Even so, we are living in the present

Chapter 33 – Anonymous White Envelope

Around 5 p.m.

Yuu was familiarizing himself with the members of the broadcasting committee and was being briefed on how to operate the equipment in the broadcast room.

From the dojo, Kyosuke hurriedly made his way to the classroom of 2nd-year second class.

In the midst of striving diligently for club activities, he had forgotten to bring a towel to wipe off his sweat and a bottle of water to rehydrate himself.

“Ah, this is the worst.”

While wiping sweat with the sleeve of his gym clothes, he retrieved a towel from the classroom locker, hung it around his neck, and drew in a deep breath.

His breathing calmed down after a while, and after wiping the sweat from his forehead with the towel and quenching his thirst with a bottle of mineral water, he left the classroom.

Although he was planning to head directly to the dojo, he changed his mind and walked down the hallway to check the entrance to see if Yuu was already there.

Hmm…?

When passing by the staff room, the elevator entrance came into view.

From the space where the shoe boxes of the first and second-year students respectively faced each other, a female student came running and brushed past him.

Even though the other person didn’t seem to be aware of it, Kyosuke distinctly recognized who she was.

Okino Yuka…?

There was no mistaking it.

Since Yuka was a student of the first class, it was not surprising that she came into the school from that spot. Yet, Kyosuke had a feeling that something was not right.

There was something out of the ordinary about it.

What happened to Yuu…?

Carrying this bad premonition with him, he quickly made his way to the shoe box once Yuka’s figure was out of sight.

After carefully inspecting one set of shoe boxes, he cast a keen eye towards the two sets of shoe boxes opposite each other.

Then, he caught sight of a pair of shoes – Yuu’s shoes.

Upon the carefully aligned sneakers lay a spotless white envelope.

Did that girl put it there?

Without a second thought, Kyosuke grabbed the envelope. Even though the envelope was highly suspicious, with neither an address nor a sender, he could feel the depth of what appeared to be a letter inside. He wanted to check the contents. Nevertheless, despite his curiosity, the envelope belonged to someone else. There was no way he could open it without approval.

With the envelope in his hand, Kyosuke decided to head for the broadcast room instead of the dojo.

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“How is it, Sonohara?”

Ayana, who was offering a one-on-one explanation of the equipment to Yuu in the glass-walled recording room, called out to him.

“…”

Yuu nodded as he operated the recording equipment, the power of which was not turned on, and silently reviewed how to handle it. Ayana smiled with relief at the other, who nodded as if to say, “I kind of memorized it.”

In this short time, it seemed that the members of the same year group had caught on that Yuu rarely communicates much, and both Yanagi and Sena, who had been watching them through the glass, beamed in mutual relief at each other.

Under their gentle supervision, Yuu steadily picked up the skills.

Even helping with the broadcast, which at first seemed like a chore to him, was no longer a nuisance once he started to memorize it.

The three members of the broadcasting committee treated Yuu like the person he was, accepting him for who he was, without asking him for reasons or circumstances regarding his eye patch.

Such an environment was probably one of the reasons why Yuu was able to stay there at ease.

“After you get used to it, why don’t you actually participate in the broadcast?”

Once the quiet time had drifted by, Ayana made a suggestion as if it had just occurred to her. To this question, Yuu gave a blank stare and a small tilt of his head.

“Let’s actually try operating the machine. What do you think?”

“…”

Yuu shook his head. Participating for the sports festival alone is fine. That was what he seemed to be implying by his reaction. Ayana, however, smiled positively and softly.

“I see, I see… Sonohara, if you feel up to it, you can always contact me!”

Her words resonated with full cheerfulness, and Yuu nodded half-pressured. Then came a knock at the entrance followed by Yanagi opening the heavy door.

“Sorry. Is Yuu here?”

Hearing the voice asking in a direct manner, Yuu looked up as if he was being played.

Kyosuke…?

“Yeah, he’s here.”

Yanagi answered in a fresh voice and invited Kyosuke in.

Kyosuke, dressed in his gym clothes, entered the broadcast room, and Yuu walked over to him as if lured by him.

“… Eh, Kyosuke? You’re in the middle of club activities, right? What’s wrong?”

“Well, yes, but… I found this on your shoes.”

Keeping his voice down, he informed Yuu and presented the white envelope he had picked up earlier to him. But disregarding the unlabeled white envelope, Yuu began to ask questions.

“… What are you doing at the shoe cupboard?”

“Well, I had a different purpose for it… uh, well, let me skip the explanation since it’s tedious… Anyway, there was no address or sender, and it seemed suspicious, so I brought it to you.”

Each word was assembled in haste. Throughout Kyosuke’s explanation, which omitted the reason for stopping by the elevator entrance, Yuu inclined his head and listened with a sense of not comprehending.

“For now, you keep it.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying but fine… I’ll keep it.”

Without receiving an answer to his question, in the end he only understood his final conveyance and accepted the white envelope handed to him as he returned the frank words.

“See you later, I’ll be waiting for you at the entrance to the elevator when you’re done.”

With these words, Kyosuke left the broadcast room restlessly.

“…”

As the three of them watched, the remaining Yuu silently put away the white envelope handed to him into his bag. The envelope had no writing on it. In any case, the idea of opening it when he and Kyosuke were alone made Yuu decide to do so.

“Sonohara, are you okay with the time?”

When the atmosphere had subsided, Ayana asked the question timidly.

“… It’s fine.”

With the same attitude, he nodded and began to learn about the operation of recording, which was now necessary to create PR materials for each class for the sports festival.