Volume 1 Chapter 6 Part1 (1/2)
In this chapter: The aftermath of the accident and the beginning of the prefectural tournament
They sure are taking their sweet time on giving news about the anime, aren’t they?
Glossary
Full list of translations
Translation Notes
1. Word used here is ボケた, which can mean go senile or purposely joking/acting stupid
2. Kakipi is also a type of j.a.panese snack, made of a mix of peanuts and a type of rice cracker
3. This one took a long time to understand, but a tada yazuka is a yazuka without tsumeai or n.o.biai (a mental expansion to firm up the body). A hiku yazuka is the draw of a beginner archer who hasn’t really gotten tsumeai or n.o.biai yet, so they are just drawing their fingers. A hikanu yazuka is the draw of an archer who properly does tsumeai and n.o.biai, and draws the bow to their limit.
4. Motare is the opposite of hayake, where you take too long in kai and miss the chance for letting your arrow go.
5. A shrine bell (or suzu) is a bell that hangs over entrances to shrines, said to summon G.o.ds and spirits.
“Ma.s.san, Ma.s.san!?”
No matter how many times Minato called Ma.s.san’s name, there was no response. The face of Ma.s.san, who was pinned beneath the timber, was pale, and the blood that flowed from him dyed the ground red. When Minato looked around to try to ask for help, he saw that the scattered timber had blocked the road, damming up the flow of people.
He touched Ma.s.san with trembling hands.
“Minato!”
It was Seiya’s voice.
“I asked someone in the café to call an ambulance. Let’s move these timbers out of the way.”
“All, all right.”
As Minato and Seiya set to work on the timbers, Nanao, Ryouhei, and Kaito also came running over. The pa.s.sersby who had been standing still up until then from shock, and the café employees, also joined in to help. They lifted the timbers up one by one, and then set them in a corner of the road. A woman applied a handkerchief to Ma.s.san’s forehead, then checked his pulse on his wrist. People also ran towards the driver of the small truck who had caused the collapse of the load. He seemed to be a man in his seventies and wasn’t particularly injured.
When the ambulance and police car arrived, Ma.s.san was placed on a stretcher and carried into the ambulance. Prompted by an emergency worker in a light blue uniform to stay with him, Seiya gave instructions without a moment’s delay.
“Minato and I will be sticking by Ma.s.san, so Nanao and the rest will stay here and contact Tomi-sensei. Later, I will tell you the hospital he is taken to.”
“Got it. Leave everything here to us,” Nanao responded.
When Minato and Seiya got into the ambulance, the emergency worker spoke to them.
“For identification purposes, please tell me the victim’s name and other information once again.”
“Okay. Takigawa Masaki-san, twenty-three years old. His residence is…”
While Seiya answered calmly, the other emergency worker attached an instrument for measuring his pulse to Ma.s.san’s finger. The multiple strange-looking bulbs and the electronic beeping sounds coming from the small monitor fueled Minato’s anxiety. When they were transported to the hospital, Ma.s.san was immediately taken to the operating room, and the two waited in the hallway outside.
The white-walled hallway. The bench with sunken seats.
Minato wondered just how much of people’s thoughts and feelings did that bench accept. There was no sense of reality, as though he was watching a movie or a drama. Even though there were many people at the hospital and it was noisy with the people coming back and forth, he could only hear the sound of his heartbeat.
How heavy was that wood? One plank is three kilograms, no, maybe about ten kilograms? How many substantial kilograms of force would it be if a bunch of them fell so violently like that? Was it okay that there was so much blood coming out of his head?
If he doesn’t wake up like this——.
His thoughts quickly took a turn for the worse. As Minato rubbed his wrist, Seiya must had got up without him realizing and got drinks.
“Minato, drink up. I think it’ll calm you down a little.”
“…Okay.”
“Ma.s.san’s mother is going to her husband who is in the middle of a job transfer, and it seems that she will be returning home tomorrow. When Ren-san went to the café parking lot to pick up Ma.s.san’s car that’s still there, he picked up Nanao and the others and is driving them here. Minato, you should call home once too.”
“I know, I’ll call my dad. You really are amazing, Seiya. Even at this time you can act appropriately.”
“Ironically enough, because this is the second time that I happened to be at the scene of an accident, when by some chance I encountered that kind of scene again, I was able to simulate acting like this for this time.”
“I see…”
About an hour pa.s.sed, and then the operating room’s doors opened. Ma.s.san’s eyes were still closed, and he had on an oxygen mask and the needle of an IV drip was stuck in his right arm. While they sat on the couch waiting for him to regain consciousness, Ren and the others arrived.
Minato stood up and bowed his head deeply.
“Ren-san, I’m so sorry, Ma.s.san protected me…”
“Lift your head up. It must have been very difficult for all of you. You guys did nothing wrong, and in fact you did more than enough. It’s all okay now, so be at ease.”
“Ren-san…”
“You’re tired, so you’d better go home for today. I will call you when he wakes up. That idiot won’t kick the bucket so easily like this.”
“No, please let me stay here a little more. When I called my dad earlier, I told him that I will stay with Ma.s.san if it would not bother anyone.”
“Well then, I wonder if I should accept your kind offer. When he wakes up, Masaki will probably be relieved to see you guys looking alright. But, don’t push yourselves.”
The sun went down, and Nanao, Ryouhei, and Kaito got up from their seats to get something to eat. When Minato put his hand on the door to get some fresh air, Ma.s.san regained consciousness.
His narrow eyes opened slowly.
“…Where am I?”
Ren moved his face closer to Ma.s.san’s.
“The hospital. Do you know who I am?”
“…Stupid Ren.”
“Looks like you’ve lost your memory.”
“What about Minato?”
“He’s safe. He’s right over there.”
“I see, thank goodness.”
After Ren and Seiya exchanged some words with Ma.s.san, they both left the room—Ren to call for a nurse, and Seiya to contact Tomi-sensei. Minato, left behind, sat on a chair by the bedside.
He heard from the doctor that Ma.s.san got nine st.i.tches on the upper right part of his forehead. It was painful to look at the bandage wrapped around his head upon the white bed.
He didn’t know what to say.
I’m so sorry that everything’s my fault?
Thank you for saving me?
——None of those are right.
When he hung his head and gripped the sheets at the end of the bed tightly, Ma.s.san spoke first.
“What’s wrong, Minato? You’re making such an ugly face. I’m perfectly alive.”
“…If Ma.s.san died, I shall follow after him.”
“Hey, hey, don’t say disturbing things like that.”
“I really mean it.”
“Good grief.”
Ma.s.san stretched out his right arm with the IV still in it, drew Minato’s head closer, and ruffled his hair.
I know the weight of this hand. And that it’s warm——.
Tears poured out of him endlessly, and he couldn’t stop them at all even though he wanted to.
I’m so glad that Ma.s.san is okay. Really, truly. The people who came running to us, the emergency workers, the doctors at the hospital, the nurses, G.o.d, and Buddha. I want to thank everyone. Thank you all for helping Ma.s.san.
Minato clung to the sheets and kept crying until Seiya and Ren returned to the room.
The next day when he went to school, the accident was a hot topic.
Someone saw Minato’s face at the entrance and came running over to him. It was a male student who was in the same cla.s.s as Minato, but had never talked much to him until now.
“Narumiya, I heard about it! There was a huge accident. They say that a bunch of iron pipes rolled down from a huge semi-trailer truck? It seemed that the surrounding shops also got messed up.”
“It was a small truck, not a semi-trailer, it wasn’t iron pipes, and no stores were destroyed.”
“Oh, is it? Aren’t they both pretty close, though? You sure are nitpicky.”
He didn’t feel like going along with verifying the answers to the game of telephone. Giving a sidelong glance to his cla.s.smate who was rudely continuing to talk, Minato changed his shoes and walked towards his cla.s.sroom. He wondered if the other boy would not go somewhere else soon, but because their cla.s.srooms were the same, he kept following him. Finally, he threw a question that was filled with bare sensationalism.
“That’s right, haven’t I heard that the person who saved you will get publicly acknowledged for it? Since he’s a hero of our town and all. Hey, hey, did you get a video? Or photos? Or did you not take any? What a waste.”
Minato stopped and glared at the other boy.
“Wh-what? What’s wrong?”
When he thought about Ma.s.san with a bandage wrapped around his head, he could not help but feel pained. Don’t call someone a hero when they protected me and got wounded——. When he tried to respond with that, someone joined shoulders with him from behind. He looked and saw two familiar faces over his shoulder.
“Merha, you’re looking cool today as well. But you still lose to me, though,” Nanao said.
Ryouhei lowered his brows.
“Minatooo, we have a math quiz today, but I don’t get anything at all. Teach me, teach me!”
“Okay, but I think you’d be more certain if you asked Seiya.”
“Alright, let’s go to my cla.s.sroom. I’ll call Seiya, too.”
Ryouhei and Nanao pinned Minato between them and left to steal him away from his gossip-loving cla.s.smate.
After school, Minato and Seiya went to the kyudojo, where Tomi-sensei waited for them at the entrance. He stretched himself up and hugged the two of them tightly together.
“Oh, it must have been so terrible for you. What’s most important is that everyone is safe. If you have any troubles, do not hesitate to come to me. I am the mission commander after all.”
“…Tomi-sensei.”
Minato almost cried again in spite of himself at Tomi-sensei trying his hardest to console them. It felt like Ma.s.san would have laughed at him for being hugged by the grandplike teacher and looking like he was crying, but his tear glands were becoming loose despite his best efforts. And even though Seiya usually absolutely hated being hugged, he quietly stayed in it.
When all the other club members came and sat in a circle, Kaito spoke with a strong tone.
“Narumiya, if you’re thinking that ‘it was my fault that Ma.s.san got injured,’ then you ain’t worth being saved by him. Be grateful and stand up straight. I’m repeating myself, but this accident wasn’t your fault.”
“…Yeah, got it.” Minato answered.
Kaito looked at Seiya for only a moment, then turned his face towards everyone.
“We have a week until the prefectural tournament. In order to not waste what Ma.s.san had taught us until now, we will continue practicing like before. Is that okay with everyone? Is it okay with you too, Tomi-sensei?”
They all nodded.
“It would be an inconvenience if a crowd of people barge in to visit Ma.s.san, so Tomi-sensei and all the boys will go first. The girls will go after tomorrow. No one is forced to go.”
After that, the girls all stood up, and Hanazawa gave Minato and Seiya two large and small paper bags.
“Takehaykun’s bag has get-well presents from all the girls, so please give it to Takigawsan. Narumiykun’s bag has sweets that we made ourselves, so please eat them. You will be filled with strength if you eat them. Accept them gratefully, okay?”
“…Thank you.”
He opened the bag on the spot, and everyone ate the cookies. They were modestly sweet and tasty. Minato thought that everyone’s consideration was kind and thoughtful, that he was really glad that he was able to join the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club, and that he wanted to be everyone’s strength one day.
After finis.h.i.+ng up practice earlier than usual, Tomi-sensei and the five boys went to the hospital where Ma.s.san was admitted.
When they went to his room after signing in at reception, they saw a crowd in the corridor in front of the room. Minato looked at them closely, wondering what was going on, and saw four faces he knew.
They were Ren, Seiya’s and Ryouhei’s mothers, and Minato’s father.