Heroine Life

Chapter 19: One for All

<Yuko Taira>



On my way back to the club room after morning training, I ran into Amabuki.
There's still some time before school starts, so it's rare to see her here at this time. I wondered what she was doing in the empty schoolyard instead of heading to class.
I'm not sure if she came to school alone since Yuzuha isn't accompanying her right now.
Amabuki stands there with a shovel in one hand and stares blankly at the flowerbed in front of her. She sure looks shady right now.
I hesitate about calling out to her in this situation, but I couldn't let her go without greeting her.
After all, that person is my classmate.

"Amabuki."
"?"

When I approached and called out to her, she finally noticed me and turned her gaze toward me. She seems a bit more listless than usual. Maybe she's still sleepy.
She blinks her eyes rapidly and lets out a small yawn.
While amazed at her usual sloppiness, watching her being so carefree almost made my own cheeks relax, but I tightened my face.
For a moment, I thought Amabuki looked cute, but it was just my imagination. It was just my imagination. It was definitely just my imagination.

"Ummm.... what was your first name again, Taira?"
"Can you please remember my name already!? It's Yuko! Yuko!"
"Ah, okay. Good morning, Taira."

This person doesn't want to call me by my first name. I've never called Amabuki by her first name either, so I guess it's mutual.
We've been calling each other by our last names for so long so I guess we're just keeping at it out of stubbornness.

"Haah...... good morning."

I actually don't mind that Amabuki doesn't call me by my first name.
Even though I didn't ask, Misora secretly told me that she apparently thinks of my last name as my first name and feels uncomfortable calling me Yuko.
So I have given up on it. It's not like there are any problems with how things are now so I see no need to change how she addresses me.
No matter what we call each other, we are classmates and friends so that's a trivial matter.

"Are you in the middle of morning practice?"
"I'm already finished. What are you doing with a shovel so early in the morning? You look shady."
"Oh, this? I was playing in the sandbox earlier."
"There is no sandbox here! This isn't an elementary school!"
"No, there is one. There's the sandbox for the long jump at.........."
"You idiot!! Are you trying to make me mad!? ......Our club was using it just now, so stop lying!"
"Haha, I got found out. The truth is, I'm helping out a friend in the gardening club."
"Huh!? You have a friend in the gardening club!? Are you sure you didn't just imagine them!?"
"I do! She's a girl from another class."

Amabuki frowns at my exaggerated response.
After all, I've never seen her talking with any of the students from other classes. I can't even imagine her having a friendly chat with anyone besides us.
Maybe I shouldn't be too surprised. Lately, Amabuki has become more cheerful and has been able to talk normally with others.

"Hmmm......... so where is this friend of yours?'
"She's in the flowerbed behind the school building. I was going to go back to the classroom, but I was curious about the flowers in the schoolyard and came to take a look."

Amabuki then shifted her gaze to the flowers blooming in the flowerbed. I look in the same direction.
I am not particularly interested in plants like Amabuki is, so I don't usually stop to look at them.
But when I take a closer look, the vividness of the blooming flowers catches my attention. I pass by the schoolyard every day, but I haven't noticed that there are such beautiful flowers planted there until now.

"I heard that another member of the gardening club takes care of this area. My friend takes care of the flowerbed behind the school building by herself, so I help her sometimes."
"I didn't know there was a flowerbed behind the school building."
"Yes. It's a small flowerbed, but there are many beautiful flowers blooming that wouldn't lose to the ones planted here."

This is the first time I heard about that.
It's rare for Amabuki to talk so proudly about something, so I can't help but be curious about the flowerbed behind the building.

"I...  want to take a look."
'You should go and see it at least once. Few people go there, so I'm sure Nanako will be happy."
"Nanako?"
"My friend from the gardening club. Her name is Nanako Harukawa."

It feels like I heard that name somewhere before. I hear a flurry of footsteps behind us and someone comes up next to us.
She was holding a shovel just like Amabuki, and when she saw my face, she seemed surprised and let out a small ah.

"T-T-Taira!?"
"Huh? Oh yes, is anything wrong?"
"Eep!! It's nothing, I'm sorry!!"

The girl who came and suddenly called out my name hid behind Amabuki as if she was frightened.
Could she be scared of me? Looking at the girl shivering like a swaying or weak little animal, I felt guilty even though I hadn't done anything.
The fact that Amabuki doesn't mind even though the girl is sticking so close to her must mean that this is her friend from the gardening club.

"Ah! You must have scared Nanako from glaring at her. Poor girl."
"I wasn't glaring!!!"

I just thought it was strange that she seemed to know my name. I didn't mean to glare at her at all.
Maybe I said it too strongly, but I didn't think that was enough to scare her. I my tone was perfectly normal.

"Anyway, I'll apologize if I scared you. I am sorry. I'm Yuko Taira, nice to meet you."
"I'm Nanako Harukawa. Oh, um, you don't remember me, do you? We went to the same middle school and we were once in the same class...."
"..................Eh?"

It's true that I've heard that name before, and I've seen that face somewhere, but .......

"Oh my, you don't remember, Taira? How awful of you to forget."
"This coming from the same person who didn't remember my name even though we've been in the same class since entering high school? Are you asking for a beating?"
"Ah, well, we didn't talk much at the beginning it's no surprise I'd end up forgetting..."
"Ah, that's not the point. Harukawa, I'm sorry!"

Thinking back, I'm sure there was someone like her in my class. Ah yes, it's starting to come back to me now.
We were classmates but rarely spoke to each other, so I guess I ended up forgetting about her.
But what is this piercing sense of guilt? No, it's totally my fault for forgetting.
Anyway, I hurriedly tried to cheer up Harukawa who was getting teary-eyed. Amabuki watches and grins at me. I'll remember this.

"By the way, where's Yuzuha? You two always come to school together, right?"
"Yeah, we came together. Yuzuha should be in the classroom right now."
"Then what are you doing here?"