Chapter 423: We Were Connected
Chapter 423: We Were Connected
“You… you… were running… running way too fast…”
The hot sunlight was blocked, shadow falling on Himekoji’s sweaty cheek. Her delicate profile came with a pleasantly fragrant breeze.
Eriri stood before Himekoji now, hands on her hips and bent forward, breathing hard, her face flushed red.
“Eh?”
Not catching what she said, Himekoji looked up, slightly confused as he pulled the earphones from his ears.
“I said! You were running… running way too fast!”
Her breathing was steadier now, much smoother than when she first spoke.
“And… you didn’t even wait for me…”
He lowered her voice for the second part. More like muttering under her breath, really. She spoke, but clearly didn’t mean for Himekoji to hear it.
“Too fast?”
Himekoji, who led the first group the whole way, hadn’t realized it. He spoke back to Eriri, lying on the grassy field with one knee bent, hands linked behind his head, looking up at her.
Eriri stood silhouetted against the light in Himekoji’s eyes, her golden twin tails seemingly shining brighter than the sun itself.
He instinctively looked away slightly.
“You were running faster than you-know-who!”
“You-know-who?”
“Yeah, that you-know-who!”
Eriri pointedly pouted her lips towards the finish line on the track.
Himekoji followed her gesture.
“Oh, you mean Hayama?”
In the whole school, the only girl who’d refer to Hayama with that kind of careless “you-know-who” tone was probably Eriri…
Seemed this girl still hadn’t experienced adolescence at all.
He was the peak of popularity at school, the king of the normies!
When saying his name, eyes sparkling with admiration was the most basic etiquette.
Just look at the group of girls gathered around him right now.
A sprained ankle one minute, period issues the next – all finding excuses to skip the run and rest, just so they could be the first to give Hayama a towel and a cold drink as he crossed the finish line.
Though honestly, maybe not a cold drink right after running…
Seeing Hayama forced to smile weakly and wave them off, Himekoji kinda understood…
Wait, no! What was he thinking?
People could never truly understand each other. Especially not between a normie and a pervert.
Himekoji shook his head, dismissing the unreliable thought. Then, pushing off the grass with his hands, he got up lightly.
“I ran faster than Hayama?”
Himekoji shot the question back at Eriri.
He didn’t really remember. He only recalled when the race started, Miura charged after him fiercely, looking like she wanted to skin him alive. So, for a moment, he didn’t hold back, just thinking of getting as far away from that crazy woman as possible. And then…
Then just sprinted straight to the finish like that?
“Duh!”
Eriri rolled her eyes at Himekoji with annoyance. She’d wanted to run together with him at first, but after only a few steps, she couldn’t even see his back anymore.
Sure, the gap between guys’ and girls’ physical fitness was big, but Eriri was still really frustrated.
“When we were little, you could never run faster than me!”
“Huh? Really?”
Himekoji blinked, thinking back. Actually, it was exactly as Eriri had said.
But at the time, he hadn’t filled out physically yet. Plus, he’d intentionally let her win.
Beating Eriri in a race? It didn’t make Himekoji happy at all.
But if he lost to her? Well, that seemed to make Eriri happy.
Seeing Eriri happy made him happy too. Somehow, it just ended up like that.
So most of the time, Himekoji chose to hold back.
That’s what childhood friends are like?
Probably.
“Of course it’s true! But you… you run so fast now!”
Suddenly, she felt something close to betrayal.
A betrayal by memory?
It wasn’t until certain moments in life, suddenly looking back on the past, that you realize—
Everything now had become nothing like it was back then.
Himekoji, who used to run behind her trying to catch up, had raced so far ahead she couldn’t see him anymore. She was the one chasing now.
She ran her hardest on the track, but still couldn’t glimpse the dust kicked up by the streak he left behind.
“When did you start running so fast?!”
After getting strengthened by the System, of course.
Himekoji couldn’t say that.
“Guess it just happened?”
He offered a vague answer.
“Just kept running and running, so I got faster?”
Unexpectedly, hearing this made Eriri puff her cheeks out even more unhappy.
“Then why did you have to keep running like that?!”
Why couldn’t he just stop?
Stop and run beside her? Wouldn’t that be good?
“Why did I keep running?”
Himekoji seemed to genuinely ponder the question.
“Well… because being alive means running, right? To escape something. Or maybe… to chase after something.”
So…
Was he trying to escape, or to chase after something?
Saying the answer aloud didn’t mean Himekoji actually knew which one was his truth.
“Alright, it’s way too hot out here. Let’s go cool off under the trees.”
No sense torturing himself over things he can’t figure out. Himekoji didn’t make a habit of that.
He got tortured enough by the System already.
He shook his head again, emptying his thoughts, and started walking towards the shade first.
“Wait for me!”
Eriri didn’t seem to have recovered from the marathon practice. Her legs were still weak, steps light and unsteady. It took great effort to catch up to Himekoji.
They walked side by side.
…
“Huh? Isn’t that Sawamura and Himekoji?”
Miura found she was hyper-aware of anything involving Himekoji these days.
“Where? Where?”
Yuigahama, next to her, immediately craned her neck out like an excited baby hearing what Miura said.
“Going into the grove.”
Miura tilted her chin towards that direction.
“The grove? W-What are they doing in the grove with Sawamura?”
Hearing Himekoji’s name suddenly mentioned, Nanami subconsciously moved closer.
Besides, because of that “love request” earlier, Nanami had gotten much closer to Yuigahama. Casual talk like this felt natural now.
“How about we follow?”
The decisive Queen suggested the plan first.
“I-I don’t know… isn’t it bad?”
Tailing people… stalking…
Yuigahama twisted her fingers, hesitating.
“Let’s follow them!”
Nanami was direct and efficient as usual.
Granted, her directness and efficiency were usually reserved for studying and seiyuu practice.
Two against one. Majority wins.
Always lacking a strong opinion, Yuigahama had no choice but to trail after the two who suddenly seemed rather intense.
Hold on, speaking of being intense…
Why were the two of them so intense?
Nanami made some sense. After all, the “love request” she’d brought to the Service Club before was about Himekoji.
But what was Miura doing here?
Deep in thought over this, Yuigahama found herself unknowingly nearing the small grove.
Then, from inside the grove, came a strange conversation—
“Hey! You’re going in too deep!”
“Am I?”
“You hit the membrane!”
“Want me to pull out then?”
“No!”
“Huh?”
“We… We’re connected right now…”
…
…