Renge stood patiently by the front of the school on Sunday, rocking back and forth anxiously as she waited for Nao. Today was going to be their first date and of course, Renge was just in between being a hot mess and absolutely ready. She made sure she was as prepared as she possibly could be, making sure she had something to say at any given situation and of course, she made sure she was looking good. Dressed in a mint green sweater with a pastel blue floral sleeveless top and a white skirt, Renge knew she was looking as fashionable as she could today. She also made sure her outfits was accentuated with a few accessories here and there, with a turquoise butterfly claw pin in her hair and a few non-flashy rings around her fingers. She checked the time on her phone to see what time it was. Only three fifty three, and that was perfectly fine. They did plan to meet at four anyways. But, as the minutes dragged on, Renge felt herself worry that he had forgotten about the date or worse, stood her up.
Standing thinking about just how possible that really was, Renge sighed and stood there for a few moments, debating on whether she should've stayed longer or left.
"Hey," Renge heard a low, soft voice call out to her from her left. She turned around to see Nao walking up to her. Feeling heart skip beats and race at that uncomfortable rate, Renge waved towards him and tried her hardest not to appear as awkward.
"Hey!" Renge called out, louder than intending. She instantly clamped her mouth shut with her hands for a second, realizing how loud she was and caused to Nao smirk a little.
Renge laughed with him and reddened slightly when he was in front of her. Looking up at him for a moment and then looking down to her shoes, she let a forced giggle out.
"So, shall we go?" Renge asked as she looked up to Nao, secretly wanting to offer her hand so they could hold hands.
Nao nodded and the two walked to the mall. Since Renge wasn't too sure what Nao liked, aside from anime and video games, she decided she would keep it simple for today's date. Just a carefree Sunday afternoon, a busy area on a relaxing day. Renge hoped that with some luck, the two would be out long enough to watch the sunset, which wasn't that extreme of a wish. Since it was fall and the sun was setting by at least five-thirty. Something about the idea of watching the bright ocean blue sky advance into an calmer tone of blue mixed with some hints of orange as the sun left the sky seemed like such a wonderful scene to share with someone you liked.
Renge didn't realize she was spacing out, and once she did, the two were in the mall. Her eyes darted to Nao in a panic to see if he was becoming bored or uninterested. Thankfully, he seemed normal for now. Renge knew of course, she had to initiate the conversation.
"So, how was your weekend?" Renge inquired in the most cheerful tone possible.
"It was alright." Nao answered absently, his gaze falling towards a display of cereal boxes.
"Um, that's cool." Renge commented, trying to remain positive and upbeat," My weekend was hectic. Me and my brother were working on one of his science projects and we needed to fill the kitchen sink so we could see if certain materials floated or not. And sadly, while we were filling up the sink, neither of us were watching it so it over flowed and soaked the kitchen counter and carpet so...yeah, just goes to show you me and my brother can't be trusted with doing things in the kitchen unattended."
Nao laughed at her and commented," You're a bit of a ditz, you know that?"
"Hey that rhymed!" Renge exclaimed densely, not realizing what Nao had just called," Hey, wait, I'm not a ditz!"
Nao laughed at her even more as he watched her pout. The two then began to start laughing a bit more afterwards. Renge knew she sounded silly when she told stories like that, stories that made her sound like she was rambling. But she didn't care all that much. Why? Because, hey she was getting a reaction out of the boy who acted emotionless in art club and that was something, wasn't it?
The two ambled through the mall, engaging in some conversation, an amount that was comfortable for the both of them. The mall was a whole lot quieter than usual but not necessarily dead. There were a handful of people browsing around some stores, but Renge could locate a single person aside from her and Nao from their school. It felt almost, magical to not see anybody from school. As they were walking, Renge noticed Nao observing a mannequin with a small formal two-piece outfit on it.
"Why would a kid need a tuxedo?" Nao asked dimly in a curious voice as he stared at the gold trimming on the vest.
"Ring-bearers?" Renge answered as the two walked past the store, which didn't actually have a name, but did manage to possess a 'be back in fifteen minutes' sign. The two of them bought ice-cream, vanilla for Nao and peanut butter chocolate for Renge. As Renge was munching away at her ice cream, now able to eat the cone, she then wondered something.
"Can you eat waffle cones with your braces?" Renge asked, before realizing Nao was eating his ice cream in a bowl.
"Nah, but I never really cared for the cones anyways.." Nao responded, sounding a little surprised that Renge asked him that.
Soon, Nao informed Renge that he needed to get home soon and so the two walked out of the mall and as Nao walked in the direction of his home, Renge asked,
"Where's my hug?"
"Why did I know you were going to ask that?" Nao asked with a chuckle as he went over and hugged her. Once they broke the hug and Nao walked home, Renge went to the bus stop and felt her face grow tired from smiling so much. She looked over to the school, taking note of how pretty it was when it was highlighted under the sky that was slowly turning into a sunset. Sadly, the sunset didn't show up quick enough for her and Nao to admire it together. Maybe, another time, since for once, Renge actually felt like a second date could've happened for them.
The next day, during Art club as the class was assembling as club just started, Renge saw Nao seating himself down next to her as usual. Since not many of their usual friends were here yet, Renge could help but state in a somewhat quiet voice,
"Yesterday was fun."
"I agree," Nao commented quietly,as he took his sketchbook out from his bag. Neither look at each other while they said that, but they both had a strong feeling that the other meant what they said. During that class, things were quiet but it didn't really concern Renge and Nao that much, for once they were actually really trying to get caught up on their project. As the class was nearing to an end though, Nao asked Renge casually while hoping he wouldn't draw excessive attention to himself in a low voice,
"Are you up for staying back after class some time this week with me?"
For a second, Renge almost successfully bit back a smile, but then she realized this time, she was the one to be asked to hang out. Looking up to Nao and clinging on to this moment where it was acceptable to get a little lost into Nao's green eyes she responded,
" I'd like that very much."
The bell rang and as the rest of the students scrambled out, Nao said to her," Alright, cool. Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
Just as he was about to leave, Renge took hold of his arm quickly which grabbed his attention. Renge then stole a hug quickly before she said bye to him and left the classroom , giving him a wink as she walked out. Nao smiled to himself as Renge was out of sight and he laughed a little bit.
Just as Renge walked into her room feeling quite delighted and content with today's events, she found the usual trio plus Chiyo all in her room. Shockingly unfazed by all of this, Renge looked at her guests and wondered just what brought her fellow Pretty Cures in today. Kanari sat of Renge's bed as usual and Chiyo was leaning against her windowsill.
"Hey guys, what brings you here? Want anything to eat? I can bring some snacks," Renge offered," And I'll get you a seat, Chiyo."
"Oh, it's not necessary, I'll be fine.." Chiyo reassured as her cheeks tinted pink as she looked down to the floor.
"Alright, suit yourself, I'll bring you guys some snacks and water.." Renge declared as she strolled out from the room and downstairs to her kitchen.
"Boy, someone's in a good mood..." Kanari remarked once Renge was out of earshot. Once Renge arrived with a large bowl of rainbow-chocolate chip cookies on a tray with three glasses of juice, the group got to business.
"So Renny, why'd you call this meeting?" Renge asked as she took a cookie.
Taking a cookie after Renge, Renny looked down sheepishly," Well, though I thought it would be a good idea to give Chiyo here some more information regarding the Pretty Cure at this 'meeting', I wasn't the one to call this meeting."
Renge looked at him in confusion as she nibbled on her cookie," So then, who-?"
"I called it." Kanari stated bluntly after taking a sip of her juice.
"Why and, how'd did you even get Chiyo to come? We never got around to exchanging numbers the other day..." Renge pointed out.
"I didn't need her number..." Kanari declared wickedly as glanced over to Chiyo who was resting her hand on her fist, looking irritated upon hearing Kanari's response.
It was nearing that time before class change, when everyone would go to their club as soon as the bell rang. Kanari's math class was dismissed early due to her teacher having a doctor's appointment, so Kanari went off in search of Chiyo. Luckily, she had no trouble finding her. Outside, near the school's track was Chiyo in her gym clothes with a bunch of other girls who appeared to be her friends. It looked they were gossiping or something, having nothing to do since class would be over soon.
Kanari inched a little closer to the girls, and remained a comfortable distance of about ten or so feet away from them. Placing her cupped hands around her mouth Kanari yell-whispered out,
"Chichi-chan!"
Chiyo's sharp ears picked up the whisper and was able to detect where and who the whisper came from. Appearing slightly agitated for a second, Chiyo ignored Kanari and continued on her conversation with her friends.
"Is that girl calling one of us?" One of Chiyo's friends asked in concern as she noticed Kanari a few feet behind Chiyo.
"Probably not." Chiyo assured, not even turning around to look at Kanari.
"Chiyo Sakurami~!" Kanari yell-whispered.
"Um, I think she's calling for you Chi." The friend informed as she eyed Kanari in question.
"Michiru, I really don't care." Chiyo replied flatly as she urged Michiru to continue to conversation and gestured her to ignore Kanari too.
So, Michiru as told and the group's conversation resumed, leaving Kanari to be quite frustrated with Chiyo. Inflating her cheeks with impatience, Kanari shrieked out,
"Chiyo Supercute Sakurami, I need to tell you something!"
Chiyo turned beet-red upon hearing this as everyone from her gym class looked at her. Infuriated, Chiyo walked up to her Kanari and hissed,
"Just what do you want?"
"Don't you dare ever do that to me again." Chiyo stated imperatively as she closed her eyes, still humiliated from what happened a few hours ago.
"No promises, hehe." Kanari giggled deviously, causing Chiyo to glare daggers at her.
"Woah, chill. Just give me your number and I won't do it again." Kanari declared as she held her hands in front her body.
"So, why did you bring us here today?" Renge asked as she and Chiyo exchanged their numbers.
"We still need a thing to say, like a motto and maybe even a team name!" Kanari exclaimed.
"I did say when we find our third Cure and now..." Renge trailed off as she looked over to Chiyo," Alright, Kanari, have you thought of anything so far?"
"Well, I thought of a few..." Kanari said as she took a stack of papers out from her backpack.
"Wow, ok...this is..more than I expected.." Renge admitted sheepishly as she looked over all of the papers with about a dozen mottos written all over them.
"Putting the cool in school?" Chiyo read out incredulously from one of Kanari's pages," Where have you been getting your ideas from, PSAs from the the nineties?"
"Thought that one got scratched out.." Kanari confessed sheepishly as she snatched the page away from Chiyo.
"Making learning fun and getting the job of saving the day done?" Renge read out," I like it, but it's a bit of a mouthful.."
"You guys still need a team name." Topher pointed out.
"One thing at a time, alright?" Renge negotiated as she continued to look over the potential mottos written by Kanari," But come to think of it...there was something on our to-do list that needed to be done awhile ago.."
"Uh-oh." Kanari commented, her gaze shifting down to the page in her hands in peril.
"We never found you a club did we?" Renge debriefed as she crossed her arms while looking down at Kanari.
"Nope, and it's a little too late now!" Kanari declared as she tossed the pile of pages in her hands up in the air.
"Are you kidding me? There are a bunch of clubs still looking for members," Chiyo claimed as she gathered up all the pages Kanari threw in the air.
"Then we need to find you a club." Renge declared.
"Ugh, but I don't want to!" Kanari groaned as she pouted, crossing both her arms and her legs.
"Kanari, I really think you should, you've got all this free time and it'd be great if you donated some of that time to a club.." Renge responded, the irritation in her voice becoming noticeable.
"Have you even ever been in a club?" Chiyo questioned as she placed the pile of pages on Renge's computer desk.
"Sure I have! In first year, I was in sowing club and I showed up a grand total of four times the entire year!" Kanari proclaimed," They called me Kanayureiri for that though."
"Yurei, as in ghost..." Renge commented, sounding a little unimpressed.
"Grand total of four times..." Chiyo repeated sounding both a little shocked and disgusted.
"That's it. Tomorrow, we're finding you a club." Renge declared as she pointed to Kanari.
"We, and just who do you mean by we?" Chiyo inquired sounding as if she despised the thought of her being involved in this.
"Come to think of it...Chiyo, do you have a club?" Renge questioned curiously.
"Yeah, I'm in cooking club..." Chiyo answered, suddenly regretting saying that as she noticed Kanari's eyes beginning to glaze over her.
"So smoothie girl joined a club where she can make more food, I bet that means you're an excellent chef, right?" Kanari asked as her gaze was stuck onto Chiyo.
"Perhaps, I should join a club like cooking. Yeah, that'd be sweet, get it? And that way I could get to eat all of Chiyo's baked goods!" Kanari fantasized as Chiyo tried to distance herself from Kanari slowly.
"Please, make me baked goods Chiyo!" Kanari cried as she looked over to Chiyo with an intent, crazed look in her violet eyes.
"Ugh, no way!" Chiyo shouted, repulsed as she held her hand over herself in protection from Kanari.
"If you don't want her to join cooking club, then I'd suggest you help us tomorrow." Renge advised in a calm, almost threatening tone.
Chiyo drew out a very long sigh," Fine, but you better not join the cooking club." Chiyo glowered down to Kanari menacingly as she pointed a finger to Kanari.
"G-got it.." Kanari gasped out meekly as she adverted her eyes away from Chiyo.
The next day, Renge and Chiyo got them excused from their clubs and spent that time looking for a club for Kanari. The group assembled just outside of Renge and Kanari's homeroom. Renge was holding a list that was compiled of all the clubs that Kanari could possibly join. The list was long thankfully some with some luck, they might have been able to find Kanari a club by the end of the day.
"And top of the list is art..." Renge listed off, wincing and wishing she didn't just say that.
"Why don't you join art?" Chiyo asked uninterestedly with her eyes closed and her arms folded.
"I'll show you why." Kanari responded as she removed a clipboard with a sheet of paper attached to it and began to scribble something onto the page. After a few moments, Kanari showed Chiyo showed the picture.
"Just what the hell is that?!" Chiyo gawked as she stared at Kanari's illustration.
"It's you." Kanari replied tonelessly.
"Plus it's a little too late into the semester to join art now..." Renge added sheepishly," But, it's ok, art's not for everyone, but, what about band club?"
"I don't do instruments.." Kanari answered flatly as she awkwardly put a hand on the back of her neck.
"Broadcasting club?" Renge suggested.
"Ooh, that could work. Considering she's already loud." Chiyo teased.
"Wait, I think it says the club's full here..." Renge stated as she squinted at the page," Um...what about basketball?"
"Basketball?" Kanari repeated flatly with zero interest,"Renge, have you ever known me to even play sports?"
"Well, there's a first for everything, plus they're always looking for more members!" Renge pointed out.
"Gimme that list, let's see if I can find something worth trying." Kanari demanded as she grabbed the list from Renge as she stuck her tongue out to the bespectacled girl.
"Alright let's see, tea ceremony club is a no, baseball is a hell no, archery is another no, drama is unfortunately full, and flower arrangement sounds like the most boring thing on earth." Kanari disclosed.
Renge and Chiyo looked at each other for a couple of moments while trying to meet a collective decision.
"Basketball." The girls said in unison.
"What?! I already told you guys, I'm not doing it!" Kanari protested before they dragged her to the school gym.
"You can't make me join basketball club!"
"Why am I at basketball club." Kanari moaned in defeat as she found her in the school gym. Inside the gym was many girls from different grades wearing the same grey and purple basketball jersey, of course each of them sported a different number. The gym was quite large and it felt like an almost foreign, yet nostalgic place for Kanari, considering she hadn't been in the school gym for what felt like forever. Everything seemed about the same with the exception of the continuous sound of basketballs being dribbled pounding in her head.
Renge was talking to the team captain about their situation while Chiyo and Kanari stood awkwardly near the wall and beside the fire exit.
"I never realized there were so many girls in the basketball club." Chiyo exhaled.
"Same." Kanari commented as she watched the girls dribble the basketballs.
"Hi, Mizukage!" The team captain greeted joyfully as she jogged up to Kanari with Renge following behind," So, Kotori has told me about you not being able to join a club yet and how you were thinking about joining basketball club. And let me just say I think it's awesome that you want to join!"
"I, uh...yeah." Kanari responded awkwardly as she stared at the team captain. She was quite tall, taller than Chiyo and looked like a super friendly girl with such a warm smile on her face. Her long blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail looked rather lime-yellow due to the gym's lighting and her giant blue eyes glimmered as she looked down to Kanari.
"My name's Tsubaki Kemuri and I'm captain of the team. So, today we can just let you test out the waters, see if you like it or not ok?" Tsubaki stated.
"Yeah, uh, sure, that works.." Kanari sputtered out.
"But for today, you'll need a jersey, alright?" Tsubaki declared," And of course, you'll get to keep it for longer if you do decide to join."
"Jersey?" Kanari repeated while cringing as she looked at the drab, unfashionable jersey that all the girl's were wearing.
A few minutes, after Tsubaki supplied Kanari with a jersey, Kanari appeared out from the change room, wearing the standard jersey that had the number twenty five printed onto it with her hair tied up and pinned up higher with a claw clip under it. Kanari cringed again upon looking at herself.
"Isn't she darling?" Chiyo crooned as Kanari shot her a threatening look.
"Now you can be a joth Kanari." Renge jeered.
"A what?" Kanari questioned.
"A goth jock."
"You're going to be a dead woman soon you know that?" Kanari spat before the three of them heard a voice scream 'Watch out!'.
Kanari ducked in a heartbeat and watched as a volleyball came flying at a break neck speed above them. The ball bounced powerfully against the wall and bounced away from the girls slowly.
"You girls ok?" Tsubaki asked as she ran over towards them," The jersey looks good on you, Mizukage."
Kanari smiled awkwardly as the girls nodded. Then, a girl who was wearing a volleyball uniform jogged up to them to apologize.
"I'm so sorry about that!" The dark-haired girl apologized as she came near to them.
"This girl nearly took my head off with a volleyball and I'm supposed to accept her apology?!" Kanari screamed in her mind. Tsubaki elbow-nudged her in a friendly manner to say something. Now appearing very alert, Kanari replied saying in a rather robotic tone,
"No worries, it's ok."
The girl ran off to retrieve the volleyball shortly after. Tsubaki chuckled as she watched the girl go after the ball in a clumsy manner.
"We wound up having to split the gym in half with them today because the volleyball team mis-scheduled a practice session. They only lucked out today because the guy's team is at an away game." Tsubaki explained.
"So, have you guys had you're first game yet?" Kanari asked.
Tsubaki shook her head," That's not until next week. We won our first game by default when the away team never showed up. So technically, our next game is our second one."
"Great," Kanari remarked sarcastically before Tsubaki handed her a basketball and unintentionally nearly winded the snow white-haired girl.
"Now, let's see what you got!" Tsubaki cheered as she urged Kanari to start dribbling the ball.
"I don't think I've done this since middle-school," Kanari thought as she dribbled the ball very cautiously.
"Now let's see if you can run and dribble the ball," Tsubaki suggested as Kanari was about to hit the five-minute mark for dribbling in position. Nervously, Kanari jogged in a somewhat dainty manner and soon, she began to pick up speed. Then, Tsubaki came from behind her and began to block her.
"I'm open!" One girl with dark brown tied in a bun called out to Kanari.
"Number eighteen's open, what are you going to do?" Tsubaki questioned as she continued to block Kanari.
Knowing she likely wasn't going to be able to pass the ball to number eighteen, Kanari recklessly evaded Tsubaki with much avail and threw the ball to the basket with her eyes closed. The ball flew near the basket but bounced off the backboard and began to charge down at Kanari as if it was aiming for her. She hid behind Tsubaki to avoid to avoid collision with the ball. As the ball rolled away from them, Tsubaki chuckled awkwardly.
"That was rather bold of you.." She remarked as Kanari got up from behind her," But that evasion...was remarkable."
"Seriously?" Kanari asked in bewilderment.
"I don't recall ever seeing anything like it. I think you have potential." Tsubaki stated.
"Are you sure about that?" Kanari questioned, not really believing what she was hearing. She barely knew the rules of basketball, so just how did she have potential?
"Absolutely, you just need to work on a few things and you can be as good as the rest of us!" Tsubaki declared as she motioned the two of them to walk around the gym.
"Oh great, now I have to stay because she said all of that." Kanari thought as she walked with Tsubaki.
"You know what? I think we'll do a game right now." Tsubaki said as she gathered the rest of the girls from the basketball team around.
"Ok, everyone on this side of the gym is team A, the other side is team 1. Choose who you're going to guard and will start the game in a minute." Tsubaki instructed," Looks like we're on opposing teams."
Kanari looked down on the floor and realized she was on team 1 while Tsubaki was on team A. Kanari then looked around to see who she could guard that she'd at least be able to block with her petite stature. She found a girl with short red hair tied into little pigtails on the opposing side and decided that she was going to be the one she'd block. She made eye-contact with the girl and the red-head simply a shot her a threateningly look.
Soon, their little game commenced and Tsubaki was the first to get it. She dribbled with the ball as she ran in search of a teammate. She heard a flood of cries shouting 'I'm open!" and so, she passed the ball to the closest teammate she could find.
But then, a member of the opposing team got the ball while it was in mid-air. The girl who caught it, number twenty-two, dribbled the ball and searched for somebody who she could pass it to.
Kanari screamed," I'm open!" and so twenty-two passed it to her. The ball nearly winded Kanari again, but she at least caught it. Just as she began to dribble the ball, she noticed the red-head was she guarding was coming after her.
Kanari not realizing how near the girl was, started to run with the ball, causing Tsubaki to shout," Travel!"
"Oops..."
They then checked the ball as they all walked back to their original positions.
The game restarted and the girls, along with Renny and Topher were watching Kanari play with what she to be all her might.
"I really thought she was going to quit ten minutes in," Chiyo remarked as she watched Kanari try to block the red-head.
Renge nodded in agreement as they continued to watch the game. From inside of Renge's bag, Renny and Topher watched Kanari too.
"She's better than I thought." Renny stated. Topher said nothing and continued to watch Kanari play, taking note of how clumsy she became whenever she got in contact with the ball.
For the next few days, Kanari proved her fellow Cures wrong by staying with the basketball club, though it was mainly because she felt pressured to by Tsubaki to stay. The practices were brutal and at least once a practice, Kanari found herself running away from a basketball flying towards her. But, she didn't let that, along with her sore arms and legs affect her decision of staying. Yet, every time practice came, she felt herself dreading the idea of walking into the stupid gym, putting on an even stupider jersey just to throw around some ball she may only touch for about forty seconds if they decided to play a game that practice. But, Tsubaki was cheering her on and she continued to cheer her on after each and every practice, so she couldn't just leave now, as much as she wanted to.
Today, just before club time began, Kanari realized this practice would be the last one before the first game. She could already feel her insides contort from within her just thinking about the first game. She had no idea how fast the days since she join basketball club flew and she just thought they had just dragging on because of the club. Maybe she could quit today? Before she got destroyed on the court tomorrow would be best, at least that's what she thought. Yeah, the girls on the team were pretty nice to her, and weren't actually scary, but she wasn't able to say that for the opposing team. The thought of them being gigantic, unforgiving, burly girls was enough to make Kanari quit as soon as possible. But, what would Tsubaki say about her then?
The thought of Tsubaki not being able to forgive her was even more frightening than the burly girls from the opposing team for Kanari.
Walking up to the gym, Kanari thought aloud," Maybe I can just stay until after the first game. Yeah, that could work. Besides, I'm not much of an asset to them, so it won't hurt the team, I guess."
When she got into the gym, she found that everyone had been put in pairs of twos to play one-on-one. Everyone appeared to have a partner except one girl standing in the corner dribbling a ball. It was the girl from the other day with the dark brown hair who tried to help Kanari by offering to pass to her.
"You need a partner?" Kanari asked as she walked up to her.
"Yeah," The girl answered as she began to dribble the ball near to the basket.
"Oh no you don't," Kanari said as she darted up towards the girl. Carelessly, the girl attempted to shoot from where she was standing and Kanari blocked her with little effort. Kanari watched as the ball bounced up and down a few times before it rolled away. The girl was panting and holding her hands on her knees as she attempted to catch her breath.
"You're getting better Mizukage," The girl remarked between gasps for air.
"Thanks eighteen." Kanari replied thoughtlessly as she watched the ball continue to bounce away further from there.
"My name's Sachi." The girl introduced as she extended a sweaty hand out to Kanari.
Delicately, Kanari shook her hand," You can call me Kanari. I still can't believe we have our first game tomorrow."
"Yeah, our first one too. This year our 'first' team is going to be Ichijo Academy." Sachi responded.
"Are they hard?"
"Yeah, the toughest team we faced last year."
"Are they brutes?"
"No, not brutes." Sachi answered casually," But they don't need brute strength since their team has been stacked with all-stars for years now. They're all really talented, a little intimidating and snarky but nonetheless, their team is guaranteed to be composed of some of the most talented basketball players in the district."
"That good huh?" Kanari questioned as Sachi nodded vigorously in response.
"But, we've come a long way. So this year, we actually stand a chance. And maybe, we may even win." Sachi mused, sounding a little shaky as she said that last sentence.
"Maybe," Kanari mused with her as they watched the rest of the team practice. Everyone was so good, they really were and even though Kanari improved a bit over the last couple of days, she still couldn't compare to the other girls. She only had so many practices during the week before tomorrow's game, so she couldn't have even hope to improve herself a little more before tomorrow.
When practice was finally over, Tsubaki told the girls to get lots of rest in preparation for tomorrow's big game. Kanari walked home from club, hoping to walk with Renge but being unable to find her, she went off by herself. Renge usually took the bus home, which was totally reasonable in Kanari's eyes. But it was days like this where an hour long walk to distract her mind away from more pressing issues were all she could want. During the walk Kanari got to watch the sun slowly fade as the sky became darker and less bright with each passing minute. It was days like this where Kanari could just watch the sky for an hour so she could witness the shift from afternoon to early evening, but she the only place she would allow herself to perform such a task was when she was at home in her room, staring out through her window. Not trying to walk home from school.
After an hour, when Kanari got home from her tiring walk, she collapsed onto her bed. Her legs feeling weak from the walk and today's practice combined. Now that she was home, she could go back to thinking about tomorrow's game.
"It sucks being the weakest link." Kanari scoffed as she stared up at her ceiling,"If I was better than at least one person, I wouldn't have to worry that I might be the one to let the team down if we lose tomorrow."
Sitting upright, she sat in silence until she spotted a pale green sheet of paper she didn't notice before on her side-table. So, with great caution, she picked it up and read it.
"Hey, if you want some more practice, then come meet me at the school's gymnasium around eleven tonight. Signed, T." Kanari read aloud," T as in...Tsubaki?"
Kanari reddened a little at the thought, but...how she would know where Kanari lived was beyond her if Tsubaki was indeed the writer of this message. But whoever they were, they were likely going to be waiting for her at the gym tonight and it definitely wouldn't be fair to ditch out on them. Kanari decided, though the invite was slightly suspicious, she'd go, because if this person was considerate to offer their time to help her, she may as well have done her part to come.
Leaving her house wasn't an issue since she had been able to do so without even using the front door. Basically, she snuck out a lot. But not for any reason typically, and since she rarely did so, she had yet to be caught. Throwing down the rope ladder she acquired a few years ago, she crept down as quietly as she could and went to the school, via bike this time. Kanari figured it'd probably faster that way considering she left her bus pass downstairs. Plus it would likely be a good warm-up.
When Kanari got to the school, she then wondered how she was going to get in. She tried the front door and as suspected, it was locked. Feeling a little agitated she stood their with her arms crossed, trying to think of what other entrance the inviter could've gone through.
She walked over to the side of the school and tried the entrance that led to the gym. To her surprise, it actually did open, and so she tip-toed in with as much stealth as she could muster up.
Walking into the gym, she noticed only half of the lights were turned and standing in the center of the gym, aiming to shoot for the basket, was Topher in human form.
"Well, aren't we notorious for signing with a single initial? Not to mention making come to school this late at night." Kanari smirked as Topher spun around to see her.
"It's the only initial I've got," He snickered," And you did say you needed the practice."
"Yeah, you're right. And since I'm here now..." Kanari darted over to Topher in an attempt to steal the ball from him, who quickly evaded her. Spinning away from her, Topher leapt up and shot the ball into the net.
As the two watched the ball bounce up and down for a few moments and roll away, Kanari stood there, astonished by what just happened," You're pretty good man."
"Thanks." Topher responded as he went to go retrieve the basketball. Once Topher got the ball and walked up to Kanari, he decided now was the time to inform her about her weak points,"You travel quite a bit. And you tend to pass to the teammates that you're being blocked from."
"Eheheh, you're making some good points." Kanari replied sheepishly," So, what're we going to do about that?"
"I'll show you." Topher concluded as he began to dribble the ball again. For the next hour, Topher showed Kanari some ways to keep herself from traveling and a few pointers regarding who to pass to when she was blocked with, any size of person really. Topher covered all heights on when it would be ok to pass to a teammate you were being blocked from.
'Wanna try shooting a basket?" Topher asked after he went through all the things Kanari needed to improve on.
"Um...not really." Kanari answered nervously as she threw the basketball to him.
"Why not?" He asked," You've improved a lot within this last hour, I think that's worth a celebratory shoot."
"I'm pretty sure the shoot only counts as celebratory when it gets in the net..." Kanari responded sheepishly with an awkward giggle.
"You can't shoot?" He questioned curiously.
"Just watch." Kanari responded as she motioned him to pass her the ball. Once the ball got in her hands, she took a deep breath and shot it up towards the basket. As she expected, the ball didn't even come close to coming in and simply rolled away from them after it landed on the ground.
Instead of laughing at her like she expected, Topher only snickered once and retrieved the ball for her. Giving the ball back to Kanari, Topher informed her," Your technique's a little...off."
"A little or a lot?" Kanari questioned flatly.
"Here, let me show you.." Topher offered as he stood next to Kanari," You just have to put your hand over here and your other one under here and bend down a bit."
Kanari took the ball from him and did as he instructed. Squinting as she focused on the basket, Kanari shot the ball and miraculously it went it in.
"Topher did you see that?! I, I did it! It went it in! I...I shot a basket...and I got it in!" Kanari exclaimed.
Topher applauded her," See? All you needed was to fix your technique."
The two high-fived in celebration of Kanari's first basket.
Before Kanari knew, the next day had slipped through her fingers and she found herself sitting on the bench with her other teammates waiting for the game to start. The away team had just came in and Sachi was right, they were intimidating. It appeared the rest of the girls shared the same opinion as Sachi did towards the Ichijo team because they were all staring at the team with collective apprehensive looks in their eyes.
"Excited girls?" Tsubaki asked, an undertone of sarcasm detectable in her voice," Don't worry, this is what we've been practicing so hard for. After this, it's gets a whole lot easier from here."
"Go team!" Renge cheered from the bleachers with Chiyo sat beside her. She was surprised she managed to convince Chiyo to come with her to watch Kanari's game. Chiyo seemed as stoic as ever and very out of place here at the basketball game, watching the opposing team with minimal interest.
"I hope Seinori wins!" Renge beamed naively as she flashed a thumbs-up to Kanari. Chiyo didn't seem to believe they had a shot of winning, but she chose not to voice her opinion.
Tsubaki decided who was going to on first and she chose Kanari as one of the players to go on now. Kanari winced, wondering if Tsubaki chose her to go on first as some method of torment for thinking about quitting, even though she didn't say she wanted to quit.
She was guarding the shortest girl on the opposing team, who towered over her standing around five foot six. She seemed unimpressed that she had to be guarded by a shrimp like Kanari, but she didn't complain.
Once the game began, the opposing team got the ball first and the girl from the other side with the ball passed it to one of her teammates. The teammate caught it but realizing she was getting cornered by the girl guarding her, she tried passing to her teammate behind her.
The teammate she passed the ball didn't catch the ball and it was stolen by Tsubaki. Dribbling the ball at break-neck pace to the opposing team's basket, she searched desperately for a teammate to pass to. Originally intending to pass to the short red-haired girl, she realized she wasn't going to be able to with the girl being blocked from the girl guarding her. So, what she did instead was pretend that she was going to pass to the red-head, but fooled everyone and pass to Kanari behind her. Even Kanari was caught off-guard when she found the ball between her hands. But of course, she knew she had to think fast. So, she tried dribbling quickly over to the basket with much avail for the most part. But then, she found her crashing down. She ran on one foot in an awkward position and she tripped, falling with her hand laying flat against the ground.
"Kanari!' Renge cried out.
The referee called a time-out and team gathered around to take a look at Kanari. Because of how she landed, her hand felt like it was in extreme pain, not to mention she could feel her knees burning from getting skinned against the gym floor. Her hand felt like it was sprained and it was hurting so much. Kanari kept blinking back tears as the girls led her to the bench.
"Tsubaki...I'm so sorry." Kanari apologized as she clenched her wrist in pain as Tsubaki took out an ice pack from the team's safety kit.
"Don't apologize." Tsubaki responded neutrally, still searching for the ice pack.
"But I-I...I let you down! I'm making you guys worry and we're one less player now, and it's all my fault!" Kanari cried.
"Kanari," Tsubaki said sternly as she placed her hands on Kanari's shoulders," You didn't let me down and none of this is your fault alright? Accidents happen, and that's ok."
"I...yeah, I guess you're right." Kanari sighed as she tried to wrap the ice pack around arm,"...Well, I guess that means you're just going to have to give those Ichijo girls hell for the both of us!"
"Yeah, I guess so." Tsubaki snickered as she returned to the court.
Jika stood on a little platform behind the scoreboard spectating the game. What that platform was doing there was beyond her.
Looking below from where she was standing, specifically at Sachi, she was able to tell that needed to look no further for an Inner Scholar to use. Everyone around her seemed very unaware of how sad Sachi appeared which made this capture even better. To add some dramatic flair to her heist after she plucked out Sachi's Inner Scholar, Jika pressed her hand against the scoreboard, causing the scoreboard to malfunction.
"Sachi, are you ok?" Kanari asked in low voice as she shook the unconscious girl violently.
"Guys the scoreboard!" One girl from the opposing team shouted.
"The lights!" Renge cried as the lights began to flicker on and off. The referee and teachers led everyone out from the gym and before Renge was pulled out from the gym with crowd, she felt herself get grabbed and shoved away into a small little corner between the side of the bleachers and the wall.
Chiyo stood there holding out her pen as if she was silently prompting Renge to do so.
"Pretty Cure, study session!" The girls shouted out in unison, as a swarm of red and yellow lights appeared to envelope them.
"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature introduced.
"The subject of generations past with tales that are sure to last, Cure History!" Cure History introduced.
Kanari stood with her back against the bleachers, unsure of just how she was supposed to transform when a outrageously large water bottle-esque Delinquous was cornering her.
"Take her hostage, what are you waiting for?" Jika jested.
"Not so fast!" Literature shouted from the top of the bleachers.
Kanari looked up and saw her two fellow Cures standing at the top of the bleachers.
Literature questioned,"Crashing a basketball game filled with girls who were working so hard for this game while trying to steal the Inner Scholar of a completely innocent girl? In my books, that is just..."
"...Absolutely unforgivable!" Literature and History said together.
"Oh great, don't tell me History gets hyped up with those cheesy lectures too." Kanari deadpanned.
"We're gonna put an end to you!" Literature threatened.
"Oh really? And what makes you so sure of that?" Jika scoffed.
"Making learning fun, together as one, we are...Academia Pretty Cure!" Literature and History announced.
"So that's what are motto going to be?" Kanari asked as her face lifted into a half-grin while she transformed.
"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic introduced.
The lights were still flickering and what made things worse for the Cures was trying to land an attack onto the Delinquous who just spilled most, if not all, of it's contents on the floor. It grinned deviously, knowing the Cures would inevitably slip as they tried to run towards it.
History kept slowing down every time she felt like she was about to fall and Arithmetic just tried to use this as an advantage, slipping down towards towards the Delinquous at full speed hoping that it would tumble down.
It would've worked, if the Delinquous didn't notice her so quickly and nearly squish her with it's foot. Thankfully though, Arithmetic managed to evade the attack, as the Delinquous was too slow in trying to step on the blue Cure.
"You'll have to do a little more than slippery floors if you want to knock us down!" Literature cried as she leapt from the top of the basketball net and brought her hands in front of herself.
"Pretty Cure, Poetic hyper jurisdiction!" Literature shouted as a flock of giant writing quills pinned the Delinquous to the wall.
"Now this is where I play a hand in this battle." Jika declared as she snapped her fingers, causing the lights to flicker off.
"It's pitch-black, I can't see a thing!" Arithmetic shouted.
"Turn the lights back on!" Literature demanded.
"Not a chance!" Jika sneered.
Cure History remained quiet, trying to make herself undetectable as she hid in that spot where her and Renge transformed in. She tried to think of some way to bring the light back or at least locate the Delinquous without the creature finding her first. Her new powers were beginning to feel both very limitless and limited, as it felt like she could do anything but the question was, what could she actually do?
She shut her eyes and set herself to focus and tried to ignore the background noise that was her fellow Cures ambling around the unlit gym and screaming when attacked.
Impulsively, she opened them again and shouted out,"Pretty Cure, Archaic Blaze!"
She felt some sort of rod materialize in her hands and the moment she felt it, she gripped onto it as tight as she could. The tiny plain rod looked rather antique and it carried a little flame on top of it that would be able to guide her to her fellow Cures and hopefully the Delinquous.
History found the other Cures one by one and listened carefully to find the Delinquous who appeared to be in hiding. Thankfully, the light on her rod was dim enough for the girls not to be seen from the other side of the gym and yet bright enough to illuminate at least a little bit of the path in front of them.
Suddenly, the Delinquous roared and startled Cure History, would wounded up tossing her rod into the air and setting the bleachers aflame.
"Oops..." History said sheepishly as she watched the rest of the bleachers burn.
"Well, at least they're brightening the place up..." Literature pointed out.
"Yeah but how?" Arithmetic questioned.
The girls were able to see the Delinquous now and attacked relentlessly. History, apparently being the strongest out of the three of them, fought harder than her fellow Cures in hopes all her efforts would be enough to defeat this Delinquous.
"Why did you take Sachi's Inner Scholar?!" Arithmetic spat.
"Why? Well, because I could. It was already being tainted by just residing in that toxic girl's body." Jika explained casually.
"Toxic, what are you talking about?" Arithmetic shouted as she blasted the Delinquous to the other side of the room with Cure Literature.
"I'm not sure, maybe she was so toxic because she was weak, and afraid. Terrified of those girls and too powerless to do anything about what she felt." Jika theorized.
Arithmetic hated to admit it, but Jika's theory did make sense," So what if she was afraid? Weren't we all? Their the best in the league and they creamed the team last year, not to mention they're ridiculously intimidating, could you blame them? They don't have to be fearless to stand up and at least try."
"Oh really? Then how are they going succeed when they can't push a little bit of fear away?" Jika asked as she watched the Delinquous slam Arithmetic into the fire exit doors.
"They can motivate themselves with their fear! Because their fear is born from the idea of not reaching something they worked so damn hard for!" Arithmetic screamed as she sent a Geometric Frenzy towards the Delinquous head on.
The Delinquous fell backwards and to keep it down, History threw it to the side of the gym all by herself. The Delinquous laid there in defeat and Arithmetic looked down at it, taking a giant breath.
"Pretty Cure, Problem-solving Paradox!" She cried out as the atmosphere turn blue in mid-sentence. The Delinquous was purified and Sachi's maroon coloured Inner Scholar went back into Sachi.
"Zephora was right..." Jika realized in a quiet tone as she vanished.
After Arithmetic finished turning the charcoaled remaining of what used to be the bleachers back into the bleachers with Geometric frenzy, the girls found that some of the players from Kanari's team came back to gather some of their belongings. As they walked in one by one, the girls were surprised to find the gym looking as good as new, as if nothing ever happened. Sachi walked in, just as surprised as all the other girls with the condition of the gym. Just as they watched the girls walk in, Kanari took notice of how the pain from her wrist reutrned, but at least now it wasn't as painful as before.
Kanari dashed up to Sachi as she looked at the gym in astonishment," Hey Sachi,come back for your stuff?"
"Yeah I uh...how-? The gym looks, normal..like, how we...left it..?" Sachi wondered curiously.
"Yeah, it does." Kanari commented, trying to sound completely naive about the subject,"Um, don't mind my asking but...you didn't look alright during the game. Was there something bothering you?"
Sachi looked surprised that Kanari took notice of her distress from earlier," Yeah it's just...I was really nervous about today and I guess my nerves got the best of me. It got so bad that I almost didn't want to play, so I asked Tsubaki if I could sit out the first half." Sachi explained dismally.
"I don't how I got so scared, so anxious. It makes me feel like such a loser..." Sachi added as she looked down.
"No, don't call yourself that." Kanari commanded," Because even if we don't win, we aren't losers, wanna know why?"
Sachi shook her head, waiting for Kanari to tell her why.
"Because winners never quit. And this team doesn't either, so I guess that makes us winners in our own right, right?" Sachi nodded vigorously in agreement.
"So, how about we give it all we got?" Kanari suggested.
"Oh! Um, since the lights were flickering off earlier, the teachers decided to reschedule and postpone the game, hehe..." Sachi told her sheepishly.
"Oh." Kanari responded simply as she double-blinked in surprise," Well then, we'll just have to give it all we got the next game!"
"Yeah!" Sachi cheered in agreement.
