The Better Half of Perversity
Reason #2 – Nudity is perfectly acceptable, imagined or otherwise.
"EEEYAAA!! Did you see that?! Mitsui-sempai looked my way!"
"RU-KA-WA! RU-KA-WA!"
"Oh, Ayako-san! I just remembered something!"
"Would you look at how Miyagi-kun dribbles the ball with one hand and barks orders at the same time?! KAWAIIII!!"
"RU-KA-WA! RU-KA-WA!"
"Yes, Haruko?"
"OH MY GOD, MITSUI-SEMPAI JUST WAVED!!"
"RU-KA-WA! RU-KA-WA!"
"Remember when it used to be just us two girls cheering on the team at practice?"
"RUUU-KAAA-WAAA!!"
Ayako sighed and clapped a hand to her forehead. Ever since Team Shohoku's stunning giant-slaying antics at the Nationals last month, the gym was packed to the brim with hormonal fan-girls raving about any given star player on the court. Rukawa's reliable old fan-club had swelled to about thrice its size, still including the original cheerleading trio who insisted on their 'pride of place' just above the benches. Not to mention the smaller, but no less aggressive, cheering squads centered on ex-MVP Mitsui and point guard cum new captain Miyagi. Ayako already had had to rescue the poor second year from hordes of his newly acquired admirers on numerous occasions.
"RU-KA-WA!!"
"Shut it already, would you?!" Sakuragi bellowed at them from his place in the middle of the court, freshly minted as Akagi's replacement for the center position. "Oi, Ayako-san! Tell those ditzes to shut up so that this tensai can concentrate!"
Miyagi shot her a pleading look for added measure.
Ayako cursed her weakness for puppy-dog eyes. Bracing herself for the task ahead, she turned around to face the over-enthused crowd. Fellow team manageress Haruko patted her back in encouragement.
"Ahem…"
"RU-KA-WA!"
"Excuse me – "
"Oh, look! Miyagi-kun's twisting that redhead's ear! So cuuuute!!"
"Girls, would you mind – "
"MITSUI-SEMPAI JUST WAVED AGAIN!! YAAAYY!!"
An exasperated Ayako yelled out to the shooting guard. "Sempai! Stop encouraging them!"
"But I'm just being friendly!"
"You can be 'friendly' with them after practice." Miyagi admonished as he approached his teammate, still brandishing an errant Sakuragi by the earlobe. "Save the waving for the next beauty pageant you're entering."
"Do'aho."
"Kitsune!"
"He wasn't talking to you, idiot!"
Mitsui scowled as laughter and tittering ensued at his expense. If someone had told him in freshman year that he would soon have to get used to taking orders from a midget, he would have laughed right in their face. Hah, trust Fate to screw things up and spew the remnants right in his face. Now if he could fit enough hours of practice in, he could perhaps… possibly… maybe, just maybe, he could bring back those old days of glory with the magic and the flames… yeah…
The door slammed open, breaking through his passage of thoughts. All eyes turned to the visitor, expecting the rotund figure of their beloved Anzai-sensei complete with kindly words and hearty chuckles. However…
Haruko's hands clasped themselves over her mouth.
Ayako's eyes widened.
Mitsui's jaw dropped.
Miyagi relinquished his hold on Sakuragi, the redhead hitting the floor with an audible grunt while the other gagged on his own breath.
Rukawa blinked. Twice.
For standing at the door was a pack of girls. Average-looking girls in average-looking uniforms all with the same vapid expression painted on their average-looking faces. Appearances aside, it was the banner they were holding that really took the cake. If anything, it took the whole bakery. A series of lurid red letters spread out over a shockingly neon yellow background to spell out:
'The Official Tensai Sakuragi Cheering Squad.'
To say that all hell broke loose wouldn't have been too much of an understatement. For Team Rukawa, this was the breaking point. After all, theirs was hallowed ground to step into. It was bad enough that Team Miyagi and Team Mitsui had already invaded their exclusive little property but to have it besmirched altogether by supporters of their arch-nemesis, the One Who Dared Lay More Than a Finger on Dear Rukawa-kun's face, was absolutely positively, exceptionally, downright mortifying.
"CHARGE!!"
Full court presses and perfect fakes faded into the backdrop as the players gawped over the throngs of squealing girls at war. Scary things to be subjected to, these catfights. All hair-pulling and nail clawing, they were. Ugh.
As the familiar sound of paper flapping flared to life, everyone within striking range steered clear of the apocalypse that was about to befall those wretched females…
"GET. THE. HELL. OUT. OF. HERE!"
The customary oohs and ahhs that usually followed Ayako's harisen-fueled outbreaks were soon interspersed amidst shrieks and groans of pain as she put her personal form of crowd control to practice. Soon enough, the gym was devoid of any fans of the human kind and Ayako was left with a steaming forehead along with enough threats demanding that 'justice would be served!' A sympathetic Haruko immediately appeared at her side with a cool bottle of water and a murmured vote of thanks. Sakuragi, on the other hand, had other ideas.
"Aww, Ayako-san! How come I don't get to have my fans cheer – "
The murderous gleam in her eyes shut him up in an instant.
Mitsui sighed in relief. It was definitely never a good idea to act on one's feelings. It was already obvious as to who would end up wearing the pants in their relationship. Not that he was looking for one, of course.
Tuesdays were Ayako's favorites. Double period of math followed by an energetic session of physical activity with Takigawa-sensei? Sheer bliss.
An hour and a half later, her mind filled with the pleasant buzz of quadratic equations and aerobic drills, she was grinning beneath the warmth of the shower in the girl's locker-room and the events of last week had all melted away with the dirt off her back. After much persuasion, she'd gotten Anzai-sensei to completely close off the gym during practice, hence effectively barring rabid fan-girls of all sorts. Suffice to say, she'd quite enjoyed the looks on their faces when she slammed the door on them.
Come to think of it, Akagi didn't get the same kind of attention for some reason. How odd…
Stepping out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her bare skin, she couldn't help giggling over the memory of Mitsui's face when Miyagi had called him out for his blatant flirting. Then again, he probably deserved the extra attention seeing as he was the leading scorer in the inter-highs, and he could be quite the charmer when he felt like it.
And handsome too.
Irritated, she pushed the thought out of her mind, ignoring the heat flooding her cheeks. The locker-room was empty at the moment. She must have been pretty lost in her thoughts to lose track of so much time. And losing things didn't sit well with Ayako. She rushed to her locker and plunged her hand into its contents, eager to pull on her basketball practice clothes, grab her notepad and get to…
Her fingers closed around air.
The locker lay open before her, empty and void.
She reached in once more and pulled out the note which had obviously been left there on purpose.
'Look out the window.'
After hopping onto one of the benches below the glass, Ayako stood gaping in horror at the sight befalling her. Outside in the courtyard, scattered on the bush next to the science labs were her clothes. Cackling like witches around a cauldron, the girls grinned back. She recognized some of them from last week's disastrous practice.
'It's payback time.'
The bell rang, signaling the end of classes for the day.
She'd spent thirty-three whole minutes shivering underneath the window, despite the sunlight pouring in. Her skin was damp, Haruko was probably wondering what had become of her and she was clad in nothing but a towel.
A plan had already begun to write itself in her head. Naturally, there would be risks involved, most likely exposure. Still, since classes were done, there would be less people around. Those that were here would have made their way to their respective classrooms or playing fields. If she was stealthy enough, she could make it past them to the bush in the courtyard without being caught sight of at all.
She took a deep breath, steadied her grip on the locker-room door and then opened it as quietly as possible. The empty corridor loomed large and it took much of her tenacity to make step after step on the cold blank tiles on the floor. Bit by bit, little by little, it got easier to make her way through, ignoring the bite of the air-conditioning on her bare arms and legs. A few more steps, a staircase, another hallway, three more steps outside and then…
"Damn Namura's really got it in for me this term…"
A familiar voice sent a chill down her spine, effectively rooting her to the spot.
"… two thousand word essay on the Seinan War?! What the hell…"
She ducked into the first room on her right.
"… and I'm late for practice now. Miyagi's gonna kill me…"
A few seconds later, Ayako realized that she had just stepped into the refuge of the boys' locker-room. This definitely wasn't her day.
"… yeah, see ya tomorrow, Kogure."
She dived head-first into one of the stalls before Mitsui could enter the room. It appeared that they were the only two inside, judging from the lack of the usual mindless chatter. She listened carefully. There was the sound of a bag hitting the floor, a locker key being turned…
Ayako sneezed.
The noises stopped.
His voice emerged, smooth and sharp. "You're certainly not one of the guys."
"It's me."
Her voice had come out smaller than she liked.
"Ayako? How did you get in here?"
"I walked in."
"Heh," She could picture the smirk on his face, offsetting the scar below. "Well then, why are you here? Are you hiding from Miyagi? Or are those girls giving you hell again?"
"… You could say that."
"You can come out if you like. I'm fully clothed."
"I'm not."
She cringed inwardly and so did he, she assumed. The silence bespoke all that.
"They have my clothes."
"Where are they?"
"I don't know! Maybe they've already run off to cheer on their – "
"No, not them, I meant your clothes. Do you know where they… you know."
"Outside. In the courtyard. The bushes near the labs."
"I'll go get them. Wait here."
She didn't need to be told twice. Breathing heavily, she allowed herself to lean back against the cool surface of the stall. The warmth in her cheeks was dying down in his absence. As were the goosebumps on her naked shoulders. In a matter of minutes, her pink t-shirt and slate-blue shorts were tossed over the narrow walls along with the rest of her stolen items. She immediately pulled them on in a hurry to make up for wasted time.
After adding the final touch to her outfit with her trademark cap and ponytail, she scurried out from her hiding place, ready with a delighted 'thank you' speech.
He was gone.
Hours later, Mitsui could be found seated at the desk in his room, fuming over the day's events. Namura-sensei had given his third year class a thorough mental beating in the form of a pop quiz followed by a mind-numbing lecture on the values learnt from some damn treaty signed in Okinawa and the notorious essay he'd been complaining about to Kogure. Apparently, Miyagi himself had been put through another session of torture by the same teacher, thus resulting in the point guard arriving at practice in an unabashedly rotten mood and latecomers having to run an additional twenty laps around the gym plus fifteen sprints, vice-captain or not.
But this, he glared at the textbook in front of him, was surely a sign that Someone up there truly hated his guts.
'… After the stage of arousal has reached its climax, ejaculation or the release…'
Damn Biology test.
'… thus resulting in fertilization of…'
Yes, yes, he'd had that talk with his parents already. Didn't see the point in replaying it at school by a teacher of all people…
'… However, certain issues may arise preventing a full erection in the male party…'
Oh crap.
'… such as lack of a substantial stimulus…'
It had been so hard to concentrate at practice with her around today. Especially after having to shift through a pile of twigs and leaves just to end up grabbing a handful of her… 'unmentionables'.
'… Later on in gestation, the mammary glands in the female breasts begin to swell…'
Black cotton, white star design, adjustable straps, thirty-one centimeters, size B-cup…
No doubt about it, he was definitely going to flunk this test.