[039] Coxed - Arashi (Gen)
Title: Coxed
Group: Arashi
Pairing/Genre: Naka Riisa + Arashi, TOKIO & various other JE groups; Gen, AU
Rating/Warnings: PG; Riisa and Nino are twins. Mistaken identity and lots of awkwardness (and an obvious abuse of Wiki).
Word Count: 5800
Summary: When Riisa's twin brother Kazu is injured just before training season for the row crew competition, she takes his place on the newly formed coxed four team. Ridiculousness ensues.
Notes: For debrogliewave at je_justfriends. Crew AU wherein the author does not know WTF she's doing. XD; Most of my crew knowledge comes from Arashi's boat club episodes of MMA and 2 viewings of The Social Network. Thank you to astrangerenters as my last minute beta and the mods for being forgiving! <3
Terms you may need to know!
Cox (coxswain): person who steers the boat, sits at the very front and calls out instructions.
Head race: time trial
•••••
Early morning sunlight dribbled its way down the river, crashing over the bank and soaking Riisa's feet in warmth. She'd never been one for early mornings, really. That was always Kazu's strength - getting up after 2 or 3 hours of sleep, ready to face the day and its challenges. But something about that morning had her ready to take the day head on. Maybe it was the thrill of competition. Maybe it was knowing that all her hard work was finally coming to fruition. Maybe it was the knowledge that this would be the last day she'd get to row with them. That as of tomorrow, everyone would know. She wouldn't get to pretend anymore. She wouldn't have to pretend anymore.
And that kind of broke her heart.
---
"You are such an idiot."
"Excuse you, you're the one that thought it would be hilarious to try to swing over the top of the swing set."
"I didn't make you do it, Kazu!"
"I'm still blaming you for this."
"I'm not surprised."
"Bitch."
"Dick."
Kazunari hated being called Kazu. At least by his baby sister, a fact she knew and exploited on a regular basis. Riisa was less than two minutes younger than him - a fact he knew and exploited on a regular basis.
Riisa liked to call their mutual annoyance just a sure sign that they cared for each other.
Kazu just called it annoyance.
So when they were sitting in the emergency room, Kazu's wrist bound in hard plaster and their mother scowling at both of them, Riisa could kind of understand his point. She certainly hadn't meant for him to fall off the swing set. It was an accident! Granted, they were both nearing adulthood and the swing set was about eight thousand years old and clearly not built for people who weighed more than the average six year old, but still. That didn't mean he wasn't an idiot.
---
Aiba was devastated, which Riisa honestly thought was a bit of an overreaction.
"Two months, Riisa," he kept saying. "Two months. The first head race is in a month and Nino is completely out for two. Now we'll never make it to the finals!"
Aiba slumped across the bed in defeat, rolling his lanky body across Kazu's knees. Kazu sat against the headboard, curled around his DS, trying to play one handed and failing rather spectacularly. He didn't seem as disturbed by his inability to row as Aiba was, or the fact that Aiba was taking over 80% of his bed, but then again, Kazu always did have a tendency to internalize his issues.
"You can find someone else, Aiba," Riisa replied, reaching up from her spot on the floor to pet his fluffy hair. "It's not the end of the world!"
They'd gathered in Kazu's tiny room after they got home from the hospital to tell Aiba the news - Kazu was off the rowing team for at least two months. And he was not happy.
Aiba lifted his head and scowled at her. "Where in the world am I going to find someone the same weight and skill level as Nino, Riisa? Where? It's not like there are skilled rowers just wandering around Tokyo like it's no big deal, you know."
"Why doesn't he just cox then?" she asked, rolling her eyes. Riisa rolled her eyes a lot around Aiba, she thought, but he was practically part of the family. She loved him almost as much as she loved Kazu.
"We've got that guy from Kyoto coming in to cox. Apparently he's amazing," Aiba replied. "Ogura won't let anyone else even try out." He sounded so defeated and down-trodden, Riisa's heart broke a little for him. And then she remembered that time the boys put worms in her bed and it passed.
"Riisa," Kazu said quietly, still mashing at his game with one hand.
"What?"
"Riisa."
"…what?"
"No, you, idiot," Kazu said with a sigh. He dropped the DS on Aiba's back and snapped it shut.
"We've already been over this, Kazu, you are the idiot who broke his wrist," Riisa replied, sighing just as dramatically and rolling her eyes again.
"Seriously, how are we related?" Kazu shook his head sadly, a hint of a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Well, as I recall, we shared a womb."
"Ugh, that's so gross," Aiba exclaimed, rolling off Kazu's legs to flop on the floor next to Riisa.
"It's true," she replied, elbowing him in the side.
"Unnecessary," Aiba mumbled.
"Anyway," Kazu started. He moved to position himself directly in front of them, his cast a giant yellow reminder of Riisa's bad plan (because as much as she hated to admit it, and never would to him, it was kind of her fault Kazu broke his wrist. Kind of. Sort of). "Why don't you join the team?"
Riisa and Aiba looked at each other for a long minute before bursting out with laughter.
"I'm sorry, what?" Riisa exclaimed.
"But she's a girl!" Aiba wheezed.
Riisa punched him.
"Ow! It's true!" Aiba rubbed his shoulder, pouting.
"I know it's true, but you don't have to say it like that," Riisa replied, pouting a little herself.
"Oh my god, you two are so freaking annoying," Kazu said, flopping back on his bed. "Riisa can pretend to be a boy. Not like it would be that hard."
"Hey!" Riisa shouted, smacking his leg.
"I'm just saying!" Nino propped himself on one elbow to look at her. "We look enough alike that you can use my ID to fool the officials so Aiba won't have to register someone new. Just cut your hair and bind your boobs like new-halves do."
"Can she row?" Aiba asked, his normally jovial nature turned serious.
Riisa's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Excuse me. A, I taught my brother how to row. And B, I never agreed to this ridiculous plan."
"Well, A," Aiba mocked. "When was the last time you competed? And B, you'll do it or I'll tell everyone about the time you snuck out to meet Toma last year!"
"You wouldn't!"
"I would! He told me all kinds of things I really really didn't need to know about you."
"Oh my god, I hate you so much right now," Riisa replied, folding her arms and leaning back against Kazu's dresser.
Her brother sighed and sat up straight, ignoring their little tiff. "Didn't you row coxless pair a few months ago with Meisa?" he asked.
"Yeah," she admitted, knowing she'd lost the battle. "But Aiba's talking about rowing the coxed four. I haven't done that since before Maki moved, what, two, three years ago?"
"You can adapt, though," Kazu replied. Riisa could see she had no way out of this. "Look, you've already got the skills. A few weeks of training with the guys and you'll be ready. You've seen me row with Aiba before, so you know how powerful he is."
"And Jun and Sho are really in sync with each other, so they'll be easy for us to match up with!" Aiba's eyes were bright with excitement.
"But what about the guys? And Ogura? Are we going to tell them I'm a girl?" Riisa asked, arms still crossed in doubt.
Kazu shook his head fiercely. "I haven't met them yet, but if the rumors are true, Jun is a serious stickler for the rules. Though I doubt Ogura would care as long as you win him a championship."
Riisa was quiet for a moment, pondering her options. It was starting to seem kind of plausible. She sighed and turned to Aiba.
"How short is my hair going to have to be, exactly?"
---
There was no way she'd tell her brother, but Riisa actually kind of loved the pixie cut he'd given her. The morning of their first practice as a team, she'd spent less than 20 minutes in the bathroom getting ready. Not having to do makeup and hair maintenance was the way to go, she thought. Girls had it rough.
Their mother had come home in the middle of Kazu clipping merrily away at the back of Riisa's head the night before, but just sighed and walked on with a "don't 'accidentally' stab your sister, please. Blood is a pain to clean off the floors."
Considering he'd done the job essentially one-handed, Riisa had to admit it looked pretty good - choppy, but not overly ridiculous looking. Pushing down her bangs and smirking just right, Riisa was kind of taken aback at how much she looked like her brother.
"Woah, freaky," Kazu said, stepping into the bathroom and standing next to her. "Make that face again."
They both turned to the mirror, Kazu working his face to match hers until finally it appeared there were two of him standing side by side. Riisa's eyes were slightly larger, her lips more defined, but the average observer wouldn't know the difference, Aiba had said. Riisa was glad someone was confident.
"Are you sure I can do this, Kazu?" she asked quietly, turning away from the mirror to look at her hands.
"I know you can," he replied. She looked up to catch the smile he saved just for her - the one that said 'we're in this together, yo.' "Just make them call you Ninomiya and don't completely ruin my reputation."
Riisa chuckled, then hugged her big brother tight. "Thanks. I'll try not to ruin you too badly," she said.
"Riisa?" Aiba called from the hall.
"Coming!"
"Good luck," Kazu said, his smile turning sad as he headed back to his room, shutting the door quietly.
Riisa trotted down the stairs to where Aiba waited. "What do you think?" she asked, doing a little spin. She'd spent a good half hour that morning binding her chest (not an altogether comfortable procedure, she would tell him later), then borrowed some of Kazu's looser-fitting clothing to hide her hips.
"You're the prettiest boy I've ever seen," Aiba said, circling her once. "But then again, so's Nino, so I guess my opinion doesn't count."
Riisa was going to get a headache from all the eye-rolling she'd be doing through the day, she just knew it. The pair headed out the front door and into Aiba's car. Riisa felt the curl of nervousness in the pit of her stomach as they got closer and closer to the river where they would train for the next four weeks.
"Just remember, you have to call me Nino. And no girl jokes, no slapping me on the ass, no teasing. Treat me like you would my brother, okay?"
"Fine," Aiba said. "So I get to throw you in the water when you piss me off?"
"Oh, as if," she replied, looking out the window nervously. "That would be the fastest way to tip off I'm a girl, you doof."
"Right right, not a girl." Aiba's fingers flexed on the steering wheel as they moved through town slowly. Riisa wondered if he was just as nervous as she was. They'd gone over the plan briefly, had even held a few conversations with her playing the part of her brother, but actually pulling it off? And with people who didn't know her? That would be interesting.
---
Whatever Riisa was expecting from the guys on the row team was not what she got when she walked through the door. Ogura, the coach for the new team, had secured them a meeting place near the river where they would train. They had access to the storage area, fitness and locker rooms, a lounge, and a conference-type area to plan their attack.
Riisa followed Aiba through the door to their conference room, feeling rather like a lost duck. She was suddenly full of self-consciousness. Surely they could see that she was a girl, with her big lips (too much plumping gloss in the past!) and poorly concealed breasts (damn you, puberty!). They'd have to know that her hair was normally much longer than this, that her hips swayed as she walked, that her voice was so much higher pitched than it should be. They'd practiced her "man-voice" the night before, but given Aiba's enthusiastic giggling, decided to go with her natural speaking tone.
Suddenly she was being introduced to three very handsome men and an older gentleman she assumed was Ogura. Her fears dissipated as they all bowed to her in succession, not a glimmer of doubt among their eyes. Aiba, having meet them all previously, introduced her to the other members of the group. Ohno, the famous cox they'd gotten all the way from Kyoto, was almost as small as she, but broad in the shoulders. Soft spoken but observant, Riisa could see why they'd wanted him so badly. The other two, Matsumoto and Sakurai, both wore determined expressions, though Sakurai's eyes held a glimmer Riisa could tell was mischief.
"And this is Ninomiya Ri-" Riisa's eyes flashed to Aiba, pleading for him to not blow their cover so early in the game. "-kku. Ninomiya Rikku," he finished, somewhat smoothly.
"Just call me Nino," Riisa said, bowing to the group. "Thank you for having me."
"Now that introductions are over," Ogura said in his gruff, yet oddly grandfatherly tone. "Let's get to work."
The rest of the afternoon was spent planning their attack, discussing their rowing histories, trying to figure out who should go where in the boat. The only ones that had rowed together previously were Matsumoto and Sakurai, having grown up together in the same club. Ogura had seen them practice as a pair and convinced them to join up. Ohno was the outcast of the group, being brand new. Riisa couldn't help but be amused as he watched over the proceedings sleepily, but still managed to interject a thoughtful comment when need be. She was starting to understand even more why he was looked to as the leader of the group.
By the end of the day, Matsumoto had smiled three times, Sakurai's demeanor had totally changed to jovial, and Ohno had started snoring at least once. Riisa wondered how they would get it together in time.
---
The next day was spent training. They wouldn't actually hit the water as a group for at least a week, something Riisa wasn't expecting. She wanted to get in, get a feel for where they were, get started so this whole experience could be over already. Ogura insisted they needed to train - strength, agility and speed first, then teamwork.
Training didn't bother Riisa. She enjoyed working out, had often impressed the boys in her class with the number of chin-ups she could do in one go. Not to mention, as much work as it was to bind her chest each day, it paid off when she ran on the treadmill. The place she struggled, would always struggle, was the weights. Riisa watched with amazement as Sakurai lifted her entire body weight (and then some) half a dozen times without breaking a sweat. Running? No problem. Chin ups? Sure! But weights? That would be a problem.
"Nino!" Sakurai called, wiping his brow and standing from the bench press. "Why don't you give it a go? I'll spot you."
Riisa tried to smile as she nodded, walking over to the press. "I'm not sure I can do quite that much," she said jokingly, tapping the heavy metal rings with one finger.
"Oh sure," Sakurai said, his face changing to determined concern. "I'll just tug a few of these off for you."
Riisa settled on her back beneath the press and prayed for something, anything to distract them from the forthcoming humiliating experience when a loud ruckus erupted through the door.
Five men - two quite large, a third brawny and the last two rather small - burst through the door loudly, slapping each other and laughing.
"Nagase, do you really have to be such a cad?" the smallest of the men was saying, his face pulled into a rather adorable pout.
Riisa sat up, frowning with the rest of them. This was their training space, wasn't it?
"Oh, shrimps!" called the man named Nagase. "I knew we were training with newbies, but look how little they are!" Stomping over to where Riisa was still sitting on the bench, he hauled her up and over his shoulder.
"Hey!" Aiba yelled, jumping up, his weights falling with a loud clatter.
"Put the kid down, you twit." The slightly taller of the newcomers helped Riisa down to solid ground and helped her steady. "You okay?"
"Fine, just peachy," she growled, eyes boring holes through Nagase's smiling face.
"Sorry about that. Nagase gets a bit over-exuberant sometimes. I'm Mabo, that's Joshima, Taichi, Gussan and you've met the gorilla we call Nagase. Team Tokio at your service."
Just then, Ogura strode through the door, a clipboard in hand. "Ah, I see you've met," he said, looking at them all over the rims of his spectacles. "Team Tokio, this is Team…Unnamed As Of Right Now But Will Choose One By Friday - Ohno, Sakurai, Matsumoto, Aiba and Ninomiya."
"I don't think we can fit that on our shirts," Ohno said from his corner.
Ogura just glared at him for a moment before turning away. "Do try not to kill each other," he said, leaving them to it.
"Wait, we have to come up with our own name?" Riisa asked, looking at her teammates in succession.
"Oh yeah," Nagase said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The rest of Team Tokio dispersed to the machines around the room. "I came up with our name. Clever innit? It's 'cause we live in Tokyo and we're older than dirt. So the older than dirt name for Tokyo is Tokio!"
The members of Team Unnamed As Of Right Now stared at him blankly.
"Well, it makes more sense if you look at it on paper," he mumbled, turning away to find a machine himself.
The rest of the day passed smoothly. Tokio were in a different class than their own, so the spirit of competition drained from the room quickly, replaced by something Riisa could only hope was burgeoning friendship. Sakurai had managed to corner her for the bench press again, but Mabo (Matsu-nii, as she came to call him by the end of the day) rescued her, begging a spot for his own lifts.
"You looked a bit panicked there," he remarked between presses.
Riisa just smiled. "Yeah, I'm not exactly the strongest…guy, and Sakurai kind of intimidates me a little. Not in a bad way, but in an 'I'm afraid of letting him down' kind of way."
Mabo huffed out a chuckle and nodded. "Leader does that to me, too."
"Leader?"
"Shrimpy little guy? Nagase likes to…well, Nagase is currently picking on him."
Riisa turned to catch Nagase holding something (a water bottle perhaps?) high over his head, Joshima bouncing on his toes to get to it and pleading with him to give it up.
"That guy's your leader?" she asked incredulously, turning back to face Mabo.
"Yup." Another press. "He started this club, actually." And another. "About fifteen years ago." Mabo put the bar back in place, Riisa helping him guide it. Sitting up, he patted the bench next to him. "He wanted a place to row and everyone kept telling him he was past his prime. Started this club, got a bunch of guys involved and won four world championships. I know you can't really tell by looking at him, but that guy has it."
---
By the time they finally got in the water, Riisa was exhausted. She trained every day with the guys - racing Aiba, weights with Mabo, stretches and agility with Matsumoto (who had since lightened up and allowed her to call him "Jun"). Nino insisted she still work out at night, chasing her around the neighborhood on their family scooter with a bullhorn. Riisa dearly wanted to shove the bullhorn up his- well. She had many negative thoughts about her brother over that week.
Based on their performance in training, Ogura had chosen the lineup on the boat - Ohno as cox, facing the other members. Riisa would sit directly in front of him, followed by Sakurai and Jun in the middle to keep pace and Aiba in the back for the power. They were all a bit nervous as they stepped into the boat for the first time. Would they actually be able to sync up? What if they couldn't work it out? They only had three weeks until the first head race.
As they paddled out to the middle of the river, Riisa's fears were nearly realized. Aiba, ever exuberant and excitable, paddled a bit too hard, almost tipping them all over. The look Jun gave him promised a good smack in Aiba's future. Ogura stood on the riverbank, shouting instructions at them through his bullhorn as he straddled the bike he would take along the way. Finally reaching their starting point, Riisa felt a shiver of fear course through her body.
"Ready?" Ohno asked in his quiet, sincere manner.
They nodded in unison. Ohno bobbed his head once and smiled.
"And…..CATCH."
And suddenly….it worked. All the hard work, the weeks of training and the haircut and the sexual advances from Nagase (apparently his brain filter was completely broken), it worked. In unison, their oars hit the water, cutting through the rippling river with ease and releasing just as easily.
Like breathing.
Riisa looked up at Ohno's face with a laugh, his expression matching her own gleeful look. Turning slightly, she caught sight of Ogura at the bank, his mouth open, standing stock still in disbelief. Behind her, Riisa could hear Aiba's happy, bright laughter and shouted her own whoop of joy.
For the first time in weeks, Riisa truly believed their ridiculous scheme would pay off. For once, she thought maybe, just maybe, it would be okay.
---
"Niji," he'd said one night after practice. Riisa turned to her brother, one eyebrow raised.
"Pardon?" she asked. Her spaghetti was getting cold and Kazu was being cryptic. Neither of those things particularly endeared themselves to her.
"Team Niji," he repeated, sighing and looking up from where he was doodling with his unbroken hand. "You needed a team name, so there. You have one."
"Seriously? Team 'Rainbow'?" Aiba's voice filtered down the hall to the living room as he sauntered in, frowning slightly.
"Why not?" Kazu replied, mirroring Riisa's eyebrow raise. "There are five of you, across the board when it comes to personalities, and Aiba's pretty fruity, so it fits."
"I hate you," Aiba replied. Kazu just made kissy faces in his direction before turning back to his doodles.
"No, it totally works," Riisa said. "There's a pot of gold at the end of it all, right?"
Aiba looked down at the training list for the week and sighed heavily. "Right."
---
The first head race of the season was nearly their last.
Things had been going so well for the team, now officially dubbed Team Niji by unanimous vote. Riisa suspected Ohno had more pull with the group than he thought, all the others turning to him whenever Ogura asked a question or posed a tactical riddle. For all he played off his leadership skills with his quiet demeanor, Riisa knew the truth - Ohno was a true leader. They'd broken the 4 minute mark on the 1000 meter dash - unheard of at their level. Team Tokio was training with them daily, Matsu-nii pushing Riisa harder and further than she thought she could take her body.
They could do this, she thought. They had to do this.
Ripples of tension moved through the team as they bobbed lightly on the water.
They were racing two other teams, both with sturdy, cocky young men. Yamashita, captain of Team NEWS, a well-oiled machine, had sauntered up to them earlier, appraised Riisa slowly, scoffed and walked off. They all had to hold Aiba back from punching the guy. The other group, Team KATTUN, was significantly more disorganized, their harried manager-slash-captain Kamenashi chasing after them in a futile effort to get the blonde, spiky-haired one to put his shirt back on.
Riisa turned her attention back to the sweep she was sitting in, to the people she was with and what it meant to them to do this. She would do this for and with them. They were a team and they'd worked to earn that title.
"WOOOOOOO! TEAM NIJI RULES!" Nagase shouted from the riverbank.
The tension broke as they all chuckled at his enthusiasm.
"Guys," Ohno said, his round face bright with excitement. "We can do this. We deserve this. We're going to finals."
They settled back into their positions as the other teams lined up at their starting points. Riisa felt a curl of nervousness form in her stomach, but pushed it away, used it to motivate herself. They could do this. They would do this. They just needed to win this race to qualify for finals.
And just like that, they were off.
Ohno's calm, sure voice called over the breaking water to them - words of encouragement, jokes about the other teams' attire, corrections in technique. As much as Riisa dreaded the day she would have to give up her facade and leave the team, she dreaded even more the moment she would lose these friendships. It had been a long few weeks, but these four men (and Ogura) had become an integral part of her life. She needed to know that they would still be there when it was all said and done.
Blinking away tears, Riisa dug in deep to the next row. She had more important things to worry about this time. Team KATTUN was still at the starting line, floundering to find their rhythm. By the time they got it together, the other two teams were already a third of the way done.
The first few benchmarks flew by - suddenly they were at 500 meters, then 600. Over halfway there. The familiar burn was creeping into Riisa's limbs. It only pushed her harder. They pulled ahead of Team NEWS with three sure strokes. Riisa could hear Sakurai behind her, laughing, not in a mean way, but in a "oh my god we might actually do this" way. She couldn't hold back a chuckle of her own.
Seven hundred meters and she faltered. Something was wrong this time, but Riisa couldn't put her finger on it. The burn in her arms and back had crept up to her left shoulder. Shaking her head, she pushed aside the pain and continued rowing. They had a race to win.
They had just passed the 900 meter mark when Riisa realized something was really wrong. They were almost there. She just had to push through. She just had to -
POP
Pain exploded behind Riisa's eyes as she fell forward, grasping her arm and crying. Fuck fuck fuck, this was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to be strong, to win the competition.
"Nino?" came four simultaneous shouts.
"Finish the damn race!" she replied, maneuvering her oars out of the water to prevent the drag. Just a few more moments and they would be out. She would be out. Her heart ached, not just for herself and missed opportunities, but for what she'd done to the team. Finals were in a few weeks and there was no way they'd let a girl compete with them.
Riisa's mind blanked out for a few minutes as they finished the race and pulled in to port. She felt herself being lifted out of the boat, Mabo's strong hands steadying her on the dock.
"What happened?" Ogura cried, frantic.
"My shoulder," Riisa choked out, bent double, tears down her face. "I think it popped out of place."
"Get him to the infirmary, now!" Ogura shouted.
"Did we win?" Riisa asked as she stumbled to the infirmary.
"We won," Ohno said in his quiet, assured way. Riisa could hear the tinge of worry in his voice and a pang of guilt shot through her. "You were amazing, Nino. Really."
"Finals," Riisa said. And passed out.
---
Riisa awoke to Aiba standing over her bed, looking decidedly apprehensive.
"Aiba? What-"
Aiba shushed her and leaned in close. "We're in the infirmary, you've only been out for like 5 minutes. The nurse needs to come in and pop your shoulder back in and it's going to hurt like hell. They only let me in here because you don't have family here and, well, okay, I made a bit of a fuss."
Riisa dropped her voice and looked around carefully. "Do they know?"
"No," Aiba said, shaking his head. "Not yet. But they're going to."
"Crap."
"Yeah."
"Well," she said, sitting up. "Let's get this over with. Thanks for believing in me, Aiba."
"Of course," he replied. "You're family."
Popping her shoulder back in was almost as painful as popping it out, Riisa decided. And not something she ever wanted to do again. Cradling her arm in a sling, Riisa scowled as the nurse told her no rowing for at least a week. Take it easy, sure. That was gonna happen.
As the nurse pushed her way out the door, Kazu pushed his way in.
"What the hell did you do to her?" he yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Aiba.
"I didn't do anything," Aiba replied, eyes wide. "She popped her shoulder out in the last sprint! She's fine!"
Riisa just bowed her head and tried not to cry. She'd upset everyone. They'd won the race, but without being able to practice for a week, how would they win finals? Everything felt over.
"I trusted you to take care of her and now she's injured," Kazu continued. "I don't care about finals, Masaki! I care about my freaking sister!"
"Sister?"
Riisa's head snapped up to see the rest of the team standing in the doorway - Sakurai and Jun with matching expressions of horrified disbelief, Ohno looking as calm and steady as usual.
"She's too pretty to be a boy," Ohno said, nodding.
The others just stared at him.
"Not the point, Satoshi," Sakurai said, pushing further into the room. "She lied to us. All of us."
"Well, not all…." Aiba started.
"Unhelpful, Masaki," Riisa said.
"Look, this is my fault," Kazu said, stepping between Riisa and the group. "I was originally supposed to row for the team, but I broke my wrist a few weeks ago." Kazu waved his cast at them as if to prove he was really broken.
"I'm sorry, guys, I had to," Riisa pleaded. "I never wanted to lie to you, but…"
"But you did," Ohno said quietly.
Riisa hung her head, dejected. She hadn't just ruined her chance at the finals, but the whole team's. She'd never felt quite this low.
"Can you row?" Jun asked, eyebrows drawn together.
"Jun!" Aiba looked scandalized, as if Jun could possibly think of something like that when one of their teammates was injured.
"Masaki, chill out," Riisa replied, placing a steadying hand on his wrist. "Yeah, but I have to take a week off to rest my shoulder."
Jun nodded and crossed his arms. "Well, then I guess we'll see you in a week."
They turned in perfect unison to look at Jun. Riisa would have laughed if she didn't feel so completely horrible.
"Don't look at me like that," Jun said, glowering at his teammates. "She's registered to row, she fits perfectly with our team and we've got a good thing going here. Of course I'm concerned about her shoulder, but Nino wouldn't row if she didn't think she could. Right?"
Riisa nodded, blinking away tears.
"You know the officials would never let us row with a girl on the team, Jun," Sakurai said, his face even more serious than usual.
"We're not rowing with a girl on the team," Jun said, gesturing to Riisa. "We're rowing with Nino on the team. She - well, he - is already registered for the finals."
"Isn't that cheating though? Having a girl?"
"If anything, we're at a disadvantage in the eyes of the other teams," Ohno said. "If they find out they lost to a girl, how dumb would they feel? No one will say anything."
"We have to tell Ogura at least," Sakurai said, shaking his head.
"I'll tell him," Riisa replied, standing. "It's my lie, my truth to tell."
"I'll go with you," Kazu said. He grabbed her free hand with his own and smiled. Brothers weren't all that bad, Riisa supposed.
"Me too," chimed Aiba.
"All of us," Jun said, stepping forward. "We're in this together. We're a team."
Looking around at them, Riisa realized she didn't care if they got to finals. She didn't care if Ogura said no to her being on the team. She didn't care if the officials found out and stripped them of their title. Right now, all she cared about were the five idiots she was saddled with and how much she loved them all.
---
Telling Ogura turned out to be easier than they thought. He'd shrugged, looked Riisa up and down, and said, "I know." Their laughter could be heard from the riverbank.
Telling Mabo was a similar experience. He'd shrugged, hugged her gently and smiled. "Why do you think I was so careful about keeping you away from Nagase?" he'd asked. Riisa just chuckled and hugged him tighter.
They decided to wait to tell everyone else. Maybe never tell anyone else. After finals were over, Kazu's wrist would be healed and he could slide into Riisa's place on the team. No one would remember exactly what that Nino kid from Team Niji looked like next year.
---
The morning of finals dawned bright and clear. Riisa's shoulder was better than ever, something she attributed to the support from her teammates. They'd taken turns helping with her physical therapy, getting her back into top shape.
In a few weeks, Kazu's cast would come off and he would start training for next year. Riisa had temporarily mourned the loss of her team until Jun had scowled at her and said, "we need a manager, don't we?"
So many thoughts churned through Riisa's head, it was almost overwhelming. She wanted to win. They would win. They had to win.
"Riisa?"
Aiba stood upbank a few yards, his eyebrows drawn together in concern. "You ready?"
Riisa stood and smiled as she dusted off her backside. "Yeah, Aiba. I'm ready."
---
They won.
Group: Arashi
Pairing/Genre: Naka Riisa + Arashi, TOKIO & various other JE groups; Gen, AU
Rating/Warnings: PG; Riisa and Nino are twins. Mistaken identity and lots of awkwardness (and an obvious abuse of Wiki).
Word Count: 5800
Summary: When Riisa's twin brother Kazu is injured just before training season for the row crew competition, she takes his place on the newly formed coxed four team. Ridiculousness ensues.
Notes: For debrogliewave at je_justfriends. Crew AU wherein the author does not know WTF she's doing. XD; Most of my crew knowledge comes from Arashi's boat club episodes of MMA and 2 viewings of The Social Network. Thank you to astrangerenters as my last minute beta and the mods for being forgiving! <3
Terms you may need to know!
Cox (coxswain): person who steers the boat, sits at the very front and calls out instructions.
Head race: time trial
•••••
Early morning sunlight dribbled its way down the river, crashing over the bank and soaking Riisa's feet in warmth. She'd never been one for early mornings, really. That was always Kazu's strength - getting up after 2 or 3 hours of sleep, ready to face the day and its challenges. But something about that morning had her ready to take the day head on. Maybe it was the thrill of competition. Maybe it was knowing that all her hard work was finally coming to fruition. Maybe it was the knowledge that this would be the last day she'd get to row with them. That as of tomorrow, everyone would know. She wouldn't get to pretend anymore. She wouldn't have to pretend anymore.
And that kind of broke her heart.
---
"You are such an idiot."
"Excuse you, you're the one that thought it would be hilarious to try to swing over the top of the swing set."
"I didn't make you do it, Kazu!"
"I'm still blaming you for this."
"I'm not surprised."
"Bitch."
"Dick."
Kazunari hated being called Kazu. At least by his baby sister, a fact she knew and exploited on a regular basis. Riisa was less than two minutes younger than him - a fact he knew and exploited on a regular basis.
Riisa liked to call their mutual annoyance just a sure sign that they cared for each other.
Kazu just called it annoyance.
So when they were sitting in the emergency room, Kazu's wrist bound in hard plaster and their mother scowling at both of them, Riisa could kind of understand his point. She certainly hadn't meant for him to fall off the swing set. It was an accident! Granted, they were both nearing adulthood and the swing set was about eight thousand years old and clearly not built for people who weighed more than the average six year old, but still. That didn't mean he wasn't an idiot.
---
Aiba was devastated, which Riisa honestly thought was a bit of an overreaction.
"Two months, Riisa," he kept saying. "Two months. The first head race is in a month and Nino is completely out for two. Now we'll never make it to the finals!"
Aiba slumped across the bed in defeat, rolling his lanky body across Kazu's knees. Kazu sat against the headboard, curled around his DS, trying to play one handed and failing rather spectacularly. He didn't seem as disturbed by his inability to row as Aiba was, or the fact that Aiba was taking over 80% of his bed, but then again, Kazu always did have a tendency to internalize his issues.
"You can find someone else, Aiba," Riisa replied, reaching up from her spot on the floor to pet his fluffy hair. "It's not the end of the world!"
They'd gathered in Kazu's tiny room after they got home from the hospital to tell Aiba the news - Kazu was off the rowing team for at least two months. And he was not happy.
Aiba lifted his head and scowled at her. "Where in the world am I going to find someone the same weight and skill level as Nino, Riisa? Where? It's not like there are skilled rowers just wandering around Tokyo like it's no big deal, you know."
"Why doesn't he just cox then?" she asked, rolling her eyes. Riisa rolled her eyes a lot around Aiba, she thought, but he was practically part of the family. She loved him almost as much as she loved Kazu.
"We've got that guy from Kyoto coming in to cox. Apparently he's amazing," Aiba replied. "Ogura won't let anyone else even try out." He sounded so defeated and down-trodden, Riisa's heart broke a little for him. And then she remembered that time the boys put worms in her bed and it passed.
"Riisa," Kazu said quietly, still mashing at his game with one hand.
"What?"
"Riisa."
"…what?"
"No, you, idiot," Kazu said with a sigh. He dropped the DS on Aiba's back and snapped it shut.
"We've already been over this, Kazu, you are the idiot who broke his wrist," Riisa replied, sighing just as dramatically and rolling her eyes again.
"Seriously, how are we related?" Kazu shook his head sadly, a hint of a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Well, as I recall, we shared a womb."
"Ugh, that's so gross," Aiba exclaimed, rolling off Kazu's legs to flop on the floor next to Riisa.
"It's true," she replied, elbowing him in the side.
"Unnecessary," Aiba mumbled.
"Anyway," Kazu started. He moved to position himself directly in front of them, his cast a giant yellow reminder of Riisa's bad plan (because as much as she hated to admit it, and never would to him, it was kind of her fault Kazu broke his wrist. Kind of. Sort of). "Why don't you join the team?"
Riisa and Aiba looked at each other for a long minute before bursting out with laughter.
"I'm sorry, what?" Riisa exclaimed.
"But she's a girl!" Aiba wheezed.
Riisa punched him.
"Ow! It's true!" Aiba rubbed his shoulder, pouting.
"I know it's true, but you don't have to say it like that," Riisa replied, pouting a little herself.
"Oh my god, you two are so freaking annoying," Kazu said, flopping back on his bed. "Riisa can pretend to be a boy. Not like it would be that hard."
"Hey!" Riisa shouted, smacking his leg.
"I'm just saying!" Nino propped himself on one elbow to look at her. "We look enough alike that you can use my ID to fool the officials so Aiba won't have to register someone new. Just cut your hair and bind your boobs like new-halves do."
"Can she row?" Aiba asked, his normally jovial nature turned serious.
Riisa's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Excuse me. A, I taught my brother how to row. And B, I never agreed to this ridiculous plan."
"Well, A," Aiba mocked. "When was the last time you competed? And B, you'll do it or I'll tell everyone about the time you snuck out to meet Toma last year!"
"You wouldn't!"
"I would! He told me all kinds of things I really really didn't need to know about you."
"Oh my god, I hate you so much right now," Riisa replied, folding her arms and leaning back against Kazu's dresser.
Her brother sighed and sat up straight, ignoring their little tiff. "Didn't you row coxless pair a few months ago with Meisa?" he asked.
"Yeah," she admitted, knowing she'd lost the battle. "But Aiba's talking about rowing the coxed four. I haven't done that since before Maki moved, what, two, three years ago?"
"You can adapt, though," Kazu replied. Riisa could see she had no way out of this. "Look, you've already got the skills. A few weeks of training with the guys and you'll be ready. You've seen me row with Aiba before, so you know how powerful he is."
"And Jun and Sho are really in sync with each other, so they'll be easy for us to match up with!" Aiba's eyes were bright with excitement.
"But what about the guys? And Ogura? Are we going to tell them I'm a girl?" Riisa asked, arms still crossed in doubt.
Kazu shook his head fiercely. "I haven't met them yet, but if the rumors are true, Jun is a serious stickler for the rules. Though I doubt Ogura would care as long as you win him a championship."
Riisa was quiet for a moment, pondering her options. It was starting to seem kind of plausible. She sighed and turned to Aiba.
"How short is my hair going to have to be, exactly?"
---
There was no way she'd tell her brother, but Riisa actually kind of loved the pixie cut he'd given her. The morning of their first practice as a team, she'd spent less than 20 minutes in the bathroom getting ready. Not having to do makeup and hair maintenance was the way to go, she thought. Girls had it rough.
Their mother had come home in the middle of Kazu clipping merrily away at the back of Riisa's head the night before, but just sighed and walked on with a "don't 'accidentally' stab your sister, please. Blood is a pain to clean off the floors."
Considering he'd done the job essentially one-handed, Riisa had to admit it looked pretty good - choppy, but not overly ridiculous looking. Pushing down her bangs and smirking just right, Riisa was kind of taken aback at how much she looked like her brother.
"Woah, freaky," Kazu said, stepping into the bathroom and standing next to her. "Make that face again."
They both turned to the mirror, Kazu working his face to match hers until finally it appeared there were two of him standing side by side. Riisa's eyes were slightly larger, her lips more defined, but the average observer wouldn't know the difference, Aiba had said. Riisa was glad someone was confident.
"Are you sure I can do this, Kazu?" she asked quietly, turning away from the mirror to look at her hands.
"I know you can," he replied. She looked up to catch the smile he saved just for her - the one that said 'we're in this together, yo.' "Just make them call you Ninomiya and don't completely ruin my reputation."
Riisa chuckled, then hugged her big brother tight. "Thanks. I'll try not to ruin you too badly," she said.
"Riisa?" Aiba called from the hall.
"Coming!"
"Good luck," Kazu said, his smile turning sad as he headed back to his room, shutting the door quietly.
Riisa trotted down the stairs to where Aiba waited. "What do you think?" she asked, doing a little spin. She'd spent a good half hour that morning binding her chest (not an altogether comfortable procedure, she would tell him later), then borrowed some of Kazu's looser-fitting clothing to hide her hips.
"You're the prettiest boy I've ever seen," Aiba said, circling her once. "But then again, so's Nino, so I guess my opinion doesn't count."
Riisa was going to get a headache from all the eye-rolling she'd be doing through the day, she just knew it. The pair headed out the front door and into Aiba's car. Riisa felt the curl of nervousness in the pit of her stomach as they got closer and closer to the river where they would train for the next four weeks.
"Just remember, you have to call me Nino. And no girl jokes, no slapping me on the ass, no teasing. Treat me like you would my brother, okay?"
"Fine," Aiba said. "So I get to throw you in the water when you piss me off?"
"Oh, as if," she replied, looking out the window nervously. "That would be the fastest way to tip off I'm a girl, you doof."
"Right right, not a girl." Aiba's fingers flexed on the steering wheel as they moved through town slowly. Riisa wondered if he was just as nervous as she was. They'd gone over the plan briefly, had even held a few conversations with her playing the part of her brother, but actually pulling it off? And with people who didn't know her? That would be interesting.
---
Whatever Riisa was expecting from the guys on the row team was not what she got when she walked through the door. Ogura, the coach for the new team, had secured them a meeting place near the river where they would train. They had access to the storage area, fitness and locker rooms, a lounge, and a conference-type area to plan their attack.
Riisa followed Aiba through the door to their conference room, feeling rather like a lost duck. She was suddenly full of self-consciousness. Surely they could see that she was a girl, with her big lips (too much plumping gloss in the past!) and poorly concealed breasts (damn you, puberty!). They'd have to know that her hair was normally much longer than this, that her hips swayed as she walked, that her voice was so much higher pitched than it should be. They'd practiced her "man-voice" the night before, but given Aiba's enthusiastic giggling, decided to go with her natural speaking tone.
Suddenly she was being introduced to three very handsome men and an older gentleman she assumed was Ogura. Her fears dissipated as they all bowed to her in succession, not a glimmer of doubt among their eyes. Aiba, having meet them all previously, introduced her to the other members of the group. Ohno, the famous cox they'd gotten all the way from Kyoto, was almost as small as she, but broad in the shoulders. Soft spoken but observant, Riisa could see why they'd wanted him so badly. The other two, Matsumoto and Sakurai, both wore determined expressions, though Sakurai's eyes held a glimmer Riisa could tell was mischief.
"And this is Ninomiya Ri-" Riisa's eyes flashed to Aiba, pleading for him to not blow their cover so early in the game. "-kku. Ninomiya Rikku," he finished, somewhat smoothly.
"Just call me Nino," Riisa said, bowing to the group. "Thank you for having me."
"Now that introductions are over," Ogura said in his gruff, yet oddly grandfatherly tone. "Let's get to work."
The rest of the afternoon was spent planning their attack, discussing their rowing histories, trying to figure out who should go where in the boat. The only ones that had rowed together previously were Matsumoto and Sakurai, having grown up together in the same club. Ogura had seen them practice as a pair and convinced them to join up. Ohno was the outcast of the group, being brand new. Riisa couldn't help but be amused as he watched over the proceedings sleepily, but still managed to interject a thoughtful comment when need be. She was starting to understand even more why he was looked to as the leader of the group.
By the end of the day, Matsumoto had smiled three times, Sakurai's demeanor had totally changed to jovial, and Ohno had started snoring at least once. Riisa wondered how they would get it together in time.
---
The next day was spent training. They wouldn't actually hit the water as a group for at least a week, something Riisa wasn't expecting. She wanted to get in, get a feel for where they were, get started so this whole experience could be over already. Ogura insisted they needed to train - strength, agility and speed first, then teamwork.
Training didn't bother Riisa. She enjoyed working out, had often impressed the boys in her class with the number of chin-ups she could do in one go. Not to mention, as much work as it was to bind her chest each day, it paid off when she ran on the treadmill. The place she struggled, would always struggle, was the weights. Riisa watched with amazement as Sakurai lifted her entire body weight (and then some) half a dozen times without breaking a sweat. Running? No problem. Chin ups? Sure! But weights? That would be a problem.
"Nino!" Sakurai called, wiping his brow and standing from the bench press. "Why don't you give it a go? I'll spot you."
Riisa tried to smile as she nodded, walking over to the press. "I'm not sure I can do quite that much," she said jokingly, tapping the heavy metal rings with one finger.
"Oh sure," Sakurai said, his face changing to determined concern. "I'll just tug a few of these off for you."
Riisa settled on her back beneath the press and prayed for something, anything to distract them from the forthcoming humiliating experience when a loud ruckus erupted through the door.
Five men - two quite large, a third brawny and the last two rather small - burst through the door loudly, slapping each other and laughing.
"Nagase, do you really have to be such a cad?" the smallest of the men was saying, his face pulled into a rather adorable pout.
Riisa sat up, frowning with the rest of them. This was their training space, wasn't it?
"Oh, shrimps!" called the man named Nagase. "I knew we were training with newbies, but look how little they are!" Stomping over to where Riisa was still sitting on the bench, he hauled her up and over his shoulder.
"Hey!" Aiba yelled, jumping up, his weights falling with a loud clatter.
"Put the kid down, you twit." The slightly taller of the newcomers helped Riisa down to solid ground and helped her steady. "You okay?"
"Fine, just peachy," she growled, eyes boring holes through Nagase's smiling face.
"Sorry about that. Nagase gets a bit over-exuberant sometimes. I'm Mabo, that's Joshima, Taichi, Gussan and you've met the gorilla we call Nagase. Team Tokio at your service."
Just then, Ogura strode through the door, a clipboard in hand. "Ah, I see you've met," he said, looking at them all over the rims of his spectacles. "Team Tokio, this is Team…Unnamed As Of Right Now But Will Choose One By Friday - Ohno, Sakurai, Matsumoto, Aiba and Ninomiya."
"I don't think we can fit that on our shirts," Ohno said from his corner.
Ogura just glared at him for a moment before turning away. "Do try not to kill each other," he said, leaving them to it.
"Wait, we have to come up with our own name?" Riisa asked, looking at her teammates in succession.
"Oh yeah," Nagase said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The rest of Team Tokio dispersed to the machines around the room. "I came up with our name. Clever innit? It's 'cause we live in Tokyo and we're older than dirt. So the older than dirt name for Tokyo is Tokio!"
The members of Team Unnamed As Of Right Now stared at him blankly.
"Well, it makes more sense if you look at it on paper," he mumbled, turning away to find a machine himself.
The rest of the day passed smoothly. Tokio were in a different class than their own, so the spirit of competition drained from the room quickly, replaced by something Riisa could only hope was burgeoning friendship. Sakurai had managed to corner her for the bench press again, but Mabo (Matsu-nii, as she came to call him by the end of the day) rescued her, begging a spot for his own lifts.
"You looked a bit panicked there," he remarked between presses.
Riisa just smiled. "Yeah, I'm not exactly the strongest…guy, and Sakurai kind of intimidates me a little. Not in a bad way, but in an 'I'm afraid of letting him down' kind of way."
Mabo huffed out a chuckle and nodded. "Leader does that to me, too."
"Leader?"
"Shrimpy little guy? Nagase likes to…well, Nagase is currently picking on him."
Riisa turned to catch Nagase holding something (a water bottle perhaps?) high over his head, Joshima bouncing on his toes to get to it and pleading with him to give it up.
"That guy's your leader?" she asked incredulously, turning back to face Mabo.
"Yup." Another press. "He started this club, actually." And another. "About fifteen years ago." Mabo put the bar back in place, Riisa helping him guide it. Sitting up, he patted the bench next to him. "He wanted a place to row and everyone kept telling him he was past his prime. Started this club, got a bunch of guys involved and won four world championships. I know you can't really tell by looking at him, but that guy has it."
---
By the time they finally got in the water, Riisa was exhausted. She trained every day with the guys - racing Aiba, weights with Mabo, stretches and agility with Matsumoto (who had since lightened up and allowed her to call him "Jun"). Nino insisted she still work out at night, chasing her around the neighborhood on their family scooter with a bullhorn. Riisa dearly wanted to shove the bullhorn up his- well. She had many negative thoughts about her brother over that week.
Based on their performance in training, Ogura had chosen the lineup on the boat - Ohno as cox, facing the other members. Riisa would sit directly in front of him, followed by Sakurai and Jun in the middle to keep pace and Aiba in the back for the power. They were all a bit nervous as they stepped into the boat for the first time. Would they actually be able to sync up? What if they couldn't work it out? They only had three weeks until the first head race.
As they paddled out to the middle of the river, Riisa's fears were nearly realized. Aiba, ever exuberant and excitable, paddled a bit too hard, almost tipping them all over. The look Jun gave him promised a good smack in Aiba's future. Ogura stood on the riverbank, shouting instructions at them through his bullhorn as he straddled the bike he would take along the way. Finally reaching their starting point, Riisa felt a shiver of fear course through her body.
"Ready?" Ohno asked in his quiet, sincere manner.
They nodded in unison. Ohno bobbed his head once and smiled.
"And…..CATCH."
And suddenly….it worked. All the hard work, the weeks of training and the haircut and the sexual advances from Nagase (apparently his brain filter was completely broken), it worked. In unison, their oars hit the water, cutting through the rippling river with ease and releasing just as easily.
Like breathing.
Riisa looked up at Ohno's face with a laugh, his expression matching her own gleeful look. Turning slightly, she caught sight of Ogura at the bank, his mouth open, standing stock still in disbelief. Behind her, Riisa could hear Aiba's happy, bright laughter and shouted her own whoop of joy.
For the first time in weeks, Riisa truly believed their ridiculous scheme would pay off. For once, she thought maybe, just maybe, it would be okay.
---
"Niji," he'd said one night after practice. Riisa turned to her brother, one eyebrow raised.
"Pardon?" she asked. Her spaghetti was getting cold and Kazu was being cryptic. Neither of those things particularly endeared themselves to her.
"Team Niji," he repeated, sighing and looking up from where he was doodling with his unbroken hand. "You needed a team name, so there. You have one."
"Seriously? Team 'Rainbow'?" Aiba's voice filtered down the hall to the living room as he sauntered in, frowning slightly.
"Why not?" Kazu replied, mirroring Riisa's eyebrow raise. "There are five of you, across the board when it comes to personalities, and Aiba's pretty fruity, so it fits."
"I hate you," Aiba replied. Kazu just made kissy faces in his direction before turning back to his doodles.
"No, it totally works," Riisa said. "There's a pot of gold at the end of it all, right?"
Aiba looked down at the training list for the week and sighed heavily. "Right."
---
The first head race of the season was nearly their last.
Things had been going so well for the team, now officially dubbed Team Niji by unanimous vote. Riisa suspected Ohno had more pull with the group than he thought, all the others turning to him whenever Ogura asked a question or posed a tactical riddle. For all he played off his leadership skills with his quiet demeanor, Riisa knew the truth - Ohno was a true leader. They'd broken the 4 minute mark on the 1000 meter dash - unheard of at their level. Team Tokio was training with them daily, Matsu-nii pushing Riisa harder and further than she thought she could take her body.
They could do this, she thought. They had to do this.
Ripples of tension moved through the team as they bobbed lightly on the water.
They were racing two other teams, both with sturdy, cocky young men. Yamashita, captain of Team NEWS, a well-oiled machine, had sauntered up to them earlier, appraised Riisa slowly, scoffed and walked off. They all had to hold Aiba back from punching the guy. The other group, Team KATTUN, was significantly more disorganized, their harried manager-slash-captain Kamenashi chasing after them in a futile effort to get the blonde, spiky-haired one to put his shirt back on.
Riisa turned her attention back to the sweep she was sitting in, to the people she was with and what it meant to them to do this. She would do this for and with them. They were a team and they'd worked to earn that title.
"WOOOOOOO! TEAM NIJI RULES!" Nagase shouted from the riverbank.
The tension broke as they all chuckled at his enthusiasm.
"Guys," Ohno said, his round face bright with excitement. "We can do this. We deserve this. We're going to finals."
They settled back into their positions as the other teams lined up at their starting points. Riisa felt a curl of nervousness form in her stomach, but pushed it away, used it to motivate herself. They could do this. They would do this. They just needed to win this race to qualify for finals.
And just like that, they were off.
Ohno's calm, sure voice called over the breaking water to them - words of encouragement, jokes about the other teams' attire, corrections in technique. As much as Riisa dreaded the day she would have to give up her facade and leave the team, she dreaded even more the moment she would lose these friendships. It had been a long few weeks, but these four men (and Ogura) had become an integral part of her life. She needed to know that they would still be there when it was all said and done.
Blinking away tears, Riisa dug in deep to the next row. She had more important things to worry about this time. Team KATTUN was still at the starting line, floundering to find their rhythm. By the time they got it together, the other two teams were already a third of the way done.
The first few benchmarks flew by - suddenly they were at 500 meters, then 600. Over halfway there. The familiar burn was creeping into Riisa's limbs. It only pushed her harder. They pulled ahead of Team NEWS with three sure strokes. Riisa could hear Sakurai behind her, laughing, not in a mean way, but in a "oh my god we might actually do this" way. She couldn't hold back a chuckle of her own.
Seven hundred meters and she faltered. Something was wrong this time, but Riisa couldn't put her finger on it. The burn in her arms and back had crept up to her left shoulder. Shaking her head, she pushed aside the pain and continued rowing. They had a race to win.
They had just passed the 900 meter mark when Riisa realized something was really wrong. They were almost there. She just had to push through. She just had to -
POP
Pain exploded behind Riisa's eyes as she fell forward, grasping her arm and crying. Fuck fuck fuck, this was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to be strong, to win the competition.
"Nino?" came four simultaneous shouts.
"Finish the damn race!" she replied, maneuvering her oars out of the water to prevent the drag. Just a few more moments and they would be out. She would be out. Her heart ached, not just for herself and missed opportunities, but for what she'd done to the team. Finals were in a few weeks and there was no way they'd let a girl compete with them.
Riisa's mind blanked out for a few minutes as they finished the race and pulled in to port. She felt herself being lifted out of the boat, Mabo's strong hands steadying her on the dock.
"What happened?" Ogura cried, frantic.
"My shoulder," Riisa choked out, bent double, tears down her face. "I think it popped out of place."
"Get him to the infirmary, now!" Ogura shouted.
"Did we win?" Riisa asked as she stumbled to the infirmary.
"We won," Ohno said in his quiet, assured way. Riisa could hear the tinge of worry in his voice and a pang of guilt shot through her. "You were amazing, Nino. Really."
"Finals," Riisa said. And passed out.
---
Riisa awoke to Aiba standing over her bed, looking decidedly apprehensive.
"Aiba? What-"
Aiba shushed her and leaned in close. "We're in the infirmary, you've only been out for like 5 minutes. The nurse needs to come in and pop your shoulder back in and it's going to hurt like hell. They only let me in here because you don't have family here and, well, okay, I made a bit of a fuss."
Riisa dropped her voice and looked around carefully. "Do they know?"
"No," Aiba said, shaking his head. "Not yet. But they're going to."
"Crap."
"Yeah."
"Well," she said, sitting up. "Let's get this over with. Thanks for believing in me, Aiba."
"Of course," he replied. "You're family."
Popping her shoulder back in was almost as painful as popping it out, Riisa decided. And not something she ever wanted to do again. Cradling her arm in a sling, Riisa scowled as the nurse told her no rowing for at least a week. Take it easy, sure. That was gonna happen.
As the nurse pushed her way out the door, Kazu pushed his way in.
"What the hell did you do to her?" he yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Aiba.
"I didn't do anything," Aiba replied, eyes wide. "She popped her shoulder out in the last sprint! She's fine!"
Riisa just bowed her head and tried not to cry. She'd upset everyone. They'd won the race, but without being able to practice for a week, how would they win finals? Everything felt over.
"I trusted you to take care of her and now she's injured," Kazu continued. "I don't care about finals, Masaki! I care about my freaking sister!"
"Sister?"
Riisa's head snapped up to see the rest of the team standing in the doorway - Sakurai and Jun with matching expressions of horrified disbelief, Ohno looking as calm and steady as usual.
"She's too pretty to be a boy," Ohno said, nodding.
The others just stared at him.
"Not the point, Satoshi," Sakurai said, pushing further into the room. "She lied to us. All of us."
"Well, not all…." Aiba started.
"Unhelpful, Masaki," Riisa said.
"Look, this is my fault," Kazu said, stepping between Riisa and the group. "I was originally supposed to row for the team, but I broke my wrist a few weeks ago." Kazu waved his cast at them as if to prove he was really broken.
"I'm sorry, guys, I had to," Riisa pleaded. "I never wanted to lie to you, but…"
"But you did," Ohno said quietly.
Riisa hung her head, dejected. She hadn't just ruined her chance at the finals, but the whole team's. She'd never felt quite this low.
"Can you row?" Jun asked, eyebrows drawn together.
"Jun!" Aiba looked scandalized, as if Jun could possibly think of something like that when one of their teammates was injured.
"Masaki, chill out," Riisa replied, placing a steadying hand on his wrist. "Yeah, but I have to take a week off to rest my shoulder."
Jun nodded and crossed his arms. "Well, then I guess we'll see you in a week."
They turned in perfect unison to look at Jun. Riisa would have laughed if she didn't feel so completely horrible.
"Don't look at me like that," Jun said, glowering at his teammates. "She's registered to row, she fits perfectly with our team and we've got a good thing going here. Of course I'm concerned about her shoulder, but Nino wouldn't row if she didn't think she could. Right?"
Riisa nodded, blinking away tears.
"You know the officials would never let us row with a girl on the team, Jun," Sakurai said, his face even more serious than usual.
"We're not rowing with a girl on the team," Jun said, gesturing to Riisa. "We're rowing with Nino on the team. She - well, he - is already registered for the finals."
"Isn't that cheating though? Having a girl?"
"If anything, we're at a disadvantage in the eyes of the other teams," Ohno said. "If they find out they lost to a girl, how dumb would they feel? No one will say anything."
"We have to tell Ogura at least," Sakurai said, shaking his head.
"I'll tell him," Riisa replied, standing. "It's my lie, my truth to tell."
"I'll go with you," Kazu said. He grabbed her free hand with his own and smiled. Brothers weren't all that bad, Riisa supposed.
"Me too," chimed Aiba.
"All of us," Jun said, stepping forward. "We're in this together. We're a team."
Looking around at them, Riisa realized she didn't care if they got to finals. She didn't care if Ogura said no to her being on the team. She didn't care if the officials found out and stripped them of their title. Right now, all she cared about were the five idiots she was saddled with and how much she loved them all.
---
Telling Ogura turned out to be easier than they thought. He'd shrugged, looked Riisa up and down, and said, "I know." Their laughter could be heard from the riverbank.
Telling Mabo was a similar experience. He'd shrugged, hugged her gently and smiled. "Why do you think I was so careful about keeping you away from Nagase?" he'd asked. Riisa just chuckled and hugged him tighter.
They decided to wait to tell everyone else. Maybe never tell anyone else. After finals were over, Kazu's wrist would be healed and he could slide into Riisa's place on the team. No one would remember exactly what that Nino kid from Team Niji looked like next year.
---
The morning of finals dawned bright and clear. Riisa's shoulder was better than ever, something she attributed to the support from her teammates. They'd taken turns helping with her physical therapy, getting her back into top shape.
In a few weeks, Kazu's cast would come off and he would start training for next year. Riisa had temporarily mourned the loss of her team until Jun had scowled at her and said, "we need a manager, don't we?"
So many thoughts churned through Riisa's head, it was almost overwhelming. She wanted to win. They would win. They had to win.
"Riisa?"
Aiba stood upbank a few yards, his eyebrows drawn together in concern. "You ready?"
Riisa stood and smiled as she dusted off her backside. "Yeah, Aiba. I'm ready."
---
They won.