Fireworks

                                    

                                          
"Shishikura-sensei!"
                          
"Hmm, Mr. Kanashimu? Is something the matter?"
                          
"I know this is last minute, but... could you please switch me out of the Combat event for a different one?"
                          
"...Explain yourself."
                          
"My family and Izumi's family... have history. This entire time, I had a feeling I was a negative presence around Izumi, and recently that's reached a boiling point."
                          
"I see."
                          
"The Sports Festival is meant to be an opportunity to be recruited for work studies and internships, right?  If me being on the same team as Izumi would make him unable to focus for the entire competition, I could take those recruitment opportunities away from him, and I would never forgive myself for that..."
                          
"..."
                          
__________________
                          
Warming up: one of the most nerve-racking parts of any competition. Warming up is a ritual for hoping that all the best will happen when you step onto the playing field, attempting to prove yourself to your team and a crowd upwards of thousands of people. Like a raging tsunami, thoughts about my skill flood my mind. Have I worked on my technique enough? Do I know my body enough to rely on it? It's too late to train any further than I already have. I just have to raise hell during this Combat Event.
                          
In our small gym-like waiting room, I'm warming up with frog squats, readying my legs for me to jump around and fly with my water jets. Nensho is streching byside me, literally fueling herself by downing a bottle of vegetable oil. Over by the corner, Kanashimu avoids facing me as he warms up his arms by curling light dumbbells, seeming lost in thought.
                          
Nensho lowers her bottle to whisper to me. "Kanashimu-kun seems really quiet, don'tcha think?"
                          
"I guess so..."
                          
My biggest shortcoming was not making up with Kanashimu before we have to become teammates, taking my guilt for relating him to the villain who murdered my family and letting it grow like a weed in the garden of my mind. If we can barely face each other, how do I expect us to succeed in this competition?
                          
"Hey, Izumi-kun," Nensho nudges, "Just wondering, what do you wanna get out of the Sports Festival?" 
                          
"What do I want to get out of it? Hmm, I guess maybe getting my name heard out there? Maybe land some offers for work-studies, and also make my inspirations proud. What about you?"
                          
"I like how you think! For me, I've been hopin' I could inspire Asui-chan to be more confident!"
                          
Huh, that's right. Kinda like Tamashiro and Kanashimu, Nensho and Asui have also been hanging out ever since the first simulation test. Nensho always tries to encourage Asui to step out of her comfort zone, like trying to teach Asui how to down a whole bottle of soda in one go, or convincing her to go on rollercoaster rides. Of course, it all leaves Asui coming back to the dorms looking like a ghost.
                          
Flinging up her arms in a relaxed stretch, Nensho looks up to the ceiling. "Lately, Asui-chan's been puttin' pressure on herself to be like her big sis, Froppy, so she's been so afraid of screwin' up just about anything. Freakin' out about grades, workin' on her hero studies, strugglin' to cook like her sis. She even picked a similar hero name to her big sis, haha!"