Minami no Hanashi : Yume - Adagio

Minami quickly descended from the stands to join Hiroto Takana.

"I hope you've at least finished warming up!"

"Yes. What do I do now?"

"Alright," Hiroto said, "Now we’re going to start with some coordination and muscle-strengthening exercises. After that, we’ll work on your speed and running technique."

The captain glanced at his notebook, thinking while Minami waited for his instructions. He looked up and saw Takunomi standing just behind Minami.

"No Asayoshi, no racing against Minami. I’m personally taking care of her training today."

A look of disappointment spread across Takunomi's face. Seeing this, the captain added, "Didn’t I assign you to Tsukabe’s group?"

"The new guy is doing great, so I let him take ch—"

"WHAT!? GET BACK THERE, YOU FOOL!" the captain roared, abruptly cutting off his explanation.

"Sorry!! I’m on it!" Takunomi shouted as he ran off, but not before calling out to Minami,

"Whatever happens, I’ll challenge you tomorrow!!"

Minami sighed in exasperation. The captain suddenly took on a calm and serious tone.

"I’m curious to see if your speed has changed. Before we do everything I mentioned, I’ll reassess it."

"Okay!" Minami replied eagerly.

The captain closely monitored every sprint. Minami’s performances were almost identical to last year’s. Once the evaluation was done, the captain continued the training session, starting with a series of coordination and muscle-strengthening exercises.

As Minami focused on her exercises, the captain left and returned with another club member.

"Stop there, Minami. Now we’re going to tackle your biggest weakness!" Hiroto declared with a mischievous grin.

"Oh no, not that," Minami replied with an exaggerated sigh.

"Exactly that—the three-legged race!" Hiroto announced, his eyes gleaming with excitement. He continued, "I’ve brought a partner you know very well. He had no trouble with these races last year and even had the best times with Asayoshi."

"Alright, I get it!"

"Work together. I’ll go check on the other groups."

The captain left the new duo alone.

The boy stepped toward Minami with a disappointed look, which she noticed but wasn’t surprised by, as if it were a common occurrence. "Are you going to start acting up now that I’m here?" she asked him.

"I thought you quit the club... That’s too bad," he replied.

Minami looked at him with disgust and continued, "Now that I think about it, you’re just a sore loser, Isao."

"It was better when you weren’t here. Why don’t you just leave the club?" he asked while stretching.

"And you? When are you going to run seriously?"

"I’ll leave that to Asayoshi."

Minami thought for a moment, then asked, "Hey! So you’ve been running for real since I skipped practice?!"

Isao looked Minami straight in the eyes and coldly responded, "Shut up, we need to run."

With a provoking smile, she replied, "So you really have no dignity, huh."

He stood in front of her, but he didn’t seem to be looking at her; he seemed lost in thought as if his mind was elsewhere.

-(Minami) "Shall we get started?"

Isao, holding his chin, declared, "Why am I even here?"

Minami responded with an obvious look, "Duh, for the three-legged race, you idiot."

He ignored her completely, continuing to talk to himself, "He’s probably going to ask why I volunteered... Oh well, I’ll just say she didn’t want to cooperate."

-(Minami) "You’re all really crazy in this club. What am I even doing here?" she wondered to herself.

-(Isao) "Anyway, I have no business here. You’re annoying." He said as he walked off.

Minami, standing still on the track, thought: Jerk!

After half an hour, Captain Hiroto Tanaka returned to find Minami running alone. Noticing she was being watched, she stopped and approached him to hear what he had to say.

"Having ego issues, Minami?" he asked with a playful tone.

"Not at all. Your friend ditched me!"

"Yeah, I saw that. He told me you refused to cooperate with him."

"That’s not true. I was ready to do the three-legged race," Minami replied quickly.

"No, no, no, Minami. I know you. You weren’t going to do the race with him. You were going to speed up, go faster on purpose, just to show him you’re the fastest."

Minami remained silent, reflecting on what he had said. Meanwhile, the captain continued,

"Look around you."

She looked up and around. "What about it?" she asked, confused.

"Don’t you notice that everyone else is on the other side, and you’re here, all alone?"

Minami stayed quiet, waiting to see where he was going with this.

"Because of your big mouth and ego in the race, people don’t want to approach you, for fear of being humiliated or rejected. You must have noticed that after the inter-school competition. Only Asayoshi still dares to challenge you repeatedly, even though you humiliate him every time."

Minami was lost in thought, as if she had just been slapped. The captain continued his monologue, "You run fast, that’s true, and no one can take that from you. You could even consider a professional career with no problem. But here, you’re in the Unmei High School track club. The club’s values are: hard work, teamwork, and success. You only check two out of three, which automatically isolates you from the group."

The girl’s expression showed she was realizing something. She no longer dared to look at the captain like she usually did. Seeing this, Tanaka felt sorry for her. "You know, Minami. Running, from your perspective, will always get you out of trouble. But if you don’t change, running, instead of strengthening your sense of teamwork and solidarity, will turn you into a selfish and egocentric person."

The captain fell silent, turning to observe the other members from afar.

After a few moments, Minami broke the silence: "You’re right. I need to change."

"Ah! Glad you realize it. But hey, you just got back today. I can see you haven’t lost anything in individual races. Personally, I don’t really have any more advice to give you. You’re the best in the club, by far."

"Don’t say that, you’ll make me cry! You sound like it’s all over!"

"Hahaha! The great Minami? Cry?" he replied mockingly.

"Stop it! I’ll keep training anyway!"

"Oh, you better. I’ll try to get in touch with a friend of my father’s to help you progress. He’s a former professional."

"Re-Really?!"

"Yeah. Not only will it knock down your ego, but it will also help you improve."

"Great, that’s just wonderful."

"So! While he’s not here, during the sessions he’s absent, you’ll be in charge of supervising the weaker ones. It’ll teach you a bit more compassion."

"Does he think I’m a monster now?!"

"Oh yes... And if one of them complains about your behavior... you’ll have to answer to me."

"Yes, yes."

"But it starts right now. You’ll take care of the group I left."

Minami followed the leader to meet the new members under her care. On the way, Tanaka confided something to her: "You’ll see, one of them is a bigmouth. Hahaha!"

"And you want me to be compassionate!? Racing is a place where you have to crush the competition!"

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Okay, Minami, but not here."

"Ugh..."

When they reached the group, Minami politely introduced herself. The leader left, and the young Katayama quickly noticed who the troublemaker was.

"A girl? Training us? Pff..."

"Am I dreaming? The last time I wasn’t taken seriously in this club was when I first joined. Do you have a problem with that... uh, I don’t know your name."

"My name? Leon! I’m Tsubasa Leon. If this is the track club, being trained by a twig like you, no thanks."

"Oh wow... Compassion, huh?!"

Minami tried to make eye contact with the others, but they all avoided her. It was as if they didn’t want to confront the bigmouth. But as Minami was about to put him in his place, a girl decided to break the silence and his reign: "Show some respect, you ignorant fool! She’s the one who won the cup at the inter-high school competition!"

"Hahaha, if a girl like her won a cup, I’ll have no trouble winning one too. If that’s the level, honestly..."

Minami smiled at the girl.

"Alright. You’re talking a bit too much, boy. It’s time to come back down to earth."

"Oh yeah?" he said provocatively.

"Go run five laps of the track at 100% of your maximum aerobic speed. That should calm you down a bit. If you don’t change your attitude, you can leave the club."

"No authority. I won’t go until you prove your right to tell me what to do."

"He needs a pass, this idiot?! I see. Stand aside then. I won’t prove anything to you. If you don’t want to, too bad. I won’t bow to the whims of a child!"

Minami acted as if he no longer existed. She focused on the other members of the group.

She then suggested a relay race training, where the group members would take turns running a certain distance around the track. This exercise would not only improve endurance and speed but also strengthen mutual trust and communication within the team.

"We will train as a team. Each of us will give our best to support the others and prove that we are capable of working together," Minami added, encouraging everyone to give their best.

The group members motivated each other and prepared to take on the challenge together.

After a few minutes, as the group was training, the leader came back to see how Minami was handling the troublemaker.

"So, did you bench him?"

"Oh no, I told him if he didn’t want to listen to me, he could just leave. I’m ignoring him until he gets it. If he refuses, then there’s nothing I can do."

"I thought you would’ve beaten him in a race to shut him up?"

"Hmm... Yes, I did want to, but I have to admit... I want to be a bit more like you."

"Like me? What are you going to confide in me?" he asked, curious.

"You don’t get respect because you’re the best runner. You get respect because you lead and teach us very, very well! And... I don’t want to prove my legitimacy just by crushing the rebels."

"Ohh, that’s very wise of you. The session is almost over. We’ll do a collective lap around the track soon."

"Okay!" Minami replied solemnly.

Asayoshi, passing by, noticed there was a member standing alone in Minami’s group. He didn’t know the boy’s personality, so, curious, he approached her for an explanation.

"What’s he doing over there?? Are you depriving a runner of running?"

They were close enough and spoke loud enough for Leon to hear.

"I don’t know who you’re talking about. There’s no one over there," she said, ignoring him with her gaze.

"Ugh... If you’re punishing him, there must be a reason."

Suddenly, Leon stood up as if to protest: "Punishing me? This wret—"

He was cut off by the leader’s whistle, signaling the last lap to be run together.

Leon’s eyes burned with rage; he felt humiliated. "Punished by this girl? What next?!"

The final lap was run with energy and good spirits. At the end, everyone headed to the locker rooms to change, except Asayoshi, who was waiting for Minami for a race.

"Come on, Minami! Let’s race!"

Something had changed in Minami. She no longer looked at him the same way. "No, I don’t feel like it today. Rest well, tomorrow we’ll have plenty of time." With those words, she entered the locker room. Takunomi Asayoshi couldn’t believe his ears. "Minami? THE Minami refused a race? Even worse, she didn’t put me down! What’s happened?"

Minutes passed, and Minami was the last to leave the club’s reserved area. She stayed in the stands to reread her book.

"So... I didn’t miss anything though."

After some time, it was nearly nightfall. She finally decided to head home. In the school courtyard, she spotted a familiar car in the distance. But before she could figure out whose it was, a voice called out to her.

"Oh, you b*tch!"

"Am I dreaming? Am I always going to be waited for? At the entrance and the exit?" She turned around to see who it was. It was Tsubasa Leon.

"Oh well. Of course, it could only be you," Minami replied in a tired tone.

"I don’t think you understand the situation," Leon said, walking toward Minami. His gaze was full of menace, and it was clear he harbored a deep animosity toward Katayama. He added, "You had a good laugh making me look like I was being punished, didn’t you?"

He grabbed Minami’s hand, but she swung her bag into his face, causing him to stagger back. Pain immediately showed in his eyes, which grew even more threatening. "You little b—"

Suddenly, footsteps were heard behind them. Minami turned around, and it was Katayama Shinsuke. "Who is this kid?"

"WHAT?! D-Dad?? What are you doing here?!"

"I finished later than usual, but when I got home, you weren’t there. So I decided to come pick you up. And so?" He had an aura so menacing that it chilled Leon to the bone. "Who’s this brat who dares to touch you?"

Minami realized she had to do everything to calm her father down. Leon, meanwhile, was speechless, waiting for an opportunity to leave. Young Katayama spoke up: "Actually, he’s a member of the track club."

"Oh, so he’s mad because you beat him, huh?" Shinsuke asked, glaring at Tsubasa.

"N-No. Actually—"

Tsubasa interrupted, exclaiming loudly: "She humiliated me by saying that I was being punished by her! When in fact—"

"Who asked you to speak?"

Silence fell. Minami didn’t know what else to do to calm her father down. "Well, too bad. I tried."

Shinsuke glanced toward his car. "Sanae? Bring Lapis."

"Sanae is here?!" Minami exclaimed.

"I—I’m not sure I can hold him!!"

Seeing Sanae’s response and fear, Shinsuke whistled. Suddenly, a dog appeared, its muscular frame emerging powerfully from the shadows. Its fur was jet black, gleaming in the light, and its sharp eyes scanned every movement. With a firm bark, it dashed to Shinsuke’s feet, holding its own leash in its mouth, ready to act as a deterrent. Shinsuke spoke again: "So you run fast? I can see you’re arrogant. Get up and walk toward the entrance."

Seeing the dog, ready to leap at him, Leon did as he was told.

"I don't discipline kids. That’s for your parents to do. However, Lapis is a dog I use at work. He only attacks those who show hostility toward people he knows."

Fully aware of what was about to happen, Tsubasa Leon started running as fast as he could. Seeing this, Minami hid in the car, overwhelmed with shame. "This is exactly why Dad shouldn’t come to school!"

"Good, keep ahead," Shinsuke said as he bent down to unleash his dog. "Go ahead, Lapis, chase him. Show him who's the fastest."

A few hundred meters away, Lapis had already overtaken Leon. When the latter saw that the dog wasn’t trying to bite him but merely wanted to surpass him and head back, he resumed walking. "Minami, huh? I won’t forget this."

Later in the car, Minami, who hated dogs, sat in the back with Sanae, while Lapis was seated in the front.

"Dad, don’t ever do that again! He was already scared, you could’ve just told him to get lost!"

"Did you see how he grabbed you? He didn’t look like a friend at all. And I was being kind."

"Fine, whatever. Anyway, what are you doing here, Sanae? Weren’t you supposed to head home?"

"Tsuka and Taiya held me back! They insisted I dance with them, but... I'm not very good at it. On my way home, I saw Mr. Shinsuke with Lapis. When I heard they were coming to pick you up, I decided to tag along."

"Oh, I see. I have to tell you about what happened today!"

"I'm all ears!"

Minami then recounted everything that had happened, from beginning to end. Laughter was exchanged, and memories were shared. However, something that had been bothering Minami resurfaced.

"There's this guy named Isao."

"Isao?... Oh, the one you say is the second fastest?"

"Yeah, well, that’s the problem. When I tell the leader that he’s faster than Asayoshi, he tells me no. But I know! I've raced both of them!"

"There must be a reason, right? Believe me, if the principal made Hiroto the leader, it’s because he’s got a sharp eye," Sanae replied confidently.

"Yeah, sure, I’m not questioning his judgment, but... still, I don’t get it."

As Minami began to think deeply, Sanae chimed in, "Don't stress over it! Tanaka’s right, you do have a bit too much ego. Maybe you're just wrong, Minami."

Suddenly, a thought struck Minami like lightning. "Wait... Oh my God!"

"Huh?"

"Since I always humiliate the second fastest runner, Asayoshi, he loses to Isao on purpose so he won’t be humiliated as badly as the sports freak!"

Minami burst out laughing and added, "Oh, that guy's ego is so big he’s willing to let someone else take second place!"

Sanae exchanged a glance with Shinsuke through the rearview mirror. Both thought the same thing: "She’s the one saying that?"

Minami stopped laughing and resumed more seriously, "That’s what frustrates me so much about him. He’s not running at his full potential."

"Yeah, just to avoid giving you that satisfaction."

"Exactly!" Minami replied energetically.

Sanae chuckled quietly, "Seeing this side of you is kind of strange."

"Yup, I’ve been told to change that anyway. It’s true that racing is supposed to be fun... If it's only fun for me, and I end up turning others off, what's the point?"

Sanae couldn’t help but smile at this conclusion. She teased her friend: "You're not like that with me, though. When we raced, I never felt humiliated or anything, quite the opposite! You were really attentive to me."

"Yes! But you know it’s not the same with you."

After this conversation, the car parked in front of Sanae’s house. She got out, thanking Minami and Shinsuke for the ride.

Next, they headed to a specialized boarding house for working dogs, where they had planned to leave Lapis, as usual. It was his home. Shinsuke made sure everything was in order before entrusting the dog to the caretaker.

Finally, they headed home, still chatting about the events of the day.

After a long day filled with emotions, Minami finally returned home. She quickly washed up and rushed to her desk. The day's events replayed in her mind as she reviewed the notes she had taken during practice. She pondered how she could apply Chief Tanaka’s teachings to become a better teammate and a more compassionate leader.

Suddenly, her gaze fell on a framed photo sitting on her desk. It was a picture of her track team at a previous competition, where they had won first place. She remembered the pride and accomplishment she felt that day, not just for her own performance, but also for her teammates’.

That was the true essence of running: not just about speed and competition, but also about teamwork, mutual support, and self-improvement. She vowed then to do everything she could to embody these values in her future training and competitions.

Then, she got up from her desk, determined to do her best to become the best version of herself, not only as a runner but also as a friend and teammate.

But just as she was in the zone, Narumi suddenly burst into the room: "It’s me!!!"

"Oh, Narumi!! Take it easy!"

"Oops, sorry, hehe. I have so much to tell you, it was amazing! My friends loved it, even though at first they weren’t really... how do I say it..."

"Enthusiastic?"

"Yeah, that’s it!"

Minami settled comfortably on her bed, leaving room for Narumi to join her. What followed was a long conversation filled with laughter and surprise.

After about half an hour of talking, Shinsuke gently interrupted to remind his daughters it was time to eat.

Once they got to the table, as usual, the girls eagerly awaited to see what their mother had prepared this time. Narumi brought the dish to the table, and a look of surprise crossed Minami’s face. Shinsuke noticed and asked her, "Is something wrong, Minami?"

"Ma–Mom?... Sorry. I’m not eating mushrooms tonight."

Shinsuke glanced at Azumi with a look of surprise. He knew his daughter wasn’t particularly picky about food, so this sudden reluctance caught them off guard.

"Why not, Minami?" Azumi asked, curious.

"Oh, this is the perfect chance for me to make you a meal! It’s been so long since I’ve cooked for you," Minami thought, trying to remember the last time she had done so.

Azumi, worried she had missed something, asked insistently: "Since when do you not like mushrooms?"

Minami took a deep breath and began to recount the dream she had that morning. Azumi, amused, understood why her daughter didn’t want to eat mushrooms. After about twenty minutes, Narumi returned with a simple dish that was enough to fully satisfy her sister. She knew her tastes perfectly.

After dinner, Minami went back to her room, thanking everyone for the meal and wishing them a good night.

Once in her room, she picked up her usual book and began reading it from the beginning. After a few hours, fatigue began to overtake her. The book slipped from her hands. Just as she was starting to fall asleep, she felt something: "Oh no... again? Not when I’m just about to fall asleep..."

Minami stayed awake for a few more minutes, but eventually, she drifted off with that strange feeling lingering.

END OF CHAPTER