The day after the incident with Fujiwara.
Once I was alone with Miyuki in the student council room, I explained what had happened yesterday.
After hearing the rough outline, Miyuki nodded with his chin resting on his hand.
"So that’s what happened."
"Yeah. It’s not what you’re thinking."
"Oh, come on... I didn’t think anything. I always trust you, Hotaro!"
He smiled brightly for once and patted my shoulder. Seeing that, all I could think was—
He definitely doesn’t trust me at all, this punk....
Holding back the urge to punch him, I sat down on the sofa, but then I heard the door open and turned around to see an unexpected face.
"...Kei?"
"Oh, Hotaro. Long time no see."
Shirogane Miyuki’s younger sister, Shirogane Kei.
Aside from her silver hair, unlike her brother Miyuki, her features and atmosphere were similar enough that anyone could tell at a glance they were siblings.
She was wearing the Shuchiin High School uniform, and unlike Miyuki, who had transferred in from outside, I remembered that she’d been attending there since she was little.
I’d seen her a few times when I visited their house in middle school, but it had been a while since then.
Miyuki asked, sounding surprised that she’d come by.
"Kei...? What brings you here?"
"...Could you look over some documents for me?"
"Sure. Let me see..."
Miyuki took the papers Kei handed him, skimmed them once, and quickly pointed out a few improvements. It didn’t take long at all.
"That should do it. Anything else you need?"
"Nope. That’s all. I’ll head out now."
Once Kei was done with her business, she turned on her heel without a second thought. Miyuki looked a little hurt by that.
I’d heard something about how his younger sister had been acting cold toward him lately, and he was feeling left out.
Well, I had my own share of complaints about younger siblings too.
If she’s going to be cold anyway, wouldn’t a younger sister be better?
Kei was polite in public and cute enough, so if someone offered to trade her for my younger brother, who was going through a full-blown adolescent phase, I might hand him over without even hesitating.
Just as she was almost at the door, two people came in after opening it.
One was Fujiwara Chika, and the other was a girl in the middle school uniform with pink twin tails.
Fujiwara and Kei spotted each other and immediately lit up.
"Oh! Kei-chan!"
"Chika-nee!"
After confirming each other’s presence, the two of them promptly—
"Hello attack!"
"Ah! Return hello attack!"
".........!?"
—exchanged some bizarre signature greeting, and both Miyuki and I went wide-eyed.
That cool, composed Kei was saying something like that?
Miyuki, who had almost never seen his sister act that bright, frantically scribbled something on a sticky note in shock.
"Ghh, hello... attack... memo..."
What are you writing, you idiot? Please, for the love of God, stop.
If you try that to get closer to her...
She’ll definitely say, "...That’s disgusting, big brother. Die."
I’d need to warn him separately for the sake of family peace.
"What, just the two of you? Let me in too!"
"Moeha, let’s make one next time!"
"Okay, got it!"
The pink-haired girl who had come in with Fujiwara was chatting familiarly with Kei.
Looking closer, that girl really did resemble Fujiwara quite a bit. Her hair color, her face, and... various other things.
"Kei-chan, do you have something urgent?"
"No, nothing urgent, really..."
"Then since you’re here, why not hang out and gossip with us?"
"...Should I?"
The girls were in high spirits as they moved closer to the sofa.
Having girls’ talk right next to me was uncomfortable, so I was about to give them space when the pink-haired middle schooler looked at me and bowed politely.
"Hello! I’m Fujiwara Moeha, vice president of the Shuchiin Middle School student council! Nice to meet you!"
"Suzuki Hotaro, secretary of the Shuchiin High School student council. Nice to meet you."
So she really was Fujiwara’s younger sister. Having two people with the same surname was a little confusing.
I’d have to distinguish them by first name for a while.
After the quick introductions, I tried to turn my attention back to my book, but Chika rummaged through her bag and handed me something.
"Suzuki-kun! Here’s the shirt I promised you!"
"Oh, thanks."
As I took the shirt she offered, Moeha beside her grinned and whispered to Chika.
"...Sis, is this the big-boned guy you mentioned yesterday?"
"Hey! Hey! Don’t use such low-class words!"
Chika panicked and grabbed her younger sister’s cheeks, tugging them hard.
"M-mmmph, sowwy..."
I couldn’t make out what she said, but that probably hurt quite a bit.
Chika’s face had gone oddly red as she fidgeted, then she spoke to Kei.
"Ugh, Kei-chan... has anything interesting happened at the middle school lately?"
"Interesting? Let’s see, what would there be..."
While Kei thought about it, Moeha slapped her palm and said,
"Ah! You know, that Suzuki Rin incident!"
!?
That sounded like a very familiar name, but I must have heard wrong, right?
"Oh, that chuunibyou..."
"Hm? Kei has never really liked Suzuki, has she? All the other girls say he’s so cool."
"Hmph. Cool? He should just die."
"Could it be because he called you ugly before...?"
"That has nothing to do with it!"
As Kei bristled,
I could feel Miyuki’s burning stare land on me.
Hey now, why are you looking at me like that? I don’t know any such person.
"So, what happened?"
Chika asked with sparkling eyes, and after hesitating for a moment, Kei began her story.
"It was around last Monday, I think? Our school’s soccer club had a friendly match against another school’s soccer club..."
**
A week ago or so,
Shuchiin Middle School had a long history in sports as well, so it was fair to say its soccer team ranked among the top schools too.
Even Shuchiin had an opponent that was tough to handle, and that opponent was the soccer powerhouse Raimon Middle School.
A friendly match was arranged between the two schools, who exchanged visits from time to time, and since it had been a while since a soccer friendly was held at Shuchiin, quite a few students gathered to watch.
But...
Shuchiin : Raimon
1 4
Not long after the second half began, Shuchiin conceded another goal. Now down by three, the situation was overwhelmingly in Raimon’s favor.
"What a bunch of softies. Is that all you’ve got?"
"Wow, this is seriously boring. Not even good enough for killing time. Just go study or something, since that’s what you people like."
Raimon’s players were already certain of victory and didn’t even bother hiding their mockery.
As defeat loomed and both Shuchiin players and students sank into despair, he was substituted in and stepped onto the field.
A boy with a cool, handsome face and long, lean arms and legs.
On his back were the number "10" and the name "Suzuki Rin."
At kickoff, the boy walked onto the pitch at an unhurried pace, planted the ball under his foot, and said calmly to the opposing team,
"This is over."
"...?"
At the boy’s resonant words, everyone on the field turned their attention to him.
"I’ve got the gist of your level."
"What?"
"...This is so dull I could die."
At that, the field fell silent as if a mouse had died on it.
The one who broke that silence was Raimon’s ace, Renji.
"Hah...? Who the hell is this nobody talking big?"
Renji checked the boy’s jersey number and clicked his tongue even harder.
"What, you were number 10? Hiding on the bench all this time and only coming out now? Shuchiin really is a joke."
Renji sneered as if the boy were beneath him. It was also the confidence of someone who had already scored three goals that day.
In response, the boy didn’t even change expression. He tapped his head with his index finger and said,
"Don’t try to understand with that decorative head of yours."
"Hey, what the hell are you talking about—!"
"Feel it with your body."
"Cut the crap and let’s just—"
The boy with the ball tilted his shoulder slightly, and then—
"...........!!"
—he blew past Renji in an instant with explosive speed.
The ace, who had taken pride in being regarded as one of the nation’s top players, couldn’t react at all and was simply left behind.
The defenders rushed at the boy in a panic, but each time one came at him, he slipped past one by one.
"Hey, what are you doing—! Stop him with a double mark-!!"
The coach shouted. That was right; no matter how good he was, it was still just one boy breaking through alone.
In ordinary common sense, a double mark should be enough to stop him without much trouble.
One layer of defense still remained in front of the goal.
The left fullback and center back worked together and closed in on the boy.
"You’re not getting past here...!"
"Don’t get cocky, you nobody...!"
"...Hmph."
The boy snorted.
To him, they were laughable.
"How unfortunate..."
"What...!?"
"Relying on numbers with such pathetic defense—"
Thump
"—won’t stop me."
"........!!"
Two men making the mark made no difference. The boy slipped the ball through the tiny gap between them and burst past both of them with overwhelming momentum.
"Ghk...!"
Before long, it was a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. The result—
Smack!
The boy’s shot tore through the net without mercy.
Under the erupting cheers from the Shuchiin stands, Raimon’s players couldn’t make sense of what had just happened.
They had always stood at the top of the food chain, and they had never experienced being so completely toyed with by a single player.
Every player could feel it.
[We’re on different levels]
That was the truth. That player possessed overwhelming skill, enough to completely overturn the match by himself.
There was still plenty of time left in the second half, and if that boy kept playing...
There was only one possible outcome.
With the goalkeeper slumped in despair behind him after conceding the goal, the boy said,
"You still don’t understand what soccer is."
"W-What are you spouting? What do you mean, we don’t understand soccer!"
They were players who had done nothing but eat, sleep, and breathe soccer since they were little.
No matter how overwhelmingly the boy had scored on them, they weren’t so soft that they’d stay quiet after having their pride trampled.
"You still think soccer is just a sport? Go play house somewhere else."
"Tch, don’t talk nonsense! Then what the hell do you think soccer is—!"
"Me?"
"Yeah—!"
"...To me, soccer is murder."
"M-Murder...!?"
"This is a battlefield. You’re dull because you can’t understand that."
"What kind of ridiculous...!"
The boy tossed the ball lying in the corner of the goal back toward the Raimon side and beckoned them over.
"Come at me. I’ll kill you all."
The final score of that game was Shuchiin 6, Raimon 4.
With Suzuki Rin scoring five goals on his own, it was a miraculous comeback victory for Shuchiin Middle School.
**
"He was like that! Totally chuunibyou!"
"...Haha, what a strange guy."
"Right? Right?"
I forced a stiff laugh and agreed with Kei.
But why did I feel so embarrassed on his behalf?
My head was starting to ache.
I don’t know whose kid he is, Mr. Suzuki Rin.
No, wait, little brother...
What on earth have you been doing all this time...?"
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