Chapter Four: Day One
Fortunately the soccer club had the next day off, so Sunohara and I stood out in the school's soccer field and stretched. Well, he mainly stretched while I mainly waited. After all, he was the one with the promising future in soccer. We had planned to use the field for practice, and then rake and otherwise tidy up after ourselves.
After finishing his stretches, Sunohara started running at a light jog. We had worked out the best routine to help him get back in shape, starting with helping him regain his endurance. He had been active in our PE classes, so he hadn't lost too much, but fooling around in PE wasn't the same as training for actual matches, kinda like how standing around and shooting hoops wouldn't ever have gotten me ready for a basketball game.
His attitude…? Well, I had some ideas, but I wasn't ready to tackle that problem just yet. One thing at a time, and the easy stuff first.
"When are you gonna pick up the pace?!"I yelled at his diminishing form.
"Don't rush me!" he retorted. "It's been a long time!"
Oh, well; at least he knew that I'd be paying attention to his progress. Or lack of such.
To kill time as he jogged, I thought back on The Plan. It wasn't really complicated 'on paper': Help him build up his stamina and strength, then his soccer skills, and then his attitude. The problem is that Mei and I would likely end up dealing with his attitude while building up his strength and skills. Ever since he was kicked off the soccer team he'd taken on a 'quitter' mentality, and I expected that he would try to give up the minute things got difficult.
In fact… "Sunohara! Move your ass!"
He had already started plodding along and he was only halfway through his first lap. "Move your own!" he yelled back, and I could hear more than a little fatigue behind his words.
For all intents and purposes I ignored his reply. "Come on, Mr. Hat Trick; aren't you better than this?"
That got results as his pace noticeably picked up. The way he was running told me that he was genuinely tired, but he was soldiering on. I smiled to myself; if he kept this up he'd have his strength and endurance back up in no time.
I gave him a thump on the back as he passed the fourth lap. "You're doing great! Keep it up!"
"I can't believe I'm this out of shape!" he whined.
I started jogging to stay with him. "Well, you're been out of the game for a while, so it's not surprising. But keep this up and we'll find a way to get you on a real, paying team."
"That would be nice," he wheezed.
Mei nearly jumped into my shirt when I got home. "Well? How was he? How did Onii-chan do?"
She probably would have asked these questions on an endless loop had I not pushed her into her seat and given her a can of tea. "Calm down Mei, calm down! He was fine – a little out-of-shape, but he worked hard today."
"What a relief!" she sighed. "After the way he was the last time I visited…"
"He tried to quit, but he wasn't too serious about it. About quitting, I mean." I smiled as I smacked a fist into the palm of my hand. "In any case, I didn't let him quit."
"What did he do today?" she asked between sips.
"Just some laps around the soccer field." I shrugged. "That's what he chose to do, and it made sense to me."
"At least he's moving again," she mused.
"Well, he's bragged about being stronger than me," I noted. "If that's true then it shouldn't be too long before he can start practicing soccer again to get his skills back." I smirked conspiratorially. "So…when are you going to call him to tell him you're here?"
Her eyes became unfocused as she lowered her mug. "If he's doing this well, maybe I should call tomorrow or the day after, like you were talking about."
"That sounds good," I replied. "He already thinks that I've been talking to you about this, so a delay might be good."
Mei's face took on a worried look. "Maybe I'd better stay inside until then."
"Why's that?"
She crossed her arms. "Well, if I run into him while I'm out buying groceries, that could mess up everything."
"No…" I shook my head. "He'll probably stay in his room, so…waitaminute…he might go out running if he's fired up, so yeah, maybe you'd better stay inside until you call."
"Yeah," she agreed with a nod. Then she looked around. "At least I won't be bored; this place is a mess."
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, sorry. Dad and I aren't the best at keeping house."
"Where's your mom?"
My hand froze mid-rub. "She's, uh…gone."
Mei's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know or I wouldn't have-"
I held out my hands in appeasement. "It's okay, Mei-chan; it didn't come up the last time you were here, so of course you didn't know."
She looked at me sadly. "I wish you still had your mom."
I smiled, feeling a small lump in my throat. "Yeah, me too. I think things would be a lot better if she was still around."
"Is your shoulder okay? You're rubbing it a lot."
"Huh?" I looked to see my hand rubbing at my injured shoulder; I must have started doing it without thinking. "Oh…this is one of the things that probably would be better if Mom was still here."
"What do you mean?" Curiosity shone in her eyes.
I sighed and told her my life's story; Mom's death, Dad's alcoholism and, finally, the fight that injured my shoulder. She paled as I told my story but never asked me to stop.
"That's terrible," she said when I finished. "No wonder you seemed so sad when I first saw you."
'It's fine," I remarked somewhat lamely. "I seem to be doing better now; I'm able to get out of bed in the morning and get to school on time. Shoot, I've even started catching up on stuff I missed from my first two years."
"Amazing," she breathed. "What did…what made you change?"
"Well, I-" I started, then caught myself. Did I really want to tell her that she was the reason? "Let's uh, just say that…I was inspired!"
She looked at me with a sly smile. "It's a girl, isn't it?"
I winced. "You could say that…yes."
The expression in her eyes changed from sly to stars in a heartbeat. "Really? Who is she? I won't tell, I promise!"
The pleading look in her eyes almost made me spill the beans, but I kept control. "I'd…like to keep that to myself for now."
She gave the cutest pout I'd ever seen. "Fine. But I'll make you tell me someday."
I had no doubt that she would succeed…which worried me a little.
