Chapter 7
COMMON GROUND
AKKO
Akko had never even kissed anybody.
That's not to say that she didn't know who she wanted to kiss. She knew what she liked when she was five, if that could be believed. There was a girl who lived on the same floor in her apartment building and she remembered doing cartwheels and other acrobatic feats in an attempt to get her attention. It never worked, in fact they had never even become friends nor had Akko ever learned her name, but it was her first indicator that she was different from the other girls. She wanted to impress them, to enthrall them her charisma and prowess, to have them look at her in the same way they looked at boys.
Being gay in Japan was drastically different than the western countries—she'd already seen that from the first few weeks she'd been in England—and Akko was slowly adjusting to the ability to be open with who she was without feeling guilty about it. Not that she was ashamed. She wasn't, she liked who she was and wouldn't change anything about it. It was just different.
She had grown used to hiding her feelings behind jokes and a smile, admiring the girls she liked from afar. Instead, she relied on the yuri manga she hid behind her schoolbooks and pirated poor-quality movies and shows on her laptop to satisfy her growing feelings. And that's not to say she never tried to be outright. When she was 16, she confessed to a close friend in the same way she'd read in her favorite manga, only to be shut down hard. The girl hadn't shamed her, but she made a point to reinforce that she was very, very straight and Akko was left in a thick cloud of embarrassment at her single attempt at romance.
And so she'd settled into the background and watched as the girls she crushed on fawned over boys from the academy down the street. If there was anyone like her, they were either in the exact same place or someone her eyes fell on with disinterest.
There was the one time Okaasan found her yuri when she was cleaning one day. Akko was 17 and free-spirited at that point, carried by notions and ideas of western influence, though she channeled all her energy into the Games team and reaching International success. She'd come home from school to find Okaasan crying over tea and they'd had an emotional conversation that fell mainly on the idea of a lack of grandchildren. Akko was an only child and Okaasan and Otousan had made it quite clear they couldn't wait for her to marry and have a family of her own. It was quite simply cultural normality, the natural flow of life and society. For Akko, it was the first time she felt like she truly failed her parents and the role she was expected to fulfill, but she was resolved in who she was and continued on as she always had: in the spotlight with her personality and in the shadows with her craving for emotional intimacy.
Her sexuality was not mentioned between them again, though they never inquired about boyfriends, either.
And so England had almost come as a surprise. She'd known the western countries, for the most part, were more accepting of different lifestyles and subcultures. Though Amanda's up-front sexuality had seemed almost over the top at first, Akko had quickly adjusted—she prided herself on going with the flow—and while she wasn't keen on being as in-your-face as Amanda (and probably never would), she had fallen into a level of comfort that she never felt in Japan.
Even still, her focus remained primarily on Chariot, the Games team, and her position as a student at Luna Nova. But Akko had to admit one thing: she thought the girls here were way prettier and she didn't have to feel bad for looking at them.
The Appleton team wasn't as bad as Akko thought they'd be. Though after the first day they were behind—Appleton had won six, Luna Nova had won four—the guys never rubbed it in their faces or acted like they were better. Well, except for Andrew. Sucy had warned her about him ahead of time and, though Akko tried to stay open-minded, she quickly found that all she'd said was true. He was arrogant and outspoken, blatant in his perceived superiority when his Arabian ("I had him imported from Dubai," he'd pointed out, even though nobody asked) outran or out-turned the other ponies. Akko felt a stab of satisfaction every time he made a mistake or was beaten in a head-to-head race.
Quite honestly, he was an asshole.
So when she was leaning against the bar at the Red Stallion to get a fresh beer—only her second, she'd nursed the first one—she had to suppress a groan when he strode over with a cocky smile and a determined look in his eyes.
"Hey," he said, flashing a grin. "It's Atsuko, right?"
Akko frowned, plopping down in the barstool and shoving her empty bottle across the bar to signal she wanted another. "Akko," she corrected.
He sidled into the seat next to her without even asking if it was alright. "I'm Andrew," he said, never taking his eyes off her even though she kept her gaze locked straight ahead. "Andrew Hanbridge. I don't think I introduced myself to you yet."
His name rolled off his tongue like he thought it was liquid gold, like it held some sort of weight in their community and he was blessing Akko just by talking to her.
"Uh-huh," she muttered. She wanted nothing to do with him, couldn't he tell? "Another," she said to the bartender when he came over, nodding to her empty bottle of Harp.
"I was going to offer to buy your next drink," Andrew pointed out, bringing his glass of whiskey—straight, on ice, what a badass, he and Amanda could be wingmen—and raising an eyebrow.
Akko shrugged, grabbing the cold beer as it was slid across the lacquered bar. "No, thanks," she said, waving her hand dismissively as she pushed away from the bar to go find one of her friends to talk to instead of the pompous jerk who clearly had intentions.
"Wow," he grumbled, shooting a glare after her. "You're about as polite as Diana."
Diana. Right.
Akko still didn't know what her issue was. She had walked her back to her dormitory the one night, which was a very nice if not very awkward and unexpected gesture, but then completely ignored her wave earlier in the day. Akko had been surprised and pleased to see her there watching—the whole Hunt Team, in fact—because she hadn't pegged any of the three as interested in even spectating the Games. But Diana had completely blown her off with a strange stare and immediately walked away.
Hot, cold, hot, cold.
But then she'd walked into the Red Stallion (Akko had not been expecting to see her there) looking like a model straight out of a J. Crew ad and Akko'd had to wipe her jaw off the floor. She had been trying to fight off a crush since the first time she'd seen the girl her very first week (and had dubbed her Barn Hottie before she knew her name), but every time the girl showed up, it was like she looked ten times better than the last time Akko had seen her. The last thing Akko needed was another stupid crush on a straight girl.
Though, she couldn't shake the strange air between them. She couldn't decide if Diana hated her or wanted to be on good terms. Earlier, Akko had looked up from a conversation with Sucy to find the girl staring at her, or maybe through her, though she didn't even acknowledge her presence and so Akko had turned away from her in confusion and said to Sucy, "I don't get it, what's Diana's problem?"
Sucy had just shrugged and said, "Don't know, don't care."
But Akko cared. She wanted to get along with everyone.
So she shrugged off Andrew and strode on over to the end of the bar, where Diana was staring into an untouched drink and looking entirely out of place among the groups of friends that were chatting animatedly and enjoying their time together.
"Quick question," she said, folding her arms across her chest and tapping the bottom of her beer bottle against her waist. "What's your deal?"
Diana jumped—like she hadn't expected someone to be near her, even though she was in a bar full of people—and spilled her drink a little bit. Akko felt sort of bad, maybe she should have at least said Hey or something first, but the question had just slipped out of her mouth.
Diana swiped the back of her hand on her jeans and leveled Akko with startled blue eyes. "Pardon?"
"You're nice to me one minute, the next minute you act like I don't even exist and give me the cold shoulder. What's up with that?" Arms still crossed, Akko brought the lip of her bottle to her mouth and took a sip.
"I don't understand what you mean," Diana said. "I wasn't aware that I ever did anything of the sort."
The patron next to Diana slid his empty pint across the bar and stood to leave. Akko regarded the freshly empty seat with a look of temptation, but made no move to take it. "I waved at you earlier today because I thought it was cool you were there and you totally blew me off."
Diana blinked. Her fingers were tracing the rim of her glass. "I thought you were waving at Avery."
"Who's Avery?"
"Oh."
Diana turned away and finally sipped her drink. This interaction had quickly become way more awkward than Akko had intended. She brought her beer back to her lips and let her arms fall to her sides while she glanced around the pub. All of her friends were off doing something else. Jasminka and Sucy were playing pool with a few Appleton guys, Lotte was hanging out with Frank and Constanze, and Amanda was engaged in a heated debate with Andrew that was steadily escalating in volume.
"You can sit, if you want."
Akko blinked back to Diana to find uncertain blue eyes watching her. She did look rather lonely, and Akko had come to clear the air—
"Alright," she replied, offering a small nod and sliding onto the bar stool. She had no idea what to say now that she'd approached the other girl, because she had been expecting some sort of defensive argument or—well, in all honesty, she hadn't thought that far ahead. "Sorry. About the, uh, confusion. Did you have fun watching? I know it's probably not as cool as jumping or anything—"
"No, it was really great," Diana said quickly. Her eyes flicked over Akko's face before falling back ahead. "I was only able to see a small amount, but maybe tomorrow I can watch more. You said there were two days, right?"
Akko nodded. "Yeah."
"Okay."
What a conversationalist. Akko lifted her beer and chugged.
"Are you ready for the Hippotherapy exam this week?"
And then she spit some of her beer out.
"There's a test this week?" Akko moaned, swiping her mouth with her sleeve and dropping her beer bottle back to the bar. "Are you serious? Since when?"
Diana glanced at her, one eyebrow raised, and frowned. "It's on Tuesday."
Akko buried her face in her hands. No, she'd had no idea there was a Hippotherapy exam. In fact, she hadn't even looked at the syllabus. The syllabus that probably held the exact dates of all the exams. She groaned. "This sucks. Now I'm going to have to spend all night tomorrow studying!"
"I… have a pretty in depth study guide," Diana said after a moment and a long sip of her drink. She seemed to hesitate, spinning her phone on the bar for a moment before adding, "I could uh, text you the link to my Google drive, if you want."
"No, no," Akko said quickly, shaking her head. "That's okay, I would feel terrible. I'll just study my notes." She didn't know what the hell she was saying, she didn't have any notes, but she definitely knew she didn't want Diana to think she was using her for schoolwork. They were already on some weird kind of thin ice between rivals and acquaintances.
"Oh." Diana turned away and chugged her drink again. She seemed… disappointed? Akko found herself confused by the reaction—she would have thought the other girl would've wanted her to follow the honor code and do her own work—but she just shrugged and gulped her beer. The first she had drank slowly, because she'd been preoccupied bouncing around and talking to everybody, but the amount of awkward silences between herself and Diana had her drinking way faster than she planned.
"I saw Andrew speaking with you," Diana started, a tentative waver in her voice. "Anything in particular he wanted?"
"Oh, him." Akko grimaced and polished off her beer. "Seemed like he just wanted to get in my pants. Tried to buy me a drink. I don't know. The guy's a total jerk."
Diana chuckled, ice clinking against the sides of her glass as she twirled it in her hand. "He's a real prat. Rides Jumpers, too. Did he tell you all about his fancy Warmblood?"
"Mmm, no." Akko felt herself grinning. "Just the Arabian he imported from some Prince in Dubai.
A cackle slipped from Diana's lips and she looked surprised about it, slapping her hand over her mouth. She let herself laugh for a moment before bringing her hand away and saying, "My apologies. I just—I knew it. He tried to brag to me about the fleet of racehorses he's got under Aidan O'Brien. I looked them up. He's got two, they're under his father's name, and neither has broken a maiden."
Akko laughed, shooting a glance over at Andrew. He was chatting with Barbara again, looking completely bored by whatever she was running off at the mouth with. "Hopefully we'll beat them tomorrow. We just made a couple silly mistakes today. Nothing we can't fix." She shrugged, twirling her empty beer bottle in her hand.
"I thought you looked good." Diana glanced at her for a moment before bringing her stare back to her class. "You were… impressive."
Eesh, the best rider at Luna Nova was calling her impressive. She felt a warm blush creeping into her cheeks and looked at her fidgeting fingers, her pride swelling with the compliment. "Oh. Thanks," she said, finally raising her eyes and offering a small smile.
Diana was regarding the ice in her glass as though it might magically refill itself. Akko watched her eyes drift to her empty beer bottle and a long pause spread between them before the blonde girl said, "Um—buy you another?"
Akko took a deep breath, tilting the bottle in her hand and staring at the few drops of liquid left at the bottom. She hadn't been planning on having another, two had already been pushing it because she had to ride a whole lot in the morning, but she was sitting at a bar with a super attractive girl and they were actually kind of getting along and having a real conversation—
The patron next to her slammed his pint down with a dramatic flair and an animated gesture, sending a shockwave across the wooden bar.
"You don't have to do that," she said finally.
"No, I insist," Diana replied. Akko watched her flick her fingers between the drinks as she made eye contact with the bartender, who nodded an acknowledgment. "Think of it as… an apology for unintentionally confusing you." She shrugged, gliding her empty glass across the bar with the arrival of her new drink. "I think I got off on the wrong foot, so let's straighten things out, shall we?"
Diana raised her drink.
With a smile, Akko grabbed her new beer and let their glasses clink together.
Appleton had won.
It all boiled down to Akko missing the hand-off in the very first race, the easiest race. Pole bending. She should have anticipated that Mushroom would balk a little bit at Chariot's high speed, so when she stretched out her arm with the baton for Sucy to grab, she didn't account for the swing of the other horse's hindquarters and the extra distance that grew between them.
She'd had to circle back around to get Sucy the baton. They'd lost precious time and, thus, the race.
If the hand-off had been successful, Akko was positive they would've won. Star was much faster than Andrew's "regally bred" Arabian and there had been no other mistakes. But, as it stood, both of the teams ended up winning five races each. And, since Appleton had won six the day before, they had come out on top with 31 points to Luna Nova's 29. Had they won pole bending, the two teams would have gone into the tie-breaker, which was set to be the sock race. The team's best race.
The only consolation was that there weren't very many people there the next day. The Hunt Team surely didn't see their folly, because Miss Meridies had kept them far longer than their usual schooling lessons. Akko glanced over occasionally to see the three riders circling in a figure-eight and doing endless gridwork without stirrups. It made her wince—no stirrups had become commonplace for her, but she didn't have to focus on keeping her legs anywhere. They could be parallel with Chariot's spine and it didn't matter as long as she was on top of her horse.
So she was not jealous of that.
"Saw you talking with Cavendish last night," Amanda said as they walked the ponies back to the barn. Appleton was already in the process of loading their own ponies into a massive freight van to take them back home. "She wasn't giving you any trouble, was she?"
"No, of course not," Akko replied. Diana had actually been really pleasant—and Akko might have let her buy her a second beer, which she was still feeling as she brought her water to her lips in a desperate attempt to hydrate. "We were just talking horses." It was warm and the cold bottle was sweating into her hand, so she swiped it across her already dirty breeches. "She seems nice."
Amanda shrugged. "She's never been not nice," she replied, guiding Star into one of the wash stalls. Chariot paused a moment to look at him, but turned back to following Akko, occasionally bumping her thigh with a curious nose in an attempt to find peppermints. "She's just… Diana."
Akko plucked Chariot's halter off the hook she'd hung it on and held it out. Chariot obediently dipped her head in, letting her owner tug it up and fuss with her ears and forelock for a moment before fastening it. She led the pony into the wash stall next to Amanda and hooked her to the cross-ties—only because Miss Meridies would fuss if she saw her untied—and started to hose her off.
"Your line up wasn't bad," Amanda called out above the sound of the two hoses spraying off the sweaty ponies. "Could use a few tweaks, I think, but you wouldn't have known that without seeing how we did today."
Akko grunted a response, kneeling down to hit Chariot's belly and the insides of her legs. She didn't even hear the clop of horseshoes down the aisle until the three riders were right in front of them.
"Hey, Akko."
Akko blinked up from where she was kneeling on a black mat streaked with wet manure and dirt that had been freshly dug someone else's shod horse (why was it so hard for people to clean up after themselves?) to see Diana standing in front of her. She and Beatrix looked absolutely exhausted. The former's sleeves had been rolled halfway up her biceps and her chest and stomach were patched with sweat. Her helmet was tucked under her arm and wavy strands of loose blonde hair from her French braid were stuck to the sides of her sweaty temples. There was a shadow over her bright blue eyes, but Akko figured that was probably because of the drinks the night before. Beatrix's head hung low, her nostrils still flaring, sweaty patches of hair stuck to her loosened girth.
The other two members of the Hunt Team kept walking, though Akko didn't miss the strange look that Hannah shot at Amanda.
"Hey," Akko replied, switching off the hose with a quick press of her thumb to the nozzle and straightening up. She was suddenly aware of how dirty and sweaty she looked and passed a hand over her loose ponytail.
Chariot turned and glanced back at her, a gentle snort rolling from her nostrils.
"I didn't get a chance to watch," Diana said. She scratched at her nose and left a smear of black across the side from her wet gloves. "How did you do?"
"Lost," Amanda called from the stall next door. "By one damn race."
Diana nodded, looking awkward and out of place as she shifted at her mare's side. Beatrix was gnawing at her bit and giving Chariot a curious look, rear hoof cocking with the sudden gift of relaxation. "Sorry I missed it. But I'm sure you rode great."
She was looking at Akko when she said it, though Akko was sure she meant Amanda, too.
"Amanda did." She looked at her wet pony, straightening her hand and swiping down her soaked neck to flick the excess water off. "I missed a hand-off and cost us a race."
"Aw, you don't know that, Akko!" Amanda yelled. The sound of running water ceased as she turned her own hose off. "Something else would have happened. Murphy's law."
Akko didn't know what that meant but she said, "Yeah, I guess," and continued to skim the water off her pony's shining copper coat. Chariot stomped a hoof and snorted again, bored but content, her wet tail stinging Akko's arm as it flicked across her barrel.
"Well, I'll be sure to catch the next one." Diana clucked to Beatrix and the mare perked up. She started to walk off down the aisle but Akko straightened up and said—
"Next one's in Glasgow."
Diana turned back, one eyebrow raised, a smirk sliding across her lips. "I'll consider it too far when you have a competition on another planet," she replied, waving a hand dismissively in the air before settling it onto her mare's wet shoulder and walking off.
In an instant, Amanda had slid around the stone wall, green eyes darting between the two riders.
"What?" Akko asked, squinting at the American.
Amanda grinned, shook her head, and said, "Nothing, Akko," before disappearing back to her own wash stall.
She failed the Hippotherapy exam.
Okay, she didn't fail, but she most certainly got a terrible mark that had resulted in having to see Professor Finnelan after class during her office hours and getting a lecture about how attending Luna Nova was a privilege and they would not allow mediocrity, even in the case of a full ride. Miss Nelson had been there, too, with the threat of sidelining Akko if her grades didn't begin to show improvement.
It was in that exact moment that she wished she had accepted Diana's offer to share her study guide. The other girl had gotten a perfect mark. She knew because she had seen it underneath her own paper as Professor Finnelan was handing them out. Her Google drive probably had all kinds of information that would help her with assignments in the class. Akko would have to ask for those at a later time.
But then she'd have to explain to Diana that she'd done terribly on a test and deal with whatever reaction came along with refusing to accept help in the first place.
She buried her hands deep into the pocket of her jacket as she stalked across the campus. It was dark, and late, but Akko had found herself unable to sleep and had the unshakable urge to see her pony. Chariot always made her feel better. Her mare was happy to see her no matter what and would always make her laugh with exploring lips and goofy acts—anything to get a peppermint. Plus she was soft and cozy and Akko could hug her without having to worry about it being an awkward length of time. She had hugged Lotte too long, once, and the other girl had weaseled herself away with an, "Okay, Akko…"
No, she could hang all over Chariot's neck and the mare would be perfectly content.
It was well after hours and the grounds to the barn was silent save for the horses on night turn-out snorting into the grass as they grazed. Akko's sneakers echoed across the cobblestone of the middle lane and she kicked at pebbles along the way, staring down with a set jaw and a faraway haze in her eyes. The moon made the buildings and fences cast eerie shadows across the stone, the leaves rustling a harmony above with an on-again off-again breeze.
Akko hunched down a little bit more into her jacket and slipped into the barn. The lights were off save for a single overhead near the tack room. It was chillier in the stone walls, making her wish she had at least put on a pair of pants instead of staying in her sleep shorts. She strode straight to Chariot's stall and peered in through the bars.
Her pony, who had been reaching up into the hay rack and munching contentedly, sensed her owner and turned around. With a quiet nicker, she walked over and shoved her nose into the offered hand.
Akko chuckled, unlatching the door and slipping into the stall with her small mare. "Hey, pretty lady," she murmured, ruffling the pony's forelock affectionately and pulling her muzzle up to plant a kiss between her nostrils. "No peppermints right now. Sorry, girl."
Chariot looked anyway, pressing flaring nostrils against the pockets of Akko's shorts and smacking her lips around the fabric. Akko stepped forward, wrapping her arms around the mare's soft neck and leaning in. She ran her hand over her back, over her shoulder, scratching at the small white spot on the side of her withers. Her mare didn't move and instead pressed back against her owner, turning her neck to check the back pockets when the front yielded no results.
"You're silly," Akko mumbled into her mane. She breathed deep the scent of horse, of dirt and hay and the leftover hint of citronella, and let herself relax. When she was with Chariot she could forget about the stress of school and life. She could sink into another world where it was just the two of them and no one else.
But it never lasted forever. It couldn't.
After a while, Akko pulled away, stroking the mare's soft neck and picking at a spot of dirt before backing off. "See you tomorrow, Chariot," she said, affectionately pinching a hairy muzzle that was still looking for treats before slipping from the stall and returning the latch. It was late, way past any semblance of an acceptable time to be out and about, and Akko had an 8 a.m. She sighed at the idea of the lack of sleep she was going to get and strode through the barn, peering through the bars at the other horses as she went.
She found herself pausing at Beatrix's.
Burying her hands into her pockets, she stood on her toes and peered into the stall. The large bay mare was laying down, stretched out on her cushion of cedar and straw, her lips flapping as though dreaming. Cute. Akko smiled at the sight and started to walk away until she heard a groan.
It was coming from Beatrix's stall.
She back-peddled, eyebrows stitching together as she squinted into the stall. Beatrix was sitting up a little, but there was something not quite right. Her brown eyes looked distant, her nostrils a little too wide to be relaxed or sleeping. As Akko watched, she craned her neck and nibbled at her side, huffing dramatically and letting another quiet groan echo into the silence of the night.
Kuso.
Akko stepped across the aisle and flicked the overhead on. With the additional light she could see the sweat that coated the mare's soft neck, the heavy up and down of her barrel. No, something wasn't right at all. Akko had seen it plenty of times before and knew exactly what was wrong.
She whipped out her phone and immediately called Miss Nelson.
No answer.
Well, she didn't have the number of any other coaches. But every stall had emergency information—it was required under the Luna Nova safety rules in case anything happened—and so she found the number she needed and dialed.
A sleepy, confused voice answered after a couple rings.
"Hello?"
Akko took a deep breath, rolling her tongue and teeth across her bottom lip as she looked at the distressed mare, and said, "Diana, you need to get to the barn. Now."
HORSE & CHARACTER PROFILE
Sucy Manbavaran | 19 | 5'4" | British | Major: Chemical Engineering
Mounted Games Team
Mushroom | 13hh | 14 | Welsh Cross | Gelding
Blue Roan with no markings
