By the time we arrived on the battlefield, the number of horses had been reduced to five. The last horse from Class 2 and Class 3 were now tangled up in front of us.

“Hey, lucky! I’m taking both down!”

Hiura charged, aiming to strike from the side. I stretched my arms out as far as I could and snatched the hats off the two entangled riders.

“Alright, I got it!”
“Nice, Natsuki!”

It was a classic case of the fisherman’s gain.

Now, the remaining riders were two from Class 1 and the ace rider from Class 4. We had the upper hand.

“Hey, Natsuki, where were you until now? I haven’t seen you around.”

The rider from the remaining horses was Souta. We naturally grouped together to face the ace.

“I was just taking a walk around. Thanks to that, I’m full of energy.”
“Seriously? We’re pretty much at our limit here. What’s the plan?”

The ace rider from Class 4 stood five meters away, exuding the presence of a champion, waiting for us. The final battle was about to start.

“……Souta, you’re at your limit, right? Then how about we charge head-on? While you’re getting all tangled up, we’ll strike from the side.”

It was the same strategy as before, but it was probably the strongest one. Even the ace of the sports club wouldn’t be able to handle an attack from two directions.

“Okay. I’m not sure how long I can hold out, but I’ll give it my all.”

We clashed our fists together—and then ran forward.

“Let’s gooooooo!”

Souta shouted and charged toward the ace rider. Just before impact, he briefly glanced toward Suzakura’s side, which looked a bit awkward, but right now, he was our only hope.

“We’ll go too!”
“Alright, let’s do this!”

We moved in a circle to the side of the ace rider. In front of us, Souta was struggling to hold off the fierce attacks from the ace. From the looks of it, he wouldn’t last more than five seconds.

“We’re charging too!”
“Take this, Nakamura! Die, Nakamura!!!”

Hiura’s roar echoed through the clear sky.

……Could it be that Hiura and Nakamura have bad blood between them? Or maybe they’re just messing around because they’re close.

I didn’t have time to think about it.

Hiura, ignoring the possibility of injury, dashed forward with full force and struck the ace rider from the side. The feeling of crashing into something hard flooded my body, and I briefly thought that this must be what a car accident feels like. But I quickly snapped out of it.

The ace rider’s hat was right in front of me. Just as Souta snatched the hat from the ace rider, Sato, the rider from Class 1, lost his balance and leaned forward. No matter how well-trained he was, he couldn’t do anything from that position. It was checkmate.

—Or so I thought.

“Too naive, Class 1!!!”
“What?!”

Sato’s move was forward. Instead of crashing down like Souta, he leapt onto Class 1’s horse. I froze, unable to process what had just happened.

And then… I realized that my weight was leaning too far forward. I was sure that I would grab the hat if I reached for it.

Before I could pull my body back…

Sato’s hand swiftly slashed over my head.

“The match is over!!! The horse battle… the victory goes to Class 4! Congratulations!”

“Wow, wasn’t that amazing?!”
“Yeah, it was like a dance!”
“Did anyone record that?”

A big round of applause erupted from the crowd. It was all directed at Class 4. With a feeling of defeat, we released our horse formations.

“……Sorry, that was my mistake.”

I naturally lowered my head. Everyone had trusted me, but I couldn’t lead us to victory.

As I kept my head down, I felt a warm sensation on my shoulder. Was that… a hand?

“Don’t worry about it, Natsuki. That was just Sato being creepy. I mean, that was kind of cheating, right?”
“Seriously, it totally was.”
“I think the strategy was good. This is more about the lack of clear rules for the horse battle. The organizers messed up.”

When I looked up, the three who had helped me form the horse formations were standing beside me, comforting me. They had suffered the pain, yet not one of them blamed me.

…I felt like I might cry.

“Yeah, sorry… no, thank you.”

“Yeah! And you know, the Aotaka Festival can still be saved by winning the relay. I’m going to declare war on Nakamura, make him run the third leg, and get Sato to anchor. We’ll get our revenge in the relay.”

With that, Hiura walked over to the ace rider. He seemed to be talking with them in a friendly manner and occasionally pointed toward me.

Soon enough, Hiura returned—grinning widely.

“I told them that Natsuki is really mad and wants to challenge Sato. We’ve got this.”

“Eh?! Why would you tell such a baseless lie?!”

“It’s going to get you fired up, right?”

What Hiura said was completely crazy. But for some reason, I found myself agreeing with him.

“……Maybe you’re right. Thanks, everyone. We’ll definitely get our revenge in the relay.”

—What would Tachibana-san think of me after watching me in the horse battle?

After running away and getting defeated in the end, she probably thought I was pathetic.

I’m sorry for breaking the promise.

But I will win the relay for sure.

So, just a little longer… I want you to watch me.