───● Memories of My College Girl Childhood Friend ●○●
Ever since I learned that Koumi was the girl I’d met all those years ago, I started having a certain dream.
“What are you doing?”
“…Huh?”
It was a memory from my childhood. I was living at the orphanage and didn’t have any friends, so I was at a nearby park, playing a game where I repeatedly threw a ball against a wall and caught it all by myself.
The girl who suddenly called out to me from behind was Igarashi Koumi. …Though, of course, I didn’t know her name at the time.
“It’s way more fun to play together than by yourself!”
“…It is?”
“Yeah, it is!”
My hazy childhood memories were being replayed in that strange, dream-like way, taking on the form of the present-day Koumi. The bright smile she flashed was the exact same one I was so used to seeing on Koumi now.
We happily played catch and chatted.
“My control is way better than yours, you know!”
“I can throw just as well as you.”
The two of us also threw the ball against the wall together. For a kid with so few friends like me, it was a truly precious memory.
“Ma-kun! See you tomorrow!”
“Yeah!”
It was fun. I was so happy. They often say that you only retain childhood memories that are accompanied by strong emotions. The fact that I still remembered this was proof of just how much fun I had during that time.
“…Are you sure you don’t want to go see her anymore?”
“…Yeah.”
Even after I stopped going to see her, I couldn’t wipe away the loneliness inside me for quite some time.
Slowly, my consciousness surfaced.
“…A dream, huh.”
I wondered how many times this made it now. I’d been having a lot of dreams about the past lately.
When I opened the smartphone sitting by my pillow, I saw I had notifications.
Koumi: “I’m looking forward to today!”
Koumi: “I’ll head over so I arrive at the station at 12, just like we planned!”
Today, Koumi and I were planning to go visit the place where we used to play.
Perhaps I had that old dream precisely because today was the day.
“…Time to get ready, I guess.”
After staring blankly at my phone for a few seconds, I got out of bed.
I was about to go wash my face… when my eyes suddenly landed on the baseball glove I’d left in the entryway, and I picked it up.
I had met Koumi in the past. However, that might not have been the me standing here right now. When I received Koumi’s confession, I had decided to just accept it to a certain extent… but I still felt bad at the thought that, by visiting the place of our old memories like we were today, discrepancies in our recollections might come to light.
“Well, what will be, will be.”
I figured all I could do today was talk about what I remembered.
I wondered if there would ever come a day when I’d tell Koumi that I had reincarnated into this world.
When I arrived at the station, Koumi was already there.
“Yoo-hoo! Masato!”
“Hey, good morning.”
Koumi was dressed in a sporty style. She wore easy-to-move-in shorts with tights underneath, and a simple shirt layered under an outer jacket. She was also wearing the cap I often saw her wearing at the university.
“Alright, let’s go!”
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
With Koumi leading the way, we passed through the station’s ticket gates.
To be honest, the awkwardness—or rather, the restlessness—I felt when meeting Koumi and Mizuho still lingered. As if seeing right through me, Koumi turned to face me as we stood on the platform waiting for the train.
“Hey, for today, you don’t need to worry about the fact that I like you, okay? …It might be hard, but let’s just focus on remembering the past and feeling nostalgic.”
I believed that was Koumi’s own way of being considerate.
“Yeah. Got it.”
“Yeah!”
I knew I was being spoiled. But if Koumi, who had invited me out today, said she was fine with it, then I would accept her offer for now. I figured that was better than spending the whole day awkwardly tiptoeing around each other.
We boarded the train and headed toward our destination. Perhaps because it was a weekday afternoon, the train was relatively empty, and Koumi and I sat side by side on the seats.
“But it’s not like you can just quit the club over that, right?”
“I guess that’s true.”
We spent the journey making idle chatter. As we engaged in our usual, everyday conversation, the lingering awkwardness slowly melted away.
She didn’t try to close the physical distance between us more than necessary, treating me with the exact same vibe as when we hung out at the university. I was deeply grateful for her consideration.
“Wow! This is so nostalgic!”
“It really is…”
We arrived at our destination station, took a bus for another 20 minutes, and… finally arrived at the park where we had first met.
“Wait, was this playground equipment always this tiny?”
“We’re the ones who got bigger.”
“Good point!”
The park itself wasn’t very large. It only had a couple of playground rides for kids, a bench, and a lone sandbox.
The rest of the park was just an open space, which was exactly why it was so easy to play catch here.
“Alright, let’s do this!”
“Are we really doing this when it’s so cold out?”
“You won’t be cold once we start moving!”
It was late December, and the north wind was blowing. Although the weather was fairly nice today, making it somewhat bearable, it was still undeniably freezing.
Even so, Koumi pulled a baseball glove out of her bag; it seemed she was dead set on playing catch.
“I made sure to bring this one today, you know?”
“…So you did.”
Saying that, Koumi showed me an old, worn-out glove that looked exactly like the one I owned.
“This thing looks like it’ll tear if we use a hard rubber ball, so let’s stick to a soft one!”
“I couldn’t even catch it last time, anyway.”
It seemed Koumi really wanted to finish the game of catch we hadn’t been able to complete last time. And since the timing was perfect, we had decided to come out to the park we used to play in.
We put some distance between us, both ready to go.
“Here it comes!”
“Okay!”
Koumi threw the ball with beautiful form, and I caught it. It came right to my chest, making it an easy catch.
“I thought this when we were at the batting cages, too, but you’re really good at this, Koumi.”
“Ehehe. Well, I did play all the way up through high school, after all.”
I threw the ball back to Koumi. The rubber ball traced a beautiful arc through the air before landing cleanly in Koumi’s waiting glove.
“Playing around here was my first experience with baseball, you know.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah, I had absolutely no idea how to play. Though, you know, since I’m so athletic, I picked it up right away.”
Her words, accompanied by a bashful smile, were likely completely true.
Now that she mentioned it, I did have a memory of her asking me, “What are you doing?”
“…I thought that if I kept playing baseball, maybe I’d run into you again someday.”
“…”
The ball Koumi threw to me felt heavier than before.
“Well, baseball ended up having nothing to do with it in the end, but I’m just happy we could meet again like this.”
“Yeah. I’m glad we met again, too.”
I had always wanted to apologize to her someday, too. For disappearing without saying a word.
If the world I originally came from was still out there, I really hoped I had been able to reunite with Koumi there, too.
“Oh, hey, wanna try throwing it against the wall? We used to do that all the time, right?”
“Oh, sounds good. Let’s do it.”
After playing catch for a while, we decided to throw the ball against the wall at Koumi’s suggestion. Before Koumi started coming to play, I used to throw the ball against the park wall all by myself. Seeing me do that, she’d eventually join in and play wall ball with me.
“Where did we used to throw it, again?”
“Man… I don’t remember at all…”
The two of us approached the wall. Because it was so large, I had absolutely no idea where we used to hit it.
“But since we were so small, we probably threw it pretty low, at least.”
“Yeah, that’s probably true…”
As we were trying to figure out where to aim, Koumi noticed something.
“Ah! Masato, look!”
“Hm?”
Koumi ran over to a certain spot and crouched down by the wall.
“Here!”
“Where…? Wait, is this…”
I looked where Koumi was pointing. To me, it looked like just another ordinary part of the wall, but…
Upon closer inspection, there was a patch low to the ground that was covered in what looked like scuff marks.
“Do you think… this was us?”
“Yeah… it is.”
I couldn’t say for certain. But I did remember throwing the ball around this area. And the fact that the marks were somewhat scattered—since we were just little kids—made it strangely convincing.
I was confident that this was the exact spot where Koumi and I had thrown the ball.
“Hehe… Makes me kinda happy, you know?”
Koumi looked up at me, flashing an innocent smile.
“Yeah… it really does make me happy, too.”
I felt as if a weight had suddenly been lifted from my heart.
Of course, Koumi and I might not share the exact same memories. As we continued to talk, we might end up at odds due to differences in what we remembered.
However, we shared the memory of throwing the ball together. And the proof of that was still here, etched into this very spot.
That fact just made me so inexplicably happy.
“Eh?! What’s wrong?! Masato!”
“No, sorry, I know it’s really weird.”
I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
Because it was something I’d agonized over. Whether or not I should keep telling Koumi that I’d never met her before.
Even now, I wasn’t confident that I’d made the right choice. I felt like I might just be continuing to deceive her.
“It’s nothing. Let’s do this! Wall ball!”
“Y-Yeah! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine!”
It was just that finding this proof that we had played together—having our memories align—made me happier than I could have ever imagined.
On the way home.
After that, we walked past the elementary school Koumi used to attend and the candy store she used to frequent, deciding to head home just as the sun began to set.
“Are you sure you didn’t want to visit the orphanage?”
“Yeah, I think I’m good.”
The orphanage where I was placed was nearby, but we didn’t stop by. I had already gone there to pay my respects once since coming to this world… and the benefactor who had worked there was no longer at the facility.
While I had some fun times during my stay there, I spent far more time thinking about sad things, so I had no desire to go out of my way to go inside.
Thinking it was best not to dwell on such depressing thoughts, I changed the subject.
“But seriously, you were amazing at throwing, Koumi. I was genuinely surprised.”
“Heheh. I didn’t play all through elementary, middle, and high school for nothing!”
As we swayed with the motion of the train, Koumi murmured, “But…”
“I was happy you were so good, too, Masato. I thought this at the batting cages as well… but you kept playing, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. I got injured along the way and couldn’t throw at full strength anymore, so I had to quit, though.”
“…Oh, I see.”
I had ruined my shoulder right before entering high school, so I played basketball instead. If it hadn’t been for that injury, I might have kept playing baseball.
“I still don’t know anything about you, Masato, so I want you to tell me all about what you were up to while we were apart.”
“…Yeah, if you’re okay with listening to that sort of thing.”
“Of course I’m okay with it!”
Hugging her backpack to her chest, Koumi flashed a dazzling smile. Ever since I came to this world, her smile had constantly been a source of strength for me.
I was so glad we went to that place today.
I still couldn’t come to a conclusion about whether or not I romantically liked Koumi.
But I realized that, without a doubt, she was someone incredibly precious to me.
“Oh, right.”
As I was starting to doze off, Koumi turned to face me as if she had suddenly remembered something.
“There’s something I want your help with…”
“With what?”
Koumi’s expression suddenly shifted into a mischievous smile as she explained her idea.
It was a proposal that gave me more than enough reason to cooperate.