Yashiro: Sorry, Nue. But can you help me?
I got a response immediately.
Nue: What do you want me to do?
“Ha ha ha.” I had to laugh. That was just like her. Not “What’s wrong?” or “Are you okay?” but “What do you want me to do?” She could probably sense how anxious I was just from my text. I explained the situation to her and she responded right away.
Nue: walnut mocha from isozaki-ya
That was it. I chuckled. She was showing her agreement by declaring the payment.
Yashiro: Five, ten, however many you want.
I started following Sato-san, who was going with the girls.
◊◊◊
About ten minutes had passed. As I ran, I texted both Ido-san and Hanamizawa-san to explain what was going on.
Kanon: i’ll definitely come help yuzu-chan
Chikaze: same. i can’t believe anyone would be mean to her
Now that they both had agreed to help, I had them wait near our meeting spot. Meanwhile, I went to the second gymnasium at the corner of our campus.
This gym was used for classes which were originally scheduled to be outside but had to move inside due to bad weather. After school, it was used by the karate and kendo clubs, along with the final person who could help Sato-san.
“Excuse me!” I said loudly as I walked inside and searched for the person in question. The kendo club practiced in the back, standing in a line and swinging their swords. It was difficult to tell them all apart since they were all wearing their kendo uniforms, but thankfully their names were written on their belts (later I learned they’re called tare), so I found him right away.
“Hadori-kun!” I called out as I weaved my way through the kendo club members.
“Hey! You over there! Watch out!” The kendo club coach was miffed by the sudden intruder and yelled with a stern look on his face.
“I’m sorry! But it’s an emergency!” I yelled, and ran over to Hadori-kun.
“Yashiro? What the heck are you doing here?”
“Sorry! I really need you to come with me!”
“H-Hey...” I grabbed Hadori-kun and dragged him outside to the back of the gym.
“Well? You better explain yourself.” He gave me a suspicious look.
I nodded. “I’ll tell you everything. I just need your help.” I frantically tried to stay calm as I explained what I’d witnessed. At first Hadori-kun seemed confused, but then his face turned serious. By the time I was done...
“You son of a bitch!” He was furious, and he grabbed me by the collar. “And you just left her? You call yourself a man?!”
“Nngh! I can’t...help her!” I peeled his hand off of me and struggled to add, “If I get in the way, it’ll ruin all her hard work!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I don’t know everything that happened to her. But I’ve got a feeling that those girls were the popular kids from her last school.” I was certain of it after I saw how they looked down on her. “I’m just an introvert who thinks it’s better to spend time alone. If I go meddle and save Sato-san from those popular girls, what do you think’ll happen?”
“I don’t know...”
“Sato-san will remember that moment as the time when the loner saved her from the cool kids. Once again she’ll feel betrayed by the cool kids, and she might never try to hang out with you guys again. You know how she’s trying to change, right?”
“Well, yeah. Yuzuki’s been trying hard to fit in with us.” Hadori-kun paused for a moment and then glared at me. “But that doesn’t mean you should’ve just left her alone! What if something happened to— Huh?”
I showed him my phone while he was talking. It was a video of Sato-san looking very uncomfortable in a diner somewhere, surrounded by those girls. It was a live video. “I asked a friend to watch over her for me. She’ll be able to help if something bad happens.”
“You went to all that trouble, and yet...” Hadori-kun trailed off, his eyes wide. His expression filled in the rest: And yet you can’t save her yourself?
“It’s that diner closest to the train station. Hanamizawa-san and Ido-san are already on their way. I want you to meet up with them and save Sato-san. Please.” I got down on my knees right then and there, and pressed my hands into the ground.
“H-Hey, Yashiro...” He sounded surprised to see me basically prostrate in front of him.
I didn’t feel one bit of shame at all as I yelled, “Please! I can’t do it! You guys have to be the ones who save her, or else she’ll never change no matter how bad she wants to! It has to be her friends! It has to be the popular kids, the people she likes being with!”
He didn’t say anything.
“Please, I’m begging you!” And that was all I could do—beg, even to the point of looking completely pathetic.
Finally, Hadori-kun crouched down and rested a hand on my shoulder. “You said you already asked Kanon and Chikaze to help, right?” As I looked up, he grinned at me. “I asked you to take care of them and you said you would. So you kept your promise to me.”
I stared at him silently.
“I asked you to do something I couldn’t. And now you’re asking me to do something you can’t. So of course I gotta help ya.” He helped me up and brushed the dirt off his knees. “The diner by the train station, right? Leave it to me.” He turned around and started sprinting. He took off his pads, but he was still wearing his kendo uniform. He literally dropped everything to go run and help Sato-san.
He’s such a good guy, I thought as I watched him leave. All of a sudden, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I jolted in surprise and turned around to see the kendo club coach. “Ah... Coach...”
“Hey. You done talking?”
“Yes. Um, I’m sorry I interrupted practice.” When I apologized, the coach just let out a deep sigh.
“I realize it was something serious.”
“S-So then...!”
“However! You still put yourself and others in danger when you walked right into the middle of their sparring practice, and it’s my job as a teacher to discipline you for that. Do you remember those students who got too cocky during field day last spring and started sprinting alongside the runners? One wrong step and they could’ve caused an accident! It was very dangerous behavior. Those students got suspended from class for a full week!”
I suddenly felt all the blood drain from my face. “What?! I-Is this going to go on my record?”
“Hrm, well... These circumstances are different, so I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Depending on how I write it up, you might get off with it just being counted as an absence.”
I stared at him, speechless, and suddenly he laughed. “But you did say it was an emergency. Since I’m the coach, I suppose I could let you off with a lighter punishment.”
“P-Punishment...?”
“I think I’ll have you take Hadori’s place and do his training for him today. To serve as an example for the rest of the students, you know. Just like Selinuntius agreed to be executed in place of his friend Melos.” This teacher looked pretty strict, but it seemed like he was actually pretty reasonable.
“I’m not friends with Hadori-kun, though...”
“Hm? What’s that? You want me to write you up after all?”
“No, I’ll gladly take the punishment for Melos! Er, by the way...what exactly does this training entail?”
“Practice swinging the kendo sword two hundred times, and then sprints.”
I’d already sprinted all the way here and was pretty tired... But obviously I couldn’t say no, so I resigned to complete the training under the coach’s watchful eye the entire time.