Grounded

"You ignite, and you RISE!"Ranko cheered loudly as all four of the girls falling through the air landed in synchronization in their basket catches, each caught by two of her squadmates. As the four fliers were deposited on their feet on the lush grass of the rugby field where they practiced most evenings, they turned to join the other eight girls, squealing excitedly and jumping up and down in celebration."Girls, that was fantastic! You nailed it!" Ranko clapped loudly. "I'm so proud of you all! You have worked so hard, and you are absolutely going to kill it at the Invitational next week!" Kou, standing off to Ranko's right, sighed. She knew there was a but coming; Ranko had already warned her."What about you?" Shiori sidled up next to Ranko, grinning. "When do we get to see you take Mieko Suto's crown?" She gave Ranko a gentle nudge in the ribs with her elbow. "Or will all that twisting it upset the baby?"Ranko growled. "I told you, that was just some stupid, vicious rumor. Eiji and I never even were together like that!" And wouldn't have been, not even if the survival of the human race depended on it.Shiori backed off, showing her empty palms. "Whoa, easy, Miss Grumpy. I'm just teasing! None of us really believe all that crap. Nobody who really knows you does. What's got you so upset all of a sudden?"Ranko sighed, sitting down on the bottommost aluminum bleacher. She picked up her water bottle, mostly for something to do with her hands, not opening it. "Sorry, I'm just really touchy about it still. The last week hasn't been super fun, with all of this going on. But, girls, I really gotta tell you something."Yori gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "Oh gods, she really is pregnant. She's leaving the squad!" A few rumbles came from the other girls, but Ranko put up her hand and they died down quickly.Ranko frowned shamefully. "Nothing like that, no. But… Kou and I have been working on it since before Christmas, and… I don't think I can do the quad. I'm really sorry. I can do the triple at the end no problem, but… I crash and burn every time I go for four."She really did, too. In all her years of martial arts training, all of her dedication and focus and conditioning, she had never found a form or a move she couldn't do until now. It was killing her. But Hana and Izumi had been right, she needed to fess up to her limitations rather than push herself and get herself hurt.Admitting it positively agonized her, though. She'd tried everything. She'd thrown herself off of those bleachers at least a thousand times; there had been several nights at the Phoenix where she couldn't dance on stage because her ribs hurt so badly from the repeated crash landings. She'd basically eaten nothing but miso and salad for two weeks, in the hopes that dropping a kilo or two would be enough to get her the extra quarter-second of air time she needed. It hadn't helped, and all it had done instead was make her about ready to kill somebody for a piece of chocolate, especially on days where she felt like she did today.A wave of disappointed groans rose from the girls, but Shiori stepped up, putting her hand on Ranko's shoulder through her silver Yusue High Athletics tee shirt. "Hey. It's okay. We know how hard you've been trying. Maybe you'll get it in time for next year's Invitational, since you were so close already.""Maybe. It's just…" Ranko sighed, staring down into her hands. Not even the glint of the setting sun off the ring on her hand was enough to shake her out of her disappointment. "I wanted to make you girls proud. I wanted you to go to that meet next weekend feeling bulletproof. You've all earned that, and I couldn't deliver it. I'm sorry. It's okay, though! I think we've still got a great chance to win. Our whole routine is awesome and you all have come so far. I just… I hate letting you down.""Don't worry about it, Ran-chan." Shiori looked up at her squadmates. "We're gonna win anyway, aren't we?"A smattering of claps and a single, sad woo came from one of the girls in the back.Shiori clapped her hands loudly, snapping everyone to attention. "Hey! Are we cheerleaders or not? I want to see some energy! I said, we're gonna win anyway, aren't we?!"As a much more enthusiastic set of whoops showered Ranko from her squadmates, Shiori turned, offering Ranko her hand. "Come on, girl. You got us ready. Every year but one, somebody's won the Invitational without hitting that jump, so there's no reason to think we can't do it this year. Don't let this get you down."Ranko took her hand and stood. Shiori turned back to her squadmates. "All of you, give me fifty back handsprings. Go!"While the girls groaned and began their exercises, Shiori led Ranko behind the bleachers where she had nearly broken her ribs more times than she could begin to count. "Listen. I wanna talk to you for a second."Ranko nodded. "Sure! What's up?""I just wanted to say… I'm proud of you." Shiori blushed. "I know, I'm not your mom or anything, so it's probably weird. But like, you had run all these girls off before Christmas. Even me. And sure, I got them to come back, but you've kept them here. You learned from your mistakes, and you've become a real part of the team, and a real friend. And not only have we been able to learn from you, but we've been able to do it better because we aren't rolling our eyes every time you come up to talk to us. I know that learning a new way wasn't easy for you, and I know you never really felt like you fit in."She giggled. "We practically had to kidnap you in the middle of the night to even get you to try out for the squad. But, you've earned your place here, Ranko. You're one of us now, and I hope that doesn't feel as gross to you as it looked like it might have when you started. Win or lose next week, all of us are better because of you, and I wanted to say thank you."Ranko stepped forward, pulling her squad captain into a tight hug. "No, Shiori, thank you, for giving me someplace around this school where I felt like I could belong."