I have to stop here for a while. I'm late for my commencement activity...XD




The day finally arrived. The Sports Festival had a wonderful opening ceremony, complete with music and colorful parade inside the campus. The main field was full with students; both from the elementary level and the junior high level. It was a full day activity except from the elementary students from grades 1-3 which was only a half-day event.

Color coding was implemented in all the sections. All of the class A in all levels wore color red shirt, the B section was blue, green for the C and yellow for section D. There will be a special award to the color with the highest number of championships from all levels. The prize will be divided to the 6 sections from grade 4- 3rd year. Rika and Maki were wearing red shirts since they belong to section A. Rika was also participating in the chess tournament besides from futsal. Their home room adviser, Yasuda-sensei told them that one can participate only in one major and one minor event. Chess is a minor event while futsal is a major event. Maki on the other hand, participated in the 100 meter dash.

“Go Goto-san!!!!” Their whole section cheered for her while she was getting to the starting line.

“Gocchin! I’ve won my chess gold medal… YOU SHOULD WIN TOO!!!” Rika’s high pitched voice could be heard amongst the crowd.

“Hai, hai… She’s so noisy…” Maki said to herself. A smile can be clearly seen from her face.

“San…. Ni…. Ichi!!!” Abe-sensei shot the gun to signal the start of the race. Maki immediately outrun the others and sped her way towards the finish line.

“Oh shit… I have a cramp!! I forgot to warm up a little…” Maki’s pace suddenly slowed down. She was thankful that she was near the finish line before her cramp attacked but because of that, she somewhat lost her footing and sprained her ankle. It hurts a lot but she ran as fast as she could towards the goal. She still won the gold medal. The whole section ran down towards the field to congratulate her.

“Sugoi desu ne~e!!! Omedetto!!!” Reina exclaimed happily.

“Thanks…” Maki replied. Rika can see that Maki was somewhat stricken by pain.

“Hey, are you alright? I saw that you almost tripped over there.”

“Hai… Daijoubu… I’m just tired... I need to rest for a while.” Maki immediately left Rika and the others and head off secretly to the clinic.

“I’m not going to lose to this sprain… My section counts on Rika and me to win the futsal… I won’t let them down…”

……………
Even though Maki’s ankle hurt very much, she was able to help the team score against section C. They were able to win against them and qualified to face the section B in the finals. Rika and Tsuji were the only ones who were the varsity members in their class. Section B however had four varsity members namely: Masae Ootani, Korenaga Miki, Saitou Hitomi and Ayumi Shibata; the sub-captain of the varsity team. She was known as an attacker while Rika was well known for her tactics and strategies in the game.

Ayumi was a fierce attacker that’s why Tsuji had a hard time in guarding the goal. She was losing much of her energy because of the effort she puts in while blocking Ayumi’s shots. Maki had a hard time focusing on the game. Her right ankle hurts like hell. But she refused to give up. She set her mind on the game and stole the ball from Hitomi. Now’s the break they were waiting for. She immediately passed the ball to Rika. Ayumi guarded her.

“Now, what are you going to do… Captain?”

“Just watch” Rika smiled and passed the ball behind her. Sayu was there and ran towards the goal. She did some 360 degrees turn and overtook Hitomi.

“Reina, it’s your turn!” Sayu passed the ball to her left. Reina quickly kicked it towards the direction of Maki who was now nearing the goal. Maki received the pass with her right foot. She felt an intense pain but she used much of her energy so kick the ball. It’s a goal… Masae couldn’t catch it. She was surprised at the speed of the ball that she wasn’t able to move a bit.

They scored the first goal of the game. Maki was breathing heavily not because of the fatigue but of her aching feet. Rika noticed it.

“Hey, are you alright? Do you want to sit for a while?”

“No… I’m fine. Let’s go and guard them.” Maki ran towards Risa Niigaki to guard her. She couldn’t let Rika worry about her welfare. She might lose focus of the game. It’s better for her to keep quiet about her ankle.


The 1st period ended with a 2-2 score. Rika discussed to the group the strategy she was thinking.

“They have seen Maki’s potential. I’m sure that they would guard her heavily… Now’s the time that you show what you can do, Reina-chan.”

“Hai! Gambarimas!”

“And Sayu, when you’re passing the ball, don’t shout to whom you were passing it to. They will know whom to guard. Just give that person an eye contact before passing the ball, got that?”

“Hai, I’ll give that person my CUTEST wink!” Sayu answered in a cute voice while giving Rika a wink.

“O…kay… Eri, I need you to double your efforts in guarding Miki… I know it’s a hard task ‘cause, she’s a really good player but we all need to do our best to win this game. I can see that you’re a good defender that’s why I give you my trust.”

“Hai, I understand.”

“Maki….” Rika looked at Maki with a concerned look on her face.

“Daijoubu… You don’t have to worry. Just pass me the ball and I’ll score for sure… Ne~e, minna?”

“Hai! Maki and Rika-chan makes a good tandem!” Sayu exclaimed.

Rika was happy that her wish really did come true. They were known as a tandem that will help their section win. Her next goal is to get Maki into the varsity. Her happiness didn’t last long. She knew something was wrong with Maki. When the referee whistled the start of the 2nd period, she could see the pain registering into Maki’s face when she walked towards the field.