said to Yuki, who turned towards me. Her clear hair was sparkling, and her smile was really pretty. It was the first time in my life that I found someone’s smile so pretty.

“Hmm. What’s the matter?” I asked.

That made her turn towards me. Her clear hair was sparkling, her smile really pretty. It was the first time in my life that I found someone’s smile so pretty.

“I want to thank you for getting me out of trouble. Let’s go to the convenience store. I’ll treat you to ice-cream or something.”

“No need for that. I didn’t do much anyway.”

“Hey. I’m happy, so I want to thank you. Can’t I?”

“Well.. Not that you can’t..”

“Let’s go then.”

“Let’s go then.”

Before I could reply, Yuki turned towards the school gate. I pursued her, and walked alongside her.

Before I could argue any further, Yuki turned and started heading towards the school gate. I gave chase and ended up walking alongside her.

Two shadows swayed side by side, but not once did they meet. There was a gap the size of a person between us. I just felt like I was whispering a little as I talked. Why?

Two shadows swayed side by side, but not once did they meet. There was a gap the size of a person between us. When I started to talk, I just felt like whispering a little for some reason. Wasn’t really sure why.

“Really, Yuki, you’re pretty popular.”

“That’s not true.”

“But you were approached by Sawachika today.”

“Ah, so that was Sawachika-kun?”

“You never asked for his name?”

“..I forgot. I figured he came to look for me because of you, Yoshi-kun.”

“Nope. Didn’t he wait to approach you until I wasn’t around?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. When I was really alone, nobody actually talked to me. I know I was being watched then but well.. That was all to it. Yep, definitely. I guess I wasn’t human back then.”

I could hear her mutter “Alone” at the end there. Her voice sounded a little forlorn.

That loneliness of hers was infectious.

“So does that mean you turn into a monster when I’m not around?”

I made a joke. I didn’t care if she was angry, shocked, or took me as a fool.

I just wanted her to look anything other than sad. Yes, anything else’s fine, anything but that.

I wanted her to forget her sadness and loneliness. At this point, she’s not alone, since I was walking next to her.

For a moment, Yuki was flabbergasted. “Ahahaha.” And then she burst out laughing.

Her anguish was forgotten, just as I had hoped.

“Yeah. I become a monster that spits fire!”

She deliberately opened her mouth wide, raised her eyebrows, and made a “Gyaaa!!!!” sound with all her might. Like a monster fully intent to destroy a town.

“You’re going to wreck the town?”

“Of course.”

“You’re going to fight the hero?”

“Of course!”

“So, you’ll only become human again when I’m around?”

“Yes..”

“Why?”

Yuki didn’t answer. I continued to ask anyway.

“Why do you only become human again when you’re with me?”

Yuki answered with the same joking tone she used up till now.

“Because you’re a weirdo, Yoshi-kun.”

“Huh?”

“Because you’re the only one who’ll talk to a weirdo like me.”

“I see.” So I went with the flow, nodding, but thinking back about it, I had no memories of being the one who talked to her. As far as I knew, it was Yuki who had spoken to me first.

“Wait, aren’t you the one who first spoke to me, Yuki?”

“Is that so?”

“Think about it. I was practicing back then. You’re the one who told me ‘You’re really working hard’.”

“Ah, we’re at the convenience store. Come on, let’s go in.”

Before I could finish, Yuki grabbed my arm, and ran forward. Our shadows merged together. For some reason Yuki’s hand was a little cold. So cold, in fact, that I was worried it would melt in my hotter than usual grip.

We bought the ice-cream and sat down in the shade at the parking lot. I hurriedly removed the packaging from mine and bit into the sugar coating. My teeth broke through, and the sweet filling flowed out. It was delicious. I munched at the thing and I was rewarded by a comforting sound accompanying the nice, chewy feeling.

“Is this really enough? There are some more expensive ones .”

“I like this one.”

“Well, I guess it’s delicious after all.”

It was evening and many people passed by the convenience store. A big sister taking a dog on a stroll. Some high school students wearing headphones. The uncle in a suit hurrying along, probably on the way back to his company. Two yelling youths on bicycles pedalling their ways home.

“Seriously, Yoshi-kun,” said Yuki as she stood beside me, licking the melted ice-cream on her hand.

She noticed me turn to her and commented that she really couldn’t eat it that fast.

I knew this was not what she wanted to talk about, so I waited patiently for her to finish. Not long after, she was nibbling on the wooden stick, just as I had done.

“So, have you ever competed against someone?” she asked.

“Eh?”

“Have you ever wanted to beat someone?”

She sounded like she knew the answer.

“You know?”

“Well, I can feel it. I’ve been watching you all the time.”

“All the time?”

“All the time.”

“Ahahaha.” I started laughing to pass the vague statement off. “What are you saying?” but Yuki wasn’t laughing. She was staring intently at me.

I started laughing to defuse that vague statement.

“What are you saying?” I asked.

But Yuki wasn’t laughing. She was just staring at me intently.

That awkward laugh of mine withered in the summer air, slowly fading away, until it finally disappeared altogether. I stared at the tattered tips of my shoes. Suddenly, to my shock, their tips warped softly. Everything in my vision, the world I saw, all became vague and fuzzy.

For a moment, for some reason, I started talking about the issue I had intended to bury in the depths of my heart for all time.

It was something I had brooded over countless times. Something I thought I had come to terms with.

But now, words came out from my throat, my mouth. Disjointed sequences of unrelated terms.

About a friend I had called Takeshita.

About how he was really fast.

That he had a senior he admired.

How that romance ended up going nowhere.

And how he just gave up on track after that.

My voice was cracking, my body was shaking, my vision wavered. I was just giving voice to my raw emotions. And those hot, sharp emotions that took the form of words were continuously stabbing at the softest parts of my heart. The parking lot got darker little by little all the while.

How much time passed until I said what I wanted to say? Two minutes? Three minutes?

“So that was why you started running,” she muttered.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re always running hard, Yoshi-kun, but never really fully prepared. That might be because you admire Takeshita-kun too much, making you stay just a step behind him. Yes, I see now. I finally know what I can do.”

I rubbed my face with my palms, and lifted my head. The world was assumed the colours of night before I knew it, and there were many little blinking lights behind Yuki as she stood up. She was so pretty, be it day, evening, or night.

“Hey, just to be sure. Yoshi-kun, do you really want to surpass Takeshita-kun’s record?”

“I started running because of that guy.”

“You’re not being honest. If you have something you want, say it. If you want to win, say that you want to win.”

“..”

“Come on. Say it.”

“I want to win. I want to beat Takeshita.”

“Right. Good. I’ll get you to beat him.”

Yuki took the ice-cream stick from my hand, and replaced it with hers. The words ‘You win’ were written large on it. Who knew, it was possible to win this lucky draw after all. Until today, the first time I saw it, I thought it was an urban legend for sure.

“You’re really lucky, Yoshi-kun. It’s like you have a Goddess of luck following you.”

She smiled bashfully as she said that. Then, she immediately looked away from me, but I could see her ears redden slightly from behind.

The next day, the sudden downpour meant that I could not go to school.

The day after was the same, and the track was terrible. I could not run. It was only three days after I had eaten that ice cream that I reunited with Yuki on an afternoon.

I finished my warmups and was just jogging around when Yuki showed up like usual. I saw her, and froze. She in turn raised her hand, said “Hi”, and acted like nothing had happened.

“Seems like today’s the hottest day of the summer,” she said.

“No, that’s one thing altogether. What’s with your getup though?”

I pointed at Yuki’s clothing. For some reason, she was wearing our school’s gym clothes. The white clothes were translucent, and I could see the outline and the colour of her underwear. I was sure that I shouldn’t be looking, but I just couldn’t move my eyes away from those lines.

“I bought it.”

“So.. Why again?”

“I might end up dirtying my clothes today.”

“That’s not what I want to know. I’m asking why have you bought our school’s gym clothes?”

“If I wear this, nobody’s going to suspect my identity if I’m seen. Anyway, are you ready?”

I felt that, well, with things coming to this point, and Yuki looking a little happy, I didn’t bother to retort. I nodded. Thanks to the sudden rain from before, I had ample rest, and I was feeling fine. This was the feeling I had when I broke my record at the Prefectures.

“But can I really beat, Takeshita?”

“Yep. All will be fine. Just run full speed as you do, Yoshi-kun, and believe in me. Never take your eyes off me. Simple, right?”

I bumped my fist against hers. For some reason she reached out with them full of confidence. After that, Yuki went to the finish line, while I went to the starting blocks.

Like usual, I shut of from my surroundings and I chanting the best starting routine within my mind as I extended my leg tendons. I placed my hand on my wildly beating heart. I took a slow breath full of the summer air into my lungs.

I opened my eyes.

The blue sky and the daylight entered my eyes, and so did the sight of Yuki standing by the finishing line.

Before I knew it, my heart calmed down.

I positioned myself on the starting line. I got ready to run. Yuki raised her hand. I looked forward.

“Ready——”

The world turned silent.

“Don!”

That was the only sound I could hear.

I started running and that start was perfect. I maintained a forward posture as I pushed forth, accelerating while I slowly straightened my upper body. The wind blew by, and the scenery changed. I continued to dash forward at a speed I had never felt before.

10m passed. 20m passed. Hah. Hah. My front foot latched onto the ground as I leaped forth.

30m passed. 40m passed. I might really be able to make it.

And the moment I ran past 50, like usual, I looked towards the shadow running before me.

The shadow I could never surpass.

I had always seen Takeshita in it. This time, though, something was different.

“Yoooooossssssshhhhhhiiiiiikkkkkkkkuuuuunnnn. Lift your hhhheeeeaaaaadddddd!”

Yuki shouted at me.

She was probably not used to yelling so loud. Her voice seemed to be breaking.

I lifted my head, just as she called out to me. I saw the finishing line. Her face was red as she shouted at me.

“Look forrrrwwwwwwaaaaarrrrddd!”

Seriously, erm, what are you doing, Yuki? I thought.

I ended up grinning anyway.

“I’m here!”

She waved her arms, shouting.

“Fly over here!!!”

Finally, she exclaimed, “Just trust me! Just look at me!”

So I put my faith in Yuki.

I simply looked at her.

Yeah. It was just that simple. Because..

For every step I took, she was one step closer to me. I wanted to be faster.. I wanted to get to Yuki faster. Even if it was just a second faster, a moment, I wanted to be faster.

She was at the center of the world.

There was nothing else.

One step, two steps, three steps. I definitely couldn’t slow down. More importantly, I had to be faster.

On the last step, I stepped hard against the ground and, as she had said, I leapt into her open arms. It was summer, but I smelled the sweet fragrance of spring. The fragrance of cherry blossoms.

At that moment, I heard a ‘beep’, and at the same time, the world spun. I was puzzled. All that was left was the dumbfounding sound echoing in my mind.

And before I knew it, I was lying on the ground, face up. Yuki’s hands were on my neck and she herself was lying down on my body. It was likely that the moment I was about to crash into her, she pined me down under herself.

“It hurts..”

The impact should have been focused mostly on my back, but I was aching all over. I coughed and struggled for breath. The pain was unbearable but Yuki moved away her hands from my neck not worried about me at all. All she cared about was in the palm of her hands. Just when I thought she would embrace me firmly, she exclaimed instead.

“What are you doing? Falling hurts.”

But Yuki didn’t care about what I said at all. Her face was beaming as she brought her palm close to my face.

“Here, have a look.”

I didn’t know what she was saying. The important thing was that my back was hurting, and that my stomach was feeling Yuki’s ass. My reaction must have appeared a little strange to her since she pouted, curling her lips.

“Can’t you be a little happier?”

“Eh.. Erm.. Happier about what?”

“The time. Look. Open your eyes wide.”

I spent about 10 seconds or so trying to comprehend what she was saying. It took another 5 seconds before I accepted the reality in front of my eyes. My disbelief was focused upon the time shown on the stopwatch in Yuki’s hand.

It was a new 100m record.

I beat Takeshita’s record.

“Why?”

Suddenly, I cried. Seared deep within my eyes was Yuki’s smile. And the stopwatch. Suddenly, I couldn’t see anymore.

“Well, Yoshi-kun, I think you’ve long ago surpassed Takeshita-kun, but you admired him so much that you somehow never ended up running all out. Whenever you reached the last 50 meters, you would look down. Always. That caused you to slow down a little. You could have just looked ahead, but you never did. No, you couldn’t do that, right? The Takeshita-kun running ahead of you all the time was no longer there, and you were scared of that. You really admired Takeshita-kun.”

I covered my eyes with my hands, gritting my teeth. If I didn’t, lots of various fluids would flow out. More importantly, I didn’t want Yuki to see this expression of mine.

“He was a really amazing guy. If that guy were still running track, my speed would be nothing when compared to him. That was what I wanted to see. Yeah. I just wanted to see the Takeshita that was faster that his past self.”

But such a person didn’t exist.

I knew that. I knew how much, how hard I worked. How much I prayed for that result. And now Yuki helped me reach that place, but there was nothing I had hoped for here. Even so..

Yuki moved my arm aside, and used her thin, long thumb to wipe away the tears in my eyes. Right, then left. And every tear that was shed afterwards. She wiped them all for me.

My vision got clearer. I finally understood what was at the place I worked so hard to arrive at.

“Congratulations. You worked hard, Yoshi-kun.”

There was Yuki.

Her words.

I guess all my hard work had been repaid in full.

On our way back, we dropped by the convenience store again.

This time, I offered to treat her to ice-cream as thanks, and she went for the 300-yen ice-cream cup. Well, it didn’t really matter. After some hesitation, I too chose the same brand. She went for strawberry flavour, while I chose rum and raisin. I guess it was fine splurge a little since we were celebrating.

We sat alongside each other, at the same place, and found a cicada carcass there.

Summer was about to end.

Yuki stared at the soulless husk.

“Cicadas spent about 6 years waiting in the dirt,” she muttered.

“The Aburazemi are the same, it seems. I think I read somewhere that like the Aburazemi, there are cicadas that wait 17 years in the ground.”

“Yes. And within a week above ground, they’ll die. What’s the meaning of that?”

“..At least, there’s the mission of continuing to the next generation.”

“That might be the case for the females, but the males are different. A male cicada can mate with many, and so there are males unable to leave children behind. So, do you think that male has a purpose to live?”

Yuki’s words seemed poignant, so I had some thought into it, and answered,

“The meaning of life differs according to each individual, and I think this isn’t something I can agree with or deny easily. But they definitely tried their hardest to live.”

“Even if they did, there’s no point to it at all.”

“I don’t think so. That’s what you taught me, Yuki. If I work hard and reach a certain destination, even if there’s nothing I originally wanted there, there’ll be other things to find at the end. I certainly have. In fact, it seems like some cicadas can survive for a month.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not. It’s hard to raise them, and that’s why most don’t last more than a week. That’s why many people are under that misapprehension. In fact, wild cicadas can live for about a month. That’s what the TV says, and that’s why they’ll definitely find something.”

The last bit was just me trying to fit in a consolation.

It was a cheap lie I invented just to get Yuki to smile.

To be honest, I really didn’t care about what happened to the cicada. Evne so, if Yuki wished for it, I would pray, hoping that its life would be meaningful.

Yuki finally picked up the spoon, and brought the somewhat melted ice-cream into her mouth. “Nice, nice,” she said, and I kept watching her as I opened the lid.

“Hm? While we’re on that subject, you said found something, Yoshi-kun?”

“It’s a secret.”

Under no circumstances I should say the truth here. Thus I answered in that manner instead.

“But I feel this summer day is one I’ll definitely never forget when I grow up.”

Even when today becomes the past, even when I grow older, even as time passes and memories fade.

I would never forget this summer heat.

The tears and sweat that were shed.

The sweetness of this ice cream.

The fragrance of the cherry blossoms.

And the important thing I obtained.

Yuki just muttered something staring at the plastic spoon.

It was dark, and I couldn’t see her expression.

But I could kind of make out that she seemed to be pouting. And vague hints of a word.

“..Liar.”