Golden Week began, and it was the first day of the training camp.
The annual Golden Week camp always caused heavy traffic, so the players were gathered at four in the morning and headed to Chiba.
In contrast to me, who had gone to bed early knowing this, Azaki—whose hair was even messier than usual—rubbed his eyes sleepily.
“Are you really gonna be okay looking like that, Azaki?”
“C’mon, man~. Yaaawn. I was having fun with a girl until just a bit ago, so cut me some slack.”
“Hey! Do you even understand how important these three days are?!”
“Ahh! You’re so noisy. Jealousy from a cherry boy is such a pain.”
“I’m not jealous!”
The coach arrived, and one by one the players boarded the bus, departing for Chiba.
Azaki, Aihara, and I ended up sitting together in the five-seat row at the very back.
I gave Aihara the window seat on the left, so I naturally thought Azaki would want to sit next to her.
But instead—
“Makishima, you sit there.”
For some reason, he gave me the seat next to Aihara.
“What’s with you? That’s not like you at all.”
“I mean… y-you know. It’s embarrassing to let the girl you like see your sleeping face, right?”
Azaki said that while scratching his messy hair, looking oddly shy.
You’re a playboy, yet you turn into a maiden at moments like this?
“If that’s how you feel, you should’ve just slept properly.”
“I never thought I’d get to sit next to Aihara-san! If I knew this would happen, I would’ve stopped after the fourth round.”
This guy’s hopeless. I want to break up this duo right now.
Azaki stretched his legs across the three empty seats on the right and started sleeping elegantly.
“Aihara, is it okay if I sit here?”
“Y-yeah.”
I sat between Azaki and Aihara, like a divider.
“Aren’t you sleepy, Aihara?”
“Not really. I often wake up early to watch overseas soccer, so I’m used to it.”
“I-I see. That’s impressive. I’m bad with both mornings and nights, so I usually rewatch overseas matches later.”
“Actually, I’m bad at nights too… I often plan to watch after waking up, or I leave the TV on and fall asleep.”
“I totally get that. When you wake up, the streaming site logo is just sitting there on a black screen.”
“Exactly! It doesn’t turn off on its own even if you fall asleep. And the lights are still on too, so the guilt doubles.”
“Right?”
As we got caught up in the conversation, Azaki—who had been using my arm as a pillow—bumped the back of his head against me.
Then he muttered in a low voice, “You NTR bastard.”
We were just talking about soccer.
“Makishima-kun, you’ve been doing some kind of strange special training with Azaki-kun lately, right? Like a free-kick option.”
“Ah, yeah… It’s not anything that big. Just thought it might work if we get lucky.”
I glanced at Azaki, only to see him already asleep with an eye mask on.
He told me to keep that free kick a secret from the others for now.
“More importantly, Aihara, did you go watch the last East Flow match?”
“Yeah. The first half felt like we might lose, but winning with Kurita-san’s direct volley in stoppage time was such a relief.”
Because of Sasaki, I only followed the second half via text updates, but was it really that amazing a shot?
“I guess we owe that win to MIZUKI coming as the goddess of victory for the halftime show?”
“M-MIZUKI…”
Just hearing the name made things awkward.
“Makishima-kun, do you like MIZUKI?”
“W-well, I guess… about average.”
“Really? Then did you listen to the new song MIZUKI uploaded yesterday?”
“A new song?”
“Yeah! If you haven’t yet… want to listen together?”
Aihara held out one side of her earphones that were plugged into her phone.
I wasn’t particularly interested in MIZUKI, but refusing felt rude.
I took the earphone and listened to MIZUKI’s song together with Aihara.
“You were the number one star shining in the sky that everyone admired—compared to you, I’m just an empty can fallen by the roadside~”
She really is a great singer.
“We met up at the station, waiting for you to arrive—”
Wait. Hold on. That lyric just now.
“You came over shyly, hiding your face—”
Hey, no way… This is definitely about that date with Sasaki.
Did she write this song using that date as reference, knowing Sasaki was Kiraboshi…?
We broke up on bad terms, and yet her mental strength is unreal.
“I’m such a hopeless, useless, trash of a man—”
Why does the guy who’s clearly supposed to be me keep getting called an “empty can,” a “useless man,” and “trash”…?
Yeah, I get it. MIZUKI is definitely pissed at me over that whole thing.
“As usual, you grabbed my pinky, and I turned red—”
I don’t always do that! And I wasn’t turning red!
“Makishima-kun, what’s wrong? Your face is red.”
“I-I’m not red… I’m not.”
“?”
Listening to this in front of Aihara—what kind of punishment game is this?! Is there a hidden camera somewhere?!
Man… listening to a song based on my date with Sasaki together with another girl from school—if you think about it normally, that’s Azaki-level messed up.
“S-sorry, Aihara!”
I pulled out the earphone and handed it back to her.
“I-I’m actually not great with love songs.”
“…Oh? Makishima-kun is surprisingly pure. That’s cute.”
Aihara laughed, and my face grew even hotter.
I really don’t want Sasaki to hear this song.
✳︎✳︎
Today, to watch Makishima’s match, I took a regular line’s Green Car to Chiba, then rode a taxi for twenty minutes from the station to a large general sports stadium.
I sat down in the deserted, worn-out spectator seats that clearly hadn’t been well maintained, and looked out over the pitch.
I can’t wait to see Makishima in his uniform.
I opened my phone and gazed at a photo of Makishima that I’ve treasured for three years.
I need to take a new one today.
“Heh… miss, that’s a nostalgic photo you’ve got there.”
“Eek!”
I heard a rough voice from beside me and quickly closed my phone.
No one was sitting next to me just a moment ago—when did he get here?!
“Don’t peek at people’s phones! And… wait, mister, I think I’ve seen you somewhere before?”
“Huh? Oh, you’re that girl from before.”
“?”
“We met at the hospital the other day. Long time no see, black-mask oshiruko girl.”
Black mask I get, but oshiruko…?
“What does that even mean? Who are you?”
“Hey, there’s no way you’d forget an old man wearing lame sunglasses and a beat-up neck warmer like this!”
After getting mad on his own, the man steadied his rough breathing and wiped his fogged-up sunglasses.
The eyes I saw in that moment—
T-this person is…
“Mister, Ki—”
“Hm?”
“N-no, nothing!”
I’m sure of it. This man is—
Three years ago, when I went to Seishin Academy High School, there was a legendary coach of the high school soccer world who kept yelling during practice while holding a one-cup sake in his hand. (I remember thinking how crazy it was that someone like this was considered a legend.)
That former legend now wore black sunglasses and hid his face below the nose with a tattered neck warmer.
Why hide his face…? There must be some reason.
“Hey… judging from that photo earlier, could it be that you’re—”
Wait, did Kishihara-san realize that I’m Kiraboshi—
“A fan of Makishima Yuutaro?”
“…W-well, something like that.”
“Hahaha, so that guy finally got himself a fan. Yeah, he’s a good-looking kid.”
“Y-yeah.”
Kishihara-san lowered his neck warmer, pulled a flask from his pocket, and took a sip.
“Hey, mister! You can’t drink alcohol here—”
“It’s fine. It’s barley tea.”
“Barley tea?”
“I drank too much, collapsed, and got fired from my old job. Been sober ever since.”
“I figured.”
“Hm? What’s with that knowing tone?”
“N-nothing at all.”
That was close. I almost let it slip.
“So Maki’s got fans now, huh… Then recommending Kotou was the right call.”
“A-are you an acquaintance of Makishima-kun?”
Knowing he was Makishima’s mentor, I asked anyway.
Kishihara-san made a complicated expression and drained the rest of his barley tea.
“Nah. I’m just an old man who likes minor players.”
The voice of a grown man on the verge of tears.
There’s no way that meant nothing.
I don’t know what Coach Kishihara is doing now, but I’m sure he came here to watch Makishima play too.
“Look, miss. Maki’s coming out.”
“Huh?”
A strong wind blew.
Riding that wind, the crimson number eighteen appeared at the center of the pitch.
Just like three years ago, I raised my phone camera and pointed it at Makishima.
✳︎✳︎
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