Chapter 50: CH 50

Lexley Cricket Tournament (7)

“……Ah.”

I rose from my seat with a bewildered emotion. It wasn’t until a few minutes later after I heard that I had passed that I understood why Senior Jimbo was smiling. Standing at the end of the row where Leto stood, I saw the students in front of me looking at me with envy.

Actually, I was a little confused. My fitness test was good, but the second test was just mediocre. I even made the mistake of not catching the ball in front of me once. The thought of possibly being eliminated lingered in my mind the whole time.

I predicted that Leto and Reze would pass, and when that prediction came true, I couldn’t be more certain of my passing. However, the applause pouring towards me made me realise, ‘Oh, I passed.’ I tried to hold back the smile that appeared belatedly.

“A total of ten people will take the final test tomorrow.”

It was the last long-awaited final test.

In fact, it was a big achievement to have passed the second round, but I really wanted to be the main player[1] since I had already come this far. The problem was that if I had easily passed the first round while I barely passed the second, then there was little hope for the main position. While I was worrying about several things, someone walked past me and patted me on the back. Surprised, I turned around and saw Senior Jimbo. He couldn’t congratulate me openly, but waved his hand subtly.

[1] PR/N: main player is the people who win the rounds/ tournament. There may be a total of 4-5 winners and Bree wants to be one of them

A laugh came out naturally at Senior Jimbo’s secret gesture of congratulating me. It was even funny how he waved his hand without any expression to avoid being caught. Today’s test was over. After receiving the congratulations from the other students, I went to the bench to get my coat that I had taken off, but a shadow blocked the path in front of me.

When I looked up, it was Reze and his group.

“Hey.”

Reze called while looking directly at me, not Leto. Then, Leto, who did not budge when Reze was picking a fight with him, reacted. He stood in between Reze and me and glared at Reze with a frightening gaze.

“I didn’t call you, Arsene.”

Reze said, as if Leto in front of him was being meddlesome.

“What?”

I grabbed Leto by the arm. Either way, I had a lot to say to Reze, too. The ball he threw at Leto earlier was aggressive. If Leto hadn’t responded swiftly, he could have been seriously injured. I wanted to say something about this, but things turned out differently.

“What do you want with me?”

When I asked confidently, Reze and his gang stared at me without a smile. What? Why on earth did he come to pick a fight with me?

“Are you close to Senior Jimbo?”

“……Huh?”

His words were completely different from what I expected. I blinked at the sudden mention of Senior Jimbo. If you say close……we are. When I nodded, Reze’s expression changed significantly from before. Yeah, he was crazy about Senior Jimbo. Anyway, what does it have to do with him?

“How did you become close?”

Reze asked me as though he was genuinely curious.

“Why does senior like you? I saw it all earlier. He smiled when you passed the test. I’ve never seen Senior Jimbo like that!”

He even got riled up.

“T, That.”

“Can you tell me the secret? Get out of the way, Arsene. You’re bothering us.”

Reze pretended not to see Leto, who was right in front of him and only focused on me. When Leto still did not move away, Reze snapped at Leto with an annoyed tone before smiling at me. His gang did the same. Was this just a Senior Jimbo’s fan club?

“What do you even like about that Nimbo?”

“What did you say?”

As Leto muttered, Reze immediately became furious. It was an attitude that he could endure insults against himself, but would never tolerate insults against Senior Jimbo. How did Senior Jimbo tame this Reze rascal?

Anyway, I thought it was a pretty good phenomenon.

“Do you want me to tell you? How to get close to Senior Jimbo.”

When I said that, Reze lowered his tail and bobbed his head several times. He even begged me to let him know quickly, saying he was getting dizzy. At times like this, he was more like a foolish child than a jerk. I was scared of Reze at first, but now I wasn’t affected.

When Senior Jimbo’s name popped up, Reze raised his back to the fullest and focused on me.

“I don’t like to bully others.”

“Who would like that?”

Reze immediately retorted, as if my words were more disappointing than he thought. No, didn’t you just aggressively throw the ball at Leto with that intention?

“…You just need to fix whatever you’re doing right now.”

“What kind of behaviour?”

“All that stupid thing you’re doing.”

When I spoke firmly, Reze frowned slightly. I could feel his expression hardening.

“……Come to think of it, are you really on good terms with Senior Jimbo? I might have mistaken that smile.”

I was dumbfounded at Reze, who switched his attitude when I told him the secret to getting closer. When he turned aggressive, Leto became more wary of him. They both looked intimidating and fierce, so it was scary when they both looked at each other without saying anything.

“What are you doing?”

Until someone showed up and put an end to this situation.

“Senior!”

At senior’s voice, Reze’s eyes that looked like he was going to kill someone drastically changed. Only Leto glared at Reze. Senior Jimbo placed his hand on my head.

“Reze, don’t bully her.”

“No, I didn’t!”

At Senior Jimbo’s words, Reze responded as if he was being falsely accused. What do you mean you didn’t?! You just looked at me with contempt just now.

“Senior, are you really close to her?”

Then, Reze pointed a finger at me.

“What?”

Senior asked him what he meant. Senior Jimbo’s response, which wasn’t an answer, made me a little uneasy. It would be even more embarrassing if Senior Jimbo said he was not close with me. I thought Senior Jimbo and I were pretty close…

But the words that came out of Senior Jimbo’s mouth made my mouth drop in surprise.

“Yes, my most cherished junior.”

Senior patted my hair with his hand and tousled it. Senior Jimbo’s words not only shocked me and Reze, but everyone around here. I’m his most cherished junior. I didn’t know that I was such an important person to my senior, but it felt good. No, to be honest, it felt pretty great. Reze didn’t say anything as if he was speechless by senior’s exaggerated words.

Yeah, you’re jealous aren’t you? I straightened my shoulders with a more confident face than before.

“Jimbo! Help me with this!”

When the captain called Senior Jimbo from afar, senior clicked his tongue and glanced sideways at Reze with a fierce gaze.

“Don’t bother her.”

It was a short sentence, but nothing was more powerful than that. Reze, who nodded his head in a daze, was dumbfounded for a while before he belatedly came to his senses.

“Hey……”

“What.”

I wondered if he was going to pick a fight as soon as senior left, but Reze’s eyes didn’t seem to have that intention.

“I want to be friends with you in the future.”

What kind of nonsense did I just hear?

“What did you say?”

“Keep out of this, Arsene.”

Reze approached me and grabbed me by the shoulder.

“What do you think? I have a good family reputation, and I’ll hide this silly personality from you. Please take care of me from now on.”

“Why should I…”

“It would be more fun to play with us than with Arsene.”

At Reze’s words, the guys behind him raised their thumbs at me. Leto, who was completely ignored throughout this awkward situation, smacked Reze’s hand off my shoulder roughly. At first, I had thought he was angry because he didn’t like the situation, but Leto’s face was stiffer than I thought. Leto glared at Reze and his group, as though warning them and let out a low voice.

“That is never going to happen.”

Leto pulled my wrist after that. We headed to where I left my coat and there, a strawberry milk was placed next to my coat. Leto paused and let go of my wrist. I could tell for sure that the milk was left behind by Vivian. Although Leto didn’t like milk very much, he opened the milk bottle and poured it into his mouth in one gulp.

“Leah!”

It was no use trying to stop him. He looked at me and huffed, seemingly angry at something. Oh, was he mad at me? With a face full of unspoken words, he rubbed my hair and brushed my shoulders. Leto frowned as my body stiffened at his bizarre behaviour.

“Why are there so many people around you?”

Leto finally confessed what he had been suppressing. What?

“Everyone around you is trying to get close to you. And that Jimbo or Nimbo. His precious junior? Ha!”

Leto continued to ramble.

“You, perhaps.”

“What?”

“Are you jealous?”

No way. The esteemed Leto Arsene?

“…….”

It was true. I was convinced by Leto’s speechless expression. I can’t believe he’s jealous. If I felt good from hearing what Senior Jimbo said earlier, now I was completely astounded. Unlike me, it was unusual for Leto. He pursed his lips and spoke as if he had given up.

“Yes.”

“…What?”

“I’m jealous.”

He looked straight into my eyes. Leto’s black eyes dimmed even darker in the night. My image was reflected clearly in those eyes.

“So just stay with me, only me.”

“…….”

“You said you wanted to make me happy. Then do that for me.”