Brilliant Childhood friend
That day, there was a special faculty meeting, so as soon as classes ended, everyone was dismissed at once.
As I passed through the heavy red-brick school gate, I spotted a familiar face.
Pale skin, cheeks tinged with red.
Glossy black hair cut neatly at shoulder length.
Large, dark eyes without a hint of weakness.
My childhood friend, Mishima Tōko.
She was talking to someone. A tall, solidly built boy. Sun-tanned skin. Close-cropped hair.
Baseball team, maybe?
…Huh?
I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before… where was it?
Tōko noticed me and waved. I waved back.
“Well then, see you,”
the tall boy said to her before heading back toward the school, giving me a small nod in passing.
“Who was that?”
“Oh, Saijō—from Class 8.”
“Class 8… Saijō? Wait, you mean Saijō Haruka?”
“Yeah, that one.”
After every test, the school’s famous ranking list would be posted in big letters in front of the staff room.
Number one: First Year, Class 3 — Mishima Tōko
Number two: First Year, Class 8 — Saijō Haruka
Ever since the entrance exams, those two spots had never changed.
“Saijō Haruka… was a boy?”
Tōko laughed.
“Would you really give a boy a name like ‘Haruka’ in hiragana?”
“Why don’t you go tell his parents that next time you meet them?”
She said that—and laughed again.
Still… where had I seen Saijō Haruka before?
“Something wrong?”
“Hmm… I feel like I’ve met him somewhere before. I just can’t remember where. But I’m sure I’ve seen him…”
Tōko sounded uninterested.
“Well, he goes to the same school. You’ve probably just run into him somewhere on campus.”
Maybe…?
It bothered me a little, not being able to remember—but there was no point dwelling on it. I let it go, and decided to head home with Tōko.
A wind blowing down from the castle cuts across my cheeks.
The sky is blanketed with clouds. Sunlight slips through the gaps, casting a golden glow over the keep.
We walk past the art museum. The ground is white.
“When was the last time we walked home together, Tōko-chan?”
“Even though we live right across from each other, too.”
After starting high school, Tōko ended up in Class 3 and I was in Class 5, so we hardly saw each other at school. Plus, she’s in the track team while I go straight home, so even our dismissal times are completely different.
“You usually head home around seven-thirty, right?”
“Yeah. Sometimes I run into Miko-chan on the way, too.”
Tōko has always called my brother “Miko-chan.”
“What do you even talk about when you’re with my brother?”
“What do we talk about? Hmm… mostly about you, I guess.”
“As expected?”
“Well, you’re kind of the only common topic we have, aren’t you?”
“So what kind of things do you say?”
“Curious?”
She lets out a small laugh.
“I mean, I can’t help wondering what you’re saying about me behind my back.”
Tōko chuckles again.
“Hmm… I don’t think I can say that here.”
“Ugh, you’re definitely just badmouthing me again, aren’t you?”
“Don’t worry—I’ve never once heard anything about how tough it is being bossed around by his little sister.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
Tōko breaks into quiet larghter.
“I honestly thought you’d join track, Soto-chan.”
“…Huh?”
What are you talking about?
“When Miko-chan started high school, didn’t you say, ‘What’s a guy doing just going straight home without joining a club?’”
“…Wait, what?”
“Miko-chan told me. He said it’s not right that he’d leave all the housework to his little sister while he’s off doing club activities himself.”
Oh—that again? He’s still saying stuff like that?
“After setting a record like that in middle school, if you suddenly say you’re not doing it anymore in high school, of course people are going to wonder why.”
She’s talking about the record I set at the school marathon back in middle school.
“Well yeah—but there’s no way I could make dinner after club practice. My brother would starve to death.”
I clutch my stomach and imitate him going, “I’m hungryyy…”
“Ahh—Miko-chan totally makes that face!”
We both burst out laughing.
“But still, Soto-chan—you run after you get home, don’t you? My mom’s always like, ‘Soto-chan goes jogging every evening,’ but that’s way beyond jogging, right? How far do you run?”
“About ten kilometers.”
“And how long does that take you?”
“About thirty-five minutes, I guess.”
“Thirty-five minutes? You’ve got to be kidding. That’s a three-and-a-half-minute pace per kilometer.”
“I’ve still got a long way to go, though.”
“If you can run ten kilometers at that pace, that’s impressive even for a guy. …No wonder the teachers want you so badly. You’d make quite the picture, too.”
A picture? What’s that supposed to mean?
Well, it’s true the track team’s been pretty persistent trying to recruit me.
“Soto-chan, why don’t you seriously try joining a club? You could even aim for nationals. As for dinner, you could just ask to leave practice a bit early.”
This late in the school year? No way. The other girls would never accept that.
“We don’t even have any girls in long-distance, so it’d be fine.”
No, no—this is exactly how trouble starts. A new member showing up and then leaving early every day? That’s just not going to fly.
“If you explain things properly, I think everyone would understand.”
On the surface, maybe. But there are always people who won’t really accept it.
I mean, you remember all the stuff back in middle school, right?
I’d end up being ostracized.
I’d get too scared to even come to school.
“That kind of thing never bothered me at all,” Tōko said lightly.
Well, of course not—you’re just built different. I could never do that. And besides—
“Clubs have stuff on weekends too, right?”
“Track does, yeah.”
“My weekends are already packed. I’ve got the dojo and everything.”
“Oh, for karate?”
“Yeah. I’ve been doing that since I was little.”
“What was his name again?”
His name?
“You know, the guy who walks his dog around the neighborhood. He’s your karate instructor, right?”
“Oh—Mr. Harumiya?”
“Yeah, that’s him. He’s kind of funny.”
“Funny?”
“The other day, his dog was peeing, and he actually asked it, ‘Don’t you want to go over here too?’—like he was seriously talking to it.”
“No way—what’s that about?”
“So they barely made any progress, just hanging around near my place the whole time.”
“Huh.”
Come to think of it, Mr. Harumiya used to chat a lot with my grandmother when she was still alive.
“Soto-chan, your birthday’s March 30th, right?”
Tōko suddenly changed the subject.
“Yeah… but why?”
“Miko-chan was complaining that he has to spend the whole day with you again. Made me realize it’s that time of year already.”
Wait—what has my brother been telling her? I can’t help feeling a little annoyed.
“But even so,” she added with a soft laugh, “he didn’t seem to mind going along with his cute little sister.”
We stepped out onto the tram-lined street. An orange streetcar curved in from the direction of city hall.
Not wanting to miss it, we ran for the stop.
