Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.
Saki stood outside their rented apartment, looking at the sky which was starting to light up with the morning sun. She clenched her heart.
"I haven't stopped feeling like this, since Tobisawa's match," she said to herself, emotionless as usual before recalling the others. "And, those people are really kind."
"They are," Irina spoke, approaching her from behind before standing next to her. "I can see it, you're rather excited. Well I am too to be honest. A wonderful team is what I'd describe them as."
"Wonderful...team," Saki muttered, smiling.
"You know, you rarely smile, but you seem just as fond of them as I am," Irina said before facing Saki. "I can't wait, to see you face Tobisawa and Kurashina."
Saki nearly let out a lot of emotion, but got embarrassed and restrained herself.
"What, it's nothing to be embarrassed about," Irina said gently. "Besides, you're best when happy."
"Haven't you changed yourself?" Saki questioned, earning a curious look from Irina. "Before you were so overconfident and would flaunt your strength, but Kurashina and the others seemed to have an effect on you."
"It's true," Irina said, embracing it with a smile. "I want to be more like them, and have fun. Moreover, their FC, is really beautiful."
Saki agreed with that. She'd never experienced the feelings she did before until seeing their FC a few times. But now her heart boiled with excitement at the thought of being able to play against any of them. Furthermore, while shy, Saki found herself interacting with Asuka and the others yesterday. Indeed, Saki had grown just as fond of them as Irina.
"Fun..." Saki muttered softly, recalling Asuka wanting to have fun with her.
"In truth, at first I wanted to simply change FC for the better with our Birdcage, but I've changed my mind," Irina started. "I...don't think I have a problem with the current FC anymore. Hinata and his team were the ones who changed my view. That's why, Birdcage or not, I want to have fun, just like them."
Saki nodded, happy to hear those words from Irina. The two then stood and watched the sun rise.
Elsewhere, Masaya went to pick up Asuka, while Mashiro woke up and helped Misaki get dressed.
They then met up with Madoka and Aoi. "Everyone ready?" Aoi asked, to which they nodded. "Then let's go."
So they flew to the tournament, and on getting there, looked to see their opponents.
"I feel refreshed and ready to go-nyaa!" Misaki said confidently.
"Just take it easy, okay?" Mashiro asked with concern. "You know you're not at your best."
"Yes, she's pretty sore," Asuka said sadly.
"I'll get through just fine," Misaki assured.
"That's certainly something you would say," Madoka said with a nervous smile.
"Tell me about it," Masaya sighed.
"Ah, it's you guys," Irina called out as she and Saki walked over to them.
"Irina-san, Inui-san!" Asuka exclaimed.
"We just came to give greetings," Irina said in a friendly voice. "By the looks of it, Tobisawa will face us if she wins her first few matches today."
"Yep, and I intend to!" Misaki said confidently.
"That's good," Irina said with a smile, then looked at Saki. "Right?"
"Yes," Saki said, before looking nervous. "G...good luck in your next match."
Misaki blinked for a moment on hearing that from Saki, but then smiled. "Thank you," she said as Saki fidgeted with flushed cheeks before Asuka grabbed her hands.
"We wish you the best of luck too!" Asuka said joyfully as Saki stood stunned.
"I s-see," Saki stuttered with an open mouth before Asuka let go.
"Well then, Saki has a match first thing, so we need to go," Irina said. "Bye."
With that, she and Saki walked away. "They really are sweethearts," Mashiro noted.
"I can't argue that," Aoi chuckled.
With that, they observed Saki via a TV easily beat her opponent with the Birdcage. After a few other matches, it was Misaki's turn, and Irina and Saki went by to watch with the others. Misaki's opponent was nothing special, so she won pretty easily, though her arm and body hurt a little. Thankfully she was able to subdue the pain so as to not worry her friends.
"Up next, the Zipzapping Tobisawa of Kunahama school will face off against our champion, Inui!" Minori yelled out.
Irina then walked over to Masaya and held out a hand for good sportsmanship.
"Here's to a nice match, Hinata," Irina stated in a friendly voice.
"Let's do our best with no regrets," Masaya said, smiling at her and shaking hands.
"Prepare yourself, Inui-san," Misaki said confidently with hands to her hips. "Because I'm going to zipzap to my best!"
"Understood, then I'll do my best too," Saki said, but inside she was worried about something.
Irina then walked over to her own booth while Misaki and Saki flew up to the starting point. Masaya got in position from the ground as Misaki's coach, putting on his headset to talk to her, as did Irina for Saki.
Once the person above Misaki and Saki signaled them, the two took off. Saki put the Birdcage in effect.
"And there it is!" Minori declared. "This has proven a problem for many players, so what will Tobisawa do?"
"Try and lose her!" Masaya ordered.
"Easier said...then done!" Misaki replied back as she fought the increasing pain in her arms and body.
Back at the booths, Irina gasped, noticing the strain from Misaki. "Saki, take it easy on her!" she ordered with concern. "If you're not careful or push her too hard, you could hurt her."
"Understood," Saki said, dropping her speed and giving her some breathing room.
"She slowed down?" Mashiro asked as she watched.
"Why?" Madoka asked.
"It's obvious," Aoi said as the others but Masaya looked at her. "Tobisawa is in a lot of pain. Most likely, Inui doesn't want to be as firm with the Birdcage because it would force Tobisawa to have to try many turns and quick bursts of speed to get out of. Furthermore, if Inui swipes her with enough force, it would hurt Tobisawa a lot. Your muscles are much more sore the day after you've strained them as much as she did. She's now feeling the effects in full I'm afraid."
"Misaki-chan, do your best," Asuka said.
Saki adandoned the pursuit, letting Misaki get the first point while Saki went to the road leading to the second buoy.
Misaki then entered her range. Misaki tried to touch her, but Saki evaded, and lightly touched her back for a point. Misaki spun around, and though painful as it was, she tried an Air Kick Turn on Saki, who dodged but did not miss the look of pain on Misaki's face.
'If I have her do anymore pro moves, the pain will be too much,' Masaya thought. 'And she surely can't maintain flying upside down in her condition. At this rate...'
"Enough," Saki said sadly, prompting Misaki to stop. "You don't have to keep pushing yourself this much. I, don't want to hurt you."
"What are you talking about?" Misaki asked confidently. "I said it didn't I? We're going to do some zipzapping."
"But-" Saki started, but Misaki continued.
"It's my policy to give it my best," Misaki said. "To give up even if I'm sore, that's not my way of FC. If I'm going to go down, I'm going to do so by giving it my all!"
"Fine, but please just watch yourself," Masaya sighed. "If you hurt yourself too much, you'll worry us all even more."
"Don't worry, I will," Misaki assured him.
"Give it your all, huh," Saki finally said, smiling at her. "But I'm not going to attack you with full strength for obvious reasons, understand?"
"That's fine!" Misaki said in excitement before the two charged each other. "Haaaaa!"
Hence some collision swipes took place.
"Oh my, Inui appears to have adandoned the Birdcage for the moment and is engaging Tobisawa!" Minori exclaimed through her mic.
However, Misaki's arms begun to give out, forcing her eyes to close from the pain. So much so that she lost balance and plunged towards the water after Saki accidently used a bit too much force in one of the swipes. Naturaly everyone was very concerned about Misaki. Saki quickly flew down, and then had Misaki fly back up by having her grab her hand, thus saving Misaki from a very painful collision with the water.
"That was close," Misaki said with relief.
Elsewhere, Shindou and his team watched the match. "Geez, Tobisawa really is so reckless," Shindou said amusingly.
"How long can she keep it up?" Satou asked with concern. "No matter how fired up she is..."
"She will worsen her injuries if she's not more careful," Rika finished, clasping her hands near her chin.
Misaki swiped at Saki so fast she was caught off guard and took the hit. Misaki then touched her back for a point. Saki recovered and hit her lightly, knocking Misaki off balance and touching her back. From here, Saki scored point after point on Misaki while doing her best to swipe her lightly.
'It's strange, for her to have this much fun even though I'm the one winning by this much,' Saki thought before her mind shifted to another matter. 'Until this match, the ones before were boring to me. My FC was belittled because people found it unusual for FC, and I was antagonised or mocked as a result. I grew increasingly hateful of the sport because of how players would act and view me. But, then Kurashina and her team crossed our paths...they genuinely accepted me, and treated my FC as another playstyle. Like Irina, I think they're a great team from the bottom of my heart,' she left Aoi out of that thought, as she seemed to be close minded like the others in her view.
"Until the final moment, I won't give up!" Misaki yelled, ignoring all the pain and managed to knock Saki off balance again, touching her back for a point.
"Irina, I, this is really exciting!" Saki told her in a happy voice with closed eyes.
"Dogfight to your hearts content," Irina said, smiling. "Show everyone how great you are, and have a good time."
Saki nodded as she and Misaki once again clashed. The match eventually came to a close with Misaki panting but not unhappy.
"Are you hurt?" Saki asked.
"I might have overdid it a bit," Misaki said nervously with a fatigued face. "I'm glad I got to face you though, Inui-san, but next time I'll win!"
"Then I look forward to us facing each other again sometime," Saki told her.
They then flew down to their respective booths. While Misaki was being praised and sitting down for a rest, Aoi walked over to Irina.
"Have to hand it to you, your FC isn't a bad thing," Aoi started, puzzling Irina.
"Eh?" Irina asked, blinking.
"I've been thinking ever since you had that talk with me about your Birdcage," Aoi continued. "While it's true that your Birdcage isn't about scoring, I was wrong to treat it as if it was a bad thing for FC. Having observed you and Inui these last few days, I realized that you love FC very much and earnestly want to make it better. And your Birdcage was the solution you and Inui thought up."
"It was until recently," Irina admitted. "I felt that FC was unsafe seeing how some can get hurt from aggressive play, but Hinata and Kurashina gave me some things to think about. Furthermore, accidents can happen, but that shouldn't be used as an excuse to attack FC as a whole. Even though I thought of our Birdcage as a safer solution, observing and being around you guys recently has made me see, FC is fine like it is. And I and Saki became fond of and intrigued of you all."
"Is that so?" Aoi asked gently. "That's good to know you feel that way about us. "
"Perhaps deep inside I've always loved FC as it is," Irina said gently, closing her eyes while placing a hand on her heart. "The fact we mix our Birdcage with the current FC is proof of that. Something so simple, yet it alluded me until recently."
"FC has endless potential," Aoi said, smiling at her. "And it's always evolving, higher and higher. Your Birdcage is just another way of playing, and I should have realized this myself those years ago when I invented it. Instead, I was the one who was naive."
"I was too," Irina stated. "I started off by merely wanting to have fun in FC, but I became so consumed with the desire to prove your Birdcage you invented, that I became egotistic and full of myself."
After the two made up, Asuka came before Saki's mind. She could still recall Asuka wanting to play against her, and felt excited. This team showed her how fun FC can really be, and Saki wanted to keep experiencing such great times with these people.
Saki, Irina and Aoi went to the other booth to rejoin the others. From here on, Irina and Saki, just like the others, cheered Asuka on in her matches. Likewise, Masaya and his team cheered Saki on in her matches. Finally, the time arrived.
"Get ready for a sure crazy match!" Minori hyped up everyone. "Both of these players have easily smoothed through their opposition, but only one can be branded champion! Will fate still smile on our champion Inui to keep it, or will Kunahama's Kurashina take it from her!?"
Saki and Asuka eyed each other confidently from both booths, as did Masaya and Irina.