Editing Rapid Fire King:Volume1 Chapter 4 (section)

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It was Iwata.

It felt like a while since he had last seen her.

And before he could say anything…

“Don’t you wish we could switch to our summer uniforms already?”

She removed her coat to reveal the jumper dress below.

“I suppose,” he replied and opened his uniform’s collar to show his agreement. “So what’s the deal? Did something happen?”

“Eh?” She placed the jacket over her shoulder and briefly looked up at the ceiling. “Um, well, I guess you could say that.”

She chose not to elaborate.

What was this about?

Since she had called out to him, she had to have some business with him. He started to ask her about that, but he realized he had something to ask her as well.

…''About last night.

Where had she gone on that Super Cub?

He was also curious about what Naka had said about her being out of school once or twice every week.

Iwata still said nothing about why she called out to him. She was only hemming and hawing.

So to fill that gap, he decided to ask his question first.

“Hey.”

He paused for a moment to choose his words.

Her absences might be a private issue. It was almost certainly something she would want to keep within her family, so he chose not to ask her too directly.

“Come to think of it, you weren’t at the game yesterday, were you?”

She finally looked at him again.

“Oh.” She gave a bit of a trouble smile. “You noticed? Well, let’s just say I had to help out at home.”

“At home, huh? Must be tough.”

“Y-yeah, it is.” She did not seem able to look him in the eye. “Whenever I’m out, just assume that’s the reason.”

“Hm? Are things busy at your place recently?”

“At home, yes.” Her smile became a thin and bitter one. “I’ll tell you what this is about eventually. But you noticed, huh? Did you realize I wasn’t where I usually am?”

“Eh? Where you usually are?”

He tilted his head and she did the same in response. She raised her right hand and swung it to the side.

“You know, in the right stands.”

It was his turn to swing his hand to the side a little.

“No, it wasn’t that. An underclassman of mine has a thing for your brown-haired assistant, so he’s always keeping an eye out.”

“An underclassman?”

“Yeah, named Kanbayashi. He said he was always keeping tabs on your underclassman.”

Before he could say any more, she roughly brushed back her ponytail.

“Oh, I see.”

She shook her hair and it hit his elbow. Only when he felt that did he notice her expression.

“Wait…are you upset?”

“That question is only going to make it worse.”

She raised her elbows and opened her mouth, but…

“Oh, never mind.”

She shut her mouth, stared at his face, and then let her shoulders droop. She let out a deep sigh.

Meanwhile, he could only frown.

“What’s with you?”

“It’s nothing, really. Forget it.”

When she added “anyway”, he decided not to ask anything more.

She rested her elbow on the railing and stretched up toward him on the other side.

“Takamura.”

She was apparently getting to her main point.

He sensed a subtle change in the atmosphere, so he waited for her to speak.

And…

“The thing is.”

With those words, he sensed something off about her.

It was her expression.

That expression was different from before.

Her eyebrows were lowered instead of raised like they usually were.

It felt like an anxious look to him, but…

…''Eh?

He had never seen this look on her face before.

If she really was anxious about something, what was it? He did not know how to take that drooping expression, so he was unsure how to react.

…''Hold on.

Just before he asked her what was up, she opened her mouth again.

“Um.”

She looked him straight in the eye, so…

“Wh-what is it?”

His response sort of tried to reclaim control of the conversation, but she ignored that and kept going.

“Are you free on the way home today?”

She looked away while asking that question. Her hands moved like she was toying with some invisible object.

“I mean, I wasn’t there for the game yesterday, right? So I want to ask about it on the way home.”

“To make up for being out?”

“Y-yes.”

He breathed an inward sigh at her response.

…''Oh, is that all?

That anxious expression had left her face. Now her face only asked “can you do that for me?”

Had he imagined that previous anxiety?

…''Well, she must have a lot of work to do for the newspaper, so I would like to help her out on the way home.

However, something stood in the way of that.

The arcade.

He wanted to go there today.

He wanted to test out what he had learned last night. He had discovered the trick to dodging bullets, so he wanted to see if it worked in actual arcade games.

However, he doubted Iwata would understand that, so he worked to come up with an excuse.

“Umm.”

She must have seen his hesitation because she leaned forward a bit and opened her mouth.

“You can do that for me, right? Our club stays late too, so I won’t be leaving until around 6.”

He somewhat panicked at this.

…''What do I do?

However, she was looking up at him with a somewhat unsure expression.

He scratched his head with a mixture of embarrassment and confusion.

…''Does she have some kind of sensor that detects when I’m up to something?

Then it hit him.

“Oh, right.”

“Oh, right what?”

“Um, nothing. …You need to know about the game you missed, right?”

“Yes.”

She nodded and he somewhat looked away while answering.

“Then how about I stop by your place on the way home?” ''I can’t believe I’m saying this,'' he thought with a bashful smile. “I’ll be staying at practice until the very end today, so, um, it’ll be pretty late. A lot later than your club.”

That was a lie.

They only had strength training today, so they would be done sooner than the newspaper club.

But the school building and the baseball field were far enough away she would have no way of checking.

So he had chosen to lie so he could head back early.

…''That’s kind of mean of me.

But at the same time…

…''She wouldn’t understand if I told her about the arcade.

He felt this lie was better for both of them than getting into an argument about that.

And when he looked back at her…

“I see.”

Her eyebrows were back to normal and she looked up at the ceiling before nodding. With a snort, she started counting on her right hand, perhaps to check over her schedule for the day.

“How many times is that now?”

“Eh? For what?”

“Nothing,” she replied.

Before he could say anything more, she rested her elbow on the railing again.

“So you’ll be late?”

“Yeah, out on the baseball field. That’s pretty far away.”

He emphasized the part about the baseball field.

That seemed to clinch it for her. She smiled bitterly before responding.

“Then it doesn’t have to be today. It can wait.”

He spoke from his heart when he saw the bitterness of her smile. The bashful smile vanished from his face.

“Sorry.”

She looked up at him. Her expression briefly vanished, but then she smiled with her eyebrows somewhat lowered.

“It’s fine. You apologized, so I’ll forgive you. …Some other time, then.”

She took an audible step away.

And he saw her turn to the right.

“Huh? You aren’t headed back to your classroom?”

She pointed in the direction she had turned, toward the school building’s central hallway.

She gave him a slight smile and her hair swayed as she turned her head his way.

“I have some business this way.”

She did not elaborate and she pointed in that direction again while keeping her back to him.

Instead of turning around, he watched her walk away. Once she turned left at a corner in the hallway, she disappeared from view.

“Where is she headed?”

He thought about the direction she had gone.

That left turn took her to the second year classrooms. It was perfectly plausible that she had to speak with a second year for newspaper club business, but it was odd for her to not just say so.

…''Then what else is there?

He recalled the school’s classroom layout and realized where she was going. If you walked past the second year classrooms, you would reach the library and the guidance counselor’s office.

It was common enough for third years to have some business with the guidance counselor, but Takamura had yet to visit even once.

But Iwata had gone there.

“Makes sense. She’s busy at home and she has a future to plan for.”

He sighed while climbing the stairs. He felt like he was falling behind.

And yet he was still planning to visit the arcade.

“What is wrong with me?”