A Normal High School Life (CotE Fanfic)

Chapter 9.5: Marathon Day

*Gunshot*

The girls started running as soon as they heard the signal that marked the beginning of today's marathon.

"Boys, prepare yourselves, we'll start in about half an hour!"

We then started to move toward the starting point. The system was first come first serve so all the students were fighting for the front spots to get a slight advantage.

But I had a different objective. Before this marathon, someone had supposedly threatened me if I didn't crave their demands. I wasn't backing down so I was going to seek some assistance from someone, so I made sure to place myself near that person.

"Oi Ayanokouji, come here for a moment!" Shouted Sudou from the distance.

I tried ignoring him but he managed to grab my arms.

"Oi, where do you think you're going?"

I could easily shake him off, but doing so in this crowd would raise unnecessary suspicions. And most likely Sudou would not appreciate it.

So I was forced with Sudou, Ishizaki, and a bunch of other boys to have a small talk while waiting for the race to start. We mostly talked about how people from the outside look at us as students of the ANHS.

"I mean, the government was willing to close some main roads just for this event so we must be pretty important, right?" Said Ishizaki.

"Hell yeah they do, I mean look above us, there are helicopters flying!"

Those were most likely news helicopters flying above us and of course, they were no ordinary news company, it was one that was run by the government so that the government would be able to control what the public sees.

But even that was quite a radical change. Among the 10 years of history of our school, this was the first time that the public was allowed to witness one of the school's events. 

"We will begin shortly, get ready!"

Soon after that, the signal was set and we started running. I quickly checked my surroundings to find the person that I was looking for. He was dashing in front of me and the distance between him and the other students started to widen, I increased my speed to catch up to him.

400m (0.25mi) into the race...

It's only been about one minute since the race started and the students have somewhat already spread out. The faster students were the ones at the front while the slower ones were a considerable distance away.

But there was something peculiar around me. Of course, people like Hirata and Sudou were leading the race at the front. Their athletic abilities were sufficient for them to hold this pace for a long time. But among the faster students, I noticed that there was Yamauchi in front. How stupid.

He wasn't even half a kilometer into the race and he was already panting like crazy. You need to cover 42.2km (26mi) in a marathon so expending all your energy at the beginning was a stupid idea. Did he do that just to keep up appearances?

Yamauchi couldn't keep up the pace and soon he slowed down. moments later, even the slower students like Yukimura and Ike passed him.

1.1km (0.7mi) into the race...

I had just passed by the first water station of the race and I made sure to take a quick sip of water. The human body typically sweats 1.4 liters per hour during a marathon, so enough hydration is essential if you were going to finish one.