Chapter 236 – A Lonely After School (3)

I was in a daze because I was about to fall asleep, but I managed to turn to the door.

There were a group of boys near the door. I could only see three of them from where I was sitting, with one of them being slightly taller than the other two. They weren't my classmates and I didn't recognize any of them.

I didn't know which one of them was talking.

"Ah, he woke up."

"…Uh, what? You have a business with me?"

"Eh? Ah, no… We're just here to pick something up for a friend…"

They walked to a certain someone's seat and took the bag there.

…It was Ooyama-kun's seat. The owner himself was nowhere in sight.

"…That's Ooyama-kun's bag, you know?"

"I know. He asked us to get it for him. He's a bit busy now."

Like Amami-san, Ooyama-kun was a part of the backboard team. He should be working with the rest of them right now.

I see, those guys were his friends. I probably saw them walking with him at some point, but because their appearances were dull, I ended up not recognizing them. 

"Alright, that's that, I guess. Let's go."

Said one of them before taking Ooyama-kun's bag and leaving.

I heard that there was an incident in the past where someone stole a student's bag, while everyone was busy with the sports festival. I was suspicious of those guys, but I didn't have Ooyama-kun's contact information to let him know about this. Besides, who knows if those guys might be telling the truth.

Well, even if they were thieves, I knew their faces now. I could just tell Ooyama-kun or the teachers about them later if needed.

Besides, in the past cases, the victims of the thieving incidents were girls. The thieves would steal the girls' clothes and the like. Most students left their valuables with the teachers, so there was nothing worth stealing inside a boy's bag, unless the thieves were into boys' clothes for some reason.

…Still, thanks to them, I'm wide awake now.

Even though I had been so sleepy just before they came in.

Anyway, Umi still hadn't contacted me.

A silent and oppressive air enveloped the empty classroom.

"…I should go outside."

After trying to go back to sleep and staring at my phone for five minutes, I decided to go outside.

It was probably the first time since the last festival that I had to stay late at school like this.

Back then, the five of us stayed behind to work together, but now we were separated and each of us had our own work to take care of.

I wonder what will happen at next year's festival?

Around that time, we would be busy studying for our entrance exam, so we wouldn't be able to enjoy the festival to the fullest. In fact, the third year's participation was optional, so we could opt out if we wanted to.

"I want to enjoy it with everyone one last time…"

I looked out of the window to see the rooftop where we placed our mosaic art for last year's festival.

I had no regrets about last year. Thanks to Umi's help, I managed to do my job well as the representative and we even won an award.

However, back then, our relationship was messy. There were issues between Umi and Amami-san and I didn't get to know Nitta-san and Nozomu until after the festival ended.

That was why I kept thinking about this.

What if we were able to enjoy it together?

Realistically speaking, we would never be able to get in the same class again. There was too big of a gap between our grades. Nozomu, in particular, had already decided that he would keep doing baseball in college. Our career paths would never cross.

Nevertheless, I still think that we should try to enjoy the next festival together. Maybe the five of us could go to a restaurant and talk about what we were doing over a meal.

…When you think about it like that, it seemed really difficult to live our school life without regret like what the adults told us. Our school life passed by in a blink of an eye.

"…I have to work harder."

That was why I wanted to cherish the little time I had left.

School, studies, friendship and love.

I would steadily tackle everything that came my way. I would try not to get overwhelmed by the plethora of new things that I'd come to experience in my school life.

After resolving myself, I left the area. I could feel my face heat up because I was thinking of something embarrassing. I said a few things out loud too. Luckily, no one heard me.

In any case, I'll keep this to myself.

Suddenly, I felt thirsty, probably because of the heat, so I went to the vending machine at the cafeteria to grab myself a drink. I brought some barley tea with me, but I already drank it all when I was practicing with Umi, so now I had to spend unnecessarily to satisfy this thirst. I knew that a bottle of juice would only cost me a hundred yen, but if this was a daily occurance, I'd run out of money quickly.

When I was walking down the hallway, there were some female students that passed by me while complaining how hard the practice was.

…Honestly, I didn't think the practice was that bad.

I checked the time on my phone and saw that it was almost six. The sky had gotten darker. I guess I should wait for Umi somewhere while enjoying my drink.

"Huh? Could it be?…"

In a nostalgic place, where Nozomu sat with me while drinking some yogurt after he got dumped by Amami-san, the space between the cafeteria and the building where the kendo and judo clubrooms were located.

"Amami-san?…"

"Huh? Maki-kun?…"

There was a blonde girl, standing alone in front of a big backboard.