Fool's Love

I must apologize to Masumi.

The direction of the wind began to change.Before you know it, the second lap is already halfway through.My breathing became much harder, which is normal.

According to past practice experience, stick to it for a period of time and adapt to the state of anaerobic exercise.

Running to the point of collapse and having difficulty breathing is a cheap near-death experience in my opinion.

Perhaps the essence of my distaste for sports lay in the fear of death that anyone has—I was making excuses for my inertia.

Endure the discomfort and continue to run at a steady pace.While the consciousness flies to the boundary between clear and fuzzy, the discomfort is gradually replaced by refreshment, and the weight of the body seems to disappear.

At this time, Muto and the man who suddenly rushed out were still in the lead, and about ten meters behind, there were runners running side by side, Aida was at the front, and I was in the rear of the team.

It's crucial to start here.Where to start accelerating?

What position do you need to grab for the corner?If you don't pay attention, you will fall behind in an instant.Since I usually run alone most of the time, I am naturally inferior to the athletes in the track and field department in terms of timing.

The strategy I chose for this was to tag someone who seemed to be in a similar position to me, who was running to my left and in front of me, and the distance between us had hardly changed since the start.

into the corner.

At this time, a situation that I did not expect appeared: because the front was blocked, the man chose to take a turn in the outer lane - a risky approach.

catch up?No, it's too risky.At this moment of hesitation, the road in front of him has disappeared.

I should have expected it.No, it's an afterthought to say these things now-it boils down to the fact that I haven't been trained to react on the spot.

Think about the next way to run?Nothing to ponder.

There is only one answer: hold your breath and wait for the moment.So I took a deep breath, calmed down and controlled my pace.

Less than ten meters after the curve, the runner who had escaped from the front of the crowd at first stalled.

Because he had consumed a lot of stamina by rushing too far in the previous section, he could no longer maintain the distance advantage at this moment.

Muto, who was slightly behind him, became the first person in the race.Then, the crowd behind started to move.

Shushin Aida sprints first.Thanks to the maintenance of the front center in the previous section and the lack of wind resistance, he still retains a considerable amount of physical strength at this moment.

At the same time, the crowded crowd in front of me loosened.

Due to the different timing and degree of acceleration, the tight formation that has been maintained until now has changed.Seizing this opportunity, I quickly squeezed out of the narrow gap in the crowd.

What luck!In less than three or four seconds, I have reached the front from the middle and back of the team.

The guy who stalled fell towards the back of the line from the outer circle to my right.Risks and opportunities coexist, both for everyone and for me——

This is probably where the rapid changes in athletics are.While I successfully escaped from the tail of the team, the crisis was also approaching.

According to the usual practice feedback, speed is not my strong point.In other words, even if I can accelerate quickly, my usual fastest speed is quite insufficient compared to other players.

In addition, the previous block affected the time I started to accelerate. If I want to maintain the advantage to the end, there is no other way but to continue to accelerate.

adventure?Yes, it is indeed an adventure.But this is the last time.After today I'll be saying goodbye to the abomination of athletics, an adventure is worth it.

My nose started to sore.This feeling is very bad, and it is a reaction when a person insists on accomplishing something that is beyond his current ability.

The weight of the body that had almost disappeared poured into this body again, and I felt like a long-standing balloon——

This sense of lost lightness is relatable.However, apart from this pain beyond limit, there seems to be something else that makes me a little uneasy...

Air surged into the stomach.This feeling seemed familiar—I felt the internal organs in my abdominal cavity shrivel up from the cold, and my body jolted due to the sudden stinging pain.

Sweat dripped from the tip of his nose, and at the same time, the person beside him caught up with a slight speed advantage.I'm in the same row as him.

The end is near.I endured the abdominal pain and continued to accelerate in a bone-crushing posture.

This was beyond the limit of my usual practice. My eyes seemed to become a vast expanse of whiteness, and I couldn't hear the sound in my ears. Only the wind roared in my cochlea like a flag.

I don't know what rank I am, I just feel that there are fewer and fewer runners in the shaky scene ahead, and finally there are only two people left.

——Muto and I crossed the finish line just a breath away.

I continued to run forward, slowly reducing the speed, and my vision and hearing gradually recovered.

The broadcast began to announce the ranking of the long-distance race. The first place without any suspense was Aida, the second was Muto, and I was the third.

I heard someone calling me, it wasn't alone, I turned my head and saw that many students in the class were waving to me.

I raised my hand and waved back with a smile.Just doing this action consumes almost all my energy.

My vision faltered a bit.

Are you not standing still?Such thoughts flashed through my mind.And when I tried to adjust my body shape, I felt cramping pain in my abdomen as if being stirred back and forth with an iron rod. My legs went limp, and I took a few steps forward, but I still couldn't stabilize my body.

I fall forward.

—but not on the red asphalt of the playground track.The soft fabric dragged my face.

Tears came out of me, perhaps because of the unbearable pain in my stomach.I saw the red cloth in front of my eyes—

It came from an arm around my face - stained dark with tears.

For some reason, I felt inexplicably relieved, and my tense body also relaxed.

However, there was indeed no strength left in this body, and it couldn't stand or walk.

I fell into the man's arms.A trace of nostalgia welled up in my heart, where did it come from?I was wondering when someone's voice suddenly came from a place very close to the top.

It's Masumi.Masumi - he called my name in an anxious and concerned voice.This gave me a general feeling of being saved.

I thought of the awkwardness these days, and I felt more and more hopelessly stupid, and tears welled up again.

I knew what I had to do - I had to apologize to Masumi for the violence I had unleashed before.

But at this moment, with the dull pain in my abdomen, something rushed up my throat faster than words, blocking my voice.

— Chyme gushed out of my mouth.