The last period of the afternoon was PE.
Per school rules, all students had to change into white T-shirts and navy shorts.
First-graders, still young and physically undeveloped, didn't do gymnastics, baseball, or bar work yet. Their classes focused mainly on simple movement games—coordination, discipline, the basics.
On the grassy field, Genta's chubby body moved with surprising agility, almost like a rabbit. He dribbled the ball forward at full speed and kicked it toward Mitsuhiko.
"Mitsuhiko! Your ball!"
"Got it!"
Mitsuhiko received the soccer ball cleanly, dribbled for a bit, then passed it to Tetsu Watanabe.
"Your turn, Tetsu!"
Tetsu caught the incoming ball with a quick intercept of his leg, flicked it up with his foot, and rolled it smoothly onto his shoulder. With a few shakes, the ball bounced left, then right, obedient as a trained pet—
until Ayumi called out:
"Tetsu! Over here!"
Tetsu gave the ball a gentle kick in her direction.
Ayumi chased after it, running quickly. Maybe she was too eager, or maybe her foot landed on a protruding stone—
her body pitched forward, and in the blink of an eye, she fell hard onto the ground.
"Ayumi!"
"Ayumi, are you okay?!"
Genta and Mitsuhiko, who had witnessed the disaster helplessly, ran over in a panic. Tetsu, of course, followed too. The three of them helped Ayumi up and checked her injuries.
Aside from dirt on her clothes, the skin on her knee had been scraped open, thin trails of blood seeping out.
"Can you stand, Ayumi?" Tetsu asked.
Ayumi tried to get up—but failed. Holding back tears, she whimpered, "It hurts…"
"Looks like she twisted her ankle," Tetsu concluded.
"Mitsuhiko, go get the teacher."
At this point, only a teacher could handle it.
The PE teacher came hurriedly with Mitsuhiko. After checking the injury, he arrived at the same conclusion. He crouched down and let Ayumi climb onto his back, preparing to take her to the nurse's office.
Genta and Mitsuhiko followed anxiously.
Tetsu knew that if he didn't come along, the three of them would hold it against him later, so he reluctantly joined.
Because of the nature of elementary school students, school nurses were usually women. Teitan Elementary was no exception.
"Dr. Miyazaki," the PE teacher greeted.
Dr. Miyuki Miyazaki looked up from her work. "Ah, Mr. Nohara. What happened?"
"One of the students fell. Seems like a twisted ankle. Could you take a look?"
"Of course." She put down what she was doing and came over.
After thoroughly examining Ayumi's injuries, she said:
"The scrape on her knee isn't serious—just clean it with iodine and apply a bandage. But her ankle is swollen. She'll need some spray medication and a couple days of rest."
The PE teacher sighed in relief.
"Then I'll leave her in your care, Dr. Miyazaki."
Once Ayumi's injuries were treated, she returned to the classroom to rest. With permission from the teacher, Tetsu, Mitsuhiko, and Genta stayed with her.
"Hey," Mitsuhiko suggested, "since Ayumi hurt her foot, we should walk her home after school."
"I agree!" Genta said immediately.
"No objections," Tetsu added lazily. "But the nurse said Ayumi shouldn't put weight on her injured foot. How exactly are we getting her home?"
"I can carry her!" Genta announced proudly.
Tetsu gave him a sidelong glance and snorted.
"Ayumi isn't a balloon. Carrying her for a few dozen meters is fine, but any farther and you'll collapse."
"Then… how about we take turns helping her walk?" Mitsuhiko offered.
Tetsu shook his head. "That'll be too tiring for Ayumi."
"Then what should we do?"
Both boys were out of ideas.
"We take a taxi," Tetsu said matter-of-factly.
"It's the safest and most comfortable."
"But… we don't have money."
Tetsu smiled. "Don't worry, I've got it covered. But cars can't come inside the school grounds, so Genta—
I'll have to trouble you to carry Ayumi to the school gate. Think you can handle that?"
"No problem! Leave it to me!"
Genta thumped his chest, feeling like he'd just accepted a grand mission.
"Thank you, everyone…"
Ayumi wiped her eyes, touched by how seriously they were all trying to help her.
Mitsuhiko beamed.
"We're best friends, aren't we? Helping each other is only natural. Right, Tetsu?"
…Why must you drag me into your little friendship speeches?
Tetsu resisted the urge to sigh and answered with a half-hearted, "Mm."
~~------------------------------
Drop some reviews, comments, powerstones.. it means alot to me.. Thanks dear readers!!!