Volume 1 | Chapter 3: May – Part 1
When the first half of GW ended, I attended class like everyone else. Yumi-chan rushed to see me and that’s when the news of my condition spread to the class.
On top of that, Kyouko-jou’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. She forced the duty of ‘reporting everything I can remember of the inside of Hibiya-sensei’s car’ on to me.
Well, I played dumb with, “I’m sorry. My back was hurting so much that I can’t remember a thing.”
Truthfully, I knew what usual brand of drinks Kazu-nii always had in his car and also what types of CDs he listens to. But what good will it be for me to tell her?
“It must have been a disaster.” Iinchou looked at me with pity.
It seems everyone spent the first half of GW their own way and had fun. There were many people excitedly bragging about what they did. Apparently, there were even those in my class that attended training camps for their club.
Huh? Someone is missing? I turned, looking around the class. Ah, Maria-jou’s not here.
“Come to think of it, where’s Aikawa-san?” I asked.
“About that… she caught a cold, so she’s resting,” Kyouko-jou told me, sighing with disappointment.
Even if we’re in the middle of GW, classes continued on without mercy. It’s obvious everyone was distracted by the long holiday, but today’s an ordinary day. As such, I obediently paid attention and studied.
Now then, there was a capture target in this class. It was Tsuchiya-shounen who reunited with Maria-jou in the opening ceremony.
Ever since then, I barely had any chances to speak with him. Yet, for some reason, he caught my eyes a lot today. Probably because he has been sleeping on his desk since morning. The whole class had to take a quiz today to see if our heads were stuck in vacation mode or not.
I, as the vice class rep, needed to collect all the quizzes and take it to the teacher but……
“Tsuchiya-kun,” I tried calling out to him. I received no reaction. “Tsuchiya-kun!”
A little louder this time, but nothing came back again.
Alrighty, you sure have guts. If that’s how you’re going to play this game then I’m going to step it up too. I got the small urge to play a prank on him, so I brought my lips close to Tsuchiya-shounen’s ear.
“Tsukkun. Wake up~”
“~!?”
Certain Kill Technique・Maria-jou Mimicry!
It was super effective.
Tsuchiya-shounen turned bright red until the tips of his ears, and sprung into the air. And since I was close by, he hit my nose with his head. Tsuchiya-shounen then looked around restlessly in the classroom. Soon he realized Maria-jou wasn’t here and covered his mouth with his hand, looking the other way.
……I know. I know, Tsuchiya-shounen. Let me guess, you were dreaming about Maria-jou.
As for my hurting nose, it’s my fault for teasing him……. so I’ll reflect on this.
“……What the heck are you doing?”
Tsuchiya-shounen’s comment on me was pretty proper since I was holding my nose, crouching on the ground.
His quiz paper was blank. I made him write his name at least and collected it. I’m sure the teacher will call him out later, but, oh well. He might have to attend supplementary lessons; still I don’t really care about that either.
“Tsuchiya-kun, you’ve been sleeping the whole day. What’s wrong? You tired?”
“Ah…… My training camp was… sleepy……” Tsuchiya-shounen was starting to fade off again. It looks like it’s useless even if I tried to get him to talk.
“Don’t overwork yourself~”
“…….No, how about you, Niimi? Your legs are injured,” he pointed out with a wryly smile.
I planned on leaving him alone, so I was surprised by Tsuchiya-shounen’s comment. “I tripped on the stairs before the holidays.”
“You sure are clumsy.”
He was the type not interested in rumors. The reason for why I was injured had thoroughly spread as gossip in the school. There were even people peeking into the classroom’s door during the break.
“……You don’t have an upcoming tournament or anything?”
Hm?
Tsuchiya-shounen clarified himself. “No, I mean, you’re hurt……. You exercise, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.” It looks like he remembered our conversation during the opening ceremony. That was pretty surprising. “But that’s voluntary training. I’m not in any clubs; right now I’m in the go-home club.”
The amount of work I get as the vice class rep has surprisingly kept me busy. As such, I keep missing my timing to join a club. Well, it’s also true that I’m not in a club because I want to be able to chase after Maria-jou when she joins one in the future.
“I planned on checking the clubs again once GW is over,” I said.
“Hmm…” Tsuchiya-shounen answered plainly.
“For sports clubs, it’ll be right after they had their training camp, huh? I guess it might be a late start,” I noted more to myself.
□ ■ □
I wanted to do something during the latter half of GW for sure. Just when I had such thoughts, Yumi-chan invited me out to play. It seems she wanted to check out the new shopping mall at least once, but it was lonely going all by herself.
I’ve been waiting for this!
We arranged to meet at the closest station to the academy. Then we will ride the train together to the station nearest to the shopping mall. There, we will have lunch together, shop, and if there is still time, we will go to a cafe and enjoy ourselves. It was a rather luxurious plan.
I put the New Year’s money I secretly saved into my wallet and headed to where we were going to meet up. It was times like this I think, if I had a part-time job, I would have more money to spend and be free. Since I haven’t joined a club, maybe I’ll get a part-time job instead.
Now then, I waited for Yumi-chan excitedly at the station…
And that’s when someone called out to me.
“Hey, hey, you there~ Have we met before?” Some weird guy spoke to me.
I looked at him from the top of his head to the tip of his feet and concluded I didn’t know this person at all. I easily shook my head. “I believe we just met for the first time.”
The man looked like he was in his mid twenties. About the same as Kazu-nii. His features were average; however, he took care of his personal appearance, so he was on the cool side.
“No way, no way, we’ve met before for sure. Hey, you’re Kazuto’s cousin, aren’t you? You are, right?” He told me.
I had no memory of talking to him before. Yet, now that he said it, he does look kind of familiar. Hmm… He knew who I was too, so maybe we are actually acquaintances?
“I don’t think I’ve met you before,” I said to him without denying the Kazuto cousin part.
The man looked troubled and continued, “You’re his little cuz, aren’t you? I actually have a favor I need to ask you. I want to get in touch with Kazuto but he changed his cellphone’s email address and number… Could you tell me what it is?”
“I cannot give out personal information to someone whose name I do not know,” I refused.
“Here you go, this is my business card! If I’m asking you the impossible then ask him to call me instead! If you ask, he’ll listen, am I right!?”
I gazed at the business card he forced into my hands and sighed. “I am waiting for someone. In the meantime, I will take this but……”
For whatever reason, the man assumed I agreed. “Make sure you tell him, okay!” He shouted one-sidedly before he left.
I shoved the business card into my bag and glared at his retreating back.
“Hey, what’s that……. A talent scout?” Yumi-chan appeared and asked me filled with curiosity.
She actually showed up just right after the weird man talked to me. Since then, she had been observing the scene.
“No, it wasn’t.” And I wasn’t the one he was after either.
“That’s too bad. It looked like he gave you his business card, so I thought for sure he was a scout asking you to join showbiz.”
Yumi-chan sure is a dreamer.
“Don’t things like that happen at a bigger station?” I remarked. Not that I have spoken to talent scouts before, so I don’t really know. “More importantly, let’s hurry……”
“I’m sorry! About that!” Yumi-chan held her hands together and bowed her head apologetically. “I forgot my notebook in my desk. It’s the one I used the homework we have to submit after the break. Can we stop by the academy first?”
Even during the holidays, the academy was surprisingly filled with life. It was probably because there were clubs practising even now.
Incidentally, since there were no lodgings here, only a few clubs can hold training camps on campus. Therefore even if I say training camp, those students would have to sleep together under the same roof on the floor in the gymnasium.
“Oops, it looks like the front entrance is closed.”
I didn’t see this coming. We had no other choice, so we go around to the back entrance. Getting to the school building from here is a pain since it’s further. However, for sports clubs, their grounds were closer here, so it’s not all bad.
Still, I could feel the time we just lost. We went through the back entrance and headed for our classroom.
That was when we heard a scream.
“Kyaaaa!!”
Yumi-chan and I turned to the direction of the voice. A female student was watering at the corner of the school’s garden. We caught her right in time to see how she let go of the long hose.
The problem here was where the hose was pointing at. It surged like a snake, sending water into the air, and falling down on the two of us.
“…….” Both me and Yumi-chan stood there, dumbfounded. We couldn’t properly react at all. In the end, we looked at how soaked each other were.
“……Ah! My cell phone! Is it okay!?” Yumi-chan shouted. She came back to her senses first. Yumi-chan opened her bag in a hurry to check her cell phone and also her wallet while she was at it.
Meanwhile, I looked down at myself soaked to the bone. I could see how my clothing became transparent and clung on to my skin. It made me sad. I went to the trouble of coordinating myself since this was my first date with Yumi-chan……
“I’m so sorrrrrrryyy!!”
The girl who ran and apologized to us was Maria-jou.
Eh~?
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. Are you two okay?” Maria-jou clasped her hands together in apology and bowed.
“Don’t worry about it, we’re fine. We got a bit wet, that’s all… We’ll borrow a towel from the infirmary,” I told her. Maria-jou kept her head low the whole time.
Someone else cut in almost immediately after.
“What are you doing?” The tone of this person’s voice was kind — it sounds familiar.
“Ah!” Yumi-chan let out.
Yes, it was our second year senior, Kaneshiro-senpai.
“Ah! Umm…… I was clumsy and…”
He came over briskly and looked at how the two of us were wet and then to Maria-jou. Suddenly, he smiled. “I was wondering how strong-willed you were since you snapped at Homare. Yet I can see you have a side to you that is surprisingly cute as well.”
“W-Wha…….” Maria-jou’s cheeks quickly burned red.
I can understand how a girl would blush when a good-looking guy tells her she is cute…….. But we here are soaked. It’s cold, you know. Can we go already?
“I will help these two here. You are still in the middle of your club activities, am I right? You should hurry back already,” Kaneshiro-senpai said. Maria-jou looked hesitant. In the end, she bowed her head down once more before running off. Leaving the hose.
Clean up after yourself.
But, well, she has this image of always running somewhere.
“And you two……. Oh? We met the other day, haven’t we?” It seems Kaneshiro-senpai hasn’t forgotten about the stairway incident. “I am terribly sorry Homare had caused you trouble at that time. Were your injuries alright?”
Yeah, even if you ask me in this forced manner like you just remembered about us, it doesn’t make me happy one bit, you know? But since he was being considerate, I decided to thank him.
“Thank you very much for your concern. The bruising and grazes throughout my body were serious, so I had to go to the hospital.” Give me a break on how I ended up sounding cold. “Yumi-chan, let’s hurry and go. We’ll catch a cold at this rate.”
“Eh. Ah…… Yeah, you’re right. It’s too bad though.”
Yumi-chan was interested in Kaneshiro-senpai since he looked like a prince. I’m sure she wanted to speak with him a little longer as we met by chance. But getting soaked like this and catching a cold will ruin the rest of GW.
“…….Huh? Come to think of it… Kaneshiro-senpai, you didn’t join Mizusaki-senpai on his trip?” I was pulling Yumi-chan’s hand, wanting to borrow a towel from somewhere already. But a question popped up in my mind, so I asked it out loud.
The incident happened the other day because they were disputing about going overseas during GW, right?
“Yes, about that…… They wouldn’t give permission for Homare to take a special leave. The girls were worried about their credits, so they turned him down in the end. Homare sulked quite a lot afterwards. However, he had to see his parents, so he did fly overseas, but he also came back quickly.” Kaneshiro-senpai laughed lightly with amusement. The way he laughed was really elegant as well. “It seems Homare promised the girls he will take them to a different country during summer vacation. I’m not sure what is enjoyable about having a group of similar looking girls flocking left and right. It’s a sort of sickness Homare has.”
Oh, this was a strangely harsh comment.
“Is he a womanizer?”
“Yes, it’s as you say. If the two of you wish to get closer to Homare, please be cautious. You can’t be sure that you won’t lose what’s important to you and get thrown away as well.”
I called up Mizusaki-senpai’s fangirls in my mind. Yeah, me and Yumi-chan weren’t his type. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.
“Thank you for your warning. Then let’s get going, Yumi-chan.”
“Ah. Okay…”
Even though Yumi-chan followed after me, she turned to look at Kaneshiro-senpai with a bit of regret.
“Like I thought, Kaneshiro-senpai’s really cool. Mizusaki-senpai was cool too, but…… Ah, is Shiori-chan’s type Hibiya-sensei? Or Tsuchiya-kun?” Yumi-chan asked me once Kaneshiro-senpai was no longer in sight.
“Right now, I’m not really interested in anyone……” I told her.
“Is that so~ But you know, feelings of love and the heart of a fan are two different things. Our seniors are a little bit too far to fall in love for real……. But I can’t help but think admiring them instead is fine.”
Liberal arts, indoor girl Yumi-chan claims she is ‘a little bit of an otaku’. She cheers on good-looking characters far and wide, with the characters being real idols to hot guys from manga.
“You’re not interested in the student president or Iinchou?” I asked.
She replied to me with another question. “Shiori-chan, you like the serious, diligent looking types?”
“No, I was just bringing up some examples……” I think Tsukishima-senpai was nice though. However, since he’s probably Maria-jou’s capture target, I don’t see him as dateable.
After some talk, we arrived at the infirmary to borrow a towel. Suzuki-obaachan sensei was there and got mad at us.
“You girls were sprayed with water? And you plan on drying up with just towels!? How can you think this way!? Niimi-san, have you forgotten how you’ve only recently recovered? What purpose do you think those bandages around your arm are for!?”
Umm, you’re making it sound like my condition was super severe. ……I’m sorry, you’re only worried about me.
“The two of you, do you have your gym uniform in your class?” Suzuki-obaachan asked.
“Umm…… No, I don’t.” I brought it home to wash.
“In that case, let’s borrow the spares the swimming club has. The indoor pool comes with showers, so warm up your bodies before changing. You should stay in the academy until your clothes dry.”
“……Y-Yes.”
“Don’t worry. We have a drying machine. It’ll be done in no time.”
Suzuki-obaachan sensei put a large towel around our shoulders. She then locked the infirmary to lead us to the indoor pool.
There was an indoor heated swimming pool in this academy, which we can use all year round. It was a very blessed environment for the swimming club aiming for good results in their tournaments. They were also the only club that came with a complete shower room. As such, many other clubs were envious of the swimming club.
From what I hear, outside students in outside swimming classes also come here. I guess the swimming coach here also instructed them as a teacher.
“Come on, it’s this way. Go and take a shower first. I’ll go and borrow uniforms in the meantime,” Suzuki-obaachan instructed us before she left.
Yumi-chan followed her. “Please let me help you. Shiori-chan, go take the first shower.”
I felt a little bit lonely, being left by myself. Still, I’ve only known Yumi-chan for one month. It was a little embarrassing to shower side-by-side, I would think.
The shower room was separated into six booths. I could hear the sound of water — someone must be using it already.
I took off the towel around my arms, folding it and held it in my arms. I might as well shower before Suzuki-obaachan sensei and Yumi-chan come back with clothes.
Come to think of it, is there a dressing room? Are we supposed to take off our clothes inside the shower booth? No, that can’t be right. Our clothes will get wet if we do.
I hesitated, not knowing what to do. But, in the first place, the clothes I’m wearing were already soaked, so who cares anymore? I decided to use the booth furthest from the one being used right now. Purposely standing beside a girl I didn’t even know is something I’ll question after all too.
I took off my shoes and quickly stepped into the shower room bare-footed. The booth that was being used suddenly opened its door.
“Ah, I feel so refreshed now.” That person brushed up their hair. With water dripping down, they grabbed their towel hung on top of the booth and roughly wiped their hair. Droplets spilled from their hair to trail down their arms.
The steam floated upward, hid their feet but……
Their eyes that peeked from the wet hair, the shape of their chin the water traced, and their beautifully shaped muscles gave out an absurd amount of sexiness.
—— It was a guy.
“K-K-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”
I screamed. I screamed at the top of my lungs.
And slipped. Cause the shower room’s floor was wet.
My hands were occupied with my towel, so I didn’t have the chance to steady myself on the ground with my hands. The moment my butt hit the floor, the pain from bruises the other day came together to spread through my body at full-blast.
“~~~~!!”
It hurts. It freaking hurts. I shut tight my watery eyes and endured the pain.
“W-Whoa! W-Wait! What’s a girl doing in here!?” The guy also panicked.
I felt him approach me one step at a time that I screamed again.
“Y-You! I’m the one who wants to scream! Actually, don’t scream! Someone will come, you know!?”
“Mguuuuu!”
The guy came right beside me and covered up my mouth. It hurt, so I shook my head to protest. Unfortunately, he thought I’ll scream again the moment he let go of his hand. I couldn’t convince him to let go.
I hit the guy’s arm and he loosened a bit.
“Hey, look at me and explain yourself. Why are you here? And don’t treat me like a pervert! This is the guy’s shower room!”
He tried to make me look at him — I shook my head desperately to say no.
“I-I have a towel on! So you can look this way!”
Timidly, I opened my eyes…… And he did have a towel on. To be honest, I’m relieved.
“I-I’m telling you this to be safe. All the guys in the swimming club are usually just in their swimming trunks, okay? Don’t scream ‘pervert’, okay? No matter what, you hear!?”
The guy was Tsuchiya-shounen. Also, it seems like he has a big trauma with the word ‘pervert’.
“I-I won’t say it… I want to get up, so could you lend me your hand……?”
“G-Got it,” he said and moved to lend his hand to me. However, in the next moment, he turned bright red like a lobster.
Following his eyes, I turned red too. My skirt was half flipped up. Just a little bit more and you can see things. Please don’t ask me exactly what.
“……S-Sorry,” he looked the other way. His ears were still red.
“It’s not your fault, Tsuchiya-kun…”
It was then when I heard Suzuki-obaachan sensei calling my name, looking for me in the girl’s shower room. Even though I was half in tears, I went over to the other side. It looks like I went through the wrong entrance.
Suzuki-obaachan sensei’s eyes widened when she saw me come out of the boy’s showering room. Still, she told me showering comes first and postponed the issue.
While I was showering, it seems Yumi-chan saw Tsuchiya-shounen come out of the boy’s showering room too. His face was completely red, apparently. After Yumi-chan finished showering, I tried to explain to her what happened with all my might.
“I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see anything. Nothing. I didn’t see a single thing, okay?”
“I-I get it already. Yeah, don’t worry. But, umm, you and Tsuchiya-kun were both bright red in the face……”
“I definitely didn’t see anything!”
As for whether or not she understood the cry of my heart was a mystery. Afterwards, we passed by Tsuchiya-shounen who were with other swimming club members.
The moment our eyes almost met, he turned to look away.
□ ■ □
The next day, Yumi-chan and I decided to restart our date plans.
We lost all our energy yesterday and didn’t feel like going out anymore. We had lunch at a fast food restaurant and called it a day.
We met at the station and quickly moved without delay.
“Shiori-chan, do you have bad luck?” Yumi-chan asked me.
“I don’t think so. ……I don’t have confidence with what’s going on lately though.”
“You fell off the stairs the other day and you got soaked wet yesterday too.”
The train silently ran on its tracks. We stood in the first car, close to the conductor’s compartment. I felt standing was better for chatting. There were a number of empty seats, but it was troublesome to stand up again if an elderly or pregnant woman came. That’s why we didn’t bother to sit in the first place.
“But you met Kaneshiro-senpai and Mizusaki-senpai when you fell down the stairs and got Hibiya-sensei to drive you. You got to talk with Kaneshiro-senpai when you got soaked and then met Tsuchiya-kun…… Maybe you are actually lucky?”
“No, I think there were much more demerits in those cases.” Yumi-chan’s tastes were poking out when she mentioned Kaneshiro-senpai first before Mizusaki-senpai. “Plus, Yumi-chan, you got mixed up in two of the events, you know?”
“Hmmm~ But, look, I was only together in the same place as you. Maybe just good enough to say I was a supporting role.”
“Supporting?”
She had a point. To begin with, the heroine of our academy was Maria-jou.
“……Yeah, I see now. I’m the supporting role type that gets mixed up.”
When I fell down the stairs, Maria-jou and Mizusaki-senpai were fighting. When I got soaked, it was Maria-jou who sprayed water on me to start with. She chatted with Kaneshiro-senpai and seemed to raise his affection rate with the idea she might actually be clumsy.
“Anyways, I…… huh……?”
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
The train applied its emergency brakes. My body swayed heavily due to the impact.
The train stopped and an announcement was played on the speakers. It seems they were going to confirm everyone’s safety.
“……?”
At that moment, I witnessed this certain scene.
Outside the window was Katsuragi-kun. He was on the ground, just before the railway crossing gate. He was looking down at the child in his arms. I couldn’t see properly but the child looked like they were crying.
A teenage girl came running and approached them. The girl wore light pink clothing that was very spring-like.
It was Maria-jou. She patted the head of the crying child.
“What’s wrong?” Yumi-chan called out to me, bringing me back down to my sense. It seems she didn’t notice Maria-jou.
“It’s nothing,” I told her with a smile. I decided to pretend I didn’t see anything. It was probably an event. Katsuragi-kun saved a child who stepped on the tracks, and Maria-jou was in the same place and time. Basically, it was like that.
While I’m at it, I sent a message to Kazu-nii.
[Maria-jou spotted at railway crossing. Together with Katsuragi-kun.]
After a few more minutes, the train started to move again. I peeked outside the window; however, Maria-jou and Katsuragi-kun were long gone.
TL: We are now into May! But Shiori… Stop getting yourself hurt even if it’s for a lucky sukebe event D;
On the side note, it feels pretty ominous to run into the heroine everywhere you go…
Volume 1 | Chapter 3: May – Part 1
When the first half of GW ended, I attended class like everyone else. Yumi-chan rushed to see me and that’s when the news of my condition spread to the class.
On top of that, Kyouko-jou’s eyes gleamed with curiosity. She forced the duty of ‘reporting everything I can remember of the inside of Hibiya-sensei’s car’ on to me.
Well, I played dumb with, “I’m sorry. My back was hurting so much that I can’t remember a thing.”
Truthfully, I knew what usual brand of drinks Kazu-nii always had in his car and also what types of CDs he listens to. But what good will it be for me to tell her?
“It must have been a disaster.” Iinchou looked at me with pity.
It seems everyone spent the first half of GW their own way and had fun. There were many people excitedly bragging about what they did. Apparently, there were even those in my class that attended training camps for their club.
Huh? Someone is missing? I turned, looking around the class. Ah, Maria-jou’s not here.
“Come to think of it, where’s Aikawa-san?” I asked.
“About that… she caught a cold, so she’s resting,” Kyouko-jou told me, sighing with disappointment.
Even if we’re in the middle of GW, classes continued on without mercy. It’s obvious everyone was distracted by the long holiday, but today’s an ordinary day. As such, I obediently paid attention and studied.
Now then, there was a capture target in this class. It was Tsuchiya-shounen who reunited with Maria-jou in the opening ceremony.
Ever since then, I barely had any chances to speak with him. Yet, for some reason, he caught my eyes a lot today. Probably because he has been sleeping on his desk since morning. The whole class had to take a quiz today to see if our heads were stuck in vacation mode or not.
I, as the vice class rep, needed to collect all the quizzes and take it to the teacher but……
“Tsuchiya-kun,” I tried calling out to him. I received no reaction. “Tsuchiya-kun!”
A little louder this time, but nothing came back again.
Alrighty, you sure have guts. If that’s how you’re going to play this game then I’m going to step it up too. I got the small urge to play a prank on him, so I brought my lips close to Tsuchiya-shounen’s ear.
“Tsukkun. Wake up~”
“~!?”
Certain Kill Technique・Maria-jou Mimicry!
It was super effective.
Tsuchiya-shounen turned bright red until the tips of his ears, and sprung into the air. And since I was close by, he hit my nose with his head. Tsuchiya-shounen then looked around restlessly in the classroom. Soon he realized Maria-jou wasn’t here and covered his mouth with his hand, looking the other way.
……I know. I know, Tsuchiya-shounen. Let me guess, you were dreaming about Maria-jou.
As for my hurting nose, it’s my fault for teasing him……. so I’ll reflect on this.
“……What the heck are you doing?”
Tsuchiya-shounen’s comment on me was pretty proper since I was holding my nose, crouching on the ground.
His quiz paper was blank. I made him write his name at least and collected it. I’m sure the teacher will call him out later, but, oh well. He might have to attend supplementary lessons; still I don’t really care about that either.
“Tsuchiya-kun, you’ve been sleeping the whole day. What’s wrong? You tired?”
“Ah…… My training camp was… sleepy……” Tsuchiya-shounen was starting to fade off again. It looks like it’s useless even if I tried to get him to talk.
“Don’t overwork yourself~”
“…….No, how about you, Niimi? Your legs are injured,” he pointed out with a wryly smile.
I planned on leaving him alone, so I was surprised by Tsuchiya-shounen’s comment. “I tripped on the stairs before the holidays.”
“You sure are clumsy.”
He was the type not interested in rumors. The reason for why I was injured had thoroughly spread as gossip in the school. There were even people peeking into the classroom’s door during the break.
“……You don’t have an upcoming tournament or anything?”
Hm?
Tsuchiya-shounen clarified himself. “No, I mean, you’re hurt……. You exercise, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.” It looks like he remembered our conversation during the opening ceremony. That was pretty surprising. “But that’s voluntary training. I’m not in any clubs; right now I’m in the go-home club.”
The amount of work I get as the vice class rep has surprisingly kept me busy. As such, I keep missing my timing to join a club. Well, it’s also true that I’m not in a club because I want to be able to chase after Maria-jou when she joins one in the future.
“I planned on checking the clubs again once GW is over,” I said.
“Hmm…” Tsuchiya-shounen answered plainly.
“For sports clubs, it’ll be right after they had their training camp, huh? I guess it might be a late start,” I noted more to myself.
□ ■ □
I wanted to do something during the latter half of GW for sure. Just when I had such thoughts, Yumi-chan invited me out to play. It seems she wanted to check out the new shopping mall at least once, but it was lonely going all by herself.
I’ve been waiting for this!
We arranged to meet at the closest station to the academy. Then we will ride the train together to the station nearest to the shopping mall. There, we will have lunch together, shop, and if there is still time, we will go to a cafe and enjoy ourselves. It was a rather luxurious plan.
I put the New Year’s money I secretly saved into my wallet and headed to where we were going to meet up. It was times like this I think, if I had a part-time job, I would have more money to spend and be free. Since I haven’t joined a club, maybe I’ll get a part-time job instead.
Now then, I waited for Yumi-chan excitedly at the station…
And that’s when someone called out to me.
“Hey, hey, you there~ Have we met before?” Some weird guy spoke to me.
I looked at him from the top of his head to the tip of his feet and concluded I didn’t know this person at all. I easily shook my head. “I believe we just met for the first time.”
The man looked like he was in his mid twenties. About the same as Kazu-nii. His features were average; however, he took care of his personal appearance, so he was on the cool side.
“No way, no way, we’ve met before for sure. Hey, you’re Kazuto’s cousin, aren’t you? You are, right?” He told me.
I had no memory of talking to him before. Yet, now that he said it, he does look kind of familiar. Hmm… He knew who I was too, so maybe we are actually acquaintances?
“I don’t think I’ve met you before,” I said to him without denying the Kazuto cousin part.
The man looked troubled and continued, “You’re his little cuz, aren’t you? I actually have a favor I need to ask you. I want to get in touch with Kazuto but he changed his cellphone’s email address and number… Could you tell me what it is?”
“I cannot give out personal information to someone whose name I do not know,” I refused.
“Here you go, this is my business card! If I’m asking you the impossible then ask him to call me instead! If you ask, he’ll listen, am I right!?”
I gazed at the business card he forced into my hands and sighed. “I am waiting for someone. In the meantime, I will take this but……”
For whatever reason, the man assumed I agreed. “Make sure you tell him, okay!” He shouted one-sidedly before he left.
I shoved the business card into my bag and glared at his retreating back.
“Hey, what’s that……. A talent scout?” Yumi-chan appeared and asked me filled with curiosity.
She actually showed up just right after the weird man talked to me. Since then, she had been observing the scene.
“No, it wasn’t.” And I wasn’t the one he was after either.
“That’s too bad. It looked like he gave you his business card, so I thought for sure he was a scout asking you to join showbiz.”
Yumi-chan sure is a dreamer.
“Don’t things like that happen at a bigger station?” I remarked. Not that I have spoken to talent scouts before, so I don’t really know. “More importantly, let’s hurry……”
“I’m sorry! About that!” Yumi-chan held her hands together and bowed her head apologetically. “I forgot my notebook in my desk. It’s the one I used the homework we have to submit after the break. Can we stop by the academy first?”
Even during the holidays, the academy was surprisingly filled with life. It was probably because there were clubs practising even now.
Incidentally, since there were no lodgings here, only a few clubs can hold training camps on campus. Therefore even if I say training camp, those students would have to sleep together under the same roof on the floor in the gymnasium.
“Oops, it looks like the front entrance is closed.”
I didn’t see this coming. We had no other choice, so we go around to the back entrance. Getting to the school building from here is a pain since it’s further. However, for sports clubs, their grounds were closer here, so it’s not all bad.
Still, I could feel the time we just lost. We went through the back entrance and headed for our classroom.
That was when we heard a scream.
“Kyaaaa!!”
Yumi-chan and I turned to the direction of the voice. A female student was watering at the corner of the school’s garden. We caught her right in time to see how she let go of the long hose.
The problem here was where the hose was pointing at. It surged like a snake, sending water into the air, and falling down on the two of us.
“…….” Both me and Yumi-chan stood there, dumbfounded. We couldn’t properly react at all. In the end, we looked at how soaked each other were.
“……Ah! My cell phone! Is it okay!?” Yumi-chan shouted. She came back to her senses first. Yumi-chan opened her bag in a hurry to check her cell phone and also her wallet while she was at it.
Meanwhile, I looked down at myself soaked to the bone. I could see how my clothing became transparent and clung on to my skin. It made me sad. I went to the trouble of coordinating myself since this was my first date with Yumi-chan……
“I’m so sorrrrrrryyy!!”
The girl who ran and apologized to us was Maria-jou.
Eh~?
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. Are you two okay?” Maria-jou clasped her hands together in apology and bowed.
“Don’t worry about it, we’re fine. We got a bit wet, that’s all… We’ll borrow a towel from the infirmary,” I told her. Maria-jou kept her head low the whole time.
Someone else cut in almost immediately after.
“What are you doing?” The tone of this person’s voice was kind — it sounds familiar.
“Ah!” Yumi-chan let out.
Yes, it was our second year senior, Kaneshiro-senpai.
“Ah! Umm…… I was clumsy and…”
He came over briskly and looked at how the two of us were wet and then to Maria-jou. Suddenly, he smiled. “I was wondering how strong-willed you were since you snapped at Homare. Yet I can see you have a side to you that is surprisingly cute as well.”
“W-Wha…….” Maria-jou’s cheeks quickly burned red.
I can understand how a girl would blush when a good-looking guy tells her she is cute…….. But we here are soaked. It’s cold, you know. Can we go already?
“I will help these two here. You are still in the middle of your club activities, am I right? You should hurry back already,” Kaneshiro-senpai said. Maria-jou looked hesitant. In the end, she bowed her head down once more before running off. Leaving the hose.
Clean up after yourself.
But, well, she has this image of always running somewhere.
“And you two……. Oh? We met the other day, haven’t we?” It seems Kaneshiro-senpai hasn’t forgotten about the stairway incident. “I am terribly sorry Homare had caused you trouble at that time. Were your injuries alright?”
Yeah, even if you ask me in this forced manner like you just remembered about us, it doesn’t make me happy one bit, you know? But since he was being considerate, I decided to thank him.
“Thank you very much for your concern. The bruising and grazes throughout my body were serious, so I had to go to the hospital.” Give me a break on how I ended up sounding cold. “Yumi-chan, let’s hurry and go. We’ll catch a cold at this rate.”
“Eh. Ah…… Yeah, you’re right. It’s too bad though.”
Yumi-chan was interested in Kaneshiro-senpai since he looked like a prince. I’m sure she wanted to speak with him a little longer as we met by chance. But getting soaked like this and catching a cold will ruin the rest of GW.
“…….Huh? Come to think of it… Kaneshiro-senpai, you didn’t join Mizusaki-senpai on his trip?” I was pulling Yumi-chan’s hand, wanting to borrow a towel from somewhere already. But a question popped up in my mind, so I asked it out loud.
The incident happened the other day because they were disputing about going overseas during GW, right?
“Yes, about that…… They wouldn’t give permission for Homare to take a special leave. The girls were worried about their credits, so they turned him down in the end. Homare sulked quite a lot afterwards. However, he had to see his parents, so he did fly overseas, but he also came back quickly.” Kaneshiro-senpai laughed lightly with amusement. The way he laughed was really elegant as well. “It seems Homare promised the girls he will take them to a different country during summer vacation. I’m not sure what is enjoyable about having a group of similar looking girls flocking left and right. It’s a sort of sickness Homare has.”
Oh, this was a strangely harsh comment.
“Is he a womanizer?”
“Yes, it’s as you say. If the two of you wish to get closer to Homare, please be cautious. You can’t be sure that you won’t lose what’s important to you and get thrown away as well.”
I called up Mizusaki-senpai’s fangirls in my mind. Yeah, me and Yumi-chan weren’t his type. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.
“Thank you for your warning. Then let’s get going, Yumi-chan.”
“Ah. Okay…”
Even though Yumi-chan followed after me, she turned to look at Kaneshiro-senpai with a bit of regret.
“Like I thought, Kaneshiro-senpai’s really cool. Mizusaki-senpai was cool too, but…… Ah, is Shiori-chan’s type Hibiya-sensei? Or Tsuchiya-kun?” Yumi-chan asked me once Kaneshiro-senpai was no longer in sight.
“Right now, I’m not really interested in anyone……” I told her.
“Is that so~ But you know, feelings of love and the heart of a fan are two different things. Our seniors are a little bit too far to fall in love for real……. But I can’t help but think admiring them instead is fine.”
Liberal arts, indoor girl Yumi-chan claims she is ‘a little bit of an otaku’. She cheers on good-looking characters far and wide, with the characters being real idols to hot guys from manga.
“You’re not interested in the student president or Iinchou?” I asked.
She replied to me with another question. “Shiori-chan, you like the serious, diligent looking types?”
“No, I was just bringing up some examples……” I think Tsukishima-senpai was nice though. However, since he’s probably Maria-jou’s capture target, I don’t see him as dateable.
After some talk, we arrived at the infirmary to borrow a towel. Suzuki-obaachan sensei was there and got mad at us.
“You girls were sprayed with water? And you plan on drying up with just towels!? How can you think this way!? Niimi-san, have you forgotten how you’ve only recently recovered? What purpose do you think those bandages around your arm are for!?”
Umm, you’re making it sound like my condition was super severe. ……I’m sorry, you’re only worried about me.
“The two of you, do you have your gym uniform in your class?” Suzuki-obaachan asked.
“Umm…… No, I don’t.” I brought it home to wash.
“In that case, let’s borrow the spares the swimming club has. The indoor pool comes with showers, so warm up your bodies before changing. You should stay in the academy until your clothes dry.”
“……Y-Yes.”
“Don’t worry. We have a drying machine. It’ll be done in no time.”
Suzuki-obaachan sensei put a large towel around our shoulders. She then locked the infirmary to lead us to the indoor pool.
There was an indoor heated swimming pool in this academy, which we can use all year round. It was a very blessed environment for the swimming club aiming for good results in their tournaments. They were also the only club that came with a complete shower room. As such, many other clubs were envious of the swimming club.
From what I hear, outside students in outside swimming classes also come here. I guess the swimming coach here also instructed them as a teacher.
“Come on, it’s this way. Go and take a shower first. I’ll go and borrow uniforms in the meantime,” Suzuki-obaachan instructed us before she left.
Yumi-chan followed her. “Please let me help you. Shiori-chan, go take the first shower.”
I felt a little bit lonely, being left by myself. Still, I’ve only known Yumi-chan for one month. It was a little embarrassing to shower side-by-side, I would think.
The shower room was separated into six booths. I could hear the sound of water — someone must be using it already.
I took off the towel around my arms, folding it and held it in my arms. I might as well shower before Suzuki-obaachan sensei and Yumi-chan come back with clothes.
Come to think of it, is there a dressing room? Are we supposed to take off our clothes inside the shower booth? No, that can’t be right. Our clothes will get wet if we do.
I hesitated, not knowing what to do. But, in the first place, the clothes I’m wearing were already soaked, so who cares anymore? I decided to use the booth furthest from the one being used right now. Purposely standing beside a girl I didn’t even know is something I’ll question after all too.
I took off my shoes and quickly stepped into the shower room bare-footed. The booth that was being used suddenly opened its door.
“Ah, I feel so refreshed now.” That person brushed up their hair. With water dripping down, they grabbed their towel hung on top of the booth and roughly wiped their hair. Droplets spilled from their hair to trail down their arms.
The steam floated upward, hid their feet but……
Their eyes that peeked from the wet hair, the shape of their chin the water traced, and their beautifully shaped muscles gave out an absurd amount of sexiness.
—— It was a guy.
“K-K-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”
I screamed. I screamed at the top of my lungs.
And slipped. Cause the shower room’s floor was wet.
My hands were occupied with my towel, so I didn’t have the chance to steady myself on the ground with my hands. The moment my butt hit the floor, the pain from bruises the other day came together to spread through my body at full-blast.
“~~~~!!”
It hurts. It freaking hurts. I shut tight my watery eyes and endured the pain.
“W-Whoa! W-Wait! What’s a girl doing in here!?” The guy also panicked.
I felt him approach me one step at a time that I screamed again.
“Y-You! I’m the one who wants to scream! Actually, don’t scream! Someone will come, you know!?”
“Mguuuuu!”
The guy came right beside me and covered up my mouth. It hurt, so I shook my head to protest. Unfortunately, he thought I’ll scream again the moment he let go of his hand. I couldn’t convince him to let go.
I hit the guy’s arm and he loosened a bit.
“Hey, look at me and explain yourself. Why are you here? And don’t treat me like a pervert! This is the guy’s shower room!”
He tried to make me look at him — I shook my head desperately to say no.
“I-I have a towel on! So you can look this way!”
Timidly, I opened my eyes…… And he did have a towel on. To be honest, I’m relieved.
“I-I’m telling you this to be safe. All the guys in the swimming club are usually just in their swimming trunks, okay? Don’t scream ‘pervert’, okay? No matter what, you hear!?”
The guy was Tsuchiya-shounen. Also, it seems like he has a big trauma with the word ‘pervert’.
“I-I won’t say it… I want to get up, so could you lend me your hand……?”
“G-Got it,” he said and moved to lend his hand to me. However, in the next moment, he turned bright red like a lobster.
Following his eyes, I turned red too. My skirt was half flipped up. Just a little bit more and you can see things. Please don’t ask me exactly what.
“……S-Sorry,” he looked the other way. His ears were still red.
“It’s not your fault, Tsuchiya-kun…”
It was then when I heard Suzuki-obaachan sensei calling my name, looking for me in the girl’s shower room. Even though I was half in tears, I went over to the other side. It looks like I went through the wrong entrance.
Suzuki-obaachan sensei’s eyes widened when she saw me come out of the boy’s showering room. Still, she told me showering comes first and postponed the issue.
While I was showering, it seems Yumi-chan saw Tsuchiya-shounen come out of the boy’s showering room too. His face was completely red, apparently. After Yumi-chan finished showering, I tried to explain to her what happened with all my might.
“I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see anything. Nothing. I didn’t see a single thing, okay?”
“I-I get it already. Yeah, don’t worry. But, umm, you and Tsuchiya-kun were both bright red in the face……”
“I definitely didn’t see anything!”
As for whether or not she understood the cry of my heart was a mystery. Afterwards, we passed by Tsuchiya-shounen who were with other swimming club members.
The moment our eyes almost met, he turned to look away.
□ ■ □
The next day, Yumi-chan and I decided to restart our date plans.
We lost all our energy yesterday and didn’t feel like going out anymore. We had lunch at a fast food restaurant and called it a day.
We met at the station and quickly moved without delay.
“Shiori-chan, do you have bad luck?” Yumi-chan asked me.
“I don’t think so. ……I don’t have confidence with what’s going on lately though.”
“You fell off the stairs the other day and you got soaked wet yesterday too.”
The train silently ran on its tracks. We stood in the first car, close to the conductor’s compartment. I felt standing was better for chatting. There were a number of empty seats, but it was troublesome to stand up again if an elderly or pregnant woman came. That’s why we didn’t bother to sit in the first place.
“But you met Kaneshiro-senpai and Mizusaki-senpai when you fell down the stairs and got Hibiya-sensei to drive you. You got to talk with Kaneshiro-senpai when you got soaked and then met Tsuchiya-kun…… Maybe you are actually lucky?”
“No, I think there were much more demerits in those cases.” Yumi-chan’s tastes were poking out when she mentioned Kaneshiro-senpai first before Mizusaki-senpai. “Plus, Yumi-chan, you got mixed up in two of the events, you know?”
“Hmmm~ But, look, I was only together in the same place as you. Maybe just good enough to say I was a supporting role.”
“Supporting?”
She had a point. To begin with, the heroine of our academy was Maria-jou.
“……Yeah, I see now. I’m the supporting role type that gets mixed up.”
When I fell down the stairs, Maria-jou and Mizusaki-senpai were fighting. When I got soaked, it was Maria-jou who sprayed water on me to start with. She chatted with Kaneshiro-senpai and seemed to raise his affection rate with the idea she might actually be clumsy.
“Anyways, I…… huh……?”
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
The train applied its emergency brakes. My body swayed heavily due to the impact.
The train stopped and an announcement was played on the speakers. It seems they were going to confirm everyone’s safety.
“……?”
At that moment, I witnessed this certain scene.
Outside the window was Katsuragi-kun. He was on the ground, just before the railway crossing gate. He was looking down at the child in his arms. I couldn’t see properly but the child looked like they were crying.
A teenage girl came running and approached them. The girl wore light pink clothing that was very spring-like.
It was Maria-jou. She patted the head of the crying child.
“What’s wrong?” Yumi-chan called out to me, bringing me back down to my sense. It seems she didn’t notice Maria-jou.
“It’s nothing,” I told her with a smile. I decided to pretend I didn’t see anything. It was probably an event. Katsuragi-kun saved a child who stepped on the tracks, and Maria-jou was in the same place and time. Basically, it was like that.
While I’m at it, I sent a message to Kazu-nii.
[Maria-jou spotted at railway crossing. Together with Katsuragi-kun.]
After a few more minutes, the train started to move again. I peeked outside the window; however, Maria-jou and Katsuragi-kun were long gone.
TL: We are now into May! But Shiori… Stop getting yourself hurt even if it’s for a lucky sukebe event D;
On the side note, it feels pretty ominous to run into the heroine everywhere you go…
