章 161: Performance, Anxiety
"Yeah! Go, Eiji!"
Ranko kicked her right leg high in the air, shaking her red-and-silver pom-poms as the Yusue captain drove through the key and slipped around his defender for a dunk.
She had been far more enthusiastic in the cheering part of her cheerleading of late. She suspected that most of it was the budding friendship and camaraderie she was forming with her squadmates; no longer did she dismiss cheerleaders outright as just vapid party girls who were only in it to get boys. Her efforts, so far all failures, to master the quadruple twist had demonstrated to her that cheerleaders had to have the same athletic ability as any gymnast and most martial artists; she'd just always sold them short on account of the hair bows and the short skirts. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, eh, Ranko?
The closer her bond with the girls became, though, the worse she felt for lying to them. Ranko knew any one of them would have given a limb for a weekend with her boyfriend, and she could only giggle and tell one lie after another about their supposedly incredible dates. Plus, the lies were keeping her from spending much time with her new friends outside of school, because all it would take would be one of the girls uttering the name Eiji around Akane or her sisters, and it was game over for her plan. She wasn't even sure how Akane would react. Would she recognize that Ranko was making the sacrifice play to help her and fix the damage she'd caused with Sneak, or would she think Ranko was two-timing on her like she had when Crash made a move on her? Better not to find out, Ranko thought. She was trying so hard to be more open and honest with Akane about things – she'd even written a whole song about it – but there were some secrets that needed to stay buried for the time being.
Beyond that, though, she was kind of starting to like Eiji, too. Not that way, of course, but he was, for the most part, a decent guy. He was a bit socially inept, honestly, and a little on the chauvinistic side. She suspected most of that might be his efforts to behave in a macho fashion to hide his true nature, though, because he generally didn't behave that way when they were alone. She almost felt bad for him. As much as it sucked not to be able to tell Kumiko and her friends on the squad everything about Akane, at least she didn't have to hide who she was at home around her family like he did. He is exactly the kind of person Shinji wanted me to release Sneak for, she thought to herself.
She'd been playing the part of doting girlfriend for nearly a month, and so far, he hadn't violated any of her rules or even come close to it. She was still sickened when he put his hands on her, but the thought of Akane's happiness when she got her athletic career back on track was enough to give her a legitimate reason to smile and giggle for the onlookers. She did wish he would hurry up with whatever he was planning, though; every time she'd asked for an update about his progress with Fumiko, she'd gotten some variation of I'm still working on it, she doesn't want to talk about it, or the like.
She was startled out of her thoughts by a loud buzzer blaring from the scoreboard.
"And that's it from Yusue High, where your Fighting Lions have just defeated the number-one seed Akara Knights by just one point! What a thriller, Lions fans!" The announcer sitting at the folding table at half-court jubilated into the metal microphone on the table as the Yusue basketball team celebrated near their goal.
Ranko took a deep breath, letting it out quickly in a sigh of resolve. Now, for the real show.
She ran the fifteen or so meters to where the team was celebrating, leaping toward the team captain, who caught her in the air as she affected a giggle. "Oh, Ei-chan, you were just amazing tonight! Gods, I'm just the luckiest girl at school to have you!"
Eiji wrapped his arms around her, spinning her around in a circle. "We did it, babe! This should just about lock in our spot for the playoffs!"
"I know! I'm so proud of you, Ei-chan! I'll be right here with you the whole way to the championship!" And there are not enough showers in the world to make me feel less gross about it.
Eiji set her down, and she took his hand, dragging him away from his teammates and past the rest of the cheerleaders without taking her eyes off of him. She knew that if he was permitted to get into a conversation with other guys, she'd be relegated to silent hip ornament as usual, and that defeated most of the purpose of being seen with him in the first place. Besides, she really didn't feel comfortable being close to some of the basketball players while wearing her cheerleading uniform. Some of the school athletes, she'd found, tended to think that there was an unspoken rule that the athletes had the right to treat the cheerleaders however they wanted, and Ranko had enough trouble with one dork of a basketball player as it was.
"So, what are we doing to celebrate? Dinner? Arcade? Movie? I bet there's something really romantic playing this close to Christmas." She let go of his hand, wrapping both of her arms around his elbow and hugging it to herself, resting her temple on the bare skin of his upper arm. It was sweaty, and it made her skin crawl, but she did her best to smile for the onlookers.
"I, uh… I'd love to hang out, Ranko, but I've gotta get home. My mom needs me to do… stuff." Eiji blushed, scratching his head with his free hand.
You gotta work on your acting skills, dude. I'm carrying this performance alone over here. "Well, okay then, but I expect a call before you go to bed just so I can say good night to you before I fall asleep. You know I'll wait up until I hear from you."
Eiji nodded. "I wouldn't miss it for the world, cute stuff." Gods, she's good at this. I almost wonder if she's starting to really… no, no way, right?
Any thought he may have had to that effect was dispelled as soon as Ranko led him to a side hallway where excess equipment for the volleyball team was stored on several large plastic carts.
"Seriously, dude? Your mom needs you to do some stuff? You gonna work with me on this or not?" Ranko placed her fists on her hips, trying to look stern and admonishing despite being half his size.
"Look, Ranko, you're the performer in this relationship. I'm just a guy." Eiji shrugged.
Yeah? A guy? No shit? I knew there was a reason this whole dating thing wasn't working out. She chuckled darkly to herself. "Well, we better get our stories straight, 'cause this is getting awkward, Ei-chan."
He sighed, tousling his still-sweaty blonde hair. "You know, I hate it when you call me Ei-chan, right?"
Ranko nodded, putting her overacted I am so in love grin back on. "You know I hate it when you call me babe, right?"
The redhead growled. "I swear, Eiji, if you don't come thr… ohmigods, really? Are you kidding?! I'd love to come meet your parents over Christmas break!" She dove into his chest, tittering brightly and hugging him tightly, peeking around his torso until Tamiko and Yori had passed the little aisle in which she stood on their way to the locker room.
Eiji shook his head, laughing as she let him go. "I swear, I don't know how you turn that on and off like that. Are you, like, a psychopath or something? You give me whiplash sometimes."
Ranko sneered with a bob of her head, the shiny red and silver bow in her high ponytail somewhat belying the seriousness of her expression. "Oh, you'll see. Keep your promise and make this happen for Akane before the new year, or I'll give you more than that, Ei-chan."
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