A Mother's Secret part 2:
A Daughter's Journey

By JaquiK

Chapter 4: With A Little Help From My...Friend?

"Ugh, I completely forgot just how goddamn boring this stuff is," Aoi grumbled from her seat near the top of the bleachers and she listlessly looked on at the volleyball match going on down below. "How on earth you talked me into coming here, I'll never know."

"Neither will I," Midori deadpanned as she continued to draw into her sketchbook. "Although I do seem to recall something about providing support for our very good friend."

"Yeah, and I'm sure I coulda just done that at home by lighting some incense and giving a prayer or two."

"And there was also something about doing research for a potential upcoming sports manga."

"Yeeaahhhh," Aoi drawled out while scratching her cheek slightly. "Starting to think that one won't work out. Maybe I should try doing something with a fighting tournament, like in Dragonball. I also got this idea about a girl who makes a wish and ends up in an alternate universe where a bunch of things in her life are different. Oh, I could even have her end up becoming younger so she gets to experience a lot more of the changes."

"Or," Midori countered, "perhaps you could focus on finishing one idea instead of continuously pulling new ones out of the aether."

"Nah, this is funner," Aoi said with a grin that quickly dropped. "Definitely a lot funner than seeing a bunch of girls in short pants running around after a ball. Seriously, why do people even like to watch this junk?"

"I suppose it's something of an acquired taste." Midori's words trailed off slightly as she watched Ran down below dive after a spike, her lithe yet muscular body stretching out as she reached for the ball…

…and missed completely, both herself and the ball landing hard on the court.

Midori raised an eyebrow as she set her sketchbook down and closely observed the volleyball game in action. After a few minutes, she spoke up. "Aoi, tell me. Does something perhaps seem a bit…off with Ran at the moment?"

Aoi, who had fully zoned out by this point, turned to her friend in confusion. "I don't know, she seems to be doing just fine to me." As confirmation, she looked back to observe the girl in question standing in a ready position, eyes focused straight ahead…right up to the point a hard serve by the other team flew right to her and bounced off her forehead.

"Okay, you may have a point there."

"Time out!" Reina called out, taking great pains to not allow her current frustrations to leak out into her voice. After all, it was her duty as the team captain (a hefty burden that, of course, she was most qualified to bear) to properly guide her precious little soldiers to victory. Just as she had done in every endeavor she took charge in.

"Okay, girls," she boldly stated as her fellow teammates gathered around her, "I am proud of the hard work you have done so far. However, we are now fully in the danger zone, and we need to step up even more if we are to avoid suffering a disastrous defeat."

"But Reina," Asami Takahashi, the normally jovial but still somewhat sensitive girl, spoke up, "we're still in the lead."

Reina casually adjusted her elegant and stylish glasses (a necessity due to the well known hazards of contact lenses during competition) and glanced up at the scoreboard, currently displaying her team's 2 sets to the other's 1 with the score of the current set being 17 to 10 in their favor.

"Yes," Reina said sternly, "and a lead like that has the ability to vanish in an instant. Which is why we need to be on guard and really step up our game. Isn't that right?" She looked over at the coach, who provided a hearty shrug of confirmation.

"Well, most of us are doing perfectly fine. If anyone needs to get her head in the game, it'd be that so-called ringer you decided to bring in," grumbled Sakura Nakamura, a girl with a bit of a rough home life and a definite attitude problem (that Reina was still working on helping her with).

"Hey, I'm still doing awesome!" objected Ran Mei, the stoic and usually quiet girl who still managed to pitch in when needed in a very confident and secretly cute way. "That last serve just surprised me is all."

Reina suppressed the urge to sigh and she calmly directed Ran Mei away from the others so they could talk more privately. "Okay, Mei," she said, softly so no one else could hear, "as your captain and upperclassman, it is my duty and honor to help you out with any problems you are having. So tell me, what's bothering you?"

"It...it's nothing. I'm fine," Ran Mei stammered out, eyes looking off to the side.

Reina could almost kick herself for not recognizing that look in the other girl's eyes sooner. After all, she took it upon herself to be the surrogate big sister and provide comfort to her fellow schoolmates who had to deal with the utter devastation of experiencing the horribleness of a breakup. Who on earth would be so callous and foolish enough to break the heart of this strong and adorable girl, though? The sound of the ref's whistle quickly reminded her that certain things would need to be handled first.

"Ran, listen to me. I'm sure that whoever that girl was, she was the most perfect, wonderful girl in the world and there will never be another like her and you'll never know love again all that stuff. Look, after we're done with this, I'll take you out for ice cream and you can properly cry and rant into your sundae while I give whatever the lesbian version of The Speech is. For right now though, I need you to focus on this game. You don't want to let down your teammates, do you?"

Ran Mei looked up in slight surprise before quickly shaking her head. "No way, I don't lose!"

"That's the spirit. Now, how about we achieve our victory this day, then partake in some ice cream to celebrate."

"Yeah!" Ran Mei cheered with a small fist pump before rushing back to her spot on the court. Reina allowed herself a little smirk as she took up her own position, proud with how wonderful a leader she was being.

"Well, that was 2 hours thoroughly wasted," Aoi grumbled as she and Midori stood around on the gym floor waiting for their friend to come out of the locker room. "Why'd we even come again?"

"I recall something about giving support to a good friend," Midori casually responded. "And I would hesitate to refer to this time spent as fully wasteful."

"Yeah, you would say that since you managed to get some life model sketches of Ran out of it."

"Be that as it may," Midori continued while turning slightly to hide her blush. "Our friend quite obviously still requires support of some kind."

"Well duh, why'd you think I stuck around." Aoi gained a smile as Ran left the locker room and saw them. That smile quickly dropped once she noticed who was walking alongside her. "Oh, wonderful."

"Well, well," Reina called out with that annoying haughty tone of hers. "Izumi and Hayashi. I must admit it is a bit of a surprise to see you two spending any of your free time even in close proximity to physical activity."

"We are here to help out Ran," Midori growled out, hostility now present in her voice. "So we would prefer, Watanabe, if you would go off to perform whatever vapid activities you tend to get up to and allow us to provide support to our friend who clearly requires it."

"Yes, our poor little Ran indeed needs a good shoulder to cry on," Reina responded, "and naturally mine are the ones most suited for the job."

"Hey now, she's a big girl," Aoi replied, gesturing to the 30 centimeters shorter Ran. "She should decide who she wants to talk to."

"Yeah, and it should be her best friends," Midori said, "So be so kind as to go on and and butt out!"

"Guys, guys!" Ran interjected, holding out her hands in a warding gesture towards Aoi and Midori. "I'm fine, really! I'm just going to get some free ice cream. It's not a big deal."

"Really," Aoi asked, still a little uncertain. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm great," Ran said, giving a smile that definitely looked a bit forced. "Look, I'll talk to you guys Monday at school, alright?"

"There, you see," Reina quickly said before Aoi could respond. "Now please excuse us, we're going to go and indulge in some well deserved victory sundaes."

As she led Ran away, the other girl said with some actual enthusiasm in her voice, "Oh, can I get a parfait?"

Aoi watched the two leave the gym, while Midori spoke up. "We're not actually going to just sit around and allow that woman to corrupt our pure and innocent Ran, are we?"

"Nah, of course not. In fact, I suddenly got my own craving for some ice cream. Come on."

Ran looked down glumly at the extravagant parfait sitting in front of her, right next to the six finished ones. As she dug in, she was disappointed to find not even the super extra chocolaty fudge covered option was able to lighten her mood. And the extra wordy platitudes given by the girl sitting across from her were definitely not doing anything for her. At least the rest of the team was nice enough to sit in a booth far enough away from listening distance. Plus her friends were being kind enough not to nose in and were just hunkered down in another booth on the opposite side of the ice cream parlor, trying to act like they weren't noticeable.

Yeah sure, she was able to finally get into that game, even made the winning spike, but now that it was over the weight of her situation came crashing down again, leaving her with heartache and frustration that she didn't know what to do with. She definitely wouldn't take it out on the tomboy. After all, it wasn't like she owned her or any stupid thing like Kuno always spouted off. She obviously should be free to be with whoever she wanted. But she could have at least had the decency to actually tell her in person instead of her having to find out second hand by…

No, no, that wasn't fair either. She could have just as easily gone and had a chat with Akane, or heck, even went and called her up on the phone. Yeah, that's what she needs to do. Even if…even if they couldn't really be together, she could at least ask to be friends, just like how Akane asked her on that first day. Except this time, it would end better! A fresh start! Perfect, she'll even be going to Nerima tomorrow because of-

"Ah, goddamnit!"

She looked up to see Reina's momentary expression of surprise before it quickly melted into her far-too-much-like-Nabiki look of confidence. "Yes, I'm also aware of its reputation, but don't let that dissuade you. I've heard from very reliable sources that there are in fact quite reputable establishments to be found all over Shinjuku Ni-Chome as well. Cafes, pastry shops, ice cream parlors where you could very easily find a new girl who'd-"

"No, no, that's fine," Ran quickly interrupted. "I'm sure I'll find someone new and all eventually," she continued, although not quite fully believing her own words. "I was just thinking of something I have to do tomorrow."

"Oh?" the girl across from her raised an eyebrow before motioning to continue. "Well, go on then. I'm here anyway, so you may as well tell me about this matter also."

"I…um…" Ran tried to look away, but she could still sense Reina's eyes boring holes straight through her. "Well, you know that whole thing we both promised to never speak about again?"

She looked back to find that now Reina was looking away and unconsciously rubbing her cheek. "Yes, and I do intend to remain true to that vow."

"Yeah…so it turns out I sorta kinda have to do something like it again."

"You what?" This time the shock on Reina's face managed to linger a bit longer. She leaned in and narrowed her eyes at Ran, talking in a harsh whisper. "I was under the impression that danger was taken care of permanently."

"Oh, yeah. It definitely was. This has nothing to do with that weird curse you got," Ran reassured while waving her hands in front of her in a warding gesture."

Reina continued to stare for a few more seconds, before leaning back into her seat. "Okay, good. I just wanted to make certain. So, how exactly is this situation similar to ones that shall not be named then? And, out of curiosity, just how many false dates have you been made to go on by now?"

"Hey, now. I haven't had to do it that often. But, um…you see, I have this old childhood friend. We didn't see each other for about ten years and only got reunited recently. Now it turns out that her dad wants her to move back to Osaka. She really doesn't want to do that and wants me to help, and to help I need to…well…pretend to be her boyfriend."

"Ah, I see. That is certainly…" Third look of shock on Reina's face in under five minutes. That was probably a record or something. "Boyfriend?"

Ran narrowed her eyes at the response. "Wait, what's wrong with that?"

"Oh, nothing much," Reina said, regaining her composure once again and giving Ran an appraising eye. "I just have a bit of a hard time picturing you as a boy, much less a boyfriend."

"Hey, I can pull off being a boy no problem. In fact, Ucchan's dad really thought I was a boy back then." And I really was one, too. I think.

"Yes, well that may have worked in your youth, but with all of your…developments…I sincerely doubt you'd be able to pull that off again now. At least, not without help that is," Reina finished with a smirk on her lips.

"Huh? What do…" Ran's eyes grew wide as she realized what the other girl must be thinking. "No, no. Uh, thanks but you really don't have to do that."

"Oh, I insist. After all, you helped me out today, so it's only natural that I in return perform a favor for you. Hmmm, this may take some time to get perfect. You best call up your mother and let her know you will be staying at a friend's house for the night." Reina lifted one hand in the air and snapped her fingers. Immediately, the other girls rushed over and surrounded the booth.

"Ladies," Reina declared to her teammates, "it turns out that our dear little Ran has run into a bit of a troublesome situation, and in order to get out of it she will need to go full otokoyaku. So, what say we perform our required duty and help our fellow teammate get in touch with her masculine side."

Ran started to object, but froze at all the eyes suddenly turning towards her, feeling a sudden kinship to a bug in a jar. "Um…that's fine…you don't…"

"It's alright, kiddo, we're here to help," Reina said with a large smile. "Do not worry. I assure you that before this night is through, I will make a man out of you."