Uneasy daily life

You have to be constantly aware of your teammates passing you the ball, and also be constantly aware of the opponents trying to close you down. It's a subtle feeling that everyone is an opponent.

The White Shadow is a trap!

The commentator was talking when his teammates started to push him too hard, the red team started to target him, and he had to try his best to respond for the team... It was terrible, it was only the first half and he had already used up too much energy. Fortunately, there was a 15-minute halftime break later.

As Hayama Hayato was slightly distracted, he suddenly heard a commotion from the audience. He quickly looked over and saw that the red team captain had seized an opportunity, intercepted the ball from his teammate, and was dribbling towards his own penalty area!

As he immediately strode towards the opponent, Hayama Hayato naturally also saw his own goal and his own goalkeeper.

Goalkeepers are chatting.jpg

……

……

a few minutes ago.

The white team's goalkeeper was bored.

The entire first half was basically a battle for possession in the red team's half. Looking around their own court, the nearest teammates were all on guard and defending the mid-court line.

We have a huge advantage; the score is now 2-0.

The goalkeeper could only be affectionate with the goal, looking down at the grass for ants, highlighting his utter boredom.

"You look boring."

Houtarou Oreki appeared silently.

"?" The white team's goalkeeper hesitated, "You..."

"Houtarou Oreki." As Houtarou Oreki introduced himself, he added, "I'd say I'm a member of the boys' cheerleading squad."

White team goalkeeper: "If I remember correctly, the Red team is the one with a boys' cheerleading squad, right?"

It was Bai Ying who came up with it.

“Yes, White Shadow sent me to cause you trouble.” Oreki Houtarou confessed very honestly. “My task is to chat with you, distract you, and give the Red Team an opportunity to score a goal.”

"..." White team goalkeeper, "Shouldn't you move a little further away?"

"Just relax and don't be so tense. Victory on the field is determined by skill, not trickery." Houtarou Oreki stood outside the boundary line, leaning against the goalpost, looking every bit the lazy bum. "I can't help it. I can't exactly have Shirokage dressed in a girls' school uniform to cheer on the Red Team, can I?"

White team goalkeeper: "Girls' school uniform?!"

"Can you see he's wearing a wig?"

"I hadn't noticed that."

"Just give it a passable answer," Oreki Houtarou said casually. "Judging from your expression, the goalkeeper job seems pretty boring?"

"I can only watch others play, and when it's my turn to play, I'm easily kicked by the other team's ball." The white team's goalkeeper sighed regretfully. "When we were training in the soccer club, who would be the goalkeeper was always a big problem, and it's the same this time. I just didn't have good luck with rock-paper-scissors."

"It sounds like a tough job."

Houtarou Oreki nodded repeatedly, reminding him, "Someone's coming from the other side."

Ok?

opposite?

The goalkeeper snapped out of his daze and quickly focused on the red team member who was rushing towards him.

Damn it! You guys rushed into the opponent's territory and ran wild, leaving our backline wide open. The opponent is going to break through our defenses like a hot knife through butter!

A goalkeeper going one-on-one with the opponent—what kind of hellish scenario is this?!

"Wrestling, wrestling, wrestling... What a pity! The goalkeeper made a desperate save and conceded a goal, and the Red Team fought back with a last gasp."

"Dudu——!"

With Bai Ying's biased commentary and the referee's whistle, the first half came to a temporary end, with the score between the red and white teams temporarily set at 1-2.

Chapter 44 Special Guest

"The game has come to an end. Now it's time for a 15-minute break. Let's look forward to the second half."

After finishing her official statement, Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) picked up a bottle of mineral water from the table.

"Hmph, the whistle at halftime gave the Red Team a narrow escape, but it's just their last breath before they die. They should enjoy the leisurely pace of the game while the outcome is still uncertain, hehehehe—!" Bai Ying made a dissenting statement, adding a voiceover, then picked up a piece of paper from the table, looked down at it, and read aloud, "Now, let's move on to commercials..."

Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai), twisting the bottle cap, laughed upon hearing this, "Haku-kun, where did the sports festival get its sponsors?"

Bai Ying said seriously, "As the chairman of the executive committee, it's normal that you don't know, after all, your main role is to take a bunch of pots and pans to a distant place."

Sponsors?

"Do we have sponsors providing funding?" Yui Yuigahama raised her hand to fan her face. The cheerleading team's jumping and bouncing exercise was quite intense, making her feel like she was turning into a steamy pink dumpling. "Or is it just some newbie making things up?"

Hachiman Hikigaya pondered for a moment, then casually said, "Thank you for the teacher's support, thank you for the principal's assistance, thank you for the student council's budget, thank you for the education bureau's funding, and going even further, thank you for everyone's tuition fees..."

"This does look quite like Xiaobai."

Yui Yuigahama gave a strange look.

Hachiman Hikigaya: "Impossible, absolutely impossible."

Behind the table, commentator Bai Ying cleared her throat and began reading the halftime advertising copy.

"With parched lips and a dry throat, I can't even call out, but the energy of Niu Niu Niu Beverage can quench my thirst and hunger—rediscover your vitality and be yourself again! Thank you for sponsoring Niu Niu Niu Beverage."

"It's hard to meet and hard to part, but love is like glue—some encounters don't need separation! Thanks to 520 glue for sponsoring this."

"If only I could have thousands of mansions to shelter all the people and bring them joy—peace of mind is home, and home is under the snow! Thank you to Snow Under Construction Co., Ltd." for their sponsorship.

Outrageous grass on the plain.

Hachiman Hikigaya used this as proof: "See, I told you it couldn't be."

Yui Yuigahama nodded subtly: "Indeed, we underestimated Shiro..."

Before Bai Ying could finish reading the advertisement from a blank sheet of paper, Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) interrupted from the commentary booth, "Wait a minute, when did my family sponsor this?"

"I already told you you're the scapegoat." Bai Ying produced evidence, pointing at the audience, "Look over there, yes, yes, right there! Your dad and sister came to visit the sports festival, how could they not have given you sponsorship?"

Yukinoshita's father: "Cough cough..."

"Adults shouldn't interfere in students' affairs." Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) preemptively nipped any potential conversation in the bud, and scoffed, "Where did Haku-kun find so many advertisers I don't know? Could he have embezzled public funds?"

Bai Ying corrected, "I call this flexible use of idle funds."

"Oh." Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) handed over the bottled water. "Try opening it. This is the executive committee chairman's order."

Bai Ying snorted, "The executive committee chairman doesn't have that authority."

“I call this a flexible definition of the scope of authority,” Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) urged. “Hurry up, or I’ll make you go fetch bottled water.”

Bai Ying raised an eyebrow and said, "Moving them one bottle at a time?"

Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) rested her cheek on one hand and held a microphone in the other, smiling as she said, "That won't be necessary, just bring one box."

The white figure scoffed, "What's so difficult about that?"

"From the playground to the basketball court, from the basketball court to the tennis court, from the tennis court to indoors, and from indoors back to the playground," Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) said calmly. "I'll move wherever I'm needed and become a professional water delivery person."

"Then I'll take this bottle."

Bai Ying grabbed the bottle of mineral water, her face flushed and neck bulging as she twisted the cap with all her might. Her eyes were contorted with rage as she glared through gritted teeth: "Who? Who put glue on the bottle cap?!"

"Where did this glue come from?" Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) took the mineral water back speechlessly, glanced at it twice, and then easily unscrewed the cap with a click. "You can't even unscrew a bottle cap, Haku-kun?"

Bai Ying exclaimed in shock, "Isn't the one with the problem you, the one pretending you couldn't open it?!"

"I'm giving you a chance to shine. Shiro-kun really has low emotional intelligence," Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) teased. "The other students shouldn't follow his example."

"When you criticize others for having low emotional intelligence, you yourself are already having low emotional intelligence," Bai Ying immediately retorted. "Students, you should be careful in the future and be wary of your boss saying 'I'll give you a chance to shine.'"

"What? Are you saying I made you work for free? Humph."

Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) angrily rebuked him.

"You're not angry because your trick was exposed, are you? Hmph."

Not to be outdone, Bai Ying snorted again.

The two temporarily stopped talking for a minute, each drinking water to replenish their energy.

Yukinoshita's father wore an emotionless smile, but unfortunately, he couldn't show it in public... Even if he did, the little goddess was on the rebel's side! Damn it! Why did the little goddess rebel?! And then there was the cold-faced, displeased goddess beside him... Damn it, rebel, you better watch out when you're out in the dark!

Change it back! It must be changed back as soon as possible!

Yukino Yukinoshita gritted her teeth silently. If this continued...

"Yukinoshita-kun is a bit different from the rumors. She can actually joke with Shiro-kun."

"The two of them must have a good relationship."

"I think they're pretty similar; they're both on the list of weirdos."

"Bai is still the strangest one."

"Come on, open the bottle cap for me. Here's your chance to show off your emotional intelligence."

"Alright, let Dad do it!"

"climb!"

"Are Shiro and Yukinoshita... you know?"

"Huh? Weren't you saying that Shiro and Hachiman were...?"

"Are you talking about Hachiman from Class F? Isn't he and Hayama... you know?"

The students at the sports festival were surrounded by a cheerful atmosphere.

Well, judging by this trend, it seems that I won't be considered a couple with Bai Jun... good thing.

Yukino's gaze was distant. It should have been me and Haku who created memories at the sports festival, even if it was different from Sakurajima's performance. Perhaps it was because Haku was proliferating everywhere with great vitality, and I was gritting my teeth and trying to get rid of the bacteria, feeling both amused and exasperated?

Hmm, I can't figure out what happened.

After drinking some water and recovering from the shock, Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) spoke again from behind the commentary table: "Half a year of high school life has passed in the blink of an eye, and we are welcoming our first school sports festival. It feels like my junior high school life was just yesterday. It's really nostalgic."

“Yes.” Bai Ying nodded seriously. “You’re a college student who reminisces about high school, a working person who reminisces about college, and a retiree who reminisces about working. Except for the fact that you can’t reminisce about the living conditions of the urn containing your ashes, your sentence structure is quite versatile.”

"It's alright, I can just reminisce about Haku-kun's little box." Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) teased, bringing the topic back, "Compared to junior high, the sports festival in high school is obviously much stronger, that's what growth is all about."

Upon hearing this, Bai Ying immediately straightened her posture and spoke in the teacher's tone of Hiratsuka Shizuka: "Classmates, did you enjoy the sports festival? That's good. Remember to write an essay on the theme of growth and the sports festival. The content should be substantial, the ideas should be positive and uplifting, and the essay should be no less than 800 words. The genre is not limited..."

boom!

Hiratsuka Shizuka unleashed a punch without a trace, gently stroking the white figure's head: "You brat, who gave you the right to say that?"

"Oh, it seems that's true." Bai Ying revealed a sad expression and said sadly, "Everyone, at this happy moment, I have some not-so-happy news to tell you—our assignment has been finalized, and you can start brainstorming."

Several usually lively students started making a fuss in the crowd. Some shouted that the word count could be reduced, while others tried to exchange participation in the competition for leniency, which made Hiratsuka Shizuka stare at them one by one.

"What a young kid." Bai Ying shook her head and sighed. "He's already a high school student, how come he hasn't grown up at all? Doesn't he know the third law of homework: after having fun, there's always homework to do?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka: #!

Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) asked curiously, "What are the first and second laws? Is there always homework during holidays?"

"This is an application of the Third Law," Bai Ying said seriously. "The First Law of Homework: Death and homework are eternal. The Second Law of Homework: Teachers may get sick, but homework will never be absent."

Hiratsuka Shizuka breathed on her fist with a deep look in her eyes, trying to warn Bai Ying to be normal. If this guy had any more words, he could incite students to protest!

"You have very unique insights into the assignment," Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) commented. "So, how do you plan to approach this assignment, which is themed around growth?"

"Growing up..."

Bai Ying's gaze drifted into the distance. After a moment's thought, she said, "It's clothes that are getting smaller and smaller, parents who are becoming increasingly strict, the past that seems to recede further and further away, and tomorrow that arrives in the blink of an eye..."

Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) continued, "It's the schoolbag that gets heavier with each step, the smile that gradually becomes more complicated, the future that others often mention, and the habitual glance back..."

“Yes, that’s what growing up is like.” Bai Ying said with a look of deep emotion, “It’s keeping your distance from others, the cool cold face and few words; it’s looking back at your social media posts and scratching your head vigorously; it’s having a terrifying power hidden inside you, laughing at others who are completely unaware of your arrogance…”

"Wait a minute," Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) said speechlessly, "Isn't this growth a bit off?"

"Really? This is evidence, proof that the concept of growth exists, objective, materialistic, and unshakeable evidence," Bai Ying said confidently. "If you want to ask yourself if you've grown, just open your social media accounts, whether it's book reviews, movie reviews, or comments on social networking sites. You'll suddenly realize it as you look around."

Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) denied it, saying, "There are probably people who don't have it either."

Bai Ying insisted, "Then it must have been deleted very cleanly."

"I said no, and that's final." Yukino Yukinoshita (Mai) coughed lightly. "You must have a lot of relevant experience, right?"