Competitive Streaks [Hojo Sho]

Kousuke let go of Hyakki's hand only when she started walking over to the nearby wall.  He snorted at the time-machine comment.

"Feh, if I had access to such a fanciful thing, I would rather give my Uncle last week's numbers for the national lottery.  Besides, it's never pretty when someone brings back the dinosaurs.  Never."

Then, he put it behind his back, where his other hand grabbed it by the wrist.  His left eye twitched as he heard the loud, glass-break-like crunch echo out from Hyakki's neck.  That was probably the closest he would let himself get to a full wince in someone else's presence.  While he mostly maintained his resting face, Kousuke did raise a brow at the try hard comment.  And the invitation to dinner.  D-Did... did she mean a week from now?  A few days?  Tomorrow?  Tonight?!

"I-"

That was as far as he got before he heard some distant chiming.  And a muffled voice from a distance off... announcing that the USJ grounds were closing in an hour, and the time of 3:30 pm.  A similar chime, and announcement, came over the speakers for the PE grounds a moment later.  The message was clearer the second time around.

"Attention students, the time is 3:30 PM.  The PE grounds will be closing in one hour.  The main building will remain open to students until 7:00 pm for after-school club activities and studying."

"Huh, anyways, I-"

Kousuke was about to give a proper reply to the invitation, but he was interrupted again by Hyakki.  Apparently she had a train to catch.  Wait, why did she say "we"?  What did she mean we?!  He finally opened his mouth to ask a question when she finished, but she was already vaulting the short retaining wall and dashing back to the court from which she'd come.  Leaving Kousuke behind.  He sighed and looked over to the bench nearby where he'd left his backpack and phone.  Then, with a single thought the bag was surrounded by a purple aura.  It quickly shot to his hand.

After he had it, Kousuke put the straps over his shoulders, grabbed his phone out of a pocket, and ran towards the locker room nearby.  He still had to get out of the UA tracksuit  that he'd been wearing for the obstacle course and into his uniform.  He had five minutes...  As an afterthought, he deactivated the timer on his phone, and set a new one for five minutes.

Four minutes and fifty-five seconds later, he skidded to a halt at the front entrance to the UA grounds.  He was sweating, panting... but he'd gotten some of the mud off of his hands and face, and his uniform was still nice and clean... Aside from the mud and sweat that he'd just gotten on it.  He had some extra work to do when he got home, so that cleaning it wouldn't be harder on laundry day.  That could wait, though.  First, he had to make sure that he hadn't missed Hyakki entirely.  He gave a few quick glances around... Was he first?  Or had she arrived before he did?  Admittedly, he had lost about thirty seconds when he hurriedly ran back and scribbled out a note with some contact info and a promise that his grandfather would pay for the damages on the now-destroyed platforms and rope.  He'd tried to save time by rubbing himself with some wet paper towels and soap from the sinks, rather than shower, when he changed out his uniform... But that had still taken a few extra minutes as compared to just leaving the mud in place on his face and hands.

Still, he had about five seconds to catch his breath, and make sure the now-dry mud that still caked parts of his forearms and neck weren't too obvious.  He also picked a bit at some dirt that he hadn't gotten off of his face before it dried.  Greh.  He felt gross.  Maybe he could reschedule dinner with Hyakki until a point where he was more presentable.  If... If that was what they were apparently doing today.

Hyakki H.