Chapter Text
If you ask Kaede what she loves most in life, she’ll say cheerleading without missing a beat. Before you can even ask her why that is, she’ll start listening off all of her favorite things about it; The roaring crowds on the bleachers, the bubbly laughter of her friends during practice, the victory sleepovers after a long game. Cheerleading has changed her life. Her studies, her boyfriend, even piano couldn’t compare to the happiness she felt on the field with ribbons in her hair and itchy pom-poms in hand.
Everything else comes second, including her boyfriend, Rantaro. He picks her up everyday after practice in his snazzy sedan and drives her home, sometimes making a detour to play an awkward game of tonsil hockey in the parking lot. It’s slimy, sloppy, open-mouthed hell and she’s too busy focusing on his bad breath and heavy breathing to even enjoy it, opting for staring into the rearview mirror waiting for a chance to pull away. Fortunately, he stops when she asks, but the way he whines “Please?” every time makes her grimace and politely shake her head.
She’s hot and sweaty by the end of practice, taking a sip from her water bottle when the captain begins to clap. “Everybody! Make sure to pick up your uniforms afterschool, or you won’t have time to get them before the bus leaves tomorrow morning.” The girls all groan in unison at the thought of waking up so early, already exhausted from today’s routine. The captain’s serious expression fades into a sympathetic smile as she gives an enthusiastic thumbs up. “But, there will be donuts!”
The girls give an excited shout before splitting up to change for class.
Kaede finds Rantaro walking away from the field in his equally sweaty jersey and skips over to him. “Are you excited for playoffs?” She asks, catching her breath as she slows down to match his pace.
“Yeah, but I’m gonna miss you.” He doesn’t look at her when he speaks, which confuses her seeing as he doesn’t ever take his off of her any other time. Her smile doesn’t falter, but she nudges him playfully as they approach the locker rooms.
“I’m only leaving a few hours before you, silly!” She teases, but internally cringes at how clingy he sounds.
He huffs and swings open the door to the boy’s locker room. Kaede swears she heard him mutter something as he stepped inside.
Everyone in Kaede’s life seems to be acting strange lately. She tries not to let it get to her, keeping her head up as she walks to her locker in her fresh clothes, but it’s hard to smile when her usually infectious energy isn’t infecting anyone anymore. Her friends even shrug her off and turn the other way when she throws her arms over their shoulders and urges them to show some spirit for the playoffs. Her beaming smile falters for a moment before she shakes her head and bounces over to her locker where the captain is leaning against the wall talking to Rantaro.
“We’re gonna kill it tonight!” Kaede declares and grabs Rantaro’s arm, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. However, she doesn’t expect him to grab her face and start slobbering all over her mouth in front of the captain. Her eyes widen as she reciprocates his poor attempt at kissing, pulling away as quickly as possible to give him a forced smile. He ignores it and gives her a lazy grin.
“Meet me outside.” He winks and spins on his heel to leave, shoving his hands in the pockets of his varsity jacket.
Kaede lets out a sigh of relief once he’s out of earshot and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand as she turns to open her locker one down from the captain’s. She carefully stacks her books at the bottom and takes a moment to admire her spread of magazine cutouts of Sayaka Maizono adorning the inside of her locker, including some of her beach shoots.
“Don’t you just hate it when they do that?” she asks, not taking her eyes off a photo of Sayaka in a polka-dotted bikini.
The captain cocks a brow. “I think it’s fun.”
Kaede frowns and looks at the ground. “Maybe he just doesn’t do it right.” She murmurs. She’s quiet for a moment, but then shrugs and shuts the metal door. “Well, I’ll see you later!”
The captain waves her off, watching her skip down the hall to meet Rantaro.
Kaede doesn’t notice when her locker door doesn’t click all the way, and she doesn’t notice when the captain reaches inside to nab one of her photos before fixing the door.
Rantaro isn’t the best driver, Kaede knows this. Thankfully, he’s never put her in danger when she’s in the car with him, but she still wonders how he managed to pass the driver’s test in the first place. She can’t say much, she hasn’t had time to even work her permit yet, but she knows that a dog with no legs can go faster than this.
“...Rantaro, why are we going so slow?”
He visibly tenses at her inquiry. “Oh sorry, haha. I’ve been pretty out of it all day.” Kaede watches him squirm under her intense gaze, not taking her eyes off of him until a loud horn followed by angry cursing from a driver who has had enough of Rantaro’s snail-like pace startles her. He doesn’t go any faster, ignoring the middle finger he gets from the car passing him on the left. She leans back in her seat with a huff and faces forward as they gradually approach her house at the end of the street.
Kaede hops out of the car the moment Rantaro parks along the curb and impatiently stomps across the freshly cut grass in her yard to the front door. A drive that should have only taken five minutes lasted twenty because of her boyfriend’s antics and she can’t deny that she’s a little peeved that he felt like wasting her time. She swings the door open and steps into the dim entrance room, pausing when she hears frantic whispers coming from around the corner. She turns to see Rantaro closing the door behind her, and he nods his head gesturing for her to go forward.
When she turns the corner into the living room, she stops dead in her tracks.
She had suspected that everyone was up to something, but nothing could have prepared her for what appears to be an intervention with her parents, the cheer captain, two girls from the team, Rantaro, and a man she had never seen before.
“Welcome, Kaede!” Her parents greet her with a pair of forced smiles, and as she scans the room, everyone except the strange man is sporting one too.
The man in the corner is short and stumpy with monochrome hair and a suit to match. The only splash of color on him is the left lens on his comically unique sunglasses. He has a small blue pamphlet sticking out his coat pocket, and Kaede can’t make out what it says but she notices everyone in the room is holding one.
“Ah! The froot loop of honor has arrived!” The man bellows, clasping his hands together. His grin sends a chill down her spine. She immediately decides she doesn't like his shrill voice, either.
Froot loop?
“...What’s going on?” Kaede cocks a brow, turning to face a guilty looking Rantaro and then back to the equally guilty group seated in a circle.
Her father gulps, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder as he guides her to the couch away from the door. “Have a seat, dear.” He whispers before sitting back down next to his wife. Kaede’s heart is racing and she wishes they would just get to the point already.
The room is silent, half of the group staring at the floor and the rest making short glances at the man in the suit as if waiting for him to break the tension. He sighs theatrically and lets his hands drop to his sides. “Alright, Katie, is it?” Kaede doesn’t get a chance to correct him as he continues. “Your family called me because they think something is wrong with you.” She gasps, jerking her head to face her parents, who appear to be just as surprised as she is.
They scramble for words to defend themselves, clearly not expecting this guy to be so blunt. “Th-That’s not it at all!” Her mom stutters, waving her hands in front of her. Kaede glares, and she takes a deep breath. “We love you, Kaede, and that’s why we want to help you. All of us.”
“We’re afraid you might be… a lesbian .”
This was not what she expected.
“What the hell?” She spits, half the room flinching at her tone. “You gathered all these people because you’re worried I might like girls? I thought somebody died !”
This time Rantaro speaks. “You’ve been acting weird lately. You don’t even like to kiss me!” Kaede rolls her eyes. Because you try to eat my fucking face, weirdo.
“ This was in your locker, Kaede.” The captain deadpans, holding up the shot of Sayaka. Kaede’s jaw drops, confused as to how the captain retrieved the page from her locker and feeling absolutely betrayed knowing she went out of her way to use it as evidence in front of her family. She’s humiliated, her fingers curling into fists at her side as she glares at the girl she thought was her friend. Speechless, she gives up and stares down at the floor.
Kaede doesn’t look up when the cheeky voice of the man in the suit fills the room once more, “Well! You heard the jury! Your lovely parents even took it upon themselves to pack your bags for you!” She doesn’t look up until she feels a harsh slap on the back that jolts her out of her defeated stance. “Everybody say goodbye to Cadence!”
Nobody in the room says goodbye, they only stare at Kaede with eyes full of pity. She opens her mouth to say something, but it dies in her throat when she remembers everyone she trusted is standing around her, pushing her away just because of their own prejudiced assumption. She furrows her brow and turns to grab the suitcases by the door, stomping outside while the short man holds the door open for her. The loud slam from behind makes her jump, and she whips around to see him grinning and striding towards the car as if he hadn’t nearly broken the door frame.
Kaede prays the drive won’t be long.