Chapter 24 (Miki)
Miki knew, quite obviously, that she would not win all the events she participated in - if she did, she really was inhumane. No, despite contrary belief, Miki knew her limits, and had saved her energy for the jumping and running events. Also despite contrary belief (due to her own words), she was not in all the events held that day.
Like the Cavalry Battle, anything to do with weights, and water.
Yes, Oikawa Miki, the epitome of hyperness in the walls of Saotome Academy, could not swim to save her life.
She figured that fact would come back and bite her one of these days, but eh, she wss taking her chances.
Back to the sports festival. She had completed the high jump (her roommate had taken part in it too, and Miki lost to both her and someone from B class - high jump really was not her thing), obstacle course (she had died of laughter due to the relative easiness in comparison to what her instructor had made her do - she also held the fastest completion time), ball toss (she lost due to not really knowing what to do - and she still didn't, much to her amusement), 4x100m relay (in which she tried to salvage her team's chances of getting at least bronze and failing spectacularly due to the epic slowness that was the third runner), long jump (the gold medal was easily hers for this one), and 100m sprint (she was part of the second set of people running due to long jump, otherwise she'd had raced against Aria and Yuiren).
At the moment, though, Miki was preparing herself for the 400m sprint with last-minute stretches. Aria had waved at her from the spectators' section and flashed her a thumbs up, and the brunette had responded with one of her own. Hyuuga-sensei had taken over for Kyo-sensei by then to let the B class teacher rest, and blew the whistle to signal the participants to get to the starting line.
"Oikawa has been in nearly all the events so far - she'll be easy to beat," someone muttered from behind her, and Miki couldn't help her vindictive grin. She said nothing as she checked her shoelaces and got into the ready position, though.
"On your marks," Hyuuga-sensei said clearly, and the chatter stopped, "Ready..."
The whistle blew, and Miki flew. There was a chorus of surprise at her speed - to finish a full 400m on the grounds that was set, they'd have to run two rounds - the school's tactic to have nearly all the events at the same field. She paid them no heed, though - her previous record for sprinting at near full-speed was exactly 800m.
Clearing the first round way faster than her peers, Miki sent a mock-salute in the direction of the person who underestimated her - she recognized the other to be part of the 'Aria's bullies' team, and continued on with the remaining 200m, leading by a huge margin. She crossed the finish line with practiced ease, and began stretching out the tension in her limbs.
Aria came to join her then. "Miki, you're insane!" she said, passing her a sports drink. Miki took it with a grateful smile and saluted her, gulping the drink down.
"Someone underestimated me," she told the older teen. "I just hadt o prove them wrong."
She hadn't failed to notice Aria's eyes darting somewhere behind her, but she paid it no heed. And then familiar hands covered her eyes.
"Da~re da?" came a whisper in her ear, and Miki squirmed to stand properly.
"Nii-san, I can't see!"
"I don't know who this 'nii-san' is," Saeki told her teasingly, and Aria bit back a laugh. "If you don't address me properly, I won't let go."
Miki couldn't help it. She laughed - he was completely imitating Fuji Syuusuke from the Prince of Tennis dating sim she had played. "Nii-san, you're not Fuji," she told her older brother, knocking his hands away from her eyes. She turned and promptly hugged him, giggling. "I thought you said you couldn't make it."
"Well I lied," he answered easily, a hand affectionately ruffling her hair. The brunette let go, and her now-blonde brother grinned at her... and then he took notice of Aria. Again.
"Ooooo~ is a hot chick!"
Aria's laugh burst forth then. "So you've told me before," she answered. "And again, name's Ichijo Aria."
"And like I've told you before, I'm Oikawa Saeki." He mock-bowed with a flourish, though Miki suspected he practiced - he used to be unable to do mock-bows with his walking stick.
The trio of them chatted over nonsense for a while (more like the two elder ones were teasing and generally bullying Miki - and Aria had pinched her cheek and cooed when her fear of water came into the picture) until the 200m sprint was announced. "Gotta go," Miki said, passing the sports drink to her brother and running off to the field.
Now... who else intended to underestimate her?
Saeki watched his sister go with a fond smile. He wouldn't be honest with himself if he said he wasn't jealous - he was; it was his dream, after all - but he could not bring himself to be so heartless and pile on even more guilt on the younger's already-heavy shoulders. The silly brunette had never forgiven herself for his accident, and like he had told Syo, it didn't matter how many times he told her she was forgiven until she dared believe it herself.
"I hope I'm not being rude in asking, but..." Aria's near-hesitant question caused his gaze to turn her. "...what happened? I can't help but notice your walking stick..."
He blinked, then chuckled. "A lot of people get curious, don't worry," he told the younger. "I was involved in an accident when I was Miki's age," he said, adjusting slightly to ease the strain on his leg. "She was twelve then, and potentially thanks to our parents and I doting on her too much, she was pretty spoiled." He rolled his eyes. "Not that she doesn't act spoiled once in a while now, but it was worse back then."
Saeki took in a breath, running a hand through his semi-long locks. "We're lucky to have supportive parents," he told the raptly-listening teen. "When I said I wanted to attend this school, they had agreed and supported me fully. Miki of back then, though... she didn't really understand how a dream could be important to anyone. So she did whatever a spoiled brat would do."
"Threw tantrums and cried?" Aria suggested, though she looked thoughtful about the difference between the Miki of Saeki's tale and the Miki she knew now.
He chuckled. "Essentially, yes. Long story short, we were walking home from the convenience store and, right as a car passed by, I had slipped from the sidewalk." A rueful chuckle escaped his lips then. "Even though majority of the damage was on my leg-" he patted his left leg with a sad smile "-I was in a coma for three weeks - shock, the doctors had said, and... well... she blamed herself. Thought she pushed me."
"...but she didn't," the celeste-haired teen ventured softly, and Saeki shook his head in agreement.
"No, she didn't," he echoed. "I told her as much throughout the years, but to her guilt-ridden mind, it was an excuse regarding my situation to make her feel better. In a way, to lessen her own guilt, she decided to take up my dream when she was fifteen."
"I'm sorry, nii-san," he could still remember her cry, "I'm so sorry." It was heartwrenching.
Aria had a look of utter incredulity. "But that's just..."
Saeki smiled gently. "I know," he agreed, "I never understood her so-called 'solution' to her guilt either. I'd much prefer it if she chased her own dream for my sake."
"Out of curiosity... what would that dream be?"
His smile felt more genuine as he answered, "A composer," he told the shocked teen, "that was her dream."
Saeki had left after she finished her events for the day, citing his thesis' research, much to Miki's displeasure. Aria had stuck by her, though she had noticed the odd looks the older female kept flashing her - she suspected she knew her story, but Miki decided to not say anything unless the Ichijo heiress asked first.
"Yui-Yui has swimming now," Miki told the older after she consulted the day's schedule. "We supports her, yes yes yes?"
Aria laughed at her - probably imagining a wagging tail behind her form. "Yes, we'll support her," she agreed. As they walked towards the swimming pool, a look of worry crossed the older teen. "Will you be okay?" she asked, "I mean... your fear for water and all..."
"As long as I'm not in the water, I'm fine," Miki told her cheerily. Spotting two of the taller Starish members, she grinned. "Natsuki-san! Jinguji-san!"
"Miki-chan," the blonde greeted with a smile, and Jinguji-san smirked at them with a fancy flip of his hair. Both she and Aria rolled their eyes at that, though Aria's smile at the orange-head was fonder than hers.
"Where're you two headed to?" Natsuki-sanasked, curious.
"Yui-Yui's swimming event is on, so we're going to cheer for her," Miki answered, then proceeded to use the 'big eyes', as Yuiren called it, on him. "Join us?"
Jinguji-san hid his snort of laughter behind a cough, and Natsuki-san cooed and proceeded to pinch her cheeks. "I don't see why not," Jinguji-san said, running a hand through his hair as he smiled at them. "We're done with our events anyway."
"Speaking of that," Natsuki-san said as they continued on their journey to get to the swimming pool, "aren't you tired, Miki-chan? You joined a lot of events."
"More like all of them," Aria muttered beside her, and Miki giggled.
"I'm fine," the brunette answered sing-songly. "It wasn't too taxing on me."
The three older teens shared a look and shook their heads as one. "Only you, Miki," Aria commented, reaching over and poking her cheek. "Only you."
Not understanding what they meant, Miki tilted her head and grinned.
Author's Note: Miki, Miki, Miki, what a weird woman you are, lol! Easily the comic relief character while Aria brings the drama and Yuiren tends to bring the angst/sap.
As a side note, the three (3) of us authors have reached chapter 90 on our shared Googledoc where we type our chapters and review them before publishing them up here on . It's pretty crazy I agree, eventhough things are winding down to the end for us there. I estimate a little over 100 chapters once we're done so you peeps are REALLY in for a LONG ride with us in this. I honestly don't know how many of you will actually stick around but if you do, we thank you ahead of time because it means a lot to us, what with how much effort we've actually ended up putting into this collaborative story.
Also, summer is around the bend for our ladies so look forward to that. Please R&R if you like and do stay tuned!