Chapter 2 – Volleyball is Life
Days had passed by since the graduation party. And since then…my power has gotten worse. My aura started overfilling a lot faster now. Increasing the number of times I had to release it.
And thus, shortening my lifespan…
Plus, the rainbow markings that appear during the aura overflow would start to itch like hell. And it would last a good while, too. Last time I counted, it was about 10 minutes before the itching subsided.
Probably the only good thing about this is that I've been losing a few kilos every once in a while. Not that I needed to lose weight or anything. I still have that stereotypical hourglass body that every girl desires for some reason.
Right now, I was sitting at home recovering from a recent overfill incident with not much left to do. I live alone…so spending time with someone isn't exactly something I can do in an instant.
Unless your best friend just happens to be…
*RINGTONE CHIME*
"Hello?"
"Greetings, Tsu. You are now currently in a virtual presence of The Great Volleyball Queen Rukia-sama! Ohhohohoh-"
*BEEP*
…
…
…
*RINGTONE CHIME*
"Hello?"
"Wh-Why'd you hang up on me?!" Rukia yelled through the phone. Clearly pissed that I hung up on her.
"Well, why can't you ever do a normal greeting for once?"
"Because I'm a lady, Tsu. My greetings need to be as elegant and fancy as possible. It's in my character bio."
"Character bio?"
"You're an OC. You don't have a character bio." We then heard Ayano's voice through another line.
"What?! Oh, that's bullshit! How can someone like me not have a character bio?!"
"Because you're not official. That's basically all there is."
"Hmph. Well, that discriminatory as all hell!I am SO suing whoever's in charge of this story!"
"Girl, get over it." I said. "So, what's up? You guys bored, too?"
"Oh, right. Well, I figured that we should meet up and get some practice in before the new school year starts. Since it's coming up and all."
"Wow, look at you, Rukia. Eager to practice more." Ayano said.
"A lot more than usual recently." I added.
"Well, I AM the captain. And the captain's job is to look after her teammates. Can't have our style get rusty, girls. Ohhohoho!"
"Snooooooot." We both teased.
"Q-Quit doing that! Just get over here already!"
"Fine, fine." I said.
"We'll be there soon, Your Royal Highness." Ayano added.
"Don't patronize me…"
The three of us soon hung up and then I went to grab my volleyball jersey. The same #13 red jersey I've worn since my first year of high school. And now I'm wearing it again for my final year...
…
…
…
"Gah! I hate how I haven't grown at all!" I yelled in frustration as I threw the jersey on the floor. Remembering the multiple times both Rukia and Ayano had to change sizes due to their growing breasts.
If I ever do find Tsuzuki, I'm gonna make her answer as to why I'm forever flat…
"Aw…don't be mad, Tsu. I love how flat you are."
"How long have you've been sitting there?" I asked a girl with long thin grey hair sitting at the edge of my apartment window.
"Shortly after you got on the phone. I didn't really get most of it, though. What was that part about OCs and character bios?"
"It's too complicated to understand…" I said with a sweatdrop.
So, the girl sitting on the window is my upstairs neighbor Eri Inose. She's a university student about to start her second year. And has been my neighbor ever since I started attending Shinohara.
She doesn't know about me being a doppelgänger and all of that. And I'm not really sure if I should tell her, either. Similar to Ayano's curse…if too many people found out about this, I might be totally screwed.
…
But then again…keeping this secret for all these years is screwing me over, too.
"So…still playing volleyball, huh?" Eri asked as she fully came inside my apartment (uninvited, of course). "You must really love the sport if you've gone three years into it."
"Of course, I love it. Volleyball is my life and I'll never give it up. Plus, it did lead me to meeting Rukia."
"Rukia…oh, yeah! The stereotypical spoiled rich girl. Hard to believe that you can put up with someone like that. That "Ohhohoho!" is annoying as hell."
"She has her issues, sure. But she's still my best friend. And I'll adore her to the very end."
"Adore her to the point where you'll finger her pussy?"
"Tch! N-No, damnit!" I yelled with a huge blush on my face. "I keep telling you that we're both straight! It's never going to happened!"
"Don't knock it till you try it, Tsu. After all…only girls are skillful enough to know each other's sensitive spots~. *giggle*"
"I-I'm going to start ignoring you now…" I said as I turned away from her.
So, in case you couldn't tell…Eri's a lesbian. She and her girlfriend (I think her name is Maya) are very much open about their relationship. And I mean VERY open. To the point where Eri would oftentimes describe to me how good the sex is and I would do my best to tune her out.
And she would never take the hint that I don't want to hear it, either.
"Hey, come to think about it…weren't you a volleyball star back in high school?" I asked while I was changing into my volleyball uniform.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was. One of the best the school's ever had, actually. We've won ranked matches, tournaments, and even went to Regionals a few times. It was a pretty exciting. Even though it only lasted a year."
"A year? What made you quit?"
"Well…besides the fact that the other teammates were highly annoyed at me spending most of practice masturbating and talking about sex…"
"Ugh…" I gained an uncomfortable sweatdrop.
"…I guess I just lost interest. I originally joined the team out of curiosity and it ended up being not right for me. So, I left."
"Wow…I didn't think it would be that simple of a reason."
"Yeah…it was fun while it lasted, though. Best memory of high school for me."
"I see…"
Maybe Eri isn't as perverted as I always think she is…
"On the bright side, though…quitting the team gave me LOTS of time to have sexual encounters with other girls. The amount of pussy I licked…"
Never mind. She's still a ginormous perv.
"Wh-Whatever." I said as I had finished changing and grabbed my sports bag. "I'm leaving now. So, get out already."
"Fine, fine. Reliving some of those memories got me little wet, anyway. I'm gonna go masturbate."
"O-Okay, seriously! TMI!"
"*giggle* Later, Tsu!" Eri then cheered as she left my apartment the same way she got in. Leaving me slightly pissed off about this entire conversation.
I'm starting to regret agreeing to this "Inner Struggle" thing…
Sometime later, I met up with Rukia and Ayano at the school and we had some practice done. Now…I'm not sure how other volleyball teams would do their practices. But since it's just the three of us for a team, it usually takes longer than what I assume it would for a normal team.
"And…*BOP* NOW! Go, Tsu!"
"Right! *BOP* All yours, Ayano!"
"Got it! Pāpurun Supaiku!"
*BOOM*
…
…
…
"*pant* *pant* W-Woah…th-that was a big one…"
And if one of your teammates has a cursed amethyst crystal inside of her that gives her supernatural powers, using them to troll the opposing team makes practice even longer.
Especially since what we're doing is basically cheating…
"Nice one, Ayano!" I cheered.
"*pant* Th-Thanks, Tsu." Ayano said as she was catching her breath. The purple marks on her body ceased their glow in the process.
"Yes. a powerful one indeed." Rukia said. "With this curse you got, Ayano, we'll DEFINITELY become the reginal champions this year. The Volleyball Queen Rukia-sama will reign supreme once again! Ohhohoho!"
"*sigh* There she goes again…" I said to Ayano as she was drinking some water.
"Rukia's pride is always as high as her love for Volleyball."
"Eh…it's more snooty bragging than pride. Pretty sure there's a huge difference."
"Yeah, I guess."
"Like, for real. I'm standing right here." Rukia looked at us while feeling completely insulted.
"Sorry, Captain." We teased.
"Ugh! Whatever." Rukia then gave up and sat next to us as we decided to take a break. Sitting on the still broken and dirty as hell bleachers that we've used for the past two years.
We never bothered to complain to the Principal or anything. Based on advice from past Shinohara students we've met, the school doesn't really care enough about its female sports teams. Which is a damn shame, really.
This world isn't as perfect as the people here make it out to be…
"In any case…now that we got our playstyle all worked out, there's still the issue of getting more members."
"More members?" I asked Rukia.
"Well, duh. We really can't do much as a three-person team. According to tournament rules, we need at least 5 teammates in order to be officially recognized as a team. And to compete in Ranked Matches."
"5 teammates, huh? So, we're 2 short."
"By the way, Rukia…if by chance we get new teammates, how are we going to explain my curse?" Ayano asked.
"Tch! W-Well…c-can't you figure that out yourself?! I can't do everything, you know!"
"But the way we've been playing mostly includes me using my powers! If too many people find out about it, I'm completely screwed!"
Plus, we'll be known for cheating…
"Ugh…you have a point." Rukia said in an exasperated tone.
"Can't you just hide it under your autism?" I asked. "I mean, not that many people know what it is."
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure most people are smart enough to figure out that autism doesn't make you gain purple glowing markings all over your body and spit blue fire. Amongst other things."
"Yeah…true."
I actually read a lot about autism after first meeting Ayano. But when I went over it with her, she said that a lot of the info was inaccurate and highly stereotypical.
Which seems to be a recurring problem when it comes to being "different" around here.
This world really is messed up…
"*sigh* Well, when the time does come, we'll either have to come up with a damn good lie…or tell the truth. Whichever saves our asses better."
"Rukia, I don't think…" And as I was about to give my thought on that idea of hers…
*HEARTBEAT SOUND*
Tch! Y-You're kidding me…a-already?!
"Ts-Tsu, you okay?"
"You look like you're in pain again." Both girls asked me as I was clenching my whole body in mild pain.
"Y-Yeah, I'm…I-I'm okay *cough* *cough*. I-I just need to…u-use the bathroom! Tch! B-Be right back!"
I then rushed out of the gym and all the way to the nearest bathroom. Taking a few more seconds to make sure no one was around before I…
"T…Tuyuu Fourot!"
*SPLURT*
…
*FLUSH*
"*pant* *pant* *pant* F-Four times in one go. I-It really is *pant* *pant*…g-getting worse." At this point, I was kneeling over the toilet recovering from releasing more aura out of my body. The pain being so bad that tears are running down from my eyes.
I can barely move now…I'm going to be sitting over this dirty school toilet for a good 30 minutes while I regain some of the depleting strength into my slowly dying mutation of a body. And there's really nothing I can do about it.
"Ch…Ch-Chiharu. H-Hurry up *pant*…a-and find Tsuzuki…"
At least for now. Hopefully.
Ayano's POV
"Hey, have you noticed that Tsu's been acting weird lately?"
"Wow. YOU'RE bringing this up, Rukia?" I asked her. "I'm actually shocked."
"H-Hey, what is THAT supposed to mean?!" Rukia replied with an agitated look. "She's my childhood friend! I may not show it as much as I should, but I really do care for her. More than anyone in the world."
"W-Wow…" Now I was BEYOND shocked by what she just said. "…W-Well, to answer your question…yeah, I have noticed. She's been acting weird ever since she came back to school after the raspberry incident."
"For the past three months…with her getting these cramp-like pains and rushing to the bathroom soon after, I thought it was just her period. But even that's not as frequent as what's been going on with her."
"W-Wait, Tsu gets periods?"
"O-Of course, she gets periods! She may be lacking a little in height and chest size, but she's still a teenage girl! Can't believe you thought she was an exception…"
"Well, sorry. It was just a random thought."
A random thought that I'm NEVER telling Tsu about…
"Anyway…" Rukia continued. "…every time I would ask about it, she would just push it off and say that she's fine. Even when in some cases, she was far from it. You think she's hiding something?"
"Hiding something?" I then thought for a moment. "Well, I'm not sure if this helps…but I've been seeing Tsu argue with Chiharu a lot recently."
"Chiharu…you mean that Chinatsu look-a-like? What would Tsu argue with her about?"
"I don't know. They always seemed secretive about it."
"Hmph. Well, we're not gonna get anything out of Tsu. So, I should just wring it out of Chiharu until she gives."
"Okay, one…don't. You're gonna regret it." I gained a sweatdrop. "And two…she and Kanako are always jumping around Japan either looking for Akemi or doing random sightseeing. So, it's hard to pinpoint their location sometimes."
"Ugh. Well, that's just great." Rukia said in a sour mood.
"Still, though. To be THAT determined to know what's up with Tsu…you must really care about her, huh?"
"Like I said, she's my childhood friend. In fact…up until I met you and the others, she was my only friend. Our love for volleyball was what brought us together. And we've always looked out for each other, too."
Woah…so, they're really THAT close?
"So, the fact that now she's not telling me something stings like hell and I'm worried about her. What could she be dealing with that would have her not tell me? Why won't she trust her best friend? It can't THAT bad…*sniff* r-right?"
"Rukia…" I sat there in pure awe from seeing Rukia cry for the first time since meeting her 2 years ago. She's always been the over-confident snooty rich girl who relies on her Daddy too much. So, to see her this sad to the point of crying…because of Tsu of all people…
…
I may not know what going on with her…but I at least know someone who does…
Author's Note: Ayano and Rukia begin to notice Tsu's weird behavior. Just as her lifespan is slowly getting shorter. Is there any fix to it all?
If the name Eri Inose sounds familiar, that's because she's from The Melancholy of Kyouko Toshinio story that I placed on hold a while back. She and another character I plan on bringing here are just easter eggs and nothing more. Most likely won't have much involvement in this story.
Thanks for reading. Later.