Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Rise and Fall

Something had certainly changed in Shiuka. That much he was sure of as the day went along. She seemed so cold towards him when the girl was so bubbly before. Did something happen? It seemed to be related to him directly, seeing as she chatted along with her friends perfectly fine. Plus, after wanting to be his partner during badminton, any other opportunity to team up was left with more her ignoring his suggestions.

But, what did he do? There wasn’t anything that Hakuta could think of that he did to make her mad in the short amount of time there was. In fact, she was normal before his match, then seemingly upset with him afterwards. Did she get mad about him losing? There was no way, if that were the case wouldn’t she also be upset with Rouko? They seemed to be doing fine between each other.

Then again, they had also been friends for much longer. But even then, he had been living at her house for a while now. Surely they had bonded close enough to be considered friends? Or was that something only he saw in their relationship?

Now that thought made him sadder about himself as they ate lunch. All the team events were pretty much done with only one major athletic competition left to go. That being the dreaded run. When the day started, he was feeling anxious, but confident about being able to climb the mountain and come out the other side. Now, he wasn’t as sure. And all of it came from the sudden divide in his relationship to Shiuka.

When did what she thought of him become so important, he wondered. Up until recently, he would’ve loved nothing more than for her to just ignore him. But now, he was wishing she’d at least speak to him a little bit.

“So, is everyone enjoying their lunch?” He asked them as they sat with each other. Everyone seemed to be positive about their food, but there was only one person’s opinion he cared about the most.

“It’s fine…” She answered. Since he was the one to make their lunch for sports day, her response was vital for how she was feeling about him in this moment. He knew for a fact she liked his cooking. “I’ve had better.” With that, she put down her meal and told everyone her appetite was with her today.

“I hope you’ll feeling better.” He said, despondent. That was the final nail in the coffin between them.

After everyone was finished with their food. There was a short break period before the run was to begin. After all, who would want to run four kilometers up and down a mountain on a full stomach. So that left them with one more conversation before things were to begin.

“Are you all right?” Yuusen asked him as they walked towards the starting position. “That loss in badminton really did a number on you.” Unlike with Shiuka, the change in his mood after her change didn’t go unnoticed. There was less energy in his step, and his performance in the sports competitions were lacking. Though he was able to pick up victories in the next two chances he had. To Hakuta, they felt like hallow victories.

“You know if you feel faint, the class rep said to let her know.”

“I’m fine.” He assured them.

“You really should tell her.” That was the first time Shiuka had a proper statement directed just for him. “We don’t need anyone holding us back.” With that, she headed to the starting line with the rest of her friends.

“Did you do something to make her mad?” That was confusing for his friends as they looked at him dumbfounded.

“I honestly have no idea.” He said, a bit upset she’d be so brazen. “But, I’m not going to back down now. I’ve worked too hard to drop out here.” Even if she was going to be mad at him for whatever reason he was unsure of. Hakuta did respect the time she spent with him this week. There was no way he’d allow her to believe it was all wasted.

“Well, while you’re at it, can you make her not mad at you?” Said Itsuku.

“Yeah. If she hates you, then that’s it for her friends hanging with us too.” Yuusen followed up as the two were in sync with their thoughts.

“I’m sure glad you two are my friends.” Hakuta sarcastically quipped as they were asked to line up at the starting line. The teachers told them the rules everyone had already known about. In terms of the competition, it was simple. Points were assigned based on when one finished. So if one were to finish in the top ten, they’d earn 100 points a piece. Then 90 points for those in places 11-30, and so on. After all was explained, the time for the run began.

As all of the students began to gain distance on others. Hakuta found himself falling behind the others. Despite improving his endurance, his speed hadn’t grown a bit. Unsurprising seeing as all he did was dance. It grew clear to him just how slow he was compared to members of his group. Of course the other boys were ahead of him, but even girls like Shiuka and Ninka were only gaining more ground over him.

“Looks like we’re taking the rear.” The only person at around his level was Rouko. Though considering the way she ran so effortless compared to him. It was obvious that she was better conditioned than him. It turned out this uphill run was tougher than it looked to him.

“Look…” Given the opportunity, he wasn’t going to pass it up. “Why is Shiuka mad at me?”

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“You really are a dense boy, aren’t you?” That was her response to him, which didn’t help one bit. “Just ask her yourself. If you can’t handle that, then don’t even bother.” That girl made a good point to him. He lived with Shiuka, so it was good advice even if she was unaware of why. It was between him and her, so it should be settled between the two. “Now you better keep up.”

“Huh?” He was surprised to see her turn on the jets as Rouko rushed past him and the people ahead of them. While it was obvious she was holding back a bit, he didn’t realize just how much faster she was compared to him. This led to the boy pushing harder to run up this hill and catch up to his friends.

That was a bad decision. As now it left him gasping and wheezing right before hitting the top of the hill. His exhausted body was hardly able to carry himself along the trail. It seemed as though a repeat of last year really was going to happen as he felt his vision feel faint. “I’m… So sorry.” He collapsed onto his knees from the exhaustion.

Tears began to drip from his eyes, falling onto the ground along with his sweat. Even after all that hard work he did preparing for this, his body still wasn’t good enough. “I just can’t…” His emotions were targeted towards himself. For once, he felt like he truly had let those around him down. And most importantly, he let himself down. “I-”

“You can’t give up now!” Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed his arm. He knew the voice in an instant as the boy turned his head up to see Shiuka standing before him. “You’re doing your best, so you can’t give up on yourself.”

“Shiuka.” He was shocked to see her here. She had gotten ahead of him for a while now, so she must’ve went far to double back for him. What he was unaware of was what Rouko said to her as she sped up ahead of him. She was faster than she looked and caught up to her and informed the girl that he was clearly struggling. In her words, he appeared as though he was going to pass out once again. “Why did you come back for me?”

“I’m sorry.” She immediately responded with an apology. It was true she was upset with him, so obvious her sudden arrival here seemed random. “I was only mad at you because…” It was hard to speak out her true feelings to him. “Well, how come you didn’t try to team up with me?”

“I wanted to.” He spoke, still out-of-breath. Though the boy was slowly regaining his energy. “But, I couldn’t say anything because… Because I don’t want to show people how much I care.”

“Huh?” As it turned out, it wasn’t that he didn’t like sports day for its physical drain to his body. Though that certainly was a good reason given his current state. His problem was simply being aware of his limits, his pitiful limits and knowing he’d never be able to face up to the challenges.

Hakuta also didn’t want to show to everyone how much he wanted to be teamed with her. He was conscious of showing that he actually liked her as a friend in front of everyone. Partially due to his past of disliking gyarus like her, but also because he was too self-conscious about being honest about his own feelings.

“Look at me.” He stood back up, his stamina began to return. “I told you not to give up on your studies, but here I am throwing in the towel because I can’t climb a hill.”

“But you can climb this hill.” She took his arm once more, beckoning him to give it one final push. “I know you can, because you don’t want to waste everything we did last week.”

“Does it even matter?” He asked. “It’s not like we’ll finish in a good spot anyway.”

“Well, I want to be able to do something together with you…” She spoke in a sheepish manner in making the suggestion. It was embarrassing, even though no one could see them and they had done plenty of things together. “So, how about we take last place together?”

“Heheh…” He chuckled. It was getting a bit silly how they kept falling into the same thing again and again. “Okay, let’s run together.” With that, she kept holding his arm while guiding them up the hill. While he felt a bit awkward about allowing her to do this. As it nearly looked like they were running holding hands. It was helpful to lighten the load as his lungs burned from all the exertion they needed.

Finally, they reached the peak of the climb. The view from the top of this hill was glorious as the sun beamed down onto the land. They were able to view down the hill to see all their friends making their way to the finish line. Along with that, there were the parents of all the students cheering them on. Sadly, neither of their dads were around to see this. So hopefully someone would take a picture to show them later.

“Oh…” They both realized they were still holding hands in the view of so many people. Thankfully, nobody appeared to notice, so they were safe for now. For a moment, they paused to uneasily hide their blushing faces before making their way down.

“Looks like we’ve got the final stretch here.” He said, his body filled with determination. “So let’s finish this together.”

“Right.” She smiled in return as they began to make their trek.

The two ended the race in dead last. However, they did so together. Which for Hakuta, after everything that had happened between the pair, felt like he took the biggest victory.

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