After helping Karuizawa sit down, Chiba Yu began checking her injuries.
There were no obvious bruises on her body, and her face was unharmed. She had a few minor scrapes on her arm.
The worst injury was undoubtedly on her knee.
Chiba Yu placed his hand on her pant leg. The moment he touched it, he felt Karuizawa's body shudder noticeably, and her leg instinctively drew back.
"Don't move. You might pull at the wound again, and that'll make it even harder to get around later."
Hearing this, Karuizawa did her best to suppress her embarrassment. She turned her head away, avoiding Chiba Yu's gaze.
Seeing how strongly she reacted, Chiba Yu assumed it was just the shyness and reserve unique to girls.
He gently rolled up the leg of her sweatpants, fully exposing her knee.
She had probably been so focused on protecting her upper body when she fell that she hadn't done much to shield her legs. Now, her knee was clearly in much worse shape than the rest of her.
It was covered in a little dirt, and a patch of skin had been scraped off. There was even some blood left on the surface. No wonder Karuizawa had reacted so strongly just now.
"Let's rest for a bit. We don't have any medicine on hand, so I'll just clean it up for now. We can figure out what to do next once we get back."
Chiba Yu gently wiped away the tiny bits of dust and grit on Karuizawa's knee to prevent an infection, then stayed quietly by her side to make sure nothing else happened.
As for Karuizawa, the moment Chiba Yu had touched her, her mind had already gone completely blank. It wasn't until he touched her wound again that the sharp pain finally brought her back to her senses.
She stared blankly at the injury on her knee, then sneaked a glance at Chiba Yu, who was sitting beside her and looking up at the sky for some reason. A strange feeling suddenly welled up inside her.
When this guy got serious, he was actually pretty reliable.
"...Had enough?"
"Cough, cough!"
Chiba Yu had sensed someone watching him for a while. He'd thought it was just a few quick glances, but he hadn't expected Karuizawa to stare straight at him for so long.
He couldn't take the awkward feeling washing over him any longer, so he finally spoke up and broke the strange silence.
"Can you stand? We need to hurry back. Otherwise, Hirata might start worrying for no reason."
"I'll try," Karuizawa said uncertainly.
She slowly brought herself to her feet. Her movements weren't very smooth, but she managed to stand, albeit unsteadily.
Chiba Yu sighed. "If you really can't manage, I'll carry you back."
"Huh?!"
Karuizawa let out a disbelieving cry. She'd imagined all kinds of possibilities, but she hadn't expected Chiba Yu to offer to carry her back.
Ignoring her gasp, Chiba Yu looked at her without changing his expression, as though he were stating something trivial.
"Don't worry. I'll put you down before we get to the camp, so you don't have to worry about anyone seeing us and getting the wrong idea."
"N-no, that's not what I meant. I just thought..."
"Rather than having you keep pushing yourself out here, carrying you back is the most effective option and the least likely to waste time."
"I... I'm afraid I'm too heavy and will be a bother..."
Chiba Yu looked at Karuizawa as if he were meeting her for the first time. "Oh? So you do worry about being a bother to others?"
"...Drop dead!"
By the time Karuizawa said that with a bright red face, Chiba Yu was already crouching in front of her.
"Get on. And hurry up. Staying crouched is draining my energy too."
"Y-you're the one who offered to carry me. You can't blame me if anything happens."
Karuizawa pressed herself against Chiba Yu's back and wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her chin on his left shoulder.
Chiba Yu slid his arms beneath her thighs and lifted her smoothly with a burst of strength.
When he didn't say anything after picking her up, Karuizawa began to feel uneasy. "W-what's wrong?"
"...You should lose some weight."
???
Karuizawa's eyes flew open. Her cheeks puffed out in a pout. "What's that supposed to mean? I've always been careful about my figure, and my weight is right where it should be!"
"...Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"
Seeing that Chiba Yu wasn't going to continue the topic, Karuizawa huffily turned her head away. "No."
Like a little kid.
"If you're fine, then let's go. It's been quite a while."
Chiba Yu tried taking a couple of steps. Once he was sure there were no problems, he started toward the camp.
After walking for a while, Karuizawa's body gradually relaxed. She wasn't as tense as she had been at first.
Karuizawa was beginning to relax, but Chiba Yu wasn't having as easy a time as he'd expected.
The softness against his back kept distracting him. To keep himself from showing any sign of it, he'd shut down his ability to speak from the very start and focused on keeping his mind clear.
They walked in silence for several dozen minutes before Karuizawa, who had been quiet behind him, suddenly spoke.
"Hey, Chiba, what kind of person are you, really?"
"As you can see, just an ordinary high school student. If anything, I'm an ordinary student who's a little lazier than most."
"...Do you think I'm that easy to fool?"
So she did have some self-awareness.
"Ordinary people can't get the same score in every subject."
"That was just luck."
"Ordinary people can't figure out the school's hidden S Points rules ahead of time."
"...I just look at things from a different perspective."
"Ordinary people can't take a punch from Sudo head-on without batting an eye."
"I used to practice piano and tea ceremony."
"...What do those two things have to do with each other?"
"You're actually... pretty amazing, aren't you?"
Chiba Yu's pace didn't change. He remained as calm as ever. "If I were really that amazing, I wouldn't have been put in Class D."
Karuizawa shook her head. "Everyone in class treats you like a mascot who happens to get good grades. At most, they think you might be more athletic than average. But the real reason is that you don't want to stand out, right?
"The way you go out of your way to hide your abilities means none of them really understand what you're like."
What the hell was a mascot? How had his role changed again?
"I'm not as amazing as you think. All I want is to get through my three years of high school in peace."
"...But you're obviously amazing."
"..."
"Ugh, fine. I'll keep your secret for you. But in return, if you run into any trouble, you have to help me out a little."
"...What's that supposed to be? All I see is capital exploiting me."
"Hmph! I don't care. I've got leverage over you." Karuizawa turned her head with a haughty air, even though Chiba Yu couldn't see her.
Even now, whenever Chiba Yu thought back on what had happened that day, he couldn't help regretting it...