By Zephyria The scheduled date arrived in the blink of an eye. Koi, who had been given special training by Ashley until the day before but had only barely mastered standing up, went to the cheerleading team feeling nervous inside.
The team members, who were stretching in the indoor gymnasium, stopped moving when they found him. At someone’s quick whisper, a female student who had been turned around turned her body. It was Ariel.
“You’re right on time,” Ariel said, checking the time on her phone. “If you’re late, you’ll be immediately disqualified. Keeping time is the most basic thing.”
She put the string in her mouth and roughly tied her hair, then clapped twice. Drawing the attention of the team members, she pointed to Koi and said, “This is a new member who volunteered to participate only this season. Everyone’s heard about it, right? We’re going to do a basic movement test today, so please watch and participate in the vote.”
After speaking, Ariel stood facing Koi.
“Okay, start. We don’t need music, do we?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Koi nodded and straightened his posture. It was embarrassing enough to be the only man in a place full of girls, but to have to move his body while everyone was watching, the Koi of the past might have committed suicide long ago if he had known.
But it was too late to die now. And Koi had to join the cheerleading team. He took a trembling breath and opened his mouth.
“I’ll start.”
*
The time on his phone was past 6:30. Ashley, who had been waiting, checked the time and put his phone back in his pocket.
Today was Koi’s first test day for joining the cheerleading team. Of course, even if he passed this time, it was too early to rest assured because there were second and third tests. Still, there was also the saying that starting is half the battle.
Since the ice hockey team was taking a break from training today, he sat on a nearby bench and waited for Koi to finish the test and come out.
The cheerleading team practices in the stadium or the gymnasium. The ice rink is mostly used by the ice hockey team, so when necessary, they set a time in advance and use it alternately.
When there is a necessary justification like today, it is a great opportunity for the cheerleading team, so they always take charge of the ice rink at times like this. But probably, the cheerleading team will try to move the place soon after the test is over.
If he’s not careful, there’s a high probability that he’ll run into Ariel…
Ashley thought about waiting in the car, but soon stopped. They were attending the same school, so he couldn’t keep avoiding her forever. It was something he would have to experience someday. Of course, Ashley wanted to avoid it as much as possible if he could. The problem was that they attended the same school, and the ice hockey team and the cheerleading team were inseparable in this school.
“Haa…”
Suddenly feeling a chill inside his eyes, he frowned and swallowed a groan. His eyes had started to hurt like this a while ago. He went to an ophthalmologist, but they said there was nothing particularly wrong. He just received a diagnosis that the cause was probably stress or overwork and had to return empty-handed.
But wasn’t that a clear misdiagnosis? Ashley was having the most fun in his life these days. Stress? That’s ridiculous. He meets Koi at school every day, and they even go home together. On top of that, they have special training for about 2 hours alone, so how can stress build up? Furthermore, Father and his Omega aren’t here, are they?
All that’s left is overwork. But even that was almost impossible. His amount of exercise hasn’t changed much from before. He wasn’t studying excessively either. Doing homework until dawn was something that any student at his level was doing. It was ridiculous to suddenly say that his eyes hurt because of overwork now.
In the end, he couldn’t find the cause. It was fortunate that there was no particular problem, but he didn’t like feeling pain like this from time to time. If something like this happened suddenly during a game or while driving, it could become a big problem.
I guess I should quit ice hockey when I’m in 12th grade.
Ashley thought. His path was already set anyway. He wasn’t going to become a professional, so he shouldn’t ruin his college entrance by playing games in busy 12th grade.
However, he felt regret. Bill was planning to go to a professional team, so he would remain on the team in the future. Ashley would probably be the captain if he left.
Ashley rested his chin on his hand and fell into thought. He would only get busier in the future. The only time he could enjoy leisure was until 11th grade. He would definitely win this season’s game. And he would retire in style.
Did Koi pass the test?
Just as he suddenly thought of it, the door of the gymnasium opened. Ashley, who had been resting his chin on one hand until then, straightened his posture. He stretched his neck to find Koi among the girls who were rushing out, but he couldn’t see the person he wanted. Instead, his karma suddenly popped out.
“Oh my.”
Someone exclaimed, and then there were whispers here and there. Of course, they recognized Ashley too. Seeing Ariel stop walking and frown deeply, Ashley awkwardly raised one hand.
“Hi, Ariel.”
Ariel’s face became even more ferocious.
*
Ashley was sitting on an outdoor chair in the cafeteria with the face of his very angry ex-girlfriend across the table. He thought he would have to talk to Ariel again someday. But he only hoped that day would be delayed as much as possible, and he didn’t expect it to come so suddenly.
What do you mean you didn’t know when you were sitting there in front of her?
Ashley felt a throbbing in his head following his eyes and sighed, “Haa.” Of course, Ariel’s expression didn’t change because of that.
“Ahem.”
Ashley cleared his throat first. He couldn’t just stay like this forever. Let’s finish what’s happened quickly.
“How have you been, Al?”
When he greeted her with a smile as before, Ariel exclaimed as if she was dumbfounded.
“Do you think that if you smile at me now, I’ll just let it go because of your handsome face?”
Ashley smiled embarrassedly.
“Isn’t that so?”
Ariel clenched her fist for a moment. He thought he might get hit five times this time, but fortunately, she endured it. After taking a deep breath, Ariel finally opened her mouth.
“I thought I should have a sincere conversation with you someday.”
She asked directly without beating around the bush.
“Why did you do that?”
She sat with one leg crossed, crossed her arms, and continued in a fierce tone.
“We were doing pretty well, weren’t we? I don’t think you had any complaints about me either, so why did you do that? You suddenly came to me in the middle of the night and said you wanted to break up.”
Ariel listed the things she wanted to say calmly and clearly. She probably simulated this situation in her head several times. Ashley hadn’t thought about it, but he knew that an honest answer was the best.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Of course not.”
Ariel’s eyes narrowed. Seeing that, Ashley smiled, but the smile didn’t last long. Soon, with a bitter look on his face, he said, “I wish I had known sooner, but I couldn’t accept it.”
Ariel opened her mouth as if she was dumbfounded. Ashley apologized again.
“I’m sorry, Ariel.”
Ariel just looked at his face for a long time without saying anything.
*
It’s over!
Koi hurriedly packed his things and breathed out all at once as he finally left the gymnasium.
He didn’t remember what he had done or how he had done it. He was suffocated by the gazes of everyone watching him, his head was empty, and he couldn’t think of anything. He just moved mechanically, squeezing every cell in his body. Hoping that his body would automatically follow the movements he had practiced countless times.
When everything was finally over, Koi waited for the results with great tension. But the team members who had gathered didn’t say anything. When Koi felt an ominous premonition at the suspicious glances and strange silence, Ariel said,
“I’ll start the vote.” I thought they would go somewhere and mark O or X, but it was much simpler than I expected. It was simply raising hands to show approval or disapproval and counting the numbers. I later heard that such a grand procedure wasn’t necessary for admitting temporary members. Koi watched the hands going up and down with great tension. As a result, he barely passed the first test by a single vote.