Chapter 13: 3.1

Chapter 3 – The Unforgettable Taste

 

Amamiya Haruka was the vice president of the girl’s volleyball club.

 

Being the complete opposite of the strict and serious president, she was the one who was entrusted to coach the younger members of the club while keeping the atmosphere of the club amiable.

 

“Don’t just follow the ball aimlessly! Plan your movement properly as you do it!”

“““Yes!”””

 

Her recent sickness didn’t stop her from fulfilling that duty. As soon as she felt that her body had recovered, she went to the field to coach the first years.

 

Inside the gym, after school. Even though summer hadn’t arrived yet, the atmosphere inside was hot. They opened the window to let the hot air out, but it didn’t work. The amount of hot air they generated was simply too much. As time went by, the temperature was getting hotter.

 

Even so, Haruka’s expression didn’t relax. She took a step forward, bracing her pretty face and called out to the first-year students.

 

“Your movement is too slow! Don’t be afraid of the ball, it won’t hurt you! Do your best to receive it properly!”
“““Y-Yes…”””

“I can’t hear your answer!”

“““Yes!”””

 

Hearing her angry voice, the first years replied in a panic.

 

“That’s it, keep that up. We won’t finish this session until everyone can receive the ball properly.”

 

Looking at the clumsy movements of the first years, Haruka sighed quietly. ‘I guess we won’t make it to the regionals after the third years retired.’ She thought.

 

Their high school wasn’t well-known for its volleyball team. They simply didn’t have a good enough environment to practice seriously. Their advisor didn’t know anything about volleyball and no one was good enough to teach everybody. The second years only joined in for fun, so after the third years retired, it was doubtful that they would take practice seriously anymore.

 

Not to mention that due to the strict president, people were put off from joining, so the club didn’t have many members to begin with. Haruka wished that they could get someone who was experienced to join this year, but seeing the scene in front of her, it was clear that none of the first years even knew the basics.

 

However, she couldn’t just forcefully make them learn from the basics. She was the one who mediated the conflict between the strict third years and the easygoing second years, she knew that if they were to be strict with those new members, they’d just leave the club entirely.

 

That was why she let them use the court even though they weren’t good enough to use it. Also, she coached them so that they’d feel motivated during the practice. Her presence as the vice president and her popularity could serve as a good motivation for the new first years.

 

“Alright, that’s all for today! First years, tidy everything up before you leave! Mop the floor and put the balls away!”

“““Yes!”””

 

After receiving Haruka’s instruction, the first years responded energetically and began to move.

 

Before Haruka started to coach them, they felt frustrated because their seniors didn’t let them play on the court and made them do basic training over and over again. Now, those frustrations seem to be long gone. Not only that, Haruka also chatted with the first years and bought them sports drinks to win their heart.

 

“Sorry, Haruka. Dealing with the first year must be tough.”

 

Haruka was wiping her sweat off her face when the president of the volleyball club called out to her.

 

“Don’t worry about it, this is part of my duty. Besides, I just recovered, so I should coach them instead of practicing like usual.”

“Who was it that ran the fastest during the warm-up again? You can’t fool me, I know you’ve been itching to move your body around.”

“Aw, you got me~”

 

The president was a head taller than Haruka. To describe her, she was like a lump of muscle born to play volleyball. She was skilled, her strong body and spikes were the force behind her team’s victory and her enemies’ demise.

 

“The regional prelim is next month. Honestly, the first years should just focus on practicing the basics properly.”

 

Despite her talent though, she was the kind of person who’d think that if she was able to do something, then it was a given that others would be able to do it too. That was the reason why the practice was usually so unfun and hard. If it was her and not Haruka who coached the first years, they would probably resign from the club in a heartbeat.

 

“Well, don’t be like that. You should be lenient with them once in a while. Besides, it’s hard for everyone to match your standards, you know?”

“…Sorry, Haruka. You have to go through this because of me… Wait, could it be the reason why you were sick was because of the mental exhaustion that I caused?”

“No, no, of course not. Seriously, stop overthinking things, Prez!”

 

However, her tough body and personality didn’t mean that she was invincible. The president was quick to fall into depression and needed to be consoled from time to time. That was why she was distraught when they fell out with the second years. She was also concerned about Haruka, who had a serious stalker problem.

 

“Thank you for your concern though. That made me feel better.”

“…Jeez, Haruka~”

 

Because of that though, it was easy for Haruka to understand her. In turn, that made it easier for Haruka to support her as the vice president.

 

For Haruka, her role as a supportive vice president was easy role for her to play.

 

*   *   *

 

Amamiya Haruka was always trying to live up to the expectations of everyone around her.

 

Her parents, who were busy at work, always expected her to be obedient. Due to her looks, her friends expected her to be cool and reliable.

 

After all, to Haruka, if she were able to fulfill everyone’s expectations, everything would be fine. Even though in truth, she was pathetic, dumb and a massive disappointment as a human being, as long as she could stick to her role and fulfill everyone’s expectations, everything would be fine.

 

That was why she should never, ever expose her true self.

 

There was a case when she was younger. Someone that she thought of as a little sister confessed her love to her, but she stayed true to her feelings and decided to reject her. Immediately after that, she had to suffer from everyone’s disdain and disappointment toward her. Thankfully, that case was resolved by now and she got along really well with that girl who confessed to her, but when the case was still happening, she was under a lot of pressure and stress.

 

But that wasn’t the only case where exposing her true feelings brought disaster to her. Last year, she decided to help a kouhai from being bullied. The result? That same kouhai was stalking her.

 

Then there was the most recent case where she tried to enact justice against someone that hurt the girl she thought of as a little sister. Turned out it was her own misunderstanding and she ended up falling into the fountain because of it. On top of that, her chest was groped by the very same person she tried to attack.

 

The list went on. Thanks to this, Haruka concluded that unless she was trying to meet someone’s expectations, she was bound to make irreversible mistakes.

 

This was why Haruka placed her complete trust in everyone who accepted her as the pathetic person she was.

 

[Tomorrow evening at 6.30! After I go home, I’ll dress up in my best clothes and meet you there!]

[Yes, yes.]

 

Even if that person was someone that she never met before, a friend from the internet.

 

*  *   *

 

As far as Aoi was concerned, her cousin, Amamiya Haruka, was a cool woman.

 

It wasn’t referring to Haruka’s appearance, well, truth to be told, Haruka’s appearance was cool, but that wasn’t what Aoi was thinking about. Aoi appreciated her cool personality more than her appearance.

 

Haruka dared to do the things that she thought were right. For example, back when she rejected young Aoi’s confession. The strong will to not be carried away by the people around her was the cool part of her that Aoi appreciated. Well, sometimes, she made a mistake because of that, but to Aoi, it was a part of her charm. Even though she scolded Haruka whenever she made that kind of mistake, that didn’t mean she hated her for doing it.

 

To summarize, Aoi thought that Haruka was a cool and brave woman.

 

“U-Um… Aoi? D-Do you think this looks good on me?”

 

And that same cool and brave woman was dressing up cutely in front of her.

 

“I-I used a fashion magazine as a reference, b-but I-I don’t know… W-What do you think?”

 

In front of her was a beautiful maiden with flaxen hair.

 

A white dress with frills, decorated by cute accessories here and there. Shoes with a design that prioritized cuteness rather than speed. Her attire made Haruka look especially pretty to the point that the passersby couldn’t take their eyes off her.

 

“Of course you look good. Honestly, you look so pretty right now– Wait, are you sure you’re just meeting an acquaintance today? It’s not a date, right? If it’s a date, I’m going home.”

“I-It’s not a date! I-I told you that my acquaintance can help me solve my stalker case! I-I just want to leave a good impression on them…”

“I see. I thought your brain got messed up when you caught a cold the other day.”

“Why are you so mean to me?!”

 

Haruka let out a wry smile.

 

Seeing Haruka like this, Aoi sighed, “Whatever.”

 

A few days after Aoi’s visit to Takayuki’s place, Haruka asked her to accompany her to meet up with a ‘reliable person’ that she found on the internet. Aoi told her that if she really wanted help, it was better to ask Takayuki for help instead of some random guy on the internet, but Haruka insisted that she wanted to ask for their help.

 

“Anyway, can you even trust that person? What made you think that the person isn’t a creepy old man trying to hook up with a high school girl? You didn’t send them your selfies or anything, right?”

“Don’t worry, they’re trustworthy! Actually, whenever I brought up the topic of meeting them in real life or exchanging selfies, they would lecture me for hours before letting me go. They only agreed to meet up today because I told them I have a stalking problem.”

“Do you know the term ‘internet privacy?’”

 

Both of them were walking to a restaurant where they were supposed to meet Haruka’s acquaintance.

 

The presence of the two beauties naturally attracted all the people around them, but they were so pretty that no one managed to gather the courage to talk to them, so nothing happened along the way. Most of the people only stared at them for a few seconds before turning their heads away.

 

“Uh, Aoi? I know about internet privacy, you know? That person is a special case! I won’t just give any other person the same offer as I did with them!”

“That’s literally what everyone who fell for internet scams said. In any case, it won’t hurt to prepare ourselves for the worst. Give me a rundown on what kind of person we’re going to meet. If it comes down to it, we can call the police on them.”

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“Ah, well, that person told me that as well. Make enough preparation so that I can call a cop immediately and bring someone trustworthy with me. Preferably someone that looks mature…”

“I see, so that’s why you didn’t ask my sister to come with you. Well, I can see that the person cared about you, but we still shouldn’t let our guard down.”

 

As they walked, Aoi glanced sideways at Haruka’s figure. Instead of the cool expression that made her kouhais fall in love with her one after another, Haruka was currently wearing the face of a maiden in love.

 

“So, what kind of person are they? From your words, I could tell that they’re a worrywart, but I don’t know much else…”

“Glad that you asked! That person is—”

 

Haruka’s cheeks loosened as she started to talk about her friend.

 

As much as Aoi wanted to support Haruka’s love life, the description that came out of her mouth was just, outrageous to say the least.

 

According to Haruka, that person was a good-natured tsundere. They always made the time to listen to all her troubles without many complaints. It was borderline delusional to think that someone like that existed in real life.

 

“Uh, Haru-kun? I’m surprised that you have the willpower to exchange texts with this person all day, but more than that, I’m surprised that there’s someone who actually could stand all that.”

“Ehehe~”

“Don’t laugh, that was sarcasm.”

 

Aoi showed her dismay, but at the same time, she began profiling what kind of person Haruka’s friend was.

 

“So, Haru-kun, you told me that you first contacted this person back when you were in your third year of middle school, right? You got to know each other because of a manga and started to befriend each other after that?”

“Yes. When I asked them about various things, they would always say, ‘I don’t know anything about this,’ or ‘You’re so persistent,’ but even though they said that they’d always help me in the end!”
“Have you ever considered that this person isn’t being tsun? They just straight up hate you?”

“But they always treat me so well! We’re besties!”

 

From Haruka’s cheerful tone, Aoi speculated that the person was a patient, hard-working person and someone who wouldn’t easily give up. After all, only a very good-natured person would go out of their way to help out someone on the internet that they’ve never even met before. Even going as far as to meet them directly to help.

 

“That person is probably an older woman in college. But, every time I told them this guess, they always said that they’re a man.”

“Sure, sure. Anyway, how are we supposed to meet them?”

“We have a secret code~ We’ll bring a manga and read it inside the restaurant. We agreed on a lesser-known title so we won’t mistake each other! When we get to the restaurant, we’ll just call out to the person who’s reading said manga!”

 

Haruka then took a romance manga out of her bag. The cover looked pretty, but Aoi didn’t recognize it at all. As Haruka said, it was a lesser-known title.

 

“Hehehe, I’m looking forward to discussing this manga with her…”

 

With her red cheeks, Haruka’s smile was the brightest that Aoi had ever seen.

 

“I hope that this person is a decent person.”

“That goes without saying!”

 

Aoi wished Haruka good luck.

 

*   *   *

 

““…””

 

Haruka managed to meet up with her acquaintance without incident.

 

Fortunately or not, the restaurant where they were supposed to meet was pretty much empty. Rather, only one person was sitting inside. Unless some weird coincidence happened, since the person was reading the same manga Haruka brought with her, that person should be the one that she was supposed to meet.

 

“…Are you Sunny?”

“…Yes. Are you Baku-san?”

“Yes.”

““…””

 

After several years of interacting with each other on the internet, this was the first time the two of them met in real life.

 

Sunny, or Haruka, dressed in a way that made her look like a princess from a modern empire.

 

Baku, or Takayuki, dressed like a mafia executive who was about to go out for blood. (T/N: These two lines are probably references to something, that’s why it feels weird.)

 

“Uh… I guess you could call this fate, huh?”

 

Surprised by the scene in front of her, Aoi muttered. Because she was a totally unrelated party, she managed to recover from the shock quickly.

 

“In any case, we should sit down first, Haru-kun.”

“???”
“Ah, she’s gone. Alright, I’ll be talking on her behalf until her mind finds its way back to her body, Satou-kun.”

“…Sure.”

 

With a reluctant look on his face, Takayuki nodded. Aoi then pushed the frozen Haruka to a nearby seat.

 

“First thing first, a confirmation, Satou-kun. You’re Sunny’s– Haru-kun’s internet friend, correct? And you want to help her out with her problem?”
“Yes, me and that idiot— I mean, Sunny, have the same preference in manga and we have been interacting for a while on social media. This time, she seems to have a serious problem on her hands, that’s why I decided to help her out directly in real life.”
“I see. Now everything comes together. So, the other day, when you said that you have a prior appointment with a friend, you were talking about this appointment?”

“…Yeah.”

“I see.”

 

Once again, Aoi took a closer look at Takayuki’s appearance.

 

The first thing that caught her attention was his black-rimmed glasses. The glasses made him look less irreverent than usual and they gave him a more mature look. His clothes made him look older than his age, no one would doubt him if he were to introduce himself as a college student. While his combination of clothes looked like something that would be displayed by a mannequin, Aoi could tell that he put a lot of effort into this.

 

Realizing this, a slight irritation rose in Aoi’s heart, but she covered it with her usual smile. Not like she had a choice. She didn’t even know why she felt this way, so instead of making a fuss about it, she decided to hide it.

 

“Anyway, with this, I guess you can take on our request with no worries.”

“No. Sorry, I have to refuse that request. I’m helping out a friend, I don’t need to be paid for it.”

 

Takayuki denied Aoi’s words calmly without any hesitation. The words came out of his mouth naturally and his serious face expressed his sincereness clearly.

 

“I understand your feeling, but let me say this to you. You’re such an idiot, you know that?”

“I’m aware. But I only do this because she’s my friend. If it was any other person, I’d expect to be paid handsomely for my service.”

“Sure, sure, whatever, you say. Seriously… So, Haru-kun, what do you think? …Come to your senses already!”

“Hii!”

 

After Aoi poked her on her side, Haruka finally regained her senses. Then, she immediately sent a sharp glare toward Takayuki, who sat in front of her.

 

“No way! There’s no way that you’re Baku-san! Where did you keep her?! Release her!”

“Ah, saying that kind of idiotic nonsense without thinking is such a Sunny thing to do.”

“U-uu… S-Stop it! Stop acting like Baku-san! Baku-san is a dependable older woman!”

“I’ve told you countless times that I’m a man. It was you who refused to listen to me. Also, stop shouting. Sure, this place is empty, but that’s impolite and rude to other people that might come here..”

“See? Baku-san is polite! There’s no way that Baku-san will give me such a rough order!”

“Sunny, be quiet.”

“Yes.”

Aoi felt amusement from seeing her cousin slowly turning into an adorable creature.

 

“Ughh… The more you talk, the more I could see the resemblance between you and Baku-san…”

“We’re literally the same person.”

“D-Did Baku-san, your sister, tell you to come here to replace her for this meeting?”

“Haru-kun, he’s an only child.”
“Ugh! …F-Fine, I can admit that he is Baku-san logically speaking, but my heart refuses to admit it!”

 

As Haruka spouted those childish words, her face turned red.

 

Takayuki was amazed by this action and it was clear that he was troubled by it from his expression. But, there was a reason why Haruka’s heart refused to admit the truth that was laid down in front of her.

 

“If you’re really Baku-san, then convince me! Convince me sincerely like Baku-san always did!”

 

Haruka pointed her finger at Takayuki’s face. Even Aoi felt that her cousin’s demeanor was pathetic, but for Takayuki, who was used to dealing with this troublesome girl, this order that came from her mouth was nothing worth fussing about.

 

“Alright. Miyama, can you cover your ears? This is a little embarrassing, you see…”

“Just pretend that I’m not here.”

“Ugh, that smug face of yours… Whatever…”

 

Seeing Takayuki turning to face Haruka with a determined look, Aoi let out a smirk.

 

“Sunny, even if you can’t trust me, I don’t care. I’ll still help you.”

 

And so, Takayuki laid his feelings bare. Using the tone that ‘Baku’ always used. As if she was struck by lightning, Haruka’s body stiffened. After a while, she let out a deep sigh, her face was filled with emotions.

 

“That tsun tone… You’re really Baku-san… I… I’ve always wanted to meet you!”
“Only Sunny would act this stupidly honest to me…”

 

The wave of emotions coming from Haruka stunned Takayuki, but he didn’t reject her.

 

“…”

 

But inside the room, there was someone who was completely unamused by this scene. Normally, watching this kind of interaction would amuse her, but Aoi couldn’t feel anything resembling that emotion at all.

 

For some reason, Aoi just couldn’t bring herself to feel happy toward the both of them.

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