Should I add an excessive language warning for this chapter? Nico literally cannot stop cursing.
It hadn't proven too difficult to avoid Honoka all day. They were in different homerooms, and Umi was fairly certain that she was also being avoided. It made her realize, if nothing else, that they really went out of both their ways to spend time with each other. Usually.
Umi felt guilty. She felt very undeniably guilty and frustrated and she had no clue what to do about any of it. She hadn't meant to start a fight, though she knew that the topic at hand always lead to one. If anything, she felt that she had Honoka's best interests in mind. Clearly, she loved softball and she strongly supported the team. So why did she refuse to join?
It was after school before she knew it. Even with as exhausted as she was from the game last night, she made her way to the locker room anyway; mandatory punishment practice couldn't start without the team captain. She resigned to wearing her school uniform for the duration of practice because Honoka still had her softball jacket, and Umi was far too much of a coward to confront her and get it back just yet.
Nico was already in the locker room by the time Umi got there, and was already changed into her uniform. Strangely punctual of her, Umi mused. Shame that she was lazing on one of the benches, arms behind her head, taking a nap.
Umi opted to drag the duffle bag full of metal bats from the storage room, dropping it from three feet up next to the sleeping third-year. It landed with a loud clang on the floor, startling Nico awake. She bolted up, scrambling off the bench and landing face-down on the floor on the opposite side of it.
"Good morning. Practice starts now," Umi said, arms crossed. Nico sat up, rubbing her nose and flashing a sheepish grin and a shrug that were meant to cover up how stupid she probably felt. It didn't work very well.
Practice sucked. It really really fucking blew. Nico didn't think of herself as a person who hated a lot of things (she was wrong, but still) but she really really hated this.
She really wanted to go home, honestly. It was hot out. She was tired. But it could be worse. At least Umi was here too, suffering with her. And boy, did she look like she was suffering. It was weird enough that Umi forgot her uniform, since she'd be damned if she ever forgot anything. But if that wasn't enough, her pitching was, quite frankly, really shit today. Shit enough for Nico to hit every throw all the way into right field. Shit enough for her to hit every throw, period! (And Nico was sure it wasn't because she was getting better. God knows she'd never be any good at softball, but fuck if she wasn't gonna try.)
Something was fucked. Seriously fucked.
"Captain! Umi-taichou!" Nico shouted, letting her bat fall from in hitting position. A particularly slow curveball whizzed past her, bouncing into the fence behind her. "You need a break."
Umi straightened up, adjusted her hat. Her eyes narrowed, darting to the side. "You're just trying to get out of practicing."
Nico frowned. Nico was pretty sure she wasn't an idiot (she was wrong, but still) but Umi might've thought otherwise. She dropped the bat, stomping up to the mound and crossing her arms. "Seriously? What the fuck's up with you today?"
"Don't… speak back to your captain?" Umi said, looking away. It sounded a lot more like a question than she had probably meant for it to sound.
"That's funny. What's the deal?" She shifted her weight to the right with an unimpressed sneer.
"...It's a long story," Umi sighed, lowering her head in defeat. Clearly, she just couldn't resist the persuasiveness of the universe's greatest shortstop.
"Oh, trust me, I have time. Sit down," Nico grumbled. Umi began to sit down on the pitcher's mound. Nico looked at her like she was a fucking idiot. "Are you a fucking idiot? I meant on a bench. Somewhere not in the middle of a damn field."
"Right."
Nico raised an eyebrow at her as they walked back to the locker room. Umi was just a few steps behind Nico, but for some reason that really bothered both of them. Nico wasn't qualified to lead anybody anywhere, even if it was just across a field. "You really are fuckin' weird today."
"Language."
"You didn't say shit the other four times," She sneered as she pushed open the locker room door. Motioning sharply to the room in general, she said, "Alright, now sit down."
Umi did as instructed, holding the bridge of her nose as she sighed. The kind of long, infinitely tired sigh that only somebody who really fucked up would sigh. "I'm having a bad day."
"Oh, really? I couldn't tell," Nico rolled her eyes as she plopped down on the bench next to the taller girl. "What's the issue? You can tell the great Nico Ni anything."
"I… said some things that really upset Honoka yesterday, and she's been avoiding me all day. I suppose I've… also been avoiding her as well. It's a very frustrating situation for me, and I'm not really sure how to handle it."
"What'd you say to her?" Nico asked, leaning forward, her arms propped up on her knees.
"Well, I don't really understand what exactly I said wrong, but it was about why she won't join the team. It doesn't make sense to me why she thinks that I don't want her to join. Actually, I don't even know if she thinks that. I don't know what she's feeling at all, and she won't tell me. I wish I could just know what she was thinking so that we can start to sort this out."
Of course Nico had to play the reliable senior now, of all times. She couldn't watch Umi tire herself out, running in circles trying to find the answer that was literally right in front of her. The third-year sighed. "Did you consider that she might be worried about you?"
"Worried? I don't…," she trailed off, her eyes darting away again. "Why would she be?"
"I don't know, 'cause she knows that you constantly overwork yourself? And maybe she doesn't want to be one extra thing for you to worry about? Because she knows that you're being an idiot but doesn't wanna say anything? Just some wild guesses," Nico shrugged. Gee, does that all remind her of someone or what? Really, Nico had so much in common with Honoka sometimes that she hated it. And not just because she would definitely lose to her at the Umi game. "I know you think she's super confident or whatever, but that's definitely fake. She doesn't want you to have to worry about how she feels because you already feel way too much for your own damn self. Allegedly."
Umi didn't reply, staring at the floor in a way that Nico could only describe as angsty.
Nico sighed again. It hurt her heart just thinking about the next question she had to ask. But she definitely had to ask it. "Do you really not realize how in love with her you are?"
Umi sat straight up, blushing wildly at the question. She waved her hands in denial. "What? No, I just- I mean, she's a really good friend! I don't think of her like that! I mean, I would never-"
"Oh, shut the fuck up with that. You're not fooling me and I know you're not fooling yourself either. Just tell her and the situation will work itself out because newsflash, she feels the same way about you."
"Do you think so?" Umi mumbled. "Will it really help if I tell her?"
"Of course it'll help, are you stupid or something? Why would I, of all people, give you shitty advice?" Fuck. Nico wanted to kick herself for not giving her shitty advice instead. Too good for her own good.
"You might be right," Umi said, standing up. Her eyes looked distant, like she was only just becoming aware of the situation. "I'll tell her."
"Of course I'm right, when am I not? Now get outta here already. I'll lock the equipment up."
Umi already had her bag over her shoulder, ready to leave. She turned as she reached the door, bowing towards Nico. "Thank you, Nico-senpai."
Nico knew she was blushing a little, but hoped it wasn't noticeable. "Get outta here with that 'senpai' garbage. You know I hate that."
Umi smiled, a really grateful smile that Nico definitely wished she hadn't seen. The second the team captain was out the door, Nico's fake smile practically melted off her face.
Why did she have to go and say all that? She should've let them work it out, she told herself. She knew Umi didn't get it. She knew Umi didn't register that half the words out of her mouth weren't even about Honoka. She shouldn't have said anything about it, shouldn't have even initiated the conversation.
But no, Nico just had to be the reliable one. She had to be the mature one here, and she hated it. Hated that she couldn't be selfish about this even if she forced herself. Hated that she wanted Umi's feelings sorted out more than her own, even though it was the right thing to do. She didn't want to do the right thing, but she did.
She especially hated that Umi would never like her even half as much as she liked Honoka no matter what she did. She fucking loathed that.
She was crying about it and she couldn't make herself stop and she hated that too. She kicked the bench as hard as she could and it hurt like hell and didn't help at all. "Stupid. This is all fucking stupid, fuck!"
Her voice cracked, echoed out in the empty locker room and she hated it.
Ckik here. I sure hope you didn't want any of these girls to be happy.
This chapter is actually terrible and there was nothing I could do to fix it, so sorry for making you trudge through that. Tune in next Friday and Saturday for more drama.
