Part-1 Ch-02 Ep-05

『Maki’s POV』

The students were all buzzing with talk about a guy named Todoroki. 

The freshman welcome sports tournament had been held despite the strong winds.

During the event, there had been an accident where one of the tents collapsed.

The one who saved a student who was about to be crushed beneath it was the first-year cheer squad captain.

Naturally, it became the topic of the day.

I was grateful too.

Thanks to him, Mari and I escaped without a single injury.

On top of that, he himself had apparently gotten bruised while shielding us and had been taken to the infirmary by the teachers.

I truly was grateful.

But right now, more than gratitude, something else was weighing heavily on my mind.

“Ah.”

It was after school. While waiting in front of the school gate for Mari, who said she still had something to take care of, I caught sight of the very person everyone had been talking about: Todoroki-kun.

As we passed each other, a small sound slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it, and that ended up making him stop too.

“…Ah, hello. Thank you so much for earlier.”

“Hm? Oh, the girl from before.”

His entirely unbothered attitude made my instincts tell me immediately that this person was genuinely a good guy.

Well, if he weren’t, he wouldn’t have thrown himself into danger to save complete strangers.

That is the normal reaction.

“…”

“What’s wrong? Oh, right, I bumped into that girl named Nagase who was shielding you earlier.”

At those words, my body involuntarily stiffened.

“Why…”

“Oh, Ichinose.”

While I was standing there talking with Todoroki-kun at the gate, Kagami-kun came walking over from the school building, calling out, “Heeey.”

When he asked, “It’s rare to see you alone,” I answered, “Mari still seems to have some business inside.”

“If she has business, doesn’t that mean she’s telling you to go home first? Why are you waiting in a place like this… no, never mind, that was unnecessary. Sorry.”

I shot him a sharp glare, and he apologized right away.

I know.

I know even without him saying it.

When Kagami-kun’s eyes met Todoroki-kun’s, he smiled pleasantly and greeted him with, “Ah, hello.”

“Still, I’m glad you’re okay. Todoroki-kun, right? You saved her. The girls have been talking about it nonstop.”

“Well, yeah, that’s true, but…”

He could have just said yes plainly, yet for some reason he hesitated. Todoroki-kun looked at me and casually added, “It’s that girl named Nagase, right?”

Yes, this person really is a good guy.

“Yeah… That’s right. Todoroki-kun saved me too, but Mari also protected me…”

“AHHHH… I see.”

Kagami-kun made a face like he understood everything from that alone, and his quick understanding was a little irritating.

“So the guy who wanted to act cool because he wanted her to rely on him ended up being protected instead, and now your feelings are complicated.”

“I might hate you, Kagami-kun.”

When I said that clearly, Todoroki-kun quickly interjected, “Hey, hey, hey.”

“No, sorry. That was just venting.”

“It’s fine. I teased you a bit too. My bad.”

In the end, this guy was a good person as well.

Whenever it comes to Mari, I become unreasonable. I hate how small-minded I am.

I bit my lip hard.

At that moment.

When I realized the tent was collapsing, I reached out toward Mari. All I could think was that I had to protect her somehow.

I didn’t want to be protected. I wanted to protect.

But she would never allow that.

The arm I reached out was forcefully pulled toward her, and before I knew it, she was the one shielding me.

I will say it as many times as needed.

I didn’t want to be protected.

I wanted to protect.

Even though the arms wrapped around my shoulders were trembling so violently.

That is how she always is. She sacrifices herself.

If I were in danger… or rather, if it had been someone else beside her instead of me, would she have done the same?

Just imagining it made my chest tighten; it hurt that much.

That is why I honestly do not want anyone standing beside Mari.

“Hey, you okay? You’re frowning.”

When the two of them peered into my face, I realized deep wrinkles had formed between my eyebrows.

“Actually, this isn’t the first time Mari has saved me.”

As though beginning a tale, I opened up to them about that day long ago when we were children.