Episode 2: Youth Camp

Tokiwa had called me out to the school. The rest of the country was celebrating the Obon festival, but I didn’t have any family gatherings to go to and my parents were overseas, so it wasn’t like I had any real reason to refuse her invitation. I told her I’d be there in about 20 minutes or so.

After letting Harissa know I was stepping out, I hopped on my bike and headed to school. I normally walked with Satsuki to school, but sometimes biking was more convenient. The wind felt great in the summer heat.

Anyway, once I got to school, I headed around back to the old school building and made my way up to the third floor where the light literature club room was.

“Good morn—bwah!”

“Morning.”

The instant I opened the door, Tokiwa flung herself at me like usual, pressing her chest up against me and cutting off my greeting. I was just wearing regular old street clothes, but she was in her school uniform. Granted, she wasn’t wearing her tie. And her shirt was as wrinkled as ever, not to mention she had the top two buttons undone. I could even smell the deodorant she was wearing when she was this close.

“Um... remember how we discussed using the computer to communicate through writing while we’re in the club room?”

“Oh, right.”

Tokiwa let go of me and walked over to the desk where her computer was, pulling up a seat and waving me over. I took a step into the room and felt the humid air hit me in the face. The sunlight was bright on the third floor, too hot for opening the windows to have any effect. I looked at the computer screen and saw she had her word processor open.

Welcome to my abode, Rekka!

“...Why are you talking so weirdly?”

When I pointed that out, Tokiwa started clacking away at the keyboard again.

I’m in character. That’s how one of the characters talks in the story I’m writing now.

“I see...”

Let’s try that again. Thanks for coming, Rekka.

“Well, I didn’t have anything better to do... But what’s up?”

That’s a very good question.

After a dramatic pause—during which she pressed the enter key a few times to start a new section—she continued.

The light literature club’s study camp is about to start.

I had to read that line a few times.

“...Camp?” I asked in confusion.

Did she mean one of those overnight stays at school that sports teams usually did for training?

Momo said the other clubs are on break during the three days of the Obon festival, so we can use the camp area.

“Ah, okay.”

President Momone and Tokiwa were childhood friends. It sounded like they’d worked something out to accommodate everyone. But that wasn’t the problem here.

“...What do you do at a light literature study camp?”

That was the biggest mystery. It wasn’t exactly like I could write a story on demand, you know?

Well, I’m writing a story about school life right now.

“Okay...”

So I wanted to try some things at school that we normally don’t.

“So basically, you want reference material for your story? Is that it?”

That’s right.

That didn’t seem too difficult.

“Yeah, sure. I can probably help you out with that,” I said with a nod.

Suddenly, Tokiwa sprung up from her seat and pressed her chest against me again.

“Thank you, Rekka.”

“N-No, y-you’re w-welcome...! And I told you not to hug me when there’s a computer...!”

Ugh, this was seriously bad for my heart! But anyway... That’s how the light literature club’s summer study camp started.

▽

However, I was a little vague on what “doing things at school that we normally don’t” entailed.

“Did you have something in mind?” I asked.

“The pool,” Tokiwa answered.

And so I followed her to the school pool.

We were barefoot and walked along the poolside rather awkwardly. Surely we weren’t actually getting in... It wasn’t like either of us had changed or rinsed off.

“Um, I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”

Actually, I hadn’t brought anything. Should I go back and get my things to stay overnight at school? Wait, was Tokiwa going to stay overnight, too? Just the two of us? I mean, surely the school camp area had different rooms for boys and girls, but...

My imagination started to run wild, when—

“......i.”

Tokiwa placed her butterfly hair clip on the starting block, and then jumped right into the pool with her uniform on.

“Whaaat?!”

I was panicking in surprise as Tokiwa’s head resurfaced in the pool. Unfazed by my astonishment, she turned to me and beckoned.

“Um...” I hesitated.

“I think she wants you to get in too,” R supplied helpfully.

So... was this what she was talking about when she said she wanted to do stuff at school we normally didn’t? Jumping into the pool in your uniform... I’d never considered doing it before, but opportunities like this didn’t present themselves often. Although, to be fair, I wasn’t wearing my uniform. Hmm... Well, whatever. Tokiwa was calling for me, and it did look pretty refreshing...

“Hup!”

I jumped into the pool with a shout. It reminded me of the water park I’d gone to with everyone the other day, but this time I was wearing my clothes. The water felt different against my skin. I relaxed my body and let myself float to the surface.

“Ah...”

Once I surfaced, I wiped my face with my hands and opened my eyes. The blazing sun was blindingly bright, but I was nice and cool in the water.

“It feels so good...”

This was a pretty nice break from the summer heat. Now that I’d completely cooled off, I could really appreciate the lapping of the water on my skin as I floated along. The other clubs were on break, so no one else was around. All we could hear were the cries of the cicadas. I looked over and saw Tokiwa floating on the water comfortably too. If she hadn’t invited me here, I never would have known how good this felt.

“...”

Suddenly, Tokiwa stood up with a splash. Following her lead, I placed my feet against the pool floor. I could feel my wet clothes weighing me down as I righted myself. Since the sun was so bright today, I wondered if they’d dry out if I left them at the poolside for a while.

“Hey, Tokiwa—?!”

I was about to offer my thoughts on what to do with our clothes when I realized something mid-sentence. Tokiwa’s white blouse was soaked through, making her bra underneath completely visible.

“U-Um, Tokiwa... your shirt...”

I could feel my freshly cooled cheeks heating right back up as I tried to say it.

“...?”

Tokiwa looked down, oblivious as ever, at the pink peeking out from underneath her white shirt... then splashed the water in a shrug.

No, you might not care, but please cover yourself.

Evidently, my pleading was all in vain. Tokiwa simply brushed her wet bangs out of her face and started to play with the water, scooping it up in her hands. She seemed to be making the most of her chance to wear her uniform in the pool. I, on the other hand, was at a total loss. Just as I was wondering what I should do...

“Hey, you two!” a voice suddenly shouted in our direction.

I was about to freak out, thinking we’d been caught by a teacher. But when I turned around, I was met with the sight of a familiar face.

“President Momone.”

It was our school’s student council president. Unlike Tokiwa, she was wearing her uniform properly... and holding a bamboo sword for some reason. Her one eye unhidden by the eyepatch looked like it was filled with anger. She probably couldn’t overlook us doing something like jumping into the pool in our clothes because of her position as the student council president. Maybe that was why she was mad? I tried to come up with an explanation for this situation, but...

“Midori, you’ll catch a cold dressed like that in the pool. Hurry up and get out.”

President Momone pointed her sword at Tokiwa and spoke before I could.

“......i.”

Tokiwa frowned in disappointment, then looked my way. It felt like she was suggesting we get out, so we did just that. Once we were out of the pool, Momone marched over and threw me a towel she’d gone to get.

“You dry yourself with that, problem child. Midori, you come here,” she said sternly.

President Momone then took out a second towel and forcefully started to dry Tokiwa off. While ignoring all her protests, mind you. It was like watching a kitten being cleaned against its will.

“Good grief. I came because I was worried and found exactly what I was afraid I would.”

Apparently, President Momone had come to check up on the light literature club’s camp—or rather, on Tokiwa.

“...Oh.”

“Huh? I won’t accept any excuses. Don’t forget you have a weak constitution.”

“...”

Tokiwa pouted at being scolded. She was like a little sister sulking over her older sister telling her what to do. It was pretty cute. But as such pleasant thoughts were passing through my mind, a bamboo sword came down square on top of my head.

“And you should’ve stopped Midori. You know she’s sickly.”

“...Yes, ma’am.”

Unable to offer any protest, I nodded obediently and rubbed my throbbing head with the towel.

▽

After we got out of the pool, I decided to go back home to grab a change of clothes and a few other things. Harissa was out shopping, so I left a note for her before returning to school.

I had been worried at first about staying the night at school alone with a girl, but I was much less concerned now that President Momone was joining us. Nothing seemed like it could get past her, after all.

“Oh, my. Even I couldn’t have foreseen an affair between Rekka and his two upperclassmen at school this summer.”

“Have you ever foreseen anything before?”

I casually brushed off R’s typical nonsense and headed to the camp area where the girls had told me to meet them. Walking down the wooden hallway, I soon arrived at a room with its sliding door left wide open. It looked like the overnight rooms were Japanese-style.

“I’m back.”

“Good.”

President Momone replied to my greeting as Tokiwa waved from next to her.

The computer from the light literature club room had been hauled over and set up at the coffee table where Tokiwa was typing away furiously, occasionally reaching for her notepad to jot something down. Perhaps the trip to the pool had given her some inspiration. She was really focused on writing.

“The boys’ room is next door.”

“Okay.”

Taking a hint from President Momone, I went to put my things down in the next room. And when I came back...

“...”

“...”

Klak, klak, klak, klak, klak...

With nothing in particular to talk about, we sat in silence. Bored, I sat down on the tatami floor and stretched out my legs with a big sigh. I could feel my fatigue easing up, but it was like my body was getting heavier at the same time. I decided to lie down on my back.

Both the window and sliding door were open, letting a refreshing breeze blow through the whole room. The room was also out of any direct sunlight, making it even more refreshing. Ah... It kinda made me feel like taking a nap...

As I started to doze, I felt something plunk down on the floor nearby. I blearily opened an eye to see that it was President Momone, who’d taken a cross-legged seat next to me.

“Hmph! What seemed like a careless position at first actually conceals everything between her legs and the hem of her skirt perfectly. As expected of the One-Eyed Dragon, you might say...”

R was eagerly trying to peek up the president’s skirt.

“You seem idle, problem child.”

“Yeah... we’re basically just here for Tokiwa, after all...”

With Tokiwa concentrating on her writing right now, we couldn’t do much more than chat among ourselves.

“What are you doing over your summer break, President Momone?”

“Hm? The usual. Studying, attending club activities, going out with friends... plus training under my grandfather and occasionally exterminating monsters.”

“...Exterminating monsters is usual?”

“What about you?”

“Me?”

Studying? I still had a ton left to do. Club activities? I had none. Going out with friends? I’d gone to the pool once. Other than that... I’d been to another world with a Demon King and defeated a different Demon King, stopped the scheming of a psychic organization, met a pop star, made friends with some spirits... Yeah. I didn’t have any room to talk.

“Just some stuff.”

“Hmm...”

President Momone narrowed her lone eye, but didn’t press the matter.

“Well, come to Kibi Shrine if you run into any ghosts again. I can at least listen to your problems.”

“Yeah... Thanks.”

Her unexpectedly kind offer woke me up a little. In the end, she was a pretty considerate person... But I’d probably get hit with a bamboo sword again if I said that to her face. Just as I was thinking that, I heard a flurry of fast-paced footsteps echoing down the hallway outside.

“Rek—!”

“—ka!”

“Hey—!”

“Are you—?”

“You—!”

“—together!”

“—doing?”

“It’s—!”

“—brother!”

Multiple overlapping voices called out all at once, making it almost impossible to decipher any one sentence. But I did get the idea they were all shouting at me. The gaggle that then plowed into the camp area consisted of nine girls: Satsuki, Harissa, Iris, Lea, Rosalind, Suzuran, Rain, Corona, and Fam. I had absolutely no idea why they were all together.

“What’s wrong?”

But the most puzzling thing of all was why they’d showed up at school.

“It’s because Harissa said...!”

Satsuki, who had entered the room first, started to answer in a pained voice before the other girls plowed her over from behind. I looked at Harissa since her name had been brought up.

“I didn’t know the meaning of this ‘study camp’ mentioned in your letter, Sir Rekka, so I asked Satsuki, and she said that it meant you were staying overnight at school with your attractive upperclassmen! That’s why...!”

Harissa couldn’t finish her explanation either before more of the others mowed her down.

“And I can’t accept that!” Iris shouted, with several people nodding in agreement.

I guess this meant everyone heard I was staying overnight for a camp with Tokiwa and decided to drop in to make sure nothing bad happened? They... really didn’t trust me, huh?

“We’re here to all play with Brother Rekka, right?”

Well, except for Fam and a couple of the other girls. That was at least a little reassuring.

“It suddenly got a lot more lively...” President Momone sighed.

The room that had only been filled with the sound of Tokiwa’s typing before was indeed suddenly a lot more boisterous. Actually, now that I thought about it... I didn’t hear the clack of the keyboard anymore.

“Rekka.”

Hearing that voice, I felt something heavy pressing up against me. Shocked, I looked away from the door and down at myself... only to realize that Tokiwa had slunk away from her computer and was now practically on top of me.

“AAAAAHH!”

The collective scream of the girls reverberated through the room. Tokiwa ignored it like it was just a birdsong on the breeze and leaned forward.

“Let’s do something youthful next,” she whispered.

▽

Youthful. Summer.

From these two keywords, the conclusion my simple mind came to was “baseball.” It was the summer for nationals, after all. We had the numbers for it and everything. I couldn’t just ignore the girls who’d showed up. I thought it was a good idea to do something together. And the only thing we could do with this many people was sports... was what I figured.

And so, after a lot of whining and complaints, we headed towards the school field to play baseball. We ended up borrowing the school’s gear to play. There were some obvious outsiders like Lea and Corona, but President Momone arranged it with the school on our behalf.

There were 12 of us in total once I counted in myself, Tokiwa, and President Momone, so we split into two teams of six. Since we didn’t have enough people on each team to fill all the positions, we went without second base and had a triangle instead of a diamond. That meant the pitching team would just need to take care of a pitcher, catcher, first baseman, third baseman, left fielder, and right fielder. The batting team was banned from stealing bases and tag ups. We had no umpire, so we’d be making the calls ourselves. No one really knew the rules in detail anyway, so we were kind of just going with a general policy of “hit the ball, run to the bases, and get the points.”

And as for how we chose teams... For some reason, we decided by lottery instead of dividing up into groups based on ability and skill level. If Iris, Lea, Corona, and Rosalind all ended up on the same team, it wouldn’t even be a game anymore. Yet they adamantly insisted on a lottery. According to them, trying to decide who would be on which team would take all day. I felt like I’d heard something very similar recently...

Anyway, the lottery worked out as follows. Red team: me, Satsuki, Lea, Fam, President Momone, and Tokiwa. White team: Iris, Harissa, Rosalind, Suzuran, Rain, and Corona. The strongest players gathered on one team for the most part. We had Lea on our side, but it still didn’t seem fair.

“Gah! Now that we’re enemies... I won’t hold back, Rekka!” Rosalind yelled angrily from the batter’s box.

She’d shouted at the sky in frustration when she first drew the straw that put her on the white team, and she’d been howling ever since. It seemed like she was ready to channel all of that frustration through the bat now...

Meanwhile on the red team, we got to organizing ourselves: Lea as pitcher, me as catcher, Fam on first base, Tokiwa on third base, Satsuki in left field, and President Momone in right. Our plan was to use Lea’s strength to keep the opposing team’s power lineup in check. Honestly, the rest of them would probably be a piece of cake. But we’d have to be careful of any balls that headed for left field. Satsuki was terrible at sports...

“Here I go, Rekka!”

Lea gave me an unhurried wave and assumed the pitching stance she’d learned moments ago. Well, we were just playing for fun, so her casual attitude was probably the right way to go about this. Tokiwa said she just wanted to do something youthful, not play serious baseball. And as I was thinking that...

“There!”

A supersonic ball smashed right into my mitt. The force of it was so strong that it sent me flying backwards. As my helmeted head made contact with the fence behind me, it finally dawned on me... I hadn’t given a second thought as to how I was actually going to catch any of Lea’s fearsome pitches.

“Are you okay, Rekka?!” she shouted.

We had to call a timeout on the first pitch. Luckily I wasn’t hurt or anything, so I just asked Lea to dial back her pitches enough that I could catch them. We resumed the game from there, but...

“Take that!”

“Whee!”

“Hah!”

Rosalind, Iris, and Corona all made consecutive hits, putting us three points behind. Even Lea’s weakened pitches were a force to be reckoned with, but all three girls got home runs. After that, Lea easily struck out Rain and Harissa. And while Suzuran nearly scored off of us, a fine play from President Momone put them at three outs.

“What’s with this game of superpowered baseball?” President Momone asked—quite aptly, if I might say so—as we returned to the bench when we switched teams.

It was true: our heartwarming, youthful game had been kicked into overdrive, but more importantly, it was our turn to go on the offensive. A one-sided game would be boring, so we at least wanted to get a few points in.

“You can do it, Lea!”

I cheered for Lea when she stepped up to the plate. She happily waved back.

“Urgh... Why you...”

For some reason, the pitcher—Rosalind—was grinding her teeth at our friendly display.

“I’ll crush you without mercy, Lea!”

The gauge on her anger was clocking at 200 percent. Her tiny arm got a big windup, and she let the baseball fly.

“Rargh!”

The white ball blasted towards Corona’s waiting catcher’s mitt, the tailwind kicking up the dirt underneath it.

Whoosh! Strike one.

Rosalind snorted smugly. Since Corona was catching for the white team, Rosalind didn’t have to hold back on her pitches like Lea did. That meant we’d be at as much of a disadvantage even on the offensive.

“Tch!”

However, Lea’s second swing was a good one, and she made it onto a base... even if it was only first. Second up to bat was me.

“Hey, Rosalind?”

“What?”

“Will you go easy on me?”

“I refuse.”

Of course not. Well, there was no way I was hitting anything if she didn’t... In the end, even with Rosalind pitching two balls out of the strike zone, I struck out. Next up was President Momone. Rosalind pushed the ball count to a dangerous three, but President Momone struck out eventually.

“Do you think you could get that Rosalind girl to join the softball club somehow?” she asked when she came back from the plate.

Apparently our school’s softball team captain was seeking new members to strengthen the team, but that vision probably wouldn’t be fulfilled. I couldn’t even imagine Rosalind blending in with normal students in a sports club.

Anyway, after that, our fourth batter—Satsuki—sadly struck out too. It was time to change innings. I imagined the rest of the game would be similarly one-sided, but...

“Jeez. I didn’t have any intention of going all-out for a pick-up game, but it won’t be very fun at this rate.”

Much to my surprise, our One-Eyed Student Council President didn’t seem fazed by the odds against us.

“Time for a pitcher change. That good with you?”

“Huh?”

President Momone was asking Lea, who just looked at me questioningly.

It seemed President Momone had something up her sleeve, so I decided to trust her. I nodded to Lea, who left the mound and took President Momone’s place as our right fielder.

“Here we go, Rekka Namidare. Make sure you keep your eye on the ball.”

“Huh?”

I only understood what President Momone meant once the ball was flying through the air.

“What?!”

Just before the ball met Rosalind’s bat, it suddenly took a dive.

“Waaah?!” Rosalind exclaimed.

I nearly lost sight of it. It was one of those so-called forkballs.

“What was that?!” she demanded.

That demonic pitch crafted from the epitome of human intelligence easily struck out Rosalind. After that, there were curveballs and circle changeups... as well as a breaking ball with some crazy trajectory that I was unfamiliar with, but it led to President Momone finishing off Iris and Corona in three pitches each.

“Why don’t you just join the softball team, President Momone?”

“I’m busy with the student council and my training at home.”

President Momone easily brushed off my question and removed her mitt, throwing it at the bench. Now that our almighty student council president had fortified our defenses, all we had to do was score. We’d need four points to get ahead, or at least three for it to be a draw. First up to bat this time was Fam...

“Yah!”

But it was over in three swings. Oh, well. Next was Tokiwa’s turn.

“...”

Tokiwa held the bat in both hands, giving it two or three test swings with a dazed expression on her face. Each swing made her stagger unsteadily.

“A-Are you okay?” I asked.

“...”

I gasped a little when I realized what I’d done, and tried to avoid eye contact as I backed away... But it was too late. Tokiwa saw right through me and made an immediate leap. An extraordinary amount of sweat was pressed against my skin.

“I’m okay,” she said.

After multiple shouts and complaints from all over the field, Tokiwa let go and trotted back to the batter’s box. Watching her from behind from the bench like this made her look even more slender than usual. There was no chance she’d stand up against one of Rosalind’s super fastballs.

“Will Tokiwa be okay out there?” I asked. “She looked like she was going to topple over just from swinging the bat...”

“Well, I wouldn’t write off that possibility completely,” replied President Momone. “But she might surprise you.”

Crack!

The sound of the metal bat meeting the ball overlapped with President Momone’s last few words. Tokiwa had gotten a hit, but had sent the ball flying directly into the fence behind her. Translation: a foul. Normally, that would count as one strike, but...

“She actually hit it...?”

That wasn’t the problem here. Her opponent was Rosalind. A vampire. While she didn’t have much control over her pitches, their sheer speed and power were literally superhuman. It should have been impossible for a normal person to hit one of those.

“Midori’s eyes have always been exceptional. But since she’s no good at sports, it’s a completely wasted talent.”

Now that she mentioned it, Tokiwa did have really good reflexes at times. As I stood there impressed, Tokiwa hit a few more foul balls in the strike zone and patiently waited out the balls, which put us at a tense full count: three balls and two strikes. The next pitch move would be decisive.

“Ugyah! ...Ack!”

In her panic, Rosalind misjudged her power and threw the last pitch completely off-course. And that put us at four balls. That gave Tokiwa a free walk to first base, but there was no way we could risk letting her run, so we substituted her for Fam, who was last in our lineup.

“All right!” she cheered, leaping enthusiastically onto the field when Tokiwa returned to the bench.

“You were amazing, Tokiwa.”

She grinned at my compliment.

With that, we returned to the top of the lineup, which meant Lea was up to bat.

“Hah!”

Just like her first turn, she got a great hit off of Rosalind and made it to first base. Since we were only playing with first and third, that meant the bases were now loaded. This could be the turning point. And the next batter was... me.

Would someone be willing to pinch-hit for me...?

“...”

Rosalind was so irritated at the loaded bases that she didn’t say a word. It was scary. Then she went to town.

First pitch: strike.

Second pitch: ball.

Third pitch. ball.

Fourth pitch. strike.

I was instantly driven into a corner. Even when I swung the bat, I didn’t get anywhere near the ball. Should I just close my eyes and pray that the next two pitches were balls? But I couldn’t see through the strike zone like Tokiwa, so that wasn’t an option.

Ugh...

Tokiwa had given us this opportunity... I had to make a miracle happen here!

Rosalind assumed her stance for the fifth pitch as I racked my brain.

Think. Think! How can I make the most of this chance...?

“Ah!”

I quickly moved my bat into a horizontal position, ready for a bunt. Of course, I had no experience with bunting. I just figured I had a higher chance of making contact doing this than by swinging.

Widening my eyes to the size of plates, I fixed my gaze on the ball, just waiting for the moment Rosalind let it sail. That was when the first miracle happened.

Clank!

The bat I stuck out practically on a whim made contact with the speeding ball. Really, it was more like the ball had hit me rather than I hit the ball. It was a sheer stroke of luck, too. But hopefully my luck would last. The white ball bounced off my bat and up into the air. Of course, I ran for my life. Lea on first base and Fam on second base were also running with all their might.

“Feh! Curse you!”

“Whoops! Uwah!”

That was when the second miracle happened. As the ball fell downwards according to the laws of gravity, both the pitcher and catcher ran to nab it out of the air... and crashed into each other head-first, sending them both backwards to the ground on their butts.

“Crap!” Rosalind yelled.

She was looking at Fam, who was currently heading for home base. Unfortunately for them, the catcher—Corona—had moved too far forward to stop her. Rosalind judged that there wasn’t enough time, and she threw the ball to third base instead. That was when the third miracle happened.

“Kyah!”

Harissa, who was covering third base, saw the cannonball flying towards her and instinctively ducked. Lea passed through third base in that time.

“What are you doing, Harissa?!” Rosalind roared.

“There’s no way I could catch that!” Harissa replied, half in tears.

And she was totally right. I was blown away by Lea’s full-strength pitch earlier, so I had a pretty decent idea. There was no way the frail, petite Harissa could catch Rosalind’s throw at full steam. Rosalind was used to throwing without holding back with Corona as her catcher, but that had now turned on them.

“Jeez! What are you guys doing?!” Iris yelled from the outfield.

She was covering the right field close to first base, but she was much faster on her feet than Rain, who was covering the left. She’d crossed the field in the blink of an eye and had caught up with the rolling ball. Lea had already made it home, but so had Corona. She wouldn’t have any issues catching a throw from Iris’s iron shoulders. In other words, all that was left was whether or not I could make it in time.

“...!”

I ran past third base. Running at full tilt, my arms were moving of their own accord, flailing behind me opposite of my legs as they darted forward. My body was moving faster than my mind could consciously process. I was putting everything I had into pressing forward.

Lea and Fam were waving at me from home plate. Satsuki and President Momone were cheering from the bench. Tokiwa was there, too. She couldn’t yell loudly, but I could see her mouth moving. I didn’t have any doubt she was cheering me on too. Her big eyes followed my running shadow.

Several steps in front of me at home base, Corona readied her mitt. It would only take Iris’s throw one or two seconds to reach her...! The edges of my vision were blurring white, but I prepared to dive head-first into the base.

My body slid along the ground with a skidding noise, and I felt my fingertips touch the plate. I could hear my own heartbeat pounding in my ears as I caught my breath, my head still dull from exerting myself like that... I wondered what the result was...

“...Safe!”

The first thing I heard was Fam’s voice.

“Safe! He’s safe! You did it, Brother Rekka!”

Fam yelled as she jumped on top of me, flailing about in happiness. She was like an overexcited puppy. Typically speaking, self-judging a sports game would lead to a lot of arguing between sides over calls like this.

“Yes, I suppose that would be considered safe,” conceded Rosalind.

“I think so too,” said Corona.

But that was where our trust and friendship came into play. Even the taciturn Rosalind sighed and gave in when she saw me covered in dirt. In the end, it was only a game. Fun was the top priority. That’s how it worked.

“All right! Now that we’re tied, let’s get back to the game!”

I jumped up and brushed the dirt off my shirt, and everyone took that as a signal to return to their positions. Then we played until the sun set.

▽

Everyone made curry together for dinner. We were joined by Tsumiki, who arrived after finishing her shift at Nozomiya.

“I’ll help, too...” she offered.

“I can’t afford to let you turn curry that everyone’s eating into a natural disaster.”

Thankfully Tetra, who arrived with her, was strict when it came to supervision in the kitchen and kept all catastrophe at bay. We reassigned Tsumiki to wrapping the rice balls with seaweed for our late-night snack. After that, Satsuki, Rain, and Fam went home because they had people waiting for them, but the rest of the girls decided to stay overnight at school. Everyone washed up, brushed their teeth, then said goodnight to me as I retreated alone to the boys’ room, ready to hit the hay. But about 20 minutes after I crawled into the futon...

“...Rekka.”

I heard a voice whisper in my ear, rousing me from a near asleep state.

“?”

I lifted my eyelids to see a shadow right in front of me. Was the only reason why I wasn’t surprised because I was still half asleep? Or perhaps because I was used to it by now?

“...Tokiwa?”

“Get up.”

Instead of clinging to me like usual, she was kneeling next to me as she gently shook me. The moment I met Tokiwa, I knew she was a unique person. That was probably the reason I didn’t feel particularly irritated at being woken up. I obediently sat up like she asked and rubbed my eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Come,” she whispered, still not clinging to me.

Then she stood up. That caught my attention. Wondering what it was, I put my shoes on and followed her out of the camp area.

▽

Tokiwa didn’t lead me very far. Just up to the roof of the old school building.

“I’m surprised you had the key to get up here.”

“I had Momo secretly bring me the master key.”

Wasn’t that kind of a big deal? I mean, in terms of groundskeeping and security? Of course, I wasn’t a teacher or a security guard, so it’s not like I really cared. I figured it’d be all right as long as we returned it by tomorrow morning and left it at that.

As for Tokiwa, she walked to the middle of the roof and sunk to the ground. She then lifted her head and waved me over. When I approached her, she shifted her hand and patted the spot next to her. She was probably inviting me to lie down too.

I sat down first, feeling the rough, scratchy surface of the concrete underneath my palms. I then leaned back slowly so I wouldn’t hurt my head on it... and was met with the beautiful sight of the starry sky overhead.

“Wow.”

It was breathtaking... is what I wanted to say, but it was actually pretty normal. The town I lived in was still somewhat rural, so you could see more here than you could in the city, but the view didn’t hold a candle to what you could see in the mountains. Yet even so, it seemed special right now.

“Lying down makes the view a lot prettier than looking up normally.”

Maybe the place was what made it special after all. In a rural area like this, there weren’t any buildings taller than the school—the new school building was taller than the old one, but the view was still unobstructed. The sky just plain looked different when you could stare into it and forget the world around you.

“Stargazing from the school roof at night, check,” Tokiwa muttered to herself.

She was lying right next to me, so I heard her quiet voice clearly.

“Oh, was this part of the study camp?”

“Yes.”

That meant our mission here was complete, but neither of us moved. It seemed we both wanted to stay and talk for a little while longer.

“Today was fun,” she said.

“Yeah. We jumped into the pool, played baseball, made curry...”

“Nope. Well, we did, but that’s not what I meant.”

I could feel her shake her head adamantly.

“You know... I’m weak, so I rarely play sports. I can’t even go swimming unless I’m in top form.”

“Huh? But what about the other day at the water park?”

“I barely got in the water. Momo stopped me.”

Now that she mentioned it, the only times I'd seen Tokiwa were at the resting area, at the water slide... and at the end of the day, when we all gathered at the swimming pool. She’d scarcely gotten her feet wet. No wonder President Momone got angry when Tokiwa jumped in the pool today. Anyone would be worried. The two of them were childhood friends, so President Momone had probably looked after Tokiwa ever since they were little.

“Anyway, so that’s why I can’t join any sports clubs and I didn’t end up going on the school trip, either... so today was really fun.”

Tokiwa turned her head my way. Her eyes peered at me from between the wisps of her bangs.

“It’s all thanks to you joining the light literature club.”

“I didn’t do anything...”

“You did. Everyone gathered to play baseball and make curry together because you were there, right? No one would’ve come if it was just me. So...”

The corners of Tokiwa’s lips curved up into a captivating smile.

“Thank you, Rekka.”

Wh-What was this embarrassing feeling crawling on my skin? Was it because I was up on the rooftop in the middle of the night with a beautiful upperclassman? Her smiling right at me was making my heart beat oddly fast...

“An affair. Indeed, I smell an affair. Is this what they call a summer fling?”

SHUT UP, R! Don’t mock me in my other ear, jeez... I couldn’t even yell at her if I didn’t want to look crazy. It was so annoying that no one else could see R!

But if she hadn’t distracted me, my head might have short-circuited. Tokiwa hadn’t broken eye contact once, so I still felt embarrassed. And just as I was seriously starting to wonder what to do...

“AAAAAAAAHHH!”

Stomp, stomp, stomp... SLAM!

“?!”

A collective, noisy scream rang out in the night. I turned to the door in a panic to see multiple people who should have been asleep all piling onto the roof, staring at me.

“Wh-What are you all up to?”

“We should be asking you that! What are YOU doing, Rekka?!”

Iris was the first to yell. She threw off the girls who had fallen on top of her, got up, and marched angrily my way.

“Th-Th-That’s right, Tokiwa! Just what were you d-d-doing here alone with Rekka?!” demanded Tsumiki.

“I should say! You’ve been trying to seduce Rekka with that body of yours since the moment I met you!” declared Rosalind.

The two of them approached next, but the others all followed close behind. In no time at all, Tokiwa and I had been surrounded by noisily complaining girls. Most of it was directed at me, to be fair.

“Heehee.”

Tokiwa giggled contentedly as she watched the swarming girls chew me out.

—Fin—