With my flag in her hand, I had no choice but to follow Itou back to their base.
The same thing also happened to the other three as the four Captors all chose different Flags avoiding conflict at this first turn.
Two steps later, Chii and the other Rescuer could be seen running towards our direction to rescue the flags from being captured.
Itou who was ahead of me was prepared for that and saw her coming. By sidestepping at the right moment, she dodged Chii elegantly which instantly garnered heated response not only from her class but also those who were admiring the Ojou-sama.
And because of Itou successfully dodging her, Chii lost her first attempt to rescue and had to indignantly go back to our base.
Kanzaki who picked Class 2 has already been tagged out by the Student Council Treasurer. She had to go back to our base to renew her attempt at Capturing a Flag.
Yanagi picked Class 4 and somehow forgot that she shouldn't widen the gap between her and the Flag resulting in her violating the five steps rule.
The Volleyball Club girl picked Class 3 and was tagged out by the forehead Ojou-sama who surprisingly has high athletic ability.
Out of the four classes, only Itou managed to dodge the first rescue attempt of the Rescuer. The short girl from Class 4 didn't need to run at all due to Yanagi violating the rule early on.
Though it's a bit chaotic, the activity started smoothly.
Ten steps later, Chii could be seen running back for his 2nd attempt to rescue me. This time she's not trying to run blindly.
This will be her last chance. If she fails again, Class 3 will score from us because walking from the middle to their base is only around 20 steps and I can't just slow down or I will be penalized.
Due to that, the carefree Chii put on her game face and started to get serious, with imaginary fumes coming out of her nose. She carefully traversed the distance from our base to where I was currently. Though I???ve known her to be a bit clumsy, I guess if that hasn't changed that much along with how she carried herself, she's trying to mend her clumsiness bit by bit. Official source is novelFɪre.net
"Itou, are you mad at me?
Since there's no rule about talking in the game, I thought I could make this use it as an opportunity to distract the Itou.
But yeah, it's also a chance to ask her about what she thinks when we reach the point where there's no one around to hear us.
"Don't talk to me, pervert."
Without turning her head back to answer me face-to-face, Itou coldly answered.
Err… As expected, this is what she will respond to me. In any case, even if she's against it, Himeko is already mine. I'm going to see her later and check up on her.
There's also Mina. I still don't know her that much due to how she's always distancing herself when I'm with either Haruko or Himeko. It's already a miracle that she talked to me for that long yesterday and allowed me to try and steal her as well. The problem will start from that so I wanted to talk to her and know her story.
Two steps later, Itou stopped walking and waited for the incoming Chii.
Due to the rule of having to keep walking as long as the Captor is within five steps from me, I continued my steps and passed by her. By now, eight steps left before I reach their base and their class to score off me.
The audiences who were watching from upstairs started to get heated up at that sight which led for them cheering louder.
For this kind of activity where it involves scoring, the first score will always be hyped up. Because of that, the audiences' interest will be taken in by the game.
Even if someone thought that it was uninteresting at first, if they heard the hype made by a single score, curiosity would naturally be born in them.
"Sorry, Ojou-sama. I totally have to rescue our flag back. You see. He said he'll give me a kiss if I rescue him. Seriously."
From behind me, Chii's playful voice reached my ears, her words once again coated by gyaru mannerisms.
And given that Itou's current view of me was that of a pervert who laid his hands on her precious older sister, Chii's words instantly triggered her.
But her words most likely made the little sister freeze. A step after that, Chii's hand tapped my shoulder.
Her second attempt to rescue me succeeded. I didn't see it but she probably tagged Itou when she froze from her words.
As happy as she is, Chii even went in front of me to show me a peace sign on her hand while smiling smugly.
I guess I owe her a kiss now?
At the same time as I thought of that, Chii's face turned crimson as she ran back to our base. Even without saying it, she surely remembered what she just said to Itou.
Following after that, Eguchi-sensei's whistle could be heard followed by her voice.
"Itou of Class 3. Put the Flag back to his pocket and go back to your base."
"Harada of Class 1. Go back to your base."
With that kind of announcement from the referee, the first point was prevented which lost the enthusiasm of those cheering for Itou.
Fukuda from upstairs excitedly shouted with a voice louder than anyone else as he praised the girl who's trying to clear the redness of her face. But with the declaration from him, it brought her another set of embarrassment.
Well, the game continues.
By the time I went back to my position, two Flags were already snatched up which started the 2nd round for the others.
Yanagi switched to walking after learning her lesson not to leave behind the Flag she managed to capture.
And Kanzaki this time picked the one from Class 3 and was carefully treading her way back to our base.
In that kind of intensity, both Captor and Rescuer were all energetically playing the game while we flags could only stand and move back in place.
Around 5 minutes into the first set, someone finally got the first score and that one elicited heated cheering from the audiences.
"One point for Class 2.
Eguchi-sensei whistled and declared. The distant Orimura-sensei immediately changed the scoreboard which instantly changes the air around the whole Gymnasium
With that one point, it became the start for every Captor to get serious at capturing a flag.
10 minutes later the 1st round of the game ended with the following scores.
Class 2, three points.
Even though Kanzaki did her best to dodge the rescue attempts, she only managed to capture the Class 4's Flag and successfully brought him back to our base.
Class 2's Yanagi was on fire that at her second point, she went after me, dodging Chii two rescue attempts. On her third point, she also targeted the Class 4' Flag
Itou, after being tagged out earlier, stopped going after me and chose to score from Class 2 and Class 4 flags.
The Volleyball Club girl tried to capture the Class 3 again and on her 4th attempt, she finally outsmarted the forehead Ojou-sama.
In the end, out of all the Flags, all three opposing teams managed to score from Class 4. Their rescuer is that short girl who reminds me of Ria. Due to her short build, her rescue attempts often ended in failure.
To give the Captor and Rescuer a chance to rest, the 2nd round will start 30 minutes later.
"Sorry guys, I can't score us more points."
Kanzaki immediately apologized to both of us as soon as we gathered on the spot designated for us.
Though we were given 30 minutes, we're not allowed to go out.
Well, it's better than doing that activity continuously. If they didn't give a break now, the girls will be too exhausted and that was contrary to what the two told us earlier.
"If you're gonna say that then I will also apologize for failing to rescue our Princess Pinch from Class 2."
Chii followed right after the gloomy Kanzaki.
"You two. Do you still need me to cheer you up? I'm the one who's not contributing here. I only needed to stand and walk after all."
"Yes, Onoda-chi. We're naturally being gloomy here to have you cheer us up!"
Chii immediately rode my words while Kanzaki was taken aback at how she should react.
"Prince Charming going by what you just said, I owed you ten kisses then."
Throughout the game, though the Class 2 managed to score with us, Chii really did her best to stop the other attempts.
Well, that's also the case for other Rescuers. It's actually harder for the Captors to dodge since they needed to mind the gap with the walking Flag.
"Eh? N-no… Why do you want to go through with that?"
Like earlier she instantly turned crimson and took a step back away from me.
"I promised, after all. What do you think, Chii?"
I smirked and took a step forward which made the fake gyaru take more steps backwards.
From that kind of reaction from her and my somewhat serious response, Kanzaki giggled from her seat and took all of that as our way to cheer her up.
"You two are funny. If I didn't know Harada-san, the expression looked too real."
But that's her genuine reaction, you know?
Ah, well. I guess being ignorant of the nature of our relationship is a bliss.