Attraction

-----Yui's POV

Sadly, when we got to school, we had to split up for classes. I was hoping that Kaede would let go of my arm before the school gate, but she insisted on clinging onto me until we made it inside. Thanks to that-

Boy1: "Hey, Yui! Who was that girl that was with you!"

Boy2: "She's the girl from the hospital, right?"

Boy3: "I never knew what she looked like, but-"

Once I entered the classroom, I'm flocked by a bunch of guys asking about Kaede. I guess that would be expected though. Her looks do seem to catch a lot of eyes.

Girl1: "..."

But not all of them are enthusiastic as one of the girls that apparently bullied Kaede seems to be ignoring this whole thing.

Yui: "Sh-she's a friend of mine. She just recently joined my club."

.....

...

In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have said that last part. As once school was over and our club soon started, we attracted quite a decent amount of people watching through the fence.

Kaede: "Your friends?"

Yui: "I guess?"

All of us were looking over to the crowd of people that has gathered outside the field. I'm not about to say that most of them came to see Kaede though.

Emi: "Hehe~ Feast your eyes boys!"

Seems as though Emi is embracing the crowd, addressing them with open arms, only to immediately be met with cheers. She's only hyping them up even more...

Ken: "Okay, For today we'll be doing the long jump and hurdles. The boys will start with the hurdles."

Aki: "And we'll be starting with the long jump. We'll rotate after an hour. Ah, but Kaede. If you're still unwell, then-"

Kaede: "It's alright. I'm feeling much better now."

Hurdles can honestly be harder than it looks. Instead of mindlessly running as fast as you can, you need to pace your strides in order to clear the hurdle perfectly in order to not mess up your form. Kaede might've beat me in the 100m, but I'm quite confident I've got the hurdles in the bag. That said, we have long jump first and I have no idea how this'll play out.

Aki: "Okay. Then do you girls know what long jump is?"

Emi: "Yup!"

Kaede: "Sort of."

Maria: "You, jump long?"

Aki: "Pfft. Alright. Then Yui, would you like to go first?"

Yui: "Sure."

Damn it... I hate going first. If Kaede went before me, then I'd know how far I need to push myself. I guess if I'm planning on impressing her, then I just have to give it my all.

And after taking me position for the run up, I wait for Aki's call. And as soon as she does so, I explode from my heels, trying to build up as much speed as I can, making sure my strides are in line with my expectations. Almost as soon as I felt as though I reached my top speed, the white line was fast approaching as I prepared my arms, ready to launch myself into the air. And in the next moment, I kicked off the board, just before reaching the white line as I catapulted myself into the air. I try and straighten my legs forward, trying to reduce as much drag as possible before leaning forward to stick the landing. The sand spills out from my landing, getting some on my face as I quickly stand back up to check how I did, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

From the looks of the meter board to the side, I've jumped fairly close to 6 and a half meters, so I wait for Aki to do the final measurements.

Aki: "6.47m!"

Yui: "Yes!"

Aki: "That's your new pb, right?"

Yui: "Mm!"

It was unexpected, but I ended up beating my personal best by nearly a full 10cm. I guess my determination for wanting to beat Kaede was enough to give me that extra push.

Maria: "Uhm. What's the average for this?"

Aki: "For our age group, roughly 5.5m?"

Emi: "Wait, and Yui nearly jumped a full meter above that?"

Aki: "Hehe. Not quite, but yeah. It's rare for people our age to get above 6m."

Chiyo: "Hmph! That's our ace for you."

Emi: "Ah, and who's this?"

Aki: "My apologies. This here is Chiyo."

Chiyo: "Yo."

She joined the club on day 1, same as me. We never knew each other, but during our first club session, I could tell that she had a similar passion for running as we immediately competed to see who was the best. I would've thought that after I demolished her on every sport that she'd come to hate me, but surprisingly, she began to see me as some kind of idol of hers. Apparently she also was never beaten during middle school, so it came as a shock to her.

Aki: "Okay, then who's next?"

Emi: "Me! I'll go!"

And so, our long jumps continues.

We all watch as Emi began to run towards the board, but I already knew something was bound to happen. She started running exactly where I started, but she probably doesn't know that everyone has different strides. And just as she was quickly approaching the board, I could see the panic in Emi's eyes as she probably realized that her strides were off, causing her to shorten her strides in order to not foul, decreasing in speed considerably. And of course, the result was less than stellar. At least she didn't fall back though.

Aki: "3.6m."

Emi: "..."

Unsurprisingly, Emi already knew how poor it was without Aki telling her as she walked back to us, clearly dejected.

Maria: "It's okay. I thought you did pretty good!"

Emi: "That was below average!"

Chiyo: "Pfft, far below average."

Emi: "H-hey. Don't need to run salt in my wounds, ya know."

Chiyo: "My bad~"

Aki: "Okay, Chiyo, you're up!"

Chiyo: "Yes~"

Aki probably saw how Emi took the same distance as me, so she brought out Chiyo next. And unlike Emi, Chiyo planned out her strides ahead of time, much like I did, resulting in her starting slightly closer to the board than I did.

Kaede: "Wait, so you don't need to start where you were?"

Yui: "No. There's no clear cut rule where you have to start. I go for about 20 strides to make sure I'm at top speed, but depending on the person, they might want less so they don't tire themselves out before the jump. There's also people who have trouble building up speed so they might go for 24 strides. It just takes time to get a feel for it and learn what's best for you."

Kaede/Emi/Maria: "Ah~"

All three of them look at me in awe as if I'm some kind of god, which honestly is a little embarrassing, especially with Kaede... I hope I didn't sound weird or anything...

But we'd soon be cut off as Aki calls out for Chiyo to start. It didn't take long to see her flying through the air without any problems as she quickly sticks the landing. Watching from here, I can tell she cleared the 6m, but only barely.

Aki: "6.17m!"

Chiyo: "Damn!"

Aki: "Hehe. Almost."

Chiyo actually has a grudge. Her personal best is 6.19m and she desperately wants to break into the 6.2m range. But still, 6.17m is nothing to scoff at, but Chiyo sees it differently as she's visibly frustrated by her result.

Chiyo: "Ahh! Yui! How do you do it?!"

Yui: "Haha. Well I do have longer legs than you. I think if we were identical, maybe you'd even beat me."

Chiyo: "...Stupid genetics."

Sadly, she's right. Genetics do play a massive factor in sports. It's like how the taller the player is, the better they are at basketball generally.

Kaede: "Can I go next?"

Aki: "You sure?"

Kaede: "Mhmm."

Emi: "Good luck!"

Maria: "I'll be right behind you~"

And as soon as Kaede started her walk, I could see that the crowd outside have started to get a bit more rowdy. Can't say that I'm also excited to see what will happen.

We watch as Kaede takes her spot roughly similar to where Chiyo started, and with the blow of Aki's whistle, Kaede took off with an explosive start, almost already reaching crazy speeds in just a few strides.

Chiyo: "Woah..."

Even Chiyo was impressed of how powerful of a start that was as all of us focused in on her, watching every stride she took. It seems like time moved in slow motion, but even then, she quickly made it to the board as she kicked off with the same explosiveness as when she started. Her hair blows through the wind as she soars across the sand. Her form is a bit sloppy, but I honestly didn't care. Right now, I was captivated watching her glide through the air, like a shooting star flying through the night sky. And after a few moments of being suspended in time, she sticks the landing without any issues. However.

Aki: "What?!"

Crowd: "OOOHH!"

Even the crowd behind us yelled out at the sight as we all rushed over to check the results. But the moment I looked down at the sand, I realized why Aki was shocked.

Chiyo: "No way..."

We all did a double take to make sure we were seeing things correctly, but there's no doubt about it...

Aki: "..."

Where Kaede landed, the side board clearly said 9m. But nevertheless, Aki silently measured the exact distance as we all wait in silence.

Aki: "9.19m..."

Aki spoke in a soft tone as her eyes were glued at where Kaede had landed, as if she still couldn't believe her eyes. I don't blame her as we were all are doing the same thing as we just looked at it in silence.

Kaede: "Uhm... Was that good?"

Kaede was the one to break the silence, which promoted Aki to stand up from the sand.

Aki: "What the hell?! Was that good?! Kaede!"

Kaede: "Y-yes?!"

Aki somewhat forcibly grabbed Kaede by her shoulders, looking at her dead in the eye.

Aki: "That was insane!"

Chiyo: "Wait. Doesn't that beat the world record?!"

Crowd: "EHHH?!"

With Chiyo's declaration, the crowd of people only grew louder as their chatter could be heard from all the way here.

Maria: "World record?"

Emi: "Kaede! What the hell?!"

Kaede: "Ehehehe~"

Aki: "Did the hospital give you robotic legs or something?!"

Seems like Aki is still trying to figure out an explanation to this ludicrous event.

Kaede: "Nope~ I only had a broken arm, remember?"

Aki: "W-well... But how..."

That question is undoubtedly in everyone's minds. Kaede legitimately nearly doubled the distance of the average girl our age. I had a feeling that something amazing would happen when Kaede took to the stage, but I still can't even make any words as I'm left speechless at the angel in front of me. Yeah... Angel is the perfect word to describe Kaede right now. It's like she touched down from heaven when she landed into the sand, blowing all of us away along with the sand. I... I want to see more of it.