Jaku chara tomozaki kun chapter 5

5
It’s hard not to give up on training characters who just won’t improve
I was getting more into this whole normie thing, so on Saturday, I went all the way to Omiya and got some of the wax Mizusawa had used on my hair. Then on Sunday, Hinami and I played a bunch of rounds of Atafami for the first time in a while. And then it was Monday again, and we had our first meeting in a week.

“First of all…good game last week.”

“Thanks… You too.”

We verbally patted each other on the back. Of course, I’d lost to her.

“Before we start the meeting, I want to ask you something.”

“Okay.”

Hinami’s eyes sparkled. I recognized that look—it was her “we’re about to talk gaming” face.

“The Siri thing—you guys planned all that, right?”

Even though her eyes were sparkling, she wasn’t talking about gaming. She was talking about the speech, which meant my suspicions were correct.

She had viewed the speech as a game and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I’d felt the same myself at first, but my sense of responsibility toward Mimimi and the regret and shame I felt over losing had overwritten that feeling with the desire for revenge.

“Yeah, it was all scripted. The alarm, the questions, the whole thing.”

“Ah-ha-ha!” For once, Hinami laughed as hard as she could.

“I thought we could take the election with that…but no such luck.”

I’d done my best and even come up with a clever trick, but Hinami had still gotten more than double the votes we had. Those results demonstrated the enormous gap between us in terms of our day-in, day-out training. It was truly humiliating.

“True, that was the final outcome, but…” Hinami leaned toward me, her big eyes glittering like jewels. “…You surprised me. I had fun.”

“Huh,” I murmured vaguely.

Actually, I leaned away a little when I saw her expression. It was so…I don’t know what to call it. It wasn’t her normal practiced one; it was something else entirely. She reminded me of a little girl on the way home from the amusement park talking about everything she just got to do. Or to be more straightforward, she looked so damn cute, I was in danger of losing to her completely.

“That felt like a nanashi strategy. Guess that legendary guy who overturned the norms of Atafami and changed it from a brute-strength game to a combo game wasn’t all smoke and mirrors.”

Hinami was weirdly wound up, praising me to the heavens with excitement. It was incredibly embarrassing. Plus, she knew what I’d done in Atafami. Guess that made sense.

“Okay, okay. But weren’t you playing a little dirty?”

“Whatever could you mean?” She raised her eyebrows and smiled innocently.

“Uh, you crushed our entire strategy?”

“Oh, that.” She smiled smugly. “You screwed up big-time.”

“What?”

“Remember Thursday?” she said, raising a finger in the air. “You let slip that you were helping Mimimi. That put me on guard. If nanashi was involved, I knew I had to change my strategy.”

“…Oh.”

It all started to make sense.

“If you were so involved that you had to skip our meeting, I knew you’d have something up your sleeve. This was nanashi after all. That’s why I decided to squash your efficient vote-winning platform with brute force.”

She looked as innocent as a child showing off her favorite trinkets.

So my message to her on LINE had tipped her off to my strategy, and she’d taken her counterstrategy that far?

“…I underestimated you.”

I admitted my failure flat out, although I still hadn’t recovered from her high evaluation of nanashi.

“Anyway! I won by a landslide this time, but I got a sense of your potential! You surprised me! It really was fun! The key is to keep leveling up in life. Understand?”

She was obviously way more intense than usual. The mere inch between her face and mine, the sparkle in her eyes pulling me in, and that abnormally good smell coming from her were really getting to me right now.

“I was planning to even before you said so,” I told her, which was the truth.

“Good answer,” she said, then coughed. “All right, let’s talk about your assignments for this week…”

With that, we returned to my usual training routine. It was kind of nostalgic and kind of tough, and I got a faraway look in my eyes.

First, in order to achieve my small goal of going out alone with a girl, Hinami informed me that I was to finish reading an entire Michael Andi book today and invite Kikuchi-san to go see a movie based on a book by that author.

According to Hinami, there was a theater in Shibuya where they were still playing an Andi movie that came out a while back, which she said would work out just right. Ah, so this is where the lesson at the movie theater would pay off. Thank you, Hinami.

“Also, what are your thoughts about the speech? Based on what you wrote for Mimimi, it seems you’re starting to understand the importance of jokes.”

“…Guess so.”

After all, my own life was proof enough that if you don’t start by considering how the person you’re talking to might receive it, then any plan is doomed to fail. I figured jokes were the flip side of that.

“When you become someone’s girlfriend or boyfriend, you’re basically putting your trust in each other. There are a lot of ways to build trust, but I think jokes are your best weapon when it comes to taking the first step, which is getting that person to feel comfortable opening up to you and listening to what you have to say.”

I understood her point, but I felt uneasy as I wondered what assignment was coming.

“Yeah…I get what you’re saying.”

“So today’s assignment is to make one person laugh.”

“…Gulp. Thought so.”

You make it sound easy, Hinami, but isn’t that a little advanced for me?

* * *

It was break time before fourth period. I paused for a second in front of the library, feeling nervous. Asking her to the movies. Okay, so Hinami hadn’t said we had to make a plan today, but I still had some thoughts on the matter. I mean, this was my first time ever asking a girl out. On top of that, I was supposed to make her laugh.

“Tomozaki-kun…?”

“Ack!”

A voice as beautiful as a bubbling spring called my name from behind. When I turned around, standing there was an elf who had hidden her pointed ears and slipped into an ordinary high school in order to learn the ways of the human world—I mean, there was Kikuchi-san.

“Um, are you going in…?”

“Oh, um, yeah. I am, uh-huh.”

I felt my face getting hot as she stared at me with eyes that seemed like they would reveal magical healing powers if I only looked deep enough into them, but I managed to walk into the library. I’d used all my breaks since morning to burn through the rest of the Andi book I’d already started. It was decently interesting, so I got through it quickly enough.

Kikuchi-san pulled out her book and settled in to start reading. Wondering if she was truly an angel, I picked up a new Andi book, inched my chair the tiniest bit closer to her than last time, and sat down.

I felt like I’d stepped into a forest where elves, humans, and animals live together in harmony. Part of me just wanted to soak up that atmosphere, but I had an assignment to do.

“…Kikuchi-san.”

“What is it?”

She shifted her eyes away from her book and looked at me with a gaze as gentle as a young maiden playing with the fish in a forest spring.

“Um, a-actually…”

As I was struggling to continue, Kikuchi-san tilted her head quizzically like a little squirrel, which severely distracted me and made my pause even longer.

“…Um,” I said, returning to my senses. “There’s a theater that’s playing a movie based on an Andi book…”

“Sh-Shibuya!”

Surprised by the loudness of her own voice, she blushed and hid half of her face behind her book.

“S-sorry.”

“N-no, no.”

She looked way too cute with just her eyes popping up above her book, and on top of that, she was blushing so furiously that I could tell just from the little strip of bright-red forehead that was visible, and before I knew it, I was getting shy, too.

“…Tomozaki-kun, you’re blushing.”

“N-no, you’re blushing more!”

“…Sigh.”

Kikuchi-san’s sigh sounded very happy. With the book still covering her face, she looked up at me. Hey, that’s not fair!

“Anyway…I finished one of Andi’s books, and I liked it, so I thought I’d try reading some more, and…”

“Oh, that’s great!”

She sounded nervous, probably because she could guess what I was about to say. My nervousness had definitely spread to her.

“A-and do you want to…go see that movie together?”

“…Okay.”

By now, she’d hidden her whole face behind the book, but even the backs of her hands were completely red. That was just unfair.

* * *

After school, I told Hinami what had happened with Kikuchi-san. Her only response was a simple directive to “keep pursuing her along those lines.” As for the assignment to make someone laugh, I told her Kikuchi-san had giggled a bit, and she responded that it barely counted as a pass.

Ignoring my emotional turmoil, she kept her tone completely flat. She even seemed bored. “Lucky you. You get to stay on easy mode this time. Don’t get too full of yourself,” she warned me.

Speaking of which, I always went straight home after our meetings, but Hinami went to track practice. She really did push herself. I thought about it and decided I should work a bit harder myself. Kikuchi-san would be going to that movie after reading a whole bunch of Andi’s books, so I figured I’d try to read as many as I could tonight, too. We had class in the other classroom again tomorrow, so time was limited.

I headed to the library and looked in. The librarian was the only person in there. Huh. I thought Kikuchi-san might be there, but it looked like she went home after school, like everyone else. I picked up the book I’d started earlier and continued reading it.

I had to admit his books were good. If I’d never met Kikuchi-san, I probably never would have picked up one of these mystical, straitlaced fantasy novels. At first glance, they looked like tough reads, but once you started, they were surprisingly addictive. Their made-up world had a bunch of strangely realistic details to remind you that his world worked differently from ours, and every time I came to one of them, I couldn’t help wondering if the Andi world really did exist somewhere. Every time I found a trace of order in its strange, seemingly illogical words and rules, it was like I could see its colors more brightly, and even smell it.

I was really getting into it. Time flew by as I turned the pages. Before I knew it, I’d reached the end of the thick book. That was awesome!

I checked the time. Whoa. Three hours had passed. It was just before seven. Before leaving, I wandered over to the window, glanced down at the field below, and practically jumped.

On that dark field, the energy of the afternoon had vanished, and most of the club activities were over, but two figures remained. I squinted at them.

It was Hinami and Mimimi.

Hinami was practicing a few different events without resting. Mimimi was practicing her run-ups and leaps for the high jump, also without breaks. I could instantly see the intensity in their movements, and Mimimi’s faint, fleeting smile floated before my mind’s eye.

That’s why I want to win.

I could understand that. I was a gamer, after all. And I hated to lose. Losing to someone over and over sucked. It was humiliating. It made you want to bite back out of pure stubbornness.

I watched them run and run. Sometimes they helped each other out practicing for the same event, and sometimes they practiced on their own. After a while, the two victory-obsessed runners started to amiably clean up the field. I watched them finish, then snuck toward home so they wouldn’t know I’d been watching.

* * *

“Yeah, Mimimi never practices that long,” Hinami said the next morning after I asked her about practice the day before; that was her response.

“Really? I figured she must do that now and then.”

“Nope. I was always the only one who stayed to the very end.”

“…Heh.”

I let out a nervous chuckle. Scary how she made that sound completely natural.

“By the way, she got to morning practice before me today, too.”

“Wow.” Seriously? I mean… “You always come here after morning practice?”

“Yes, and…?”

Seriously? She’d never been winded or given any other sign that she was tired.

Anyway, about Mimimi…if what Hinami said was true, then she’d taken her loss in the election as an opportunity to work herself even harder, starting yesterday. In other words, she didn’t want to lose again. I glanced at Hinami. She seemed lost in thought, somehow lacking her usual confidence.

“By the way…I wanted to ask you something.”

For once, she sounded genuinely curious about what I had to say.

“Wh-what?” I asked, feeling a bit suspicious.

“I think you’re like this, too, but when I play games, especially Atafami…” She spoke slowly, like she was searching for the right words. “I establish my goal, analyze my current situation, and supplement whatever I’m lacking through trial and error. The process of moving forward with those steps is what’s usually called ‘effort,’ right?”

“Yeah, guess so.”

I’d never tried to come up with a detailed definition like that, but anyway.

“Let’s call it that for now. Through constant effort, you forge ahead.”

Hinami looked deep into my eyes.

“You never compromise and move forward, always forward—”

Hinami seemed to be looking at something beyond my comprehension with a duller light in her eyes than usual.

“Do you think that’s a bad thing?”

—. I didn’t understand what she was trying to say. Or to be more precise, I understood what she was saying, but I didn’t understand why she was even asking that question. I mean, how could that be a bad thing?

“Not that my thoughts matter, but I don’t think it is.”

“Well, then.” Looks like she already had her answer. “I don’t think so, either. There’s no way that could be a bad thing.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay, then…”

Was she asking me a rhetorical question to suggest something? What was with her?

“But listen—quite a few people would say it is a bad thing, right?” she said. “They’d say you should just be yourself, as if not changing is more virtuous than changing, which is clearly delusional.”

“Why are you always trying to fight these huge battles?”

What was she trying to do?

“That’s not the point right now. There are other types, too, right? People like Erika Konno who sneer at any kind of effort and call people ‘uncool’ for working hard.”

“Uh-huh.” Yeah, that type does exist. “Speaking of Erika Konno, I do think she was wrong to make fun of Nakamura for making an effort.”

“And Nakamara was right?”

“Yeah, I guess. Although he shouldn’t have made everyone stay and watch.”

Hinami nodded, smiling wryly. “True enough.”

“But when someone who’s not trying makes fun of someone who is, it’s jealousy, plain and simple,” I said. “I’ll always support the one who’s trying… Of course, you don’t want to force someone.” Once you start making it obligatory, like, “Make an effort!” then you risk imposing your values on someone else.

“Hey, was that aimed at me?”

“Whoa, don’t take things the wrong way. I’m letting you tell me what to do. You didn’t force it on me. I’ll quit the minute I decide life’s a shitty game,” I fired back, grinning.

“Yep,” Hinami said, smiling back. “But when you make an effort at life, things happen that you can’t back out of that easily. At least that’s been my experience. But don’t worry about that too much. I basically agree with you.”

“…Hmm.”

Her experience, huh? Guess she meant I wouldn’t understand until I experienced it myself.

“…Anyway, we’ve gotten way offtrack. I’m going to announce today’s assignment now. Same as yesterday, I want you to make one person laugh, and on top of that, I want you to ask Mimimi to connect on LINE.”

“O…kay.”

“When I say make someone laugh, I don’t mean like last time. A little giggle doesn’t count.”

“Seriously…?”

“Yes. I know it’s a little advanced, so consider it a challenge. It’s okay if you don’t succeed right away, as long as you do it within a couple of days.”

“Gotcha.”

A couple of days, huh?

“As for the Mimimi assignment, you made a serious mistake by not asking when you were helping her with the election. Do it as soon as you can. I can’t believe you haven’t already.”

“I-I’m sorry…” That was all I could say, given the stupidity of my mistake. “By the way, how should I ask her…?”

“Come on, you can figure that out.”

“What?? Hinami-san, haven’t your assignments been a bit general lately? I mean, I have no idea how to make someone laugh, either!”

She sighed.

“Listen. I didn’t want to have to say this, but you’re past that stage.”

“Huh?”

“If I told you to give such-and-such reason and say this or that when you friended her on LINE, how would you feel?”

“…Oh.”

Now it made sense. If she helped decide exactly what to say, the assignment probably wouldn’t feel very hard. All I’d need to do was put her plan into action. But if she’d given me the same assignment back when I first met her, even with support, it probably would have felt impossible.

“The rising difficulty of your assignments means you’re advancing. Over these past few weeks, you’ve learned to take action. Now you’ve reached the stage where you need to develop the ability to think for yourself. So can you quit asking me for instant instructions already?”

She may have been blunt, but she was recognizing my progress. On top of that, my assignments reflected that. It made me oddly happy.

“H-Hinami…,” I said emotionally.

“Don’t be weird about this,” she shot back with cold eyes. Oof. Tuesday had begun.

* * *

From first period to lunch, I thought about how to ask Mimimi to connect on LINE, but I couldn’t come up with a good idea. So I swallowed my shame and launched a strategy anyway.

“…Izumi.”

“What?”

You guessed it. When in doubt, ask a normie.

“When you ask someone to connect on LINE, what reason do you use?”

“Huh? Reason?” She sounded baffled by my question.

“Y-you know, like if you talk to someone all the time but you don’t know their LINE ID and you want to ask them, what…uh…?”

That was as far as I got before Izumi’s confused expression got the better of me, and my voice trailed off. However, she was kind enough to give my stupid question a serious answer.

“I don’t really give a reason…,” she answered.

An electric current shot through my brain.

There is no reason!

She’d just flipped my world upside down.

“R-really? Thanks, Izumi!” I said excitedly, which caused her to look even more confused and say “Huh?” Right away I sent Hinami a LINE message that started out with “Major discovery!” and went on to enthusiastically explain Izumi’s comment.

I came right back down to Earth when I got her response: “Only a total geek would get excited over that.” Yeah, that wasn’t really cause for so much excitement…

Anyway, realizing that I didn’t need a reason was a major step forward. I pulled myself together and flagged down Mimimi on her way to the cafeteria.

“Mimimi!”

“Huh? Oh, hey, Tomozaki!” She smiled cheerfully at me. S-someone’s accepting me…!

“Uh, give me your LINE.”

“That’s the first thing you say to me?!”

She opened her big eyes even wider. Of course she did. It was definitely weird to pop the question the instant I saw her.

“Oh, uh, I don’t really have a reason or anything…”

Of course, I had to go for my default approach and say exactly what I was thinking. Whoops.

“Well, no surprise there! You’re smart, but you’ve got a wild streak, Tomozaki.”

Wild?! No one’s ever called me that before. I don’t think I am. Plus, I’m not that smart.

“I do? News to me…”

“Figures! It’s like you don’t know how to lie.”

“Ah.” Lies are basically one form of tactfulness in conversations, and I’m awful at tact. “You could be right.”

“Right? Watch out for bad women!” She brought her mouth right up to my ear. “Like me.” She blew softly on my ear.

“Ack?!”

“Oh, here’s my LINE ID.”

She held up her QR code, looking genuinely pleased by my overreaction. Ever since the speech, she’d been a little too harsh on me, in my opinion.

“Right…”

I managed to pull it off without a hitch. I’d already connected with Hinami and Izumi on LINE, and even if I wasn’t used to this use of technology, I wasn’t a total Luddite. Too bad for you, Mr. Loner!

“Oh, there it is! Thanks!”

Mimimi’s username was Minami Nanami. It was like she was proud of having such a mouthful of a name.

I could have just said “Thanks” and slipped away, but I figured I might as well snag some more EXP by talking a little longer. Anyway, I’d refreshed my stock of conversation topics.

“Hey, I hear you’ve been going hard at practice lately.”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I have! I’ve been working super hard. And I’m busting my butt studying, too. Man, am I a hard worker these days! I’ve got to make up for losing the election!”

Maybe because she didn’t want everyone in class to hear her, she lowered her voice a little at the end.

“Yeah. I’m cheering for you. We gamers know the feeling.” We’d talked about that stuff a little, so I was able to be honest with her.

“Oh yeah, that’s right! Thanks, gamer Tomozaki! But who told you about practice?”

“Uh, Hinami.”

“Wouldn’t have guessed that!”

“Really?”

“Nope. How did she say it?”

Wh-what kind of question is that? I wasn’t sure how to answer. She’d said, By the way, she got to morning practice before me today, but I couldn’t exactly tell Mimimi she’d been that straightforward. Uh, um…

“Uh, she said it like normal… I mean, like she always does.”

I couldn’t think of a lie, but I did keep my answer sketchy. Well, brutal honesty was normal Hinami from my perspective.

“Oh, really? Huh.” Mimimi nodded. I didn’t get why she asked in the first place.

“Anyway, I’m going to the cafeteria! Are you getting school lunch today?”

“No, today I’m going for bread.”

“Ah-ha-ha! Okay, see you later!” she said, spinning around toward the cafeteria.

Wait a second, did I just get invited to the cafeteria? I was so caught off guard that I told her what my original plan was, but maybe I should have gone along with her for the EXP. Damn! But later when I stuck my head into the cafeteria, I saw Nakamura at her table. Glad I turned her down after all.

After school, I told Hinami I’d connected with Mimimi on LINE, but I hadn’t made anyone laugh yet, which pretty much wrapped up our meeting. I headed to the library afterward and started in on another Andi book.

Apparently, each book was a totally different world, but I noticed some common elements sprinkled in here and there. The more I read, the more I got pulled in. Forget EXP—I just wanted to talk to Kikuchi-san about his books for the fun of it.

I finished off the book, stood up, and wandered over to the window to look down at the field.

As I expected, Hinami and Mimimi were the only ones left at practice.

Working hard.

I nodded to myself and headed toward our classroom. I’d planned to stay late today, so I’d left my bag on my desk. I trudged through the abandoned school. When I noisily slid open the door to the classroom, there was Tama-chan sitting by the window. Second time now. She was starting to look like a fixture in that window. She turned toward me, startled.

“…Tomozaki?”

“Oh, sorry.” I automatically apologized for surprising her.

“You don’t have to apologize!”

Stern and scolding as usual.

“O-oh, right.”

I couldn’t help feeling flustered.

“What’s your story today?” she said, moving over again to make room for me.

“Um, I was reading in the library.”

I sat down next to Tama-chan as naturally as I could when I was quaking with nerves.

“You like to read?”

“Uh, kind of. I’ve been reading lately, I mean…”

“Huh?”

She looked slightly confused. Of course, I couldn’t exactly tell her I was reading to get ready for my movie date with Kikuchi-san.

“How about you?” I asked, before guessing the answer. “Watching practice?”

“Yeah.”

After all, she’d said she wasn’t coming “tamarrow,” but that was last week.

“…Wow,” I said, looking at my watch. “You’ve been here this whole time?”

“No! I have not! Volleyball practice ended already. I stopped by afterward.”

“Oh, right.”

I get it. After volleyball, she stops by to check on Mimimi.

“Right.”

The conversation hit a lull. What do I do? I don’t have anything to talk about! But wait, that’s the power of Hinami-style topic memorization! I hadn’t prepared many topics specifically to use on Tama-chan, but after last time, when she did most of the talking, I’d thought up a couple! Look at that!

“Mimimi’s working hard, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Uh-oh, the conversation stopped again. Better fire off a supplementary round.

“I heard she got to morning practice before Hinami today.”

“Really? Huh… Who told you that? Aoi?”

“Yeah, Hinami.”

“It’s the election, isn’t it? Like I thought.” Tama-chan frowned.

“Yeah. Mimimi genuinely set out to win, so I think it was a painful loss for her. For me, too.”

“Huh.”

Okay, one more! “That thing about the magic fingers the other day…”

“You don’t give up, do you? If you’re so curious, why don’t you ask Mimimi?”

Oops. Better not ask her about that anymore. Um… Okay, got something else! “You and Mimimi are close, huh?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“When did you two become friends?”

“Um,” she said, pausing for just a second. “Second semester of first year?”

“So you weren’t friends in first semester?”

“It was more that…I don’t have many friends, so I didn’t talk to Minmi much the first semester.”

“Oh…”

Once again, I didn’t know what to say. Um, related topics!

“So why are you so close now?”

“Um, well…”

Tama-chan looked down at the field and then back at me before smiling mischievously. “I guess ’cause she’s an idiot?”

“…What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“We didn’t talk in first semester, but somehow after that, she found me, and all of a sudden, I couldn’t get away from her even if I wanted to.”

“Huh. Sudden how?”

Tama-chan got a faraway look. “Yeah…she started pinching my cheeks every day.”

“I—I can imagine that.” I smirked a little.

“But I’m not good at that stuff, so I acted like it annoyed me.”

“Ah-ha-ha.” I could imagine that, too.

“I’d either ignore her, glare at her, or try something else, but she wouldn’t quit. She says annoying people excites her!”

“Ha-ha-ha! I can hear her saying that,” I said, laughing out loud.

“I thought she was silly, but thanks to her, I started making more friends, and I felt more comfortable in class.”

“…Huh.” I liked this story.

“I’m amazed by people who make friends easily. I looked up to the way she just naturally pulled people in, including me…and that’s when Aoi came along.”

So she was showing up in the story. “Hinami, huh?” I said, and Tama-chan nodded.

“She came and talked to me out of the blue. We were in different classes, so we’d never talked before, but after we chatted a little, all of a sudden, she goes, ‘Are you the girl who’s hanging out with Minmi?’”

I don’t think Hinami would call her Minmi, but who was I to point that out? “That’s kinda abrupt.”

“According to Aoi, before Minmi started hanging out with me, she asked Aoi for advice.”

“Advice?”

“Yeah. Apparently, she said, ‘There’s a girl who doesn’t fit in with my class; what should I do?’”

“Wow.” That was surprising.

“But Aoi said she said, ‘What if she doesn’t want to be part of the group?’”

“Good point.” I don’t think it’s right to force everyone into the group.

“But Minmi didn’t bend, according to Aoi. ‘I don’t think that’s true for her. She tries to be part of things, but she’s too clumsy to make it work.’”

“Really?” I wondered which one of them had it right.

“Well…that was exactly what was going on. I tend to get into conflicts with people, so I tried not to interact too much… I was afraid, so I avoided people. But it’s not that I didn’t want friends. I just didn’t know what to do. She nailed it.”

“Huh…wonder how she knew.”

“No idea. But anyway, Hinami suggested that she talk to me a little bit every day.” Tama-chan sounded both happy and shocked by this.

“…So…”

“So all of a sudden, Minmi started pinching my cheeks! Weird, right?” She pointed down to Mimimi on the field.

“Ha-ha-ha. That sounds like her. She’s all about brute force—a little too rough maybe.”

“Right! She’s kinda dumb, huh?” she said happily. “But Aoi made me promise I’d never tell Minmi what she told me.”

“Really? Wonder why.”

“She said she’d be embarrassed, and I should let her keep her facade.”

“Good call.” I was touched. That was surprisingly kind of her.

“But Aoi wanted me to know that Minmi was bugging me every day for my own sake, ’cause she was worried about me. ’Cause Minmi really is an idiot, she said.”

“Huh. Yeah.” Hinami did have her good points.

“Then a little while after that happened, I asked Minmi about it a few times. ‘Why’d you take such an interest in me?’ I said.”

“Uh-huh.” I wondered how Mimimi responded.

“And she always answered like, ‘I just love cute things,’ or ‘I go into withdrawal if I can’t touch soft cheeks every day…!’ Even though she was really trying to help me.”

“…Yeah.”

“So now, if she nibbles on my ear or something, I say, ‘I love it!’ I’ll laugh about it.”

“…Huh.”

I felt something rising in my chest, but I just nudged her along.

“Even though I know everything, I pretend I don’t. She acts all cheerful, but she’s always coming to my rescue. And I’ll keep pretending as long as she needs me to.”

Pulled in by her story, I fell silent. So that’s what had happened between them.

Eventually, a gentle motherly smile spread over Tama-chan’s childish features.

“See what I mean? Minmi’s an idiot.”

* * *

“Tama, you taste saltier than usual today!”

“What right do you have to compare how people taste?!”

Tama-chan and I had walked down to the field after Hinami and Mimimi finished practice and were helping them clean up. Afterward, the four of us headed home together.

“I have every right! My point is, right after practice your sweat is fresh, but this time it’s had a little while to dry, so the flavor is more concentrated…!”

“Gross! Use your deductive powers somewhere else!”

The two of them were teasing each other, as usual.

Ignoring the girl-on-girl show, Hinami fell into step with me.

“What were you doing at school all this time? Did you join a club or something?”

Translation: Please inform me of any major life changes.

“There was a book I wanted to read, so I went to the library. When I finished and stopped by our classroom, Tama-chan was there, so I asked her some things I’d been wondering about, and we talked for a while.”

Translation: I was working on the Kikuchi-san assignment. Since Tama-chan was in our classroom, I mobilized some of the topics I’d memorized and had a decent conversation.

“Oh really!”

Translation: Thank you for your report. You’re still awkward and gross. Well, maybe not that second part. Why do I always take the worst interpretation?

“Understood, Tama-san. My sincere apologies. Today, please allow me to nibble on your elbow…”

“You are relentless! I don’t get you!”

Overhearing this totally bizarre exchange, Hinami bopped Mimimi on the head.

“Okay, Mimimi, that’s enough.”

“Yessir, Captain!” She gave a sharp salute.

“Geez, Minmi…when are you going to calm down?”

“Let’s see,” Mimimi said, looking serious. “Maybe when I get a job?”

“Wow, a real answer!”

Hinami was right there with a comeback. They were in perfect harmony. That made total sense, of course. Like Tama-chan had explained, the bonds between the three of them were super strong. I watched them, wishing they could stay like this forever and thinking about friendship between girls and how great it was. I was walking with them, but I was a complete outsider. I guess that was a bad habit on my part.

“Okay, then how about this? First I’ll offer you the back of my knee…”

“I have no interest in the back of your knee!”

Whenever Tama-chan scolded her like that, Mimimi always opened her mouth wide and laughed like she was really happy. To me, that smile looked completely real and pure. No one asked me, but I think Mimimi was working hard to protect this place, this bond that brought her utter happiness.

But the next day, she started acting a little strange.

“Oh, um, sorry! I wasn’t sleeping! I just lost consciousness for a second! I definitely wasn’t sleeping!”

A ripple of laughter passed through the class.

“Okay, okay! On to the next question…”

“I’m sorry!”

It was third period. The teacher had asked Mimimi to answer a question, but she had clearly fallen asleep at her desk. I’d only been in the same class as her for three months, but I couldn’t remember that ever happening before. And this was the third time today.

So what’s my point? Well, I had a few thoughts.

“…Sigh.”

When I looked over at her, she was frowning and exhaling loudly, like she was trying to pull herself together.

After class, Tama-chan went up to her.

“Minmi, are you okay?”

Mimimi smiled and thumped her chest. “No! I started watching this dumb comedy movie last night, and I couldn’t stop! I stayed up most of the night! I am so tired! Super tired! Nanami down!”

“No, I mean really, are you okay?” Tama-chan was being even firmer than usual. She genuinely sounded scary.

“I am not okay! I wish you’d spank me to wake me up!”

“Minmi?” Tama-chan glared at her.

“…Other than that, I’m fine.”

“I hope so.”

With that, Tama-chan walked out of the classroom. Mimimi smiled awkwardly. She’d insisted she was fine, though, so it would be pointless for me to ask, too. Still, the anxiety I’d glimpsed on Tama-chan’s face as she left the room worried me.

* * *

“I wonder what’s wrong with Nanami-san.”

It was break time before fourth period. Since it was Wednesday, I’d come to the library like I always do. This time, Kikuchi-san had started the conversation, which was unusual. She had a sharp radar for these things.

“Yeah…she did seem weird today.”

“She’s not usually like that.”

Falling asleep in class isn’t a big deal among students, but even aside from that, she was acting strange. I had an idea of why.

“She’s been pushing herself really hard at track practice lately.”

She’d stayed till the end two days in a row and come to morning practice for three days, even though she usually skipped it.

“…Yeah.” Kikuchi-san looked down with worry. “I think she’s pushing herself too hard.”

According to what I’d heard at this morning’s meeting, Mimimi showed up to morning practice before Hinami again today. Judging from the state of the field and equipment, Hinami didn’t think she’d gotten there insanely early, maybe just twenty or thirty minutes before her.

Incidentally, my assignment for the day was to make specific movie plans with Kikuchi-san, but now it felt weird to bring it up.

“…It was the student council election, wasn’t it?”

“Well,” I said, unsure. “…I don’t know if that’s what sparked it.”

Kikuchi-san kept her eyes on the table. “Hinami-san…”

“Huh?”

Kikuchi-san hardly ever mentioned Hinami’s name. This was unusual. And given the timing…it was probably because Mimimi had run against her in the election.

“Hinami-san…what kind of person is she?”

“Um, what do you mean?”

I didn’t know what to say. Even if we were talking about the election, that was an unexpected question.

“Oh, I’m sorry… I’ve always wondered about her. I think she’s amazing… I assumed you were friends, since you came to the restaurant together that time.”

“Oh right.” Made sense. “Well, as far as I know…”

If I told her what I really knew, we’d be in trouble. After all, Hinami was a confident, hardworking, perfectionist gamer who hated losing and could say some really terrible things sometimes…

I sifted through all those descriptors for one I could share.

“Um, she’s a hardworking perfectionist. That’s about it.”

“I see,” she said, looking uncertain again. “In that case…”

“In that case?”

She looked me straight in the eye. “Why does she work so hard to be perfect?”

For a second, I was speechless. “…Uh, um…”

I didn’t have an answer.

“Oh, I’m sorry! You wouldn’t know the answer to that, would you?!”

“N-nope.”

Kikuchi-san took a deep breath, maybe searching for a new tack.

“Nanami-san is…trying to compete with Hinami-san, isn’t she?”

“Um, basically, but how did you know?”

Kikuchi-san glanced down at the cover of her book and answered with some concern. “I didn’t know, exactly…but I can imagine.”

“Imagine?”

Did she mean it in the same way she imagined the feelings of the characters in the books she read?

“I get very curious about why certain people do certain things.”

“You mean like you try to find their motivation?”

“Uh-huh.” Kikuchi-san nodded. “Usually I can’t help imagining an answer. Of course, I’m probably wrong most of the time… It’s just how I envision the situation.” She smiled modestly.

“You do that?”

“W-well…I am writing a novel after all…” She blushed and looked down.

“Oh, r-right! V-very true! That’s important, isn’t it?”

As I desperately tried to maintain the thread of conversation, her expression tightened.

“…But I can’t guess Hinami-san’s motives.”

“Hinami’s…motives.”

Kikuchi-san looked down awkwardly. But now that I thought about it, I realized I didn’t know what her motives were, either. Aoi Hinami relentlessly strove to be the best, and I guess I’d taken that for granted. But Kikuchi-san wanted to know the reason.

“I think competing with someone whose motivations you don’t understand must be very difficult, because you can’t see your goal.”

“A goal you can’t see, huh…”

I tried to imagine it. A competition with an invisible goal was like a protracted fight against a monster with an invisible HP gauge. You had no idea how hard you had to fight, what your opponent’s limits were, or even whether they had any. It was terrifying because you didn’t know anything.

“…It must be the same for Nanami-san.”

“Hard, you mean?”

Listening to Kikuchi-san, I sensed her warmhearted nature more than ever. But her words also gave me a lot to think about it.

* * *

“Sorry, I wasn’t able to complete the Kikuchi-san assignment,” I told Hinami during our meeting after school.

She frowned. “…I didn’t think it was that hard.”

She was evidently in a bad mood. And she was right that I could have completed the assignment if I’d tried. But I explained the circumstances—we’d started talking about Mimimi, and the mood just hadn’t felt right. Of course, I skipped over the parts involving Hinami herself.

“I see… You’re right that the situation isn’t the best right now.”

“Yeah. Mimimi’s pushing herself a little too hard.”

After talking to Kikuchi-san, I’d spent some time thinking. The problem didn’t seem limited to track. The longer she stayed at practice, the less time she had to study, so she was probably working herself to the bone just to keep up.

“Yeah. But…well, I don’t know. If she keeps trying to match my practice schedule, it could become a problem. But if she stops at some point, she’ll be okay…”

“Yeah, I guess.”

So far, the worst that had happened was that she’d overextended herself and fallen asleep in class. It would be silly to take the current situation too seriously.

“I’ll try mentioning it to her casually…although my options are very limited here.” Hinami looked down.

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“Because in a sense—I’m the cause of the problem.”

“If you put it that way…”

So she did know. She understood why Mimimi was being so reckless lately. Of course she did. She was Hinami.

“…Given all these conflicting speculations and the fact that the worst result of this so far is that she’s fallen asleep in class a couple times, the best policy might be to wait and see what happens.”

“Yeah…I think so.”

“I’ll do what I can and leave the rest to her.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

The mood had grown slightly gloomy.

“But…”

Hinami’s word sliced through the pessimism.

“Given your position, you might be able to give her some advice.”

“Me?!”

Hinami looked at me solemnly.

“Maybe thinking about that should be one of your assignments.”

After our meeting, I went to the library and read an Andi book, but before long I was only pretending to read as I sank deep into thought about various things—Mimimi, Tama-chan, what Hinami had said to me. The anxiety I felt was so vague, I didn’t even know what to think about. Mimimi might come to school tomorrow back to her old self, and it would all be over as if it had never even started. I knew I shouldn’t think about it too much for that reason, but I couldn’t help obsessing. Hinami had mentioned “my position.” I felt like those words could be useful, both in fixing the problem and gaining me some EXP. Plus, she’d made it an assignment. It wasn’t that I wanted to be a busybody—I had real reasons for involving myself.

I sat there for a while, and eventually the time rolled around when everyone besides Hinami and Mimimi was finishing up club activities. I headed for our classroom, figuring Tama-chan would be there soon.

“…Back again, Tomozaki?”

Tama-chan had gotten there before me, and she started talking as soon as I opened the door.

“Yup.”

She looked out the window. “Minmi is overdoing it a little.”

“Thought so.”

“Does she just want to win? …I’ve heard Aoi is number one in almost every single event in track.”

“Ah-ha-ha…figures.” Yup, Hinami was scary.

“I wonder what I should do.” Tama-chan seemed genuinely uncertain.

“Yeah, me too.”

I didn’t know, either. All I could do was parrot her words.

“Would it be better to stop her or not?”

“Oh…” I realized something.

“Should I stop her before it’s too late? Or should I let her reach her limits herself?”

“…Yeah, I wonder.” That problem was way too hard for a beginner like me. “You think she’s falling asleep in class from practicing too much?”

“Yeah, definitely. She’s wearing herself out down there right now. No two ways about it.”

“Huh…”

We both gazed out the window as we talked. Once again, we stayed until they finished. Even as Mimimi’s strength faded, she kept up with the unstoppable force of effort that was Aoi Hinami. I had to respect her for it. Still, even if she was okay now, I couldn’t help a sneaking suspicion that at some point, in some way, she’d start to break.

Tama-chan and I headed to the field, helped clean up, and started for home with Hinami and Mimimi. The mood was as cheerful as ever. At the station near school, we split up. Hinami went one way, and the rest of us went the other. Even after the three of us were left alone, Mimimi chatted as happily as ever. She and I both lived near Kitayono Station, so we got off together there.

“Whew! It’s so nice and cool at night!”

Even though the days were long this time of year, it was already completely dark out. That’s because you two practice so long, ladies.

“Yeah,” I murmured listlessly.

“What’s wrong? Constipated?”

Mimimi was acting so much like her usual self, if it weren’t for what Tama-chan and Hinami had said, I would never have guessed she was faking it. But I’d made up my mind to ask her here and now.

“Um…”

“…What?” she asked, a little defensive once she realized I was nervous.

“There’s something I want to ask…”

“What?”

I took a deep breath and spit it out.

“As a friend who wanted to beat Hinami just like you did and who fought alongside you…”

This was the trump card I’d spent hours trying to find based on Hinami’s comment. If this didn’t work, I wouldn’t be able to help.

“…What?” Mimimi sounded more serious than usual.

“You’re overworking yourself now ’cause you still want to beat her…aren’t you?”

She gave me a complicated glance, then sighed in frustration. “Tomozaki, that was sneaky, calling yourself my comrade-in-arms! You know I can’t lie to you now!” She cackled, but I could hear the sadness in her voice.

“So I’m right?”

“No,” she said with a chagrined smile, then paused. “I’m not overworking myself. Or maybe I am. But I’ve thought hard about what I’m doing.”

“What have you been thinking?” I wondered what she meant.

“It’s like this: I know it’ll be hard, mentally and physically. But…I’m not sure how to put it exactly… But I think you’ll understand, so I’ll try to explain.”

“…Okay.”

I shoved down the desire to get out of this with false humility (“I’m no normie—I’d never understand”) and simply nodded quietly.

“It’s so hard, I feel like quitting right now, but if I did, I think I’d feel worse.”

I gulped. She looked at me with fierce determination.

“—Oh.”

I had nothing else to say.

These were her true feelings. She hadn’t even told Tama-chan. She was pushing herself so insanely hard right now, she wanted to quit. But if she did, losing would be even harder. That’s what she was saying.

“Yeah…I see your point.”

If that was the case, I didn’t have anything to say. I knew how much it sucked to quit halfway through something and lose. That’s why all I could do was stand by silently. It would be wrong for me—for nanashi—to condemn what she was doing.

“In that case…”

I couldn’t unhear everything she’d shared with me about taking second place all this time. I know how painful it would be to quit in the middle, and I’d seen that faint ghost of a smile on her lips. And I knew what it was like to look up to someone special and want to do whatever it took to reach that level yourself. That’s why I decided that as a gamer, as one who hated to lose, I had to respect her decision.

“In that case…do your best.”

I wasn’t a hypocrite; I wouldn’t hold back a person who played to win and was working as hard as she could to make it happen. Should I stop her before it’s too late? Or should I let her reach her limits herself? There was only one answer a gamer could give to a girl with the drive to win:

Get your revenge for the election before I do.

* * *

It was another Thursday in Sewing Room #2.

“She looked even more exhausted than yesterday.”

Hinami was updating me on how Mimimi was doing after morning practice.

“Huh…”

But now that I knew Mimimi’s feelings, I was on her side. She wasn’t playing around. Quitting would be worse, so I wanted her to fight it out. Of course, I didn’t want her to burn out, either…

“I think…she’s hardly sleeping. I bet she’s doing some sort of training on her own after she gets home. At this rate…I don’t think she can last much longer.”

“Yeah, you could be right.”

I nodded. I’d realized something else as well. It wasn’t just track team. Mimimi wanted to beat Hinami academically, too. She could be training and studying at home to take her down. Given the degree of her determination, that was highly likely.

“I’d like to talk her out of this before she collapses, but if she gets it from me, it could really backfire…”

“Yeah.”

If the person you were trying to beat told you to stop…yeah. Hinami pressed her hand against her forehead.

“Do you have the confidence to talk her into quitting?”

She looked me in the eye as she spoke. No doubt she wanted me to do just that. I hesitated for a second over what to do, then decided to tell her the truth.

“She wants to give it her all—and I want to respect that.”

Hinami froze for a few seconds wide-eyed, then looked away. “I see,” was all she said.

My gamer instincts were telling me my decision was right. But was it right in the game of life? Part of me wasn’t sure. Kikuchi-san had talked about motivation. I felt like without knowing Hinami’s, I wouldn’t ever be sure.

“Hey, Hinami.”

“…What?” she answered warily.

“Why is Mimimi so obsessed with you?”

Hinami looked at the ceiling for a minute before she answered, as if she was thinking.

“…In junior high, at the prefectural championship, I was the reason her team lost.”

“Wow.”

If that was true, it seemed like a key point in the whole Mimimi issue.

“But I shouldn’t be the one to tell you about it… If you want to know more, ask someone else.”

Hinami cut off the conversation there, pressing her lips together. But I could tell from her eyes that she wasn’t shutting me down. In fact, she seemed to expect something from me. In which case, I figured I should do what she’d said.

* * *

That day in class, I worked on an assignment I’d given myself. Why was Mimimi so obsessed with Hinami? Why was she pushing herself so hard? I wanted to know.

Well, if it had to do with Mimimi, I should ask Tama-chan first.

But all I got there was, “I don’t know much about what happened in junior high!” If Tama-chan didn’t know, none of the friends she’d made in high school were likely to, either. Given that, I asked Tama-chan if she knew anyone who went to the same junior high as Mimimi—particularly anyone on the same team as her. “I’m not sure if they were on the same team, but I know a couple people who went to her school,” she said, listing off a few guys and a few girls. Obviously, I wasn’t friends with any of them. I mean, I hardly have any friends to start with. But at that point, I got some surprising information.

“Apparently Minmi was on the basketball team in junior high.”

“Really?”

Tama-chan had mentioned it very casually. This fact didn’t directly advance the story, but it gnawed at me. That meant Hinami would have been on the basketball team, too. Surprising.

At this point, I needed to figure out who had been on the girls’ basketball team at Mimimi’s junior high… Guess my only option was to ask. Interview time! I was nervous, but compared to my Spartan training, no big deal!

Lunch break.

Tightening my butt muscles and puffing out my chest, I walked up to one of the girls Tama-chan had named.

“Uh, um, Matsushita-san.”

“…Uh, Tomo…zaki-kun?”

Matsushita-san had quite a hard time recalling my name. She had bobbed black hair and a very sweet kind of look. She was sitting at her desk putting away her notebooks and pencils. I felt like I’d seen her talking to Mimimi a lot.

“I wanted to ask you something…”

To appear as natural as possible, I lifted the corners of my mouth and spoke as clearly as I could.

“Oh, what?”

Thanks to my efforts, she answered me in a surprisingly normal way. The excitement at receiving a normal reply was nothing new, of course; that’s just what happens when your confidence is as low as mine.

“Um, you went to the same junior high as Mimimi, right?”

“…Uh, yeah…”

“Do you know anyone who was on the basketball team with Mimimi?”

“Let’s see, was there anyone…?”

“Oh, no one at our school?”

If so, this assignment would reach a deadlock.

“Wait a second! I think…there was a younger girl! She was friends with Mimimi…”

A younger girl? Friends with Mimimi? A light bulb went on.

“Um, it wasn’t…Yamashita-san, was it?”

“Yeah, that’s her! Yamashita-san! The girl who gave the speech! In junior high, she was Mimimi’s attendant!”

“Attendant…”

The old-fashioned word surprised me a little, but I could imagine Mimimi jokingly saying something like, “Starting today, you’re my attendant!” And I remembered something else. Mimimi had said she’d known Yamashita-san since junior high.

“Really? Thanks so much!”

“Was that it? You’re welcome!”

Copying Izumi’s lighthearted tone, I thanked Matsushita-san and left the classroom.

“Good work the other day! It’s Tomozaki-san, right?” Yamashita-san said cheerfully.

I was in front of her first-year classroom, having just asked one of her classmates to let her know I wanted to talk. She remembered my name after only meeting me once, but I think that was a sign of her straightforward, honest personality.

I’d rather not remember the five-plus minutes I’d spent beforehand, wandering around the hallway where all the first-year classrooms were, searching for Yamashita-san and working up the nerve to call for her. “Pardon me, would you mind asking Yamashita-san to come out here?” I’d said to some younger kid I didn’t know. It was weirdly polite.

“Yes, um, thanks for your work on the election,” I said to Yamashita-san.

The conversation started with an exchange of semi-greetings. I learn by observing.

“No, thank you! Mimimi-senpai was amazing, wasn’t she?”

“Oh, uh, yeah!” I agreed vaguely. She was probably talking about the ad-lib bit.

“So what brings you here today?” Her smile seemed to add, “I’m ready to help however I can!” I planned to take her up on that.

“Well…I want to know what Mimimi’s relationship to Hinami was like in junior high.”

“Huh?” she said. “Um, how do you mean?”

Oh right. I forgot. I was supposed to explain the reason for the question first. Obviously she was going to wonder. I’d forgotten to come up with a reason beforehand. Since I’m not good at witty on-the-spot responses, I went with my previous standby. “Oh, I don’t really have a reason for asking…”

Yamashita-san stared at me, confused for a second, then giggled as if she suddenly understood.

“Oh! Okay! I get it! You were on her election team, after all! Leave it to me! I know more about her time on the basketball team than anyone else!”

“Oh, really? That’s a big help.”

I didn’t understand why Yamashita-san was nodding at me so many times with that satisfied smile, but getting the details from a younger student who prided herself on knowing more than anyone else was huge.

“So Mimimi-senpai and Hinami-senpai…”

With that introduction, she told the following story.

In junior high, Mimimi was a starter for the basketball team beginning in her first year, and she was an ace player. Every year she led the team to the prefectural tournament. But the truth was, it was a one-woman team consisting of Mimimi. She put in way more effort than any of the other core members. It was obvious to anyone who paid attention. Meanwhile, Yamashita-san had idolized Mimimi, but she had no confidence in her ball-handling skills, so she signed on as the team manager.

“But Mimimi-senpai was sort of…what’s the word, a loner? She’d practice like crazy all by herself…”

Yamashita-san said she often heard people talking about Mimimi behind her back—not out-and-out bullying or ignoring her, but comments like “What’s with her? Doesn’t she know how to read the situation?” or “Is she trying to make a point about us?”

“For a while there, I’d see her smiling sadly to herself sometimes. Like even she thought she was weird for trying so hard.”

After the team lost at the prefectural tournament, the other girls on the team congratulated each other for even getting that far, and Mimimi smiled along, but inside she was bursting with frustration. Yamashita-san was the only one she told her true feelings to. Mimimi had a different goal from everyone else on the team, a different level of commitment.

I could picture it: Mimimi smiling brightly to fit in with everyone else but secretly working hard to improve.

“At the third-year tournament, she saw Hinami-senpai and decided to work even harder.”

So that’s where Hinami came in.

For some reason, she hadn’t been a starter in her first or even her second year, but in her third year, she suddenly was. Hinami was a super ace player. The previous year, her team had been practically unknown, but now all of a sudden, she’d pushed them to the number-two spot in Japan. It speaks to how insanely amazing she is that my first thought upon hearing about it was, “Oh, so not first?”

“And Hinami-senpai’s team was also…well, a one-woman team.”

The ace player leading a one-woman team. In that sense, Hinami was in a similar situation as Mimimi. But when both went to the prefectural tournament…well, like Hinami had said, that was bad news for Mimimi…

“When Mimimi-senpai was in her third year, she…lost to Hinami-senpai’s school at the tournament. And that was the end of her final tournament of junior high. It was a showdown between two ace players, and it wasn’t exactly close…and of course that was really hard for Mimimi-senpai, but more than that…”

When she lost to Hinami’s team, it was just like the previous year when they’d hit a wall at the prefectural tournament level. Yamashita-san remembered all the other team members congratulating themselves on doing their best and getting as far as they did. This time, though, Mimimi didn’t try to fit in.

“She told me she wondered if they’d even seen what was going on in that game. Couldn’t they tell just how much effort that girl, who was the same age as all of them, had put in?”

For the first time, Mimimi told the other girls her true feelings. “Making it to the prefectural tournament? That’s nothing,” she’d said. She’d told them she didn’t want to lose—she never had.

But the other team members replied, “We know you worked hard, but making it to the prefectural tournament is amazing!” and “We did good enough. We made it here three years in a row!”

“…When Mimimi-senpai heard that, she stopped caring. She nodded and agreed, just to fit in with everyone else.”

No matter what she said, they wouldn’t understand, so she stopped expecting anything from them. That’s what she’d told Yamashita-san.

“But the following year, she ended up at the same high school as Hinami-senpai. I think she feels like Hinami-senpai is the only one who understands how she feels. And I think so, too!”

“Huh,” I said, nodding deeply. “Thank you! This does shed some light on the situation.”

I tried to look Yamashita-san in the eye as I spoke.

In junior high, she’d fought alone. But in high school, she’d found someone who understood her values, and vice versa. That’s why she didn’t want to lose. I had a feeling, albeit a dim one, that I had a sense of the situation now. And that meant I’d taken a tiny step toward figuring out how I should consider the problems.

“Please don’t stare at me like that; it makes me self-conscious! Keep an eye on Mimimi-senpai, okay? And thank you for giving me your attention!”

“Huh? Your atten…? Oh right, thanks.”

Having received this puzzling compliment, I went back to my own classroom.

After school, I went to the library and thought things over. I’m not conceited enough to say I fully understood Mimimi’s feelings, but I was pulling for her.

The sun went down. I looked out the window. Down on the track, the two of them were practicing late, as usual. Mimimi had been keeping up with Hinami’s pace for a week, including Saturday, when I’m sure she trained on her own.

* * *

Another Monday and Wednesday passed without my making concrete movie plans with Kikuchi-san. What with the Mimimi issue, the mood just hadn’t been right. Now it was Thursday again.

Hinami had given me the same assignment of making someone laugh. If she hadn’t given me a new one, I assumed the developments in the Mimimi situation meant the general “mood” dictated that I didn’t need to do my assignment.

As for Mimimi herself, she was falling apart.

She staggered around and slurred her words. Naturally, she kept falling asleep in class. Up till now, she’d always said she was fine, but when Tama-chan grilled her (“Come on, be honest. You’re tired, right?”), she let the truth slip: “Okay, maybe I’m a little tired.” She was as much a clown as usual, but somehow, the exhaustion showed through.

I wanted to support her decision, but I was getting a little worried. Which meant Tama-chan must be even more worried. But that day after school, something completely unexpected happened.

My afterschool meeting with Hinami ended with a short discussion of how Mimimi was doing. After that, I went back to the classroom to think about what I should do.

“The rainy season sure is long this year.”

Izumi, shouldering her bag as she got ready for club activities, casually started up a conversation with me.

“Huh?” I said, looking out the window. “…Oh right, the rain.”

“Makes me feel so lazy. Messes up my hair, too. Wish it would stop before I go home. Anyway, see you later!” Izumi waved cheerfully and headed off to the gym.

The rainy season.

Even though it was already late July, the rainy season just wouldn’t stop. I figured if Tama-chan couldn’t stop Mimimi from practicing, then nothing could, but there was something. The rain.

I looked out the window again. It wasn’t pouring, but a steady rain was falling, and as far as I could see from here, none of the teams were practicing outside. I scanned the classroom. Mimimi wasn’t there. Neither was Hinami, of course, since we’d just had our meeting. Tama-chan…was there. She’d gone out to the veranda to check the weather.

“Raining, huh?” I commented.

She turned toward me with a complicated look on her face. “Think it’s a good thing?”

She didn’t seem to know what to do with her emotions.

“Who knows? Even Hinami can’t practice on a day like this…which means that Mimimi can take a day off and not fall behind.”

“That is true! If she won’t fall behind, then she can rest. Good thing, huh?”

“…Yeah.”

Actually, the timing of this rain was perfect. Mimimi was about to hit a wall, and this gave her a reason to rest because it was out of her control.

“Hey…look.” Tama-chan suddenly sounded anxious. She was pointing down at the field.

I looked down, too. “…No way.”

What appeared to be a girl wearing a rain slicker was on the track, starting to practice. Which meant…

“Is that…?” Tama-chan said worriedly.

But we couldn’t see the girl’s face. Who was it? Mimimi or Hinami? It definitely could be Hinami. Given her insane level of effort, I could imagine her saying that she could handle a little rain as long as she had something waterproof to wear and that, in fact, it was a rare opportunity to practice in harsh conditions. Yeah, she might say that. She definitely might.

But if it was Mimimi…

She’d been stumbling around since yesterday, and today she was even worse.

If she was practicing in the rain in that condition…well, that was just plain dangerous.

Maybe because she intuitively understood that, Tama-chan hurried off the veranda saying, “I’ll be right back!” She was about to run down to the field when I saw something.

“W-wait!” I called.

“…What?!” she called back, a little worked up.

“—It’s not her.”

“Huh?”

I felt relieved, but somehow uneasy, too.

“It’s Hinami.”

Tama-chan walked back to the veranda and stared hard at the girl down below for a few moments.

“…You’re right.”

She sounded like she’d just realized something. The energy had drained from her voice, but I couldn’t tell if she was relieved or surprised.

“Yup…it’s Hinami.”

I didn’t try to hide the fact that my emotions were still a complicated mess.

“Think Minmi went home?”

“No idea…”

We stayed there for a while, watching the field and exchanging a couple of words every now and then. Mimimi made no sign of appearing, but Hinami kept practicing in the downpour for twenty, thirty, and then forty minutes.

“She’s not coming, is she?” Tama-chan said flatly.

“Well, the rain’s pretty awful.” I knew it was a pointless comment, but I said it anyway.

“It’s better that way…right?”

Somehow, Tama-chan’s words lacked their usual gravity, like she didn’t even know herself how she was feeling.

“Yeah, guess so,” I agreed absentmindedly. Both of us fell silent again.

There was Hinami, practicing in the rain like an idiot. As I stared vacantly down at her, my feelings gradually came into focus.

When I thought Mimimi might be down there, I’d wanted her to stop practicing in the rain because it was dangerous. But more than that, as a gamer who had fought alongside her, I was cheering her on. I’d hoped from the bottom of my heart that she would beat Hinami and get her revenge.

Right now, I’d witnessed her hit a wall.

The simple truth was, she’d given in to the rain as a reason not to keep pushing herself.

In short, I’d come to a realization within myself.

No matter how hard Mimimi tried from here on out, she’d never beat this particular monster. Aoi Hinami was too much.

Soon the rain became a torrent, and even Hinami had to go home. We watched till the end, and then Tama-chan went to practice while I went home.