Disclaimer: Tekken isn't mine, blah, blah, blah…
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Xiaoyu blew absent-mindedly down her straw into the milkshake, sending frothy pink droplets spraying across the table.
"Ah, Xiao! You're getting it all over my homework," Miharu protested, dabbing at her papers with a napkin.
Xiaoyu sighed, but stopped playing with her drink. "You should have done that before you came to school, if you didn't want it to get messy."
Giving up trying to clean it, Miharu folded her arms across her chest and hmphed quietly under her breath. "As if! I'm not about to go spending all my free time doing school work, that sucks!"
"No, it blows!" Xiaoyu giggled, forcing a sudden breath of air into the straw and splashing milkshake everywhere. Surprised, Miharu let out a shriek before breaking down into a fit of giggles.
"So childish," a voice filled with disdain snorted from the next table in the cafeteria. Looking across, Xiaoyu and Miharu's searching eyes met with those of Sakimi, the most popular girl in school, and also the cruellest, wickedest, most stuck up person either of them had ever encountered. She peered down the length of her slender nose, blinking at them with large doe-eyes and fluttering her long lashes. "I heard about your little escapade this morning," she sneered. "Fake eyelashes are so tacky. I have mine permed." Miharu gripped her friend's wrist tightly, to prevent her from launching herself at the older girl. She could feel the way Xiaoyu was trembling with rage. Turning to her friends, Sakimi drawled a final "let's go", before sauntering out of the lunchroom, a gaggle of companions close on her heels.
"I hate her," Xiaoyu complained, once the girl had left. "One of these days, I'm gonna kick her ass so hard she'll be able to taste my shoe!" she declared, slamming her fist down on the table, rattling their plates.
"Yeah," Miharu agreed. "She thinks she's so cool, just cos she's a cheerleader."
"Well I could be a cheerleader, no problem. It's just a lot of jumping up and down and shouting, any idiot could do that!" Xiao announced, making a face.
Miharu looking across at her friend, considering what she'd said. "You know, cheerleaders get a lot of boyfriends… And there are quite a few rich guys who do sports and stuff at this school."
Xiaoyu looked back at her, a smile slowly coming to her lips. "And we're both in good shape. There's no reason we couldn't make the squad. I wonder if there are any places free?"
"We have another twenty minutes before class. We could go find out," Miharu suggested, excitement boiling up inside her.
On the other side of the room, Jin watched silently as the two girls hurriedly made their way out, smiling and tittering happily about something. 'I wonder what they're up to…' he thought to himself.
Sakimi was sat with a couple of friends in the senior common room, talking about another girl's new hair cut, when they were interrupted by loud knocking on the door. Before she had a chance to answer, the door burst open and Xiaoyu and Miharu cam tumbling in.
"What are you two doing here?" Sakimi scowled, crossing her legs and smoothing down her skirt demurely.
"Oh, we uh…" Miharu mumbled incoherently.
"We want to be cheerleaders!" Xiaoyu proclaimed, clicking her heels together as though standing before a superior officer in the army.
Sakimi's eyes widened in astonishment. "You?! Cheerleaders?" she enquired, amused. Her companions didn't bother hiding their sniggers.
"That's right," Xiaoyu confirmed. She and Miharu stood confidently in front of the senior girl, a determined look in their eyes.
"I see…" Sakimi mused. Standing up, she circled them, as though inspecting the goods. "There aren't really any positions available at the moment, but I suppose we could still give you an audition," she explained.
A quiet gasp escaped from one of her companions, and Xiaoyu heard her whisper, "she can't be serious!"
Glancing over her shoulder at her two acquaintances with the same haughty look she gave the hopeful girls, Sakimi asked whether they'd be able to perform right away. Xiaoyu was becoming more suspicious of the girl's intentions by the minute, but she was confident of both her friend's and her own abilities, and she was sure they were good enough to make the team. Cheerleading was simple. "We're ready when you are," she told her.
A small flock of birds rose up into the sky, startled by the sudden ringing of the school bell. Seconds later, a stream of navy-clad adolescents flowed out of the building, chattering noisily to each other. Standing out from the group of school students, a large black and white mass of fur headed towards two figures making their way laboriously down the stairs at the front of the building. Looking up, Xiaoyu's unhappy expression quickly faded. "Panda!" she cried, flinging herself at her beloved pet and snuggling into its thick coat. A groan from behind made her remember her friend and she turned to see her grimacing in pain, holding herself up with the railing. "Oh Mi, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, hurriedly running to support her again. "You can ride on panda," she suggested, helping Miharu over to the panda.
"It's ok, it's not hurting as much now. I bet it'll be fine tomorrow," Miharu stated bravely, gingerly putting a little more weight on her ankle, before thinking better of it, and allowing her friend to assist her in clambering onto the creature's back. Panda turned her head to look at her, worry showing in her large black eyes. A soft whine indicated that the animal was indeed concerned for the young human. Miharu sank her fingers into the luscious fur to keep her balance. "I'm fine Panda," she smiled. "I just didn't realise triple back barami half-twists or whatever were so difficult…" she sighed.
"Could have been worse," Xiaoyu comforted. "I didn't even get a chance to try it, I was too busy choking on my gum." Panda nuzzled her owner gently, trying to lift the sombre atmosphere.
A soft breeze lightly ruffled the foliage of the trees as the companions strolled along the sun-drenched avenue, each deep in their own thoughts.
Back at the residential hall where they lived, Miharu sat at the kitchen table, flicking through a magazine as Xiaoyu poured them drinks. Panda lay sprawled out on the floor, like a gigantic cat, basking in the warmth of a sunbeam coming through the window. Occasionally, another resident would wander into the room, tripping over the creature and swearing angrily, but panda didn't really care. If they weren't going to watch where they were going it was their own fault. And what kind of person doesn't notice a panda lying in front of them?
Miharu let out a long, melancholy sigh and tossed the magazine away from her. "It was so terrible Xiao… The whole school will be laughing at us tomorrow."
Taking a seat next to her friend, Xiaoyu did that best to cheer her up, "It doesn't matter. So we made idiots of ourselves? We're still alive, and at least we had the guts to try, which is more than most people have!"
Miharu gave her a weak smile. "I guess you're right…"
"Of course I'm right. And just because we're not on the cheerleading squad, doesn't mean we can't get guys' attention. We're gonna get that money and then we'll get our theme park!" At this Miharu's smile grew. Xiaoyu was right. As long as they stuck together and kept fighting for what they wanted, they would succeed!