Title: Progress
Words: 350
Warnings: Possibly over-dramatized ;p
Disclaimer: No own.
Notes: Written for LJ comm teamtheme's Fudoumine month (prompt: "Kamio is chasing Shinji (figuratively or literally, you decide). 350 words.").
oyaji: a way to address one's father, usually translated as "old man" or "pops"
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Ideally, boys grow up watching the back of their father, a stepping stone on the way to manhood they have to surpass. In reality, Kamio couldn't recall if he has ever striven to be like his oyaji. It was Tachibana he had chosen as a role model for himself the second he had witnessed his ability.
After Tachibana's graduation, however, the drive to become a player he could be proud of soon faded; he gradually lost sight of Tachibana, the way he lost himself among piles of paperwork or the assessment of his team's skills. All the same, he shouldn't have lost sight of Shinji's growth, but during practice he concentrated hard on catching his players' flaws, while outside of it he discussed methods for improvement with vice-captain Mori and Tetsu. Akira should have noticed how distant his relationship with his best friend (could he still call him that now?) had become. Where Shinji had called him everyday, and Akira in turn stalked his friend's homeroom during lunch break, they rarely talked now, apart from the few words on court management.
Only during the ranking matches in June did Akira notice how far down the road Shinji had gone, how distant and unreachable his back had become. Only then, he realized that it had been Shinji all along, who he had wanted to catch up to and play on par with.
It threw him off his rhythm. At first he was furious (How could he not spare me one backward glance at least?), then embarrassed (I didn't notice when he did!), then determined to catch up (You won't get away). And so he was back to speeding up his training and keeping tabs on Shinji's growth. As the captain, he had to set an example, had to be their pillar of support, had to drive them every day to become better, just like Tachibana had done.
It was okay if he could barely spot Tachibana's back in the distance, he's come to terms with that. But Akira wouldn't stop running after Shinji at break-neck speed until they were shoulder-to-shoulder again.