The demotivated athlete. That was how I started seeing Yanagi Kaede after our short meeting last Monday when Watanabe brought her to my office at the girl's request.
She expressed her admiration towards my transformation and hinted at how she wished to have the same determination as me to regain her lost motivation.
Recalling that day, Watanabe told me that Yanagi asked to help her meet up with me upon hearing the rumor about Hana kissing me and the way Komoe started becoming interested in me upon her return to school.
In a way, I related that to the same sense of urgency that Sachi exhibited when that girl also initiated contact with me; wanting to be acquainted with me before more girls turned up to be close to me.
However, that's just what Watanabe and I surmised. It's impossible to confirm it that day because she also left right away upon exchanging greetings with me.
So what's her deal today?
If she's the one who sent that third letter… wasn't it confusing that she had to send another one and ultimately follow me today? I'm aware that she's limiting her attendance at her club because of the obnoxious senior that demotivated her to strive…
Can't she simply visit me again or at least, ask her friend to accompany her again?
Thinking about it, the letter containing the key was sent two weeks ago. If she's truly the sender, something doesn't add up.
Is it not her, after all?
Ugh… Wait a moment. I'm probably having the information jumbled in my head.
When I called out as though I was aware of the one following me to be the letter sender, she stepped out and showed herself to me. However, judging by the way she instantly showed remorse and only murmured my name, it didn't actually confirm that she was the letter sender.
She could be just a stalker who decided to follow me around today.
But then again, I specifically mentioned the specifics that only the letter sender would know.
Alright.
I get it.
This is me overthinking again.
Since we're already here… why not ask her about it and clear up the inconsistency of the tangled information in my head?
Having arrived at that thought, I focused my attention on the girl that's still around twenty steps away from me.
She's close to the corner that would lead to the area where the classrooms were located.
She's still in her uniform which meant she didn't come to the Track Club. She's still sporting the same bunned hairstyle and at the moment, the way she stood there was oozing out her guilt and discomfort. She's rubbing her arm with her eyes directed to the ground.
"Alright, Yanagi-san. Let me confirm something." I started as I slowly closed our distance. I kept an eye out and spread out my senses in case someone else was still in hiding. There may be two people following me, after all.
However, I picked up nothing until I arrived in front of her, confirming that the complexity of this situation had just lowered.
As the girl realized that I approached her, she cautiously lifted her head only to lower it again upon making eye contact with me.
She tried composing herself but failed at it in the end.
"Is there a reason why you followed me here?" Without mentioning the letter or the specifics of this area to her, I started with something as straightforward as that.
Also, I said that in quite a gentle tone, in hopes that I would not frighten her.
"C-can I not answer that, Onoda-kun?" She answered in difficulty. I observed her bodily reactions but apart from the initial guilt and discomfort, she's actually not showing signs that she wanted to retreat.
From that, it's possible that her aim was really to talk to me, she just didn't know how to approach me.
"Yes, you can. However, Yanagi-san, I'll be suspicious of you… Anyway, let's set that aside for now. Are you the one who sent that letter to me?"
"... Yes."
This… This is really unusual. She refused to state her reason for following me but she admitted to sending the letter…
"... If you're talking about the letter without any name or signature, that's from me. I wonder how you found out?"
Huh? Wait… Did I hear her right? She's not talking about the third letter but the first one. The one that caused my head to ache because of the flowery words used in it that's borderline chuunibyou.
"How…? No. More than that, do you mean the letter put in my shoe locker the day after I got my haircut?"
"Yes. That's my letter. Is it just me or are we actually not on the same page here?" Perhaps noticing the hint of confusion in my voice, Yanagi's guilt or discomfort momentarily disappeared as she raised her head to check on my expression.
Likewise, having gotten a clearer view of her face, I tried checking for any hint of falseness in her reaction but no… she was surprisingly being honest there.
What is this situation?
"I'm as confused as you… Then why did you show up when I called out with a specific detail?"
"You said it's about time I show myself… You caught me following you."
"No. I meant the second part."
"... I'm sorry but that's all I heard from you… You sounded so confident there that it made my heart pound and guilt just rushed into my head."
This girl… Is she really a track and field athlete? Aren't they the ones who were most used to racing heartbeats given that their whole body was put to work to maintain their form?
I once again observed her, trying to figure out if she was telling the truth or not. And it's the same judgement as earlier. She's telling the truth. She got so nervous when I called out that she failed to catch the second part…
In one way or another… this situation made my image of the competitive girl in that PE Activity crumble. Add to that, fitting her image to the one who wrote that cringeworthy letter was tickling my senses. I had to adjust the control of my facial expression to prevent myself from laughing at that image.
"I believe there's a miscommunication. But since we're here… Wanna talk about this somewhere? About the letter you sent and the reason you're following me…"
"Y-yes. I'm sorry."
Obviously, she was just as confused as me but when I mentioned those key points, her guilt returned as she once again hung her head low.
Well, I don't know if this is better or not. My girls are keen on meeting the letter sender by themselves because of the latter half of the letter, saying how she wished to admire me up close. And Yanagi Kaede isn't a third-year but a 1st year like us… Although there's a possibility that the letter-sender was lying in their letter, the chances of Yanagi Kaede being that person was already 0%. She claimed the first letter, after all.
After making sure for the third time that no one else was around, I had the girl follow me to the stairs leading to the closed rooftop of this School Building.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel