CK 66

Chapter 66…

Run or Don’t Run
I Hate Everything

I, Suzuhō Sayama, was standing on a bridge over the river.
Leaning against the railing, my arms hung limply down — like a blanket left out to dry.

The night breeze felt nice.
Even though it was a hot, humid season, the wind carried a faint coolness as it brushed over my skin.

But that wind wasn’t strong enough to blow away today — the worst day ever.
My mind kept replaying it all again, the miserable events of the day.

First, Rina caught me. Again.
She said, “Let’s do track and field together!”
Then Sōma showed up, and the two of them started arguing.

Apparently, I’m “the one who ran away from track.”

…Like Sōma could ever understand how I feel.
My frustration. My emptiness.

And then, after that… a monster attacked.

A giant scorpion.
I’d heard the rumors, but it was my first time seeing one in real life.

I thought I was going to die — but Rina shielded me.
Thanks to her, I managed to escape. But the scorpion chased me down.

…Come to think of it, Rina fell when she pushed me out of the way, didn’t she?

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried.

But I didn’t feel like contacting her.
She’d sent me messages, but… I couldn’t bring myself to reply.

Even my parents had texted me — and I ignored them too.

Then, someone wearing armor saved me.
I still don’t get what that was about, but under the armor, he was wearing the same Seibō High uniform as me.

Still, what an infuriating guy. Just thinking about him makes me angry.

Why should I have to listen to some total stranger spout whatever he wants at me?
But what pissed me off the most was—

Just as irritation was bubbling up again, I suddenly heard a loud voice shout:
“Waaait a second!!!”

At the same time, someone yanked me backward.

What!? A creep!? A pervert!? Some kind of freak!?

I instinctively grabbed the railing with both hands.
If I let go, who knows what might happen.

Wait— he’s strong!? Is he grabbing both my shoulders!?
It was terrifying, and I fought back with all the strength I had.

…But as I calmed down a little, I realized that whoever was grabbing me was saying something.
And that voice… it sounded familiar.

So I listened.

“Sayama! Stop it! I’ll apologize to Masato for you! Don’t do anything rash!”

…Wait. That’s Hirahara.

☆☆☆

“Hey, could you not grab my shoulders out of nowhere? That was seriously scary — I thought you were some creep.”
“Yeah… sorry about that.”

After a quick explanation of what happened,
we both leaned against the bridge railing again, a bit calmer now.

It turned out that the one who’d grabbed me was my classmate, Hirahara.
Apparently, he’d been looking for me ever since earlier.

When he finally found me leaning on the railing,
he thought I was about to jump — and panicked, trying to stop me.

…It was honestly terrifying. I really thought it was a stranger.
But I was so relieved it was just someone I knew.

Then Hirahara said, “So basically…”

“You really don’t want to die, right?”
“I’ve been saying that! I just said it earlier because I was pissed off. It was just— you know, venting.”

Hirahara sighed, sounding like all the tension left his body.
“…You mad?”
“Nah… more like relieved.”

…He’s not mad?
He spent half a day running around looking for me for nothing.

What is he, an idiot? Or just too nice?

But he didn’t seem bothered. Instead, he asked,

“Can you tell me what happened, Sayama?”
“…Why should I?”
“Yeah… fair point…”

I almost said, ‘Do you even have any sense of tact?’
But I held my tongue — Hirahara didn’t seem like the type to understand that kind of thing anyway.

Still, I’d been wondering about something,
so I decided to ask — even though just remembering it irritated me.

“Hey. That guy who said whatever he wanted to me earlier — who is he?”
“Oh, him? Masato Insei.”
“Insei… Masato… That guy pissed me off so bad.”
“Yeah, I get that.
You can’t just judge people based on your own assumptions, right?”

Hirahara said this while lightly smacking his right fist into his left palm.
Was he angry on my behalf, or did he dislike Masato himself?
I couldn’t tell.

But that wasn’t it.

“What really pissed me off wasn’t that.”
“Huh?”
“What made me mad was that— even though we’d just met,
he saw right through my lies.”
“You mean…”
“I hate everything. My past, my future, this city, this world… and myself, for not being able to move forward. I just hate everything.”

Yeah.
What I hated most was that some stranger — someone who knew nothing about me — could see through me so easily.

…Wait, why am I even telling all this to Hirahara?
He’s just a classmate.

While I was thinking that, Hirahara suddenly went, “Ah—!!” loudly.
I immediately snapped, “What!?”

“Could you not yell all of a sudden?”
“Sorry, sorry! It’s just— I realized that Masato really wasn’t wrong, you know? Even if his mouth’s harsh.”
“…Why are you even friends with that guy?”
“You mean how we met, or why we’re friends?”
“The latter. …What’s so great about him?”

Even though Hirahara had just criticized Insei,
he still said, “He’s not wrong.” That bugged me.

“Well… He’s blunt and cold, yeah,
but he’s solid when it comes to what he does.
Once he decides to do something, he follows through.
He doesn’t just believe rumors — he judges things with his own eyes.
Though… maybe that’s just because he doesn’t hear the rumors in the first place.

And besides, would you risk your life fighting a monster to protect someone you don’t even know?
That’s the kind of guy he is. That’s what I like about him — even if his mouth’s awful.”

After saying that, Hirahara laughed.

…Was that supposed to be funny?

I ignored it.

But yeah, when Insei saved me from that giant scorpion,
he actually took the tail strike head-on.

…Though he got thrown afterward.

If someone asked if I could do the same,
I know I couldn’t. Even if I had the power — I couldn’t.

…Come to think of it, there were rumors that Hirahara once punched a classmate.

I’d avoided people, so I never really cared about gossip.
But talking to him like this now, he didn’t seem like that kind of person at all.

…He’s probably had his own share of hard times too.

Somehow, I started to understand why Hirahara respected Insei.
And before I knew it, I was asking him a question.

“Hirahara… have you ever failed at something before?”