Hime Fantasy
Chapter 5: Victory!
A/N: Ehem, chapter title, I couldn't help it. XD
I start to feel shy, but swallow it quickly to turn on my charm. I give her one of my dazzling smiles and she simply giggles.
"I'm Chie Hallard," I quickly introduce myself. There's a strain in my eyes and I realize that I've been wearing my contacts for too long. I squint a little.
Her smile widens at my troublesome state, "I'm Aoi, nice to meet you Chie-san."
I rub my eyes, "Just Chie is fine."
"Are you okay there Chie?" she starts to approach me and I back away. FInally, I decide to remove my contacts and look for my glasses case in my pockets. I start losing my charm as I fumble to find the case; damn this stupid blitzball uniform has too many pockets! But she's giggling, so at least I must be doing something right.
In the next couple of seconds I manage to find the glasses and sigh with great relief, but, sadly they slip to my fingers and fall to the floor. Her giggling continues, and I no longer have any confidence. She bends over to pick up my specs and puts them on my face for me, causing my cheeks to flush.
"Oh," she says, her giggling stopping, "I like this look better on you Chie-chan."
I'm honoured that she's being so friendly. Before I can thank her though, a small child asks her to play with her. Silently apologizing she walks away with the child, and I simply give her my signature wink.
I decide that I'm a little sleepy and Haruka lets me take a nap in her hut. Relaxing, sleep manages to find me in no time...
"He's been gone for more than a day now!"
They're all looking for him, mom's crying.
"Where could he be?" she mumbles, tears running down her eyes. I try to comfort her, but this burning feeling on the inside is making me think more about my father's disappearance over her sadness.
"Don't you even care?" she asks me, shaking my body slightly. I don't respond and simply look away. "You know, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him if he never comes back."
I snap awake as I had another dream regarding my old man. Ever since he disappeared ten years ago, he's all my life has been revolving around, including my fantasy life. I stretch from my place and adjust my glasses; it was never ever a good idea to sleep with them on. Getting up, I step outside to see a huge bonfire burning up in the middle of the city. Once again Aoi is surrounded by the many villagers, and Haruka and Yukino are off in the corner talking to each other. From what I can see, Yukino does not approve and Haruka is trying hard to get her to approve.
I try my best to get close to her, something deep within me wants to talk to her. But everytime I step close to her, the people yell at me to go away. I guess my previous actions at the temple were not forgotten, and I assume my status as someone who got too close to Sin makes me someone sketchy. Instead, I walk towards Haruka who is now standing by herself.
"Oi kid, you interested in Aoi?"
"Naw, not my type," I wonder if she buys that, "that Yukino though-"
She gives me an icy cold death glare, and all my assumptions just turned into fact. I start to chuckle at this sign of jealousy, "Oh Haruka-kun, you're too funny."
Although probably not completely understanding what I mean, she still turns a faint pink, but shakes it off as nothing. "Anyway! Chie, you should formally meet the team."
I feel the ground start to rumble and I look to see the team jogging towards Haruka and I. They have a lot of spirit like their captain, I like it!
"Guys, Chie is going to join our team for my last game and bring us to vistory!" Haruka, along with the rest of the Besaid Aurochs cheer loudly. I cover my ears, hoping that they didn't damage my hearing. Haruka had a loud voice, and I'm pretty sure I'll be hearing it a lot for the next couple of days.
One at a time, they give me their names and I focus really hard to try to remember them for when the game comes along. I decided to give these guys a little push, maybe all they need is a star player to win the game?
"Okay guys, what is our goal?" they better answer correctly.
"TO DO OUR BEST!" Haruka joins along, but they are very, very wrong.
"This is probably why you've been losing all this time Haruka-kun," I say teasingly, enjoying the flustered look on the blonde's face. "So boys, our new goal is going to be: VICTORY!" I tried my best to imitate Haruka's enthusiasm, but sadly my vocal chords don'thave that sort of power. I pause to wait for their reaction, and a huge smile spreads across all of their faces, Haruka's looking a little evil.
"YES! VICTORY!" the captain repeats, doubly as loud as I was. "Maybe we can now even beat that blasted Bubuzuke woman's team..." She turns around and start ranting to herself, and I look upon my new teammates for an explanation.
"Rival," they all sigh at once.
Ah, I understand now. The blonde snaps herself out of her previous state of insanity and turns back to me, "Seriously Chie, I like this new goal of ours. Please kindly lead us to victory." The whole team nods along with their captain and I wink at them in response. Hopefully I can help make Haruka's wish come true and bring them to victory.
"Okay guys, let's do three island laps then rest for tomorrow's trip!" was she serious? Oh no, she's looking at me. "You too Chie-san! You must feel the burn in your legs before you can Blitz with us!"
Today was a rough day as it is, but I decided not to argue with the loud, busty blonde. Following after her in a jog, I begin to regret a little leaving the hut instead of just sleeping for the night.
We finish the jog in the span of 3 hours, an hour per jog. In actuality, the majority of the team passed out at the beginning of the second lap, and Haruka so nicely let them rest. Since I;m so used to endurance training, I show no signs of weakness until the third lap. However, Haruka just kept on going and going and I was so interested in seeing if she would complete the three without a sweat.
The bonfire is still blazing as strong as Haruka's voice as the two of us relax against its light. She's huffing and puffing but keeping a brilliant smiling face.
"I'm surprised you were able to keep up with me Chie."
I rolled my eyes and laughed lightly. I actually slowed down to stay at her pace.
"I think I can really trust you now to lead us to our first victory in 10 years."
She looks really determined and pumped about this whole ordeal, I think I'll slap myself if we end up losing. Before I get to talk to her more, Yukino comes out of no where to fetch Haruka.
"You should go to bed soon as well Chie," she says in a soft tone. It was really refreshing after Haruka's demands for the team to keep up. I nod at her request and Haruka nearly faints onto Yukino's smaller figure. If I could see correctly through these annoying glasses, I can see a red colour in Yukino's cheeks. Ah, love.
When the two disappear from sight, I wipe the sweat and dust from my glasses. I really don't like wearing these, but Aoi seems to like them.
"Hey you."
Speaking of Aoi...
"Hey Lady Summoner," I greet in the most polite voice I can produce, "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
She stretches from her spot, and the soft glow of the moonlight and the intense light of the fire highlight her body in a way that I just can't help but admire. She was so naturally beautiful, I wonder how many times I've told myself that?
"I can't sleep," she replies, sitting across from me, "Not when tomorrow brings me so much excitement."
"Haha, I know what you mean," I laugh a little, thinking back, "Whenever I had a big game the next day, it would take me hours to fall asleep! Being the star player of the Zanarkand Abes brings a lot of pressure you know." Oh shit, I slipped it again.
She giggles and her face lights up even more, if that's even possible. "So it's true what they say? You come from Zanarkand?"
The blue eyed beauty seems genuinely interested, and I can't help but smile at her innocense and excitement. "Do you believe me?" I wonder, she's the only one who's reacted this positively to my experience.
"Yes."
A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews! I'm glad you're interested :)