The three of us were having a last-minute strategy meeting as the Flying Board race was about to start.
The most memorable incident was the one we saw in the first race, when one team’s board plunged straight into the lake. As expected, I want to avoid something like that happening to us.
[……As we thought, it might be better to keep the speed low and the altitude high at first.]
[Right. The starting point isn’t that high, and it would be dangerous if the board moves downward a little bit, so it’s better to immediately ascend.]
When I suggested that in order to avoid an accident that would leave quite the impression to the eyes of the audience, Hina-chan agreed, suggesting that we should keep the altitude high and keep the speed down so that we could respond even if our board makes strange movements.However, Aoi-chan didn’t reply and seemed to be thinking with her hand on her chin. Aoi-chan is the wisest of the three of us, or rather, the one who would speak up would be Aoi-chan, so the fact that she’s thinking about it might mean that she has a different idea than what I’ve suggested.
As I waited with such thoughts in mind, Aoi-chan calmly spoke.
[……If you think about it normally, I think Kaito-san’s plan is safe. However, I suddenly thought of this, but the participants of this race…… they’ve probably watched the first race, right?]
[Yeah, it’s not like there’s that much time between the first to the fourth races, and it would be difficult to stay and watch the next two races, so inevitably, almost every other team should have watched them, right?]
[Aoi-senpai, what does that have to do with anything though?]
Aoi-chan lightly nodded her head at Hina-chan’s words, before she continued to explain further.
[Yes, that’s why, I think the accident in the first race left a strong impression on the other teams, just as it did on us.][……I see. In other words, the other teams are likely to come with the same strategy as we did.]
[Yes. In that case, many Flying Boards will be densely packed in a close position. That being the case, as long as there’s a possibility that the Flying Boards don’t fly properly, the possibility that the Flying Boards would come into contact with each other…… even if ours don’t make contact with them, increasing our speed would be difficult.]
Aoi-chan has a point. It certainly would be a good strategy to slow down at the start and immediately ascend. The higher altitude makes it easier to recover before falling into the lake even if the trajectory of our Flying Board is strange. When one considers avoiding the lake, it may be the optimal solution.
And because it is the optimal solution, there are many opponents who would come up with the same strategy……
[……And so, this is just a suggestion, but why don’t we go about it the other way?]
[What exactly do you mean?]
[Instead of going right up after the start, we could fly as fast at a speed that can be corrected just in case our movement trajectory may head downward, and after we got our distance from the others, we could start ascending.]
[……There’s a risk from doing that, but the return from achieving it is great…… Alright, let’s give it a try. And so, Hina-chan, we aren’t going to ascend right away, and while I’ll look at the timing, I’ll tell you when you should ascend.]
[I understand! Let’s show them our teamwork!]
Aoi-chan’s plans have such a big return that if we achieve it, it might decide the race, and even if we fail, there’s a good chance that we can still at least get back on our feet.
In that case, we had no choice but to take on the challenge, and thus, our team’s strategy was to charge forward right at the start.
“Now, the fourth race will start shortly.”
Getting on top of the large disk-shaped magic tool, I watched the timing when the start signal was released. I’m the one who decides the direction, but our first direction would just be forward…… Depending on the quirks of our Flying Board, I may need to make some adjustments, so I’ll have to concentrate and be ready to respond with situations immediately.
Glancing at my two kouhais, both of them nodded vigorously at me, and I understood that they were ready to go.
The signal to start came the moment the light emitted by a magic crystal floating in the air changed from red to blue…… and that moment quickly came.
The moment it turned blue, I touched the arrow pointing forward, and at the same time, Aoi-chan launched the Flying Board at a reasonable speed.
Along with a bang-like acceleration and a shaky feeling…… As we expected, our Flying Board really doesn’t fly straight, but it’s still pretty good. It’s slightly meandering, but we’re flying forward properly, and our Flying Board isn’t strangely moving up and down. It seems like our Flying Board is heading towards a good trajectory.
A quick look around shows that no other pairs in sight…… we’ve properly taken our distance from others!
[Hina-chan!]
[Roger that!!!]
Hearing my call, Hina-chan ascends the Flying Board. Our achievement in taking distance from the others allowed us greater movements to our left and right, but at the moment, we’re ascending while I’m correcting the trajectory somewhat by touching the opposite arrow according to the meandering of our Flying Board.
[How’s it going, Aoi-chan?]
[It’s a success! We’ve completely slipped away from the others!]
[Alright! Then, let’s keep going like this!]
[ [ Yes! ] ]
Aoi-chan’s plan had almost perfectly succeeded! The other pairs seemed to have chosen to ascend right after the start signal, so they were similarly crowded together in the starting line and were unable to thoughtlessly increase their speed.
However, since we had completely slipped out of them, we could make use of a wide space. Even if we were to go very fast and our Flying Board suddenly made a strange trajectory, we would have enough room to handle it.
Understanding this, Aoi-chan increased our speed and we flew to the other side of the lake at once, and cooperating with each other with our shouts, we managed to control our Flying Board’s sudden strange trajectory that occurred from time to time.
With luck on our side, we crossed the lake with a complete lead over the other pairs and successfully made it through the qualifying rounds.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [This is great. I also like this kind of tactical seriousness. OK. This, I allow.]
? ? ? : [Who do you think you are……]
Serious-senpai : [I’m the Incarnation of Seriousness!]
? ? ? : [……You still think you can go through with that setting?]
Serious-senpai : [Can you stop responding with that serious tone? It hurts……]
