“Yeah, Cheick. What’s up?”
“If it’s okay, could you eat lunch with me? I barely ate because Aiden was hassling me. I’ve lost my appetite too, but my mom really hates it when I leave food.”
Liam asked if I shouldn’t wash the food out of my hair first, so I fully agreed and went to the shower room. Then I held out my lunch box to Liam, who said he’d wait in the locker room, asking him to finish the food by then—only if it suited his taste—since there was a high chance lunch period would end while I was washing my hair.
“I’ll do that.”
I wasn’t confident I could keep my upper body from getting wet, let alone my lower half, when washing my hair, so I hurriedly took off my top and threw it into my locker. At that moment, I felt someone’s gaze, so I turned my head and met Liam’s eyes as he looked at me with a somewhat flustered expression, having stopped in the middle of opening the lunch box lid.
“You’re okay with it?”
“Hm?”
“That I’m… No, actually it’d be weirder if I acted like this.”
“Sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Liam said he was surprised that I was calmly taking off my clothes in front of him even though he’d come out to me.
“You’re a football player.”
“Yeah.”
“Which means you see naked male bodies in the locker room at least twice a day.”
“Right.”
“My body isn’t any different from the bodies you see every day, so there’s no reason to be uncomfortable. And unless someone’s a real pervert, they don’t automatically get excited or have weird thoughts just from seeing someone’s naked body.”
The conversation was getting long. I told Liam I’d go wash my hair before it got any later and entered the shower room. Then I quickly washed my hair and came out. Liam was still sitting there, but the contents of the lunch box on his lap hadn’t diminished at all.
“Sorry.”
I apologized to him, thinking maybe I’d interfered too much and asked him for something unnecessary. Liam, who’d been looking down at the lunch box, asked why I was apologizing.
“From your reaction this morning, I thought our home cooking might not suit your taste.”
“That’s not a food problem. You’re just a bit unusual for deliberately putting foods that should be eaten separately into bread.”
“You’re finally being honest.”
“Ah… sorry.”
Liam apologized to me and hurriedly devoured the contents of the lunch box. I sat next to him, glancing at Liam or fiddling with my smartphone to pass the time. Then the class bell rang, but since Liam showed no intention of moving, I decided to wait for him.
“The bell rang.”
Even though he was the one not moving, Liam said this while sitting in a still-rigid posture, his gaze fixed on the floor.
“We can’t go until you move.”
“Hey, Cheick.”
“Yeah?”
“I told you someone I like appeared. Remember?”
It was something I’d heard not long ago—there’s no way I wouldn’t remember.
“I do.”
“Originally I was going to try not to show it in front of them… but that seems to be getting harder.”
At Liam’s words, I thought about myself standing in front of Leda. It’s hard to pretend to be indifferent in front of someone you like. When I nodded in agreement, Liam turned his head toward me and smiled.
“It’s strange. When I’m only with you, what’s inside just comes out.”
Liam said it was probably because I was a good person. Then he handed over the lunch box that had become empty at some point.
“Sorry. I ate it all by myself.”
“No. Rather, thank you for eating it. What Aiden shared with me was enough.”
“To Aiden, I’ll…”
“He won’t stop until a new target appears. Thugs are like that.”
After convincing Liam, I hurriedly gathered my textbooks and went to the next class. I got scolded for entering class a bit late, but since it ended with a warning, I didn’t suffer any particular harm.
“Hey, bro!”
When I came out to the hallway after class, Nathan stopped me with a cheerful voice. He already knew about what happened between me and Aiden during lunch.
“That’s why I told you to come where we gather.”
Charlotte, who was next to Nathan, said reproachfully. I retorted that even if I was scared of Aiden, I didn’t think I could eat lunch in the cafeteria anymore.
“Does he think he got dumped by Olivia because of you?”
When Charlotte said she found it amazing that Olivia had even dated someone like Aiden in the first place, Alice, who’d been talking with Sophia nearby, chimed in.
“She didn’t date him because she really liked Aiden, right? She just dated him because his family background wasn’t bad and he’s on the football team.”
Alice said in a hardened voice, as if recalling a past connection, that for Olivia, whether friends or lovers, they were nothing more than accessories.
“…You’re really openly trash-talking someone?”
Olivia, who’d been heading toward the lockers, approached Alice and asked. Unlike Sophia, who flinched and shrank back in fear at Olivia’s appearance, Alice showed no sign of being flustered.
“You trash-talk me too. Would I be an idiot to just stay quiet? And you, keep your boyfriend in check. From what I hear, that gorilla seems to be going around making a racket trying to win you back and bullying my friend.”
Alice pointed at me and called me her friend. She was probably just taking my side to create an excuse to fight with Olivia.
“I’m not seeing Aiden anymore, you know?”
“Why? You and him are a perfect match. And you, do you think I don’t know you’re picking fights with Sophia when Leda or I aren’t watching? I don’t care what you think of me, but since you want to look good at least to Leda, I’ll tell you specially. She’s really out to get you for that.”
At Alice’s warning, Olivia headed somewhere with a pale face, and Alice watched the sight as if it were satisfying, then tapped my shoulder.
“You’re a bit disappointing. I heard you gave Aiden a blow before, but when I saw earlier, you ran away from him?”
“I’m originally scared of Aiden. What happened before was very exceptional.”
I told Alice that there are almost no kids at school who aren’t afraid of Aiden’s gang, then went to my locker.
After all classes ended, I went to the locker room to change into my track clothes and opened my locker, only to see an unfamiliar note stuck on the inside of the locker door. I unfolded the note without thinking, and on the slightly crumpled note was a simple phrase written.
I’m rly into u♡
…Who put this in here?
A confession note in my locker. In an uncertain state of whether it was better to know who sent it or not to know, I hid it in my bag for now and went out to the field.
If I asked the kids in the same club, I could at least catch a clue, but if I made too much noise about it, the person who put the note in might get embarrassed, so I couldn’t act rashly. Of course, if this was someone’s prank, the story would be different.
After the day’s schedule at school ended and I came home, I contacted Virgil, whom I absolutely couldn’t find all day. Where on earth had he been and what had he been doing all day?
Vigil
I was somewhere out of sight
I’m not trying to blame you, but I got caught by Aiden while looking for you and got totally wrecked
Vigil
I heard you got wrecked but didn’t know it was because of me
Would you mind checking out my feed if you have time?
Virgil doesn’t post on social media often. Even when he posts, it’s for self-satisfaction and he doesn’t want anyone to see it. I felt puzzled by Virgil’s request and accessed his feed.
Vigil Sorry, Cheiky.
On the social media where all posts had been wiped clean, one new post had been uploaded. I chuckled looking at that post, then discovered a comment on it and felt bewildered.
Liam Cheiky? Don’t tell me that’s a nickname for someone I know?
***
Liam? It seemed Virgil hadn’t reacted to this comment yet, and since I discovered it first, it seemed okay to comment instead.
Cheick Yep.
***
I left a short reply to Liam’s comment and returned to the chat room with Virgil. Then I asked how things went with Sophia.
Vigil
I was too scared to even talk to her
It’ll probably just end like this
If you don’t do anything, that’s what’ll happen
When I suggested to Virgil that he at least try to reconcile, a notification arrived that a new message came from another chat room. I pressed the notification popup to check the message.
Liam
Cheiky Rowan?
It’s Liam.
You called?
Liam
lol Did you make up with Virgil?
Seems like it
I didn’t know you followed Virgil too
Liam
It hasn’t been long. Should we make a group chat with the three of us?
If needed, do that
Me, Virgil, and Liam. I can’t imagine a scene of the three of us hanging out, but whatever. When I saw him last time, Virgil didn’t seem to dislike Liam either.
Liam
I want to get close to Virgil but I don’t know what he likes
What does he like?
All kinds of science fiction. Especially graphic novels.
Liam
You?
High jump
Liam
lol Really just that?
Do I only like high jumping? Thinking about it, it really was just that, so I answered accordingly.
