Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.
Episode 11 rewrite:
Shindou was currently sitting, meditating with his eyes closed at a temple he frequently goes to. A smile was on his face, evident he was glad about something.
"You sure seem happy," Satou said, sitting next to him.
"Hmph, I wasn't expecting to enter this tournament," Shindou said in a content voice. "But it seems Tobisawa wants me to."
"That girl is always eager to fight you," Satou said. "She's lost to you twice, yet she's still determined to beat you."
"And that's what I like about her," Shindou admitted. "It's because she's so persistent that I can look forward to what she brings the next time."
"Maybe Masaya will be in the tournament," Satou said with a grin. "Though you're not in his league right now."
"True," Shindou said, before giving a smirk. "However, since he just started to play again, I reckon he'll sit this one out. But just in case, Satou-kun, I've got quite some training to do."
"Satouin!" she said in annoyance: Shindou never tired of teasing this girl with this.
Meanwhile with Masaya and the gang, they were sitting down and taking a break. Mashiro then recklessly turned off the balancers on her shoes.
"WAAAAA, what is this!?" Mashiro asked as she spinned rapidly.
"Quick, turn the switch you just pulled back up!" Masaya yelled.
She then did as told and pulled it forward, shutting down the absurd instability she just experienced.
"Mashiro-chan, how did you do that!?" Asuka asked, awestruck.
"She turned off the balancers keeping her Grav-Shoes balanced," Masaya said as the others faced him.
"Balancers?" Misaki asked with interest.
"It's where you release the limitations keeping your shoes at a balanced speed," Masaya said. "Unfortunately, it's too unstable. The worst case scenario, you could be trapped under the water with no way to get up or crash into the ground."
"But what if you mastered it?" Misaki asked.
"Do so, and you will be able to use Grav-Shoes to levels of speed not seen before with them," Masaya answered her. "Kagami-sensei tried to do it when she was younger, but couldn't. She sealed off the move as a result, and it remained forgotten."
"Let me try it!" Asuka said in excitement after hearing him explain it all.
"Wait-" Masaya was too late, as the energetic girl already unlocked it.
Asuka was having better balance than Mashiro for sure, but she had to stay in place, otherwise she would twitch and fly out of control.
"Alright, turn it back on!" Masaya ordered.
"Y-yes!" Asuka obeyed, quickly turning it on to limit her shoes and then gently landed on the ground.
"Not so easy is it," Madoka said while Asuka rubbed her head with a hand and laughed nervously.
Masaya and Misaki sweat dropped and sighed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere with Irina and Saki, it grew dark, and Saki just finished effortlessly defeating some tough players for practice.
"Good job, Saki," Irina said, walking over to her: Saki hadn't said a word in reply, and after going outside, continued. "The night is such perfect silence."
"Mmm," Saki agreed.
"It reminds me of when we first saw Aoi," Irina said, thinking back.
Flashback to when they were kids:
The two young girls walked on the beach, planning to simply have fun in the water.
"I want to build a sand castle first!" a more lively Saki said.
"Again? Really you...Saki, what's wrong?" Irina asked, then looked up where she was looking and spotted unbeknownst to them, Aoi. "What's that girl doing?"
They watched as Aoi flew gracefully about, which captivated them.
"Awesome!" Saki cheered, fascinated with glazed eyes.
"Beautiful!" Irina said with glazed eyes as well.
Aoi then performed what seemed like a trap move, flying around very fast in a circle, trapping the current opponent who had no idea what to do, as they hadn't been in that situation before.
Irina was at a loss for words at how wonderful she found it, as did Saki. Irina then let out what she was thinking in earnest.
"Hey, let's try to become like that girl and create something like that!" Irina said, beaming with excitement.
"Yes!" Saki said in agreement.
End of flashback.
"That was a long time ago," Irina said. "Since then we took on Aoi's style and created our own version of it, the Birdcage. The same perfect silence and beauty she brought, I want to do the same. The current FC is just a cheap circus imitation! If we win one more tournament, everyone will be forced to admit our way is the better way."
Saki said nothing, but inwardly was troubled. The feelings she shared with Irina back then on this are not the same anymore. At first Irina had been earnest about it, but now she displayed bitterness and arrogance in her goal. This wasn't the Irina that Saki enjoyed, and it was very saddening. In truth Saki was only bored in FC because nobody could give her a challenge. She thought Shindou might be able to, but she was mistaken it seems. Saki was honestly wanting to quit, not wanting to follow Irina as she now is.
'But, I...' Saki thought in struggle.
Flashback to a younger Saki:
"Ha ha, you're so weird!" a boy laughed, throwing what one could assume food at her. "Always being alone! Talk about lame!"
In reality, Saki was just very shy at making friends, but people like this just made her too scared to even bother. After the boy walked away, Saki teared up and buried her face in her knees and sobbed. Just then a cat walked up, as if it could sense her feelings.
"A cat?" Saki asked, and to her surprise the cat loved on her. "Don't you have an owner?"
The cat meowed in a friendly way.
"That's a nice cat," a voice popped out.
Saki faced the direction and saw a girl with green hair. "Who are you?" she asked, wiping the tears out of her eyes, feeling wary of her and under the assumption she was going to be like that boy.
"I'm Irina, and you?" the girl asked, no ill intent in her tone.
"Saki," she said while Irina walked over and sat next to her.
"That's a nice name," Irina said in a friendly tone while smiling.
"Thank you," Saki said, now becoming a bit shy.
"I saw what happened," Irina said, her face reflecting how disgusted she felt at the boy's bullying. "To think people get their kicks off of acting like that to others!"
Saki stared at Irina, touched by the gesture. Truly this girl was completely different from that boy.
"Do you like cats?" Saki asked, guessing based off of how she was now kneeling and petting the cat.
"Yes, very much so!" Irina beamed at her. "Say, how about we eat and talk more?"
Saki blinked, but then smiled and nodded.
As they hanged out and spoke to each other more, Saki felt even more comfortable around this girl. She was also very understanding when Saki explained why she had tears and why she tends to keep her distance from others. Saki felt a strong trust towards this girl. From then on, they were best friends, always having each other's back. However, Saki still was not as open about being friends with anyone else. Due to always being ridiculed by people, she was not as open to anyone but Irina. Irina understood this and didn't try to force Saki into doing anything that would make her uncomfortable. Perhaps due to Saki relying heavily on Irina, the two formed a deep friendship to where they cherished one another very much.
End of flashback:
'Just like Irina is always there for me, I want to do the same for her!' Saki resolved.
"Saki?" Irina asked, noticing she was in deep thought.
"No, it's nothing," Saki said. "We will show the world our FC."
"Yeah," Irina said, looking up at the stars. "You're right."
Back with Masaya and co, as the days passed, it was apparent to the group that Masaya and Misaki seemed to particularly prefer training with each other. Not to say Asuka and Mashiro didn't get in some training with them, but Misaki and Masaya appeared to prefer training together.
"Hmm," Madoka said with amusement and then looked at Mashiro. "Are you sure about this, just letting him spend so much time with her?"
"I don't mind," Mashiro said with a hand to her cheek, watching the two practice in the air. "Even if I said something, Misaki-senpai would still spend time with and practice with him a lot anyway. She was the one who asked for training with him after all."
"So what exactly is going on between the two?" Madoka asked, though her tone indicating she had an idea.
"Does anyone even have to say it: it's love," Mashiro said matter of factly "It's obvious with how they prefer training together over us. Besides, Misaki-senpai has been more flirtatious with him than usual ever since he convinced her to come back. Of course, I've always suspected she liked Masaya-senpai, but I never asked her because I thought she would just avoid giving me an answer."
"But are you sure you're okay with the idea of letting her be with Masaya?" Madoka asked with a grin. "You did say he was a pervert before."
"Yes, but that was an assumption based on what Rika said," Mashiro stated. "In the end it was just an accident. Plus, we've all grown closer to him and spent time with him ever since he came out of his shell since becoming our coach. Obviously I have come to see by now he's not that kind of guy. Plus...he helped bring senpai back, and that means a lot to me. That's why, I want to support them. To be blunt, I'm okay with the two getting together if they do."
"Mashiro-chan," Asuka said and smiled.
Asuka was dense for a while, but she could see after observing them more that Misaki really did like him.
Meanwhile with Masaya and Misaki.
"Take this!" Misaki yelled, finally at long last performing an Air Kick Turn, catching Masaya off-guard and getting a point. "Yes, I did it!"
"It's too early to celebrate!" Masaya said, though glad for her. "The tournament will be filled with many strong people. So you need to get better than that."
"And that's exactly what I'm going to do!" Misaki said in a fun voice.
"Come!" Masaya said in a confident voice.
So they continued to intensely train. Asuka trained with the others seeing as Misaki and Masaya were busy training together. Misaki still trained with the others at times, but Masaya was her main training partner of course.
The night before the tournament, Masaya went to Hayato's shop.
"Hmm, someone at this hour-" Hayato stopped mid sentence. "Masaya? What brings you here?"
"Hayato," Masaya started seriously. "Mind giving me some training like back in the day?"
Hayato blinked quickly, realizing what Masaya just indicated. "You, then that means..." he started in shock, but then grinned. "Interesting." Closing shop, the two headed to the trailer area. "What brought about a change of mind for you?"
"Well, lots of things happened," Masaya said, though a smile was on his face.
"I see, I'm happy to hear that," Hayato said gently. "You know, even though you left us, we never hated you for it. I retired and got myself a nice shop while Aoi settled as a school teacher. But, we never gave up on you, and always believed you would rise back up. Honestly, those times we played together as a team were probably my happiest moments. I'm sure Aoi feels the same. It's hard to break a true bond your team has."
Masaya thought of his team, and specifically started thinking about Misaki. "I've grown to understand that feeling all too well," he said, before looking at Hayato who smiled at him.
Getting to the location, Aoi was waiting. "Why'd you call me out here at this time?" she asked, then noticed Hayato. "He got you too?"
"Yeah, for a flight in the sky with just the three of us, right?" Hayato asked.
"Oh?" Aoi grinned. "Now I'm feeling nostalgic."
Meanwhile, Misaki was walking towards the trailer with a bag. "These FC clothes should match well with his Grav-Shoes," she said to herself, then saw Masaya with Aoi and Hayato. "Huh?"
Turning on their Grav-Shoes, they flew up into the air. "Japan's true FC team is revived!" Hayato yelled in hype.
"Let's let loose like old times!" Aoi declared. "Let me remind you Masaya, of the hell we put you through."
"Bring it!" Masaya grinned, eager.
Misaki watched on in silence, not wanting to intrude on something this special.
"Take this, my Slash Burst!" Hayato said.
In a super swift movement, Hayato moved his palms in motion, making a swipe in front of Masaya's face in a slice motion. The swipe was so fast that Masaya was assaulted with the brief wind, making him close his eyes. Not even a full second later, Hayato flew behind and touched his back, gaining an unofficial point.
The impact knocked Masaya forward, but he grinned. "You haven't lost your touch, the one who was known as the Crimson Speeder of FC," Masaya said, doing an Air Kick Turn, but Hayato dodged easily.
"And you've still got your skills, but don't let it go to your head, prodigy boy!" Hayato yelled confidently.
After a bit, Aoi jumped in and scored a point by touching his back. "Don't leave yourself open," she said with a confident tone. "Your Sonic Boost vs mine...which is faster I wonder?"
Masaya still had no signs of being discouraged, and in fact seemed to be getting more excited. So the two built up speed and released it in a giant boost. Masaya was fast, but Aoi went past him so fast he barely saw it. He smiled, seeing how much stronger he needed to get before he was even in their league. After more intense fun practice, the three simply flew around together, enjoying the team reunion to their hearts content. While Masaya had a new team, there would always be a place for his original one to him.
Misaki watched on, smiling on seeing how happy he was. No doubt being able to fly with his old team must have meant so much to him. So him being able to do so again must be very heartwarming.
'Now, what do I do with this?' Misaki thought, looking at the bag she was holding. 'I guess I'll leave the bag next to the trailer and leave them be.'
So she did so and left.
The next day, Masaya and co flew to the tournament grounds.
"It's finally that time again!" Asuka said excitedly as they entered the tournament grounds.
"Geez, you're always so excited when this time comes..." Mashiro said exasperatedly.
"Of course, it's another chance to put our skills to the test!" Misaki said, hyped.
Mashiro didn't share their passion and groaned. The girl enjoyed FC, but she wasn't as passionate about it as they were, which leads to her being at times exasperated at their extreme excitement for it.
"By the way, why didn't you enter?" Madoka put the question to Masaya.
"Eh?" Masaya said, completely caught off-guard. "This is their tournament this time. I'm keeping out of this one, but I will enter the next one."
"Really?" Asuka said, wishing he would enter.
"Don't fret," Madoka started before eying Masaya. "His real reason I bet is to cheer Misaki on, right?"
"D-don't go making rash statements like that!" Masaya nearly yelled, flustered.
"Bingo," Mashiro grinned in amusement as well.
"You guys-" Masaya was cut off by Misaki putting an arm around him and circling near his lips with a hand.
"It's fine," Misaki stated in a flirtatious voice. "I feel much better knowing you're supporting me, Masaya."
As Masaya's cheeks flared red, he saw the others staring at him with entertained looks, minus Asuka who had an innocent smile.
"...A-anyway, let's keep moving!" Masaya tried to change the subject.
So they headed to the brackets, and took a good look at them to see who they would face on day one.
"Hmm, so I've got Rika, huh," Misaki said.
"I've got-" Mashiro started before an unpleasant laugh filled the air. "Don't tell me!"
"Ahahaha!" Satou laughed dramatically as she walked up to the group with Shindou and Rika. "That would be me! You better at least prove decent this time!"
"Seriously!?" Mashiro yelped in fright.
"Shindou-san," Misaki said with interest. "Are you entering?"
"Of course," Shindou said. "You said it wouldn't be worth it if I didn't, right?"
"Absolutely!" Misaki said bluntly with a confident look.
"Let's do our best, Misaki," Rika said to her.
"Yeah," Misaki said, smiling at the eager girl.
Shindou then noticed that Saki was mentioned as one of the opponents on the board and narrowed his eyes.
"President?" Satou asked, noticing his rather serious face.
"No, it's nothing," Shindou said before looking at the others. "Well, we better get to our booth. I'm in the first match. See you."
With that, the group walked away. "Good luck, Rika!" Mashiro said encouragingly, to which the girl smiled and waved back.
"Are you saying you want me to lose?" Misaki asked, kinda surprised at her.
"That's not it," Mashiro corrected her. "She's my friend, so I want to cheer for her as much as you."
"I see," Madoka said, understanding.
Just then, Minori's voice came in. "Now for the moment we've all been waiting for!" she declared. "The All-Japan Flying Circus Fall Tournament will now get underway! First off though, we would like to remind everyone of our current champion, Inui Saki! This girl along with her coach, Irina, proved to be the top contenders of the last tournament, defeating Shindou in a surprising victory to us all!"
The people watching from TV cheered as they saw Saki and Irina respectfully bow next to Minori.
"Inui-san," Asuka said, happy to know that she was taking part in the tournament.
"I knew it, so they're here too," Masaya said as he and the others looked on: They hadn't looked at the board enough to notice their names were there.
"Now, let the tournament begin!" Minori declared with hype, and after a few moments to give the first competing players time to get to their booth, resumed. "Alright, the first match will be Shindou, the 'King of Kings' vs the Elegant Rin!"
'Don't lose to anyone, Shindou-san,' Misaki thought. 'Not until we face each other again.'
Sure enough, Shindou utterly curb stomped his opponent with no effort.
"As expected of President, an easy victory!" Satou said confidently.
"Mmm," Rika agreed.
Irina closed her eyes. She and Saki were in a cafe watching via a TV. "He's no big deal," Irina said surely. "He's no match for our FC. And you've already defeated him before."
Saki said nothing, but agreed. Little did they understand, he had become a lot stronger.
Up next, Irina and Saki were chosen to play. Shindou narrowed his eyes as he observed Saki from a TV.
'Inui Saki...' Shindou thought in interest and smirked. 'Don't let me down.'
A/N: It's pretty sad that the show doesn't really flesh out Saki besides the fact she liked cats. I mean aside from Irina, Saki doesn't seem that open to others, and we're not given any explanation for why that is to begin with. On top of that it never felt to me like Saki ever agreed with Irina's view of FC, and was just being a loyal friend carrying out Irina's wishes. So I wanted to go more into Saki as a character and her motivations and reasonings. I will admit Irina wasn't horribly handled in the show in this department, but I still thought they could have done better with her too. I know Masaya is starting to play the sport again, but I don't think he would enter the Fall Tournament. The guy just recently started to truly play, so it would be stupid if he just now enters a tournament this fast when he's been out of actually playing with Grav-Shoes until very recent chapter. Not to mention he is training Misaki to get stronger for the Fall Tournament, so naturaly all things considered he'd likely sit this out and support her and her friends. They've been training from the start while he's only been a coach up to the last chapter, so it feels wrong to let him enter when he hasn't even been training for this tournament, let alone playing fully until recently.