165 - Ayaka Tōjō's Resolve⑤ - Part 1

RAW

As I carried the dinner dishes to the kitchen, I thanked Kiyoko-san for preparing such a delicious meal.

"Kiyoko-san, today's dinner was really delicious."

"I'm glad it suited your taste."

Tonight’s dinner was summer vegetable tempura.

Everything Kiyoko-san fried was exceptional.

The batter on the eggplant was crispy on the outside but juicy inside, and the okra tempura was super tasty too. The shrimp was plump and crispy, and the whiting was light and fluffy.

Next time, I’ve got to ask Kiyoko-san to teach me how to fry tempura that well!

As I was thinking that, Dad and Mom got up from the table.

"Thank you very much for the delicious meal, Kiyoko-san."

"It was nothing special."

"Sorry, but I need to head to the study to do some work."

"Sorry, I have a bit of work left as well, so I’ll go to the study too. Thank you for the meal, Kiyoko-san."

Dad and Mom left together toward the study.

Since they both run their own companies, things get really hectic when they're busy.

As they walked away, I called out to their backs, “Good luck!”

Then Ryota, holding his little step stool, chimed in, "Dad, Mom, good luck with work!" and headed into the kitchen with his stool.

"Grandma, I’ll help with the dishes too!"

"Oh my, thank you as always, Ryota."

Kiyoko-san smiled warmly at Ryota’s offer.

Since I started dating Haruto, Ryota has been fired up about saving money for our wedding, and he’s been helping around the house enthusiastically every day.

Helping out around the house is a great thing, and as his big sister, I genuinely appreciate Ryota’s feelings—but it’s a little embarrassing…

After watching Ryota diligently dry the dishes Kiyoko-san handed him, I called out to Haruto, who was wiping the dining table.

“If Ryota goes wild at the amusement park again, we’ll totally get teased.”

“Haha, definitely. Especially Shizuku—she won’t let it slide.”

“Right? Shizuku-chan will absolutely mess with us. And I’m sure Saki will join in too.”

“Well, I guess we just have to get used to it.”

Haruto laughed with a resigned “Haha” as he folded the towel he’d finished using.

Just then, it looked like Ryota had finished helping with the dishes.

“Thank you, Ryota-kun. Here’s your reward for helping.”

“Yay!”

Nodding happily, Ryota grabbed the “Wedding Fund Piggy Bank” from the shelf in the living room, clutching it carefully to his chest as he ran over to Kiyoko-san.

“Here, thank you again for today.”

Saying that, Kiyoko-san placed a 50-yen coin into Ryota’s handmade piggy bank.

Hearing the clink of the coin, Ryota beamed with a huge smile.

“Thanks, Grandma!”

After thanking Kiyoko-san, Ryota hugged the piggy bank close and started carrying it back to its place.

He looked like he was struggling a bit under its weight, which made me genuinely curious—how much money has he actually saved?

“Hey, Ryota, can you show your big sister that piggy bank for a sec?”

I asked out of pure curiosity.

Ryota clutched the piggy bank tightly to his chest, guarding it from me.

“No.”

“Huh? Just a little peek is fine, isn’t it?”

“Nope!!”

When I tried reaching for it, Ryota turned his back to me, completely hiding the piggy bank, then looked at me with a serious expression.

“This is for when you and big brother get married! You can’t see it yet!”

“But I just want to see how much you’ve saved. That’s okay, right?”

“Still no!”

When I persisted, trying to check how much was inside, Ryota shook his head furiously.

“If you and big brother are going to get married right now, then I’ll give it to you.”

“Huh? No, I mean, getting married right now is kind of…”

Flustered by my little brother’s words, I felt my cheeks heat up and glanced toward the kitchen. There was Haruto, chatting with Kiyoko-san while washing the towel he’d used to wipe the table.

“We still need a bit more time before we get married…”

“Then no!”

“Geez, Ryota, you’re so stingy.”

When I pouted at his stubbornness, Ryota started scolding me like he was lecturing me.

“Listen, sis. There’s a lot of money in here, okay?”

“A lot of money, huh…”

“Yeah. I even put some 500 yen coins in here.”

Well, for a kindergartener like Ryota, 500 yen probably does seem like a fortune.

“Big money can mess people up. Even good people can turn bad when they get blinded by money. That’s why I can’t give this to you. I want you to always stay a good big sister.”

“Ugh… okay. I won’t ask to see it anymore. Thanks, Ryota.”

“Yup! I’ll take full responsibility and manage this piggy bank with all the big money in it!”

“I’m counting on you.”

Where did he even learn that kind of talk? “Blinded by money”? You don’t hear that every day… Maybe it was in a picture book or something?

I was both amazed and confused by my five-year-old brother’s language skills.

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The next day.

After finishing our classes for the day, we headed out to the school grounds to practice for the sports festival’s mixed relay.

“Should we work on baton passes today?”

While stretching lightly, Saki, who has track experience, suggested it.

Then Akagi-kun tilted his head.

“Huh? Is that something you even need to practice? You’re just passing the baton to the next person, right?”

“The outcome of a relay can depend entirely on that ‘just passing the baton’ part.”

“Really?”

Akagi-kun looked doubtful, but then Haruto joined the conversation.

“In the Olympics or World Championships, even if someone’s 100m individual time isn’t amazing, their relay team can still win medals. That’s because they’ve mastered baton passing and minimized time loss during handoffs.”

“Exactly.”

“Whoa…”

With Haruto’s explanation, Akagi-kun seemed convinced.

Come to think of it, maybe Haruto likes watching sports? I should ask him next time.

Watching the Olympics with Haruto would be so fun. Just imagining cheering on the athletes together while munching snacks and drinking juice makes me excited.

As I daydreamed about that, Haruto asked Saki a question about baton passing practice.

“So how do we practice?”

“Well, we can’t do anything too serious, so we’ll mainly check the timing for when to start running during handoffs. There’s not really enough time to master the underhand pass.”

“What’s an underhand pass?”

Not knowing the term, I asked Saki.

“An underhand pass is a baton handoff method that prioritizes acceleration. Basically, the receiver holds their hand facing downward and takes the baton while running.”

“Just doing that makes you faster?”

“If you master it properly, yeah.”

If Saki, with her track experience, says so, it must be true.

As I nodded in understanding, Akagi-kun’s eyes sparkled.

“That underhand pass sounds kinda cool! Let’s do that for our relay!”

“No way! It’s super hard! People who aren’t used to track can’t just pick that up in a day or two!”

“But it makes you faster if you can do it right, right?”

“Well, yes, but if you mess it up, it’ll actually make you way slower.”

“Then we’ve just gotta practice!”

Haruto looked exasperated at Akagi-kun’s confident statement.

“You’re literally the one who hates practice the most out of all of us.”

“No, I’ve turned over a new leaf! From today on, I am Underhand Pass Taro!”

“…What does that even mean?”

Haruto’s deadpan response to Akagi-kun’s dramatic declaration made me laugh out loud.

“Ayaka-san, you want to try the underhand pass too, right?”

“Eh? I… I’m not sure…”

Since Saki said it’s not easy, I figured it must be pretty tough.

“Do you think we’ll make it in time for the festival?”

Trying to cool Akagi-kun’s enthusiasm a bit, I turned to Saki.

“Sigh… well, we can try it and see. If it doesn’t work out, we can just switch to the normal way.”

“Hey, Tomoya, make sure you actually practice and don’t slack off.”

“Aye-aye, ma’am.”

Haruto warned Akagi-kun firmly.

Then, from the direction of the school building, a group of four first-years appeared.

“Oh? Isn’t that Haru-senpai and the others? Practicing for the relay?”

From the group, Shizuku-chan popped out.

“Yeah. My class is doing the relay with me, Tomoya, Ayaka, and Aizawa-san.”

“I see. Unfortunately, this year’s mixed relay will be a complete victory for our class, 1-B.”

She declared it with a straight face and full confidence.

“Because we have Yoshida-kun on our team.”

With that, Shizuku-chan suddenly grabbed the arm of the boy next to her and pushed him forward.

Yoshida-kun, suddenly shoved in front of us, looked panicked and stared back at her.

“D-Dōjima-san!?”

“This Yoshida-kun’s full name is Yoshida Usain Bordeaux Keita. He carries the blood of a true sprinter.”

“Wait, seriously!?”

Red with surprise at Shizuku’s introduction, Akagi-kun’s eyes went wide.

At the same time, so did Yoshida-kun’s.

“Wait, what!? What kind of made-up backstory is that!? Both my parents are Japanese!!”

“Hm? Is that so? Then next up is Yamamoto-kun.”

And just like that, Shizuku-chan shoved the next boy forward…