My Childhood Friend, Sometimes a Schoolgirl—She Only Wears That Ribbon Around Me - Episode 26

“The nurse isn’t here, huh?”

We finally made it to the infirmary, only to find a sign on the door that read “Out.” I peeked into the faculty room, but there was no sign of the school nurse, and we had no idea where else to look.

Still, when we went back to the infirmary and I slid the door open just to check, it turned out it wasn’t locked. Pretty careless, if you ask me.

“Well, the door’s open. Wanna go ahead and do a quick patch-up ourselves?”

“Our school has a rule: no entering the infirmary or using supplies without permission.”

“Laaa-la-laaa, I can’t heeear you! I just transferred here, so I don’t know the rules yet. Total newbie here!”

“…You’ve got more guts than I thought.”

“You were kinda like this back in the day too, you know?”

Yua walked through the door and went straight to one of the beds, sitting me down on it. Then she ran some water in the sink and gently cleaned the dirt off my scraped knee.

“Ahh… that stings.”

“Knew you were just toughing it out. Let’s see… where’s the antiseptic and some band-aids…”

She stood in front of the supply shelf along the wall and started rummaging without hesitation. If this weren’t for helping someone, it would totally look like something a delinquent would do.

Once she found the antiseptic and some bandages, she brought them back and pulled the curtain around the bed.

“Do we really need to close this?”

“Well, we’re kind of using the infirmary without permission. It’d be a pain if someone saw us.”

She knelt by my leg and looked closely at the scrape.

Even though we were breaking school rules, being alone with her like this behind the curtain made my heart race for all kinds of reasons.

“Looking at it up close, you really scraped it good.”

She gently poked my knee with her finger and muttered, “Looks painful…” Then she opened the bottle of antiseptic and poured a little over the wound.

“…gh!”

“That sting?”

“Yeah… maybe go a little easy next time?”

“If it hurts that bad, maybe you should try tricking yourself into thinking it doesn’t.”

“Pain doesn’t just go away because you pretend it’s not there.”

“Placebo effect, my friend. Don’t underestimate it. Want me to try a little magic spell to make the pain go away?”

“A spell…?”

She started gently stroking my scraped knee.

“Pain, pain, go away—fly away now! …Just kidding!”

“Ugh!”

I couldn’t help but widen my eyes and cover my mouth at her sudden move.

“Hehe… Guess that wasn’t really my style, huh?”

“Y-Yeah… definitely not. For you or for me…”

I couldn’t even look at her. My heart was pounding way too hard.

She was so cool just now… I almost forgot she’s technically a girl. For a second there, I honestly thought I might be into her.

That move should be illegal—it hit way too hard. Now I’m all flustered too.

“But seriously, I didn’t think you’d trip so dramatically right after waving back at me. You were doing great up until that point.”

“Don’t bring that up. I’m already kicking myself for it.”

“Did you get nervous ‘cause I was watching you?”

She tilted her head, teasing, trying to read my expression. Her words hit a little too close to home, so I looked away and mumbled, “Leave me alone,” sulking slightly.

“Aww, from that reaction, I think I hit the nail on the head. …Still, if my teasing made you get hurt, I kinda feel bad.”

“You don’t have to feel responsible. It was my own fault.”

“I do feel responsible. I saw how you were acting before the race, and I couldn’t resist poking a little fun…”

Before the race? Did I do something?

“…Anyway, since things turned out the way they did, maybe I’ll give you a reward—for trying your best and also as an apology!”

I didn’t even have time to ask before she continued.

“I don’t need a reward. I’m not a little kid.”

“Aww, really? Rewards are fun no matter how old you are!”

If I were one of Yuu’s fans, I’d probably be over the moon right now.

“…Actually, just being in this situation might already feel like a reward to some guys.”

“Wait, are you saying getting hurt is a reward? Are you, like, a total masochist?”

“I’m not!”

She totally got the wrong idea.

“Well, you may as well tell me what your wish was gonna be! Before the race, you got all fired up and even double-checked that I’d ‘do anything you asked,’ remember?”

“That was just me getting caught up in the moment. It wasn’t so much about wanting a wish granted as it was… just really wanting to win…”

I started rattling off excuses, but halfway through I realized how weak they sounded and scratched my head in embarrassment.

Finally, I gave in and told her what I had in mind.

“…I was going to ask if I could see you in a girl’s school uniform.”

She looked genuinely surprised and asked, “That’s it?”

Avoiding her eyes, I gave a small nod.

“I see…”

With a softer tone than before, Yua nodded slowly.

“If it’s your wish, Sora… I’ll think about it.”

From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of her face—and for just a moment, it looked a little gentler than usual.