Interlude – Murai Reiko

I started gymnastics right after I entered the third grade of elementary school.

It all began when a man who had done gymnastics from his own elementary school days through to college opened a gymnastics class near my home.

Since it was a newly opened class, he distributed flyers around the neighborhood to recruit students and held a trial session. At that trial session, I was captivated by the gymnasts soaring through the air and begged my parents to let me do gymnastics. My father agreed without hesitation, but my mother strongly opposed it. She eventually gave in on the condition that I “eat three proper meals a day.” At the time, I understood that to mean I needed to eat real meals instead of snacks.

It wasn’t until five years later that I realized just how much thought and care went into that condition.

Whether it was good luck or bad, I seemed to have talent. Four years after I started, in sixth grade, I had already climbed to the top of the prefecture in the floor and vault events.

The coach who taught me was overjoyed that his very first student had risen to the national level. I also worked hard, and I was happy and excited to master new and difficult skills.

However, the ability to pick up new skills one after another only lasted through elementary school.

Just before I entered junior high, I got my first period. Not only did I struggle with the ups and downs in my physical condition, but more than anything, the weight gain that came with it was a serious problem for me at the time.

The higher you go in gymnastics, the stricter the requirements become for body weight and body fat percentage. Back then, I would avoid even a 500ml water bottle for fear of gaining 500 grams.

But my mother held firm to the promise she made when I started gymnastics, and wouldn’t let me cut back on food. She even said that if I didn’t eat the meals she prepared, she would no longer let me continue gymnastics.

So I pretended to eat breakfast and dinner, then purged everything in the bathroom afterward. For lunch, I would eat less than half of my packed lunch and flush the rest down the toilet.

It was inevitable that I would ruin my health living like that. During spring break between my first and second year of junior high, I ended up hospitalized with both hypoglycemia and a stress fracture.

That’s when my mother finally discovered I had been throwing up my meals. Naturally, we had a huge fight. It started as a shouting match, and eventually, my mother raised her hand and slapped me.

When I looked up, ready to retaliate, I froze.

My mother was crying.

While I sat there stunned, my mother quietly began to speak about her own past.

She told me she had also done gymnastics as a child.

That while she wasn’t as good as her daughter, she had been a fairly skilled athlete.

That, because of intense dietary restrictions even harsher than mine, she didn’t get her period until after she graduated high school.

That she suffered many injuries and endured a lot of pain, and that’s why she never wanted her daughter to do gymnastics.

A child cannot understand a parent’s heart.

It felt as if something heavy had suddenly lifted from me, and my fever vanished.

I had been wrong.

The next visitor who came to see me in the hospital was my gymnastics coach. The moment I saw him, I told him I wouldn’t be able to continue doing gymnastics like I had before. To my surprise, he apologized.

“I’m sorry. I’m a man, so I didn’t realize. Back when I was a gymnast, I also had to restrict calories, but it was nothing compared to what you went through.”

He explained that his goal in teaching gymnastics was always to help nurture young people—not to push them to ruin their health. Then he said this to me:

“Hey, Murai. Don’t you think gymnastics that makes you this sick isn’t worth it? Why don’t we aim for a tough but fun kind of gymnastics together?”

So from then on, for the next two years, I trained with my coach, pursuing the highest level I could reach—without any dietary restrictions.

But it didn’t go well. Reality doesn’t play out like a drama. And some of it was just bad luck. By the end of my first year of junior high, my height was already 164cm—tall not only for a gymnast, but even compared to girls my age. Everyone thought I wouldn’t grow any more.

And yet, over the next two years, I grew another 12 cm.

In gymnastics, where rotation is crucial, smaller bodies have a distinct advantage. I ended up going in the exact opposite direction. By the end, I was ranked somewhere between mid- and upper-level in the prefecture.

Even so, I believe that all the effort I put in wasn’t for nothing. It wasn’t a case of “I failed because I didn’t try.” I tried, and I failed.

I felt I had done everything I could with gymnastics by the end of junior high, so when choosing a high school, I picked one without a gymnastics team.

…Maybe because I was afraid I’d end up joining if there was one.

I regretted it on the very first day of high school.
I had nothing to do.
If you skip even one day in gymnastics, you lose your sense of rhythm.
That’s why, up until now, every single day of my life had been dedicated to gymnastics.
Now that it was gone, I had no idea what to do with my time.
Maybe I should find a club activity where people were seriously committed?

On the third day after entering high school, when I was still searching for something to get passionate about, I saw an incredible student.
...Well, to be honest, I had already heard about her before entering school, but I thought she lived in a completely different world from mine.

With her charming looks and petite, delicate frame (at least from my perspective), I never would’ve guessed she was athletic.
She looked like someone who belonged in the literature club or the concert band.
But contrary to her appearance, she had phenomenal physical abilities.

With that kind of athletic ability, I bet she’d be amazing at gymnastics...

A PE teacher who was apparently the advisor of the track and field club tried to recruit her whenever he had the chance.
If I were the advisor, I’d have done the same.
She was a natural talent who absolutely should be doing sports.

She also had amazing arm strength.
She did ten pull-ups with ease, like it was nothing.

But if it’s pull-ups, I’m confident too.
Despite how I look, I was never bad at the uneven bars.

“Wow, that was amazing,”
A classmate—well, at least someone about as tall as me—approached me after the pull-ups.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t memorized everyone’s faces and names yet. You are...?”

“Ah, I’m not in your class, Murai-san. I’m in Class 2.”

So, she wasn’t a classmate after all.

“It’s a different class, but I’m looking for people to join the volleyball club with me.”

Ah, I see. So that’s what this is about.

“I only played volleyball in PE back in middle school, but it’s true that height gives you an advantage in that sport.”

“It’s not just your height. Murai-san, you weren’t just good at pull-ups—you’re also fast and did amazing in the long jump!”

“There’s someone even more amazing than me in Class 2 though…”

“You mean Tachibana-san, right? I’ve invited her and her older sister too. Her older sister is incredible! She was just chosen for the national women’s volleyball team!”

“That is amazing.”

“So, um, I... I want to go to Nationals. Like Inter-High or Spring High—basically, I want to make it past the prefectural qualifiers and compete nationwide... no, I want to go as far as winning the national championship!”

“That’s basically saying you want to be number one in Japan, right? I love that!”

“So, I think we’ll have to practice really hard, but even so—”

“Huh? If you’re aiming to win Nationals, of course practice will be tough. That’s no problem. But are you sure? I’m a total beginner when it comes to volleyball...”

And just like that, I was introduced to volleyball—something I’d end up pouring most of my high school life into.

First day in the volleyball club.

Apparently, Tohira had also successfully recruited that Tachibana girl.

They wanted to check our physical capabilities, so we started by measuring our “maximum reach height,” or whatever they called it.

“Murai... 286 cm. Not bad, considering that form,” said Coach Saeki with a tone of mild surprise, but to me, it was far from satisfactory.

I tried to imitate a volleyball jump, but it didn’t feel right at all. Damn...
And I’ve been doing jumps since I was a kid!

“Last one, Tachibana Yuri. Go all out, just like during the physical fitness test,” Saeki-sensei said.

A third-year senpai and Arimura, who didn’t know about the fitness test results, looked puzzled, but the rest of us knew just how amazing she was.
So, how high would she jump?

“Ha ha ha! She really did it. Tachibana Imouto! The record is 348 cm!”

Saeki-sensei laughed gleefully.
She must’ve jumped at least 140 cm.
Is she even human?

But that’s not what caught my attention.

“What? That wasn’t a volleyball form? Well, there’s no rule saying you have to use the volleyball form to measure your max reach.
I mean, yeah, the form people use now is probably the one that lets you jump the highest, but...”

That might be true eventually, but right now, it didn’t apply to me.
Could I get one more try?

“What? Murai, you’ve got guts. After seeing Tachibana do that, instead of getting discouraged, you want to challenge her? I love that kind of attitude! Use whatever form you like! Show us what you’ve got!”

Apologies, but the volleyball run-up is way too short for me.
I need more distance.
I raise my right hand.
This is a gymnastics routine—ultimately, this still feels the most natural to me.

“Haah!”

I gave a small hop at the start, then burst forward like a spring uncoiling.
When it comes to jumping, I’ve been doing this since third grade.
I won’t lose to any volleyball player!

“No way...”

“Murai-san, you’re incredible.”

Upperclassmen, first-year classmates—everyone was stunned.
Though, I’m pretty sure I didn’t jump higher than Tachibana...

“Kukuku. Nicely done, Murai! To think that this little public high school has not one but two students who can reach 3 meters, and neither of them are even 180 cm tall!”

Saeki-sensei was absolutely thrilled.
Is there some special milestone for reaching 3 meters? 

• Murai Reiko: Height — 176.5 cm | Max Reach — 300 cm

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