Chapter 59
* * *
Monday morning. Before morning assembly began.
Shin Ayoung was talking with the vice class president, who said they had a favor to ask about Sports Day.
“We’re short on players for soccer. Ayoung, could you play?”
The vice class president had made that request.
It was a somewhat burdensome proposal.
Normally, it was the sort of request she would have turned down with one excuse or another.
“Sure. All right.”
The answer came immediately.
She readily nodded. She accepted without hesitation.
“Huh? Really?”
“Yeah. You said you were short on players.”
Being short on players meant.
In other words, Lee Seungho would be playing soccer too, wouldn’t he?
That was why her agreement had leaped out before she had time to think.
The vice class president looked puzzled, but soon set aside their doubts, thanked her, and left.
“······.”
Shin Ayoung deliberately propped her chin on her hand and let the cold air coming through the open window wash over her.
Thinking about it again,
she felt secretly embarrassed by what she had just done.
“Phew···.”
These days, she was discovering a new side of herself.
It was enough to make her wonder if she had always been this proactive.
The same had been true last weekend.
And this time as well.
Whenever something involved him, she found herself caring less about what others thought.
Like water flowing along a river, her actions followed her heart and moved more naturally.
It was just that···.
When Isol was around, things were a little different.
‘Because Sol is watching···.’
She felt awkward about openly throwing herself at Seungho.
All the more so because she knew Isol’s feelings.
With Isol watching, she felt self-conscious about approaching him so brazenly.
That was why she had accepted.
She wanted to somehow create a point of contact between herself and Lee Seungho, just the two of them.
Perhaps
this could be a chance to grow closer to him.
* * *
— My ball! Mine, mine!
During P.E., the soccer preliminaries were well underway.
They were holding the preliminary matches in advance because only the final would be played on the actual Sports Day.
Jinuri sat on the bench with the girls from her class, watching the game.
“Go, Class One—!”
Jinuri shouted energetically toward the field.
If they were going to play, winning would be better, wouldn’t it?
“Go··· go···!”
Isol watched the others’ reactions, then joined in and cheered softly.
Her voice sounded like a chirping chick.
‘She’s surprisingly good···?’
Jinuri formed that impression as she watched Shin Ayoung.
She was holding her own among the boys.
— Pass, pass!
It wasn’t an impressive enough performance to praise her as outstanding, but compared with the girls on the opposing team, she was at least pulling her weight.
At the very least, she had no trouble kicking the ball out of bounds.
‘The other kids are good too.’
The score was currently 2–0. The game was in the thirty-fifth minute of the second half.
They were ahead by two goals.
The kids in their class were skilled.
“······.”
In fact, Lee Seungho merely stood in front of the goal and watched the game blankly, without doing anything in particular.
That meant the opposing team had barely managed a shot on target.
With the flow of the game completely one-sided, Jinuri relaxed as her tension ebbed away.
Soon, her thoughts began drifting in another direction.
‘Come to think of it···.’
Seeing Lee Seungho standing in front of the goal brought those thoughts to mind.
She remembered what had happened last weekend.
It had begun as a chance encounter, but thanks to it, she had also formed a valuable connection with Lee Seungah.
There had been a few moments that scared the daylights out of her, too···.
In many ways, it had been a meaningful weekend.
On top of that, it had definitely proven that Lee Seungho was an otaku.
So,
‘It would be nice to become friends with Seungho, but···.’
It would be nice to grow closer as people who shared the same “hobby.”
Then they could shoot the breeze to their hearts’ content.
That was how it worked in theory.
···It was just that her situation wasn’t as simple as it sounded.
This unusual relationship was not something she could untangle so easily···.
‘If only···.’
If he confessed to her, she could sort out the situation.
No matter what conclusion they reached.
‘Seungho isn’t a bad guy, at least···.’
If anything, he was on the good side. Even she had received a lot of help from him.
During the school trip, and this time as well.
He was definitely a good person.
It was just that she saw him as a friend, not a man.
If she ever had her first relationship, Jinuri wanted one that made her heart flutter.
“Uh, uhh?”
Just then, Isol raised her voice.
— Get back! Get back!
The field grew noisy.
She lifted her head to see what was happening.
— Block them! Defense!
The opposing team had broken through the center line in an instant and reached right in front of the goal.
It was the aftermath of a failed attack.
“···!”
A boy who had sprinted over swiftly swung his right foot hard.
Wham!
The ball shot forward at high speed.
“Hup.”
Lee Seungho was already throwing himself in the direction the ball was flying,
Bang—!
and caught it lightly with an outstretched hand.
“Whoa···!”
Jinuri was quietly startled as she watched.
It had looked like it was obviously going in, but she hadn’t expected him to catch that.
‘Wow, did you see that just now?’’
‘I thought it was going in. Seungho’s good···!’
The girls around her whispered too. It drew genuine admiration.
“Tsk···.”
Isol squirmed uncomfortably, like a caterpillar.
She wore a sullen expression.
“···?”
Seeing that, Jinuri glanced around and whispered.
Maybe—
“···Do you need the bathroom?”
“No.”
A sharp voice came back.
Jinuri was unconsciously overwhelmed by that forcefulness,
so she simply closed her lips and said nothing.
···Could she be on her period?
It was about that time of the month.
* * *
“···.”
I walked down the hallway looking fresh and not even sweaty.
The match had ended quickly, and as the goalie, I hadn’t had to run around.
We had won the game easily, 2–0.
Maybe because there were so few classes, winning once put us straight into the semifinals.
With just tomorrow’s match, we would be in the finals.
“Oh, you’re here?”
I opened the door and entered the clubroom, and the seniors greeted me.
“Hmm?”
Senior Minji looked around beside me.
“Where are the others?”
“They said they’d left their books in the classroom and went back to get them. They should be here soon, right?”
···But.
Looking at the two of them, I couldn’t continue speaking.
Their outfits caught and held my gaze.
“···Are those class shirts?”
“What do you think? Pretty good, right? They’re Red Moon outfits.”
Senior Minji dramatically swirled her cloak.
It was a black cloak decorated with red clouds. Rather than a red moon, the design was closer to red clouds.
“It’s from Maruto, right?”
It was what the villains wore in that anime.
I had run into it several times during this event, so I recognized it at a glance.
“What, you know it?”
“I know that much.”
It was famous enough.
I hadn’t watched it, but I knew some of its famous scenes.
“···But why are you cosplaying Maruto?”
That was what I was curious about.
“Huh?”
“There are plenty of other pretty outfits.”
There were so many clothes that would work as class shirts.
Why suddenly cosplay? Wouldn’t it stand out a little?
“Since it’s our last Sports Day, everyone wanted to do something unusual. There were lots of other options besides this··· but this one won the vote.”
According to Senior Minji, the trend was especially strong because there were so many art majors in the class.
“···It’s a godsend that maid outfits didn’t win.”
The club president continued with a grave expression, her brows drooping as if she didn’t even want to think about it.
“···There were options like that too?”
The club president nodded.
“Wow···.”
That really was fortunate.
Just imagining the whole school seeing them dressed like that made me shudder.
Rattle——
“We’re back.”
“Hello···.”
The door opened, and the two people who had said they were going back to the classroom came in.
“You’re backkk···?”
For a moment, Senior Minji’s voice trailed off.
“······?”
Senior Minji saw Isol and blinked blankly.
She closed and opened her eyes several times.
Like that, one second, two seconds···.
She naturally returned her gaze to where it had been.
“Hmm.”
She tore open a bag of snacks with a rip and popped a potato chip into her mouth.
She looked calm on the outside.
— “···D-did she put on makeup···?”
The tiny hand of the Minimi holding a small potato chip was trembling.
Its large eyes wandered, unable to find anywhere to settle.
— “Sol?”
Senior Minji stealthily shifted her gaze.
Pretending to check the time, she turned her head and took another look at Isol.
— “···She really did.”
Her Minimi folded its arms.
— “Tsk···.”
It let out a short groan.
— “···Is there someone she wants to look good for?”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
— “···No, maybe not.”
But since the person in question was Isol, she didn’t seem certain.
— “Huh?”
At the same time,
Jinuri’s Minimi also raised its voice.
Whether or not Senior Minji was surprised by Isol, Jinuri’s attention was occupied elsewhere at the moment.
— “It’s a Red Moon outfit?”
As expected, she recognized it at a glance.
It was only natural.
“······.”
Jinuri silently looked down at our class shirt with a swish—
— “I’m jealous···.”
The corners of her Minimi’s eyes drooped.
It looked like she was genuinely envious.
“······.”
In the middle of all this confusion,
Isol alone came skipping over in her usual manner,
“···Want some?”
and held out a potato chip to me.
“···.”
Hmm.
It was tasty, at least.