^ Hey, glad to see you Glasseyelashes!
Thanks for reading, and I'm glad I was able to entice you to a Berryz fic!
Chapter 2: Waterlogged“She’s really not gonna wear a helmet,” the girl in question heard Sakai Taro say as she walked up the hall from the locker room to the mat beside the gymnastics equipment, adjusting her gloves along the way.
The boy’s friends crowded around him as they all stared at her, and she smirked at the helmet still seated atop Sakai’s head. “Why’d you suddenly have to run to the toilet then, eh?” one of the friends called out. “If you’re that scared of getting beat up you can forfeit now you know and just go on the date with Taro. You could do worse, anyway.” His eyes narrowed at her in distaste. “Much worse.”
She ignored them and glanced around. A couple girls were still on the equipment, but now they were watching the new scene unfolding on the mat. The dancing girl from before was gone, but the thought quickly left Miyabi’s mind as she approached the others.
“Well a girl’s gotta look pretty when she’s about to break some teeth,” she said, smiling with cherry red lips framed by her finely brushed honey locks. Her whole appearance stood out brightly in contrast with the nearest girls – those on the gymnastics props – whose black hair was tightly tied back around largely makeup-less faces. Miyabi supposed it made sense. They were doing hard work, and it would just get smudged. She herself had left the hard work behind in the weight room.
After she stepped on the mat, raising an eyebrow at the boys, they quickly whispered to themselves before Sakai appeared to win a short argument and tore off the helmet to hand to one of them. Then he stepped out onto the mat himself, his hands at his sides as he glanced uncertainly at her.
The girls nearby seemed to have forgotten what they were doing as they realized what was going on, and now either just sat on the equipment or leaned against it. Anyone else was still too far away to notice, though there were some runners starting to appear around a corner of the track, which ran within a few meters of the mat.
“Masa’s right,” the boy said, holding position a couple meters away. “We don’t have to do this.”
“Oh?” Miyabi asked. “You forfeit the challenge?”
Sakai’s eyes flashed. “No!” he replied. “Of course not.” Right well he shouldn’t, she thought. Giving a challenge like this away would be even worse than losing it. “I just…”
He paused as the runners came closer, and Miyabi noticed Kumai in the middle of the pack. The athlete also noticed them, and upon taking in what was going on slowed down. This of course caused the others with her to slow too, as well as those trailing behind. Suddenly they had a larger audience.
Sakai glanced at them with wide eyes before shifting his eyes between his friends and Miyabi, who was tapping her gloves together. “I mean,” he continued hesitantly, “I just don’t feel right about hitting a girl…”
“Well you better get over that feeling quickly,” Miyabi said as she advanced toward him, and before he could react she swung a glove at his face, causing him to topple backward.
There was a collective gasp around them as he staggered back, holding a glove up to a suddenly bleeding nose. Once recovering himself, he stared back at Miyabi over the glove in disbelief. Miyabi held ready in an aggressive stance, one foot in front of the other with gloves raised. The next moment she lunged again, though this time he dodged it, shuffling quickly to the side.
“You better fight, man,” the boy called Masa warned, his face now set. “I think she’s serious.”
“You’ve heard the stories!” another chimed in.
Sakai nodded to them, now warily circling her. “All right, I get it.” And then to her, “I won’t hold back, y’know.”
“I’m counting on it,” she replied dangerously, and thrust forward again.
This time though he parried her blow and undercut with his other glove, catching her in the stomach. She felt the air leave her lungs as she stumbled back a step to recover herself as quickly as possible. The onlookers gasped again, though louder this time since it was a girl who’d been hit.
Sakai had an almost apologetic look on his face and he lowered his hands slightly. The boy must have thought her weak and unable to stand up to a blow, but to Miyabi who was now in fighting mode, all it expressed to her was a weakness in her opponent. She darted forward in three quick strikes to head, shoulder and abdomen before he recovered, and unsteadily once again.
His next attacks whiffed as she slid to the right, and hers did the same. However, as they continued to trade blows, many more of hers connected as with her quickness she was able to deftly evade the majority of his increasingly strong thrusts. He was obviously no longer treating the fight with her lightly, but the physical toll on him rose quickly until a short time later he had trouble remaining erect while she still nimbly danced on the balls of her feet.
“Dude, hit her!” one of the other boys said. “I don’t think you’re gonna last much longer!”
“I’m trying to,” he growled back in a breathy voice. “Don’t you see I’m trying to!” Another swing and a miss, followed luckily by a near-miss by Miyabi as well. It was close though, and they both knew if he tired much more swipes like that would hit every time.
As for Miyabi, she was lost in the fight. It was no longer a school quarrel over a date, but a street fight she could not afford to lose. It wasn’t that she particularly got off on the violence, although it did give somewhat of a sense of satisfaction to knock someone to the ground, but it was a method of survival, of setting a claim to what she was due.
Time for play was over. The prey was weakened; time to go in for the kill. She drew back in a feint, shifting her weight to the right as if covering fatigue. Sakai bit, diving in aggressively. Deftly once again she spun around his advance, along the way jabbing low across her stomach against his side at the soft tissue just behind the ribs. Then as she maneuvered behind him she cracked her elbow back against the base of his skull. Knocked off his feet, he flew forward, sprawling to fall hard at the side of the mat.
While he moaned in pain at the hard strikes, she trotted up to kneel down, a knee against the small of his back. Leaning in, she rasped in a low voice, “Guess the only date you’ll have again tonight is with your right hand.”
Using his back as leverage and eliciting another groan, she pushed herself up and slipped off her gloves. Brushing at the hair beside her face with a hand, she commented, “Damn, I broke a sweat. Guess I’ll actually have to shower after class this time,” and turned away from her downed opponent.
Then she froze.
Kumai was still there, just off the track with her group of followers and a frown on her face, and so were the gymnasts. However, many others had apparently joined over the course of the fight as well, and she imagined half the gym must have turned out. She even saw Ishikawa-sensei, hands at her hips to the side of half of her class, the other half of which appeared to remain back at the court shooting hoops.
Another group included girls she knew as senpai, and some of them she recognized from martial arts clubs. Out of the corner of her eye she caught someone else with a towel over her shoulder walking up to them, and Miyabi recognized her as the girl dancing on the mat earlier. Her hair was now free and straight back as if just washed, and her face glistened above the white judo uniform she now wore tied neatly with a black silk belt at the waist.
The girl smiled as she greeted the others, who quickly filled her in on the spectacle. She glanced once or twice with mild curiosity in Miyabi’s direction, and despite herself Miyabi felt a light blush before looking away. Sakai was still on the ground, and had quickly been attended to by his friends who knelt and chattered above him.
Stifling a giggle, Miyabi shrugged and stepped off the mat toward the courts. She kept her eyes resolutely forward while passing through her classmates, who Ishikawa-sensei quickly herded back to the courts.
Eventually she located the badminton practice Chinami had invaded, and as expected Chinami herself was still involved in a match with one of the poor first years.
“Hey Chii!” she called out in between points, and the girl turned her way to beam a smile at her. “I’m gonna go hit the bath, okay? I’ll meet you in the hall whenever you’re done.”
“All right!” Chinami called back before readying another serve.
Miyabi spun, smiling to herself as well, to come face-to-face with Ishikawa-sensei. The surprise actually kept her off-balance a moment, and her smile didn’t flash as smoothly as usual… nor her thoughts.
“Ishikawa-sensei,” she said dumbly, “Can… I help you with something?”
“‘Can I help you with something,’” the teacher repeated chidingly, and Miyabi’s smile faded slightly. “While students are relatively free to pursue what activities they like during this period, you certainly do push it to the limit.”
“Lifting weights and kick-boxing practice are two officially sanctioned activities, you know,” Miyabi replied sarcastically.
“I hardly think that was simple ‘kick-boxing practice,” the teacher replied dryly.
“Well hey,” Miyabi said, tiring quickly of this exchange. “At least I look pretty doing it, right? Isn’t that your motto for us girls? ‘Whatever you do, do it cutely!’” she mocked, giving a little fist pump at the end in imitation of the teacher.
“I’m impressed you actually listened to something I told you,” Ishikawa-sensei replied with a grin. “You know you could actually put some of those physical talents of yours to good use in a variety of ways.”
“Oh?” Miyabi asked, raising an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t call them ‘talents’. I’ve just been fortunate to have plenty of experience in… certain things,” she said with a wink, then stepped forward to actually lay a finger on the sensei’s collarbone. “You really must be so proud to have me as a student,” she whispered just in front of her face before brushing past her shoulder and leaving the stunned teacher rooted to the spot.
The little exchange had apparently caught the attention of many of the first years who weren’t currently engaged in a badminton match, as well as some from her own class in the next court over. They stared after her as she headed for the locker room, some in amazement, some in disgust over how she appeared to be treating a teacher. For Ishikawa-sensei’s part, she had flushed slightly before turning back to her class, and marched over to them. A blow on her whistle jump-started their focus back onto their basketball drills.
When Miyabi reached the dressing room there were only a few others there, mainly athletes who had already completed the workout they came here for. Physical education was required all three years here, but those in good standing with an athletic club were exempt after the first since it was felt they already had a sufficient dedication to fitness.
Miyabi pondered while tugging off her clothes to toss in the basket. She had joined Chinami in pledging toward the badminton club during their first year, but as their other “extracurricular” activities increased and began to interfere with legitimate school life, they never graduated into full members of the club as most students did upon completing the year. Chinami had been saddened at the loss, but still managed to participate in the sport as she was doing right now back in the gym. It had really made no difference to Miyabi. She had no preference herself really and had just gone after badminton since it was Chii’s thing.
After dropping her underwear in the basket, she grabbed a towel while smiling at the others in the room who carefully did not look her direction. The bathing room was empty, as usual with no class being held at the pool, and she showered herself off before sinking into the small but hot bath with a long sigh.
Baths were a weakness of hers, with the caress of the steam cascading around her and drawing the sweat from her body, soon to be doused in the reinvigorating water which began the cycle anew as it heated to evaporation. It was one of the few things which could completely calm her, and nearly even put her at ease.
It might appear in contrast with her image, but most people tended to avoid the area when she was there, soaking in her nirvana of billowing haze. She needed it too. Beating up – what was his name again? – that guy had left her feeling rather soiled. She’d seen elementary school kids in the street put up a better fight than he had.
She hadn’t been in there a few minutes before the door slid open, and she gazed out through slitted eyes at a tall girl stepping carefully in. The newcomer glanced at her before sitting down to the shower. Miyabi was surprised that anyone cared to bother her in here, although if it was anyone, Yurina Kumai would certainly have the ability for such carelessness.
She let her eyes fall completely closed as the shower water ran, but after it stopped peeked again to see the girl stand up, her long hair now hanging heavy and sticking to her body. She’d never seen the athlete in the bath before, but her figure fit her size perfectly. It was an hourglass form, her abs tight below a well-rounded chest and her thighs thick with muscle. Almost like a work of art… she wondered idly, still drunk on the heat and steam.
The girl entered the bath across from her, and when she sat down peered over at Miyabi quietly. Miyabi could tell there was a lot hidden in those eyes, but she didn’t seem to know how to express it in words.
“Y’know there are very few people I’ve shared this bath with,” Miyabi commented finally, drawling slightly in her languor.
Kumai shrugged. “I felt icky from all that running,” she said offhandedly. “Besides, I thought you might be lonely.”
Miyabi almost barked a laugh at that. “Lonely?” she repeated sarcastically. “You do realize I tend to like to keep it that way, right?”
“Do you?” the girl said, and her round eyes peering into Miyabi’s own began to make her a bit self-conscious. Silence stretched out a moment before the girl continued tentatively, “I suppose… there was some specific reason you felt the need to treat Sakai-kun as a personal ragdoll.”
“He challenged me,” Miyabi said simply, rolling her eyes back as she brought her legs up to fold in front of her beneath the water.
“I see,” the girl replied. Miyabi was starting to get annoyed with her short responses. “So you feel weak enough now that you feel the need to pulverize random kids?”
Miyabi dropped her legs and almost lunged at the girl, but relaxed again quickly. It would be unsightly for her to get into a fight in the bath. Plus it would spoil one of her few refuges. Certainly it had nothing to do with the fact that this girl was almost twice her size. When she didn’t say anything, Kumai went on.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to prove,” she said honestly. Miyabi narrowed her eyes again. “He knows you’re tough. I know you’re tough. I think everybody in our class… probably almost everyone in the school knows. If you still have something to prove, I don’t think that’s the way to do it.”
Miyabi stared at her. Since they began at this high school together she’d hardly seen the girl say two full sentences to anyone, much less her, and to hear her talk this much now seemed to reflect thoughts going through her mind for a good while.
“What do you care?” she responded defensively, sinking further into the water to immerse the tip of her chin. “I think your reputation’s safe enough you don’t need to try and save the undesirables in this school.”
Kumai stared calmly a few seconds before shrugging and looking away. “I don’t know. I watch people. I may not say too much, but I notice things. Somehow you seem like you could almost be a sister to me.”
Miyabi stared again, and then really did laugh out. “Are you kidding!!” she exclaimed. “We are so not alike… I can’t even begin to describe the ways. I shouldn’t need to!!” When the girl only blinked calmly at her, she continued, “Tell me, in what way do you think we’re similar?”
The girl stared at her a long moment this time until Miyabi began to actually feel a bit creeped out, until finally the athlete said softly, “You call yourself undesirable, but I think you and I both know that’s not true or else you wouldn’t work so hard at it. Well, I’m sure there’s a special reason you felt the need to remind yourself how tough you are out there.” And then she suddenly rose from the bath, water cascading down her long form and dripping off of her, and she loped over to carefully grab her things and head back to the dressing room.
As the steam began curling once again around her, Miyabi kept very still, only bobbing slightly with the water stirred up by the other’s departure. Her eyes were fixed on the door, but her mind was a mist to match her surroundings.
The girl was an idiot. She was just showing she won’t back down from a challenge, that’s all. Then again, was that really it? Until that point she actually hadn’t minded the boy, even if she’d never thought…
Why hadn’t she agreed to date him? Was her judgment clouded completely now by the men she hung out with during those long evenings? Or did she just really like being alone?
They just weren’t up to her standards, she told herself. Well then who would be? He had really been cute enough…
“No,” she said out loud into the room, and the word reflected hollowly off the walls. Listen to yourself. You’re beginning to get philosophical! She had half a mind to run out into the gym right now, naked, and have Chii whack her on the head with a badminton racket.
“Damn, I need to get laid…” she murmured out loud once again, though quietly, and pulled herself out of the bath. She loved it, but she’d already been in there so long her fingers were starting to get crinkly.
I thought I'd try posting this here since I've gotten to know many of you and I just started this new fic... inspired by the past weekend. If there's a good reception I'll maybe try posting some other stories here too. I hope you Enjoy! 
sadly such things exists in reality (not the Berryz but teens in general) enter such lifestyle just to support their luxuries they really can't afford.. 
(yes! i'm shallow like that.. hahahaha)
But you really caught my attention now, looking forward to read the next chapter. I'll make sure not to go back to the stalker mode lol. 
I just thought it'd be a bit of an amusing introduction to Miya's character...
Coach Ishikawa! but I am more than happy to see Miki! i miss her in fanfics.. 
I'm really glad you're enjoying the writing!! I didn't think I'd even see praise for my other fics here lol. If you decide to check CoT out, Glasseyelashes, I hope you enjoy it!!! 
*coughupdatethatonesooncough* 
so the least i can do is tell other people how awesome it is.. 
