FREE TIME; LET'S SEE WHOSE FASTER

Those eyes—I've seen them somewhere before. Where have I seen them? Tetsuo thought to himself as he tried to remember.

"Are you listening to me? Or are you deaf? I said move and quit staring at me like that," the girl said in an insulting tone.

"I'm sorry for staring. It's just that your eyes look like they have a tragic story behind them. I was just a bit curious, that's all. They remind me so much of mine because there's no real depth to them—just a dark, endless, hollow pit," Tetsuo said.

"Oh really now? That's the strangest thing I've ever heard—assuming something bad happened to me just because it did to you," the girl said bluntly.

"That's not what I was implying, but basically, yes. Sorry to have disturbed you while you were reading. I'll leave, don't worry," Tetsuo said as he walked off.

"Wait," the girl called out. Tetsuo stopped and turned around.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"My name is Tetsuo Kawaguchi, a first-year in Class 1T," he replied.

"Oh, well, that explains why you aren't the least bit startled by me. My name is Tomoe Yukimura, a second-year in Class 2O and the president of the literature club," Tomoe said.

"Say, Kawaguchi, have you ever heard of me before?"

"What do you mean?" Tetsuo asked.

"You know, gossip and rumors."

"Other than the time I bumped into you in the hallway, this is the second time we've met, so no."

"Okay, that's comforting to hear. When you have time, you can stop by the literature club if you want to read some books," Tomoe offered.

"That's fine. I wouldn't want to disturb you—you look peaceful this way," Tetsuo said as he left.

Upon returning to the field, he saw his classmates racing in a mixed race, and to nobody's surprise, Naomi easily beat everyone.

"Whoa, Naomi! That's 10.1 seconds—that's a new record!" her friend exclaimed.

"What? Really? I wasn't even taking the race seriously. How did that happen?" Naomi said.

"You guys are fools for letting her beat you," Noboru scoffed as he, Shino, Makoto, and a group of other boys from Class 1T walked over.

"Oh really, Noboru? And I suppose you can outrun me?" Naomi challenged.

"You bet I can. I don't know why they're making such a big deal out of it. I could easily outrun you if I wanted to."

"Then by all means, Noboru, step behind the line," Naomi said with a smirk.

"Are you guys ready?" Sachiko asked.

"On your mark, get set, go!" she shouted as both Noboru and Naomi took off in the 100-meter race.

Even before reaching the halfway point, it was clear that Naomi was going to win. After accelerating, she started gaining distance on Noboru and crossed the finish line as the victor.

"Well, that was expected," said a girl from Class 1T who was on the track team.

"Yeah, it was," a boy added.

"Not that I'm bragging or anything, but you'd need more than a lifetime of training before you could outrun me," Naomi said confidently.

"That was just a lucky run. I lost my footing, that's all," Noboru said, breathing heavily with his hands on his knees.

"Looks like you need more training with the track team because your stamina is still nonexistent," Naomi teased.

"Why you—" Noboru started before being interrupted.

"I wonder where Tetsuo went. I haven't seen him for a while now," Sachiko thought to herself.

"Hey, Morioka, are you good? All you've been doing is reading all day. Come on, let's go join them for a jog," a girl from 1T called out.

"That's okay. I don't mind being up here alone. I enjoy reading in any spare time I have," Rie replied.

"Okay, suit yourself," the girl said before running off.

"And besides… he's down there, and I can barely look him in the face. Whenever I'm around him, I feel weird," Rie thought as she glanced at Shino.

"Maybe the reason you beat me is that you have more muscles than I do. Not very ladylike at all," Noboru smirked.

"Or maybe you're just so much of a wimp that you think I have more muscles than you," Naomi shot back.

"Alright, guys, calm down. I know how we can settle this once and for all," a girl interjected.

"And what do you have in mind, Miyu?" Sachiko asked.

"We can let the fastest girl race against the fastest guy and see how that turns out," Miyu suggested.

"We already know Naomi is the fastest, but how would we know who the fastest guy in our class is?" Sachiko asked.

"That's simple—we let them race and see," Miyu answered.

"What's happening over here?" Tetsuo asked as he approached.

"Oh, Tetsuo! They want us to race against each other to determine who will run against Naomi," Noboru explained.

"Oh, I see. Well, I'll just get changed and go back to class," Tetsuo said.

"Wait! And where the heck do you think you're going, Kawaguchi?" Naomi asked.

"I especially want to race against you, so don't you dare chicken out," she challenged.

"Well, since you already called him out, you might as well race against him, right, Tetsuo?" Makoto added.

"Fine," Tetsuo sighed as he stepped behind the line.

"On your mark, get set, go!" Miyu shouted as both Tetsuo and Naomi took off.

They were neck and neck halfway through, and the boys cheered for Tetsuo.

"Come on, dude, you can do it!" they shouted.

Meanwhile, the girls screamed, "You got this, Naomi!"

As they approached the finish line, Naomi noticed that Tetsuo was pulling ahead.

"What? He's moving way faster than me," she thought to herself in shock.

To everyone's surprise, Tetsuo crossed the finish line two-tenths of a second before Naomi.

"No way! He actually beat her!" the girls gasped.

"That's what I'm talking about, Tetsuo! Putting your basketball speed to good use and showing her who's boss!" Noboru cheered, patting him on the back.

"I would have never imagined that Tetsuo could beat Naomi. He's really something," Sachiko thought to herself.

"That was amazing, Tetsuo! You're really fast. It's a shame you're playing basketball instead of running. Why don't you join us next year?" Naomi asked.

"No way! He's off-limits! This guy will be our key to victory, and we need all the years out of him," Noboru declared.