Chapter 35: One More Month
It's the fourth week of September, the weekend of the sports festival. The whole class is super busy.
Today, I'm helping with cheer practice and making props.
Since it's sports festival week, there's no club activities, so I quietly help out.
Nagase: "Aah! I want to move my body! Kousuke-kun, let's do a one-on-one?"
No way, no way.
Are you just trying to escape reality?
Hiroshi and Koji are over there making their assigned artificial flowers.
I'm making uchiwa fans with Nagase-san and the others.
We're split up by seating arrangement, so we're working in separate groups.
All we do is evenly paint our team color onto plain white uchiwa fans.
It's boring assembly-line work, but Hiroshi and Koji are having a lively conversation with girls they don't usually talk to.
I don't talk much, so I just nod along when Nagase-san gets others involved in the conversation.
That's when Yamamoto from the artificial flower team—the same Yamamoto Masaki who took Satsuki from me—comes over.
Yamamoto: "Hey! What are you guys talking about? Nagase-san?"
Nagase: "...Yamamoto-kun, aren't you on that team? Go make some flowers, okay?"
Yamamoto: "I got bored, so can I help out over here?"
Nagase: "We've got enough people! Do your best with the flowers!"
With a "good grief," Yamamoto shrugs and heads back.
We're in the same class, but he's in the flashy group and always spends breaks with his own clique—like Satsuki and the others—so we barely interact, and honestly, I'm grateful for that.
...I've heard it before, but even though he's dating Satsuki, he's still really hitting on Nagase-san...
Just remembering it annoys me.
Nagase: "...Yamamoto-kun keeps inviting me out even though he has a girlfriend! ...Sorry."
She says, flustered,
"...No, no, Nagase-san, you haven't done anything wrong. It's almost quitting time, isn't it?"
It's finally 6 PM, time to go home, and we've finished our quota, right?
My whole body is stiff from sitting and working for so long!
Nagase: "My whole body is stiff from all this sitting and working!"
"Ugh!" Nagase-san stretches out.
Her blouse, short-sleeved for summer, rides up for a second, and I catch a glimpse of her belly—so I quickly look away!
Of course, the sharp-eyed guys don't miss it!
After that, she twists her upper body, turning side to side.
But when she twists, her chest area stretches, and the guys in class silently watch her!
"..."
When I subtly block their line of sight, the other guys in class give me resentful looks.
Hey, I have my reasons, okay? Nagase-san and I have similar grades, so we talk about studying a lot, and we're both on the basketball team, so we talk there too.
Now that I'm really looking, Nagase Aya is definitely an eye-catching beauty.
A ponytailed girl with crisp, well-defined features and an expressive face.
I hear rumors that she's confessed to a lot.
She's a talented and beautiful, active girl who's both in the girls' basketball club and handles general affairs in the student council.
There's a rumor that she's a sophomore student council officer, but she denies it.
She complains that every time she denies it, someone confesses to her again—it's an endless loop.
It must be tough being so popular.
Cheerful Nagase-san says,
Nagase: "Kousuke-kun, let's get tea with everyone before heading home?"
Ah, I have something to do—
Tomonaga: "...Hi, Kousuke-kun. Sorry for the wait."
A girl with messy black hair and a mask who, at a glance, looks like something out of an urban legend.
That's what Tomonaga-san is like now.
Does she really need to hide this much?
Nagase: "...? Ah! Wait, are you the Tomonaga-san who helped out with basketball club over summer break?"
She noticed?
I quickly gesture "shh!" to Nagase-san so she won't say any more.
If I get too close to someone as noticeable as Nagase-san, I'll stand out too much.
So I quietly say,
"...I'll explain everything in detail next time, so can you keep it a secret...!"
Nagase: "In detail? If you'll explain... next time, okay?"
She glances back and forth between me and Tomonaga-san, looking very suspicious.
She nods, and Tomonaga-san and I are finally free.
Tomonaga-san and I head to a café a little ways away. We order coffee and some relatively low-calorie biscuits.
Like a hamster, Tomonaga-san nibbles on her biscuit, savoring it.
I watch her with a fond smile.
Tomonaga: "The sports festival is next week, right? And after that, about a month later, in the first week of November, is the culture festival... There's only one month left!"
Tomonaga-san looks grim, leaking anxiety everywhere.
It's no wonder—she's been dieting for two months now, and she must be hitting her limit.
But she hasn't lost her motivation.
So I want to support her.
"...I think you're doing great, Tomonaga-san. ...Really, thank you for your hard work."
I thank her as much as I can. Just having someone with you when things are tough can really help your heart.
Tomonaga-san has shown me—and the film club—the courage to change through her own example.
Tanaka-kun is thrilled—"What a great documentary!"—but honestly, I'm a little worried about him.
With a troubled look, Tomonaga-san hesitates to speak.
Tomonaga: "Um, um, um..."
It's okay, you can tell me anything.
I wait as gently as I can for her to talk.
Tomonaga: "The captain said, you know, the captain said, 'Your biggest issue now is your lack of confidence,' or something like that..."
That's true. Tomonaga-san has often said she's easily influenced, and I've always thought she might be a timid girl with low self-esteem, which is why her diets never worked out before.
Even so, I think she should be proud of coming this far and succeeding at her diet—she deserves to have confidence in herself.
Tomonaga: "I'm still not... I still haven't reached 50kg..."
Current weight, as of the fourth week of September:
58→56kg
She's almost at a healthy weight for her height.
Now, no one would call her fat.
Thinking she was at 71kg in late July, this is really amazing—I truly respect her.
...Honestly, it's going to be hard to lose any more from here.
Tanaka-kun said the last day for filming the documentary is about this time next month. In other words, the fourth week of October is the time limit.
Even so, if she still hasn't given up on 50kg, I'll support her as much as I can, even if it's only a little.
With determined eyes, Tomonaga-san tells me,
Tomonaga: "The real thing, the real thing isn't here yet, but, but, but... There's something I want you to hear today!"
I can't look away from the color of determination in her eyes.
This timid, unconfident, easily influenced girl is doing her best to encourage herself and tell me something.
I'm not an idiot, so I sit up straight and listen with my whole body.
No matter what it is, I'll listen sincerely.
Yukari Tomonaga slowly closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and then begins to speak...