Volume 1 - CH prologue 2

After the junior high student disappeared on her way home, I tried to leave too.

But my instincts stopped me. My eardrums catch the sound of dribbling, which is unusual for a seaside park, making me want to get out of the Rabbit as I turn off the engine.

My body is drawn to a corner of the park and at the end of the path......There is an outdoor basketball court that was newly built when I was in middle school and is always open for use.

Even though it is a basketball court, the court is half-size for 3-on-3 only.

I remember my heart beating excessively when I came here, and I felt lighter when that person was near me.

The "senior" who was like a big sister to the boy, smiling at him and giving him gentle compliments in a soft tone of voice---made him like her even more. 

As I stagger up to the basketball court and stand there, a dull orange ball rolls to my feet. It is unmistakably a basketball.

"It's not fair if you show up so suddenly. I wasn't prepared for this......"

I naturally let out a murmur filled with both surprise and happiness.

No good. I did not expect it at all, and my defenseless heart, taken by surprise, is filled with sweet love.  　

It reminds me of the ecstatic feelings I used to have, of the days when I was in love.  　

Please don't suddenly appear in front of me.

"High school student over there, I'd be happy if you could pick up the ball for me."

The moment I picked up the ball, a woman's voice bleached my dingy state of mind.

A pleasant sense of nostalgia spreads through my eardrums.  　

Holding the ball in both hands, I walk forward.

Waiting daintily under the ring was a woman who looked more mature than I had seen her before.

Her black hair, which used to be a short bob, has been changed to medium brown hair. Her makeup, which is not too flashy, further enhances the sense of purity. Every time her lace skirt swayed by the gentle summer breeze, a small wave of euphoria generated a slight heat in my cheeks.

I was stopped in my tracks as I looked at this woman and I was speechless.

"Haru-senpai......"  　

I call the name of an older woman whom I know so well.

"Long time no see, Natsume-kun. Maybe half a year or so?"

Hirose Haru. She is a college student, one year older than me.

"No......it's been only about four months since you graduated, Haru-senpai."

"Then no wonder Natsume-kun hasn't changed much."

"Haru-senpai has changed quite a bit. Your hair is longer and dyed brown......I didn't know who you were from a distance."

"I'm now a college student in Tokyo, and I'm trying my best to dress up so people won't underestimate me for being a hick......it doesn't look good on me?"

Calm down, me. Don't get excited.

"I-I think it looks good on you!......I also liked you when you were in high school, though!"  

"Oh, you liked me? Did you confess to me?"

"Ah, no, i-it's not like that......! I meant that I liked your refreshing black hair when you were in high school, and the way you looked in your women's basketball uniform, which was just like a senior......!"

The nervousness makes me flustered. And my lips and tongue don't work properly.

Da*n, get back......my sense of distance I had four months ago!

"I see. So, Natsume-kun prefers me when I was a little girl in Kisarazu rather than a college girl in Tokyo? You make my maiden heart complicated~!"

Senpai who pouted her lips in dissatisfaction is also cute.  　

I will never get tired of watching her flexible and ever-changing facial expressions.

"I'm quite nervous because I meet Haruru-senpai so suddenly like this. Please leave me a message at least one."

"I think if I stay here, I would be able to see you, Natsume-kun. It's my kind of surprise!"

I push the ball with both hands and give a pass to Haru-senpai to hide my embarrassment. In fact, my restless state of mind has not yet subsided, and my heart rate, which had risen markedly, does not even show any sign of slowing down.

No kidding, it was too sudden. I wanted her to at least let me prepare myself. The only thing I could do was to cover up my irresistible loosening cheeks by unnaturally turning my head down.

"Hey hey, did you really feel that happy to see Haru Onee-san?　Natsume-kun is as cute as ever. I want him to be my little brother."

She approached me with this joking line and tapped me on the shoulder.

I didn't want to show my untidy expression, but the curious Haru-senpai was trying to peek in, so I quickly turned my face away.

"I was a bit lonely because I wasn't used to living alone, so I felt nostalgic and relaxed talking to Natsume-kun in his uniform like this."

I guess I was really hungry for the time I could talk to this person.

Times pass quickly, but I think the four months since this person graduated from high school turned into unsatisfying days that might be equal to several years.

"Huh? Natsume-kun, haven't you grown a little taller?"

"......it won't change that much in just four months."  

"What? I'm sure you are grown up. How many centimeters apart am I from you?" 

"Wait, Haru-senpai......"

Too close......Haru-senpai comes strangely close to me, perhaps wanting to compare each other's height.

The fragrance pleasantly colored the state of mind of the boy in love, and each eyelash was clearly visible. Her fragrance was more mature than when she was in Kisarazu.

Immediately, I take one step backward.

I was trying not to notice the heat on my skin that was slowly rising and the way my eyes were shifting erratically.

"Since you're here, can you watch me for a minute?"

Haru-senpai suddenly turns her body toward the ring and shoots the ball with both hands into the sunset-colored sky. Haru-senpai's upper body is fully stretched. The ball, released from an ideal shooting form, was pulled by gravity, drew a beautiful parabola, and was drawn into the rusty ring.

"Yosh! My arm doesn't weaken yet, yeah."

The ball hit the ground and bounced.

The bouncing sound of the ball hitting the court gradually becomes quieter, and eventually, the silence makes the exhaust noise of the vehicles driving in the area seem even noisier.

Yosh! Such a cute utterance and triumphant pose fill all my senses with happiness.

Right now, Shirahama Natsume---is emotionally controlled by Hirose Haru, and can only think of this person.

"Natsume-kun."  

"......eh?"  　

She suddenly called my name and I came back to myself.  

"You are staring at me too much. It's embarrassing, you know?"

Haru-senpai poked me in the forehead with a furrowed brow, but she immediately smiled at me.

"I watched you carefully to see if you had become unskilled due to the blanks. It was a good shot, just like you did on the women's basketball team."

Novel ini diterjemahkan oleh Musubi Novel

This novel was translated by Musubi Novel

"Hey! You were going to jeer at me if I missed that shot, weren't you!? You're a junior, but you're so cocky!"

The junior boy whose hair is stroked pretends not to like it, but does not reject it.

Ever since you graduated, I've been longing for a time like this.

"By the way, you are also preparing for an entrance exam. Is everything going well? How are your studies going?"

"My studies are going too well, so please invite me out whenever you come back home."  

"Thank you! What you should have is a cute junior who comes running to you any time."

Because I want to share time with Haru-senpai, and because I want to remain to be her cute junior, please forgive me if I pretend that I am doing well in my exam studies.

If I can't be your boyfriend, let me be your number one junior.

"Do your best to get into the same university as me. I'll be waiting for you, kouhai-kun."

When an innocent smile is accompanied by encouragement, my vaguely stagnant loneliness is replaced by a groundless sense of expectation. That is how simple and clear-cut my human structure is.

I don't have a definite dream, but I have a desire to go to the same university as Haru-senpai.  　

But that is probably not what Haru-senpai expects of me.  　

Fortune dolphin, huh......

For some reason, a rumor that has no known origin haunts my mind at this time.

Haru-senpai, who had been so busy with his campus life and a part-time job in Tokyo that she had not even pretended to return to Kisarazu, came to see me on a whim at the beginning of summer.  　

It was the same day I visited this place for the first time in a while, and at a similar time of the day.    　

If you meet a fortune dolphin, your [Stopped unrequited love] will start to move.

There have been no sightings of real dolphins swimming in the sea of Kisarazu, but a junior high school girl I met at the wharf seemed to have led me there, albeit by accident.

......Stupid. There is no way that's true.

It was silly to take a clichéd fiction seriously with no known origin.

My view of love is not so sullied enough to complicate the relationship due to a dolphin's hair ornament.  　

My unrequited love is already equal to permafrost.

I only chewed on the small fortune of chatting with Haru-senpai---bringing my dreamy mood back to reality.  　

Starting tomorrow, I'll be back to studying for exams and escaping reality. It's bound to happen. 

The sun burning on the horizon shows no sign of setting even in the evening and continues to sear the skin of the student who is immersed in a status quo relationship where no one is hurt, and the sweat that has emerged soaks his shirt.

Contrary to my first love that was frozen long ago.

I had a feeling that this summer was going to be hot again.