Friendly Face to Face

Ever since that fated day on the playground all those years ago there had been a solumn vow to never back down. Mizuki Tonaka had stripped him of his dignity that day when she kissed him on the cheek, infecting him with viral cootie contagion. Terminal they said, he only had until the end of school that day to live until the shame would kill him. They had underestimated him though and his family line, he had a sister who by proxy had given him semi immunity. A boon and a curse. He persevered and was granted access to the fellowship of boys who had likewise survived similar encounters though not without battle scars.

They taught him the secret techniques to combat even the grodiest of girls. The replication of flatulence noises by using one's armpit as a conduit, weaponizing misinformation about toads to propagate their use to give others warts, and most devistating of all, the use of organically grown bioweapons from his nostrils as a last resort. So it was that when this girl, who wasn't even his babysitter, had dared try and strip him of his God given right to slide, a line had been seen in the mulch. Such grievous offense could not nor should go unanswered. As the two exchanged verbal and somatic jabs, he found himself muttering the mantra of his brothers. "Circle circle, dot dot… now we have our cootie shot."

He blew a raspberry at her, she blew one back but with a hand out in front of her face, thumb on her nose and fingers wiggling. The response to that of course had been for the him to turn around and clap his backside at her. The corner of her eye twitches, stomping a foot in frustration as she brought a finger to her eye, pulling the lower eyelid down to expose the deeper red beneath. The collective of children gasped at her powerful technique as her tongue poked out at her nemesis who seemed unsure of how to proceed. It seemed as though the arms race had ended… had he been justly defeated or was the looking threat of his parents in the wings to much of a risk for further instigation?

"That's right, whose the best!?" Nami had a good laugh at that, her smallest of victories feeling like she had jumped clear over the moon. The young boy turned away, perhaps in shame over such a defeat though to careful observers they would see upon his face the coolest of smirks as he walked away from the crowd. His task had been complete, he had no cause to watch the forgone conclusion.

So overjoyed was Nami that she had even forgotten to keep her eye on her bestie who she was engaged with in actual combat. The ing back towards Natsuko she let out a surprised cry as thighs clamped themselves around her face, giving her a front row view of her friends cherry red undergarments. A panicked rush of blood to he face turned he cheeks a similar shade of red before momentum scooped her off the ground and sent her thinking head over heels through the air to hit the dirt, kicking up a plume of recently mowed grass left uncollected. On her back she stared at the bright blue sky in a moment of confusion… did she hear someone chuckling in the distance?

The circle of children scripted in cheers and shouts, remarking how that had been the absolute coolest thing and that the two girls should do it again. So loud was the commotion it started to draw parents out of hiding, suddenly appearing to give the girls judgement looks and ferry their precious progeny away hurriedly from the scene of what was surely some sort of gang related violence.

"Well… crap." Nami sighed dejectedly as the clouds parted enough to shine the sun directly in her eyes. She squinted looking off to the side to see a young boy looking back at her, being led off by his mother with a grin on his face. Her cheeks puffed up in ambivalent frustration with a huff from her nose.

Alright Natsu was starting to seriously suspect that she was missing out on some crucial details here. Starting with why were all of these fight craving little tots apparently unaccompanied by adults, and continuing onward as to why Nami was so deadset on one-upping that one kid in the ravenous crowd in a good old fashioned playground stand-off. Oh, Natsu had taken part in her fair share of similar turf-wars when she was a scrappy tyke and the boys kept hogging time on the jungle gym and swing-sets. Blatant gender bias being perpetrated when they told the girls to go back ta playin with their dollhouses or sumthin. Nattie didn't always have her older brother around to set those bullies straight and fisticuffs were a definite no-no since no one wanted to go home crying to their mommy...literally. So she quickly learned many a taunting gesture and weaponized cootie paranoia to her advantage.

But even Natsu was impressed by Nami's creative ingenuity when it came to schoolyard mockery. Nattie would have just replied with the typical "Circle, circle, Square, square, – Now you have it everywhere!" rebuttal, but Nami reversed course and slam-dunked on the poor kindertyke. It earnestly made her regret not meeting her bestie earlier on when they could have had eachother's back even from at a young age. Hmm, Natsu always wondered how she would have fared as an older sister...but all of that aforementioned admiration for Nami also extended to how deceptively skilled Nami had become since they last parted ways back in high school. No more underestimating her pony-tailed BFF. Not when pride, bragging rights, and a heaping helping of free ice cream is on the line. Natsu may have been earning extra cash on the sides at her arcade job, but the majority of her scratch goes towards paying for upkeep and maintenance of the family dojo, taking care of her mother, and the rent on her apartment. And besides, ice cream always tasted better when it was free~...

"Alley-OOP!!!" A nimble hop allowed Natsu to land square upon her scrappy amigo's shoulders with a flexed squeeze of her taut thighs against Nami's mushed cheeks to make doubly super sure she wasn't going to be squirming her way out of this one. The schoolgirl hoping that a brief peek up her skirt leading to awkward familiarization of her crimson red bloomers practically nudged against Nami's facials wasn't gonna make anything weird between them later on, as Natsu stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth from putting up the effort to twirl around while pitching herself backwards. Landing in a seated position with her arms stiffly extended behind to prop herself up, breathing out a sigh of relief after looking over her shoulder to see her bestie splayed out and admiring the clouds as doting parents started escorting their children back to the playground. The more unfortunate of them being "escorted" by their earlobe.

"Phew!!! THAT...was probably the most fun I've had all week, and I guess we'll be having a lot more once you start bunking up with me. You've totally stepped up your fighting game since high-school, Namster. But that's exactly what I'm going to keep doing too~..." Natsu merrily exclaimed while maneuvering her way back up to her feet until she was standing over her BFF so her upside down smile blotted out the sun from Nami's field of vision. The schoolgirl extending a gloved hand to aid in getting Nami vertical again, except now with a slight addendum to their pre-match bet. "Tell ya what~...I'll cover you on the ice cream today, but just today. You're gonna have to legit beat me next time if you want me to treat you, kay?~...Oh, but we better hurry. I think a line's forming in front of the ice cream truck. Actually, I think I saw the kid you kept talking to heading towards the truck, too..."

Nami let out a long, tired sigh, deflating on the ground like a balloon until she practically envisioned herself sinking beneath the crush of the earth. She had that totally in the bag if only she hadn't gotten distracted. Heck it all. This was a common issue for her, it always had been. Sometimes she had too much energy for her own good and it manifested in having to look at or act on everything at once. Maybe there was a diagnosis for stuff like that… eh, oh well. Losing to Natsu wasn't anything new… but at least she hadn't been defeated by a headlock. That was honestly one of the more embarrassing ways to go… which she was very familiar with.

Her squint up at the blazing sun was eclipsed by her smiling friend, blinking her eyes a few time as she saw the echoed spots from having gazed too long at the big ball of gas in the sky. The young girl made a soft, thoughtful sound as she looked upon her friend… she had made a good point. They would be bunking together now. That meant plenty of prime time to ambush her friend and actually get the upper hand… maybe even win a bout. That put a big smile on her face. Reaching up with renewed vigor she took her best bud's hand and used it to spring back to her feet.

"Haha, that's great, because I am heckin' broke. I was really riding on kicking your butt. Don't worry though, next time I am totally going to mop the floor with you, you'll see. I got some new secret techniques I couldn't just whip out here in the park." She was of course talking mostly out of her backside but hopefully by then she would have something to show for it. All it would take was watching some more Kung Fu classics or taking a trip down the anime rabbit hole to get some good inspiration.

"Huh… really?! Oh heck no, we gotta run Natsu!" Nami puffed up her chest, slipping her overall straps back as if it was the most serious thing in the world. Roughly, she hooked arms with her best friend and charged forward towards the distant ice cream truck. "With the two of us we can just fight our way through all the kids to the front of the line, let's gooooooo!"