On The Side Of The Pitch With You

SIDE Galaxy: The Smile I Fell In Love With

It started a long time ago.

The first time was when... I think I was four? Yeah. It was when I just started going to school. A couple of months in probably?

I was packing my things and getting ready to go home when I heard laughing coming from outside. I saw some of my classmates in a circle. One of them had a soccer ball under his foot.

I've tried asking to play with them once before, but they said they had plans so they couldn't. I haven't been able to ask again, so I thought that was my chance.

I was wrong.

"That Kyousuke's weird."

"Uh-huh. I can't understand what he says sometimes."

"I don't like sitting next to him..."

Honestly, I never really understood why they said that stuff. I just remember I went home crying that day. My brother was the one that comforted me and offered to play with me on the weekend.

It was many months later that I met you.

By then, I already gave up trying to talk to or get along with the other kids at school and spent my days looking forward to hanging out with my brother and only my brother.

That day, I was kicking the ball around with him as usual. It was a repetitive game where we just passed to each other, but I wasn't doing it right. I kept losing my balance.

And then the ball went straight to your face.

I went over and apologized, but you were still mad. I thought you were going to insult me too.

But you didn't.

"When you're going to pass it to someone, you should pay attention to that person. You can't aim if you keep looking at the ball."

The first lesson you ever gave me.

You passed the ball back to me perfectly before leaving. It surprised me so much I nearly forgot to thank you.

The next week, while I was playing with my brother again, I spotted you at the same seat as before. I must've been staring for too long because my brother noticed and told me to go talk to you.

But I was too scared to.

I was still worried if you'd treat me like they did, so he came up with a plan. At first, he pretended to miss his passes, making sure the ball gets near you so you'd help get it. Eventually, it started becoming obvious that he was doing it on purpose and he began to simply kick it towards you.

When you stopped the ball and dribbled it towards us, I was worried if we had upset you, but all you said was, "If you wanted to invite me to play, you could just ask, you know..."

I remember laughing at that because of how embarrassed I was. You really were a nice person.

I still remember the rest of that conversation too.

"My name's Kyousuke! That's my brother."

"Tsurugi Yuuichi. You can call me by my first name too." My brother said. "What's your name?"

"...Kimiko."

"Are you new around here? I don't think I've seen you around before last week."

"I live a few towns over. I'm just here to see some relatives."

"Ah... That explains it."

Hearing that, I asked you, "Does that mean you'll come here often from now on?"

"I'll be around every weekend or so."

As embarrassing as it is to admit, those words made my day.

"Then, does that mean we can play with you every weekend too?"