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“Thanks for agreeing to help me with this, Suzui-senpai.” Kasumi has a smile so bright it’s almost hard to look directly into the face of; it sort of reminds Shiho of the face that Ann made the first time Shiho ever complimented her, as if it’s something rare and sought after, and not just a basic exchange to be made between friends…
Either way, the impact is the same and heat spreads down the column of Shiho’s neck. She offers a disgruntled smile. “It’s not a problem. It’s irresponsible to do practice like this without a proper spotter, isn’t it? I’m happy to help.”
Kasumi nods, reaching back to adjust the ribbon in her hair. For a hairstyle that is almost identical to Shiho’s own, she certainly wears it differently with waves of voluminous red hair. It’s incredibly striking, though Kasumi’s magnetic force of personality would draw eyes even if her hair didn’t. There’s something fascinating about her, the way that she seems to blind fierce optimism and adorable bashfulness. Shiho can understand why Ann and her group of friends are so taken with her, even if Kasumi is in the year below them, and generally gives off a sort of… not unreliable, but maybe sort of airheaded vibe.
It’s endearing though. That is, it kind of adds to her charm. Shiho leans her weight on her cane and makes her way forward as Kasumi approaches the exercise bar. In a remarkable feat of upper body strength, Kasumi lifts herself entirely off the mat and hooks her legs over the bar, her hair flipping around in a solid sheet of red, brushing the underside of her nose before hanging down over the floor.
She beams, too. Shiho lets out a snort.
“This is your happy place, isn’t it, Yoshizawa?”
“Of course,” Kasumi says. She takes her arms off the bar and stretches, a hand going to cradle her own neck. “I mean, I’ve definitely been in a bit of a slump lately… but Kurusu-senpai has been helping me with that, you know? He’s such a nice guy… It’s been getting easier and easier ever since he and I started spending time together. I’m honestly not sure how I’ll ever be able to make it up to him.”
Shiho is a little impressed that Kasumi doesn’t seem to find Akira intimidating, which was the common opinion at Shujin before she transferred. That’s hardly the most attention-grabbing part of Kasumi’s whole explanation just now, though. Shiho sets a hand on her hip.
“You ought to give yourself some more credit, you know. You’re the one who put in the work. I’ll bet Kurusu-kun was just standing there the whole time.”
“Well, right, but,” Kasumi lets out a breathless laugh and hauls herself around the exercise bar, flipping a leg around and catching the bar with her thigh to regain balance as she sits upright. “He stands there very comfortingly, doesn’t he?”
Shiho snorts again. “He kind of looks like a scarecrow when he comes to Ann’s shoots to hold her bags.”
“A comforting scarecrow!”
“If you’re into that kind of thing.”
Kasumi bites her lip with focus, not replying right away to Shiho’s comment, which is just as well when she’d been talking nonsense. Kasumi does another flip around the bar, then takes a breath, steadies herself, and goes for a third. This time, she doesn’t build the same amount of momentum, and Shiho sees that she’s going to take a tumble before she actually does; her shin slides against the bar and her leg comes unhooked, and Shiho rushes forward, pressing a shoulder into one of the supports so she has a bit of stability as her arms fly up to catch Kasumi around the waist.
To her surprise, before Kasumi’s even caught her breath, she starts to giggle.
“Are you the sort who laughs when you’re in danger?” Shiho asks, raising an eyebrow. “You okay?”
“N-No, I mean, yes, I’m okay, um, no, I don’t laugh, I just—” Kasumi keeps giggling breathlessly, wriggling slightly in Shiho’s hold. “Y-Your hands are…”
Shiho looks down at her hands, which are set (hopefully noninvasively) over Kasumi’s abdomen. Where they need to be to keep her upright essentially. After a moment of contemplation, Shiho lowers her down so she can set her feet on the floor, but keeps her palms flat where they are, tilting her head slowly to the side.
“Yoshizawa,” Shiho says, brows raised. “Don’t tell me that you’re—?”
“I, It’s not that weird!” Kasumi insists, wiggling a bit more, although noticeably not making any moves to escape. “Plenty of people are um,”
“Ticklish?” Shiho finishes, unable to stop herself from grinning. “Right, but you’ve been doing gymnastics since you were teeny, right? You should be used to being caught like this.” But because Shiho has evil in her heart, she prods at Kasumi’s sides with her fingers and beams at the stream of laughter it pulls out of the other girl. It’s strange, because Kasumi is so cheerful and earnest, but Shiho’s sure she’s never heard her laugh like that before. Totally unrestrained and carefree. She can’t help but replicate the motion, only stopping when Kasumi’s hands fall to her wrists in a silent ask that she be allowed to regain composure.
Moving her hand the safer terrain of Kasumi’s back, Shiho supports her in standing herself up. Kasumi’s flushed when she turns around, still smiling in a slightly off-balance way, her eyes sparkling like they were earlier, with the authenticity that Shiho finds sort of difficult to meet.
She and Ann really should spend more time together. They’d probably get along great, not a brain cell to rub together between the two of them.
“Suzui-senpai,” Kasumi says, and then stops. She giggles one last time and rubs her cheek. “Um, thanks.”
“For tickling you?”
“For catching me,” Kasumi clarifies, then laughs louder. “B-But for that too, sure. Um. I’m going to keep practicing now.”
“Sure,” Shiho says, hauling herself upright again. She finds her cane on the floor where she dropped it in her rush to get to Kasumi before the worst could happen, and uses it to support her weight again as Kasumi returns to her practice. This is a dangerous situation for her to end up in in a way she hadn’t predicted when Kasumi was first asking; she’s always found the other girl cute, but she’s dangerously cute at this proximity, sort of contagious to look at.
Whatever. Shiho can focus when the heat is on… She hopes so, at least. She’ll have to, if she wants to have any chance of doing a good job while she’s spotting here. Good grief.