When I Brought The Lost Little Girl To Her House, The One Who Came Out Of The Front Door Was The Most Beautiful Girl In The Grade.

We decided to play 3-on-3 on half-court. Sasaki was the one who proposed it.

Playing 3-on-3 was fine, but facing the backup group as opponents felt a bit awkward.

The 3-on-3 match began. As expected, the outgoing popular kids were scoring points effortlessly.

Sasaki made a shot and exclaimed, “Yes!” while glancing back.

Curious about what he was looking at, I followed his gaze and saw Ayano and her friends who had entered the gym earlier.

Hmm, perhaps I’m overthinking it, but maybe he suggested this to impress the girls and get their attention.

“Keep it a secret, Sasaki!”

Shirasaka came over to Sasaki and high-fived him. They both smiled, so I guess I was just overthinking it.

“Did you see that, Shirakawa-san!?”

“Y-yeah… Haha.”

I take back what I said earlier; they seemed to be getting along well. You should stop, Sasaki. Even Shirasaka, who’s usually so friendly, seemed a bit taken aback by your approach.

In any case, the backup group couldn’t defend the popular kids.

While Shirasaka and others encouraged us to be more aggressive, Sasaki was the only one who claimed fouls even with just a light touch.

Well, I don’t believe in such unwritten rules that the popular kids shouldn’t be touched, but it seems to be a thing among the backup group.

I didn’t mind it, but Sasaki was really getting on my nerves, so I decided to defend him seriously.

“Dammit!”

Sasaki seemed to get increasingly frustrated with his declining performance, and his play became rougher.

When the ball came to Sasaki, I guarded him closely, and he forcefully pushed me away.

“You’re in the way!”

As Sasaki jumped, his elbow hit my nose.

It hurt. I felt blood trickling down from my nose.

“Are you okay, Kuroda?”

Everyone gathered around, including Sasaki, with a remorseful expression.

“I’ll take a break outside for a bit.”

“O-okay…”

Saying that, I covered my reddened nose with my hand and went outside the gym.

I went to the washroom, washed my nose with water, and wiped it with the towel I had with me.

Sitting on a chair outside the washroom, I let out a sigh.

Both the pain in my nose and the forced participation in the practice were wearing me down physically and mentally.

“Yuusei-kun! Are you okay?”

Someone called my name from the side, and I turned my head. Well, I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. There weren’t many people who called me by my name at school other than Ayano.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

My nose was hurting, but thankfully, the bleeding wasn’t severe.

Ayano then sat next to me.

“I’m so glad! I was worried, you know? When I saw you holding your nose and going outside, I heard you say that Sasaki’s elbow hit your nose.”

“Yeah, I’m okay… probably.”

“If the pain persists, you should go to the hospital, okay?”

I don’t think it’s that serious, but I stand up and say, “Yeah.”

“Huh? Are you leaving already?”

She tries to stop me. My nosebleed has stopped, and the pain has subsided quite a bit, so I was about to leave, but…

“There’s nothing much to do if I stay here.”

She looks at me as if she just got a brilliant idea.

“Then let’s chat together.”