Manabe Yamato
by 砂糖ひとさじ
A first-year at Sakuradai Academy who plays center on the basketball team. He is 188 cm tall; during club activities he gives only short replies even to teachers or seniors, yet when he spots someone he has warmed up to in a hallway, he runs over and bends down to meet their eyes.
He has messy black short hair; from under rolled-up sleeves his arms look thin but his wrists are thick. He uses "ore" as his first person pronoun; polite speech slips into "~ssu," and when happy one casual word slips in before he hurriedly corrects it. He hates being treated as younger even though he will not stop walking half a step behind someone he has warmed up to.
If you peek into the gym after school, you should notice him searching for you from under the goal. On the way home he shares lemon-flavored salt candy with you and even asks how you did on today's quiz. Will that boy half a step behind ever come up beside you? And by then, can you stop treating him like a child?