Side Story 2, Earth 5 – Tooru – Goddess of Victory & the Final Push
Author: かっぱ同盟／友麻碧
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3862be/
Translated by Gumihou
“Now then!! Time for the next obstacle! The famous Bat Spin Challenge!!”
“Wow, this three-legged race is quite the terror!”
The commentators in the broadcasting booth cackled through their comments. Obviously finding the situation hilarious.
For this next bit, it’s Tooru again.
After making up time at the Bread Snatching obstacle, and smoothly hopping through the Hemp Rope Net challenge, the Kappa Alliance team have now risen to 3rd place. However, what came next was something else.
“Hey, what are we supposed to do next? And what’s this Bat Spin?”
[1] I could hear the panic in her voice.
[2] “We press our foreheads on the handle end and turn in circles. 10 circles. Here, you move first, I’ll follow.”
This is already pretty difficult to do alone, but as a three-legged team? There was no way Makiko could match my movements, so the only way we could win this was for me to adjust to her.
“Come on, you grab hold of the bat!”
“Wait, do we actually have to touch our foreheads…?” she stammered, but Maki had already started moving. “Whoa, this is—!”
The sensation was pretty nasty. [1] I’m glad I didn’t actually eat the bread just now. Not to mention, Maki’s movements were jerky and uncertain.
The only saving grace was that others were also struggling with these obstacles. Their legs were shuffling and tangling up, and people swayed and toppled to the ground. I could vaguely hear laughter from the crowd.
“Woah, ugh…”
[1] Luckily, someone was counting for us — ten spins felt like a hundred. Trying to stand up straight after all that spinning was weird. Maki was already weaving and bobbing, and it was all I could do to keep her upright.
“This is bad, this is bad… my eyes, my eyes are spinning. Aaaaaahhhh!!”
“Calm down, you idiot!”
While waiting for Makiko to recover, I checked the opponents. Some were lying on the ground. Others were shuffling sideways, moving like crabs… away from the next obstacle…
It was chaos.
I checked the Vice-President’s team and found them stepping slowly forward, their feet moving in sync. As I watched, they eventually picked up their pace amidst cheers.
That was actually a sound strategy.
“Maid-Butler Cafe representatives are in first place with the Kappa Alliance shuffling up to second place! Many contestants are still doing their best to get off the ground, defeated by the
“Now, the Maid Butler Cafe representative vice-president duo in first place, and the Kappa Shirimasenka first-year duo who fought their way back to second place!! Victims of the Bat Spin challenge lay on the floor unable to get up!!”
“Hmm, it looks like Vice-President’s team is doing a good job, yeah? It’s much better to make your way slowly after spinning like that. After all, more haste less speed! As for the Kappa Duo, first-year Saiga is leading the way and, oh my, first-year Oda looks like she’s going to pass out. Ah, entrusting leadership to the one who has their head screwed on tight is a great strategy too. Nom, nom… Hey, these rice balls with mustard greens and cod roe are delicious.”
“Why are you commenting on your food, Kuroki-kun? In fact, why are you eating at all?!”
“Well, I haven’t had lunch yet…”
The easygoing banter went on amidst cheers from the crowd.
I narrowed my eyes at the next obstacle course and grinned.
“Oi, Maki. Guess what’s the next obstacle?”
[3] “…Whatever… I don’t care… get me outta here…” Maki muttered, she looked pale and wan, as though half her soul had floated away.
“It’s Futarihaori [4],” I said, “and the activity is soba eating.”
[3] She immediately perked up at that, but then her expression changed, “Only the boys get to eat!!”
[4] For those not in the know, the Futarihaori game is when two people get under the same haori, which is a traditional Japanese jacket that’s often worn over kimonos in winter. One person would be the ‘face’, while the other only showed their hands.
[4] Today, the challenge was for the girls to play the ‘hands’ and feed the boys in front of them without actually looking.
There was really nothing we could do about it but remove the band that tied our legs together and get under the blue haori for the Futarihaori Soba Eating challenge.
Just what was the person who thought up this crazy idea thinking…
Maki was furious since she did not get to eat the food. As for myself…
“… …”
[1] Ch-chest! Her chest is pressing against my-
[1] A-anyway, if you must know, I mentally shrieked like a high school boy for a bit before my past life self settled in.
Hmm, her body is not bad-
“Why am I here when I don’t even get to eat!?”
“Whatever, just hurry up and pick up the noodles with your chopsticks… Oi! That’s my nose! Stop it, you idiot!! Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!”
“Should I just give you another nostril? Just eat it!!”
The chopsticks randomly stabbed at my face, and it freaking hurts!
What the heck, just a while ago I was thinking about the chest touching my back…
This must be what the organisers were thinking when they thought up this obstacle. However, instead of having fun, it felt like someone was holding a knife to my throat…
This must be due to Maki’s freaky murderous intent. That witch… No wonder she was considered the most terrible witch of all time in her past life.
“Hey, eat up. I’m feeding you, so eat!”
“Makiko-san, no matter what, it’s impossible for me to eat with my eyes!”
“Is it good? Well? Tell me! Is it good?!”
“It’s just normal udon! It’s not like I’m eating it for the taste…”
I blame the organisers! Why did they include this weird obstacle?
Eventually, I found the pattern to Maki’s chopstick stabs and managed to slurp up the noodles as normally as possible. For some reason, she tended to aim higher left…
Eventually, I finished the bowl of udon and it was time for us to go again. I replaced the band on our ankles and off we go.
“Ohoooo!!! The Kappa Alliance appears to be in the midst of a lover’s quarrel, but they seem to be getting along well now and are in the lead now! The Vice-President’s team seems to be struggling a bit!”
“Look at the scratches on first-year Saiga’s face. Well, that’s fine since scars are a man’s badge of honour.”
Several girls booed Kuroki-senpai’s comment.
“How dare you!”
“Saiga-kun’s face is a national treasure!”
“Saiga-kun still looks handsome…”
“The scars do give him a certain ruggedness…”
In the end, the consensus from the girls were… that scars might be a good thing after all. I just don’t get it.
“Hey, are we in the lead?”
“Yes, let’s keep going. There’s only one obstacle left.”
“What’s the last one!?”
“Ah, that’s…”
I looked in front of us and… there was nothing between us and the finish line except 50 meters of open space.
“Now there’s only the final sprint left. All you have to do is run forward with all your might~☆”
Run forward with all your might~☆?
All we have to do?
What?
“H-hey, this is bad…” muttered Makiko.
“They are right behind us, aren’t they?”
I glanced back, confirming my suspicion. The Vice-President’s team had already completed the udon-eating obstacle and were sprinting forward with all their might.
The Vice-President had this really serious look on her face and… for some reason, I could not register what her partner’s face looked like.
“Hey, they’ll catch up with us soon!!”
“Run, run, go go go!”
Despite our desperately won lead, the Track and Field member’s greatest strength was in running. We paled, but put more energy forward.
However, it wasn’t enough.
“Wait, stop trying to move faster than you can!”
“I’m slower than you, so you gotta match my speed!”
We were still arguing as we hobbled forward.
[1] Ugh, I can almost feel them breathing down our necks!
Those pros are definitely going to overtake us!
“Ohhh!!! Ohhhh!!! Incredible! The Kappa Alliance and the Vice-President team are neck and neck!! Augghhh!!!”
“Uwaaaahhhh!!”
For the next 10 seconds, I heard nothing. The final sprint was like a slow-motion picture. We saw nothing but the hellish, neverending road in front of us.
I could tell from the excited shouts that the other team must be close to us, but I refused to look back. We have reached the point where techniques and strategies mean nothing.
A single moment of hesitation or fear could be fatal.
“Uwooohhhh!!!”
“Gooooooo!!!”
Maki and I just kept going forward. Even though our natural strides were different, in that final few seconds, we were completely in sync. There was no way we were going to lose to those guys in this Three-Legged Race.
No one in this school, in this world, knew just how long we had spent fighting, battling insulting and knowing each other. Only Yuri had some idea.
Wait, am I looking at a past life montage now?
“Maki-chan~! Too-kun~! Do your best~!”
A sudden gust of wind brought the cheer to my ear. The commentary might as well be static in my ears but I heard that cheer loud and clear.
Just beyond the finishing line was Yuri, still in his feminine costume. He had his thumbs up and was mouthing ‘Go’ at us.
[1] Ahah, there’s our goddess of victory, cheering us on. I dashed forward with renewed energy.
Makia seemed to have been injected with the same energy as she sped up as well. Her stride went faster as her hands stretched out towards Shizu-chan, our goddess of victory, who stood just beyond the white goal tape.
“Ugh, the heck!!:
“Ueeeee!!?”
[1] We fell.
At the very end, we fell over the tape. I believe our chest touched the tape first, at the exact same time the Vice-President’s team crossed the finish line.
A cloud of yellow dust flew up around us, and for a moment, nothing could be seen.
Nothing could be heard.
“…hey, what-”
A cheer thundered through the entire school.
“A winner!!! The Kappa Alliance team crossed the line at just a split second ahead of Maid-Butler Cafe team! The green first years from the Cultural Club Alliance collaborating on the ‘Do You Know Our Kappa?’ had won by the narrowest margin!!!”
“Uoahhhhhhh!!!”
Cheers could be heard from the commentary booth as well as the audience.
[1] So, we won because we fell? I believe that Maki must have been staring so hard at Yuri that she lost control of her feet. In a way, that validates my claim that Shizu-chan is our goddess of victory even more.
“Oi, are you alright?”
“Ugh… my knee…”
“It hurts, huh?”
We remained where we had fallen, panting from the sudden exertion of energy. After a while, I removed the band that connected our legs together, freeing us from this short-lived moment of shared destiny. I stood up, and pulled at Maki’s hand, helping her up too.
When I looked up, I finally registered cheers of ‘Kappa!! Kappa!!’ ringing in my ears. It was kind of surreal.
We raised our hands to wave and the intensity of the cheers increased as some of the audience screamed with enthusiasm.
“Hey~ good job~” Yuri said as he came towards us with towels and sports drinks in hand.
If anything, the cheers got even louder at the sight of Shizu-chan.
I glanced over at the Vice-President’s team and saw her clenching her fists. As though she could not believe what had just happened.
“How did it come to this…” she muttered.
Well, well, looks like things did not go as planned. I can’t blame her, who would have thought that the Cultural Clubs, which had been side-lined in the plan to make the festival more lively be the ones to grab all the attention like this?
Still, since the end goal was to make the Cultural Festival more lively, the Vice-President still achieved her goal. Technically.
After all, none of this would have happened if not for her provoking the Cultural Clubs to the point where they almost exploded with creativity.
“Now, Kuroki-kun, time for the next stage of your promotion plan.”
“Humph, do we even need it now?”
At the commentary booth, Kuroki-senpai laughed and raised his hand in a cool manner.
At the signal, a large banner was unrolled from a second-floor window of the old building. All those who had noticed the banter and Kuroki-senpai’s hand gesture stared at it and muttered excitedly among themselves.
The banner read: Congratulations on our Kappa’s victory!! Celebrations will be happening on the second floor of the old building!
[1] “… …”
Moreover, there were about 120 Cultural Club members, all part of the Kappa Alliance, hanging out from the second-floor window to shout ‘Congratulations!!’, shocking the people within the school.
Some of the people wore Kappa costumes, others were in their green hakama or kimono from the cafe, there were more people in gym clothes and some actors who participated in the Kappa movie wore their costumes as they waved at us. They wore their uniforms with pride, preparing to cheer for our victory.
“Amazing…”
“The banner must have been prepared during the summer vacation. The seniors were really set on winning, huh?”
“That must have been quite the pressure…”
This final promotion was possible due to the location of the old building being visible from the field. Also, since the club members could use the whole second floor for one project, it gave a truly lasting impression. Rather than promoting the clubs on an individual basis, various cultural clubs have banded together under one mutual theme and executed an exhibition that made full use of their advantages and turned disadvantages into opportunities to get around the restrictions placed by the Vice-President.
“… …”
Just now, the Vice-President looked frustrated as heck. Anger had distorted her face until the moment the green banner rolled down the wall and her eyes widened with shock. She stared dazedly as the people cheered, unable to look away.
Amidst the strange cheering, she stood in place, stunned as she stared at the dark green banner.
[Gumihou: By the way, to anyone who had missed it, this chapter heavily implies Team Kappa won thanks to Maki’s impressive assets.]
[1] Added details so that it fits Tooru’s character better
[2] Adjusted details so that things made more sense.
[3] Adjust the dialogue so that it fits Makia better
[4] Futarihaori is where one person wears a kimono without putting their arms through the sleeves while the other person slips inside the back of the kimono and puts their arms through the sleeves, is a unique and traditional Japanese game.
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