Then want to meet on Saturday?
When I suggested that, Liam, who had been sending replies right away until then, took time deleting and rewriting his message.
Liam
What about your grounding?
I can make an excuse that my PTJ ended late that day
Liam
Sounds good. When does it end?
Around 5 PM
Liam
Our team’s game starts at 6
Want to come watch?
If you’re comfortable with it
Liam said he’d give me a game ticket and called me out to the lawn in front of school the next day. In the flower beds surrounding the lawn, tulips, the most common flowers blooming at this time, dazzled the eyes, showing off their myriad colors and forms.
Below the long-stemmed tulips, short forget-me-nots were blooming wide with their small blue petals, holding dew drops. While I spent time observing the flowers, Liam appeared at some point and asked what I was doing.
“Looking at flowers.”
“Flowers? Oh, you were looking at tulips?”
Liam asked, shifting his gaze toward the flower bed.
“There are forget-me-nots too.”
“You’re right. Looking closely…”
Liam muttered lowly while looking at the flowers, then looked at me. And asked.
“Don’t the same flowers look prettier when you see them in spring?”
“I think so.”
“I guess that’s why they say flowers have their seasons.”
“It’s been too long since spring started to be seasonal though.”
At my words, Liam laughed dryly and suddenly held out a game ticket. After I received it, I said I’d try to go watch the game without being too late.
“Thanks. But do you like looking at flowers?”
“I don’t know.”
“Among the places I know, there’s a decent spot for flower viewing. What do you think?”
When Liam asked, I answered that it wouldn’t be bad to go if I had time, then entered the school building first.
Liam Blake This is unbelievable.
Today’s new post on Liam’s feed was as hard to decode as yesterday’s. Probably because I’m not close with him.
***
Taking advantage of my quick movements, I work as a bus boy at a fine dining restaurant in downtown near my neighborhood.
Thanks to the sports scholarship from the school foundation and the prize money I barely scrape together from competitions, I’m not desperate enough to need part-time work to survive, but to get into a good college, you can’t just have a high GPA, you can’t just be good at sports—you need experience gained through various activities. Above all, if I just laze around at home, neither Mom nor Dad would look kindly on it, and I also think it’s good to go out and work like this about twice a week.
Virgil and I are busy calling them a shithead group and whatnot, but the Moonbeam Rangers are a popular football team, and their game tickets—even if the game is a light, friendly match like today’s—sell frighteningly well. Having received such a precious ticket, I planned to diligently watch the game and timed it to arrive right when the game started, but work was too busy and my shift ended late. As a result, I could only settle into my seat and start watching when the game had progressed all the way to the 3rd quarter.
A group of hulking figures constantly crossing the playing field, grabbing the olive-shaped ball and rushing this way and that. To someone like me who knows nothing, that’s all I see, but as long as you can read the scoreboard, you can figure out who’s winning and losing, so it’s fine either way.
Since I arrived late and the stands were nearly full, I couldn’t get a good seat, but even from this far away, I can tell which one is Liam. He’s the one who looks especially busy in a field where everyone’s already busy.
All quarters ended, and with a final score of 52:31, the Rangers won. When the game ended, Liam took off his head mask and bumped shoulders with his teammates or shared complex high-fives, sharing their joy. His sweat-soaked hair sparkled in the lights brightly illuminating the stadium.
I decided to wait in the stands so Liam could savor his moment of victory, but he high-fived all his teammates, then looked up precisely at where I was sitting. As if he had something to say right away.
Should I go down there and talk? That’s fine, but I’m concerned about Aiden next to Liam. If that guy’s around, he’ll definitely pick a fight.
I hesitated for a moment, then went down to where Liam was. As I walked over, Liam quickly came to stand in front of me. He was smiling very brightly—which makes sense since they won the game.
“Congratulations.”
When I gave him a bland congratulations, Liam said thanks and roughly fixed his sweat-soaked hair. Then he asked an absurd question—whether he smelled a lot like sweat right now.
“It’s a smell I’m always giving off anyway.”
“Haha, is that so? Anyway, I’ll shower and come out quickly, so don’t go anywhere and wait.”
“Okay.”
Liam ran toward the locker room with his teammates, and some time later, Aiden, who had been chatting with friends, spotted me and stood in front of me looking like an angry beast.
“What are you? If I see you one more time…”
“Don’t worry about it. On a day like today, do you have time to get worked up over an idiot like that? Let’s go quickly. Looks like Olivia and them already went somewhere.”
At his friend’s persuasion—cheerleader Olivia had been enthusiastically cheering “Go Rangers” throughout the game—Aiden growled and backed off, and I vowed that next time, even if Liam begged me to come, I wouldn’t come watch a Rangers game. Today he said he had something important to say, so I’ll give him a pass just this once.
“Hi.”
As I stood feeling slightly uncomfortable, someone greeted me with a thin voice that didn’t match their generous build.
Nathan Pitt. The largest lineman on the Rangers and seems good-natured, but his excessive cheerfulness also makes him feel hard to approach. He’s often seen hanging around with Charlotte, one of Leda’s friends, but she wasn’t visible nearby at the moment.
“Hi, Nathan.”
“Hi. So it was you? The high jump champion.”
High jump champion. It’s not wrong, but it’s definitely an uncomfortable title.
“…Why?”
“No, it’s just that a certain guy I know seemed to find you very impressive.”
Nathan said in a quite sarcastic tone.
“I see.”
I replied in a toneless voice and gave Nathan congratulations too. Then I asked if they weren’t having an after-party since the team won the game.
“Of course we are. Very rowdily.”
“Then shouldn’t Liam have to attend?”
“We agreed to excuse guys who have prior commitments, so it’s fine.”
“Not as strict as I thought.”
I felt like the Rangers’ victory after-party would be something you’d have to drop everything to attend.
“Right? We’re quite different from how we look, you know?”
While spending time chatting with the clown-like chatty Nathan, the changed Liam appeared on the field. As soon as he saw Nathan, he flamboyantly displayed their friendship with exaggerated hand gestures.
“You were amazing today, Nathan. Without your blocking, it might’ve been dangerous.”
“Of course it would’ve been. You worked hard too, man.”
I blankly watched Nathan and Liam exchange hand gestures, then slapped palms with Liam’s suddenly extended hand. Then I questioned myself about what meaning this high-five had when I’m not even a Ranger, before quickly stopping.
“Anyway, I should get going. See you later.”
Right after parting with Nathan, Liam chose a passage not many people use and left the stadium. Then he asked me if I’d ever had a picnic at night. I replied that I never had and waited for what he’d say next.
“If it’s okay, want to get Chinese food to-go and take it to my house to eat? Nobody’s home.”
“…Okay.”
Liam said he knew all about a certain Chinese restaurant that specializes in takeout. I asked him to choose what I’d eat too, then went to get my car.
“Where should I go?”
When Liam, holding a bag of food, got in the car, I asked while watching him fasten his seatbelt.
“I’ll tell you. Leave it to me.”
As I drove following Liam’s directions, I felt increasingly strange as time passed. If we go this way, we’ll reach the slums.
Even as the scenery beyond the car window changed unfamiliarly, Liam just calmly gave directions. I drove deep into the slums while reading his expression. This is a place where Mom and Dad thoroughly taught me since childhood that it’s a den of criminals and I shouldn’t even set foot there.
“We’re here. Fortunately, the food doesn’t seem to have gotten cold.”
When the car reached in front of a worn-out trailer, Liam said with a smile. After telling me where to park the car, he naturally entered the trailer. I asked if it was okay to follow him into the trailer, and he said it was perfectly fine.
“…Don’t you want to laugh at me?”
Liam, who had been rummaging around the trailer, looked at me deliberately and asked.
“The guy who always acts so superior at school actually lives in a beat-up trailer in the slums.”
He said I could spread the rumor to the kids, so I indicated I didn’t want to do that and looked at the night scenery flickering beyond the trailer window.
“Mom and Dad lied to me.”
“Hm?”
“My mom and dad said only dangerous people live in this neighborhood. But you don’t look like a dangerous person.”
“Hahaha.”
Liam laughed dryly, then took out things like a picnic mat and lamp from the cupboard. Then he looked at me and asked me to take out two cans of soda from the fridge. Inside the small refrigerator were just soda and a few bottles of beer, and a box containing carelessly abandoned Chinese food.
“Let’s go out now. Isn’t it stuffy?”
Just as I took out the soda from the fridge, Liam asked. I nodded and followed him outside. He spread the picnic mat around the trailer, placed the lit lamp on it, then took out chow mein and fried rice and such purchased from the restaurant.
“There are usually lots of flowers around here, but you can’t see any now, right?”
Liam, who had been skillfully moving his chopsticks while eating chow mein, asked looking very embarrassed. It’s definitely night, so nothing’s visible except around where the lamp illuminates.
“You’re right.”
“Night isn’t a good time for flower viewing.”
“Mm.”
