought after seeing one student from Class A running towards his territory with the flag in his hand.

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"Boss?" Yamada turned at Ryuen and asked only 1 word.

Ryuen nodded at him when he heard his question. Ryuen folded his arms and started observing the situation unfold itself with an amused smile yet caution was visible deep in his eyes.

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'I already knew that he is experienced, however, this is still a surprise. His reflexes are good, however, I am not sure what exactly he used to detect Ishizaki's sudden attack, he could have heard him or he simply has good instincts. It's regrettable that we can't make it too physical here otherwise I might have a chance to learn more about him and his capabilities.' Ryuen thought while giving a side glance at the referee with an annoyed expression.

"Yes." Yamada responded once again with only one word and he broke into a sprint. He quickly moved in front of me and tried to grab me by my right shoulder so I turned my entire body to the right side, ultimately dodging his hand by what would look to the others like a close call.

"Huh?" Yamada was surprised by my sudden move to dodge his hand just by centimeters.

However, that wasn't the end, when he missed my right shoulder, I took hold of his hand and pulled him forward. Since he was leaning forward, his balance wasn't perfect and I didn't even have to apply much strength to make him run forward just with that weak pull.

He ran for a while, waving his hands around to regain balance and not to fall down. It must have been a good spectacle for others.

"Haha, this really looks like a Bullfighting!" Ike immediately started laughing and had to add salt to the wound. He was really speaking out his mind without minding the others and although it would only serve to enrage them even more, I didn't mind his comments. At least these comments are a bit funny but I guess not everyone finds them funny...

Ryuen immediately glared at Ike when he heard his words.

"eek! *cough* *cough* I mean- good job Walker-kun! I hope you will be able to endure pressure of these formidable opponents for a bit longer!" Ike cleared his throat and said with a slightly scared expression.

...*sigh* Cowardice is keeping him from making any funny comments. Now, he can't even fulfill his only job as a comedian. What have you done, Ryuen?! I thought while sidestepping another attempt to snatch the flag, this time it was Ishizaki once again. I did the same thing as I did with Yamada but instead of giving him a chance to recover his balance, I pulled him into the direction where was Yamada with a bit more strength than with Yamada. His body built is much smaller than Yamada's and I won't even talk about height and weight, me applying even more strength meant that he won't be able to regain his balance. So it was either his fall on the assumption that Yamada will dodge or he will collide with him.

And as I expected, Yamada made no effort to dodge and Ishizaki's head hit location slightly under Yamada's chest.

"*cough* haaa" Yamada coughed a few times and started gasping for breath with his both hands supporting his upper body by holding his knees.

"??" I looked at them with a puzzled face for a moment before it became clear to me.

Did Ishizaki perhaps hit him into solar plexus with his head? That wasn't even my intention but at least he won't bother me for a while. I thought and after giving them the last glance I turned at Ryuen with a smile.

"Useless." Ryuen uttered only this word with a calm expression and he started to slowly walk towards me. However, before he could come before me, someone else got between us.

"Aren't you forgetting about someone?" Sudo asked with a smile that was meant to provoke Ryuen.

"Move, monkey...You aren't even a bit interesting." Ryuen said while still walking towards me.

"Huh?! Say it again!!" Sudo who wanted to provoke Ryuen only got his medicine back. He was already called monkey before this contest so this makes it 2 times today. Who knows how many times this will happen.

"Who said that monkeys aren't interesting? Did you study them so much that there is nothing more to discover?" I asked with a smile when I saw that Ryuen's attention was on Sudo and when he was about to make another comment that could potentially enrage Sudo even more.

He turned at me and just smiled without saying anything and when he was right in front of Sudo, he just shoved him to the side without even sparing him a glance.

This act would have definitely angered Sudo under normal circumstances but Hirata intervened and put his hand on Sudo's shoulder. Sudo snapped his head at Hirata and saw him shaking his head with a calm expression while pointing at something.

Ryuen wasn't paying attention to them and simply kept on walking towards me before stopping about a meter in front of me while glaring at me with his own sharp eyes.

We stayed motionless without moving a finger for a few seconds before Ryuen moved his foot slightly forward, indicating that he was done observing me and was ready to attack me himself.

He suddenly stuck his hand forward with great speed, ready to grab my shoulder. I don't get why he wants to grab my shoulder but perhaps he took it as competition since his two lackeys failed. He wanted to defeat me in my dodging game.

? His speed is indeed extremely fast but- Hm? I thought while looking at the "slowed" hand moving towards me before I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.

I stood still without any indication of dodging and before his hand could touch my shoulder...

"*Whistle* End of the first round! The winner of the first round is the Red team!" The sharp sound of the whistle resounded together with the referee's words.

By the end of his words, Ryuen already grabbed my shoulder but it wasn't before the sound of the whistle and Ryuen was also aware of that since he had a sour expression on his face.

We both looked at the person from Class A who was back in our territory, holding the enemy flag within his hand.

"It's our win, huh?" I asked while looking around as if I wasn't expecting that to provoke him even more.

"Tch! Let's see how you will use your tricks during your attack phase." He said and gave me a threatening look before letting go of my shoulder.

"I wish you luck in the second round, haha!" Ryuen said with an improved mood while leaving with his gang and waving at us with the back of his palm.

His mood shifted too quickly...I guess it takes much more to truly anger him.

...

"That was amazing, Walker-kun! I thought that our loss is inevitable when they discovered our strategy." Ike said with a happy and relieved smile.

"Where did you learn all of those maneuvers?" Although Sudo was still angry, his curiosity got better of him and made him forget about everything Ryuen said to him.

"Have you forgotten what I had said to you when we were at the pool? Dodging is one of a few things I am confident in." I answered with a smile.

"Alright, we can talk later. We have to switch positions with guys from Class A and we only have 1 minute to do so." Hirata stopped others from questioning and urged us to go switch with Class A.

...

"Good job, Katsuragi-kun!" Hirata said with a smile.

"No, it was thanks to you...if you hadn't given us so much time, we wouldn't be able to snatch their flag fast enough." Katsuragi quickly and humbly replied when we were passing by each other. Although he looked like he had questions to ask us, there was no time for chatting and he was aware of that.

...

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'Such subtle movements, he was moving in the way that allowed him to save as much stamina as he could. During his "clash" with Ishizaki and Yamada, he used a minimum of movement required to dodge their grip while also throwing their balance off by slightly pulling them forward with help of the force behind that spin. It could be said that he spent much more stamina by getting up and walking those few steps forward as a show to stall for more time than during that clash. He also made it seems like all of his dodges were close calls but in truth, they were perfectly timed however, not just anyone would be able to see through that...Would I be able to perform the same movements with the same preciseness?' Ayanakoji calmly thought while recalling everything he has just seen.

'...As I thought, he really is-' Ayanakoji thought with his eyes closed, however, his thoughts were quickly interrupted.

"Ayanokoji-kun, what do you think about this round?" Horikita asked with a serious expression.

"Hm? You are already done with your Ball-toss contest? As for this round...I think they simply underestimated our class." Ayanokoji answered with a blank expression while calmly looking at Felix with his "lifeless" eyes.

Horikita didn't look too satisfied with his answer but she no longer asked him any question and simply continued observing. She only came in the middle of the first round so she was curious to see what will happen in the second round right from the start.

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