Chapter 65: Get Set, Go! (4)

“Haaah…it’s a good thing there’s still some time left in the order…”

After the mercenary commotion at lunchtime, I decided to remain in the position of a spectator simply watching the games until my turn came.

The stadium was clearing up the items used in the obstacle relay race that took place right after lunchtime…and the fragments of the grenades.

Why were grenades used in the obstacle relay race?

This obstacle relay race was a relay race with a kind of special rule applied, using grenades with electronic detonators instead of batons.

As it’s just a simple grenade, it won’t be life-threatening, but a grenade is a grenade.

The explosion of a grenade at close range was enough to injure an ordinary student…well…yeah…thanks to that, one person was carried away.

It’s a special rule designed to prevent one student from holding the baton for too long and leading the game alone, but there’s always one person everywhere who makes a reckless challenge.

As soon as I heard the special rule, I thought, “Then wouldn’t it be enough to run 3 servings alone at 3 times the speed of others?” There was one student who ended up self-destructing alone.

“What, junior, you were here?”

“Huh? Sora-chan was a spectator?”

“Ah, seniors? Welcome. Yes, I’m a spectator today.”

While I was quietly resting, how much time had passed?

Around the time the stadium was completely cleaned up and the next game was being set up, familiar voices were heard from behind.

Turning around, Yuzuki-senpai and Ichika-senpai appeared.

Yuzuki-senpai, like me, doesn’t particularly like exercising, so as the Millennium Festival approached, she kept saying she wanted to rest…

and in the end, she volunteered for the executive committee, where she would at least be able to sit down relatively compared to running directly on the field.

Ichika-senpai also volunteered for the executive committee following Hanekawa-senpai.

Maybe it’s because of this person that the executive committee’s manpower was supplemented to a large extent?

I was having that kind of thought.

Apart from that, it’s the first time I’ve seen those two hanging out together, when did they become close to each other?

They seemed to be reasonably close.

“But…it’s an unexpected combination? How did you meet?”

“Haha, it’s been a long time since we met for work…but we actually became close today.”

“Well…I heard a familiar name somewhere, so I went to check it out, and it was Ichika-san. We always met because of dispatch, but she was surprisingly compatible?”

Well…certainly Ichika-senpai has excellent social skills, and Yuzuki-senpai is not a bad person either, so it’s not particularly strange that they become close if they just meet.

It’s time for the executive committee to get busy, but both seniors were assigned to the morning shift only.

So that means it’s break time as it’s already afternoon.

“Where are the three people who always stick together like gum?”

“Haha…actually, there was a bit of a commotion…”

“Hmm…ah, is it the big commotion at lunchtime?”

“That’s right, senpai. I heard that your department handled the aftermath.”

Well…yeah…Nagisa-senpai and Seia-senpai were busy moving around because of the mercenary students I mentioned earlier, and Mika-senpai…had already gone down to the stadium to participate in the next event.

Compared to me, who doesn’t like moving my body that much, I participated in two games, but Mika-senpai is active…and she was participating in quite a few games, saying that she can’t lose to Gehenna.

In addition, the event that Mika-senpai said she would participate in this time is…

-Bang!-

Shooting.

If it were me in my previous life, I would have said “Shooting…at a sports festival?” with an incomprehensible expression on my face, but in Kivotos, where gunfights are common, it has become a normal sport if it is normal.

The shooting game hasn’t started yet, but they are actively supporting the participants to help them adapt to their firearms and relieve tension, so gunshots were heard from time to time.

“Hmm…but it’s unexpected that Sora-chan didn’t participate?”

“Haha…I’m not that confident, you know…”

“Aha…come to think of it, Sora-chan said she wasn’t that confident in long-range shooting, right?”

“Yes, I’m confident in pistol shooting.”

Yes, there was always one shooting event at every Millennium Festival, but long-range shooting using a sniper rifle, or this time, a run-and-gun event was adopted instead, but running target,

which shoots at a fast-moving target, was the main focus.

Even if it’s not run-and-gun, I was not confident in long-range sniping.

In addition, my main field is pistol shooting, and that was not an event adopted at this Millennium Festival, so that’s even more so.

Sometimes, light shooting competitions allow the use of personal firearms, but the guns I use are Daedalus, a 4-inch model of the S&W M500, and the SRM shotgun…

events using shotguns are not popular in Kivotos, and if I use something like the S&W M500 in the pistol field, I’ll obviously be eliminated, so I gave up.

I’m controlling the recoil of Daedalus with my own strength, but the recoil is gentle, and basically, the shooting fatigue itself is different from other classic pistols with high accuracy.

Therefore, the last shooting competition I won was the pistol shooting competition with a unified gun rule that provided separate pistols during my middle school days.

Even then, I had a hard time adjusting to the unfamiliar grip…

Anyway, the field Mika-senpai participated in was of course run-and-gun, and since this Millennium Festival was using the unified gun rule,

it was just a MP5 submachine gun with Millennium’s emblem painted on it, not Lancaster, Quis Ut Deus, which senpai always used.

Considering the fairness with students who already use the firearm, the type of firearm itself was already announced in advance, and time was provided separately before the start of the game to complete the adaptation to the firearm,

and related firearms were rented out at the shooting ranges of Millennium and DU to help with adaptation, so there was no particular noise.

“But the fact that you came here means there’s someone you’re cheering for, right?”

“Haha, that’s correct.”

“I just came along~”

There was one privilege that the players and executive committee members participating in the Millennium Festival itself could receive, which was a little trivial but could be envied by others.

That was the privilege of being allowed to watch the game from the benches inside the stadium.

Even though it’s not your turn, and even though there’s no executive committee work, coming to the bench to watch means that there are only people who are cheering for someone or who are interested in the event itself,

so Ichika-senpai, who is usually sociable and has good relationships with people around her, wouldn’t have come to cheer for someone?

I was making a vague guess.

As expected, Ichika-senpai affirmed this and naturally shifted her gaze to the long-range sniping event.

Watching in the stadium provides a much more immersive environment than watching from other stands, and there was a big advantage over the stands in identifying the players,

so I could quickly notice who Ichika-senpai was cheering for and who she was looking at.

-Bang!-

From a slightly distant seat, the sniper of the Justice Realization Committee, Shizuyama Mashiro, was standing still with the M2010 ESR sniper rifle provided separately to the executive committee along with the running target.

Mashiro and I were pretty close before I completely settled down at the Tea Party.

However, after that, we didn’t have any chance to meet except for work, and we were both busy, so we didn’t meet much.

I already knew that Mashiro and Ichika-senpai were close to each other…no, rather, if Ichika-senpai wasn’t there, wouldn’t I have met Mashiro late or remained only in a work relationship?

It’s natural for her to come to cheer because she’s that kind of child.

And since she has the class of sniper of the Justice Realization Committee, Mashiro’s sniping skills are of course a worthwhile viewing point.

“Ah, it’s about to start.”

“Run-and-gun is first.”

“Certainly, it’s more fun to watch than running target.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Compared to long-range shooting, run-and-gun takes quite a bit of time to conduct one game, and it takes some time to set up again after the game is over,

so it was necessary to finish preparing a little faster than long-range shooting, and as a result, the game started a little faster than long-range shooting.

Mika-senpai was assigned to a match much later, so she was slowly approaching the bench where I and the seniors were sitting, thinking of taking a break for a while.

“Hah! You’re my opponent? Wow~ the matchup was really fun, wasn’t it?”

“Ahaha☆ What? Are you already so confident? But…still…yeah! I thought it would be boring, but it’ll be fun! Good!”

I don’t know how it happened, but Mika-senpai was approaching the bench with the student who was her opponent, so I could hear the conversation between the two.

And…that opponent of Mika-senpai was the person I saw when I went to Millennium to buy a new firearm before, a person named Neru.

Mika-senpai won’t lose…but that person…I just looked at her roughly when I saw her before, but she was a person who looked strong, but when I see her again…um…I’m starting to worry a little that Mika-senpai might lose.

“Ah! Sora-chan! You came to see? Hello, Transport Department-chan?”

“Yes, sister, of course I came to see!”

“Hello, Mika…senpai.”

Mika-senpai ran over to me when she saw me during her conversation with Neru-san.

Yuzuki-senpai tried to call Mika-senpai by adding “nim” to her name as usual, but she corrected it to “senpai” as if she realized it.

If they met normally, she would call her Mika-nim rather than Mika-senpai, so it’s probably a habit.

“Hey…don’t run away while we’re talking…”

“Ahaha☆ Sorry? It’s because I’m so happy to see someone~”

Following that, Neru-san ran at high speed to catch up with Mika-senpai, who suddenly ran out.

“Welcome, and…um…it’s been a while?”

“Huh? You’re that…hey…I thought you’d definitely participate, but it’s boring…”

That person expressed her disappointment as soon as she confirmed that I was maintaining my position as a spectator, as if she was full of the desire to fight me.

Well, what, sometimes there are people who like to compete and have confidence in their own martial arts.

Well…I don’t really care if I see people like that, as long as they don’t harm others, so I didn’t feel bad or anything, but is this person okay with that?

It’s not a proper sparring, it’s just run-and-gun where you just run and hit the target…is she just a competitive person?

“Huh? Neru-chan? You can’t just do whatever you want with our Sora.”

“Hey? You seem to be quite close? By the way, sister? Perhaps junior?”

“Haha…yes, she’s still a 1st year.”

Wow…sister indeed…it must be the first time they’ve met, but it seems that they’ve built up some kind of friendship during the conversation they had while approaching.

She’s competitive, and honestly, I’m a little sorry, but I haven’t really had a proper conversation with her yet, but even if I look at her roughly, Neru-san seems to be competitive and hot-tempered,

so I thought they wouldn’t get along well.

But what does it matter?

They’ve already become close to each other with tremendous affinity.

“Ahaha☆ Yeah! Our Sora-chan is still a 1st year, you know?”

“Huh, that’s interesting? Good! Let’s make a bet.”

Meanwhile, Neru-san started to propose something to Mika-senpai.

“You and I are bound to meet in the first match anyway, right? So…if I win, let me have a match with that junior over there.”

“Huh? What are you talking about…what if I win?”

“Wait? Huh? Me?!”

No, wait, what?

I’m the prize of the bet?

Wait…no, more than that, you want to have a match?

Perhaps a gunfight?

No, that person looks very strong even if I look at her roughly, but I have to spar with that person?

“Hmm…I see…hmm…what I can offer…ugh…it’s difficult…ah! Yes! Can you lend me your ear for a moment?”

“Hmm?…hey…”

Neru-san seemed to have thought of something and was whispering something to Mika-senpai.

And that…it must have been a proposal that Mika-senpai liked quite a bit.

“Pfft…call! The deal is made!”

“Sister?!”

“Haha! I’m looking forward to it!”

…Well, what…it was the moment when I became the prize of the bet between Mika-senpai and Neru-san.