"But why America, anyway?" griped Maiko as she stabbed her chopsticks at a piece of tempura, surprisingly inelegant for the moment being. She wasn't even in Yuki's class, but at some point, after joining the girl's team, she'd just started appearing there during lunch breaks to commandeer the empty desk beside Yuki. Seated between her and Tatsuya, Yuki sometimes felt like she was being pressed between two blocks of solid priss. Somehow, it was less uncomfortable than describing it made it sound.
Or at least it had been early on, before Maiko's behavior had become more tense and difficult than ever before. Maiko swallowed her mouthful of sweet potato, apparently not yet frustrated to the point of talking with her mouth full, and continued, "I mean, you never hear people talking about America when they're talking about soccer. It's always Italy, isn't it? Or Spain? You know, those European countries."
"America is more interested in other sports, but their soccer programs are still good. Japan doesn't compare, especially for women's soccer," Tatsuya said. Yuki shot him a look for answering for her, but of course he wasn't even looking in her direction, probably on purpose.
"Besides, I know more English than I do Spanish or anything," Yuki added, turning back to Maiko. "Anyway, I'm surprised you listen to people talk about soccer at all. What's so bad about America in particular?"
"It's not America in particular," Maiko snapped back, clicking her chopsticks closed on a prawn. "I don't think you should be leaving Japan at all. You should have a little more national pride!"
"Really," Yuki cut in, before her secondhand embarrassment could get bad enough to give her a headache, "why does this bother you so much?" The 'rivalry' between them had never mattered to Yuki, but knowing Maiko, she guessed aloud, "Because studying abroad is so impressive, it means I win?"
Maiko slammed her palms on the desk in front of her and stood up so suddenly she knocked her chair over. "Obviously it's because I like you!"
The whole classroom fell dead silent.
To her credit, despite her reddening face, Maiko admirably withstood the stares of a dozen students frozen in the act of bringing food to their mouths. "I don't feel well," she stated crisply, and she took up her bento box and strode from the classroom. For added effect, she even paused in the doorway before slamming it shut.
What felt like hours later, the stillness of the room was finally broken when the rice in Tatsuya's chopsticks dropped down to his lap.
Maiko looked less dignified later that day, with her arms crossed and her shoulders hunched, when she showed up to the soccer club meet. You could have preserved your dramatic exit by skipping practice, Yuki couldn't help but think when she saw her. She squashed down the tiny bubble of mean-spirited amusement hovering in the back of her throat and conducted their drills as if nothing had happened, but by the end of the meet, Maiko's increasingly flustered state made Yuki begin to suspect that mocking her would have been the kinder course of action.
Afterwards, when they were all about ready to leave, Yuki set a hand on Maiko shoulder and smiled sweetly when she nearly jumped a foot in the air. "You weren't thinking of running away, were you?" Predictably, even with her cheeks already growing pinker, Maiko rose to the bait.
"Of course not!"
"Good," said Yuki, "because I want to talk to you." She jabbed her thumb in the direction of somewhere away from all the rest of these peopleand turned to lead them off to a slightly more secluded area, apparently on the other side of the field. When she turned back around, Maiko had followed, supposedly while looked miffed about it the whole way. "Is this what that whole rivalry thing was actually about?" she asked. "This whole time?"
Maiko shifted her weight from one foot to the other and clutched at the strap of her bag. "Obviously!" she sniffed, never one to be accused of having a large vocabulary.
"Can it really be called obvious...?" Yuki wondered aloud, unimpressed. "You've really only ever acted like I'm some terrible obstacle for you." At that, Maiko's face flamed up properly. She turned her head to the side to look away, then tilted her chin up exaggeratedly high to compensate for it.
"Well, what would you have me do, send you roses? As if a classless person like you would respond to that sort of thing!"
"You're still insulting me."
"You're the one picking a fight!" Maiko shouted outright, glancing at Yuki's face for only a moment before her eyes darted away.
"But you're right," Yuki admitted. Despite herself, she was nearly muttering, the embarrassment of being around this woman getting to her once again. "I think I ended up respecting you a lot more because of that approach." Not the insults, of course, but the competition. Maiko's drive. Even with things Yuki placed less importance on, Maiko could never be considered a threat to her; in every area Yuki could think of, they just weren't on the same level.
Yuki was used to being better than other people. If their situations were reversed, she didn't think she could keep pursuing someone superior to her with the same absolute determination that Maiko used to pursue her.
Still, acknowledging her strengths didn't mean she liked her that way. And more importantly- "I'm going to America," Yuki stated, as plainly as she could. Immediately and with force, Maiko snapped out of the speechless stupor she'd slipped into.
"Obviously you are!" Obviously again, Yuki thought. "What are you saying that for? That shouldn't even be a question!"
"Wait, wait," said Yuki, pushing her hands out in front of her in a 'slow down' gesture, "then what was all that about earlier today? Why make such a fuss if you want me to go?"
"I'm not trying to stop you, that doesn't mean I can't be upset about it!"
"You were trying to talk me out of it, what part of that isn't trying to stop me!"
"It's not trying if I know it won't work." Suddenly being the louder voice of the two startled Yuki, and as she looked at Maiko's face, some contrary feeling welled up inside of her and demanded, what if it does?
It wasn't a hard choice. But Maiko was right: it shouldn't even be a question.
Maiko shifted her weight back to her other foot. "Is that all you wanted to ask me, Kojima?"
"Actually, no," Yuki decided, on the spot. "Want to go get something to eat with me?"
It took Maiko a moment for it to sink in, but then she scrunched her whole face up. "Don't make fun of me!"
"Who's making fun of you? You sure have a low opinion of the person you have a crush on."
"You-"
"I'm being serious. It's not a joke, and I'll treat you."
For a time, they stood facing each other at a standstill. The seconds began to add up, bringing with them an odd nervousness climbing the inside of Yuki's ribcage and an entire array of colors progressing across Maiko's face, until finally Maiko whirled around, so fast her hair made a whipping noise, and began to storm back across the field. Only a few steps into her trek, she turned back again to point straight at Yuki.
"I want melon bread! Not burgers, do you understand?"
I remember what you like just fine, Yuki almost said, but saved herself the embarrassment.