質問: **持て余していた**力を、陽菜さんにもらった勇気を、僕のなかで叫び続けている気持ちを、今こそ全部使い切るために僕は走る。 Hi. Why is 持て余す used in ていた form instead of ている form? If either 持て余していた or 持て余している can be used there, what is the difference between them? I know the former is 過去完了 and the latter is 現在完了. Thank you.
回答: I assume you understand Japanese relative tense. This 持て余していた is in the past-progressive form simply because 持て余す is something that was happening before the action of 走る happened. In other words, the sentence is saying he had a lot of energy and he has not known how to unleash it *for some time*.