What Is Love?

Chapter Four

I hike my training bag up farther onto my shoulder and walk over to the door.

"Good luck. Not like you guys need it though," Aoi says.

"Thank you. See you in a few days."

I open the door and am surprised to see Katou standing in the hallway. She's wearing jeans and a thin jacket. I'm wearing something similar.

"Katou-chan, I thought we were meeting in the lobby?" I ask, shutting the door behind me and joining her in the hallway.

"I finished everything early and thought I'd just meet you up here instead. This way we can go out the back door instead and save a few minutes," she says as we start walking down the hallway.

"It's not like we're late or anything. In fact, I always beat you, in drills and when we're getting ready," I comment, smiling in her direction.

Egging her on is fun sometimes. She's competitive, but I always end up beating her, so it's fun to mess with her.

"I'm not going to deny that last part, but I do object to the first thing you said. On a happier note though, I'm ready to play some soccer!" she yells.

"Well, if you're so eager to get there, why don't we have a race?" I suggest.

"Okay. Go!" She exclaims quickly and takes off running before I even know we're starting.

"If you get there first, I'm not going to count that as a win, you cheater!" I yell, running after her.

People watch us awkwardly as we run down the street like a pair of weirdos. A short while ago I would have found that nerve-wracking and embarrassing. Now, I don't mind it. It also helps that I know Katou's sharing in the weirdness with me. If I were alone, it would be a whole other story.

This must be part of what it means to have a friend. Having someone who you can act weird with and enjoy it.

It's now September, so it's been about three months since I met Katou. A lot of things have happened in that time.

We're almost finished the manga. We only have a few more pages to do and then we'll be able to start on the editing.

The summer semester ended, which meant I had to take five finals. That wasn't fun. Thee week before and during finals, we rarely worked on the manga, and instead, we studied together for our exams. We didn't necessarily have classes that were the same. We studied together because having someone to push you through the moments when your mentally done is very helpful. It also helps to have someone to commiserate with.

We had a two week break in before the Fall semester started. I went home for a few days to visit my parents, then stayed on campus for the rest of the time.

The Fall semester started, and it's starting to get cooler outside. That meant that we all have different classes now.

The Summer and Fall soccer seasons are blended, so we didn't start over again after the Fall semester started. The away game we have today is the sixth one of the Season. We keep the same practice schedule, ending at around nine pm. When I first met Katou, the sun was just starting to set when practice would finish up, now we have to use our night for the field, so by the time we finish up and start walking back, the sky is already completely dark.

Katou and I have become even closer than we were before, and I can now say with certainty that she is truly one of my friends. There's no longer any doubt in my mind about that.

I've started to feel at ease around her. We're together so often that it's almost hard to imagine what it was like before I met her. I hope I don't ever have to go back to how it was before. I would feel lonely if that happened now. Not to mention, I don't want us to not be friends anymore! I don't know if it would be different if someone other than her had ended up in this situation with me, it probably would have been, so I'm glad it was her.