By Zephyria Hic, hic, hic.
He had cried so much that the sobbing didn’t stop easily. The tears had barely stopped, but his breathing continued to be erratic, so Koi grabbed the handlebars of the bike with both hands and walked slowly, panting.
Haaa…
As he let out a trembling sigh, the tears that he thought had stopped flowed down again. Koi stopped in his tracks and rubbed his eyes with his arms. He sniffed, inhaling through his nose, but it was completely blocked, and he couldn’t breathe at all. He had no choice but to take another breath into his parched mouth.
“Oh my, what’s with your appearance?”
At the high-pitched voice, Koi paused. It was a few seconds later that he turned his head to see who it was. The other person gasped in surprise at the face that slowly turned around and asked in an even higher voice.
“Oh my gosh, what happened? Did you decide to quit school and become a homeless person?”Koi was staring blankly at Ariel approaching. The queen of Buffalo High School was perfect even outside of school. As always during cheerleading practice, she had her hair tied up high in a ponytail and was wearing a form-fitting pink tracksuit with white sneakers. Ariel, who had been jogging and was taking off her earphones one by one as she approached Koi, visibly distorted her face when she saw his face, which was swollen and covered in dirt and dust.
“Don’t tell me, did you get beat up by the ice hockey gorillas?”
“N, no.”
Koi was startled and quickly shook his head.
“Absolutely not, they don’t care, cough.”
A hoarse voice came out, and he coughed urgently. Ariel frowned, took out a bottle of water hanging from her waist, and held it out.
“Drink, it’s new.”
When Koi hesitated, she shook the bottle as if urging him.
“Thank, you.”
He barely managed to say between sobs, then took the bottle, opened the lid, and carefully touched his lips to it. Ariel watched Koi’s face as he drank, her arms crossed.
“I drank well.”
As he wiped his mouth and handed back the half-empty water bottle, Ariel shook her head.
“It’s okay, you take it.”
“Oh, yeah, okay.”
Ariel looked at Koi, who hesitated and took the bottle back, with a frown, then tilted her head to one side and said.
“Well, those gorilla guys are big, but they’re soft-hearted and can’t hit anyone.”
She muttered to herself, but her voice was loud enough for Koi to hear. But she didn’t seem to care whether anyone heard her or not. When Koi sniffled, Ariel looked at him again at the sound and frowned.
“Then how did you get into that state?”
“…Just.”
Koi stammered between sobs.
“Just, I fell, by myself. The wheel, slipped.”
At that, Ariel looked at the bicycle next to Koi and exclaimed, “Ooh,” as if she was fed up.
“Does that thing even roll? Or are you going to throw it away now?”
“N, no.”
Koi quickly shook his head.
“I’m using it. It’s still okay, I can use it for another year.”
“If you’re still alive in a year.”
Ariel pointed out firmly.
“If you keep riding that bike, you’ll break your neck and die soon.”
“N, no, I won’t.”
Ariel, who mocked Koi’s tone, scanned Koi’s whole body once and asked.
“Where do you live?”
“Huh? Oh, over there, behind Birdie’s…”
When Koi stammered and pointed to one side, Ariel hummed and pondered for a moment. Koi was wondering if he could say he was leaving now, and cautiously watched her.
Ariel’s words were not wrong. As he rolled down the slope, the wheels must have gone wrong, because he couldn’t even get on it, and even when he grabbed the handlebars, the bicycle kept losing its balance and wobbling. There was still plenty of time until Father came home, but if he dragged this old bicycle home, he might not arrive until dawn. Koi was forcing himself to resist the urge to collapse and lie down, so he just wanted to part with Ariel and get home as soon as possible.
“Um…”
Just as he managed to open his mouth, Ariel suddenly cut him off.
“I have no choice, follow me.”
“H, huh?”
Confused by the sudden words, Ariel, who had already turned around, looked at him and said.
“Follow me, hurry. Quickly.”
Then Ariel put her earphones back in her ears and started running. Koi stood there for a moment, watching her receding figure. What should I do? Even if I go hard from now on, I’ll be late. Where are you going? Why? I want to rest…
But he didn’t have the courage to ignore Ariel and leave. As he stood there, not knowing what to do, Ariel, who had run quite a distance, came back.
“What are you doing? I told you to come quickly.”
“U, um…… I think I’ll just go home now…….”
When he plucked up the courage to say that, Ariel pointed out while jogging in place.
“It takes 20 minutes to get to Birdie’s even by bike, and you’re going to walk there dragging that thing? Are you really trying to become homeless?”
“No, that’s not it…”
Ariel continued, cutting off Koi, who couldn’t finish his sentence, not knowing what to do.
“Come on, we don’t have time to waste like this.”
She checked the watch on her wrist and said.
“It’s only about 10 minutes to my house. Come on, for now.”
Ariel shouted as she ran again.
“If you don’t follow me quickly, you’ll really spend the night on the street!”
Startled by the warning voice, Koi hurriedly grabbed the handlebars. Ariel had already gone far away in an instant. He couldn’t understand the situation at all, but Koi had no choice but to follow the bicycle and walk in the direction she had gone.
*
After that, Ariel came back three or four times. Koi apologized to her, but Ariel brushed it off lightly, saying it was okay.
“I have to run this much anyway. You just hurry up and catch up.”
And she ran far away again. Koi gasped for breath and worked hard to follow.
Ariel was heading to a residential area not far away. In the darkening street, houses of different shapes stood at regular intervals, but most of them were dark, and the surroundings were eerie and quiet.
Koi carefully walked through the quiet residential area, following the streetlights that lit up intermittently. The unpleasant metallic noise of the old bicycle was particularly loud.
Ah.
Koi, who had been looking around for Ariel, soon found the garage of a house not far away opening. He stopped in surprise at the pouring light, and Ariel came out from inside.
“Come this way, hurry.”
Ariel waved her arm at Koi, who was standing there blankly. Koi hurried towards her, urging his tired steps.
There were two cars in the garage, and Ariel’s car was parked on the road in front of the house. As instructed, Koi took the bicycle into the garage, and Ariel snatched it away, leaned it against the wall, and pointed to the other side.
“Use that one.”
“Huh?”
In the direction he looked with a puzzled expression, there was a well-maintained bicycle. It wasn’t brand new, but it was an incomparably better product than Koi’s. Ariel brought the bicycle directly to him and showed it to him, saying to Koi, who was blinking in confusion.
“I used to ride this before I got my license, and it’s still usable. It’s been a while since I used it, but there’s no problem with the performance. Father checked it to sell it at the garage sale, so you can trust it.”
“Huh?”
Koi repeated the same exclamation once again. What’s going on all of a sudden? Are you just giving me this good bike? Why?
Ariel urged Koi, who was blinking in confusion.
“Come on, ride it quickly. Let me see if it’s okay. Hurry.”
“O, okay…”
Koi, who was pushed by Ariel, took the bicycle out and got on it in front of her. At first, he staggered from side to side, but soon he regained his senses and balanced himself, and the bicycle moved surprisingly smoothly.
Wow.
Koi widened his eyes without realizing it and exclaimed. He had been stubbornly riding an old bicycle that had been losing air for over 10 years, but the bicycle Ariel gave him now was on a different level. How can it go so fast and easily?
“Is it okay?”
When he returned to the starting position, Ariel, who had been watching until then, asked. Koi nodded with an excited face.
“Y, yeah. B, but is it real? Are you giving this to me? Just like that?”
“Yeah.”
Before Koi could even ask why, Ariel gave an answer first.
“If you get into another accident riding this old bicycle, no one in our club will want to come in. It’s cheaper than that.”
“Ah.”
Koi understood at once. But even so, it was too much kindness. Thinking that Ariel was putting that much affection into the cheerleading team, Koi felt ashamed of himself for only caring about grades and submitting his application after much deliberation.
“…Thank you.”
He managed to say, but Ariel answered casually.
“It’s okay, this much is nothing.”
And she added confidently, with her arms crossed.
“Even if you have a jalapeño between your legs, it’s natural to help each other since you’ve joined our team.”