New Chapter! Letsa go!
Shuffling nervously outside the door, Hanoashi waited impatiently for her name to be called. Deep down she knew that she would have to deal with this, but now that it was finally time, she felt herself becoming increasingly nervous.
"Class...we'll be having a new student," the teacher smiled, before in all likelihood glancing at the door. You may come in now," he added.
Swallowing nervously, Hanoashi walked in, wearing the school uniform which was a pink and white sailor uniform with white shoes and matching thigh high socks, dual pink stripes ringing around the top of said socks.
"Would you like to introduce yourself?" her teacher asked.
"My name is Hanoashi Katoni, it's very nice to meet you all," she introduced herself softly yet with a slight tone of confidence.
"Young Katoni is staying with Rikona and the Matsumino family for a month or so while her father recovers from a bad accident, and thus will be attending our class until he is ready to return home," her teacher smiled. "In the meantime I hope that you will be welcoming to her," he added.
"Sensei Kuto, can Hanoashi sit by me?" A girl with natural auburn hair asked.
"Of course young Hayle," Kuto offered.
"Great!" the girl smiled, padding the seat next to her. Walking over, Hanoashi and the girl shared a quick smile. "Rikona mentioned you to me yesterday on the phone," she whispered as the teacher went up to begin his lesson.
"Really?" Hanoashi noted, surprised.
"We'll talk during lunch," Hayle whispered, before turning to the lesson.
Hanoashi watched as he went on his lesson about proportions, something she kind of had a grasp on already, but hasn't been properly taught much about. Yu had focused more on accelerating her reading, multiplication, and speaking skill over other forms of math, and had just began going deeper into proportion teaching a week before her passing.
This is a lot more advanced than my old school, but I really like it! She thought happily, digging into the lesson.
"As some of you will come to know, this can be known as division or also fractions depending on the context," Kuto remarked. "However, you need not worry yourself about that now, just remember the basics, alright?" He then glanced around. "Ms Katoni, if a boy has ten pieces of candy, how many ways can he share each individual piece equally?"
"He can share it between equally two people, five people, or ten people, including himself," Hanoashi noted confidently.
"Very good miss Katoni," he smiled, before going back to the board. She on the other hand felt pleased with herself for the correct answer. Did you see that Mom? Did...I make you proud? She asked after a bit, feeling the absence of the one who raised her and gave birth to her. Don't let her death get you down like this! She shook her head, not realizing that Hayle was glancing at her briefly with a questioning gaze.
After a few brief moments, the teacher let out a small nod. "Time for a pop quiz," he noted, before handing everyone a piece of paper.
Yes! Hanoashi shouted inwardly, eager to begin the test, that was until she saw that the test only had six questions, all in the same tone as the one she had answered for Mr. Kuto. Too short! She pouted childishly. So what, not everything you like doing has to be done for a half hour or so, now get to it! She chided herself, before tasking pen to paper with gusto.
The test was quick, and before she knew it Mr Kuto had began doing another lesson, this time the basics of weather. "Now who can tell me the two major disasters that prompted Japan to require swimming lessons?"
"Cyclones, which can cause flooding, and earthquakes, which can cause Tsunamis," Hayle noted after raising her hand and then receiving a nod.
Memories briefly flooded Hanoashi's mind of reading about natural disasters, as well as the brief lessons about disaster drills at her old school.
"Quite right young one," Kuto smiled. "Speaking of which, you'll be swimming in the pool this evening." he added, before gazing at Hanoashi. "We have a school swimsuit, yours will be in your locker so to speak. Be sure to carefully take off your school uniform when you change, alright?"
"Yes sir," Hanoashi nodded. I wonder what it looks like? She mused excitedly.
After a small sigh, she rose up as the bell rang, and gazed around, feeling a bit lost.
"Friends?" Hayle smiled, extending her hand.
"Friends," Hanoashi smiled in return, realizing how similar they were in some aspects. They were both red heads, had dark green eyes, and from what she saw of her Hayle was very well studious. The only difference she noted so far was that Hayle was more Japanese in terms of her skin-tone and had a distinct lack of the freckles that dotted Hanoashi's face and upper body. Though Hayle's facial features did scream European.
Following her into the halls, Hayle waited at an intersection, and before long Rikona joined in. "So how was it?" she asked gently.
"Fairly well so far, she's real nice and seems to be pretty smart," Hayle noted as she lead them into the lunch room.
"I like the advanced lessons," Hanoashi smiled, before a thought crossed her mind. "Um...how does lunch go?"
"It's simple really, we just grab a tray, sit where we want, and just eat. We have twenty minutes plus a ten minute recess, unless we're part of the cleaning crew in which we clean up the trays and bowls," Hayle smiled.
"I see...when is our cleaning days?" Hanoashi asked.
"Just on Fridays, it's not too bad and we're allowed to chat during those times. Oh, and we have fifteen minutes to eat so that we have time to change into our work aprons and an extra five minutes to change back," Rikona added in.
"What was the uniforms like back at your old school?" Hayle asked.
"We...didn't really have any...some regulations and such, but no dedicated uniform," Hanoashi shrugged.
"Lucky, I wish that I could wear whatever I wanted," Hayle sighed.
"I like this uniform, it's comfy," Hanoashi noted.
"Just remember to change when the appointed time is, they don't like us girls wearing the wrong version at the wrong time," Rikona warned.
"Don't worry, I'll remember, although I'd prefer to wear the short sleeved version year round," Hanoashi sighed.
"So you hate long sleeves as well?" Hayle asked.
"Wouldn't say that I hate them, just that I'd rather wear sleeveless or short sleeved clothes. I like to feel the wind and sun on my skin," Hanoashi noted.
"I understand, it is nice. A white sleeveless shirt and matching skirt or dress pants is lovely," Rikona smiled.
"I just feel clammy in long sleeves," Hayle huffed in annoyance.
"That makes sense," Hanoashi nodded. "I usually wrap my long sleeve shirts around my waist when at home during the winter," she added.
"Sorry, but that's not going to fly in the Matsaumino household," Rikona noted gently yet firmly.
"Don't worry, I'll avoid doing it during my stay," Hanoashi promised.
"Is...your father in bad shape?" Hayle asked softly.
"He inhaled so much smoke during the fire that he's still in the clean room. They're no real guarantee that he'll even survive, and it'll be hard when we do return home if he does, but..." Hanoashi let out a small sigh.
"I'm so sorry," Hayle whispered. "Was it a house fire?" she added gently.
"Insurance company caught fire and got out of control too fast. Mom and dad were working there and wouldn't leave until every got out...but...a pillar fell on mother, and father was trying to get it off when he inhaled too much smoke," Hanoashi shuddered at the memory. "Mom...didn't make it," she added somberly, before sighing. "Let's...just get lunch," she noted, her voice echoing the sorrow she had been trying to suppress.
The lunch was somewhat similar to that of her old school, except with instead of cake they were given a slice of cantaloupe. Setting down to eat, she along with Hayle and Rikona gave a small bit of thanks for their food before eating.
"It's good, isn't it?" Hayle smiled after they each had taken a few bites.
"About the same as my old school...just that we had a slice of cake instead of cantaloupe. Oh, and the older students serve the younger students...except for the fifth graders who are served by the other fourth graders," Hanoashi noted.
"That sounds kinda of nice, to be honest," Hayle smiled.
"So, you excited to swim?" Rikona asked.
"You bet!" Hanoashi smiled. "Just...not looking forward to the chlorine," she added.
"Yeash...I hear you. Thankfully we use a more...softer kind of chlorine. We've still got to wash before and afterwords, but we're lucky that it doesn't burn the eyes as much," Hayle smiled.
"Do you get to play after doing a lap?" Hanoashi asked.
Rikona and Hayle shared a look in which was a mix of disbelief and bemusement. "You...get to play after swimming a lap?" Rikona tipped her head in confusion.
"I'm guessing that you don't?" Hanoashi noted in surprise.
"No, we swim across twice," Rikona noted. "It's...we line up by class, swim across once, then swim across again. That's it, takes about an hour, for the whole class" she added.
"Oh...I guess it's just going through the motions then," Hanoashi glanced down, before eating a bite of cantaloupe.
"It's still fun, we...just get a brief time in the pool. We have about five hundred hundred girls per grade, and we go through the second grade," Hayle shrugged. "The adjacent school goes through the fifth grade and also has about five hundred per grade level."
"So...fifteen hundred students total per school..." Hanoashi mused.
"Yep! Then again there's a lot of larger schools around the area, some many times than ours. This one is a somewhat middle-class school. Upper enough for a Matsuino but not too upper class," Rikona smiled.
"Whatever that means," Hayle muttered.
Hanoashi knew what it meant. According to Shelia, it was customary for the Matsumino to attend less prestigious schools, and the higher the grade level, the less prestigious the school the children went to. That didn't mean that they went to the rundown and barely passing schools, rather that if a school was a grade's equivalent to Harvard or Yale, the Matsumino avoided going there like the plague. Apparently, it allowed the children of the family to interact with people of different income levels as well as making it more apparent that their children had to earn their required career education credentials rather than going in a silver spoon so to speak.
Not that a born and raised Matsumino could ever truly live a life free of the silver spoon, or at least in Hanoashi's opinion they couldn't.
"Anyways, what exactly do you like to do?" Hayle asked Hanoashi after a bit.
"Hm...playing chess is cool, though Rikona just taught me how. Monopoly is fun...though I've only played it a few times at the old school, and..." Hanoashi paused as Hayle and Hanoashi shared another glance.
"We...don't get to play games during school here," Rikona admitted quietly.
"Lucky," Hayle muttered.
"I actually prefer this more studious school more. I mean...I miss my friends and such, but still," Hanoashi let out a sigh and finished the last bit of her meal.
Sighing as she stepped out of the shower, Hanoashi gazed at her swimsuit, which was a pink traditional swimsuit, complete with separate top and bottom. It felt weird... even wrong to her. She didn't really mind the coloration per-say, but it was just so different to the one piece she was so used too.
Meeting up with Hayle, she gave a small nod, and the two girls made their way into the swimming arena.
"It's half as long as an American football field," Hayle noted.
"Different from my school...can I really swim that far?" Hanoashi mused, daunted.
"If you can't swim, now's the time to tell us," a woman beside her noted. "You're new...Hanoashi Katoni, right?" she added.
"Yes ma'am," Hanoashi bowed gently in respect.
"Heather Gruse," the blond haired girl nodded. "I'm one of the coaches, swim coach to be exact. So...you can swim, right?"
"Yes ma'am...just...never swam this far," Hanoashi breathed.
"You'll be fine," Heather smiled at her before taking her spot at the side of the pool.
"Let's get in line," Hayle mused, gazing at row two.
"That's where we line up?" Hanoashi asked.
"Aside from that, starting order is first come first serve," Hayle noted, before walking into the line. Hanoashi followed, letting out a small gulp as she one again observed how long she had to swim.
"Remember girls, it's not a competition. We'll let you know when to start," Heather called through the megaphone. "Begin!"
Her dark green eyes watched as a Japanese girl dove into the pool, and she felt her eyes widening in chock at her speed. Do they expect me to swim that fast! Hanoashi asked herself quietly.
"You'll be fine, just try not to focus too much on speed, alright?" Hayle noted gently.
"I...I'll try," Hanoashi breathed as she and the line moved up.
"Wish me luck!" Hayle smiled after about another five minutes, before diving into the pool.
There's no way am I going to dive! Hanoashi noted to herself determinedly, before flinching as she heard a whistle followed by her name, giving her the go ahead. She slid in, before making her way toward the other side. She could see her class mates cheering her on from the other side, and she found herself renewed by their cheering.
This is quiet tiring...she mused, pausing briefly to take a breath, carefully treading the water. Frowning as she noticed that she was only halfway there, she let out a huff and returned to swimming, trying not to focus on how tired her muscles were becoming.
Reaching her hand out to the edge of the pool, she let out a few small gasp as she crawled onto the edge of the pool, laying on her back.
"You really ought to start excising with Rikona," the girl who had gone first noted gently, before kneeling down. "Name's Matsu Sawa," she added.
"Nice...to...meet...you..." Hanoashi panted, glancing up at the girl and accepting her hand as she helped her up. "I'll...speak to Rikona about it later on."
"Might ought to rest up, we have to swim back, and then we have PE afterwords," Matsu noted, gazing ahead as another student reached the end, giving them both a polite nod but not speaking afterwords.
PE after a swim!? Hanoashi gasped inwardly, but her mother's training prevented her from complaining. Instead, she sat next to Hayle.
"You look like you had it rough," Hayle mused.
"Tiring..." Hanoashi sighed, before a cheer of "Look at Rikona go!" erupted from her classmates. Standing up, Hanoashi was surprised at how fast her cousin was going. "How is she doing that?" Hanoashi whispered.
"Look at how tall she is," Hayle noted.
"So she's a bit more mature than us?" Hanoashi asked, surprised that she hadn't realized Rikona's height and build before.
"Combine that with what little I know about the Matsumino training she's received...yes," Hayle smiled. "But her body is stronger than us, by at least a grade or so. And according to her she'll need to shape up even more as it's customary for the Matsumino to compete in at least once racing series," she added.
"Shelia mentioned to me, but..." Hanoashi gazed as Rikona climbed out like she barely broke a sweat, before sitting down and speaking to a classmate.
"That's Lin, our mutual friend from pre-school," Hayle noted. "Used to not get along with Rikona so well, kinda kind of envious of her so to speak. That was until she learned that she could piggyback off of her," she added with a snort. "But she's really nice, and a bit more on the quiet side then us...most of the time."
"I see..." Hanoashi noted, surprised to see them sharing a joke, albeit Lin's quiet laugh proved Hayle's point on the girl being quiet, Hanoashi couldn't even hear it over the splashing of the pool.
Before long the girls heard a whistle and a line up order. Stifling a small sigh, Hanoashi rose up from the matted area, and fell in at the end of the line, Hayle joining her.
"You could go to the end of the line if you're still tired," the girl behind her reminded her gently.
"I'll be fine, thanks," Hanoashi mused, watching Matsu shoot out, going even faster than before.
Hayle let out a small snort. "Trying to beat Kona? Her funereal..."
"Why is she so focused on that?" Hanoashi asked.
"Matsu desires to spend a few years as a professional swimmer and then retire as a part time lifeguard," Hayle shrugged. "But she views anyone who swims better then her as competition."
"But the coach said it's not a competition..." Hanoashi mused.
"Try telling Rikona and Matsu that," Hayle huffed, before stepping up to swim again.
Is...that what they call having a rival? Hanoashi mused, before sighing as her name was called and this time she sort of jumped in. I can make it without stopping this time...I think! She thought determinedly.
Arriving in the PE gym, Hanoashi now donned a pink polyester athletics shirts with built in elbow pads, as well as a matching track pants, built in knee-pads and everything. In addition, she was wearing a leather protective cap.
"Alright ladies, ready for another pounding?" Their coach growled, her sharp amber eyes glaring at the other girls.
"Yes coach Fune!" the girls chorused.
Fune let out a small nod of satisfaction, before walking across, gazing at the girls one by one, her waste length raven black hair flowing behind her. Hanoashi had to stifle a gulp as she paused in front of her. "Your name?"
"Ha...Hanoashi Katoni ma'am," Hanoashi managed to get out.
"Well then Ha...Hanoashi," She teased, a brief light flooding from her eyes, before her tone turned serious. "Get ready to be crushed," she growled, before walking off.
Hayle shot her an apologetic look, before the coach turned around and nodded. "Volley-ball game, five points to win, get into position," she growled.
Hanoashi was about to follow Hayle when the girl shook her head apologetically. "The white numbers under the school crest represents your team position, so this time we must separate. We'll be on the basket ball team though," she smiled.
"Ri...right," Hanoashi noted, gazing at the white wasp logo on her shirt pocket before sighing and heading over to where a group of four girls were standing.
"You're the new kid, right?" one of the girls smiled. She had shorter brown hair and eyes, and was clearly Japanese in terms of boty type and features. She also looked eerily similar to Matsu.
"Um...yes," Hanoashi smiled.
"Awesome! Name's Asuza Sawa!" the girl smiled.
"It's nice to meet you Asuza," Hanoashi smiled. "I'm Hanoashi Katoni," she added.
"Pretty name," Asusa smiled.
"Are you related to Matsu by any chance?" Hanoashi asked.
"Cousins, you have any?" Asuza asked.
"A few that I know of, but only one I've met...and I'm kinda supposed to keep it on the hush hush. My mother...is kind of a pariah in the family," Hanoashi admitted apoligeticly.
"What's a pariah?" Asuza asked, tipping her head in confusion.
"Someone who's basically unwanted," Hanoashi shrugged.
"But why would she be unwanted by your family?" Asuza gasped. "That sounds so cruel!"
It might have very well been a blessing, from what I've seen from the Matsumino so far...Hanoashi mused quietly. "She married the..." she began, but a gruff voice from the other side of the field interrupted them. "Are you two going to get the coach's wrath or are we going to play?"
"So...sorry!" Hanoashi squeaked, getting into position. She'd played beach ball with her brother, which was a similar concept and her mother had given her a rundown on the rules of most sports, so she had at least some idea of how to play.
"Get ready...all teams, begin! Ten minutes!" Fune announced in a stern voice, glaring at her and Asuza.
Focusing on the game, Hanoashi found that the ball was more harder to push then the light weight beach ball she had been used to, for one. The other thing is that she got a glare whenever she dived into the other girl's area. Maybe I should just focus on my own area...she mused, shifting her strategy.
However, that only got glares from the other girls on her team when they began to loose. Aside from Asuza, who nodded in approval at the shift. In the end they lost three to five.
"Nice work runt," one of her classmates hissed, bumping her gruffly before going on the bench to sit down.
"Ignore them," Asuza snorted. "Even when we outnumbered the other team, they'd glare at you no mater what you did. Ignore the rules and dive into their area, glare. Stick to your area, they'll still glare at you if it causes us to lose."
Hanoashi simply let out a sigh. "Wish I'd have been told that rule before we played," she sighed.
"Coach is...fairly hands off, letting us correct each other and only stepping in if absolutely necessary. I...kind of like that about her," Asuza admitted.
"You seem to be the mature type," Hanoashi smiled.
"That's what my parents say," Asuza smiled in return. "Though I'm not really wanting to seek an athletic career like Matsu is," she added. "Not really the athletic type."
"Same," Hanoashi noted. "You probably saw how poorly I did during swimming practice," she added.
"We all have strengthens and weakness," Asuza noted practically. "And from what I've seen you've got quite the...advanced level of learning."
"Everyone seemed to be quite advanced here," Hanoashi mused.
"That why it's one of the better schools in Japan," Asuza smiled.
"Alright, time to line up for basket ball, Teams one and two will go first, three and four will go later one," Fume noted.
Sitting down next to Hayle, Hanoashi let out a quiet, but tired sigh. "Finally a break," she whispered.
"Break?" Hayle gazed at her. "Who said anything about a break?" she gazed around before rising up. "You ready?"
Her heart sank as she saw the girls doing sit-ups, but she none the less got into the position, allowing Hayle to grasp her feet. "How many do we do?" she asked.
"We start at twenty sit ups and ten push ups, and advance five per year," Hayle noted.
"Better get started then," Hanoashi grunted, before beginning her sit-ups, huffing at the end of it.
"You...really aren't the athletic type, are you?" Hayle shook her head as she played down.
"Guess not," Hanoashi shrugged, before grasping her feet. She watched as Hayle preformed the work, a tad surprised at how she did them with ease. Am I the only non-athletic type in this school? She wondered in despair.
The final bell rang, and Hanoashi put her books up and helped cleaned the classroom, before stumbling out of the room. So...tired...she yawned inwardly, just wanting to get home and rest, only for Rikona to intercept her.
"Mother wants us to practice swimming for the next hour," she informed.
"I'm...tired..." Hanoashi yawned, covering her mouth with an apologetic look.
"I know, and that's is why we need practice," Rikona huffed, before giving her an apologetic look back. "It'll get easier after a week or so, and you probably won't have to do this for very long." she added in sympathy.
"And after this can we go home and rest?" Hanoashi asked quietly.
"Afraid not, we've got lessons afterwords," Rikona shrugged.
"Right...Nursing for you and English for me," Hanoashi remembered. "Let's...just go."
"No dragging your feet," Rikona growled.
"I won't," Hanoashi promised as she begin to follow the dutch girl, separating briefly for the required shower and change, before walking out again.
"I'm surprised to see you here," Lin mused, circling her curiously. "Guessing the Matsumino are putting you through the wringer?"
"What's that?" Hanoashi tipped her head in confusion.
"Never mind," Lin took a small step back. "I'm guessing you've noticed that this isn't exactly like the soft slop school you went to before, huh?"
"My old school wasn't a soft-slop school," Hanoashi huffed, offended.
"Oh really?" Lin challenged. "You're soft."
"I'm not soft..." Hanoashi huffed.
"Convince me then," Lin growled.
"Okay then, how do I do that?" Hanoashi tipped her head in confusion.
"Beat Rikona," Lin folded her arms together, as if giving her a challenge.
"I can't do that!?" Hanoashi gasped.
"Hanoashi Amelia Katoni, the daughter of Yu Katoni, a former Matsumino and athletic champion, can't even beat her cousin," Lin rolled her eyes sarcastic.
"What did you say?" Hanoashi growled, feeling an urge she had never wanted to feel again, before her angry posture turned into a confused one. "And how did you know that anyways?"
"My mother used to compete with yours on the swim team. So when Rikona told me that you were attending our school, I got excited...that was until I saw what a pathetic swimmer you were today," Lin huffed, before sighing.
"Sorry I'm a disappointment then," Hanoashi huffed.
"No, I'm sorry if I came across as rough with you. To be honest...I'd been hoping that we could go on the swim-team together, but...it's obvious that we won't be able too," Lin apologized.
"We?" Hanoashi asked.
"Too much of a sweet tooth, in my case," Lin confessed softly. "You can understand, right?"
To Hanoashi, the idea of eating sugar laden protects seemed like a death product. "I'd...rather avoid sugar as much as possible," she admitted.
"You Diabetic?" Lin asked, sounding spooked.
"SC-type four, and don't you dare try to avoid sweets just cause I can't have them!" Hanoashi growled.
"Hm...maybe you're not as weak as I thought," Lin mused, before extending her hand. "Friends?"
If Rikona can love this prickly hedgehog then so can I, Hanoashi nodded, accepting the friendship shake.
"If you two are quite finished..." Rikona grunted.
"See you on the outside," Lin smiled quietly, before taking off.
"Thanks, I know she can be a bit of a hedgehog, but she's really shy most of the time," Rikona whispered, patting the Irish girl on the shoulder.
"She called my old school soft..." Hanoashi mused, feeling troubled.
"Yu just wanted you to enjoy life without the added pressures of us Matsumino," Rikona smiled at her gently. "Believe you me, I'm a bit envious of you in a way," she added.
"Really...Why?" Hanoashi gazed at her, stunned. How can she be envious of me?
"Well...Yu wanted you to live the life that you wanted to, at your own pace...mostly. But me..." Rikona's eyes glittered with worry. "Me...I have to always be ahead, always be better than anyone else. Even though I'm just wanting to become a lowly nurse compared to what many of the other Matsumino want to be...I have it just as rough."
"No kidding," Hanoashi breathed.
"Lin is right though, your old school was soft...but maybe that's not a bad thing in some areas," Rikona smiled, before urging her forward gently. "Come on, we only have an hour to swim and we've wasted ten minutes just getting to nowhere," she squeaked.
Taking her first dip, she felt the cool water flow over her tired body, and yet she knew that she had to persevere through it. Come on, go faster! She urged herself, feeling rather ticked at how slow she was swimming.
Even though Lin seemed to accept her, she wanted to become more on par with Rikona. Maybe not match or even beat her, but she wanted to be able to put on a decent show at least. Reaching the other side, she found herself heaving for breath, and glanced up to see Rikona shaking her head.
"Pace yourself, Shelia's going to be pissed if you only do a lap or two because you're trying to out-speed everyone else," She growled, before helping her out of the pool.
"How many laps does she require?" Hanaoshi huffed.
"Considering how many people are practicing today...at least fifteen, but then again twenty seems to be the high score for Matsumino our age. Though getting up to ten might work for you during for the first week. After that...fifteen? May accept twelve though..." Rikona shrugged. "That's back and forth by the way, not one way."
"No way..." Hanoashi breathed.
"Like I said, your old school was soft, but you'll get there," Lin smiled, though her voice was really quiet.
Is she insulting me or encouraging me? Hanoashi mused, before letting out a small nod. "I'll do my best," Hanoashi promised.
Letting out a tired sigh, Hanoashi slumped down on the resting mat, letting out a small breath. "Just...a...breather..." she huffed.
"I...think you've had enough for today," Rikona patted her on the breath.
"Doing seven laps is good enough for anyone really," Matsu noted, before glaring at Rikona. "You really need to tell them that she's not the athletic type." she snorted, before walking off, doing another lap.
"Don't let that get you down," Rikona sighed. "Do the best you can, but try to make up for your lack of athleticism in the other areas," she mused, before going back into the line.
Rising up, Hanoashi felt her muscles buckled under her, and plopping down, she let out a quiet sigh, gazing at the other girls before glancing to her arm. Just how far am I behind these girls...she mused.