16 Chapter Seventeen: Get Fired Up! PK Academy Sports Day

GOING BY THE TITLE OF THIS CHAPTER we all know just exactly what's going to happen here. Of course, you could also speculate just how it might go, but who knows, MJ might surprise you! It's unlikely but… Oh, well. She likes to stick to a formula, you know. How boring.

"It's the sports festival," Saiki grumbled as he stood around with his classmates. He wore his gym clothes with a yellow headband on his head. Besides him, Akari also wore the same thing, though you could barely notice the bandana in her hair since it was completely covered by her inky hair.

"Listen up! We have only one goal today!" Hairo shouted, "Victory!"

The class rallied around him and cheered, "Yes!"

Saiki deadpanned, "I wanted to stay home today."

Akari was more than happy to skip out on it. However, much like Kusuo, she just couldn't. For basically the same reason. 'You and me both,' Akari grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't want to be here in the slightest, but with her family being here, Akari didn't have much of a choice.

In the stands, Yamato was jumping around like a child as he cheered, "Let's go Akari!" He was decked out in a vibrant yellow, showing his support for his daughter's class. Beside him, his wife and son also clapped along. Rikuto was excited about getting to watch. However, he wasn't much of a sports fan and may or may not understand some rules of some games. He tries though! Miku was far more subdued than Yamato and Rikuto were. She had actually been talked into taking the day off by her family especially since it's the sports festival for her eldest child. So she stood in the stands politely clapping and cheering on her daughter. Though it's not like they imagined Aikari doing much. She's not sporty or athletic in the slightest, so they knew she wouldn't win or anything like that. Not only that, but no one notices her and honestly her family did think she'd be put in any event. Still, they were there to show their support!

Earlier that day, Saiki's parents had been the same way when they basically begged him to go. "No!" Kurumi had whined to her son, "You need to go!"

"I bought a video camera just for this!" Kuniharu exclaimed while holding up said camera.

Saiki sighed at his parents' earlier behavior, "So I had no choice but to come, and yet…"

"Nice one, honey!" Kunihara said as he took a video of his wife, neither of them paying attention to their son at all. "Look over here! Oh, no. The battery ran out." Well then…

Kusuo glared from the field, "Just go home!" If they weren't even going to pay attention to him, then what was the point of them being there?

Hairo continued to cheer with everyone, "Never give up, Class Three!"

"Yes!"

Saiki cringed at the loud voices, "How long are you going to keep this up? It's annoying."

'They'll never stop, you know that,' Akari commented mentally while rubbing her temples. It has only just begun and she's already feeling the beginning of a headache because of this. Why couldn't she just skip these school events? Now she has to deal with all of the annoying side characters, some that she completely forgets even exist. She could just disappear into the shadows, it's not like anyone would notice and her family wouldn't be surprised. Though… Her yellow, cat-like eyes glanced at her best friend from the corner of her eyes and sighed softly. She would feel a bit guilty about leaving her best friend to deal with this on his own. 

Standing along with their entire class, their blue-haired friend scoffed, "Sports festival?" Kaido dramatically wore his bandana the wrong way while smirking, "What a joke."

They turned to him as Saiki pursed his lips slightly, "This is one of the rare times that we agree on something. By the way, your bandanna is off."

"You are just bad at sports." Nendo bluntly said, earning a shout from Kaido. Though it's not like he's wrong, Kaido is a weakling and is in no way athletic. He gets winded after going up two flights of stairs and can't even lift up a five-pound weight for that long. Honestly, Akari thought that he had the strength of a two-year-old.

Saiki stared at the giant buffoon in front of them, more specifically his yellow bandanna. "While this guy's bandanna fits him perfectly. Right, he has the perfect space for a bandanna."

"Saiki!" Hairo shouted as he came over to the group of friends.

The pink-haired boy scowled, "Enough."

He gave them all his signature, white-toothed smile, "I expect big things!"

"Don't expect anything."

"Nendo!" Hairo cheered, "Your athletic skills are amazing! I expect big things from you too."

He laughed, "Right! I won't lose to you this time."

"You are on the same team, idiot."

"Kaido!" Hairo gave him a shaky thumbs-up, "Well, do your best."

The blue-haired boy bristled, "What is up with your tone?"

"And your bandanna is off." He then was able to catch sight of Akari's long black hair from beside Saiki, which caused him to zero in on her. "Oh, Watanabe!" He stared at her for a long moment, causing her to grow uncomfortable before he tilted his head, "…Do you know how to play sports?"

Akari blinked bordely, "If I say no, can I leave?"

"Nope! Everyone has to play!" Akari sighed in resignation, there was no way of getting out of this. "Don't worry we can win together! It will be tough to win this year. Class One." He gestured to the gathering of students with red bandanas on and a circle indicating their class.

Kusuo squinted his eyes, "Is that how you read that?"

"They are the smartest ones who always get the highest scores on exams."

"Let's win!" The class one representative shouted which was closely followed by his peers' shouts of, "Yes!"

Then Hairo gestured to the next class. These kids were wearing blue bandanas with a plus sign as their symbol, "Class Two."

"That is two?" Kusuo asked confused.

"The most athletic students are in that class," He explained.

Akari raised an eyebrow, yeah, she could gather that from the shirtless guy shouting, "Let's do this!" He looks like a total musclehead to her.

"Class Four," Hairo turned to the class with green bandanas and a square for their symbol.

Akari gave her class representative a strange look, "how is that a four?"

"They are also a smart group led by Tanihara, who has the top grades."

Tanihara smirked arrogantly, "We shall be victorious."

Kusuo blinked, "So there are two smart classes?"

Lastly, there was the next class. All of these kids were wearing glasses with a star as their symbol and white bandanas, "Class Five."

"You read that as five?" Kusuo asked once again. How was Hairo getting any sort of number from these shapes? 

Hairo said, "They are also a smart group which 80% of its members wear glasses."

"Wearing glasses has nothing to do with smartness." Totally agree. MJ wears glasses, and she's an idiot!

The events then started for the day. Kusuo was first to line up with the others since he was competing in the first event. Which was the 100-meter dash.

"Good grief. I am up." He sighed in resignation, totally not invested in this all that much. He is the fastest person there is, so why would he want to race these guys? Though he glanced to the sidelines to spot Akari who gave him a small thumbs up in encouragement. Even if she wasn't smiling all that much, she still seemed to be willing to support him for this. It's not like he has to run in this to impress Akari, since she already knows that he could smoke these guys if he actually ran. Though hey, if he can impress her by even a little bit, then he's all for it.

"Ku, good luck!" Kurumi shouted encouragingly to her son from the stands.

His father cheered on as well while holding his camera, "I'm recording it and saving it to the hard drive in my heart."

Everyone cheered on their friends at the line as they got themselves ready. The gun then went off and all of the boys started sprinting. While they all were doing their best to be the fastest, Kusuo wasn't even breaking a sweat while keeping himself in the middle of the pack. In the end, Kusuo decided that coming in third place was perfectly average for him.

His classmates all came running up to him once he finished. Everyone was murmuring about how amazing Kusuo is and how he got third. Hairo just about had sparkles in his eyes, "Saiki! Amazing! You came in third!" 

Kusuo stared at his classmates in confusion, "Why do I get so much praise for placing third?"

"Your opponents were all in the track and field club." Hairo explained, to the discouragement of Kusuo, "The fourth-place finisher is a short-distance runner. You should join the club!" Looks like in his effort to seem average, he had ended up gaining himself plenty of attention. 

He turned to his best friend with narrowed eyes, "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

Akari shrugged her narrow shoulders, "I didn't know until you started running, but you should have figured out who you were up against."

"Great work, pal! Well, I am actually faster." Nendo boasted, even though that was not true, not like he knows that anyway. The next event was then up, and it was Kaido who stepped up for it. "What? He's up next."

Kusuo raised an eyebrow, "Kaido is in the race too."

"Um, he'll try his best?" Akari blinked, not believing that he would actually get too far. She was right, Kaido and Takahashi ended up in fifth place once they finished. Neither of them is even close to being athletic, so it wasn't surprising.

Nendo laughed like a hyena at Kaido's fail, "You run in a weird way."

"We have two fifth-place finishers." Hairo gritted out in frustration, "We need to turn this around!"

Akari stared at the red-haired boy with a raised eyebrow. He was getting far too into this festival. It is just a school event that they would eventually move on from, most likely next week. Most people won't even bring it up again after this chapter! Though for now, we'll just focus on it for the time being. That being said, the next event was the three-legged race between boys and girls. 

"I am up!" Nendo exclaimed, even though he was not up. 

A black-haired boy stood among his classmates "No. It's me. I'm the one who will participate in the next event." Everyone stared at him in confusion, since he was a character no one has seen before. Geez, an extra.

Saiki asked, "Who are you?" The boy didn't say anything, too lost in his own thoughts to say anything to those around him. "He started an internal monologue." As the boy went on dramatically about his once-in-a-lifetime chance to compete alongside the perfect pretty girl, Teruhashi repeated Sawakita's thoughts word for word. Saiki gasped, "Amazing. That was on point. Can you read minds too?"

'Oh no, not another psychic kid please…' Akari cringed to herself, already thinking about the last psychic kid who showed up in the show. Toritska.

All the competitors lined up at the starting line. Sawakita seemed to be extra hyped up about the race, whatever Teruhashi had said to him seemed to have motivated him a bunch. Once the pistol went off, everyone gaped as Sawakita picked Teruhashi up in a princess carry and sprinted down the track. 

Akari raised an eyebrow at the blatant cheating. Though since it's the perfect pretty girl, there's no way they'd revoke the win from her. She always has to be in first place, right? As far as Akari can tell, no matter how Teruhashi wins something, she always gets praise. Did she cheat? Oh, well, she's perfect so it must be alright. It wasn't fair, but Akari can't do anything about it. Barely anyone knows she exists so who cares about her?

"How can they run so fast?" Someone asked. Duh, he's carrying her.

Someone else shouted, "Sawakita and Teruhashi easily won!"

"He carried Teruhashi!" Thank you captain obvious.

The announcer shouted, "Class Three receives 300 points."

Still, there were plenty of people who were jealous of Sawakita, "I'll kill that guy!"

Saiki shook his head lightly, "You made the most of your life's peak." And he'll never show up in the show again.

"It's time for our comeback," Hairo said while, behind him, the poor simp was disregarded by Teruhashi. How sad. 

"Scavenger hunt!" Nendo pointed, "Who is doing it?"

"You."

Nendo blinked as he was now lined up with the other participants, "Me?"

"Of course, he gets the event that requires no athletic ability." Akari said out loud, "who picked the names for these events?" Saiki nodded his head, though not like he cared if they won or not. If they really thought about it, Nedno would be in an event that was nothing more than just being athletic, this one required some brainpower. Something no one's sure he has.

The pistol went off and those lined up took off in a print. Nendo was the fastest to the end and picked up the paper. He started the shout about being the fastest to the end, but there was more to it.

Saiki blinked while they watched him cheer, "That doesn't really matter."

"Borrow what is written on your paper," the announcer shouted to clarify. Nendo stared at the paper for a moment before dashing over to his class.

"Nice!" Hairo shouted, "Is he coming over here?"

Nendo said, "Lend me that."

"This?" Hairo asked while holding up a racket.

"Not that." Nendo shook his head before walking over to Saiki, "This."

Seeing that Nendo was reaching for Saiki's head, Akari gasped, "Wait Nendo!" That surprised a few people since that's the loudest they've ever heard her speak. Though again, it wasn't that loud, probably just loud enough to be a normal speaking voice. However, the urgency in her voice was probably what made it sound so surprising.

Before anyone could really react, Nendo grabbed one of the pink hair boy's antennas and pulled it out of his head. Saiki then fell over, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he crashed into the dirt.

"Saiki!" Everyone shouted at the now unconscious teen.

"Kusuo!" Akari exclaimed as she rushed to her best friend's side. What just happened!? How could she let this happen!? Her best friend was now on the ground completely out of it, and she wasn't sure how to help him with this!

Everyone crowded around them like a group of moths to a flame. All of them wanted to see what the fuss was about and if Saiki was okay.

"Keep it together, Saiki!" Kaido shouted as he came over to Akari's side. The poor girl was staring with wide yellow eyes at the predicament. If Kaido looked close enough, she almost looked panicked at the situation. Something that he had never seen from her before.

Hairo bent down next to them, "What? What happened?"

"I don't know." Kaido said as he got closer to look at his friend, "He suddenly collapsed. Are you okay? Saiki!"

They then turned him over onto his back, "You shouldn't touch him!"

When they turned him over, Saiki's pupils were extremely small as he drooled. He definitely didn't look okay. Akari was quick to pull his head into her lap to try and get a better look at him. While the others around her discussed what to do, Akari thought back on how to fix this. She's been there a few times when Saiki has had some accidents due to his powers. However, this is a first. Probably due to the fact that most people are decent and just don't go grabbing stuff off of people's heads! Meanwhile, all around the world, and even in the international space station, the power started to go down. Everywhere, things were falling apart because Saiki was unconscious. He is like the main power source for this world after all. If this isn't fixed soon, who knows what will happen!

"Nendo," Akari started off, causing just about everyone to freeze. Her voice was soft, like usual, but there was an icy tone to it that struck them all in the chest. They found that she was pin-pointing the tall buffoon with a glare, her yellow eyes narrowing to the point that they appeared cat-like. "Give it to me."

The idiot quickly gave it to her, recognizing the danger he was in. Never in the time that he's known Akari has he ever felt fearful of her. None of her classmates have. Most of them didn't know she existed and those that did only saw her as a quiet, invisible teen. Everyone seemed to back away from her and her stony expression as she took the device and carefully put it back in his head. It only took a second, but Saiki's eyes went back to normal and he sat up on his own. All across the world, everything went back to normal.

Kaido exclaimed, "He regained consciousness!"

"Are you okay?" Hairo asked. "He collapsed when that was taken off, so Akari put it back on."

Saiki's eyes widened just a bit at the piece of information, "Somebody removed it?" He turned to Akari as he felt her worried gaze on him. She seemed relieved that he was ok now, but still uncertain about what could happen now. He knows that she's seen what happens when he doesn't have complete control of his powers. So he places a comforting hand on hers, as a sign of comfort. He could feel how cold her small hands were and also how they were shaking a bit. There are many things that Saiki doesn't like, that's obvious, but he definitely hates making Akari worry. Most of the time, she doesn't have to since he's powerful enough to take care of his own issues. Though this is unknown territory. Neither of them could be certain what would happen now. So she has a right to be worried, and he hates that.

"I was out only a few seconds." Saiki told her with a sigh, "That could have been much worse."

Nendo bent over to them, "Are you okay, pal?"

Saiki just stared at him and through to Akari, 'I never thought Nendo would remove it though. I knew he was dangerous. I will need to get rid of him.'

'Want me to do it?' Akari asked him with a scary tilt of her head, 'we don't know how much control you have, might as well as keep you from doing anything bad.' Saiki's eyes just about nearly widened at the terrifying tone under her voice. It sounded like she was ready to tear into Nendo for what he did. Which is certainly surprising since she is a pacifist when it comes to just about anything. She gets annoyed and angry for sure, but this was beyond that. That look in her eyes was glowing brightly, which caused Saiki to shiver slightly. 

Though since they focused on the fallen boy, the event came to an end. The announcer said, "Nendo ends the race in last place."

"I lost." Nendo sighed but shrugged his shoulders in acceptance, "Too bad. I couldn't stay in the race since my pal collapsed. Sorry." It was his fault that Saiki was hurt though!

The announcer declared over the intercom, "The morning events have ended."

---

After slipping away from everyone, Akari and Saiki situated themselves behind a school building. They slowly ate their lunch together while going over what had happened. Saiki was also trying to gauge what control he had over his power now after that mishap. They were doing their best to eat their lunches, but it was a bit difficult for both of them. Saiki was a bit put off by the worried gaze from his friend, and Akari was concerned about him.

"This is bad. I can't control my powers. Even if it was just for a moment, this device that controls my powers was removed." Saiki said, "I could use psychic powers since birth, but they gradually simplified as I became older. When I was five, I could easily lift a condominium. Then, I could easily destroy the moon." Akari remembered that. That was after they had met and she was just starting to learn about his abilities. "However, I slowly lost control of my powers. I could blow up my house by turning over in my sleep. That was nothing. I could recreate the world with my imagination alone with my mind control powers. I could cause something much worse than a small explosion. For that reason, I attached these devices to my head to control my powers. However, it can only control my powers. It cannot stop my powers from amplifying. If this device is removed, even I don't know what damage my powers can cause." He then broke his chopsticks trying to use them to eat. "I currently don't have control over my powers. It is dangerous for me to participate in the afternoon events like this. I need to leave early."

It was both impressive and terrifying to Akari with the power that Saiki has. He's a literal God. She may have powers too, but they weren't as impressive as his. She could control shadows but had plenty of downsides and limitations when it came to them. He could read/control minds, fly, completely rewrite human biology, and more! He's amazing! Akari does have to admit that he can be scary. If ever someone got on his bad side, like really angered him, there's no telling what he'd do. Though she has faith that it wouldn't be anything too bad. He's a good guy, she knows that for sure. He wouldn't go too far.

Akari then took it upon herself to help him eat lunch, basically feeding him his lunch for the time being. After all, she doesn't want him to deal with his powers on an empty stomach! Though Saiki gave her a bit of a narrow look through his glasses at her babying him.

He huffed, "I can feed myself."

"I've been watching you try for a few minutes now, you need help." Akari rolled her eyes at the expression on his face, "Don't give me that look. You need help sometimes, especially now." Why he wouldn't just let her help him a bit was annoying to her!

Saiki just scowled lightly as he allowed Akari to use her unbroken chopsticks to feed him his lunch. She can be a worrywart about him sometimes. Though deep down, he appreciates it! Sure he was an all powerful psychic, but it felt… nice to have someone care about him like this. Then again, it's more like he only likes that it's Akari who cares about him like this. If it were anyone else, he'd find it annoying.

Even if they have been friends for a long time and have been close, it was quite intimate for this to happen. After all, Akari was feeding Saiki at the moment! Someone might find it to be quite an adorable scene. It's a good thing that no one else was seeing this, or the two teens would be completely embarrassed. So don't say anything, or you'll spook them.

"Hey, pal." They then jumped as they heard Nendo walking towards their hiding spot. Dammit Nendo! They share a look with each other and come to the same conclusion. Saiki had to go, to keep himself out of trouble.

"This is bad! I need to go now." Saiki bent down and prepared himself, "Teleportation!"

Though his power didn't work as Nendo came around to find Saiki standing in his pose while Akari just chuckled at him. "Pal? There you are."

"No good. I still can't control my powers." Saiki tsked as he scowled at the development. 

Akari raised an eyebrow at him, 'are you just realizing that now after being unable to simply eat?' That caused Saiki to glare at her through his glasses. He really didn't appreciate the constant teasing from her over this. Saiki thought that she was worried to begin with, and she certainly still was from the stay thoughts he heard from her. Though she seemed to be coping by poking fun at him where she could. Akari isn't necessarily the type to tease someone, but when she gets anxious she's more likely to do it.

Nendo tilted his head, "Are you feeling sick? You should leave early."

 "I didn't expect to hear that." Though that gave him the perfect out. 

So now with all of their classmates gathered around him, Saiki told him that he wasn't feeling good, and shouldn't continue on with the games. It seemed to be the perfect excuse for this. After all, everyone saw him pass out, so they shouldn't question it. They all expressed their sympathies for him and wished him to get better. Though it seemed like their worried and kind words were getting to him. Since then they exclaimed that they would do their best just for his absence.

Saiki stared at him, something gnawing at his chest, "These guys…"

Hairo rallied the group around him, "Let's win this for Saiki!"

"Yes!" They all cheered.

"Let's give the championship trophy to Saiki!"

The psychic just sighed as his classmates started to go wild, "It is tougher to leave now."

Akari blinked at the scene before her, seeing that Saiki was now going to change his mind about leaving. Though this meant that he was opening up a bit more to their classmates. She's noticed recently that he's become a tad bit more receptacle to possible friendships and such. Or at least relationships as a whole. He may not agree that any of them are friends, but he at least values them to some degree. She found it… nice to see him changing his attitude to other people, even if it's a very, very small amount.

She patted him lightly on the arm with a small smile, "good luck."

The announcer declared, "The first afternoon event is tug-of-war."

So Saiki stuck around for the next event. Akari stood on the sidelines as the boys ready themselves for the tug-of-war. She did fidget slightly, wondering how this was going to turn out with his powers going haywire. Especially since this is an event that has to do with strength. What if he accidentally pulled too hard and flung the other class into space? That would be quite the sight to see.

"You must have been so worried about Saiki, huh, Watanabe?" Akari was broken out of her thoughts by the voice beside her. She turned to see that it was Teruhashi who was talking to her. The perfect pretty girl smiled at Akari with a certain inquisitive intensity behind her dark blue eyes. 

Akari huffed, "Sure." She really didn't wanna interact with Teruhashi. Especially today with how things are going.

"You were quite scary though," Teuhashi shivered at the reminder. The look on Akari's face would probably haunt the pretty girl for a while. "I don't think I've ever heard you talk like that before. Then again, I don't think I've heard you talk that much."

Akari just glanced at her and barely paid her classmate any mind. From the tone in Teruhashi's voice, the shadow-manipulator could tell that there was some sort of insult in there. At least some sort of jab at how unnoticeable Akari is. Which of course Teruhashi would use as an insult, or see it as such. Teruhashi thrives off of attention, and no doubt to her not being noticed is a horrible fear of hers. Akari couldn't care less. It seemed like even Teruhashi was able to get that vibe from her as well. The fact that Akari wasn't paying attention to her that much most likely annoyed her as well. Add in the fact that Akari is pretty sure that Teruhashi might be a bit jealous over her being so close to Saiki and it just makes things unbearable. Teruhashi might not actually believe that she might like Saiki or anything like that, but subconsciously she might. That was going to be a pain to deal with. Not only for Saiki but for Akari as well.

They then watched as the other class was sent flying into the air. All of the spectators gaped at it, not entirely sure how to process it. Akari shook her head and facepalmed, already knowing that it was done by Saiki.

The referee was in shock and was able to get out, "I guess Class Three won."

The class themselves cheered for that fact. Now it seemed like all of them were even more fired up than before. "I should just go home." Saiki deadpanned as Akari came up to him, "I hate the sports festival."

His best friend gave him a look, "You ultimately caused this, you know."

"I didn't."

"You shouldn't have participated with your powers out of control like this," she reminded him, which caused him to give her the stink-eye. She might have been right, but she didn't need to point it out. He just clicked his tongue while ignoring her this time which caused Akari to chuckle lightly. She knows that he's a bit embarrassed about this.

Meanwhile, an astonished student exclaimed, "Class Three is amazing!"

Hairo jumped up with a proud smile, "This is our true power!"

"Even I am getting excited," Kaido giddily said.

Nendo just blankly stared at nothing in particular, "Did you guys eat?" How did you forget about that, it wasn't even a few scense ago.

"The rope snapped at a point where I was pulling it." Takahashi asked in astonishment, "Did I do that?" No. You did not.

Let's just say that the win went to their egos. Everyone was noticing quite heavily now that they were growing extremely cocky. It was going to their head big time. Though that meant that what happened wasn't exactly going to be questioned which meant that Saiki was in the clear. "Thankfully, the others drew all the attention." Because of their win, Class Three ended up in second. Saiki let out a sigh of relief, that meant that the festival was almost over, "There are only two more events."

"Class Three looks really weak." Toriska suddenly appeared out of thin air, "It seems like my Class Two is going to win." Oh yea, it's a school wide event, so we would be seeing this side character at some point. Akari shivered at the idiot's appearance, completely creeped out by the pervert.

Saiki made sure to place himself between Akari and Toriska. No need for him to make her uncomfortable. He stirred her away from him, hoping to escape this annoyance, "I couldn't care less."

"Hey!" He shouted in frustration, "We are in first!"

"I really don't care."

Toriska smiled proudly as he remembered the event he participated in, "I did place last in that one race."

The pair stared at him in disgust, "Why do you say that so proudly?"

Akari scowled, "Such a pervert." She really did feel sorry for the poor girl who was paired up with him. No one deserved such a fate.

"Don't hate me if our class wins." Toristka said boldly, ignoring the fact that they were disgusted by him.

"I really don't care about winning or about you."

"Sorry." Hairo slid over to the trio, "We are the ones who will win! If we lose, I will shave my head!"

Toriska scoffed, "Seriously?"

"I am prepared for anything." He really shouldn't doubt Hairo's commitment to these types of things.

"Hey, shut it."

"Why does he always pick the extreme?" Akari wondered out loud.

The rest of the boys then rallied around their class rep, "If Hairo is doing it, we will shave our heads too!"

Saiki blinked, "Wait a minute." There was no way that he could agree to this.

"I agree. I'm not going to lose." Kaido confidently said.

"Why are you so confident of all people?"

Nendo dumbly said, "I will shave my head too."

"You might look better with a buzzcut," Akari said thinking how different he would look with the different haircut. Probably a bit better.

Saiki just stood there staring at the stupidity occurring now, "I don't like where this is going."

Hairo then cheered, "If we lose, all boys in Class Three will shave their heads!"

Akari chuckled with her arms over her chest, "I can't wait to see that."

With that bet set in stone now, the classes all lined up for the second to last event. This time it was the ball toss. Pretty self explanatory, all they have to do is toss as many balls into their basket as possible. The class with the most wins obviously.

So once the gun was fired, it was a mad frenzy to throw as many bean bags into the baskets as possible. There were dozens of bags flying from every direction. Akari was content with just watching it all go down, but Hairo had shoved a bean bag into her hand and told her to join in. Before she could even say anything back, he had disappeared to continue his rampage of throwing.

"What are you doing?" Kaido shouted at Nendo, "Throw more than one at a time!"

Though it wasn't like Kaido was doing any much better with his weak throws, which Nendo pointed out, "Your balls don't even go near the basket."

Meanwhile, Akari was holding a bean bag that Hairo had handed to her and just watching it all unfold. Sure she could join in and participate, but she didn't think that it would matter. What difference would it make if she made or missed this one bean bag? Her throw wouldn't make or break their win. Either way, she gave the bean bag a little toss just for the hell of it and watched as it landed perfectly in the basket. She pursed her lips in a little smile, glad to see that she did actually make it. Though she didn't notice Saiki watching her after he made sure that her bean bag made it in.

Eventually, their time ended, and it was time to tally up the scores. It ended up with Class two being in last with 28, class one with 33 and class three with 83. They can thank Saiki using his powers to get as many in there as possible.

Everyone in class three cheered for that, "Wow! More than double of their balls!"

Saiki looked at Akari and questioned, "Did I go too far?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "maybe, but they look really happy so…"

Though those cheers ended when the announcer shouted, "Class Four collected 100 balls."

Everyone froze and looked to the class representative, Tanihara, as he explained, "We just used our brains, everyone."

They all looked at class four's basket to see that there was a giant bag in it with all of their bean bags in it. Hairo exclaimed, "What is that bag?"

"We put all of the balls in a bag." He said, "You can figure out the rest. We put 100 balls in the basket with a single toss."

Hairo sweatdropped, "That's clever."

Akari furrowed her eyebrows, "That's just cheating."

"Don't say we cheated." Already knowing what they were thinking, Tanihara quickly tried to squish those thoughts. "There was nothing in the rulebook forbidding the use of bags."

Saiki's eye twitched, "Someone should have included it."

"There is one more event, the class relay." Hairo said seriously, "First place gets 500 points. If we place first and Class Four places last, we can win!" He spun around to the pink-haired psychic, |Saiki, I want you to be our anchor!"

"Things will get messy if I say no." He thought, knowing that Hairo wouldn't give up, "Well, I will just finish at whatever place we are when I am handed the baton."

So all the classes lined up with the race. Including Akari, who was meant to be second to last in the race. Hairo thought it was a good idea to have it be her to hand it off to Saiki before he did the anchor. She didn't really understand his reasoning, but when did she ever understand him?

"Ready, set… Go!"

First up was Kaido to run, though he obviously wasn't that fast. He actually looked like a baby deer walking for the first time. Quite adorable. "At the start of the second leg, Class Three is in last place!" The announcer said as the baton was tossed off to Takahashi. A little while later, the announcer continued, "Still in last place, Class Three passes its baton!" It's usually a good idea to have your weakest runners first, right? "Nendo of Class Three is fast! They are now in first place!" Though after Takahashi, thanks to Nendo and his strange running, they ended up in first! 

In her spot, Akari watched all her classmates run their hardest for this race. She was uncertain of just how fast she was going to be while doing this. Akari thinks that she's quite a quick person, but that's only because she can use shadows to make her faster. With her being out in broad daylight, there's no way that she could use shadows here, nor would she want to. They've already got Saiki to worry about using his abilities, and don't need to add her powers into the mix.

"You've got this Akari!" Hairo broke her out of her thoughts as he came running up to her. She took the baton from him and kind of stared at him for a moment before turning to take off. Though instead of running like she wanted, she just ended up face first in the ground with a soft yelp. That track did not taste good. As she got herself right again and took off, Saiki worriedly furrowed his eyebrows. Akari isn't a clumsy person, so it's surprising that she fell just then. So while everyone in the stands wondered who this girl was as she ran and impressed with just how quick she actually is, Tanihara ran up next to Saiki and handed off his baton.

"We are going to win." Tanihara muttered to himself. He then thought, 'As long as I don't get caught, it's okay to trip someone.'

Saiki's eyes narrowed as his blood started to boil at that revelation, "Now, that changes things. He'll regret that."

Akari came up to him and handed the baton off with a satisfied sigh, "Here, Kusuo." Though now that she was actually handing it off, people actually noticed that it ended up at the last leg. Most of the crowd didn't even notice that Akari had taken the baton!

"I'll get him back!" Saiki growled, startling Akari who just watched him take off like a bullet. Everyone was astonished to see him already catching up to the pack after only a few seconds. 

The announcer exclaimed, "Class Three is fast! They went from last to first place! Class Four has fallen behind!"

Akari watched as Saiki used his speed to take the lead easily and was just about to cross the finish line, only to hit the ground just before the end. She cringed slightly already knowing that feeling. 

So class three evidently ended up coming in last. Just because Saiki forgot that he didn't have complete control over his body. Akari made her way over to his fallen form quickly. 

"You must really like the ground huh?" She asked him as she knelt down to him.

Saiki rubbed his head as he sat up, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Akari brushed it off while looking down at him inquisitively, "Why did you even take off like that? You should have thought about your powers."

"Tanihara tripped you." Saiki stated that fact, as if it was the one thing that explained everything.

"Yeah, I know," Akari darkly said as she glared at the other boy from her spot, "Don't worry, I'll get back at him for that." Tanihara shivered at the feeling of being watched.

Saiki stared at her for a long moment as he didn't doubt her in the slightest. Oh, he'd be very happy with being there. Though he'd have to help her out in some way. After all, he hurt Akari. He brushed her long black hair out of the way, noticing the small cut on her cheek. Akari stared at him as he healed it quickly. It's not surprising that he healed her, since he's healed her in the past, but this time it just felt… well, she couldn't really describe it, but it just felt different. It felt a lot more warm. Whatever that feeling is, it dissipated a bit when the rest of their class came over to see what was up with them. Though her cheek was tingling with the lingering touch of his hand.

---

The next morning, Akari was greeted with the sight of Saiki with a buzzcut. It took her everything in her power not to break out into giggles at the sight of him. It took even more of her being not to break out into laughter once their other friends came over.

"Morning, Saiki!" Hairo exclaimed happily as he came up to the pair.

Saiki just grumpily scowled at him, "This is your fault."

"Hey, Saiki!" Kaido then came up to them. Though his hair was completely gone!

Akari had to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter, 'He's bald!' 

"Look at you!" Nendo came walking over while laughing himself, "You look so funny!"

"That is unfair."

The group made it to their class as Hairo greeted them, "Good morning. You didn't shave?" Yup, none of the other guys had shaved their heads!

One of their classmates explained, "That was only if we lost to Class Two. We beat them."

The four boys blinked, "Right." At that point, Akari allowed her soft, haunting giggles to fill the room.