Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.
Everyone stared in shock at Misaki's action.
"Enough!" Masaya yelled, walking over to Misaki, and his eyes were not that of a friendly person. "I can't have you acting like this to the team, nor your opponents. Either you get your act together, or I will take you off of this team myself! I've put up with your behavior long enough!"
"Don't joke," Misaki waved off, thinking he wasn't being serious, only to see he was in fact being for real. "And why should I be kicked off because of that jerk!?"
"From where I stand-you are the jerk," Masaya stated bluntly, and glaring daggers into her. "I know you want to get better, but the way you've been acting ever since the match with Shindou is not acceptable."
"So you're just taking Shindou's side!?" Misaki asked, dropping the 'san' respect term. "As I expect from a bystander worthless bum of a coach like you!"
Masaya's face greatly saddened, and he concealed his face as she spat hurtful words at him.
"Asuka, Mashiro, sorry," Masaya said in a low voice. "But...Misaki can't remain on this team."
As much as Mashiro wanted to ask him to give her a little more time, she kept quiet and sided with him. She stared at Misaki with a pleading face, hoping she would change her thinking and see the reality of how she is acting. Asuka didn't look at Misaki and merely stared at the ground with a hurt expression.
Aoi walked next to Masaya. "No offense, but I have to agree," Aoi said, looking at Misaki. "We can't have you being like this."
"Tch, do as you want, like I cared that much about this stupid team anyway!" Misaki said with disgust before storming away.
Mashiro reached a hand towards the leaving Misaki, but put it down. After a few moments passed, Masaya was the first to speak out.
"Let's...just watch the final," he suggested as his legs begun carrying him towards the computer on the stand.
Masaya and his group stayed at their booth while Shindou and Irina's teams went to another section of booths in the same area.
A bit later, Shindou and Irina's team arrived at the booths.
"Now, we're finally here!" Minori shouted. "Shindou, who still maintains his status as the reigning champion, will face off against the promising Speeder, Inui!"
"Now we'll see how Inui plays," Masaya said with folded arms, looking up at the TV like everyone else.
"Yeah, I wonder how Shindou will handle himself," Aoi said.
"'Reigning champion'? Such nonsense!" Misaki said, leaving the tournament grounds, and repulsed by the very thought of watching Shindou.
Back at the booths.
"Saki, you know what to do once it starts," Irina said. "No need to play around, show these people that the champion is nothing before you."
"As you command," Saki said, turning on her Grav-Shoes and flying to the starting point on the FC grid with Shindou joining her.
'For her to make it to the final, she has to at least be strong,' Shindou thought. 'If Kurashina forced me to try that hard, I wonder what Inui can do.'
The sound to start was heard and they took off.
Shindou was fast, but Saki was even faster and remained above him while slowly closing in on him.
"Huh? What's that girl doing?" Rika asked.
"She's a Speeder, yet what is she trying to do?" Satou asked while glaring.
'This move...' Aoi glared, not happy about what she thought this was.
"She's only flying above Shindou, yet she's slowly forcing him lower and lower to the water," Masaya said with sweat.
"But why?" Mashiro asked. "Isn't the whole point of FC to touch buoys or score on someone's back?"
Masaya said nothing further, and Aoi remained tensed as well.
Meanwhile, Shindou was struggling. If he tried to zigzag, she'd do the same, and if he tried flying down and then quickly changed direction, she followed suite. It was getting to the point he was near the water.
"Forget the composed act, I can't hold back at all against someone like this!" Shindou said in alert, roaring and flying up with a quick boost of elevation.
"Already!?" Masaya asked.
"Oh my, Shindou plows upwards with a large Elevation Burst!" Minori started. "But wait, Inui does the same!"
Inui tried knocking him off balance, but he swiped with enough force to stop her, then did it again to get her off balance. Then he touched her back for a point and went to the buoy.
"I give him some credit," Irina admitted. "As expected of the 'king of kings', he should at least be able to do this much. Okay Saki, go ahead and toy around for a bit, deceive him into a false sense of hope as the saying goes."
"If that is your command, roger," Saki said, attempting to ward him off, except a bit lazier, and he thus scored on her back again.
Shindou scored on Saki a third time, but his face didn't reflect confidence.
'Strange, why is she letting me touch her deliberately?' he thought. 'Am I really just too much for her?'
"Okay, play time is over," Irina told Saki. "Bring a close to this match."
"Understood!" Saki said, taking on a more serious face.
Suddenly, Shindou was swiftly swiped off balance which followed up with Saki touching him in the back for a point. Shindou grunted and balanced himself, but Saki gave him no time and once more knocked him off balance and then scored yet again. Saki then put in her lockdown move and simply hovered above him like usual.
Minori and everyone watched in shock seeing Shindou being dominated this easily.
"Wait, Speeders avoid any form of dogfights and try to score on buoys, right?" Madoka asked as she pointed upwards.
"That's usually true, but Inui seems to brake that unspoken norm," Aoi said. "I don't know how it's possible, but she's somehow found a way to be a Speeder who can be extra dangerous in a dogfight due to her speed as a Speeder working in harmony with it. And what's impressive is how good she is in directly engaging a dogfight despite her class not meant for that type of play."
"Is this what we call a fourth talent?" Masaya asked. "Fighters, Speeders, and All-rounders utilizing both effectively, and now Inui taking a Speeder class and somehow dogfighting effectively with it. I wonder what you would call this one."
"Shooting comet!" Mashiro made up.
"That sounds like a cool name!" Asuka said.
"No no, I doubt that would be the name," Madoka said with an annoyed look.
"Hurry President and get out while you have the chance!" Satou yelled urgently.
Shindou wasted no time and managed to escape to a shortcut. Everyone watched, tensed at Shindou's desperation. Once Saki caught up after touching the buoy, Shindou found his only chance was to let her hit him so he could go to the buoy. Saki took the bait and hit him, but this time he used the force to boost himself forward.
"Alright, he's using the impact to increase his speed!" Asuka cheered, only to be shocked on seeing Saki fly past him with ease. "You're kidding..."
After awhile, the match ended. Shindou held 4 to Saki's 8.
"There you have it ladies and gentleman, Inui has defeated the champion!" Minori yelled in excitement with a fist in the air.
The people cheered for her victory.
"It would be something to face her!" Asuka said.
"I don't share the same view..." Mashiro said, the idea scaring her.
"Well the tournament is over, so why don't we head back?" Masaya suggested.
While the group walked away from the tournament grounds, Masaya remained dead quiet with a rather depressed aura. It was clear to them he wasn't just depressed, but stressed. To say he's had to deal with a lot in such a short time is an understatement. As the others looked at him with sympathy, Madoka came up with something.
"Say, how about we go somewhere and eat?" Madoka suggested.
"Huh?" Masaya asked.
"Good idea," Mashiro said and then put a hand to Masaya's shoulder. "And we all need a recharge, so what do you say?"
"Well I guess," Masaya said, seeing no reason to object.
"Onii-chan has been terrifyingly quiet," Madoka eyed Shion with concern. "You've barely said a thing."
"Well-!" Shion started, only to pale. "I still wasn't feeling well after all!"
"Easy easy!" Madoka yelled, grabbing his side lightly while he covered his mouth. "Um, you guys go on ahead and leave this to me."
With that, the gang left. Getting to a food booth offering noodles, the gang sat and waited for food.
Meanwhile, Shindou and the others left the tournament grounds too. "Good grief, that Tobisawa!" Satou voiced in annoyance. "Talk about a sore loser!"
Shindou narrowed his eyes as he walked. He recalled her outburst of rage at him, offended by the fact he toyed with her that much and allowed her to believe she did well against him when she didn't. Shindou couldn't say he really did anything wrong. After all, nobody is obligated to go all out all the time or even say anything.
'Even so...I think I'm starting to understand things from Tobisawa's view point,' Shindou thought. 'That player, Inui Saki toyed with me from the start. I won't deny being frustrated by that at first. Of course Tobisawa is more competitive than me, but I can see why she feels that way. True when I was training with Kurashina I helped, but that's just practice, a real match is different. FC shouldn't be taken too seriously, and that is where Tobisawa's biggest weak point is. But, perhaps I could have done something for Tobisawa instead of leaving her deceived after the match like that.'
"President?" Rika asked, noticing the thoughtful look on his face.
"I'm fine," Shindou assured.
Back with Masaya and co, they were chowing down on some noodles. Though their moods were not of the best.
"Hard to believe that happened," Mashiro muttered.
"Yeah," Asuka said sadly. "Misaki-chan left us..."
Masaya didn't say a thing and ate in silence. Mashiro smiled gently at him and put a hand to his shoulder.
"I know you've had a rough time since Misaki-Senpai faced Shindou, and she has been nothing short of a jerk," Mashiro stated. "But it's times like this that we've got each other's back. And don't let what she said get you down either-you're our friend, and we would not think of you like that because it's not true."
"Understood," Masaya said, finally perking up.
"Masaya-san," Asuka said, smiling on seeing him display a happy attitude, but her face grew sad again.
They decided to go training to try taking their minds off of Misaki for the time being, but Asuka left on her own. Hoping Misaki had went home, Asuka arrived and knocked.
"Oh? Who might you be?" Misaki's grandma asked.
"Kurashina Asuka, Misaki-chan's classmate," Asuka greeted politely, bowing her head and then lifting it back up.
"Ah another one of her friends I see," Misaki's grandma stated warmly. "If you're looking for her, she's up in her room."
"Thank you very much," Asuka said before going over to Misaki's door.
Hearing a knock, Misaki walked over and opened the door, only to show surprise at seeing Asuka whom had a friendly expression. Misaki looked stunned. Asuka wasn't mad at her for how she acted towards her? The fact Asuka seemed positive actually made Misaki feel wrenched in the gut.
"C-come in," Misaki said before closing the door and acting cheery. "How did the tournament go? Shindou win?"
Her voice had annoyance at the mention of Shindou's name. "He lost," Asuka said quietly.
"Really? Serves that guy right!" Misaki said proudly, folding her arms and looking away with a cocky smile.
"Stop talking about him like that!" Asuka raised her voice, catching Misaki off-guard. "Shindou-san isn't a bad person."
"You say that even though he almost got you-" Misaki started, but Asuka stopped her.
"That was my fault!" Asuka yelled as her eyes teared up. "I was so concentrated on trying to not let Masaya down, that I did something reckless and hurt him deeply. Therefore, don't use my problems to frame Shindou-san!"
"I-I got it..." Misaki said, feeling bad.
"Please talk to me, what's wrong?" Asuka asked. "You're never like this. The Misaki-chan I know is kind and has so much fun."
"That's," Misaki couldn't answer.
"And why do you hate me!?" Asuka asked as she lowered her head and trembled while tears slipped off her face. Misaki froze in shock at seeing Asuka say that. "I felt it, when you knocked my hand away, that you had resentment at me. If I did something wrong, please tell me."
Misaki was filled with remorse and faced her. "I don't," Misaki started gently, putting her hands on Asuka's shoulders while Asuka looked at her. "I was jealous."
"Huh?" Asuka asked slightly tearful.
"Your increasing skills as an FC player," Misaki said. "You went from having no FC experience to becoming so strong. So much so even I can't keep up with you. It frustrated me, that I had been outshined by a girl who knew nothing about FC when she started. Then I saw you face Shindou. He did things against you that he didn't even try against me. You pushed him that much. It made me jealous of you, that you have talent far beyond what I have. And instead of trying to be happy for you, I let something as minor as jealousy get in the way of my friendship with you. I'm really sorry."
She then enveloped Asuka in a hug, and Asuka in turn hugged her back.
"It's alright," Asuka said with a smile. "I'm so relieved you don't hate me after all, I don't know what I would have done had it been true."
"I would hate myself if that were the case," Misaki chuckled.
Once they let go, Asuka posed something. "Hey, won't you come back to us?" Asuka asked.
"No, I don't think this FC stuff is cut out for me," Misaki said.
"But-" Asuka started.
"Sorry, but I'm not coming back," Misaki said before putting a hand to Asuka's head. "Anyway, shouldn't you go back to training?"
"...I understand," Asuka said sadly before leaving.
After watching on with a depress look, Misaki shook her head and went about her own matters.
Meanwhile, Asuka went to the trailer, and saw Aoi walk over to her.
"Where did you go?" Aoi asked.
"Just had to take care of something," Asuka said, rubbing her head nervously.
"Good, keep yourself efficient when doing fast maneuvers!" Masaya called out as Mashiro practiced in the air, and then noticed Asuka. "Why didn't you come with us? Feeling sick?"
"N-no," Asuka assured, feeling responsible for possibly worrying him and lowered her head with red cheeks. "I always make trouble for you."
"That's not true," Masaya said, smiling at her.
"Say, can you keep coaching Mashiro for a minute?" Aoi asked. "I want to ask Kurashina something." Getting out of earshot, she continued. "I'll cut straight to the chase, did you go over to Tobisawa's?"
"Is it bad?" Asuka asked, expecting a scolding.
"Not at all," Aoi said. "Even if she quit, she's still your friend, and you going over despite how she reacted at you shows how much you care about her."
"Yeah, we resolved it," Asuka said cheerfully.
"I see," Aoi said, glad for that before her face grew a little more serious. "One last thing, what is Masaya to you?"
"Eh?" Asuka asked curiously. "What do you mean?"
"Well you heard what he said earlier today right?" Aoi asked. "He expressed how important you are to him. So what is he to you? How does he make you feel and what do you think of him?"
After a few moments, Asuka started. "He's very special to me," she said in a soft tone. "When I'm with him, I feel like I can do anything, and that there is nothing to fear. I, really like how supportive he is with me, how kind he is to me and how amazing he is about FC. Together, I feel we can fly higher than anyone else. And I feel my heart thump faster with him."
Aoi listened carefully to everything she said. She then tried to phrase the next words carefully.
"So those are your feelings at this point in time," she mused. "Perhaps you should tell him these things later. I'm sure it would do you both good to understand the full extent of your feelings, and it would undoubtly make him very happy to hear it."
Asuka nodded in response before turning on her Grav-Shoes and flying up to Mashiro.