I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"...Aren't you a liberal arts student?"

"But I was also number one in my class before we chose our majors, so listen to me first."

Chen Junqian crossed his arms over his chest and began to break down the project for her on the spot:

"First, the ball is round. If you could only read one romance novel in your life, it would probably be 'I Turn Reality into a Romantic Comedy'."

"That sounds like something really complicated."

"It's okay. During the game, Lin Guo doesn't need to worry about the ball. He just needs to do one thing: keep his back pressed against the ball and keep his core engaged. I'll take care of the rest, like footwork, direction, and balance."

"It feels like you're saying I just need to be a wall."

Although she complained, Gu Lingguo clearly agreed with Chen Junqian's suggestion. After all, even Chen Xi had shown a strong competitive spirit, and she herself wanted to win. However, compared to the previous three-legged race, the two-person ball-driving event was obviously much less entertaining in terms of ambiguity, cough cough, romantic comedy. After all, even the slightest physical contact between the two people was not allowed. That's not how it is in our anime world!

"preparation--"

A short while later, the referee blew the whistle, and all four groups of contestants took their positions at the starting line.

Chen Junqian and Gu Linguo stood back to back. To accommodate Gu Linguo's height, Chen Junqian had to slightly bend his knees and lower his center of gravity by nearly 15 centimeters. The red yoga ball was tightly sandwiched between their backs. More precisely, it was between Chen Junqian's broad and solid back and Gu Linguo's slightly thin shoulder blades, which were squeezed into a slightly flattened arc by the force of their movements.

Cross your arms over your chest! Don't sway your body!

With the referee's prompting, Chen Junqian casually crossed his arms in front of his chest and began to dribble, cooperating with the force transmitted from Gu Lingguo behind him.

"boom!"

The moment the starting gun fired, the two groups of competitors in the next lane rushed forward, looking eager to succeed. They took big, quick steps, but the yoga ball slipped off their sides and flew away like a slippery eel. The other group, however, was stuck in place for a while because they were going in different directions. The ball slowly slid down and got stuck on their waists, unable to move.

Chen Junqian's group, on the other hand, performed much more normally.

"One, two, one, two..."

While silently counting the rhythm in his mind, Chen Junqian deliberately coordinated with Gu Lingguo's pace, like a highly precise shock absorber, using his powerful core strength to firmly lock the position of the yoga ball. Gu Lingguo was initially nervous and her muscles were tense, but when she followed Chen Junqian's instructions and confidently poured all the strength of her back onto it, she found that the large ball on her back, which should have been incredibly slippery, was now as stable as a rock. All her strength seemed to have vanished as if it had disappeared into the sea, turning into a link in the balance.

However, compared to the previous person who used the phrase "wasp waist and ape arms," ​​a common expression in vernacular novels, to describe her brother's sister, Gu Lingguo, whose understanding of what she was seeing was clearly more in line with the general public, immediately thought of the adjective "dog waist."

Chen Junqian's back was like an indestructible iron wall, providing a steady and powerful support. Under his precise pressure, the yoga ball was firmly stuck between the two of them, without even the slightest unnecessary wobbling.

"Holy crap! Look at Chen Junqian's group! They're so solid!"

"How did they do that? The ball was like it was glued to their backs!"

"Chen Junqian's center of gravity control... is simply monstrous!"

A series of exclamations erupted from the stands. After all, Chen Junqian was the most watched student, and this time his partner was a beautiful girl. But soon, everyone's attention was drawn to the game content, which was beyond the appearance. In just about half a minute, Chen Junqian and Gu Linguo had already covered half the distance, leaving the other three groups far behind.

In the blink of an eye, we arrived at the most difficult turning point. As the biggest challenge of this project, because we moved back to back and sideways, we needed to rotate our bodies around the yoga ball in a 180-degree circle to get around the marker pole. So if we were not careful, the centrifugal force would throw the ball away.

"Tighten the core, turn around with me as the axis."

Although he couldn't see the other person's expression, he could still sense Chen Junqian's ease from his calm tone. The moment he reached the marker pole, he twisted his foot, powerfully planted one leg on the ground as a fulcrum, and suddenly exerted force with his back muscles, carrying the yoga ball sandwiched between the two of them, forcibly drawing an elegant semicircle in the air with an almost perfect arc.

Gu Lingguo only felt a gust of wind pass by her ears. Before she could react, she had already completed a smooth circular turn with Chen Junqian. The yoga ball did not even move half a millimeter between their backs, which made the referee next to them applaud.

After completing the turn, it was time for the final return journey. At this point, the other three groups had just caught up and barely made eye contact with Chen Junqian's group, who were returning. Then they saw the other group's eyes narrow and their pace quicken. Although the frequency increased, they still maintained terrifying stability. Gu Linguo was also carried away by this perfect rhythm, feeling like she was a pendant hanging on a top-of-the-line sports car. She only needed to mechanically step forward to experience the feeling of speed.

Twenty meters, ten meters, five meters!

"Cross the finish line!"

Amidst deafening screams and applause, Chen Junqian and Gu Linguo, each clutching a red yoga ball, crossed the finish line like lightning. The process was so fast and without any twists and turns that Gu Linguo didn't even have time to react. It wasn't until the moment the competition ended, when Chen Junqian slightly relaxed and the yoga ball that had been held in place for the entire competition fell to the ground with a whoosh, that she came back to her senses.

"...This is so boring."

Even though it was her first time participating in a doubles event at the sports festival with her senior, and even though the two of them cooperated perfectly and won first place, when Gu Lingguo sat down next to her best friend with a bottle of water, she still subconsciously blurted out this comment.

"Isn't first place interesting?"

"Compared to the result, the process is definitely more important. Xiaoxi and her senior's three-legged race was very interesting, and there were also 'whoosh whoosh whoosh' and 'beep beep beep' sounds."

"Don't deliberately use weird, censored words to make what just happened sound strange... My brother and I didn't do anything, did we?"

After all, in terms of physical contact alone, it didn't feel as close as when she and her brother were at home.

Just as Chen Xi retorted with a somewhat helpless expression, she saw Gu Lingguo suddenly stand up from the stone steps of the stands, as if she had thought of something or been reminded by Chen Xi.

"That's right!"

"What's right?"

"I've said it before: the two-person dribbling game is neither a romantic comedy nor anime. Everything related to the ball in our anime should be geared towards a specific segment."

"Um, what part?"

"Of course it's a charging foul!"

Even as she was saying these words, Gu Lingguo deliberately puffed out her chest, causing her younger sister, who was perfectly embodying the theory of childhood sweethearts sitting in the most obvious position, to twitch at the corner of her mouth. She had thought that her best friend had become somewhat presentable during this time, but now, looking at her again, she seemed to still be the same two-dimensional person she used to be.

"Xiao Xi understood immediately, so you've also been infected by me—no, I mean infected, uh, I've successfully proselytized you!"

Although she was reluctant to admit it, Chen Xi still looked away from her best friend's accusation. After all, she had just instantly understood what her friend meant. So the ancient saying that "one who is near vermilion gets stained red and one who is near ink gets stained black" is still very true. If her brother hadn't lived here, she would have asked her mother to move three times back then.

However, seeing the other person turn and leave, she couldn't help but perform a "Erkang hand gesture":

"So where is Lin Guo going?"

"Of course we're going to find our senior! Xiaoxi, do you want to come along?"

Chen Xi was torn between following her best friend who had just finished talking about dribbling into someone and then turning around to look for her brother. After hesitating for a while, she decided on a compromise: a feint, or as Gu Linguo herself put it, a necessary element in romantic comedies—the stalking scene.

"No, you go find him. I remember he's over there on the podium."

After Gu Linguo walked away humming a song, she quietly got up from her seat and followed her, hiding herself in the crowd on the playground.

While the fun events attracted many students, the official competitions that determine the scores and rankings of each team, which are the true competitive events of the sports meet, also maintained a high level of attention, such as the ongoing women's 800-meter final.

The contestants from each class gradually gathered near the starting line. Some stretched their legs in place, some moved their ankles, and some nervously counted on their fingers. Xu Youwei stood out in the crowd.

She was wearing the white class uniform of Class 3, with a light sports vest over it. Her bib number was neatly pinned on, and her long hair was tied high behind her head, revealing her smooth forehead and sharp eyebrows. She was doing her final stretches, lifting her legs, pressing her shoulders, and rotating her ankles. Each movement was crisp and powerful.

As a girl who has maintained perfect attendance at every sports meet since childhood, Xu Youwei is so used to the scene that she shows no sign of nervousness whatsoever, as if she has shut out the surrounding noise from her own rhythm...

"YoYo!"

Okay, with someone's call, Xu Youwei, who had just seemed to be in a state of flow, instantly broke free and, like a proud big cat, tiptoed to his side, her eyebrows immediately curving into a smile:

"Are you done with your doubles match?"

"Yes, first."

"Sure, who will you be partnered with?"

"Lin Guo".

"No wonder she was shouting like she had won the world championship."

Since the competition was about to start, Chen Junqian didn't want to chat with Xu Youwei for long.

"I'll be waiting for you at the finish line. Water and towels will be ready."

"Okay, see you in a bit."

"On your marks—"

As the starter's voice rang out, the area around the track gradually quieted down.

The eight contestants stood in their respective positions, leaned slightly forward, and looked ahead.

Xu Youwei was on the outermost lane. She didn't rush to grab a spot. She gently exhaled, clenched her hands and then released them. The wind blew a few strands of hair at the end of her ponytail. Her bib number was pressed against her chest, rising and falling slightly with her breath.

"boom!"

Gunshots rang out, and everyone rushed out at the same time.

The girl's ponytail swung sharply in the air behind her, her shoes slamming heavily onto the track with each step, sweat trickling down her face. Especially in the final sprint, her breathing became rapid, yet she gritted her teeth and maintained her arm swing and stride frequency. Her indomitable spirit emanated from her taut jaw, her forward-leaning body, and her increasingly rapid steps, making it impossible to look away.

"Vivi is number one!"

Lin Mu, who had somehow appeared beside Chen Junqian, cheered loudly for his friend.

In the final fifty meters, the girl, who had already maintained an absolute lead, continued to accelerate. The sun shone obliquely on her sweat-dampened hair, and her white class uniform clung to her back in the wind, outlining the taut lines of her shoulders and neck from running. The way she rushed forward was like a gust of wind that refused to stop.

"Shh-"

Xu Youwei was the first to cross the finish line, the referee pressed the timer, and the flag was raised.

"Xu Youwei from Class 3, Grade 11, first place in the girls' 800 meters!"

Applause, shouts, and whistles rang out at the same time. Xu Youwei did not stop immediately after crossing the finish line. She ran a few more steps before slowly slowing down. She put her hands on her knees, lowered her head, and gasped for breath. Beads of sweat dripped from her hair onto the track.

Chen Junqian had already circled around from outside the finish line and was standing not far in front of her, but instead of immediately handing her the water, he earnestly instructed her:

"Take a few steps first, and don't bend over."

Xu Youwei raised her head, her damp bangs clinging to her cheeks. Her cheeks were flushed, but her eyes shone brightly. Hearing his words, she frowned, took a breath, and then straightened up, supporting herself on her knees.

"I know... it's not like it's my first time running away."

"It's precisely because it's not the first time that we should know this even more."

"Qinqin is so talkative today."

"Someone has a lot of projects today too."

Xu Youwei wanted to glare at him, but having just run 800 meters, she didn't even have the strength to glare at him. She could only walk slowly forward, adjusting her breathing as she went. Chen Junqian followed beside her, keeping a half-step distance, neither supporting her nor letting her walk unsteadily on her own.

Once her breathing had calmed down a bit, he handed her a dry towel. Xu Youwei took it, wiped her forehead haphazardly, and brushed her wet, stray hairs back. When she looked up, her nose was still damp with sweat, but she had regained some of her usual neatness.

Chen Junqian opened the bottled water he had brought and handed it to her:

"Sip it."

Xu Youwei took the bottle and was about to tilt her head back to gulp it down when she saw the look in his eyes. She had no choice but to stop herself and start sipping instead. After finishing half the bottle, she let out a long breath, smiled, and shook the bottle at him.

"Are you satisfied now, Qinqin?"

"reluctantly."

"You're so hard to please."

"Aren't you the same? You apply for so many projects every year, how can you possibly manage them all?"

"There's no way around it—I'm used to it."

"Let's go sit in the shade for a while, instead of standing in the sun."

"Ah."