AN: This is a mixed OVA and 2012 Anime canon, blending elements from both versions.
Standing before the door leading to the gymnasium, she took another deep breath.
She knew nothing would change if she didn't speak to her. And if she were to do it, she was definitely on the wrong side of that door.
Still...
Knowing what had to be done did not calm the nerves of the black haired girl with glasses.
She again grasped the cold steel of the door handle. She hesitated, but an unexpected and long buzzing sound spurred her to push it down and go in.
A girl wearing a white shirt and blue shorts was just picking up a basketball after scoring the basket. Her happy smile, her rugged hairstyle, her eyes flashing with excitement, she looked just...
"Oh, hi Yomi!" Turning around, the girl noticed her and gave a little wave. "What are you doing here so late?"
It was long after classes, orange rays of the setting sun seeping into the hall. The whole school building was empty now, together with the one they were now both in.
"I wanted to..." the girl with glasses began, but nerves seized her throat, keeping rest of the sentence in. "I'd like to, umm..."
"Hm? Is everything alright?" inquired the basketball player, seeing as her friend's green-eyed gaze dashed all over the place.
Yomi cleared her throat, composing herself.
"Yes, I'm fine Mato-san. I just wanted to speak about something, if you have a minute, that is." she asked, repeating the question she said in her head a hundred times on the way here.
"Actually..." the other girl put a finger to her cheek, thinking. "The club training is due in over an hour, so of course I do!" she said, smiling once more.
The black-haired girl breathed a sigh of relief. So far things were going more or less as she planned.
"So... how's your training going?" she asked as they sat down on one of the viewing benches, not having any idea yet on how to start with the real topic.
"Eh, ever since Kohata picked me to play on the school team I train almost every day" Mato sighed. "She drills the team like an army and since I'm new, there's a lot to catch up on." She complained, stretching her arms as she did.
"Must be hard balancing that with school."
Suddenly the girl sitting next to her threw herself at her, as she used to do every time she was thankful for something.
"Thank you for letting me copy all that stuff, or without you I would have failed ages ago!" She exclaimed, glomping her.
"Haha, oh stop it Mato!" Yomi laughed, before gently untangling herself from the hug and adjusting her glasses. "We're friends, I'd always help you if you needed anything."
"In that case, could I ask you a big favor?" Her friend asked.
"Sure." she nodded.
"Since you're in the volleyball club, I wonder if they taught you something to do for the shoulder pains?" The basketball player asked, moving her arms a bit with a pained expression to demonstrate.
"Well, they can be massaged and usually that does it," explained Yomi.
"So could you do it for me?" she asked.
"B...but I'm not a professional masseuse!" the black-haired girl protested, caught off guard by the request.
"Oh come on, it's not like you can snap my neck doing that?" joked Mato.
"It's still very... intimate thing, you know." Her cheeks warming up as she broke off eye contact.
"I mean, if it's you, I'm okay with that." said the girl wearing sports clothes, facing away from her and straddling the bench.
The girl in school uniform gulped as she saw her friend remove her white shirt, revealing the black sports bra beneath.
I came here to talk to her and not... But then again, that might not be so bad... she thought as she stared.
Feeling a bit lightheaded and with her heart beating faster, she her put hands on the girl shoulders. All knowledge on the technique seemed to vanish, leaving behind only a misty idea of how to go about it. It all seemed so unreal, to just be touching her like that.
"Is there something wrong? Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be fine!" seeing her hesitation, Mato cheered her friend on.
Yomi snapped back to reality. Gathering her thoughts once again, she began tracing her fingers along the basketball player's shoulders. Sure enough her muscles felt tense, stiff to the touch and with a flexibility of a violin string. Massaging them she would relax them, like untying tight knots.
"Yomi?" said the girl being massaged after a while. "You seem troubled. Did something happen?"
"There's a... problem, that I have. That's actually what I wanted to talk with you about," admitted the black-haired girl, without stopping her work.
"Tell me about it, I'm sure we'll figure it out," her friend answered with unwavering optimism.
"There is... a person I like" she started, still avoiding a direct approach.
"You mean like-like?" she asked mockingly, instantly seeing through it.
"Well I like them more than the rest," she stammered out.
"Ooh, so you fallen in love ," the basketball girl finally said.
"Maaaaybe..."
Now she was quite grateful that with her back turned, the girl she is talking with couldn't see her intensely-blushing face.
"So, what is this guy like?"
"Guy? Riiiight. He's... kinda cute, very good looking." The girl with glasses continued spinning the tale.
"But that's like, a bread and butter, right?" Mato chuckled. "But what's he like, you know, as a person?"
"Well, he's very nice but..."
"Buuut?"
"But he could be more focused and less of a ditz."
"Is he in your club?" the other girl continued to inquire.
"No... but he's playing... sports, too," she stammered, hoping that Mato would finally get it who did she really mean all that time.
"Hmm, He must be a really cool guy then!" was her only reply. "Ooh... what a relief..." she added a while later.
The girl sitting behind her smiled hearing this, and feeling how Mato started to relax, practically melting under her touch and even leaning into her slightly, craving more.
This went for a little longer, before Yomi took off her hands.
"Done, you should feel better now"
"Thanks, you're the best Yomi!" she exclaimed, before getting her shirt back on. "Have you talked to him yet?" the basketball player returned to the topic as she turned and sat next to her friend again.
"No, I... can't really brave myself, you know?" Yomi sighed.
"Well, he ain't figuring it on his own if you don't tell him how you feel. You know how boys are."
"Yes, but-"
"No buts Yomi!" Mato interrupted, taking her hand and wrapping both of her own around it. "It's okay to be nervous about it. Believe me, if he's feeling the same, he's probably even more scared than you are," she explained. "But you have to believe in yourself and take that leap!" she finished, smiling.
Mato always had a thing for motivating people. Her positivity always shined like a star even in the most depressing and uncertain moments.
Yes, you're right, Mato. I'll do it, thought Yomi, smiling back.
She slid closer to her.
"Hm? Something on my face?" asked Mato, as her friend leaned closer and closer, as if she wanted to whisper something to her, or...
A loud bang sounded across the room, making both of them almost jump out of their skin. It was the sound of a door being thrown open with such force they bounced off the nearby wall.
"Ohayooo!" greeted a familiar voice.
The girl with glasses turned her head to see a short girl with a dimgray colored hair standing in the doorway. She wore a red jumpsuit and had another orange basketball with her.
"Hello Yuu!" the other member of the basketball club waved at the newcomer.
That was it. With two people in the hall, the game was up and her window of opportunity had passed.
She stood up from the bench, her legs shaking, but not visibly.
"Thank you for the advice, Kuroi-san. Have a nice training~!"
She bowed, before leaving out the door and closing it behind her, trying her best not to show what she felt at the moment.
As the door closed, the girl with glasses leaned against them, before sliding down onto her knees. She came so close ...
"Looks like I ruined the moment for you, huh?" she heard Yuu say.
"No, why? We were just talking..."
"Oh, so that's what you call it now?"
"Knock it off, we're just friends." The words were tossed out carelessly, but pierced Yomi like a sword to the chest.
"Ah, but you looked so cute together!"
"Hey, can it!"
"Hehe, I almost feel bad I had to be that hawk who scared your playful bird..."
"Now you've done it! I'll flatten you in the warmup!"
Sounds of ball bouncing off the floor followed, together with quick footsteps all over the place, before a long buzzing sound. Score!
She stood up straight, dusting off her uniform as she tried to convince herself her legs weren't shaking and she wasn't choking anything back. The wound inside her- it wasn't real, and she would not show it, walking home with head held high and the sunset glinting off her glasses.
Night soon came, as did she, laying on her bed with her face buried into a pillow. The memories still lingered vividly in her mind, like an oil painting, and she used them well over the past hour or so.
But even as yet another wave of pleasure rocked her body, it still wouldn't wash away the sorrow tearing at her heart, nor stop the tears from flowing.
But that was still fine.
Sleep would make this wound scar over, and let her begin the next day with a new smiling mask on an old unhappy face.
As it always did.