Sports Day ③
〈Paan……Paan……〉
It is the night of the sports day, and as I am preparing dinner, I can hear gunshots from the living room’s television. It sounds like Yae’s sniper rifle is firing.
“Looks like she is in quite a bad mood huh……”
Yae does like to play FPS as well, but recently, she primarily uses it to take her mind off unhappy things. I know from the trend in the past that her objective is stress relief, particularly on the days that she is holding the sniper rifle. I suppose she is likely giving out headshots consecutively right about now.
Well then, if I have to say why Yae is in a bad mood, it is naturally due to what happened during sports day. Particularly the girls’ division of the interclass relay that Yae participated.
After Renya and the others acquired the first place, the girls’ interclass relay began. Including Yae, all four of them gave it their best, but the result was regrettably a second place. The class that acquired first place carried on to snatch the overall victory away.
I suppose for Yae, who has a competitive personality, she is unbearably frustrated by not only the fact that we ended up losing today but also the fact that if the girls took first place as well, our class would have gotten the first place. We are third-year students, so we cannot go, ‘let’s try again next year’, either.
“It would be great if her mood recovers after eating dinner though……”
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
“”Thank you for the meal””
After we finished eating dinner, Yae tidies up the dishes and unsteadily returns to the front of the television right away. Her figure while she is mumbling,「more……it’s still not enough……」, is completely that of a sniper who is craving for blood huh.
“Hey, Yae, please come over here”
“……un”
For the sake of returning Yae to how she originally was, I sit cross-legged and call for Yae. Because she knows what I want to do, Yae too nods once, gets close me, and carries on to sit on top of my legs.
“It is not no good to be adamant, but how about accepting it already?”
“I mean”
“I understand that you are frustrated that we lost. Furthermore, with such a narrow margin”
In the girls’ interclass relay, the difference between the first place and our class is pretty much 0. There should not even be a second of difference in the goal time either. I think that is what, ‘a hair’s breadth’, refers to.
“But it is pointless to keep on being frustrated. This year is our last sports day after all”
“Muu……”
“Besides, everybody gave it their best. We ended up losing to Class 6 in the end, but that is just because the opponent was stronger”
……it looks like she is still not convinced yet huh. In that case, let’s say it in a slightly cunning way.
“Besides, the responsibility for losing lies more on me than on Yae. We could have won if I did not get in everybody’s way that much at the long rope after all”
“That’s not true!”
“……in that case, nobody is at fault. The reason we lost is simply that we were not capable enough. Accept your frustration, and let’s have our revenge at the cultural festival or something”
Yae is keeping silent. I suppose she is coming to terms with it inside her heart.
“Also, I am grateful to Yae. It is thanks to Yae that I managed to get the first place in the scavenger hunt. It was the first time I accomplished such a brilliant feat in my life, and I was very happy. Thank you very much”
I currently cannot see Yae’s eyes, so I gently pat her head instead. At times like this, I am glad that we have a height difference.
“……you’re welcome. As thanks, give me plenty of delicious food, and pat my head for a while more”
“I got it”
I answer to my benefactor’s request and continue to pat her head. It looks like Yae’s mood got better as well, so it is settled.
“……Kazu-kun”
“What is it?”
“Thanks”
“You are welcome”
