Houtarou turned his head slightly in response, then vanished like the wind.
"Good work. Tachibana-san, you can go rest now."
Manabu, gripping the baton, launched forward without hesitation.
Before his words had even faded, he disappeared from Akane's sight.
In the blink of an eye, she saw Manabu pursuing his junior like a gust of wind. Within two breaths, he had caught up to Houtarou.
The two were running neck and neck!
"No way! Has Horikita-san been holding back against everyone all this time?"
As one of Manabu's few trusted classmates and his designated secretary, Akane thought she knew him well.
But only today did she discover the truth — he had been restraining himself all along. Despite his excellence, he had never shown his full potential.
Until now, no one at school had pushed him to be completely serious.
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"You really can't judge a book by its cover!"
From the spectator stands, Rokusuke watched the field after finishing his first leg.
"I slightly regret it." He said, "I shouldn't have run the first leg, always feeling like I was bullying people. I never wanted to compete with you mortals. But now — I really want to race with them!"
"..."
No, you're already very strong, his classmates thought to themselves.
Rokusuke had always been a loner in Class C, casual about everything. Everyone had treated him as a problem child.
But during the Island Exam, he surprised them with an unbelievably high score. Then he created a 25-meter lead in the race, amazing his classmates who had never achieved such results in the Sports Festival.
Class A's fifth runner Masumi, now on the sidelines, watched the race intently.
Her phone vibrated — Arisu was calling.
"Why are you calling at a time like this?" Masumi answered quickly.
[Kamuro-san, video, record the current scene,] Arisu commanded.
She had clearly anticipated something special but hadn't yet witnessed running beyond human limits. Her excitement was obvious.
But this was impossible! How could anyone keep up and watch them and film at the same time?
Masumi sighed at her friend's unreasonable demand!
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In Class A's camp:
"Looks like I really misjudged." Kōhei said.
With Manabu and Miyabi on their team, he hadn't thought they could catch up after falling behind in class points. After witnessing Rokusuke's monstrous performance and their first runner Masayoshi falling behind, he had given up hope.
But now in the final leg, Houtarou had emerged as a dark horse!
Running neck and neck with the strongest Student Council President!
"Was Oreki's speed actually this fast?" Kikyō asked with a dumbfounded expression, having finished her relay leg.
"Yes, very fast. I hadn't seen his movement speed before." Suzune stated matter-of-factly.
Oh. So Suzune knew quite a lot about this?
Kikyō felt she was the only one who had been kept in the dark.
'Hmph!' With no one paying attention to her, she became slightly fierce.
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The spectator stands instantly came alive as the two runners suddenly powered up.
The faculty had joined the crowd, with Chairman Narumori seated among the first-year teachers.
"This year's students are really something else." Kazuma remarked, the homeroom teacher of Class C — now demoted to Class D.
Though Kakeru's class had made tactical mistakes in this Sports Festival, their decision to seemingly give up in the All-Grade 1200m Relay — which had worried Kazuma about losing points based on their 1795 total — had worked out unexpectedly well.
But what was happening with these students?
While everyone knew Manabu was the strongest Student Council President in history, Ken and Rokusuke had shown themselves to be equally extraordinary!
All of Sae's students were performing like monsters!
And it wasn't just her class — Chie's student Sō Shibata was impressively fast, and now Mashima's Houtarou was showing incredible speed too!
As a result, was his class the only one without anyone showing extraordinary abilities?
Lost in these gloomy thoughts, Kazuma maintained his stern expression while the other teachers watched the race intently.
"I have great expectations for them." Narumori said. Even he hadn't known Manabu could run at such speeds.
This revealed that Manabu had been holding back his true abilities all along to match his classmates' level. It also highlighted some issues with how the school divided students into the four classes.
For instance, was being selected for Class A truly enough? While Class A represented excellence, some exceptional students seemed to transcend even that level.
As chairman, Narumori pondered this matter with great concern.
Sae observed the race, feeling as though she'd stumbled upon a hidden truth.
When she had pushed Suzune to advance, the girl had withdrawn in defeat. At that time, Sae had wondered about the boy in Suzune's life.
Now, everything made sense.
Of course — Houtarou was a Class A student. To reach Class A, one would first need to surpass him. Suzune must have given up at the mere thought of this challenge.
No wonder she had refused Sae's pressure so directly.
Yet now, things seemed to have worked out. Sae had found her peace with the situation.
Among the first-year teachers present, Chie was the most troubled.
She had noticed the change in Sae's demeanor and realized that, contrary to her assumptions, this woman had truly found contentment.
This left Chie wondering about the meaning of her own relentless pursuits.
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At the same time.
In the 1200-meter final leg, Sō found himself in a precarious position.
All eyes were on the final leg. The Sports Festival had already amazed everyone with Class 1-C's athletic prodigy Ken.
Then came Rokusuke, the first relay runner, whose incredible speed approached the limits of human capability.
And now, these two runners were even more astonishing — their speed defied belief.
The entire school watched intently. Though Miyabi held a strong lead at the halfway point, all attention was fixed on these two extraordinary runners.
But Houtarou saw none of it.
During the race, the spectator stands and crowd disappeared from his vision — there was only the curve ahead and the track to the finish line.
This was a strange, addictive feeling.
It was the human limit.
He had just one goal: to accelerate relentlessly and overtake everyone ahead.
One by one, opponents who had seemed insurmountable fell behind as the cool wind rushed past him.
He glanced at Manabu pursuing him. They exchanged subtle smiles.
The crowd erupted in cheers. Among Class 1-C's girls, several gyaru stood up from their seats.
"The boys are running incredibly fast! Nothing like the girls' race!"
Maya Satō leaned against the railing, trying to get a better view of the field.
"Class A's Oreki-kun is so cool!" She exclaimed, "Right, Karuizawa?!"
"Mm... ah... yes, very cool."
Oh no. That was a dangerous thing to say.
Kei glanced at Maya, her new friend since starting school.
After all, wasn't Ken representing their class in the race? Why was she focused on Houtarou instead of their own classmate?
Especially since Ken wasn't doing well at all right now.
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