NovelsAlex Chapter 1049 Sports Festival (2)
Chapter 1049 Sports Festival (2)
Chapter 1049 Sports Festival (Part Two)
Campus life is progressing smoothly, and Zongwu High School has entered the warm-up phase before the carnival.
Every day, in every class and every classroom, discussions about the sports festival resounded.
There were people making costumes, building gates, painting curtains, and even the cheerleading squad practicing...
Almost everyone can find their place in this event, if they want to.
Those who are introverted and don't want to be in the spotlight can quietly sew clothes with a hammer or fill in the colors on a curtain; extroverted people who like to play can join a cheering squad, which is no ordinary kind of lively activity.
Take the Red Team for example. Goro Hata and others formed a cosplay group and are preparing to cosplay Elder Centipede from One-Punch Man on the day of the sports festival. Now, the costume team is preparing team uniforms and also making cosplay costumes for them.
Of course, there are also people who choose to live in seclusion, going to school every day in a routine manner, and leaving school on time after school, either to go to tutoring classes or home.
This behavior is permitted by the rules, but even setting aside a country like Japan that values reading the air, in any other place, even in the "free" country of America, one would definitely be bullied.
If the person who didn't participate in group activities gets a good grade after the final exams, things will get even more complicated.
"Everyone's busy preparing for the sports festival, but he/she is doing nothing and secretly studying. How despicable!"
That would mean being put on a pedestal.
Even Hojo Kyosuke, who would never dare to put in the slightest effort, was driven to the brink of madness. In events like the sports festival, sports clubs are always the absolute stars.
Therefore, the help of many sports clubs in the school was indispensable, both in the process of organizing the event and on the day of the event.
Despite its name, the "Sports Festival Operations Committee" is actually entirely dependent on the student council for its operation.
You can't expect a volunteer leader who's been temporarily elected to do everything perfectly, can you? Not everyone is named Yukino Yukinoshita.
So this committee is just a student council in a different guise, or rather, a very cumbersome and inefficient one.
While contributing their time and effort, student council members should also be careful not to overshadow the leaders and instead place themselves in a supporting role.
What's worse is that the members of the "Sports Festival Operations Committee" were originally people who were voluntarily or involuntarily thrown in by various classes.
Needless to say, those who volunteer are unwilling to do such troublesome work, and they tend to slack off when they're on the committee. But don't assume that volunteering is a good thing.
This group is euphemistically called "active," but they're like those college students in military training who are obsessed with becoming class monitors. They're unlikely to be exceptionally capable, but their desire to do something is simply irrepressible.
If someone lacks ability but still wants to do things, they become a troublemaker, and you can imagine how complicated things will become.
Therefore, the organizational structure of the Sports Festival from bottom to top became as follows: Regular students → Groups such as the Door Group or the Curtain Group → Red/White/Blue Teams → Sports Festival Organizing Committee
Such a four-tier or three-tier structure is ideal in theory, with the committee responsible for the overall arrangements of the sports festival, such as event planning, scheduling, fund allocation, and procurement of supplies...
The three-color team was responsible for arranging the students, ensuring that everyone could find their place and fully immerse themselves in the festival and enjoy the fun.
The idea is wonderful, and the division of labor is clear, but such a fantasy is based on the premise that each part can complete its task well.
In fact, this is absolutely impossible!
Although the second gate of the Red Team, where Hojo Kyosuke is, is almost finished, the other two teams are still arguing about whether to build a gate in the shape of a great white shark or an ocean wave, except for the White Team, which decided to build a gate in the shape of a Nissin ramen after being persuaded by Kisaki.
Their captain is a senior in the third year, who should be experienced, but his experiences in the previous two sports festivals were not good. The first time, the captain was dictatorial and made decisions on his own. The team members still curse the captain from time to time, saying that they were completely treated as tools.
The second time was a completely democratic process. Everyone argued back and forth and in the end, they made a gate that was no different from the school gate, which made all the team members lose face.
Now that he was in that position himself, the blue team captain truly understood how difficult the situation was. Both approaches had their supporters and opponents, so he ultimately chose to simply give up, letting the lower-level officers argue amongst themselves—let it all end!
The inability to decide on the gate directly hindered their team's progress, as these all required coordination. The entire process wasn't nonexistent, but it was certainly nerve-wracking.
In this situation, let alone arranging for each team member to participate in the corresponding competition, it's questionable whether the main gate can even be properly prepared on the day of the sports festival.
But that won't do. So they need the committee's help. The committee will send people to help the blue team build the gate and make their uniforms...
The issue of registering for sports events, which had been a headache for Yukinoshita, has shifted from the Blue Team's responsibility to the committee's.
Asking ordinary people to participate in running and high jump competitions? Most people are either lazy or don't want to embarrass themselves. So where is the largest group of people who exercise? The answer: sports clubs.
The simplest approach is to approach the presidents of sports clubs and have them further explain the task.
But things sound simple; once you do them, you'll know how difficult they are.
First of all, sports clubs are full of the elite students in the school. Do you think a mere temporary committee can command them? Don't even dream about it. They'll be kicked out before they can even see the club president.
Secondly, just look at the kendo club; we're already close to the "IH," the All-Japan High School Athletic Games. This tournament covers almost all sports, so it's safe to say that all the school's sports clubs are currently in intensive training, and nobody has time to listen to the committee's instructions.
Well, that's when the student council needs to step in. The student council of Soubu High School isn't particularly powerful; it can't be said to be the absolute leader among all clubs, but it still has some influence.
The student council president has to help the committee communicate with sports clubs and do a lot of troublesome things.
And now, Hojo Kyosuke is entangled in this trouble.
As the de facto ruler of the two most powerful sports clubs at the current General Martial Arts Academy, trouble should have come his way from the very beginning.
But he is, after all, Hojo Kyosuke. Before becoming the club president, he was first and foremost an unprecedented super freshman at Soubu High School. He is the "Kendo Emperor" who reigns supreme over the Hokushin Ittō-ryū style, the "Heisei Style" whose debut work won a top award, and the "Court God" who drives America crazy.
Even if the three members of the committee and student council were bold enough, they wouldn't dare to approach Kyosuke Hojo. Otherwise, Principal Korin would have torn them apart first.
But things are different now, completely different...
On Monday, while a bizarre video of Kyosuke Hojo happily breaking a wooden board went viral online, the student council members took a look and realized: Oh, it turns out that Hojo-kun wasn't doing anything important, but was just enjoying the sports festival!
So, does that mean he's also under our jurisdiction?
The student council president immediately approached Kyosuke Hojo and latched onto him, not only making him direct the kendo and baseball clubs to actively sign up for events, but also making him the promotional ambassador for this sports festival to help motivate the students.
"Publicity Ambassador? Our school has something like that?"
“There wasn’t one like this before, but Soubu High School has never had a student like Hojo-kun before!”
The third-year student council president pleaded desperately, and Kyosuke Hojo simply couldn't refuse. Or perhaps this was part of the sports festival; happiness is never something that exists in isolation.
For example, when playing video games, can you really sit there and experience the joy of victory? Some people envy the lively and exciting school festivals, but if you actually ask them to get moving and participate...
Let alone working like Hachiman Hikigaya, running around carrying heavy logs weighing over ten kilograms, even rehearsing a group dance like a performance troupe requires finding an excuse to avoid it.
You reap what you sow; this is an eternal truth.
So even though Kyosuke Hojo kept complaining to Sakura and Shoko, saying that he hadn't talked or walked as much in a year as he had in the last two days, he still diligently visited many sports clubs under the arrangement of the student council.
Starting from the first floor of the club building, they knocked on door after door, patiently explaining the importance of the sports festival to everyone's high school life, persuading everyone to temporarily slow down their training pace, and encouraging club members to actively participate in the sports festival.
You wouldn't know unless you looked closely, but Kyosuke Hojo has been hanging out with the Red Team all the time, having a blast swinging a hammer and breaking planks. Even his previous experience performing in a dance troupe was quite enjoyable, since the coaches ranged from strict types like Yukino Yukinoshita to encouraging types like the shrine maiden.
With him in charge, no one in the Red Team dared to cause trouble. Even Yukino Yukinoshita, the assistant captain who only knew how to do things, was able to handle things with ease. This not only prevented her from working herself to death, but also helped the mascot captain, Sakura, to organize the Red Team in an orderly manner.
But as soon as you enter the club building, you'll find that all those clubs—Mahjong Club, Tsum Tac, Speech Club, etc.—are packed with people, brazenly skipping their team tasks and having fun on their own.
Especially those playing mahjong, after the exams, became even more unrestrained and arrogant; the clatter of mahjong tiles could be heard from afar. Hojo Kyosuke knocked on the door for a long time without response, so he had no choice but to push it open and go in. He stood there for a while, but no one came to greet them, completely ignoring him.
As for why I stood there watching for so long... ahem! Mahjong is for the world! The world belongs to mahjong!
The answer is to prevent Alzheimer's disease!
Yes, this slogan was something Kyosuke Hojo saw on the wall of the mahjong club's activity room. It included things like, "Mahjong helps develop the brain; Einstein played mahjong for nine hours every day," and "If you don't want to forget how to put on your pants when you're old, start playing mahjong today!"
I don't know if it's meant to deal with the school and student council, or if these guys really think that way.
After they finished their round, these guys, their faces flushed as if they had done something unspeakable, looked at the suddenly appearing people.
What followed was a friendly negotiation. Hojo Kyosuke made a deal with the mahjong club members: "If you don't take the sports festival seriously, you'll have to carry a mahjong table in the club relay race."
After saying a friendly goodbye and leaving, a student council member asked in confusion, "But, Hojo-kun, if we don't let them carry the mahjong table around, how will everyone know they're a mahjong club?"
Kyosuke Hojo didn't even turn his head: "Idiot! Just let them run away with the mahjong tiles!"
Then I visited the judo club, the track and field club, and other clubs one by one. The track and field club was the most cooperative. The members of these clubs were eager to compete, but they didn't want to do those chores.
How should the judo club demonstrate its identity during a relay race? By carrying the mats, of course!
The scene was quite something: the track and field team members, wearing athletic shorts, ran effortlessly at the front, followed by those carrying tables, wielding longbows, wearing kendo protective gear, and carrying mats...
Starting from the first floor, Kyosuke Hojo and the student council members visited each building like they were handing out flyers.
Most clubs give Hojo Kyosuke face, after all, he is now the uncrowned king of Soubu High School, a super special existence who has become an "outstanding alumnus" even before graduating.
In less than an hour, the club building was almost empty, with most of the time spent dealing with overly enthusiastic classmates. Everyone rarely had the chance to get close to Hojo-sama, so they all tried their best to find topics to talk about.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that Soubu High School's sports club is not very good. If it were Shohoku High School's basketball club, and they dared to suggest that they reduce their training volume to participate in the sports festival at this time, they would probably be swarmed and beaten to a pulp immediately.
So when they heard what Hojo Kyosuke said, most of the club presidents happily nodded in agreement, and in front of the student council, they asked the members which team they belonged to and immediately began assigning tasks.
Under Hojo Kyosuke's tyranny, only two gangs trembled in fear while trying to put up a fight.
One is the soccer club, one of the few outstanding clubs at Soubu High School. They have achieved some good results in previous years, and this year they have welcomed the young genius Hayato Hayama. He is full of energy and ready to make a big splash, so naturally he will not give up any training time.
A week before the midterm exams, the only ones who dared to continue training despite the school's ban were the kendo club and the baseball club.
Faced with the beaming new publicity ambassador, the head of the football department's knees buckled and he knelt down, then cried out with a mournful face, "This year! This year is our football department's most promising year ever!"
Okay, I know, I know. The first year of the world, right? It's the best year ever, all because of me, the child of this world.
Kyosuke Hojo smiled broadly and said it was fine if they didn't listen, since the school's soccer field had already been allocated to students preparing for the sports festival by the student council. If they insisted on practicing, they could practice juggling the ball in the activity room.
Upon hearing this, the head of the football department burst into tears, just like a humiliated little girl.
The student council members standing behind Hojo Kyosuke then struck a pose of sycophantic thugs, perfectly embodying the spirit of bullying others.
Thank you so much for your monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and donations! Thank you so much!
(End of this chapter)