a/n: HELLO I have returned from hell
This has been in the works for weeks upon weeks because I've been busy with college (scholarship apps, midterms, homework, applying for study abroad, and now it's almost time for finals...)! It's been on the back burner but (hopefully) not for much longer!
Also, a POV note: in order to stay chronological, the POV switches are integrated differently in this chapter. It should hopefully be clear whose POV it is, but I will illustrate it here based on each line break: Ren/Ren/Kei/Ren/Ren/Kei/Ren/Kei/Kei
This is a special case for this chapter, and I plan to revert to my previous style after this chapter, but please let me know if you like this POV integration!
Without further ado, an extra-long chapter with a short omake. Please forgive the lateness, and I hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 9: Tenacity
Ren has no idea how she was able to sleep. She's woken up a few minutes before her alarm again and ducks into her room, door hinges silent. She's glad she made them stop squeaking yesterday after the window got fixed. Splashing some water on her face, she pulls her hair back and, after hesitating a moment, goes ahead and brushes her teeth.
Consulting her mental menu, she heads for the kitchen to make some toast for breakfast and prepares some coffee. Dinner was nabe, and since she was going to be out, it would be better to prep the ingredients now. While her coffee brews, she peels and slices the carrots, sliding the pieces into a container and sticking it back in the fridge. Next is the daikon, then mushroom slices, then negi.
After flipping the toast, she cuts the heat and ducks into her room, shrugging out of her pajamas and folding them on her bed. Locating her clean uniform, she throws it on, and then heads in search of her coffee.
Ren could have sworn she left just one mug on the counter. There are now two. She glances at Tsukki's bedroom door.
It's cracked open.
She lets out a sigh before smiling. Pouring coffee into the mugs, she adds a few dollops of milk and a small spoonful of sugar to each of them. Stirring with one hand, she slides the toast off the pan and onto plates with the other. Quickly rinsing the coffee spoon off in the sink, she snags the strawberry jam out of the fridge and lathers it on Tsukki's toast. Adding a thinner layer to her own, she brings the plates to the table and makes a return trip for the drinks.
"Breakfast is up!" she calls, sipping her coffee.
"Morning," comes Tsukki's reply. He reemerges from his room, heading straight for the table and grabs the coffee first.
Interesting. He usually always goes for the toast first.
Ren opts not to say anything and crunches through her toast. After hastily downing her coffee, she drops her plate off at the sink and heads back into her room. She unzips her aikido bag. Hakama? Check. Keikogi? Check. Aikido club jacket? Hanging on the back of her desk chair. Check. Making a quick stop in front of her closet, she snags a pale blue V-neck sweater, shrugs it on over her blouse, and slides on her jacket.
A scarf and one messy hair bun later, she snags a pair of socks and rechecks her aikido gear.
"If you'd forgotten anything, you would've noticed by now," Tsukki calls from the doorway.
She rolls her eyes as she zips her bag shut. "Oh, thank you," she says, slinging it over her shoulder and snatching her earbuds off her desk. Stuffing them in, she strides past him and out the door.
They meet up with Tadashi after ducking into a convenience store to buy lunch.
"How excited are you?" Tadashi asks with a grin. "On a scale of one to ten."
"Fifteen." Her answer is quick, decisive.
Tadashi whistles. "Okaaaaaaaay,"
"Aihara."
Almost but not quite unwillingly, she turns to look at Tsukki.
"Don't mess up until we get there."
"Tsukki!" Tadashi chastises, but she barely hears it.
There Kei goes with his damn smirk again, sending her butterflies into overdrive. At least her brain is still functioning. "Oh?" she manages, narrowing her eyes in his direction.
"She can manage until then, right?"
Ren feels like she should be angry, but Kei's tone isn't all that mocking. She knows she's good at aikido. Very good. And her English is better than most of her class. Will she mess up?
Highly unlikely.
"Kei."
Her abrupt mention of his name brings Kei and Tadashi's side conversation to a halt. He looks over, a mix of amused and disinterested.
"If I do mess up-" she pauses to roll her eyes at his smirk- "and I'm not saying I will, but..." She faces forward again, lazily tossing a hand into the air. "At least I'll look good."
Glancing back over her shoulder, she sees him raise an eyebrow.
"Did you already forget that I'm going to be in uniform?"
"Not after how you quadruple-checked this morning to make sure you had it."
Ren sighs. "So you're just coming to see me mess up?"
"Why else would I go?"
"Are you sure don't want to see me in uniform?"
He doesn't reply. Just blinks and nods slightly. Hmm. Instead of a flippant retort, she tries something different: she pouts.
Kei's expression twitches for a moment but he retains the same, unwavering stare.
"Well, I'm sure you'll be disappointed because I won't mess up. And, cause me in uniform seems to be such an eyesore, just imagine I'm not wearing it."
He abruptly looks away as Tadashi bursts into muffled laughter.
"Just imagine I'm not wearing it."
OH.
Despite her reddening cheeks, she snags the last word. "If your minds are in the gutter from that, I don't know what to tell you. I'll see you in class," she says, taking off for the school building.
Well, that was embarrassing.
Only after Ren is out of sight can Kei push up his glasses and take a moment to collect his thoughts from... wherever they'd been going.
"Tsukki, are you okay?"
Kei can see his best friend's blinding grin through his fingers.
"Is that even a question?"
"Tsukki, is she acting like… this-" Tadashi waves in Ren's general direction- "on purpose?"
"No," he answers quickly. She can't be. "Tadashi-"
"Tsukki, I still think you should try talking to her-"
"Yamaguchi."
"… Sorry Tsukki."
In class, Ren can't sit still. She's throwing her hand up every time a teacher asks a question and she's reminded of first year Hermione, eager to answer anything she knows the answer to.
Tsukki, however, is snarkier than usual. Third year Hermione might punch him, but she isn't Hermione.
"Aihara, answering all the questions in class doesn't make time go faster."
"I know damn well it doesn't, but that won't stop me from trying."
The final bell rings, and Ren is up and out of her chair. She bows to her teacher, waves haphazardly at Tsukki and Tadashi, and leaves for Chidoriyama. Hastily swapping her school slippers for her sneakers, she takes off running.
Her nervous energy has been increasing all day and she lets it loose in a huge burst, sprinting up side streets on the quickest route from Karasuno to her old school. Her bags thump against her sides in tandem, and in the midst of exertion, she smiles.
Take that, she thinks, and then she's skidding to a halt in front of Chidoriyama. Taking a few deep breaths to attempt to calm her racing pulse, she straightens her uniform and heads for the gym.
As expected, Hayato-sensei is directing aikido club students to set up mats and chairs. After a quick exchange of pleasantries, Ren ducks into the locker room. A locker with a note taped to it is designated as hers, and she strips off her slightly sweaty school uniform. She unzips her duffel, staring at her keikogi and hakama for a moment before putting them on. She carefully folds and ties her obi, brushes her hair and reties her ponytail. Yanking her gaze away from her reflection in the mirror, she slides on some slippers and makes her way back to the gym.
Kei wants to slide on his headphones to block out the conversation and all the questions he's been getting about Ren.
Hinata isn't excessively excited- not the way he is about volleyball, but his bubbly behavior is mildly annoying. "What makes aikido different from other martial arts?"
Tadashi spares him from answering that one. "Well, in karate, attacks are strike-based, focusing on using the hands and feet, right? In judo, attacks are centered on grappling and throwing. Aikido is like judo in the grappling respect... but the philosophy revolves around being considerate of the self and the opponent."
His best friend looks to him for confirmation, and Kei sighs. "I guess. I'd just ask Ren for an explanation later."
"Yeah, Ren would be able to explain it better," Tadashi says thoughtfully.
"Tsukki?" Yachi asks hesitantly. "Do you know how long Ren has been doing aikido?"
It's easy to be civil with Yachi. "She started in middle school, I believe. Five years, maybe five and a half by now."
"She wasn't in an art club?"
Kei has to think for a moment. "No." Not that he's aware, anyway.
Yachi turns back to Kageyama and Hinata. "Ren's so talented," she comments cheerfully. "Her animal sketches are super detailed. She's helped me with some of the club posters."
That would explain the detailed phoenix sketch from the other day. The posters have been featuring bird and feather designs, as of late.
And just like that, Kei's back to thinking about Ren. He knows why Tadashi's suggesting he talk to her, but that's not a good idea for several reasons:
1. It means thinking about his feelings and how long they've been floating around (something he'd rather avoid).
2. It means admitting out loud, to her, that he has feelings (for her) (a sarcastic response is inevitable).
3. It means further disrupting her already-thrown-off emotional equilibrium (if he dares to hope that there's a future for them, her decision should be made in a state of clarity).
"Tsukki?" Kei turns to look at Tadashi with a raised eyebrow. "We're here."
The demonstration starts out relatively standard- hushing the student group, introductions of demonstration leaders (Hayato-sensei, her as Aihara-san, and one of the current top students in the club, Yamamoto-san), and an explanation of aikido and its basic maneuvers. This is the easy part.
Then comes narrating the demonstration itself, and she's nervous. But only a little bit. Her translations have been understood so far, and she's found a good speaking pace.
"It takes knowledge of the body," Ren translates, "and concentration. The size and weight of your opponent becomes irrelevant once you can manipulate their body. For example..." she waits for Hayato-sensei to demonstrate a maneuver. "Once you control the wrist, you control the arm, and then the shoulder. And then the body."
Hayato-sensei forces Yamamoto-san to the mat, her hands gripping his arm in what appears to be an uncomfortable position. Yamamoto-san slaps the mat with his free hand, indicating surrender, and they move into the next situation.
"If you can trap the arm behind the back," she continues, "you can direct their momentum." Hayato-sensei walks Yamamoto-san around a little bit, drawing a few laughs before laying him onto the mats.
"The torso is a bit more complicated to manipulate, but as you can see-" she pauses to let Hayato-sensei finish her maneuver- "by getting one arm across the collarbones, you can push your opponent to the floor with their own momentum."
Her translating continues without mistake, and she's glad for the small break she gets when Yamamoto-san takes over translating. As she walks onto the mats to replace him, she hears an unmistakable "gwah" and a telltale "be quiet, dumbass" from the entrance. And then she's stuck staring at Kei, getting butterflies from a very different source.
As soon as they make it through the doors of the gymnasium, Kei sees her. She's impossible to miss, walking onto the mats in a white gi and black hakama.
She's striking.
Her presence draws attention without demanding it. She comes to a halt in the middle of the mat beside a woman and bows again towards the audience.
"Aihara-san will be taking my place for a short while," the student with the microphone says, drawing a few laughs from the audience.
"What did we miss?" Tadashi asks, his voice barely a whisper.
Kei just shrugs.
The woman speaks quickly in Japanese towards Ren and the other student, and Kei can see her eyes widen.
"Ah excuse me," the student says, "Hayato-sensei is opening the floor to a few volunteers."
A blur of orange that is most definitely Hinata runs up to Ren, beaming excitedly. "Hi, Ren-san!"
Ren laughs and turns to have a quick word with Hayato-sensei. "Everyone, can you hear me alright?" She asks the audience. "This is Hinata-san, also from my high school. He's graciously volunteered himself to play the part of "attacking" me."
"Eh?" Hinata looks surprised. "But you're my friend!"
Kei rolls his eyes. Yachi is already peeking through her fingers. Tadashi urges their entire group closer to the rows of chairs.
Ren says something- another quick aside, and Hinata bursts into motion, reaching for Ren's arm. Then she's also a blur, sidestepping and grabbing Hinata's wrist and dropping him to the floor.
Yachi's "eep" is joined by gasps of the seated students.
"EH?" Hinata says loudly from the mats.
"It was probably a bit fast for you to see," Ren says to the audience, "but it was a matter of executing one of the basic maneuvers: grabbing the wrist and pressing down on the back, trapping the arm and then the rest of the body."
"THAT WAS SO- GWAH! Again!" Hinata exclaims, drawing laughter and applause from the audience.
Ren says something else quietly to Hinata, who runs off the stage and back to their spot behind the seated audience.
"Would any of Ren-san's friends also like to volunteer?" The student with the microphone asks.
Kei looks over at Yachi, who's peering over Kageyama's shoulder and shaking her head. There's pressure on his elbow, and Tadashi's pulling him up to the mat with him. "We will!" He answers for them cheerfully.
He did not agree to this. Judging from her wide-eyed expression, Ren wasn't expecting this either.
Tadashi's grip on his elbow is gentle but insistent. Reluctantly, Kei gives into his friend's scheme.
"Yamaguchi-san," Ren says, "if you would face our audience and grab my forearm with both hands, please."
As Tadashi gets into position, Ren looks over at the student with the microphone.
"The floor is yours, Aihara-san," he says.
"Thank you, Yamamoto-san." Ren brings her forearm, with Tadashi's hands gripping it rather tightly, closer to the audience. "While Yamaguchi-san has his strength focused here-" she points to her forearm- "I can control his strength."
Ren adjusts the angle of her forearm, bringing it up to point more towards the ceiling. With Tadashi gripping on her arm, he's forced closer to the ground, and as he's bending backward, Ren shoves him away from her.
Tadashi stumbles backward, surprised. He smiles, takes a small bow, and heads back off the mats.
"If you can control the point or direction from which the energy is expended," Ren says, "you can control the situation. Tsukishima-san, if you would."
The way the formality sounds coming from her strange, but he has no time to consider it as he steps up onto the mats.
"Your job is to hold on," she says quietly, moving so he's facing the audience from behind her.
Kei is staring at her forearm (the imprints of Tadashi's hands are still faintly visible, and his gut twists a little) and barely registers her request. He steps forward, hands extending towards her arm and then he's trying to not think about how soft her skin is and then, in the next instant, gravity rearranges itself.
His back makes contact with the mat as he's forced into a loose somersault. The impact is jolting but not painful- it leaves him dazed for a moment. Strong isn't an adequate word to describe her- tenacious is a far better descriptor.
Applause fills the room which Ren attempts to quiet. Kei looks up at her sheepish expression- it's one that features the quirk of a smile. It brings a momentary smile to his face that turns into a smirk- he'll get back at her later.
He gets to his feet, bows deeply, and heads off the mats, rejoining the rest of the team at the back.
Kageyama and Hinata are doing a surprisingly good job of stifling their amusement. Tadashi grins and pretends to be tactless. "She flipped you like it was nothing."
A "pah" escapes from Hinata, and Kei glares at him. "You would have somersaulted twice if she did it to you," he says nonchalantly, but he's back to looking at Ren.
It's gotten increasingly difficult to not look at her.
Kei isn't sure why he agreed to have everyone over for dinner. Maybe it was to shut up the dumbass duo who like Ren's cooking. Maybe it was the way Yachi's eyes lit up at Ren's suggestion. It had nothing to do with Tadashi's ridiculous grin and winking when no one else was looking. (It certainly had nothing to do with Ren biting her lip and saying "please." Definitely not.)
Ren and Yachi had kicked all the guys (including him, even though it is also his apartment) out of the kitchen while they finished preparing the nabe ingredients and brought them to the table with the portable stove. Dinner was loud but not terribly messy, and on the whole, rather pleasant- he just wouldn't admit that while they were all still there.
He and Ren managed to get them all to leave not too long after dinner. "Sorry for springing them on you," she says, putting away the leftovers. "Nabe's always better with friends, I think."
Kei lets out a sigh. "It's okay."
She gasps in mock surprise, but quickly drops her sarcasm. "Really, Kei," she says, "thank you for today."
"You're welcome?" He isn't sure how different it was from usual, but as long as she's feeling better, it's okay with him.
Ren sets the last of the dishes in the drying rack, letting out an audible yawn. "I'm gonna shower and go to bed. Did you need anything?" she asks, stretching her arms up.
His eyes are drawn to the thin sliver of skin that's momentarily visible. "No," he says, turning and heading towards his room. (What he needs is for her to not be so damn attractive all the time.)
"Goodnight," she says, ducking into her room and closing the door.
"Night," Kei says into the silence she left behind.
a/n:
daikon: white radish
negi: leeks
hakama: bottom half of aikido uniform, must be folded a specific way
keikogi: top half of aikido uniform, very similar to karate uniform top but has shorter sleeves
obi: word for belt (different styles for martial arts and kimono/yukata)
gi: general term for martial arts outfit top
*Additional note about this chapter: I don't know exactly how martial arts demonstrations work. Volunteers probably wouldn't be used in this manner, but for the sake of Ren, Tsukki, the rest of the Karasuno crew, and character development, this is the way I've written it.
This chapter was inspired in part by the song Spotlight by Leagues.
Thanks again for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! Feedback and support are always greatly appreciated!
To Kenzie FF: Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm so pleased that you've caught onto Ren's quirks, and figuring out Kei's thought process has been both challenging and fun. I'm very glad you think I'm portraying him well, and I hope I can continue to impress!
To YouDaBest: Kei's character has been largely determined by Furudate, and creating someone who compliments him in personality has been quite interesting. School has been ridiculously busy, so thank you for your support~
To Kosa Kinoshita: Thank you! I believe Daiso doesn't have an equivalent in America (as far as I'm currently aware). The dollar stores here are most similar (at least in prices and some actual merchandise content) to the 100 yen stores in Japan.
To Marcy911: Thank you!
To Akabane Kayo: The teasing between Tsukki and Ren is somewhat reminiscent of friends' teasing (jokes, height references, unintended innuendos, etc.). I'm glad you think they're cute together! I do too! Now to get them together… I'm working on it. Albeit sporadically.
Omake: Dinner Conversation (short, sorry!)
"Can you teach me how to throw someone?" Hinata asks Ren.
"Uh... that's probably not a good idea," she replies. "It would be best to learn from an actual aikido instructor."
"But I want to toss Tsukishima like you did!"
"Not happening," Kei says lazily.
"He said if you did that to me, I would have flipped twice!"
Ren laughs, her expression turning serious. "Yes. It's highly possible that gravity would have reversed its effects on you and you would've been thrown far away."
Tadashi can't help his snort. Hinata's wide-eyed, awed and fearful expression sends him into laughter. "I'm sorry," he wheezes, steadying himself on Yachi's shoulder. "Oh! By the way, Ren, what the heck did you tell Hinata to get him to attack you?"
She smirks. "Easy. I told him that there was a very important volleyball match happening and that we were very, very late."
