Chapter 5 - Running's Hard...
The next morning arose, and I was quick to get up and get ready to go to class. Never have I felt so happy to wake up early in the morning just to go to class, but it was for a good reason.
I got dressed and ready to go, and like every day so far since being at Yamaku, it's a nice sunny morning. I actually saw the nurse walking on the sidewalk to his office, and so I gave a friendly wave to him, to which he smiled and waved back. I finally got to my classroom, hoping that the runner, I saw yesterday would be there. Sure enough, he was there, although he was sleeping... He always seems to sleep before class starts... Doesn't he get any rest? Ms. Hoshino wasn't in the classroom yet, so I took the opportunity to slowly tap the shoulder of the student sitting next to me.
I asked while tapping his shoulder, "Um... Hey... excuse me?"
He shrugged and slowly began to open his eyes, "Hmm...huh...what?" It was obvious that he was still in a sleep state, but I gave him the chance to slowly wake up.
"Hey, I hope I'm not disturbing you, but are you a runner on the track team?" As if I didn't already know that.
He let out a big yawn, and with slightly opened eyes, he said, "Uh, yeah I am actually. Why Do you ask?
"Oh, um... Well, I was watching you and everyone else running during your track practice yesterday, and I wanted to do track at my last school... But... Well, you see, I had an accident, as you can tell, and I was getting made fun of, so I didn't join them. Since I'm at a new school, I was kind of wanting to see if maybe you have any openings on the track team or not," I said to him.
He looked at me with a pondering look on his face, but then said, "Ah, so you were the random guy at the track yesterday, ha. Yeah, we are actually looking for some new runners to join the team, and we would be more than happy to have you try out!"
"Really?!? You don't mind having someone... Like me on your team?" I asked.
He replied,"Not at all man. To be honest, I didn't even notice your.. um..." I realized he was trying to figure out what was on my face, to which I replied, "Oh, um... These are burns I got from my... Accident last year."
"Oh really? I'm sorry to hear that man. Although it does make you look cool in a way," he said with sincerity. I was quite shocked to hear him say that. "You really think my burns look cool?" I asked with confusion. He was quick to say,"Yeah man, they make you look like a bad ass in my opinion, ha."
I couldn't tell if he was being serious or just being nice, but him saying that did make me feel a little bit better about my "disability," plus I did feel like a bad ass walking into that power station, so it's nice to know that something positive came out of this accident.
"Thank you for the compliment, um... I'm sorry, I don't even know your name," I said embarrassingly. He smiled and said, "You're welcome. Oh, and my name is Ryo Kuno! You're Satoshi Funji right?"
"Yes That's me, it's nice to meet you Ryo," I said. "Same to you Satoshi," said Ryo. He reached his hand out to me to shake it, to which I did. His hand felt a bit odd, almost rubbery, but I shrugged it off as a coincidence.
Me and Ryo chatted a little bit more before Ms. Hoshino arrived, and we started class. I got to say, talking to Ryo was a lot easier than I thought it would be. He seems like he would be a pretty cool guy to hang out with after school. Eventually the class ended, and I stopped Ryo before he left the classroom to ask him something. "Hey Ryo, when should I come to try out for the track team?" He replied, "You can come by today if you want! I got an extra pair of running shoes and shorts than you can wear for practice today, so just stop by the track and I'll give them to you!" "Geat, then I'll see you after school then," I said to Ryo. Ryo said, "Absolutely man! See you then!"
I ate lunch alone again, not forgetting that next week Akemi returns from her vacation. I've been wanting to know more and more about this "cool" place that Akemi was talking about, and luckily she returns next week, because honestly, eating alone in this cafeteria is really starting to get annoying.
Eventually the class ended, and I made and immediate B line to the track. I was so excited to finally try out for something at school that I almost ran into a few other students on the way out of the building. Luckily I didn't hit anyone and I eventually made it to the track.
Ryo was there waiting for me, and I waved at him. He saw me and shouted, "Hey Satoshi! Glad to see you made it!" I said hi back, then Ryo gave me his extra shoes and shorts to me. The shorts seemed a little small, but then again, I've never worn track shorts before, so this is probably normal. I went to the nearest bathroom and changed.
When I came back, it looked like the rest of the team showed up. I walked over to Ryo, and Ryo told me he wanted to introduce me to the team, which I was fine with him doing so.
"Everyone, I would like to introduce Satoshi Funji! He's our newest runner, so give a warm welcome, okay!?!" After Ryo said that, everyone began to surround me, introducing themselves to me. They all seemed very nice, and I thanked them all for the nice compliments. After chatting with a few teammates, I walked over to Ryo to talk to him before practice started. I said, "Wow Ryo, everyone seems so nice to me, and I just got here." He reached for his forearm and replied, "I told you! Everyone on the team is ver-..." Before he could finish, I yelled because what I saw was Ryo pulling off his left forearm skin with his right hand. "What are you doing?!?" I said scarcely. "Whoa! Calm down Satoshi, it's just my artificial skin that goes over my bionic arm, see?"
So that's why his skin felt so weird when I went to shake his hand earlier today. I felt pretty embarrassed, as everyone began to laugh, including Ryo. I said,"I'm, I'm sorry Ryo, I...I didn't know you had a bionic arm." He chuckled and said, "It's all right man! I didn't tell you, so how could you have known right?" I guess he's right, I will say though, that was like something I would see in a movie, but I never thought I would actually see a real life bionic arm. It acted like a real arm, though, so it seems like Ryo has gotten used to it over time.
After the shenanigans that just occurred, we began running around the track. It was simple at first, just jogging around the track. Then, it got a little harder...And a little harder... Then just hard... I came to realize that running's harder than I thought it was, but to be fair, I've never really done any sports before.
I eventually got so tired, that I had to stop for a moment, and just take a breather. I was bent over, pulsating sweat while trying to catch my breath, that's when I heard a voice. "Need a hand?" The voice asked. While still panting, I looked up to see where the voice was coming from. It was one of the girls that were running ahead of me. She must've seen me falling off the pace and came back to give me a hand.
I said, "I'm fine, thanks...I was just catching...my breath." She smiled and said, "Ha, okay. How about I run with you so you're not alone back here?" I was kind of skeptical to answer at first, but I was feeling a bit alone running behind everyone else, soI said,"Sure...I... Appreciate that..um?" She realized I didn't know her name, to which she said,"Oh, how silly of me, my name is Natsumi Hora!" I told her my name and said it was nice to meet her, to which she said the same, and we went back to running. She kept her word and stuck with me for the rest of the practice, even though there were times when the rest of the team was almost two hundred meters ahead of us. Natsumi was very kind, and very energetic as well. She would occasionally ask me how I was doing, and I would give her a thumbs up and say that I'm good. She kept me motivated to keep going, even when I felt like my lung were going to burst out of my chest.
Eventually practice ended, and I was worn out. I have never worked out that hard in my life, though I wish I did sooner than now. I stopped Natsumi after we concluded practice to thank her. "Hey Natsumi, I just wanted to say thank you for staying by my side, even though I was pretty slow. I would've felt a little bit worse by myself back there if you hadn't checked on me earlier." She gave me a thumbs up and, while grinning, said, "Absolutely Satoshi! It was fun running with you and getting to talk to you a little bit. Always good to get to know the new guy right?" I nodded in agreement, but before we said anything else, I heard a familiar voice from a distance. "Hey Satoshi! I like your new girl man!" I immediately turned full red in the face, and I think Natsumi did as well, but she was quick to reply, "Shut up Ryo, Ha! I ought to come kick your ass where you're standing!" "Ha, I like to see you try Natsumi," Ryo said, "It was a joke by the way Satoshi, no need to get all red, ha!"
I eventually got over it, and even chuckled a little bit after looking at Natsumi laughing at the situation. She seems so confident, yet I wonder what she's doing here. She doesn't seem to show any signs of a disability. Then again, I got surprised by fake skin earlier as well, so I'm willing to bet anything at this point.
Ryo walked over to us and said to me, "Joking aside Satoshi, you did a lot better than I thought you would! I think both me and Natsumi can agree that we would like for you to keep coming to track practice man!" Natsumi was quick to follow with, "I agree 100%! I would love to keep running with you Satoshi, as I'm sure everyone else would as well!"
I really didn't think I did that well, but I guess I made a good impression to everyone that they want me to keep running with them. I thanked Ryo and Natsumi for the compliments and asked, "So, same time tomorrow?" To which they both said, "Absolutely!" I asked if Ryo wanted his shoes and shorts back, but he declined and said, "Nah man, I don't need them. You keep using them until you get your own shoes and shorts!" "Alright," I said.
We all waved goodbye and I began walking back to the dorms with Ryo. "Hey Ryo, I just want to thank you for inviting me on to the team. I really enjoyed running with you all, and I'm pretty excited to do it again tomorrow," I said to Ryo. He smiled and said, "Absolutely! To be honest, the way you were keeping to yourself in class for the past couple of weeks, I didn't think you were ever going to talk to anyone, much less me. But I'm glad you woke me up this morning in class Satoshi. If nothing else, I see us becoming good friends in the future, ha."
I took a moment to realize what he just said. Ryo considers me to be... A friend... After so long without having one, I finally have a friend. Someone to talk to in class and hang out with when I'm not in school. "You know Ryo, I haven't been really able to be socially open to anyone since my accident happened, mainly because of the bullying I got because of it. It feels good to finally have someone I can call a friend Ryo... Thank you."
He simply nodded and said, "You're welcome Satoshi, I'll see you tomorrow in class bud." I nodded and waved goodbye to him as he went to his dorm room, as I went to mine.
Wow, a lot happened today. I met two new people I can genuinely talk to without feeling any sense of being anti-social, and I'm actually on a team! I don't know what has happened to me since joining this school, but I feel like everyday I seem to be changing for the better. Maybe I was meant to be here after all, but now I got all this homework to deal with, but I don't know how I'm going to focus after everything that happened today. Better get started...
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P.S. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out! HAd a few things to do in "The Real World" haha, but I think this chapter worked out great, I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, and I hope you continue to read!!! Chapter 6 to be coming soon!!!