Chapter Four | The Hospital Room Triangle

☆☆

“Hm…? Where am I?”

When I open my eyes, I’m staring at a travertine-patterned ceiling. The area is enclosed by white curtains, and a pleasant breeze flows in through the window beside me.

What was I doing just before this?

I touch my head, which feels off, and find it wrapped in a rough bandage. A soccer team jersey is draped over my shoulder.

“…The soccer match!”

“Eek!”

The moment I sit up, Sasaki—still in her usual disguise—slips through the curtains.

“Sasaki…? Why are you—”

“Makijima! Thank goodness!”

Spotting that I’m awake, Sasaki throws her arms around my midsection like a stomach wrap.

“I was so worried!”

The momentum knocks her glasses to the floor.

With teary eyes, she looks up at me intently.

“Uh… I don’t really get what’s going on, but sorry.”

I apologize for now, though I still can’t wrap my head around the situation.

I remember being subbed in for the second half, linking up with Azaki for a one-two pass to get near the goal.

Then I went for a diving header—

“Wait, did I crash into the goalpost?”

Sasaki nods silently.

Now that I think about it, I saw red blood on the grass back then, and after that, I blacked out.

“So I hit the post and got this bandage because of the bleeding? I don’t really feel the pain, though—was it that bad a collision?”

“No, that’s not it…”

According to Sasaki, I suffered a concussion from hitting the post, but the bleeding came from contact with the opposing goalkeeper.

I don’t remember much after smashing into the post, but apparently, I was muttering “I’m okay, I’m okay” while being carried off on a stretcher.

They stopped the bleeding, and after being brought to Koto University Hospital for a CT scan, there were no abnormalities detected.

They say I can be discharged today, but there’s a chance some kind of complication might show up later, so I need to rest at home for a while.

“Thirsty?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“I’ll grab you something to drink. Oh, and Aihara-san’s here too, so I’ll let her know.”

“Oh, uh, thanks.”

Now that she mentions it, Aihara came to watch the match too.

I feel terrible for worrying everyone.

Sasaki slips out through the curtains, and shortly after, Aihara peeks in, taking her place.

“G-Good morning? Or is that okay to say?”

Aihara steps in with a gentle voice, throwing in a little joke as usual.

Before sitting on the chair to my left, she notices the wind picking up and closes the window slightly.

“How’re you feeling? No headache?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. More than that, I feel bad dragging you into this mess because of my injury.”

“No way! Don’t worry about it at all!”

Aihara, who’d been looking at me with concern at first, softens her expression as she replies.

“That was an amazing goal, though! It had this relentless, almost legendary vibe, like a goal driven by sheer willpower.”

“You’re overhyping it. More importantly, how’d the match end?”

“We won! After that, Azaki-kun scored a hat-trick, and we crushed them 4-0.”

Azaki pulled off a hat-trick, huh.

Looks like he managed to impress Aihara after all.

“So Azaki’s three goals mean… I took a hit for nothing?”

“No, that’s not true! Your goal forced the other team to push forward and score, and if that hadn’t happened—”

“Aihara, calm down. We’re in a hospital.”

Aihara claps her hands over her mouth, glances around, and gives an embarrassed laugh.

Seems like she’s the type to lose herself when she gets excited.

“Seriously, Aihara, you’re such a soccer fan.”

“Of course I am! You’re a soccer fan too, right, Makijima-kun?”

Hearing that, I hesitate.

Even the last time she said it, those words stuck with me.

Am I continuing soccer in college because I love it?

No. I’ve been playing to become a pro… to get results.

“…Maybe I don’t actually like soccer.”

“Huh…?”

“Ever since middle school, I’ve been playing soccer to become a pro, chasing results. Even today, I was so blinded by the need for results that I pulled off that reckless move.”

“That’s not true—”

Aihara takes my hand, looking at me with a serious gaze.

“Because Makishima loves soccer, that’s why he mindlessly chased after the ball and scored that goal. If he were truly a player who only cared about results, he wouldn’t have pushed himself so hard in that situation.”

Aihara continued to gaze into my eyes without looking away.

“Makishima, you love soccer—”

The moment she said those words, my cheeks grew hot, and large tears began flowing from my eyes.

The tears streaming down my cheeks felt unbearably warm.

Looking back, it was really quite simple.

Even when I failed the youth team selection, and later at the high school I attended, when I couldn’t deliver the expected results and was criticized by those around me—despite all these painful experiences, I never quit soccer.

“I’ve always loved it… soccer.”

Aihara said nothing and simply rubbed my back.

Combined with today’s frustration, I cried silently, stifling my voice.

☆☆

“Hmm, I wonder what Makishima drinks.”

I was standing in front of the vending machine, troubled about what to buy.

Carbonated drinks were out of the question, and since he has a headache, something warm would be good, right? But it’s warm today, so—

“Hey, young lady, could you hurry it up?”

Suddenly, a gruff voice came from behind me.

“S-sorry…”

Startled by the sudden voice, I accidentally pressed the button for “oshiruko” (sweet red bean soup).

“You’ve got unusual tastes, young lady. First time I’ve seen a kid buy oshiruko from a vending machine these days.”

“…I-I like it.”

I retrieved the piping hot can of oshiruko that had fallen down.

“What an interesting young lady.”

It’s the old man’s fault for calling out to me!

The moment I looked at the man’s face with resentful eyes, I was struck by a mysterious sense of déjà vu.

That wrinkled coat and those languid-looking eyes.

I feel like I’ve met this old man somewhere before.

The man lowered the sunglasses he had perched on his head to cover his eyes, then stroked his stubbled beard while selecting a drink.

I can’t imagine someone this rough would be in the entertainment industry, so it’s probably just my imagination.

Thinking this, I headed back to Makishima’s hospital room with the drinks.

Aihara-san has tea, I have green tea, so I’ll give Makishima the rarest drink—the oshiruko.

When I reached for the curtain around Makishima’s bed by the window, I could hear the two of them talking inside, so I stopped.

“Makishima, you love soccer—”

The moment Aihara-san said those words, I heard the sound of someone sniffling inside.

Peeking through the curtain, I saw Makishima breaking down in tears and Aihara-san gently comforting him.

Makishima is… crying?

It was all too sudden, and I quickly stepped away from the curtain.

There’s no way I can go in right now.

I left the hospital room with complicated feelings.

For Makishima to expose himself like that…

I’m sure he would never show me such an expression.

Yet in front of Aihara-san, he was so open about himself—

“This emotion… it’s my first time.”

Since quitting being an idol, I hadn’t felt jealous of anyone or envied others.

That’s how depleted my motivation had become.

But ever since I succeeded in meeting Makishima, whom I had long admired, my desire to be by his side had grown stronger.

So if I were to express this feeling, it would undoubtedly be—jealousy.

I’m jealous of Aihara-san.

The fact that it wasn’t me by Makishima’s side when he was heartbroken pierced my heart so deeply it almost made me cry.

“…I don’t want to lose.”

I won’t give up my place beside Makishima. Absolutely not.

☆☆

“Sorry, Aihara… I—”

“It’s okay to cry. Right now it’s just me here.”

Seeing him desperately gritting his teeth made tears well up in me too.

I naturally found myself stroking Makishima’s back.

His back was bigger than I’d imagined, and I thought that even the usually slender Makishima was properly a young man.

I used to cry often when I played soccer too.

No matter how much I loved soccer, I was never good at sports.

Since elementary school, I hardly ever made the starting lineup except for meaningless games.

To make matters worse, from middle school onwards, only my chest grew large, making it difficult to maintain an athletic body line.

Eventually, the stares from others began to feel lewd, and I quit soccer partway through high school, even though I loved it.

From that day on, my life became nothing but studying.

Boring, monotonous days of just exam preparation.

Thanks to that effort, I was able to enter Tokyo’s most prestigious private university, Koto University… but there was no joy in it.

Then one day, I was captivated by a soccer match displayed on the large monitor in the university cafeteria.

The number 18 player who came in partway through the second half. Even after his mistake led to a goal, he fearlessly dropped back to midfield to play as a target man.

His figure, never running away despite failure, resonated with me—someone who had run away from soccer.

From that day, I began to see myself in Makishima.

I think Makishima represents the ideal version of myself that I wanted to become.

“How do you feel? Better after crying?”

“…Yeah, I feel much better.”

Makishima wiped his tears with a tissue and answered with a smile.

“Somehow, I keep showing you my uncool sides, Aihara.”

“That’s not true! I think Makishima is growing properly from his failures.”

“You think so?”

“Yes! That post play you showed during the one-two with Azaki—you made a mistake with that play in the previous match and it became the cause of defeat, but today you won!”

When I praised him, Makishima grinned obviously.

I’m glad if I could cheer him up even a little.

“Thank you, Aihara. From now on—”

I heard the sound of the curtain opening, and Sasaki-chan with her black mask and glasses came in.

“Excuse me~”

Sasaki-chan, who had been out buying drinks, handed me tea and gave Makishima oshiruko for some reason.

“Hey Sasaki! Why do I get oshiruko?”

“I already bought it, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“You bought it, you say. If you feel sorry for me, trade with me. Come on, give me your tea.”

“No way! You’re a patient, so warm up your body with oshiruko.”

“Huh?”

Sasaki-chan and Makishima started bickering with the familiarity of a married couple.

I heard these two hit it off talking about Seishin Academy at the group date… but for having just met recently, they seem awfully close.

“Um, how about I take the oshiruko? I’ll give this tea to Sasaki-chan, and Sasaki-chan can give the green tea to Makishima?”

“But there’s no need for Aihara to force herself—”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

I took the oshiruko from Makishima and gave the tea to Sasaki-chan.

“Sasaki should become as mature as Aihara.”

“Shut up.”

Sasaki-chan when talking to Makishima is quite different from when she’s with friends in Izawa’s seminar.

Could it be that these two are…

“Makishima.”

“What’s up? Changed your mind about the oshiruko?”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

I’m not sure if I should ask this, but…

“Are you two dating—”

“Makishima! Are you alive?!”

Azaki in his jersey and uniform burst through the curtain from outside.

There are too many people with bad timing today.

“Idiot Azaki! This is a hospital!”

“Oops, sorry. More importantly, ah, Aihara-san is here too… It’s been a while since the group date.”

Azaki changed his tone and extended his hand to me.

“For you to come visit someone like Makishima, you’re truly a kind person. How about it? Would you like to have dinner with me after this?”

Y-yeah, I really don’t like Azaki.

I put on a forced smile while putting the oshiruko in my bag and stood up with it.

“Well then, Makishima, take care.”

“Y-yeah. Thanks for everything, Aihara.”

I wanted to talk with Makishima a bit more, but… oh well.

After that, ignoring Azaki’s pursuit, I left the hospital.

☆☆

At the same time Aihara left, that idiot Azaki also left the hospital saying, “I’m going to escort Aihara-san, so farewell Makishima!”

“I hate that afro, he’s gross.”

“I agree. I’m thinking of cutting ties with him soon.”

It seems Azaki has more talent for being hated by everyone than for soccer.

After the storm-like man left, silence returned.

The sky that had been clear blue when we were on the field had completely changed to sunset colors.

“Well then, I can’t stay long, so I should head home soon. Could you call a nurse for me?”

“Got it. I’ll go call one.”

I had Sasaki go call a nurse while I prepared to leave.

In the middle of that, a certain middle-aged man opened the curtain around my bed.

With jet-black sunglasses and a neck warmer pulled up to his nose, his face was completely hidden.

W-who is this old man? Did he come to the wrong room?

“Um, this is my bed—”

The man ignored me, took out a mysterious letter from his pocket, placed it on the table, and swiftly disappeared.

W-what was that about? And what is this… pure white letter?

Thinking he might have left it by mistake, I fearfully opened the letter.

“Dear Makishima Yutaro, While I worry about you charging into the goalpost to score that goal, part of me feels reassured by your determination. I am someone who deserves to be resented by you. During those three years when Seishin couldn’t make it to nationals, it wasn’t the fault of you, the ace. It was my responsibility as the coach. I regret resigning without being able to tell you this, and now I’m writing this letter. I currently work in the strengthening department of Tokyo Frontier. Makishima Yutaro, someday I want to work in the same place as you. Would you allow me to entrust you with that dream of mine—”

The moment I finished reading the letter, I rushed out of the hospital room with my belongings, but that person was already gone.

“…Why didn’t you say anything?”

Standing alone in the hallway, looking toward the stairs, Sasaki returned.

“Makishima, they said you can go home now.”

“…!”

“Makishima?”

“O-oh! Right, let’s go home.”

I quietly put away the letter so Sasaki wouldn’t see it.

…I am who I am today thanks to that person.

So I want to meet their expectations once more.

“Heave-ho.”

Sasaki took the shoulder bag I was carrying and put it on her own shoulder.

“Hey Sasaki, that’s my bag.”

“We’re going home together.”

“G-going home together? Where?”

“To Makishima’s apartment.”

“What?”

“So tonight, as a special favor… I’m saying I’ll take care of Makishima.”

What???