As expected, their class rep’s message came in: “All students please take note, please gather at the assembly hall at the faculty office tomorrow after lunch for a meeting. The meeting will be a discussion with regards to the Sports Fest. If you have any items in particular that you want to participate in, please prepare in advance, especially the female students. I did a brief calculation, and we will still have empty slots even if all our female students sign up for two items each. I hope that everyone can be enthusiastic in signing up, let’s all work hard for the competition during the Sports Fest! Thank you!”
After she read the message, the class rep’s private message came in: “Xuan Mo-sama! I’ve already heard of your outstanding performance during military training, please don’t tell me you can’t make it for the Sports Fest this time! We definitely need you this time!”
Xuan Mo was a little amused; she could already hear how desperate her class rep was. After a moment of contemplation, she gave a vague reply: “Definitely.”
“Definitely what? Please give a straight answer this time! If you can lead everyone, the girls… no, not just the girls, the guys, the confused, everyone will join you in this battle!”
Xuan Mo raised her brow, “since when am I this influential?”
“Even the goddess Xuan Mo who doesn’t participate in events will be mobilised for the Sports Fest this time, just this is exciting and motivating enough!”
“…” Xuan Mo had never realised how good a speaker her class rep was. After a moment of contemplation, she figured that it wasn’t too tiring even she were to participate in everything. And so, she replied: “You sort it out which to add me in then, don’t ask me about this again, just update me before the actual competition.”
Xuan Mo’s u-turn in attitude had the class rep in a daze for a moment; Xuan Mo did after all went from cold and difficult to communicate with to agreeable and amiable in a blink of an eye. It was only after Xuan Mo had washed up and laid on her bed did the class rep’s reply come in: “Xuan Mo, from now onwards, you are my idol!”
The next day after training, the class rep brought all twenty plus students over to the assembly hall at the faculty office. There were already over a hundred students from all four years seated inside. Immediately after they sat, the Commissar and the Head of Department (HOD) entered, and the entire hall went silent.
After surveying the students, the Commissar nodded, saying: “I’m just here to take a look, the meeting will be conducted by the chairman of the faculty student club.”
After speaking, he turned to leave. So he really just dropped by to help quieten down the students down and back the student club.
A tall, lanky guy stood with a stack of papers in his hands: “I’m sure everyone already knows that this Friday is the school-wide Autumn Sports Fest. Participants will represent their courses. The Year Threes and Year Fours will be busy with their examination and other matters, so the stage belongs to the Year Ones and Year Twos, juniors we trust that you will do our course proud. Year Threes and Fours if you’re interested, do stay behind, if not, you can make your leave in your classes.”
After speaking, the smiling Year Threes and Year Four at the back stood with a whoosh and they left in their classes.
The remaining Year Ones and Twos left in their wake watched the empty space behind, silent.
The chairman was unsurprised, as though he had already expected this to happen. He continued calmly: “Since it’s just Year Ones and Twos left, we might not have enough participants. Before I begin, if there are any students unclear about the sporting items, please raise your hand.”
No one raised their hands.
“In that case, let me go through the list and write down the interested students. Firstly, for the male items…”
Sports were the guys’ forte. There were students participating in all the items. In fact, there were item that had multiple students vying for the spot, and the students even decided to battle it out later in the afternoon to determine who would be the one to represent the course. Other than the stamina items such as 3km item that was settled after a quick discussion, the participants for all the other sporting items — including unpopular items like track and field — would only be finalised after their “battle” later in the afternoon.
After a long pause, the chairman sighed: “Next, for the female items…”
The handful of female students in their course were sparsely distributed among the students. The chairman surveyed the girls and sighed mentally when he noticed that all of them wore an indifferent expression. While they excelled in academics and were persistent in completing their daily morning rounds, he knew that their abilities wouldn’t bring them far in a competitive event like this. Perhaps the only ray of light was the rumoured Xuan Mo, but unfortunately, it seemed that she didn’t participate in school events.
“First off, we have track and field and 100m sprints, interested students please raise your hands…”
It wasn’t long before the chairman’s forehead was coated in a sheen of sweat. He managed to get participants for the easier items, as well as some of the ones that required stamina. The only items that were still empty were the ones that were highly competitive, such as the 100m, 200m and 400m types. Items like these were usually the limelight of the event. Because of that, the girls didn’t want to participate. There was only one girl who’d gingerly raised her hand for the 200m item, but she later regretted her decision and decided to pull out.
Well, it couldn’t really be helped, girls were generally more thin-skinned, and they weren’t here because of their physical prowess either. Also because the students weren’t completely familiar or comfortable with each other, so if they slipped up, they’d be throwing the face of their course. There was no way they would take such a risk.
The chairman turned to the various class reps for help.
The class rep for Class One had been excited for a while now. He cleared his throat and stood up: “Eh, I have students who have registered their interests with me.”
The chairman’s eyes glowed: “Go ahead.”
“Xuan Mo from my class authorised me to sign up for her in her stead for the Sports Fest. Let me see, the school said that individuals can only participate up to a maximum of two items; we’ll take the 100m sprint and 400m sprint for Xuan Mo then. As for group items, we’ll take medley relay, the 4x100m relay and normal relay. Besides these, if necessary, Xuan Mo can also sit in as the reserve member for all the items.” He glanced gingerly at Xuan Mo. Xuan Mo didn’t expect her class rep to be so “generous” and treat her as the miracle pill that can fill in anywhere help was needed. And so, Xuan Mo looked at him meaningfully, her eyes squinting.
The class rep shrunk, but still mustered up the courage to finish up: “If there are more, we can discuss this privately again.”
A buzz sounded among the students for a while before everyone turned to look at Xuan Mo with a complicated expression. Frankly, the students didn’t have much of an impression of this person other than whatever they’ve heard from rumours. Not only so, rumours about her sounded way too exaggerated to be true. Xuan Mo herself on the other hand was very low-key, so the rumours appeared all the more like publicity blown out of proportions. However, her Sports Fest participation seemed to tell otherwise. It was only then did the students come to a clear realisation that a gem will always be a gem, you can’t hide its glow even if you bury it among charcoal. Similarly, Xuan Mo was capable enough, she needed no publicity.
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