Support from afar

Featured characters: Haruka Manami, Kudaku Irodori, Sachi Jinsoku, Skye Sailcirc, Niamh O’ Sullivan, Kyoi Kuchisaki

The gong of the bell signalled the start of the lunch break, prompting Haruka to whip out her mobile phone and quickly tune into the live broadcast of the UA Sports Festival. She knew Kaoru was competing; he hadn't stopped texting her about how much he had been training for it the past few months and how hyped he was for the event. She assured him that she would spectate for as long as she possibly could and silently send in her support. And here she was, making it just in time to witness the start of the obstacle race. Her sapphire eyes flicked between faces to see if she could spot her friend. It's not like he was hard to fi--

"Aah!" Haruka gasped at a sudden poke to her arm, turning to see one of her classmates. It was the brightly coloured Kudaku, who appeared curious as to what her peer was so engrossed by. "Ah, Irodori-san. What's the matter?"

"What're ya watchin', Manami-chan?" the colourful girl inquired, leaning in to look at the girl's phone screen. Her classmate quickly recognised the uniforms worn by the students and hummed with intrigue. "UA's sports festival! It's pretty cool, right? Can I watch too?"

Haruka nodded gently and let the smaller Kudaku hop into her lap to watch along. "It is! One of my friends is taking part, so I want to, y'know.. cheer him on! Even if I can't do it in person." she replied with a warm smile. Kudaku noticed her expression, and joined along.

"Ah! There he is!" Haruka said suddenly, pointing to the screen. The camera was on a distinctly purple and sparkly student, who was expertly dodging large robots using the portal quirk he had at his disposal. "And he's pretty far ahead! Keep it up, Kaoru!"

The cheering caught the attention of some of the other girls still littered around the class, particularly foreign transfer students Skye and Niamh, and the ever-excitable Sachi, who came trotting over with a piqued curiosity.

"Hey hey, Manami, what's all the hubbub? What'cha watchin'?'' the girl questioned, her eyes quickly darting to her friend’s phone screen, her brain quickly catching up to the context. “Ohhh! The sports festival, that’s right that’s right! You said you had some friends that went to UA, right?”

“Yes, Jinsoku-san! My friend Kaoru was on screen just a second ago, so I got a bit excited, haha.” Haruka admitted with a smile, her eyes being pulled back to the screen once again.

“Kaoru? Ye told us ‘bout ‘im before, right? Best friend from kindergarten or somethin’, yeah?” Skye chimed in, standing on the other side of Haruka’s desk with Niamh in tow.

“That would be him, yes, Skye.” the gilled girl replied with a nod. “He’s been training hard for this, and since I can’t be in the crowd, I thought I’d tune in and see how he’s doing.”

“Y’could also just send ‘im a text the next time he’s at his phone.” Niamh chimed in, adjusting her hat and hair.

Haruka idly fidgeted with her hair and gave her fair-skinned peer another nod. “Well, yes, but I wanted to see how he’s doing right to the end! I think he deserves my full attention, or something like that.”

The surrounding girls all simultaneously raised their eyebrows at the last bit of her sentence. ‘I think he deserves my full attention’. Sachi leaned her elbows on Haruka’s desk, giving her classmate a knowing smile.

“Sounds like y’like this guy a lot.” Sachi mentioned with a whisper. “Y’know, like, a lot a lot, right?”

Haruka’s eyes darted between the phone and her friend’s face, trying to keep focus on the race playing out on screen. “I do, b-but it’s not how you think! We’re just very good friends!”

The girl with seafoam locks hummed at her friend’s response., her cheeky grin still in full view.

“Like how? I just said you liked him a lot. Friends like each other a lot, right? Unless…” she continued, leaning closer to Haruka, her bright blue eyes fluttering expectantly. “You were thinking of something different.”

The scaly student’s lips tightened, and her cheeks flushed a deeper purple. She got caught again. Haruka didn't imagine she would get this kind of treatment in highschool too. It was always like this, and it confused her even more about her feelings for him. It didn’t help that girls always loved to egg her on.

“Ah, there he is again. Manami-chan, look look.” Kudaku piped up, pointing at the screen with a green-red finger. Haruka swiftly looked at the screen, leaning forward to get a better look.

“Where, where?” she asked, before spotting the star-freckled boy again in a wide shot view from above. He was still racing forward, with a couple of students ahead of him. Her face lit up, her long fingers curling around her skirt in excitement. Sachi exchanged a look with the celtic girls, as if to silently say ‘yeah, she likes him a lot’.

“What’s that? I’m hearin’ that our Umihime likes somebody?”

The congregation turned heads at the sudden appearance of the class’s top dog, Kyoi, strutting towards them with a troublesome air about her. Her tail swung behind her as she honed in on Haruka. The orca rested her hands on her wheelchair’s seat and armrest, leaning over the leviathan’s shoulder to glance at her smartphone. Her yellow eyes caught a glimpse of the UA student in question, and she huffed.

“Huh. Guess he’s kinda cute, for a stringbean.” Kyoi remarked with a grin, before looking down at Haruka. “Though I guess a guy this hard to look at would be a perfect match for you, huh?”

The commotion fell silent with the apex’s introduction to the group. It was very easy for her to do so, as one wrong step would make you a prime target for her abuse. Haruka learned that the hard way at the start of the year.

“Take that back, Kuchisaki-san.” Haruka spoke up, not moving her eyes from the broadcast. At the sound of their classmate’s rebuttal, the other girls instinctively took a step back from where they stood. Kudaku stared forward at her friend’s phone, watching as a winged student soared above the ones trekking on the ground.

“Hm? What was that, princess?” Kyoi replied, an audible rumble rising in the predator’s chest.

“Take back what you said. I hate when others talk down on my friends more than anything, so I want you to take that back.” the lavender-skinned girl demanded, turning to face the monochrome beast with a disapproving glare. “Plus, it’s not like you can talk much about people’s looks when you look like something straight from a nightmare.”

At this point, Skye and Niamh had backpedalled away from what they were expecting to be a tussle between two of the top girls, while Sachi stayed put with an expression that together said ‘afraid’ and ‘intrigued’.

“Huh?” Kyoi growled, gripping Haruka’s wheelchair tight. “Say that again when you’re on the floor, you bi--”

Then, Kyoi froze. The apex student couldn’t begin to make another move, as a certain girl’s green claw was placed right under her chin. In a fraction of a second, it would crack against her jaw and potentially cause massive damage to her skull and brain. Kudaku sat silent, staring at Kyoi with as much disdain as her tiny face could manage, with the killer whale staring back with killer intent. Kyoi let go and backed off to walk away, not before slapping the back of Haruka’s chair with her tail. Thankfully, the brakes were active, which didn’t disrupt it all too much. Haruka watched as Kyoi left the classroom with balled fists, sighing with relief as the door slammed shut. She gave Kudaku a pat on the head.

“Thanks, Irodori-san. You saved me there.” Haruka said gratefully, giving Kudaku a smile.

“Mm. No prob.” the mantis shrimp replied, nodding and looking back to the broadcast, clasping her hands together on her lap.

Sachi returned from her frozen state, exhaling loudly, relieved to see Kyoi out of the picture. “Phew! Talk ‘bout some pressure! That Kuchisaki chick is a piece of work, ain’t she? Anyone else think so?”

“Aye, a few screws loose I’d say.” Skye chimed back in, returning to sit on a desk next to Haruka’s. “That’s why I wanna stay far away from her; she’d gobble me up an’ spit me out before I could even react.”

Niamh nodded in agreement to Skye’s observation. “Don’t mind her, Manami-chan. She just loves t’pick fights, she does. Ye did the right thing. Serves her right.”

Haruka sighed and smiled at the Irish girl’s reassuring comment. “Thank you, Niamh.”

The salmon-locked student looked back at her phone screen, to see that the broadcast had jumped forward a lot during the staredown with their eccentric peer. The frontrunners of the race were coming up on the end, which startled Haruka a little, and she pulled her phone close to see if she could spot her companion.

“Oh gosh, a lot of time has passed! I wonder if he’s still out in front.” she worriedly wondered out loud. The camera was focused on those at the head of the pack, and she flicked her eyes between them to spot the purple shape of Kaoru sitting at about 4th place behind some students. He was using his portals well to get an edge on those behind and in front of him, which Haruka was delighted to see. “Ah, he’s there! He’s very far ahead, too! Girls, do look, please!”

Sachi, Niamh and Skye promptly gathered around to watch the race reach its climax. A couple high speed and aerally mobile students stayed in the lead, while Kaoru seemed to slow down towards the end. He appeared exhausted, hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

“Ah no, he’s after slowin’ down! He ‘as no chance of makin’ top three now.” Skye commented, looking at Haruka to see her reaction to this outcome. She was guessing she’d be sad to see him lose his advantage, but instead of worry, her face was filled with excitement. It was as if she was waiting for something to happen on screen.

“He’s not slowing down. Just watch.” Haruka said, keeping her eyes fixed on the screen, her astute comment prompting the four others to focus on the small screen.

Kaoru could be seen catching his breath and conjuring two portals, one atop another, before dropping in. He began to fall and pick up an incredible amount of speed and momentum. After a few solid seconds of falling, he altered the top portal's angle in a split second action and catapulted out from the other side. He soared through the end tunnel back into the stadium at a super high velocity, skipping over those who had passed him and some of those in front of him. He braced for landing and tumbled into the dirt, but didn’t give himself time to moan and groan. He got up and raced behind the two others ahead of him, and made it back into the light of the stadium, grabbing himself the third place spot on the obstacle course.

Cheers erupted from the five spectators watching the live broadcast from the other side of the country. Sachi and Skye hugged Haruka, jumping up and down and cheering in celebration, while Kudaku and Niamh clapped their hands.

“He did it! He actually did it, the madman! Who is this guy, anyway?” Sachi remarked loudly, holding her hands to her mouth in awe. “You all saw him, right? He just- NYOOOM-- right through the air! Like a bird! I think I saw a bird then! That was so cool!”

“‘Right, have t’admit, that was pretty cool.” Skye said with a laugh, patting Haruka on the shoulder. She was actually impressed at the skill displayed by the starry boy, and was now even more interested at the fact that he was her classmate’s best friend.

Haruka sat still after her cheering, the widest smile she could muster plastered onto her face. She couldn’t help but stare at the screen, stunned at Kaoru’s performance, until she felt a finger poke her arm. It was Kudaku, who was staring up at her.

“Your friend is really cool.” the colourful girl added with a smile. That, in turn, made Haruka’s cheeks warm up. She nodded.

“Mm, he really is.” Haruka replied gently, looking at the screen. As the race came to an official end, the camera panned to the top placing students, the commentator announcing their names and commentating on their performance. Kaoru saw the lens pointed his way and gave it his attention. He pumped his fists into the air and threw out some peace signs, flashing his toothy grin for the whole country to see. And then, in a modest moment, he waved out with a warm smile on his face. Haruka knew.

“I’m watching, Kaoru. You did great.”