I began body-boarding in the rst year of high school because I was in uenced by my sister
and on the very rst day I was captured by the joy of the sport. My sister was in the sur ng club
during university. It wasn't very trendy and laborious (for the rst three months all they did
was basic training to prepare themselves for the sea. They spent their time paddling and duck
diving every day until sunset!) and I didn't understand why they would want to go up against
something as unbelievably big as the sea, but I thought it was a beautiful thing to do. Then one
sunny day in my second year of high school, I suddenly thought to myself that I wanted to ride
the waves sometime too. To do that had to learn how to stand up on a short or long board and,
since I'm always adventurous it just had to be the short board for me so that I could twist and
turn and when I rst started learning, I had managed to ride the waves a number of times out
of luck but since that time, I've never been able to stand up again for some reason. I had begun
to think that maybe I should abandon the di cult to use short board but I wasn't sure I should
give up so easily on something that I had decided for myself and with that hesitation in mind, it
was already the third year of high school for me in the blink of an eye and now it was summer
again.
Thump! The small pleasant sound could be heard mixed with the chirping of the morning
birds. It was the sound of an arrow piercing a piece of paper on a board being used as a target.
It was now ten past eight and I was standing in the shadow of the school building feeling very
nervous. I had a little peek a moment ago and as usual, he was there in the archery area
practicing.
Every morning he would always be practicing his archery and it was actually one of the reasons
why I was practicing sur ng every morning too. If he looked full of energy in the morning then
somehow, it made me want to be full of energy too. It was wonderful watching him draw an
arrow with that serious look on his face. I was too embarrassed to watch him up close so I've
always kept around a hundred metres away to watch. Peeping even.
For some reason I straightened my skirt, gently xed my sailor suit uniform and took a deep
breathe. Alright! Let's just be natural, I said to myself and then started walking towards the
archery area.
"Hey, morning."
He greeted me as he did every morning, stopping his practice as he saw me walking by. Aaah!
He's so nice! He's got such a deep cool voice!
My heart was beating fast but I continued to walk towards him, pretending to be calm. I
pretended to be just passing by. I answered him, careful that my voice wouldn't give me away.
"Morning, Tohno-kun. You're early again today."
"You too, Kanae. You were at the sea, right?"
"Yeah."
"You train hard don't you?"
"I- ", he surprised me by praising me like that. Oh no, this isn't good. My face is probably
turning bright red!
"Not- Not really. . . Eheheh, see you later, Tohno-kun!" I ran o quickly, embarrassed and
happy at the same time. "Yeah, see you later." I heard his kind voice from behind me.
My second problem; I had unrequited love for Tohno-kun. In fact, it's been this way for ve
years. I call him, "Takaki Tohno-kun". I could only be with Tohno-kun for another six months
before we graduate from high school.
And my third problem; the sheet of paper on my desk summarised it all. It was now eight
thirty- ve and we were in the middle of our morning class. I was barely listening to Mr. Matsuno.
He was saying, Listen. It's time for you all to make a decision for yourselves. Discuss it with
your families. . . Or something like that. On the piece of paper was written the title, "The Third
Careers Guidance Questionnaire." I only managed to answer half the paper.
Twelve fty, noon. It was lunchtime and in the classroom classical music was being played
which I was sure I heard somewhere before. For some reason, I found myself imagining a penguin
skating while I listened to the tune. What memories was the music linking together inside my
mind? I gave up trying to remember the name of the tune and dug into the fried eggs my mother
had made for my lunchbox. They were delicious. I could feel the taste spreading out, lling me
with happiness. I was sitting together with Yukko and Saki-chan who were talking about their
career options.
"I heard Sasaki-san's taking an entrance exam at Tokyo University."
"Sasaki-san? You mean Kyoko?"
"No, no. I mean the Sasaki-san from group one."
"Oh, the Sasaki-san from the literature club. Not surprised!"
Hearing about group one made me feel nervous. It was the group Tohno-kun was in. For
each year, students are divided into three groups at my high school. There's the rst and second
groups who are taught the common subjects but people who are in the rst are those who hope to
apply for university. The third group were taught about the industry and many of the students
go onto a dedicated school or go straight into work, most staying on the island. I was in the
third group. I hadn't asked Tohno-kun yet but he was probably planning to go to university.
Somehow I had the feeling he wanted to go back to Tokyo. The fried egg I was eating suddenly
lost its taste as I thought about it.
"What about you, Kanae?" Yukko suddenly asked me but I wasn't ready to answer.
"Didn't you say you were planning to go straight into work?" Saki-chan continued. I paused. . .
unsure of what to say. I just didn't know what I was going to do yet.
"You haven't really thought about it at all, have you?" said Saki-chan looking shocked. "All
she thinks about is Tohno-kun, "said Yukko. "But he probably already has a girlfriend back in
Tokyo," Saki followed on.