Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.
In the middle of the day, Aoi and Masaya decided to team up and have all the girls come at them at once. Aoi normally would just stand and watch, but Masaya wanted to have a team up with his former teacher for old time sake.
"Take this!" Misaki yelled, being the first to swipe at them, to which they dodged easily.
"I'll take revenge for Misaki-Senpai!" Mashiro yelled, putting her improvements to the test.
Masaya and Aoi held back on them, simply evading their attempts. "Not bad, but not enough!" Masaya commented. "Instead of attacking me one at a time, how about working together and creating a strategy? Remember we're just practicing, therefore you can team up on us too."
"Roger, Misaki-chan," Asuka said, eying Misaki with a grin, whom nodded in response.
Once both took a deep breath, Misaki performed an Air Kick Turn, while Asuka did a now mastered Sonic Boost in a forward line.
Masaya glanced at Aoi as they flew away from the two girls. "Want to try our old combo number two?" he asked while grinning at her.
"Oh, how nostalgic that is," Aoi said, grinning. "Very well."
As the two girls neared them, Aoi and Masaya suddenly got around them very quickly in a rolling manner and touched them both in the back at the same time.
"Double Blaster Roll!" they both declared.
Madoka stared from the ground in amazement at how easily they delt with that strategy. Mashiro was astonished how perfect their timing was against Asuka and Misaki.
"So this is the strength of Masaya and his FC teacher together," Misaki said, excited.
"They're pretty scary," Mashiro said nervously.
"I'm envious," Asuka said.
"Don't be, because she put me through some serious hell back in the day," Masaya said, rubbing his head.
"Hey, why don't we switch, me and Masaya-san vs you and Aoi?" Asuka asked eagerly.
"Why not," Aoi said, switching sides. "This makes things more interesting, wouldn't you say?"
Masaya sweated. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." he said, not the biggest fan right now, knowing that meant he was going to face Aoi.
"Prepare yourself Masaya, for a taste of the hell I put you through long ago," Aoi stated with an evil grin on her face. "Mashiro, you team up with us."
"Y-yes!" Mashiro complied, flying next to Misaki.
An intense stare down occured due to how serious this was about to be. Hearing a fish jump out of the water for a moment, the two teams charged each other.
"Asuka, split them up!" Masaya ordered.
"Right!" Asuka said with a serious expression.
Doing her part, she flew near the middle in the hopes to break up the group.
"Not so fast!" Aoi yelled, blocking Asuka's path and knocking her back, but just then, Masaya took the moment and knocked Aoi back.
"Now!" Masaya yelled out to her.
"Yes!" Asuka said, swiping at Misaki, but the two repelled back from equal strike.
Just then Mashiro flew behind and touched Asuka's back while Asuka was occupied by Misaki. Masaya looked away for a moment to see the outcome.
"Where are you looking?" Aoi asked, knocking him off balance and touching his back for a point. "I'm your opponent."
Masaya grunted. 'Shoot, I've gotta back up Asuka somehow!' he thought.
"I did it!" Mashiro yelled excitedly.
"Watch out!" Misaki warned in panic, but was too late due to Asuka turning around and knocking Mashiro off balance. "What do you say we do some zipzapping-aah!"
Asuka quickly knocked her away and proceeded to charge towards Aoi, who was keeping Masaya at bay.
"Hang on!" Asuka called out.
Aoi, with no effort, knocked Masaya away with one hand, and Asuka with the other hand.
Masaya and Asuka then regrouped. Mashiro and Misaki rejoined Aoi, and the two groups rested for a moment.
"Kagami-sensei's too strong for us," Masaya started. "Holding her back while dealing with those two at the same time is too much. But, I've got an idea."
"What's that?" Asuka asked with interest. Whispering the idea to her, she nodded after hearing it. "I got it, let's do this, together!"
Flying towards the three, Aoi, Mashiro and Misaki readied themselves.
"You tried this already, it doesn't work!" Misaki stated.
'No matter what obstacle I face, with Masaya-san, we can overcome it!' Asuka thought determendly. 'FLY! More, more!'
Masaya and Asuka started rotating around each other, avoiding contact, making their contrails link in the shape of a spiral. As they spun faster and faster, Aoi stood in the front to block. However, the sheer force of the two's attack was enough to overpower her and send her away.
"Let's go Mashiro!" Misaki called out.
"Right, Sensei left us a chance, and I won't waste it!" Mashiro said with narrowed eyes.
"HAAAAA!" the two groups of now two yelled out.
Misaki striked at Asuka, but Masaya blocked it and knocked her off balance. Mashiro stayed strong, taking the chance to attack Masaya, but Asuka blocked for him and got her off balance. Asuka and Masaya thus seized the chance and touched them in the back for a point.
Panting a little, Asuka and Masaya grinned at each other.
"That was a good practice everyone," Aoi said, flying over to them after recovering. "Kurashina, Masaya, that was a beautiful combination."
"Sorry I couldn't do any better," Mashiro apologized to Misaki.
"No, we did our best," Misaki said before stretching. "Now, I think a break would do us all some good right now."
Flying down to Madoka, she gave them all bottles of water. "That was an intense practice match, and I don't even know where to start," Madoka told them nervously.
"As expected, I'm still no match for you," Masaya told Aoi.
"Naturaly," Aoi said with amusement. "It's not like you have been playing again for long anyway."
"Oooh, I wish me and Misaki-Senpai could have thought of a combo like that!" Mashiro pouted.
"Can't be helped," Misaki said, smiling nervously. "Besides, when facing Masaya and Asuka at once, it's pretty pressuring to make plans on the spot."
"That's true," Mashiro sighed.
"Let's keep training!" Asuka said, looking at Masaya.
"You're really fired up, huh," Masaya mused.
"I, want to face Inui-san and show her and Irina the true joys of FC!" Asuka stated seriously. "That's why..."
"Understood," Masaya started before sighing. "The rest of you keep resting...looks like I can't get a break."
"Nope," Misaki said smiling.
"Too bad," Mashiro teased.
"Better get going," Aoi said with a grin.
With that, he flew up in the air with Asuka. While they practiced, the others remained on ground sitting and chatting together.
Elsewhere, a random person yet again wanted to beat Saki because of their dislike for her Birdcage plays. As expected, Saki easily defeated the person like so many others. Saki was merely on her way back to Irina's place that they rented until the end of the next tournament, before being prevented by this person challenging her.
"How am I supposed to get around something like that?" a boy asked, bearing a look of hate at Saki, who was used to such looks.
"If you're satisfied, I'm leaving," Saki said before going home to Irina. "I'm back."
"Oh Saki, welcome back," Irina greeted. "Something bothering you?"
"Bothering me?" Saki asked, keeping an emotionless look.
"Well, as of late, you seem a bit unresponsive to me at times," Irina pointed out in worry. "Furthermore, it's like something has been on your mind."
"Kurashina Asuka," Saki started as Irina blinked curiously. "She's not like the others I've come across. She, likes my FC and harbors no ill feelings at me."
Irina recalled her meeting with Masaya and Asuka herself. "I agree," Irina said softly. "Even though our opinions differ, I do respect them. Saki, let's work our way through the next tournament and face Kurashina Asuka. Our FC vs hers, which is the right one? Fate will decide that."
"If that is your wish, I will follow," Saki said, bowing respectfully.
Days went by, as Masaya's group trained very hard. While everyone trained together, time was always set so Masaya could specifically train Asuka, while Mashiro and Misaki kept training together.
At long last the day of the tournament arrived, and the gang just got to the grounds.
"Too bad Shindou-san couldn't enter," Misaki groaned.
"Don't worry about that, I'm sure he had his reasons for not entering," Masaya assured. "He's not the type to run away."
"Yes, Shindou-san always faces whatever comes his way," Asuka added.
Getting to the match board, they looked at who would face who. "Perfect, Satou is my first opponent!" Mashiro said, clenching her fists with a determined look.
"Ahahahaha!" Satou laughed out, getting everyone's attention, and with her was Rika and Shindou. "I see we face each other this early again!"
"I won't lose this time!" Mashiro voiced unwaveringly.
"Oh, that's some confidence you've got there for losing to me twice," Satou said before grinning, and after walking over to Mashiro, put a hand under her chin and inched her face close to hers after lowering herself with her hip. "But it makes you even cuter."
"Wa-" Mashiro yelped, paralyzed due to how flustered she was, and her cheeks flushed bright red.
"Wait, you're too close to her!" Misaki said defensively, walking over and taking Satou's hand off her. Misaki held an annoyed expression.
"I don't recall speaking to you, so please butt out while I speak to this lovely girl," Satou said proud, yet gently while focusing her eyes on Mashiro.
A vein appeared on Misaki's forhead while her eyebrows twitched, and she pointed a finger in Satou's face.
"And I don't recall her approving of your invasion of her personal space!" Misaki barked back.
"Who needs your opinion on this!" Satou barked back, now annoyed with Misaki's interference.
As they kept arguing, Mashiro blinked, sweat dropping like the others. "At this rate, they're going to be the rivals," she muttered at the two older girls going at it. "But why does Senpai care that much about what just happened?"
Madoka chuckled nervously at Masaya, who chuckled himself at Mashiro's obliviousness. In fact they both wanted to burst out laughing for the irony. Mashiro always chased after Misaki, but now it's not one-sided anymore, yet Mashiro is completely clueless to it.
"Wow," Rika commented as she watched the two girls keep bantering.
"Is this what we'd call a Mashiro harem?" Madoka whispered to Masaya.
"That's a pretty accurate description," Masaya said with a sweat drop.
While Misaki and Satou eyed each other angrily in the face and growled, Shindou stepped in. "Now, now, calm down," he said nervously while the two gave a 'hmph' and looked away from each other. "Anyway, Hinata-kun do you intend to enter this?"
"Not this one," Masaya started. "But I promise you, the next one I will enter."
"When that time comes, I'm certainly going to participate," Shindou started before eying him with interest. "After all, I joined FC for the main purpose to face you in a serious tournament match."
"That reminds me, why are you so fixated on Masaya?" Misaki asked. "When you two trained, you seemed really eager about it."
"When I was little, I observed a promising young boy whom people thought had the potential to be a champion," Shindou started. "Seeing him play on TV got my heart pumping. He dominated the opposion, and rose up to where he became a representative."
"So that's why you're so interested in Masaya," Rika said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I picked up FC after that, with the belief I would run into him," Shindou continued, smiling. "But, one day that boy vanished from the scene and never returned. Years later, I met him at the training camp. To tell the truth I wanted to face you right then and there. The excitement I felt from seeing you I could barely keep in control-you're my one true rival I want to defeat. It caught me off guard though that you were just coaching, leading me to believe you must have had a reason for not playing in FC as a player."
"I'm over that now," Masaya said with a fan of his hand.
"So he's just as promising as you are President," Satou mused. "Now I really want to see a tournament match between you two some time."
"Sorry for quitting," Masaya humbly said.
"Don't be, everyone has a reason for why they do something, the important thing is you're back," Shindou stated in assurance. "And that means the past is in the past."
Masaya nodded as the two bumped fists. "I wish you and your team good luck," he said.
"The same to you all," Shindou said before walking away with Rika. "Bye."
"Mashiro," Satou started as Mashiro stared at her curiously. "Don't think I'm only as tough as I was back then, or you're going to regret it."
"That's my line!" Mashiro stated, eying her seriously.
"Then prove it to me in our match, I wish you luck, my cute little Mashiro," Satou said, winking at her flirtatously while Misaki's eyebrows twitched again.
As she walked away, Misaki looked away. "That Satou, I don't like her," she said in irritation.
"A-anyway, why don't we head on over to the booths," Madoka suggested nervously.
"Yes, good idea," Asuka said.
Aoi arrived minutes later to the grounds. Walking towards the booth, someone stopped her.
"Hmm? Ah it's you two," Aoi said, though she wasn't totally happy to see them.
"Hello," Irina greeted her in a polite manner.
"Irina, and your player, Inui," Aoi said. "What do you want?"
"Killing time until the tournament starts," Irina clarified before sighing. "You've got quite the interesting team."
"How so?" Aoi asked, blinking.
"Each person we come across seems unwilling to adapt to strategies against our beautiful Birdcage," Irina stated while Aoi narrowed her eyes. "Don't you think it's silly? In a game of Chess, you have to be strategic, planning your moves carefully, and willing to switch strategy at a moments notice. The Birdcage is no different, it's a form of strategy. Yet, people seem to act as if we're doing something wrong despite that being untrue."
"While you're not breaking any rules," Aoi started. "I can't say it's beautiful."
"What?" Irina asked.
"FC is about scoring points via buoys or a person's back, but your Birdcage directly hinders how the game is supposed to be played," Aoi explained calmly.
"FC is freedom, we can play however we wa-" Irina stopped mid sentence, gasping with widened eyes, puzzling Aoi.
Irina recalled what Asuka and Masaya said. Indeed, the way she felt right now was just like how they felt. Irina seemed quite surprised by it.
"Irina?" Saki asked in worry.
"Huh, s-sorry, I zoned out," Irina said, before staring at Aoi seriously. "Here I thought you would be more open minded like Kurashina and Hinata, but it seems I misjudged you. Excuse us."
They then walked away, while Aoi was left to think on what Irina said.
The tournament now got started. "Ladies and gentlemen!" Minori commented loudly from a mic being broadcast around the place and TV. "The Fall tournament is about to get underway! Before that, let us remember our current champion, Inui Saki," The TVs showed Saki in her FC gear. "This girl defeated Shindou, 'king of kings' in the previous tournament!"
The girls and boys around Saki muttered against her with clear not thrilled words.
"Inui-san, let's meet soon!' Asuka thought, determined to face her.
"With that said, let the tournament begin!" Minori declared with a hand pumped in the air.
Back at the booths, Mashiro and Satou stared at each other from their respective booths. Mashiro looked serious, while Satou grinned at her with confidence.