strawberrysorbae | Holly Heights

[unlike makoto, momoi doesn't seem to be affected by the amount of time they've spent bent over their papers and charts. this is the sort of thing she's used to, and can spend an entire afternoon not moving from her seat and only realize how stiff she's become once she's pulled from her trance. however, it's undeniable how much nicer it is to have company than it is to work alone in her bedroom or in the lounge before or after practice.

makoto's leg bumps her feet lightly, and it makes her smile as she finishes jotting down her current sentence before looking up.]

Most definitely! You've been such a trooper for this, Tachibana-senpai. I really appreciate your help.

I always knew how much work managers had in teams, but I never realised just how much work it is...

[he smiles right back at her and tries to fix up his set of papers, so that they actually look neat piled up together. he dusts the table from eraser shavings, fully aware that he'll be cleaning the floor later himself.]

[a contemplative hum, and he makes to stand, pushing his chair back.]

Would you like some lemonade? There's some in the fridge.

[this flowershop/lounge is well-equipped with snacks and beverages]

We stay really busy, it's true! At least in basketball, we also do a lot of the maintenance on top of helping our coaches and our regular duties.

[she takes the papers from makoto's stack once they've been neatened up, sorting them into stacks for easier finding later. there's a binder pushed off to one side that she's been using for all her notes, but there's no sense in putting things away until they're completely done.]

Ah, that would be wonderful! Thank you!

...especially considering that in basketball you have a full team of, five, is it? At least, I'm sure you need players at the bench for replacement. It's only ever been four of us in the swim club.

[not a very popular club, in iwatobi. nevertheless, makoto is sure that gou had her hands more than full with tasks. a sport as popular as basketball, however--]

[these girls whom he's met as managers are really something else.]

Well, in any case, thank you for the work you've done.

[not just for her team, "her boys," but for the effort she's put into all of them here in holly heights. he's sure he's mentioned his intentions of becoming a coach and going to tokyo to study that in university, so these small sessions they have, despite being very purpose-specific, are helping him gear his mind towards related tasks.]

[standing now fully, makoto heads around and to the back of the counter, opening the mini fridge and getting out a bottle of bubbly lemonade; it's cold, fizzy, and tastes a lot like natural lemonade rather than a carbonated, sugared lemon type. he serves up two tall glasses, and brings it over to the table, carefully setting it down.]

[something springs to mind]

--this might be a bit out of the blue, but you can call me Makoto if you'd like. Tachibana's a bit too formal...

[and, you know, he's all about being friendly and approachable]

Oh, wow. That's quite a small club. [she can't help but be impressed about the amount of dedication it must have taken to get that club together, approved, and running.] Touou isn't necessarily a sports-centered school like Kaijou, but it's a juggernaut now. We used to be relatively unknown, but catapulted onto the scene a couple years ago, and our position was cemented when Aomine was successfully recruited.

[that was also when she joined, but her position on the team is less impactful than aomine's. she'd just shown up to practice the first day along side him, and it was sort of an unspoken deal that if he came, so did she. they'd given her the manager's position the same day they collected his forms.]

[she accepts the drink when it's set on the table, taking a sip and letting out a pleased sound at the carbonation and fresh taste.]

Ah, if you're alright with it, I'd like that. I want to be as respectful as possible to my seniors, but it also makes it feel like we aren't friends!

Edited 2015-06-23 23:45 (UTC)

[makoto smiles; momoi's honesty is refreshing, and it reminds him a lot of people in his life he's rather fond of. he's quite glad that gou is back now, because at least he doesn't feel guilty or sad to think that this reminds him of her.]

And you? It's fine if I call you Momoi, right?

[he doesn't want to overstep any boundaries. that said, he sits down and takes a sip from his glass, too, staring out in front of him at the stained glass circular decorations on the windows. it's sunny, and it's getting warmer this summer... to be inside a place relatively cool at this time of the day is nice, especially with yellow-white light warming up the place, whiles blues, pinks, purple, greens draw fond patterns on any surface available.]

[turning to the girl--]

Aomine's a big name in the high school basketball scene, isn't he? The way he presents himself ... it's as if he knows, too.

Edited 2015-06-24 00:59 (UTC)

Ah, Satsuki is fine! [hopefully it won't get confusing, since there's another satsuki here; and apparently that one is really scary.]

[the silence that falls between them is comfortable, companionable, and it's always nice to have someone around who you don't feel the need to chatter on with. their conversations are wonderful, of course, but spending so much time around a bunch of high school boys who won't shut up, she's familiar with the importance of peace and quiet.]

He's a pretty big deal, and he's always known that he's a pretty big deal. [she heaves a sigh.] Such a big deal that he couldn't be beat, and it kind of warped his personality for a while. I think Kise might have mentioned the Generation of Miracles to you before?

Oh, like the other...

[yep, he knows the other satsuki. it'll be confusing--but as long as he doesn't have to interact with both girls in the same room at the same time, it should be fine.]

[makoto tilts his head, and puts his hand over one of his wrists, attentive to her words.]

Yes, he mentioned it when I first met him. It's made up of the best players...?

That's it! [she smiles, but it slides away after a moment.] There's six of them, and they're the very best, unquestionably, in all of Japan. For a while, Daichan was on par with the rest of the team, but...he got too good too quickly. The people in the games they played, they wouldn't even try to defend or make plays against him. They'd just stand aside and let him pass by.

[maybe she shouldn't be telling him this, but makoto doesn't strike her to be a gossip.]

So you're right! He does present himself like he knows what a big deal he is, and that's because it's true. There's only two people I know for sure that can beat him, and one more who I'm moderately sure of. [she can't remember the last time akashi and aomine played against each other properly, since both akashi and aomine were on the bench for the inter-high tournament.] He's not as conceited as he used to be, at least.

If that's the case... I imagine it must get a little boring sometimes, to play, if no one else can beat you. Or if everyone just stops trying.

Are those two people here, in Holly Heights?

One of them is! [she smiles fondly at the thought.] Kuroko Tetsuya. I don't know if you've met him, he's...kind of hard to notice. Blue hair, kind of short for a basketball player. His partner, Kagami, isn't here, and neither is the "maybe", Akashi.

[she looks at her half-empty glass, swirling the liquid inside just to give her something to do with her hands.] I think more than he was bored, he was frustrated, but. I'm not really familiar with the feeling; I'm not really good at anything that you could consider being beaten in.

Edited 2015-06-29 04:52 (UTC)

I've met him. Kuroko-kun, that is. He's pretty quiet...

[but then that's a familiar statement. not so much in context, but with the feeling that falls raw under it.]

[he tries to canvas the situation and see if it ... calls for anything more.]

Why do you say that?

[her gaze slides to the side, and she weighs her words before speaking.] I'm just a manager. I contribute to the team, and I get upset when we lose, but. I'm not really contributing to that victory, not in the same way Daichan is. I feel like I am not the one winning or losing, I'm just. There.

[it's kind of hard to articulate exactly what the feeling is.] I'm sorry, that probably doesn't make much sense.

[..well, that was heavy]

[makoto leans back on his chair until he's slumping a bit, unsure on how to -- empathise, without taking away from her words. feelings are important to a person and it's no use trying to mold them into something else to try and fix a narrative. her feelings come from somewhere, no matter how dark; they too need validation, but form the right parties.]

I... find that managers are an important part of a team.

[he starts carefully, looking over at her]

It's true that managers don't actively participate during matches or competitions, or probably don't practice the sport, but a team could easily come undone with a shoddy one. If... you feel like that, wouldn't it be right to talk to your team about it?

[she leans forward, resting her chin in one of her hands as she looks at makoto.]

Unfortunately, I'm not really in the position to have that conversation. I was accepted as the manager to babysit Daichan, and while I can tell that I make contributions to the team because of my talents, it doesn't change the fact that when I'm not there, they talk about how my job is merely to try and keep a handle on their most troublesome player.

[it's...a complicated position. they're only too happy to take her notes and listen to what she has to say when it gets to be crunch time, but that doesn't change how the rest of them talk about her when she's out trying to keep an eye on aomine and get him to come to practice.]

[is aomine-kun really that much trouble?]

--but, that's important, isn't it? Without your influence, Aomine-kun wouldn't be supporting his team at all. And without him, it's not the team they're expecting to be.

[he's trying to understand this, piece by piece]

Mm, you're right about that much, even if it is kind of a weird team. They aren't really a cohesive unit, just...lots of strong players who prefer to do things their own way, and whoever is the strongest has the most say-so and power. That's why Aomine can get away with so much despite just being a first year. He didn't show up until the very end of the first half in our inter-high match against Seirin.

[the answer to your question is yes, makoto. he absolutely is that much trouble.]

Is that... a really healthy way to work as a team...?

[makoto has his questions; his team is pretty tight. samezuka is pretty tight, too. none of them would dream about being late for any competition.]

But I'm guessing that with that kind of attitude, your contribution has to be important.

Nope, not even a little! [she laughs, and although it's a bit self deprecating, it's genuine.] They figured it out eventually. The united Seirin team was able to take them down and show them that the sum of a thing can be greater than it's parts.

[for a moment, she falls quiet, looking at her glass and the condensation beading on the outside.] I just...want to be more than his babysitter. I love Daichan more than anyone, but...I want to stand on my own, too. Sometimes it just feels like it's too late.

[...]

[he wants satsuki to be able to put this into her own words, because sometimes having a feeling about something deters from actual action--and both might not even be significantly related to one and the other.]

Why does it feel like it's too late?

[is this what talking to a therapist is like?]

I made my choice, didn't I? I went to the same school as him, and I'm still acting as manager of Touou's team. Girls my age already have the things they're good at, and have spent lots of time honing their skills. [she rubs her forehead.] Maybe that's why I like working at the sports center so much. There's not enough people on any one sport to have teams in the traditional sense, so I'm getting to help lots of different people with lots of different things.

But, Satsuki-chan.

[...tries to word this right]

You're working at honing those skills you have. Perhaps not with your team, but a variety of people to work with gives you more experience by moving away from something you were comfortable in. Isn't that making progress, in trying to define yourself as a manager?

[aww, he called her satsuki-chan, that's so cute. but beside the point.]

[she closes her eyes, letting his words ring in her head, and she hopes he understands that she's just thinking and not blocking him out or something. there were times she felt so stifled as aomine's manager that she wanted to scream, and while it wasn't necessarily anything anyone did and she didn't love him any less for it, it was a box she'd been in since childhood.]

I think you're right. Being here, I feel like I'm getting to work with people who are excited to have my skills and experience at their disposal. I'm an important part of the sports center team, and being able to kind of focus on my own thing is reminding me that I can take this skill and turn it into something worthwhile that will serve me for the rest of my life.

Yes. It might be... perhaps a sad thing to say, but you won't always stay with the same team. With graduation, and different opportunities coming up for everyone... You can't force yourself to follow a dream that matches someone else's.

[granted, he doesn't exactly know the relationship between momoi and aomine perfectly, but he's been there.]

[afraid that he sounds selfish and unempathetic, he clarifies,]

My best friend, I've known him since I was a baby. We've always been neighbours [until holly heights, but] and we've always done things together like brothers. He's an extremely talented swimmer, and... while I'm not like him, I also swim. It was easy during school, but with graduation around the corner--I had to make a choice. As much as I want to swim with him, because it's meaningless without him, realistically I couldn't keep comparing myself to him nor think I could follow to have a similar dream in competitive swimming.

[...nervously frets with his hands, looking down, then up, then to the side.]

We have to think about ourselves first. It doesn't mean we're not going to be friends anymore, but there are strengths you can use to achieve real goals that will make you happy.

Holly Heights | Mailbox

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)