Stealing Spree

Chapter 63: Dodgeball (1)

After that practice session with Nami. We immediately went to the changing rooms to put on our PE uniforms. Hugging her for that long, I guess she got comfortable with me. Her hand also moved to hug me but that was it, Nami didnʼt say anything during our hug and after we separated.

I need more practice sessions with her but I guess even if she knew things about me, she wouldnʼt tell it to anyone.

When the PE class started, that military-like teacher separated the classes into two. Well, weʼre already separated since the start.

Today we will play Dodgeball and it will be Class versus Class.

The teacher made her own version of Dodgeball. Or just an improvised version of it.

It will be played in twice the size of a normal dodgeball game. Each side will have 20 students playing and will be divided by two zones; Left and Right. If a student went out of his or her zone, he or she will be moved to the Outfield immediately. It wonʼt just be conceding the offense or giving back the ball to the enemy. The teacher prepared something to mark that division.

There will be three balls at play instead of just one and one of those three is a Special Ball that can rescue three players who were at the Outfield when caught or move an additional random two players to the outfield if it hits successfully.

Thereʼs also a rule that only girls can throw the balls while only boys can catch it. The boys have to pass the ball they caught to a girl. If someone violated it, he or she will be moved to the Outfield. This rule doesnʼt apply to the players on the Outfield.

There will also be no distinction between Attacker and Defender, as long as someone has a ball, either throw it to hit someone or pass it. As long as they donʼt drop it, itʼs fine. If they dropped the ball during a pass, they have to concede it to the enemy giving them a free throw.

The game will end if one team has either every boy or every girl moved to the outfield. So even if they have 10 boys left but their girls are down to 1, hitting that girl will end the game and the opposing side will win. Since it will become no one to catch the ball or no one to throw it.

And since there are 30 students in a class, the remaining 10 will be on standby to substitute if a need for it arises. Especially for those students with low endurance.

”Sounds like a tough game. Will we be alright? Only girls will throw? Wonʼt that be easy for the boys to catch it?”

Sakuma asked, thinking about the rules set by the teacher. Itʼs just a bit different than the normal rules but still a different one than we were used to.

”Donʼt look down on us, you idiot.”

Hearing what he said, Satsuki almost kicked him. Sheʼs a basketball club member, passing and throwing the ball are basics for her.

”That will be super easy. I played a bit of baseball before and I was the pitcher!”

Harada excitedly shouted. But a baseball is small and you probably used a rubber ball. I wonder what kind of ball that teacher will use.

The protagonist and heroine group led by Ogawa and Nami took up the Leader position to organize the class.

I was not picked among the 20 who will play. Satsuki voiced her disagreement as well as Fukuda, which was a surprise, but Nami and Ogawa were adamant on their decision.

Well, thatʼs good, Iʼm all in to rest and just watch how they will play. I guess that was Namiʼs idea to have me substitute someone later.

Rindou wasnʼt picked as well, I guess they want those who can throw the ball better. She also didnʼt mind since she knew she would only be a dead weight for the class.

I looked at the opposing class and saw an intense glare directed at me.

Yup. Thatʼs her. Fujii Mirae. That Bookworm type. Is she still hung on that piece I wrote? Sheʼs also not picked to play first.

Well, that build of hers is almost like Rindou. She spends most of her time taking in knowledge but I guess she still has a social life or she will be like those club members of Haruko who only live to read books.

”W-whoʼs that girl?”

Rindou, noticing the gaze of Fujii directed at me, asked.

”Someone from the Literature Club.”

”S-sheʼs glaring at you.”

”Right. It must be because of what I did on my trial there.”

Hearing my answer, Rindou stopped asking. She probably thought sheʼs already asking too much.

After a round of warm-ups, the teacher officially started the game. She brought out two normal balls and a tennis ball. The tennis ball is the special ball that needs to be caught to bring back three outfielders or to be thrown and hit to send three to the outfield at once.

Our classʼ strategy which was probably devised by Nami and Moriʼs brains didnʼt divide the allocation equally. Left side will have 7 boys and 3 girls and the right will be its opposite.𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Thereʼs no tip off, with a simple best of 3 of rock-paper-scissors, the first team to hold the balls will be decided.

Luckily our team won.

When everyone was in position the 3 balls were given to our team.

Satsuki drew first blood by hitting a girl using a normal ball, reducing the enemyʼs thrower. The other two balls didnʼt hit.

The enemiesʼ attack came right after. The special ball didnʼt hit anyone and one of the normal balls was caught by Fukuda. They held off at throwing the other normal ball.

They threw it when our team threw the balls we had.

Nami hit another girl but they also hit a girl from our team.

”Theyʼre good.”

Rindou commented at my side.

Err I wanted to retort but since her eyes were glittering like that I opted not to.

”Yes. But itʼs just starting. Letʼs cheer for them.

”Y-yes.”

The game progressed rather fast because there are three balls in play. So far, no one caught the special ball yet.

Sakuma was hit and was sent to the outfield but he got back in easily when he caught the ball which one of the enemy dodged and threw it to that enemy who had just dodged.

15 minutes into the game, most of them were already sweating because of how intense the fight was. Our class now has 7 outfielders while the opposing class has 10, leading to them being disadvantaged.

They called for timeout and substituted some of their players who were already exhausted.

This time our team substituted someone as well. Not me, of course.

This is nice. Iʼm not standing out this way.

Most of the students that were not playing were cheering for their class. Those attractive guys and girlsʼ names were often mentioned, theyʼre the ones being cheered the most.

The game seems fun that all of them were smiling while playing. Those at the outfield were the noisiest though, trying to distract those inside by shouting to their team to pass the ball to them.

The game continued and soon someone was hit by the special ball and unfortunately itʼs from our team.

Satsuki was one of the random two who were sent to the Outfield, the two were picked by an RNG made by the teacher.

Right after that, the enemy team caught the special ball, bringing three more girls inside.

Now weʼre the one at the disadvantage. Kanzaki, hit someone but the enemy also hit another boy from our team.

35 minutes into the game, our team was down to 5 players inside. 3 girls and 2 boys while the enemy team has 9; 5 girls and 4 boys.

Rindou and the others from our class were worried seeing that.

”Weʼre losing now.”

”Donʼt worry. This could even be better. Theyʼll be harder to hit now and those at the outfield will raise pressure on them.”

Right. 15 players were surrounding them. But yeah, 11 of them were surrounding the remaining 5. They just need to hit the 2 boys and weʼre doomed to lose.

Seeing that, Nami called for a timeout.

Finally, my resting time has ended. They substituted me to one of the boys inside the zone. Rindou and the other students who havenʼt played were also substituted in. They wanted everyone to experience the game since itʼs really a fun game.

The opposing team also did the same and now the final battle will commence.

Since there were only two boys inside, the other boy was Tadano, the eyes of the enemies were all directed at us. Fujiiʼs glare was still directed at me. Maybe her throw will all fly towards me. This girl. Such a short piece made her this angry at me.

The three girls left were Satsuki, Nami and Harada. These three were the top hitters of our team.

Should I play seriously or not? There doesnʼt seem to be a prize for the winner though. Except the promise of the teacher to reduce the workload sheʼs putting on us.