CH 48

Lexley Cricket Tournament (5)

“I want to be closer to my friend.”

At my words, senior had a puzzled look.

“It’s about Leah Arsene again. By any chance, is that kid bullying you?”

“What? You mean Leah?”

“I think you’re particularly obsessed with her.”

As expected. Senior not only knew about my inner thoughts, he was also observant of me. Although it seems that he has misunderstood. I burst into laughter at senior’s misunderstanding. Leto bullied me when I bullied him, but he’s never bullied me first. Of course, there were times where he offended me and made me upset.

Seeing my laughter, senior kept asking me in a worried tone, “Are you sure?”. At that moment, senior’s lazy and drowsy expression disappeared. I shook my head, afraid that it might cause a misunderstanding if I dragged it on for more than this.

“No, never.”

“Then why?”

Senior asked, as if he was truly curious.

“I didn’t know you’d be curious about this.”

“……Right. Me neither.”

“I’m not hanging out with Arsene because of her family.”

“I know that.”

Senior said, looking at me in the eye. What did he mean by that? Anyway, it seemed like a good thought, so I moved on without pondering over it and spoke honestly. 

“It’s just…I want to make her happy. This may be due to my selfishness or pointless meddling but…when Leah is happy, I am happy. She is a really good friend to me.”

Senior didn’t respond to my frank words. At that moment, I saw Leto appearing from the distance and staring at senior. He stood still with his coat in his hands, breathing heavily. There was a look of bewilderment on his face, as if he hadn’t expected that I would be waiting for him, alongside Senior Jimbo. After a while, Leto gripped his coat and nudged in between me and Senior Jimbo.

“……I told you to go back first.”

Leto sounded a little annoyed, or perhaps tired. I couldn’t tell if he was in a bad mood, or if he was just lost in thoughts. He looked at Senior Jimbo and treated him with a distinctly irritated expression.”

“Hello, Senior Nimbo.”

He expressed his irritation of senior clearly. I was startled and tugged his arm, but the milk had already spilled. Fortunately, Senior Jimbo wasn’t the type to be offended by those minor things. Ignoring what Leto called himself, senior glanced at his coat and smiled.

“Don’t lose track and make sure to take care of your things.”

No, Senior Jimbo was pretending nothing was wrong.

As if he was having an internal fight with Leto, he casually confronted him and left. Senior, who went to the dormitory building first, quickly disappeared. Only Leto and I remained here. He looked at my face, opened his mouth and closed it again.

He seemed to have a lot to say, but was holding it back.

“It’s cold, let’s go inside.”

It wasn’t cold at all, but I followed Leto’s words. Could it be that he heard me and Senior Jimbo? I stared at his expression and grinned. It didn’t matter if he heard it. Because I had indirectly conveyed to him what I couldn’t have said in front of Leto. There was nothing better than that.

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“What are you doing, Miss Pierre?”

At Professor Hartz’s question, I awkwardly tried to laugh. I had severe muscle pain as I had predicted yesterday. It’s been a long time since I’ve exercised, so there wasn’t any area on my body that wasn’t sore. When I tried to make even a little movement, my muscles would tighten and my bones would stiffen, and so I immediately gave up.

The problem was that it was difficult to even hold a quill because my hands were so weak. The bigger problem was when I dropped the quill on the floor. I almost cried when I had no choice but to bend down. I couldn’t bend my back so I tried stretching my hand as much as I could, but Professor Hartz’s voice appeared from above. 

“Ridiculous.”

The other students in the classroom laughed at the professor’s comment. The funny thing was that I failed to grab the quill even in this situation. All I had to do was stretch my arm a little further, but I failed. When my waist felt stretched, a groan came out by itself.

Looking at me with pity, Professor Hartz belatedly bent over and placed the quill on my desk. His expression that screamed ‘pathetic’ was a bonus. The class resumed again. Professor Hartz’s class went smoothly, but as time passed by, the soreness only got worse instead of getting better.

Leto, whose lowest score among his subjects was healing, watched me and offered to treat me. But I declined. Leto looked at me with a regretful expression, but I refused.

Leto, the only subject I beat you in is healing.

During lunchtime, I went to the infirmary with Leto’s help but there was no one inside. When I entered the next class without any treatment, Vivian looked at my pale complexion worriedly. 

“What happened, Bree?!”

He supported me with Leto.

“…I exercised too much yesterday.”

“All of a sudden?”

“I joined the cricket training.”

At my words, Vivian had an expression that showed that he finally understood.

“Oh, hold on.”

He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a bottle of milk. I instantly recognised the milk which was produced by Vivian’s family.

“Um…would you like to drink this?”

Vivian spoke more cautiously than ever. He also seemed to be nervous. I wasn’t sure why he was so meek, but my throat just happened to be dry and was craving for something sweet. Earlier, I was depressed, but I immediately smiled at the bottle of milk.

When I nodded, Vivian’s expression finally relaxed and he gave me the strawberry milk. The milk was cold, as though it was just brought out. The bottle had Vivian’s family, Rawol, labelled on it. I opened the bottle cap and drank the milk.

Not only was the sour strawberry chewy, but the milk was mixed perfectly with the strawberries as it coolly went down my throat. After emptying the milk in seconds, Vivian’s expression became brighter than before.

“It’s delicious, Vivian!”

“Really?”

“Yes. Thank you very much.”

Vivian smiled softly with a red face. I tried to eat the remaining strawberries in the bottle to not waste them, but I eventually gave up because the strawberries were too deep in the bottle. Vivian, who was still blushing, became flustered as if he noticed my thoughts.

“S-Sorry. There’s no more milk.”

“No. It’s okay!”

Looking at Vivian and I, who were apologising to each other, Leto had a baffled expression. We sat down next to each other without making any more noise. Throughout the class, my muscles slowly loosened up, maybe due to Vivian’s milk. When something sweet lingered in my mouth, it was more bearable than before even if it hurt.

As time passed by, it got better to a point where I wouldn’t groan even when I moved my body. I was also worried if I would be able to participate in today’s training because of the soreness, but fortunately I seemed to be able to proceed without difficulty. 

To express my gratitude to Vivian, I gave him a note during class.

[After drinking the milk, my pain got better! Thank you, Vivian.]

Vivian smiled shyly at my note and slipped it into his pocket instead of throwing it away. Looking at that sight, I wanted to express my gratitude even after class, but I was already late for training. The professor talked about a few things and time seemed to have skipped to the end of the class.

Leto and I went to the dressing room and hurriedly changed into our cricket training gears. I was in a hurry, but Leto, who was on the other side of the curtain, was complaining as he moved his body quickly. I was finally putting on my training top but my arm got twisted from stretching out too much. Argh! I unconsciously let out a groan and fell down with my legs entangled. My body fell out of the curtains which covered the front, back and side.

“Are you okay?”

Before I realised it, Leto pushed the curtain aside and saw me fall outside.

“Yeah, I’m fine…”

“……!”

I reassured him that I was fine, but he suddenly turned red and rushed back into the curtains. What’s wrong? I lowered my head and noticed my clothes. My chest was barely covered, but my stomach and belly button were fully exposed.

Right, Leto wasn’t used to things like this.

“Leah, I’m all dressed up.”

I quickly straightened my clothes and called Leto.

“……Really?”

Wait, why are you doubting me?

“Yes. Come on out.”

Even though we were running late, he glanced at my attire and looked straight at me, probably relieved at the sight that I was completely covered.

“Are you all dressed?”

“We’re late. We have to run.”

I nodded at Leto’s words.

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After changing our clothes, we quickly ran to the field where everyone was already gathered. There were many students gathered today, probably because it was a joint training between men and women. Among them, I noticed Reze Padwinder, who hated Leto and me. As we hurriedly joined the group, Reze’s gaze turned towards us.

“What’s this? Isn’t it Pierre and Arsene?”

He noticed us and immediately came to pick a fight.

“Looks like you managed to pass.”

It didn’t hurt Leto or me at all. When we didn’t even bother with him, Reze’s expression hardened.

“Let’s go somewhere else, Leah.”

I was about to move to a different spot to sit down, but Reze followed us. It seemed that he had no intention of letting us go quietly. The matter has become a nuisance. I sighed inwardly. Looking at Leto’s expression, he seemed to be thinking the same thing as me.

“What’s wrong, guys? I mean…”

“Oh, it’s Senior Jimbo!”

“What? Where? Where is he?”

As soon as Senior Jimbo appeared, Reze immediately turned his attention towards him.

Crazy guy…