Chapter 17: Volume 1 - CH 3.4

The weather remained clear throughout the rest of the day. In the afternoon, the temperature rose and it became quite hot. However, since we had a practice match scheduled for the following day, today's practice was light and we were not too tired.

On the way home, Yuriko approached me at the bicycle parking lot.

"Hey, can we go by Ichishou for a minute?"

Ichishou stands for Irisawa Municipal First Elementary School, where Yuriko and I attend to.

Tln : Irisawa Shiritsu Dai Ichi Shougakkou

"Why?"

"Today, my cousin is having a soccer match. She's only in the fourth grade. Would you like to watch?"

Since I had no plans for the evening, I said, "Okay,". Although alumni from junior high, senior high, or college occasionally came to my former team to coach, I myself had never shown up after graduating from elementary school.

As we entered the elementary school grounds, we parked our bicycles in the parking lot, just as we used to do. All around us were small bicycles of elementary school students.

It had been a long time since I had been on an elementary school ground, but it felt terribly small. On the soccer court, there are kids running around in the same uniforms we used to wear. I recognized the other team's uniform. It was a local club team. The narrow elementary school field was filled with the sound of children's voices, footsteps chasing the ball, and whistles.

Leaning against the bars in the corner of the field, we turned our attention to the field where the match was being played. The evening sun was strong and hot.

"Which one is Yuriko's cousin?" I asked.

"That girl. Her name is Miyuki-chan."

The girl on the other end of Yuriko's finger, with a short bob, gave a small and cute impression. From the looks of it, her position is the right side of the midfield. The match is a typical situation in elementary school games, where several central players from both teams, who are either physically large or technically skilled, are crowded together in a small space kicking the ball at each other. Miyuki-chan is moving around in the corner of the court, whether she wants to be involved in the game or not.

"Her mother told me that she started playing soccer because of my influence."

Yuriko said proudly as she watched her cousin and her juniors in action.

"Hee. How long has she been doing this?"

"Two years."

"I see. Then, I guess it can't be helped if it's still that way..."

"Yeah, she's a quiet girl from the start. But she's got a good muscle. I've taught her a few times, and she's very dexterous and quick to learn."

"I see."

"Well, the big barrier is that she is a little too kind and doesn't want to be actively involved in the game."

As we were talking about this, the ball rolled toward Miyuki, as if it had burst out of the center group. She was momentarily jumpy, but the ball came to her feet and she kicked it back into the middle. It was a beautiful kick. The ball went up softly, the central group swarmed again, and when it hit someone's head and spilled, the opposing keeper held it.

"Surely, it's a beautiful kick."

"Right?"

"She looks like a passer."

Tln : I don't know much about soccer, but the passer here might be like a setter/set-upper/tosser in volleyball

"Well, I think so. I also think that if Miyuki is going to play on that side, it would be better for her to develop in that direction. She doesn't seem like an attacker in terms of personality."

Yuriko was watching the gameplay of her cousin completely from the perspective of a mentor. And I suddenly wondered if this is how my father used to watch us in elementary school.

After about ten minutes, the game was over. Miyuki-chan came running to us from among the elementary school students who had finished greeting each other.

"Good work," Yuriko put her hand on Miyuki's head.

"Yuriko-chan, did you come to see me?"

"Yeah. You did your best."

--- Uwah. Yuriko, who always says harsh words, is saying kind words. This is not like Yuriko who is always yelling at the bench during games.

Yuriko removed her hand from Miyuki and turned her body toward me.

"This is my friend. A graduate of this school."

Miyuki looks at me. Our eyes meet.

"..."

"..."

I had never talked to a girl this age before. When I was at a loss as to how I should treat her, "Hey. Say hello," Yuriko said to me as if she were disgusted.

"H-Hello ..."

I said just a few words, but Miyuki was clearly scared, perhaps because of the strange pause. Her eyes were swimming.

"Kenichi, your smile is stiff."

I know that without being told. But this was the kindest smile I could muster. Miyuki-chan bowed and said, "Hello!" in a nervous voice to me, and then she run toward the field. The kids were all forming a circle. It seemed like they were going to do some stretching.

"Ah~. You scared the elementary school girls. That's Kenichi for you."

Yuriko looked at me coldly.

After that, Yuriko and I approached the bench to say hello to a coach we both knew. His name is Ishida-san, an old man who works for the municipal office, wearing a jersey and a cap. Many of the coaches on this team are parents of children on the team or alumni of the elementary school who volunteer their time, but Ishida-san had stayed on to coach the team long after his own children had graduated.

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"Oh, Kenichi!"

Ishida-san noticed me before I could call out to him. I was a little surprised by that.

"Hello. It's been a while."

I bowed my head and greeted him. Ishida-san smiles on his tanned red face and asks me questions like, "You've grown taller," and "Are you still playing soccer?". In the middle of this conversation, he shifts his gaze to Yuriko, who is standing beside me, and asks, 

"Your girlfriend?" he asked in a low voice. Yuriko reacted by lifting her shoulders.

"I'm Mori. I'm Kenichi's classmate. Did you forget? I'm not his girlfriend."

Yuriko smiled cheerfully, but with an intensity that seemed to bring out a vein on her head, Yuriko said her name.

"Ah! Yuriko, is that you!? I didn't recognize you, you look so different! If I look closely, you're indeed Yuriko!"

"What do you mean by look closely."

Yuriko was grumbling. "Sorry," Ishida-san said to Yuriko with a laugh, and then asked,

"How is Coach Sakamoto?"

He asked me.

For a moment, I was at a loss for an answer. I hadn't told the people in this club that my father had died.

"....... My father passed away. Three years ago."

"Eh?" the coach said, and for a moment, he was speechless. I felt the atmosphere of our friendly reunion froze. Yuriko, too, cast her eyes down beside me.

"Why?"

"He was suddenly ill. It was so sudden."

"So that's it...... I'm sorry. I didn't know that happened."

"---No. It's I who should say so, I'm sorry I didn't report it to the club. Even though I indebted you a lot."

"No no, It's okay. I'm sorry to hear that."

Dad, he would show up after finishing his college work and often sat on the bench in his jacket. His intellectual appearance, which was out of place on an elementary school field, reminded me of the manager of a European professional club, and the other coaches would joked that he was the Mourinho of our club. As I was near the bench, the image of my father, dressed in a strange combination of jacket and flashy colored soccer spikes, came to mind.

After talking for a while about my dad, we told each other what we had been up to. Yuriko also spoke in a cheerful tone, and gradually, the cold air began to thaw again.

When the conversation settled down, Yuriko and I said, "We will come again," and went back to the corner of the field so as not to disturb the stretching and meeting.

I thought she was just going to leave, but Yuriko said, "I'm going back with Miyuki-chan, can you wait for me?" Yuriko said. I nodded my head.

While we were waiting, Yuriko picked up a soccer ball that was lying nearby and kicked it to me. The name of our elementary school is written in an oil-based pen on that ball for elementary school students. We were both in loafers and somehow kicked that ball to each other.

The soil of the field and the surrounding scenery had hardly changed since we were here, and I was struck by a strange sensation as if time had rewound.

Yuriko kicked the ball in front of me in exactly the same way, but the only thing that didn't overlap was the image of Yuriko in her old short hair and the image of Yuriko in her current school uniform. She tried not to lift her legs too much, but I couldn't help but notice that Yuriko's skirt swayed as she kicked the ball, almost revealing her pure white thighs that weren't sunburned. It was impossible back then to think about such things while exchanging passes with Yuriko.

Yuriko raised her foot lightly as she trapped the ball, which hit a pebble and bounced a little, and that's when the wind suddenly blew. She quickly held down her skirt with her hand.

Yuriko looked up and our eyes met, and I looked down in a hurry.

"Don't look, stupid."

"...... You shouldn't be kicking a ball while dressed like that..."

As I looked at the ground, a strong ball flew. I couldn't react fast enough and the ball hit me just below my knees.

"Ouch!"

My voice came out unconsciously. When I looked up, Yuriko stared at me and clicked her tongue.

Scary woman, I thought, and that was the only impression I had of Yuriko that had not changed.

Soon, Miyuki-chan and the others had finished stretching and cleaning up their equipment. The three of us left the elementary school together.

Yuriko and I walked along the streets of a residential area in the evening, pushing our bicycles. The red sky was almost dark, and clouds were drifting in the sky, which had turned pale purple in the dusk.

At first, Miyuki looked at me warily as she talked with Yuriko, but gradually she seemed to stop worrying about it and exchanged a few words with me as well. She told me about elementary school and her current team.

Miyuki said to me at a corner of a residential area, "See you later, Kenichi-kun". Yuriko had called me by my name, so Miyuki seemed to have imitated her.

"S-See you later."

Yuriko stared at me as I replied in a gentle tone of voice, as if looking at a suspicious person.

Yuriko then gently waved her hand and said, "See you later, say hi to Oba-san too."

Miyuki replied, "Okay," and went into a house just around the corner.

"Then. Let's go home too. You should go to bed early today so that you can run properly tomorrow."

"Yeah."

We exchanged such words on the street corner where it was getting dark and the shadows were beginning to be covered by the evening twilight, and we went back to our own houses.

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