Welcome old & new readers alike. I bet you thought I wouldn't be back. I understand that it's exam period for some of you (for me actually). I ask that you think about if this chap is really worth it. If you come back in 10 days, you'll be able to read two chaps. You're not missing anything spectacular. It's not my best work, but it's also not my worst. Think about it. Besides that, enjoy.

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…

"This year—Will be the best! I see around me such EXTREME faces! It is why I have complete confidence in our shared victory!" Sasagawa Ryohei proclaims. Though he is Kyoko's older brother, he doesn't share any of her features. While Kyoko has golden brown hair and eyes, Ryohei's are almost leached of colour. His white hair outgrows its usual buzz-cut, leaving him with a wild and rough look which is only emphasised with the scar running across his temple and his almost permanent bandage across his nose. His grey eyes, meanwhile, can pierce anyone and anything.

They don't look alike. They don't act alike. But it is undeniable that they care for each other. It is undeniable that they are the siblings.

If Kyoko has Namimori Middle's heart, Ryohei has its spirit.

The crowd cheers Ryohei's blind faith. His statement is nonsensically bold, and that's part of the reason why so many people like him. She can't blame them. Ryohei, captain of the boxing club, has a charismatic leadership and unfailing strength. His optimism shines brighter than the Sun. While not the smartest club captain but definitely the most passionate, he leads only a handful of people within his club.

Sakura's pretty sure all their members are willing to die for Ryohei's belief though.

She can respect that.

"It is an honour to lead you all," Ryohei says, to which the crowd hushes instantly, hanging onto every word, "and I would do so with extreme pleasure! So it's sad for me to say—

"I RESIGN."

Sakura blinks in surprise. "What?" she says, uncomprehending. She's not the only one confused—The crowd roars back with their own opinions.

Ryohei slams his hands on the table. The students closest to him instantly wince, leaning away from him. "As you all know," Ryohei says, "each team leader will take their place on top of the pole during the Pole Knocking Competition, while the rest of the team fights off the competitors on the ground. The leader must be firm and strong and extremely fixed on his goal!"

"Yeah! It fits you, Sasagawa! You're so extreme."

The upperclassman who said that and his group of friends break out in laughter.

Ryohei takes it in stride, nodding. "I would have extremely done my best, it's true, but... I want to fight on the ground! I don't want to be waiting on top!"

Ryohei's year mates instantly break out in laughter, some snickering, others with tears in their eyes. Sakura only sighs in exasperation. She's surrounded by children. Literal children.

Kyoko—unfortunately related to Ryohei and thus knowing him too well—puts her face in her hands in embarrassment. "Geez, onii-san..."

Hana whistles, surprised by Ryohei's gall. "Damn, I think he just entered an all new level of selfish, Kyoko."

Sakura rubs Kyoko's back soothingly in empathy. Takeshi though, rude person he is, just laughs slouching on his desk. Hayato too is with them, taking his customary seat next to her, bored and barely paying attention, levelling on two of the chair's legs. She should tell him to respect school property more. His legs really shouldn't be on the table, but considering it's Hayato, nobody has told him off yet.

"So for this reason—" Ryohei says, needless to his friends' friendly booing.

"Don't just decide that yourself!" someone yells in reply. Their allocated sport teachers seem amused—some shaking their head, some barely hiding a grin—and content to let Ryohei lead the meeting.

"We'll need a replacement. For the next Team A leader, I nominate Sawada Sakura."

Sakura's head snaps up, eyebrows shooting upwards. Hayato, in tune to every mention of her name, falls—chair and all—to the ground with a crash.

"What?" she says.

"What!?" Hayato copies, his head propped on the table, eyes focused for once on the sports meeting.

"Oh!" Kyoko perks up, embarrassment forgotten, pitching her voice to the room, "I think that's a great idea! I'll second that nomination."

At Kyoko's recommendation—lovely, level-headed Kyoko—what was just another crazy idea of Ryohei's becomes something sensible. Sakura hears the crowd now murmuring to each other, the idea slowly growing on them.

Oh, no way.

Sakura smiles to the room, polite but firm. "I'm very busy already, I'm afraid. Overseeing the Sports Festival is enough for me, thanks." Sakura motions to the crowd of boys who were loudly making their own opinions known throughout Ryohei's speech, "What about one of the third years? It is their last chance to take part as Namimori Middle school students."

"I don't mind," the captain of the football club says, smiling winningly. The tight feeling in her chest loosens. He's a good replacement, athletic and responsible. He might not have Ryohei's charisma, but he wouldn't slack off on the work like many others would.

"Really?" Kyoko pitches in, bottom lip between her teeth, "I think you would do a much better job fighting alongside onii-san..." She turns her big brown eyes on the third-year.

He folds immediately in the face of her wants, needless to the Sakura's own stare. "O-Oh, that's true. Ryohei and I make a great team."

"It is more strategic to have all our strongest fighters on the ground," Hana contributes thoughtfully, "If you do a good enough job, nobody would even get high enough to climb the pole."

Sakura stares around wide-eyed.

Hayato stands, slamming his hands on his desk, finally getting his bearings, with a defensive opinion at the ready.

Kyoko intervenes before he could start. "Don't you think Sakura-chan would make a great leader, Gokudera-kun, Takeshi-kun?" she asks. "You would know best, wouldn't you, since you're currently in the Student Council?"

Dread solidifies as a stone in her gut. There's only one way for them to answer that.

Hayato scoffs, offended Kyoko even asked. "Jyuudaime is the best damn leader anywhere, leagues above anyone else in this stupid school."

"If Sakura leads Team A, we'll win for sure," Takeshi says simply.

That decides it. With such overwhelming support, Sakura accepts her position, and a teacher notes down her name as Leader. Ryohei steps down, satisfied. The rest of the meeting is spent choosing other positions which are rightly filled by other third years. Sakura is the only one out. Though she was elected by the majority, now that all the important positions are filled, envious eyes can't help but track her. She can't blame them, they are still many third years that weren't chosen. Many that would have no doubt needed the position as Sports Leader to boost their resume to getting into a good high school. But it's also not her fault so Sakura ignores them with ease. If they didn't want the position until everything was gone, they wouldn't have done a good job with it.

After that, they break off for group sign ups. Takeshi heads off to sign up for every sport competition he could join. Hana heads to sign up for band. Kyoko heads to the big group of girls, signing up for cheer. Only Hayato stays by her side, not at all interested in participating more than he has to.

Sakura leans her head back, sighing. She has the irrational urge to kick her legs on the table and just sprawl like she owns the place, which is definitely due to Hayato's influence.

"What's wrong, Jyuudaime?" Hayato turns his green eyes to her, hyper-attentive to her.

The last few weeks have been a learning curve for him. He's settled down from the boy who pulls out dynamites at the slightest hint of a threat. Mostly, it's due to figuring out that he doesn't need to threaten people with dynamites to get his way. Simply glaring them down is enough. A month in school and he's already cultivated a reputation to not be messed with, a few times even beating up Namimori High school delinquents when they tried to show him his place. Needless to say, the delinquents landed themselves in the hospital. Sakura remembers Hibari's reaction when he heard. That was a headache and a half. But it only further cements Hayato's standing near the top of the social ladder that is Namimori Middle.

Hayato breezes by on minimal amount of work and still maintains top marks in their year. Sakura too has pushed up her studies and they tie on school rankings. But the sheer mental prowess of Hayato is beyond her. She learns this the first time when he tried to explain exactly how Fuuta's ranking ability worked in conjuncture with the mysterious Ranking Planet, leading to the temporary loss of gravity around Fuuta when he ranks. Don't get her wrong, Sakura excels in advanced physics, chemistry and biology, and it's second nature for her to apply her knowledge practically. But that day, when she listened on and on as Hayato walked her through his flowchart of theoretical mathematical-astronomical application, and even though she is listening so attentively, Sakura was entirely lost. It did not help that Reborn nodded in agreement. Sakura has never had trouble following theory before. It was a new sensation. She did not like it.

Sakura never has to explain her reasoning behind anything theoretical—unlike moral and social judgements—Hayato just picks it up immediately.

Hayato is a bit like Shikamaru in that Sakura knows that if he really applied himself, he would be able to leave her in the dust. The other day she found out he made his own code just to stave his boredom in class. His preliminary attempts are leagues better than her own first few attempts. (She still broke his code though—Just to demonstrate its predictability. There's always room for improvement, after all.)

Sometimes Sakura doesn't know how to feel about that—sometimes she feels the stings of envy, sometimes she burns with flames of pride, sometimes she drowns in the roaring waves of both.

"Just figuring out how to incorporate Team A Leader duties..." into her already packed schedule. Next to her actual studies, Reborn's training, and just general Sports Festival planning and Student Council duties, it's surprising she's getting any sleep. "I don't know what Kyoko-chan and Sasagawa-senpai were thinking.."

Sakura's eyes catches on a third-year heading their way. Hayato turns over to look at the newcomer, face already set in an unrelenting death glare. Beautiful, serious and athletic, archery club captain Mori doesn't falter in her stride. With a confidence and surety of step that only comes with being on her last year in the school, she bypasses Hayato entirely. "I heard from the girls," she begins, needless to Hayato's presence, "that you did a front flip across a crowd of students and stuck the landing on improvisation." Ino would have added a hair flick right then just because she could. Mori doesn't even play with her long ponytail. Sakura is strangely disappointed. "I need that sort of ability on my team."

Sakura smiles politely, wondering who ratted her out. "I'm sorry, Mori-senpai, but I already have plenty on my plate with leading the Student Council and Team A."

Mori smiles back, just as politely. "I'm not taking no, Sawada, you're joining cheer." Hayato bristles at the disrespect, and Sakura is very tempted to sic him on someone.

"Why don't you let your subordinates do some more work?" a high-pitched voice interrupts. "Delegation is key in leadership roles." Sakura turns and finds Reborn. He's dressed as a Namimori Middle school student with his shirt untucked and hair wild. Sakura's eyebrow twitches as the sight.

What's the point of wearing the uniform if he won't wear it properly?

"That's right," Hayato perks up, tune changing. "You can count on me. I won't let the Sports Festival fail. This one will be the best one this school has ever seen." He gives her a thumbs up like that is all the reassurance she needs.

"That's great to hear," Mori says, seeing an opportunity. "Then there's no reason for you to turn down cheer. Don't be late for practice, I will post the schedule in three days. It'll definitely be the hall, even if I have to fight the other girls for it."

Mori walks away back to the cheer sign-up sheet, just in time for Kyoko to arrive back. There's an excited gleam in her eyes and a bounce in her step. "Are you joining cheer? That's great, Sakura-chan! I'm joining too. We can keep each other company." Sakura smiles in return, though her heart isn't in it.

Once their group completes, with Hana and Takeshi returning, Sakura complains, "Since pole-knocking became a tradition, there's never been a female sports leader."

"It's not against the rules," Hana says like that would make Sakura feel better. "The rough housing is just a big factor for girls. Leaders leave with bruises and ruined clothes." She leans closer, sly eyes amused, smirk at the ready. "I heard five years ago, someone lost his shorts because they were torn off."

"Hana-chan!" Kyoko says indignant, "That can't be true."

Hana raises an eyebrow, lips pursed. "Really? I heard it from Naomi-sensei."

"Did they win?" Takeshi asks, eyes wide, tone wondrous yet soft, caught between dismay and amusement.

"Yep," Hana says, emphasising the consonant. "But do you really want to lose your shorts for a competition?"

Hayato's eyes are wide in horror, the only one who was completely in the dark about Namimori Middle's infamous Pole Knocking Competition. He immediately rectifies this lack of information, and Takeshi and Hana are happy enough to answer any questions.

Sakura turns away, not interested, choosing to engage Kyoko in conversation. "I haven't spoken to Sasagawa-senpai in ages, why would he suddenly nominate me?"

Kyoko blushes prettily, looking away, embarrassed. The people casually looking over at their group fall deeper in love. Sakura though doesn't miss the way Kyoko wrings her hands. "That would be my fault..." she says carefully, tone genuinely sorry. "I was just telling onii-san how cool you were. When we talk at home, you just come up as one of my friends." Sakura says nothing. Kyoko's nerves get the better of her. "I'm really sorry, Sakura-chan! I didn't think onii-san would go this far. He was supposed to be Team Leader..."

"Why did you support his idea then?"

"I thought you were the best person for the job," Kyoko says, but she can't hold Sakura's eyes for longer than a second.

Sakura groans. "I wasn't kidding. I'm very busy—" Sakura looks away from Kyoko and barely keeps from running her hands through her hair. "I don't have time for this."

A comforting hand rests on her shoulder and Sakura follows it to Takeshi's warm face. "Don't fret, Sakura. You'll have us to help you."

"That's right, Sakura-chan," Kyoko says, furiously nodding. "I wasn't going to let you do it alone. Hana-chan and I would have helped." Hana nods in agreement, elbow linked with Kyoko, though Sakura only sees it in her periphery. Her eyes search Kyoko's, finding them damp. Remorse strikes her swiftly.

Hayato forcefully unattaches Takeshi's hand from her shoulder, nose scrunching in distaste. "Don't worry, Jyuudaime. I will give my life before I let this Sports Festival fail."

Sakura smiles, tiny but real. "Let's not go that far, Gokudera-kun."

..

..

"Okay—And break! Good work, everyone! Take 10 mins to yourself—rest, drink water, refill your bottle, stretch—but don't travel far. I want you back here on time," Mori says before conferring with two other girls near the open laptop, probably about choreography or something similar.

Sakura swipes the sweat off her forehead, unbearably hot. Mori is pushing them hard, though they've already almost mastered the first part of the sequence. Making her way to the sitting area where a mix of bags and people are located, she grabs her bottle and drinks half of it before just pouring a little on her head. It's cooling, even if it makes her feel like a drowned cat.

Hayato doesn't look up from the laptop when he types, though he did hand her a hand towel with one hand. She thanks him, wiping her face and neck before falling into stretching positions.

"I have the Sports Festival schedule here," Hayato says, passing a piece of paper.

Sakura peers at it, nodding thoughtfully. "Move Pole Knocking to right before Closing Ceremony. Everything else looks fine. Email it to Kusakabe so they have a copy." Hayato makes a note of it before moving on.

"I looked into the competition. Team B Leader is Takada, captain of the sumo club while Team C has Oshikiri, captain of the karate club. Team B leader is bulky, unnecessarily so. It's irrational that they chose him to sit on top of the pole. To quote Yamamoto 'his sense of balance is uncanny'. Meanwhile, Team C leader though I hear is slippery, placing either second or third in interschool competitions for the past 3 years. Though apparently they wanted the cycling captain instead. There might be something to exploit there. Oshikiri is fairly balanced in terms of both upper and lower body strength. Yamamoto says that it's his kicks that are to watch out for." Hayato hands her a piece of paper and she takes it automatically. It's a little hard to read when she's rolling her head around so Hayato summarises it, "On that sheet, I've thought of various scenarios to get rid of Team B and Team C Leaders. Taking them out on the day or just before would work best as it would leave our competition with minimal or no time to replace them. The tricky part is getting that bastard Hibari to think it's an accident."

Indeed, now that Sakura has paused her neck stretching, Hayato's have concocted very elaborate scenarios to sabotage the competition—and typed it out for her easy reading. Sakura doesn't know whether she's more horrified or impressed at the plans Hayato suggested. While he definitely shouldn't have physical evidence of a crime he plans on doing kept on him—he shouldn't be leaving evidence at all—plan number five is strangely promising and would be highly amusing for all parties involved, except the other Leaders of course. For a brief moment, she's tempted.

"Gokudera-kun, we're not allowed to blackmail, threaten, harm or otherwise affect the competition in a negative manner. This is for fun," Sakura stresses. "Everyone should be trying to enjoy themselves."

Hayato scrunches his nose, disgusted. Sakura is not sure which part of her statement he disagrees with.

Kyoko plops down beside them, arriving with two cool refilled bottles of water in tow. She drinks from one and then joins Sakura in stretching. "Nice laptop, Gokudera-kun," Kyoko says.

"It's not mine. Arai lent it to me."

Kyoko's brow furrows. "I thought the deco team teacher is Wada-sensei?"

"It is."

"...Aren't you in the deco team, Gokudera-kun?"

"Tch, I didn't want to be with some idiots making banners and signs so I left. Now I handle merchandising for the finance group."

And wasn't that a surprise when Sakura heard—not that Hayato is brilliant with numbers because he is—the fact that they actually trusted him with anything linked to money, considering his delinquent reputation.

She guesses the most surprising part was when Kusakabe recommended Hayato to the Team A Finance Teacher.

—And she listened.

Sakura honestly thought Hayato would get by with not participating at all, no matter what the school regulations claimed.

"That's really cool," Kyoko says, stretching her shoulders. "It's a good thing you always come for cheer practice, Gokudera-kun. That's mostly the reason why the other teams don't know our routine yet. It's really nice to have an ace up our sleeves." Kyoko folds forward to touch her toes. "Hana and I heard that the female sports try-outs for Team B are intense. Such a shame they have so many good athletes. It brings in bad sportsmanship." Sakura perks up from her position stretching her thighs, smiling at that. It's less work for Team A if Team B is too busy fighting each other. "Team C on the other hand only has two top athletes with the best definitely being Eiko-chan. Though she's notorious for messing up on actual competition days. It's very bad luck. Once for a competition, a clock fell on her just as she passed through the doors. She got knocked out and missed the entire competition. The teachers would probably put her name in but keep the other as back-up." Kyoko eyes Sakura, who's currently on her hands and feet making a bridge. "I heard Kumiko-sensei listed you to join the 100 metre sprints."

Sakura grimaces, remembering that conversation. Kicking off her feet, she stands on her hands and then goes back to standing normally. "Yeah, only the sprints though. That's where we are the weakest Gokudera-kun says—I'll win that. But everything else, I'll leave to the other players. They let me off the hook for practising with them once I mentioned that I'll practise with Takeshi."

Kyoko nods, knowingly. "Yes, I heard Takeshi-kun got in for sprints and ball-toss so far. If he could, he would join all the competitions—And win them too I wager." Kyoko cocks her head to the side, thinking. "He hasn't lost an individual competition in years."

Kyoko opens her mouth to say more but is cut off. "Breaks over! Come back in formation!" Mori calls.

"That's our cue, Sakura-chan."

"Oh! That reminds me." Sakura turns to Hayato. "How's the front with getting Kyoya to say something for the Opening Ceremony?"

"Sakura-chan," Kyoko says almost a whine pulling her away, but not before Sakura catches sight of Hayato's darkening face.

Sakura steps in formation, breathing out a heavy sigh, and then clearing her mind to focus on the routine.

She doesn't need to hear Hayato's verbal response to know it's a no.

..

..

"I need to be—"

"Two minutes, Sakura-chan," Kyoko pleads, "It would only be two minutes of your time."

Sakura nods.

They are in a secluded area of the school, nearer to a lesser used staircase. Sakura doesn't know what Kyoko needs that she would care about privacy. Kyoko, while not necessarily one to revel in attention, doesn't particularly hate it either. Attention of some form is always on her and through the years she's learn to accept and deal with it.

From her bag, Kyoko takes out a white sports headband. Unfolding it, the lettering 'Sawada Sakura' with a heart capped at each end is clear and cute. Hand sown in pink, Kyoko presents it to her like an offering that would break if she wasn't careful.

"I made it for you," Kyoko begins, big golden brown eyes vulnerable, "to wear on the day of the Sports Festival. I know you would already have your own but... I really am sorry, Sakura-chan. I didn't think... I didn't really understand just how much work you would be doing."

Sakura takes the headband from Kyoko's hands and spends a moment just observing it. Fluffy, clean, an unblemished white. There's something about how pure it is that doesn't sit right with her. Generally Sakura avoids white, there's the fact that it's just such a pain to care for, there's the fact that white reminds her of lab coats that she no longer has, there's the fact some of her nightmares are strewn with white figures. There's the fact that white is purity and Sakura hasn't been pure since she's first killed someone on her Village's orders.

She ties it like a hair band, helping her pull her hair away from her face. Kyoko watches her uncomprehending before breaking out in a grin. Sakura smiles. There was never a question about whether Kyoko would have been forgiven. "Thank you. On the real day... I'll wear it properly."

…

…

1. So many names in this chapter & none of them are important (except you Ryohei). I didn't want to add them but avoiding it would have felt unnatural

2. Social manipulators Sasagawa siblings. How do you like them? I love dumbass Ryohei with the great instincts but also I find myself writing him differently. It's interesting to explore the Sasagawa siblings

3. The original draft of this chap included next chapter but my beta, wistpossessed was like Kyoko is a highlight & I was like ? I should make her the STAR so I did. I don't know where so much Kyoko came from but she demanded to be heard.

4. Astronomy is not Sakura's area of expertise

5. In the manga, they decided the Team Leader the day before Sports Fest & what the heck man?

6. Sakura: We don't threaten the competition

Hayato: Not even a little?

Sakura: No

Hayato: Civilian school is more boring than I thought

7. Originally, it was '"Yep," Hana says, popping the 'p'' but then I remembered they technically talking in Japanese

8. In this story, I never want it to seem like the world revolves around Sakura. The characters have their own lives with their own challenges & highs & lows. They should seem familiar somehow.

9. Sakura says: I don't have time for this

Kyoko hears: I don't have time for you

10. Apparently there are only 3 teams for athletic fest & if its according to class (with max 30) & 3 levels, then the school body comprises 270 students? That's tiny? I dunno what do you guys think.