Chapter 83: Volume 3 - CH 3.8

Now, where should I kill time during the lunch break?

“Literature clubroom… That won’t do, it’ll be troublesome if I bump into Yuzu there. Let’s go to the back of the gymnasium.”

So I headed to the place that I imagined would be void of people and went down the stairs. I travelled along the first-floor corridor1 and came to the front of the gymnasium.

“…Hm? The door’s open.”

There was a crack at the door to the gymnasium. It seemed like the person who last used the gymnasium forgot to close it.

“It’s cold outside, so this is perfect,” I muttered and entered the gymnasium.

As I thought, someone forgot to lock the door after they left; there was no one inside. And there was a basketball laying on the court.

“So lazy… they’ll be scolded by the coach this way.”

I picked the ball and stood on the three-pointer line.

I focused my eyes on the hoop and jumped. Using the force from throughout my body and, with a snap of my wrist, I shot the ball. The ball drew a parabolic line as it left my hands and made a dry sound as it was sucked into the hoop.

“Phew…” I exhaled and let my concentration scatter.

At the same time, I heard a clapping sound from my back. I turned my head and there was Sakuraba.

“…Sakuraba. So you’re the unruly person who just left things here without tidying up.”

“A-haha. I only went to change into my basketball shoes just now. Well, if you’re here, you should watch me practise. I want to improve my three-pointer too.”

I nodded my head after thinking about it for a while.

“If it’s only to help you pick up the ball, all right.”

With my current inner turmoil, it would be better to move my body a little to distract myself. I handed him the ball and moved under the backboard.

“Thanks.”

Sakuraba, who had received the ball, got ready at the three-point line. Then, he shot with an overzealous form. The ball missed the target and caromed off the rim.

“Oops, I missed.”

“You depend too much on your upper body to exert the force. It’s better to bend your knees more.”

“Roger!”

Sakuraba followed my advice and corrected his form. As he did that, the ball fell into the hoop on his second attempt.

“Nice shot!” I complimented him as I caught the ball and passed it back to Sakuraba.

“Oh, it’s easier to shoot it this way. Izumi, you’re good at teaching.”

“Well, given my communication skills, that’s a matter of course.”

“Ahaha. And what kind of an introvert are you to say something like that?”

While making small talk, I helped Sakuraba practise his shooting.

In the midst of all this, he suddenly muttered, “…Aki invited me out for Christmas Eve.”

""

“I see.” I nodded slightly.

Sakuraba’s eyes widened and he snickered, “Izumi, you knew?”

“Yeah, this morning.”

Thanks to that, I was also troubled.

“Maybe I’ll get confessed to again,” Sakuraba calmly mumbled as he shot the ball.

The ball went through the hoop with a whooshing sound.

“…You realised?” I was surprised as I held the ball that had fallen from the net.

From what Namase told me, Sakuraba should not have known that they were going to participate in the ‘Christmas Fulfilment’ event.

“Well… I just know from her mood. Aki is easy to read,” Sakuraba replied as he raised his hand to demand the ball from me.

I passed the ball and continued, “…You’re going to say yes?”

When asked about the crux of the matter, Sakuraba’s movement stopped as he was about to shoot.

“…Um, I don’t know. I’m thinking maybe I should.”

After he answered it like that, he made the shot. However, perhaps his mind was in disarray.  The ball was rejected by the ring and flew off in an unintended direction.

“What do you mean by you should?”

I ignored my role of picking up the ball and looked Sakuraba straight in the eye. As if avoiding my gaze, he went to pick up the ball himself.

“…Literally, just as I said. I should accept it this time. During the previous confession, I rejected her and we all scattered. If I reject her again, the same thing will happen, won’t it?”

“So, you think it’s better to say yes?”

“Yeah.”

Yuzu nodded as he bounced the ball.

“…It’s not my place to say anything, but don’t you feel anything towards Kotani?”

At my question, he closed his eyes as if searching his heart.

He then slowly answered, “…It’s not that I feel nothing—I feel she’s cute and I know her good points. Above all, I’m happy she still likes me even after all that happened. But I don’t know exactly how far my feelings go.”

A fondness for her and a sense of duty to protect the group. Were these two things pointing in the same direction, so that they got mixed up and became indistinguishable?

“In this situation, I’m not sure if it’s okay to confront her and give her an answer.”

I bet Sakuraba was the kind of man who would try to respond to favours directed towards him as sincerely as possible. Because of this, last time, he told Kotani that he liked Yuzu, which threw the group into chaos.

And this was how he was still struggling with it.

“Sakuraba, you look like a perfect human, yet you’re also a klutz in unexpected ways.”

He frowned as he accepted my teasing words.

“If I’m perfect as you say, I wouldn’t need to be deceived or helped by you.”

“Well, true that.”

“Izumi… at first you were only pretending to date Yuzu, right? Was it hard?” Sakuraba inquired, perhaps wanting to take my answer as a reference.

At his question, I took the chance to look back at the past few months.