Episode 13: Alone Together, Lunch on the Rooftop
“I have purchased pudding. Please accept this offering…!”
“Hmph! For this transgression, I shall forgive you on account of this!”
And so, when lunchtime arrived, I was on the school rooftop, presenting Hiyori-san with the tribute pudding.
It seemed her mood had recovered enough to forgive a little teasing, so, relieved, I sat down next to her and started munching on the bread we’d bought together from the school store.
“Oh? Yusuke-kun, you don’t have a bento? I thought you might be making your own since you’re good at cooking.”
“Usually, I pack leftovers from dinner, but yesterday was curry, you know. That was obviously a no-go, so I went with this today.”
“Ah, right! We ate together, but it totally slipped my mind.”
Watching Hiyori-san stuff her cheeks with a sweet bun as she said that, she somehow looked like an adorable little animal to me, and I couldn’t help but chuckle a little.
However, thinking that if she took this as rude, I wouldn’t get away with just treating her to pudding next time, I skillfully glossed it over and started eating the bread I’d bought.
Perhaps because I ate in a hurry, it got a little stuck in my throat. After quickly washing the bread down with tea and taking a breath, Hiyori-san threw this question at me.
“Um… Yusuke-kun, earlier, Tanuma-sensei was trying to recruit you for the basketball club, right?”
“Ah, yeah. I turned him down, though. That teacher is so persistent…”
“Well, of course. You’re tall and athletic. Besides, if he saw you pull off an amazing jump right in front of him, as the basketball club’s advisor, he’d naturally want you to join, wouldn’t he?”
“…I’m happy to be rated that highly, though. But I decided to quit basketball in middle school.”
I don’t have a father at home. My mother works hard to make up for it, and thanks to her, we’re able to live without feeling any hardship.
However, when I think about the future of my younger brothers, Masato and Taiga, I can’t help but want to reduce the burden on our household finances, even if just a little.
Club activities always cost money.
If it’s the basketball club, there’s the cost of uniforms, team practice jerseys, shoes that need replacing about once a year, transportation for away games, training camp fees, and various other expenses.
When we practice all day, we need bentos, and we have to bring sports drinks almost every time, so the cost and effort involved over three years would be considerable.
It’s not that our family doesn’t have that kind of money. However, my two younger brothers have their school advancements coming up.
Considering the amount of money it would cost if Masato and Taiga successfully advance to high school and then want to go to university or vocational school, it’s definitely better to cut down on expenses as much as possible.
“So, for that reason, Yusuke-kun, you’re trying to sacrifice yourself?”
“I don’t think of it as a sacrifice. To me, my family is more important than anything, and as the eldest son, supporting my younger brothers and mother is only natural, right?”
There are no lies in these words, in these feelings of mine. Ever since my father left, we’ve been a precious family of four, supporting each other to live.
I can do anything for that family. I loved basketball, but even so, my mother and younger brothers are more important.
I don’t think I’ve become a sacrifice. When I told Hiyori-san that this was a path I had chosen after careful consideration and with full acceptance, she hesitated for a moment before saying this.
“But… it’s not like you don’t have any lingering regrets, right?”
“…Well, yeah.”
Just as Hiyori-san said, it’s not like I have no lingering feelings for basketball. Even now, I sometimes miss the court and the ball a little.
But… I accepted it and chose my own path. Supporting my family at home, not on the court, is my role now.
“You’re carrying so many different things. That must be tough.”
“Not really. More importantly, Hiyori-san, aren’t you going to join any clubs?”
“Hmm… I don’t have any plans for that right now. I’m not good at sports, and I’m not interested in cultural clubs either.”
“What about being a manager? Hiyori-san, you seem like you’d be good at that kind of support.”
“…At first, I was going to become the basketball club manager, just like in middle school… but because of what happened.”
“Ah, right…”
Ema is in the basketball club. If she became the manager, she’d have to see her ex-boyfriend, who cheated on her and then dumped her, every single day.
As I was thinking that it would be nothing short of the worst, Hiyori-san added, as if to supplement.
“And what’s more, the girl he cheated with, Shibamura Nina, is also a manager for the basketball club.”
“Eh!? Is that true!?”
“Apparently so. No wonder that idiot dumped me. He wouldn’t be able to relax if his girlfriend (me, at the time) and the girl he cheated with (Nina) were constantly by his side, right?”
“Haaah…” To Hiyori-san, who let out a grand sigh, I wasn’t quite sure what to say.
It seemed less like she was depressed and more like she was exasperated; the shock itself didn’t seem that severe… but she probably wasn’t completely unscathed either.
“Sorry. I made you remember something unpleasant.”
“It’s not your fault, Yusuke-kun. The root of the problem is that idiot and his affair partner… You’ve supported me and encouraged me. If you hadn’t been there, I don’t think I would have recovered even now, and—”
Just as she said that, Hiyori-san looked up and stared intently at me.
As I, flustered by her sudden silence and gaze, let my eyes wander, Hiyori-san unexpectedly asked me this.
“Yusuke-kun… you’re always supporting your family and me, right? Isn’t it tough? Don’t you ever feel like you want to lean on someone and take it easy?”
“Eh? W-well, it’d be a lie if I said no, but…”
“…I see. Then—”
I answered her abrupt question honestly, though I was stammering.
Hiyori-san, who smiled at my answer, placed the empty pudding cup on the bench where she’d been sitting, slowly stood up… turned towards me, and opened her arms.
“…Nn.”
“…Nn?”
Standing right in front of me, arms open, she just let out a single sound. Not understanding the meaning of her action, I repeated the same sound like a parrot.
Tilting my head, I asked her with my eyes what she was doing, and she, still smiling, quietly replied.
“You want to be pampered, right? Here, come on. I’ll give you a biiig hug…”