After a run, I’ve heard that it’s better to pace your breathing with a walk rather than suddenly stopping altogether. Even so, I just wanted to collapse on the spot.

     Long-distance runs made my throat sore and my legs awfully heavy.

     Following the teachers’ instructions, I went over to the tent for a sports drink and a pastry.

     Today, a school-wide marathon was taking place. Even though the girls were running a shorter distance than the boys, it was still a long-distance run and thus still quite physically demanding. In the end, I had found myself somewhere near the back.

     I took a deep breath and laid my back on the seat. It was the perfect day to dry laundry, with not even a single cloud in the sky. I wanted to take off my sweat-soaked jersey right then and there, but it’s not like I could just undress in public.

     …The old me wouldn’t even have thought of something like that.

     As I was about to sigh, my view of the blue sky was suddenly obscured by someone’s face.

     「Are you okay, Kurumi?」

     It was Sorahashi-san. She seemed to have finished much earlier than I had; her sweat had already completely dried off.

     「Here, have a sports drink.」

     「Yeah, thanks.」

     I sat up a little and brought the bottle to my lips. The chilled drink soothed my hot body. It felt strange to be drinking something cold in the winter. It would have normally frozen me up, but right now, this coldness was just what I needed.

     「Sorahashi-san, you’re a fast runner.」

     「Good enough, I suppose. I didn’t finish first, though. Are you bad with running?」

     「I’m not horrible. I just had some stuff going on today.」

     Actually, I wouldn’t be this tired if I had just been running under normal circumstances.

     However, I was more exhausted than usual because during my run, I had come across someone who was in poor condition and had become unable to move. I had ended up expending a lot of my energy getting her to a teacher. Fortunately, I was close to a checkpoint where a teacher was located, so I hadn’t totally run out of gas.

     「I see. Were you helping someone in trouble again?」

     「Well, yeah.」

     「You’re quite admirable, Kurumi.」

     She smiled and petted my head, which felt very ticklish. Not just in a physical sense, but also spiritually.

     I didn’t want her to touch my hair too much since I was sweating at the moment. It’d get on her.

     Taking a towel out of my bag, I gently wiped off my face.

     「Heeey, Sera! Wanna get in the photo?」

     「Sure. Give me a moment.」

     「Kayyy!」

     「Sorry, Kurumi. I’ll be right back.」

     「Take care.」

     She was as busy as ever.

     Seeing her posing with friends for photos and videos really hammered in the feeling that we lived in different worlds. As I blankly gazed at her, I heard a familiar voice.

     「Why do I have to do this?!」

     「What’s so wrong with making some memories?」

     「They’re staring at us! I’m done, let me go!」

     「You gotta finish what you started. Look, Kurumi’s watching too.」

     「Kurumi, This isn’t…! It’s not what it looks like!」

     What was I looking at?

     For some reason, Yume and Mutsuki were running three-legged, with their arms over each other’s shoulders. It made all the teachers smile in exasperation, and the gym teacher even looked angry.

     「Futami, Nakamura! Could you try taking this more seriously?!」

     「I-it’s not my fault! Blame Mutsuki!」

     「Futami-san made me.」

     「Mutsuki!」

     I had no idea what in the world the two of them were up to.

     Mutsuki had probably randomly felt like wanting to run three-legged, and Yume, who had probably happened to be nearby, likely ended up getting dragged into it. Mutsuki had quite the capricious streak, after all. I’d been pulled along all over by her whims this past year too.

     With wry smiles on their faces, they crossed the finish line. They were expectedly cornered by a teacher for a lecture, but Mutsuki didn’t seem to care.

     Maybe Mutsuki was even more out of the ordinary than Sorahashi-san — or maybe she was just the type to go her own way.

     「Yume, Mutsuki. Good job out there.」

     「Ugh, I’m so tired…」

     「Ahaha…」

     Yume staggered along and fell into my arms.

     She was sweaty, her hair was all messed up, and she looked incredibly exhausted. On top of that, it was quite windy today, so running had been more exerting than usual.

     「So, Mutsuki, why’d you do this?」

     「Huh? I mean, I just felt like it.」

     「…Figures.」

     「You only get to go through high school once, so it’d be a shame to miss out on doing the things you want to do. And it’s not like running three-legged is going to get us expelled.」

     I had an involuntary reaction to the word “expelled”.

     I thought about what Sorahashi-san and I had been doing in that empty classroom the other day. If we had been seen by someone that wasn’t Yume, we could have actually been expelled. We had been careless, or however you wanted to put it. I knew that because it was Sorahashi-san, the place that she had chosen really was a spot that nobody would go. Yume still ended up seeing, though.

     Well, now that I thought about it…

     The building where that empty classroom was in certainly wasn’t a place that high schoolers had a reason to go to. So why was Yume there? Did she have some business there, or…

     「Kurumi, you should enjoy yourself too, as long as you don’t get yourself expelled.」

     Mutsuki said expressionlessly.

     I couldn’t tell from just her tone whether she was talking about Sorahashi-san or if it was just an offhand remark. I forced on a smile.

     「You might have a point. But, Mutsuki, it makes me feel bad for Yume when you drag her into things.」

     「My bad. You can have my bread, Yume.」

     「I’m good…」

     「Oh, dear. It seems like Kurumi’s in her pampering mode.」

     「What mode?」

     That being said, I wondered if I smelled like sweat. Yume had buried her face in my chest, not budging an inch. I was starting to take notice of her own sweat and scent, but I’d feel bad if I asked her to move away. Feeling an indescribable emotion, I stroked her head.

     It seemed like Yume had been getting more physical with me than she used to. To put it another way, she’d begun acting spoiled.

     I wryly smiled.

     If today wasn’t the marathon, I would have just spoiled her like usual. But after gym class or other kinds of exercise, I couldn’t help but worry about all sorts of things.

     「Um…」

     As I continued to pet Yume, a girl I recognized started speaking to me. It was the student that I had dropped off to the teachers just earlier.

     「Thanks for earlier. You really saved me.」

     「You’re very welcome. How do you feel? Are you alright now?」

     「Yeah. I felt better after some rest. …I guess you really do help anybody and everybody, Nabana-san.」

     「Huh?」

     How did she know my name?

     As I sat there blinking, she laughed.

     「Nabana-san, you’ve gotten pretty famous this past year. They say you’re like a princess. One that’s always there right away whenever someone needs help.」

     「A princess…」

     She probably had me mistaken for Sorahashi-san. I wasn’t suited for that word at all.

     「Here, as thanks. You must be tired.」

     She said, handing me a sports drink.

     「Uh…」

     「Well, see ya. Thanks a ton for today!」

     「Ah, yeah.」

     She ran off without even telling me her name. I was relieved to see that she seemed to be feeling much better. From what I could tell, she would probably be able to walk home on her own.

     I took a sip of the sports drink she gave me. It was lukewarm, but just right for me since my body had continued to cool off.

     As I drank it, I began to laugh, feeling a bit strange.

     Princess. A princess, huh?

     I’d never imagined that someone would call me that. People often said that others were mirrors that reflected the self, and that the way others saw us was how we truly were. But was that really the case?

     While I giggled, Yume turned her gaze up at me.

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