Too Many Losing Heroines! - Volume 6 - Chapter 4.4

-A dimly lit room. The familiar stains on the ceiling.

It took me a while to understand my own situation.

This is Tsuwabuki High School's infirmary. I'm lying on a bed, staring at the ceiling.

I don't remember anything after the race with Yakishio. The last thing I recall is the final blow from the oxygen can she threw-

"Nukkun, are you awake?"

A voice full of concern. Just as I reflexively tried to sit up-

"Ouch!?"

I involuntarily cried out from the pain all over my body.

Then, Yakishio, who was sitting on a round stool beside the bed, placed her hand on my back.

"Are you okay? Does your head hurt?"

"My head's fine. It's just my forehead that hurts, and my whole body feels sore from-"

I started to say, turning to face Yakishio again.

She had already changed back into her uniform and was smiling, relieved, hand on her chest.

"I'm glad. I would have been really sad if you had died from the oxygen can I threw."

Right, I'm glad I didn't die and make Yakishio feel bad.

"Uh, more importantly, how did the match go...?"

I asked tentatively, and Yakishio puckered her mouth as if to complain.

"It was a mess. Thankfully, Konuki-sensei was there for the match, but everyone ended up carrying you to the infirmary."

"Eh? You mean Konuki-sensei's here? Where?"

Yakishio flicked my forehead as I looked around anxiously. It hurts.

"Calm down. She stepped out for a bit."

Yakishio crossed her slender legs and gave me a stern look.

"Make sure to thank Komari-chan and Yana-chan later, okay? Komari-chan was so flustered that she threw her phone away, and Yana-chan got so confused that she tried to feed you dried sardines. It was tough stopping them."

It seems a lot happened while I was unconscious, and thank goodness in Christ, you stopped Yanami.

"Where are those two now?"

"Who knows, they went off somewhere. Maybe they left us alone on purpose?"

There she goes, teasing me again.

I noticed the serious look in Yakishio's eyes as I was about to protest.

"...So, who won?"

I remember crossing the finish line in a tangle at the end of the 100m.

Yakishio propped her cheek on her hand with a weary expression.

"Honestly, I thought it would end up more of a mess, almost expecting a no-contest victory for me."

She muttered, maintaining a facade of annoyance.

"-I missed joining the going home club."

"So, that means-"

Yakishio, giving up her pretense of annoyance, grinned mischievously.

"Nukkun, you'll have to take responsibility, you know?"

This meant Yakishio would continue with both the track team and the Literature Club, putting in more effort than ever.

It was what I had hoped for, but the burden Yakishio would carry wouldn't be small.

That's why, now that the competition is over, I can ask a question that is only possible at this moment.

"...Were you really going to quit the club had I lost?"

"I was serious about it."

Yakishio answered lightly, her gaze drifting off to somewhere distant.

"I thought about quitting the club and living out my high school days like something out of a drama or manga. Hanging out with friends after class, talking about love, and studying for tests at a family restaurant-"

She murmured as if talking to herself, eyes closed.

"...and finding someone I love someday, even if not right away."

A calm silence fell like a gentle lull in the wind.

-In a world where Yakishio made a different choice, she would fret over test scores instead of race times and chat about boys with friends.

And she would courageously reach out her hand to hold someone else's, someone I didn't know.

An ordinary yet extraordinary, drama-like adolescence.

Yakishio quietly opened her eyes.

"Besides, if I quit the club, I wouldn't get a university recommendation, so I'd have to join a tutoring school or something. Maybe I would go to the one Chiha and Mitsuki go to."

...Why would you do that? This girl must have a masochistic kink.

"Those two are dating, right? Wouldn't it be awkward for you to join them?"

"Of course, that's why I need you there too, Nukkun."

"Eh, I'm going to tutoring too?"

Yakishio shrugged as if it were obvious.

"That's what would have happened if I had won, of course. We would be in the going home club together."

"I didn't know that was a rule of the going home club..."

Despite its casual name, the going home club is pretty intense.

"I wouldn't just be squeezed in between them if it's you and me together, right? It wouldn't be as weird."

"They don't care if we're there, you know. They just get all lovey-dovey."

Yakishio smiled, showing her white teeth.

"Then we can just complain about it a lot together."

"So I'm just supposed to listen to you?"

"I'll listen to your complaints, too, Nukkun."

Why do we have to go to the same tutoring school as those two?

The four of us together, always with those two getting cozy.

Yakishio and I would form a victims' club, complaining to each other on the way home-

"...That actually sounds kind of fun."

Just an ordinary, everyday youth.

Yakishio's eyes lit up, and leaned toward me at my casual remark.

"Right? The four of us together, and we having to watch them show off their love."

"Uwah, that hurts."

"We would have so much to say that there wouldn't be any way for us to pay attention in class."

"Please pay attention to your classes."

We looked at each other and laughed.

Just because of that seemingly possible yet never-realized routine.

"You want to have a normal youth and fall in love and all that stuff, right? You can't find a boyfriend if you're always with me, Yakishio."

"Hmm, it's not like I'm in a rush to get a boyfriend."

Yakishio seemed to be choosing her words carefully. Her gaze drifted.

"Mitsuki is special to me, and that hasn't changed. So, until I find someone I can love more than him- I guess I'm fine without a boyfriend."

"But that doesn't mean you have to stick with me."

"...But, you know. We still have two more years of high school."

Suddenly, Yakishio rose from her chair and sat on the edge of the bed.

The bed creaked loudly under her weight, and a subtle mix of deodorant and perfume tickled my nose.

Playing with the hair by her ear, she said.

"I have 2 years left, right? Maybe my hair will have grown out too."

She looked down shyly.

Every breath Yakishio took made the ribbon at her chest flutter, and the bed creaked.

"Hmm? The track team's captain wears a ponytail, so growing your hair out should be fine, right?"

My casual remark made Yakishio freeze.

She let out a long sigh after a moment of stillness.

"...That's why I don't like this part of you, Nukkun."

Yakishio got off the bed and stretched her arms, interlocking her fingers.

"What do you mean-"

"Thinking about studying for exams, maybe getting a boyfriend someday. I guess that kind of future was possible, too. That's what I meant."

Yakishio walked lightly towards the window and flung the curtains wide open.

"I promise, though. I won't quit the track team or the Literature Club."

The clear morning sunlight illuminated the side of her face, making it sparkle.

Then, turning to me with a child-like bright smile, she said-

"So, you know- I'm going to quit sprinting and switch to middle-distance running."

"But you-"

Yakishio shook her head when I tried to respond.

"I've always moved with consideration for others, but now I'm going to be completely selfish. I'll win on my terms, and no one will have any complaints. And if they do, I'll crush them."

With a smile, Yakishio declared her resolve.

"I don't need any other kind of youth. I don't want it."

It wasn't self-destructive or defiant.

The light of uncertainty that used to flicker in Yakishio's deep brown eyes was completely gone.

"So, you're seriously aiming for nationals now?"

"Nope. I didn't say I was aiming for nationals."

Yakishio chuckled through her nose.

"Eh? Then-"

"I'm going to take nationals. Because I can."

Does she mean she's aiming to be number one in the country? The very top?

Caught off-guard by her grand ambition, I was met with Yakishio pointing straight at me.

"That's why, Nukkun, don't take your eyes off me, okay?"