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[AI CENSORSHIP BLOCKED THIS CHUNK - RAW ENGLISH RETAINED]

“He sees me as a teammate.You’resomeone he admires.”

“You really think so?” I murmured, shaking my head. “When he looks at me…he sees the past. With rose-colored glasses.”

Aomi let out a short sigh.

“We’re both in a difficult spot, aren’t we?”

“We really are.”

I think maybe she was just trying to spare my feelings.

“Going back in,” Aomi murmured, getting up and turning away.

She took one step, then turned around with a smile, as if she’d just remembered something.

“I won’t give an inch, even if my rival’s an older girl. Just so you know.”

I squinted against the light in her expression.

“I’m pretty good at acting the responsible older girl in front of younger students, you know.”

You might not think it looking at me, but I’m pretty competitive.

Hiiragi, Uchida, Nanase.

Saku’s surrounded by A-tier girls, but of them all…

…it’s Aomi who I don’t want to bring to tears. Because she was the one who brought you back to baseball.

I saw Aomi off as she went back into the living room. I figured I’d grab a stick… No, go for realism and use the sword. I slipped my feet into my shoes and came to join you, just leaving a little bit of space between us.

I can help you, too, you know. She’s not the only one.

Saku stopped swinging, apparently remembering that I was there.

Then, with a soft smile, he said, “Don’t practice too hard, Asuka. You’ll be no good tomorrow.”

“Okay, but just a little longer. I know I’m still behind.”

“All right. Just a little, then.”

Then Saku started practicing with his bat, and I started practicing with my sword.

Whoosh. Phwoosh.

Swoosh. Swoosh.

I seem pretty pathetic next to you.

My palms were red, the skin was broken, and my arm joints were screaming at me.

But the fatigue felt good.

Maybe Saku just sees this as all fun and games.

But I want to get a bit closer to you, to the world where your battles are. I’ve always wanted that, and that won’t change.

More than anything…

Suddenly, I remembered being left out in Higashi Park.

Saku practicing baseball, with all his friends supporting him.

But this time, I was right in the inner circle.

“Hyah!” I took a big step forward and swung my sword as hard as I could…

Swoosh.

I feel like I’ve gotten closer to you. Just a little.

I found myself looking around at Saku, and…

“Nice swing.”

Just that, and a flash of a smile.

Then we continued practicing in silence for a while.

Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.

The sound of his bat. The sound of my sword.

Overlapping, resounding, sucked away into the night sky.

Like holding hands. Like a warm side hug.

We couldn’t be legitimate partners… But this was like a secret dance for two.

I think I’ve been dreaming of a moment like this.

“Asuka?”

Saku looked at me.

“Thanks for joining the cheer squad. I never thought I’d be able to spend an evening like this with you, Asuka. I love it.”

That was unusually straightforward for Saku. Maybe that was why those words seemed to instantly permeate my heart.

Thank me? Thankyou.

Before I could find anything clever to say—or anything earnest…

“Hey! No fair just you two seniors practicing! Let me join!”

Nozomi came cheerfully bounding out of the living room.

Uh-oh. Now his real partner is here.

I smiled thinly.

The easy way she had with Saku set me a little on edge.

It was like she’d known him for years. Like he’d known her for years.

I guess part of me took it for granted that only I had that level of ease with Saku. Because of that summer we spent together as children…

“I wanna pair up with Senpai!”

If only I could express myself as easily as this innocent younger girl can.

Would our relationship be different if I could?

In the end, though, there was still a space between us.

Word by word, sentence by sentence, phrase by precious phrase.

No doubt our story would continue, just like this…

I, Haru Aomi, was in the changing room, peeling off my sweat-soaked T-shirt and shorts.

I grabbed the hair tie from my wrist and shook out my hair.

I took off my bra, sighed over how little I’ve got going on up top, then tucked it inside my T-shirt.

I looked up, noticing the contrast between my balled-up clothes and someone else’s tidy pile, as crisp as a store display.

This is where people show you who they really are, I thought with a smile.

I pulled off my shorts, grabbed the towel I’d brought, and opened the bathroom door.

“’Sup?”

Yuzuki was leisurely stretching her legs out and soaking in the bathtub.

I’m used to naked girls from training camps and everything. Basically, neither of us have anything to hide at this point in our relationship.

I raised a hand. “’Sup?”

In the end, we’d decided that after Yuuko took her bath, it’d be Ucchi, Yuzuki, and then me.

Like Yuuko had said, the bathroom was pretty big. Not cramped at all, with plenty of space for two.

The lights were off, but several aromatic candles were flickering. The air was filled with the pleasant scent of bath salts.

The atmosphere was different from what I had imagined, and I couldn’t help chuckling.

“Why so fancy? Kinda extra, isn’t it?”

“Yuuko set it up. Since it’s a special occasion. I take baths like this at home, too.”

“You certainly seem at home. But this isn’t really my style.”

“Imagine the boys enjoying this later. That’s hysterical.”

We both snorted with laughter.

I hung the showerhead on the top bracket and turned on the water.

It took a few seconds for the water to heat up, so while I waited, I let the cold water wash over my face and body.

It was still warm out this time of year, and a cold shower felt good after a full day of physical activity.

I basked in the water as it gradually started warming up…

“You’re in great shape, as always,” Yuzuki commented.

I grinned.

“If you wanted to fight, couldn’t you have saved it for before my relaxing bath?”

I turned my back to the shower spray and looked at Yuzuki.

I’d seen it plenty of times, but it always set my teeth on edge—Yuzuki’s body, I mean. Her proportions were so perfect, it made me sick.

“Not picking a fight,” Yuzuki said with a dry smile. “I’m paying you a compliment.”

“Uh-uh,” I said, turning back to the shower and squirting Yuuko’s shampoo into my hand. “I’m training hard for the Winter Cup, after all.”

“That’s been postponed a month, though.”

“You can never prepare too early.”

Normally the qualifying rounds would be starting around this time, but the tournament period got postponed this year.

Not that it mattered. I always want to be ready for the battles ahead.

I rinsed out the shampoo, hesitated, then grabbed a bottle of deep conditioner that looked a lot more expensive than what I usually used. I squirted it on my palm and started working it into my hair.

“By the way, Yuzuki…how come you volunteered to be vice captain?”

She was a great vice captain, worthy of being captain-captain. So it’s not like I was doubting her capability.

I’m sure she figured she could lighten Saku’s load by volunteering. But that wasn’t why I was asking, either.

Yuzuki tends to avoid the spotlight—like with her being vice captain of the basketball team. The whole team and I wanted her to do it, so she had no choice but to say yes. But she was reluctant.

So it just struck me as odd, is all.

What changed to make her volunteer to be vice captain?

Yuzuki rested her head on the edge of the bathtub and gazed at the ceiling. “Hmm…”

Unusually for my partner, she sounded more like she was mulling it over herself, rather than just putting off answering.

Yuzuki sloshed the water with her hand.

“You know, Haru, you jumped at joining the cheer squad, too.”

Was she talking about the way it would affect our time for basketball practice?

Still, I had my reasons. And no reason to hide them.

“This is so I can get stronger.”

“Uh-huh.” Yuzuki shot me a quick glance and continued absentmindedly. “I guess I’m influenced…consciously or unconsciously.”

It seemed rather obtuse to ask “by who?”

“Well, you’ll get stronger, too, Nana.”

I tied my hair up and started washing my body.

I’d gotten a little carried away swinging the stick around, so my arms felt a bit heavy.

Suddenly, I remembered the conversation I had with Nishino.

Maybe I was just high on training camp vibes, but I think I blurted out something I shouldn’t have at the end there.

I was totally used to Yuzuki’s beauty, but seeing Nishino up close, I couldn’t stop blushing.

And I never even knew that she and Chitose were childhood friends.

Seriously?

Like, what, is she his first love or something?

If I thought about it too hard, I would bum myself out, so instead I focused on rinsing the body soap off my neck and shoulders.

“Yuzuki, I’m coming in.”

My partner gave me a disgruntled look.

“What? I was just getting nice and relaxed.”

“You always take too long in the bath.”

“Well, you were showering. I figured I could enjoy a few more minutes.”

Sighing, she drew her knees toward her chest.

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