High Speed!

Chapter 1 – Jump

Chapter 1 – Jump

The court was filled with a suffocating heat and heavy breathing.

The ball that was thrown from within the confused fight bounced off the ring, its vibrations making a sound and travelling through the air.

Among several hands stretching towards it, Asahi, who was a head taller, landed while holding the ball. Then, he shoots the ball without a moment’s delay.

“Nanase, swift attack!”

Haruka had already started running the moment Asahi touched the ball.

The ball flies to where he runs to. Kicking off with his left foot, Haruka’s right hand, that had stretched as far as it could, catches the ball.

Even if he flicks back his wrist, he doesn’t let go of the ball, as if it was stuck to him. He slaps the ball onto the floor, throwing it from his elbow. 

A sound that was so loud that it hurt echoed in his ears. He holds down the ball that bounces up by force. Holding it down, he runs while slapping it down again. The sound of the ball that continuously echoes overlapping with the sound of Haruka kicking the floor keeps a high-speed beat.

There are two people on defense––.

Ikuya was in front of Haruka, blocking his way. He has a small stature, but in contrast to his appearance, his moves are good. He had already cut into pa.s.ses three times. He glares at Haruka from beneath his long eyelashes with piercing eyes.

Haruka kept running without stopping his momentum. If he stopped here, the defense formation would catch up in an instant and the long-awaited swift attack would end up losing its meaning.

When he came so close to Ikuya that he thought he’d crash into him, Kisumi called for a pa.s.s with miraculous timing.

“Nanase-kun, over here!”

For a second, Ikuya’s awareness strayed towards Kisumi. At the same time, Haruka crosses his left foot and turns his back to the defense like that. While making a turn so he mostly comes in contact, transferring the bounced ball from his right hand to his left, he slips by on Ikuya’s right side.

Even if he can follow Haruka going farther away with his gaze, he shouldn’t be able to shift his center of gravity in time. Ikuya’s hand grasping at the empty air disappears from Haruka’s field of vision.

The only one left is Makoto standing underneath the hoop.

“Nanase-kun!”

Kisumi runs parallel to him. But in Haruka’s eyes, Makoto was the only one he saw.

Makoto lying in wait up-front for Haruka running head-on––.

Makoto also doesn’t think in the least that Haruka will make a pa.s.s.

The sound of the ball slapping the floor echoes not in his ears, but directly in his body. The sound amplifies Haruka’s heartbeat and runs through him alongside the heat.

He has no intention of swinging from left to right. He’s up against Makoto. Boring cheap tricks don’t work on him. He’s not the kind of opponent he can slip past unless he overcomes his limits.

Stepping in front of Makoto with his right foot, he leapt vertically. Pulling back his left shoulder at the same time, he holds the ball high over his head.

Matching it, Makoto jumped, too. Then, raising both hands, he takes up an intercepting stance.

Adding the difference of their jumping power to the difference in height and the length of his arms, he becomes a hopeless wall and oppresses Haruka. Haruka looks back at Makoto looking down on him. The sweat that gushes out scattering, it’s impossible to tell who it belongs to.

For a second, the two of them lost gravity, as if they were pushed up by the wind.

When he was still rising during the jump, Haruka pulls the ball to his stomach and pa.s.ses it to his right hand like that. Makoto’s eyes follow the ball. Haruka’s right hand swung up from his stomach to the side, drawing an arc. Obeying the law of inertia, the ball that was released from his hand loosely dances in mid-air and gravity pulls back Haruka and Makoto.

Haruka and Makoto land. The two look up––.

The ball was sucked in by the ring, as if it was gently put there.

 *

“Haru!”

Where they came out from the gym, Makoto called out to him from behind. Since girls and boys were divided for the middle school P.E. lessons, Haruka’s Cla.s.s 1 and Makoto’s Cla.s.s 2 had their lesson together.

“Nice shot!”

While putting up his right hand, he overtakes Haruka.

–– What’s he calling a nice shot?

It was just the last one at the very end that he made. The rest were all blocked. While wondering if even Makoto could be sarcastic, as he was looking at his back running off, he looked back at Haruka once.

“Because Music is next.”

–– What’s that excuse for?

Perhaps he thought that Haruka was curious about Makoto’s reason for hurrying. Makoto isn’t the only one running. Everyone from Cla.s.s 2 was running. While unanimously saying “music, music”.

“Nanase––”

Being called, he turns around. Shiina Asahi was running from the gym. On the day of the entrance ceremony, he acted over-familiarly by saying things like “you’re the type who doesn’t have any friends, huh” and he’s been following him about ever since. In today’s basketball game as well, he made all the pa.s.ses to Haruka. He didn’t even ask for it.

As he approaches with light steps, he walked beside him, trying to lean on him.

“How is it, my rebound?”

Is he talking about the jump from underneath the hoop? Even if he asks “how is it”, he can only answer by saying that he jumped.

“It was cool.”

He speaks the words he wishes to hear. Perhaps that’ll satisfy him. If he’s satisfied, he wants him to go off to somewhere else.

“Hehe. It really was, wasn’t it? Well, you completely wasted my pa.s.ses though.”

His hair strangely spiky, his eyebrows are trimmed thin. It’s clearly against the school rules. Whenever a teacher warns him, he says nonsense like “it’s bed hair”. The tips of his pointy hair were right at the same height as Haruka’s head.

“What if you joined the basketball club. Shiina, you’re good at it.”

It’d save him some trouble if he’d start playing a wholesome sport and do something about that hairstyle. It’s annoying how it’s about to poke his eyes out and he can’t do anything about it.

“Oh, you do get it, Nanase. Nah, I was thinking that maybe I’d get invited sooner or later, too.  But we have the swim club, so I’m stumped.”

Asahi goes to the Bandou Swimming Club and he was at the previous tournament, too. He proudly said that he overtook Haruka in the medley relay preliminaries. Haruka thinks that if he’s going to boast, he should do it elsewhere. There’s nothing to say in front of the person in question. Besides, if the conversation ends up going that far, what could he be intending to do? It’s not like he doesn’t understand the feeling of wanting to secure a position of superiority at least a little, but that’s a double-edged sword. Of course, Haruka didn’t remember Asahi at all. 

“Nanase-kun!”

Shigino Kisumi came running with a refreshing smile. He’s also in Cla.s.s 1. Since he’s joining the basketball club, he played a very active part in the match just now.

“Sorry about that just now. For not pa.s.sing.”

He makes the first move to Kisumi who was still out of breath. That sort of thing probably hurts the pride of the basketball club. Because ignoring his call to Haruka for a pa.s.s, he denied the possibility of a pa.s.s until he reached Makoto.

“It’s fine, something like that. It was an awesome shot, right? What if you joined the basketball club?”

The tips of the spiky hair swayed weirdly.

“He’s not joining. Both Nanase and I are busy. Isn’t that right, Nanase?”

Putting aside being busy or not, he wasn’t intending to do club activities anyway. He didn’t like that it would cut down his swimming time, and at this stage, he doesn’t see the point of doing anything other than swimming. Things like basketball, what would he be doing them for? Run and shoot. What meaning could be in that? If it’s just enjoying the outcome of the game, then just the time spent in P.E. is enough.

“Asahi was awesome, too. You got most of the rebounds, right?”

“Well yeah. Wait, why are you being so familiar and calling me by my first name? Without a honorific, even. For the most part, I’m talking to you for the first time right now.”

“Why not, it’s no big deal. Oh, that big kid from Cla.s.s 2 just now,  ––what’s his name?”

He’s probably talking about Makoto.

“The one who blocked all of Nanase-kun’s shots.”

That got on his nerves a little, but he tried to keep it from showing on his expression.

“Tachibana Makoto.”

It showed in his voice a little.

“Ohh, so he’s called ‘Makoto’…… He called Nanase-kun ‘Haru’, right?”

From the flow of the conversation, he can read where it’s headed. Denying it is a pain, if they want to call him that, it doesn’t matter what they call him. If possible, he thinks that it would be better if there were less situations where they call him by his first name. He thinks it would be much better if they didn’t take advantage of this to follow him around more.

“Can I call you ‘Haru’, too?”

“You, you came later, so don’t try to be so friendly all of a sudden.”

Asahi’s the same.

“What does it matter, Asahi.”

“I told you, don’t call me by my first name. You say something too, Nanase.”

“I don’t particularly mind.”

“Wao, Haru’s quick to understand, huh?”

“W-wait up. Then, let me call you ‘Haru’, too.”

“Do as you please.”

“Then, call me Kisumi, too.”

“Ugh, it sounds like kiss me. What a dirty name.”

Without refuting it, Kisumi smiled at Asahi with the whites of his teeth showing.

They cut across beside the spiraea. They’re probably as tall as Haruka. In round cl.u.s.ters, several of the small white flowers were blooming. It left an impression how it turned white so only that place stood out, without mixing with the color of the old school building or with the surrounding green. While bathing in the light of the spring warmth gently shining down, the drooping spiraea were swaying in the faint breeze.

 *

The way home from Iwatobi Middle School lead mostly through fields of crops. With barely any real undulations, on the road that just stretched evenly ahead, sometimes, there were family houses built intermittently. The wind from the sea filled with the scent of the seawater, it was so thick that you couldn’t help but think that if you listened closely, you could maybe even hear the sound of waves crashing.

The smooth ridges of Minogaseyama visible in the distance, continuing until they reach Kuragakeyama at last, dyed those hillsides throughout the year in the colors of each season. Especially now, the light green is arranged in a delicate shade, it shows a brindled expanse like a smudged watercolor painting. Near the peak of the mountain, it seems the cherry blossoms have finally arrived and it was melting together with the sky in a dulled blur.

Perhaps it’s a lark. Letting out a cry, it soars high into the sky. Without really looking at it, Haruka was following it with his eyes, he felt like he was about to lose his depth perception to the bright blue of the sky.

“––Haru”

Walking beside him, Makoto called out to him.

“What.”

“Did you decide on a club?”

“Nah, haven’t thought about it.”

If it weren’t for Asahi, he thinks that it would be enough as long as he had the swimming club.

“I was invited to the basketball club, but what do you think?”

He asks, lifting his up-slanting eyebrows that seem good-natured. If he wants to do it, he should. Even if Makoto was invited to the basketball club, why does Haruka have to think something of it.

“Nothing really.”

Replying brusquely, he shows that he’s not interested.

“Listen, Shigino-kun in Haru’s cla.s.s––”

Apparently, Kisumi invited him.

“During P.E., he was on the same team as Haru, right?”

He knows without being reminded.

“He came to my cla.s.s during lunch break, and then, he said that there aren’t many first years.”

Of course there aren’t. For every club, they accept trial members from today. All of April is a trial period, officially joining a club is from the end of the consecutive holidays in May.

“At this rate, he’s worried that when we become third years, there might not be enough members.”

In contrast to his appearance, it seems that he has quite the hasty personality. There probably isn’t another first year like him who’d worry about what happens two years from now.

“What should I do, Haru?”

“If you want to join, then do it.”

“But you know, then I won’t be able to go to the Swimming Club as much, no?”

“Do the one you want to do.”

“But you know, I don’t intend on quitting the Swimming Club.”

It seems that inside Makoto, he already has the answer.

“So that’s why I’m thinking of declining after all––”

Cutting off his words at an odd spot, he seeks Haruka’s reaction. If he doesn’t intend on playing basketball, he won’t say something so roundabout. Before he knew it, the choice of picking the Swimming Club or picking the basketball club is being switched with the choice of picking Haruka or picking Kisumi. No, maybe if Haruka switches it, it’s just that Makoto will go ahead and get the wrong idea.

In short, he’s just declaring his intentions that “I want to try playing basketball, but I’m taking Haruka into consideration, too”. How ridiculous.

“Try basketball.”

“Really? Can I?”

 Lifting his up-slanting eyebrows that seem good-natured, he shows a smile.

“Do as you please.”

“Thanks, Haru.”

He doesn’t remember doing anything to be thanked for.

Dandelions were blooming on the roadside. He learned about them in science cla.s.s today. They’re perennials. He thought that they just wither after the fluff is blown away, but apparently they keep living in the winter with just their leaves and roots. What’s more, those roots reach pretty deep into the ground. Perhaps their strength to get back up even after being stepped on comes from this stubborn vitality. Looking at them like that, their English name of dandelion makes sense. Apparently, it means ‘the fangs of a lion’, they’re far tougher than they look.

He tries to put Makoto in the place of the dandelion. He thought that the side of him that’s tougher than it looks fits quite well. It’s a new discovery.

 *

Haruka’s house and Makoto’s house are next to each other on both sides of the stone steps of the approach continuing to Misagozaki Shrine, holding it between them. The first torii [Shinto shrine archway] is around halfway up the stone steps, the chouzuya [ritual hand-washing pavilion] is to the left and Haruka’s house is past the side of it.

You can’t reach the stone steps directly from Makoto’s house, the very bottom of the stone steps is where the stairs leading from the entranceway end. To get to Haruka’s house from there, you have to climb up again until the first torii.  That’s why Makoto always waited at the bottom of the stone steps.

As always, they run to the Iwatobi Swimming Club. Changing clothes right after they get home from school, they put the necessary things in their bags and leave the house. That’s how it was.

When Haruka pa.s.sed by the side of the chouzuya and out the first torii, Makoto was fooling around with a black dog at the very bottom of the stone steps.

“What’s with that dog?”

He asked Makoto while descending the stone steps.

“Ah, Haru. I don’t know, but it looks like a stray dog.”

“Didn’t it run away from some house?”

“I don’t think so. Since it doesn’t have a collar, I’m sure it was thrown out.”

“Maybe an ownerless dog came down from the mountain.”

Though he called it an ownerless dog, it was originally a pet dog that was thrown out and became a wild dog. Since there are ownerless dogs like that in this area, sometimes there were flyers distributed that call people’s attention to it. Unlike in the downtown area, capturing dogs that have turned wild is difficult, in most cases, if there aren’t any damages, they let them be as they are.

“I don’t think that’s it, either. It has a good coat of fur.”

a.s.suming that’s the case, it is a stray dog after all. If that’s so, then he doesn’t really mind. It has nothing to do with Haruka.

“Let’s go.”

“……Okay.”

While watching Makoto stand up as if he’s leaving his heart behind from the corner of his eyes, Haruka began to run.

Before they had run much on the windless, calm road alongside the coast, Makoto began to worry about the back. Even without listening closely, he hears the sound of footsteps.

“Hey, it’s coming along with us.”

“Because Makoto pays attention to it, it’s thinking that it might get food, isn’t it?”

“I wonder how far along it’ll come.”

Ask the dog.

“If it gets hungry, it’ll go off somewhere. Leave it alone.”

“…… Okay.”

When Haruka speeds up, the calm air was disturbed a little, turning into the wind and making the leaves of the white clovers sway.

 *

In the end, the dog ended up coming along with them until the Swimming Club. Because they sped up, both Haruka and Makoto ended up getting out of breath, their backs were greatly rising and falling with their hands on their knees. They kept on running with the dog urging them on. In spite of that, the dog in question was sitting with an unconcerned look.

“Haa, haa, you’re too fast, Haru.”

“We can’t, haa, keep running, haa, at Nagisa’s pace forever.”

They couldn’t match their time anymore after entering middle school, so they come separately from Nagisa. It seems that Nagisa still runs alone.

“That may be so, haa, but do you intend on, haa, joining the track and field club?”

“That’s not, haa, bad either. Let’s go.”

“Eeh, haa, are you serious? Haa, oh jeez Haru.”

When Haruka pa.s.ses through the automatic door of the Swimming Club, Makoto went after him. The dog sat motionlessly. It looks like it won’t come into the building. It might be properly trained not to do that. Perhaps it’s intending to wait there until they come out. Even if it waits for a while, when it gets hungry, surely it would go off somewhere. While thinking that, Haruka began to walk towards the changing room.

 *

When they went out to the poolside, Hazuki Nagisa came to cling to them.

“Yahho! Haru-chan, Mako-chan.”

“What were you swimming today?”

Makoto asked.

“Erm, the fly.”

He’s seen Nagisa’s b.u.t.terfly once. In those days, the b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke evolved into the b.u.t.terfly, but it seems that Nagisa is trying to evolve that b.u.t.terfly even further. If he tries hard enough, the day may be close when it’s recognized as a new swimming style.

“You could swim the fly?”

“Don’t make fun of me, okay. I had Rin-chan teach me properly, you know.”

It seems that apparently Rin isn’t suited to be a coach.

“It’s okay to be doing the fly, but have you been practicing the start properly?”

“Sure. Leaping like baah, entering like j.a.pun, with a suii feeling.”

He explained with body and hand gestures.

“No. Leaping like daah, entering like bashuu, with a gui feeling.”

Makoto isn’t suited to be a coach, either.

“Hey, you know, I’m going to be like Rin-chan and be able to swim any kind of style. And then, I’m going to become a konme [individual medley] swimmer.”

“Wow, that’s awesome. Then, you have to try your best in preparation for the next tournament.”

“The next tournament is a little……”

It seems he won’t make it in time. It’s a lofty dream, so it can’t be helped.

“Only breast for now.”

“Nagisa, it’s the first time you’ll be swimming alone, huh?”

In the first place, the medley relay from last time must have been his first appearance in a tournament.

“Yeah. That’s why I’m anxious a litttle.”

“It’ll be fine, since it’s Nagisa.”

“Yeah. Mako-chan, what are you taking part in?”

“I haven’t decided yet, but––”

Raising his up-slanting eyebrows, he looks at Haruka meaningfully.

“I only take part in free.”

“Of course.”

What should he ask but that when it’s too late for it. He couldn’t possibly have thought of swimming a relay again. They’re in a different age group than Nagisa, and there’s no one else to swim with.

“Oh, speaking of which, where’s Zaki-chan?”

Nagisa looks around. Now that he mentioned it, he can’t see Aki yet.

“Well……”

Makoto apologetically cut his words short. Nagisa and Haruka look at Makoto.

“Well, Zaki-chan joined the swim club. So, she said that she’s quitting here.”

Chopping his words, that’s all he said at last.

“Eeeh, she quit? Without even saying goodbye to me?”

Aki’s in Cla.s.s 2 with Makoto. So, she probably talked to Makoto about it. In the club activities, the trial period is starting today. However, since the pool is outside, they aren’t supposed to be able to swim. He doesn’t know what kind of activities the swim club could have after school, but he can’t imagine that the training would be more effective than swimming. Perhaps, she wanted to use the swim club as an excuse to quit.  In that case, she might have decided it quite a while ago.

Suddenly, he remembered that Makoto said that he’s joining the basketball club.

“She said that she’ll drop by again. And that she’ll properly give her greetings that time.”

Could Makoto be wanting some sort of excuse from club activities? After thinking that far, thinking that it doesn’t matter, he stopped thinking about it.

“I’m going to swim.”

Haruka started to walk, heading towards the pool.

“Okay.”

Makoto follows him.

“See you later, Haru-chan, Mako-chan.”

Waving his hand, Nagisa goes back to the elementary school group.

Standing on the starting block while putting on his goggles, he dives in like that. Creating an opening in the water with the tips of his fingers, he slips his body into it. Arms, head, chest, waist, then feet.

Without becoming one nor denying each other, accepting the water, being accepted by the water. Mutually acknowledging each other’s existence. Mutually feeling each other’s existence. Feeling ––the water.

Makoto dived in. Makoto spreads out in the water. There’s no sound. There are no ripples. Makoto’s existence itself spreads out. He senses that deep in his chest. Then, it’s being acknowledged again. That existence is being accepted.

It’s not understanding each other or communicating. It’s just mutually acknowledging the fact that they exist. By acknowledging it as it is, he was able to feel it. He was able to mutually feel it.

In the water…… In the water……

 *

When they left the Swimming Club, that dog was still there. Sitting in the same spot, he barks at Haruka once as he’s coming out through the automatic door. It seems that it’s using having waited for them to appeal to him. It’s a well-trained dog. Its body is black, but it’s white from the bottom of its nose to its chest, and its feet are white as if it’s wearing socks. Seeing how the white parts aren’t dirtied, it seems that not a day has pa.s.sed since it was thrown out. Looking at how nice its fur is, it got enough food, he could easily imagine that it was cared for.

If they treated it with so much affection by training it, feeding it and tr.i.m.m.i.n.g the lie of the dog’s hair, it makes him wonder why it was thrown out. What reason could there have been that they had to throw it out?

“Wah, it’s still here, huh.”

“What’s with the dog? Is it Haru-chan’s?”

Makoto and Nagisa came out, too.

“I think it’s a stray dog, but it ended up following us.”

Makoto replies instead of Haruka.

“Ohh, so it was thrown out.”

Nagisa goes up to the dog, squats down and fixedly stares into its eyes. The dog looks back at Nagisa without the slightest movement. Peeking into each other’s eyes, it seemed just like they were having some sort of conversation. That negotiation getting established, it would be quite the finale if it became Nagisa’s dog.

“Let’s go.”

When Haruka begins to run, Makoto following after him, Nagisa followed. Then, the dog ran after Nagisa. Even on the embankment alongside Shiwagawa and even on Mutsukibashi, the dog was running while fooling around with Nagisa. Coiling around Nagisa’s legs on purpose, it’s getting in the way of his running. Nagisa’s laughter was ringing out.

Even though he went as far as dropping the pace while praying that the dog would get attached to him like that, the dog ended up separating from Nagisa where they had gotten off of Mutsukibashi.

“Bye, Haru-chan, Mako-chan.”

Just by barking back at Nagisa who was waving his hand, the dog started running after Haruka and Makoto again.

“Oh my. It ended up coming this way, Haru.”

“Because Makoto pays attention to it. Don’t look at it anymore.”

“……Okay.”

Haruka picked up the pace again a little.

 *

“Haa, haa, hey Haru.”

While stooping down at the shrine’s stone steps, Makoto wipes away his sweat.

“Haa, haa, what is it?”

Haruka looks down at Makoto while wiping away his sweat, too.

“It’s futile resistance, or rather, haa, somehow I feel like it’s in vain……”

The dog sat with a composed expression.

“Haa, haa, let’s go home.”

Turning his back to the dog and Makoto, Haruka climbed up the stone steps.

“Okay. Haa, then, see you tomorrow. Haa, haa.”

There’s no sign of the dog following. It’s settled with this. The dog was attached to Makoto, not Haruka. While feeling somewhat relieved, Haruka broke through the first torii glowing in the sunset to the left.

 *

After he finished dinner, he was bothered by it a little so he quietly opened the front door. He doesn’t know how good the dog’s ears are, but he walks to thechouzuya while trying to conceal his presence as much as possible, and keeping himself hidden behind the torii, he visits the bottom of the stone steps. The dog was sitting in the same spot, illuminated by the streetlamp. Perhaps its night vision is good, or maybe it’s doing it because it understood, the dog just stayed still, without barking at Haruka or running up to him.

He thought that Makoto would surely visit it, but it seems that he hadn’t done so.

Has it eaten anything since then? Somehow, it looks like it’s feeling down. He thinks that it should’ve gone looking for food. If it goes to the mountains, there ought to be something to eat there. Even if it stays still in a place like that……

Haruka went back home and took out a sausage and croquette from the refrigerator. Then, after he pours water into a bowl, he goes out the front door again. Even when Haruka shows himself from behind the torii, the dog doesn’t show any signs of moving, and kept sitting still. He thinks it really is well-trained. Or, it was smart from the start, or maybe it’s just stubborn. Anyway, it earnestly stayed still.

Even after he went down the stone steps and put the bowl beside it, it just glances at it and doesn’t try to drink the water. There’s no way it’s not interested. Its white feet are losing their composure and fidgeting.

“You can drink from it.”

When Haruka points to the bowl, it finally poked its head into it and began to drink. It must’ve been quite thirsty, because it did so with tremendous force. As far as he can see from its behavior, it doesn’t seem like Makoto had given it food.

Haruka tried to hold out the sausage in his hand to it. Perhaps the dog had already calmed down, it ended up eating it whole without holding back or being cautious.

“Oi, it’ll get stuck in your throat if you don’t chew it well.”

Its behavior was sort of weirdly odd and Haruka laughed in spite of himself.

Next, when he gives it the croquette, smelling it this time while being a little cautious, it takes a small bite. Perhaps it’s not that used to eating something like this. With a bite and then another bite, it keeps taking small bites.

“It’s good, huh. Eat it without leaving any behind.”

Because it eats it by breaking it down, the croquette’s crumbs end up scattered on the palm of his hand, and since the dog licks it, it was tough for Haruka to withstand the tickling.

He heard the sound of the sea in the distance. Guided by the moon, it seems that the tide had risen. The seabirds fly off with a cry. It’s not because of that, but the wind bearing the night air drifting quickly, it made the dog’s black fur sway.

Night had long fallen, but the scent of spring still remained in the wind.

–– It’s warm tonight, so it’ll be fine.

That’s what he was thinking about while watching the dog who still kept licking Haruka’s hand though nothing was left on it any more.

 *

The next morning, when he stepped out onto the stone steps, Makoto was fooling around with the dog. His twin siblings are with him.

“Ah, it’s Haru-niichan.”

Both of them point their fingers at Haruka as he’s going down the stone steps.

“Hi. Don’t miss the bus.”

From this spring, they could go to kindergarten even without Makoto seeing them off.

“Yeees.”

The two of them cheerfully ran off, but Makoto is still playing with the dog.

“Makoto. If you pay so much attention to it, it’ll follow us to school.”

“Yeah. Woah.”

While wagging its tail, the dog runs around Makoto.

“Did you give it food?”

“Yeah. Fried chicken and spring rolls from breakfast.”

He thinks that it’s pretty heavy for the morning. That’s right, his body is growing. After becoming middle schoolers, it feels like Makoto has gotten a little taller again.

“If you give it something like that, it’ll get attached to you.”

“Yeah. Woah there, okay, okay.”

Just how long is he going to keep playing with it?

“Let’s go.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Even though Makoto’s waving his hand, the dog didn’t try to move from the bottom of the stone steps after barking once. Perhaps it understood that it can’t follow them to school. He denied it right after thinking that. It’s just that yesterday, it instinctively chased after them because they ran. They properly fed it, so it can’t be because it can’t run from feeling sick. Croquettes, fried chicken, spring rolls……

There’s a possibility that those are heavy for it to digest.

 *

While walking on the even road that stretches parallel to Minogaseyama’s ridge, Makoto turned to look back over and over again. Misagozaki Shrine isn’t visible anymore. It goes without saying that neither are the stone steps. No matter how much he strained his eyes, he shouldn’t have been able to see the dog. Or, perhaps he’s expecting it to chase after them. And that’s why he intends on running with full strength again.

If a dog were to enter the school, first of all it would without a doubt be reported to the health center.  He could more or less see where things would go from there. Makoto would stick up for the dog that’s being hunted by the health center saying that it’s his dog, and after being harshly scolded by the school, he’ll take it home.

He thinks that if he wants to keep it, he should just hurry up and keep it already without going through so much ha.s.sle.

“Hey, Haru. How long do you think the dog will be around?”

He doesn’t reply because he doesn’t know.

“The health center won’t come, right?”

“……”

“I wonder if it’s hungry.”

“……”

“I hope it doesn’t ruin its stomach by eating something weird.”

“……”

“You know, I can’t keep at my house because of Mom. She says she won’t stop sneezing when a dog comes close.”

“……”

“Haru, you fed it last night, didn’t you?”

“––––”

“I was thinking that I should give it my leftovers, too.”

Haruka’s face suddenly heats up. He thinks that if he saw him, he should’ve at least called out to him.

“You were getting along so well, would’ve been a shame to interrupt you.”

Feeling like all the blood in his body had gathered in his face, he cast his gaze down.

“I didn’t think Haru liked dogs so much––“

“Okay, I get it!”

“Eh?”

“If it’s still there when we get home, I’ll keep it.”

Haruka looked to the side after saying it in a small voice. It’s mostly out of desperation. He couldn’t stand Makoto arbitrarily imagining any more weird things.

“Really? I’m glad. That’s a relief, huh.”

A cursing sound falls from the corner of his mouth. He ended up caught in Makoto’s pace again.

“If it’s still there, that is.”

“It’ll be there. Definitely.”

Where could that confidence be coming from? He eagerly hoped that it’s merely wishful thinking with no basis whatsoever.

“Morning. Nanase-kun, Tachibana-kun.”

Yazaki Aki squeezed herself in between Haruka and Makoto from behind.

“Hey.”

“Morning, Zaki-chan.”

Aki smiles at Haruka.

“I joined the swim club.”

She speaks as if there was some sort of special test that she had finally pa.s.sed.

“How was it, the swim club?”

Makoto asked. Perhaps he’s more than a little interested. Even though he’s intending on joining the basketball club.

“For now, we ran. And we did calisthenics.”

That’s about it for a swim club where you can’t swim.

“But you know, the senpais are really kind. It made me wish that I had older sisters like that.”

“Ohh, that sounds nice.”

Makoto is envious. He doesn’t need to worry, if he joins the basketball club, he’ll probably have lots of kind older brothers.

“But Zaki-chan, why did you quit the Swimming Club?”

Aki’s smile clouded over for a moment. Then, she lifts her face as if she’s staring off into the distance.

“You know, I practiced a lot for the previous tournament. Diving in a lot, swimming a lot. That was the first time I practiced so much.”

“You sure did. So did I.”

“And then, I always thought of swimming quickly, that I wanted to swim a little faster.”

“Yeah.”

“So did everyone else. Miki and Maki and Yuki, too, everyone only thought about swimming fast.”

“Since that’s all you practiced, you got 3rd place, huh.”

“Yeah. When we stood up onto the podium, we were all so happy that we ended up crying huge tears. But practice was always harsh, and when we didn’t practice, we were always anxious. No matter what we did, we ended up thinking of nothing but the relay, we cared about nothing but our times when swimming, it wasn’t fun at all.”

“……Yeah.”

“I like swimming, so I want to have more fun while swimming. Instead of swimming fast, winning or losing, I want to make lots of memories with my companions who I really like. Of course, practice will be strict in the swim club, too, and I’m sure that it won’t be easy, but with companions from the same middle school, we have the same troubles outside of swimming, our kind senpais cheer us up, and next year we’ll have kouhais, we laugh and cry together, I think that’s something you can’t do unless it’s club activities after all.  I want to make lots of memories like that.”

Aki puffs out her chest, as if she’s breathing in hope.

“Yeah!”

Makoto agreeing with her, he nodded vigorously.

He thinks that that’s the kind of thing he wishes for from club activities. Among the ties, perhaps he wants do something to form ties again. Is that sort of thing fun? It was something that Haruka couldn’t understand. If those are called companions, then their att.i.tudes towards it are different. If club activities are for the sake of crowding together and fooling around, he probably won’t join no matter what.

“I understand Zaki-chan’s feelings well, too. Actually, I’m going to join the basketball club today.”

“Really?”

“Well, only as a trial member so I don’t know how it’ll go.”

“Oh wow. But, we’re middle schoolers at last. We have to try out everything, right?”

“Yeah. I’m glad that I got to hear Zaki-chan’s feelings. With things taking such a turn yesterday, the atmosphere wasn’t really like that.”

When Haruka directs his gaze towards him with suspicion, Makoto noticed it.

“Yesterday, we observed the flowers on the school grounds in science cla.s.s, Haru’s cla.s.s did it too, right?”

“Uh huh.”

It’s a cla.s.s where they study the wild flowers blooming on the school grounds and draw sketches in their notebooks. Looking up the names of those flowers in lexicons and such, each group had to make a presentation.

“So then, I was in the same group as a boy named Kirishima-kun, ah, you know, the one who often cut through the pa.s.ses in the basketball game. Remember?”

“Uh huh, I remember.”

He had a small stature, but he moved well. The piercing eyes that glared at Haruka from beneath his long eyelashes left an impression on him.

“He’s called Kirishima Ikuya-kun, he knows the names of flowers really well, he was really helpful.”

If they were saved the trouble of looking up the names in lexicons, then it’s enviable. He thinks that he must’ve been quite the useful guy to have in the group.

“Things were fine up until then––“

As Aki says that, they look at each other with Makoto.

“When Zaki-chan said that she quit the Swimming Club and joined the swim club, he said ‘club activities are just halfhearted playing!’ and suddenly got angry. It surprised me, so I couldn’t ask why she quit the Swimming Club.”

“What does he do?”

“Eh?”

“He does some kind of sport, right?”

“Eh, why?”

“If club activities are halfhearted, then that means he’s doing ‘something that’s not halfhearted’, no?”

Judging from those basketball moves, he thought it appropriate to think that.

“Uh huh.”

Makoto and Aki nod, seemingly convinced.

“I didn’t ask, but that certainly is so. What could it be? I don’t think it’s swimming, though.”

When Makoto says that with a thoughtful look, Aki asks in return.

“How can you say that it’s not swimming?”

“Because I’ve never seen him at a tournament before. What about you, Haru?”

“I don’t remember him, either.”

To their words, Aki shows a surprised expression.

“Eh? You both remember the faces of people from other Swimming Clubs?”

“Generally, yeah. Right, Haru?”

“Setting faces aside, I remember the names. There was a ‘Kirishima’ but in a different year, and he wasn’t ‘Ikuya’.”

Still with a surprised expression, Aki is at a loss for words and Makoto goes back to the thoughtful look again.

The road that stretches parallel to Minogaseyama’s ridge is even, but there’s a spot with a slight undulation, and surely, Makoto walks without noticing it. He kept the thoughtful look, not even noticing the cabbage b.u.t.terflies gushing forth from the paddy fields dyed in the purple of the milk vetch.

One of them stops on a red flower. It was a flower that Haruka doesn’t know. Among the purples blooming in a cl.u.s.ter, one on the side is releasing a vivid red color. A different species that therefore doesn’t fit in with its surroundings, it was a flower that made you feel the strength of being isolated. Perhaps the b.u.t.terfly was also drawn to that strength.

Haruka was no longer interested in Makoto’s pondering. No matter how much he thought about it, it’s nothing more than just speculation, if it’s inevitable, they’d naturally find out. Rather than that, if that dog is still there at the bottom of the stone step when they come home from school or not was more of a concern. Would Haruka’s earnest wish be heard?

While thinking about things like that, he looked up the blue sky that seems to be sucking him in.
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