Strikeout

Roommates

High school - 1st Year - Spring, March

"Now that everyone is here, we can begin introductions!"

Ah, Sora's favorite part of their group exercises. Here she could spill her heart to her future bond mates, and they can all link arms and frolic through an open field with flowers in their hair and giant smiles on their faces.

As if. She'd sooner commit seppuku than do all of that shit. She was only here for one reason only, and it was to support Tarou. She wasn't here to be buddy-buddy with everyone here. After he leaves, or retires. She's gone. That was what she told him. 

Sora had received her acceptance letter, and showing it off once to her family they congratulated her and closed the ramen shop early to celebrate. She showed it to Tarou. He had the biggest smile on his face when she did. The lug had picked her up and squeezed her tight. Sora had to remind him she needed to breathe. 

She decided to join if only for the reason to support her friend, and that's what she told herself. Sora didn't care if she made friends at the end of this (she highly doubted it), she'd still quit. 

Then came the few works before school started, the break where she'd get acquainted with everyone and everything. There were dorms here, which Sora found to be highly convenient. She didn't have to spend so much time on bus fare. 

There were three other people here besides Sora. Four new managers for the New Year. The head manager, actually she's probably the leader, introduced herself as Takako. She's technically a second year at this point, the previous managers retired and had long since graduated.

She went around asking everyone for their names. Yui, Sachiko, and a girl named Airi. They explained they were first years, what their goals are while in this club, why they joined the team as a manager in the first place. All the cliché bullshit you hear in every club ever made.

Everyone turned to Sora. She was the last one.

Takako smiled and motioned her to start.

Sora rubbed the back of her neck.

"I'm Iwamoto Sora. First year. I only joined to support Suzuki Tarou, I'll do all the other duties but that's it. After he retires I'm quitting, so don't expect me to stick around."

She wasn't even sure what the other managers thought about her, but she didn't really even care. She wasn't here to make friends after all. Takako acknowledged her words, although Sora felt like Takako had something to say but chose not to. Whether it be the stare Sora gave her, or the fact she didn't want there to be any bad blood at the beginning of the year.

Whatever.

Takako began explaining the duties and the like, what they do, and how it's important that they do their job so that the team can function. Sora has heard it from Tarou, she asked her uncle on the matter, and he told her what she had to do as well. Although, what Takako was explaining wasn't something her uncle said (to be honest, they seemed more like towel girls). Regardless, she was only here for one person.

Once Takako was done with her endless droning, Sora picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. With a simple bow of her head, and a quick 'excuse me', Sora left the group. Practices didn't start till tomorrow so there was no point in staying around to do whatever they wanted to do.

She would take this opportune moment to unpack all of her crap and then check up on Tarou—even though she was sure he knew she was here. Sora arrived at her dorm room and opened it up; she set her bag on one of the bunk beds to the right side of the room.

The good thing about this was the fact she could stay here. Home wasn't too far away, she could take her bike or even the bus home if her mother called for to help with the shop. Convenience. All about convenience.

Sora plopped onto her bed, hands behind her neck and shut her eyes.

Maybe she could get some sleep before morning practice.

"Hello!"

The sudden face made Sora sit up and resulted in her banging her head against the top bunk. She fell back and held her forehead. Sora glanced at the cheery person standing next to her bed. It was one of the first years, like her. Er, what was her name again? It definitely wasn't Yui or Sachiko. Her hair was longer, a chestnut brown, bangs swept to the right, tied up in a pony tail. Her complexion seemed a bit lighter than Sora's, and her eyes were the same color as her hair. She held a smile on her face as if she knew something Sora didn't. A pair of red rimmed glasses rested on her nose, she pushed them up.

"It looks like you're going to be my bunk mate."

Cool, real cool.

She stood up and shut the door. Sora rubbed her forehead and lied down, scowling at the top of the bunk. She glanced over at the other girl who had a simple duffle bag and nothing more. She plopped it onto the desk and unzipped it.

"But don't worry; I won't be here that often if at all. I'm Araki Airi, by the way. Is there anything you want to be called specifically?"

Right, Airi. That's what her name was. Sora rubbed her forehead again.

"You can call me Sora with any honorifics you feel comfortable with. I don't really care."

"Okay, I'll call you Sora-chan then!"

Airi began unpacking a couple of things from her duffle bag. First it was a couple of pictures and then it was small stuff like knickknacks and the like. Sora puffed out a sigh.

"That's fine; I'll call you Airi then."

The girl placed a hand over her mouth, and giggled.

"First name without honorifics? I'm not ready for that kind of commitment yet. We haven't been on a date yet!"

Sora shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. That's not what she meant.

"Just kidding. So, do you like baseball?"

There was a small shrug from Sora. She couldn't really say that she loved it. But her uncle did teach it to her when she was a kid. The only reason she's become decent at it is because Tarou asked her to pitch for him all the time.

"I guess, my uncle used to teach how to throw a ball."

"That's neat! I think it's great you're here to support your friend. Is he special to you?"

Sora almost sat up again, but made sure not to knock her head on the bunk above. She rolled out of bed and stood up brushing her shirt off. She grabbed her bag off the bed and unzipped it on her bed.

"Nope, he's just a friend."

Airi asked a lot of questions. A lot of questions Sora didn't want to answer or Airi just kind of assumed what Sora's answers were and then Sora had to quickly explain that wasn't what she meant. She didn't know what to think of Airi at first, rather than she was very weird.

It was probably around 9 before Airi had left the dorm. She did mention she went home instead of staying at the dorms. Sora bid her farewell and started getting ready for bed. She pulled on her sleeping shirt and noticed a couple of pictures Airi had set out on the desk.

Sora walked over to the desk and picked up a frame, the curiosity getting the best of her. She stared at the picture. It was a picture of Airi and a dog right next to her, Airi had a large smile on her face ruffling the dog's fur.

She stared even harder at the picture.

"..."

She really wanted to pet that dog.

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The OC mentioned in this story, Airi, belongs to my dear friend! She'll be playing an important part throughout this story! Thank you everyone for commenting on my story and voting, please, keep supporting me with your kind words! 

オス！ありがとうございます！