The second term seemed to go faster than the first. Hardly anything eventful had happened. Yuko had so far failed to have any friendly contact with Syo. He ignored her all day, even though Yuko wasn't even able to say anything. Her life felt like a living nightmare, sitting between Syo and Yoichi.

Although Syo's behaviour reminded her of Takiyo, she couldn't help but be scared out of her wits. This was almost exactly the same feeling she had when she first met Takiyo, but on a whole new level. Everyday, she felt as though Syo didn't have any warm feelings towards her.

She already knew some things about Syo. He hangs in his own group. He is part of the soccer club. He's fairly popular among girls, but has no girlfriend. They say that he displays no interest in dating. He is most likely to become captain of the soccer team.

Every time during lunch, she would retreat to Takiyo, Ren and Arisu. Every time she would say that she would try something. Every time she ended up doing nothing.

It continued like this for a while, and before they knew it, it was time for the sports festival.

***

"Okay, class 2-A!" The P.E. teacher, Mr. Inouye stared at the clipboard in his hand. Then he looked at the class, who were sitting on he grass in front of him. He sighed deeply.

"Aren't we the first class that he's doing?" Arisu asked. Takiyo shrugged.

They all had changed into their P.E. gear. Ren was sitting to the right of Yuko, and Takiyo was sitting at her left. Arisu was sitting on Takiyo's other side. Hikari and Erika had come to sit with them, although Erika put as much distance as she could between herself and Takiyo, resulting her in sitting to the left of Hikari, who was sitting next to Arisu.

Mr. Inouye was a middle-aged man, who at first appeared to be a lazy person, but really wasn't. If you come across him, he would win by a long-shot at any physical activity. He was often underestimated at first because he acted so lazy. He needed some shaving, and he seemed to be putting on some weight. All of these were to deceive you.

Mr. Inouye sighed again, then said, "I hope all of you know how things roll, based on last year's sports festival. So I hope I won't have to explain everything again."

"Um, actually," A girl raised her hand. "I am a transfer student, so I don't know."

Mr. Inouye glared at her, as if demanding how dare she increase his work. The girl shrunk against her friend. Realising the effect he was having, Mr. Inouye switched back to his lazy expression.

"It's fine," he said, looking down at his clipboard again. "I can remind all those knuckleheads who have forgotten too.

"Firstly, as you know, there are six classes in each year. Each year has a separate sports festival celebration. Therefore, all teams are assigned based on classes with different colours: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and purple. Your class is red.

"Secondly, all girls have the choice of either participating in the cheer or doing the board, and all boys have the choice of either participating in the cavalry battle or also doing the board. Neither is not an option. These are the activities in which you'll team up with another class, that is 2-F. Also, you need to be balanced out, so since there are 24 people in your class, 12 should be in the physical activity, and 12 should be in the cultural activity. Decide that between yourselves, I'm not handling any disputes.

"Thirdly, the entire class has to participate as a team for one event, that is the three-legged relay race. Your class luckily has equal number of boys and girls, so we're going to randomise some pairs. Don't look at me like that, I'm choosing."

Takiyo, Yuko, Ren and Arisu exchanged some looks at this point. But Mr. Inouye wasn't done yet.

"Finally, everyone has to enter at least one other event apart from the cheering/board/cavalry. Any of the races, etc. It's an obligation, there's nothing I can do about it. You can maximum enter three. Everyone is free to enter whatever they please, but if for example, there is no one from your class is willing to participate in the hurdle race, they are not forced too, but you will lose points. But having more people in another event can boost your points, so it's all nice and fair.

"Now then, any questions?" Mr. Inouye looked around at them all, and the class shook their heads. "Good. I'll finish my job as soon as possible, so all you kids stand up, and I'll assign the pairs, then you guys can sign up for your events."

There was mass of movement as everyone stood up and arranged themselves clumsily. Yuko nudged Takiyo.

"Psst, don't you think it would be nice if you got to pair up with Michi-chan?" she whispered, grinning.

"Oh, that would be nice." Ren said, leaning back a little.

Takiyo displayed an expressionless face, and said, "Move, you two are sandwiching me. Anyway, I just hope I'm not paired up with someone random."

"Oho~" Yuko and Ren grinned.

Mr. Inouye slowly moved along. Too slowly. He spent his sweet time picking out suitable pairs. He walked up to a person at random, asked for their name, located their name on his clipboard, then searched for a random name in his list. Then, completely disregarding the person who came next, he walked up to whoever he wanted.

He came surprisingly soon to Takiyo. He elbowed Ren aside, causing him to trip over some other people, and generally having the dominos effect.

"Oh, sorry. Right, your name?" Mr. Inouye asked as the rest of the class tried to untangle themselves behind him.

"Um, Hamasaki." Takiyo replied.

"Hamasaki...." He pursed his lips and scanned the clipboard. It felt as though he was deliberately making it harder for himself, because his reading glasses were pushed up his forehead. He finally located his name.

"Hamasaki Takiyo? You don't have twin sister or anything, do you?" Mr. Inouye asked suspiciously.

"No, sir, I'm an only child." Takiyo replied.

"Good. Because there was once this class that had triplets, and there was a major confusion, and I had to the whole damn process again. It was so exhausting and ridiculous." Mr. Inouye rambled.

"I...I see, sir." Takiyo replied, wishing he would hurry up.

"One time long-lost siblings were reunited in my class! Do you know what all messed up stuff go on in student's lives these days? They had an entire emotional scene right there, forgetting that there was a P.E. class going on!!"

"I understand, sir." Takiyo said, exchanging looks with Yuko. This was going highly off topic.

"Nobody has any respect for P.E. anymore, right?" Mr. Inouye continued. He smiled a little to himself. "All the stupid excuses I've heard in my years...." He sniffed, remembering all the good times he yelled at students. Wiping his face, he looked at Takiyo. "Right, what were we doing?"

HE FORGOT?!!!!

"You were about to appoint me my partner, sir." Takiyo replied, trying to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Ah, yes." As he scanned his clipboard. Takiyo crossed his fingers.

Please not someone random, please not someone random, please not someone random.

...

Please let it be Michi.

Takiyo jolted, and his face went a little red. What was he thinking? He shook his head and turned back to Mr. Inouye. He was still looking.

"Okay!" He seemed to have finally decided. Takiyo held his breath. "Why don't we have... Kaneshiro Arisu?"

Takiyo exhaled. It wasn't Michi, but it wasn't someone random, either. Mr. Inouye turned and yelled for Arisu, and she came by and joyously hugged Takiyo.

"Let me go." he said plainly, peeling her off.

"Yaaaaay!!! I'm with Takin! Let's grab the gold!"

"Shut up and get moving." Takiyo said, dragging her off. Yuko watched them leave somewhat sadly, as Mr. Inouye ignored her and walked to someone else.

"Takin wanted to be with Michi, right~?" Arisu asked slyly.

"Sir, is it possible to have a partner change?" Takiyo said loudly.

"Oh no, wait!" Arisu said. "Okay, I'll be quiet."

"Good."

They waited, and all the pairs were scattered around. There weren't many people left. Takiyo scanned the crowd and spotted Ren. He called out, "Hey, Muranaka! You want a partner exchange?"

"Oho, Takiyo, I didn't you were so bold..." Ren said smugly, turning to look at him. Both of them froze, seeing who the other's partner was. Their faces slowly adopted a tint of red.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Arisu asked, who was chatting with Erika up until a second ago. "Oh, hey Rekkun! Who's your...?" Then she glanced at Takiyo.

Ren's partner was Michi.

Ren took a deep breath, then walked up to Mr. Inouye. "Hey, sir, is a partner exchange possible?"

Takiyo could see where he was going with this. He looked at Michi, who waved at him.

Mr. Inouye glared at Ren. "Sorry, that isn't allowed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure Muranaka, now move. I want to finish my job."

Ren turned to Takiyo and gave him a half-smile. Then he walked over to them, followed by Michi.

"Well, that's how it is." Ren said, folding his arms.

"And you really wanted to be with Kaneshiro, didn't you?" Takiyo asked pityingly.

"Shut up."

"Then who is Ishida-kun with, Michi-chan?" Arisu asked.

"Oh, he's with Erika-chan." Michi answered.

Wow, Takiyo thought. Those two will get along just fine. They can form the 'Hate Hamasaki Club' together.

"Oh," Ren looked around. "Then who's Yuko with?"

At that same moment, Mr. Inouye had walked up to Yuko.

"Name?"

"N-Nishikawa, sir."

"Hmm...."

There were two girls left, including Yuko, and two boys. One of them was Ren's friend, and the other was...

"How about...Teruya Syo?"

Author's note
Yes, I know I've been excessively writing about Yuko. Don't worry, there will be some Takiyo next chapter!! ;)