IEGO || Heart Catcher

『 CHAPTER 20 』

Upon the tugged rod, Hamano tried to reel in the hook. He smiled when he caught the fish, and added the little fella into his bucket that held his other catch.

"Hey, Hamano ... aren't you worried about the match?" Hayami asked.

"Hm? Why would I be worried?" Hamano switched out his bait.

"You're joking, right? We're going up against a team full of Seeds ... it's gonna be over for us before we know it."

"But we haven't even played against them yet," Hamano said. "We won't know the results. Soooo, until then, don't you think we should work harder?"

"If I had the courage, I would have quit the club long ago."

Hayami frowned deeper at his memory; at what he had told Tenma earlier.

Ploop! went his rod, but Hayami couldn't focus to reel the hook in. Hamano gave a concern look. He patted Hayami on the back, which made him flinched and his glasses almost slipped off his nose bridge.

"You know, let's go and invite [Surname] to fish tomorrow evening," Hamano suggested.

"[Surname]? Tomorrow evening?"

"Yeah! She hasn't gotten a chance to fish with us, after all."

When the day ended, Hayami still couldn't find the reason as to what spurred Hamano to suggest they'd take you out fishing for tomorrow.

♡ --- ♡ --- ♡

You sneezed.

"Ah," Yuukoku said, "did some dust enter your nose?"

You shrugged your shoulders, humming.

"Then ... was someone secretly talking about you?"

You hummed twice. As much as Yuukoku enjoyed superstitions, you didn't want him to be overprotective of you over one.

"Hm, fine then. Did we buy everything we needed?"

You looked through the grocery bags at hand. You traced an X on his hand. He clicked his tongue.

"Darn it. I knew we missed something. I'm sorry, [Surname], could you get what else we should buy? I'll hold the bags and wait here."

You handed the bags to him as he requested. After that, you turned to follow the path the two of you had used earlier to exit out of the wet market.

You reentered the wet market to look for the items needed. You went to the seafood section. Arrays of different fishes were placed on blocks of ice, as water dripped down to the ground from their freshness.

The smell of their fresh blood almost had you drooling, but you gulped it down.

You looked around. You knew that you were supposed to search for some tilapia and salmons if you just knew how they looked like when unsliced.

"Do you need help?" asked a boy behind the counter. He wore a pair of yellow gloves, a plastic apron over what appeared to a pair of tracksuits. His blue hair reminded you of a shark fin. On his brown eyes, over the right, was a scar.

You stopped your observation to focus back on your business at hand. You took out the grocery list, and pointed at the fish name written on it. He squinted his eyes to read better.

"Okay, hold on." He turned behind him. "Hey, dad! A customer wants a kilogram of tilapia and salmons!"

You peered behind him to see a man who was rather burly, semi-bald, and had a moustache, which was the same colour as the boy's hair that thumb ups to his son.

The father sliced up the fishes you ordered, then packed them in some plastic bags. After he weighed the scales twice, he gave it to his son, who then gave it to you while he told you the price.

You paid as told. You bowed a little before you made your leave. Your ears didn't catch what the boy mumbled as you ran out of the market.

"She looks familiar...."

♡ --- ♡ --- ♡

Hamano had gone on ahead first, leaving Hayami to be the one to ask you.

After a few nervous sighs, Hayami approached you. Unfortunately, you had turned down the invite to fish with them since you've already bought some fish, and that'd you had to go visit a friend in the hospital.

"You really don't seem bothered..." Hayami suddenly mumbled.

He clapped a hand over his mouth when you gazed at him. His lips trembled. You tilted your head, and your eyes questioned him.

He wanted to curl into a ball and die right then and there.

"I mean, it's just," he stuttered. "I – I'm jealous of you, [Surname]. You're not bothered by the fact they're all Seeds, and more interested in the fact whether they're actual pirates or not."

"Chi-senpai said they had a pirate ship."

"A pirate ship wouldn't appear in the playing field!"

Hayami went red, both from frustration and the embarrassment he had when he realised he shouted at you, since you jumped. He gripped his head as he crouched down, refusing to look at you.

"S-sorry, I – I didn't mean to shout." He whimpered. "I – I don't know anymore..."

He felt a pat to his head. He glanced up to see your smile. A soft kind of smile. His heart fluttered.

You spent the time just patting his head. You only stopped when Hayami received a call from Hamano. The former ran out of the clubroom with a red face.

Hamano had questioned why Hayami looked like a cherry, but Hayami didn't answer him. Hayami kept thinking back to the smile you gave him.

He couldn't understand. He couldn't understand how you were unafraid of the fact Kaiou was a Seeds' ground, he couldn't understand how you could dilly dally around it, how ready you were to support the resistance, and he couldn't understand how your smile caused butterflies in his stomach.

He couldn't understand you, at all.