Seven Years Since Love at First Sight

The World Athletics Championships begin on July 15th.
This time of year reminds me of about 35 years ago, when I was still a student.
It's a bit of a long story, but please bear with me if you'd like.

Dressed in my brand-new high school uniform, the first friend I made in my new classroom was Emi (a pseudonym). We had similar surnames, and our seats were one in front of the other.

"Hey, which junior high school did you go to?"

From that exchange, we started spending our breaks together and eating lunch together, and we became best friends.


We got excited about joining the same club, so we decided to go check out clubs together after school.
She had been in the gymnastics club in junior high. I was in the softball club.
However, our high school didn't have either of those clubs.

Since I had a desire to do some kind of sport, we went around looking at the sports clubs one by one. When we went outside and looked over the grounds, many clubs—soccer, rugby, baseball, tennis, handball, and track and field—were all practicing in a crowded space.


Our eyes were glued to one person.

"That person is so beautiful."
"Really, she's so cool."

That woman was among the track and field team practicing their starting dashes.
She had long chestnut hair and well-defined features. Her figure was also outstanding. Her running form was expansive and beautiful, and her smile after she finished running was dazzling.

"Hey, we want to get to know that senior, don't we?"

I nodded vigorously at Emi's words.
We had fallen in love at first sight with that senior.
That was the impure motive behind our joining the track and field club.

Falling in love seems to cloud a person's sound judgment.
We hadn't considered at all that the track and field club was "a club where people who like to run and are relatively fast basically just run all the time."

The senior we admired was Koyuki-senpai (a pseudonym). She specialized in short-distance running.
Emi chose short-distance running as her specialty without hesitation.
However, I had been slow at short-distance running since I was a child.
It was impossible for me to compete in short-distance running. It wasn't even a matter of having room for improvement.

So, I chose long-distance running as my event, as I had a little more confidence in it than short-distance.
But that simple-minded idea was the root of my failure.


Long-distance training meant just running every single day.
The advisor would give us terrifying practice menus every day, such as timing five 1000m runs or two 3000m runs, sprinting up hills 20 times, or doing a light 10km jog.

I always wished for it to rain.
I felt like I was being tortured for fun.
For a while, I couldn't even complete half of the practice.


Moreover, I was the only girl in long-distance.
There were a few other girls in long-distance at first, but they all quit one by one, and I was the only athlete left.

The long-distance team had over 20 members, including seniors and classmates, and among those boys,I spent my days running in dead last.

Since the school grounds were small, we barely managed to make a 200m track. The soccer and rugby teams were also practicing in that crowded space.
So, every time we timed ourselves, we had to call out to the soccer and rugby teams to stop their practice for a moment. I would run through that space, keeping to the back of the pack in my short sleeves and shorts.


My friends on the soccer team would laugh and say,

"You're always running at the very back with a face as red as an octopus."

And sometimes soccer balls would fly at me; it was miserable.
While I had the urge to quit, my competitive nature got in the way.


But habit is a strange thing; gradually, practicing with my teammates became fun, and I was even happier when my records improved from training with the boys, so before I knew it, I had come to love running.


In the end, during my high school days, I was an "octopus girl" who kept running until I was bright red, and a "dark-skinned high school girl" who was tanned pitch black.

I also became close with Koyuki-senpai, whom I had fallen in love with at first sight.
During training camps, I would fight with Emi over who got to sleep next to her, and we would chat with her a lot during club breaks.
Every time she called me by my first name, "Hion!", I would do a victory pose in my heart.

Since I had become close to her, I felt that our goal for joining the club had been achieved.





And by the time I entered university, I had become a pure white little piglet.
During my entrance exam studies, I ate just as much as I did when I was running, and I got chubby.
The dark tan I had worried about had also returned to my original fair skin.

As a blooming female university student, I dreamed of doing fun club activities and thought, "I don't want to get tanned black and run anymore!"

When I was strolling around the large campus with friends from the same department, a magnificent track and field stadium appeared before my eyes.
There was a 400m track, and the inside and outside of the track were covered in grass.
It was a facility good enough to hold a competition.

"Oh, as expected of a university, what an amazing stadium. It brings back memories; I was in the track and field club in high school."

In the middle of that conversation with my friend, I heard a familiar voice.

"Hion! Oh, long time no see! If you don't mind, could you help me out for a bit?"

It was Koyuki-senpai.
She was as beautiful as ever.
I knew Koyuki-senpai was at the same university, but I was very surprised to find out she was still continuing track and field.


I had my friend go home first, and I stepped into the stadium.
Koyuki-senpai ran over to me, and we spent a while getting excited over the nostalgia.

"Sorry, but we're short on managers today, so could you help with the long-distance practice? You just need to read out the lap times as they go by."

"I don't mind, but I'm dressed like this."

I was wearing a dress and leather shoes.

The other seniors also looked at me with curiosity at first. But this is university!
Various seniors came to fawn over me to recruit me as a new member.

"Thanks! Are you Koyuki's junior? You're cute!"
"Sorry, even though you're wearing nice clothes. Can you help us? Come over here."

And so, while being warmly welcomed by everyone, I entered the track in my leather shoes.
I received a stopwatch and, as instructed, read out the lap times of the long-distance seniors in a loud voice.

The desperation and muscles of the seniors running were also cool.
The scent of the grass and soil in the stadium made me want to start running again.
The atmosphere of the track and field club, which I hadn't felt in a long time, was comfortable.
I took off my shoes and started enjoying the prickly grass.


Hey, wait, I'm supposed to join a circle! I don't want to get tanned black and run with an octopus face anymore! ...Or so I should! But track and field is exciting.


As I was thinking that, Koyuki-senpai called out to me.

"Thanks, Hione, you saved me! Come in your jersey starting tomorrow." "

Huh?
Am I coming back tomorrow too...?

"For now, your high school jersey will do."

Koyuki-senpai says this with a completely straight face.

That's not what I meant, Senpai. I can't really run anymore...


But I love track and field.
Running with friends is cool, and I kind of want to be part of the group.
And, I love Koyuki-senpai, and I love being called by my first name by her too.

"Okay, Senpai, I'll come starting tomorrow. But I don't think I can run long distance anymore, so maybe a mana..."

Koyuki-senpai responds to me with a smile.

"Then, how about middle distance?"

So, no manager position for me then...? I have gained weight, so I guess I have no choice but to run again!




And so, for four years in college, I ended up running every day as a 400m athlete, turning bright red and getting tanned pitch black.

In other words, the seven years from that high school love at first sight until my college graduation were days completely immersed in track and field, ignoring the future sunspots on my face.

But thanks to that, I was able to meet my husband in the college track club.
Oh, I did not fall in love with my husband at first sight.
Koyuki-senpai, thank you.

Thank you for reading this long text to the very end.