still have miles to go.

     She closes her eyes in exasperation and presses her fingers to her lips, deeply concerned if the boy knew he was embarrassing himself or not. Okay, so it was obvious that her previous tactic wasn’t working — time to think of another.

     Ryuko inhales deeply, and opens her eyes to look right at him. Opening her mouth, she begins to speak slowly ( almost condescendingly ), as if talking to a baby, or like a pet, or something.

               ‘ Are you alright??? There’s an infirmary close                 by. Do you still remember your name??? ‘

Sanada was confused for a second, staring at her as if she was the one who needed to go to the infirmary, though he quickly switched, realizing that she might have been having fun with the whole situation as well. Unless, she wanted him to go away, which was also a thought that passed through his mind. Nevermind, he was far too handsome to be wanted gone.

Folding his arms across his chest, he leaned far too close for comfort, giving her a small wink before completely backing away. 

            “Even if I was, what makes you think I’d tell you?” Mariya asked curiously, looking             at the male with a small glare. she technically did lie. Escaping from her school             where everyone knew her name to watch a game where no one knew her. Though it             was just a baseball practice, she felt somewhat happy. Till she fell asleep…

Sanada raised his hands in defeat, letting her know that she definitely did have a point, even if he didn’t believe it. Spies didn’t look like... that. Or maybe that’s exactly what she wanted him to think? Shaking his head to get rid of the stupid thoughts, he took a step closer to her and leaned closer, his usual smirk visible.

     Her face starts to flush red, and she doesn’t know if it’s because she’s flattered, distraught, or that fact that he’s stressing her the fuck out. Probably, all of the above, mostly the latter. C’mon — guy!!! Walk faster!!!

     Okay, so now this jackass was practically strutting through the middle of the archery range in a manner Ryuko found to be considerably attractive — but also incredibly worrying, and twice as stupid. 

     This guy was really… something.

               ‘ I appreciate the compliment, ‘ more than she’s                  letting on, but she’s not going to address that                  anytime soon, ‘ — but I’d rather not go to jail for                  homicide, do you know how much work I’d have                  to catch up on after a jail sentence that long?? ‘

     Was that an attempt at banter or was she being serious? Don’t worry, she doesn’t know the answer either.

Even if the girl looked completely stressed out, Sanada paid her no mind, thinking she was just a fangirl from Seidou freaking out about him being there-- especially with her flushed face. The whole ordeal gave him even more confidence and made him walk even slower, ignoring the fact that he could get shot at any moment.

When he finally got to her, he proudly puffed his chest out as his characteristic smile made its way across his features before taking a deep breath to speak; 

There’s a small moue on her face that suggests she doesn’t think it’ll happen anytime soon ( she’ll be damned if she has to come to Tokyo more often than she already does. Being in Sendai City is already a compromise enough ). 

Another ace? She has no idea what being an ace implies in baseball – she  doesn’t know much about the sport about the fact that they use bats and gloves, and that it seems to last an awfully long time – but she figures it’s got generally the same meaning. The one the team trusts to bring them to victory.

She can respect that. 

“Considered basketball, but I like hitting balls better than just throwing them.”  That’s not the only reason, but hey, it is a valid one. Spiking is fun. She loves the sound the ball makes when it hits the floor. 

“You should come see us in finals.” 

‘You can still hit the balls,’ he trailed off before clearing his throat and correcting himself in case she got the wrong idea. ‘With a bat. Do not hit a pitch with your hand, please. It would be such a waste... Basketball is nice, though. I played a bit in middle school because I got a growth spurt but now--’

Sanada nonchalantly waved his hand around, letting the subject go. He definitely wasn’t on the short side and could be considered tall, even if he didn’t feel like it around the girl considering he was used to looking down girls when speaking to them. It felt weird.  

               ‘ ???????? — !!!!!!!! ‘

     —— and with that, she’s left utterly speechless. She almost shot the guy and he’s??? Flirting with her??? What was he doing still standing there, did he want to get shot again??? Was he okay — maybe he was acting weird because he needed to go to the doctor’s. Oh no, Ryuko, you’ve probably given the poor boy a concussion. She waved her hands, gesturing for him to come over quickly, before another arrow could make its way toward him.

               ‘ COME OVER HERE, I CAN’T FLIRT BACK WITH                  YOU IF YOU’RE DEAD. ‘

                               ( gross, that’s necrophilia. )

Sanada confidently paced towards her, hands in the pockets of his uniform as he tried to be as casual as he could, not minding the fact that he could get shot at again. He ran a hand through his hair ( while being carefully to not ruin his hairstyle -- he didn’t spend forty minutes on it for nothing ) and rolled his shoulders, raising a brow at her response. When he finally got to her, he put on his most attractive smile and leaned towards her, even if their height difference wasn’t that big. It was still something.

“It’s better than this.” She gestures to the city in general, not shy about her distaste for Tokyo so far. And the beach is nice. They get to play beach volley – that’s always fun ( it’s extremely entertaining to pretend to be all girly and innocent about the game,  and then crush the assholes who try to take advantage of that. they’re starting to get  a rep for that though – won’t work much longer ). 

Her eyebrows furrow a tiniest bit as she observes his reaction ( she’s not as good  an observer as her captain, or even the vice-captain, but she’s not obtuse either ) and flashes her teeth in what could be a smile.

“I play volleyball. I’m Takamori’s ace.” 

‘You’re not exactly wrong, but you get used to it sooner or later. I’ve been living here all my life and I sometimes get overwhelmed as well,’ he awkwardly cleared his throat, trying to hide the fact that he had gotten slightly offended, despite knowing that she had a reason to think like that, coming from Miyagi. It could always be worse, though, or so that’s what he always thought. 

The moment he heard her next words, his grin widened as if he was trying to match her own... smile?  It definitely looked like a smile, but even if it wasn’t-- he still felt the aura of confidence around her.