Fortunately for Yuuji, he didn't participate in the next event, although he strongly suspected the only reason was that it was a girls-only race.
In this one, from his class, the participants were Lala, Saki, Yui, and Haruna.
The race was quite entertaining to watch, as it had many strange and funny situations, but after several obstacles, Lala ended up winning.
Of course, she cheated by using some of her gadgets to achieve it, but if flying like he did doesn't count as cheating, then Yuuji isn't sure anything is actually considered cheating under the rules.
No, forget cheating, after what he saw today, Yuuji seriously doubted the events even had rules at all.
As soon as the event ended, Yuuji stood up in a good mood, because right after announcing Lala as the winner, the commentator informed everyone there would be a lunch break. Without Yuuji noticing, since he had been busy the whole time, the entire morning had already passed, and the sun was now high in the sky, becoming quite bothersome.
Since even he didn't know it was the sports festival that day, Yuuji didn't expect his parents to know, much less cancel their plans to come, so he wasn't bothered when he saw they weren't there. Even so, to his surprise, he received an apologetic message.
It was a message from his mother, explaining that an accident had happened at work and they wouldn't be able to make it in time for lunch. Realizing that his parents knew about the festival even though he himself didn't, a smile formed on his face. He didn't feel too bad that they hadn't come, intention is what counts, as they say.
Besides, he wasn't alone. Some of the parents of the people he usually spent time with hadn't come either. This was normal in the anime, where they simply didn't bother introducing the parents early in the story, but in real life, Yuuji wondered if there was some reason behind it.
He knew that Rito's parents were usually away all the time, and Lala's father was literally light-years away, but as for the rest, he had no idea, although he had some suspicions about Yui based on typical clichés.
As Yuuji sat with his classmates on a nearby bench in the yard, he heard some commotion nearby.
Not far away, dozens of servants were setting up a luxurious tent, completely surrounded by fine fabric, similar to a royal palace from the past, while others arranged a table full of extravagant dishes that looked more designed for photos and to impress others than to actually eat.
"Saki's family is insane, huh?" Risa commented in surprise, looking in that direction.
Then she turned toward him.
"Isn't your family even better? How come you don't have anything fancy?" she asked, half joking, half complaining.
"I didn't even know today was the sports festival, what was I supposed to prepare?" Yuuji replied with a smile.
"So you can't, you know, like in movies, make a call and have hundreds of servants show up?" Risa asked, disappointed.
"I can, but why would I?" Yuuji replied casually, he saw no reason to do that when he was perfectly comfortable with his current situation.
"Damn, I just discovered that a humble rich guy is even more annoying than a pretentious one" Risa complained jokingly before turning to the others. "By the way, what about everyone's parents?"
"Working."
"Working."
"Working."
"Something like working?"
Yuuji, Rito, Yui, and Lala answered almost at the same time.
Each with different tones, Yuuji said it casually without caring much, Rito seemed completely used to it as if it were normal, and Lala said it hesitantly, technically being millions of light-years away ruling the galaxy counts as working, right?
As for the typical feeling of disappointment and crushed expectations that should appear in this kind of situation, Yui's expression perfectly represented the cliché.
"All our parents working, huh? What a coincidence… I wish Mio's father was like that too" Risa commented with a sigh, looking into the distance where Mio was happily eating with her father.
Feeling Risa's gaze, Mio looked back at her and waved cheerfully.
Risa waved back, then turned again to her lunch group, only to be met with everyone's strange looks, forcing her to step back slightly, a bit embarrassed.
"I-it was a joke, you know? Don't look at me like that. Of course I prefer Mio's parents to care about her rather than spend time with me… I barely see my own parents because of work" she said, waving her hands quickly as she tried to explain herself.
"Yeah, same here" Rito said.
"Me too" Yui added.
"Alright!" Risa clapped, drawing everyone's attention. "From now on, we are friends united by our dysfunctional families" she declared enthusiastically.
"Me too, me too, I want in!" Lala joined excitedly.
With the four of them agreeing, they immediately looked at Yuuji, waiting for him to join.
Yuuji shrugged and shook his head without hesitation.
"No, my parents just had a work emergency, I'm not part of your dysfunctional family group."
"I see, still in denial" Risa said with pity, and immediately the others gave him similar looks.
"No, I'm serious."
Even though Yuuji tried to defend himself, no one believed him.
"Yuuji, here, so you won't be sad" Lala said, taking out a bento from her D-Dial and handing it to him with a worried expression.
"What is this?"
"It's a bento I made, it's made with love, so don't be sad" Lala explained.
'Seriously?' Yuuji complained internally.
Unlike Risa, who was barely hiding her smile, the others seemed genuinely concerned, so Yuuji could only accept the bento without saying anything else.
While they talked during the rest of lunch, Yuuji didn't speak much. The conversation mainly revolved around Lala and Rito's broken engagement, since everyone seemed interested in it. Listening to their opinions and what led to it was quite interesting for him, since it was something he had never seen in the original story.
During that time, he also asked Yui if she could give him a copy of the event and participant list, knowing she was part of the organizing committee and should have it, but Yui refused no matter how many times he asked.
Thus, lunch ended, and Yuuji could only resign himself to waiting for each event to find out whether he would participate or not.
Fortunately, he also didn't participate in the next one, a relay race. From his class, the participants were Rito, Haruna, Ren, and Yui.
Hearing the names reminded Yuuji that Ren hadn't returned since he left to look for a legendary sword.
And he wasn't the only one who noticed, the team also looked nervous as they glanced around, at least Rito and Yui. After a few seconds of searching, Yui seemed to make a decision and turned her gaze toward him.
'Oh no...' Yuuji could guess what she was thinking.
But before Yui could start moving toward him...
"WAAAAH! I GOT IT!"
Ren's voice echoed across the field as he burst in carrying a massive golden two-handed sword, lifting it with great effort. It looked like he was about to drop it at any moment.
"Damn it! Stop right there!" Behind him, a group of people dressed like agents chased after him, trying to catch him.
"I did it! A legendary sword!" Ren shouted euphorically, raising it toward the sky, at least for a second, before it slipped from his hands because he couldn't support its weight.
The sword embedded itself halfway into the ground, and a massive crack opened, spreading across the entire track and reaching the school, which ended up splitting in two.
As for how everyone reacted to the school being split in half, complete normality, and Yuuji was no different, instead he had another question.
"Where the hell did he get that?" he muttered curiously.
"This can't be… we're going to have to pay for that…" he heard a female voice lament after the school split apart.
Yuuji immediately turned toward the voice, recognizing it.
The men, dressed in professional suits, lifted the sword together, pulling it out of the ground, and handed it to the woman who had spoken before, whose behavior made it clear she was the leader.
Yuuji observed her for a moment, a woman with curly blonde hair and light blue eyes. Despite her age, her appearance was still impeccable, looking quite young.
While the woman held the sword with one hand, surrounding it with some kind of energy that helped her, Yuuji approached.
"Mom? What are you doing here?"
"Rito!" Clara turned at his voice and exclaimed in surprise. "Your classmate broke into our facilities and stole Excalibur.
Damn it! Despite being young, he has superhuman strength and endurance, and combat ability at the level of our elites. How can a teenager be that strong? Aliens are such cheaters."
Seeing someone close to her, Clara's previously firm and cold attitude disappeared, and she immediately started complaining like a little girl.
"...The worst part is that because of him I couldn't come have lunch with my dear son. Isn't that awful?" she said, almost on the verge of tears as she looked at Ren as if he were the source of all problems.
Ren also looked at her and, seeing Yuuji beside her, shouted. "Yuuji! Be careful with that crazy woman, she tried to kill m..."
"What did you just call me?"
Before Ren could finish his warning, the sword he couldn't even hold moments ago was now floating effortlessly just millimeters from his neck.
"I... will not submit to the forces of evil, no matter what" Ren said, resisting even as his legs trembled.
"Forces of evil?" Yuuji asked curiously.
"We are not forces of evil! We are simply in charge of Japan's supernatural world. If someone steals something as valuable as Excalibur, of course we will try to recover it!" Clara replied, growing more irritated.
"Whatever, that's enough for today. I'll tell someone else to handle this and stay to watch your sports festival" she finally said, returning to her affectionate tone as she hugged Yuuji.
Her subordinates, used to her cold demeanor, were surprised to see her like this, but understanding who she was talking to, it didn't seem that strange.
They said nothing, simply took the sword, bowed respectfully, and quickly left, as if they had never been there.
Seconds after all the uniformed men disappeared, the commentator spoke again.
"...Well, today has been a strange day, so let's just ignore that" she said, downplaying what had just happened before continuing, "The relay race is canceled, and we will immediately move on to the second-to-last event, since there is no time for the others!"
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)