Chapter 2: Contact.33 The Hottest Day in the Summer(1/2)
“You’re really working hard.”
I was approached by a girl I never met.
It happened after I did five 100m sprints on the track.
Hers was a gentle, sweet voice, like an evening when the day’s heat relents.
I was fresh out of the track, still gasping for breath, and thus unable to respond to her words. She approached me with a towel and I grabbed it instinctively. Was it really okay to use it though? The sweet smell of the softener tickled my nostrils, and I hesitated.
“You’re not wiping your sweat off?”
She asked while I was struggling with my doubts in silence, tilting her head cutely as she did that. Her hair fell on her face as a result, the itch prompting the tip of her pretty index finger to travel the length of her soft face and gather the offending strands behind her ear.
“May I?”
“Of course. That’s why I’m giving it to you.”
The girl smiled, looking bemused, and it made her look a lot more immature. Maybe it’s because the atmosphere around her had lightened up a little.
That smile snuffed out all the concerns in my heart and eased the tension in my shoulders.
Even so, my heart was beating a little faster than usual.
Usually, whenever I would finish a run, I would be panting, feel shattered, and my heart would ache from exertion. I experienced that feeling hundreds, if not thousands of times ever since I had joined the track team. Why then? Why did this racing heartbeat seem a little different, weirdly unlike before?
I couldn’t even tell what exactly was different, in what way the feeling was diverging from the usual.
This.. concept, seemed to be called ambiguity.
“I’ll use it then. Thanks.”
“Please do,” so the girl said.
“I’m Shiina Yuki. Nice to meet you”
“Huh? Nice to meet you. I’m Segawa Haruyoshi,” I answered, introducing myself. “Haruyoshi, Haruyoshi..” I heard her mutter my name a couple of times.
“Alright, I’ll call you Yoshi-kun,” she declared out of a sudden.
“Not Haru or something like that?”
“You don’t like it?”
“Not that I have anything against, I just never had anyone call me that before. Simply a little shocked to hear it.”
“Isn’t that all the better then? My own personal way of addressing you. Oh, by the way, just call me Yuki.”
“Yuki-san?”
“Drop the ‘-san’. Just ‘Yuki’.”
“Okay, Yuki. I got something to ask.”
While I was saying that, Yuki looked away from me towards the guys from the soccer team. Seemed like she noticed them ogling her.
“What is it?”
“You’re not from our school, right?”
“..You figured it out, huh?”
The soccer club guys, caught in the act, returned to practice in a panicked rush. “Pass! Yes! Run! Yes! Minigame! Yes.” Their loud voices echoed from the field once more.
“Are they your friends, Yoshi-kun?”
“More like juniors, I guess. We never interact to be honest. I’m from the track team, and those in the soccer team that have been on good terms with me are all retired. I’m a third year after all.”
They’re probably in an air-conditioned room, cramming through the words on the textbooks, and not soccer. For us third years, the term ‘exam candidates’ really was annoying.
It was the middle of the summer vacation.
The intense sunlight of the summer day gave everything a brilliant white tint, preventing me from opening my eyes fully.
The soft, cream-like clouds were drifting across the sky.
The field appeared to be floating, unsteady in the heat haze.
The chirping of well-hidden crickets made the day seem all the more hot and unbearable.
“So?”
“So what?”
“How did you know I’m not a student here?”
“Ah, that’s simple. I couldn’t recall ever seeing you.”
“Yoshi-kun, are you able to remember the faces of everyone attending school?”
The concept seemed shocking to Yuki. Rightly so. I couldn’t possibly remember all the students’ faces.
In reality, not only was I short of knowing the entire school, I didn’t know many of my fellow students. However, there could be no doubt in my mind that Yuki was not one of them.
It was simple really.
She had white skin, hair as fluffy and wavy as cotton candy, high eyebrows, and large bottomless black eyes. She was pretty special stuff compared to all the other girls I had met.
If there was such a girl in school, her debut as a student would have been a cause of a huge commotion from the very start.
Singling out cute girls in the school was an obligatory activity for all the boys, me included.
But I couldn’t explain this reason so blatantly in front of her. “Sorta” I tried to dodge the subject.
“Hm, a failure then. And I even dressed up as a student of this school too.”
“Relax, I’m not telling the teacher.”
Yuki lightly kicked at a stone by her feet making it bounce forward and land a couple of meters away from us. She didn’t exactly seem eager to follow it.
“No, that’s not what I’m getting at. You see, I think I’d be a little happier if you thought of me as a classmate. Can you, Yoshi-kun?”
“What do you mean?”
“I see. So you don’t know.”
That was the moment the 3pm bell rang.
“It’s about time went running some more, right?”
Yuki reached for one end of the towel wrapped around my neck and pulled it away. I felt a little cold without it.
“I’ll wash it and return it to you later.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry.”
Yuki waved me away, basically telling me to go on. I couldn’t insist any more, so I thanked her and made my way back to the starting line.
I stood at the starting line, and took a deep breath. Before my eyes was a shadow cut out with a shaver, clinging to the ground. I glared at the guy. No matter how hard I tried to sprint, this guy’s always easily making it just before me. I could never catch up to it. It’s like a nightmare. Even so, why am I running?
“Hey,” I heard suddenly. It was Yuki again, wisely sheltered in the shade under a tree. “The third years in the track team should be retiring soon. Why are you still running, Yoshi-kun?”
She had practically read my mind.
I didn’t answer, and merely smiled as I placed my hand gently on the starting line, crouching down in preparation for a sprint. The ground had greedily soaked in the heat of the sun, nearly burning the skin on my fingers. I registered the ready signal in the corner of my mind. BAM. Strength exploded in my legs, and I was off.
All this happened during the summer of my third year in middle school.
This was how I encountered Shiina Yuki.
?
I didn’t like running at first.
During the elementary school I could easily get second and third places at the sport festivals. I guess I should have been proud to come straight after a really fast guy, but my rivals back then had all been similar to me in speed. Results-wise, it wasn’t really a matter of ability.
There was one reason why I had joined the track team, and that was because I had met a classmate called Takeshita.
Right after I entered middle school, we switched seats for the first time, and Takeshita sat next to me, dressed in the same unfamiliar uniform I was wearing.
“Are we seriously wearing this every day starting today? Isn’t this hell?”
Now I truly understood the discomfort of having my neck touch the shirt collar and the resulting urge to scratch away the itch.
For us, who had been wearing comfy, practical clothes, that were easy to move in, over the past few weeks, this uniform was not only too heavy and uncomfortable, but also strangely shameful.
“Yeah. Really want to get rid of this as soon as possible,” I agreed.
“Oh,” he just said, eyes growing wide, before his face exploded with an earnest smile.
I had been a student for six years, and to a certain extent, I got the feeling, “Yep, looks like I can be friends with this guy.”
“Please take care of me,” I said to Takeshita, and shook his outstretched hand.
Takeshita had been a part of the track team since elementary school. Usually, he would be quiet, but when the topic of club activities would come up, he would get really excited.
He would talk at length about how he had beaten his rivals in the last competition, the memories of the summer camp, the harsh winter training with its hateful cold while he loved warmth, the many seniors that he was familiar with, and many other things.
Personally, I had no interest in athletics, but I was invited by Takeshita once to watch the track team.
He was really fast.
Not even the third years could beat him in a 100m sprint.
The way he sprinted.. Nobody would think of him as the guy who got an unbelievable 13 points in the language test. His running self was completely unlike the guy who barely an hour before had been trying to figure out how to destroy his answer script while babbling nonsense like “It’s stupid to just burn it, though.”
He was really cool when he ran. Really cool.
The next day, Takeshita happily brought me the track team’s application form.
“That’s a lot more fun than you imagined it would be, right?”
He seemed a little proud when he said that.
“Yeah,” I nodded. It was too embarrassing to admit the real reason though. Well, both of us were guys. There was no need to put everything into words.
I did terribly in the freshman contest, while Takeshita took first on the podium. He kept winning, passing the local preliminaries in first place, and then even making it to the finals in the prefecture competition.
There, he faced many competitors of his own calibre and thus had little chance of winning. Still, the results had many looking forward to his performances next year, or the year after. I remembered him saying “Well, guess that’s how it is,” with a dumb smile, which caused the seniors cheering him on to appear a lot more unhappy.
On the day the third years retired, most of them directed their words to Takeshita. “Do your best.” “You’ll definitely make it to the Nationals.” While the seniors cheered him on with tears in their eyes, “I will.” it appeared Takeshita nodded seriously.
But soon after the second semester started, Takeshita quit the track team just like that.
He never had much interest in athletics to begin with.
His real objective was a two-year older senior, who graduated from the same elementary school.
Takeshita liked her.
But his love didn’t bear fruit.
At the end of the retirement ceremony, the woman of his heart announced that she was dating the team’s vice-captain.
Takeshita, the first year, the fastest in our team, lost to the third year senior who was the slowest. He lost. Even so, he was just smiling. Dumbfoundedly. “Congrats,” he would say to the pair with a trembling voice. Now that I think about it, he had probably been speaking in the exact same manner when he had lost in the prefecture finals.
Even till now, I don’t really know why I was so emotional back then. I just simply couldn’t forgive him for giving up.
“Hey, Takeshita. Are you fine with that? You didn’t fight him for it?”
Takeshita merely laughed in a silly manner.
“Are you just going to keep losing?!” I yelled, really anxious now.
That caused a stir and shocked classmates around us gave me weird looks and started whispering things to each other. I ignored everything, even though I would have usually pay attention to things like that. Back then, it was just noise. It wasn’t what I really wanted to hear. I wanted to discover the true thoughts of this single classmate, this particular buddy on the team.
But Takeshita just gave me another dumb smile and left without a word.
I could no longer find the Takeshita I once admired in that person. All that was left there was the familiar back of the guy who had scored 13 points in that one exam. Not the silhouette of a winner, but a slouching back of a loser.
Two years had passed since that day.
I continued to work hard on the track team. Or I assumed I was working hard at least. After wasting two whole years, I finally arrived at the place Takeshita had reached during his first year. Just like the guy I once admired, I put my fingers on the starting line. The fingertips turned red as they strained under my body weight.
The gun boomed. I stomped hard against the ground. I sprinted off.
I ran my heart out.
And I had no regrets about my defeat.
As an ordinary guy, I made it to the finals of the prefecture. Wasn’t this enough? Yeah. It was enough. Why did I feel so hollow inside, though?
I felt like my lungs would give out at any moment. The endless cascades of sweat trickled down my cheeks and neck. The strong sunlight forced me to keep my eyes shut. Finally, I took a deep breath of the scorching air and looked at the time.
That was the best I ever ran.
The shortest time ever it took me to cross the distance.
But it was still a tenth of a second slower compared to Takeshita’s best.
?
The next day, and the day after, Yuki would come again looking for me with a sports drink or ice-cream in her hands.
Eventually, even though it was supposed to be my juniors’ duty, but before I knew it, she ended up handling the stopwatch.
Yuki called.
“Ready!” I could hear her call.
I gathered my strength in my legs.
“Bang!”
At that moment, I started running immediately.
The start seemed good. My forward-leaning body slowly rose as I swallowed the distance. I felt light. My legs were capable of taking large strides forward. The impact of my feet against the ground propelled my body forward, arms swinging. Yuki appeared to grow increasingly bigger with every step. A painful, burning sensation started to creep in at several points on my body.
I continued to take short breaths, inhaling the oxygen into my lungs.
I gritted my teeth.
My eyes fixed at the shadow before me, I gave chase.
The moment I dashed past Yuki, I heard a little ’beep’.
This was the other side of the finish line.
Did I make it to where I wanted to be?
I slowed down little by little, finally coming to a full stop. I put my hands on my knees to hold my body up. It felt like moisture was escaping me through all the pores of my skin. Ah damn it, it’s tiring.
“Haa, haa, haa. Ho-how was it?” I asked gasping for air.
“Didn’t break your personal best. Just a little more.”
“Ah.. Not good enough.”
I had no strength left to stand, so I collapsed to the ground. There was the smell of dirt, a smell unique to the summer and its blazing sun. I felt it stick to my back because of my sweat-drenched shirt. I didn’t care.
The sky was blue, the world white, and the scalding sun was burning my skin.
My body was yearning for oxygen, my lungs gasping for breath, and my heart beating wildly. My chest expanded, contracted, and expanded again. I felt worn out. My mortal shell no longer able to hold my spirit.
“It’s hot.”
The moment I said these words, a shadow covered my face.
“Good work. Have a little rest.”
It was Yuki.
She was holding two PET bottles, one containing an isotonic drink, the other tea. She asked which would I prefer, and I chose the former. I thanked her, sat upright, and accepted the drink.
Thankfully she uncapped it and I was able to drink it immediately. I gulped down about half of the bottle at one go.
Yuki made sure not to sit down as she crouched close to the ground, helping me cap and uncap the bottle. “Smells like a boy,” she said with eyes narrowed as though looking at the sun.
I brought the PET bottle to my lips once more, and this time I drank slowly. My sore throat throbbed as the icy liquid flowed down the gullet.
“Lying on the ground? You don’t care about your clothes or hair getting dirty, do you.”
“Well, yeah. I don’t really care about that.”
“Isn’t it a natural thing to do though?”
“You find it dirty?”
“Well, it’s okay, right? I actually think it’s pretty cool.”
I randomly recalled the morning weather report, where the weather lady reported that it would be hotter than yesterday, or something along those lines. I finished the drink and stood up.
“I’ll go wash my face. Go rest in the shade, Yuki.”
For some reason, my throat felt more parched than before.
I went to a sink in the courtyard, where fewer people were at.
I washed my head under the faucet to cool myself down. It felt heavier once my hair got wet, but I felt a lot fresher compared to before. Then, I quickly washed my face. The water mixed with sweat tasted a little salty in my mouth. I gargled, spat the liquid out, and left the place.
I lifted my wet, bundled hair, and rested a little in the shadow of the classroom block. “Haa.” I let out a long sigh.
I leaned my back on the wall and closed my eyes recalling Yuki’s smile. “I think it’s pretty cool.” Her voice echoed in my mind again and again. Each repetition would make my heart feel happy, and at the same time, anguished.
I knew I should be focusing on running and I wondered what was going on.
It was the first time I experienced feelings like these. Even now my face was still scalding hot.
After a while, I opened my eyes, and saw a familiar face pass before me. The person was giving a very gloomy vibe, just compared to her usual aura. She was the most famous person in school. One who really shone during the summer competitions.
Rindou Akane of the swimming team.
“Eh, Akane? What are you doing here?”
The moment Akane heard my voice and noticed my presence, her expression changed faster than the turning of a page. The gloomy face from before was buried deep within her heart, and she was showing her usual cheery face.
“Hm? Ah, it’s you, Haru. I’m resting. I left something in the classroom. Going over to pick it up.”
“Nyahahaha.” So she laughed, but well, it’s obviously a lie. There was no way she could be headed to the classroom block in that getup.
She punctuated the sentence with a laugh but, well, I could tell she was lying. There was no way she could be headed to the classroom block in that kind of outfit.
She’s wearing only a school swimsuit.
She was only wearing a school swimsuit.
Functionality and design wise, it was the worst design ever. No matter the gender, nobody liked these swimsuits. The cyan colored swimsuits turn black after absorbing water. She was soaking wet all over her hair and body, and clearly she had not dried herself with a towel. Her short hair gathered a little bit of water, and the water droplets fell, gliding down the skin receiving them, before landing on the ground.
“Something happened?” I asked.
“..No. Everything’s okay.”
“I see. Well, if anything happens, give me a shout. I can hear lend you an ear for a bit at least.. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m a little shocked,” she said. “Never thought I would hear such words from you, Haru.”
Well, I had to admit that might not sound like something I would usually say.
“It’s summer you know. Honestly, I do feel a little weird myself.. Actually, nevermind. Forget I said anything.”
“No need to be so embarrassed. Still.. Guess you’re right. I’ll just say what’s on my chest.”
Akane changed her direction, and joined me in the shade.
She ended up at that baffling distance from me, completely within my grasp, yet just barely out of reach of an outstretched hand. I could smell salts from her body. No, it was the smell of the swimming pool.
Like me, Akane leaned on the wall and, like me again, she sighed deeply. “Ah, it’s so cold,” I could hear her muter. She took a deep breath and I thought she would say something then, but the silence continued for a while.
The summer air brought the sound of wind instruments from somewhere. I looked around, and eventually found two girls in the window on the second floor corridor playing trumpets. The high-pitched melody drifted towards the lush greenery of the summer.
Once the performance ended, Akane spoke up at last.
“Well actually, I can’t really say that something happened. I just can’t bring out the motivation I had before. When I made the Nationals in the last tournament, I made a new personal best, and just feel a little burned out. Just today, the teacher asked me to guide the juniors, but I ..”
Simply can’t swim like before.
Her voice trailed off at the end making the last words almost inaudible.
Akane expressed her feelings clearly. And I just muttered, “It’s fine.” I knew that she was looking at me, but my attention was still firmly at those two girls from the wind instrument club. No encore was coming yet.
“It’s fine because, well.. You are still swimming Akane, right?”
“Swimming’s a habit of mine, like toothbrushing. I feel a little uneasy if I don’t swim.”
historical
“Right. So the light’s still there. It may become smaller, harder to see, but it’s not put out. I’ll say this as many times as I need. There’s no doubt you can go to a further place, Akane.”
Akane was different from Takeshita and me.
She was swimming for real.
Though I never would voice that sentiment aloud.
“..Feels like you’ve changed, Haru.”
“How so?” so I asked. “Back then, you wouldn’t say such things.” So she replied.
“If it were the old you, Haru, there’s no way you would have greeted me if I haven’t noticed you. I don’t know how many times I’ve been ignored by you. Even with everyone around, you would just stand by the side and watch everyone. You would then give some ambiguous lines with some really fake smile. That was different though. I know. These were your true thoughts, Haru. This might be the first time you’re saying what you really feel. So, hm hmm..I’m a little happy.”
“I blame the summer. It’s so hot out here that I’m not thinking straight and keep saying weird stuff. Sorry.”
“I say, you don’t have to be so embarrassed. Hm. But, yay! Since you say so, Haru, I’ll just give it a try. Ah yeah. Can I ask you for something this time?”
“If it’s something I can do..”
“Do you mind saying ‘do your best’? I’m actually a simple person. If I’m cheered on, I might be able to work a little harder.”
“That’s it? Hasn’t everyone else said that to you many times?”
“It’s completely different this time. Say it to me. Please!”
“Got it. Do your best.”
Akane closed her eyes, seemingly trying to focus as she listened.
“I will..”
“Do your best.”
“I will.”
“Do your best, Akane.”
“Yep! I’ll do my best!”
Akane slowly opened her eyes. Being the genuinely popular person, cheerful, kind, a little clumsy, and very honest that she was, at that moment she was as radiant as the summer sun.
Looking at her, I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes.
Then, Akane, who arrived by my left, turned around me and returned to where she came from.
The moment her silhouette grew smaller, for some reason, she turned towards me again. She walked out of the shade, and stood in the intense light. The water droplets all over her reflected the sunlight, and she looked really dazzling.
“Yep, I’ll do my best for sure,” she said and raised a fist in my direction. “So do your best too, Haru.”
“Ah, I see,” I muttered.
Guess I really have to.
I felt a little itch within my heart, yet it felt so comfortable.
“What’s the matter?” she asked
“Nothing. Just that I guess I really have to do my best.”
Hearing my reply, Akane’s cheeks turned a little red and she said with glee, “I know, right?”
That conversation with Akane finally allowed me to regain some composure. But once I returned to the field, that calm vanished in an instant.
Yuki was waiting under a tree by the track field.
She was talking to someone.
That boy had his hair slightly long and looked pretty cool. He’s wearing the soccer team jersey. If I remembered correctly, the name was Sawachika. I had heard about him three months ago when my classmate, Satake, proudly boasted that a really fast winger joined them.
I could see a few other guys from the soccer team spying on him and Yuki from some distance away. They scattered in a panic as soon as they noticed I was back.
That gave me a rough idea of what was going on. It seemed that he was hitting on Yuki. Well, it wasn’t really that odd with her just standing there and looking beautiful.
But if that really was the case, what should I do? What was the right thing to do?
Then, it hit me.
What was I trying to accomplish?
Even I found it stupid to catch myself thinking about questions.
The heat must have really gotten to me. That behaviour was really unlike me but, well, it wasn’t a bad thing either. Not a bad thing at all.
I approached the two of them while they were still talking. As soon as Yuki noticed me, she scuttled to my side.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Just a little trouble.”
While we were talking, Sawachika approached. Yuki saw him, and ducked behind me. I in turn took a step forward.
The moment I did so, Sawachika seemed to hesitate and swallowed whatever he was about to say. Honestly, that was all he could do.
For us sports club members, seniors are revered like Gods. Sawachika did in fact approach Yuki when I was not around. He probably waited for this opportunity.
With a kind smile on my face, I said to Sawachika.
“I think you’re called Sawachika, right? I guess club activities aren’t easy after the third years retired? Satake still does pop by from time to time though, no?”
I didn’t really care what I was talking about. I just wanted to let him know of my relationship with their ex-team captain, Satake.
Sawachika understood what I was getting at and, while obviously not really happy, he bowed towards me politely, and returned to his buddies at the club.
That day, after practice.
That day after practice Yuki, who until yesterday would disappear while I was changing in the club changing room, was standing in front of the entrance looking up at the sky. The low-lying sun was about to set and the clouds refracted the orange light turning the skies a blazing red. Yuki’s long shadow and her indistinct, when compared to its afternoon sharpness, fleeting silhouette gave the impression that she would disappear the moment I looked away from her.
“Hm, what’s the matter?”
I-->>