MC: idk the title and summary are subject to change bc I was really indecisive about them and I'm terrible at coming up with them, and I might think of something better later
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"It's been like a month already and you still don't have a roommate?" Yō asks as she makes her character duck behind a wall before chucking a grenade.
"Hmph it's probably for the best, only the most worthy of little demons can handle the great and powerful Yohane." Yoshiko states with a furrowed brow as she quickly aims her sniper rifle and takes down an enemy that was heading in Yō's direction.
Kanan rolls her eyes behind her magazine but a small smile was still planted on her lips, "I bet you just haven't told housing that your roommate hasn't shown up."
"Details, details, besides you two are here like all the time so that's if anything I have two roommates." Yoshiko glances at the bowl of m&m's before bringing her attention back to the game.
Kanan reaches over to the bowl and picks up a handful of the chocolates and pops one in her mouth. Nudging Yoshiko with her foot she says, "Open up" and the younger girl complies. Kanan dumps most of the candy into her awaiting mouth and keeps the rest for herself.
Yoshiko hums happily as the sweets melt in her mouth, before she swallows she turns her head slightly so she could still see the tv and gives Kanan a chocolaty smile.
"Gross, why do you always do that?" The blue haired girl complains as she pushes the freshman with her foot. Caught off guard by the sudden shove Yoshiko miss clicks and brings out her knife instead shooting the enemy in front of her.
"No, my kill streak" Yoshiko whines as she hands the controller over to Kanan as the death timer starts counting down.
"Don't worry Yoshiko we both know that you'll get the controller back in thirty seconds tops."
Kanan glares at the brunette who was smiling cheekily at the screen.
"Shut-up I'm not that bad"
Yō chuckles as launches a SUAV.
"You say that and yet nine out of ten times you end up dying because you blow yourself up with a grenade."
"That's not my fault; you guys have the sensitivity set too low it throws my aim off." Kanan mumbles while switching her load out.
"Crap they're bringing in tanks, we need an engineer" Yō curses as she barley makes it into a building as an artillery shell flies past her.
Nodding in understanding Kanan switches her class and picks up a RPG and some M2 SLAMS.
"Oh yeah I've been meaning to ask you Yoshiko-"
Said girl groans and throws a pillow at the back of Yō's head, "How many times do I have to tell you mortals that it's Yohane!"
"Right, right, sorry Yohane-sama" Yō amends with a smirk, "Anyways like I was saying, I've been meaning to ask, have you talked to that girl in your art class yet?"
Yoshiko flushes a little, "What, why would I?"
"Well you like her don't you?"
"Who told you?" Yoshiko shrikes before she clears her throat and tries to play it cool, "I mean, I don't like her, not to say I hate her or anything, I just… admire her talent is all. Although I will admit that I've thought about trying to recruit her to my band of little demons to ya know expand our numbers."
"When did we agree to be your little demons?" Kanan asks as she tosses some SLAMS onto the side of a truck.
"Well it's only natural since we've been hanging out so much that a proximity based contract was to form between us."
"Right" Kanan says dryly but unwilling to burst the poor girls bubble. A deep frown tugs on her lips as her grenade misses the open window and bounces back to where her character was effectively killing them. Turning her head toward a now snickering Yō Kanan points a warning finger at her.
"Not a word"
Yō quickly throws her hand up in surrender but she continues to laugh quietly.
Kanan tosses the controller to Yoshiko who catches it easily and quickly switches back to her normal recon class.
"But Yō is right, you should ask her to hang out then maybe you'll stop talking about her so much and secretly drawing her in your sketch book because it's edging on the side of weird now."
"It was only once or twice" Yoshiko argues.
Pursing her lips Kanan reaches under the bed she was sitting on and retrieves and tall book that was all black with a named spelled out in edgy font with white-out. Flipping through the pages Kanan starts a mental count off until she reaches the last page.
"Okay out of the one month since you've started class you've drawn this girl eighteen times, not counting the doodles you no doubt have in your notebooks." Kanan says with a deadpan look.
Yoshiko's cheeks fill with heat but she tries to ignore it as she kamikazes off a roof to take out a hidden sniper below her with a knife. Flippantly passing the controller over Yoshiko snatches her sketch book away and heads to her mini-fridge and pulls out a Code Red.
"Pass me a water please." Yō throws over her shoulder, bobbing her head to a silent tune Yoshiko reaches back into the fridge and takes out a Fiji water and upon some consideration she takes out a Propel too.
"Yō you're almost out of your water… Actually when are you two going to stop leaving things in my fridge and get your own?" Yoshiko asks mildly annoyed as she hands Yō and Kanan the Fiji water and Propel respectively.
"Aw come on Yohane-sama weren't you just saying we were basically roomies? So what's your is ours right?" Yō chirps as the victory screen appears and she cracks open her bottle.
"And don't change the subject." Kanan says candidly looking at Yoshiko with distaste as she chugs her red drink. "How can you drink that stuff?"
"It's game night, Mountain Dew is a must." Yoshiko shrugs
"Ok but everything besides the original flavor is gross."
"Of course a lowly pleb like you couldn't understand the wonders of Code Red. Not only is it tasty but the coloring reminds me of the hottest flames in the deepest depths of hell."
"Hmm, I kinda like Livewire; it has a nice citrus kick to it. And wouldn't Voltage technically look more like the hottest flames because blue flames are hotter than red ones." Yō says thoughtfully.
"Semantics" Yoshiko waves dismissively.
Kanan shakes her head in equal parts exasperation and to shake off their current conversation.
"We're getting off topic again. Let's get back to talking about your fixation on this girl."
Yō gets up and stretches sighing in satisfaction at the slight popping of bones in her back, "Yeah what was her name again? Something flowery right?" Yō wanders over to the abandoned black and purple book bag in the corner, smiling at the winged bag Yō opens it up and starts her search.
"Yeah I think so. But the point is Yoshiko-"
"Yohane!" she protests before going to take another sip of her soda.
"You need some game"
Yoshiko chokes on her soda effectively spilling it on herself, "W-what?" Yoshiko rasps out still trying to get some air back in her lungs.
"Did I use that word right Yō?"
"Aye-Aye"
Nodding to herself Kanan continues on, "Now the first step is to actually talk to her, even if you have to tap into some of that Yohane confidence. Actually that might work, you art kids are kinda weird."
"Hey!" Yoshiko says indignantly finally gaining some composure back.
Kanan ruffles her hair, "On you its cute so don't sweat it."
Yoshiko continues to pout, "Don't call me cute, I am the fallen angel Yohane, I'm the thing in the shadows that makes mortals like you quake in your boots, you should fear me! Besides who are you to give me advice?"
Kanan clucks her tongue and throws her arm lazily over the red faced Yoshiko's shoulder, "Aw there's no need to be embarrassed. People like cute."
Yoshiko just pouts harder which honestly just makes her look like a sad kitten, "I'm too evil to be cute," she grumbles, "a beautiful seductress maybe, but definitely not cute."
"Whatever you say. Anyways you have the two best wingmen right here. Yō over there is a natural with the ladies. I'm actually not sure how she does it but girls love her. Back in high school she even had a fan club; they showed up to all her meets, both the home and away ones. It was… interesting." Kanan teases
Yō scoffs, "You mean embarrassing. I'm glad they came to show their support but they made banners and painted their faces and even made t-shirts! At least Kanan only attracted one or two girls at a time. That whole chill vibe really works, plus it doesn't hurt that she's got that whole gun show going on and basically lives in tank tops."
"But the point is that you should trust us, we won't steer you wrong."
"Aha! I found it! Her name is… Lily? Is she a foreigner?" Yō wonders aloud, "But anyways, Yohane-sama I would have never thought you were a secret bottom~" she taunts.
Two sets of eyes lock onto the brunette, one curious the other contemplating committing seppuku.
Yō turns the notebook around and reveals a doodle of the mysterious classmate donning a blue shirt, black vest and a tie with a sultry wink on her face accompanied by the some words.
"With Lily's kiss, I'll turn you into my eternal servant~ Hmm I thought the great Yohane was supposed to be the one getting servants, not becoming one."
Yoshiko storms over to Yō and snatches her notebook away too embarrassed to say anything, Yō holds her stomach as she starts to laugh, and Kanan places a hand on her forehead as she sighs.
"I guess that makes nineteen."
Game night quickly fell apart after that fiasco.
Kanan had to drag a still laughing Yō out of the room in fear that Yoshiko's face might actually explode. As they left Kanan had stopped in the doorway and gave Yoshiko a comforting smile.
"Just talk to her it'll all work out."
"Yeah then maybe you can ask her to model for you." Yō adds with wiggling eyebrows.
Rolling her eyes Kanan plucks Yō on the forehead and waves to a still mortified Yoshiko before closing the door.
Outside Yō rubbed her forehead with a frown.
"That hurt Kanan; it might even leave a mark."
"Don't worry you'll live, plus you deserved it."
Yō stuffs her hands into her jacket and looks up at the sky.
"It's all good. You see the secret is that if you tease Yoshiko she gets all indignant and tries to prove you wrong."
Kanan hums and turns her gaze up to the stars as well.
"You can sort of make out Leo from here" Kanan observes
"I've been really interested in that constellation lately, I'm not sure why though. But you see the really bright star right below the head?"
"Yeah"
"That's Regulus, the Heart of the Lion; they say that it's the star that guards the heavens. It's also one of the brightest stars in the sky and you can see it almost all year long even when the rest of the constellation isn't visible."
Kanan looks over at Yō whose face was awash with wonder.
"You've really done your research huh?"
A light blush dusts the brunettes cheeks, "Yeah, I think it's really cool that its heart can shine so bright no matter what. I think it shows how strong Leo is."
A peaceful silence envelops the duo as they walk and stargaze. The late night May chill creeps up Kanan's arms causing goosebumps to cover her arms. She idly wonders if she should have opted for a heavier sweater or maybe a shirt that had actual sleeves. But she doesn't hate the cold that runs up her spine, if anything it invigorates her and makes her want to run around the campus a couple of times. Bouncing on the balls of her feet a childlike smile lights up Kanan's face and she bumps her shoulder into a still dazed Yō's.
"Race you to the Downer."
Not giving the other girl a chance to respond Kanan takes off down the path laughing at the indignant protests behind her. Kanan's surprise lead is disappears as Yō quickly catches up and pulls ahead. Not stressing herself about falling behind Kanan just keeps her pace. They approach a left turn and Kanan has the advantage of being on the inside of the path so she catches up to Yō who is now breathing a little heavier.
They keep running with the Downer now in sight and less than a hundred yards to go. Now keeping pace with Yō Kanan decides to kick it up a notch allowing herself to pull ahead. Focusing on the goal Kanan pumped her arms a little faster pulling even further ahead. With one last burst of speed Kanan reaches the door of the Downer which opens automatically. Slowing down to a light jog she spins around and smiles at pouting Yō who was trying to catch her breath.
"I just, I don't get it," Yō huffs, "How is your stamina still better than mine?"
Kanan jogs over and pats the sweaty girl on the cheek, "Aw don't feel too bad, it was really close that time."
"I swear, one day, I'm going to beat you in a race, just you wait."
"Alright if you say so, now c'mon let's get our late night."
The duo maneuver their way through the second set of double doors and are welcomed by the scent of different foods and the sight of students milling about.
"Who do you think decided that the Downer sounded better than the Sundowner?" Yō asks
"It's how you weed out the freshman actually; they're the only one's that'll call this place the Sundowner and they usually don't come here because they're still unaware how their meal plan works."
"Then I'm glad I had you during my first year, could you imagine if I had to survive on Clinton's food only." Yō shudders as she picks up a sandwich from the fridge.
"The freshman fifteen would have got you and you might have been benched." Looking at her options Kanan remains undecided, but honestly she wasn't really hungry anyway.
"I'm gonna use my swipe to buy snacks you want something?"
"Pudding please."
Kanan reaches into the snack fridge and takes out a chocolate and two vanilla puddings and a cherry jello cup.
"Why three?"
"One for my roommate and one for yours, maybe it'll make her smile because at this rate she's going to get premature frown lines."
"I saw her smile once, but she was asleep, so I don't know if that counts."
Kanan smiles and clucks her tongue as she heads to the register. Pulling out her ID card she hands it to the cashier.
"Maybe it's you. The Yousoro charm can't work on everyone."
"But I haven't even done anything."
Kanan just shrugs and stands off to the side as Yō gets her items rung up. Purchases in hand they make their way to the exit. Kanan hands off the pudding and Yō throws her a salute as she starts walking towards her dorm in the opposite direction of Kanan's own.
"Don't forget we're meeting up early to warm up before our meet so be at the pool by two."
"Aye-Aye"
They both walk off with smiles and even the extra chill that hit Kanan from her slightly damp shirt couldn't bring down the mood. After a brisk walk Kanan makes it to her dorm, she opts to take the stairs to the third floor. Exiting the stairwell she's greeted by the blue door of 3C, punching her code in quickly she open the door to her always warmer than usual room.
"What's up Dia?" Kanan greets her roommate without even turning to look at her.
"Kanan. You're back earlier than usual."
Placing her bag onto her desk Kanan shrugs her sweater off and tosses it on her bed.
"Yeah, things got a little out of hand so we finished early."
"Hmm, I see. Did you blow yourself up again?" the smirk was clearly evident in Dia's words.
Pursing her lips Kanan pulls off her tank top.
"Kanan-"
"I wish you guys would stop teasing me, it's not my fault." The blue haired girl protests while kicking off her shoes.
"What are you- wait!"
The next few seconds happen almost in slow motion. After Dia's outburst Kanan began to turn on her heel, confusion written on her face and hand prepared to take off her pants. But when she turned around, a curious huh right on the tip of her tongue, instead her roommate her vision is overtaken by blonde. There was a sudden pressure on her breasts and Kanan was frozen with shock before a squeeze to her chest kicked her into action. Her self defense lessons with Yō suddenly kicked in as she grabbed the wrist of the offending hand that was groping her twisted their arm around their back and pushed them up against her bed.
With the offender subdued Kanan whips her head around to her Dia who was pinching the bridge of her nose with a tired expression on her face.
"What the hell?"
"I apologize Kanan. I am saddened to say that heathen is my partner for my Marketing Class."
Kanan turns back to the unnamed blonde who was smiling over her shoulder. Kanan felt her eyebrow twitch, unnerved by the calm smile that was being thrown her direction.
"Ciao bella! Dia you never told me how dazzling your roommate was."
Kanan let's go of the girl and takes a step back.
"Mari…" Dia's tone drops as she looks at the blonde with narrowed eyes.
"You also didn't tell me how soft and warm she was." The strange girl reaches out to Kanan again wrapping her arms around her waist and snuggles into the swimmers chest humming contently.
"Yeah, these definitely make me feel secure. I think that she might just have you beat Dia."
Kanan goes red as her face scrunches up in protest. Just as Kanan was going to shove the girl off she feels the arms around her waist release their hold.
"Alright, that's enough we're leaving now."
"Aw Dia, no fun."
Dia just glares at the pouting girl before turning to Kanan and bowing in her direction.
"I'm sorry about this one; she's still a work in progress. I'll be in the library if you need me."
Pulling Mari along by the collar of her jean jacket Dia marches them to the door.
"Bye-Bye Bella!" Mari waves serenely at the still wound up and confused Kanan. Once the door clicks shut Kanan takes a deep breath trying to ground herself and figure out what actually just happened.
Deciding to just shake off the past couple of minutes Kanan continues to remove her clothes so she could take the relaxing shower she had been looking forward to since she walked in before she had been assaulted by some strange girl with a weird accent.
When given the choice between Public Speaking and an Intermediate Art class for her Arts and Humanities credit picking the art class was a no brainer. It's not like Yoshiko had a problem talking to others or preparing a speech, the problem was that if she got too nervous, or worse got too into the speech there was a hundred percent chance that Yohane would come out.
And honestly, why even take a chance like that with her grade.
So she patted herself on the back for taking that AP art course her teacher recommended in high school that allowed her to bypass what would have been a hellish experience too intense for even her to handle.
But every happy thought she had immediately halted the moment she walked into class on the first day, barely on time, and the only open seat was next to what was undoubtedly an angel with red hair that had come down to earth to strike her down for every sinful action she had ever committed.
In that moment she considered turning around and running back to her dorm before anyone could see her. She would have done it too if the teacher hadn't walked in behind her and called the class to attention which causes her eyes to fall on Yoshiko because she was still standing in front of the classroom like a deer in the headlights. Turning her gaze to the floor and tightening her grip on her backpack strap Yoshiko quickly made her way to her seat.
And if that wasn't bad enough the teacher had told them to warm up and "get to know your neighbor" they were going to draw the person next to them.
So really if there was anyone to blame for her current drawing obsession it was him. Or maybe she was being affected by curse, or potion of sorts.
But the details weren't important! What was important was that she would break this month long cycle where she would sit next to this angel who smelled like flowers and would always doodle in her notebook during lectures with a small smile on her face and just look longingly at her.
Because today…
Today she would talk to her!
…Maybe
Just as Yoshiko's confidence started to waver she felt her phone vibrate twice in her pocket. Her lock screen informs her that she had a text from Kanan and a snapchat from Yō.
Just breathe dude. Remember Yohane is just recruiting a new follower. Is what the text says accompanied by a thumps up emoji.
Over on snapchat a video of Yō loads up of the older girl smiling brightly into the camera, just remember if you back out now that a certain picture may just find its way into a certain redheads phone, Yō salutes and winks, I'm rooting for you Yohane-sama.
Yoshiko's joy from Kanan's text evaporates by the end of the video, she briefly considers casting a hex during the brunettes meet later today but she didn't want it to accidentally affect everyone else on the team.
Hmph I'll just wait till it's over then. No one blackmails the all mighty Yohane and get away with it unscathed.
She settles into her seat scowl still in place and robotically unpacking her supplies.
I'll show her. Yohane is no coward. I just fooled myself into thinking this girl was an angel, if anything she must be a devil if she was able to put me in such a state.
"Umm, excuse me…"
Yoshiko turns toward the cautious voice unknowingly glowering at them.
"Ah!"
The startled noise finally brought the dark haired girl out of her thoughts and recognition sparked in her eyes.
"S-Sorry to bother you, but you uh dropped this."
Looking down at the girls hands Yoshiko sees her pencil case in the outstretched hands. Looking back up into the girls amber eyes she watches as the girl brushes a strand of red hair behind her ear.
Silence continued to stretch between them and Yoshiko noticed the way the girl started to shift in discomfort. She knew her face was probably still contorted into a glare and she was probably scaring the other girl but she was too busy screaming internally to do anything about her face.
Finally receiving use of her motor function again Yoshiko grabs her pencil case and cast her gaze off to the side.
"Thanks."
Ahhh what am I doing! Why am I being rude, why can't I just talk to her normally? She's going to think I'm a weirdo and she's never going to talk to me ever again and I'm gonna die alone!
Yoshiko started to freak out and her palms started to sweat. She felt her face begin to twitch as she tried to keep whatever composure she still had.
"Are you, okay?"
Yoshiko turns her head to the left and her eyes widen. She's still talking to me?
Yoshiko nods stiffly and even musters up the ability to crack a small smile which probably looked more like a grimace.
"Yohane."
"Eh!" Yoshiko jolts in surprise causing her desk to shake.
"That's your name right? I remembered from the first day of class when we had to sketch each other. You said your name was Yohane."
"It is…"
"Well, I don't know if you remembered but my name is Riko. I uh, I've actually wanted to talk to you more since then but you always disappear so quickly after class and you usually arrive at the last minute so I've never gotten the chance."
Riko brushes her hair behind her ear again.
"If I'm being honest I was also a little nervous to talk to you. But I wanted to ask you if you'd want to be my partner."
"Partner?" Yoshiko's voice cracks and a light blush tints her cheeks.
Riko just nods and looks at her with imploring eyes.
Feeling her nerves get the best of her Yoshiko lets out a low laugh and her hand come up to rest on her forehead.
"Hmph, I'd be lying if I said I was surprised. Many other little demons much stronger than you also fell for Yohane's charm. Although you are the first to make such a request without a proper offering for me,"
"Huh?"
"But I do appreciate your boldness so I shall answer your request." Leaning toward a thoroughly confused but also flustered Riko, Yoshiko gently rests her hand on the older girls chin and brushes her thumb over a rose colored cheek.
"Yohane will grant you the title of little demon in training." Yoshiko emphasizes this statement with a wink.
The charged air between them is broken by the excited booming voice of their teacher.
"Good morning my budding butterflies how are we this fine morning?"
Yoshiko's heart begins to pound in her chest as the reality of the situation begins to dawn on her.
Oh crap, what the hell am I doing?
Yoshiko removes her hand and sits ramrod straight in her chair keeping her eyes on the brightly smiling teacher.
"Now I know all my wonderful students have been paying attention to their syllabus, so you all should not be surprised when I say today is your first pair's project. So I won't bore you with any lecturing today, but I will reveal the theme of your project. Drum roll please."
One lone student in the first row started banging on their desk hyping their teacher up.
"And your theme is… Love!"
The class broke out in murmurs some excited some groaning in defeat.
"Now, now my little cherubs don't fret. Is it a bit cheesy, yes it is, but since we are in the last two weeks of spring, also known as the season of love, what a better way to close it out than to put your own expression of love into art? So go, partner up and get those ideas flowing."
The classroom bursts into activity with chairs scraping and people happily chatting with friends and asking to partner up.
Yoshiko stays in her seat and slowly slumps down resting her head in her hands.
Partners… for the project… that I didn't know about because I lost my syllabus. At god, please just end me now, this fallen angel begs forgiveness and admittance back into heaven.
Unfortunately her prayers go unanswered and Yoshiko is left so slowly die of embarrassment. A tap to her shoulder brings her out of her wallowing. Tilting her head slightly Yoshiko peers up and is slightly blinded by the bright fluorescent light of the classroom which casts a halo above the mysterious figure.
"Ah, could it be that an angel has come to answer my prayers and take me away from this scary realm filled with mortals and deadly embarrassment."
Once her vision adjusts she realizes that it was none other than Riko standing over her.
"Ah no it's just me. I think there was a misunderstanding earlier? But uh I never got an answer to my question before."
"Eh, you really want to partner up with me?" Yoshiko sits up and Riko leans away and clasps her hands behind her back.
"Yeah, I really like your style. If we worked together I think it would turn out really good."
Yoshiko just blinks owlishly before snapping herself out of it.
"W-Well I guess I can't refuse such a request, especially from a cute little demon such as yourself. So Yohane will accept."
"Great!" Riko's smile lights up her whole face and Yoshiko feels her heart take a stutter step in her chest. As the red head turns around to get her desk and bring it closer Yoshiko covers her face with both of her hands and lets out an internal scream.
At God, I don't know if you are blessing me or cursing me right now, but either way I don't know if my heart will hold up long enough to find out.
Y: HeLP
Y: SavE mEEEE
Y: I caN't
Y: KANAN, Y Ō
Y: AHHHHH
Yō squints at the distressed messages from Yoshiko wondering what crisis she was having this time. She thinks about typing something but she sees that Yoshiko was recording audio so she decides to wait. She pockets her phone as she crosses the street. She arrives at the gym by ten after two and quickly makes her way to the locker room to change. Before she places her phone in her locker she checks WhatsApp again and sees that Kanan had already responded to the frantic Yoshiko.
K: ok, first of all OW
K: try not to scream into the mic, some of us wear headphones when we listen to these.
K: and second of all stop yelling, and just swing by the pool when you get the chance
Satisfied that Kanan had that under control Yō locks her phone and puts it into her gym bag. Closing the locker door she clicks her lock into place and heads up the steps. When she reaches the pool she sees some of her fellow teammates already in the pool doing laps or off to the sides doing dryland exercises. Looking up and off to the wings she sees some of the other divers practicing their flips on the trampoline. Feeling a rush of excitement pass through her Yō bounces on the balls of her feet and heads to the edge of the pool. Spotting Kanan was easy since she always practiced in furthest lane on the left.
She watches as the older girl bob her head in and out of the water and rotates her arms in a circular motion. Reaching the end of the of the lane Kanan quickly tucks her body and pushes off the wall with her legs. After a few dolphin kicks Kanan brings her arms back into motion and continues her stroke.
Yō smiles broadly as Kanan approaches. With one more push Kanan reaches her arm out and touches the side of the pool and comes up for air. Chest heaving Kanan pulls off her goggles and flashes her pearly whites. Yō raises her fist up and Kanan bumps it.
"So how was that?" Kanan asks looking behind Yō
"One point two seconds better than your personal best!" a bubbly brunette chirps. "You're really amazing Kanan! I can't believe you've only been swimming competitively since you started college and your butterfly stroke way better than mine."
"Well swimming has always been a hobby of mine, plus I spent a lot of time in the pool helping Yō out when we were younger. And really the butterfly stroke is all about stamina. If you want I could help you out with your work-out regimen."
"Really, that'd be awesome!"
"And don't stress it too much Iruka, you're just a freshman you have a lot of time to improve."
"And even Kanan still has things she has to work on. Like her push off for example," Yō butts in, "You should turn just a little later because you're not letting your feet firmly plant on the wall so you're not getting as much speed as you could on your push off."
Kanan nods in understanding as she pulls herself up and out of the water.
"Iruka, why do you go finish your warm-ups and I'll time your laps next?"
"Sure!" The freshman heads off to the warm-up area and Yō and Kanan smile at her as she goes.
"It's cute how much she admires you."
"She's a good kid, I definitely think is she works hard she could get into the starting lineup by next semester."
"Speaking of kids, what was our kid freaking out about earlier?"
Kanan rolled her eyes as she draped a towel over her shoulders. "Something about art class and how she was cursed. I'm not too sure there was a lot of screaming and groaning like she was in pain, so it probably has something to do with that girl she likes."
"Maybe she finally asked her out?" Yō brought her arms over her head and stretched.
"I don't know, that didn't sound like happy screaming."
"Hmm, well she won't be done with classes for like another hour so I'm gonna go warm up."
"Don't forget to work on making sure your hands are flatter to the water's surface so your rip entry is smoother, and tighten your pike save up, last time you were a little too loose."
"Ma'am yes Ma'am." Yō salutes before making her way off to the wings.
An hour and a half and an intense warm-up later Yō was climbing the ladder to the ten meter springboard for her sixth time in a row. All the swimmers had cleared out of the pool so the divers could practice for a while, so they were off on the bleachers cheering their teammates on.
Taking a deep breath Yō takes three slow strides forward until she was at the lip of the springboard. She turns on her heel so she was now facing away from the water. Relaxing her body she holds her arms at her sides and begins to ride the board. Feeling the momentum build up Yō starts to bring her arms up so their parallel to her shoulders. With two more bounces she brings her arms up above her head before rotating them counter clock wise and jumping off the board.
As soon as she feels her body begin to descend she tucks herself into a pike position which causes her body to spin once… twice… three times in quick succession. Halfway through her fourth spin she straightens her body out, leaving a slight arc in her back. Bringing her hands above her head she quickly tries to flatten them as she enters the water with a controlled splash.
Resurfacing Yō takes in a gulp of air and pushes her hair out of her face. Making her way to the edge of the pool she's greeted by Kanan with a spare towel in her hand.
"Color me impressed. Now you just have to dive just like that tonight and we've got this meet in the bag."
Yō just smiles and grabs the towel and tosses it over her head. The duo makes their way over to the bleachers. Kanan nudges the distracted Yō in the side and motions to the top of the stands. Situated in the corner with hunched over a phone with a pained expression on their face was Yoshiko. After spotting the younger girl Yō brightens up even more and quickly makes her way over to her.
"Ohayousoro Yohane-sama!"
Yoshiko makes a surprised noise and her phone fumbles in her hands and ends up face down on the metal step. She looks up with wide eyes until she sees who had intruded on her personal space. Her eyes narrow and she points a finger right in between Yō's eyes. The swimmer goes cross eyed while looking at the accusing finger with wonder.
"You!"
"Hmm?"
"I'm this close to summoning a demon to place a curse on you"
Kanan approaches with a sigh, "What did you do now Yō?"
"Eh? I just said hello, and now I'm being attacked."
Yoshiko scrambles to pick up her phone and quickly inspects it for any cracks. Satisfied with her inspection she unlocks it and switches over to snapchat. She quickly loads up the video and hands it over to Kanan. The swimmer watches with mild amusement and has to actually smother a laugh down. Looking at Yoshiko's pouting face Kanan plucked Yō on the forehead to appease the freshman.
"Hey! I was just trying to give her some motivation."
"Yeah well think before you do sometimes."
Yō sticks her tongue out and settles down next to Yoshiko. Kanan remains standing and crosses her arms across her chest.
"So try to explain your messages again, slowly, and try not to blow out my eardrums this time."
Yoshiko looks pensive for a moment and toys with her phone going back to the text message she was previously staring at. Yō peeks over her shoulder and notices the contact name and she smiles encouragingly.
"Wow you got her number, way to go Yoshiko."
That snaps the younger girl out of her thoughts, "It's Yohane! And this is a disaster."
"How so?" Kanan questions
"She asked me if we could be partners! And then I told her she could be my little demon in training but really she was talking about partners for the art project I didn't know about because I lost my syllabus, and even after that embarrassing moment she still wanted to partner up and then I said yes and I called her cute and now I'm dying."
Kanan and Yō share a look as Yoshiko contemplates throwing herself in the pool and never coming up for air.
"That sounds like the opposite of a problem." Kanan says, "Didn't you want a chance to get closer to her? Well this is it."
"Ugh, but I can't even talk to her normally."
"Well you already went all Yohane on her right? If she didn't run after that then I think your chances seem really good."
Yoshiko looks at Kanan dubiously and the swimmer tries to give her a reassuring look.
"Hmm, well you are one of my most trusted followers; I guess I have no choice but to believe you."
Kanan rolls her eyes but can't help but smile. Yoshiko will always be Yoshiko.
"But my most current dilemma is that she asked me when I want to meet up to talk about the project."
"Why not invite her to the meet?" Yō suggests.
"Really?"
"Yeah, it'll be like an ice breaker. You can watch us kick butt tonight and then we can all get food afterward."
"I'll even invite Dia, it'll be fun." Kanan adds.
"Yeah," Yoshiko mumbles, "Yeah, that'll work." Yoshiko goes turns her attentions to her phone and begins typing animatedly.
"Well good luck with that, we've gotta get back to practice." Kanan says and Yō gets up from her seat, "Are you staying until we finish?"
"Nope I've got psych homework I have to do that may or may not be due tonight and an essay for English that I haven't even started yet and that's due Friday. So I'll meet you guys before the meet."
Yoshiko stands up without looking up from her phone and starts to walk down the steps. Of course she stumbled and almost fell flat on her face but somehow caught herself by throwing her arm out and striking a pose. She turned her head toward Kanan and Yō with a sort of crazed smile.
"Try not to miss your mistress too much my little demons." And with that she basically ran down the rest of the steps and disappeared out the double doors.
Kanan placed her head in her hand and sighed.
"Is she really going to be all right?"
Yō crosses her arms behind her head and hums in contemplation.
"It's hard to say for sure."
They both look at each other and then start to laugh.
"C'mon, I wanna get at least another 10 laps in." Kanan starts to make her way down the steps
"Aye-Aye!"
.
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MC: some notes:
-tbh this was in my "Not gonna continue folder" but I'm not gonna let almost 7k words just waste away so congrats you guys get a fic (plus this is my 50th story on ffnet!)
-I've settled on a happy medium where I use japanese suffix's ironically or for emphasis
-I kinda stole the names for the dinning halls from a school I had went to, if you know the school you get bonus points
-Listen I love random engrish Mari, but now consider this, radom engrish and italian Mari
-so I guess I made the pool area for this school the literal dream spot for swimmers and divers
-also I'm 98% sure that swim teams and dive teams are different but my story my rules :p
-even more bonus points if you know who Iruka is
-I like to live in a world where I can look at a snap someone sent to me more than twice (not that people send me anything :/)
- Lantis give me more KananYō Broship in which Yō is kind of a little shit and Kanan is the responsible older sister (bonus points if both Chika and Yō were both little shits when they were younger and Kanan had to make sure they didn't hurt themselves too much but ends up going along with their shenanigans anyway)
-More big sister Kanan in gnereal actually
-and this is unbetead obvs, bc I'm trash and can't afford one
