CHAPTER FOUR

The Nail That Sticks Up Gets Hammered Down…?

The following Monday, I arrived at school earlier than usual. After accompanying Kenta on his daily walking exercise for a while, I’d gotten into the habit of waking up early.

I wouldn’t have minded getting up early to meet a cute girl, but it was kind of depressing getting up at the crack of dawn just to be met with Kenta.

Yawning hugely, I headed toward the classroom. Then I realized I could hear raised voices coming from inside.

“Why don’t you tell us, then? We’re your classmates, aren’t we? Why is someone like you hanging around with Chitose’s group?”

“Uh… Just… King came to my house after Mr. Iwanami asked him to…”

“King? King? What’s that about? That’s hilarious! Is that what you call Chitose?”

That short exchange was all I needed to hear to know instantly what was going on. I peered into the room through the window in the door.

I knew it. It was the exact scene I’d been picturing. Kenta and Yua were surrounded by five other classmates and being interrogated. There were three guys and two girls. The guys were the same ones who’d been giving me the death glares on the first day of class.

It looked like the other members of our group hadn’t made it to school yet or were otherwise busy with morning sports practice. I couldn’t see any of them except for Yua.

“Let’s not interrogate him… Why not get to know him first?”

Yua put her hand on Kenta’s shoulder, trying to stick up for him.

“We don’t want to get to know him. Anyway, it’s him we’re talking to, not you. Why don’t you butt out, huh, Uchida?”

Yua blinked as one of the girls started getting snarky. The girl had a trashy look about her.

“Um, but Yamazaki and I were talking first before you came over here…”

“Yeah, I know. But neither of you two really fit in with Chitose’s group, come to think of it. You’re sort of dull and boring, aren’t you, Uchida?”

Yua shrugged and smiled.

“Heh… I know I’m a little on the dull side. I guess I’m just part of the gang to give them someone to play off for a little light comic relief…”

Kenta butted in, even as Yua was trying to defuse the situation.

“N-no! When you first came to my house, I thought…she’s definitely one of the popular kids! You’re pretty and vivacious, Uchida!”

One of the guys snorted at this.

“To a shut-in, school-no-show like you, any woman would look like a goddess. But wait, are you saying Uchida went to your house, Yamazaki? So that means you started coming back to school after getting a crush on her, hmm?”

“N-no… That’s not what happened…”

Yua looked back and forth between them.

“It was Saku who convinced Yamazaki to come back to school. All I did was help a little.”

The trashy-looking girl responded to that.

“You know, Uchida, the other girls all call him by his last name. Chitose. Why do you call him Saku? Don’t you realize how obvious you’re being?”

“Um… I guess I’ve never really been aware I was doing that… I guess I’m, like, his sidepiece? Hee-hee.”

Yua was trying to lighten the atmosphere by making a joke, but the trashy girl snorted in disgust. “Ew, gross,” she said, curling her lip.

Ah, man. A bout with these types might be a little tough for them without backup.

“Okay, Buddy A, Sidepiece B, I need your help with something.”

I turned to address my other friends, one of whom had attached himself to me and the better-smelling one, who I wished had attached herself to me.

“Ah yeah, I was expecting them to come and start trouble sooner or later. I just never imagined it would be over Kenta. Still, I knew from the first day that they would have beef with our group. I could feel it in the air.”

…So said the one still draped over me, Kazuki.

“Captain, if I’m to take on this duty, I want a promotion to Wifey A.”

…So said the sweet-smelling one, Nanase. Why couldn’t she be pressed against my back right now?

“Hmm, I’ll consider it. Ready to provide backup, troops?”

“All right. Not much else we can do, now that they’ve started it. But let’s keep it friendly, okay? Otherwise, they’ll just come back to harass Kenta and Ucchi again while we’re not around.”

“Right, let’s try to smooth things over without any bloodshed.”

So we headed on into the classroom.

“Mornin’, Kenta, Yua.”

I ignored the other five for now and called out to my friends.

“…G-good morning, King…”

“Saku… Mizushino… Yuzuki… Good morning.”

Kenta and Yua both looked visibly relieved.

Kenta had clearly identified the danger in this situation right away. I wasn’t sure how long the bullies had been at it, but I knew Yua would have stuck with Kenta and been by his side throughout.

The situation, though, was extremely annoying to me.

Just when I’d managed to get Kenta moving in the right direction. This kind of thing could be enough to have him scurrying back to the safety of his room.

“Hey, Chitose, Mizushino, Nanase. We were just having a chat with your new friend here.”

One of the guys spoke up first. He seemed to be the leader of this little group.

I’d noticed them on the first day of class. The five of them were a pretty standout group of popular kids in first year.

I took in their unbuttoned shirts, rolled-up pant legs, and the heavy makeup on the girls. Popular, hmm… It would be more accurate to say they were a group of trashy kids. Fukui still has that countryside delinquent youth subculture thing going on, so that’s another way to describe them. Even in an elite school like ours, there’s always a trashy element. Still, fashion is a matter of taste. Just ’cause I thought they looked trashy, didn’t mean I had the right to judge.

“Uh… You’re all in our class, as I recall… Right?”

A little diss, to start things off. Just to let them know that they were barely on my radar, even though they had already revealed that they knew my full name. Hopefully, that’d be enough to piss them off—make my job easier.

The ringleader guy pushed back his long bangs with irritation. He’d shaved his eyebrows down a little, and you couldn’t exactly call him handsome.

“That’s kind of a low blow, Chitose.”

I see, I see.

I hadn’t spoken to him before, so he hadn’t really registered with me, but it was clear that he was more significant a character than the Rough Guy A role I’d cast him in. It looked like I had to try harder if I wanted to crush this little rebellion of his.

“By the way, we played against each other in the prefectural finals in junior high. I was a pitcher for Youkou Junior High. The name’s Atomu Uemura.”

Of course, I remembered that we had played against Youkou Junior High. But it was two years ago. I couldn’t remember this guy, or even his name, at all. I tilted my head to one side and shrugged. Atomu continued, sounding pissed.

“You little genius prodigies are all the same. Everyone saw you as the standard to beat, but you were only interested in yourself and how well you played. I figured you got into this school just so you could have a shot at the Koushien National High School Baseball Tournament, but no… You immediately quit baseball and started hanging around with girls.”

“Sorry, but I don’t tend to focus on the past all that much. Anyway, Atomu, if you were so good in junior high, how come you didn’t join baseball last year?”

After all, I did keep up with baseball, at least during the first year of high school. And I was pretty sure Atomu hadn’t joined up in the middle of the year.

I smiled facetiously. Atomu, too, smiled facetiously.

“…Continuing with baseball into high school seemed like a waste of time. No one cares about trying to go to Koushien anymore. It’s lame.”

Kazuki interjected just then, grinning in a sharklike manner.

“Well, soccer is the big sport nowadays, isn’t it? Koushien isn’t the dream anymore. Now it’s the inter–high school tournament or maybe trying for the U-17. But enough sports talk. I actually do know the name of that cutie standing next to you. We’ve chatted before, right? Nazuna Ayase?”

“What, you remember me? That’s so sweet! Mizushino, Chitose… Aren’t you embarrassed to be seen with them? C’mon, come hang out with us.”

Nazuna looked really happy all of a sudden. And her face was already noticeably attractive. She glared at Kenta and Yua.

Then someone stepped around me, walking farther into the room.

Mmm, someone who smelled good.

“Whaaat? Am I that embarrassing? I had no idea! Perhaps spending too much time focusing on sports has robbed me of my natural femininity? Yikes!”

It was Nanase who had stepped forward, deliberately misinterpreting Nazuna’s diss to include herself—and overreacting in a theatrical manner.

“Uh…no… I didn’t mean you…”

Well, of course not. Nazuna was cute, sure, but she was nowhere near the level of top-class girls like Yuuko and Nanase. Nanase had used Irony, and it had been supereffective. Also very in-character for her.

“Never mind that…”

Atomu stepped forward and put his arm around Kenta’s shoulder. Kenta froze immediately, eyes darting about as if unsure as to what exactly was happening.

“Chitose. You’ve been buddying around with this kid lately, right? But just look at him. He’s not the kind of guy you’d usually find hanging in a group like yours. What is this, a pity thing? Or did Kura force you to be his friend?”

“No. We’re just regular friends. Last weekend, Yuuko and Kenta and I actually all hung out at Lpa.”

Okay, yes, Kura had given me the initial push, and I had felt sorry for him. But everything I said was true.

“You’ve gotta be kidding. Who’d want to be seen at the mall with an otaku like him? What do you even talk about?”

“We talk about the light novels we’ve been reading recently. Kenta recommended me this great one: I’m a Huge Otaku, but the Slutty Girls Are All Up on Me?! I’ve actually just finished it, so I could lend it to you if you’d like?”

Atomu, Nazuna, and the other members of their group stared at me like I had two heads. It was pretty funny. Sadly, though, it seemed they weren’t willing to get on board.

“Give me a freakin’ break, Chitose. And listen here. Your group’s pretty well respected in this school. But stop letting riffraff join. The other girls were pretty pissed when you let Uchida in. They felt shortchanged. Just be aware that you’re lowering your social stock value with all these bad decisions you keep making.”

Atomu suddenly got Kenta in a headlock and started giving him a vicious noogie.

“Ack! I’m only a temporary member of…”

I raised a hand to stop Kenta.

“If my ‘social stock value’ goes down over something as simple as being friends with Kenta, then so be it. At any rate, we don’t care about the social hierarchy. We just hang out with who we choose to hang out with. That’s all we need to enjoy high school.”

“Spare me. You all walk around the school with these shit-eating ‘We’re so popular’ grins on your faces.”

Nanase interjected then. “You’re wrong. We just hang out with people we like and feel comfortable with.”

Then she put one hand on my shoulder and the other on Kazuki’s.

“I find Chitose, Mizushino—and I guess, Kaito—way more attractive and fun to be around than any other guys. And anyway, if hanging with Yamazaki brings down our social stock, then that’ll be a good opportunity for your group, right, Uemura? You can climb the social ladder right to the top, if it matters that much to you.”

Nanase turned to grin at me, then at Kazuki. It was a calculated move to make sure that Atomu knew he hadn’t registered on her radar as a guy at all.

For all the tough-guy front he put on, Atomu was still a high school boy. Being ignored and described as ‘any other guy’ by a beauty like Nanase…that had to sting.

As if on cue, Atomu started scowling again.

The way Nanase phrased things, it sounded like she was mocking this group for not already having managed to be the most popular group in the school. But she’d done it in such a subtle way, a way that would make them look like jerks if they got mad. She was good.

“…Whatever, you just want to surround yourself with hot guys. You’re such a slut,” Nazuna spat.

Instead of backing down, it looked like she was going to go head-to-head with Nanase now, in an effort to defend her wounded pride.

“Really? But I don’t pick my guy friends based on their looks. I just happen to get along with guys who’ve got handsome faces. But if you really want to become friends with hot guys, why don’t you just try talking to them in a normal way, hmm, Ayase?” Nanase smiled, so full of confidence.

“I never said that… I don’t even know what you’re talking about…”

But everything Nanase was saying was common sense. Nazuna didn’t have a leg to stand on. That’s when Kazuki spoke up again.

“That’d be fine with me. And, Atomu, I have nothing against you. We’re all in the same class, so we should stop this silly fighting. And, Nazuna, I’d like to be friends with you, too.”

There was no way Kazuki would ever want to be friends with kids like this. He was always the peacemaker and hated fuss of any kind. In fact, he was the steadiest member of our group. But he always made sure to avoid associating with people who would cause drama or reflect badly on him in any way.

He was just sticking up for Kenta, here. As a favor to me.

Kazuki’s plan was calculated. He knew the group would reject his offer of friendship, but continuing to seek a fight with us after Kazuki had been so magnanimous… That would make them look like jerks in the eyes of the entire class.

“You know, I hate kids like you who’ve never had to deal with any hardships in life. I prefer to hang with kids who know what the real world is like. And y’know, have actual emotions. But listen, Yamazaki… You can cling on to Chitose all you like, but remember your place. Don’t go dragging him down with you.”

Was this guy actually decent, or wasn’t he? What a complicated fellow. As Atomu, Nazuna, and the other still-silent members of their group turned to leave, I spoke up.

“Hey. One last thing. Yua might be on the plain-and-boring side, sure. But she’s boring the same way packing materials are when you ship something. She’s like…bubble wrap.”

“…Saku, can we speak later?”

I ignored Yua and kept talking.

“You can ship something super valuable and expensive, but if it gets scratched or broken, it’ll be worthless. You need soft padding to keep it safe and maintain its value. And when you need some entertainment, you can take it out and pop all its little bubbles.”

“That’s meant to be a compliment…?”

Yua was looking at me with exasperation.

Atomu’s group turned and walked off silently.

After school, I took Kenta to Hachiban Ramen, the ramen joint near our school.

Hachiban Ramen is a ramen chain that was originally established along Ishikawa Prefecture’s Highway 8 but soon spread to the entire Hokuriku region. It’s considered soul food for Fukui people, along with our iconic katsudon. It’s not particularly mind-blowing or anything, but for some reason, I always find myself going there. Whenever the holiday rolls around, and everyone comes back to their hometowns in Fukui for Golden Week, Obon, or New Year’s, the TV channels are choked with commercials for Hachiban Ramen. They’ve got this slogan: It’s gotta be Hachiban. It beats me why someone who lives in Tokyo, which has more amazing ramen restaurants than you could dream of, would want to eat Hachiban Ramen whenever they’re back in Fukui. But they do. Weird, huh?

I ordered a noodle set without soup. Upon my recommendation, Kenta had the salt-flavored veggie ramen without the ramen (so in other words, vegetable soup).

“That was tense, back in the classroom this morning, huh?”

I dumped a ton of vinegar and chili sauce on my ramen and mixed it up in the bowl. Most people order the veggie ramen, but I think this is way better.

“Popular kids are scary as heck.”

Kenta looked completely downcast. Aw, man. I knew he’d been picked on by popular kids in the past, but he’d probably never been singled out so aggressively.

Still, it could have been a lot worse. If I’d shown up even a few minutes later, or if Yua hadn’t been there, then things could have ended in disaster. Kenta could have been scared off popular kids for life.

“Ah well, I had a feeling that group would be coming for us all sooner or later. They’ve just been biding their time waiting to strike, ever since our group claimed dominance the first day of school. You were just the convenient excuse they used to start trouble. It wasn’t anything to do with you, really. Shake it off; that’s my advice.”

I slurped my noodles.

To be honest, I think the only reason they didn’t come for us right away was because I’d been named class president on the first day of school. We seized the initiative, and it took them a while to recover.

Kazuki was totally right—they just honed in on Kenta for an excuse to start shit with us. I was going to have to keep a closer eye on the Team Chitose members. They could handle themselves usually, but I’d let the rival faction get the jump on us this time.

I didn’t want to make a big deal of it, but I was painfully aware of the fact that Kenta was suffering because of our issue, not his.

“King, I remember you saying that being popular was like playing on hard mode… I think I’m starting to get that now. It’s not just the unpopular kids who are jealous of you; it’s rival groups, too… Man, if confrontations like that happened to me every day, I’d completely crack.”

“It’s not like all popular kids are dueling it out for supremacy or anything, though.”

“Oh yeah, I noticed you guys didn’t really fight back. You kind of killed them with kindness and took the moral high ground.”

Kenta was eating his vegetable soup with an expression of dissatisfaction.

“All right, this is a teachable moment. As I’ve said, there’re all kinds of popular kids. You’ve got your ‘natural-born’ popular kids, your ‘self-made’ popular kids, and then a hybrid variant in between.”

“Okay, so which members of your team are which?”

“For example, Yuuko is a natural-born one. A hundred percent. She’s the type who can go straight to the top on the strength of her personality alone. Conversely, Yua is a self-made type. She didn’t stand out at all in first year, but then one day she struck up a conversation with our group, and she started to change, little by little, in both appearance and personality. That’s the example I want you to strive for, Kenta.”

“I see. But I would have thought Uchida was a natural-born popular kid…”

“Kaito and Haru are both natural-borns. They belong to the jock subdivision. You know, standout sports stars always achieve a level of fame throughout the school, don’t they? And then Kazuki, Nanase, and me, we’re the hybrid types. We have the natural-born talents, sure, but the difference is that we’re aware of them. And we control our images very carefully.”

Kenta seemed to be considering all I had to say very carefully, too.

“Eh, but to be honest, it’s not like the lines are drawn in stone. Yua’s a self-made popular kid, yeah, but she always had the talent. She just cultivated it. And Yuuko certainly puts a lot of effort into her clothes and makeup. I’m just giving you a broad overview here.”

I filled our empty glasses with water before continuing.

“What I wanted to get through to you is that, among the popular kids, you also get this variant that’s always striving to put others down to elevate themselves.”

“…You mean like Atomu and his group?”

“Precisely. In that group, you’ve probably got your usual mix of natural-borns, self-mades, and hybrids, but what unites them is this desire for dominance. They’re always trying to prove how cool they are by dunking on others.”

Kenta’s chopsticks paused as he turned to look directly at me.

“Like what happened today. They attack other popular groups, most specifically, that group’s weakest link. That’s how they demonstrate their superiority to others. Or maybe they’re just checking to make sure they’re still popular. They’re a mess of insecurity, you see.”

“I know—I’ve had to put up with enough of that in my life so far. But I’ve never been attacked so directly before today…”

Kenta gazed across the restaurant unseeingly, as if reliving the events of this morning. He looked so forlorn that I almost felt like throwing the kid a bone and telling him to go ahead and order some gyoza.

“But I’ve never seen your group try to flex on anyone or show dominance, King. How come you guys don’t do that?”

“There’s two main reasons. The difference between our group and groups that try to claim dominance is that we don’t care about being popular. It’s not how we define ourselves. Being top of the school hierarchy isn’t something we consciously think about, nor strive for.”

“Objection! You’re totally lying, King. You’re always going on about how popular you are, the hottest guy in the school, blah, blah, blah.”

Kenta pointed his Chinese soup spoon at me accusingly. Hey, didn’t your mama teach you not to wave utensils at people?

“Of course, being on top of the hierarchy is pretty sweet. We always have our table in the cafeteria, and there’s tons of other perks like that. But we were never aiming for any of those things. They’re just part of our reality. We’re just enjoying our school life. If I’m really being honest, I wouldn’t care about being considered popular as long as I could continue hanging out with the same group and having fun together.” I finished up my noodles and wiped my mouth with a napkin. “Anyway, popular or not, I’d still be hot. That’s just a fact.”

“So…you’re saying that other people have all just decided you’re popular, King, and you’ve just been living your life?”

“It may sound conceited to say so, but…yeah. But for those other kids who are desperate to climb the ranks, their whole high school life is all about that. They think that popularity means they’ve won, and that the unpopular kids are just losers. They don’t know what else to be, if not popular.”

In fact, Atomu’s group was a pretty good representation of Kenta’s prior concept of popular kids.

“So then, how do you evaluate yourselves?” Kenta leaned in with interest.

“You either evaluate yourselves based on what others think of you or what you think of yourself. I’m the latter. As I said before, it doesn’t matter what others think. You should just try to be a version of yourself that you like. Atomu and his gang totally evaluate themselves based on others’ opinions. Comparing themselves to others, to see where they fall in the hierarchy. This guy is above me, this guy is below me, always thinking about dumb stuff like that.”

“…And that’s why they try to challenge other kids?”

“Yeah. Whenever they get a chance, they’ll go on the attack, trying to see if they can’t bring the other party down a peg or two. And elevate themselves into the bargain. That’s the whole reason why they do it.”

“Yeah, that Uemura guy kept talking about social stock value, but you just talked about friendship.”

Huh, so Kenta had actually taken in the conversation. I’d thought he was too busy freaking out. I raised my eyebrows at him as he continued.

“But how should I handle that kind of popular kid? I should argue back, right?”

“You should follow the example we already set. Don’t engage with the enemy. But try to meet him on a level playing field. If you try to one-up him, you’ll be locked in an endless war, and he’ll be loving it. Just see him as a member of a different tribe that you want to peacefully coexist alongside. And if he gets too unreasonable, you shouldn’t be afraid to walk away.”

Besides, jerks like that would just keep on at it indefinitely. You had to knock them back when they encroached on your turf, sure, but if you weren’t careful, you’d spend all your precious youth dealing with them.

And there was no need to waste one’s precious youth on stupid stuff like that.

“Changing the subject, Kenta… God, carbs are so good. They make you feel glad to be alive!”

“Hey! You’re one of them, after all! You’re trying to one-up me right now!”

After I walked Kenta home, I headed back along the riverbed path in a chilled-out mood.

I found my thoughts returning to the morning’s events. It was lucky I’d shown up to save Kenta’s butt, but if I’d been too late, he might have gotten freaked out about being in social situations again.

I was relieved to see he was still good. But it got me thinking about things I didn’t usually think about.

Jumping in to save somebody else was all well and good, but if I didn’t learn not to take responsibility for his life, the weight would soon become unbearable.

After everything I’ve told Kenta…how I’ve been acting like this wise life-coach, sensei-type figure toward him… It would all come to nothing if he wasn’t able to rise to the occasion on the day of reckoning and stick it to his old friends. If he failed…after everything I’d done to build him up…I’d be responsible. It would be even worse than if I had just left him alone in the first place.

But a part of me was whispering that it wasn’t all on me, and it wasn’t fair to blame myself. I wasn’t the one who started this. Kenta had wanted this. And if he did mess up in the end, then that wouldn’t change the fact that both Kenta and I had done our best in our own ways. I had to draw the line. He wasn’t my responsibility. I was just helping him out a little. Right?

But another part of me was screaming that this really was all on me. I was the one who accepted Kura’s mission. Maybe I should have said no in the first place. I was just too prideful to turn down the request. I wanted to be Saku Chitose, cool guy who can take care of business. So the results of that, whatever they might turn out to be…they were on me. All of them.

I felt like Kenta’s success or failure would make or break me. And then what was to become of Saku Chitose afterward?

I sighed deeply.

…WHAP.

I felt something strike my back, hard.

“’Sup, Chitose?! Why you only heading home now? I thought you were part of the go-home club?”

I turned to see Haru, standing there with a sports bag slung over her shoulder along with her schoolbag. Her smile made all my self-deprecating thoughts of a few moments ago disappear in an instant.

“I accompanied Kenta on his walking workout. Walked him all the way home. By the way, that hurt.”

“Oh, don’t be such a big baby. Gotten soft since quitting baseball?”

“You didn’t need to punch me. You could have just said hello like a normal girl. Anyway, how was club practice?”

The sun was starting to get low on the horizon, but it was still pretty early for Haru to be out, considering that basketball club practices often ran right up until seven PM, which was as late as they were allowed to run.

“Our coach had something to do and couldn’t stay for long, so we just did some simple shooting drills and called it a day. I hate to waste the opportunity to work out, so I was thinking of heading to Higashi Park and doing a little solo training. You busy, Chitose? Wanna join me?”

“I just got done walking seven miles, and now you want me to work out with you?”

“Just walking? Pah! That’s nothing. Anyway, if you’re going to spend all this time with Yamazaki, you owe me some quality time, too.”

“That’s like commuting to school by bicycle every day but then suddenly being forced to compete in the Tour de France.”

“Oh, quit your bellyachin’ and hop on, Chief.”

Haru hopped back onto her blue GIOS hybrid bicycle, gesturing for me to hop on behind her. I noticed it didn’t have the footrests that granny bikes like Kaito’s have. So I’m supposed to just find somewhere else to put my feet, am I?

“Let me hold on to your shoulders.”

“Of course. I’d like to see you try to stay on hands-free. You should join a troupe of Chinese acrobats if you can do that.”

I took hold of Haru’s shoulders and carefully rested my feet on the wheel’s outer hub, being careful not to obstruct the wheel itself. The bike lurched to the side a little as we started off, but Haru soon corrected it.

“You’re lighter than I thought, Chitose. This is way easier than when I give rides to Kaito.”

“Not sure if I should take that as a compliment on my slender figure from a pretty girl or as a slight on my build as an ex-athlete…”

Haru pedaled smoothly as we rolled off. In just one month, I’d ridden double with Yua, Yuuko, and now Haru. Man, I really was living that high school boy dream, wasn’t I?

Haru’s shoulders were narrow and feminine but also strong and slightly muscled. It was clear she was having no problem hauling my weight. I felt slightly unmanned at first, but I was sorely tempted to give myself over to her athletic charms.

“You can lean on me a bit more, Chitose; I can take the weight.”

It was like she was reading my mind.

“I can’t lean on a girl. I’ll have to surrender my Man Card.”

“You know, you’d be boyfriend material if you didn’t say things like that all the time.”

“But that’s part of my charm. It’s part of what does make me boyfriend material, isn’t it?”

“Hmm, I guess it depends on the girl.”

Becoming Haru’s boyfriend… Now, that would be a challenge. She’s tough to scoop up, like a goldfish at a summer festival booth. The shiny gold one is too fast, and you’re left going after the boring black-and-white ones with the bulging eyes instead.

After about five minutes of hybrid bicycle riding, we arrived at Higashi Park, which is located close to Fuji High. We got off the bike, and Haru immediately whipped off her skirt. I almost had a heart attack. Of course, she was wearing shorts underneath. And another T-shirt under her school blouse.

…I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit turned on all the same.

“Let’s start with some light stretching to warm up our muscles. Would you mind pushing on my back?”

Haru plopped down on the ground and stretched her legs out in front of her.

“Yes, Mistress.”

I went around behind her and pushed against her back with all my might. Her back felt warm enough to me already. I could feel her body heating up my palms through her shirt.

“Mmn.”

“Wow, you really are flexible.”

I was trying hard not to focus too much on her bobbing ponytail and the exposed nape of neck below it. I realized I was touching her bra strap, and I quickly moved my hands to a different spot.

“Having supple muscles is vital when it comes to playing sports. Why are you frowning?” Haru twisted around to look at me.

“…Am I frowning?”

“You are. You keep making this pained face. You do that sometimes.”

“Is that why you invited me to work out with you? To help me loosen up?”

“Nope, this is totally unrelated. I prefer to work out with people who are going to put their back into it.”

“Oh yeah, that so?”

Haru spread her legs wide, and I proceeded to push on her back as she stretched over first her right leg, then her left. She went all the way down, so far down that it was almost comical. I could smell the fresh scent of her deodorant.

“You know how the coach gives us a quota of points to try to reach during midseason games? And they’re all like ‘I know you can do it’ to motivate you. How does that make you feel, Haru?”

Haru snapped her legs together and bent forward to touch her toes. I pushed on her shoulders and put my weight into it. Her legs were so long and smooth, and slightly shiny. So different from my own hairy legs that it seemed impossible to believe we belonged to the same species.

And uh, all this stretching and posing… It was getting dangerous.

“Hmm, it does make me feel motivated, I guess. I wouldn’t want to let the coach down, after they’ve shown such faith in us.”

Haru got to her feet with a “Hup!” Then she pointed to the ground. “Your turn,” she seemed to be saying.

“But what if you failed to hit that quota? What if you lost the game? …Ow-ow-ow, hey!”

“Yikes, Chitose, you’re so stiff! You’ve really been slacking off since you quit baseball. Hmm, if I failed, it would be because of my own lack of effort. I’d apologize to the coach and just try harder next time.”

Not only was she digging into my back with the heels of her hands, but she was also pressing her chest against my back. Maybe she was used to being this hands-on with the other girls on her team, but surely she hadn’t forgotten that I was a guy here? I wondered if she did the same thing when she practiced with Kaito… Huh, wow. I should not be thinking these kinds of thoughts right now.

“So you’d just keep trying, without feeling like your pride got hurt? Ouch, ouch, quit that!”

“Chief, you need to loosen up! In more ways than one. It’s up to the individual to decide how much effort they want to put into something, right? If I felt that badly about being in the club, I’d quit. Right now, I’m happy to continue like this. Why did you quit baseball, Chitose?”

“…I got sick of having to keep my hair so short.”

“Aha, I see. You’re trying to dodge the question.”

I got to my feet and put my back against Haru’s, linking arms with her. Then I bent forward as far as possible, lifting Haru on my back.

“Guhhh! Ugh! But you played with such focus. I can’t imagine you quitting over something so superficial. I hope this isn’t out of line for me to say, but I can tell how much sports meant to you.”

“It was pretty superficial, yeah.”

We switched, and this time she lifted me on her back.

“You’re not willing to talk about it, then? Guhhh!”

“You’re gonna snap my back at this rate! I feel like one of those golden fish ornaments you see on castle walls whose heads are bent back to their tails!”

Haru had lowered her head almost to the ground, and I was bent so far back I was almost upside down.

“…There, all done.”

Haru stretched out her arms and legs briefly before heading over and opening up her ball bag. Pulling out her basketball, she went to the concrete court and began to dribble.

“If baseball went wrong for you for whatever reason, there’s always basketball, Chief! If you train up a little, I bet you could make the team regulars!”

“I’ll think about it, as long as you agree to stretch with me every day.”

“Sorry, I’m not interested in boys who are less skilled than I am.”

“You shouldn’t underestimate my athletic prowess.”

Haru didn’t comment on that one. “Come on, play a game with me. We can’t use the hoop since those elementary schoolers are using it. So how’s this? You manage to dribble past me, and you get one point. I manage to dribble past you, and I get one point. Let’s see who can get to ten points first!”

“How do we define dribbling past?”

“Let’s just wing it. If neither of us can agree, we’ll restart the round. Okay? I’ll even let you go first.”

I grinned. Only Haru would come up with a set of rules like those.

“Bring it on.”

I retied the laces of my Stan Smiths, pulled off my jacket, and rolled up my shirtsleeves. I was a jock at heart. A little challenge was all it took to get me fired up.

I remembered the excitement I used to have before baseball games, and I felt a pang of regret, mixed with nostalgia.

I grabbed the ball and began dribbling, crouching low.

Haru crouched low as well, her eyes on me.

“The loser has to answer any question the winner poses, okay?”

“Why? What are you planning to ask?”

“Well, what I want to know is why you quit baseball. But what I’ll ask is: How come you were frowning earlier?”

“I already told you: I wasn’t even frowning.”

“Nuh-uh, I saw it. I make a point to always try to read my opponent, even in the midst of a game!”

“…Tch. All right. If I win, do I get to ask you something dirty?”

“Are you insane? Why would you ask something like that? But whatever, ask anything you want. If, by some miracle, I happen to lose, then I’ll answer anything.”

“All right, I’m in. And also, the loser has to buy the winner something from the hot food section at the convenience store.”

“Okay, Chief. I’m ready for you; show me what you got!”

I quickly faked her out, making her lunge to her dominant side while I zipped past her with ease…

“…I’ve bought what you asked for, Mistress Haru.”

“You sure took your time! That’s five minutes I’ve been waiting.”

“What are you, some sort of demon? Making me rush to buy snacks after that ferocious game we just had. I’m exhausted.”

I had lost pathetically. Haru was just plain better than me. I’d only been able to get five points. And I’d only been able to get them by using my size and strength to shove Haru out of the way.

Now I knew why Haru, who was on the short side for the basketball team, was considered such a valuable player. She sure was fast. Of course, I could outrun her if we were running in a straight line. But she was nimble. She dodged, ducked, and turned on a dime. I was only able to fake her out that one time.

“Ah-ha-ha, you’re so funny, Chitose! You let your guard down, underestimated me, and let me get five points past you! Your natural athletic abilities don’t amount to much, huh? Kaito’s more of a challenge than you, by far. Now, to enjoy my spoils!”

“Hmph. I wasn’t on top of my game today; that’s all.”

“Sure, sure, if that’s what you need to keep telling yourself!”

“…Anyway, that last point? I still call foul.”

“Oh, drop it already.”

Haru expertly put her ball away in its case, handling it with incredible ease, as if it were a part of her.

“Now, you haven’t forgotten the other part of our agreement, have you?”

“Listen, I’m fine. I wasn’t frowning, and there’s nothing wrong. I was just thinking about stuff; that’s all.”

“Now, now. Tell Auntie Haru everything.”

I felt like Haru had played me. But it was my fault for accepting her challenge. I couldn’t really complain about it now.

“…Tch. Remember I told you about how I’ve been helping Kenta out?”

“Yeah, you’ve been making him cooler so he can get one over on his old friend group, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been kind of conceited, making him think I had the answers he needed, but now it’s like…what if the plan fails? Just when he was getting back on his feet. If he ends up crushed again, it’s going to be on me this time. How am I supposed to deal if that happens?”

“Ah, so that’s why you were asking me about point quotas and stuff…”

I hate complaining and whining. Especially when it’s me doing it in front of my friends.

“I’m the one who came up with this plan. It’s on me to make sure it works.”

“Chitose… I don’t really know what you want me to say right now…”

Great, just what I didn’t want. Pity.

I wasn’t looking for reassurance, really. I just wanted to know that somebody out there understood how I felt.

I guess I was paying the price for losing our little basketball wager.

I should just try to laugh it off.

“You really are a dumbass, aren’t you? Lighten up!”

…Huh?

“What, don’t tell me you think you have to be perfect all the time? I thought you actually had a real problem! Quit whining!”

I blinked at Haru. I wasn’t expecting her to say something like that.

“…What? I am perfect, though.”

Haru reached over and grabbed my nose.

“Do you want Haru to pull off your perfect little nose, then? Listen, Chitose. You’re the coach. Yamazaki’s your player; he’s the one out on the court. You get it?”

“I don’ geddid. Dad hurds.”

“If a coach’s star player screws up on the court, does the coach blame himself? Sure, maybe a little. But he shouldn’t. The mistakes of the player are the responsibility of the player. Messing up during a game, in public, that’s the risk we all take when we play competitive sports. Do you get that, Chitose?”

…Hmm, she had a point.

“Yamazaki chose you as his coach based on his own decision. And he made the choice himself, to step out onto that court! I know he was prepared. So whether he ends up succeeding or failing, he’s the one who should either feel good or bad.”

Haru let go of my nose but kept on talking.

“Saying it’s all on you… That’s downplaying his hard work. It’s disrespectful! And let’s say you screwed up during a baseball game, how would you feel if the coach was like ‘Oh, it’s all my fault, Chitose!’ …Huh?”

“…Yeah… That’d be hard to take. That makes it sound like all my failures and my successes, too, just belong to the coach.”

Haru grinned.

“Yep. It’s like, gee, Coach, why don’t you just play instead of me, then? But the job of a coach is to guide. To have faith in the players! And to help them out when they come up against a wall and don’t know what to do next. And then, if they fail…to help lift them back up!”

I was starting to feel a little ashamed of myself now.

Without realizing it, I’d begun to view Kenta as beneath me. I got so caught up in my own position that I stopped thinking about his.

…I preached to him about trying to get to know how others think and feel, but then I went and did the exact opposite myself.

Haru leaned in again and pinched my cheek, a little too forcefully.

“Get down off your high horse, Chitose!”

She smiled bright as the sun, and it was almost too much.

We relocated to the park’s swing set. I handed Haru her bottle of Pocari Sweat electrolyte drink and her hot dog on a stick, and then I took a bite of my own fried chicken.

Afterward, I popped the lid of my bottle of Royal Sawayaka soda, a Fukui staple, and chugged it. I was thirsty, and it tasted amazing. It’s this sweet green soda that tastes like someone dumped a bunch of melon-flavored shaved ice syrup into fizzy water. Ever since I was a kid, whenever I got the urge for something carbonated, I always went for a Royal Sawayaka.

“Wow, Chitose. I haven’t drank that since I was a kid.”

“Right? Remember how it used to come in a glass bottle instead of a plastic one? And you could buy it from the candy store.”

“Oh yeah! And you’d get a dime back if you returned the bottle to the store.”

Haru slathered her hot dog in ketchup and mustard and then shoved it into her mouth.

…Oh man, that is hot, especially from a girl you don’t usually think of doing hot stuff. Why doesn’t she realize the implications? Not that I’m about to point it out.

I looked around, noticing that dusk had settled all of a sudden. I hadn’t worked out this hard in ages, and the cool breeze rolling off the river felt good on my sweaty skin. Haru looked shadowy and indistinct in the gloom. I guess I looked the same way to her.

The swings creaked.

The elementary schoolers who had been shrieking and playing in the park were gone now. They were probably home already, waiting for their dinners to be dished up.

“Hey, Chitose… This park used to be the city-run baseball field, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. I never got to play here, though. They repurposed it into a park before that.”

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

I couldn’t tell if Haru was trying to tell me something or just offering commentary.

It was kind of nice, sharing the silence of a place like this and noticing its beauty together.

“Haru, thank you. I feel a lot better now.”

“You don’t have to try to come up with some fake reason why you lost our wager. You’re so neurotic.”

“…Sorry. I’ll reform.”

“You know, you’re so much cooler earnestly chasing after a ball rather than strutting around trying to pretend like you’re so cool and that you know everything all the time.”

“Really?”

“Well, that’s what I think at least. I can’t speak for others.”

Haru stood up on the swing and started swinging. I followed suit.

“…All right, well, I want a rematch,” I said. “Let’s see who can jump the farthest.”

“I think that’s why that railing is there? To prevent people from doing that?”

“Who cares? We’re athletic. The loser has to… I know—the loser has to divulge their one biggest weakness. I don’t want to leave things like this, with me being the only one who’s opening up here.”

“All right, you’re on. But I should warn you: I’m lighter than you. I have the competitive edge.”

Skreek, skreek. Jangle, jangle.

We both leaped off our swings, flying into the air across the twilit park, our shadows leaping behind us.

The first star of the evening was already twinkling in the sky.

I wished I could reach it.

I was aware of Haru, airborne by my side. She was colored in an indigo hue, her skirt fluttering up, her shorts visible, her ponytail streaming behind her.

I wanted to leap higher. This wasn’t high enough for me. I wanted to vault high into the sky, so high that no one would be able to reach me.

I wanted to reach a place where I wouldn’t have to rely on the kindness of a friend to prop me up…where I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone at all.

That evening, I got an unexpected phone call.

It was from Yuzuki Nanase.

We messaged on LINE plenty of times, but this was the first time we would be speaking over the phone.

I tapped the answer call button.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“And it’s me. What’s the status update?”

“Just like you predicted. I have to say, though, this job doesn’t sit right with me. It’s beneath me, frankly. It’s like if I had to undo a bra clasp within the space of three seconds. I only need one and a half.”

“You get sloppy when you’re feeling overconfident; that’s your problem. I know you’re good, but you overlook the small things. You thought the bra clasp was on the back, but it was a front-hook bra all along. In this line of work, you gotta consider the variables.”

“I’ll check out the back in zero-point-five seconds. Then with the remaining second, I’ll move around to the front. Easy. You want to test me?”

“…No, thanks. I’d hate to lose a valuable man at a critical moment like this.”

Nanase dissolved into laughter, bringing our role-play to an end.

I was playing the role of the hard-boiled hit man who let his guard down and needed the intervention of the busty lady who had employed him to kill her husband. Nanase really held up her end of the role.

After we finished chuckling, Nanase got serious.

“Hey, Chitose. You free to talk now?”

“Hey, Nanase. Sure, let’s chat.”

After all, hadn’t we made plans to talk more, that first day of school?

There was an odd sense of distance between Nanase and me. We’d been on conversational terms since first year, but I’d never gotten close to her like I had with Haru. We were friendly, of course. But it was like we were only showing each other our surface levels. Nothing deeper.

That reminded me—I needed to thank her for helping out that morning.

“You really came in clutch this morning, Nanase.”

“Don’t mention it. But why did you decide to help out Kenta Yamazaki in the first place?”

“…Kura asked me to. He and I have a ‘You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ type of deal. I do some favors for him, and he lets me get away with whatever I want.”

I had the feeling it wouldn’t be the greatest idea to come up with some sort of dumb lie in front of Nanase. She’d see through me in a second.

But Nanase seemed to see straight through me anyway.

“…I see. That’s a very plausible-sounding reason. Yeah, it’s smart. When you don’t want to tell the whole truth, just stick to the surface facts and obfuscate the real details. That’ll get the job done.”

“What you’re saying is very complex, Nanase. Are you saying I have some other reason?”

“Are you asking me?”

“Doesn’t every good cheesy rom-com involve a woman helping a man discover his true self?”

Nanase replied without a hint of blushing or dishonesty. “You’re not a rom-com lead, though. You’re Saku Chitose.”

“…And you’re Yuzuki Nanase.”

“Oh, good. I was right, then.”

“…I don’t like it when people try to read too much meaning into things.”

“Well, every good rom-com starts with a misunderstood bad boy.”

Man, she was tough to spar with. She was way too intense, just like Kazuki. The both of them really needed to kick back and enjoy life more.

Nanase cleared her throat.

“Can you at least tell me why you chose Yuuko next after Ucchi, when you went to try to convince Yamazaki to come back to school? I mean, why wasn’t it me?”

“Oh, are you feeling left out?”

“I just thought it was a little…unexpected.”

“I like being in charge, rather than being the one taken for a ride, I guess.”

“Hmm, I’m down to be taken for a ride, you know…”

“Oh good, I’ll swing by to pick you up sometime soon!”

Nanase giggled. “…Too bad, though. I was really hoping to get you in my debt, Chitose.”

“You don’t need me to be in your debt. I’m always willing to lend a hand to a cute girl. Even more so if she’s a girlfriend of mine.”

“Oh, that’s good to know. Well, since it’s clear that I am one of your girlfriends, I guess I’ll have to ask you a special favor sometime soon.”

“Hmm, so even the great Nanase needs a favor every now and then, huh?”

“Yeah, like for example, maybe you’d consider…being my boyfriend? Or something like that.”

“Ah, I love a surprise attack.”

“Just kidding. Hard to get out of character after all that top-tier role-playing earlier.”

The teasing nature had gone from Nanase’s voice. I guessed this session of baiting each other was over.

I lowered my tone to match hers.

“Yeah. We’ll be embarrassed tomorrow morning when we see each other face-to-face and remember this conversation.”

“You’re not kidding. I’m already regretting it as we speak.”

Making my voice sound feminine, I decided to tease her by repeating her own words back to her.

“Well, every good cheesy rom-com starts with a misunderstood bad boy.”

“Oh my gosh, stoppp.” I could hear her drumming her legs against her bedspread. “Anyway, you started it! What was it you said? ‘Doesn’t every good cheesy rom-com involve a woman helping a man discover his true self’…?”

“Oh my gosh, nooo!”

I dived onto my bed and started smacking my face into my pillow.

Nanase could hear it over the phone. She let out a very high school girl-esque squeal of laughter.

“How about we call it a draw before this gets any worse?”

“Hmm, I agree. No sense in both of us getting hurt.”

Talking to Nanase… I had the feeling it would never get old.

I realized she was the type of girl who has all kinds of different sides to her, sides she usually keeps hidden.

I wanted to tease her one last time. “So does yours hook in the front or the back? I have to know, or I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

I could hear the sound of cloth rustling over the phone.

Then Nanase spoke in a sultry tone, almost whispering into my ear.

“In the back, of course. And it’s blue. As blue as April skies.”

“…I misspoke. Now I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

“Good. Consider it a taste of my revenge.”

“I see. Then I’ll just have to think of more ways to make you even madder at me.”

“Good night, Chitose.”

“Good night, Nanase.”

Two weeks passed. It was the final week of April, the day before the Saturday Kenta was due to confront his old group. Kenta and I were getting changed into our sports clothes for fifth-period gym. The girls always used the locker rooms in the gym, but we guys couldn’t be bothered and usually just changed in the classroom.

Kazuki and Kaito had already headed out to the sports field.

“…Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like these last three weeks have passed in a flash, huh, King?” Kenta sounded somewhat downcast.

“Well, yeah. We’ve done so well and made so much progress since that first day I gave you those assignments. Time tends to fly when you’re busy.”

“Yeah, but… I know, but… I was picturing more defeats, then being encouraged by cute girls, and more heartwarming scenes like that…”

“I’d never come up with such a flawed plan. I’ve set everything up so you should be able to succeed without having to strain yourself too far. If you don’t like my plan, though, then feel free to go it alone from now on.”

“Was it really all your plan? Some of your old-man Dad jokes reek of Kura, you know what I mean?”

“Hey, know where to draw the line. That comparison offends me.”

I took another look at Kenta, who was in the middle of changing his shirt.

“By the way, man, you’ve really trimmed down. And you’ve gained muscle, too.”

“Uh, I guess, yeah.”

It wasn’t as if he’d suddenly sprouted six-pack abs or anything, but nobody could call Kenta fat anymore.

“And you’ve gotten totally comfortable talking with popular kids, right?”

“Well… I’ve just been copying you and Mizushino, when you talk to Nanase and the other girls… I’ve tried to memorize your speech patterns.”

“So then, what’s the problem?”

“I just don’t feel like it suits my personality…”

“Look, as I’ve said before, this is my harem rom-com story. Who wants to follow the story of Sidey McSide Character? Why don’t you try to crowdfund your own novel if it matters that much to you?”

“You’ve started comparing everything to light novels now, King.”

It was true; I’d been borrowing all kinds of light novels and anime series on Blu-ray from Kenta during the time we’d been hanging out.

“Anyway, tomorrow’s the big day. Do you think you can pull it off?”

“Well… We’ve done all we can, I think we can safely say. I just have to try not to screw up while I’m there. I’m sure it’ll go all right in the end… Oh, I almost forgot.”

Kenta pulled out his phone and showed me the lock screen.

“I’m thinking about sitting at the same exact table. I just feel like it’ll help me stay calm.”

He had the pic of Yuuko and us at Starbucks as his phone’s lock screen.

“I know it’s standard to set pics of you with your friends as your lock screen, but this is kinda creepy somehow… Why do you feel the need to gaze at my face every time you wanna use your phone?”

“…Er, King? Why are you covering your chest with your sports clothes…?”

We finished changing our clothes, then put on our outdoor sports shoes and headed to the sports field. Incidentally, here in Fukui, we call our indoor sports shoes and our outdoor sports shoes indoor sneaks and outdoor sneaks, but they don’t do that in other prefectures, they just call them shoes. It was embarrassing in baseball club when one of us slipped up and called them sneaks while we were playing games against teams from farther away.

Fuji High gym classes usually consist of two classes at a time, and they’re held separately for boys and girls. Classes One to Five, the humanities-focused classes, have more girls and fewer boys, and Classes Six to Ten, the science-focused classes, have more boys and fewer girls. So to balance things out, they mixed up the classes in second year so the humanities and science kids were teamed up for gym. We’re Class Five, and we’re teamed up with Class Ten. Today’s gym session was to be a friendly game of soccer.

I met up with Kazuki and Kaito and returned a wave from Yuuko, who was over in the nearby tennis court. Just then, Atomu and two other guys walked up. They were both part of the group who had been hassling Kenta and Yua the other day.

Kazuki let out a sigh under his breath, audible only to me.

“Hey, Chitose,” said Atomu. “A normal game sounds too boring, so why don’t we make it interesting? Losers have to face a punishment.”

He slung his arm around Kenta’s shoulder, grinning. Why were these “ambitious” popular kids always so touchy-feely?

“Sounds good. I like a good wager.”

Kazuki and Kaito had no objections, either.

“Your team has to consist of Mizushino, Asano, this guy here, and you. My team will consist of these guys and me. The short-haired guy’s name is Shuto Inaba, and the big guy here is Kazuomi Inomata.”

The names seemed to mean something to Kazuki.

“Oh yeah, I thought I recognized you. Inaba, the captain from Michiaki Junior High. And, Inomata, you were the goalkeeper. Hearing your names sparked my memory.”

“Long time, Mizushino. I think the last time we met was at the district tournament, wasn’t it? But we actually recognized you last year, by the way.”

The short-haired Inaba seemed friendly, but his eyes were cold.

Kazuki, I seriously doubt you’re only just recognizing these guys.

Inomata was tall and well-built. And he looked angry.

“I sure haven’t forgotten how you got four goals past me in one game.”

“Oh really? That kind of thing barely registers to me. I don’t tend to remember little details of old games like that.”

So Atomu’s group had two soccer players in it. That was probably why he’d suggested this game. Maybe he’d even rope in Class Ten’s current soccer club members as well. But no need to worry. I had Kazuki, and this was just gym class. No need to worry about balancing teams down to the player.

Kaito was already stretching, and he seemed totally into it.

“So what’s the punishment going to be? Let’s make it something really nasty.”

“Okay, the losers have to hop around the entire school grounds like bunnies. While the girls are still outside for their class, of course.”

That was Atomu’s suggestion. It sounded suitably embarrassing, as far as a punishment goes. But I had one concern.

“…Hold on a second. The only ones who should have to do the punishment are me, Kaito, and Kazuki, right? And you three. There’s no need to get the others involved in this. And I doubt Kenta has the physical strength needed to bunny hop around the entire school grounds.”

Atomu nodded his agreement. I knew it. His real target was me and my group all along. He had no real interest in Kenta.

“And while the losers are hopping, they have to yell ‘Monkey! Gorilla! Chimpanzee!’ at the tops of their voices. That will make it a real punishment.”

“Excellent suggestion, Chitose.”

Once gym class got underway, we were told to split into four teams. First off, the other two teams played against each other while Atomu’s group and mine watched.

Once that was done, we were up.

We ran out onto the field and faced off against each other. The gym teacher had okayed our little wager. “Good; that’ll spice things up,” he’d said about our suggestion.

As I’d predicted, Atomu’s team was comprised of soccer club members and other jocks. My team, however, was kind of a mishmash.

Kenta turned to me, his voice tremulous.

“…King, are you sure you want to be doing this?”

“Don’t look so worried. It’s just a bit of fun, so let’s enjoy it. And keep your eyes peeled, ’cause we’re gonna pass to you as well.”

“No, no! I can’t! I really suck at ball games! In fact, all sports! I can’t control my body… It just goes all over the place! And I certainly can’t control a ball! I can’t even play catch properly with my hands. So I know for a fact I can’t do it with my feet! Why would you even ask me to do this?!”

“Just relax. I’m not expecting you to become the MVP of the game or anything. And anyway, we’re the ones who accepted the game and the risk of having to do the punishment. You don’t need to worry, whether we win or lose. So just chill and try to have fun with everyone!”

Kazuki leaned in, backing me up.

“He’s right, Kenta. If the ball comes to you, just pass it to Saku, Kaito, or me. If that’s too difficult, just kick it any way you can.”

Kaito was jumping up and down on the spot with impatience.

“Kenta, just stay out of the way of the ball if you’re that worried. But this is gym class! You have to participate. Don’t overthink things too much.”

“I already told you, I can’t… Before my grandmother died, she warned me never to lay hands on a soccer ball! Otherwise, uh, I’d fall under the family curse!”

What a crazy excuse. Kenta was really reaching.

“Your grandmother’s right. You lay hands on it, and that’ll be a handball.”

I ignored Kenta, who was still blithering on, and turned my attention to the kickoff. Atomu and I did rock-paper-scissors to decide who had the honors. I won.

As soon as the whistle blew, I passed the ball to Kazuki. Immediately, Inaba and the other two soccer players on their team closed in. It looked like the others weren’t marking anyone in particular. Kazuki pulled off a subtle feint and kicked the ball without passing it to another player. I’d seen Kazuki play in soccer games a bunch of times, but I always marveled at how the ball seemed to bend to his will.

“Kenta, head to the goal and wait there.”

I called out to Kenta, who was just standing there. Reluctantly, he began trotting across the field.

Kazuki kept looking this way. I ran into an area of open space and received a pass with a light touch.

“Great!”

I trapped the ball, dribbled, and then Atomu seized the opportunity and closed in on me. He was athletic himself and managed to put a lot of pressure on me. I kept him from stealing it, thanks to a technique Kazuki had taught me once when we were messing around, and passed to Kaito, who was wide open.

“You’re not going for the goal, man?”

“This is just gym class. I’m more focused on having fun with everyone and fostering teamwork.”

“Pfft. Whatever.”

Kaito’s dribbling was sloppy, but he was rushing up the right side. He was really just kicking the ball ahead and running after it, but he was fast enough that they couldn’t keep up.

“Kazuki!”

Once he got in front of the goal, he passed the ball without giving it any air. Kazuki pulled off a kick feint and let the ball roll past him and toward me. I had run up on his left side.

Our trap had resulted in only Kazuki, Atomu, Kenta, and me being in range of the goal. I passed to Kenta, who was again just standing there.

“Go for it!”

I tried to pass the ball as gently and cleanly as I could. By the way, this was just a gym class sports game, so we weren’t using the offside rule or being too picky.

My pass was pretty much perfect, rolling straight to Kenta’s feet. Naturally, he was unmarked. Even the goalkeeper hadn’t been paying any attention to him.

Kenta’s face went dead serious all of a sudden, and he drew back his leg to kick the ball straight into the goal…but he missed the ball entirely and performed a spectacular idiot fall flat onto his back.

It was the most graceless, hilarious fall you’d ever seen. The ball rolled slowly past the goal, bumbling its way over the grass.

“PAH-HA-HA-HA!!!”

Everyone was cracking up. Kazuki, Kaito, and I were all laughing, too, of course.

“Hey, Chitose, are you guys even trying? That otaku’s a liability; put him on defense!” Atomu yelled across the field, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Kentacchi, that was so funny!”

We could hear Yuuko yelling over from the tennis court. It sounded like she’d been watching.

I ran over to Kenta and gave him a hand getting up.

“That was great, Kenta! So funny! You’re a genius. You and I should team up and head for the global stage…the comedy stage, that is.”

“I told you I couldn’t do this…”

Kenta was half crying as Kazuki and Kaito jogged over to join us.

Kaito thumped Kenta reassuringly on the back. “Shake it off, Kenta! I admire your gumption. Anyway, sports is all about having fun. Keep it up!”

Kazuki smiled at Kenta as he seized the opportunity to impart some soccer advice.

“In all seriousness, based on my knowledge, it’s totally fine to pass behind you rather than choke under the pressure when you’re near the goal. Also, it’s hard to kick a moving ball as a beginner, so it’s better to trap the ball first, then reposition yourself for the kick. Also, when you kick, you should use the flat of your foot or the ball of your foot rather than your toes. It gives you better control over the ball.”

Kazuki was always sort of cool and aloof, but when it came to soccer, he turned into an impassioned sportsman. It was clear he wanted Kenta to enjoy the game as much as he did.

But Kenta’s expression was dark with embarrassment, and he looked completely disheartened. It was clear he didn’t know how to find any fun in a game like this at all.

After that, we enjoyed a pretty good game of soccer. Even Kenta managed a few passes. You could still tell that Kazuki had played soccer before, but he seemed to be holding back for the rest of the game. Conversely, Atomu’s group kept the less athletic players back defending their own goal, and they had their seasoned soccer players go on the attack. As a result, they managed an easy lead.

“Heh, you front like you’re some amazing player, but you’re all talk today. What the heck are you doing? Why won’t you play properly? You asleep out there? …Pisses me off. But whatever. Get ready to hop, bunnies.”

“Cool your jets. We’re just playing for fun today.”

Still, the score was eight–one in their favor. And there were only five minutes left. We were going to lose—and by a large margin. You can’t make a comeback in soccer under these kinds of conditions. Baseball, maybe.

But so what?

Atomu’s group was clearly trying to signal superiority as athletes by winning this game. But Kazuki, Kaito, and I really were just playing for fun. If we actually took it seriously, though, it would have been a much closer match.

But what benefit was there in that, for us?

I had already dropped out of school sports. And if I did want to show superiority, it would be during a real tournament. Not some dumb gym class. There was no need to show off during a friendly match. No, a tournament was the time to do it. What was the fun in dominating a fun game and leaving the other, untalented players no opportunity to touch the ball or enjoy the game at all?

After all, a game’s no fun unless the whole team plays together. Atomu’s group and my group saw the punishment attached to this game in completely different ways. For them, it was a way to shame us and signal their own superiority. But for us, it was just a way to make gym class even more entertaining.

“You need to stop hanging around with that otaku; he drags you down.” Atomu sneered at me.

“Don’t be a jerk. Kenta’s cool. You’d better watch out for him. He might overtake us all someday.”

“Yeah, right. Like that’s ever gonna happen.”

Actually, I was serious. Yeah, looking at Kenta’s basic specs, he was nowhere near the level of any of us. In fact, he was overwhelmingly mediocre.

But there aren’t many people out there who decide to change themselves and actually follow through with it. I certainly took longer to turn myself around.

It seems simple enough, looking at it from the outside. Just make a decision and then follow through. But it’s so much harder than it looks. That’s what makes it so beautiful when someone actually does it.

Kenta kept giving it his all during the game. Every time he got the ball, I could see him trying, and failing, while attempting to implement Kazuki’s advice.

“Saku, show us something good!”

The girls seemed to have wrapped up their gym class already. I could hear Yuuko calling over from where the girls were packing up their equipment.

“If you manage to turn it around, I’ll treat you to a bowl of Hachiban’s!”

Nanase, you do realize that’s impossible, right?

“Put your back into it, boys! You’re a disgrace!”

Sorry, Mistress Haru.

“You can do it, Yamazaki!”

Yua’s always so sweet.

All right, maybe we could put our backs into it for the last few minutes. I signaled to Kenta.

“Pass to the king.”

Kenta kicked the ball vaguely my way, and I had to chase after it. Atomu did, too, but I was faster.

“Come on, Atomu. Let’s play for real, now.”

“…Tch.”

I turned to Kenta. We made eye contact.

Come on, Kenta. Join in. Do it in your own way; that’s fine. Just give it a shot. Try to stand alongside us.

I dribbled to the left, then sped ahead. Atomu was hot on my heels. He even grabbed the sleeve of my sports shirt, but I shook him off and ran even faster.

Kaito was running up the midline. I passed to him with the instep of my right foot.

“Nice pass, Saku!”

Kaito pretended to shoot, but it was a feint. Instead, he passed to Kazuki on the right side. While he was doing that, I found a gap and broke for the goal.

Kazuki was being marked by three players, but he managed to evade them, shooting across to me.

“…Go for the goal, Saku!”

Atomu was closing in on me. I thought about a direct volley, but Atomu was on the side of my right foot. And the keeper, Inomata, had positioned himself in the way of my potential shot.

I chested the ball, then kept it up on my knee. Atomu was closing in on me, pressuring me. I had to turn my back on the goal to avoid him.

“Oh, this is gonna be good.”

Kneeing the ball up into the air, I flung my leg backward and blindly kicked the ball straight down the field behind me.

PWHOOSH!

Inomata grasped for it, but the ball hit the back of the goal net.

Yuuko, Nanase, Haru, and Yua all screamed with delight.

“Saku!!! That was so cool!!!!”

“Nice shot, Chitose!”

“Yeah!!!”

“Nice pass, Yamazaki!”

I landed hard on my butt, and it kinda hurt. Actually, it hurt a lot. But I had to pretend it didn’t. I had to be cool.

Don’t try this at home, kids!

“Where’d you learn to do a bicycle kick like that? Not in baseball club, that’s for sure.”

The goalkeeper, Inomata, jogged up, frowning.

“I may not be a seasoned soccer player, but you shouldn’t have underestimated me. Backbends, backflips, dunk shots, double-clutch, heel lifts, bicycle kicks. I practiced all kinds of flashy sports techniques in elementary school and junior high. I was a jock, you know.”

“…Man, you’re a real asshole, you know that?”

I looked up. The sky was wide and blue, like the ocean.

The final whistle blew, marking our defeat.

“Okay, Kazuki. Okay, Kaito. Let’s keep the energy high, all right?”

My two pals both chirped “Yes, sir!” from either side of me. Then we got into formation.

“Monkey!”

“Gorilla!”

“Chimpanzee!!”

Hop, hop. We began our bunny jumping.

“Monkey!”

“Gorilla!”

“Chimpanzee!!”

Yuuko, Nanase, Haru, Yua, and the other girls were all watching us, cracking up with laughter.

“Oh my gosh, my sides are splitting!”

“They’re so cute! Look at them hop!”

“Someone take a video of this, quick!!!”

Inaba, Inomata, and those guys started off jeering and heckling us, but they began cracking up, too, when they realized it was ridiculous to take something like this so seriously. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Atomu was talking to Kenta again, no doubt giving him a hard time once more.

But this was fine.

This was good.

Gym class is pointless, so make it fun. And this time, it was. Also, a game with some kind of penalty attached tends to come with an element of risk, and that makes it all the more entertaining. Rather than shoving someone down to avoid the penalty, why not enjoy the thrills of victory and the sting of defeat together?

We knew that our “social stock price” wouldn’t be affected by losing the game or by our having to perform a punishment. As long as we could get everyone laughing, we’d still come out on top.

“Louder, louder! Let’s have the crowd chant with us now! MONKEY!”

“““Gorilla!!!”””

“““““CHIMPANZEE!!!”””””

Our voices, and the voices of the crowd, rang out across the dry and dusty sports field and disappeared on the wind.

After school, Yuuko and I were waiting in the classroom for Kenta. We had arranged to walk home with him so we could talk strategy for tomorrow’s big meeting. But Kenta had been called to the staff room. Apparently, he was slow catching up on all the work he’d missed, and Kura had given him a ton of extra homework. The others had all gone off to club practice.

“Man, today’s gym class was so funny. You guys looked so cute hopping around, Saku.”

“Heh. Man, I managed to make all the girls swoon even while hopping like a cute bunny.”

“Uh, no. You were a total lame-o through the whole game. Except for that final shot. Those other guys creamed you.”

“…Blame it on Kenta.”

Yuuko giggled. “All right,” she said. “…But Kentacchi was pretty funny, too. I saw him try to kick the ball, miss, and fall on his butt, like, five times.”

“The guy’s got the coordination of a baby goat. I wouldn’t even trust him to ride a bicycle. We lost at least ten chances at goal because of him.”

“Uemura and Inaba and those guys were really making fun of you. Said you were nothing, just all talk.”

“Hmm… I think I’m done with Kenta’s antics. I should consider cutting him loose from Team Chitose sometime soon.”

“He’s really become a fairly normal guy lately, though. He doesn’t have that comic appeal he had at the beginning.”

While Yuuko and I were joking around, I started thinking back. Kenta really had come a long way. Yuuko calling him a normal guy… That was actually high praise, based on where he’d started from.

Tomorrow would mark a whole new chapter in his life, I was sure of it. At least, I really hoped so.

“Ah, Kentacchi!” Yuuko called.

I turned to see Kenta standing in the doorway of the classroom.

“Did ya get reamed out by Kura?”

I called out to him, but Kenta just stood there, hands clenched into fists. Yikes, he must have been given a ton of homework.

“Hey, we waited for you. The least you can do is buy us a couple coffees for the walk…”

“…Are you seriously trying to act like nothing happened?”

Kenta’s voice had a strangled quality to it.

Yuuko and I exchanged glances. We both looked like we should have little ? marks floating over our heads.

“…Like, what happened?”

“Don’t bullshit me!!”

“…Like I said, what are you…?”

“Shut up!!”

Kenta was yelling. It finally registered that he really was mad.

“You and Yuuko were just bad-mouthing me and laughing about me, weren’t you?! This is exactly what Uemura told me after the soccer game! He said you’ve all been making fun of me from the start!”

I can’t deny that we’ve had a few laughs over Kenta. That’s a fact. But it’s not like we were talking about him behind his back or purposely making fun of him, though. And we certainly didn’t say anything we wouldn’t also have said to his face.

“Kentacchi, you’ve got the wrong idea. We haven’t—”

“Yuuko.” I shook my head, cutting her off.

Getting up from my chair, I headed over to the doorway to face Kenta directly.

“Continue. What next? Are you going to drag out the trauma from your otaku friends again?”

“…I knew something was up as soon as gym class started! You know I don’t have any sports ability, but you still kept passing the ball to me and the other kids who suck, too! You wanted us to screw up so you could all have a good laugh at our expense!”

“I passed to you because that’s what you do during a game. It’s called teamwork. It wouldn’t be a very fun game if only the talented players kept possession of the ball. And we laughed because we’re your friends. Besides, everyone laughed at us while we were doing the bunny hop, right? I kept telling you that gym class is about having fun. I just wanted to make it an enjoyable game for everyone.”

“Don’t lie!” Kenta trembled, clearly not used to confrontation. “You shouldn’t have dropped the act, if that was really your intention! You say you wanted to have fun with ‘everyone,’ but no, at the end you just had to abandon us so you could show off how cool you are! Pulling off that goal with that trick shot… You’re just as bad as Uemura! You two are the same!”

“…I’m not going to deny it. We wanted to enjoy ourselves, just as much as we wanted you guys to enjoy yourselves. And why are you excluding Kaito, Kazuki, and me when you say ‘everyone’ like that? You’re saying we should hide our skills the whole time and just focus on propping up you nonathletic kids?”

Kenta slammed his fist against the door.

“You shouldn’t have roped me into it in the first place! Do you have any idea how terrifying gym class can be to unpopular kids like us?! All we can do is pray the ball won’t come our way! It’s so much easier for us to just hang back and stay out of trouble! It’s only athletic, jock jerks like you who think it’s fun to get a chance to handle the ball!”

“…I tried to give you all advice. So did Kazuki and Kaito. I mean, look at how much you improved by the end of the game, compared to the beginning. Don’t you find fun in learning new skills…?”

“…”

Kenta seemed to be having trouble picking the right words. Perhaps what I was saying had hit home somewhat. But he had gone too far in his anger to back down now.

He started yelling again right away.

“…So I improved a little? So what?! I’m still only around to make you guys look better! You talk like you’re so generous and kind, but you’re just another one of those shallow popular kids who’s always trying to dump on other people to get to the top! You have no idea what it’s like to be unpopular! Oh, let’s pass the ball to the poor loser, give him a taste of what it feels like to belong! Your entire existence revolves around trampling on other people, all of you!!!”

“I’m…sorry.”

I hung my head, honestly feeling bad. Maybe Kenta was right. Maybe we projected our own feelings onto the other kids in class. We thought that a game where we didn’t get to touch the ball was a waste of time, no fun at all. And we honestly believed that it’s fun to learn new things. That’s why we tried to give advice like that.

None of us had any idea how our actions could end up hurting others. How many other people had I hurt in my life, just from not understanding that? This time, I was in the wrong. Irrefutably so.

But Yuuko shook her head over what I said, addressing Kenta instead of me.

“Hold on, Kentacchi. I think that’s enough. You really think Saku is like that? After spending all this time with him? You think he’s the kind of guy who likes to laugh at your failures behind your back? You think he passed to you just to see you screw up, so he could show off how athletic he is in comparison?”

I thought Yuuko was being a little harsh. She took a deep breath and continued in a kinder voice.

“Listen. Saku has been doing all this out of a genuine desire to help you. He’s been willing to stick with you to the end, hasn’t he? Can’t you see that?”

Kenta grimaced, all kinds of emotions fighting it out on his face.

Kenta had a lot on his plate. Atomu trying to psych him out, his feelings of trauma over what happened with his otaku hobbyist group, his own feelings of inadequacy after a lifetime spent being unpopular, his anxiety over the impending meeting with his old friends tomorrow… All of it combined just ended up making him explode.

I felt sorry I hadn’t been able to predict this outcome and give him more support before it came to that.

“It’s all right, Yuuko. I tried to explain it to him. How the difference between bullying and friendly teasing lies in how comfortable you are with each other. I guess he wasn’t comfortable enough with me yet. So I should have known where to draw the line… I’m really sorry, Kenta.”

Kenta’s eyes filled with tears as he stomped over to his desk to grab his schoolbag. Then he stomped toward the classroom door. I called after him.

I may have failed as a life coach, but I still wanted him to know I was rooting for him.

“Kenta! Give it your all tomorrow. And I hope it turns out okay.”

But Kenta didn’t turn around. He just walked out.

“…Are you sure you want to leave things like this, Saku? Kentacchi was totally wrong about everything!”

After that, I decided to walk Yuuko home. She lived about a fifteen minutes’ walk away from Lpa. It was pretty far from school, but I didn’t want to be alone for some reason.

“…It’s all right. It was only supposed to be a three-week thing, after all.”

“What are you going to do about tomorrow? Are you going to go and see him off?”

“No. I doubt he wants me to come, either. We only started hanging out on a whim. This seems like as good a time as any to call it. Things are fine like this. Starting tomorrow, we’ll go our separate ways again.”

“If you insist, I won’t say anything more about it…”

National Highway 8 went right through this area, so it was sort of Fukui’s industrial sector hub. Just a few roads off the highway, though, and it was all rice fields as far as the eye could see. We had opted to take one of the little dirt roads through the rice fields to avoid the heavy traffic of the highway, even though it added a few minutes to the journey.

An empty can went rolling across the ground.

As we walked along, we were the only two people in sight.

The rice fields were filled with water now, and they reflected the setting sun. An April breeze sent ripples across the surface of the water.

A crow cawed from somewhere far-off. An old man in long boots puttered past us on a beat-up scooter.

“Hey, Saku… These past three weeks have been kinda fun. Usually, there wouldn’t be much to find enjoyable about convincing some random classmate to come back to school, but it’s kind of made me think that…these are the days we’ll be looking back on when we’re grown-ups, you know?”

“Yeah. I guess this will end up being one of those memorable events that sticks out after all. A once-in-a-lifetime type of deal.”

“But I guess it’s over now. I hope Kentacchi’s reunion with his old friends goes well.”

There was a peaceful quality to Yuuko’s voice that went perfectly with the stillness of the coming sunset.

“It’ll go okay. We’ve taught him well over the past three weeks.”

“Well, you have, Saku. You don’t have to act so bashful and try to make it sound like it was a group effort.”

“It was. After all, you’ve helped out a ton, Yuuko.”

“Yep. I’ve been your ride-or-die girl. It was only because I wanted to be close to you, at least at first. Partway through, though, I started wanting to cheer our Kentacchi on for real. I see him as a friend now. But if you hadn’t started the whole life-makeover thing, I sure wouldn’t have gotten involved. I mean, I was pretty much convinced he would never be able to change…”

Yuuko smiled softly.

“But that’s the difference between you and me, Saku. I guess that’s what it takes to be a hero, huh?”

I guess twilight makes everyone start feeling sentimental.

I hoped that ten years from now I’d be able to look back on this moment, recall the words Yuuko had said to me, and smile.

“You make me sound so much better than I really am. I just wanted to look cool in the eyes of people like you, and Yua, and the rest of our group. I wanted you to think, Wow, Saku really is awesome. But that’s how I ended up hurting Kenta’s feelings. I’m no hero. I’m just a popular kid from a hicksville country town who wanted to look cool.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want my heroes to act like they know they’re heroes. The truly good people are the ones who are never quite sure how good they really are.”

“Don’t. Don’t put me up on a pedestal like that. I can’t handle the pressure. If I fall, you’re just going to lose all faith in me in a second, you know?”

“You won’t fall, Saku. You’re strong, and you’re good, and I like you. A lot.”

“…Hmm, not sure I can really trust your taste in men.”

“Oh, now, that stings. I have excellent taste! I’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of people, ever since I was small.”

It wasn’t like Yuuko to get so philosophical.

“Well, I’ll try to believe you, then. As much as I can.”

“Good. Because my feelings won’t change. Maybe not ever.”

We reached Yuuko’s house. She turned to me, smiling.

“Want to come in for some tea? I don’t think my parents are home yet, though…”

“Maybe another day. When the timing is…special.”

Bye. See you.

We waved our good-byes as the dusk deepened.