“Alright, girls! Last practice before break! We’ve got an Invitational to win next month, so let’s see some energy!” Ranko clapped her hands sharply, jogging to the front of the line formed by the other thirteen Yusue Fighting Lions cheerleaders.
“Let’s warm up with some handspring chains, and, go!” Ranko launched herself backward, propelling herself off of the ground with her arms and tucking her knees under her as she rolled in the air. She landed mere centimeters from Tamiko, who then launched into her own handspring, the landing of which triggered Kumiko’s, and so on it went until all fourteen girls had executed the stunt. When they had, Aoi spun and sprung back in the opposite direction, reversing the chain through the line again to end with Ranko. The squad captain wasn’t concerned with the girls’ ability to perform the basic gymnastic move; rather, the drill’s purpose was to train them to pay attention to what their squadmates were doing and execute based on timing.
“Nice! Great job everybody! Kayo, just a hair slow there. Remember, you want to start your launch as soon as you see Rin’s legs straighten out, so that you can be off the ground just as she’s landing.” Ranko gave the freshman a reassuring smile. It had taken a few weeks, but the youngest of the Yusue cheerleaders was finally starting to regain her spirit after the messy breakup she’d endured. Ranko felt bad about it, for her own part in the whole thing, but both girls agreed that, painful though any relationship ending could be, Kayo was better off without Kazushi Sawaya.
The thought of breakups cast a pall over Ranko’s heart, as her thoughts turned to Yui. Her elder sister’s choice to remain at the Phoenix rather than following Sakura to Fukuoka was tearing the poor woman apart, and Ranko wished she could do anything at all to ease her pain. Selfishly, she was glad Yui’d decided to stay; she was in no way ready to be without her favorite of her elder sisters, but she hated how much it was hurting Yui to do it. Indeed, she felt partly responsible; she’d begged Yui to reconsider her decision to move away from the bar they all called home.
Between Yui and Sakura’s breakup and the chill between Hana and Ayako, it hardly felt much like a festive holiday season at the Phoenix. They hadn’t even had a real party for Mioko’s first birthday, as Izumi and Kaito had opted for a quiet celebration at their apartment instead. Ranko felt some measure of responsibility for the argument between her eldest sister and her mother as well, as it had been she who warned Hana that Ayako was searching for answers about her birth family. Not only were Hana and Ayako still not speaking, but Yui and Izumi were both being a bit resentful with the family’s matriarch after years of deception about their sister’s true parentage. Whether they were more upset at having been lied to themselves, or just in solidarity with Ayako, Ranko dared not guess. She wasn’t sure it mattered very much.
I’m just screwin’ things up for everybody. At least Mei’s doing alright, I guess.
“Captain! We’re ready to practice the routine whenever you give the word, ma’am!”
Ranko groaned, snapping her thoughts back to the present with a sigh. She’d long since given up any hope of getting Shika to refer to her by name, so she responded to the honorific with a nod as she turned to the group. “Alright, yeah. Let’s line it up. Kumi, hit the music?”
Ranko’s silver-haired friend jogged over to the aluminum bleachers lining the home side of the rugby field, pressing play on the little portable stereo. Her task done, Kumiko sprinted back to her place, getting her feet set just in time for the cassette player to begin emitting sound.
“Whee-dee-dee-dee, de-dee, dee-dee-dee, oh-wee-bom-bom-bo-way… Whee-dee-dee-dee, de-dee, dee-dee-dee, oh-wee-bom-bom-bo-way…”
The fourteen girls, in two rows of seven, swayed gently with the music, swishing their pom-poms at their sides and rolling their hips as if they were hula dancers.
“In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion slzzzzzzzzzt!”
At the sound of the record scratch, each of the girls froze for a two-count before launching into a back tuck as the sound of a lion’s roar pealed through the speakers of the little boom box on the bleachers. A bass-heavy dance track emerged from under the audio sample, beginning the new song Ranko had written specifically for the upcoming All-Tokyo Cheerleading Invitational.
Taking point in a chevron of five girls, Ranko executed three back handsprings in a row. Each of the girls behind her did the same, in two parallel pairs of two. As they did, Kumiko brought up the rear waving a red-and-white flag with the Yusue Lions’ logo emblazoned on it. Overhead, Tamiko and Etsuko twisted through the air in a pair of criss-crossing arcs that cleared the whole of the formation, having been propelled upward by Momoe and Ayame, respectively. On each side of the formation, two cheerleaders waited to basket-catch the airborne young women as they returned to earth.
“Everybody thinks we’re cute and soft and pretty! Everybody wants to come and pet the kitty, but little do they know who really runs this city!”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
While the song’s vocalist would be singing live during the performance, her singing had been pre-recorded over the track Jacob had mixed for their practice runs. Ranko popped her hips to the side in time with the sound of her own voice, striking a pose with her pom-poms at her ribs. While the other cheerleaders cascaded behind her in a series of flips and handsprings, Ranko alone began a fast-paced dance that was somewhere between a salsa and a ballet. Not quite sure how I’m gonna do this and sing at the same time, she thought to herself as she leaned backward, touching the ground with her fingers as she arched her back. I’ll figure it out. Can’t be harder than a quadruple twist.
She lifted her legs to kick herself back to her feet. As Ranko began a spin move, lifting one leg from the ground, she suddenly found herself restrained from behind by a pair of massive arms.
“RAWR!”
With her arms pinned to her sides, Ranko yelped loudly in surprise, kicking furiously at the air. Her reaction startled her roaring assailant into releasing her and she fell forward to the ground on her hands and knees, rolling over onto her back to make eye contact with her attacker.
And then she screamed.
“GET IT AWAY FROM ME! GET IT AWAAAAAY!”
She clamored on her feet and hands, crab-walking away from the large bipedal cat in a red shirt hulking over her. “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GET IT AWAY GET IT…”
The great beast lifted its furry yellow arms to the sides of its massive head, lifting it off of its shoulders to reveal a boy’s face. “Ranko, chill, will ya? It’s just a costume!”
“H… Hideo?” Ranko stared up at the young man, still quaking with adrenaline at the surprise encounter with the giant cat.
Kumiko’s boyfriend laughed. “Man, talk about high-strung! The mascot costume finally came. Just in the nick of time, too! What do you think? Obviously, it’s convincing, ‘cause it scared the pants right off’a you…”
Ranko glared at the lion’s head resting under Hideo’s arm, more than a bit embarrassed at her reaction. “You can’t just sneak up on a girl and grab her like that! What’s the big idea?! You’re lucky I didn’t hit ya!” She kick-flipped to her feet, looking over her squadmates with no small measure of irritation. “Alright, which one of you clownfuckers did this?”
Kumiko raised her hand sheepishly. “We had a little money left over in the travel budget, and we thought it would be a cool thing to add to the routine. We wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, you did that, alright! Holy fuck, Kumi!” Ranko shook her head, walking closer to the mascot and staring into the costume’s eyes as if still not entirely sure it wasn’t real. Gotta get used to this thing, I guess. It’s gonna be fine. It’s not really a cat. It’s just a suit. I’m alright. She poked at the lion’s nose with her fingers, much though she would have preferred to punch it just to show it who was boss.
“And I’m guessing now you girls expect me to add this monstrosity to our choreography?” Ranko sighed defeatedly. I’m gonna have to just sit and stare at that damn thing until my brain figures out it’s not gonna try to eat me. Better have Akane there, just in case I get to purring. She blushed at the thought.
Kumiko nodded, folding her hands in a pleading gesture as Etsuko stopped the music. “Please? It’s so cute!”
Yep. Adorable. Kill it with fucking fire.
“I’ve got a great idea,” Ranko said, glaring at the costume. “Why don’t we have our new friend do the quadruple twist this time, and I’ll just stay down here and dance?”
Giggling, Kumiko shrugged. “I mean, maybe you could wear the suit, and then do the quad in it. Do you think you could? I’d think it would be too hard to maneuver in it.”
At least if I was inside it, I wouldn’t have to fucking look at it. Ranko growled at her friend. “Yeah, we’re gonna go with no. Last thing I need up there is another fifteen kilos strapped to my back, and limited visibility to boot. Sounds like a great way for a lion to pounce directly onto her face.”
Kumiko giggled, throwing her arm over her best friend’s shoulders. “We really did get you good, though. You should’a seen your face, Ran-chan!”
The redhead rolled her eyes, brushing grass from her gray Yusue High Athletics sweatpants. “Yeah, well, glad you enjoyed yourself. Guess who’s buying me make-up ice cream later?”
The squad captain clapped her hands sharply to draw the attention of the other girls, who were largely milling about awaiting further instruction. “Alright. Now, if we’re done playing scare the piss out of Ranko, can we please nail down this routine? Rin, you lead this time so I can watch everybody, ‘kay?”
The squad’s best dancer after Ranko jogged up to take Ranko’s place at the center of the formation as Ranko rewound the cassette in the boombox back to the beginning. The green-haired girl nodded emphatically, snatching up her pom-poms from the grass and assuming Ranko’s pose proudly. “Yes, captain!”
Ranko shook her head with a chuckle. These girls are absolute goofballs, but I’m gonna miss the hell out of them. “Alright, Lions! Let’s try this again!”