October 26, sunny, the national competition.
"Sahui, wake up! If you keep this up, Chisako is going to get crushed!" It was Chiba Reiko’s voice.
"You really like Chisako, huh!" This nonsensical murmur came from Mukai Asaka.
Sahui’s eyelashes trembled slightly as she sleepily looked at Chiba Reiko and Mukai Asaka, then noticed Chisako, who was covering her face with one hand and sighing deeply.
It was an awkward position.
Chisako was underneath her, their sports shirt riding up to reveal large patches of skin pressing tightly together and their pants hanging loose.
On the other side was her own bed...
Which meant she had unconsciously crawled into Chisako’s futon?!
After gathering all this information, Sahui’s face immediately turned as red as a boiled octopus, making one want to take a bite.
She stood up briskly and began vigorously patting Chisako on the back, "Really, how could you not wake me up!"
"I did call you!" Chisako responded with a mixture of amusement and helplessness.
"Then why didn’t you call louder? How do you expect to wake me up if you don’t make it loud?"
Chisako decided it was better to just admit her fault, "Yes, yes, I’ll be sure to wake you up next time."
"That’s more like it, hmph."
Chiba Reiko dramatically covered her mouth with her hand, chuckling, "Wow, there’s going to be a next time?"
"I meant the next cram school!" Sahui, with her face still red, weakly argued.
Before Chiba Reiko could speak again, Chisako smilingly said, "Alright, alright, let’s not tease her anymore, be careful or Sahui might get angry."
After waking everyone up, they changed into their uniforms.
"This underwear is so cute, where did you buy it?"
"It’s not just cute, it brought me good luck during the Kansai competition too! It’s definitely going to bring us good luck today, blessing us with the national gold!"
"This must be the legendary ’Victory Underwear’ then?!"
"It’s not, ’Victory Underwear’ doesn’t refer to this kind of situation!"
"Of course, it’s for nights you spend with your boyfriend~"
"You guys, it was enough last night, let’s not talk about this first thing in the morning!"
"Your underwear looks pretty good too, let me have a look!"
"Ah! Your hands are so cold! Get them off!"
Chisako was buttoning up her pleated skirt, listening to these classmates, clad only in their underwear, spouting nonsense.
Standing a bit farther away, Sahui was adjusting the length of her skirt—it had to just cover her knees for the formal competition.
Chisako glanced over, admiring Sahui’s beautifully curved legs beneath her navy-blue skirt.
"Hmm?" Sahui looked over, puzzled.
Chisako shook her head lightly, signaling that it was nothing, "I’ll help you tie up your hair."
The national competition also had regulations on hair—long hair had to be tied into a ponytail.
"Okay." Sahui handed her a hair tie and sat down on the tatami, "You go first, then I’ll help you."
It took a long time, but finally, the girls, all dolled up, left the room for the cafeteria.
Goda High School from Tokyo, which they hadn’t interacted much with yesterday, was also there.
Tokyo girls are different, even in school uniforms they look very stylish, just like the people on TV.
’Is this what they call a social class?’ Chisako mused while picking up her breakfast.
Miso soup, fried eggs, boiled eggs, all familiar foods, eaten with the intention of preventing any stomach upset.
The cafeteria was crowded, the only available seats being at a few tables on the intersection of two unfamiliar schools.
Chisako, Sahui, Chiba Reiko, and Mukai Asaka, arriving late, reluctantly took their seats there, but fortunately, the students from Goda that were sitting there included their acquaintance, Kiyono Lin.
After they sat down, Chisako glanced around, not seeing Dubian Che, which she found odd.
"Where is he? Didn’t he make himself sick from eating too much?" Sahui, ever the mischief-maker, asked with schadenfreude.
After Kiyono Lin swallowed the miso soup in her mouth, she answered, "He has the habit of morning practice, so he’s probably in the shower now."
"What a pity." Sahui said, her face showing that she felt the same way.
"Sahui!" Chisako quickly intervened, apologetically looking toward Kiyono Lin.
"It’s fine." Kiyono Lin indicated it was no issue.
She never cared about what others said or did, she only cared about their true feelings.
Though Sahui’s words were ungracious, none of what she said was true; she didn’t genuinely wish for Dubian Che to get a stomachache.
’Is this what they call tsundere?’ she suddenly realized.
Kiyono Lin, of course, didn’t know the word tsundere, but Dubian Che often deliberately told her that despite what she said, she actually liked him, calling her things like tsundere.
Today, she truly experienced the meaning of the word.
Before long, Dubian Che arrived, his body still carrying the moisture of a fresh shower, joining them midway yet finishing his breakfast faster than they did.
After breakfast, both schools continued practicing, their competition scheduled for the afternoon.
After finishing their final practice and transporting their instruments, everyone boarded the bus heading to the venue.
The music hall in Nagoya, where the competition was held, was very spacious, but despite its size, the plaza was nearly filled with people, and the parking lot was already packed with buses.
Participants in various uniforms gathered together, waiting to enter.
Staff members, also plentiful, tried their best to maintain order and guide the audience.
"Wow, what a big horse!"
"Let’s take a picture too!"
Near the entrance, under a nearly nine-meter long equestrian statue, Chisako and the others took photos for memory.
Just after they finished taking pictures, news came that the first half of the competition had ended, and the results were out, which got the waiting students excitedly chatting.