CHANGED - Classroom of the Elite

24

Day 7:

The group decided to eat together for breakfast, believe it or not. Must've been a sight to see for the other groups; class C, the original class D, getting all buddy-buddy with the cream of the crop class A.

Didn't help that Sakayanagi decided to sit literally right next to her. Her placid, innocent smile only made things worse.

"Sooooooo," Kei trailed off. "How are we going to go about the relay?"

"Good question." Matsushita sipped on her morning juice. "Sakayanagi can't participate, meaning only nine of us can actually run the track."

"I apologize for the inconvenience." Sakayanagi bowed her head politely.

"Uh- you're fine." Matsushita tapped her nails on the side of her cup, a sweatdrop on her cheek. Suzune didn't blame her - Sakayanagi had a habit of making those around her feel smaller, weaker, whether it's intentional or not.

"Why does it have to be 18 kilometressssss...." Satou whined.

"Say," All the girls turned towards the girl who spoke up. Kamuro continued, "The bare minimum we need to run each is 1.2 kilometres, but that would only make 10.8. We still have to run 7.2 more."

"Hang on," Sato suddenly perked up, a lightbulb clearly going off in her head. "What if some of the girls like, double their amount to run?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Kamuro stated. "I say that we have the faster runners run more kilometres, that way their speed can be utilized in a more effective way." Kamuro had a thoughtful look on her face. "Other groups with 15 don't have the ability to change around their lengths. We should use this to our advantage."

"But who's going to run more kilometres?" Kei asked. "I don't know about you, but myself and a few other girls here... running's not our thing." A few girls nodded along to her claim.

"I can run another few!" Onodera shot her hand right up, an eager grin etched into her face. "I've been meaning to get my adrenaline pumping!"

"Fantastic." Kamuro nodded. "Would anyone else like to volunteer?"

No one moved. The girls were glancing at each other, waiting for someone to just... do something.

(The bystander effect, huh.

...

She might as well bite.)

"I'll do it." Everyone snapped their heads towards Suzune, who rose her off-hand while her right one twirled a half-eaten carrot. She needs the energy, also the better eyesight. "How much do you want me to run?"

"Well I uh- " Kamuro quickly glanced at Sakayanagi, who slightly nodded her head. Kamuro coughed and back to her across the table. "Thank you for volunteering, Horikita-san."

"No problem."

"And, as for how much you'd run... I was thinking that you and Onodera split the 7.2 kilometers."

"Alright, sounds good." "Let's do this, girls!"

Kei whipped her head around towards Suzune. "You're agreeing to that?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"Okay, listen, I know you're fast, but we're versing second and third years. Don't you think, I don't know... that maybe you should lay low for this?"

Suzune could see where Kei was coming from. She had mentioned off-handedly earlier that Nagumo was onto her, and Kei seemed shocked out of her skin (she also looked a little frightened, but now's not the time for that.)