Get your own Free Home PageThe school is holding the Sports. Akari is cheering Masashi, who's leading a short-distance race. Her excitement is not shared by Hiroyuki, who sits on a chair at the back of the spectator area. "Naturally. He is Masashi, you know." Shiho appears suddenly, as she usually does, and takes his laid-back attitude as his confidence of the victory. She declares it's her class, 2-A, which will win the game in the end. Masashi is not interested in such a thing at all, which annoys her. Then Akari reports Masashi has won the race. She comes to Hiroyuki, trying to bring his attention to the race without success as he finds more interesting thing; the cheerleaders of the next class ^_^;;
OPIt's a sunny autumn day, ideal for Sports. As people expected, the game for the second-year classes has become a two-horse race between 2-A and 2-B. Shiho is getting really annoyed with Hiroyuki's lack of enthusiasm. "This is the only Sports of our life as the second grader [^_^;;]. How can you remain so cool!?" He senses something more than that in *her* enthusiasm. He suspects she is organising sweepstakes or something. Shiho denies it rather unconvincingly ^_^;; Akari agrees with Shiho that Hiroyuki should cheers the class as everyone else is doing their best. Shiho stands up and declares, whether he gets enthusiastic or not, it will be her 2-A who will win the game. But, before she finishes her sentence, Hiroyuki leaves the seat to get some drink.
As he walks to the kiosk, Hiroyuki sees Serika participating the Basket game. She seems not very athletic but does her best in her own manner, which brings a smile on his face. When the game is over, he meets her behind the seats. She whispers to him that she is embarrassed as she couldn't put even a single ball in the basket. He cheers her up, saying it was nice to see her doing her best. When he tries to leave, Serika holds him at the shirts. She tells him she will cheer him when he plays.
At the seat of 2-B, Shiho complains to Akari about Hiroyuki. He used to be more energetic when they were at the junior high school. Akari reminds Shiho of a relay when they were the second year of the junior high. Hiroyuki had picked up some injury prior to the race but insisted to participate as the overall victory of their class was at stake. But the race worsened his injury so badly he couldn't stand up after the race. Shiho concludes that people change. But Akari disagrees. To her, Hiroyuki has never changed.
At the back of the organisors' area, Hiroyuki is arguing with Tomoko. Apparently some of their classmate have evaded their duty as a member of the Preparation Group and Tomoko has been doing their job, taking a box to somewhere. He thinks it is unfair and offered to help, which Tomoko refuses. But, as he insists, she finally lets him do the job.
Hiroyuki brings the box to the back of the gymnasium, where Aoi is in charge. She has volunteered to be a member of the Organising Committee. She likes physical tasks. He is impressed and wishes she could tell something to his classmates who evaded their duty. At the same time, he points out it is a pity that Aoi isn't participating in the games. She would perform excellently in any game. Aoi puts his compliment aside politely but Hiroyuki wasn't just diplomatic. He reminds her that she should be more confident in herself and his messages is duly received by her. As he walks away, she speaks to him. She wants to which race he will be in. "400 meter dash in the afternoon." Aoi tells him she will be there to cheer him.
Hiroyuki finally arrives at the kiosk where they sell drinks. To his surprise, it is Remy who welcomes him. She wanted to wear happi and asked her friend to let her the job. He tells her she looks nice in it and orders a bottle of ramune. Remy picks up a bottle from the water bath and tries to open it with a bottle opener. But the bottle doesn't have a crown and she doesn't know what to do. Hiroyuki teaches her how to open it, which impresses her a lot. She tells her she'll cheer him in his race although she is in a different class.
As he walks away, Hiroyuki gets the message [from the script writer ^_^;;] that, wherever he goes, people are expecting his good performance in the race. He decides the best thing he can do is go back to his seat and keeps low profile.
The Sports moves on and Shiho's 2-A has come only five points behind 2-B. Shiho tells Akari, if there had been a beauty contest or karaoke contest, she could lead 2-B to a sweeping victory. Hiroyuki comes back to the seat and disagrees with her; "There won't be such Sports anywhere in the world." Akari breaks the news to him; 2-B is only five-point ahead of 2-A. It fails to move him. A victory would give him anything. Akari says, "We'll get a trophy" but he is not interested. If the prize were a trip to Europe, he would be more enthusiastic. Shiho retorts back; "There won't be such Sports anywhere in the universe. "Masashi comes back from a race in which he [they?] ended in the second place.
The morning program is now over and it's a lunch time. Shiho declares that her class will settle the battle in the afternoon. Hiroyuki cannot understand why she can be so keen to win. Akari sees it differently. She thinks Shiho only wants to have a good time "just like when we were in the junior high". Hiroyuki says she is slow to grow up.
Eye CatcherHiroyuki is half impressed by and half appalled with the special lunch boxes Akari carefully made for the occasion. She tells him and Masashi to eat well. Of course, Hiroyuki doesn't need to be told. Akari remembers Masashi's next race is the relay. Masashi would be sure of their victory if Hiroyuki was also a member. But it's too much for Hiroyuki, who will run 400m before it. Akari thinks it's a pity. She wanted to see the baton passed between them.
The afternoon program is about to start and the runners for the 400m dash are summoned to gather. Aoi and Remy try to hurry to the ground to cheer Hiroyuki but their duty prevent them to do so. Serika tries to catch a glimpse of him from the behind of her tall classmates. Hiroyuki wins the race and feels he has done his duty.
2-B is still leading the game but by only one point. Akari is with Masashi and other classmates. Akari tells Hiroyuki, who has come back to the seat, the anchor of their relay team has got injured in the obstacle race. Masashi asks Hiroyuki to take his place but Hiroyuki is too exhausted after the 400m race. Akari feels rather sad; "Everyone has been working so hard until now..." But it is Shiho who makes the message clear. "Why don't you run!?" She tells him [almost in tears?] to compete. Her power makes Hiroyuki think for a moment but he walks away for a drink.
As he walks to the kiosk, Aoi runs up to him to apologise that she couldn't cheer him at the 400m race. He doesn't mind but her honest attitude somehow reminds him of Akari's words; "just like when we were in the junior high", "the baton passed between you"...
Now the members of the relay are summoned. As the race for the first graders starts, Masashi encourages his fellow members, including Yoneyama, the substitute anchor, who looks rather unsure of himself.
At the class seats of 2-B, Shiho is still angry about what she calls "Hiro's flight before the enemy." Akari suspects he knows he is too exhausted to perform well enough for the class. Shiho thinks that is a sign that he has changed from what he used to.
Eventually the race of the second graders starts. 2-B is doing bad while 2-A leads the race. Soon 2-B becomes the last. Akari hopes Masashi, the third runner, will save the class but Shiho thinks even he cannot pass as many as five runners in front of him. Masashi does very well and comes up to the fourth place while Yoneyama is surprised to see someone who pats his shoulder.
Masashi has almost given up his hope when a voice calls him. It is Hiroyuki in the baton zone. His voice seems to have reached not only Masashi, Akari and Shiho but also the heart of Serika, Remy and Aoi. Hiroyuki receives the baton from Masashi with a yell. He runs at a tremendous speed, carrying all the hopes and cheers of his friends, and comes up to the second place [here Shiho's yell is ambiguous. Perhaps she cheered her classmate. Perhaps Hiroyuki]. At the final straight, he finally catches up with the anchor of 2-A. As he approaches the goal, Hiroyuki no longer sees or hears the audience. All he sees is the white tape before him...
The Sports is over and students are dancing around bonfires. The battle between the two class ended in the victory of 2-A. As they dance, Remy consoles Hiroyuki, who says three before him were too much after the 300m race he had had. Akari talks about Hiroyuki's last spurt to Masashi, who replies just like Hiroyuki did, "Naturally. He's Hiroyuki, you know." Hiroyuki now dances with Aoi and admits his lack of exercise. She cheerfully "I'd be happy to train with you." He moves on to dance with Serika, who tells him that she has had a wonderful moment to remember [Of course, she means Hiroyuki's spurt but he is unaware]. On the other hand, Shiho isn't having a very good time. She has unfortunately joined a circle in which there are more girls than boys ^_^;; Even less happy is Tomoko, who does not join the dance and walks away.
As dances goes on, Hiroyuki finds Akari a few positions ahead of him. He skips some positions and comes to dance with Akari. She starts to say, "You know, today you were..." But he cuts in to complete her sentence; "really cool! Right?" Probably they are the happiest students in the school right now and Akari wishes the dance continues forever.
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