The day after the photo shoot, Azaki and I were heading toward the A Team’s field.
I couldn’t get used to the sight of Azaki’s shaved head walking beside me.
“Why don’t you shave your head too, Makishima? It’s cool and comfortable.”
“I’ll pass.”
“What the hell? Shave it and let all the girls around you get turned off too!”
“The reason people get turned off by you has nothing to do with your hair.”
“Ugh, gross. Creepy handsome guy. I hope Sasaki-san dumps you.”
Azaki kept talking trash while blowing bubbles with the gum he was chewing.
“You said you got your heart broken yesterday… did you give up on Aihara?”
“Yeah.”
“You were saying you’d never give up. What changed all of a sudden?”
“…I’m just tired. Aihara-san was more stubborn and single-minded than I expected. No matter how hard I tried, I realized she’d never turn around for a sloppy guy like me. Not in a million years.”
With a forced smile, Azaki rubbed his shaved head.
“Still, I thought that part of her was kind of interesting. I don’t really want to give up, but I don’t want to get in the way either.”
“Azaki…”
Sorry, but I couldn’t focus on what he was saying—my eyes kept drifting to his shaved head.
“What about you, Makishima? Did you and Sasaki-san go all the way?”
“Go—”
Of course we didn’t. I tried to deny it, but that kiss from the other day flashed through my mind.
“N-no…”
“I see. So you already kissed.”
“We didn’t!”
“Jeez, you’re all over each other. Don’t forget—I’m the love cupid who brought you two together.”
I don’t want a cupid this annoying.
While we were talking, the two of us arrived at the A Team’s field.
In front of the entrance stood a coach wearing his cap low.
“Good morning!”
“Morning. I’m Coach Tamura. I’ll be showing you around.”
After receiving an explanation about the A Team from Coach Tamura, we immediately joined the team and took part in practice.
“Your press is slow!”
“Sorry!”
“Hey, freshman with the shaved head! Drop back and help build up the play!”
“S-sorry!”
Once practice started, it turned into a day full of apologies.
Azaki, who’s good at getting along with people, already seemed to be fitting in, but I still hadn’t earned the trust of the senior players.
Even after the sun set, practice continued, and the lights were turned on for night training.
The A Team’s ball speed, physicality, tactics—every aspect was on a completely different level from Team B.
“Makishima Yuutaro, stay behind.”
“Y-yes.”
Barely keeping up with practice, I was singled out by the coach and told to stay for extra training.
Well… figures.
On the darkened field, I shook the net again and again, matching the coach’s crosses.
“One more.”
“Yes!”
I don’t have Azaki’s ball control or dribbling skills.
I want the kind of strength Azaki has—the kind that earns recognition from everyone…!
I met a cross coming in from the left with a perfectly timed header, slamming the ball into the ground and into the net.
“Makishima Yuutaro.”
Coach Murasaki walked over to me as I rested my hands on my knees.
“Yesterday, I said I expect more from you than from Azaki Seiichi. Do you know why?”
“I… don’t know, sir.”
Wiping the sweat away, I faced the coach.
“Makishima Yuutaro. Your first touch is poor, your dribbling is average. On top of that, your only weapon is poacher goals. Normally, you’re not the kind of player recruited through a sports recommendation.”
He calmly listed my flaws one by one.
All perfectly logical—so much so that it felt like salt being rubbed into an open wound.
“But that’s exactly why you’re good.”
“Huh?”
“Because you have nothing else, you believed in one talent and made it this far. Out of thirty crosses, you put twenty-eight on target. Even during the Golden Week matches, whenever you played, you were always involved in a goal.”
The coach kicked the ball up and caught it in his hands.
“Don’t try to do everything yourself. A complete division of labor is fine. Just show your ‘difference’ in front of goal—Makishima Yuutaro.”
The moment the coach handed me the ball, the fog in my head cleared all at once.
‘Stick to one weapon. Don’t become half-hearted.’
I’d been told the same thing back in high school by Coach Kishihara.
One weapon… is enough.
“What is it?”
“N-no, it’s just… my former coach told me the same thing once.”
“Kishihara?”
“You know him?!”
“Of course. He was my junior back in college.”
Oh, right… Kishihara-san went from Seishin Academy to Koutou, didn’t he?
“I want to repay Coach Kishihara. Because I wasn’t good enough, I couldn’t take him to nationals for three years.”
“If you want to repay him, that might happen sooner than you think.”
“What…?”
“He—”
Coach Murasaki stopped mid-sentence and frowned.
“You’ll understand in time.”
“Huh?”
“Resume training.”
At the coach’s command, the extra practice continued.
What did he mean… by ‘in time’?
✳︎✳︎
Tomorrow is Makishima’s match… I have to see him and tell him how I feel.
Since the day I kissed him, Makishima’s been busy with practice, and we haven’t been able to meet.
I need to properly tell him my feelings…
“Sasaki-chan, class is over?”
“Huh?”
I’d been absentmindedly listening to second period, and before I knew it, it was over.
Aihara-san, sitting next to me, peered at my face worriedly.
“You were totally spaced out the whole lecture. Are you okay?”
“S-sorry, Aihara-san. I’ve been short on sleep lately.”
“Oh… I-is that because you and Makishima-kun have been, um, doing stuff?”
“Makishima?”
“S-sorry! Forget I said anything!”
Aihara-san shook her head furiously, her face as red as an apple.
“You’ve got class in Room 301 next too, right, Sasaki-chan?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
We stepped into the hallway connecting to Building Three—
“Ow!”
Aihara-san collided with someone, and her class files scattered across the floor.
“I-I’m so sorry!”
As she gathered the handouts, she apologized to the person in front of her.
“No, it’s my fault. These sunglasses limit my vision.”
A woman with straight black hair, wearing light brown sunglasses, a men’s-style hoodie, and loose pants.
She quickly picked up Aihara-san’s papers, put them back in the file, and handed it to her.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you very much.”
When they both stood up, a strange sense of déjà vu hit me.
Wait… this person—
Time seemed to freeze as the woman and I stared at each other in silence.
“……”
“……”
No doubt about it.
This person—Mizuki-san.
B-but why is Mizuki-san here…?
I swallowed hard and steadied my shaken breathing.
“Aihara-san, go on to the classroom first. I’ll be a bit late.”
“Sasaki-chan?”
“I need to talk to this person.”
I motioned for the woman in sunglasses to follow me, but just as I started walking, my hand was grabbed from behind.
“D-don’t!”
Aihara-san was gripping my right hand tightly.
“Let go, Aihara-san.”
“I won’t!”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t just let my precious friend go off somewhere with some suspicious sunglasses-wearing stranger!”
“Aihara… san.”
“…Heh. You’ve got a good friend, Ayane.”
After checking that no one was around, Mizuki-san tossed aside her light brown sunglasses.
Her powerful gaze—one that draws in everyone—fell on me and Aihara-san.
“Huh…? M-MIZU—?!”
Aihara-san’s eyes widened as her hands trembled.
“What are you doing here, Mizuki-san?!”
“Should you really be keeping secrets from such a dear friend? Isn’t that a bit rude to her?”
“Tch…”
Mizuki-san has always been good with words.
She was the type who always made sure favors were repaid, and her quick thinking was exactly why she became the leader of GenesisStars.
“S-Sasaki-chan… what kind of relationship do you have with MIZUKI-san…?!”
Slowly, I removed my glasses and mask.
Facing Aihara-san properly, I finally revealed my face.
“I’m sorry, Aihara-san… I’m—”
“A-awawaw…!”
“Kiraboshi Ayane.”
So shocked she couldn’t even speak, Aihara-san looked like she was about to faint at any moment.
“Shall we change locations? Since you’ve seen us, your friend should come along too.”
I nodded slightly, put my mask and glasses back on, and took Aihara-san’s hand.
✳︎✳︎
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