Chapter 14

When I was halfway up the ski lift, I saw that the place was packed with people.

After the last of the early morning sunshine, the clouds that had slowly rolled in were beginning to deposit light snow on the slopes.

The weather was always sunny, but it seemed like there had been a bit of a snowstorm last night. The short-lived snowfall made it hard to say if the terrain was good. A layer of white fresh snow covered the edges of transparent, granular snow.

If I was too close to it, it would collapse and take away my balance at an unexpected time, which was very annoying. I should try to stay away from it as much as possible. With this in mind, I got off at the front of the course.

Today was the third day of the ski camp. In three days, even a very beginner like me managed to improve to the point where I could ski on my own.

Of course, I fell down a lot and was still not very good at changing direction. Still, I thought it was progress and I had come to enjoy skiing.

“Just take it slow.”

Yuki spoke to me, then started to ski down the slope in a dashing manner. He was really like a prince.

It took my all just to keep to proper footing and follow him from behind.

From time to time, I would hear the flirtatious shrill voices of girls saying, “Hagiwara is really cool.”

It made me happy to hear my childhood friend being praised. It was impossible now, but one day I wanted to be able to ski right next to Yuki.

Yuki was so far in front of me already. Maybe because of that, I increased my speed too much in order to catch up to him.

Of course, being able to ski by myself had created overconfidence in me.

I thought I saw a white rabbit in the bushes and looked off to the side. This was the biggest mistake of all.

“—! Hey! Haru, watch out!”

“Huh?”

It was too late. By the time I realized it, another student was right in front of me—

I wouldn’t make it! What I saw in a world that seemed to be in slow motion was the moment when Akira jumped in with his hand outstretched, while saying something.

I was embraced so tightly and scattered the snow in a great flurry. I lost my balance and my vision spun around.

We stumbled and rolled on the fresh snow, and stopped spinning with a strong impact. My memory was cut off there and then.

“Good grief, you were going too fast for a beginner, you idiot!”

“. . . Sorry.”

“Just a sorry won’t suffice. Not at all . . .”

After paying the bill at the hospital, we rode a taxi. The right arm of Akira, who looked sullen, was wrapped in a cast.

The moment I opened my eyes, I was lying down on top of a bed in a hospital.

Despite having been hit hard all over my body, I only had a slight sprain on my left ankle without any serious injuries. The nurse told me that it was thanks to the teacher who risked his life to help me.

As I wondered who had pulled me back then, it really was Akira after all.

It would take one month for complete recovery. I heard that his bone was slightly cracked. I had caused Akira’s injury through my carelessness. That fact was so painful that I couldn’t say anything back to him.

“Well, I’m glad that Haru is okay at least.”

Akira said, then patted me on the head with his uninjured hand. Instead of showing a teasing smile like he usually did, he said so in a voice that sounded like he was deeply relieved. It made my chest feel even more painful.

“It’s not okay. You got hurt because of me, Akira . . .”

“. . . Well, that’s right.”

After that, Akira didn’t say anything further. He was watching the scenery outside the car window while resting his chin in his hand.

I couldn’t find the words to say something to him. So I slowly closed my eyes, treating the occasional noisy exchange of phone calls as background noise.

“Ah, that’s right. Until I recover, you should take responsibility and take care of me, Haru.”

As I got off the taxi and made my way back to my friends, I couldn’t help but wince at the suggestive words that he said while mischievously winking at me.

I was the one who injured him, so of course I didn’t have the power to refuse him.

“. . . Alright.”

I sighed quietly as I looked for Kazuki and Yuki, who had come to pick me up from the lobby because they were worried.

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