Chapter 139 – My Beloved

“Ria, pass!”

With a quick shout, Haruka passes the basketball to Ria.

Ria wore her fluffy hair in a bun so that it would be easier for her to move. She received the ball and dribbled.

Ria quickly passed through the opponents’ defenses. With a beautiful form, she shoots a jump shot.

Her shot was sucked into the basketball hoop without touching the ring.

An electronic sound was heard. Haruka’s team had scored two points.

“Nice.”

“Yayー”

The two shared a high five as soon as Ria came back to Haruka’s side.

Ria had beads of sweat on her forehead and neck. She gazes at Haruka with a beaming smile on her face.

Seeing Ria’s smile, her teammates as well as the enemy team hastily looked away from her. They instinctively felt a sense of danger. Ria’s smile was too destructive that there’s a good chance that they might fall in love with her, regardless of her gender and citizen rank. Because of that, the male classmates were hellbent on keeping Ria out of their sight.

“Tch… Oi, you guys! Don’t just stand there!”

Said Akito, who was on the enemy team. He reprimanded his teammates in an exasperated manner.

There were a certain number of students present who are not adept at sports. Raising his voice would only be make them freeze up or slow down their movements. But Akito failed to supress his irritation.

Physical Education is currently in session.

The boys were playing basketball, while the girls are playing volleyball in a court next to them.

The team compositions in the matches were assigned by a computer.

Even the students who were not good at sports were forced to participate because the games were graded. Unlike a classroom lecture, remote participations were not allowed. Because of that, the attendance rate for Physical Education is inevitably high.

Ria and Haruka were on the same team. They were playing against Shun and Akito who’s on the enemy team.

Haruka initially thought that he would have a hard time against Akito, who’s an active athlete with excellent physical strength, and Shun, who athletic ability was comparable to that of Miyako. But surprisingly he’s been able to put up a good fight.

Since most of the players on both teams were not good at sports, their strategy was simply to score as much points as possible.

Moving on, Ria’s athletic ability was more superior to that of Shun’s.

“D̳a̳m̳n̳, so annoying!” (Shun)

If Shun tried to leisurely dribble the ball, Ria would just steal it away.

And ff he attempted to pass the ball to Akito, he would just be cut off by Haruka.

It could’ve been an easy win if there was at least one more competent member on the team, but their teammates were nothing but fodder.

“Kureha-kun, over here!”

With Akito getting marked by Haruka, and Shun having trouble in scoring a point, one of their teammates was determined to help.

Shun had no choice but to pass the ball, and just as he passed by Ria–

The teammate, who should’ve passed it back to Shun, had the ball quickly stolen away by Haruka.

After Haruka had taken the ball, he passed it to Ria. Once again, Ria easily dismantled the opponent’s defenses, making the score gap widen even further.

“This isn’t going to work…”

Shun muttered while wiping off his sweat.

When Ria and Haruka were together, Shun had a inkling that Ria’s performance which was already excellent as it is, would enhance even further.

Even in the middle of a serious match, Ria’s was maintaining a fluffy demeanor.

Haruka has his endurance to rely on to keep up. On top of that, he was a good defender.

Ria shoots a three pointer right in front of Shun.

Not only in the current game, but in all the basketball games she had participated so far, Ria had never missed a single three point shot.

If she shoots, it will always score. Ria was that of a monster.

Even Shun at his best couldn’t achieve the same feat.

“HARUKAー, do your best!”

“HAーRUKAー”

Yunika and Tsuyuri were cheering from across the volleyball court. Haruka smiled and waved at them.

A blue streak bulged on Shun’s forehead. The other male classmates were also similarly pissed.

The shock that Shun had felt from the fact that Yunika and Tsuyuri whom he had been targeting was somehow stolen away by a guy who had trash status like Haruka, was still not healed.

“Oi, give me the ball!”

Shun received the basketball from his teammate. He started to dribble it frantically.

His frustration had gone beyond the limit, he ran straight to the his opponents’ ring in an erratic motion.

“Kyaa.”

Shun pushed Ria away in a forceful manner that would almost incur a foul, and scored a point.

While leaning close to Ria who was blown away, Haruka expressed his anger.

“Oi, Shun! Can’t you behave a little better?”

“Ah?! Shut up. It’s the E Rank’s fault for being too dull.”

“What was that?!”

“Haruka, I’m fine…”

Shun finally found a way to turn the game in his favor as he argued with Haruka.

Ria was a man, but her body composition was comparable to that of a woman. Shun realized that although her athletic ability is monster class, her muscle strength was only average.

After that, Shun had racked up point after point through rough play, blowing Ria away everytime.

Of course, he got a foul. But he couldn’t care less.

Haruka had stopped marking Akito and was now focusing on Shun.

But still, Haruka couldn’t stop Shun.

“Out of the way, small fry.”

Shun easily overtook Haruka and then shoots a three pointer.

Although Shun’s three point shots were not as refined as Ria’s, he was able to make ordinary shots stick as long as he wasn’t met with a fierce defense.

The score gap was quickly reduced until the scores of both teams were finally tied.

Ria tried to get some points back, but since she was being overwhelmed physically, she couldn’t help but fall behind.

Ria positioned herself near her team’s ring, hoping to block some shots just before it scores.

At the front she could see Haruka’s back. The back of her beloved.

Haruka heads for Shun who currently was holding the ball. Shun tries to dribble past Haruka, even though he could had easily pass the ball to Akito.

Haruka desperately tries to keep up with Shun’s pace.

However, just as Shun was about to overtake Haruka….

“Haru-kun, hang in thereー!”

“Obi-kun, fightー!”

“Harukaー!”

Miyako, Reika, and Yunika’s voices were heard.

Everyone in the gymnasium were stunned by the cheers of the three beautiful women.

As if to respond to them, Haruka had caught up with Shun in a swift motion.

Shun was distraught after hearing Miyako’s cheer, his movement was dulled down for a moment.

Still, Shun had managed to recover and tried to fend off Haruka’s persistent pursuit. However, in the next moment, Shun stumbled.

Just as Ria has a weakness, so did Shun.

It was his stamina.

Unlike Haruka, who enjoyed jogging, parkour, and other forms of physical exercise in the real world, Shun was focused more in VR. Thus, his stamina was subpar.

Therefore, even if it’s a short match, Shun would quickly reach his limit if he kept moving so vigorously.

Shun tried to feint his way through Haruka who had caught up with him, but nevertheless Haruka had manage to touch the ball with his fingertips.

The basketball bounced off and rolled towards Haruka’s basketball ring.

Before Akito could pick it up, Ria had snatched the ball.

“Nice, Haruka.”

There was only less than two seconds left in the game.

Ria took a huge swing and threw the basketball with a one handed throw, as if it was a baseball.

The ball flung a long distance in a majestic parabolic arc and landed neatly on the opposite ring.

It was a shot that was thrown from under Ria’s team’s ring to the opponent’s ring.

Everyone in the gymnasium was stunned with their mouths hung wide open as they witnessed the ridiculous shot.

The sound that signalled the end of the game rang out, as well as the chime that indicated the end of the class period.

“We won, Haruka!”

“I’m glad, Ria…”

Ria happily jumped into Haruka’s arms.

Haruka embraced her lovingly in return.

“Gross.”

“Take that crap elsewhere, f̲a̲g̲g̲o̲t̲s̲!”

“You creeps are seriously disgusting…”

The male classmates grumbled after watching the exchange between Haruka and Ria.

However, their hearts did not clear up one bit. They felt as if they were becoming more miserable rather than having a one up on Haruka.

“Miyako, why did you support that guy?”

On the other hand, Shun was pressing on Miyako for answers. Why did she cheer for Haruka? Shun didn’t even bother to hide his seething jealousy.

“Well, I’ve been rooting for Shun-kun since elementary school. Isn’t it unfair if I don’t support the both of you equally?”

Miyako said with a wry smile in an aloof manner, she then walked away past Shun.

When Shun turned towards Miyako, her back was already far away.

For some reason, Miyako’s back seemed to be much farther away than it actually was to Shun.

★

“Ria… Ria…!”

“Haruka…Nnn♡ Wuv… I wuv u♡”

Currently, Haruka and Ria were inside an empty shower room. They were completely naked while flirting with each other.

Ever since they had started going out, the two would spend a lot of their break time after PE in the shower room and work up a sweat.

“Haruka, you were really cool.”

“Thanks, Ria. You were pretty great too.”

“Ehehe, I worked hard for Haruka’s sake.”

“Ria’s definitely amazing~”

“Compliment me more~♡”

“We always have this same conversation.”

“Nnn~♡”

Haruka hugged Ria from behind as she was trickled with running water, which was neither cold nor warm.

He ran his fingers on Ria’s smooth skin and caressed her.

Haruka fondled her modest chest as he stuck close to her.

“Can I do it?”

“Go ahead♡”

With Ria’s permission, Haruka pressed himself against Ria’s slender body from behind as if cover it. They slowly got busy in the shower.

Ria’s charming voice echoed throughout the empty shower room.