CH 53

Stop dawdling.

Translated by Dawn

Stop dawdling.

As it turned out, it was farther than I expected.

I underestimated the distance, thinking it was just three stations, but for me, a member of the homecoming club who lacked exercise, it was an overwhelmingly tough journey. Coupled with the scorching heat, the destination station felt endlessly far away.

Still, I continue moving my legs like a zombie, and suddenly my phone vibrates.

It was the sound indicating an incoming call from LIME. Who could be calling at a time like this, I wonder, as I tilted my head inwardly and answer the phone. Of course, I didn’t stop moving my legs.

“…Yes, hello?”

“Hey, Akihito.”

The voice I heard over the phone was, as expected, Shuji.

Shuji continued in his usual tone.

“I’m going to ask you something weird, but where are you right now?”

“Huh? What’s up all of a sudden?”

“Well, I saw you on the train this morning. I missed the chance to call out to you at that time, but I was curious because you were going in the opposite direction of the school.”

“…Why on earth were you on the same train?”

In response to my natural question, Shuji answered as if it was nothing.

“I’m on a club outing. We don’t have a bus, you know, in our club.”

“…Oh, I see.”

“So? What happened?”

After hesitating for a moment, I quickly explained the situation to Shuji.

Since I had already revealed everything to him yesterday, he was already aware of what was going on.

“…………”

“…..What is it?”

“….Pfft.”

After listening to the whole story, Shuji fell silent for a while.

When I started to wonder what was going on, he suddenly burst into laughter.

“Ahaha! I never expected Akihito to be such a fool!”

“Hey, don’t just casually insult me.”

“No, no, it’s not an insult. I used ‘fool’ in a positive sense.”

“You think you can get away with anything as long as you add ‘positive sense’ to it?”

“That’s not true at all! I really meant it in a positive way, seriously.”

While saying that, Shuji continued to burst into laughter.

Well, I can’t really trust you if you keep laughing like that.

Well, the time was quietly running out.

I felt bad for Shuji, who showed concern for me, but I think I’d end the call for now.

“Hey, Shuji. I’m in a bit of a hurry right now, so I’ll—”

“Oh, about that… Akihito, can you send me your current location on LIME?”

“……Why?”

“Well, I have something in mind.”

“……Fine.”

After thinking for a moment, I sent my current location to Shuji as requested.

I didn’t know what he was thinking, but it was Shuji we were talking about.

I believe he wouldn’t do anything bad.

As soon as my message was marked as read, Shuji muttered to himself.

“So you’re here. I wonder how it is right now… Oh, looks like it’s possible. Lucky.”

“Huh? What?”

Without answering my question, Shuji continued.

“Sorry, I’ll hang up for now. Akihito, don’t move from there for a while, got it?”

“…Huh? No, I need to get closer to the airport even just a bit—”

“I know that. But for now, trust me. Well, see you later.”

“Hey, wait!”

In the end, Shuji didn’t answer any of my questions and hung up the call.

Seriously, that guy.

He only said what he wanted to say, and on top of that, “Don’t move from there for a while.”

As someone in a hurry, I wanted to ignore his nonsense, but…

“…What am I even thinking?”

I didn’t even know how to explain it myself, but my intuition was whispering to me to trust Shuji. I wonder why. Logically, I knew I should ignore his words and move forward.

—Maybe I really am a fool, just as Shuji said.

As I started to think that way, I felt a sense of relief, as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

That’s right, it was fine to be a fool.

Why did I need to pretend to be smart at this point? Sweating and running in this state without knowing if it would pay off, I was undoubtedly a fool.

Then I heard the sound of a car coming from behind.

I move aside to the side of the road and lean against a residential fence, catching my breath.

“But at least tell me your purpose.”

I muttered that toward Shuji.

I knew my voice wouldn’t reach him, but I couldn’t help but say it.

I closed my eyes.

If it had come to this, let’s wait patiently just as Shuji said.

***

I wonder how much time had passed.

Suddenly, the sound of a motorcycle engine, a loud “vroom,” could be heard from my right.

The sound gradually approached and stopped in front of me.

I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was a motorcycle shining black in the sunlight.

Next, I recognized the well-built man wearing a helmet riding the motorcycle.

He was dressed in black shorts and a white aloha shirt.

“That damn guy. Even though it’s a precious day off from club activities, he’s making me work…”

The man muttered complaints as he took off his helmet.

Then, a familiar shaved head came into view.

The man—Yamamoto—remained on the bike and rummaged through the front basket without looking at me. After a moment, he pulled out a different helmet from the basket and tossed it toward me.

Dumbfounded, I reflexively caught the helmet.

Yamamoto, as usual, still not looking at me, spoke bluntly.

“What are you spacing out for? You’re in a hurry, right? Get on the back already.”

“…Why are you here?”

There was too much information to process, and my brain couldn’t keep up.

I decided to ask the first thing that came to mind, and Yamamoto scratched his head vigorously in response.

“I want to know the same thing. I was planning to go out and have some fun today, but then someone suddenly asked me where I was and how long it would take to get from there to here. Luckily, it happened to be close by… That guy Ikeno, I swear I’ll kill him if I see him next time.”

“That’s… my condolences.”

I had just experienced Shuji’s forcefulness myself.

When I half-seriously said that, Yamamoto suddenly turned abruptly toward me.

“You’re a mess too, you know. What kind of stupid things are you doing at this time? When I heard from that guy Ikeno, I thought you were just being carried around. But here you really are.”

“…………”

I couldn’t say anything in the face of such a valid argument.

It was a bit vexing to think this way about Yamamoto, but that was just how it is.

Seeing me remain silent, Yamamoto let out a sigh.

He put his helmet back on and pointed to his back.

“Come on, stop dawdling.”

“Ah, yeah.”

I put on the helmet he handed me and obediently sat behind Yamamoto as instructed.

However, even though I sat down, I still didn’t quite know what to do.

After all, this was my first time riding as a passenger.

Ignoring my confusion, Yamamoto asked me.

“So, how far do I have to go?”

“Huh?”

“…Don’t tell me you were planning on using me all the way to the airport. Sorry, but that’s not happening. Besides, it’s probably faster to switch to a train somewhere along the way rather than going the entire distance on the bike. We can’t use the highway for two passengers, you know.”

“…Is that so?”

“Of course. That’s why you need to search for the shortest route right now.”

I didn’t know much about motorcycles, but apparently, it was a legal restriction. I wondered how it worked with two passengers, but according to Yamamoto, it was “probably okay.” I didn’t really get it. Also, I found it somewhat surprising that Yamamoto knew about these things.

I searched for the route and decided to get off at a station farther than originally planned.

Considering that it would be faster on the bike than walking, it seemed like the best choice. I showed Yamamoto the smartphone screen displaying the search results, and he nodded slightly, placing his hands on the handlebars.

I thought he would immediately twist the throttle, but instead, he just held the handlebars without doing anything.

I was puzzled, wondering why we weren’t leaving yet, when

“Put your hand over here. Do you want to be thrown off?”

Yamamoto said bluntly.

“Ah, yeah. So that’s what you meant.”

I obediently placed my hand around Yamamoto’s waist as instructed.

What is this? What’s happening?

Without realizing it, had I unknowingly stumbled into a romantic comedy scenario with Yamamoto?

“Alright, we’ll go full throttle right from the start.”

Yamamoto said, disregarding my confusion.

While I was praying for him not to go full throttle, Yamamoto finally turned the throttle.

At that moment, a memory from over two months ago suddenly came to mind.

It was probably when I went out with Satomi.

After meeting Yamamoto on the way back, Satomi mentioned something.

“Tsuyoshi probably has a motorcycle. He always rides one when he goes on trips.”

Was this what they call foreshadowing?

It felt a bit different somehow…