The school's bell rang and echoed through the empty halls.
While the school buildings were empty and abandoned, the sports fields were packed with students playing and cheering on their teams.
The stands were filled with parents of the students..
By one of the grassy hills near the sports fields, so students were there sitting while waiting for their events to start.
Alice was sitting with a couple of her friends, cheering for their classmates.
"By the way, Alice, when's your partner coming?" Laura asked.
"He'll be here shortly." Alice said with a smile. "I just got a text from him saying he's on his way."
"So, he is part of the Governnt-Appointed Caretaker program?" Reina asked.
"Yup." Alice nodded.
"How does it feel to live with soone who would basically be a stranger in another tiline where plague didn't happen?" Laura asked out of curiosity.
"I was curious about that too," Reina said with a giggle.
"Hmm, I have never thought of that." Alice said, pondering the question. "It's a strange thought to imagine a reality where we never t."
"My parents thought once about partaking in Governnt-Appointed Caretaker program because they had difficulty getting a child." Laura said. "Then, with a lucky stroke, I was born."
"Why did your parents go through with it?" Reina asked Alice.
"I never asked." Alice said. "My mother is a very serious person, but I feel like they felt pity on Adam after both of his parents died imdiately after his birth."
"Whoever created Dark Plague should rot in hell." Reina said hatefully.
"It wasn't created by anyone silly; it was naturally occurring." Laura said.
"You don't know that!" Reina pouted, but when they looked into each other's eyes, they burst into laughter.
They had been arguing about it for years, both having their own theories.
Alice rolled out her eyes.
At that mont, she heard footsteps behind them, and when she turned around, her lips curled into a smile.
"Adam, here!" She waved her hand so that he could see where she was sitting.
Laura and Reina also turned around, and their eyes widened in shock-this was the first ti they saw this famous Adam, who Alice keeps talking about, and he was even more attractive in person.
With one hand in pocket and another carrying a plastic bag, Adam walked over to them with his eyes shielded behind dark sunglasses.
"Here." Adam handed over the plastic bag to Alice and then took a spot beside her on the grassy hill, looking towards the sports fields in the distance.
Alice, with a smile, took three cold drinks from the plastic bag and gave one to Laura and another to Reina.
"What's up?" Alice looked at Laura and Reina, who beca suspiciously quiet after Adam
ca.
It looked like they turned shy out of nowhere, while they were usually quite talkative. "I-it's nothing." Laura stamred slightly over her words and then pointed at the fields. "Look, Markus won another event!"
With another gold dal around his neck, Markus smiled while talking with his classmates about his victory.
"When's our turn?" Adam asked Alice.
"Let check." Alice took out the schedule.
"My na's Reina." Reina brought back her extroverted personality. "You're Adam, right?" "Mm, you're Alice's friend?" Adam asked, and after seeing her nod, he smiled. "Thanks for taking care of her. I know that she can be sowhat... forgetful."
"Forgetful?" Alice looked at him with a pout. "Not even!"
"I have only had to share my books with her five tis when she has forgotten hers." Reina playfully said.
"Liar!" Alice exclaid with a laugh. "I haven't forgotten even once, dirty liars."
She then checked the schedule and exclaid.
"Ah, it's actually our turn!" Alice stood up in a hurry and pulled Adam to his feet. "You were almost late!"
"What's the event?" Adam asked curiously.
"3-legged race!" Alice said urgently, and dragged Adam behind her.
"It was nice to et you two." Adam said to two of her friends and then walked after Alice, hand-in-hand.
"I now see why she keeps talking about him." Reina chuckled and shook her head.
"Mm..." Laura mumbled to herself, lost in thought.
...
At the hundred-ter mark, one of the teachers, who acted as referee of the event, tied Adam's and Alice's ankles together with a piece of string.
Then they did the sa with their hands till they were holding hands.
There were seven other teams-partners were always one female and one male-to keep it fair for everyone.
"Hello, Alice, did you see my victory?" Beside Alice, on the first lane, Markus was standing with a big smile on his face.
He was tied to a female classmate of his who was part of the track and field team. They were easily the favorites to win.
"Yes, I did, congrats!" Alice said with a smile.
Markus' cheeks blushed slightly after seeing her smile, and then he turned to her partner, and felt small even though he was already quite tall for soone of his age.
"Umm, who is your partner?" Markus asked.
"It's Adam; you two have already t." Alice said. "Rember the sparring match in your
karate dojo?"
Markus' eyes turned fearful, and he turned his gaze to the front-he started sweating, his mind racing with mories of that embarrassing defeat.
"Why're you sweating so much?" His partner asked in annoyance as she felt the sweat on his
hand. "Markus?"
Adam side-glanced at Markus, felt slightly sorry, and then turned his head to the front.
He used his Image Training against Markus and went pretty far when fighting against him, so he wasn't shocked that Markus was afraid of him.
After all, Markus treated the fight as just another sparring match, while Adam thought of it as
a deathmatch.
It was most likely his first ti ever having to fight soone that fought to kill.
It didn't shock Adam that it was traumatizing for him.
The spectators then started cheering as the three-legged race was about to start.
The teacher grabbed the starting pistol, and went to the grass beside the track to start the
race.
"Ready!"
With a shout, the runners lowered their stances slightly.
The referee raised the gun towards the sky, and then with a gentle trigger press, a loud sound
echoed throughout the sports field.
The eight teams exploded off the starting line, so looking clumsy as it was their first ti trying a three-legged race.
"What're you doing, Markus?" His classmate shouted as their rhythm was a complete ss as Markus was still taken aback.
After that shout, he recognized that they were in the race, and started running faster, but because of the sudden shift in the rhythm, his partner almost fell over.
They were currently running in fifth place.
With the race being not too long-only hundred ters-the race soon ended, and the winning team was a pair of father and daughter, who kept the best rhythm.
It helped that the father was a forr track-and-field athlete while the daughter was a
volleyball player.
As third place, Adam and Alice crossed the finishing line.
It started very rough, but they quickly got a grip of the rhythm and started passing others
quickly until they reached third place.
Because of his much longer limbs, Adam had to slow down his pace to match Alice's shorter
strides. It was difficult, but it worked in the end.
"Third..." Alice panted slightly and smiled, then high-fived Adam. "We got a dal!"
In the fourth place, Markus and his partner crossed the finishing line-he was imdiately chewed out by his partner for the poor start.
'This is actually the first dal I've ever won.' Adam smiled. 'It feels nice. I kind of want to
win a gold dal now.'
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