Last night, Henry, who had shut himself in his room skipping dinner, finally felt better after taking the digestive medicine he received from Joseph.
What Henry was curious about was where he had gotten the digestive medicine from.
By the time he received the medicine from him, the nurse’s office had already closed. And if he had gone into town to get medicine, Joseph would probably have only been able to return to school late at night.
He couldn’t help but be concerned. They bickered every day, but Henry and Joseph were old friends.
So he asked, but Joseph didn’t answer.
Saying, ‘It’s okay if you don’t know, isn’t it?’
Since Joseph was someone who rarely kept secrets, Henry thought there must be a reason he said that and didn’t press further.
Anyway, thanks to Joseph, Henry had recovered his condition and was now watching the 11th and 12th graders from the cheerleading club—two groups—practice the football game they would play on Powder Puff Day.
From the entrance, to the practice match, and to the exit.
It wasn’t easy to make them play a game that was perfectly game-like in such a short period of time.
Especially since football was a sport that revolved mainly around men, there were very few female students with experience.
However, the students had to work hard to create a game that was “worth watching” for outsiders who came to see the match.
This game was the main event of the festival, and the profits earned through the game would go to each club’s activity funds.
Not only the cheerleading club, but also the students from the football club participated enthusiastically—all for good reason.
First quarter. The juniors had the first offense. Hazel called out in a voice tinged with a bit of embarrassment.
“Junior 3! Junior 3! Set—hut!”
The person standing in front of Hazel threw the ball with clumsy hand movements. The ball didn’t fly in a straight line toward Hazel, who was standing behind.
Perhaps because it was her first time throwing the ball while crouched down, the ball flew off to the right.
Breaking Henry’s expectation that she would miss it, Hazel quickly ran and successfully caught the ball.
It wasn’t just Henry who thought Hazel’s reaction speed was good—exclamations of admiration flowed from here and there.
The person positioned as running back quickly broke out to the right.
Before the game, it was a strategy they had all discussed and planned together.
The defending seniors weren’t pushed back at all.
Unlike the juniors, it seemed many of them had experienced football through Powder Puff last year.
They closed the gaps and tried to appropriately block the path, and one of them blocked the student who was the running back.
For a moment, the running back holding the ball hesitated and quickly scanned her surroundings, but there was already no place to pass.
She turned toward the inside.
She intended to push past her opponent and break through. Unfortunately, due to lack of strength, she was immediately blocked.
In the meantime, somehow another defender approached and the two began to pressure her.
One by one, the seniors gathered and surrounded the one junior holding the ball.
Just as many offensive players also approached to help the running back.
Offensive players and defenders alike—everyone was chasing the ball.
The offensive team wanted to receive the ball from the running back or open a path for her to run.
The defensive team wanted to steal the ball and gain an offensive opportunity.
It instantly turned into a physical struggle.
Then, Hazel, who had become free as the defenders’ attention waned, reached out her hand from behind.
“Ayla! Here!”
Calling out the name of her friend who was the running back.
The running back, who didn’t miss this and confirmed it, extended her hand holding the ball toward where Hazel was.
Hazel firmly grabbed the ball. As soon as the running back confirmed this, she released the ball from her hand.
Clutching the ball, Hazel ran forward.
The defenders tried to hold the feet of the offensive players trying to block Hazel for even a moment longer, shouting.
“Hazel! Run! You can do it!”
To advance even a little more within this down, Hazel ran with all her might.
“Block her!”
“Hazel has the ball! Chase her!”
The seniors who spotted this also shouted in loud voices.
One senior who at least hadn’t been swept up in the crowd began to run.
To catch Hazel.
The distance between the pursuing defender and Hazel quickly narrowed in an instant.
Even so, Hazel didn’t look back. She only looked straight ahead and ran.
Because her teammates wanted her to. Because she trusted them.
Faster, don’t look back and run.
Shouts urging her on burst forth. The emotion that started as excitement was turning into tension.
Not too far away, the end zone was visible.
Just a little more.
It began to look like she could reach it if she just ran a little more.
Then.
A heavy weight rushed from behind her back.
The senior defender who had been sprinting at full speed couldn’t control her speed, and as a result, collided with Hazel.
“Ah!”
In a split second, Hazel let out a short scream and lost her balance, being pushed to the side.
The ball she had been gripping tightly slipped from her hand and rolled outside the field.
Just before Hazel also tumbled onto the dirt ground where grass wasn’t even laid anymore—
Thud—!
Someone firmly caught her body.
Hazel, breathing heavily, lifted her head to check who had caught her. A familiar face was looking down at her.
“Uh… thanks, Declan.”
At Hazel’s thanks, he nodded and released the slender arm he had been holding.
The senior defender who had pushed her, which ended up being the result, also ran to Hazel with a completely shocked face.
“Hazel! I’m sorry, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay.”
“You’re not hurt anywhere? I should have stopped properly…”
She looked at Hazel all over with a startled face.
“Oh, I’m really okay. You were just trying your best. And I didn’t get hurt, so it ended well.”
Hazel waved her hands and steadied her, who didn’t know what to do with her apologies. She also raised her voice to greet Declan, who was standing at a distance.
“Russell, thank you. If it weren’t for you, I would have almost made Hazel get hurt.”
At her greeting, Declan also briefly nodded his head.
As the atmosphere calmed down to some extent, David, who had been watching the situation nearby, approached and asked.
“Are you okay? Can you continue?”
“Yes! I’m okay. Really.”
“Okay. Then I’ll proceed for now. If you feel any pain while playing, let me know.”
“Come on, I’m not that weak.”
Hazel answered David’s concern with a cheeky smile.
After David smiled gently as always, he spoke to those gathered around Hazel.
“For now, the ball is out. Offensive possession has passed to the seniors. Each team should switch between offensive and defensive teams and go out.”
At David’s words, the field, which had been chaotic, was quickly organized.
The defensive team from the juniors and the offensive team from the seniors walked onto the field.
David, who was returning to continue refereeing, grinned and tapped Declan’s shoulder. It was a gesture of praise.
Right now, with only two days left until the event, if Hazel, who was the juniors’ quarterback, got injured, everyone would be in trouble.
David blew the whistle again. This time, practice continued with the senior team quarterback’s play call.
Since she was on the offensive team, Hazel, who was off the field, was watching the continuing game. Then at some point, she scurried over to Declan.
And then asked Declan about something she didn’t understand in the senior team’s game style. Declan was kind enough to listen to all those questions and answer them one by one.
Henry watched this entire scene from behind. As he watched Hazel and Declan conversing familiarly, Joseph’s voice was heard.
“Even though they broke up, they don’t seem to have any distance from each other at all, right?”
“…I talk with Hazel just fine like it’s nothing too.”
“No, that’s true but… Hazel didn’t have any lingering feelings for you from the start. You dated briefly too. But she dated Russell for a long time, so maybe that’s why. Just looking at her eyes, you can see she has lingering feelings.”
Henry didn’t answer. No, it would be more accurate to say he couldn’t.
He wanted to give even a half-hearted answer, but words wouldn’t come out as if a thorn was stuck in his throat.
Joseph, who had no way of knowing this, asked with a playful face.
“Did you deliberately put them together?”
This time too, Henry couldn’t answer.
With no answer coming back, Joseph seemed to think Henry found him annoying. He grumbled to himself for a while before closing his mouth.
Even until then, Henry’s gaze often turned toward Declan and Hazel, who were on the opposite side.
It was clearly the sight he had hoped for. Things were going according to plan. So why wasn’t he happy?
Henry didn’t understand himself. As always.
