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Minagawa is trying to help out but I’ll never disappear into the background since he’s completely locked onto me. Rather, she’s telling me not to push myself but I really have no choice here. As a test, I lightly tapped my left foot on the ground. It hurts, it really hurts. But I can probably endure it somewhat.

「Please pass to me occasionally. I’ll just send it around.」
「Seriously, can’t that f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ just get fired now?」
「You’re character is all over the place but is that how you usually are, Minagawa?」
「That’s right. Geez, making someone injured play, what a disgrace of a teacher.」

I completely agree with that. Still, if I don’t give my all, he’ll probably come with some complaints again. From what I can see, it’s not just me that’s being targeted, he’ll likely lock on to female students that don’t hold the ball too much.

Haa, I guess I’ll put my back into it.

And as a result of that:

「Hey, are you really injured?」
「I’m just bearing the pain as much as I can. Ah, it went in.」

I was passed the ball, so I scored a clean 3 point shot. As usual, Kotone’s physical specs are pretty high. Still, running at full speed is impossible. I’ve lost some sensations other than pain.

Even so, the pain still stays blaring at me, which makes it worse.

「Could you join the basketball club when you’re fully healed?」
「I have a part-time job, so I can’t. And, there.」

I blocked the ball passed by the other group and passed it to someone near the goal. The team I’m in is winning but the opponents aren’t really marking me too much. It’ll be a problem if they seriously go all out on blocking this injured person here though.
That’s likely them reading the mood. Since I’m moving, the PE teacher isn’t spouting unreasonable complaints.

「Fuuh, done.」
「Good going. Let’s go straight to the girl’s changing room. Everyone’s just ignoring the b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲, after all.」
「That is true. Then I’ll follow immediately after I get my uniform.」

As the class end chime rang, the students headed straight towards the exit. Both the boys and girls are heading out, likely as a small protest against the PE teacher. This class really has good teamwork in these sorts of times, huh.

I similarly ignored the teacher who seemed to have something to say, picked up my uniform, and directly headed to the girls’ changing room.

Though the instant I entered, I collapsed.

「W-wait, Kisaragi!? Sit here!」
「Aiba, I’ll assist. Here, grab on to her.」

While being supported by Aiba and Minagawa, I sat on the provided chair and took a deep breath. The pain is nearly reaching its limits. I feel absolutely nothing but pain now.

It’s like I’m encased in rubber.

「Here, use this towel.」
「I’ll return it washed along with the PE uniform.」
「Don’t worry about that. More importantly, you should wipe off the sweat quickly. You’ll catch a cold at this rate.」

The sweat is practically all cold sweat though, rather than sweat from playing basketball. After wiping most of the sweat off, I took off my shoe to check the injury’s condition. Honestly, there’s no need to check to know that it got worse.

Still, I can’t feel the hot compress doing anything to help.

「「「Uwa……」」」

The girls all cringed. Yeah, I’d probably react the same if it wasn’t my problem. After all, I can’t even see where my ankle starts anymore. Rather, it’s thicker than my leg now, isn’t it? I can only let out a strained laugh.

The bandages don’t really do anything at this point, as well as the compress. I’ll just take them all off. Ahh, it feels colder now.

「Let’s go to the infirmary. I really can’t watch this anymore.」
「Minagawa, I’ll come too.」
「No, Aiba, Minagawa, it’s fine. I can go by myself.」
「「We’re going even if we have to drag you.」」

That’ll just make it worse, you know? Rather, these two really won’t give up.

「I understand. Can I lend your shoulders?」
「「That goes without saying!」」

For some reason, they’re completely in sync. After telling the other girls that there’s no need to worry, we headed out without changing. Honestly, I can’t even be bothered to change right now. Even the trip to the infirmary was a struggle.

Is Teacher Saeki in? If she is, she’s definitely going to get angry. It’s gotten a lot worse after all.

「Welcome. Well, things seem to have gone terribly.」
「I’m sorry. My injury got absolutely worse.」
「Could you tell me what happened? It’s likely something caused you to ignore my warnings, right?」
「Before that. Aiba, Minagawa, please head back to the classroom after changing here. I’ll follow after getting treated.」
「Are you going back by yourself?」
「I’ll borrow Teacher Saeki’s shoulder.」

I smiled at the worried Aiba as I replied. Stealing a glance at Teacher Saeki, she nodded so it should be fine. And even while this was happening, Teacher Saeki briskly started treating me.

Yeah, seeing her like this, she seems like a really capable lady. But after seeing how she is in private, it’s really a shame.

「Now that the two are gone, can you tell me? This is probably not something you want them to hear, no?」
「Yes. This happened during the PE class just now but blah-blah-blah happened.」

I explained to her the PE teacher’s sexual harassment, his blackmail of my classmates, and the possibility of the Udzuki family backing him. Though while I say Udzuki family, it might be just Shizune alone personally backing him.

Now if it was the actual family we’re going up against, it’ll be too disadvantageous. If this is the case, I’m going to have to borrow the strength of my family as well. Currently, I can’t do that.

「That’s quite the unprecedented display of trashiness. Regarding this case, I’ll report it to the principal as well. It’s an unwritten rule among the faculty never to be swayed by authority, you see.」
「Then wouldn’t it be dangerous for you, Teacher Saeki? You know, with you having gone in and out of the home of someone with ties with the Kisaragi.」
「Seeing that you can still crack a joke, you seem to be fine. I just went to the house of my best friend’s friend, that’s all. I have no clue whether that friend has ties to some family or whatnot.」
「Pfft, let’s leave it at that then. Now then, I’ll be going now.」
「Again, don’t you try to go alone. Come, grab onto my shoulder. I’ll lend you some crutches later. 」

As I was about to head to the classroom by myself, I was stopped as expected. It’s not like I can’t walk while leaning on the wall for support, so it shouldn’t be an issue. The stairs could be a bit dangerous. Still, it should be manageable as long as I grab the handrails.

Though she probably wouldn’t allow this either.

「So, is there another problem again?」

As I reached the classroom, people gathered around my seat again. The only difference now is that my classmates are moving around right now. With a bucket and towel, they’re cleaning up my desk and the surrounding area.
Something changed. I instantly realized it.

「Um, what are you doing?」
「Uhh, you came back fast.」
「Aiba, even if you hide it now, she’ll still know by the lunch break.」

Aiba is acting flustered while Minagawa seems to have a look of resignation. I know that something happened here again, but since they’ve cleaned up a bit, I can’t exactly tell what happened this time.