CH 16

“You really don’t go lenient on him.”

Beyond our sight, looking towards the hardened and immovable Yuuto, Kirasaka gave him a gaze of pity.

“But… He..will definitely not give up, right?”

….I knew this fact better than her since I have been associating with him for a long time. Surely, Yuuto won’t move from there, until I agree.

“Isn’t it okay, going out last?”

Wearing an enigmatic smile, Kirasaka looked over here, with some kind of expectation. My actions beyond this, will decide if I meet her expectations or not.

I sighed a little and called out to Yuuto who had yet to move, in a voice loud enough for him to hear.

“…Wait for a bit. Convey to the referee that the substitute student will be arriving now.”

“Ooh…Understood! I will be waiting!”

Hearing my words, Yuuto started returning back to the referee.

“Ah? In the end, you will go..”

“Staying here, will only make things worse.”

Giving my wallet and phone to Kirasaka, who seemed to be enjoying herself, I left the rooftop quickly. As I descended the stairs and passed through the uninhabited corridor, I could hear the bustling noises coming even inside the school building.

Reaching the shoe-rack and changing my shoes to the school designated sports one, I started walking towards that place.

“It’s alright! It has been decided that Minato will be the substitute!”

When Yuuto told the referee on behalf of the substitute student and it was conveyed to the classmates, for an instant all of them had appearances of “Who is that?”

Looking at their reactions, Yuuto replied with “He is Shinra Minato. The one, who sits on the seat besides Kirasaka-san.” With these words, everyone understood and uttered “That guy…”.

“He will be coming soon, so start preparing! If we win this one, it is the overall victory!”

“Ohhhh!!!”

Like a sports manga, to Yuuto’s words, the classmates responded with huge cheers. That was a quite heated up line, capable of pushing people away, but when Yuuto says it, it can only be heard as cool.

The opponent team also started stretching and warming up, waiting for the kick off to begin.

Before long, a single student could be seen running from the building, approaching here. Without hesitation, he entered the court and proceeded towards the place where students of Class 3 gathered.

“I kept you guys waiting!”

The student arriving underneath them, announced it with the greatest pose.

Yes… He arrived underneath them…

“Yamada…? U..Uhh, Minato?

“Ah! I came in place of Shinra, to save you guys!”

Yamada-kun… will serve more than enough, in my place.

“As expected, you are the best.”

With the appearance of Yamada, the game begun. After half of the game time had elapsed, both teams were still scoreless. While watching the game for the third time from rooftop, Kirasaka was looking at me, happily.

“Yamada-kun is my secret weapon.”

With being loud more than necessary, holding the ball alone during the game, certainly the motivation had been going nowhere.

“That is a secret weapon, huh…”

A secret weapon, I threw out there with confidence. Kirasaka, who was watching Yamada-kun, didn’t seem interested somehow. However, she is misunderstanding. I had a good reason for putting in Yamada.

“Yamada is recognized by just not the class but the whole grade, as an idiot…”

“Which reminds me, he did a strange thing in the class as well.”

I wonder, if it is about the action Yamada took in the class, after the end of academic test.

Yamada, who is in the baseball club, only does club activities and even during the period of academic test, he seemed to have just played baseball only. As a result, he got the lowest rank in the class, with his marks. The homeroom teacher even told him in front of our classmates, to bring his parents for the parent-teacher meeting.

At that moment, he tore his examination paper into little pieces, raised a strange voice and jumped outside the class window. Even though it was the second floor1, he jumped down one floor and started running around the schoolyard, for some strange reason.

It seems like his father is very strict. If Yamada is not doing good at either school or club activities, he would get scolded, greatly.

Due to being scared of the interview between his father and the teacher, Yamada seemed to have taken that eccentric action. However the watching classmates, erupted in explosive laughter.

It spread throughout the whole grade. In one day, he was acknowledged as the number one idiot character of the grade.

“If it is that acknowledged idiot Yamada, then whatever he does basically, can only make others laugh…”

As for that evidence, loud laughter could be heard from the students watching the match. Earlier, there were only cheering for Yuuto, but now, it is overflowing with students laughing at Yamada, watching the bizarre match.

Misunderstanding that laughter to be encouragement towards him, Yamada kept chasing after the ball, with even more motivation.

“But, how were you able to call him? In this short period.”

“Ah.. I saw him playing catch-ball with guys of the baseball club, in front of the entrance. When Yuuto was calling me out, I was thinking of sending Yamada as the substitute.”

Beyond my sight, I saw Yamada’s head falling magnificently in front of the opponent’s goal and hitting the artistic pass from Yuuto. At a glance, the shot looked like a diving header and it shook against the opponent’s net, beautifully.

The sound of the referee’s whistle could be heard. Looking at the students surrounding Yamada, I thought of proudly boasting to Yuuto that this was thanks to me, passing the baton.

1. So, I don’t know if most of you guys know it already or not, but in Japan, there is no ground floor. The floor starts with 1st, 2nd and so on. This is why, he is jumping from 2nd floor, but only 1 floor down.