"...that was super fast".

After the contest, Karuizawa said that to me while averting her eyes from me.

"Isn't it just that my opponent happened to be slow?".

"No, no. Are you really saying that after seeing everyone's reactions?".

"Leaving jokes aside, ultimately I didn't beat the student council president, did I?".

"Well, there's no helping that. The person running in front of you fell".

As the two of us closed in on him at an astounding pace, the runner in front of me panicked and fell and ended up blocking my way.

I dodged him but that slight delay proved to be significant and Horikita's older brother ended up overtaking me.

I don't know what the result would've been without that accident but I don't really care for such things. At the very least, all that's certain is that I've gathered attention from all over the school with this final contest.

A lot of the ones who had finished running looked at me inquisitively.

"Ayanokouji! Aren't you a fast one! Have you been holding back until now!?".

Sudou, who came running over to me, forcefully slapped me on the back. Since he put all his strength into it, that hurt.

"Running is about my only forte after all. But that was overdoing it. I guess this is what you'd call hysterical strength".

And not just Sudou, but also several students who were surprised by my run came over to me and called out.

"That still doesn't explain it. That speed, I mean. You liar".

Slightly dragging her foot behind her, Horikita came over. She used her hand as though it were a blade and stabbed me in the abdomen.

"You guys, this isn't the sort of treatment you should be giving a soldier who fought his best.....it hurts".

Since Horikita came over to me, Karuizawa took her distance from me so as to not be a disturbance.

From afar, Sakura was also looking at me but since there's a crowd around me, she did not approach.

"If you had run like this from the start, then things would've been different. But why did you suddenly get serious? Now you'll be basking in attention".

That's exactly it. Unlike Hirata or Shibata, students who were already recognized as being fast from way back or Sudou, who's been giving it his all since the very start of the sports festival, I've been half assing it up until now.

That gap will definitely have an influence but that depends on the way you think about it.

It's not particularly difficult to make it look like tampering with the list on the participation table, keeping me in reserve until now and all the manipulations behind the scenes were all part of Hirata and Horikita's strategy.

It's particularly effective against someone like Ryuuen, who likes to outplay people.

"Looks like they're going to be announcing the results soon. Let's go".

It appears the results will be announced at the same time as the closing ceremony. All the students turned towards the giant electronic notice board.

"Now then, we will be announcing the results for this year's sports festival---".

On the electronic notice board, we were divided up between the Red Team and the White Team and the tallying of the numbers began. The numbers began to rise.

The total acquired points from all 13 events. The winning team is.......

"The Red Team wins".

The points were displayed alongside those letters. It truly was a hard-won battle but the Red Team, composed of the DA coalition, appears to have won.

"Next up, we will announce the overall points for each class".

Dividing up the 12 classes into three categories on the display, the overall points for each class were displayed all at once.

For us, the breakdown for the 2nd and 3rd years mean nothing. What's important is what position Class D is in.

1st Place: 1st year Class B

2nd Place: 1st year Class C

3rd Place: 1st year Class A

4th Place: 1st year Class D