<Alright, the baton's been passed to our ninth group's second competitor!>

(I have to finish in under forty seconds if we still want to keep our hopes of winning alive.)

(The water spider is going to eat up a lot of my time, so I have to save as much as I can during the high vault...)

(So...)

<Okay, there's the high vault!
Our competitor will need to launch himself over eight layers to succeed.>

(I have to get it right the first time if I'm going to post the fastest time possible.)

(Build up a lot of momentum and...
Three, two, one...)

(Now!)

Hup!

<A beautiful jump!
He cleared it on his first try!>

(Yes...!
Those jumping squats really paid off!)

Nice one, Akito!

Keep it up!

<Next, we have the water spider!
In front of our competitor is a pool that's eight meters wide and fifteen meters long!>

<He'll need to stand on a pair of special inner tubes in order to cross, with only a pole to help support him. But he's done well so far! How quickly can he finish?!>

(The straps on these inner tubes are a bit loose. I'll need to keep that in mind...)

(I want to finish fast, but is it worth taking a big risk? No, don't rush. Slow and steady wins the race!)

(The waiting area's right next to the water spider stage. I can see clearly see what's happening.)

(Shinonome's doing...
Good, he's moving at a decent speed...
He's also conserving energy by staying calm.)

(Two meters to go. I just gotta keep this up and...)

...?!

<Wait, he's stopped all of a sudden!
Is something wrong?>

(What's going on?
He's looking down at his left foot. It's still above the water...)

...!
What if...?!

(I knew it! The strap broke...!)

(This is bad.
He'll have trouble just staying standing, let alone moving forward.)

(All he has at this point are his right foot and the pole. How is he supposed to get to the finish line now...?)

(I know!)

Shinonome!

Kiritani?

Use the other inner tube as an oar!
Propel yourself forward by pushing against it!

(He only has one foot and that pole now, so it won't be easy for him to maintain his balance... But I'm sure he can do this!)

She's joking, right?

But I don't have much of a choice at this point...

Oh!
He's back to moving!

Whoa!
He's using only one foot!

But he's staying afloat...
He's using that pole to keep his balance, while using the other inner tube as an oar!

He's like a real ninja!

Way to go, Akito!

(My foot's going to sink if I lose focus for even a second... I have to carefully shift my weight, while maintaining this posture!)

(The other side's right there...!
I just gotta keep this up...!)

<He finished!
Despite what happened, he was able to cross to the other side!>

<He's taken the inner tubes off, and is now running towards his teammate!>

Kiritani!
We're counting on you!

Go! Fly!

<Our ninth group's hopes now rest with their final competitor! She's using the momentum her teammate created in order to absolutely fly!>

(Despite Tenma and Shinonome running into some trouble, we're still in contention. If I do well here, we might just win... No, not might.)

(We will win.
I can't let their efforts go to waste!)

<Alright, she's reached the wall she'll be climbing!>

(Five meters...
This is very similar to bouldering. I need to choose where to place my hands and feet carefully.)

(The quickest route to the top is...)

(There!)

Sh-She's so fast...!

Yeah, and she's got her route all figured out! She's basically going straight up it!

Wait a second...
Isn't that Haruka Kiritani?!
What's she doing here?!

Haha...
Looks like your cover's blown, Haruka...

To be fair, we are talking about a former top-flight idol going rock climbing.

Huh...?

Hey! You guys did awesome!
And Haruka looks like she's on a roll!

Yeah.
She's probably on track to be fastest among all the teams right now.

Probably.
We might actually be able to win this.

Huff... Huff...

(I didn't have any issues climbing that wall, so my current time should be pretty good.)

(Which just leaves...)

<She's reached the final obstacle!
How much time will she need to clear it?! Let's hope that she doesn't disqualify herself by falling in!>

<Her final test! The hanging poles!>