CH ss - 34

SS 34: The Couple Flirting During Long Distance Running Lesson

Translated by: chocolalaProofread by: soi beanz

“All right, the boys will also start soon, get ready!”

In the middle of the field, the PE teacher called out.

Today, we were having a long distance running lesson. We needed to run around a designated course outside the school and then come back.

“They used to make us do this all the time.”

I reminisced about doing the same thing in junior high school when I was on the basketball team, and it made me feel a bit nostalgic.

Some of the current members of the sports club seem to be quite enthusiastic, but as a retired player, I just didn’t have the energy for it. I’d rather just do it and be done with it.

“Here we go… and let’s get started!”

The PE teacher clapped his hands in the air and the boys started running. I followed suit and started running out of the school ground following our running route.

My running form was so ingrained in my body, even though I was no longer active, that I could easily overtake the rest of the returning runners. Before long, I could see the tail end of the group of girls who had started ahead of us.

“…Hn?”

And I saw a figure of someone who shouldn’t have been in the midst of that group.

“Hey Yamato, you’re here at last!” It was Yuzu, my beloved girlfriend.

Although she was supposed to be taking a PE class, she didn’t show any signs of running, and for some reason she was standing on her knees to greet me.

“…What the heck are you doing?”

This girl, no doubt, had good athletic ability and was not the kind of person who would be at the back of the pack.

“Of course, I wanted to run with Yamato-kun. Do you feel my cuteness for wanting to be with you as much as possible?”

“I could perfectly sense how you are superficially acting coy1.”

“I don’t mind that. Acting coy is still cute in itself.” Yuzu passed it off with her own wacky logic.

She’s always a positive girl, really.

“So, let’s go together.”

“Well, okay, but… What’s your real purpose?” I couldn’t help but notice that her words and actions smelled false, so I pressed on.

Yuzu seemed to be surprised by my doubts and again, she was acting cute by puffing her cheeks.

“What on earth? I really just wanted to be with Yamato-kun, but you’re being too suspicious of me. Can’t you believe in my love a little more?”

“Mn… Was I simply being paranoid?” I reflected on the fact that I had been pushy.

“It’s true, geez. Come on, let’s get through this together.”

“Okay, I got—” I paused my words as I suddenly remembered what was ahead in the route.

“Hey, Yuzu. There’s a cemetery down the road, isn’t there?”

“O-oh yes,” As soon as I mentioned that, Yuzu’s shoulders jumped.

“Because of the bamboo forest nearby, it’s dark and eerie even in the daytime, isn’t it?”

“Is-is that so?” Yuzu was obviously disturbed by hearing that.

“I remember Yuzu is not good with things related to ghosts, are you?”

“M-maybe not,” Yuzu began to move uneasily as I stared into her eyes.

“…”

“…”

“…Apparently, it’s true that you just want to be with me. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“After you went that far, you say that now?! Stop it, it only hits me in the heart!”

“What do you mean? I’m just reflecting on the fact that I’ve been sceptical and I shouldn’t have done that.”

“That situation just now was just like when you’re only a piece away from completing the jigsaw puzzle! There’s no way you didn’t get it!” For some reason, Yuzu uttered really strange things.

Oh really, what a weird girl.

“Come on, let’s get going. If you can make it through the graveyard zone on your own, I’d be happy to leave you.”

“The puzzle was complete, wasn’t it? You’ve already got the last piece in your head there!”

Stringing along with Yuzu— who yet again was saying some odd stuff— I resumed running. We continued along the road and entered a narrow street lined next to a house.

Then we came to a narrow road with a graveyard on the right and a bamboo forest on the left. The graveyard zone was indeed the kind of place that intimidated horror-phobic girls.

“Yamato-kun… Hey, why don’t we hold hands?”

Sure enough, Yuzu looked like she was about to cry and slowed down her pace.

“No way, It’s hard to run like that.”

“What’s more important, the ease of running or the love you have for me?”

I paused for a while before answering, “…Um, maybe love.”

“Isn’t that too much thinking time? You only got two choices, you should answer instantly!”

When I held Yuzu’s hand while she was grumbling; it was as cold as ice, possibly because of her nervousness.

“Ugh… creepy. Why do we have to run through this place?”

We were no longer running, but walking, through the graveyard zone.

From the sidelines, it looked like we were flirting, and the white eyes of our classmates as they passed us made me feel extremely uncomfortable.

Right just then, something suddenly jumped out of the bamboo forest.

“Waaah! Wh-what, what?!” Yuzu was so startled that she almost fell down with all her fright.

“Calm down, it’s a cat.”

Luckily, we were holding hands and I pulled her up just before she fell and I pointed to a small animal that had jumped out of the bamboo forest.

*meows*

The cat purred as if in greeting and disappeared towards the graveyard.

“Oh, that surprised me… If it’s a cat, it should jump out and shout ‘I’m a cat!'”

“That’d be more shocking. Come on, let’s go.” Astonished by Yuzu’s indignant remark, I urged for us to go on.

“Oh, wait. I think I might have twisted my leg a bit.”

However, Yuzu stopped still with a frown.

“Hey, are you okay?”

I couldn’t help but worry about her, but Yuzu stoutly grinned as she replied, “I’m okay… but it’s a bit hard to walk on my own. Yamato-kun, hold me up in a princess carry.”

Yuzu made that demand while grabbing my shoulder. I grimaced in reflex.

“Princess carry… There’s still quite a distance until school. That’s impossible. I’ll call for help.”

As we had been walking slowly through the graveyard zone, it seemed that all the other students had gone ahead of us and unless I went back to the school, I wouldn’t be able to call for help.

But as soon as I suggested that, Yuzu turned blue.

“What, are you going to leave me here like this? No, no, no!”

She grabbed my arms tightly, as if she was afraid of being left behind in the graveyard zone.

“Even if you say that…oh?”

I looked around for anything useful and found something in the bamboo grove that looked like it could be of some help. It was a rear cart, probably illegally dumped.

“That cart looks like it could still move. All right, Yuzu, get in it. I’ll take you out of here.”

“No way! I’d be a spectacle to everyone else!” Yuzu refused with all her might, probably concerned about a poor image.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that weird. In a drama that my dad likes, there’s a scene like this; the drama has a solid base of public support too.”

“Isn’t that ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’2?! No, I don’t want that!” Yuzu was staunchly against my suggestion.

But there was no other way.

“So, Yamato-kun, do your best to carry me. This is your chance to hold me legally, okay? Don’t you want to hold me in your arms just like a princess?” Yuzu tried to persuade me again.

Yuzu looked very puffed up, probably because she was too repulsed with my idea.

“My father once broke his back carrying a sixty-kilogram sack of rice. I’m not going to make the same mistake. I’m going to be wiser than him!”

“Where do you think you’re going, creating an event3 of outdoing your father! Plus, I’m not even sixty kilos!”

“Even if that’s the case, I just can’t. I’m not a strong man.”

That me from the past possibly could do it, but the current me was nothing but a weak homebody.

“You just have to work hard. I’ll make you lunch tomorrow as a thank you.”

I couldn’t help but balk at the suggestion.

“Huh… why is the penalty getting even heavier? You wanna destroy my body not just externally, but also internally, huh?”

“Just what do you think of me?!”

“Of course, you’re my most beloved girlfriend. Just what do I do with you? Hm, now it’s come to this. How about we take the middle ground: I carry you in my arms and also ride the cart while a third party pushes it for us?”

“You call that middle ground?! That heavily weighed on one of our options! On top of that, there’s no third party here!”

“Huh? Isn’t there one over there? Someone wearing a white traditional attire bathed in blood, standing in front of the graveyard.”

“No, there isn’t! Don’t tell me about a third party invisible to my eyes!” Yuzu shouted with eyes welled in tears.

Looked like she wouldn’t ever say yes to the cart option… Now I had no other choice. I’d just gotta push myself a bit for a while.

“Alright. Then we’ll go with princ—”

Right when I was about to finish saying my decision, a small shadow popped out from the graveyard.

“Waaahh!” Yuzu screamed again and jumped away from me.

I turned around and there it was—the same cat as before.

“Meow~” Another purr as if in greeting, and then off it went into the bamboo forest.

Seeing this, Yuzu let out a deep sigh.

“I’m so surprised. It’s because Yamato-kun said there was an invisible third party. Really, you shouldn’t tell lies like that.”

“…Oh. I’m sorry about that. It’s not nice to lie to people.”

“It’s alright if you know, just remember it.”

Yuzu seemed delighted at my obedient response, thus she nodded with a lively smile.

“I’ll be careful from now on. By the way, Yuzu,”

“Hm?”

I gave her a big smile as she tilted her head.

“You look like you can stand up pretty well, what happened to your leg?”

I saw that Yuzu, who had separated from me in a moment of surprise, was standing firmly on two legs, without needing any support or showing any sign of pain.

As soon as I pointed that out, her eyes darted about like crazy. “Oh… did the shock of surprise cure my legs?”

“Is your body built up that simple?! Shocks can only cure you of hiccups!”

“W-wait! This is not a lie! This is…Yes, ‘a maiden’s heart’! I only wanted to try being held in a princess carry after spraining my leg!”

“I can’t hear what a liar’s saying! Get in the cart, you criminal! You’ll be dragged through the streets!”

“Wait, wait! I-AM-SORRY!”

What happened after that I would like to keep secret for the sake of Yuzu’s honour.

chocolala: Imagine what’s in the heads of all the other students who ran past them… BTW, a lil announcement, I’ll be tl-ing main story ch2, so the SS will be on hold for a while, gotta wait until your next super-sweet dose

Footnotes

The original word is あざとい (azatoi). If you know malay, it exactly means ‘gedik’, which is ‘acting slutty but not too extreme, kinda like persuasive but cute manner’ the key being: it’s a cutey act to get people to do what /he/theythey want and anyone can see it. I wish ‘azatoi’ would become a widely known japanese word like kawaii, though it doesn’t have a very good meaning, lolA classic Japanese period tv dramaReferring to the terms used in games