[clum! '95 #18] A Treasured Snapshot

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It was just after club activities ended during summer vacation.

Nose-kun, holding a photo envelope, called me over in the shadows of the clubroom.

"Hey, Hayasaka. I'll show you something good."

"Eh, what? Nose-kun. It's not another weird ghost photo, is it..."

What I peered at, hesitant, was an L-sized photo taken out of that 'yellow Fujicolor envelope'.

The moment I saw the photo, my time stopped.

"…Eh."

What was captured there was a version of 'myself' I hadn't even been aware of.

The profile of Sano-senpai, framed by the strong setting sun, looking like she was about to cry.

And right next to her, my own back, looking pathetically earnest as I desperately wiped the condensation off a sports drink bottle.

For someone like me who loves reading and anime, it looked like 'the most important illustration in a story I had ever read'.

"This is... me? ...Sano-senpai, she was making such a sad face."

Back then, I was so focused on just handing the drink to Sano-senpai that I didn't have the composure to look directly at her expression.

Only when it became a still image, a photograph, was I confronted with the depth of the frustration Sano-senpai was carrying and the fact that I 'was' right there beside her.

"Ahaha, you, the way you're wiping that can, you're way too desperate. And you even opened the pull-tab properly. You're so meticulous!"

Even Nose-kun's teasing voice sounded to me like radio noise playing in the distance.

I stared at my own fingertips in the photo.

I... I just didn't want Sano-senpai to feel any worse... I wanted to make it as easy as possible for her to drink...

It was an unconscious action. But that small, oh-so-small act of consideration was shining like magic in the backlight.

"…Nose-kun. Could you... give me one of these? ...Ah, of course, I'll pay for the reprint!"

"Sure. You can have it. That's why I called you over."

I accepted the photo with trembling hands.

"…Thank you. I never want to forget this moment for the rest of my life."

I realized. I might be bad at basketball and an unreliable underclassman, but the one thing I wouldn't yield to anyone was 'being by Sano-senpai's side and doing something for her'.

"…Oh-ho, how passionate. Hayasaka, your face is bright red."

"Shut up, Nose-kun!"


That night, in my room, I tucked the photo into the back of my drawer.

In the same place as my favorite first-edition novels,

and my precious collections.

Surely.

This photo, too, will become my treasure.

I am still weak.

I'm bad at basketball,

I'm short,

and I get nervous easily.

But.

I will become stronger, even if just a little bit.

At basketball.

At studying.

In height.

And in heart.

If Sano-senpai cries again.

Instead of just standing there like I did today.

I want to be someone she thinks,

it's okay for him to be by my side.

A humid night breeze blew into the room from the window.

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