Even so, we are living in the present

Chapter 30 – In Homeroom

Mid-June.

As always, in the morning, the bell signaling the start of the school day rang.

“Yes, be in your seats!”

When the homeroom teacher showed up in the classroom of the 2nd year class, the customary shouts reverberated forth. All the students scurried to their seats and directed their attention to the platform. The morning homeroom had begun.

“As we have discussed several times previously, I would like each of you to choose a sport in which you will participate for the sports festival.”

A voice resonated firmly to the back of the room when a male teacher announced this to the students. Although the primary complaint was that it was a “hassle”, the homeroom teacher paid no attention to it, asserting that this was a standard routine.

“Teacher, is Saiki not able to come?”

One of the female students posed the question. Then another murmur of “Speaking of this, he’s not coming huh.”

“Hmm, I heard from his family that he’s staying in the hospital for a while, so it may be difficult.”

Upon hearing this response, the atmosphere in the classroom became slightly gloomy. Sensing that the atmosphere remained the same after a while, the homeroom teacher clapped his hands together as if to refresh the mood.

“But I hear he’s doing well, so he can come back sooner or later. Come on, let’s all do our best to make up for Saiki.”

Little by little, the brightness within the classroom was lifted by these encouraging words. Even Kyosuke and Yuu, who were watching from the very back of the room, had their faces faintly torn up.

Saiki Tomoya was well-loved. Even though it was a regret that Tomoya, who seemed to be the most hyped up when it came to sports festivals, could not participate, the class felt that this was a moment of enhanced unity.

“Now, the competitions that will be held this time are…”

The homeroom teacher wrote out the competition contents on the blackboard accompanied by the sound of chalk. In this school, there was no particular board member dedicated to the sports festival, and the student council members were in charge of organizing the event. To ease the burden of the student council members, the homeroom teachers for each class handled matters prior to the decision of “which competitions each student in each class will participate in”. Following the decision, each student and each committee will be responsible for practice and preparation, and the teachers will serve as their supervisors.

“… Um.”

Amidst the names of the competitions being written on the blackboard, Yuu was the one who raised his hand. In the middle of writing, the homeroom teacher paused and glanced back. The whole classroom took notice of his remark, for this was too rare.

“Sonohara, what’s going on?”

“… I’m not allowed to compete.”

Without paying attention to the gazes in the classroom, he cast his gaze straight to the platform and announced it, while his homeroom teacher examined the materials on the platform as if he had just reminded of something.

“Ah, that’s right. Sonohara is supposed to be in charge of broadcasting. I’m sorry for not telling you.”

Being blind in one eye, the handicapped Yuu had voluntarily informed in advance that participation in the competition would not be possible. His right arm, which had been fractured, has improved already. After two examinations and surgeries, the prosthetic eye that the doctor had inserted in his left eye was removed, and an ordinary artificial eye for daily use was installed. Underneath the eye patch, he already has an eye that can be exposed with no problems. However, since he wished to wear the eye patch, he remained wearing it.

His right eye stared at his homeroom teacher, who seemed to be looking for something.

“…?”

As Yuu silently tilted his head, his homeroom teacher walked up to him with a printout in his hand.

“I hope you can do the announcements during the sports festival, the duties, and all that sort of thing.”

After saying this, he handed Yuu the printout with the job description.

“…”

From the side, Kyosuke also sneaked a glance at the printout as Yuu read it in silence. The work did not seem to be that demanding. While the broadcasting was supposed to be handled by the broadcasting committee, the committee members were supposed to participate in some kind of competitions as well.

Therefore, a request has always been made for a student to be in the broadcast room at all times.

“… I understand. I’ll do it.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Upon Yuu’s nod, the homeroom teacher joyfully thanked him, and returned to the platform.

“…”

“… Yuu?”

Kyosuke approached the other, whose expression was less than convinced, despite his nod.

“… I’ll be separated from Kyosuke.”

“…”

The sulky words sounded terribly cute, and Kyosuke was speechless and swallowed his gulp. Even though he was dissatisfied with the task, he wanted to send words of admiration to the other party who had agreed to it.

“Don’t worry, I’ll see you in between competitions.”

“Yeah…”

While the two of them were speaking, the competitions in which each of them would be participating were being decided.

“Ichinose, what about you?”

Kyosuke hurriedly checked the blackboard when his homeroom teacher unexpectedly called out to him. The other students were already in front of the blackboard, choosing which competition they would join.

“Ah, let’s see…”

Without leaving his seat, he looked at the blackboard and searched for available competitions. The most unpopular ones were relays and long-distance running. Plus, long jump and volleyball.

“I go with… long jump.”

“Okay, I guess it’s settled.”

It was an instant decision. Actually, he wanted to do kendo, but since it was never part of the competition, it was inevitable. For Kyosuke, who was a man of both literary and martial arts, he can handle any of them. However, he felt that long jump would be the easiest to do, rather than long distance running, requiring a long time, or competitions that called for teamwork.

It was a so-called elimination method.

“I would have liked to see Kyosuke do the long jump.”

It was another sulky comment. The expression on his face was so adorable that it captured Kyosuke’s heart.

“What a cute guy.”

Kyosuke unintentionally uttered the words he was supposed to mutter inwardly.

“… Hmm?”

Yuu’s right eye shot a murderous glare at Kyosuke.

“No, I mean…”

He tried to explain himself, but it was already too late.

For the other party, “cute” was a forbidden word. The fact that he was cute was true, and he had been adored since he was a child, yet as he grew older, he began to dislike that word.

A boy as cute as a girl.

The constant mention of this transformed him into a sourpuss person because it didn’t fulfill his desire to be regarded as a man. Thus, his lack of emotional volatility and his cold attitude towards everyone were the outcome of his instinct to not be referred to as cute.

Kyosuke’s face turned bitter as he spat out those words.

“… My bad.”

“Hmph.”

When Yuu turned away with his cheekbones in an overtly indignant manner, he pressed his forehead and sighed.

“… Seriously, you’re not so cute.”

He spun a soliloquy so that the other could hear him. Then Yuu turned to Kyosuke with a pleased smile on his face.

“Yep.”

“…”

If there was one word that the other person didn’t like, just throw a word in response to it. To the simple person whom such things can be dismissed, Kyosuke let out a laugh, averting his face towards the window so as not to be detected by the other party. Neither of them anticipated that during the preparation period for the upcoming sports festival, they would be caught up in a case──