Under The Veil of Night

Nolen School C, Student Council Room

After getting enough rest during the weekend because work in the office didn’t require her to come on Saturday, Kanae felt more energetic. She knew that it would be impossible for her to sleep in the class today, so she came to the Student Council Room instead.

"Good morning, President, Mike, and Neo," Kanae greeted politely. She noticed someone unexpected, "Ah, you’re here too, Tommy?"

Tommy turned his head. "I come to get permission to not join the Student Council because I have a competition."

"The relay competition is held today?" Kanae asked.

"Yes and I’m not sure at what time I return to school, that is if I return at all," Tommy laughed.

"You don’t have to ask for permission to leave, the Student Council members are all going to go there now," Kevin interrupted.

"Eh?" both Kanae and Tommy were stunned. Why hadn’t they heard about this before? Seeing Kevin serious face, they were sure that he didn’t try to fool them, but they really didn’t know anything about it before.

Neo coughed up. "We have just decided on it today. Just prepare yourself. Don’t forget to tell the other two too."

"I got it. I call Jay," Tommy waved before going outside.

Kanae walked to the coffee machine. "President, do you need one?"

"The usual one," Kevin answered.

"I understand."

Kanae made the coffee for Kevin as she recalled something. Misae and Alice must have wanted to come and watch the competition too.

"President, can I ask Misae and Alice to come along?"

Kevin nodded his head. "Yes, you can."

"Thank you, President."

Neo handed a paper to Kanae. "Don’t forget to fill in the permission form for them."

"I understand," Kanae took the paper and walked out to tell her friends about this news.

As she had expected, Misae and Alice were overjoyed that they could skip the classes. Although they still needed to learn more for their test, they were not really worried.

On the opposite, Jay was full of complaint.

"Why should we come to your competition?" Jay looked towards Tommy with an annoyed look. This morning, the teacher suddenly told him that the Student Council would go to Nolen School B with all of their members. The reason: one of their members is participating in the relay competition at Nolen School and the Student Council President wanted the other members to support him.

In Jay opinion, the reason given to the teacher was highly stupid. Nevertheless, they still allowed them to come here and didn’t attend the class. This made him really curious just what the teachers thought about the lesson in the class.

"Most of the students in Nolen School C only attended to get the certificate. So, what do you think the attitude of most teachers would be?"

That was the answer he got when he complained to Kevin and the others during the journey. He couldn’t say that it was not true though since he too, only joined the school because it was necessary for his image and he needed the certificate.

Tommy laughed dryly. "I’m not the one making the decision, if you want to ask, you should just ask the President instead of me."

"I have, but they don’t give me any satisfying answer," Jay said. "Anyway, if you lose, you have to treat me."

"Why am I feeling that you’re still blaming me?"

Misae giggled seeing the two of them bantering. During the entire journey, Jay kept on protesting about them coming here. It seemed that he really didn’t like them going outside the school.

Alice kept quiet most of the time, but she too felt amused by the banter between Jay and Kevin. It seemed that Jay still couldn’t accept the reason for the sudden decision of Kevin.

Before long, they arrived in Nolen School B, the school where the competition was held. Tommy’s teammate went to their seat first while Tommy asked for their number before going back to the others.

"Tommy, you better prepare yourself, the race will start," Kanae pointed towards the other relay race competition’s member.

Tommy nodded. "See you later guys!"

As Tommy joined his friends, the rest of them walked to the stand and picked seats for six people. The participants were not many since the number of schools in this city was not that much. Still, there were a lot of people coming to watch the game.

"What is the rule for the relay?" Misae asked curiously.

"During this race, each runner runs 100 meters with a baton in-hand and stays in his own lane. They hold the baton in one hand and take off when they hear the starter’s gun. If a runner leaves the starting line early, the race must start again. If a runner made another early start, his team is disqualified from the race.

After each runner runs his part of the 400-meter relay race, he hands off the baton to his teammate. That teammate must receive the baton within a 20-meter area. If the pass came before or after that area, the team is disqualified. Also, if a runner drops the baton, the team is disqualified.

The team that completes four separate baton passes successfully and has its last runner cross the finish line first will win the race."*

Misae looked towards Jay with a frown. Why did it feel that the word that Jay used seemed to be very formal? "Your way of phrasing seems different than usual, Jay."

Jay handed her the paper. "I just read this information. I didn’t change any of the words from this bulletin."

Upon reaching the place, they were given the bulletin to let them know about the rules of the competition. This was especially targeted to people who didn’t know the rules, like Misae.

"Why I didn’t get any?"

"You’re daydreaming when they hand the paper previously," Kanae handed her the paper. "Here, you can have mine."

"What if you need it?" Misae took the paper anxiously.

"If it’s the rule, I already remember it. Besides, the game will start soon. Tommy is in the second group, so he won’t appear that fast."

"I see," reading the rules once again, Misae understood more about it before she turned into the field. The first group has started, and they were really fast. Misae couldn’t follow them with her eyes as they quickly ran across the line.

Jay yawned. "They are not that fast."

"For high school students, they are already fast enough. Do you want them to become a full fledged athlete?" Mike smiled.

"Well, no and it’s not like this city is the best to produce an athlete," Jay shook his head.

"Even if there are people who passed the requirement, most of them are people from the street, you wouldn’t want these kinds of people to become an athlete with that kind of background," Neo chirped in.

Becoming a star meant that his past would be revealed and most of the people here didn’t have a pleasant past. Even if they have the qualification, they would not try to achieve it and with time, they would lose their qualification for sure.

"The second group will start, where is Tommy?" Misae looked around to find that boy.

"He’s the fourth runner," Kanae pointed to the side. "Just wait for his turn."

As the gun was fired, the runner started running. The students from Nolen School C should be proud because of their achievement. The students there were not that good for study and most of them like to fight. Since it was the case, they have a better physique and soon led the match.

"Will our school win?" Misae looked excited.

"Not sure, that guy over there is fast too," Mike interrupted and pointed to the group beside theirs.

Although their school started was faster, he was soon surpassed by the person beside him. Then, the baton was passed to the second and third people. However, the gap instead widened. Lastly, the baton was given to Tommy who dashed off quickly.

"If this is individual race, I bet Tommy would win the race for sure," aside from one team, the other teams were lagging behind the race so much. Given Tommy speed, he quickly reduced the gap between him and the other group, but still didn’t manage to pass him in the end.

He crossed the finishing line a bit too late, which made him lost the race.

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