Vol. 1 Chapter 30 – What I Can Do

“No, no, no… Someone like me only has a short relationship with her, and for something like that, Hino-san, who has known her for a long time and is always close, would be far more…” (Reiya)

I’m ultimately just a gaming buddy, or rather, a skipping companion.

Compared to that, Hino-san has known her since elementary school, is trusted by her family, and has been entrusted as her guardian.

She’s clearly the more suitable person, I argued, but—

“I can’t.” (Ayaka)

That too was denied instantly.

“Wh-Why…?” (Reiya)
“Because I’m already… one of the people who has placed so many expectations on Hikaru…” (Ayaka)
“Expectations…?” (Reiya)
“Yes. No matter how much I cheer for the current Hikaru, telling her to ‘do her best’ or ‘don’t lose,’ it only becomes a burden for her…” (Ayaka)

Wanting to cheer her on, yet unable to.

Perhaps due to her sense of powerlessness regarding her best friend’s current situation, her voice trembled faintly.

“But you’re different. I don’t know what the two of you are doing, but… if anything, you’re the bad person trying to drag Hikaru down the path of corruption, right?” (Ayaka)
“P-Path of corruption…? It’s not really that far…” (Reiya)

That’s a harsh way to put it when we’re just playing games together.

Although, if she’s referring to me actively encouraging her skipping, it’s hard to deny…

“Anyway, I don’t know the reason, but the current Hikaru is somehow managing to endure by leaning on someone like you. If that’s the case, maybe you could help her get back on her feet if you handle it well?” (Ayaka)
“Get her back on her feet…? Without even knowing the cause, that’s really…” (Reiya)
“I know the cause… Probably, anyway…” (Ayaka)
“Eh? Really?” (Reiya)

At my slightly eager reply, Hino-san gave a small nod.

“At the end of first year… during practice just before spring break started, she got injured. I think that’s the cause.” (Ayaka)
“Injured? But she doesn’t seem like that at all right now…” (Reiya)

She walks and runs normally, and I just saw her swinging her racket earlier.

An injury being the cause didn’t quite click.

“Right, the injury itself healed long ago. It wasn’t that major, so within two weeks, she was fine to do anything.” (Ayaka)
“Then why—” (Reiya)
“The place she injured was her left knee.” (Ayaka)
“Left knee… Ah…” (Reiya)

I immediately realized the meaning behind the words she uttered gravely.

Left knee.

That was the injury to the part of the body that caused Asahi-san’s mother to retire as a player.

In addition, I recalled Asahi-san’s expression when she stumbled on the step when we went out together.

At that time, she had instinctively tried to step forward with her left foot.

If that was due to remembering the injury that could be the cause, then the story certainly connected.

“So surely, she’s been dwelling on it ever since, thinking, ‘What if I end up like Mitsuki-san… What if I can’t fulfill my dream anymore…?’ Because that girl… she carries other people’s dreams on her back without permission… Even though neither I nor Mitsuki-san asked her to do such a thing, not even once… She should just think about herself…” (Ayaka)

Unable to hold back any longer, Hino-san took off her glasses and wiped away tears.

Carrying other people’s dreams…

Indeed, the night before last, when she talked about being blessed by the people around her, I did sense that kind of mission-like feeling from the nuances of her words.

“That’s why I said I can’t do it…” (Ayaka)
“I understand the situation, but… even so, is there really anything I can do…?” (Reiya)

It was true that she was leaning on me right now.

It wasn’t conceit; it was clear from the fact that she came to my room after storming out of practice.

However, the reason for that was simply the path of corruption—because I affirmed her escapism.

Pulling someone towards the easy way out and making them face forward are completely different things.

“Sorry… I know I’m asking the impossible… But I just don’t know what else to do anymore…” (Ayaka)
“…Alright. I don’t think Asahi-san staying like this is good either, so I’ll do what I can.” (Reiya)
“Thank you… Please…” (Ayaka)

She thanked me in a thin voice, the complete opposite of her usual clear and brisk tone.

My opinion that this was too heavy a burden for me hadn’t changed, but seeing her cry in front of me, I couldn’t just brush her off.

Still, I had absolutely no idea what I could possibly do for Asahi-san.

＊＊＊＊＊

And so, in the end, several days passed without me being able to do anything in particular.

As usual, outside my own room, I was merely a person watching her from the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Asahi-san, seen from the outside, was also spending her days normally.

No one would likely imagine that inwardly, she was carrying the pressure of wanting to face her beloved tennis but being unable to.

However, the tournament she was scheduled to participate in was already this weekend.

According to Hino-san, it was an important tournament where winning would earn a recommendation spot for a major overseas competition.

Perhaps because she had intentionally avoided the topic in front of me, I hadn’t even known about that.

What could someone like me do?

Carrying the dreams of her best friend and mother since childhood… seriously, is she a protagonist?

What could I, who couldn’t even fathom a fragment of her pressure or anguish, possibly say?

‘Do your best’? ‘You can do it, Asahi-san’? ‘I’m cheering for you too’?

No, that wouldn’t work.

The only reason she was leaning on me now was simply because it was easy.

If I, who had consistently affirmed her escapism until now, were to offer irresponsible words of encouragement, it would only create new pressure.

The more I thought, the more I was struck by a helpless sense of powerlessness.

Maybe I really had no choice but to wait for time to solve this…

While lost in thought, the bell signaling the end of fourth period rang.

As usual, I tried to take out the lunch I had bought from my bag, but—

“Crap… I forgot to buy it…” (Reiya)

I realized I had forgotten, having thought too much about that matter.

“Guess I’ll go to the cafeteria…” (Reiya)

I sent a message to Hayato and Yuuma saying, ‘Eating at the cafeteria today’, and stood up from my seat.

The school cafeteria, which I hadn’t visited in a while, was crowded with students as always.

Most of them formed groups, making it a tough environment for a gloomy type like me.

Erasing my presence, I lined up and ordered the cheap chicken cutlet set meal.

Then, passing through the crowd like smoke, I ate lunch alone at the prime seat in the very corner.

As I silently stuffed the student-oriented food, prioritizing cost performance over quality, into my stomach—

“Ahh… So tiring… Why do we have to go cheer on Saturday…”

I happened to overhear a conversation from girls sitting at a nearby table.

“It’s the seniors’ retirement match, so you should at least go for that.”
“Even if they’re seniors, it hasn’t even been two months, and we barely have any memories with them.”

From the content of their laughing conversation, I gathered they were first-years talking about club activities.

“If anything, I might even dislike them for acting so high and mighty just because they were born two years earlier. It’d be doubly pleasing if they lost as quickly as possible?”
“Ahaha. But isn’t that person participating in that tournament too… you know…”
“Ahh… Second-year Asahi-senpai?”

Hearing that name come from underclassmen whose faces and names I didn’t know, my hand stopped eating.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Isn’t she like, super amazing?”
“Of course she is. She won last year’s All Japan Junior without dropping a single set, and honestly, she’s at a level where it wouldn’t be strange for her to turn pro without going to high school. Btw, our seniors will face her in the third round if things go as expected.”
“Uwah… Poor them… But then, looks like we can go home early.”
“Ah… But I heard a pretty bad rumor about her too.”

The girl who seemed to belong to the tennis club lowered her voice and spoke gravely.

“Eh? What, what? Boy trouble?”
“No, no. A friend from middle school who goes to the same club overheard it, apparently she injured her knee around spring break. And even though the injury itself wasn’t really a problem, her mental state got messed up, and rumor is she can’t step in to hit anymore.”
“Ehh… Seriously? That’s pretty severe.”
“It’s just a rumor, though. But if it’s true, it makes you think even geniuses are surprisingly fragile, huh? Getting mentally wrecked over just an injury. That kind of thing comes with the territory when you play sports.”
“But it’s annoying how she’s beautiful and good at both studying and sports, so if that’s true, it’s kinda refreshing—”

—BANG!

Before I knew it, I had slammed both hands on the table and stood up.

“Eh? What… That’s scary…”

The pair of first-year girls stopped talking and looked up at me with surprised faces.

Besides them, students sitting at surrounding tables also turned their gazes towards me, wondering what was happening.

‘Don’t talk crap when you don’t know anything.’

‘How is someone who came this far carrying not just her own dreams but others’ too, fragile?’

I suppressed the impulse to shout that.

Even if I did something like that here, the situation wouldn’t improve at all.

On the contrary, strange embellishments might get added to the rumor, causing it to spread even further.

Besides, I myself didn’t know enough about her to say such things arrogantly.

Exhaling deeply, I somehow suppressed the impulse and sat back down.

As I resumed my lunch as if nothing had happened, the surroundings quickly returned to normal.

After that, the girls also left quickly after finishing their meal, without touching upon the earlier topic.