Athletic Festival Arc
16 Fever and a Bet

The day of the athletic festival came closer and closer and the amount of time dedicated to the preparations for it increased. Of course, the student council was no exception; their normal workload had increased and they had to take care of setting up the athletic festival. While Fuuga and Laila weren"t there due to the cheering squad, the overworking of the remaining executives continued.

"Kamishiro-kun?"

Meru and Hayate, who were responsible for the student council"s work, were on the way back to the student council room from delivering completed doc.u.ments to the staff room.

"…Hm? What is it?"
"…Could it be that you"re not feeling well?"
"I"m fine, but why do you ask?"

The Hayate who turned his gentle smile on her was the same as always. Seeing him like that, Meru herself couldn"t help but wonder why she had thought that way.

"I somehow or other got that feeling. You were absent-minded which is pretty unusual."
"I was absent-minded?"
"Yeah. You weren"t listening to me at all, right?"

Meru had been asking Hayate about one of her doubts. However, Hayate was unusually staring blankly into s.p.a.ce, so Meru unintentionally asked him that question.

"Ahh… Sorry. I was just thinking about something. So, what were you talking about, Meru?"

When Hayate asked that, Meru turned her gaze out the window. Outside the window was a downpour of rain.

"I"ve been wondering since last year why the athletic festival is in July even though it makes the practice fall during the rainy season."

Meru raised her right hand slightly near her stomach. Maybe because Meru had asked him several times, but Hayate gave her a clear answer.

"It"s because the culture festival is in the second term. Thinking to separate the two big events, we decided to have the athletic festival in the first term."

But it seems that deciding where in the first term to have it became a problem. First years were busy with the escalation ceremony entering the high school section, and there were those like Meru who entered from outside the school, so it would be difficult to have it in April.

Furthermore, if they had it halfway through the term, the students wouldn"t put their best efforts into the fixed term tests whether the event came before or after. Although it was rainy season, those doing events aside from the cheering squad did individual practice and if necessary, they could always borrow the adjoined junior high school section"s gym.

"Therefore, pushing the finals period a little earlier solved the problem. Which means the athletic festival fell to this period. The actual athletic festival avoids the rainy season and falls at the start of summer. Basically, it"s a logical date."

Meru was a little surprised since she wasn"t expecting the reason behind it to be so exact. However, she soon collected herself and asked if having the card game tournament before finals was okay, to which Hayate said "It was unavoidable in order to obtain the princess," with a laugh and Meru closed her mouth.

While talking about that, they arrived at the student council room. Meru and Hayate sat on their respective seats and started working.

However, since she had already thought about it once, even trivial things bothered her. Looking at Hayate from the corners of her eyes, she thought his face looked a little red and it seemed like his breathing was rougher than usual. The rate at which he did work was also slower than usual.

Meru heaved a sigh and approached the president"s seat where Hayate was.

"What"s up? Meru…?"

Meru leaned forward over the president"s chair and placed her hand against Hayate"s forehead. Then, Meru let out another forceful sigh. She had expected a fever, but it was higher than she would have guessed.

"I normally have a high body temperature."
"It"s fine, so go rest."
"I don"t think the work will get done if I take a break though?"
"…That"s better than you staying sick."

Meru looked at the pile of doc.u.ments on Hayate"s desk and the one on her own and her face twitched, but since a sick person working bothered her and since his ability to work had fallen drastically, Meru felt that this choice was for the best.

"So your work, stop!"

When Meru went to take his pile of doc.u.ments, Hayate caught her hand. Gazing at Meru with feverish eyes, Hayate smiled slightly.

"If you kiss me…I"ll listen to you."
"Hah?"
"If you do that, I"ll probably get better too."

Meru narrowed her eyes to the extreme. Hayate saying something that Fuuga would say showed that he was in a really bad condition. His face came closer than before, and she clearly noticed his ragged breathing.

"…Okay."

When Meru said that, Hayate"s eyes widened.

"Really?"
"Yeah. But…"

Meru picked something up from his desk with the hand that he wasn"t holding.

"That"s if you win in Oth.e.l.lo. If I win, you have to properly rest, ok~"

Meru and Hayate sat on small chairs next to the president"s seat. Come to think of it, the first day I played Oth.e.l.lo with Hayate was on a day with downpouring rain like today, wasn"t it? Meru thought, and it seemed like Hayate was thinking about the same thing.

"Should we think of a rule for a tie?"
"Nope. This time there will be a conclusion, so we don"t need one!"

Meru put a black piece on the board and Hayate smiled in contentment.

Ten minutes later, the Oth.e.l.lo game"s outcome was decided just as Meru had said.

"Alright. Kamishiro-kun, it"s time to rest!"

Meru pulled Hayate to a sofa on the edge of the room. Maybe because he couldn"t believe the outcome, Hayate was staring at Meru.

"This is the first time I"ve lost to someone in my life."

Hayate was saying that earlier, too.

"…Even though you"re sick and I"m normal, it was a close call, so it doesn"t count~"

Meru gently brushed Hayate"s face while he was laying down. Of course, even if you searched the whole globe, the only one who could do something like that to Hayate was Meru.

Hayate looked like he still wanted to say something, but probably because his condition was too severe, his eyelids grew heavy and soon closed.

"…-kun, Kamishiro-kun."

In the middle of his dozing, Hayate slowly opened his eyes when he heard Meru"s voice. Then, he immediately sat up and looked at the clock. It was already 8, the final end of the school day.

"Sorry. I slept too long."

That he had slept so soundly in a room where there was someone else surprised Hayate. However, that he realized the reason was because the other person was Meru was the most surprising.

"You should have woken me up earlier."
"You looked like you were sleeping comfortably. But if I don"t head back soon, my family will get hungry."

Meru smiled wryly looking at the clock.

"Ahh. I"m really sorry. I"ll take over the rest. …Be careful going home."
"Ye-s."

As Meru began her preparations to go home, Hayate got up from the sofa and headed toward his own president"s seat.

"So? How do you feel?"

Meru asked Hayate who had sat down in his chair having finished her preparations. Hayate displayed the tender smile he only ever gave to Meru.

"Thanks to you, better."
"That"s good, then."

Because she was truly relieved to see Hayate back to his usual self, Meru smiled back at Hayate and left the student council room.

Hayate became alone in the room and intending to immediately wrap up the remaining work, he turned his eyes to the top of his desk. However, all of the doc.u.ments on his desk were signed and those that had been in the middle of being written up were also flawlessly completed. Surprised by the unexpected turn of events, Hayate looked at the note affixed to the topmost paper.

((1/∞ = 0))

Hayate unintentionally laughed. It was probably because Meru was worried about his comment about never having lost before. The intention behind writing that memo was in other words to say that, thinking about the number of wins in Hayate"s lifetime, this time"s loss didn"t exist.

"Hayate? What"re you laughing at?"

The cheering squad"s practice had ended and Fuuga and Laila had come to the student council room. Before long, Shoutarou and Yuuri would probably finish up their setup too and come back. Hayate slipped the note into his pants pocket.

"Good work. The student council work is finished."
"Even if there still was some, I don"t have any energy left."

You could feel the fatigue from Laila who was holding his shoulder, but you couldn"t feel it at all from Fuuga who began to spin around as soon as he entered the room.

"What"s up? Fuuga."
"Meru-chan. …Did she already go home?"
"Ahh. Just a bit ago."
"Haa… We missed each other, I can"t go on."

Looking at Fuuga who flopped down into his seat, Hayate thought that he was a simple guy as usual. However, having come to know of another person aside from Fuuga who had been moved by Meru"s actions, Hayate smiled wryly.

"Simple, huh."

Hayate gently grasped the note in his pocket.

Ok so this one didn"t end up being as long as it looked. Unfortunately, I am sick, so even getting this one out was pushing it, but thankfully it was an easy chapter. I kind of laughed translating it since it seems fitting for me to be doing it while sick myself.

So yeah. Just one this week, too. Hope the pro-Hayte crowd enjoys. See you next week!