V1C2 Part2

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2. DRACKYWhere’s Yorimichi’s moped

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Let’s go back a little. It happened last September after

summer vacation, so was that already nine months ago? It was at a time when I lived

in a much more stubborn, headstrong and serious way than I did now.

The

real boundary line between middle school and high school was unmistakably the

summer vacation of the first year of high school. That was what I was convinced

of after looking over the girls in my class, who were slightly more refined and

stylish compared to the first semester. Starting with the sudden increase in

the number of girls who shortened their skirts—which had been in line with

school rules during the first semester—they pierced their ears, hairstyles were

no longer only unsophisticated bobs or long hair, but, I’m not sure, somehow

the cut of their hair ends was stylish and their bangs fell diagonally across

their face, and I kept hearing them talk about stuff like going to the pool

with their boyfriends or their first times, whether I liked or not.

On the other hand, as for me and my teammate Ayano, we were

immersed in club activities almost everyday during summer vacation, so we had nothing

to do with those kinds of flighty summer experiences. Therefore, our topics

after summer vacation were…

“By the way, did you go cheer for the middle school

prefecturals?”

And other such dull subjects.

“Mm, no.”

“You didn’t go with the other kids from your middle school?

For us, it’s like a duty for the previous graduates to bring refreshments for

us.”

“We’re not that friendly with our advisor.”

I answered, while opening the cleaning locker with a mop in

one hand. A step ahead, Ayano, who had finished cleaning the hallway, was

carrying baggage for two people and waiting. I carried my school bag and enamel

sports bag separately, but Ayano packed all of her stuff into her polka-dotted

backpack.

“I only heard the results. They lost in the first round.”

My

alma mater, the Monshiro Middle girls’ volleyball team, had advanced to the

Hokushin’etsu Tournament for two years in a row since the year before last, but

I heard that this year, they were miserably defeated in the first match. Well,

I wouldn’t say that the strength of last year and the year before was because

of me, but I was tooting my own horn on the inside.

“Ibara-chan, the boys at your school are strong this year.”

“Our boys? They aren’t any good, though? I mean, are there

even enough members for an official game?”

“I don’t know, but they’re fourth this year.”

“Fourth!? You’re kidding, right!?”

I wildly threw the mop into the locker without thinking and

a high-pitched sound pierced the steel walls. Ayano, ducked her head as she

said with her cheeks puffing out, “I’m not lying! A girl from my middle school

went to the boys’ game.” I was even more shocked that there were girls who

turned out to the boys’ game venue.

“Apparently, they have an incredible setter. I heard he was

a third-year, so he should be there last year, but do you know him? If there

was such a great player, you would think that they could have done better last

year too.”

“Wha…I really don’t know. Did we have someone like

that?”

This

year’s third years were a grade lower than me, but was there an excellent

setter there? I had zero impressions of that. I was pretty sure there weren’t

any outstandingly tall boys. I remembered that the Kuroba house’s Bon was a bit

big in that year, but he wasn’t skilled at all.

“Well, boys can get good all of a sudden.”

Ayano murmured with an absentminded look on her face. I

didn’t know why, but…I didn’t like that remark and said, “The cleaning’s done.

Let’s go,” and snatched my things from Ayano’s hands a little too roughly.

“Ibara-chan, you’re heading to practice now?”

“Do your best!”

A pair of girls from the neighbouring class called out to me

when I went out into the hallway. Both of them were around one-fifty

centimeters tall and compact. Their club must be some cultural club.

“Thanks. Take care on your way home.”

After I patted their

heads and passed them, they squealed with joy and jumped up and down with their

hands joined together (A little bit, really, not even five centimeters off the

floor).

“Ibara-chan, you’re naturally scattering pheromones again

doing that… They say that the percentage of boy-girl couples in our grade is

low because of you.”

Ayano said with a wry smile.

I had

been on the taller side since elementary school, so I had always been treated

as the “handsome” type of girl rather than “cute.” I was the ace of the volleyball

team from my second to third year of middle school, and on February fourteenth,

the bag I used for club activities would be filled with chocolates in cute

wrapping. I had been wearing my hair short for a long time now. After a long

holiday in my first year of middle school, it grew out a little, I was

innocently told by the smallest and frailest kid in class at the time, “Long

hair doesn’t suit Ibara-chan. You look more handsome when it’s shorter.” I cut

my hair in my room that day with a pair of scissors. It was then that I

realized clearly the character I was looking for, and since then I had come to

discover my identity as a “cool and handsome” girl.

When I joined the Seiin girls’ volleyball team with a lot of

fanfare as an ace candidate, I was 173 centimeters. It

was a height comparable to the average boy. However, right now I still wasn’t

even on the bench because there were so many second- and third-years.

What I

wanted most right now was a bench member uniform, a height of 180 centimeters, legs for jumping even just a centimeter higher than other

people, not pierced ears or a haircut with a bit of work on the ends. Breasts

were a hindrance, so smaller ones were better. I honestly wanted to stop having

periods because I didn’t want to have kids in the future.

The

two-story row house beside the fence of the first sports ground was the club

room building for the sports clubs. The first floor was mainly for the clubs

that used the outdoors, and the second floor was for the clubs that used the

indoors. The girls’ volleyball team’s club room was up the outside stairs and

second from the front.

In front of the club rooms for the baseball and soccer clubs

that were next to each other on the first floor, the first-year boys who had

been locked out by their senpais were sluggishly changing their clothes. It was

a common sight, so we passed by without paying attention to it. Half naked or

in just their boxers, the physiques of the first-years still weren’t that much

different from those of middle school kids.

“I can see your undies!”

Ayano teased, peeking through the gaps in the steps as we

climbed the outer stairs.

“Go away, pervert!”

Saying stuff like that, the boys wiggled around and laughed.

“We let you see them for free, so show us your panties

back!”

“Sorry, but I’m wearing shorts.”

Ayano purposely picked up her uniform skirt between her

fingers towards the idiot boys who gathered under the stairs while half-dressed

in their pants. I left Ayano behind without following her lead.

There was some booing. “What, shorts are the devil!” “What

the hell do you think a man’s romance is?” But I could also hear some of them

whispering, “Did you see? Suemori’s not wearing shorts.” “They were white,

white!”

I was

so indignant about the stupid boys who were crowing about something so

ridiculous that I stomped up the stairs like I was trying to step through the

steel steps and drop kick those empty heads, if luck was on my side.

“Excuse me,” I said, forcefully opening the door to the

room.

It was the girls’ volleyball team’s custom to have the first

years change first after school and then go and set up, and then the second and

third-years would change more slowly afterwards. So, right now, there would

only be first-year girls changing in the room—at least, that was what I

thought.

There was a foreign element. There was a single different

creature standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by female team members.

“…Why is Kanno here?”

I said in a sharp voice. From behind, Ayano impulsively

peeked inside.

“Oh, Dracky got abducted!” She cackled.

Kanno’s

enamel bag was at his feet, as though it had been roughly thrown in. The

female members had all changed into the summer-like practice clothes of

T-shirts and shorts, but Kanno was still in his uniform. The Seiin High School

uniforms had black blazers and reddish neckties for both boys and girls, but

due to the season, we were of course wearing the summer uniforms, the boys wore

shirts without jackets, and the girls just wore blouses. However, only Kanno

was wearing a long-sleeved hoodie on top of his shirt, his hood worn deep over

his eyes and the zipper zipped all the way up to his chin, and what’s more, his

hands were completely tucked into his sleeves. It was a getup that screamed

unseasonable.

“Okay, we captured Dracky!”

“I think it makes sense that since you’re practicing with

girls’ volleyball, you should change in the girls’ club room.”

“If you don’t hurry up and change, our senpais will come.”

“Or maybe you wanna change with our senpais? You’re

surprisingly gloomy.”

Surrounded by jeering voices, Kanno shook his head with his

head still hanging down. “Then hurry up and change,” one of them said and

reached her hand out for his hoodie before he said “Stop” in a voice that was

as tiny as the sound of a mosquito buzzing. He tried to shake them off, his

long sleeves cutting through the air. This feeble attempt at resistance was

amusing everyone more and more. He desperately pulled back his hoodie that was

being tugged in all directions and curled his back.

His face, peeking out from behind his hood, was morbidly

pale, but only his lips were exceedingly red. Together with the thinly

scattered freckles on his cheeks, his vaguely Western features gave him the

appearance of a vampire who was afraid of sunlight, so his nickname was

undeniably right on the mark.

Glaring at the racket with my eyes half-closed, I stepped in

and loudly tossed my things into my locker on purpose.

“You’re

cutting into your practice time, so why don’t you change as soon as possible?

I’m not interested in watching you change, and I don’t care if I’m seen either.

If the rest of the girls are done changing, why don’t you all get going?”

I said in a stern tone, not only to Kanno but also to the

girls surrounding him, and the girls obeyed me with embarrassed faces while

saying, “Yes—” and “We’re no match for Ibara.”

I turned towards my locker again and quickly changed. I

undid my necktie and unbuttoned my blouse, exposing my back. “I’ll change too,”

Ayano said brightly, then slipped under my armpit and shoved her backpack into

her own locker.

Feeling eyes on me, I looked over my shoulder and saw Kanno

jump before turning around and starting to change his clothes. He took off his

hoodie that he had been preciously wearing like a turtle’s shell and squirmed

out of his shirt. When he curled his back and pulled off his T-shirt from his

head, I was surprised. Huh…wasn’t his body thicker than it had been before

summer vacation? On his upper body, which was so weak and thin that it could be

called a washboard, there was a thin but definite layer of muscle added, it

looked like… He changed into a black long-sleeved T-shirt from his white

short-sleeved T-shirt (so there’s ultimately not much difference from the

hoodie…), undid his belt and took off his pants. I saw his boxers peeking out

beneath the bottom of his T-shirt,

…Ah.

Snapping

myself out of it, I turned my face back to my locker. I was staring at Kanno

changing while saying I had no interest in him. Weirdly flustered, I pulled up

my shorts beneath my skirt while…I should have worn a T-shirt…before that… I

think I felt Kanno’s gaze on my back again when I was only wearing my sports

bra. I casually looked sideways, but Kanno had his back turned and was about to

put one foot into his long pants. He also seemed to have gained a hint of

muscle on his thighs.

With no

place to look, when I let my gaze wander, I caught sight of Ayano’s cleavage as

she was humming and changing clothes. It had gotten a lot deeper in the short

time we didn’t see each other, and the bra that encased her breasts that were

growing heavy were now made of the same smooth and shining material like those

worn by adult women, with larger cups. It appeared that Ayano had also stepped

over that “boundary line” during summer vacation, leaving only me behind.

***

I should add some things about Kanno.

Kanno

Akito was a member of the boys’ volleyball team who practiced with the girls’

team for half of the week. …I know that didn’t make sense, but there’s nothing

I can do about that. Due to health reasons, he couldn’t exercise for a long

time outdoors, so he was allowed the special treatment of joining the girls’

team practice in the gym. This measure had been in effect since the Monshiro

Middle School volleyball team days, and I, who was from the same middle school,

had been “half” teammates with Kanno since our first year of middle school.

For example, if Kanno was an easily flattered idiot boy who

was quick to say dirty things, or if he was an incredibly masculine muscular

man, the way he would have been treated in girls’ volleyball would probably

different. But you could tell from a glance that the actual Kanno was weak with

a gloomy and withdrawn personality, a boy who couldn’t stand up to being made fun

of with a firm attitude, so he had been a suitable toy for the female members

since middle school. I think he was less than 170 centimeters tall when we

entered high school. He wasn’t big for a male volleyball player, but more than

that, he was too thin.

Getting club chores forced on him was cute—in middle school,

he was pretty much lynched by getting balls thrown at him by a group in the

name of individual practice. In high school, in place of the disappearance of this

kind of physical bullying, being made the target of sexual teasing like today

had increased.

There

was one baffling thing—even though he was being subjected to things where normally

it wouldn’t strange if he quit, but rather than quitting, Kanno never missed a

practice unless for good reason. He had school-approved circumstances, and I

think it was okay to show up to the boys’ team practice as much as possible

without having to seriously participate in the girls’ team practice, but…

“Um,

Ibara-chan, thanks for earlier.”

Kanno said in a small voice during passing practice. Passing

practice was basically done in groups of two, but when Kanno practiced with the

girls’ team for the first time in our first year of middle school, I invited

him to join me after I couldn’t stand watching him standing there by himself as

a leftover. So even now, three years later, Kanno still happily joined the pair

I was in. Ever since I became friends with Ayano in high school, it had always

been me, Ayano, and Kanno as a three-person group.

“I don’t want your thanks. I just wanted to change my

clothes, I wasn’t looking to stand up for you.”

I wasn’t one of the members who bullied Kanno, but I wasn’t

necessarily nice to him. In fact, I’ve never gone out of my way to stand up for

him. Even if I happened to be present at situations like before, I would leave

it alone as long as it wasn’t blocking my way. And yet somehow, he had been

strangely attached to me since middle school.

Thanks for always helping me, Ibara-chan. Ibara-chan, you’re

so cool… I wanna be like Ibara-chan too… With his pale face dusted red and

some kind of enraptured look in his eyes, he had said stuff like that dozens of

times until now.

When I was in middle school, I wasn’t uncomfortable with

being branded as “Ibara-chan.” I was called that on the team, so Kanno just

naturally came to call me by the same way. However, what about a high school

boy adding “-chan” to a girl’s first name…? As for me, when I suddenly realized

how embarrassing it was to call him by “Akkun,” my old nickname for him, I

changed how I called his name.

“Ibara-chan is Dracky’s knight, eh?”

I gave a side-eye glare at and silenced Ayano, who had been

smirking and teasing me. On the edge of the opposite side of my vision, Kanno

was nodding repeatedly, looking shy. Wasn’t it usually the other way around? Why

was he being so happy and bashful when a girl acted as his knight…

The ball passed between the triangle we made. We passed it

around with overhand passes and underhand passes for a few moments, and then

spikes were added, and we rotated the setter, spiker, and receiver roles in

order.

Every time Kanno spiked to me, the swing of his arm would

stop for a moment before he hit the ball. There was a break like he was looking

at my face before smacking the ball.

This late summer heat was relentless, and even worse, the

windows had to be closed because the badminton club was in the next court over

today. Even though the gym had turned into a steam bath, Kanno, who was the

only one out of place of a long-sleeved T-shirt and long pants, looked

unruffled. I felt hot and dizzy just looking at him.

Everyone had somehow been told that Kanno’s “health

condition” was that he must not be exposed to sunlight or something like that.

Not only outdoors, but he also persisted with dressing to cover his exposed

skin as much as possible indoors as well, so Kanno’s bare skin was a rare occurrence

which also became a thing. There was even a time when some girls got fired up

about the “mission to take a picture of Dracky’s bare skin.”

“Hey, putting that aside, do you know about the middle

school prefecturals thing? Did our boys really get fourth place?”

“Oh,

yeah. I went to watch it. They really got fourth.”

“Who’s that incredible setter? Did we have a kid like that?”

“Oh, that’s the transfer student who came during the third

semester. I’ve never met him so I don’t know though…sorry.”

While feeling a bit irritated at Kanno meaninglessly being

sorry, I was convinced, thinking, So that’s how it is. If it was the third

semester, then our grade would have retired a long time ago, so it was no

wonder I didn’t know.

“Heh, he’s pretty amazing. It’d be nice if he came to us

next year.”

Ayano carefreely cut in, and Kanno nodded with a “Yeah.” I

frankly didn’t care about the assets and talents of our high school boys’ team,

but I couldn’t help but be intrigued by that setter dragged that weak and puny

Monshiro Middle boys’ team all the way to fourth place in the prefecture.

When Kanno was active, the Monshiro Middle boys’ team had a

chronic lack of members, so they couldn’t participate in official games,

putting unofficial competitions like inter-city friendly matches aside. Since

the boys’ team wasn’t going to compete anyways, the girls from the girls’ team

put him in the girls’ uniform and tried to drag him to the girls’ competition,

but the advisor got angry as expected. But even if it had happened, the other

team unexpectedly might not have found out. However, we probably wouldn’t have

been allowed to participate even if our advisor hadn’t stopped us. The reason

was plain and simple. Before the problem of gender, he was not up to the level of

the regulars. Even in the girls’ team, Kanno was on the small side and he

didn’t have the power.

This was a story from middle school. If the current Kanno

dressed like a girl, he would definitely be found out immediately.

What

about…his level then…?

My receive was deflected high up in the air, and Kanno

jumped and knocked down the ball with one hand. It looked like his arms grew by

about 1.5 times. I caught a glimpse of his navel from beneath the hem of his

t-shirt that rose. The “rare bare skin.”

With a “Hoy,” Ayano sidestepped and went into cover. I

couldn’t help but notice that her chest swayed with each action. Not just her

chest, but she had also put on some meat on her upper arms and waist as well

over the summer break. Ayano seemed to be the type to get fat easily, and when

you took your eyes her for a second, she got rounder.

While Ayano was doing her best to chase after the ball with

her short limbs, every single one of Kanno’s movements were relaxed and he

seemed to be able to pull them off with ease. Since a while ago, I’ve been

accumulating a noisy, scratchy something inside my body, something I didn’t

even know what it was.

“Hey, hey, Ibara-chan, let’s put the middle school

prefecturals aside. Dracky, I heard you were chosen as a starting member for

Akitai?”

“What!?”

Even I was shocked at how loud my voice was reacting to the

topic Ayano brought up. Kanno’s overhand serve slipped and he got a ball to his

face. “Sorry!” Uselessly apologizing once again while pressing down his nose,

he went to pick up the ball that had rolled away.

Akitai,

a.k.a. the Autumn Tournament, was a prefectural tournament in early August,

right in the middle of summer break even though it had “autumn” in its name. It

was a one-off tournament, so the ticket to Nationals wasn’t hanging in the

balance or anything, but it would be a big official summer game.

As mentioned before, the Monshiro Middle boy’s team was a

tiny team that couldn’t participate in official matches properly. For Kanno,

the days where he practiced with the girls’ team were probably more fulfilling

than with his original boys’ team. Even without being in outside games, he

acquired game experience from joining intra-team games (it goes without saying

that the boys’ team didn’t even have enough people for intra-team games). In

other words, Kanno was finally able to make his official game debut when he

became a high school student.

I was going to congratulate him with a “Heh, congrats,”but,

“…Why didn’t you tell me?”

For some reason, what came out of my mouth was a biting and

low voice.

“I’m, I’m sorry. There’s not a lot of people on the boys’

team…”

“Why are you making excuses for that?”

“I’m sorry…”

Kanno’s voice got smaller and smaller. He hung his head down

so low that his forehead was touching the ball he was holding in front of his

chest and peeked upwards to see my face. “Did, did I bring up an awkward

topic?” Ayano’s face grew tight.

“Hey,

I don’t want an apology. I’m asking you why you didn’t tell me. Don’t tell me

you were trying to be considerate of me?”

The girls also had regular games in June and August, but I

wasn’t even on the bench, much less a starting member. The girls’ team was a

large group with thirty members, so it wasn’t surprising that the first-years couldn’t

make the bench, since the second and third-years could fully cover the bench. However—at

the August tournament, a first-year from another middle school was selected to

be a bench member, which hurt my pride exceedingly. In middle school, I had participated

in the Hokushin’etsu Tournament twice, so I was supposed to be the one who

joined the team as the head of the rookies.

Beep, the manager senpai blew her whistle. Spiking

practice was after passing practice. The team divided into two groups and scattered

to both ends of the court.

“Oh, we have to move. Let’s go, Dracky, Ibara-chan.”

Ayano said, as if to mediate, then twined her arm around

mine and pushed Kanno on the back. It grated on my nerves that Kanno blatantly

let out a sigh of relief, but our senpai was glaring at our group who had

stopped passing practice before the whistle blew, so we ran to the end of the

line.

One by one, the first person in line passed the ball to the

setter to have it set to them, and then ran in to spike it. After I ended one

turn, I stared at Kanno’s form as he spiked after me while I returned to the back

of the line again.

It wasn’t

like he jumped very high, or that he had a lot of power. I just realized it

again when I observed him. He wasn’t using his full power at all. The set was

too low for Kanno, so he couldn’t swing his arm with all his strength. He could

play at the boys’ height in an official game, so he should be able to jump even

higher if he wanted to.

The

height difference between the men’s and women’s nets was nineteen centimeters.

While watching Ayano hit the ball next, I imagined another nineteen-centimeters

of netting on top of the current net. Ayano’s butt, which had increased in mass

than before summer vacation, swayed and dragged her body downwards. In my

imagination, Ayano’s spike was completely blocked by the net.

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