LMI 78

Waaaaah!

The pouring cheers hurt his ears. Koi tensed up and hunched his shoulders. Even standing in the hallway, he couldn’t stop his whole body from shaking.

Right now, the Cheerleading Team girls, except for him, were getting ready to go out onto the rink in their new uniforms. It was for a performance before the second period started after the first period ended.

Although Koi was something of a ‘jalapeño’, a ‘paprika’, or a ‘broccoli’ among them, he was, of course, forbidden from changing clothes with them. So it was decided that the girls would use the locker room first, and then Koi would change clothes in the second round. Koi took shaky breaths as he waited for them to come out.

This day has really come.

Even though he had tried on the clothes the day before, he couldn’t believe it. Me, wearing women’s clothes and cheerleading? And in front of all those people.

“Ugh!”

He was so embarrassed that his face flushed, and a scream burst from his mouth. What on earth is college? Is it worth doing this much? Were there really no other options? Really, absolutely?

As he was tearing at his hair, the door suddenly opened, and the Cheerleading Team girls came out. Ariel, who was leading the way, said to Koi, who had raised his head with his hands still in his hair,

“What are you doing? Hurry up and go change.”

“Quickly, we don’t have time.”

The vice-captain added from the side. Koi hugged the bag containing his clothes and took hesitant steps, but his feet wouldn’t move easily. The girls pushed him from behind.

“Hurry, we’re busy!”

“Do it quickly!”

Koi was forcibly pushed into the locker room, and the door slammed shut behind him. Koi turned to look at the door, but it was too late to quit. Reluctantly opening the bag and taking out the clothes, the blood drained from his face the moment he saw the skirt.

Please, let this all be a dream…

He sluggishly put on the undershorts, then the V-neck shirt with the deeply cut neckline and no sleeves, and finally held the skirt in his hands.

“Ugh…”

A groan escaped his lips involuntarily. Koi groaned and put on the skirt. But he didn’t dare to look at himself in the mirror, so he closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath.

He had already shown them the day before, but at that time, it was just the girls in the club taking a quick look, so it didn’t require this much courage. But this time, it was the real thing.

He had worked so hard all this time, he couldn’t let this one skirt ruin everything.

He whipped himself up, but that didn’t create courage that wasn’t there. After taking several deep breaths and stroking his chest before going out, he barely managed to grab the door handle. As he heard the sound of the door opening, a thought suddenly flashed through Koi’s mind.

If I do this much, shouldn’t they just give me admission to the university instead of just ending it with my GPA…?

The faces of the girls, including Ariel, came into his shaky vision, filled with tension. He had no idea what he looked like. Would he look funny? Of course, he would, right? The kind of thing where they just look at how hard I’ve worked so far and let it slide won’t happen. Really? That kind of thing won’t happen? Can’t they cut me some slack?

Koi could only look at them, holding his breath, imagining all sorts of things in his head. They, too, looked at Koi without saying anything, and then suddenly, they started cheering and jumping up and down from all directions.

“It suits you!”

“You’re so cute, Koi!”

“You’re even cuter than I saw yesterday, the new uniform suits you so well!”

Seeing them laughing and happy, Koi was bewildered. Are they making fun of me? Surely, that must be it, right? Noticing him blushing and not knowing what to do, the girls started encouraging him, competing with each other.

“Really, Koi. It suits you, you’re cute!”

“Yeah, no one will know you’re a cross-dressing guy. They’ll just think you’re a skinny and tall girl.”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“It’s okay, anyone would just think you’re a skinny girl!”

I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about this. I don’t want to look like a girl, but I also don’t want to look like a guy dressed as a girl. Koi was grateful to the girls who were trying so hard to encourage him, but his heart was complicated.

As he stood there, not knowing what to do, Ariel, who had been watching him with a stern face and arms crossed, suddenly reached out her hand. He flinched reflexively, but Ariel didn’t care and stroked one side of Koi’s hair. Not knowing what was going on, he just watched her, and Ariel frowned, then spat on her palm and pressed his hair down harder.

“It keeps sticking up.”

Ariel muttered to herself, then seemed to think for a moment before taking the pin from her own hair and handing it to Koi.

“Bend your head a little.”

“U-uh, okay.”

As he obediently lowered his head towards her as she instructed, Ariel held the spot where she had just spat with one hand and inserted the pin with the other.

“Look. It’s much better.”

She nodded after checking Koi, who had raised his head. He felt a small weight on his head. He unconsciously raised his hand at the unfamiliar feeling, but Ariel grabbed his hand.

“No, don’t touch it. It’s fixed in place.”

“O-okay.”

After checking on Koi, who had quickly lowered his hand, Ariel turned her head. After looking around at the other Cheerleading Team girls, Ariel opened her mouth.

“Everyone ready?”

“Yeah!”

Everyone answered in unison. Ariel nodded with a more confident face than ever before, then turned around. And with Ariel in the lead, the Cheerleading Team girls walked towards the ice rink with a determined attitude. Only Koi felt a suffocating tension and awkwardly moved his steps from the very back.

*

With a loud bang, the hockey stick shot the puck up. The puck, which flew up shallowly, soon slid a long way across the floor. Ashley immediately received it and started running through the formation. The cheers filling the stands grew louder. The opposing team’s defense immediately stuck to him.

Ashley clattered his blade loudly and quickly checked his surroundings. Bill was on the right. He passed it to Bill as it was.

As if sticking to it, the puck hit his hockey stick perfectly. Bill ran as it was, and passed the puck back to Ashley. As soon as the defense team followed, he passed the puck to the left this time, and the guy shot as it was.

“Wow!”

Cheers poured out as soon as the net rippled. Soon after, the horn sounded and the goal light turned on, and the first period ended. The guys, including Ashley, took a deep breath.

“Isn’t it too easy?”

Bill said as he returned to the dugout. The other guys laughed and answered.

“Why go to the 3rd period? We can end it in the 2nd period.”

“Since we’ve come this far, we should at least let them skate on the ice to their heart’s content.”

“Why, you should tell them to eat in the cafeteria too.”

“Hey, isn’t that too cruel?”Ashley also laughed out loud at the guys’ words, who were bursting into laughter. Just then, the Cheerleading Team girls appeared, walking out for their performance. The guys, including Bill, cheered, shouting “Wow!” and vigorously waving their arms.

“Buffalo! Buffalo!”

The girls, including Ariel, smiled and walked past them as the ice hockey team gorillas roared. The guys even whistled and gave them a thumbs up.

“Is that a new uniform?”

“Oh, cute.”

“Looks great, it suits you.”

When the vice-captain lightly touched his finger to his lips and pretended to blow a kiss, the ice hockey guys groaned and pretended to clutch their chests and fall backward. They were really in sync.

Ashley spoke to Ariel, who was standing at the front and passing by his side.

“Good luck.”

At those words, Ariel haughtily raised her chin and gave a faint smile. Ashley smiled back.

Ariel went out onto the ice first, followed by the vice-captain, and then the girls followed in a line. Until then, Ashley was smiling. Where could Koi be? Thinking that, he turned around and saw someone following the girls out last, as if being chased.

…Huh?

The first thing he saw was the cherry pin in his hair. Next, his eyes caught his long neck, his sharply angled shoulders, his thin body, and then the ridiculously short skirt. And Ashley saw it. The long, radiant legs revealed beneath it.

“…Wait, Koi!”

Ashley shouted urgently, but it was already too late. The formation was set, and the music began.