Taking the Reins

Ranko stalked through the Yusue High School gymnasium, trying to keep her head on a swivel. In every direction, there was activity that required her attention. On her left, a group of girls in mismatched gym attire chanted and clapped their hands at the direction of Tamiko. On her right, a sophomore girl with bleached-white pigtails crumpled to the ground as her attempt at a single twist utterly failed. Ranko's eyes lingered until Tanda picked the girl up and ascertained that she was okay. She snapped her head forward, her twin pigtails whipping herself in the face, just in time to catch a junior careening in her direction in a handspring that had gone horribly wrong. "Whoa, easy, there."She sighed heavily, righting the girl on her feet. Somehow, I gotta pick four of these girls and get them ready to compete. Gods help me. What do I do, Shiori? Her friend and former captain had graduated, and now was on the cheerleading squad for Akane's college. Ranko hoped she'd get to see her at some of her wife-to-be's volleyball matches, as she really did miss her - and she still needed to hand off Shiori's wedding invitation.In Chinatsu, Shiori and Kotone, the Yusue cheerleading squad had lost three of its four best fliers after Ranko herself, and their best base, Kou, had also graduated. Ranko knew she didn't necessarily need to replace those positions one-for-one with new recruits, as there might be an opportunity for one of the squad veterans to step up. Tanda and Aoi, she thought, could be decent enough fliers. Their gymnastics skills had improved considerably in their training for last year's All-Tokyo Cheerleading Invitational and after.And then, there was the matter of the clumsy brunette working off by herself. Every time she tried a stunt, she had to catch her glasses before they fell off of her face. Kumiko was her best friend besides Crash, but athletically, that girl was a hot mess. Bolstering herself with a deep breath, Ranko strode up to her struggling friend. "Hey, Kumi. How's it coming?"Kumiko sighed in despair, wiping her brow with the sleeve of her silver tee shirt. "This is never gonna work. I'm such a klutz."Ranko frowned. I'm gonna do everything I can to help you make it, Kumi. "For starters, try taking your glasses off. I'll hold them a sec. If you make the squad, you might want to think about some contacts.""Do those work when you're doing sports," Kumiko asked as she handed the bluish-green rounded frames off to her friend.The squad captain nodded. "Oh, yeah. Etsuko and Aoi both wear 'em." Ranko's arms flashed forward and grabbed Kumiko by the hips suddenly, pulling her back out of the way as another girl fumbled toward them from a failed forward roll. "Look out!"Ranko laughed as Ayame chased after the bumbling blonde, waving her arms frantically. "Hey! Kayo! Get back here!"I have to remember, Ranko thought to herself. I have to judge on potential, not skill. None of them are gonna be as good as the girls who trained with us all last year. It's my job to pick the ones I think I can get there by January.Ranko nudged Kumiko gently. "Why don't you go work with Tamiko on the cheers? It'll be a little easier until you get your bearings." She walked over to the nearby bleacher, picking up a small green backpack. "I'm gonna put your glasses in your purse, 'kay?"Kumiko nodded as she jogged away. "Thanks, Ran-chan!"Ranko strode over to another of her squadmates, who was teaching a basic dance sequence to a group of nine eager candidates. "How's it going, Yori? Anybody showing promise?"With a nod, Yori motioned to a green-haired girl with dark skin and piercing blue eyes who seemed far more into the dance than her competition. "That one. Her name's…" She checked the clipboard that rested in a gray plastic folding chair a step away. "Rin Matsubara."Ranko watched the girl Yori singled out for a moment. Not bad. Might even give Hitomi a run for her money. She smiled up at her fellow cheerleader. "Keep on 'em, girl!"With a wave, Ranko made for the next group of tryouts, ducking under a girl that launched out of a double handspring into a double twist. "Whoa! Watch out!" She giggled, sidling up to Etsuko. "Etsie, how we feeling? Anybody good?"The smaller girl pointed behind Ranko. "That one, Shika. She can move."Ranko turned, motioning to the slender platinum-haired girl behind her with a thumb over her shoulder. "The one who almost took my head off just there?"Etsuko nodded. "Not her fault you walked through the middle of her stunt. But yeah, she's got what it takes to fly, I think. Hey! Shika! C'mere!"The lithe candidate jogged up to the pair. "Yes, upperclassman?""Show the captain a double twist." She grinned, crossing her arms atop the Yusue High Athletics logo emblazoned across her chest."Yes, ma'am!" The eager sophomore immediately leapt backward into a double handspring, punctuating it with a double twist and landing in a gymnast's pose with her arms in the air. "Is that good, upperclassman? I'm working on a triple, but I can't quite land it yet."Etsuko grinned, motioning to Ranko. "You're talking to one of the only two girls in Invitational history to land a quadruple twist.""No SHIT?!" Shika's brown eyes were as wide as saucers. "But… how?"Ranko shook her head with a small scoff. "Bruises, kid. Lots of bruises. Keep up the good work, okay? I gotta make my rounds." With a wave, she crossed the gymnasium again, back to where Tamiko had a semicircle of girls practicing a choreographed cheer. "Any winners over here, Tami-chan?"Her friend grinned. "That one on the end, Kayo. Not the best gymnast in the world, but she's all spunk. She's gonna be fun, I think.""What do you think, Kayo?" Ranko beamed in her direction. "Do you think you have what it takes to cheer our basketball team to victory?""Yes MA'AM! I'm READY!" The diminutive blonde punched her fist in the air, putting her other hand on her hip like she was about to transform into a magical girl and fight evil by moonlight.Ranko giggled. "Ooo-kay, then. Keep at it!" Woooow. Somebody get that girl a chill pill.~~~Ranko stood in front of the assembled forty or so tryout candidates, all of whom knelt or sat on the rubber gym floor in front of her. Off to Ranko's left, the other nine returning cheerleaders waited in their uniforms for their captain to make the announcement. Ranko sighed heavily. For all but four of these girls, she was going to have to break their hearts, and she hated it."Okay. If I call your name, please join your new squadmates over there. Our newest Yusue Fighting Lions cheerleaders are…"Ranko glanced down at her clipboard before raising her eyes to a green-haired girl in the back who looked like she was about to quake out of her skin. "Rin Matsubara!"The girl squealed, bouncing off the floor and skipping to the assembled cheerleaders, who took turns hugging her in congratulations."Kayo Morimoto!""OMIGODOMIGODOMIGOOOOOOOD!" The bleach-blonde jumped up and down in place for several seconds until Ranko had to motion her toward the group."Shika Fukita!"With a satisfied smirk, the silver-haired sophomore rocked back from her knees to her feet, joining her new squadmates with a series of high-fives.Fuck, Ranko, I hope you know what you're doing. It's all on you if this goes south. None of the other girls picked her, and they only went along with this because they trust you.She smiled down at the girl sitting front-and-center of the cheerleading hopefuls. "Kumiko Ikawa!"Kumiko rocketed to her feet, running not toward the line of cheerleaders, but forward, hugging Ranko tight. "Ran-chan, thank you so much! I won't let you down!"Ranko squeezed her back. "I know. I won't let you. Now, shoo." She beamed with a little shake of her head as Kumiko ran off to her right."For the rest of you," she said, addressing the disappointed thirty-some girls still seated. "I'm afraid this is it. We've got your names written down, and should anything happen and we need to add someone, we'll call a few of you back. I'm sorry. I'd take every one of you if I could. You all tried your butts off today." She bowed deeply to the group, guilt riddling her face as the dejected girls stood and shuffled their way toward the exits.Once the group had cleared, Ranko's squadmates, including the four new ones, took the center space that had been vacated and sat.Ranko blushed. My first speech as captain. Better channel my inner Shiori. "Well, this is it. Kumiko, Rin, Shika, Kayo… welcome. We're proud to have you. You may have heard, we did something kind of cool last year." She walked to the chair behind her, lifting a red Yusue Lions plush throw blanket to reveal the first place trophy from last year's All-Tokyo Cheerleading Invitational. As she did, a loud chorus of cheers came from the girls, and Ranko picked the trophy up, carefully handing it to Kumiko. "Pass it around. I want you all to know what it feels like to hold it."As the trophy made its way around the thirteen cheerleaders, Ranko continued. "Winning that thing… I'm not gonna lie, it felt pretty great. Those of you who were here last year know how much work it took to earn that trophy. Those of you who weren't, well, you're about to find out. You've gotta bring it to every practice, every performance, every time." She blushed. "It's a little bit like being a pop star. Even when you don't feel like you're at your best, the show has to go on and people gotta be into it, you know?"A chorus of cheers rose from the girls at Ranko's acknowledgement of her career.Aoi handed the trophy back up to Ranko after it had passed through all fourteen girls' hands, and Ranko covered it with the blanket again. "And now that you've felt what it's like to have a trophy like that in your hands, I want you to forget it exists. The squad that won that trophy last year doesn't exist anymore. Four of them are off to college. We're a brand-new squad, and it's a brand-new year, and we can't pretend that just because our school won last year, it's a given that we will again this year. We've gotta work just as hard, and be just as hungry and just as humble, or somebody else is gonna get one of those in January instead of us."The returning cheerleaders nodded in agreement."So," Ranko continued. "Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna work our asses off. We're gonna put on one hell of a show. We're gonna win ourselves another one of those trophies, 'cause that one's been lookin' awful lonely in the display case in the main office."She looked down into Tanda's worried eyes. Ranko could see the concern on her face. It had been she who originally pushed back against the dictatorial training regimen that had almost gotten Ranko kicked off of the squad the year before. She smiled disarmingly at her orange-haired squadmate."And, most importantly… we're gonna have a shitload of fun doing it."