Early morning on the second day of the training camp.
Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I check the time on my phone.
It’s only five in the morning. I woke up early for once.
“…Huh?”
I notice a notification under the clock on the lock screen, tap it, and the Lime app opens on its own.
“From Sasaki…?”
I read the message she sent me on Lime.
“…Guess I’ve got no choice.”
After confirming that my two roommates are still asleep, I quietly leave the hotel.
Even though it’s already early May, there’s still a chill in the air.
Zipping my tracksuit all the way up, I head toward the seaside park near the hotel.
Along the way, I spot a familiar figure from behind and call out.
“Morning, Sasaki.”
“Kyaa! …Makishima?”
When I suddenly speak to her, Sasaki—disguised as usual—jumps in surprise.
“Why are you so startled?”
“Well…”
“You’re the one who called me out, aren’t you?”
“I didn’t call you out! I just thought maybe we could go for a morning walk together!”
“Yeah, yeah. In other words, you were lonely.”
“That’s not it!”
It’s been a while since we last met, but she looks as energetic as ever.
She’s wearing a light, summery dress now… and she smells sweet.
The same sweet scent Aihara had yesterday.
We walk together through the seaside park, still mostly empty this early in the morning.
“You didn’t tell me you were staying at this hotel. How did you know?”
“I heard it from Aihara-san.”
“Aihara?”
“Yeah. Yesterday, Aihara-san came to the hot spring at the hotel I’m staying at, so we talked then.”
“You went into the hot spring together?”
“Y-Yeah, we did… You’re not thinking anything weird, right?”
“I’m not!”
“Really? Knowing you, Makishima, weren’t you imagining me and Aihara-san washing each other’s bodies or something?”
I hadn’t imagined anything suspicious at all.
But now that she said it, I can’t help imagining it.
“You just imagined it, didn’t you?”
“I-I didn’t.”
“Liar.”
“No! Yesterday, Aihara smelled like you, so I thought maybe you’d gone into the hot spring together!”
“M-My… smell?”
Sasaki tilts her head, frowning slightly.
“You can tell things like that?”
“No— I mean… s-sorry, that was creepy, wasn’t it?”
Coming back to my senses, I realize I said something pretty gross and apologize.
“Hey, what do I smell like?”
“Huh?”
“Tell me. What kind of smell?”
“W-What kind…”
Sasaki leans closer as she asks.
“It’s sweet, but not unpleasant… I don’t know, it kind of makes me feel calm.”
“Hmm.”
Sasaki looks at me from the corner of her eye with a faint smile.
Damn it… that’s the face she makes when she’s asserting dominance!
“So you sniff my scent and feel relaxed, huh?”
“Stop turning me into some kind of scent-fetish pervert.”
“I went into the hot spring with Aihara-san.”
“Why are you suddenly going back to that?”
The mystery of why Aihara smelled like Sasaki was solved, but in exchange, a misunderstanding was born.
“Was it really okay going into the hot spring with Aihara? Didn’t she notice your face?”
“It was fine, totally fine!”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. It was a bit risky, but I managed to bluff my way through.”
Bluff…?
Don’t tell me she almost got found out.
“More importantly, Makishima, your goal yesterday was amazing! You scored right after the match started. As expected of you.”
Sasaki praises me sincerely.
Man… that makes me really happy.
I barely manage to suppress the grin creeping onto my face.
“Today’s match will decide a lot about the future.”
“I see…”
Sasaki lightly taps my back.
“A little motivation boost. I’m going to watch too, so score lots of goals today as well.”
“…Yeah. I definitely will.”
Honestly, if I don’t score, there’s no path for me to reach Team A.
No matter how it happens, I have to score and make it to Team A.
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