CH 12

What are the activities of the health committee members?

In this school, there is a committee activity once a month.

Apparently, the first meeting of this term was held yesterday when I was absent.

Since it was the first meeting, it is normal for the activities to end with self-introductions and explanations of the activities, but for some reason, the person who became the head of the health committee was a very motivated person, so for some reason they decided to start inspecting and replenishing hygiene supplies on the first day by dividing the school into groups and making rounds.

So, the more time I took off, the more Asagiri had to patrol the campus.

The activities of the group are wide-ranging, including making these rounds on a regular basis and creating posters about healthy habits.

The rest of the time, the health committee members are also in charge of first aid activities during events such as sports festivals.

Wow, I’ve been put in a troublesome committee.

I’m going to hate Kirihara-sensei …….

So now I’m being made to babysit the nurse’s office after school. I’m supposed to be in charge of the school nurse’s office while the school nurse is away.

The school nurse’s job description does not include this duty, but the school nurse’s supplies were to be delivered from the vendor today, and the teacher’s business overlapped with the delivery, so it was necessary for her to take care of it.

It was apparently optional, but Asagiri took advantage of my absence and took it upon herself to impose her duty on me.

It was simply a case of taking it out on me.

It was my fault for taking the day off, but isn’t it terrible?　

I asked her what she was going to do if I had a problem, and she said she had intended to do it herself at the time, so she accepted the job without telling me.

“Haa, …… no one’s coming, and I don’t need this. I want to go home.”

There is not a single sign of a vendor coming, either. I mean, are students allowed to receive supplies? I want to ask them what they think of the school’s management system, but there is no one to answer me.

I’ve been told that when I’m done, I’m to inspect the areas not covered yesterday, so I’d like to get it over with and get back home.

“But I’m bored ……”

What a mutter, and this was the flag.

“Excuse me!”

The door to the infirmary was cheerfully opened.

“Huh? The teacher is not here.”

A girl with short-cut brown hair wearing half pants and an athletic shirt came in.

She saw me and approached me.

“Ah, you’re the health committee member?”

“Yes, but …… Sensei isn’t here.”

“Oh, I see! I didn’t come here for you, but I ran out of the taping I was using for club activities! I came to ask you to share it with me.”

“Ah, is that what this is about?”

Unfortunately, I have not been told anything about the equipment in the infirmary, so I can’t decide whether it’s okay for me to share it without permission.

“Ah, don’t worry about it! I always ask them to share when they run out! Can you tell the teacher later?”

“Ah, okay then.”

The girl, sensing what I was thinking, opened the shelf and took the equipment from inside.

“Ouch.”

Then she sat down on a chair, held one knee, took off her shoes, and began to wrap the taping around her ankle in a messy, round and round fashion.

The taping was probably sprained, but I was worried about whether it was safe to wrap it in such a random way.

In the first place, she did not even have an underwrap, the base of the taping, wrapped around her ankle.

“Hmm? I don’t know if this is okay. ……?”

“…… if you want me to help?”

“Eh, really!?”

I couldn’t bear to look at her, so I called out to her without thinking, and the girl agreed to my suggestion with a bite.

“I’m pretty clumsy. I guess I wasted my time. I’m sorry!”

Scratching her head in embarrassment, she messily removed the taping she had just wrapped herself in, again in a messy manner, and apologized.

“Then, please!”

Then she held out her bare left foot to me.

“……, excuse me.”

“?”

Without any hesitation, the left leg was presented to me. The thigh that was exposed from it caught my eye even if I didn’t want to see it. I tried not to look at it as much as possible and concentrated only on the ankle.

I took an underwrap from the shelf that contained the taping and wrapped it around my ankle.

Then I wrapped this carefully too so that the elasticity of the glue and taping would not become loose.

“Is this okay?”

“Oh, wow! That’s great! Thanks! You saved my life!”

“You’re welcome.”

The girl’s dazzling smile made me slightly embarrassed.

It seems like an exaggeration to say that I was just taping her up, but it’s not a bad feeling.

“Did you sprain it?”

And I ask an obvious question to cover it up. I don’t know the age of the person I’m talking to, so I speak awkwardly in honorifics.

“Yes, that’s right – Suika is on the basketball team. Sometimes I twist like this. I guess it’s become a habit. Ah no! Oh, and you don’t have to use honorifics! You’re a transfer student, right? we’re the same age!”

“A-Ah. I see.”

She calls herself Suika, and seems to be in the same second grade. But I have never seen her in the classroom, so she is probably in a different class. She also seems to know that I am a transfer student.

“Umm, what’s your name again? Something like, was that …… a rough name?”

“…..Arase. It’s not rough. It’s the new one.” (Talking about Arase’s kanji)

“Oh, yes! Arase-kun. My name is Takimoto Suika. Nice to meet you!”

“O-oh. Nice to meet you.”

When I fearfully took her outstretched hand, she waved it around in an exaggerated manner.

She seems to be a child who reacts to everything in an exaggerated manner.

And she is quite vivacious and cheerful. She is the complete opposite of me, who has no motivation to do anything.

“Hmmm, I got it taped up tight, but it might hurt a little …… hmm?”

“If it hurts, you probably shouldn’t push it too hard, right?”

“I think I’ll be fine though. It’s not that bad, and the tournament is coming up soon! There are only a few third-year students, and Suika has to lead the team, so I can’t take a break just for this! Oh, no! I have to get back to practice soon!”

Takimoto-san stood up on the spot and bounced lightly.

“Okay, I’m okay after all! Okay, I’m going to go.Thanks!”

Takimoto san winked at me and made an all-out dash toward the gymnasium. It seems that her legs are fine.

“She was like a …… storm.”

If the teacher had been here, she would have definitely been told off for not running in the hallway.

But still, basketball team,…….

At that time. The usual thing ran through my brain again.

In that place – the gymnasium, various sounds can be heard.

The squeak of shoes hitting the gym floor, the shouts of students engaged in club activities.

The sound of the volleyball team bouncing a ball, the basketball team shooting a ball, and the sound of the bell tolling five o’clock in the distance.

Then I heard the bell tolling exactly five o’clock in the distance.

I was watching the practice scene from the emergency door of the gymnasium, which was open outside.

I must have caught a glimpse of it on my way home.

After a few seconds of watching, I turned my back to the gym and began to walk away.

“Kyaa!!”

“Are you okay!?”

At that moment, I hear a scream.

I turn around to the gymnasium once more to see what’s going on.

“Ugh. ……”

I looked through the gym door to see what was going on inside, and there was Takimoto-san, who had collapsed, holding her right leg.

“………… seriously?”

The sad expression on her face, which had been so cheerful a moment ago.

I could not get it out of my head.

My prediction of the future is basically limited to events that will happen within a few minutes.

I have never measured it precisely, but it usually happens in two or three minutes if I don’t do anything.

But the one just now seemed to be clearly further into the future than usual.

Probably about 10 minutes ahead.

What should I do……

“Ara, Ito-kun, what’s the matter with you?”

“Ah”

I was thinking and before I knew it, the infirmary teacher had returned.

If the teacher had returned, there was no reason for me to be here anymore.

◆

“So what am I supposed to do?”

I arrived at the gymnasium, but I was at a loss.

It is good that I came here on impulse, but I don’t know what to do about Takimoto-san.

I don’t even know how Takimoto-san got injured in the first place, nor do I know what the situation is.

So the best thing to do would be to stop her from practicing, but …… that would be difficult.

It would be strange for me, a complete outsider, to go in on my own and tell her to stop practicing.

Or rather, if I did that, my school life would be over.

“I mean, ……, why would I go to all this trouble for someone else?”

Normally, it would have been a hassle.

The relationship between me and Takimoto-san is to the extent that we talked earlier in the infirmary. Why am I so desperate for such a relationship?

It must be….

“……”

Stop it. Let’s think about it later.

Even if we had only talked a little, if I knew that such a cheerful-looking girl would turn out to be a tragic figure.

“I really do think she’s got a tragic condition.”

I’m supposed to hate trouble, but I don’t want to see an unpleasant future even if it didn’t involve me.

No, it’s for my own good.

If I didn’t avoid a future that I know is here, I would normally be bothered. I am sensitive.

I made excuses to myself and blocked out the negative thoughts.

……But, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

Either way, it’s going to be hard to get her to stop practicing.

“Hmmm?”

“Huh? Arase-kun?”

While I was worrying, I heard a voice from behind me.