Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me - Volume 3 - Chapter 4.2

“Hey, Kurose-san is there too.”

Noticing it, I replied, “You’re right.”

Kurose-san was dancing while wearing a cheerleading uniform and a hair ribbon that matched everyone else’s. She had a humble smile on her shapely face.

Besides cheerleading competitions, cheerleaders also had to do stuff for various sporting events, so they had a lot of things to prepare for. That was why students too busy with club activities, as well as those like Runa who were chosen to take part in many sporting competitions, couldn’t become cheerleaders. I remembered how at the long homeroom concerning today’s sports day they hadn’t managed to get enough cheerleaders to meet the quota.

Had Kurose-san applied afterward? Between this and how she’d joined the festival committee, perhaps she was doing her best to fit into the school in whatever ways she could.

Recalling how she’d been when I’d talked to her at the library, along with how she seemed to be enjoying herself at cram school, I started to feel differently about her than before.

Sure, it was hard for me to forgive her for what she’d done to Runa in the past, but I wanted her to find happiness too. She was Runa’s sister, after all.

“Now that I look at it, the girls in our class are pretty hot stuff. Kurose-san’s cute too.”

Having learned my lesson, I didn’t say anything to Icchi this time.

Or perhaps it was because I couldn’t.

“Huh, that’s kinda nice. She clearly still has a thing for you, Yamada.”

It was because Sekiya-san had said things like that. If a guy like him who’d been with many girls had said it, perhaps it was true.

“Ryuto!”

Runa’s voice brought me back to my senses. Turning around, I found her right next to me.

“Hey, wanna have lunch together...?” she offered.

“Huh? Y-Yeah?”

It was then that I noticed that the cheerleading competition had already come to an end. There was nobody left on the track. The morning’s events seemed to be over.

“Don’t mind me,” said Icchi beside me, taking his stuff and leaving in a haste.

Seeing him do that, Runa quietly asked me something. “Does Ijichi-kun hate girls?”

Her words surprised me. “Huh?! No... N-Not at all.”

I’m pretty sure he loves them, in fact, I added inside my mind.

“Really? Okay, then. Akari said that when they’re working on festival decorations, she has trouble keeping a conversation going for very long with him. They aren’t really getting along.”

“Ah...”

Icchi, you dumbass! What’re you doing?! Tanikita-san’s even coming to talk to you...

Granted, I understood how he felt. And that made it all the harder for me...

“He’s just shy. It’s not like he means any harm,” I explained.

“Oh, I see. I’ll let Akari know.” After saying that, Runa took the seat Icchi had freed up.

At lunch on sports days, everyone was free to eat where they wanted. Some students went back to the classrooms, and it was also possible to eat together with your family on the blue tarps in the parent fan area.

Just like the student cheering areas, the parent one was set up on the side of the track. Not many of its seats were occupied—by my estimate, fewer than half of all students had brought their families today. I didn’t have much to show off either, so I’d told my parents not to come because it would be awkward. Icchi and Nisshi had done the same—perhaps it was a thing with introverts.

“How could Dad do this to me? He said he had a sudden business trip or something. And here I was, looking forward to it...”

It appeared that Runa’s father had planned on coming, but something had come up at the last minute.

“Though at least that saved me from having to make his portion... About half of what I made was a mess, so if he’d said he was coming after all, I would’ve been in trouble...”

Saying that with a smile, Runa took a lunch box out of the bag she’d brought with her. The box had two layers in it—it looked large enough to hold food for two or three people.

“Here you go! ♡” she said.

“Whoa!”

Runa had told me ahead of time that she’d make lunch for me, but now that I saw it in person, I was so moved that it felt like tears were on the way.

“Th-Thank you! I’m so...”

Happy...! So this is what they mean by being on cloud nine.

As my grin was starting to escape the confines of my face, I came back to my senses with a start. It would be embarrassing if someone saw me and thought, “Look at this gloomy introvert, getting full of himself just because Shirakawa Runa made lunch for him.”

Each student cheering area only had a large blue tarp spread out there—there were no chairs or anything like that, so everyone sat where they liked. As I looked around us, it seemed that many students had gone inside the school. It was relieving that nobody seemed to mind us as we sat in a wide open space amid our classmates.

“C’mon, open it!” Runa urged me. For some reason, she was sitting in the seiza position, all formal. She’d put the lunch box in front of me and was now pushing it closer to me.

Seeing her like that, I once again thought about how cute she was.

Even in a gym uniform, she was exceptionally beautiful. That headband—blue, as it was our class’s color for the day—tying back her brightly colored hair... Her ample bosom that filled out her uniform with a name tag attached... The mismatched impression she gave off in a gym uniform seemed to express both the showiness of her looks and her inner purity, which I was highly fond of. Her nails, also painted our class’s blue, were shorter than usual, and her earrings were plain and small. I could tell how serious she was, in her own way, about this sports day.

“C’mon, hurry up!”

“O-Okay, here goes...”

At Runa’s insistence, I placed my hands on the lid of the lunch box, nostalgically recalling how tragically uneven her omurice had looked when I’d first had her homemade cooking at the Ueno Zoo. And as I opened it...

“Whoa! It looks delicious!” I couldn’t help voicing my surprise at the unexpectedly good looks of the lunch.

It wasn’t uneven this time. The reason it was split into four different areas was probably because they were tightly packed with side dishes. It was a well-balanced arrangement of classic foods—karaage, tamagoyaki, and octopus sausages, with garnishes in the form of cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and the like.

“Thank you, Runa...” I said, deeply touched, and she smiled happily.

“Ahh, I’m glad it’s all even!” It seemed the matter had been on her mind too. “This time, I had my grandma teach me how to make it, and I practiced a bit too.”

“Huh... Thank you.”

To have Shirakawa Runa of all people do something like that for a generic, gloomy guy like me... Recalling how I’d used to feel before we started dating, I felt even more deeply moved.

“But wait, the octopus sausages are pretty crazy. Look,” said Runa.

“Hm?”

“Aren’t these basically aliens?”

Looking at the octopus sausages at Runa’s suggestion, I noticed that their legs weren’t spread apart and instead went straight down. Runa picked one up and held it between her fingers to show it to me.

“They’re kinda gross, right? Sorry...” she said with an exaggerated face like she was about to cry.

I flashed her a manly, magnanimous smile. “Oh, they have long legs? I’m sure they’re just built like runway models.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Maybe I cut them too deep...” Runa said quietly, pouting. Then, she clenched her fists. “I thought I got everything right this time, but I’ll have to give octopus sausages another try!”

Another try! So she’s going to make a boxed lunch for me again at some point...

As I savored the happiness Runa’s words had brought me, she smiled at me.

“C’mon, Ryuto! Eat it already!”

“Oh, sorry. I was just so moved...”

“Hey, it might taste awful, you never know! Don’t go raising the bar like that!”

“Don’t worry—even if it is, I’ll hold my breath and finish it all.”

“What, so you expect it to be bad?!”

“N-No I don’t!”

We had that exchange with smiles on our faces and then dug into her lunch. There was no need to hold my breath—Runa’s handmade lunch was just as tasty as it looked.

“Yeah, it’s great!” I said.

“For real? Yay!”

We continued to eat, and as I was digging into the onigiri in the second layer of the lunch box...

All of a sudden, Runa began to stare at my face.

“Ah, Ryuto.”

“Y-Yeah? What?”

“You have seaweed on your face!” she exclaimed with a smile, then extended her hand toward me.

“Wh-Whaaat?!”

“C’mon!”

My heart skipped a beat when Runa’s fingers touched my lips. After removing the piece of seaweed, she showed it to me, then brought it to her own mouth and put it inside.

“Ehe he.”

When I saw her giggle like a little prankster, my face grew hot.

“Sh-Shirakawa-san!”

Under the clear autumn sky, as I shouted while minding my classmates’ eyes, Runa gave me a cheerful smile and said, “Thanks for the meal!”

***

Runa’s spectacular performance continued even in the afternoon’s contests.

She got first place in the obstacle course and in the girls’ chicken fight. Yamana-san served as the front part of her “horse,” and Runa went on a spree removing her opponents’ hats.

Then, when we got to the scavenger hunt...

As usual, Runa ran down the track with unmatched speed and was the first to pick up the instructions on what she had to borrow from someone. Her face flushed as she read the card.

What does it say?

As this question appeared in my mind, she lifted her head and looked around—it felt like our eyes met. The next thing I knew, she was running across the track straight toward me.

“C’mere, Ryuto!” she shouted at me once she’d come closer. It appeared that I hadn’t imagined that our eyes had met.

M-Me?!

Confused, I got up and headed to the track.

Runa came up to me, took my hand, and we started running together. First, we got to the track, which put us in the area with the instruction cards, and then we headed for the finish line. There seemed to be other students near us who had also procured what their instructions had asked for, and besides Runa, two other girls started running for the finish line at almost the same time. Among the three, Runa had gotten a late start.

“Run with all you’ve got!” said Runa, still holding my hand.

“Okay!”

We hurried, our hands linked.

One of the two girls ahead of us seemed to have been instructed to bring our elderly school principal—we quickly passed those two. That just left the other girl, who was running several meters ahead of us with a red bandana in her hand. If we could pass her too, we’d come in first.

When Runa put her mind to it, she was really fast. I’d thought she was only fast for a girl, but I knew I couldn’t slow down in the slightest or she’d leave me behind.

At that moment, I strongly thought I didn’t want to be left behind by this sports car of a girl who’d become an adult before I had.

I wanted to run together with her.

To keep running into the future.

Never letting her hand go.

Never!

Those thoughts pushed me to keep moving my legs forward, giving it all I had.

“Keep it up! You’re almost there!”

I could hear our classmates’ cheers from our student fan area.

“Runaaa!”

“Kashima-kuuun!”

Even classmates I’d never even spoken to before were shouting my name.

It felt like everybody was rooting for us.

Give it all you’ve got, Ryuto!

You’re almost there. It’s just a little farther.

When you overcome this anxiousness, this feeling of guilt, and everything else, I’m sure a happy future with Runa will be waiting.

So...

“You can do it!!!”

With our classmates giving us an extra loud shout of encouragement, Runa and I jumped into first place. Then, we crossed the finish line.

***

“Haah... Haah... We did it, Ryuto,” said Runa. She had let go of my hand and now had her hands on her knees. She was looking at me with upturned eyes and a smile. Her short, repeated breaths were sexy.

“Yeah... Congratulations... Sh-Shirakawa-san,” I replied, puffing and panting as well.

My breathing wasn’t calming down. I felt like I’d gone even more all out than I had during the morning’s foot race I’d participated in.

“Ehe he... It’s our victory,” said Runa with a coy smile. “I’m so glad I got to run with you...”

Runa’s instruction card had told her to bring along someone she liked. When it had been read aloud after we’d crossed the finish line, teasing shouts had resounded across the sports field.

It still felt like people around us were grinning at us. My face was still hot and my heart was still pounding, but I didn’t think it was only because I’d just run with everything I’d had.

“But wait, ‘someone you like’ didn’t necessarily mean in a romantic sense, did it? You could’ve brought Yamana-san or Tanikita-san, for instance,” I said.

Tanikita-san had been at the track as part of the cheerleading team, so bringing her would’ve let Runa return to the course faster than fetching me. It could’ve made for an easy victory.

“Huh...? Oh, I guess you’re right,” said Runa, looking taken aback. It appeared that doing that hadn’t occurred to her at all. “It’s just, when I saw it say ‘someone you like,’ your face appeared in my mind...” she continued, looking at me with rosy cheeks. “Before my family or my friends...I thought of you. Before anyone else.”

“Shirakawa-san...”

Her words filled me with warmth.

“Hey, Ryuto.” Her breathing back to normal, Runa removed her hands from her knees and took a step toward me. “Let’s do our best in the pamphlet subcommittee too.”

“Ah, yeah...” I sensed a slight shadow falling over Runa’s expression, so I wanted to say more. “I’m really sorry about that time in the library... I’ll be sure to immediately tell you from now on if I’m with Kurose-san or another girl...”

Runa shook her head. “It’s okay, you don’t have to go that far. I have faith in you.” She took my hand as she said that.

Startled, and minding the eyes of people around us, I timidly gripped her soft hand back.

We’re all right. Just look at how much we love each other.

Having faith in that, my grip became strong and firm.

***

After the scavenger hunt, the sports day proceeded without issue. Eventually, it finally came to be time for the last contest—a relay race between different grades.

A team made up of pairs of representatives from each class—a boy and a girl—would go against equivalent teams of students from different grades. Freshmen rarely won this event, but the seniors weren’t in their best shape due to studying for college exams, so apparently, second-years had won a lot in recent years.

Naturally, Runa had been chosen as one of the representatives. It really felt like a waste that she wasn’t in the track-and-field club.

I admired her from our student fan area, watching her stand in line with the other participants near the exchange zone, rolling her wrists and ankles to warm up.

She was so cool. Despite how cute she was, right now, Runa looked cool to me. I was proud to have her as my girlfriend—she really was too good for me.

Then, as I watched her in fascination while waiting for the race to start...

“Hey, is that Runa’s mom?”

“It’s gotta be! I was thinking the same thing! She looks just like her!”

“Huh?!” I looked at the nearby sunny girls from our class whose conversation I’d just overheard.

They had their gazes set on the parent fan area adjacent to the student ones. Scanning the crowd closely, I was taken aback.

Anyone who knew Runa would probably assume this woman was her blood relative—that was how similar they looked. The woman’s eyes were fixed on the track.

Her long hair was loosely bound and had been dyed a more subdued color than Runa’s dirty blonde. Somewhat large earrings swayed as they hung from her ears. Runa had a sister who was a few years older than her, but the woman in the parent fan area looked to be in her forties, so it was probably safe to assume she was her mother instead.

Perhaps it was because she’d only just arrived, but she was standing alone behind the people sitting on the blue tarp in the parent fan zone. She was gazing at the relay track.

It’s my first time seeing Runa’s mom...

As I thought that, a startling realization hit me. If she was Runa’s mother, she was Kurose-san’s too—and those two were living together.

“Hey, let’s go say hi!”

“Yeah, good idea!”

Squealing as they chatted, the sunny girls headed to the parent fan area together.

“Excuse me!”

“Are you Runa’s mom?!”

They spoke up to her in such merry voices that I could clearly hear them even from where I sat without straining my ears.

The woman turned toward them. I got a bit of a shock when I thought our eyes had met, but she was looking at the girls who were talking to her, not me.

“Yes, I am. And Mari—” she began to reply with a smile on her face, but she was cut off by the girls leaping in joy.

“Ahh! I knew it!” said one of them, squealing.

“You’re so pretty!”

“How can you look so good at your age?!”

“Hey, that’s rude to her!”

“Really?! I’m sorry! It’s just, you’re so, so beautiful!”

“Is this how Runa will look when she grows up?!”

“It must be nice to stay beautiful forever!”

As the girls chattered with excitement, Runa’s mother watched them with an awkward smile.

“Ah, it’s starting!” one of the girls then called out, noticing the track.

At the same time, a gunshot rang out, and the first runners took off.

Runa was to run second, so she was standing in the baton pass zone. It was on the opposite side of the starting point and closer to our fan area.

“You show them, Runa!”

Runa waved at the girls who were cheering for her, but then, she looked startled. She must’ve noticed her mother.

“Runa! Your mother’s rooting for you too!”

“Give it your all!”

While the girls shouted enthusiastically to voice their support, Runa’s mother waved at her daughter.

“Do your best, Runa!” she shouted.

When Runa saw her, cheer spread through her face. “I will!”

At that point, the first runner reached her. She took the baton and started running herself.

“Runa!”

Her mother was cheering for her. Then, suddenly, the woman looked away from her and waved toward the inner part of the track.

Kurose-san was standing there with the cheerleading team. She was facing away from us and waving a large flag for the runners.

“Maria, you do your best too!”

When they heard Runa’s mom shout that, the girls still standing next to her looked surprised.

“Maria...? Are you talking about Kurose-san?”

“You know Kurose-san?”

“Huh...?” Runa’s mother looked at them in confusion, but then she seemed to have realized something. “Well, it’s a long story.”

She stopped calling out to Kurose-san after that.

The small figure waving a large banner around with her back to us looked even frailer in my eyes than usual.

Perhaps owing to her mother’s cheering, Runa got ahead of a third-year and took first place before passing the baton to the next runner. While the tables were turned once after that, the last runner on Runa’s team retook the lead. This year’s relay race ended with a victory for the second-years.

“Mom!” Runa yelled as the runners left the track and she ran at full speed toward her. “I didn’t know you were here!”

“I managed to get some time off this afternoon, so I’ve been watching since the chicken fight. You were amazing, Runa.” Saying that, she placed a hand on Runa’s head. “That’s my girl.”

After patting her head for a bit, she smiled and took Runa’s cheeks in her hands. It was like she was playing with a little girl. In response, Runa blushed and giggled with a happy smile on her face.

Then, Runa looked my way all of a sudden.

“Mom, there’s someone I’d like you to meet...” Then, she beckoned to me. “Ryuto! C’mere!”

Guess this is it, then.

I’d been thinking that I should go introduce myself, but the sudden invitation made my pulse skyrocket.

As I started dragging my feet over to them, Runa happily looked between me and her mother.

“This is my boyfriend, Kashima Ryuto,” she explained.

“I know! I watched the scavenger hunt,” replied her mother with a bashful smile on her face. She was speaking loudly as if to hide her own embarrassment. “It’s so nice to be young. Even I felt awkward watching you two.”

Not knowing what face I should make in front of her, I simply kept bowing over and over.

Runa’s mother gave me a ceremonial smile. “Please take care of my daughter.”

There was something oddly charming about her smiles—they made my heart feel light. It also made me think of Mao-san, who’d taken care of me at that beach hut in summer.

“Oh, n— I mean, yes... I-It’s my pleasure!”

Watching me speak incoherently, the woman gave me another pleasant smile. Runa must’ve inherited her sunlike warmth and affability from her mother.

At that point, the cheerleading team walked by us.

“Runa,” her mother said quietly as she saw them.

“Yeah? What is it, Mom?”

However, her mother then looked around and seemed to have changed her mind, because she shook her head. “It’s nothing, never mind.”

“Ehh, what is it? Now I’m curious, Mom!” said Runa in a wheedling tone with a smile on her face.

But then, I saw it. Kurose-san, who was walking with the cheerleading team not far away, looked ready to cry at any moment. She sneaked away from the group and walked toward the school building at a brisk pace, alone.

Runa and her mother probably couldn’t see her because of the angle. I was the only one who’d spotted it. And because I had, I couldn’t leave her alone.

“Ruuunaaa! Let’s go to the closing ceremony!” called a sunny girl.

Runa left with her, and I excused myself and parted from her mother too.

Then, I headed to the school building.

***

Kurose-san wasn’t in our classroom.

As I wondered where she might’ve gone, it occurred to me to check the stairs leading to the rooftop. That was where Kurose-san had previously run off to after spreading rumors about Runa and we had our argument in the classroom.

I didn’t find her there this time, but the door leading to the rooftop was open. Normally it was closed, but the school photographer had gone up to the roof to take pictures of the sports events from above, so it was open today.

As I’d expected, Kurose-san was on the rooftop. She stood there, clinging to the fence that was twice as tall as she was. Her back was turned toward me as I approached.

“You haven’t told your mom?” I asked. “That you’re keeping your connection to Shirakawa-san a secret from everyone.”

At my words, Kurose-san spun around in apparent surprise. Her eyes were red and wet.

“How could I? It’s so pathetic that I can’t let people know we’re sisters anymore because I did something stupid and nasty,” she said, a sulking look on her face. “She’s supposed to be my mom...” Her voice trembled weakly as she spoke. “I showed her the sports day handout and asked if she could come, and that’s why she’s here—to cheer for me. And yet...”

When I’d previously heard Kurose-san’s story, I’d assumed she resented her mother because of her decision to get a divorce from her beloved father. As it turned out, she did still love her mother. Enough to be feeling like this.

“She’s a mother to both of you,” I said. “You and Shirakawa-san. And adding in your older sister—to the three of you.”

However, Kurose-san kept looking down. It didn’t appear that my words got through to her.

“Runa has everything. A father, friends, a boyfriend... But she just has to go and take our mother from me too.”

“That’s not...”

“Why did you come here, Kashima-kun?”

When Kurose-san raised her head, tears ran down from her red eyes.

“Oh, uh... I saw you walking into the building...” I replied, shaken up by the sight of her crying face.

Her expression became stern. “Leave me alone. Like I’ve said before, I don’t need Runa’s boyfriend to console me.”

“B-But...”

“Go already. You don’t even care about me, do you?” Kurose-san said, looking straight at me.

“I do care.”

Her eyes trembled at my words. After a moment’s pause, she then asked, “Is it because I’m Runa’s sister?”