Chikasugiru Karera no, Juunanasai no Tooi Kankei [LN] V2 Chapter 4.5

Chapter 4 - Something That Lingers In Them

The next day, during lunch break, I went to Yuriko's classroom.

After all, it was my fault for what I did yesterday. I should have asked her to calm down and listen to me.

I asked a member of the soccer club in the same class as Yuriko to call for her. Yuriko left the group of about five girls she had been with and walked toward me.

Yuriko was smiling and waving to her friends who had been with her, but when she came to my side, she had no expression on her face.

She just said, "Come here," and walked farther and farther down the hallway. I followed her.

Yuriko stopped at the end of the hallway, in front of a classroom that was no longer in use. Not many students come to this area. As she stopped, I said to Yuriko.

"It's about yesterday. Let me explain it to you."

Yuriko looked back at me. She remained silent for a while. From a little distance away, I could hear the lively conversation of the students. We were the only ones who were quiet.

"I'm sorry," Yuriko said in a small voice.

"I don't want to talk about it for a while. I'll act normally when we're doing club activities. Give me some space for a while."

Her gaze remained downcast.

There had been a few times before when Yuriko and I had gotten into a fight and stopped talking. But this was more serious than any of those times before, I thought.

What does she mean by "give me some space"? If I wait, will she talk to me again someday? I didn't know what Yuriko was thinking, and I felt uneasy, but I,

"Okay."

I said shortly.

A little further away, our schoolmates were happily chatting with each other.

"Sorry," Yuriko said one more time as we passed each other, and walked away again toward the crowd.

I felt that another significant distance had been created between me and Yuriko. As I watched Yuriko walk back toward the classroom, I felt as if she was going somewhere I couldn't reach her.

I bit my lip.

It was true that I had once been attracted to Rina, or at least felt that way.

How was I going to explain to her about us and tell her how I felt about Yuriko?

I can't blame Yuriko. I'm sure it was me who pushed her to that point.

☆ ☆ ☆

Read only at Musubi Novel

In the end, Yuriko and I did not talk much after that day, and the second semester ended. 

When we saw each other at club activities, she talked with me minimally. However, even then, we exchanged only brief responses in a strangerly tone, and this did not change until December 28, the day of the last club practice of the year. Two weeks had passed, and it seemed that the period of "keeping a distance," as she had said, had not yet ended. I didn't force myself to talk to Yuriko, knowing that she wouldn't listen to me no matter what I said now.

Things were peaceful at home.

Entering winter break, Rina went to the library in the mornings, just as she had done during the summer break. In the afternoons, she stayed home most of the time. The only time she went out other than to the library or for a walk was when she went to Tokyo on Christmas Day, saying there was a party at a friend's house.

Day by day, the days passed steadily. At the end of the year, many people probably go back to their hometowns, but the whole town seems to become a little quieter and quieter.

At noon on December 31st, having nothing in particular to do, but not being able to study because I was disturbed by the feelings of uneasiness and impatience that I have been carrying around all day, I walked outside to change my mood.

Outdoors on New Year's Eve, there were few cars or people passing by. The sky was a cold pale blue, like a thin layer of ice.

I passed by Yuriko's house. I stopped in front of the small brick gate. I had visited this house several times when I was a little boy. The curtains of her room on the second floor were open. The lights seemed to be on. She was probably in there.

I stared at the intercom. Even if the phone was disconnected, even if she was ignoring me during club activities, I might be able to talk to her here and now if I pressed the intercom and asked her to take my call.

While I was thinking about that, I heard a sound. I was startled, and my shoulders jumped. Yuriko's mother came out of the front door at the end of the gate. She was wearing thick clothes and holding the car keys in her hand. She was probably on her way somewhere. "Hmm?" She said, looking at me.

"Oh, Kenichi-kun. What's wrong?"

She opened the gate and walked up to me.

"No, I was just taking a walk......"

As I said this, I thought to myself that I looked like a suspicious person.

"Is that so?" Auntie said that in a carefree tone of voice. She was the opposite of the lively, athletic Yuriko, who had a calm personality. When I was in elementary school, she used to come with my mother to watch our games.

"Kenichi-kun, how is Rina-chan at your house?" She asked me. 

"Auntie know Rina?"

"She greeted me at the summer festival. Then when I see her on the street, she would come up to me and say hello. She's quiet and pretty, right?"

I didn't know that Rina had talked to Yuriko's mother that much. I remembered that she said that she had said hello to her at the summer festival, and I remembered that summer day.

However, I was at a bit of a loss, not knowing how to properly reply to Auntie's words. For now, I just said, "Thanks......" thinking that my relatives were being praised. Then, suddenly Auntie seemed to remember something and said,

"Oh, that's right. Speaking of which, I had something I wanted you to give to your mom. Just in time. Just a moment, wait here."

Saying that, she went back inside the house. Then she came out to the front door again, carrying a plastic bag.

"I got this as a gift, but we can't eat it all by ourselves, so I'm going to share it with you. I've already told your mother about it, so give it to her when you get home."

When I picked it up, it was very heavy. Looking inside, I found many rice cakes, each one divided into small bags.

"Ah,......Thank you very much."

I thanked her, and she continued.

"Yuriko has been in a bad mood lately. Do you know why?"

Saying that, I was at a loss for words for a moment.

"Um.......I'm sorry......"

"Did you two have a fight, by any chance?"

When I apologized, Auntie said that surprisingly.

"Yes........"

"Oh my."

She said with an indescribable nuance as if she were stunned, troubled, or amused.

"Please tell Yuriko I said I was sorry. Thank you for this."

I thanked her for the gift, bowed my head again in a small bow, and started walking away. "Got it," comes Auntie's lighthearted reply. The snow that had fallen about a week ago was still frozen and remained in the poorly-sunlit areas. It was no longer as beautiful as it had been when it first fell, and its surface was blackened and stained with sand and dust.

While walking through the city, I passed by a shrine. In front of the shrine, there were food stalls, just like at the summer festival. As night falls, the shrine will be crowded with people who have come to pay their first visit to the shrine. I had not been to the shrine recently, but when I was in elementary school, I used to come here with my friends whenever I did not go back to the countryside.

I once came with Yuriko during the winter vacation of my sixth grade, before I entered junior high school. I remember that day well. On the way home that day, we stopped at a convenience store, as we had done the other day when we had gotten into a fight, and Yuriko told me that she was going to stop playing soccer when she entered junior high school.

"I thought I'd better tell this to you, Kenichi," Yuriko said at that time.

"There are women's soccer teams, aren't there?"

I said that, thinking it was so wasteful, but Yuriko at that moment shook her head. 

"It's too much trouble to look for one. If I found a good place, I might join.......Besides, I originally thought that I would probably only play soccer until elementary school."

I remember well how I felt sad to see her face at that moment, as if she had made up her mind and was serious about it.

"I see," I said.

Yuriko was the ace of the team I was on, and she scored a lot of points. However, during the one year of her sixth grade, she scored fewer and fewer goals, and I saw less and less of the rapid play that used to be her forte. It's not that she got worse or slower. It was a time when the physical ability and skills of the boys around her, including myself, were beginning to improve.

Perhaps her mind changed after that, but in the middle of her second year of junior high school, after my father passed away, she became the manager of the soccer team and occasionally attended practices, just as she does now. At that time, I was indeed relieved deep down.

This time was the same as that time.

At that time, I was surely feeling lonely because Yuriko was gradually pulling distance from me, although I was not conscious of it clearly in words.

☆ ☆ ☆