I'm in a real religion, why are all the people who confess to me girls?

Judging from the fact that Marina dared to slash at Kunihiro Miyako, who was already the de facto ruler of the country... expecting her to bow down is less desirable than praying for a miracle.

"It's not too late to talk after you win the game, old man. Hurry up and make your move."

Marina frowned and urged Kunihiro Miyako to make his move.

Kuninori Miyako laughed loudly and placed a piece without even looking at it.

This game was a sure win, though it was somewhat underhanded, but that's the difference in skill. If you're not good enough, you can't even win a game that determines your fate.

Marina took a move seriously. Seeing that Marina seemed to be planning a move, Kuninori Miyako considered that Marina might want to create a draw, so he decided to be more serious. However, he thought that a draw was the same as winning.

After realizing that Marina had no choice but to become his daughter-in-law, Kuninobu Miyako stopped agonizing over it and casually placed another piece.

After four moves, Marina smiled on her face on the fifth move.

"I won."

Marina pointed to the five black stones that were connected together and showed a relieved expression.

"Hmm? Isn't it too early to say we've won?"

According to Kuninori Miyago, the current game will not end until several dozen moves later.

"Old man, can't you count? I have five characters in a row, and according to the rules of Gomoku, I've already won."

"But...we're playing Go, aren't we?"

"Huh? Old man, think back again. When you asked me to choose which game to play, did I say Go?"

Kuninori Miyako suddenly remembered that they had almost reached an agreement, which was just to give the Kiryuin family a way out. So they decided to decide the outcome with a game of Go. In order to highlight his Go skills, Kuninori Miyako handed over the initiative to Marina.

Then Marina took out a Go board and handed him a box of white stones.

Without uttering a single word, Kuninori Miyako subconsciously assumed it was a game of Go. For a Go master like him, it was incredibly easy. Furthermore, with Marina playing black first, Miyako had no worries whatsoever.

But little did he expect that Marina had set a trap for him here.

Kuninori Miyako frowned. Although Marina's argument was somewhat far-fetched, it was indeed his oversight. But how could she... how could she dare to win this game? Was she really going to go all out?

But if her parents... if this child can't think straight, then what about the grandchildren in her womb...?

Kuninori Miyako's face suddenly turned extremely gloomy, and he met Marina's gaze with a rather intimidating look.

Marina sighed softly.

"This is my first time playing chess, and winning a game against you, old man, is a good result. Please guide me in the future."

Marina finally lowered her head, but Kuninori Miyako felt no joy of victory whatsoever.

"This is probably the most humiliating defeat in the history of Miyako Kuninori. Mari, you're quite good."

"Your praise is like heavenly music to me; I think I should name my child 'Tianyin' (Heavenly Sound)."

Upon hearing that Marina wanted to name the child, Kuninori Miyako shook his head.

"I still hope it's a grandson; if it's a granddaughter... the Miyako family might be thrown into complete chaos."

Kuninori Miyako couldn't imagine what would happen to the Miyako family if they had another descendant like Marina.

But Kuninori Miyako probably never imagined that Marina's legacy would ultimately continue.

Chapter 428: Should We Run at Full Speed?

The boys' horseback riding battle in the first year ended faster.

Under the attack of Class C's superior number and quality of cavalry teams, the other three classes were quickly routed.

Because Ayanokouji hadn't learned Amane's hunting techniques, which resembled those of a wild beast, he was unfortunately eliminated at the very beginning. Then, the temporary commander Yukimura's poor leadership caused everyone to abandon their speed advantage and gather together.

Yukimura originally wanted to use everyone's strength to resist the enemy, which might offset the huge physical advantage of the boys in Class C. However, with Koenji refusing to participate, Ayanokouji being eliminated first, and Hirata unable to play due to injury, Amane only glanced at him before turning to go play with Sakayanagi. She knew that the game was already lost after Yukimura adopted a turtle-shell formation.

Mounted combat, as the name suggests, involves fighting on horseback. But if it's just a contest of strength, what's the point of a horse? Wouldn't it be more direct to just go into battle and fight yourselves?

Yukimura abandoned the most important factor, speed, right from the start, and the result was predictable.

After seeing Yukimura's formation, Ryuen mocked Yukimura in front of everyone and then ordered Class C to attack the other classes first. Katsuragi from Class A and Kanzaki from Class D both came to Yukimura to persuade him to attack Class C together, otherwise Class B would definitely be unable to withstand the attack alone.

However, in Yukimura's plan, Class C only had five horse riding groups, while Class A and Class D together had a total of ten horse riding groups.

Even if they are inferior in quality to Class C, but with a difference of twice the number of people, even if Class C wins, they will suffer heavy casualties.

There will most likely be only one or two horse riding teams left, and they will definitely be exhausted. Although Class B only has four horse riding teams, they are well-rested and may be able to defeat Class C.

From a purely numerical and logical standpoint, Yukimura's analysis was remarkably thorough, and its likelihood of success was very high.

But reality dealt Yukimura a heavy blow.

Kanzaki refused to cooperate and simply ordered all the riders of Class D to dismount and surrender. Class D was defeated without a fight. Katsuragi did not want to surrender easily and led the riding team of Class A to fight against Class C. In just thirty seconds, the riding team of Class A was completely defeated.

Looking at the almost intact Class C horse riding team, Yukimura realized that he had missed the best opportunity.

Longyuan, however, only ordered Albert's cavalry squad to launch the attack.

Ishizaki rode on Albert's back and wreaked havoc. Albert's strong body was like an armored vehicle, charging recklessly through Class C's defensive formation. In the end, he defeated Class B's boys' horseback riding team without taking any damage and won the championship.

As for the subsequent four-way tug-of-war and other events, Horikita did not include Amane on the roster, so Amane did not participate.

The same applies to three-legged races.

Watching the girls stumble and run towards the finish line hand in hand, Amane couldn't help but feel a little regretful. If she had known that this game could allow for such close relationships with partners, she should have pestered Horikita to sign her up.

Unfortunately, it's all too late to say anything now.

Soon, the competition will enter the final event of the main event of the sports festival: the 1200-meter mixed relay.

The competition requires that each class must have an equal number of boys and girls participating, meaning that three boys and three girls must run the 1200 meters. The problem is not so much for the girls, but for the boys. Although there are not many girls in Class B who are physically strong, it is still relatively easy to select three.

The lineup for the male contestants was somewhat problematic. With Hirata and Koenji, two formidable weapons, unable to be used, even assembling a team of three was a pipe dream. It took a long time of discussion before the current list of participants was finally settled.

The male participants include Ayanokouji, Miyake, and Makita. Ayanokouji's strength is undeniable. Although no one has ever seen him run, his grip strength ranks second among the male participants, and he is also a very fast swimmer. So, we can look forward to seeing how he performs in the running event.

Miyake was selected as the second male relay team because he was a key member of the sports club and ranked third in grip strength among the boys. As for Makita... Amane didn't know much about him, but he was recommended by Okiya. It is said that Makita, who had never practiced basketball, was able to defeat the second-year students without any resistance on his first try.

Amane had some doubts about this statement, but Horikita readily agreed to Okiya's recommendation and let Makita take the last spot.

Horikita explained it to Amane in this way.

"Anyway, the rest are all useless. Someone who can be recommended by others is much better than those trash."

Although the boys might have a lot to say about this, it's really hard to expect most of the boys in Class B to achieve anything significant.

The relay team for the girls consisted of Amane Miyako, Suzune Horikita, and Kayano Onodera—a lineup that no one could object to.

Horikita and Onodera's abilities are already reflected in their physical education grades; both of them won first place in their respective groups in the 100-meter dash. As for Amane's abilities, Class B no longer raises any doubts.

Even Kushida, who had always been somewhat dissatisfied with Amane, had to admit that there were probably very few people in the entire school who could rival Amane.

Therefore, Tianyin was specially assigned to the last leg of this relay race.

After all, Horikita tricked Amane into participating in the competition by using the excuse that the last runner would make the girls cheer. If Amane wasn't given the last runner position, she would definitely throw a tantrum on the track to protest.

Therefore, rather than letting Tianyin cause a scene during the competition and affect the results, it's better to let her run the last leg.

The arrangement for Class B is as follows: Horikita will start the first leg, Onodera the second, Makita the third, Miyake the fourth, Ayanokoji the fifth, and Amane the sixth.

"The competition is about to start, I need to go get ready!"

Tianyin wiped the cotton candy from the corner of her mouth, jumped off her seat, and headed to the relay race venue to prepare.

How do you plan to run?

Sakayanagi suddenly asked Amane a rather strange question.

If she had to answer, she'd probably say to run, but no matter how she thought about it, Amane didn't believe that Sakayanagi wanted a boring answer, so she could only look at Sakayanagi with a puzzled expression.

Seeing Amane's puzzled look, Sakayanagi realized that there was something wrong with how she asked the question, so she decided to directly tell Amane her thoughts after thinking about them for a long time.

Although it may have a huge impact on others, Tianyin should be happy, right?

"Should we give it our all and run like that?"

Chapter 429: You want to run the last leg too?

"Huh? Arisu...did any of their classes upset you?"

Amane asked curiously, knowing that Sakayanagi was usually quite laid-back, and even his fight with Katsuragi seemed to be going on in a lukewarm manner.

It's quite rare for someone to say something like "go all out" to her like this, a line that hot-blooded idiots often utter. This is the first time Amane has ever seen Sakayanagi say something like that to her.

"Idiots, they don't have the ability to make me angry."

"Then how come... you should know what giving it your all means to me, right?"

The silly smile on Tenon's face gradually disappeared, and her tone became much colder. In this state, it's no exaggeration to say that there's probably no one in the school who can rival her, not even those who are practically cheaters like Ayanokouji and Albert.

"I know better than anyone how strong you are when you're serious, but they're completely unaware of your strength. If you want to win more cheers, I think winning the relay race by overwhelming your strength might be the easier way to get the whole stadium cheering for you."

As she spoke, Sakayanagi pointed to the audience members around her who were loudly cheering for their classmates' participants.

"There's no need. I can win even in my normal state."

Amane immediately rejected Sakayanagi's suggestion. Based on her analysis and observation, she was fully capable of winning the relay race, so there was no need to show off her outstanding achievements in front of others.

Seeing that her explanation had been rejected by Amane, Sakayanagi immediately rolled her eyes and instantly came up with a more convincing reason.

What do you hope to gain from a relay race? Just victory and cheers?

Sakayanagi pinched Amane's fingers.

Amane narrowed her eyes. Besides winning and cheering, what else could she gain from a mere relay race at a sports festival?

What else do you think I can gain?

"memory"

"memory?"

"That's right, it's memory, and incredibly precious memory at that."

Sakayanagi smiled confidently, his fingers interlocking with Amane's.

"What valuable memories could I possibly gain? For me, it would be quite generous of me to remember such a memory for even three days. I can't afford to waste precious memories on something so useless."

After careful consideration, Tianyin concluded that the match was worthless, and naturally, there was nothing he needed to remember from a match that was worthless.

"You're wrong. While none of the participants are as strong as you, it's undeniable that the competition lineup is the most formidable you've ever seen, isn't it?"

Sakayanagi picked up the water bottle and twisted it a couple of times, but the bottle didn't react. Amane then took the water bottle and unscrewed the cap for her.

At the same time, Tianyin was also thinking back to the roster of the competition she had seen back then.

Just from the people she remembered who were outstanding, Class A had Kamuro, Katsuragi, Hashimoto, Kito, Fukuyama Shinobu, and Tsukaji; Class B had Horikita and Ayanokoji; Class C had Ishizaki and Ibuki. It was a bit of a pity that Albert and Ryuen did not participate in the relay race; and Class D had Ichinose, Kanzaki, and Shibata, all of whom were excellent.

The second-year students, Yagami and Kusanagi, are also on the competition list. In addition, there are outstanding students such as Nagumo, Kiriyama, and Kiryuin. The third-year students are experienced students such as Horikita Manabu, Fujimaki, and Fujiwara.

Thinking about it this way, it does seem to be the strongest lineup she has ever seen.

"President Horikita and the others will graduate at the end of this year, and there may not be another chance to fight them. In other words, this sports festival is both your first and last battle against the strong third-year students. Don't you want to fight them in your strongest form and have a good time?"

Under Sakayanagi's patient guidance, Amane nodded. It seemed that she should indeed give it her all in this extraordinary competition. After all, if she didn't go all out this time, she might never have the chance to compete against third-year students who were giving their all again.

"Okay, then I'll be serious, but being serious can be tiring..."

Tenon's gaze fell on Sakayanagi, and Sakayanagi naturally understood what that meaningful look referred to.

"Haven't you broken your habit of sleeping while hugging someone?"

Sakayanagi covered his forehead in exasperation.

She could tell what Tianyin was planning just by making eye contact with her.

"This habit is hard to break. It's been several months since I slept with you, Arisu. I feel like something's missing. Even though Suzune is very comfortable to hug, but..."

"Stop! I'm not interested in your shameless private life with Horikita-kun. Since your condition is to sleep together, I'll agree. I look forward to seeing Amane giving her all on the relay race track."

That would definitely be the most dazzling presence, wouldn't it?

"You'll see, I'm invincible."

Tianyin made a declaration that was almost arrogant, with a double meaning.

This time, Sakayanagi gazed at Amane with unusual calmness.

To everyone else, Amane's declaration might seem like something spoken without thinking, but Sakayanagi knew that Amane was telling the truth.

Even if she wanted to defeat Tianyin, it would be extremely difficult.

Before Tianyin turned nine, the two of them were rare female geniuses of this era and were considered to be the leaders who would shoulder the fate of their family and even the next generation.