Kana went to her club again today. She ran, ran, and ran. She wiped the beads of sweat formed on her temple, accepting the bottle of water handed to her by their manager and guzzling it down instantly.
"Haha, Kana! That's not alcohol, you know?" pointed out another girl.
"Leave me alone, Yuri! Teacher made me run five more laps than you guys, okay?!" Kana complained.
"Well, you've been late a lot recently..."
"Oops, hehe," Kana replied nonchalantly.
Kana felt a hand on her back. She looked back, it was her teacher. "Kana, the sports festival's coming soon. Do you mind representing us for the relay race?"
"Eh? Me? For clubs, it's the cultural ones against the sports ones, right? There's a lot of people faster than me!"
Her teacher sighed. "Yeah, but there's no one with better endurance than you when running long distance. Who's the one that ran five more laps than the others but is currently still standing perfectly fine when the others are on the ground?"
Kana turned, her clubmates appearing like zombies on the track field. "Well, teacher, it's not my fault you're mercile-" Her ear was immediately pulled. "Owowow- I'm sorry!!"
She rubbed her ears as her teacher let go.
"So, will you?"
"Hmmmm, I'll think about it!" Kana replied.
Who am I kidding? That sounds so much fun goddamnit! But I have to at least pretend I'm not that into it so teacher doesn't think she can just use me for every competition even when I don't want to join!
"See you tomorrow, Yuri!"
She showered and changed her clothes, preparing to walk home on her own. The school was a lot quieter now that most students had left. The halls were washed with the apricot hue of the sky, signs of the night arriving.
Just then, a scream came from the home economics classroom. Kana grabbed the nearest object she could find - a fire extinguisher - and busted into the room. "I'LL SAVE YOU-"
A pair of students in aprons hunched dejectedly over a dropped tray of cookies on the floor.
Assessing the situation, Kana put the fire extinguisher down and paid her respects to what was lost. They looked at her in disbelief. Realising how she looked, Kana quickly explained herself. "I heard you guys scream, so I took the nearest thing I could thinking you were getting attacked!"
"Attacked? Here? In school?" asked the boy.
"You- you never know!" Kana reasoned.
The girl whined, bringing their attention back to the cookies on the floor. "Ah, what do we do? Our cookies for Aki..."
Kana grinned, rolling up her sleeves. "I'll help out! Let's just make it again!"
"Eh, Kana, you can bake?" The boy asked.
"Watch me! You'll be impressed!"
...
Kana watched them bite into her cookies in anticipation. Her heart was pounding in a way she had never felt before.
What if she was just deluding herself into thinking she was any good at all? She shut her eyes, afraid of looking at their faces.
"... You're amazing!" They both squealed.
Smiles.
She couldn't stop herself from smiling too.
Yeah, this was why I so desperately wanted to do this.
YOU ARE READING
This Warmth Of Yours
Romance"You unlovable, utterly dreadful child of mine." - Haru wished for a friend, splashes of colour to perfect the imperfect her. Someone that would cover up the gaping hole she felt in herself. Someone that could multiply her self worth measured in dro...
