12. Calm Before The Storm
"I'm spent!"
With a long prolonged groan of exhaustion, that is most unlady-like in every way, Hiryuu wearily plops herself, alongside her tray of food, down onto the table in the dining hall, her image and all be damned.
"I'm sure we all are, after everything we've been through today," sighs Souryuu, in her best attempt to reign in her fatigue to no avail. She quietly falls into the seat beside Hiryuu, her ever so faithful partner.
"Outside of training, Houshou-san is an absolute angel and a total sweetheart, but when she is Coach Houshou..." Hiryuu gives a shudder, head sinking into the cradle of her arms, rattling the utensils on the table.
"It's Jekyll and Hyde in the flesh..." Zuikaku, the youngest of the regular team, finishes in assent, eyes glazed and looking very much as if her soul had long left her body hours ago. Almost as if the spitfire in her has been extinguished completely, leaving nothing but just tinder and ash in its wake.
Everyone present at the table nods in agreement.
"Well, at least we got to play around at the beach during our break." Shoukaku offers, smiling kindly at the exhausted faces peering up at her from their shared table.
Though, her optimism would have sounded a lot more convincing if it weren't for the contrast of those dark-purplish bruises— attained from the day's grueling training— littered against the fair pallor of her skin, making her appear to be the most worn out and beaten up amongst the bunch.
And there you have the team's infamous libero— also known as Miss Unlucky.
Somehow, she's sturdy enough to be able to plow through training without her knees folding in on herself with all that bruises and minor injuries she has sustained throughout the day.
A total wonder, she is, that girl, Hiryuu thinks, with an inward wince upon catching sight of an ugly bruise that is only beginning flower under her collar. How in the world did she get that one there is honestly beyond me.
"Ah, at least one good thing came out of this summer camp..." Hiryuu sighs, shoulders sagging in defeat. She rests her chin against her palm as she pokes at her food dispiritedly. Gloomily. Her limbs honestly feel more like jelly than anything else. "And I'd thought that things would be different this year too."
Another sigh.
Souryuu laughs, rubbing soothing circles over the small of her back. "There, there." She coos.
In an instant, Hiryuu's eyes begin to sparkle in mischief, a teasing smirk curling at her lips.
"I'd feel a little better if someone were to feed me dinner."
"What are you talking about, Hiryuu? Jeez." Souryuu blushes, a delicious hue of pink smattering against her cheeks, looking clearly flustered.
Just the way Hiryuu likes it.
"I was only kidding." She sends her a wink and chuckles mirthfully. Or am I?
Souryuu shoots her a withering glance and lands a half-hearted punch onto her shoulder, the faint flush on her cheeks only barely fading.
"Urgh, this is such a pain! I'm so hungry but I just can't pick anything up with my left hand." Zuikaku whines, the exasperation ringing clear in her voice.
Hiryuu watches on in amusement as everything the youngest of the team picks with her chopsticks, slips away before even reaching her lips.
How cruel of Houshou to not only place a ban on everyone— not just the regulars— from using their dominant hands for any trivial tasks for the entirety of their summer camp, but to also request them to use chopsticks for all meals.
The least she could do to ease off everyone's burden is to request for some basic cutlery, like fork and spoons, from the kitchen instead. But that would defeat the purpose of their training, Hiryuu supposes.
Because they've got to cover all bases and leave no stone unturned.
Such is the secret to Kaito Academy's constant victories.
When it comes to weaknesses, their team has none.
Or at least close to none.
With one final growl of vexation, after yet another failure of getting any food into her stomach— much less into her mouth—, Zuikaku drops her chopsticks onto the table and burrows her face into her hands in resignation, looking very much on the verge of tears at this point.
"I'm going to starve for the two weeks that we are here."
"You'd get the hang of it soon enough, kiddo." Hiryuu laughs airily, picking up a mouthful of rice with far less of a struggle than Zuikaku, albeit still a little unsteadily. She cocks her head to the table of underclassmen, slightly off to their side, that practically reeks of desperation and frustration. "The rest of the first years are suffering way more than you, by the looks of it. So don't sweat it too much."
Zuikaku only makes a face, groans and finally wields her chopsticks with a heavy sigh.
"At least Ms. Perfect over seems to be having it easy…" She grouses sourly, sulking as she eyes the team's vice captain with sheer envy. "Wait a minute…"
Zuikaku gasps, eyes immediately narrowing and zeroing in onto the unnatural fluidity of said-girl's movements. Jolting into action, she whips out an accusatory finger, nearly jostling the contents on the table, and barks, "Hey, Kaga! You're still using your right hand. What is this injustice?"
"Zuikaku, please. Calm down." Resting a coaxing touch over the younger girl's arm, Shoukaku says, quietly, without so much of a ripple to her tranquility.
That gigantic wealth of patience of hers, is forever something that Hiryuu secretly marvels over. She wonders if there's even a time when the girl is ever exasperated with her hotheaded younger sister.
After a short beat, Zuikaku finally acquiesces, slumping back down into her seat begrudgingly with a short reluctant huff.
With that danger averted, Shoukaku begins, explaining ever so serenely, "Kaga-san is a left-hander, and apparently, so is Souryuu-san too."
"B-but… She— I don't..." Zuikaku blinks, stupefied, as she looks to Kaga, then Souryuu. Then Kaga again. And then finally, to Shoukaku, albeit rather helplessly. "Huh?
"For someone who was previously from the renowned Ishikawa Middle School, I'm surprised you didn't even notice."
A cool voice, holding the tiniest hint of ice, cuts right through the confusion, speaking up for the very first time during the entire dinner.
And there, right at the end of the table, sits Kaga with a perfectly arched aristocratic brow, looking almost goadingly to the younger girl.
Fists curling instinctively, Zuikaku starts in her chair.
"You—"
"—Zuikaku." A sharp warning glance from big sister, Shoukaku, from the side and Zuikaku quiets down once more, though not quite losing her snarl.
Ever the peacemaker between the two, Shoukaku looks to Kaga imploringly.
The sharp steel in said vice-captain's eyes lets up, though only imperceptibly.
Kaga sighs softly, relenting, albeit in her ever so passive and stoic manner.
"Though, I suppose I can't really fault you for not noticing."
At that, everyone at the table relaxes collectively.
But of course, Kaga being Kaga, who is surprisingly petty in the way, in which she always vies to have the last word in, adds in pointedly at the end. "After all, it's not often that I use my dominant hand during practice."
"What are you… Trying to pick a fight?—" Zuikaku shrills, and is half-way across to rising to her feet again when she is cut off completely by a deafening clap to her side as Shoukaku interjects heatedly.
"—Oh my, I've got to say! It's sure amazing how all of you, upperclassmen, are really adept at using your non-dominant hands though."
And even when she's out of court, she's still busy being the team's libero.
Nice save there, Shoukaku, thinks Hiryuu, inwardly crying animated happy tears of relief, mentally throwing the silver-haired girl a thumbs up.
"Well, we've got Houshou-san to thank, for setting us— Hiryuu and I— off early in our first year of high school in Kaito," explains Souryuu with a quick shrug. "But Akagi-san and Kaga-san are definitely much better at it than the both of us. Since, after all, they were both from Kaito Middle School, and would have probably started much, much earlier. Though, of course to keep up with them, we've been both working fairly hard at using our non-dominant hands."
She pauses, then glances over to Hiryuu, who is currently fumbling over a piece of a karaage chicken, with a wry smile.
"Though, Hiryuu, occasionally does have some problems with it."
"Sorry for not meeting up to your standards." Hiryuu chuckles weakly, sheepishly scratching at her cheek in embarrassment at the twin unimpressed expressions of both Shoukaku and Zuikaku.
"B-but, then again," Hiryuu clears her throat, in her attempt to regain her dignity as an upperclassman. "Do you honestly think that Akagi-san would let anything get in the way of her and…" she gestures pointedly to the hill of rice in point, as well as to the monster that is cheerfully devouring all that is edible within vicinity, "… food?"
Both Zuikaku and Shoukaku can only purse their lips and hold their tongues at the sight, already used to their insatiable senior and her apparent eating habits.
Even if Akagi is able to slurp up a bowl of udon noodles within seconds before moving on to another bowl— mountain— of rice, nothing is able to faze them, at this point.
"I suppose that's true…"
But amidst everyone and their looks of awe, crossed with the tiniest hint of horror, the manner in which their vice captain gazes fondly at their beloved captain of their team— eyes soft with only the vaguest trace of affection— does not go unnoticed by Hiryuu.
For it is a look, that Hiryuu recognizes instantly, having been so very familiarly acquainted with as of late.
Amusement sparking through her, she watches the duo with great interest.
"Akagi-san, you've got a little smudge of gravy… right there."
"Here?"
Sighing softly, albeit with a faint smile, Kaga reaches over towards Akagi with a napkin. "Right here."
At that, Hiryuu couldn't resist nudging at Souryuu, eyes shifting to the pair sitting directly across from them suggestively.
Silently picking at her food, Souryuu merely raises a brow at the pair, though not without flashing a small secret, knowing smile at Hiryuu when their eyes meet.
"Sorry, I've got to go make a quick call. Please excuse me for a moment."
A sheepish glance and a bow later, and Akagi is immediately out of the room with her phone tucked to her chest, scurrying past the sliding doors.
"Ooh, how suspicious," remarks Hiryuu, brows wagging and lips curled into a mischievous grin.
"It's been four nights in a row now, without fail at this time…" Souryuu murmurs musingly, fanning out their futons for the night.
Almost religiously, Akagi has been abiding by her nightly ritual— right before going to bed— of bashfully excusing herself to make a 'phone call', and it's gotten everyone scratching their heads over it. Though they have been purposefully keeping mum for the first couple of nights out of sheer respect and courtesy.
But they can only hold their tongue for so long, with their curiosity eating away at them like a parasite.
"Do you think she's seeing someone?" Zuikaku pipes up.
"Seeing someone? As in… dating somebody?"
But of course, Shoukaku's response had only gotten everyone else in the room to perk right up; the sleepy haze that has fallen over them long forgotten, eyes now gleaming, bright with questions, burning to be asked.
"Eh, you think Akagi-senpai has a boyfriend?" A first-year chimes in. Fubuki, one of Akagi known fan girls.
"Well, Akagi-san is beautiful, popular and smart. And now, she's making calls every night before she goes to sleep," Hiryuu hums, counting off of her fingers. "I don't see why she wouldn't have a boyfriend."
"What, no way…"
And no doubt, with Hiryuu fanning the flames of curiosity, whispers and hushed chatter over the apparent availability status of their team captain start filling the air rapidly, creating a sort of conspiratory buzz within the room.
"Akagi-san has a boyfriend?
"I really can't believe it…"
"No, that can't be true, can it?"
Just as abruptly the flood of chatter began, it ends on an equally unexpected note, as everyone— together as one single unit— happens to share the same collective idea.
"What are you guys looking at me for?"
The vice-captain of the team, Kaga blinks, perturbed at the sudden shift of focus to her. She had only been previously listening in to the ongoing conversations with half an ear, when it all suddenly boiled down to this.
"Well, Kaga-san is close to Akagi-san, so…" Hiryuu shrugs, a seemingly flippant smile hot on her lips.
Scanning the many curious faces, eyes wide and blinking up at her with lips perking into various forms of adorable pouts, the original retort to dismiss this entirely nonsensical drivel immediately dies in Kaga's throat.
Sighing softly, with shoulder sagging in resignation, Kaga drops her gaze and busies herself with the smoothening of her futon. "As far as I know, Akagi-san doesn't have one… Boyfriend, I mean."
The words, for some odd reason, taste bitter on her tongue. Acrid. And the thought of Akagi, all snared up in a certain embrace of an illicit lover, only sets her pits a tumble, churning uneasily.
Once again, the room is hit with an uproar, albeit slightly less frantic in comparison to the one before. Thankfully Kaga's answer had managed to somewhat placate everyone— especially the diehard fan girls of Akagi.
"Then perhaps… a girlfriend?— Ouch!"
Hiryuu recoils, being interrupted by a flying pillow right smack in the face with a force that strikes her down onto the ground in an instant.
Everyone, first and second-years alike, can only watch, gaping silently at the lethality of that single throw.
Tentatively rubbing at her now sore and reddened nose, Hiryuu glances weakly up at her perpetrator. "Man… that was one mean throw, Kaga-san."
Said-girl in question merely huffs, staring her down coldly, amber pools like glinting icicles.
"Stop gossiping over people's love life already and go to sleep."
Sliding into her futon and pulling the covers up and over her being, Kaga pointedly turns her back onto the stares boring into her, tuning out the muffled whispers that follow after.
Tired, spent and fatigued from the day's relentless training by the beach, the best place to unwind is, no doubt, the public bath facility conveniently situated in their accommodation for the two weeks that they would be here.
To be able to scrub down all that sand and sweat off their bodies, and to finally be rid of the tension in their muscles by the steaming hot bath pervading their being, renewing their vigor and utterly invigorating them; a wondrous feeling, it definitely is.
And it's probably the only thing— apart from dinner, of course— that everyone looks forward to at the end of the day.
Breathing a soft, contented little sigh, Kaga allows herself to kick back and relax, momentarily surrendering her mind and soul to the delicious warmth of the bath that surrounds her wholly. Closing her eyes, she could very well just melt away in the heat.
Everything is nearly perfect…
Nearly.
Though, her only lament would be how packed the bath is at the moment; with everyone being girls and dying to wash up after a day of grueling activities, there is no helping it, supposes Kaga.
But it would be nice if the first-years could just tone it down a little with their jabbering.
It seems that whatever gossip and rumors that transpired the night before had definitely gotten to their heads. Kaga could tell, from the shared steely look of determination they had on throughout the day of training— the gleam in their eyes that refuses to go away— just waiting for the right time to pounce on their target.
And of course, there is no better time like relaxing in the public bath than to dig up one's dirty little secret— something about being a lot more upfront and open with being naked in the bath, upperclassmen or not be damned.
Then again, if Kaga is being honest, whatever speculation they made that night had gotten to her too, and it has been on her mind ever since.
A sort of unrest that refuses to settle within her, made worst by the first-years constant probing around.
"Oh Akagi-senpai, your skin is so smooth, what is your secret?"
"Secret? I don't have one, sorry."
"You've got such soft and silky hair too. Do you really just use shampoo and conditioner, senpai?"
"Yes, you've probably seen it yourself earlier. I do only use shampoo and conditioner."
"Oh, but for someone as pretty as Akagi-senpai, you must probably have a boyfriend… Right?"
And there it is.
The flock of first-years choruses, looking to Akagi with large expectant eyes, "Right?"
"B-boyfriend? Just what brought on this, I wonder?"
And even from a distance away, Kaga can just feel Akagi's unease radiating out towards her, begging for a means to escape her current predicament. She knows she's probably looking to her for help, but for whatever reasons, Kaga just can't seem to bring herself to meet her imploring gaze.
Not when there's that ugly twinge in her chest; a silver blade pressing flat against her heart, ready to puncture with any sudden movement.
"Does that mean you don't have one, senpai?"
For a split second, the heated air in the bath pulls taut with a tensed silence.
A beat passes by.
"No, I don't."
And everyone— inclusive of Kaga— simultaneously releases a breath that they have been unconsciously holding on to.
"What is your ideal type then, Akagi-senpai? Someone cool and suave?"
Akagi laughs then, a fluttery bell-like kind of sound that resonates through the entire bath with a surprising clarity.
"Yes, someone cool would be nice… Someone cool, but with an unexpectedly gentle side to them." She murmurs, albeit musingly, voice dropping to a softer, almost tender cadence. "A person who has an extremely kind and giving heart. Cool, but so very warm all the same."
"Hmm… sounds like a tough catch to find, senpai."
"You think?" Comes Akagi's playful response, light and lilting.
"Just that a person like whom you've described, someone as warm as ice; must be hard to come by, is all."
"Someone as warm as ice?" repeats Akagi, sounding especially amused. Humming thoughtfully to herself, she takes a beat to mull things over, before releasing a soft mirthful chuckle. "Well, someone like that may in fact be closer than you think, y'know?"
Breath hitching, Kaga snaps up, raising her head. And in that very instance, she finds herself caught, captured in the gaze of twin sparkling topaz depths, twinkling right back at her— looking at her, and only her alone.
An enigmatic smile crosses Akagi's lips.
And suddenly Kaga's heart is sent racing, pulsing so heavily in her chest as heat rises quickly to cheeks and ears, scalding them with a splash of pink.
Can it be…?
"Hey, Kaga-san! Whatcha' doing hanging alone all by yourself in this lonely little corner here?"
But of course, paying no heed to the current situation, Hiryuu— followed closely by Souryuu— sidles up beside Kaga in the bath.
For the first time, Kaga is thankful for the distraction, as she tears her gaze away from Akagi, quickly regaining her poise in front of the pair before her.
"I was just about to leave." She says, sounding far too breathless for her liking, but she carries on nonetheless. "It's a little too cramp in here for my liking anyway." Kaga mutters, rising from the steaming bath that desperately clings on to whatever remains of her retreating form, reluctant of her leaving.
Careful to avoid looking in the direction of Akagi, Kaga totters out of the water, briskly making her way out of the bath and into the lockers, sliding the door shut behind her with a 'thud' that resounds through the entire bath.
Watching the tail end of Kaga's silhouette fade away around the bend, Hiryuu wrinkles her nose, albeit remembering to close her mouth after gaping at their vice-captain's shapely figure.
Looking over to her partner, Souryuu, who happens to look just as spellbound as herself, Hiryuu sighs and clicks at her tongue.
"Tch, Kaga-san, that show off..."
A/N: It's been nearly four months since the last update, and I'm really sorry for the lateness of this one. Kinda got bogged down by a couple other side-projects. But now with that out of the way, the update schedule for WAI would be a lot more constant now. Maybe once every two weeks or so? :P Haha. I've already changed up the summary of the story to better reflect what it is. Or what it's not— e.g. a collection of one-shots and drabbles. This is starting to read more like a story than a collection anyway, soo...
Welp, a quick warning to those who are still onboard with this story. Things will be getting a little heavy in the next chapter, so prepare your heart and your feels lol. And a huge thank you to those who had taken the time to review (I haven't been replying to reviews lately, but I do hear you all the same! Really sorry about that.), faves and alerts. I really appreciate it much! And I'll be back soon!
(Also, much thanks to sushimiyuu for the beta. Couldn't have done it without you! :))