Chapter 10: 1.9

I could have said goodbye there, but I had some things on my mind, so I decided to continue talking a little longer.

“….How’s your leg?”

A little over a month ago, he was injured in an accident at the cultural festival. Since then, his injuries had been healed and he no longer seemed to have any problems with his daily life, but I wondered if it had affected his basketball game in any way.

“Yeah, I’m all better now. Now I’m finally going to be a regular player,” Sakuraba replied with a carefree smile.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

I was a little relieved to see that he didn’t seem to be straining himself. In a way, as someone who was present at the scene, I was a bit concerned about it; so, it was good to hear it directly from the man himself.

“I owe it all to Izumi, who took over for me at that time. If I had pushed myself too hard there, I wouldn’t have been able to come back yet.”

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t do much and it was a good opportunity for me too.”

That time gave me a lot to look back on. And it was Yuzu who substituted for Sakuraba in the first place. I really didn’t do much for him. I mean, seriously, I didn’t do anything.

“If things are going so well, it looks like you’ll have plenty of time for Christmas,” I continued.

Perhaps because I was talking about this with Yuzu earlier, I suddenly remembered and broached the subject. It would be beneficial to find out more about his feelings at the moment.

“Well. I haven’t made any plans yet, so I’m going to talk to Keigo and the others about it. Izumi, you’re going out with Yuzu?”

“Yes, tentatively.” My reply was rather brusque.

I was not sure how Sakuraba was feeling about Yuzu at the moment. Normally, I would believe his words that he has already broken it off and talk about Yuzu as if nothing had happened on the surface, but at a delicate time like this, the distance I should place between us suddenly became difficult to gauge.

“Don’t sweat it so much. If it’s about Yuzu, I’ve already sorted my feelings properly.” Perhaps sensing my hesitation, Sakuraba encouraged me with a bitter smile.

“Sorry, I do know that, but still. Well, I’m glad you’ve got it properly sorted out. If Sakuraba is still after Yuzu, I’d be too anxious and have insomnia,” I deliberately offered a light-hearted remark in order to dispel the heavy mood.

Then Sakuraba smiled back at me, “It’s okay. I’m not dragging it out as much as people think. See, I’m popular. I won’t always get hung up on a single girl.”

“It does feel like that when you say it, that pisses me off…”

I was overwhelmed by his tremendous ikemen1 aura and was impressed despite myself. 

“Haha, I was waiting for you to retort, though.”

“That only works when comedians do it. It’s too much for me when you come to me like that.”

“What a pity,” Sakuraba slumped his shoulders.

When the chit-chat had died down, Sakuraba cut to the chase, “By the way, Izumi, didn’t you come here to do something?”

“Ah, I’m just looking for Hina…Hiiragi for a bit,” I honestly answered, but I was glared at by him in return.

“Owh? You’re cheating?”

“If that’s the case, I’ll keep it a secret from you, Sakuraba. I’d get punched otherwise.”

“Indeed. I’d give you the mightiest straight punch I could muster.” 

Sakuraba shadowboxed with a half-serious look in his eyes.

“That’s scary, I’ll keep that in mind. See you later.”

“Yeah, later.”

I slightly raised my hand to say goodbye, and Sakuraba also lightly replied.

Perhaps because I had spent so much time chatting with Sakuraba, the attention on me had already faded, so I headed down to the girls’ basketball team without feeling particularly uncomfortable.

 

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“Hina!” I called out to Hina who was on a break.

She turned her head towards me. “Whoa, it’s Yamato. It’s rare for you to come to the gymnasium. You made up your mind to join the basketball club?”

I shook my head at her hopeful, glittering eyes.

“I won’t. I just want to talk to you about the matter from the other day.”

Hina was a little disappointed at my rejection.

“Oh, so it’s about Christmas. You’ve decided where to go?”

“For the time being, yes. What about the girls?”

I asked back and she reflexively turned a thumbs-up.

“Yep, we decided to go on a Christmas gourmet tour for now. We thought of trying every single one of the special Christmas menus at the restaurants near the station.”

“Sounds like a fattening-up plan,” I muttered to myself, and Hina looked away awkwardly.

“We’re fine because we usually move around. Plus we are sportsgirls.”

“Really? With New Year’s coming up2? Can you look me in the eye and say that?”

When I reminded her, Hina’s expression was blatantly distorted and twisted.

“We’re also entering super hard training today…”

“It’s not worth the effort, you know.”

I shrugged my shoulders and Hina glared at me with a sullen expression.

“Shut up! You, for one, where did you decide to go?”

“I’m going to join an event at the neighbouring station, called ‘Christmas Fulfilment’… What’s with that subtle expression?”

As soon as she heard my report, for some reason, Hina mysteriously cocked her head a little.

“No, hmm… You’re going to that, now?”

“What do you mean?”

I couldn’t understand what Hina was implying. There was supposed to be no restriction on when to go to see the winter light displays, as far as I knew.

“Huh? Well, that event is where one confesses to their crushes, right?”

“…What?”

Still in a rather vexed tone of voice, Hina explained to the dazed me, “It is also written in the magazine I recommended to you. ‘Christmas Fulfilment’ is an event where you invite the person you like and confess your feelings to him or her in a beautiful illuminated setting.”

“…Fo-for real??”

I suddenly felt my blood drain away. At the same time, I remembered Yuzu’s strange attitude earlier.

“N-nothing. I didn’t think Yamato would invite me to such an event, so I was so surprised.”

“AHH… I got it! I’ll prepare myself too…!”

“I need to prepare myself a bit, so I’m going home today! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

—Huh? By any chance, did I just set myself up for a confession on Christmas Eve?

chocolala: LOL!!! 

Footnotes

Just a note, Ikemen means ‘hot, charming guys’. New Year in Japan involves eating many festive foods like mochi and the whole osechi set.

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