Lightly ignoring Joseph’s words, Henry rested in bed the whole time.
Perhaps because his mind was complicated, time passed well. There was an uneasy feeling that he had forgotten something, but he couldn’t recall what it was.
When evening came, he endured the discomfort of his injured leg and went down to the cafeteria with Joseph’s help.
Since he couldn’t exercise for a while, he needed to at least eat well to maintain his weight, didn’t he?
Henry, who had been concentrating on his meal for quite a while, only realized much later what had been nagging at him the whole time.
The assignment that counted toward his final exam scores, which weren’t far off!
Before club activities started, he had left his assignment in the club’s locker room. Normally, he would have packed it up while organizing his things after activities ended, but today was different.
Because he had come straight to the dormitory due to his injury.
In the end, after eating, Henry headed alone to the locker room, now shrouded in pitch darkness, to retrieve his assignment.
Joseph, that bastard. He knew I had an assignment, he could’ve brought it with him, he cursed where the person in question couldn’t hear.
Bang—!
As he was about to close the door and leave, right next to him—he saw Hazel coming out of the cheerleader club’s locker room with an exhausted face.
Similarly, after closing the locker room door, she turned her head forward and showed a surprised face when she saw Henry.
“What? Henry?”
“Uh… Hi.”
“Why are you coming out of here? Didn’t you get hurt during the practice game earlier and go to the dorm?”
She pointed at Henry’s ankle, wrapped tightly with bandages, with a surprised face.
“Yeah, I did… but while eating dinner, I remembered I left an assignment that’s due tomorrow in the locker room.”
“Ah……”
Hazel nodded with an understanding face.
“What about you?”
Since it turned out this way, he couldn’t help but ask, so Henry also asked Hazel.
She answered with a bashful smile.
“Ah, we don’t have much time left until Powder Puff! I talked with the teacher about that. We need to teach you guys some cheerleading too. And we need to learn football.”
“Ah, right.”
Henry nodded.
Powder Puff was a day when male students who played football and female students who did cheerleading switched roles and competed.
It wasn’t an event all grades participated in, but mainly an event centered around 11th and 12th graders.
Mainly for the 10th and 11th graders who had to sit around sucking their thumbs watching them at this time, Platts uniquely held this together with a fundraising event.
As a result, excluding the year-end party, this became the largest event of Platts’ fall semester.
Henry was in 11th grade, now at the grade level where he could participate in Powder Puff. Moreover, since he was designated as captain upon the 12th graders’ retirement, Henry had to focus even more on running the event.
“By the way, what are you going to do about your injured foot? You won’t be able to participate, will you?”
Only after hearing Hazel’s words did Henry realize that with his foot in this condition, he wouldn’t be able to directly participate in Powder Puff.
The event was taking place this very Friday, after all.
“Well, it can’t be helped. It already happened. Since my leg is injured, even if I can’t participate in cheerleading, watching is fine. I’ll come when you guys are learning football.”
“That would be good. The 12th graders already did it last year, so I was worried we might lose without scoring even a single point.”
He thought it was excessive worry, but her expression was serious.
“Even so, the 12th graders are also beginners who only learned for a few days during last year’s Powder Puff. Plus it’s been a year. There won’t be much difference from you guys.”
“You think so?”
Not quite able to judge, Hazel tilted her head and asked.
“Right now, the 12th grade starters—aside from David, they’re almost all defenders, right? But what about us?”
“Almost all offense.”
“Right. You know well. Then even if not defense, at least you guys will be better at offense, won’t you?”
At Henry’s playful words, Hazel burst into light laughter.
“That’s a relief, then. I feel more confident since you’re guaranteeing it.”
Even though he made her laugh, when he actually saw that laughter, his mood somehow sank. He tried to draw an arc with the corners of his mouth that wouldn’t lift.
While pretending to be relaxed like that and walking alongside Hazel back to the dorm, Henry suddenly recalled what he had heard from Joseph not long ago.
That Hazel still had lingering feelings for Declan Russell.
“By the way, talking about my foot—were you at the practice game today?”
“Mm, well. Sort of.”
An ambiguous answer unlike the Hazel he knew. An expression that somehow seemed reluctant to answer.
Henry, knowing all of that, pretended not to know anything and deliberately brought it up. Casually.
“Did you come to see Russell?”
At that question, Hazel rolled her eyes awkwardly, then eventually answered.
“Ah, that’s… I broke up with Declan…… I didn’t go to see him, just. The kids asked me to go watch with them, so I tagged along.”
At her words, Henry widened his eyes as if surprised, then furrowed his brows and apologized.
“Sorry. I didn’t know. You two dated for quite a while, so I never thought you would have broken up.”
“Mm, no. It’s okay. I didn’t think I could date Declan for that long either.”
At Henry’s words, Hazel scrunched up her nose area and smiled. Henry intuitively knew here that Joseph’s words were true.
“Huh? You look like you still have lingering feelings for him?”
Henry still asked her while pretending not to know anything. Like someone genuinely worried about her.
Hazel’s face became gloomy.
“A little? …No, actually a lot.”
She let out a deep sigh.
“I think I got dumped because I made a mistake.”
“A mistake? What did you do wrong to him?”
A brief waver crossed her face.
“Hah, strictly speaking, I didn’t really do anything wrong though……”
“Then it’s fine.”
“Huh?”
That was all Henry was curious about.
Whether a motive had arisen for Declan to dislike her, or whether the cause of the breakup lay with her.
If so, it might be better not to help.
Hazel’s answer gave Henry a reason why it was okay to execute the “plan” he had just hastily put together.
“Should I help you out a bit?”
“With what?”
“You still like Russell, don’t you?”
At Henry’s answer, Hazel’s cheeks flushed red. It was an expression where embarrassment was clearly visible.
“Huh? Why would you? No, more than that. Hey, if you help me with my ex-boyfriend, Henry, the picture looks weird.”
“What does that matter? How long has it been since we broke up? It’s not like I haven’t dated anyone since then.”
“That’s true, but……”
“If you don’t want it, forget it.”
Henry shrugged his shoulders and walked away with wider strides. Hazel, making an “uh!” sound, rushed over and carefully said to Henry.
“If you say you’ll help, how would you help?”
“For this Powder Puff, I’m the one who decides who partners with whom to teach each other.”
“…Really? You’ll do that for me?”
Hazel grabbed Henry’s arm with both hands. Then, with sparkling eyes, she asked urgently.
Henry readily nodded.
“If you want.”
“You promised, right? For real?”
Hazel bounced up and down with joy. Henry smiled faintly and said okay, that he would definitely keep his promise. He could only escape after reassuring her several times.
Henry could barely calm her down only when they reached the dormitory.
And by that time, it seemed Hazel also remembered something she had forgotten in her joy.
“But did you make up with Declan? Is that why you’re helping? I saw today that he seemed to be taking you to the nurse’s office.”
“Ah… it’s because of that that I’m trying to help you.”
“Huh?”
“Lately, a few times, some things happened. And each time, that guy helped me.”
“He did?”
Hazel asked back, finding it curious what she heard from Henry. Henry showed affirmation with a smile on his lips.
“Yeah. Since I received help, I feel like I should repay it a bit.”
“Ah, you mean you’re repaying that by having Declan date me again? Anyway, if Declan comes to like me again, you’ll be the one who bridged the gap, right?”
“That’s right.”
After hearing Henry’s answer, Hazel had a thoughtful look on her face for a moment, then smiled awkwardly.
“It seems like too good a deal just for me rather than Declan. Actually, when we broke up, it already looked like he’d lost interest in me.”
“That’s something to think about after trying. Or should we stop?”
Hazel shook her head vigorously. It seemed that while worrying she might incur Declan’s hatred if he found out, she didn’t want to miss the opportunity.
“I want to try.”
“Say those words to Russell, not me.”
“Okay! Thank you so much! I’ll work really hard!”
She ran into the dormitory with a shy smile, saying she’d see him tomorrow. Henry let out an empty laugh, wondering what she was going to work so hard at.
