Another piece of Umi's daily life in the Nico-NASTYH universe.
"Blah" — Speech
"Blah" — Speech in another language
'Blah' — Thoughts
[ Blah ] — Text
*Blah* — Sound effects in speech
(Blah) — Author's notes
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Love Live! School Idol Project.
Umi stretches her arms as she walks inside her room. The blunette drops her bag and takes her school blazer to hang it on the closet. She drops on the chair and sighs as she take her phone to look at the message from Nico: [ I'm studying with Eli n Nozi. Srry but I'ma be MIA ].
The message was 3 hours ago and she already texted a 'good luck' to Nico. She sighs, 'What to do? It's been a long time since I had free time.' Umi slowly swivels her chair to look around the room:
College books
Bunny
Bow
Umi stops and looks back at her bow at the corner of the room. 'Huh.' She gets up and moves to the corner to pick up the bow. She traces her hand along the bow string. 'I forgot I had this. I joined the club when I was a freshman.' Umi turns the bow over, 'But I quit when Kotori made me joined Muse.'
Umi smiles at the memories and moves to a clear spot in her room. She gets into position and pulls the string back.
Ding
Umi suddenly gasp as an epiphany hits her mind. She slowly releases the string and drops the bow on the floor. She quickly makes her way to the table and pulls out a notebook and starts scribbling. 'So the muscles being used when the drawing the bow is...'
.
1 hour later...
'...And so these exercises can—'
"Sweetie?"
Umi jumps and looks to the side and sees her mom standing at the door. "Mom?"
Yori walks over to Umi, "I called you a minute ago but you didn't say anything." The older Sonoda looks Umi's shoulder, "What's all this?"
Umi looks down to see opened books and notes strewn about on the floor. "Oh. I wanted to see what exercise can improve the strength of anyone practicing archery."
"Archery huh?" Yori looks at the bow, "You know, I have some old equipment that's almost like a bow."
"Really?"
"Yup. It's called the chest expander. It's like two handles attached to some rubber cables."
Umi vaguely recalls seeing something like that, "Huh..." Umi goes back to the notes to scribble something.
Yori picks up one of the paper, "I noticed all the exercises involve dumbbells."
"Oh." Umi looks up again, "The archery club doesn't have anything there to use machines or cables. I figured I would donate my old dumbbells."
"Hmmm," Yori rubs her chin as she stares at the ground. She then snaps her fingers, "I got it." Yori pokes her head out of the door, "Honey! Can you come up here for a moment?" She turns around to see Umi's confused gaze, she walks back to pick up a pencil and a new piece of paper. "Here."
Umi walks over to see an outline of a pole with carbine hooks attached to the top and bottom. There are multiple holes on the length of the poles. Yori explains as she draws, "I was thinking of building a pole for the club." She points at the hooks, "These can simulate the bow string being pulled back." She then points the holes, "And these are there so you can adjust the hooks. You can do other exercises other than a dumbbell."
"This..." This bought countless possibilities. Umi hugs her mother, "Thank you mom!"
Yori returns the hug, "It's no problem sweetie." Just then Umi's dad appears at the door and catches their attention. "Oh Honey." She looks back at Umi, "can you call Kotori mom for me? I would like to ask for permission if we can install this."
Umi nods, "Of course." She watches her mom got up and talked with her dad. Umi goes over to her desk and picks up her phone to dial Kotori's number.
Ring
Ring
"Hi Kotori. How have you been? Is your mom..."
.
. . . . . . . . . . .
.
4 days later...
Umi watches as students walk into the archery club and drop their bags at a corner of the room. As they were grabbing their uniform, one of the girls spots the vice-president.
"Hey isn't that the vice president?"
"What's she doing here?"
One of the club seniors claps her hands, "Alright enough chitchat. Hurry up and change." The girls quickly jogged to another room and the door closed. The club member turns to the blunette, "Sorry about that Umi."
Umi waves her hand, "It is quite alright Ami." There was a lull in the conversation. "I noticed there are a lot of members."
Ami perks up, "Oh yeah. Since there are a lot of girls enrolled in this school, it's only natural there will be some attracted to archery." She grins at Umi, "Especially when one of Muse used to be a member."
"Ah," Umi looks to the side as old memories resurfaced, "I am sorry that I left so abruptly."
The club member quickly raises her hands and smiles, "It's cool it's cool."
Umi shakes her head; Ami's smile looks stiff, "Please tell me how you really felt."
Ami freezes at the statement, "I don't..." Her shoulders slump, "I... was kinda pissed at you for leaving the club. You had so much potential that we could have made it to the nationals." She then shakes her head, "But we wouldn't be able to celebrate if the school closed down. So yeah, you joining Muse saved this school."
"Ami..."
"Phew! It actually feels really good to say all of this." Umi wanted to continue, but the rest of the club members enter the room. Ami clears her throat, "Alright everyone. I'm sure some of you know her, but this is Umi Sonoda and she used to be in the archery club."
Umi steps forward and tilts her head forward, "Hello everyone. I am here to hold a little seminar for archery training. Let me ask you girls a question: Do your muscles become sore after practice?"
Hearing mutterings of 'yes', Umi continues, "That is because your body is not used to do this kind of activity. But I am here to show you exercises so your body does not easily become sore. Any questions so far?"
One hand sticks up, "Why not use the bows to practice? It seems more convenient than exercises."
Umi nods at the girl, "That is an excellent point. However I am sure the bow cannot handle the stress of being pulled constantly. How many of you felt sore on a particular body part compared to the rest?" Several hands slowly rise up, "That means that body part is weaker compared to the rest. That is why exercise can be implemented into archery. Not only are you training those weaknesses, you are also training the other part of your body."
Seeing their confused gazes, Umi asks, "How many are right-handed here?" All hands raise up, "Does your right feel stronger than your left side?" The girls start to nod as they observe themselves.
Once they look back at Umi, she starts again, "Now for a little demonstration." Umi bends down to pick up the strand pulling aka chest expander cables as Ami steps up with a bow. Umi nods at Ami to being first: Ami gets into position to pull the string with her right hand while pushing the grip forward with her left hand. She holds that position for about ten seconds before her hands start to shake and releases the string.
Umi gets into the same position and does the same motion as Ami did. After a couple of reps Umi switches sides and pulls with her left hand, eliciting a couple of 'ohhs'. She stops the exercise and turns to the group, "As you can see, the rear delt—" Umi sees their confused gaze, "I mean you use your all parts of your arms and upper back to pull the bow."
"Now if you would follow me." The blunette walks to the side with the group following behind her. They reach the area and there is a wooden pole seamlessly installed on the floor. Umi clips a rubber cable on both ends of the pole. "This can simulate the bow string and help you train." Umi pulls the cable back to demonstrate her point. Umi looks back at the group, "Any questions?"
No one raised their hand.
Umi nods and takes out her phone, "Right. Now there is someone here who is going to talk to you about nutrition...
.
And fin.
I don't know much about archer over at Japan so I'm just going to go for the physical aspect of it. Gotta work out to make sure your body is symmetrical.
Thanks for reading
Constructive criticisms are appreciated
Bravo Tango out.