It began, the day of the athleticism exam. I was already dressed in my physical education uniform: a red and white jersey and tracksuit and a white short-sleeved shirt underneath the jersey.
Today wasn't a sports festival or competition. It was the beginning of them all. This determined who would play in those festivals and competitions and to top it all off, today is the last day of school. The holidays will begin. The whole day was dedicated to this exam as physical education was extremely important and our real lessons and exams wouldn't start until we did this.
I exited my room and entered the elevator where the usual people were and when I left it l found my friends waiting. Harumi and Kaori tied their hair in a ponytail and Harumi wore a baseball cap.
"What took you so long?" Harumi asked. Akito held two sports bags while Kaori had one and Harumi had none.
"We have time." I replied. "What's with the baseball cap?"
"It's going to be sunny so I thought I'd bring something to cover my head." Harumi explained as we walked to the sports field.
As we arrived at the sports field we could instantly see how colossal it was. The sheer size of it explained how much money went into it. It was probably more than a few dozen miles in area with each class having its own space. There was also an indoor area as well where we would do most of the exam. Each class had a room where we will be assessed in. Class 1-A was Room 9.
We walked to the room and found almost everyone there except for a few students. I checked my phone for the time to find out that we had five minutes remaining until the exam started. The room was a bit small and was enough to fit all the students in our class. There was another door that led to another room. The room had a whiteboard on the wall and many chairs.
Akito and I then put our jerseys on our designated coat hangers. They had our roll numbers to tell us where to hang our jerseys. Upon seeing Akito and me, other students also put their jerseys away.
"You nervous?" I asked Akito after we sat down back at our seats. Akito looked at me with hopeless eyes.
"Tadashi…I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it." Akito said. His lifeless tone made it almost believable but I knew Akito.
"You sound confident." I said. Akito then dropped his act. He then smiled with pride a d confidence as he spoke.
"Tadashi, I think it's going to work. If I am in the top five for speed then you have to give me ¥1,000,000."
"Alright then, if I am in the top five for strength then I'll take back that ¥1,000,000."
Akito accepted my offer and we both waited until the exams began. Our homeroom teacher then entered the room, wearing her usual clothes, and made an announcement.
"Students of Class 1-A, I'm sure you have the intellectual capacity to know why you are here and what today is." No one spoke and our teacher carried on. "As you all know today is the physical education exam. You have not had a lesson because the lessons start after this exam. You will be assessed in strength and speed. The top ten of each year will receive a prize. The grading system in this exam is in the small booklets that will be given to you now."
A small booklet was passed to everyone by a few assistant teachers. Everyone started to read the booklet. Inside the booklet was the grading system for each of the exams and told us what exams there were. The first was strength. In the first exam for strength, we will be assessed on our lifting strength. I then read the grading system.
A: 80KG+
B: 60KG-79KG
C: 40KG-59KG
D: 30KG-39KG
E: 20KG-29KG
F: <19KG
The grading system varied for each exam. Each grading system was different with different weights. The striking strength exam had different weights.
A: 700KG+
B: 500KG-699KG
C: 350KG-499KG
D: 200KG-349KG
E: 160KG-199KG
F: <159KG
I stared at the grades of the striking strength exam as I only just realised how abnormal I am. I thought my strength was only above average however I was wrong.
"Memorise as much as you can because they will be taken away soon." Our teacher said. After a couple of minutes, the assistant teachers took away the booklet. "If you would now follow me to the first part of the exam." Nagasawa-sensei said as she opened a door and entered it.
Everyone followed the teacher who led us to another room. The room was larger than the one we were previously in and this one had multiple dumbbells, boxing bags, a punch machine, and much more equipment. "The first student is Yamada Yoshio."
Yoshio then went to the front where the teacher stood. The teacher instructed him to lift the large dumbbell which would show our lifting strength.
I did the calculations and found out I was next. I did the calculations over and over again until I found a sliver of hope but I had to face the reality. I had to lift with all my strength in front of all these people.
Yamada lifted and our teacher's surprised expression caught my eye as she looked at the tablet which was in her hand.
"Tsukamoto Tadashi." The teacher called as I went to the front.
I'll have to hold back a lot this time. Over 80kg should be fine.
I then lifted and our teacher had another surprised expression as if she had low expectations for the class. It almost looked as if she thought this class was just full of weak academically intelligent students.
"Shimoda Tomiko."
Shimoda then lifted with her full strength and the teacher didn't have much of a reaction at all as if her expectations were instantly raised from just two students. Shimoda then went back to where she was standing before, next to Nakamoto who was staring at me as I was being called.
I'm sure that this could be used as an opportunity so that Nakamoto's expectations and perspective of me would increase. This would later benefit me as I control her but I would have to go a little bit full out.
For the four-hundred-meter race that will come, I should be able to finish it in less than a second but as more people are watching, I should finish it in fifteen to twenty seconds. If I finished it in one then I would be on par with Yamada and Shimoda and if I finished it in ten or fewer I would be faster than Akito and Harumi.
Twenty-five seconds would mean I would have a speed of 36mph. Twenty seconds would be a speed of 45mph. The average speed for a human in this day and age is 25mph-30mph and I would be in the above-average range. Harumi and Akito are over 70mph putting them on par with world-class athletes and are over twice as fast as regular humans.
Yes. I should do it in twenty-five then.
During my thought time, only a few seconds had passed which was unfortunate as I wanted to think about things to kill time until it was someone interesting's turn. I waited for around another minute when it came to Akito's turn. Akito looked at me with a confident smile as he went to Nagasawa-sensei. Akito then lifted with all his strength. A surprised expression appeared on Nagasawa-sensei's face as Akito lifted with all his might. Nagasawa-sensei seemed to underestimate Akito.
Akito then returned to me. He then sighed as walked back to me as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulder. Akito was determined to score high on this test.
"You're insanely weak." Akito looked at me with a perplexed expression but then he remembered the time he mocked me for my lack of speed. A smile formed on his face before he spoke. He looked down at the floor with his back hunched over. He then straightened his back which now made him sit upright. He then slowly turned his head towards me.
"Tadashi…" I then turned all my attention to him. My complete attention was on Akito. I could tell what he was going to say was something serious. "We missed it…"
"Missed what?" I asked. Akito then gulped as if he was preparing himself to give bad news. People usually act this way when a loved one has died and I've never met anyone from Akito's family.
"We missed the free game." My eyes widened as I then realised the gravity of this problem that we are facing. "It was only for a few hours and it ends in twenty minutes."
This game was only free for a few hours and it will save both me and Akito money. Although money was never a problem for me or Akito, this time it was different. Akito didn't have money from his family, rather he had the money he had earned himself along with the money I give him from time to time. This game was free for only a few hours and also included exclusive items which were unobtainable after the time has ended.
In my defense, I had no knowledge of the game but Akito somehow remembers every special event that occurs with every single game. Though gaming is still new to me, Akito has been gaming since he was young so he taught me how to play these games. We both were supposed to finish it in the holidays but now we would have to wait or if we did buy it after the time ended then it would take longer than we had planned to finish the game.
"Akito, don't lose hope. We can still get the game if we use our phones." I said. I held onto the sliver of hope of what was left but it wasn't enough. Hope wasn't enough to change reality.
"Tadashi…we can't get it with our phones." Akito said. Solemnity coursed through Akito's blood and skin as he knew he wouldn't be able to afford such luxuries after the time had ended. "You must continue your journey without me."
Akito placed his hand on my shoulder. It was a weird feeling that I never felt before. People have put their hands on my shoulder but they never ended well. This situation wasn't any different. I moved Akito's hand away and I almost broke his arm but I managed to control myself and not let my instincts take over. Akito was startled as he leapt back in his chair causing Nagasawa-sensei to have her attention on us.
"What the hell was that for?!" Akito whispered to me but it was loud enough for the people around us to hear.
"I felt something touch me and my instincts took over." I said. Akito didn't look satisfied with my reason for almost breaking his arm. "Fine, I'll get you some steak." I sighed.
"Really? You'd really get me a steak of my choice?" He said as he rubbed his hand, showing that he hurt it. I saw through his act but I wanted steak as well so we called a truce then and there.
"Ikeda Harumi." Nagasawa-sensei called.
Finally.
We all watched Harumi, as she walked up to Nagasawa-sensei. Harumi gave us a reassuring look before she lifted the dumbbell with all her might. Nagasawa-sensei's expression on her face this time looked as if she also underestimated Harumi. Nagasawa-sensei seemed to have low expectations for everyone in our class. Normally the top classes usually are in or exceed their' teacher's expectations, however, Nagasawa-sensei had low expectations for almost everyone.
After a few minutes, it was Kaori's turn. Kaori looked nervous as she walked up to Nagasawa-sensei and held the dumbbell. She then lifted the dumbbell with all her strength and then went back to where she was standing before. This time Nagasawa-sensei had a different expression on her face. An expression that looked like a disappointment. Perhaps it was because Nagasawa-sensei thought that Kaori would get a higher result as she was the brother of Asagiri Kenji.
After a few more minutes, everyone had done their lifting strength exam. We all looked forward to what came next. The majority of the boys wanted to do this next exam including Akito however, it was different for me. As much as I did want to punch a machine and get a high score, I have to control my strength.
We walked over to where a punch machine was and gathered around it. We all looked at it and found that, as from what Akito said, it wasn't the same machine that you find in arcades. This one seemed to be a lot stronger than normal ones and it didn't have the "high-score" part. It also had a unit of measurement, unlike normal ones. This one measured in kilograms as was everything in this exam.
"This machine will measure your striking strength. You will have three tries and the average of those three will be your final result and grade."
If I recalled correctly, grade A was a striking power of 700kg and over or 6,865N or more. The five from the gym and Akito all know that I am strong so I should get a grade A. If I punch a normal soft punch but with a little technique then I could get a force of 9,800N which is around a tonne. That would be 300kg more than the minimum requirement for a grade A. It depends on what Yamada gets because I need to get a lower one than him.
"Yamada Yoshio, you are first." Nagawasaw called Yamada and he walked up to the machine.
He got in a stance and punched the machine. The machine shook a bit from Yamada's punch although it weighed around a ton, the force of the punch was abnormally strong—undoubtedly a grade A. Yamada then punched the machine again after he and the machine were ready. After Yamada had done his three turns, he returned to where he stood, next to Takemoto.
"Yamada-san has superhuman strength." Akito said.
"Tsukamoto Tadashi." Nagasawa-sensei called me. I then walked to the machine and went in a stance. I focused on suppressing my strength as much as I could. I then threw a punch which also shook the punch machine.
Oh shit…
I failed to suppress all of my strength. It was visible who got the highest.
Thud!
The machine fell to the ground. The impact of the machine broke the floorboards. Some students flinched at the loud thud which came from the machine when it fell.
I didn't move from my place, no one did; all looking at the destruction I caused. I then heard footsteps behind me, each step being closer to me. I then looked back to see Nagasawa-sensei walking towards me.
"Tsukamoto Tadashi: Grade A." No one spoke. No one moved. The silence was then broken by Nagasawa-sensei. "Five-minute break until this is sorted."
No one moved. I then turned around to see everyone looking at me. Everyone watched me. They were still trying to process what had just happened. Teachers with equipment then came through the door and went to Nagasawa-sensei. Nagasawa-sensei explained the situation to them. They then brought five people, who all had a muscular build, to stand the punch machine on the floor but failed to do so. After many tries they achieved it and took the machine away.
In two minutes, they fixed the floorboards and replaced the punch machine with a new, stronger one—one that was used by the upper years.
"Tsukamoto-kun, you're really strong!" A girl said. Both Akito and I looked up to see who it was. The girl's hair was a pale red violet. Her long reached below her shoulders and had emerald green eyes and an extremely attractive appearance. She was around Harumi's height. As she stood she had her hand holding each other behind her. If I recall correctly, her name is Yoshizawa Rina.
"I guess so." I said. I wanted to keep the conversation short—having people stare at you was more than enough for an introvert's mental health.
More girls then came to me and surrounded me. For someone like me, this wasn't a good thing. I didn't like attention and this was something that I hated. I could sense the envy from the boys as they watched the girls surround me.
"The machine's fixed." Yamada said. The girls then went quiet and left me. Yamada then looked at me for a moment then went to where the exam was. Akito and I then followed Yamada.
I had purposely put a lot of force in my punch but I didn't want to put too much however that plan still benefitted me. I deliberately did this to see how Nakamoto would react and she did accordingly to what I wanted. She will now try to make herself seem superior to the girls that surrounded me.
"Tsukamoto, you still have two left."
I guess I should hold back this time.
I got in my stance and threw a punch. I made sure to not put excessive force into this punch but it still made the machine shake. This machine was at least twice the weight of the last. I then threw my third and final punch. I then walked back to Akito.
"Shimoda Tomiko."
After five minutes, it was Harumi's turn, and after five more minutes, it came to Kaori. After another five minutes, the whole striking strength exam ended.
Now the grip strength exam started. The assistant teachers then gave us all grip strength measurement meters. We were then told to grip it with all our strength.
I then caught Kaori looking at me. I looked at her which startled her. I looked back at the meter. I got 88.6kg before at the gym so I should get 90kg or over. Getting any higher would attract too much attention. There were no numbers that told us our grip strength on these meters so there was no way of me knowing what I would get. Judging by how I am holding the meter I would get a low score. I held the meter, gripping it as softly as I could. I should be able to get at least over 90kg at this point.
The grading system for this exam was:
A: 95KG+
B: 70KG-94KG
C: 60KG-69KG
D: 50KG-59KG
E: 40KG-49KG
F: <39KG
I should get a grade A for everything in strength and it should be speed where I lack at. Doing this would mean that I am just physically strong but slow at running.
After this, there will be an hour break as the next exam gets ready. I should cherish those thirty minutes.