Shamer

About three months had passed since Kenji-un had started attending Seiran High School.

With a chilly autumn breeze blowing, I — Kiritani Kakeru — was standing in front of the school gate for uniform and tardy check duty.

“Good morning, Sensei.” “Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

Two boys greeted me, and I did the same in return.

I was sure that those two were on the soccer team.

The soccer team was wiping out the most recent tournament with tremendous momentum.

Seiran High School was not known as a sports school and its athletic teams were generally not strong, but this year’s soccer team seemed to be an exception.

One of the reasons for this was Kenji-kun.

Kenji-kun’s versatile passing plays tricks on the opponents, and a sophomore striker named Kudo-kun scores the final goals. They seem to win every time with this pattern.

Perhaps because of his success, Kenji-kun has caught the attention of the coach of a university that has produced professional players.

Kenji-kun, you must be working really hard. That’s really great.

“Sensei, good morning.” “Good morning.”

This time, I was greeted by a couple-like pair, and I greeted them back with a “Good morning.”

Kenji-kun himself told me this, but about two months ago he confessed his feelings to Aima-san. I know he didn’t really want to talk about his confession, but he made a special effort to tell me because in his words, “I had helped him so much.”

And the result was—

It was “on hold.”

Hearing his answer, Kenji-kun decided to wait for now.

But they were going to school together, and I think they were probably back to their original friendship.

By the way, Kenji-kun’s best friend… Saitomiya-kun, right? Kenji-kun seemed to have gradually restored his relationship with him as well, and now they even go to each other’s games.

I heard that there were some differences between Saitomiya-kun and Aima-san, but Kenji-kun seemed to have worked hard to improve that as well.

Thanks to his efforts, Kenji-kun was happy to find that they were still able to hang out with each other from time to time, just like in the past.

Kenji-kun said it was all thanks to me, but I think it was because he has accepted the mistakes he made in the past and is now living his life to the fullest.

There is no life without mistakes.

In other words, we all make mistakes.

So if you have made a mistake once or twice in your life and are feeling depressed, please don’t worry.

Everyone else is not so different from you.

When I was talking with Kenji-kun, he was jokingly calling himself a harmful human, but when I think about it, maybe we are all harmful humans.

To borrow Kenji-kun’s words, when you make a mistake in life, the most important thing is to have the courage to admit that you are a harmful person.

Then you can move forward and start over, little by little.

And I am sure that you will be able to live your own life like Kenji-kun has.

“Kiritani-sensei is on duty today.”

Suddenly, I hear a familiar voice.

I look over and see Kenji-kun standing there. Aima-san was standing next to him.

He looked somewhat confident, and there was no sign of the boy he used to be when he was in his shut-in state.

“Kenji-kun, good morning.”

I greeted Kenji-kun.

He looked a little happy this morning.

“Good morning! Kiritani-sensei!”

He greeted me with a smile.

Kenji-kun’s smile was so beautiful that I could feel that he was enjoying life.

And in response, I took that happiness he felt as if it were my own.

This has been the story of one harmful person, who had accepted his wrong self, confronted his helpless, deplorable feelings, and is now continuing his life to the fullest.