“Hm.”
Instead, he caused his perceptive upperclassman to worry needlessly.
“Fujita Mutsuki. Are you free after this?”
“What?”
“I would like for you to come with me for a bit.”
“I see…”
She took him to the tennis court.
This was a memorable location for them. Just before the previous year’s game tournament, they had used the court to practice without permission. They had not known each other back then, so it had been their one connection.
“The tennis team is off today, so we won’t be in their way.”
Just like that day, Ren changed into her tennis wear and beckoned him onto the court.
Since the team was not practicing, the fence had been locked, but she opened it with a mysterious thread – a FeTUS Springloaded – she pulled from somewhere.
They were entering without permission. Mutsuki smiled bitterly as he followed her in.
“Oh, we have no rackets. Just a moment.”
She reached for a nearby pile of old nets.
Another gold thread shined and the net changed shape. A mesh shaped like a water drop formed in the center and rubber tightened around the head portion.
It was a little misshapen, but it was a tennis racket.
“That’s convenient.”
“Hee hee. Overuse of Springloaded is frowned upon. Don’t tell Miss C or Miss E.”
She handed him one of the two she had created and raised her index finger in front of her nose.
It was a cute gesture for the normally cool girl. That Student Council President could seem quite straitlaced, but she was surprisingly unconventional when no one was looking.
“Now, let’s play. Everyone needs a break sometimes.”
There were a few balls still lying around, so they grabbed one and moved to alternate ends of the court.
“Here goes.”
She held her racket out toward him.
“Okay.”
The ball flew gently upwards. Mutsuki narrowed his eyes at the fantastical scene in the setting sun.
When the ball flew his way, it was moving at a decent speed, but she had held
back enough to make it easy to return. He had not played tennis for a year, but a light swing of the racket sent the ball back to her side of the court.
It was about half an hour until they had to leave school.
They were playing tennis for fun instead of as a competition, so they simply tried to keep a rally going.
…It was the same sort of game they had played in the name of practicing his receiving on that day.
“Oops! Oh, sorry.”
“Don’t worry about…it!”
Mutsuki’s instincts had yet to return, so he hit the ball back in an odd direction.
Ren seemed to have trouble chasing after it.
That forced her to swing her racket wide. The egg-shaped bust beautifully pushing out on her tennis wear gave a nice jiggle. And yet…
“There.”
The ball she sent back his way was still quite gentle.
Since she gave him an easy ball to return, the feeling gradually returned to his body. He stopped missing the ball and the rally was able to continue.
“This takes me back.”
They could even spare enough focus to talk.
“It reminds me of that day. Do you remember? Y’know, before last year’s game tournament.”
“I do remember. That was the only time I was able to talk with you, Senpai.”
“Hm? …Oh, that’s right. That was the only time we spoke directly like that.”
“?”
“Hee hee. It’s weird thinking that, other than that one time, these past ten days are the only time we’ve had a real conversation.” Ren sounded emotional. “I’ve been watching you for so long that I felt quite close to you. What we’re doing here feels like playing with a little brother…but I guess it’s different for you.”
“…”
His heart leapt a bit when she said she felt close to him.
He had had feelings for this Student Council President and she had actually had some sort of feelings for him. He could not help but blush after hearing that.
“That day was actually something of a disaster. When I got back, my teacher…Miss A was angry that I had played with you.”
“Really?”
“I wasn’t supposed to interact with you unless the Serpent’s Eye awoke. I had broken the rules.”
He did recall her saying something about breaking the rules back then.
Had she been willing to take that kind of risk to spend some time with him? He felt a heat in his chest. He was too embarrassed to say anything.
The mention of Miss A reminded him of his visit to FeTUS headquarters a month before. He had met Miss A, FeTUS’s central figure, then.
“Miss A did seem pretty frightening.”
“Mh? How is she frightening? It’s the fact that she almost never scolds you that makes it so bad. Although the way she looks kind of ruins that.”
“Hm? But she looked like a really dignified old woman.”
“Old wo-…oh, I see.”
Their conversation fell out of sync and their rally did the same. Ren quickly recovered, though.
The Miss A he had seen at their headquarters had been the kind of wrinkled old
lady seen in fantasy movies.
“She was frightening, wasn’t she? Hee hee. That was a very well-made appearance.”
Ren giggled and the boy tilted his head.
Then he recalled the girl he had met at the headquarters.
“Oh, right. Is Alice-chan doing well?”
“Mh…”
This time, Ren’s face stiffened.
“You know, that little girl. Alice Arc-chan, was it?”
“Y-yes…she’s doing well.”
“That’s good to hear. I’d really like to play with Alice-chan someday.”
“…I beg you, please stop adding the ‘-chan’.”
“What?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
The timing of their rally returned to normal and the ball’s back-and-forth stabilized.
However…
“But…then maybe I’m glad.”
“Hm?”
“If I couldn’t speak with you like this if the Serpent’s Eye hadn’t awoken, then I’m
kind of glad it did.”
“…Ah!”
Mutsuki’s comment caused the girl’s eyes to widen briefly.
It only lasted a second, but she swung her racket too late.
She twisted her body around and somehow managed to return the ball, but she hit it too hard. The ball shot right past the boy’s racket.
“Oh, sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
Mutsuki went to grab the ball from near the fence behind him.
Ren watched him with a dazed look that was unusual for her.
She watched the boy with a look that did not belong to FeTUS Knight Miss B or to
the dignified Student Council President.
“——————”
A moment later, her expression tensed.
“Hm? Senpai?”
When Mutsuki looked back, she was sitting down. Her racket had fallen by her side and she held both hands to the left side of her chest.
———Where her heart was.
“Wh-what’s the matter? Does it hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. It’s just…ugh…”
She did not seem to be in pain, but she wrinkled her brow.
She turned her back like she wanted to hide something and she held her hands very tightly to her left chest.
And then…
“All students must leave in 15 minutes. Please return home.”
The school speaker installed in the tennis court played the recorded message with
Oborozukiyo as the background music.
Ren got up when she heard it.
“L-looks like time’s up. That’s all for today.”
Her normal brisk demeanor had returned.
After Mutsuki left, Ren returned to the Student Council Room to change. She held
her left chest again and took a deep breath.
(I can’t let him know about this.)
Even if it had been to hide this, she was still embarrassed by how pathetic she had looked in front of him.
She always wanted to maintain her bold persona in front of that boy.
She was exhausted after bracing herself like that, so she sat on a nearby table.
(Fujita Mutsuki…)