Volume 2 - CH 5

“We pledge to show the results of our daily practice, to fight fair and square, and to burn until the very end. Satoru Mishima, representative of the red team. “Hazuki Sakashita, representative of the white team”

Satoru and Hazuki, who served as members of the athletic festival executive committee, administered the athlete’s oath, and the last athletic festival of our high school life was held. At our school, it is customary for the athlete oath to be administered by the chairperson and vice chairperson of the athletic festival committee. Satoru had always wanted to take the oath of the athletes, which made sense, but I had never thought that Hazuki would run for the committee.

Hazuki was generally not an active participant in school events. Of course, she had taken the initiative in helping with preparations, but this was probably the first time for her to take the initiative and do something. At least, I had never seen Hazuki do anything like that before.

After the opening ceremony of the gymnasium was over, I went to my seat and saw Kanade, who was in the same red team as me.

“I didn’t think Hazuki would be the one to lead the pledge.”

“Well, I didn’t expect it either.”

“Are you okay, Yuu-kun?”

“Yeah, I’m probably fine now. Thanks for worrying about me.”

I was by no means acting strong when I said it would be okay. It has already been three months since I broke up with Hazuki. Spring break was pretty tough, but once school started, Kanade, Satoru, and Tanuki-san were always there for me, and Yoshi-chan and Hanaka came to visit me. And with the preliminary rounds for the national team, the culmination of our club activities, coming up soon, I was so busy that I didn’t have time to think about anything else, so I wondered if my wounds had begun to heal without me noticing.

Kanade had a worried look on her face to make sure I wasn’t really overworking myself, but when she saw my natural smile, she felt relieved and returned to her seat, saying, “Let’s do our best and win, shall we?”

———

“Yuuri-senpai was so cool!”

When the third-year students finished the footrace, Yoshi-chan jumped on me. The way the people around me were looking at me was too painful…

“Yoshi-chan, I smell sweaty, maybe you should step away from me for a minute?”

“No! I don’t want to go away! Sniff-sniff-sniff.”

“Hey! Don’t sniff me so much, I’m embarrassed! Please get away from me!”

I pushed and pushed, but she wouldn’t budge, not even for leverage. What is this girl? Is she at one with the ground? As I was thinking about this nonsense, I saw Hanaka running over to me from the first-year seats.

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing here? You can’t be here, there are too many people! Oh, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go where there aren’t so many people!

“Because Yuuri-senpai is so cool, I couldn’t resist.”

“Look, Yoshi-chan. Yuu-kun and Hanaka-chan are troubled, aren’t they?”

“Mmhmhm ……. I’m here, Kanade-senpai!”

“Because Yuu-kun and Hanaka-chan are both troubled. That’s right, as a childhood friend, I have come to help them.”

Saying this, Kanade dragged Yoshi-chan and Hanaka back to the first-year seats.

*****

[Kanade’s Point of View]

“Kanade-senpai is so unfair! I also wanted a weapon named “childhood friend”!”

“Hmmm. Childhood friends can be good, but they can also be bad. As for me, I envy those who are able to show their affection to someone head-on like Yoshi-chan.”

From my point of view, Yoshi-chan is a really cute girl. When a girl like her shows her affection head-on, I think it would be hard for a boy not to fall in love with her. I thought it would be fine if Yuu-kun fell in love with her and decided to go out with her. Well, it would be best if I could become his girlfriend and make him happy.

But if I told Yuu-kun that I liked him, knowing everything that was going on, he might be troubled and suffer again. That’s why I’m afraid to take the first step.

“It’s true that Kanade-senpai’s position seems to be hard to go for… However, I envy Kanade-senpai for having Yuuri-senpai look at her with such kind eyes! I’m definitely not going to lose!”

“I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that I’m being forced to watch two girls fight over my own brother. I’m so thankful that you followed me here, Kana-chan. You’re going to have lunch with Yuu nii-chan, right? Can we join you?”

“Yes, of course! Of course! I have packed lots of lunches, so let’s eat them together.”

After I left the two of them, I remembered what Yoshi-chan had said to me.

I guess I’m in an enviable position in the eyes of those around me. Though when I think about it, maybe I am. If we weren’t childhood friends, Yuu-kun probably wouldn’t have shared his problems with me, and he probably wouldn’t have been willing to depend on me, right? But I still envy Yoshi-chan for being able to honestly tell him how she feels.

I see… I’m not satisfied with just being a childhood friend anymore, either.