ACT II - Mission: Friendship Collaboration II

With the permission of our teachers (who were most pleased with our idea!), we all gathered on the track field. Our club, which was mostly made up of boys, seemed a bit hesitant with the presence of the girls of the volleyball club. However, our captain and their captain seemed to be rather good friends, so their casual vibes spread to our club members as well.

Looking at him carefully, Seiten-senpai really seemed to be a man of another realm than us, and something in Michiru's eyes revealed to me that she felt the same way. We were just… Simple children compared to such a guy. But I didn't want her to feel discouraged in any way…!

Our captains had decided that the first step in this collaboration project would start with a focus on running, so we did various speed related activities on the track field. We all got paired with someone from the other club, and got to examine the form of our partner, give advice if needed and run together. As this was a great opportunity to meet new people, me and Micchan decided to refrain from choosing each other as partners, though we still chatted and interacted during breaks and whatnot.

My main partner for today was the setter of the team, a second year and classmate of Micchan. Her entire manner of speaking gave me the feeling that she was an exceptionally intelligent person. I was probably right, as setters with good strategy skills found more success on the court. She explained the science behind how she took her first step when she had to dash quickly and all I could do was to listen with my mouth open, because she was so… Technical about it! To think that all this time, I was running around without ever giving much thought about my technique… And I always assumed I was a heavy thinker!

After the paired exercises, our clubs decided to hold a little running competition.

Since the track team would have an obvious advantage (considering how our entire deal was to run fast!), we split into two teams, each team having an equal amount of volleyball players to track members. One member from each team would run one round around the field, while the next member would wait at the beginning spot to dash into the next round. The winning team would get to enjoy juice boxes or snacks of their choice from the losing team!

It had ended up being quite the high-paced battle—it was so much fun! The excited cheering, the dashing footstep sounds echoing on the track field and the sounds of exertion coming from the challengers: it all added up to create a most exciting event between the two sports clubs!

I was feeling so elevated, and well, the fact that my team had won helped with that. As my childhood friend handed me a can of cold matcha tea, she congratulated me and my team for our win. Her bright smile let me know that she was feeling rather cheerful as well. I had spotted her watchful eyes as Seiten-senpai had run our team's last lap, earning us our victory. Even if she was on the opposing team, she seemed to cheer as hard as our team!

Guess she really liked Seiten-senpai, after all.

With the permission of our club captains, they let us off for the evening, so me and Michiru sat down on the ground, letting that sweet tiredness take over our bodies.

She had bought herself some chocolate cookies, and she offered me some. Despite my diet, I decided to take one and thank her properly, as every time I refused people, I felt guilty as if I had done something very rude! She giggled happily at the fact that I had accepted a cookie. "Yaay, you actually took one! Don't worry, there isn't anything bad about a sugary reward after training so hard… Yumm~"

For a while we sat in silence, trying to catch our breath and enjoy the warm weather, before it turned chilly for the evening. It was that time of the year that with the sudden temperature difference of the evenings, it wasn't all too surprising to wake up sick the next day! I wondered if that's what happened to Reo. Combined with stress, I guess it was natural that his body had fallen sick…

Most likely noticing my sudden worried expression, Michiru tapped my shoulder.

"Yuujin-chan~ I'm like, suuuper happy right now!"

She showed me a smile that could light up the entire world. She was happy alright!

"Are you happy, too?"

I sighed with a gentle smile. "Of course, Micchan. Thanks to you, we had such a fun time; all of us did! This wouldn't take place without you."

She giggled proudly, making me raise my hand and give her head some pats from how cute she was. I decided to reveal my feelings a bit more sincerely.

"I was feeling very lonely at the beginning of the term, you know? I was very scared if I could ever make some friends or not… But before I had realized, I was surrounded by friends, new and old, of course!"

I winked at her. I still felt like a fool for not realizing it was my childhood friend from way back, but hey, both of us were different people now… We had grown.

And there was still so much room for improvement, and time for many new memories to be created!

Our hearty laughter washed away the tiredness of the day, replacing it with the warmest, most fulfilling feeling I had ever known.