Part-2 Ch-02 Ep-02

“Ah! Ma… ri…”

I was about to call out to the figure I spotted across the connecting corridor, but she was in the middle of a conversation, so my voice faded away weakly. Tomorrow was finally the freshman welcome ball game tournament, so they were probably doing final confirmations or something along those lines.

Standing beside Mari was Todoroki-kun. The two of them were talking while looking over some documents. I hesitated, unsure whether I should run over to them or not. Then Mari looked up. Our eyes met, and she smiled at me, calling out, “Maki.”

Todoroki-kun raised one hand in greeting before heading off toward the martial arts dojo. He was probably going to his club activities. As I watched his retreating back, Mari walked over to me.

“Ah, sorry. Did I interrupt you?”

“No, not at all. We were just finishing up anyway. More importantly, what’s wrong? I told you to go home ahead today too.”

Hearing those words, “go home ahead,” which I had been hearing a lot lately, my mouth twisted into a frown without me meaning it to.

“…But don’t you still have work to do, Mari?”

“No. I just wanted to discuss a few things with Todoroki-kun, so I’m heading home now too.”

“…Then I’ll go home with you.”

When I said that, Mari gave me a slightly bitter smile, and I realized it might have sounded a bit heavy. The awkwardness lingered. Since the preparations for the ball game tournament had gotten serious, the time I spent with Mari had decreased, if only slightly.

After school and during lunch breaks, she had committee work or meetings, and her opportunities to talk with people other than me had increased even more. And there was a part of me that did not like that.

If I voiced it, I would sound like a wife nagging her husband for being too busy with work to pay attention to her, so I naturally kept those thoughts to myself.

“What’s wrong? You’re making a strange face.”

“I was just thinking that, in order to keep a marital relationship harmonious, a certain amount of compromise and patience is necessary.”

“…Who exactly is married to whom?”

With an exasperated expression, as if I were indulging in another strange delusion on my own, Mari walked into the classroom. Even while looking fed up, she grabbed her bag and waited beside me until I was ready to leave.

It was something completely ordinary. And yet, thinking that each of Mari’s actions was done for my sake filled me with overwhelming happiness. At the same time, I became greedy, wishing that Mari’s attention would turn even more toward me.

Every time those thoughts surfaced, I slammed on the brakes inside my heart. Even as childhood friends, I could not afford to grow complacent about the distance between us. No matter how close we were, I had to stay vigilant.

Not too close, not too far. Not too heavy, but not superficial either. I did not want us to be just friends.

Maintaining distance with someone you have romantic feelings for sometimes requires charging forward with momentum, and at other times demands the delicate precision of threading a needle. That was why I occasionally needed to be cautious.

The other day was a perfect example.

“A person who’s always by my side like that friend in the movie, but the moment I take my eyes off them, they jump into danger. Someone a bit reckless. I like the kind of person who gives me the strength to think that I have to be strong myself for their sake.”

That day, I had meant it as a half-confession, spoken on impulse. Even if it did not fully reach her, I hoped it might leave at least a small mark on Mari’s heart. My heart had been pounding fiercely.

What came of that courage was Mari’s completely off-target response. Realizing that I was not in her sights at all was painful.

It made me understand that miracles like the ones in the yuri manga and yuri novels I always read, where the other girl likes you back too, do not happen so easily.

--But I am not the type to give up because of that.

Still, courage that has been crushed once does not recover so quickly. Next time, I would need more preparation, not just reckless momentum. As we walked down the corridor together, I lightly bumped my shoulder against Mari’s.

“Hey. What was that?”

When I did not reply, she bumped back at me with a gentle shove. This much was allowed. This distance was allowed. But I wondered how much farther Mari would allow beyond that.

Just imagining what would happen if I took the next step, after something like a kiss on the cheek, was enough to make even me hesitate.

“Tomorrow’s finally the ball game tournament, huh?”

“Yeah. You’ll be busy tomorrow too, right, Mari?”

“Well, yeah. I have to referee during each class’s games, record the matches, and guide the students so everything runs on schedule.”

“I see.”

Thinking something childish like, “I wish someone else had become the physical education committee member after all,” and saying it out loud would be even more childish.

Above all, I was the one who encouraged Mari when she accepted the committee role. So I decided that I would support her from the shadows and help things go smoothly.

“Good luck tomorrow. If anything comes up, let me know. I’ll help.”

Mari always turned down my offers to help with committee work, insisting she could handle it herself, but she often borrowed my hand for student council-related tasks. If there was anything I could do to be useful, I wanted to do it.

“Yeah. Maki, even if we don’t have much time together, let’s make the most of it.”

That day, on the way home, we did not hold hands either.