High Speed!

Chaper 6: Team

Chapter 6: Team

The unidentified flowers in the graduation-project flower bed were beginning to bud in ones and twos. The girls had planted the seeds, but were keeping the types of seeds a secret from the boys. Haruka wondered if they were the flowers that Makoto had mentioned, the ones that would bloom during their graduation ceremony. They looked like they wouldn't be able to make it in time, though.

He looked up at the cherry tree. There still weren't any buds. It looked like Rin's wish to swim in a pool full of floating cherry petals wasn't going to come true, either.

He looked down at his feet, at the light brown earth spread out there. He wondered if the roots of the cherry tree were growing deep beneath that earth. How did the cherry tree feel about having something like a flower bed planted above those roots that had been growing for so many years? He wondered how he would feel, if he were a cherry tree.

After he thought this, a bitter smile came to his face. If he were a cherry tree, he probably wouldn't feel anything. He wouldn't be worried about something like a flower bed. He wouldn't be led astray, or have to distance himself from others. As long as he could face toward the sky and let his branches grow, he wouldn't have to worry about anything else.

Once he considered that he was the only one worrying, while the cherry tree in question wasn't concerned at all, for some reason, he began to laugh.

"Does it make you that happy that the flowers are coming out, Haru?"

Without Haruka noticing, Rin and Makoto were standing right next to him.

"Not really." Haruka didn't intend to explain his thoughts to Rin. On the other hand, denying things was troublesome, too. And so, that was the answer he gave.

"It'll be graduation soon," Makoto said feelingly, looking up at the cherry tree.

"It really will. A farewell to our old schoolhouse full of memories!" Rin raised his voice like a bad actor. Haruka wasn't nice enough to react every single time. Not like Makoto.

"There's only two months left, right? Wouldn't you rather be in your old school's graduation ceremony?"

Rin's smile suddenly fell. He dropped his eyes to the flower bed and stared at the small buds. "I've definitely cut ties with Sano Elementary." In a performance slightly better than a bad actor's, Rin made a woeful face.

"Sorry. I said something insensitive." Makoto reacted again, even though that wasn't something worth worrying about, even if it wasn't just for show.

"Don't worry about it. It's in the past. Right now, I'm a member of Iwatobi Elementary."

"That's right. We'll be graduating together, then, won't we?" After he'd said this, Makoto's smile clouded over a little bit. Looking as though he wanted to say something, he turned his gaze toward Rin and hesitated there.

"What?" Rin asked, in response to Makoto's look.

"Um, I was just a little worried, because you didn't come to yesterday's information session."

This was the explanatory meeting about middle school. Things like uniforms, textbooks, and club activities were explained. But Rin hadn't come.

Rin looked up at the still-bare cherry tree. The sunlight filtered through the gaps in its branches, making him squint his eyes. "That's because I'm not going to middle school here."