Cheerbleeding

The pair arrived at the door to the gymnasium, and Akane presented a few yen for her ticket. She walked with Ranko through the double-doors, motioning with her neck to the gathering of thirteen girls in identical uniforms to Ranko's near the center of the court. "You better get going."Ranko squeezed her hand, not taking another step. "I… Akane, why am I shaking?"Akane smiled. "Oh, plenty of reasons. First, there's probably ten times as many people here as can fit in the Phoenix. Second, you're trying something new, and very out of your comfort zone. Three, you're not exactly bundled up for warmth." She smiled a bit deviously, the blush forming on Ranko's cheeks having been entirely intentional on Akane's part. "So, I get it. But you're gonna do great, so you don't have anything to worry about.""I shouldn't have done this, Akane. I don't belong here. This is too much." Ranko stepped aside from the flow of foot traffic entering the gymnasium, but not advancing toward her squadmates. She wasn't sure what she wanted her life to be in school as a girl, but the idea of being popular, being in the elite social strata in the school like Kumiko said, having everyone's eyes on her, suddenly terrified her. She looked up at all the boys in the stands, and the ones on the court to boot. The second she stepped out there in that uniform, she would be in their sights whether she wanted to be or not."Hey. You look at me, Ranko." Akane squeezed her hand tightly, waiting for the cheerleader to make eye contact before continuing. She spoke quietly, trying hard not to be overheard by anyone other than her partner. "You are the best performer, and probably the best athlete, in this building right now. You know how to work a crowd. You are stunningly beautiful. You have absolutely got this.""But… I don't know how to be a princess, Akane." Ranko's feet remained planted on the court in her white sneakers, and her eyes seemed to be searching for an exit that was physically only a few meters behind her.Akane laughed, feeling guilty for it after just a moment and trying to stop. "Oh, gods, honey, is that what this is? Silly girl! All Kumiko meant was that people are gonna love you and respect you. People are gonna want to be your friend. People are going to want… well, things that I'm not inclined to share with them." She smiled. "But how is that any different than the Phoenix? You've been handling that stuff for months. You were already a princess, Ranko. You just didn't know it.""You… you think so?" Between her uniform, her hair and her cheeks, Ranko was almost entirely red from head to toe."You bet. Now, Your Highness, you better get your butt over there with the other girls and show them how it's done." Akane smiled reassuringly, letting go of her hand.With a resolute nod, Ranko started jogging toward the rest of her squad. She badly wanted a hug and a kiss from Akane before taking the court, but she knew the rules. Akane had asked her not to make it obvious that they were a couple around anyone besides the band and Ranko's family at the Phoenix. Technically, the hand-holding should have stopped at the door too, but they were Akane's rules and she apparently was allowed to break them when the situation called for it.To Ranko, though, it was just like the upcoming dinner with Kasumi. She hated it. She had transformed, at great effort and pain, from being the most miserable guy she knew to the happiest girl, and Akane had been a huge part of that. She wanted to sing love songs to that girl every night from the stage. Sure, some people would be upset about the idea of them being two girls in a relationship, but compared to everything else in her life, that level of gender weirdness was child's play to handle."Ranko! We weren't sure you were gonna show up! You're a couple minutes late. It's okay, though. Nerves always get us the first time. Well, maybe not so much for you, superstar." Shiori, the team captain, tossed her two balls of red and silver tinsel. "Here. These are yours."Ranko looked at the crinkly balls of shiny paper quizzically, but held on to them as instructed.As the first timeout whistle was blown, Shiori led the squad onto the court and Ranko dutifully followed. She'd barely had time to learn the choreography for a few of these little minute-long dances, and Shiori had agreed to simplify the program to just a few songs tonight because Ranko had joined so late.It was really strange for her to dance without singing, and even more so to do it in a group. It took her back to her time at Takao's with Hitomi and Emi. As with that experience, the choreography left a lot to be desired, and Ranko was a little embarrassed to be performing the dance as scripted. As a sign of respect for Shiori, though, she hadn't commented on it. She knew she'd get the chance to suggest improvements soon enough.The timeout ended, and as the Yusue Lions basketball team retook the court, the cheerleaders whooped and waved their pom-poms to the crowd. Some performed a few freelance gymnastics moves as they made their exit. Ranko looked up into the stands, where Akane sat about halfway up the bleachers on the Yusue side. She was talking with another girl, a few years older than her. She waved, shaking her pom-pom intently in the air, but whether because she was in a conversation or because of her stupid rules, Akane didn't acknowledge her.Ranko noticed Kotone, the taller girl who had recruited her at her locker alongside Shiori, trying to do a high kick as she walked off the court. Well, I can do that, Ranko thought. She kicked her leg upward until her nose was touching her thigh. Kotone lowered her leg, shaking her head in Ranko's direction. Cringing, thinking she'd done something wrong, Ranko lowered her leg, bowed her head and finished retreating to the sidelines.Good grief, that girl can move, Kotone thought to herself. I'll never be that good.Ranko stood in line with her squadmates, waiting for her cue to perform another of the mediocre dances she'd rehearsed. As she turned her head back to look at Akane, who was still deep in conversation with the mystery girl, she heard a cheer swell up from the girls surrounding her. Shiori gave her a bit of a displeased glare for having missed the opportunity to celebrate a score for their team. Ranko supposed it was only fair; leading the cheering was presumably the point of the whole cheerleading thing.A jarring buzzer pierced the air, signaling halftime, and the two basketball teams retreated back to their locker rooms with the Yusue team holding an eight-point lead. Shiori whooped loudly, running out onto the court with the other cheerleaders forming a triangle behind her. "Halftime is game time for cheerleaders", she'd told Ranko a few days earlier.Unlike the little dances they'd performed during the shorter breaks, the girls began to set up for a series of stunts. Kotone was picked up by one of the stockier girls, whose name Ranko had yet to learn, and after standing on her shoulders and cheering for a moment, she jumped off and fell backward, with two cheerleaders on either side catching her back as she fell and depositing her back onto her feet. Two lines of girls ran parallel in opposite directions, each girl performing a handspring or two as they passed the center of the formation. Ranko, for her part, was off to the side, alone, left to improvise a dance to the Japanese pop song that blared from the speakers. Shiori had forbidden her from participating in the stunts until she'd had more practice, due to risk of injury, and Ranko could only laugh. With her martial arts training, she could outmove anybody on the squad with ease, but she'd decided to play by Shiori's rules and not rock the boat too much.When the song ended, Ranko jumped up, extending her arms upward and kicking her legs back at the knees like her squadmates did, her eyes darting back up to the bleachers. This was the cheerleaders' big performance of the evening, so surely, Akane would be paying attention.Neither Akane nor the mystery girl were in their seats at all.Someone, however, did wave to Ranko, calling her name from the far left side of the stands, about halfway up, to get her attention. Ranko snapped her eyes in the direction of the sound to see a familiar face bounding down the steps between the plastic benches until she reached the waist-high barrier dividing the stands from the court. Ranko jogged over once the cheerleaders had fully left the court and broken formation."Aya! What are you doing here?" Ranko smiled warmly. At least someone cared.Ranko's eldest sister grinned. "Oh, Kage's nephew is on the Shibuya team, and we try to make at least one of his games a year. But, forget me, what are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were going out for cheerleading!"Ranko blushed. "Yeah, it's a… recent development. My first day!"Ayako laughed. "Well, you're looking great out there. I barely recognized you! Are you having fun?"The flushing of Ranko's face only worsened as she nodded, managing a smile. "You know? It's silly stuff, but I am."Ayako reached over the barrier, pulling Ranko into a hug about her shoulders. "I'm glad. I know we haven't been in touch much, but Yui's been keeping me up to date. She's worried sick about you, not leaving yourself any time for fun or rest. Are you sure you're okay, Ran-chan?"Ranko nodded, turning her eyes back to the rest of her squad to see if she was needed. Mostly, it was about not letting the exhaustion and the disappointment at Akane's departure in her eyes betray her to her sister. "Yeah. I'm good. Great. Busy, but great."With a knowing smirk, Ayako nodded skeptically. "If you say so. We're all proud as hell of you, kiddo. I hope you know that. You don't have to wear yourself out if you don't want to, though. How's your grades?"The cheerleader looked up with a blush and a sincere, proud smile. "Mostly fours. I've got one three right now in math, but Yui's helping me with some stuff. Math and I are… not friends. I've got a five in home skills right now, if you can believe that!" Ranko knew she had a hard time believing it herself."That's great!" Ayako squeezed her again. She knew how hard Ranko had been working to catch up her schooling, and even mediocre marks in classes on her grade level were a minor miracle considering how far she'd been behind a few months ago. "Ranko, I mean it. You have no idea how proud I am of you." Ayako made a mental note to tell Yui how proud of her she was, too, for all the work and effort she put into helping their youngest sister.Ranko nodded. "Thanks, Aya. That means a lot to me." She looked up at the empty spot in the bleachers at center court. "I'm glad somebody is."With a look of concern, Ayako placed her hand on Ranko's bare shoulder. "Ran-chan, is there anything you need to talk about?"A buzzer sounded, and Ranko snapped her eyes up. Saved by the bell. "I gotta get back." She reached over for another quick hug, and jogged over to rejoin her squadmates.The second half of the game went much as the first had, with Ranko going through the motions of the limited dances they'd had time to teach her, and trying to seem excited when the Yusue team scored. Two of the songs they'd danced to were ones she routinely sang onstage, and it almost killed her not to go snatch the microphone from the referee and sing rather than being one of fourteen cookie-cutter girls doing the same boring dance routine.At least Akane and the mystery girl were back in the stands. They'd returned about a minute into the second half, hot dogs and sodas in hand. Well, that's good, Akane. I'm glad you're focused on what's really important, she thought to herself. As she jogged off the court following her second timeout dance of the half, she didn't even bother waving anymore. There wasn't much point.Another piercing buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game, with Yusue having soundly defeated its opponent, the Shibuya Stars. Ranko's fellow cheerleaders crowded around their victorious gladiators, jumping up and down and whooping in celebration with them. Apparently this team was her school's rival or something, and everybody seemed super excited about it. Ranko didn't much feel like celebrating, between the fact that she just didn't particularly care if the sports teams won or lost, and the way Akane had so bitterly disappointed her.She looked up and saw Akane descending the steps with the mystery girl, heading toward the court where the cheerleaders and players were gathered. Ranko managed a smile; at least she was going to get an introduction after this girl monopolized her lover all game. Gathering her pom-poms and other belongings, she smiled and watched the girl lead Akane onto the court. Eiji, the basketball team captain, waved to the pair as they approached. "Hey, Fumi! Who's your friend?"Fumiko grinned. "Eiji, this is Akane. She's a freshman on our volleyball team. Akane, meet my little brother, Eiji." Ranko froze. Of all the people Akane didn't want to know about their relationship, the volleyball team was at top of the list, right alongside their fathers."Hey, Akane." Eiji gave a winning smile, offering her a little bow that she returned. Akane stole a quick glance over at Ranko, only for a half a second, but said nothing and made no other gesture. She had a guilty look in her eyes.Fumiko continued. "I was just telling Akane here how you still haven't picked a date for the fall festival."The young man blushed. "Fumi! C'mon, sis. You gotta stop putting me out there like that. I promise, I don't need your help to find a date if I want one!" He laughed, shaking his head and turning to Akane. "Good to meet you, though, Akane. Really. Sorry about that."Standing less than two meters away, Ranko could only growl under her breath and snatch her bag from the bench. Not only was she supposed to keep the fact that she and Akane were a couple a secret, but now she had to stand there and watch in silence while people tried to set her up with boys?Ranko slipped away from the group, walking back to the left side of the bleachers, where her sister rejoined her with a smile. "Hey, Ran-chan. Great job out there. What's up?"The cheerleader looked up at her sister, with anything but cheer scrawled across her face. She spoke quietly, a defeated tone in her voice. "Aya, could you and Kage please give me a lift home? I… I gotta get out of here."