Can't Take it
"Nice job Takame. This sounds like a good time to take a break, but we'll have to get in a little extra if you want to catch up to your teammates." Youta had nothing but praise for the girl after seeing her listen to his advice and make major strides. It filled him with pride knowing he was able to translate what he learned for someone hoping to apply it into practice. "Thanks for all your help too, Fuwaka."
"Eh, don't worry about it." They had all worked up a bit of a sweat, even Fuwaka. Who, unlike Takame, was still wearing her school uniform instead of the more proper attire of basketball shorts and loose shirt. "Can you hand me my water bottle?" She asked, pointing over to the stands where she set it aside.
Youta did as she asked, grabbing it and handing the bottle over to the girl. He expected her to drink from it, as that is what one does with water bottles. Instead she surprised him by opening the cap and pouring a bit of water over the top of her head.
"What are you doing?" He asked, watching as the liquid flowed down from her hair and onto her white blouse. The water soaked through, creating a bit of a transparency effect to reveal her swimsuit underneath. Of all times, this was one of the times where having that swimsuit meant she wasn't appearing indecent. Yet even then, from his point of view this all still felt so lewd.
"I need to cool down." She said, wiping the water from her forehead. "Usually I'm in the pool, so it's not bad when I'm training. But I can't stand feeling this hot." Fuwaka sat down at the stands, fanning herself with her hand in an attempt to cool down. Despite being the least active among the three of them, it appeared she suffered the most from the high temperatures.
"Must be pretty rough putting you here then." He said, sitting down besides her. "I'm sorry for taking you here if it's that much of a bother."
"Oh I'm not bothered at all by it." She held up the water bottle in front of him, offering the boy a sip after she had her fill.
"I'm fine…" He put up a hand to decline her offer.
"What's wrong? Aren't you thirsty too?"
"I'll just get my own drink." He answered. Youta didn't want to drink from where she just had her lips placed. The boy didn't say anything about this fact though as she seemed ignorant to the unwritten rules of etiquette.
"I'm not going to tell anyone we shared a drink." She smiled, revealing her knowledge behind the idea. "Besides it's no big deal either. I spend so much time in a pool surrounded by water everyone else's bodies have been in too. What's the problem here?"
"Okay fine." He relented, seeing how lackadaisical she was about the interaction only assured him it didn't matter to her. So it shouldn't matter to him either. Youta took her bottle and took a much needed swig of some fluids to make up for what was lost through sweat. "I have to say, I'm not used to all this physical exertion. How is this even fun for anyone?"
"What are you talking about? It's so much fun doing what we love. You just haven't found the right one for you yet." She responded. As they talked, the pair were approached by someone who was not Takame.
"Hmm? Oh Mitora, you're here." He noticed her first as they sat. There was nothing wrong going on, so he greeted her warmly without any reservations or concerns. Yet she was quiet when initially walking towards them.
"Youta." She spoke plainly and direct. The moment she said that one single word, he immediately realized something was wrong, but couldn't tell what the problem was. "You don't have to lie to me anymore."
"Huh?" The pair replied at the same time to express their confusion. He knew he hadn't lied to her, not recently at least. While Fuwaka hoped he wasn't a liar to one he called such a close friend.
"If you have a girlfriend, you don't have to pretend you're not going out." She explained herself with tears in her eyes.
"Whoa! You're really off base here." He couldn't believe his ears as Youta was hit with the embarrassment and shame from having this happen with both her and Fuwaka. "I already told you I'm a sports manager, there shouldn't be any more confusion." It wasn't as if Mitora was his girlfriend anyway, so the fact he didn't have to defend himself, but still did should've meant nothing was going on.
"But you said she's a swimmer and I don't see any water around." She refused to believe him. After all, Mitora had now seen him hanging out with this girl multiple times in different contexts. They didn't notice her, but she even saw him sharing a water bottle with Fuwaka. "Youta, I know your a sports manager. That's what all the coaches say, but there's no rule saying you can't enjoy spending time with your athletes… So that's just how it is."
"I definitely can't lie and say I'm not enjoying my time here." Said Fuwaka once they let her finish. "But we're not here for ourselves."
"Then why are you here?"
"Um, who are you?" From right behind her, Mitora heard the voice of a timid girl talking to her. She turned around, expecting it to be someone shorter than her given the tone of the voice. Instead she was met with the body, having to look up to see herself dwarfed by this much taller girl.
"Whoa!" She stumbled backwards in fear, nearly falling over onto the ground were it not for Youta's quick thinking in catching her. "Who are you!?"
"Oh dear, did I do it again?" Takame frown and wanted to hide away after causing fright for another person. "I'm Takame Yoshinaga. Morikawa and Tomika have been helping me out with basketball because I needed a lot of help."
"Wait, but you're not a sports manager." Mitora turned to address Fuwaka.
"It's because I needed help from someone familiar." He was finally able to explain himself. "I didn't ask you because I didn't want to interfere with your practice time."
"Apparently we're not close enough for you to care about that for me." Said Fuwaka, who couldn't help but take a little issue with this fact. "You know Mitora, you really care a lot about Youta's love life."
"It's just because we're childhood friends!" Despite her words not being accusation, Mitora still took it as such and quickly defended her actions. "We've known each other for almost our entire lives. Of course I'm going to care when something big might be happening with him."
"Heh, because it sure doesn't sound-" She was about to continue the teasing, but ended up being cut off by Youta.
"Let's just drop that now." He spoke directly and with a stern face. She could plainly see he didn't want to continue this specific conversation. So she did as was asked.
"I did want to ask something important." Said Takame, now that they could focus on her once again. "I have a game after school on Friday. Do you think I'll actually be able to do well?"
"That's in two days, but…" He mulled over his next words carefully. Youta wanted to be encouraging, but also didn't want to be a liar either. It would be unfair to the athletes if he got into the habit of telling them what they wanted to hear, rather than what they needed to hear. "You'll have to work hard, but you're going on the right track."
"Yeah, but don't expect me to be there again to train you." Said Fuwaka. "Just because I'm not required at swim practice doesn't mean I don't want to go."
"I can help." Mitora quickly took the opportunity for herself. "I'm sure coach wouldn't mind me helping out a fellow athlete. Besides it looks like there's still a workout even if we're just teaching." She could tell from how tired Youta and Fuwaka looked, that this would continue to push her body. "So I'm still getting work done for myself."
"Thank you so much." He said with a smile on his face. "They'll see just how good you really by game time." Even as he exuded confidence, there were still lingering doubts for Youta. Namely this girl's other problem of failing to have a presence to everyone else, no matter how hard they tried.
There were no easy solutions to this issue. Nothing he could read in a book or watch a video on for him to find a way to help her. For now, he couldn't only focus on her skills and hope there would be a way for her to get noticed.