Chapter 3: Meeting Ushijima Wakatoshi
Kagome found herself dressed in her workout clothes at four in the morning. Her aunt had been kind enough to provide her a key the day before. She was putting it in her zipper pocket now with her phone. She moved down the stairs quietly and pulled on her running shoes before opening the door and stepping out. She closed the door and locked it before turning around. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the cold morning air. She opened her eyes and stretched and did a few warm up exercises before starting to run on the route Asahi had shown her. Her run was over before she was even winded, leaving her disappointed. She would have to find a new path to extend her run. She'd have to explore the area and possibly find a hill to run up since she didn't have the shrine stairs anymore. It had been part of her routine for such a long time, and she found herself missing the exertion they had provided her daily life.
She headed in and took a quick shower before heading down to make breakfast for her aunt's family. She started on the rice before pulling out some fish, eggs, and things for a simple miso soup. She easily grilled the fish and rolled tamago. The miso was easily completed a few minutes later. When the rice cooker shifted to warm, she stirred it and worked on setting the table for four. She was setting the last bowl on the table when Shimizu, her aunt and uncle came down. They all sat and started eating, discussing what they were getting into that day. Shimizu was going to be with the volleyball team for their practice, her uncle was going to be at work and warned he might be late. There was a major project his team was working on and the due date was soon, so they would be working a bit late to get it done. Her aunt would do the minimal cleaning and get the day's groceries and things for tomorrow's breakfast before paying some bills. Kagome would be doing a bit of exploring. She managed to put her aunt's address as a saved location in her map app. She would be able to get back if she got lost.
Breakfast dishes were easily done by her aunt as her uncle ran out the door for work. Shimizu went to get ready for her day as Kagome grabbed a shoulder bag and moved on her way out the door for her exploration. She had grabbed some of her cash in case she found herself eating lunch outside of her aunt's house. She moved in the opposite direction of the school and looked around. It was mostly houses and residential property. She kept walking until she came to a park. There were elderly people walking along the path. In the distance she could see a playground, children just showing up with their friends to play, a few mother's overseeing younger children and talking to each other. She continued through the park and found a massive hill. She nodded, vowing to add the hill to her run. She continued up the hill, a few signs of what was around with arrows being seen.
"Shiratorizawa High," she read to herself. She shook her head and moved in the opposite direction, seeing a convenience store in the distance. She managed to swiftly move out of the way of a rather large male. She watched him, taking in the dark, olive brown hair. He was tall, almost 190 cm. He was solidly built. On his back was Shiratorizawa and an emblem of a white swan. His gait seemed a bit off, so she called out to him. "Jutto matte." She held a hand out as he seemed to stop. He turned and looked at her with his olive green eyes. He looked serious and seemed like he was in a hurry.
"Yes?" He turned to look back towards his school, not sure why she would stop him.
"Your stride is off," she stated with a slight blush. He was attractive after all. His stare was also a bit intimidating. She approached slowly, not really sure what she was trying to achieve. "You are either injured and trying to force yourself through the injury, which would make it worse, or you are close to getting injured." She seemed to drop down onto a knee and felt over his knees. It was the healer in her. She could see the strain in one of his knees. She started to mumble to herself.
He gave the girl before him a weird look. She was essentially feeling him up, but he couldn't help but taking her words into account. His right knee had been acting up recently, and she seemed to be focusing on it with her prodding. He cleared his throat, and she seemed to come back to herself. She came back to her feet, a blush lining her cheeks.
"Sorry about that." She seemed to fidget with her hands before taking a breath. "I really want to be a doctor after high school and studied a bit of medicine," she admitted. She shook her head, not sure why she was telling him this. "Take this advice how you want, but I think you should ice your knee then soak it in some hot water with Epsom salt. You should also stretch before and after physical activity." She looked back down at his knee then his shoes. "If you run as often as I assume you do, you should also replace your running shoes more often."
"Hn." He lifted his shoes and looked at the warn soles. He should have replaced them by now, but had been more busy than usual. He'd have to go and do it today. "Ah. Thank you." He nodded, taking her words into consideration.
"I am Higurashi Kagome. I recently moved around here." She offered a polite smile.
"Ushijima Wakatoshi," he offered in return. "I really should get back to practice."
"Of course. See you around, Ushijima-san." She waved and he started back off, if a bit more slowly. He didn't want to risk injury this close to the start of the start of school. He opened an app on his phone to note down to stretch more often and to do as she had suggested. She went out of her way to let him know after all.
She continued on towards the convenience store. She didn't think she would see him again. It was funny how the universe worked.