1
A few days had passed since the mysterious two-member group, the “Club-Quitters Alliance,” was formed, but so far, there hadn’t been anything you could actually call “activity.”
Then again, what would even count as activity for something like this?
One morning, as I left my apartment to head to school and reached the stairs, I heard quick, light footsteps coming down from the upper floor.
I didn’t really know who lived in this apartment complex, but there was only one person upstairs who might be heading out around this time.
“Ah, Sakura!”
As I waited, the person rounded the landing—and, just as I expected, it was Minase Mishio. When she spotted me, her face lit up with a cheerful smile.
“Yo.”
I raised my hand in greeting.
“Taaah!”
Minase bounded down the stairs, and halfway down, she let out that strange little battle cry and jumped. She landed right in front of me—and without a moment’s hesitation, threw her arms around me in a tight hug.
“Good morning!”
“Whoa—!”
I instinctively shook her off and leapt back.
“Rude!”
She stomped her foot and pointed at me, glaring.
“That reaction is seriously rude.”
“No, yeah, maybe it is—but randomly hugging someone is kinda questionable too!”
“It’s just a greeting!”
Minase said, pouting in annoyance.
“Wait… you don’t do that with everyone, do you?”
“Nope. You’re the first, Sakura.”
I let out a small sigh of relief. If she went around doing that to every guy, she’d be mass-producing misunderstandings left and right. Still, her sense of personal space was completely broken.
“Anyway, perfect timing. I was just about to come invite you.”
Minase grinned mischievously.
“Damn it. Guess I should’ve left earlier.”
“You jerk!”
Ignoring her mock outrage, I started down the stairs. She quickly followed behind.
Once we stepped out through the apartment entrance and onto the street, Minase came up beside me.
“You should be grateful, you know. Not everyone gets to walk to school with a cute girl.”
She muttered that with a bit of a smirk. …Did she seriously just call herself cute?
Well, she probably didn’t mean anything by it. Minase really was undeniably cute, but she never acted like someone who was aware of her looks or used them to her advantage. That “cute” was probably just something she said out of habit—a throwaway word.
“Don’t tell me you’re bad with girls or something?”
She looked at me curiously.
“Not really. I don’t think I’m that socially awkward.”
“Yeah, you seem fine. You talk with girls in class normally too. …So? Got a girlfriend? Or had one?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
Ever since upper elementary school, I’d been completely focused on soccer. I never had the time, nor the desire, for that kind of thing. And after quitting soccer last summer, I’d lost the motivation to do much of anything—dating included. Not that wanting one would’ve guaranteed I’d get one anyway.
“I see.”
Minase nodded like she’d figured something out.
After that, we walked in silence for a while.
“Hey—”
After a bit, I broke the silence first.
“What is it?”
She glanced at me.
“Uh… just to be clear, it’s not like I actually mind walking with you or anything.”
“I know that.”
She replied instantly.
I’d been bracing myself for an awkward pause, but she answered so naturally that I couldn’t help feeling relieved.
“What’s with that all of a sudden?”
“I just thought… if you didn’t realize I was joking before, that might’ve been awkward.”
At first, yeah, I really had wanted to avoid her if I could. Minase was cute, popular, and full of energy. Meanwhile, after quitting soccer, I’d basically turned into a dull background character. We couldn’t have been more different.
But after seeing her casually invite me over, and the way she said “come to my place” or “I’ll come to yours” like it was nothing, I realized how pointless it was to keep defining us as people from different worlds.
And now… honestly, I didn’t think spending time with her was bad at all.
“I’m not exactly the most oblivious person, but if I ever cross the line or make you uncomfortable, just tell me, okay?”
“Yeah, I will.”
Judging from how she’d been so far, I doubted it would come to that.
Maybe… it’s because we’re similar.
The thought just came to me.
Maybe the reason I didn’t mind being around Minase was because she reminded me of another girl I used to know.
I’d told her earlier that I never had a girlfriend—but I did have a close female friend once. That was back in elementary school, though, and we lost touch after I moved away.
Just like I was always kicking a soccer ball around, she was always flying and spinning on her BMX bike. She was wild, energetic—honestly, she acted more like a boy than most boys. We were more like best friends than anything else.
And now, somehow, my relationship with Minase Mishio felt a little like that one from back then.
2
I got on the train from the nearest station, standing as it rocked for three stops.
Along with other students wearing the same school uniform, I got off the train and followed the flow of people toward the ticket gate.
“Ah.”
Just before the ticket gate—right where the crowd of passengers bottlenecked—Minase let out a small sound.
“What is it?”
I asked, following her gaze, but all I saw was the usual stream of people heading for the exit. I couldn’t tell what had caught her attention.
“Asahi—!”
Minase waved her hand and shouted what sounded like someone’s name.
Several people turned at once, but the one who reacted most noticeably was a girl from Kazamigaoka High. Her sharp, well-defined features gave her a slightly stern impression, but she was definitely beautiful. That must be the girl Minase was calling out to.
The girl stopped when she saw Minase.
Her expression was… complicated. At first, she looked surprised, but it quickly turned into something that seemed angry, maybe even sad.
She looked like she wanted to say something, but just then, a woman—probably an office worker—bumped her shoulder lightly from behind. Using that as an excuse, the girl turned away sharply and walked off, passing through the gate and out of the station.
“Ahh…”
Minase stopped walking. Her raised hand hung awkwardly in the air.
“Come on, let’s go. We’re blocking the way here.”
“Ah, yeah. You’re right.”
When I prompted her, Minase obediently started walking again. I followed her through the gate, sliding my pass case into my school bag as I caught up beside her.
“You know her?”
“Yeah. We used to be in the drama club together.”
“I see.”
Not that knowing who she was changed anything now.
“She’s probably mad at me.”
Minase said with a wry smile.
“Mad?”
“Yeah. She’s serious about everything, so… she’s probably upset that I quit the club so easily.”
Getting angry just because she quit? That seemed like only part of it. There must’ve been a reason things turned out that way—something that made Minase decide to leave, and something that made that girl direct her anger at her. Still, it wasn’t really my place to pry into it.
Students from Kazamigaoka, spilling out of the station in one big group, gradually spread out as our walking speeds differed. Soon, there was a comfortable distance between everyone ahead and behind.
Unusually, Minase fell silent, and our conversation faded. Just as the quiet was starting to feel awkward—
“Mishio—!”
A voice called out from behind. A girl’s voice. I recognized it faintly, probably a classmate. Relief washed over me.
“I’ll go on ahead.”
“What are you saying? We should walk together till the end!”
As I tried to speed up and leave her, Minase grabbed my arm.
“Hey, come on. Your friend’s here.”
“She’s a friend, but she’s also a classmate. You don’t need to act all distant, Sakura.”
“Friend of a friend is a friend,” huh? Before I could reply, the girls had already caught up to us.
“Morning, Mishio!”
“Morning.”
Minase greeted them back.
“Morning, Aoi-kun.”
“Morning.”
Two girls had caught up from behind—both classmates. To avoid blocking the sidewalk, they walked just behind us.
“Kuki-kun told us—you and Mishio live close to each other, right?”
We only talked occasionally, but they spoke casually enough. Apparently, Kuki had done some skillful information control. With his popularity, no one would doubt what he said.
“Yeah, though I don’t know exactly where.”
“Still, it was such a surprise running into each other at the station!”
Minase chimed in right after.
We’d already agreed on this story beforehand. Living nearby, but not knowing the exact address—it helped me dodge questions from other guys about where she lived. A simple “No idea” worked fine.
“Hey, listen to this! Sakura’s so mean—she’s known we live close since last year but never said anything!”
“Mishio stands out too much.”
“Yeah, she totally does. It’s hard to approach her, you know?”
The two girls laughed and tried to calm Minase down.
Minase was cute, and she drew attention wherever she went. Even if people heard rumors about a beautiful girl and finally saw her in person, unless you were someone like Kuki, most guys were basically background characters to her.
“Now that I think about it, I’m actually getting kinda annoyed. You could’ve at least said something sooner.”
“We were in different classes last year.”
Minase puffed her cheeks at me, but I ignored her. The two girls behind us snickered.
“Oh, right! Aoi-kun, you were in the soccer club, weren’t you?”
One of them asked. …That must’ve come from Kuki too. Guess he’d shared more than he should’ve.
“You were really good, right? I heard your middle school team went to nationals!”
“Wow, seriously?”
This time, Minase looked at me curiously. I’d never talked about it since quitting, so this was news to her.
“Just an old glory story.”
I did feel a bit of pride, though. Leading an ordinary public middle school soccer team all the way to nationals—that had been my doing. But since I’d quit, I didn’t feel like bragging about it anymore.
“Then why did you—”
“Hey, don’t ask that. Everyone’s got things they don’t want to talk about.”
Minase cut her off before she could finish. Yeah, she was probably going to ask why I quit.
“Oh, right… sorry.”
She backed off easily enough.
When I looked at Minase, she met my eyes and smiled—a confident, almost reassuring smile.
Before long, we arrived at school. Just as I was about to enter the classroom—
“Whoa.”
Someone was coming out at the same time, and we nearly collided in the doorway. I jumped back quickly and looked up to see who it was—
“Yu—!”
I caught my breath.
Standing there was Koreda Murasakiko.
She looked surprised at first, but once she realized it was me, her expression went cold. Her eyes were sharp and distant.
Without a word, Koreda looked away and walked off down the hall.
“She looked kinda upset…”
Beside me, Minase murmured as we watched her back disappear.
“Can’t blame her. I’ve been acting pretty flashy lately.”
Ever since Minase and I started hanging out, people had gotten used to seeing us together. Thanks to Kuki’s influence, no one thought much of it anymore. Once a passionate soccer idiot turned gloomy recluse—now a flashy guy hanging around with a pretty girl. I wondered what she saw when she looked at me now.
There was no point staring after Koreda, so I entered the classroom. Without a word, Minase and I split up and headed for our seats.
“Yo. You were with Minase again today, huh?”
Kuki was waiting at my desk, leaning casually against it.
I’d once called myself a sweaty soccer freak. I’d devoted myself to the sport and earned some recognition. Kuki, on the other hand, was a *refreshing* soccer freak. Maybe it was his skin tone—sunburnt to a healthy bronze—that gave him that wild, yet friendly aura. His open, likable nature helped too.
“Just today.”
I nudged him lightly with my school bag to make him move.
“Oh yeah?”
“She’s just unpredictable.”
I sat down as I answered.
Honestly, it was true. She didn’t always wait for me, and sometimes we just happened to meet on the way. I didn’t really mind.
“You’re getting dragged along, huh.”
“Maybe. But it’s easygoing, so I don’t care.”
At first, I did feel like she was dragging me around, but not anymore. Once you got used to her moods, it wasn’t so bad.
“Huh. Maybe you two actually get along.”
“Who knows.”
I didn’t say the rest aloud—that we were both part of the same “Quit-the-Club Alliance.” Not that I even knew what that alliance was supposed to accomplish anyway.
Post a Comment