The rest of the day came and went as usual, much to my relief. In accordance with my scheduled routine, I attended all my morning classes, ate lunch at my desk because I couldn’t be bothered to go to my usual spot, took a nap, then went through all my afternoon classes.

I generally don’t mind most of the mandatory classes, except for gym class. Second years get the choice between taking volleyball or soccer as their class activity. Since I don’t particularly enjoy the thought of running around in a big field while chasing a ball around and potentially colliding with other people, I ended up going with volleyball.

That being said though, volleyball is only marginally not as bad. I’m not an athletic person and I’m not interested in sports either, so gym class is just a sore spot in my daily routine. What makes this class even worse is that no one wants to team up with me since I suck so bad at the sport. So I always end up practicing serving and catching on my own by the corner of the court. And because of that, I somehow ended up being seen as the weird guy who’s always alone.

Don’t you just love how stupidly predictable society works?

I’m just glad that classes are finally over for today and I get to go home. As I exit the second school building and bask in the warm orange glow of the setting sun, I see a familiar face cleaning up the leftover soccer balls on the courtyard. Even while doing such a menial task, Kurebayashi still manages to look refined. And I don’t even think she’s doing it on purpose. It must be her default body setting or something.

I continue walking on the side of the path, observing Kurebayashi as she goes on to put the balls away and then proceed to fold up the nets. I briefly wonder why she’s doing this, but that’s when I remember about her being a school volunteer. So, is this the kind of volunteer work that’s involved? It’s basically exploitation of a minor through unpaid manual labor. Maybe I should call the police.

While entranced in my own thoughts, I failed to notice the rogue tennis ball heading towards me. My left foot steps on it and I immediately lose my sense of balance and feel myself shifting, and eventually falling, on my side.

Fortunately, my instincts kicked in at the right moment and I caught my fall using my left arm as a crutch.

“Oh no! Are you okay?”

I hear Kurebayashi call out. I look towards her direction and see her running towards me with a concerned look on her face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just stumbled a bit.”

“Are you sure? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

She asks me as she reaches out her hand to check on my arm but stops midway, probably realizing that she shouldn’t touch another person without asking first. Not that I would have minded though.

“I’m not hurt. Like I said, it was just a stumble.”

“That’s a relief then. I’m terribly sorry, I should have been paying more attention while I was cleaning up.”

I glance at the pile that Kurebayashi was working on and see that the bag containing tennis balls has collapsed on the ground, scattering them on the ground. Looks like this one particular ball had a vendetta against me and made it its mission to end me.

“It’s nothing that you should apologize for. If anything, it’s my fault for being a dumbass who daydreams while walking.”

That’s definitely not something a normal person would say. Why do I inexplicably lose the ability to hold a decent conversation when I talk to someone? Well regardless of that self-deprecating remark, it seemed to get a chuckle out of her so all’s well that ends well.

“Still, I’m glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done if you had gotten injured.”

“If that did happen, what you would have done is take me to the infirmary and have the nurse patch me up.”

“But it’s already after school hours, so the nurse probably won’t be there to attend to you.”

In that case, you would have to be the one to take care of me. Those are the words that almost escaped my dumb mouth. This girl has the scary ability to completely crumble my filter and reduce me to a bumbling mess. Thankfully, I was able to catch myself and prevent a disaster from happening.

“That’s awfully convenient for the nurse then. If a student were to drop dead just 1 minute after school hours, she would remain free from any responsibilities.”

Kurebayashi once again laughs a bit at what I said. Even the way she laughs is so refined. I wonder if she was trained in the art of aristocratic behavior at a young age to be able to act like someone from Downton Abbey.

“You say the funniest things with such a serious face, Sugiyama-san.”

She says as she picks up the tennis ball I tripped on.

“Once again, I’m terribly sorry for almost injuring you. I’ll make sure to do a better job so it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Do take care on your way home.”

She gives a quick, courteous nod before walking back to the field to pick up the other escapee tennis balls.

If this were a sort of romance film, I would put down my bag and go over to Kurebayashi to help her pick up the tennis balls. This would then lead to a cheesy moment where we would touch each other's hand while picking up the last remaining ball on the ground. Our eyes would meet and we’d get lost in each other’s gaze; two young souls reveling in the glow of the setting sun, simply staring and taking in the moment.

Luckily, that isn’t the reality I’m living. I’m free to walk away and continue on the rest of my day with no further delays to my routine.

And that’s exactly what I did.