Chapter 1: The hated riajuu has great influence over the school (Part 8)

─ I had first met Asu-nee in the September of last year. Having quit the baseball club over the summer break, with more after-school time than I knew what to do with, I was absentmindedly walking along this very riverbed as it blended into the dusk.

「…Oi, he’s going that way.」

「After him!」

The sounds of running and laughter.

Slightly ahead of me, I could see some kids noisily playing around. It looked like some kind of pretend sword-fighting. Three of them were chasing one boy around with wooden sticks they had picked up from somewhere. The boy running away also had a wooden stick of his own, but it didn’t look like he was going to fight back. Perhaps his role within the group was as the timid, picked on one.

After I watched for a while, the boy who was running away lost his footing and fell into the river. The river here was shallow and also flowed slowly, so there was no danger of him drowning, but the slope on the bank made it a little difficult for a child to climb back up alone.

「Laaame.」

「Whoa…you’re so dirty. Stay away on the way back!」

The group of three looked down at the boy, laughing mockingly. They didn’t seem to have any intention of helping him out.

There were also a few other students on their way back from school around, but either uninterested to begin with, or else ignoring the situation, they kept walking without changing speed.

Well, it probably wasn’t their intention to make fun of him, but the boy who fell looks like he’s about to burst into tears at any moment. Perhaps I should haul him out of the river and lend him a towel, and while I’m at it tell off the other three that they went a little too far.

Having noticed it, it would be kind of pathetic to pretend to not see and walk past.

That’s right. But the moment I had that thought ─

「Onee-san’s jumping in too!」

With a loud splash, a high school girl leapt into the river.

Not understanding what had just happened, I stared at the scene with my mouth stupidly hanging open.

Ignoring the bewildered group of three, the high school girl started splashing water at the boy who had fallen in the river. Judging from her uniform, she went to the same school as me.

「What’s wrong? Come at me.」

The other students, who had been posing as nameless passerbys just a while ago, stopped without thinking and gave her a less-than-favourable look. There were even some who whispered to each other while sneering. There was no way I could hear their conversation, but based on the atmosphere, it was probably along the lines of「We’ve got a weirdo here」.

I’d be lying if I said that thought hadn’t crossed my mind, too. That’s how difficult to understand the scene was. It wasn’t quite a ditch of dirty water, but it wasn’t like it was a clear, transparent stream either. If you went into it, then you’d have to be prepared for a fair amount of dirt.

The high school girl was splashing water at the boy, not caring one bit about the dirt on her uniform or the gazes of the people around her.

With an extremely innocent smile and energy, as if the details were no longer important, saying「Now you’ve done it!」, the young boy began to return fire.

「Come on you boys, hurry up and jump in too.」

Saying this, the high school girl stretched her hands out towards the three of them on the bank. Although they simply watched suspiciously at first, their curiosity seemed to win out, and after exchanging glances with each other, they too plunged into the river with great vigour.

「Hey, this Onee-chan’s a weirdo.」

「Attack, attack!」

「Mufufu, if you look down on an adult, you’ll be in for a world of hurt, you know? …Wait, why are you my enemy too, boy? Even though I helped you, you little traitor~」

「Nah, you didn’t help me, you just splashed water on me.」

With a perfectly reasonable tsukkomi, the boy who fell into the river joined the other three in targeting the high school girl.

「…Oi, she’s going that way.」

「After her!」

The sounds of running and laughter.

The boys all started to chase after the high school girl. Even though by right, what they were doing was the same thing as earlier, at some point the space had been filled with the sound of warm, sparkling laughter.

…Huh, what just happened?

Once they had had their fill, they all climbed out of the river.

At that point, I finally called out, and offered my sports towel. The boys passed it around among the four of them and casually wiped their hair. Then, saying「See ya, weird Onee-chan!」, they energetically ran off shoulder to shoulder in their soaking wet T-shirts.

After seeing them off, the girl turned to look at me. It goes without saying, but her blazer, hair, and face were all also soaking wet and covered in mud. Even her camisole was see through, but not to the point or in such a way that it felt erotic. Looking at her school badge, she seemed to be in the second year, a senpai.

「…A girl overflowing with grace, perhaps?」

「Nah, even viewed in the utmost favourable light, you’d be the ghost of a girl that drowned.」

「Do I really look that way?」

The girl laughed happily.

「Oopsies. Looks like this’ll have to go for dry cleaning. Do you have your gym clothes on you? I didn’t have P.E. today, you see.」

As she spoke, she tried to wipe her hair with the towel that had long lost its effectiveness after having absorbed four people’s share of moisture.

「…I do, but I sweated quite a lot so it stinks.」

I handed over the bag that held my gym clothes, upon which she stuck her face inside and sniffed it.

「You’re right, it really stinks. Smells like a cloth that was used at lunchtime to wipe some spilt milk.」

「Hey come on, it’s not that bad. Okay, I’m shoving you down there again.」

「I was joking. It smells of fabric softener and the sun. I’ll make sure to wash it before returning it to you, so do you mind if I borrow it? I’ll go back to school to change before heading home. As you’d expect, if I tottered back in the dim twilight with this kind of appearance, it wouldn’t be weird if I was accidentally exorcized.」

Despite saying that, it didn’t seem like she herself was particularly bothered about being wet and dirty.

「That’s fine by me… but in exchange, may I ask a question?」

「What is it?」

「Why did you do that? Normally, I think the right thing to do would have been to pull up the child that fell and lightly scold the others. That’s also what I was about to do…」

She placed a hand to her mouth, and with a「Hmm…」, pondered for a while. It looked like she hadn’t had any specific reason for her actions.

「I wonder, is it right if one of the kids goes back dejectedly, while the other kids go back feeling hurt after getting scolded? It’s so much nicer if all of them get muddy together, laugh, and go home shoulder to shoulder, don’t you think?」

「…Even if as a result, you, an unrelated person, also gets soaking wet? Even if you get ridiculed by the irresponsible strangers passing by?」

She looked straight into my eyes, smiling gently. For some reason, it felt like she could see all the way through me, deep into my heart.

「I don’t know why someone would care about those things, but…」

The gentle smile changed into a smile that was powerful, warm, and reached the core.

「It wasn’t like I really wanted to be seen by someone that I jumped in, you know? I did it because to me, that way seemed the most fun. …That’s why, what you’re saying is a bit off the mark.」

…The words didn’t come out of my mouth right away.

For most human beings, there exists an inseparable relationship between their words and actions, and the accompanying eyes of others.

I myself had considered helping out the boy who fell in the river, but would not have chosen such a method where in exchange I’d be looked at coldly by others… no, such a method hadn’t even crossed my mind.

However, this person had acted based on her own single feeling of「This is what I want to do」.

It was just as if to say, ‘It’s fine to just be myself…where I am is where I should be, and my own will is my guide’.

And the ending it led to was much, much more wonderful than I could have ever imagined.

「…May I ask one more thing?」

「Go ahead～」

She diligently wrung the towel, as if she wasn’t the least bit concerned about what I was thinking.

「Please, tell me your name.」

「─ It’s Nishino Asuka. Asuka as in “the wind that blows tomorrow”.」

Against the bright red setting sun, she smiled softly. Somehow, the wet hair that stuck to her cheeks, the mud-blackened head of her nose, and even the tiny toes of her bare feet which had been stripped of even her socks, all looked so precious and beautiful.

A breeze that still smelled of summer slipped between us.

Ever since that day, be it at school, or be it on the way home, I always found myself somehow searching for her figure.

The wind that blows tomorrow.

For she who lived freely with her own single will, I thought that name fitted very well.

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