Fukiyose Seiri was a member of the Daihaseisai organizing committee.
Though the committee members didn't have any of the special privileges that were given to Anti-Skill and Judgment, they were in charge of preparing and refereeing the matches, a job which didn't allow any room for error. To any ordinary person, though Daihaseisai was just a large-scale sports meet, it could allow people to easily evaluate the esper power development program of each school, and thus affect the budget that each school received.
Of course, the committee members had to take part in the matches.
Because of this, they had to arrange their work schedule such that it didn't affect their own matches. It sounded simple, but Academy City itself was one-third the size of Tokyo. The distance to each competitive arena may vary due to the different locations, and sometimes, the distance may be too far. It was impossible to excel at this job if one was unable to plan intricately like those suspense novels, or adapt to the situation immediately when the start and end times of a match were changed slightly. It was a race against time.
(I have to get to the arena where the 'ball tossing contest' is, so it's probably better to use the auto-bus than the subway train if...no no, this won't work. There's still a long-distance race on that road, so the road should be closed. If so, it's better to use the subway...ar never mind, since it's in the same district, it might be faster if I run there!)
Fukiyose was holding a container filled with drinks with both hands as she continued to do her calculations. As a committee member, it was expected that she had to memorize the map and the schedule in her brain. If she didn't do this, it was impossible for her to adapt to any unexpected situations that occurred.
Right now, she was heading towards the arena where she'd be acting as a referee. She purposely chose to stay away from the shortest route and walk on a long, roundabout route. The reason was simple, the ultimate way to shorten the time was to avoid moving with the crowd.
Because of this, Fukiyose chose to move quickly along the road where she had dragged Kamijou along a while back.
(If I chose to leave from the subway or the bus stop, there would still be quite some distance to the arena. I still have to get past the crowded areas as well. In terms of results, it might be faster to walk along the alleys where there are fewer people walking on...but isn't it scary to be running before I even get to warm up?)
Fukiyose, who was muttering to herself, suddenly stopped in her tracks and frowned.
Several hundred meters away, Fukiyose saw a silver-haired girl in cheerleader attire prostrating on the floor. Wouldn't it be extremely hot for her hands to touch the asphalt on such a hot day? Fukiyose thought. There was a botanical test center nearby, so wasn't it better for her to rest under the trees, where it was cool and shady?
"Uuuu...uuuuuuuu...I finally changed my clothes, and so I want to show them off to Touma, but he ran off to some place without waiting for others..."
"Sister...Sister-chan, please don't despair. I guess maybe Kamijou might have some difficulties that he's not willing to talk about?"
Beside the lifeless cheerleader girl was a more petite looking girl with a sympathetic look. She was Fukiyose's class teacher, Tsukuyomi Komoe, and like the foreign girl, she was wearing a brightly colored-cheerleading uniform.
Fukiyose frowned.
"How's that issue that I talked to sensei about? What are you doing in public? If it's a slight mental disorder, does she need to fill her stomach with some warm milk or some other hot beverage? How about I use some stimulant to divert her attention, like some chilli powder? I have some chilli powder with me now, do you need it? Take it!"
"No...there's no need, Fukiyose-san—really! Everything's fine! You don't have to stuff Sister-chan's nose with chilli powder! It feels like some strange punishment that's done to women during the Edo period!"
"Is that so?"
Fukiyose tucked the small gourd of multi-flavored pepper back into her pocket.
Komoe-sensei was so terrified that her face was all green. However, the cheerleader girl prostrating on the floor was so depressed that she didn't notice anything that was happening around her. Her butt was sticking out, and what was inside her skirt looks like it was about to be revealed. However, nothing was exposed.
She said,
"Tou…Touma? Where on earth did Touma go to?"
About this… Fukiyose tilted her head as she thought.
What is that boy doing right now?