#101 Revealing the past?

The three-legged contest was still ongoing and soon enough it was once again my turn to sub for Koenji who was supposed to be paired with Kei.

We arrived at the track, however, Kei didn't utter a single word on our way here which was a little surprising.

"So what leg would you prefer to have free?"

"Let's do it the same way you did it with Mii-chan" She replied in a slightly angered tone which puzzled me a bit.

"What's wrong?" I asked her with furrowed brows.

"...It's nothing." She was slightly surprised by my question but she still decided to continue her act.

"It definitely isn't nothing. If something is troubling you then say it. You can trust me so be frank with me." Seeing how she was unwilling to even look at me, I brought my face a bit closer to her and said with a reassuring smile.

"I...*sigh* I will tell you if we will win this race" She replied with a determination in her eyes while finally making eye contact with me.

"Alright, you can already prepare your words." I said with a big smile while stretching my legs.

"Wait!" She exclaimed suddenly after she heard my confident words.

"What is it?" I asked with a slightly confused expression.

Is she planning to go against her words?

"...I am changing the condition. I want us to have a better time than you had together with Mii-chan." She smirked when she saw my confusion and then explained with a naughty smile.

Hm? That's it?

I looked around and saw that no pair from class C was anywhere near us.

That should be easy to beat since previously we were delayed because of Class C but still...this will be the first time we will be running together. Of course, with my observation and inhuman instincts, I will be able to keep up with her speed no matter how slow or fast she will run but the thing is that no one saw us practice together, therefore a lot of people will be surprised to see us running at ease, especially our classmates.

Most of them are already giving us forced smiles while waving at us and cheering on us. They are already aware that we will most likely end up last.

I closed my eyes and started massaging the bridge of my nose.

If we will reveal to everyone our past then they would easily brush it off as us having good coordination since childhood. But explaining why we weren't talking to each other in the classroom will be troublesome. As for rumors spreading out to other classes...I am already prepared that Ryuen will smoke out the traitor right after the sports festival ends. Now the question is if I instilled enough fear into Manabe to seal her mouth or if she will still choose to sell me out to Ryuen. Either way...she will be forced to say something and the other and also the last person who is related to her is Kei.

No matter what I will do, Ryuen will come to me in the end or more like I will come to him in case he will choose to go to Kei. Our revealed past shouldn't make any impact on this. As for Ichinose...she already suspects two of us so it doesn't matter.

"Hey?! Are you ready?" Kei's voice woke me up from my thoughts and when I focused my gaze in front of me, I saw her waving her hand right in front of my face.

"Heh, sorry I was just thinking about something. I have something to ask you..." I said and waited for her reply, I wasn't in a hurry since there was still more than a minute before the start of the race.

"Hm? What is it?" She asked me with a curious expression while tilting her head a bit to the side.

Seeing that I caught her attention, I raised my chin a bit higher and a wide smile appeared on my face.

"Do you want to make everyone here speechless?" I asked her while looking all around the track on everyone watching us on the track. Both my smile and eyes became a bit more arrogant to make her even more interested.

---

'?! What's up with his expression and air around him? This is the first time I see him acting all arrogant, however...I don't hate it. I don't know why but the way he looks and behaves right now suits him more than his usual humble behavior.' Kei thought while looking at the side of Felix's face when he was looking at everyone spectating the race.

---

"...Why do you even ask? Of course, I want!" She clenched her fist and lightly hit me into my chest while having a bright smile across her face.

"However, there is one downside..." The serious expression appeared on my face and I told her while looking straight into her eyes.

*Gulp* She couldn't help but gulp down when she saw my seriousness but still remained focused on me as to tell me to continue.

...

"Everyone, get into your positions!" The referee shouted at us and we moved to the starting line in our respective courses.

"Are you sure really sure about this?" I quickly tried to confirm Kei's agreement for the last time.

"Yes!" She didn't hesitate even for a few seconds before replying to me with determined eyes while looking at the distance finish line.

Despite seeing all of this, I felt like she was still slightly upset.

...I am not sure if it's about what I think it is but I won't lose anything for trying.

I thought and moved my arm around her shoulder which definitely surprised her and made her head snap at me with a shocked expression.

"What? I hope you didn't think that it was a special treatment I gave to Mii-chan." I told her with a smile and firmly hold her shoulder.

---

'Haaah, I am stupid for thinking like that...I am sorry, Felix-kun.' Kei thought while looking at Felix with her surprised expression.

---

"Hah?! O-of course not!" She exclaimed with an embarrassed expression but she still did the same and put her arm around my shoulder.

Tsundere?

That was the first word that appeared in my mind when I saw her act.

"3!" The referee started the countdown.

"Aaah, what do I have to do? You have yet to tell me the plan!" She quickly started panicking and asked me with a panicking expression.

"2!"

"Heh, just run for your life. Run like your life depends on it and completely forget about my presence. Don't think about my pace and only focus on increasing your speed." I quickly replied.

"1!"

"Whaaat?!" She exclaimed with an absent-minded expression, I guess she expected a more sophisticated plan.

*Whistle!*

When the whistling sound resounded through the entire track, Kei woke up and immediately started to run as if out of instinct and I quickly adapted to her speed.

She was quickly speeding up and I just followed her speed. We have already left all the pairs behind, we were in the middle of the way to finish line while others were still almost on the beginning.

---

"What the hell?!!!" Ike exclaimed with a disbelieving expression while strengthening his grip on the railing.

And he wasn't the only one who was surprised by our performance.

Everyone was surprised, having their mouths open while looking at us.

If the speed Felix was running at with Mii-chan could be called fast then right now they were running extremely fast...maybe even too fast if we look at the fact that their legs are tied up together.

"Isn't that Kei's top speed?! How can they be so fast...are their legs even tied up together?!" Shinohara muttered aloud in disbelief.

"This...is ridiculous..." Horikita who was also watching them couldn't help but unintentionally mutter aloud.

"Y-yeah that's a bit too much, even for me" Even Hirata who was relatively fast with his partner Onodera couldn't help but comment with a forced smile.

'This...' Mii-chan's mind was completely blank when she saw two of them running so fast.

'Most of the people don't get the major problem here. They don't know the fact, to be able to run as fast as we had run previously, the cooperation and synergy aren't enough. At such speed, you need to fully trust your partner. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I was able to feel his emotions during our race. Even I had the problems with the trust at first despite him training me and our practices. How is it possible for Kei to trust him so much?!' Mii-chan thought with wide-open eyes while watching Felix and Kei without blinking.

"*Mii-chan?*" Matsushita whispered when she noticed that Mii-chan who was standing beside her was relatively quiet while observing the race without blinking.

"Huh?" Mii-chan woke up from her thoughts and turned at Matsushita.

"*Is there something wrong?*" Matsushita asked with a concerned expression.

"*Uh, no, nothing wrong*" Mii-chan replied while shaking her head before redirecting her attention back at race. Looking at a certain person with a competitive look in her eyes while clenching her fist.

---

We were no longer speeding up and I guess the reason behind it was Kei's maximum speed. Well, it's not like we need to run any faster...there is already an enormous gap between us and others.

When we crossed the finishing line, there was no annoucment of our win so I looked towards the referee and I couldn't help but smirk.

"eh..." His mouth was fully open while looking at us.

When he noticed that most of the people were looking at him he quickly recovered and announced our 1st place and after another 10 seconds, he announced 2nd and 3rd positions.

"Haah, haah" Kei was holding her knees while heavily breathing.

"You okay?" I patted her back a few times.

"Give...me...a minute" She answered with little breaks between her words.

"Sure but you are telling me what is troubling you after you catch your breath." I said and untied our legs.

"How...do you want to...explain to others?" She asked me with a curious expression.

To be honest I thought she would be more reluctant to reveal our past to the others. As far as I can see there is no real benefit in it for her.

---

"Hey, that was something else. Those two 1st-years have a good synergy and their teamwork is evident." One of the 2nd-year girls said aloud.

"Sure it was, now I can see why that guy was able to gather Nagumo's attention." Another girl standing close by muttered, successfully gaining other's attention.

"What? That white-haired guy was actually able to gather Nagumo's attention? I mean...he is definitely athletic but Nagumo wouldn't be interested in him just because of this reason. I hope you are joking, Asahina-san" The first girl that spoke previously snapped her head at the girl called Nazuna Asahina who was also a 2nd-year student.

"I am not joking." Asahina answered with a confused expression.

"Hmm? Don't tell me you wanted to approach him..." Asahina asked while playing with her hip-long brown hair with a hairpin in the shape of sunflower as adornment. She was looking at the girl with a knowing smile.

"Well...I guess I wanted to try my luck but since he really garnered Nagumo's attention, I better keep my distance from him. It doesn't matter anyway, he must have a girlfriend already so I would only waste my time." The first girl answered while smiling without any shame or embarrassment.

"Really? I asked a few of his classmates and they told me that he doesn't have one. But apparently there are a few girls hanging around him." Asahina replied with a teasing smile.

"So he is a player." The first girl said with narrowed eyes.

"Not what I have heard. Apparently he didn't show interest in any girl yet, maybe he would like to date someone like you...someone older. Hihi" Asahina giggled as she was trying to goad the girl.

"Asahina-san, please stop goading me into approaching him. I don't want to get involved in case where Nagumo might get involved at any moment." The girl narrowed her eyes at Asahina and replied in a dissatisfied tone.

'Hmm, although I have gathered some information about him and his behavior...I would still like to get to know him myself. I am unable to judge him yet. Based on the things I have heard, I would also think that he is a perverted player if they didn't include his usual behavior. Reading a book during the breaks and spacing out of the window during the lesson...I can't imagine someone boring like him to be a player...however there must be a reason why Nagumo is interested in him.' Asahina thought with a smile while watching Felix returning to his class's tent.

---

When we returned to the tent, everyone was already waiting for us with still shocked expressions.

"You guys were amazing!"

"Yeah! But how come you were able to run so fast without even practicing?"

Everyone started talking at the same time, asking a lot of questions, making the situation extremely chaotic.

"Guys!" Kei shouted and everyone stopped speaking and looked at her with a surprised expression.

"I want to tell you something...no...We want to tell you something" She said while standing near me and I suddenly got a bad feeling.

What's that feeling? I feel like another annoying situation will appear...

I thought when I suddenly heard my "alarms" ringing but I couldn't do anything about it.

Everyone's attention was right now on Kei, waiting for her to continue.

"Haaaa...There is something we have been hiding from all of you for some time already." She took a deep breath and said with a nervous expression.

When I heard her words I couldn't help but snap my head at her with wide-open eyes.

What the fuck? Why are you acting as if you are about to tell your parents that you are pregnant?!! And what's up with that choice of words?!

Everyone's eyes widened when they heard her words and look of realization appeared on their faces but I was pretty sure that realization is completely wrong!