"Mi-chan? Have you seen my pole vault tops anywhere?"
"Aren't they in the dryer?"
Neko darted downstairs and into the laundry room. The dryer was full of light colored clothes. "No, those are my gym clothes," she said irritably, realizing Mi-chan's error. The white tank top that was standard for afterschool track and field was basically a sleeveless version of Infinity's P.E. uniform - not something she really wanted to wear for summer practice. She had a bunch of colored tank tops she used specifically for pole vault during the summer. Plus they were a lot more stylish.
Two days ago they were also all dirty. But it was Mi-chan's turn to do laundry, and she had sworn to Neko that they'd be clean by Friday.
Neko lifted the lid on the washing machine and groaned loudly. Well, they were clean�.
She grabbed the dumb gym shirt before running back up the stairs to recheck if there were any clean tops hiding upstairs in a drawer somewhere. On the way, she passed Hoshi.
"What's up? Ne�, you're all athletic-y," Hoshi mentioned, indicating Neko's sports bra that she'd been running around in.
"Hai. I'm leaving for pole vault in a few minutes. Didn't I tell you?"
Hoshi shook her head. "Aren't you on summer vacation?"
Neko grinned. "It could be the last day of finals, Christmas Eve, and snowing, and we'd still have practice," she boasted.
"I thought you and Mi-chan were going to spend the day with me," Hoshi said disappointed.
"I'll be back soon. But I can't skip it. I have to prepare for Regionals."
"Regionals?"
"It's like State Finals back on Mercury. You remember when Suisei's soccer team went to State. It's like that, only pole vault, and just a couple of us." Really there were more people from Infinity going, but they were in other track and field categories.
"I understood the concept, silly," Hoshi laughed. "I just didn't know you were going." She grinned. "That's so cool! Congratulations!"
Outside a car horn honked. Neko glanced at her watch. "Oh, that's Tenshi-kun!" She hopped from foot to foot. What was she going to do? She couldn't let Tenshi see her in her sports bra (no matter how many girls Neko had changed in front of or Tenshi had seen changing in the locker rooms, it wasn't the same when you were dating one), but she couldn't expect her to wait for her to find a different shirt without telling her what she was waiting for.
"Tenshi-san's going?"
No choice. She pulled the gym shirt over her head. "Uh huh. Tenshi-kun's on the team. She's going to Regionals too," she mumbled through the shirt. "She's even better than me!"
"Of course she is," Hoshi muttered.
"Huh?" Neko poked her head through the collar of her shirt. "Well, I gotta-"
"Ne, Neko-chan?" Mi-chan peered over the balcony at Neko and Hoshi. "You know Tenshi-kun's outside waiting for you."
"I'm going. I'm going," Neko replied crossly.
"Ne, that's not usually what you wear in the summer, is it?"
Neko sent Mi-chan a look and a couple of thoughts.
"And�," Mi-chan continued slowly. "I'll get those darks done before you get home?"
"Good." Neko smiled again. "I'll be back after pole vault," she said cheerfully and skipped out the door, her good spirits restored at the prospect of going to pole vault.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So do you think we'll be ready?" Neko asked as Tenshi drove her home.
There was no need to ask what she was talking about. They were both getting a little anxious about Regionals� though Neko would never believe that Tenshi was. "I think we'll do okay. Does your side feel alright?" It wasn't too long ago that Neko had had stitches removed.
"I should be okay. You know as long as I don't go up against any knight yoma or throw myself on any swords anytime soon."
"Yeah, let's avoid things like that," Tenshi suggested. "At least until Regionals are over," she teased.
Neko giggled. "I'll try my best."
As Tenshi stopped at a red light, they both suddenly sneezed. "Hmm," Tenshi speculated, "someone must be talking about us."
"Maybe�." Neko was thoughtful. "Ne, Tenshi-kun, come with us to the mall tomorrow," she requested all of a sudden.
"With you, Mi-chan, and Hoshi-san? Ano, is that such a good idea?"
"Hoshi-chan will warm up to you. All you need is to turn on your natural charm. No one can resist that!"
"She certainly is doing a good job of faking it then," Tenshi sighed.
"Onegai, Tenshi-kun. I really want you guys to be friends," Neko pleaded.
Tenshi knew what she wasn't saying. If Tenshi and Hoshi became friends, maybe someday Hoshi'd be able to accept Neko's relationship with her. Tenshi didn't want to break it to her that that wouldn't really work.
But she couldn't say no to Neko's pleading eyes. "Whatever you wish, Koneko," she conceded.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"The darks are done!" Mi-chan sang as she ran back into the kitchen where she and Hoshi were baking chocolate chip cookies and waiting for Neko to return. And getting caught up on everything. Well, really just talking about boys.
"I can't believe you're going out with Jian-wa-san. I thought for sure Neko-chan was going to hook up with him."
Mi-chan laughed. "Actually, that's why I first started flirting with him. I was mad at Neko-chan for flirting with Isaac-kun, which she wasn't, but that's a long story. Anyway, I was trying to get back at her by flirting with Jian-kun, who she also wasn't interested in. Me falling for him was just an unintentional side effect."
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