My love index is at its maximum.

Inside the tent, Hoshino Hanami, legs crossed, was happily eating a bunch of grapes. Her eyes, gazing at the playground, shone with pride.

“Hoshino-sensei,” Shimamoto Kana said with a smile, holding an orange, “want to make a bet?”

"What are we betting on?" Hoshino Hanami asked with interest.

"How about we bet on whether your class gets all the points this time, or if other students also manage to get some?"

"Interesting. Which side are you betting on?"

“Tazaki has changed a lot recently. I’m betting he’ll choose to let his classmates have some of the limelight.”

"Then I'll bet on him to get all the points," Hoshino Hanami replied with a smile, asking while eating grapes, "By the way, what's the stake?"

A hint of conspiracy flashed in the depths of Kana Shimamoto's deep-colored eyes.

She leaned in and whispered the bet in Hoshino Hanami's ear. Then, before the shocked Hoshino Hanami could react, she smiled provocatively: "Hoshino-sensei, don't you dare?"

"Who's afraid of who!" Hoshino Hanami, who had been somewhat hesitant, immediately stood her ground.

"A word is settled!"

The two beautiful women raised their fair, delicate hands, as white as young girls' hands, and applauded crisply.

……

The third round of matches is underway on the field.

The score displayed on the electronic screen is F class leading D class 9-0.

After successfully defending in the previous round, it was F-class's turn to attack.

Once the ball was set out, it was passed around two or three times and quickly ended up in Tsukasa Tazaki's hands again.

Several defenders surrounded them.

Having learned from the experience of the first round, they now focus their attention on Tsukasa Tazaki, setting up numerous obstacles along his advance line, just waiting for him to walk through them.

Tsukasa Tazaki protected the ball and carefully observed the situation.

Because they had drawn away a lot of defensive forces, the other students had a lot of room to maneuver. Murakami Mizuiro, in particular, was running towards the opposing team's end zone at a very fast speed.

He kept looking back as he ran.

His meaning was very clear: he wanted Tsukasa Tazaki to pass the ball to him.

Tsukasa Tazaki was not in a hurry.

Instead, he dribbled the ball around his own half of the penalty area several times, confusing all the defenders, before throwing the ball forcefully.

The oval-shaped rugby ball traced an arc through the air and landed precisely in Murakami Mizuiro's hands.

Individual heroism is quite good.

But it's just as good to have teammates fighting alongside you to enjoy the victory.

"It's all up to me now!" Murakami Mizuiro shouted excitedly, striding excitedly towards the other side of the field.

In the commentary booth, Chiba Miho's heart was in her throat, and her voice became tense as she gave the commentary.

"The ball has been passed to Murakami, and he's charging forward. Will he succeed?"

"Murakami-kun has reached 40 yards!"

"35 yards!"

"There's a defender on the right flank, watch out! It's Tazaki-kun again!"

Tazaki Tsukasa surged forward from behind at lightning speed, tackling the D-class defender. Murakami Mizuiro, carrying the rugby ball, sprinted forward, with no obstacles in his path.

"30 yards!"

"20 yards!"

"Murakami-kun has already pulled far ahead!"

"Finally, Class 1-F has scored another touchdown!"

As Chiba Miho shouted, cheers and applause erupted from the audience.

All the girls from Beichuan waved inflatable batons and shouted "Go! Go!" at the field.

Inside the tent, Hoshino Hanami stared coldly at Tazaki Tsukasa, a murderous glint in her eyes.

"Oh dear, Hoshino-sensei lost." Shimamoto Kana covered her mouth and breathed softly in her ear: "Isn't Tazaki-kun, who's no longer self-centered, better than you imagined?"

Hoshino Hanami frowned slightly, then a cold smile appeared on her lips: "Just watch, I'll slowly train him!"

“Before that,” Shimamoto Kana stared at her exquisite oval face and said with a mischievous smile, “remember to keep your promise, and don’t keep me waiting too long!”

……

The competition proceeded quickly, and soon the final round arrived.

"Break through the starting line, get rid of a tackle, run to the right, run along the right line, knock a defender aside, and he starts sprinting. My God, he's covered in butter, you simply can't catch him!"

The D-class defenders, left behind, stared blankly at Tsukasa Tazaki's retreating figure, their mouths agape as if they had seen an unbelievable monster.

"He's about to enter the terminal area!"

"Tsukasa Tazaki, touchdown!"

"Tasaki—" The cheers from the sidelines were deafening.

As Miho Chiba began her commentary, the camera zoomed in on the scene.

On the large electronic screen, Tsukasa Tazaki's image was displayed.

Although the helmet covered most of the face, leaving only a small area from the bridge of the nose to the eyes exposed, people could still feel an unparalleled confidence from it!

Gasps erupted from the crowd, and some girls even stood up to watch in shock.

The boys in the class picked him up and tossed him high into the air.

"He made all the defenders look like fools, just breaking through a crowd and nobody could tackle him! When you watch him score a touchdown, all you can do is silently exclaim to God: 'Oh my god.'"

"Hey, Chiba-senpai," Fujiwara Izaya, who had been watching the match with a nonchalant expression, suddenly leaned over to Chiba Miho and asked, "Did you notice anything strange?"

Chiba Miho answered with absolute certainty, "Tazaki-kun is really handsome!"

"Hahaha!"

This remark was met with a burst of laughter from the audience.

Amid the laughter, Fujiwara Izaya, his face dark, patiently explained, "Every time he breaks out of the encirclement, time around him seems to stand still. Like in The Matrix, everything freezes, and he fully assesses his posture, then, as if his brain is issuing a decision on which way to go, he charges the ball in a superhuman way."

"Oh, ah, huh, mmm..."

Chiba Miho gave him a very perfunctory and vague response, but after Tazaki Tsukasa took off his helmet, she shouted loudly, "Tazaki-kun, good luck!"

"That's too biased, Chiba-senpai!" Fujiwara Izaya tapped the table, sullenly reminding her, "As a commentator, you should maintain a fair stance. How did you teach me that just now?"

“That makes sense.” Chiba Miho nodded and began to reflect on the mistake she had just made.

Just then, Tsukasa Tazaki came to the sidelines to get some water.

On the big screen, a handsome young man, his face covered in sweat, pulled his tracksuit down a little, revealing his fair neck and a hint of his collarbone.

"Gurgle~"

The microphone in front of Chiba Miho clearly recorded the sound of her swallowing saliva.

"Ha, shallow woman!" Fujiwara Izaya slumped onto the table, utterly dejected. Looking at the bustling playground, he thought to himself, "Maybe I should go and play some games later. I can't let someone else steal my thunder in front of the student council president."

……

Besides the rugby game, many other class matches were held throughout the morning.

In every project that Tsukasa Tazaki signed up for, he won first place. In the final first-year group, Class F won first place without any doubt, and Class A came in second.

During his lunch break, Tsukasa Tazaki went to work on the executive committee.

Shiori Ninomiya and Sakura Kuriyama were eating their bento boxes in the ATF club activity room.

"Hmm... Shiori, are you looking at photos from the sports festival again?"

"I've taken too many photos, so I want to organize my phone's photo album a little. But I don't want to delete any of them; after looking at them for so long, the number hasn't decreased at all..."

"let me see."

"Come."

"...You've taken pictures of nothing but Tsukasa Tazaki?"

"Haha~ This is the best sports festival I've ever had!"

"Have you participated in a sports festival before this?"

"...Thinking about it carefully, there really isn't any."

"You're really too deeply poisoned." Kuriyama Sakura shook her head and sighed, turning her head to stare blankly out the window.

Several gray pigeons perched on the ginkgo tree in the courtyard.

Bathed in the autumn sunlight, they gazed down at the school buildings as if deep in thought, as if they were the masters of Beichuan.

The sky remained cloudless, and below were students who, even at midday, were full of vigor and high spirits.

Should we participate in the club competition?

Kuriyama Sakura pondered this matter, idly twirling a mechanical pencil in her hand.

She is not good at sports.

Whether it's good or bad, that's how we are born, and we can't ask for anything more.

I have almost no experience participating in events like school sports meets.

This might also be related to the fact that she doesn't have many peers to play with, making it difficult for her to fully engage in physical education classes. Not to mention team sports like basketball, she's not very good at one-on-one matches like tennis either, and when she occasionally plays with her family, she almost always loses.

of course.

Kuriyama Sakura believes that she has no competitive spirit whatsoever.

She has never cared about competing with others since she was a child.

I don't care too much about what I do, whether I win or lose to others.

They think in this way and live their lives according to this way of thinking.