Miyagi’s POV:

         I couldn’t lift my spirits.

         I gazed at Sendai-san, who sat across from me.

         Her necktie was loosened, the first two buttons of her blouse undone, as she focused on her homework. She had a slightly grumpy look on her face—probably because I’d told her, “Stop rolling around on the bed,” and made her sit at the table.

         I got up, walked over to my bookshelf, and sighed.

         The sports festival—something we’d reluctantly endured joint practices for—was just days away.

         I sat down on the floor and looked up at my bookshelf, lined with manga, novels, and dictionaries. I wasn’t sure what kind of order to give Sendai-san today, but I knew I wanted her to read one of these books. As I skimmed the spines, my eyes drifted toward the corner of the shelf and landed on a single paperback that stood out.

         It was a book with an unpleasant title.

         “Run, Melos!”

         It reminded me too much of the sports festival. I’d been forced to read it and write a book report on it back in middle school, and ever since, it had remained on my shelf, untouched.

         I hesitated for a moment before bringing the book—one I had no particular fondness for—to the table.

         「Sendai-san, here’s your order for today. Read this to me.」

         Settling onto the floor beside my bed, I leaned against it as Sendai-san looked over the novel with a dull expression.

         「Do you have to write a book report on this or something?」

         「No, I already did that a long time ago.」

         「Oh, I see. Still, it’s pretty rare for you to ask me to read a book like this. Are you sure it’s okay for me to read something other than the erotic books you like?」

         I grabbed my eraser and threw it at Sendai-san for saying something so ridiculous.

         「Stop saying unnecessary things and just start reading it already.」

         「Alright, alright. But what kind of book report did you write on this back then?」

         Sendai-san seemed to have gotten over her earlier grumpiness and was talking more now, asking me about things that were unimportant.

         「Shut up, Sendai-san. Does it even matter?」

         I didn’t have any memories of the book report I’d written on Run, Melos! to share. If anything, all I could remember was getting scolded by the teacher for just summarizing the story. Sendai-san had probably been praised for writing a good report, but I didn’t care enough to ask. Instead, I just urged her on.

         「Hurry up and start reading already.」

         「Fine, fine.」

         With a slightly annoyed tone, Sendai-san started reading Run, Melos! aloud.

         But after only a page or so, she lifted her head from the book and stared at me.

         「Are you a fast runner, Miyagi?」

         「Why are you even asking me that?」

         「Just curious. The story is about Melos running, and the sports festival is coming up as well.」

         Just like how the title had reminded me of the festival, it seemed Sendai-san had the same thought.

         That didn’t make me particularly happy. I didn’t want her to bring up the sports festival at all.

         「Does it really matter how fast I can run?」

         I knew it. I never should have made her read Run, Melos! in the first place.

         Thinking about the sports festival only brought back memories of our joint practice sessions.

         Sendai-san naturally stood out, so even without meaning to look for her, my eyes always found her. It was inevitable for someone like her to catch people’s attention, but I hated that I was one of those people watching her.

         The same thing would probably happen during the sports festival.

         Last year, when we were in the same class, it was normal to see her and look at her. But this year, it wasn’t. That was why I found it troubling that I kept watching her anyway.

         I silently wished for the sports festival to be canceled by heavy rain.

         If it went ahead as planned, I knew I’d just end up watching her again, just like I did during joint practice.

         「Okay, fine. At least tell me what event you’ll be competing in, though.」

         Sendai-san rolled the eraser back to me as if pulling me back to reality.

         「… Ball-tossing.」

         It wasn’t like I wanted to answer her, but I knew she’d keep asking if I didn’t, so I had no choice but to tell her.

         「You went for a safe option, huh.」

         If I had it my way, I wouldn’t have participated in anything at all. But in addition to the mandatory events, we were all required to choose at least one event we liked and wanted to compete in.

         Saying I didn’t have an event I liked wouldn’t fly, so I had to pick something. But I didn’t want to choose anything that relied on individual skill.

         So, I went with an event where I could blend in with the others and get by.

         「Do you have a problem with that? What about you, Sendai-san? What are you participating in?」

         「I also went with a safe option.」

         「… Are you also participating in ball-tossing?」

         「Nope, I’m in the ball rolling event.」

         The event she picked was one where teams had to roll a giant ball and compete to see who could roll it the fastest. It was an event from last year’s sports festival as well.

         I thought back to last year’s sports festival.

         Sendai-san hadn’t participated in the ball rolling event.

         If I remembered correctly, she—

         「Last year, I did the three-legged race with Umina, but we didn’t get first place.」

         The answer to what I’d been wondering about came from her directly.

         「You wanted to get first place?」

         「Umina did.」

         Now that I thought about it, Ibaraki-san, who was usually pretty carefree, had been weirdly enthusiastic about the sports festival. That memory brought up other pointless ones, and the more I thought about them, the clearer they became.

         I remembered how the boys wouldn’t stop saying Sendai-san and Ibaraki-san were pretty and cute. The image became annoyingly vivid, so as if to erase it from my mind, I rubbed my eraser against my notebook.

         「Just get back to reading already.」

         「I was going to.」

         Sendai-san said quietly before taking a sip of her barley tea.

         Half of it was gone in an instant, and then, her voice filled the room.

         Melos ran.

         And ran.

         As if he’d keep running all the way until the sports festival, I decided to stop her.

         「You can stop now.」

         I reached out and took Run, Melos! from Sendai-san’s hands.

         「I was still reading that.」

         She sounded displeased, but I ignored her and pushed my textbook toward her.

         「Forget the novel. Do my homework.」

         「What about the rest of the story?」

         「I changed my mind.」

         「Oh, well. That’s fine.」

         Sendai-san backed down surprisingly easily, pulling my textbook toward herself. Then, with a serious expression, she picked up the pencil that had been lying on the table.

         I glanced down at the copy of Run, Melos! I had taken from her and placed it on the floor, its back cover facing up.

         In the end, I never found out how fast Melos could run.

         All I knew was that he ran for a long time, covering a long distance. Since the only thing I remembered about the story was its synopsis, I couldn’t recall if it ever mentioned his speed. Not that it mattered—I had no plans to reread it or to make Sendai-san read it to me again.

         I didn’t know how fast Sendai-san could run either.

         I could vaguely remember the three-legged race she did with Ibaraki-san last year, but that was it. I had no memory of how fast she ran in that race, and I had never seen her running at full speed in gym class. It wasn’t something I’d ever find out.

         But none of these things really mattered.

         Melos’ running speed. Sendai-san’s running speed. Neither of these were important to me.

         The only thing that mattered was whether or not it would rain on the day of the sports festival.

---

Sendai’s POV:

         The weather was surprisingly nice today, and Umina was in a great mood.

         Still, it wouldn’t have hurt if it were a little cooler.

         The sun blazed down as if trying to liven up the sports festival, making it unbearably hot. There was no shade anywhere on the school field, and not even a hint of a breeze.

         I had sunscreen on, but just sitting in a chair under the sweltering heat—heat that didn’t feel like June at all—made me want to escape somewhere with air conditioning. Umina, on the other hand, seemed to feel the exact opposite. Instead of sitting, she stood beside me, loudly cheering for our classmates as they competed in their events.

         It was hard to believe she was the same Umina who had been complaining just yesterday about being tired and how everything was a hassle.

         「Come on, Hazuki. Quit spacing out and cheer too!」

         Umina, who had been watching the tug-of-war, suddenly turned to me and gave my shoulder a light tap.

         「Oh, sorry. It’s just really hot.」

         「Oh, right. You said you’re bad with heat. You okay?」

         「Yeah, I’m fine.」

         「Alright, then get up! I’m about to do the scavenger hunt race, so make sure you cheer for me properly.」

         Overflowing with enthusiasm, Umina’s voice was full of energy. Then, as if to make sure I got the message, she added, “Seriously, give it all you’ve got.”

         「Leave it to me. I’ll cheer for you with everything I’ve got, Umina.」

         I stood up and flashed a smile at Umina, who had chosen to participate in the scavenger hunt race this year just for a change from last year.

         「Of course, you should cheer for me, but don’t forget to cheer for the others too!」

         Usually, Umina always wanted to be number one and wasn’t satisfied unless she was the center of attention, but today felt different. Last year, she had only really put effort into the event she was competing in, barely bothering to cheer for the rest of the class.

         But since this was our last high school sports festival, she seemed to be genuinely cheering for everyone.

         「Don’t worry, I’ll cheer enough for your share too.」

         I smiled and lightly raised a fist.

         But I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated.

         If only it weren’t so hot. Maybe then I could have enjoyed the sports festival a little more, even if I wasn’t as excited as Umina. But on a day like today, that was impossible. I couldn’t focus on the festival at all, while Umina was way too fired up.

         If you averaged out her energy with Miyagi’s, you’d probably get the perfect balance.

         I had watched the ball-toss event Miyagi said she was participating in earlier. She hadn’t looked motivated in the slightest, and naturally, hardly any of the balls she threw made it in. Some of the ones from the opposing team had come dangerously close to hitting her, which made me a little uneasy.

         Miyagi was too indifferent, while Umina was too enthusiastic.

         Neither of them were anywhere close to the middle.

         「Alright, I’m off, then――」

         Umina suddenly cut herself off mid-sentence, stumbling and knocking her foot against a nearby chair.

         Whoa.

         I quickly reached out and grabbed her arm.

         「Hey, you okay, Umina?」

         「Oh, sorry. I just got a little dizzy. Probably didn’t get enough sleep last night.」

         Umina let out a sigh as she pressed her fingers against her temples.

         If it was just sleep deprivation, I could let that go, but the way she was swaying made me uneasy.

         「Are you sure?」

         「Well, it’s our last sports festival, so I kept thinking about how I wanted to give it my all, and before I knew it, I couldn’t sleep.」

         She smiled, but her face looked flushed.

         Maybe it was just a slight sunburn. But maybe it wasn’t.

         「It’d be bad if you collapsed from heatstroke, so you should probably go to the infirmary, just in case.」

         If something did happen, it’d be too late.

         I gently tugged Umina’s arm just as Mariko called out to us from the middle of the field.

         「Did something happen?」

         She directed the question toward us.

         「All I did was stumble a little. I’m heading off to the scavenger hunt race now.」

         Umina smiled as she shook off my hand. She took a few steps forward but wobbled again.

         「Come on, just go to the infirmary for a quick check-up.」

         「I’m not going.」

         She rejected the idea outright, and Mariko, watching with concern, spoke up.

         「Are you sure you don’t want to stop by the infirmary, even for a little bit?」

         「If they check you out and there’s nothing wrong, then great. Just stop by and come back.」

         I added onto Mariko’s words, trying to convince Umina.

         It’d be a real problem if she collapsed.

         「If you want, I can take your place in the scavenger hunt race.」

         Mariko grinned as she made the offer, but Umina immediately shot her down.

         「No way.」

         Then, after a pause, she sighed and relented.

         「Fine, I’ll go with Mariko. But if I don’t make it back in time, Hazuki, you’re running in my place.」

         「Wait, why me and not Mariko?」

         「Because Mariko’s a slow runner.」

         Mariko let out a laugh at that.

         「Yeah, can’t argue with that. Alright, I’ll take you to the infirmary. We’ll leave the race to you, Hazuki.」

         With that, she led Umina away.

         I wonder if I can get someone else to take my place instead?

         But if Umina found out, that’d be a hassle. Thinking about it that way, I had no choice but to run in the scavenger hunt race.

         「I don’t think running speed really matters in a scavenger hunt race, though…」

         I sighed and got in line as instructed by the organizing committee.

         Since my ball-rolling event was already over, I figured I wouldn’t have to do anything else. I had been in the same position as Miyagi, who had also finished her ball-tossing event. In short, my motivation was nonexistent.

         If possible, I would’ve liked to take things as easy as Miyagi did. But if I ended up in last place, Umina would definitely get mad at me, so I had no choice but to give it my best shot.

         Sweat dripped down my face as I waited for things to begin.

         Six of us stood at the starting line.

         About fifty meters ahead, a long table was covered with scattered white envelopes.

         I took a deep breath, then let it out.

         For three seconds, I focused on the table ahead.

         Then, the starting signal rang out.

         Kicking up dirt, I broke into a run.

         I wasn’t slow, but I wasn’t particularly fast either. Still, I pushed forward as quickly as I could—right foot, then left, then right. My legs carried me across the field.

         I reached the long desk in third place and grabbed an envelope at random. Tearing it open, I pulled out a slip of paper.

         “Choose a friend shorter than you.”

         A common prompt for a race like this.

         Miyagi.

         The first name that came to mind was someone I only saw after school—someone who refused to call me a “friend.” For a second, I nearly ran toward the cheering section of the class next door.

         No, I can’t.

         Miyagi was shorter than me, but I had no idea if she was even there.

         Wait—no, that’s not the issue.

         Even if she was, it wouldn’t matter. What we had only existed after school. This wasn’t the kind of relationship where I could just run up to her during a sports festival because a piece of paper told me to find a “friend.” I needed to choose someone else. Friendship wasn’t something that belonged to me and Miyagi.

         Then who?

         I turned toward my own class—toward the cheering section for Class 3.

         Umina and Mariko were both shorter than me, but neither of them were here.

         So, anyone would do.

         I sprinted toward the front of the cheering section and grabbed the arm of a classmate sitting nearby.

         「Aida-san, I need to borrow you for a bit. The paper says I have to find a friend shorter than me, so can you run with me to the finish line?」

         「Yeah, sure. Let’s hurry.」

         She answered without hesitation, and I smiled at her response before breaking into a run again.

         I let go of her arm and took her hand instead.

         The lukewarm warmth of her palm pulled at my focus.

         Was this really the right choice?

         For a moment, I hesitated—if the words on the paper let me hold the hand of someone who wasn’t really my “friend,” then maybe…

         But before the thought could settle, I picked up speed, shaking off the useless feeling clinging to me.

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This side story was featured as an exclusive purchase bonus if you bought volume 2 from Bookwalker.

Thank you Philly for commissioning a translation for it!

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