Chapter 43 – Sports Festival II
57 0 3
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

The eating contest.

Why was it part of the sports festival? It had completely nothing to do with sports. What’s more, it was actually an opposite of health, which was something the entire event was supposed to be promoting.

Basically, you had to shove up your mouth as much food as possible. The person to give up last was the winner. Unlike other contests, participation in this one was completely voluntary. You could earn additional points for your class, though, which wasn’t something I cared about when I signed up for it.

Well, why had I signed up?

As usual, I wasn’t sure myself. It wasn’t like I had any chances of winning—I wasn’t a glutton at all, or at least I didn’t think so—nor had I arranged with that girl that we would compete against each other in it.

“Everyone! If you start feeling sick, don’t hesitate to stop!” the enthusiastic announcer read the rules aloud.

Apparently, more people had signed up than there was place for, so a lottery had to take place in order to limit the number of contestants. It seemed that I passed, so I found myself sitting at one, huge table along with 14 other people. Some of them appeared as if they had been training for this day from when they were born, others showed no care in the world.

But more importantly, I was surprised at one of the contestants that sat across from me. That’s right, it was the blonde, peculiar girl that had been crying over the result of her run—Lumiya. I would never expect to see her here, provided that taking part in this contest was completely voluntary. She shouldn’t have known that I was going to participate, which might have been one of the possible explanations… so what she was doing here?

Either way, the contest was about to start. Lots of food had been lined up in front of us. Wasn’t it a waste? Most of it had been prepared on home economics classes that took place recently.

“Are you ready???”

I couldn’t avoid it—I exchanged gazes with her. She had a confounded look, probably just like me, but some battle spirit could be seen on her face, which was rare. Unfortunately, we couldn’t ask each other what was going on currently, but I knew that we weren’t going to collaborate (how would it work in a contest like that, by the way?)

Yes, I was going to compete against her.

I finally had some reason to take this dumb contest seriously. I wasn’t sure how much of a glutton she was, but her figure didn’t appear so at all. If anything, she looked like she ate only when it was really necessary. But I wasn’t sure.

“Take your plates, and… Go!”

At that moment, I felt like on a highly anticipated product’s release. Maybe it was on a much smaller scale, but everyone started to eat furiously. I might have been wrong, but I thought that taking it easy was a much better technique.

I also took a look at her—it seemed that she thought the same as me, as she ate the bowl of rice she had picked up from the buffet slowly, just as if nothing was really happening.

“Oh! We have the first surrender!”

It took less than a minute for someone to drop out of the battle. Perhaps they weren’t ever going to try and win it? I continued digging into my own food, although I had to admit that there was a lot of pressure coming from all around me.

“And so, there are only three contestants left! Who’ll be first to give up??”

I felt sick. Why was I still there? I tried to shove more food into my mouth, but it just refused to process it. Normally, I would have long given up already, instead of having to deal with stomach aches and so later on.

I ended up in a totally odd situation. Not only had I somehow found myself among the three last survivors, but one of the other two was… that girl. Certainly she was set on winning against me… but it worked the other way around just as well.

Obviously, I couldn’t talk because of my mouth being full, and neither could she. I heard lots of cheers, some of them even called out my name (someone remembered it?)… Why were there people interested in such stupid event? Or maybe that was exactly because it was so dumb?

Each of us looked like giving up any moment, which probably made the match more thrilling. I guess the only reason I was forcing myself to eat was that girl—I found battling her somewhat fun, even though what I was feeling physically was pure pain and discouragement.

“Oh! It seems that contestant number three can’t take it anymore! Now, there are only two left! Let’s see, there is a girl with only one eye… does she have some special powers, maybe? Haha! And facing her off is a plain boy that looks like he’s going to die any moment! Now, who’s going to win?”

Apparently, I was the center of attention right now. Something like that had never happened before, so I wasn’t used to that feeling. It was an enormous pressure, even though the only other contestant was my friend.

I could hear both mine and her names being shouted out by the crowd. It seemed that unlike in the relay race that she failed at, they had remembered her name.

“…”

I was so focused on the food I just barely managed to shove into my mouth that I didn’t have the time to take a glance to check on her. Either way, it seemed that we were set on battling as long as possible.

“In case none of the contestants give up, there is a time limit! Once the two-minute mark is hit, the winner is the one with more plates eaten! Now, go!”

Hey, I hadn’t heard about this. But true enough, in such situation, giving up took a lot, and one of us would have eventually passed out instead if it wasn’t for that rule, probably. I mean, I would have long given up if it wasn’t for that girl. It was only because of her that I was forcing myself to eat.

But now, the rules had changed. Basically, we had to shove as much food as possible within those two minutes, and then, we were free. Well, it wasn’t like I could eat faster than I already was. I was too tired to speed up, nor could I quickly count the plates piled up next to her and compare it with mine.

By the way, there was no way I could participate in any other event today. Not only wouldn’t I be able to move, but I would also just vomit at some point. Were they going to pick someone else to replace me?

“Both players seem to be on the verge of giving up, so much that they haven’t sped up despite the sudden announcement! Who has eaten more, we’ll learn in one minute!”

One more minute was left. Would I endure it, or would I pass out by then? Why such dangerous event was even part of the school sports festival?? Why had I signed up for it???

The cheers didn’t stop. I guess what divided them weren’t our classes, but genders. Most girls were cheering for her, no matter if they knew her or not, and most boys were cheering for me.

“…”

I thought about nothing but food in front of me. Undoubtedly, I wouldn’t eat anymore today, possibly even tomorrow. To think that the only reward were bonus points for my class… they didn’t deserve them, I bet they hadn’t been cheering for me before most contestants dropped out.

“And… 10 seconds left!”

A signal inside my mind told me to speed up, but I wasn’t able to comply with it. Basically, the match was decided long before the two-minute time limit was announced. I was curious which one of us would win, because I really had no idea.

“Three… two… one… Stop!!!!!!”

Finally, I stopped eating and for the first time in a while, took a look at the blue sky over us.

“Now, once our team counts the plates, we’ll know the winner!”

Some people from the committee approached the table and started counting the plates piled up before us, but I didn’t mind them. With my stomach a balloon, I took a glance at her.

She looked just as tired as me, so that she didn’t bother to show any expression or gesture, just returning my gaze with her eyes devoid of any passion.

“The results came in!! Let’s take a look!!”

Everyone suddenly became quiet. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it was one of the most exciting events today thus far… and I was part of it. Again, how ironic that an event that had nothing to do with sports was part of the sports festival.

“Alright!” the announcer built suspense. “The winner of the eating contest is…”

I felt like I would pass out as soon as the results were announced, no matter if I won or not. As I glanced at her with my tired eyes, she looked very similar.

“How unbelievable! The plates count is exactly the same…!”

“Huh?”

“There is no doubt! It seems that we have a tie!!”

Really? Impossible. What were the chances? It was somewhat disappointing, but also surprising. Were we that much in sync or something?

“F-fufu…” she uttered a tired laughter.

“L-Lumiya…?”

Since everyone’s attention was centered on the announcer, we had a moment to talk with each other without being heard.

“Know your place human. You cannot win with me…” she said as she rested her head on the table, looking as if she were about to pass out.

“Y-yeah. It’s a tie…” I gazed at the sky as I wanted to leave my suffering body for a moment to rest.

In fact, we had won against thirteen random people in the contest. No matter how you looked at it, it was something of an achievement.

“But… what are you doing here…?”

“I could ask you the same, human.”

We spoke slowly due to exhaustion. I didn’t feel like a winner at all—more like a loser, actually.

“I signed up… just because. Maybe I wanted to overeat and be exempt from other competitions…” but it wasn’t worth it, since now I had to endure this unpleasant feeling.

“I… I wanted to let all those humans know their place after that humiliation.”

“I see… Makes sense…”

It was an odd feeling—I didn’t have enough energy to do anything, but I couldn’t rest either. Again, how such contest became part of the sports festival?

“But I didn’t know that you were such a glutton…” I said those words unwittingly.

“Wh-what? Do you know who you are talking to?”

“Yeah, I know…”

“Do not think you can act insolent towards me now. You have not won against me…!”

“Then, can you stand up…?”

“B-but of course! I still can destroy this city as I am now!”

“That’s great. But don’t do that.”

What if I told her to actually do that? It wasn’t like she could, so she probably would get cutely mad. To think that the same girl ran crying to the forest after embarrassing herself in a race…

Soon, the event came to an end and the crowd dispersed. The bonus points were divided equally between our classes, but I didn’t care about it. Again, nobody in my class took part in my success. They had started cheering for me once only the two of us had been left.

Nothing noteworthy had happened later that day, and so, I found myself on the way home in the evening. Accompanying me was, just as usual, the peculiar girl I had spent more time with that I had expected that day.

“Did you like it?”

“Not at all. It was pointless. Uhh…”

She let out a somewhat adorable groan, although I couldn’t enjoy it since it meant suffering for her.

“Does your stomach still hurt?”

“F-fufu. Do you know who you’re talking to? Of course it doesn’t…” tiredness could still be heard in her voice. It was obvious that she was lying as she touched her abdomen.

“Not really. Who am I talking to?”

“Y-you stupid human.”

Overall, I had enjoyed that day. I still didn’t like sport festivals, but this one was certainly better than previous ones. Winning the eating contest together with her would remain in my mind as a rather pleasant memory. Not only had I had lots of fun with her, but I had also even become the center of attention for a moment.

As soon as the contest ended, my classmates had approached me and congratulated… I guess it was only because of those points I had earned for them. Ah, and some second-year class had won the festival in general. My class happened to be the best of the third years, but it meant nothing in terms of rewards.

Of course, I hadn’t forgotten about all my trouble with her. That I loved her, or something… but it was like I just didn’t know what to think about it. Was there any point in that? We would most likely part as soon as we graduated.

“See you later. Lumiya.”

For now, I was happy that I would meet her again tomorrow. And then the day after tomorrow. But it had to come to an end at some point, didn’t it? The closer I grew to her, the more it would hurt. But that process was already irreversible. So maybe confessing wouldn’t be that bad of an idea?

Well, I may say what I want, but there was no way I would ever do it. No way. Even though I wanted.

3