THE CURSED GAMER

Chapter 91: Sports Festival (5)

—

“Cheater.”

“Not true.”

Neji shrugged at Momo’s words. 

“I just played smart. Don’t have 10 minutes to waste when I can win in 10 seconds.”

Walking with a tray of food in the cafeteria, the four members of Team Neji went to a table and sat down.

Kendo smiled wryly, placing her place on the table. “I kinda feel bad winning like this. I didn’t even get the chance to do anything.”

Neji smiled at her. “You should have expected that the moment you decided to join my team.”

Then he took a sip out of his juice.

“Also,” Mina called, her voice much calmer now. “You sure you don’t wanna eat something more? Just a juice would tire you out.”

Seeing Neji stare at her eyes briefly, just enough for Momo to not notice, Mina looked the other way. Neji laughed and nodded. 

“I would be fine.”

Soon after, Present Mic’s words flew to the cafeteria, announcing the end of the Second Event.

More students started to flood the cafeteria, and soon the hall was filled to the brink. 

—★—

Kids were whispering, gazing at our way, my way, but I didn’t give them any heed. We finished eating with 50 minutes still left until the next Event. 

I had nothing to do and Momo was the same. So we asked the two other girls to stay here and flew to the 3rd year stadium.

I had to sneak by some guards since we weren't supposed to leave the campus until the end, and finally reached the building where my Echolocation said Nejire was.

Her hairstyle is really noticeable with Echolocation even in this crowd.

I knocked on the door of the washroom, and then Nejire opened the door with a towel hanging from her shoulders.

“...Ah! Neji!”

After her mind caught on the situation, she leapt in and hugged me tightly. Before Momo could react, she brought her into the hug too.

She drew her face back after a while. “Y’know, as much as I appreciate your visit, you should be on your Campus instead. Even if 40 minutes are left, you should calm your mind before the 3rd event! Every year, that event is Student vs Student!”

She brought us inside the surprisingly clean washroom and closed the door.

“I guess. Also, what event did you go through?”

After confirming that both the 1st years and 3rd years had the same events, I nodded. 

“What were your results?”

Her lips stretched from one side to another at this. “Ohh, you want to hear?”

She giggled to herself before answering. “Guess what, after that magic potion of yours, after my body got stronger, I am now durable enough to leap into my top speed! I came in 1st, outspeeding even  Mirio by a 0.6 second!!”

“Oh, how many seconds did it take you?!” Momo asked, taking a thinking pose.

Nejire’s smile widened. “6 seconds.” She then looked at me. “What about ‘chu?”

I sighed in sadness, shaking my head. “Guess you have surpassed me, finally. It took me 6.7 seconds.”

Nejire frowned in suspicion. She shot Momo a look, but Momo looked the other way. 

“How? Even Mirio only took 6.6 seconds.” She shot me a questioning gaze. “Hmm, suspicious.”

She doesn’t need to know I carried Momo, which caused me to go at a slower speed than usual (to not accidentally kill her). She will find out about it later on anyway, after watching the recorded clips on the internet.

“Anyway, what about the second clip?” Nejire shook her head off the suspicion and asked.

I leaned on the wall, humming. “Hm, I stole everyone’s headband with telekinesis, which forced the school to give me an early victory and retake the game for other students, since apparently, 4 students are too less for the next event.”

Nejire eyed my earring greedily before looking the other way. “I just kept floating in the air with the 10 million point headband. Mirio, Tamaki—who had eaten eagle meat this morning—and some of the flying quirk users tried to snatch it, but I just kept dodging it. Mirio managed to snatch my headband in the end, and I was forced to steal some headbands from others.” She sighed. “At least I got into the 3rd Event.”

Nejire turned to Momo. “Oh, Momo, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

Nejire’s eyes shone, and Momo smiled wryly.

—★—

Nejire laughed like crazy when she heard about the story. She was laughing more when Momo kept saying how she didn’t like winning like this, her face as red as a tomato.

After getting warned by his older sister about the Third Event, about how he shouldn't take that as a joke too, Neji and Momo returned from the 3rd-year campus.

They sneaked around the corner, bypassing the guards, and reached their own campus. Neji searched for Mina and Kendo, finding their presence in a waiting room, and went there.

“Oh, you two are back! We were getting worried.” Kendo said, sighing. “Really… We know you are dating, but you should hold back in school at least.”

Momo’s face, which was now back to normal, again turned as red as a tomato. 

“Y-you guys are misunderstanding!”

Luckily there was barely anyone in the waiting room, and the ones who were there, pretended as if they were blind or deaf.

For the next few minutes, Neji poked fun out of Momo a bit more, who glared at him with wet eyes. Finally, Present Mic called.

[“Everyone! The break ends now, and all of you who have passed the Second Event are asked to gather in the stadium!!”]

Neji and his former team did so. They will now go against each other, and thus the team was disbanded.

In 2 minutes, all 16 students who had proceeded to the Third Event gathered on the open field in front of Midnight.

“Aaalrighty!” Midnight slammed her whip on the ground. “This year around, the students will have to fight 1v1, head-on, with their quirks. This will be in a tournament-style, and your opponents will be decided by drawing Lots!”

She smacked the box kept on the table beside her.

“Now, one by one, come here!”

Some students looked distressed, hoping to not match against the wrong opponent.

Slowly, one by one, all of us drew Lots and returned back to our previous spot, and Midnight cleared her throat.

“Now, the monitor behind me will now show who your matches are!”

Immediately after, 16 names flashed on the monitor behind Midnight.

[Image Here]
Neji observed the names as a wry smile formed on his lips.

First of all, it seems Shinso will get an easy win since Hatsume will try to talk a lot to show off her gadgets. This meant, she wouldn't get the same level of recognition she got in canon. 

Then again, Neji didn't even know the girl on a personal level to care enough.

Mina was against Inasa, so she would lose as well. That was actually sad. At least Mina wouldn't feel as bad, since Inasa is known to be one of the strongest in the class.

Momo was against Tokoyami, which should be a win for the girl. Momo was far smarter than she was in canon because of the Potion, so she should, by herself, figure out Dark Shadow's weakness and use it to her advantage.

The problem came down to… Neji's own match. He was up against Kendo.

He turned to Kendo and gave her an apologetic smile. The girl, on the other hand, sighed softly.

Present Mic's voice flowed in the air for one last time.

["Now, let's set aside the tournament for the time being and get on with the Thrill-A-Minute festivities!"]

It was a small fun game for the kids who wouldn't get into the Third Event.

—★—

Kendo stayed away from Neji in the waiting room. The others prepared their mind by relaxing in their own ways.

This time around the girls weren't dancing in Cheerleading dresses, sadly, so Neji had nothing else to do than chat with Kimi on the phone.

When the first match began, we sat in the audience seats and watched it. It was a… short match.

The contestants, Hatsume and Shinso, had a talk beforehand.

Hatsume made a deal with Shinso to let her speak for a bit in the arena. In that time, she will show off her gadgets and walkout by herself when the time comes. Shinso agreed easily, and Hatsume was more than grateful.

But when the match actually started, the guy didn't keep his promise.

The moment Hatsume started talking, he used his quirk to make her walk out of the arena. He won, but everyone was more curious about the guy's quirk—that was soon explained by Present Mic, though he kept out the limits and conditions.

Shinso used underhanded tactics and won. Anyone who knew about Hatsume and Shinso's deal would have been angry, moreover when the girl started crying afterwards. 

Likewise, Neji, who had heard their conversation by chance with his enhanced hearing, did feel bad. But there was no anger present. Shinso just did what needed to be done to achieve his goal. There was no need to trust a stranger girl's words.

After a short break, was the match between Hanta Sero and Shoto Todoroki.

It was an outstanding show of power from Todoroki's side.

After getting talked to by his father during the lunch break, Todoroki was more pumped to prove Endeavour wrong.

He didn't need his left side.

He proved that to the crowd, indeed. But Endeavour's words still lingered in his mind.

"That, you will be able to prove in your time in the school. But in the outside world, without that side of yours, you will soon reach your limits."

That's why, Todoroki couldn't help but look grumpy even after winning majestically.

Next was the match between Neji and Kendo.

Neji walked onto the Arena, opposite Kendo who had a blank expression.

She had avoided talking to him since their matching was decided.

"Alrighty!" Midnight raised her hand, holding a flag, in the air. "Your match starts now!"

The announcement ended, but Neji didn't move. He knew what's going to happen.

Slowly, with a relevant face, Kendo raised her left hand in the air just as a sigh escaped her.

"I would like to surrender."

Kendo knew better than anyone how strong Neji was. She was, after all, present to see Neji fight both Nomus with her own two eyes.

It would need her to be high on drugs before the thought of winning against a Monster like Neji crossed her mind.

With that, Neji won.

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