I’ve Been Working My Hardest as Manager of the Girls’ Track and Field Team, but Ever Since I Retired, the Team Members Have Been Coming at Me Like Crazy!?
“…Is it just my imagination?”
Even after returning to my room, I can’t seem to relax.
After all, I promised Yukimura I’d leave the door unlocked.
I’m so anxious about when those guys might burst into the room that every time I think I hear a noise in the hallway, I brace myself, only to breathe a sigh of relief when nothing happens. I’ve been doing this for nearly an hour now.
“Ugh, enough already! This is driving me crazy…”
I’m even starting to think it might be safer if I just wasn’t in the room at all.
This is the third floor, and the windows don’t open, so if they break in, there’s nowhere to run.
Maybe I should go to the lobby… no, it really isn’t a good look for high school students to be wandering around a hotel in the middle of the night.
Besides, if they find out, I’ll lose all credibility with them.
Honestly, if I were in the same room as them, I might just give up… Wait, hold on a second?
“…Hello?”
“Huh, Mitsuru? What’s up? Why are you calling me on the intercom?”
When I called the three of them in their room, Yukimura answered the phone.
“Are all three of you actually in the room?”
“Yeah, we’re here. Why do you ask? You don’t mean…”
“What do you mean, ‘you don’t mean’? Look, I want to talk to everyone for a bit. Can I come over?”
“Huh? W-what’s going on?”
“Nothing. I just can’t sleep. If you don’t want me to, it’s fine.”
“No way, no way, no way, no way! If you don’t come, I’m coming over there!”
“O-okay, okay. I’ll be there in a bit, so you guys just stay put, okay?”
“Okay.”
Before I hung up, I heard Yukimura and the others’ voices on the other end of the line.
“Mitsu’s coming over right now!”
“No way, why!? Yay!”
“You two need to clean up the room. Hurry, hurry!”
With those voices of joy echoing in the distance, I gently set the receiver down.
The fact that just the thought of me coming over has three beautiful girls getting so excited and happy is, to be honest, kind of nice.
But I can’t just get carried away.
The place I’m heading to right now is a den of beasts.
And I mustn’t forget that I’m the bait.
So why am I going there of my own free will? It’s not that I’m lonely or anything like that.
As things stand now, I have no idea when or at what moment one of those three might come into the room.
I can’t stand the thought of waiting for morning while silently enduring that fear.
Besides, if they really did attack me, there’s nowhere to run in this room—it would be game over.
However, I figured that if I went to their room, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about that.
If all three of them are in the room together, even if one of them tries to act on her own, the other two will surely stop her.
So, as a result, it’s safer than being alone in my room.
Hoping that my judgment wasn’t wrong, I took a deep breath and slowly left my room.
◇
‘Knock knock’
Arriving at the door to the three girls’ room, I steeled myself and knocked.
“Coming… Oh, Mitchi, you’re early. Everyone, Mitchi’s here!”
Shiratori, who opened the door, said this cheerfully to the two inside, and Yukimura came out from the back of the room.
“Mitsu, you really came.”
“Well, I was the one who suggested it.”
“Hehe, you were actually feeling lonely, weren’t you? Come on, come on, hurry up and come inside.”
Yukimura took my hand and led me inside, but Shirotori said, “Hey, Mai, that’s a little unfair,” and pulled Yukimura away from me.
I see. Things are going exactly as I expected so far.
In this so-called three-way standoff, I should be safe.
Please, don’t go thinking you’re showing team spirit just by cooperating at a time like this.
“Ah, Sen-chan.”
Once inside, the room was so spacious it could easily accommodate twice as many people as the three of us, and Hayase, sitting demurely in seiza right in the middle, was waving at us.
“Good work, Hayase. Sorry for barging in on you like this.”
“Nah, I’m actually happy about it. But what’s up, really?”
“Oh, it’s nothing major. It’s just that today’s the last time we’ll be on a trip like this, staying in a hotel with this group. I thought I’d like to have a nice, relaxed chat.”
“Huh, so Sen-chan has that side to him, too. Come on, don’t just stand there—sit down over there.”
As I sat down on the cushion prepared next to Hayase, Yukimura and Shiratori immediately took seats around me.
Before I knew it, I was surrounded by the three of them.
“……”
I braced myself, thinking maybe coming here had been a mistake after all, but the three of them seemed somehow back to their usual selves.
“Mitchi, you’ve really taken care of us these past two years.”
“Come on, don’t get all formal.”
“But—I mean, we’ve been through a lot, haven’t we?”
“Yeah, I guess so. We’ve been through a lot.”
“Mitchi, what stands out most in your memory about me?”
“Shiratori, huh. I was totally devastated when you finished last, about ten meters behind me in our first race.”
“Oh, come on, forget about that.”
“Haha, like I’d forget that. But you’ve really gotten fast, haven’t you?”
“Yeah. It’s all thanks to you, Mitchi.”
Shiratori looked happy; she didn’t make any moves to attack me or say anything weird.
I don’t know why, but she seems mentally stable right now.
“Mitsu, what about your memories with me?”
“Yukimura, remember that time we had a fight during practice and you ran off?”
“Oh, that wasn’t running off or anything.”
“Come on, you just bolted out on your own and ended up crying by the riverbank.”
“O-oh, come on, stop it.”
“But I feel like we’ve gradually started seeing eye to eye since then. It’s kind of strange, isn’t it?”
“…It’s just that you’ve started accommodating me more.”
Yukimura, looking happy yet embarrassed, blushed and lowered her head.
Her eyes weren’t unfocused, and her breathing wasn’t heavy.
She looked like a perfectly ordinary, endearing girl.
“Sen-chan, what are your memories of me?”
Finally, Hayase asked, tugging at my sleeve in a sulky sort of way.
“The thing that stands out most about you, Hayase, is definitely this Inter-High. That final jump—setting a personal best like that almost brought me to tears.”
“It’s thanks to your cheering, Sen-chan. And I think the tape you wrapped around my leg at the end helped, too.”
As Hayase looked back on it with deep emotion, Shirotori suddenly looked displeased for some reason.
“Mitchii, have you been taping anyone else’s legs besides mine?”
“W-well, of course I did. I’m the manager, after all.”
“Did you touch Masa’s leg?”
“D-don’t put it like that—it sounds so rude.”
“Did you touch it?”
“……I don’t know.”
I tried to play dumb, but it was a stretch.
I mean, isn’t it impossible to wrap tape without touching the body?
“Hmm, so you’re trying to dodge the question. Mitchi, we’ve got a lot to talk about when we get back.”
“C-can’t we talk about it right here and now?”
“I’d rather talk when it’s just the two of us.”
“Ah, Moe-chan, that’s not fair. I want to talk to Sen-chan alone when we get back, too.”
“It’s rude of both of you to leave me out of this. Man, you’ll make time for me first, right?”
The three of them were staring intently at me.
This is bad. It’s turned into a weird standoff.
Is there any way to talk my way out of this…? Nah, there isn’t.
Well, then, at least…
“Alright, let’s all play cards.”
“Hey, Mitsuru, don’t try to dodge the issue.”
“Hold on, Yukimura. Let’s be fair about this. How about we go in order of who wins the card game?”
It’s a desperate measure, but it’s probably the only way to calm things down.
“Hmm, well, I guess that makes sense. Everyone, let’s play!”
Yukimura, already eager to get started, pulled a deck of cards out of her bag.
“Alright, I’m not going to lose. Oh, by the way, what happens if Mitchi comes in first?”
“Ah, that’s true. In that case… hey, if I win, does that mean we put off our date?”
“No way.”
Shiratori slammed her fist down on the table.
“…I guess so.”
“If that ever happens, I’ll bury myself and Mitchi together in the woods behind this hotel.”
“…Um, Yukimura?”
“If Mitsuru says something so mean, I’ll set the room on fire and die with him.”
“H-huh, setting a fire isn’t a good idea… Um, Hayase?”
“I want to take Sen-chan’s head and go to a faraway place where no one knows us.”
Nice boat! …Like that’s ever going to happen!
Wait, no matter what, am I going to die?
“…Haha, well, just kidding. Anyway, let’s get started. How about we play ‘Big Rich’?”
“Yeah.”
The group’s response was so in unison it felt almost refreshing.
The three of them picked up the cards they’d been dealt, glaring at each other as if trying to intimidate one another.