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Playmaker and the Namco Sirens (Godfang and Sigr)

Kai

Kai

Star
Joined
Mar 3, 2009
Narita International Airport wasn't what Cody Swanson expected it to be. It was large and seemingly well managed(but then again this is Japan), but for the most part he thought it looked like just another airport. Perhaps the issue is that he had a skewed image of what Japan would be like, a bizarre futuristic utopia unlike anything he had ever seen. He was wrong, at least he was so far. With some difficulty, he found his way to a phone card vendor. This was when he hit the first wall of the journey. He considered his Nihongo passable, but there is a big difference to speaking in class to a teacher and doing so out in the real world. There are subtleties, local dialects that he could barely understand, so he had to rely on context. He also had no idea how to say SIM card in Japanese, so he kept using the English word until the man behind the counter corrected him: SIM Card in Nihongo is simply 'Shimu Kado', which was a bastardization of the original English word (That amused him slightly)

"This is going to be a long day" he sighed, switching his old card for the new one from Softbank while walking out towards the taxi line. He tried calling his liaison, Mr. Kamoshida, who was the man he was replacing, but he didn't pick up. He knew Kamoshida, played against him way back when Taric's sprite looked like something out of a playstation 1 video game (and when he was ridiculously easy to use). Back then, things were different. He was still on top of the game, and League of Legends was a passion instead of an industry. Times have changed, so did the game, and so did its fans, but he still loved it. It gave him so many opportunities, including the one that brought him here to Japan.

A fan recognized him in the taxi line, and politely asked him for a handshake and an autograph, which he graciously agreed to. Cody decided he liked the Japanese fans. They seem to have an appreciation for e-sport athletes that many Americans do not (if he had to hear one more fan tell him that League is for 'noobs' and that he should try Dota 2 instead, he would probably commit a felony).

His cab came soon enough. "Eigo?" he asked the driver. "Yes. I speak English" the man said, and though his pronunciation is hard to understand, Cody found himself grateful. This would make things much easier. "Take me to Akihabara please" he said with a big smile.

When his cab left the airport, it finally dawned on the young man that this is all really happening. His new life in Japan was about to start, and by the time he reached the front door of his team's apartment, he felt optimistic that he can make a good first impression. A brief look at a nearby mirror to tidy up his dirty blonde hair, and he was ready. With a smile on his face, he rang the bell.
 
Muffled sounds of girls talking too loud came from the inside, the apartment seemed to be properly soundproofed, probably a wise choice to avoid disturbing the neighbors. More noise and mutters came from the other side, until the door finally opened with seemingly nobody to open it. Looking down Cody could see a ridiculously small Japanese girl, easily identifiable by her stature and blue hair as Sakaguchi Mayu, a.k.a. Smurf, the team's prodigious AD Carry. Wearing a comfy set of shirt and shorts, the black of her outfit was quite remarkable with her pale skin. Her brown eyes looked upwards curiously, as trying to identify the intruder, and in a couple of seconds an expression of understanding appeared on her face. "Get out of your shoes" she said in a heavy accented English, just turning around and leaving him in the lobby, tens of pairs of shoes everywhere. "Ossan arrived!" Mayu shouted, using the classic Japanese word for 'Old man'.

Once past the lobby the apartment was huge by metropolitan Tokyo standards, and it must cost quite the amount of money, something only possible when you were a famous League of Legends team on Asia, and one of the tops in Japan, heavily sponsored. The first room after the lobby, before the rest of the apartment extended in a labyrinth of rooms, was the practice room, the heart of the house. There were half a dozen tables with top of the line computers were set up and running, but the seats were empty as the only two other inhabitants of the room were on a couch. The smaller girl was sitting between the legs of the taller one, that was smiling happy while working on brushing the hair of the smaller one as if she was playing with a doll.

The one with the brush had a mane of red hair of her own and it was the only no Asian around until Cody arrived, Sara Anderson, the English recruit and team's midlaner, called Flame. She was wearing jeans and a team t-shirt with the Siren logo, and looked at Cody with a quite cold stare. "The Playmaker is in the house" Sara said in a clearly joking tone. Paying him no mind, she returned to brush the hair of the smaller girl between her legs. Being seventeen years old, Tanabe Yuki, a.k.a. Sheep was the younger one and she dressed the part, with puffy pink pajamas and her dyed blonde hair puffed up as Sara worked on it. "Hello!" Yuki greeted, her supportive self fitting her gentle demeanor.

"Makoto is on the kitchen, or smoking on the balcony or whatever" Sara said, seeing that Cody was scanning the room around. "Moon has gone shopping. Again" she added, talking first about the Japanese 20 year old jungler known as Tomboy and about the Korean 19 year old Top Laner after. "So you are our new babysitter?" Sara asked, leaving the brush and hugging Yuki against her. In the meantime, tiny Mayu had squirreled out somewhere and she was nowhere to be found in that room.
 
When Cody first began learning Nihongo, he was given a collection of children’s story. One of them told of a fisherman who visited an underwater kingdom and was given a treasure box by a sea princess when he left, one he was told to never open. Once he returned to shore, he opened the box and immediately grew old. This house was Cody’s treasure box (and disturbingly enough that made Kamoshida his sea princess), the second he opened it, he felt 300 years older.

“Hi” he said to the petite girl with blue hair, but she was gone. He almost stepped onto the wooden panel without taking his shoes too, and he was thankful that she reminded him of it. When he stepped into the living area, he started wondering if he might be in over his head. He recognized the first girl because it’s hard to forget a hair like hers. The rest of the girl, he recognized by name only (except for Sara, who was easy to pin down seeing as she’s the only westerner in the team).

They were all seemingly quite younger than him, and in the case of Sheep, she looked young enough to almost be his daughter, or at least niece. Perhaps it was true what they say about Asian women looking younger than they are.

“So, hey everyone” he said, placing his bag down on the floor. “I’m Playmaker, I’ll be replacing Kamoshida”.

Five girls, four of them sexually appealing (and he had no doubt there are perverts who gets off on lolls like sheep as well). This job was going to be both really enjoyable, but also really hard. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to put a healthy young red-blooded American male with a group of nubile young women anyways? Maybe this was why Kamoshida left.

“So, who’s up for some league?” the young man said with a big grin. “3 on 3, twisted tree lines!”

It was the first day, and they were practically strangers, but what better way to break the ice than playing a video game they all love?
 
"Twisted Treeline... man, aren't you old? I'm sure that having a second map to play on was a big thing back on your time..." Sara laughed, playing with Yuki's poofy dyed blonde hair, while the smaller girl just looked curiously at him. "Besides, Moon isn't here and Makoto... feel free to go around the house looking for her, I would advise against it though" she added.

"We could two vee two it" Yuki proposed, her cutesy voice and accent making a bit troublesome to understand that she wanted a 2v2. She skipped down the couch she was in, leaving Sara empty handed and after disappearing through a door, she returned with Mayu. It was weird seeing, as small the younger Yuki was, how she still had a couple of inches of advantage over Mayu, her blue hair bouncing while she let herself be dragged around.

"If we play, you'll be facing Sheep and Smurf" Mayu talked about themselves, hugging the support close and pointing at Cody's face, "we can't be separated, so..." she turned to look towards Sara, lazying up on the couch. "Flame? You up for it?" Mayu asked.

The redhead's groan was easily audible, but she still got up from the couch, skipping towards Cody. "I hope you aren't too heavy to carry" she eyed him up and down. "Do you still want to do a twisted treeline even if it's two versus two?" she looked at him with something that seemed pity. "We could do a two versus two bottom lane or mid lane. You know, the first team that reaches two hundred minions or gets two kills or takes the tower wins, whatever happens first" she shrugged. "We are professionals after all, so you get to pick" she added, while the smaller girls looked at them and nodded. "Unless you don't want to play with a mid laner" she added as an afterthought. "I could go around the house and fetch Tomboy for you, so it would be two junglers against our bottom lane" she mocked. It was clear that she was derisive towards Cody, but at the same time she knew enough about him as to be aware of what was his main position in the past.
 
Oh boy, they think twisted treeline is for old people. Wait till I tell them about dominion.

There really is no way he could convince them to accept him unless he can prove to them that he can play. Even then, they’re teenagers, they’ll still rebel because that’s what teenagers do. He was one himself once. Now he was starting to wonder if he was as obnoxious as a kid.

“Let’s do it on your terms then” he said. “2 v 2 bottom lane only. First tower kill wins”

Some calls it a simplistic approach, but throughout his career, Cody has the belief that whoever gets the first tower kill, gets the momentum. This changed when they reduced the global gold gains, of course, but he never changed the way he played. It was still a mental advantage.

Swiftly, he took out his slgihtly worn gaming laptop from his bag, on the back was a sticker of his favourite jungler. It was four years old, but League was never that intensive on the graphic card, and that was a big advantage for someone who lived in a small town like him. Even after he became a pro player with his own income, he still prefered the simplicity of League to the fancy new games out on the market. Simpler is better. It was a creed he lived by.

“Hey, C’mere” he said with a grin at Sara. Her english was much easier to understand, thank god for that. "Been wanting to play with you for a bit. Who you wanna use?” Cody asked. He had a laid back demeanor, not the kind you'd expect in a coach.
 
"Are you sure? All right..." Mayu said softly, shrugging and walking to her computer. Either she had got up not long ago or that low energy behavior was her usual state of mind.

"You can use..." the young Yuki seemed to struggle with English, although it may be that she was shy. She left the sentence unfinished, but pointed to one of the state of the art computers on the tables, before squirreling with Mayu and sitting besides her. Hushed whispers went between the two, along with shifty glances to Cody.

Sara walked next to him as he called for her, heavily frowning. "Don't mind who I'm gonna pick, you just opted to go for a bottom tower win condition against our bottom lane?" she sighed. "They are going to pick a push comp and tear us a new one" she added. Sara stopped to consider the situation for a moment, it wasn't super important to win, but no one in that room liked to lose. "We can face them on the same terms. Even if I'm a mid laner I could sort of match Mayu and you could do... whatever on support, or..." Sara seemed to be thinking something. "We could play a kill lane? But it's kind of an all or nothing bet" she shrugged.

"Whenever you want..." Mayu lazily said from her seat, with Yuki nodding to it.

"You are the coach, so... you choose" Sara said, getting ready.
 
To take them on in their own game would be suicide! He was primarily a jungler and Sara a midlaner, putting aside the question of natural talent, there was an issue of repetition and experience. League, like so many other high level video game is about details and efficiency, of which their opponent had in abundance, likely more than him and Sara by a significant margin, so they had to do something else. Something to put them out of their element.

"Kill Lane" Cody grinned, finding a nice corner of the room to set his laptop down. "Mount Targon characters". There is no advantage in selecting lore appropriate characters, but it just felt right for Cody to have a narrative to his games. (Admittedly, he may have had failed aspirations to become a writer as a young man). "We'll take stuns and burst..Pantheon and Leona. I'll go Aegis into Heartseeker, you go zenith blade into shield of daybreak"

He had a smile on his face that never seemed to fade. Whatever new and strange environment he found himself in, whoever he had to deal with in his new job, he would always have League, that one fammiliar element that was a universal language shared by him and millions of people around the world. For the first time since he landed in Japan, Cody felt at home. Then, he locked into his chosen character and the loading screen flickered past.

"God damn.." he muttered "Your internet speed is crazy..."
 
"I like your style" Sara nodded with a smile, seemingly feeling in sync with Cody despite herself. "Double ignite?" she asked about the summoner spells as they sat down in front of their computers. They were doing it blind pick to ease things up without knowing what the others would play and saving the time to do bans and things, so each couple wouldn't know what the other picked until the character selection screen. Sara winced at the sight of the loading screen, seeing the champions that her teammates had picked. "They mean business" she muttered between her teeth, as they both had picked the champions they were known for.

Cody could see his teammate as NS Flame, playing Leona as instructed, having selected her pool party skin, and at the other side of the VS letters were both NS Smurf as Resistance Caitlyn while NS Sheep played as Haunted Zyra, a surprisingly creepy skin for the little girl. "A kill lane?" Mayu said surprised at the sight of their champions. "Trying to cheese us won't save you" she seemed to be quite outspoken while in game, maybe it was a good idea that Cody proposed that, as they seemed to feel at ease.

"Good luck, have fun" the bright voice of Yuki said, smiling to Cody, her quite awful accent making it the more endearing.

"Double Relic Shield? Maybe Targon brace later?" Sara commented once they popped in game, as they would need both the extra income, the ease to clear waves and specially the health regeneration that came with the item.
 
His very first instinct was to go full offense from the get go for maximum shock and awe, but for now, he was her teammate, not her coach. "Double Relic" he nodded, running down the the bottom lane. If they were going slow, might as well take spear shot to disrupt the enemy lane with pokes.

With his relic shield, he got the last hits easily. "Hey, let's poke the hell out of caitlyn" he said to his partner, glancing over at the young woman. She was quite eye-catching with her fiery hair, distractingly so, Cody had to tear his eyes back to the screen, where he threw the first spear.

'Point and click' he thought 'The best kind of abilities'

Many pros he knew were competitive to a fault, even in casual games. When they mess up, they become irritated, Cody never understood that, when he missed his last-hits, he'd cringe, but the smile soon returned.

"Once I hit level 3, we're blitzing them, ok?"
 
As the match started, the composition of the lane and the differences started to show, widening the cs gap slowly, pushing the lane against Cody's and Sara's tower. Sure, that was good as they would allow they an easier time killing them, as their own tower would be far away, but for now they had to hold on. Cody was awesome at the game, as he had been active, but those kids that put hours without end into it had an edge against him, and Sara was all but accustomed to play in a supportive role.

"Yeah, poke her..." Sara nodded, focused on the game. "They are tryharding the hell out of us" she said, a small smile on her face. It was clear that no one wanted to lose there, that they were trying their best even if it was just a fun silly game. "Level 3, as soon as I land a Zenith Blade we go ham. My ignite first" she added, to not overlap the summoner spells and waste them.

The exchange of spears and shots continued, Cody and Mayu brawling in and out, balancing the thin rope between the minions and the harassment. Yuki was poking with auto attacks and mostly saving mana, accustomed to not waste it if unneeded, while Sara was starting to feel eager, trapped in a melee champion. The relic shields kept them mostly healthy, but their tower was starting to feel the superior wave clear force of the other duo, but soon the ding of the third level came, and time seemed to come at a standstill.

Cody could see the Zenith Blade animation come out, that golden line to their first step to victory, landing on Caitlyn and rooting her in place, Leona closing in for a stun. The cracking noise of the ignite spell sounded, signaling the attack.
 
two stuns, one after another. It was lethal, especially at this early stage of the game where no one has the proper sustain just yet. Cody had done this sequence so many times, tapping the W, then the E, then, if the enemy was still alive, tap the Q. Luckily, the enemy was not, so he used the spear on Zyra.

Without realizing it, he was cheering, as euphoric in these little victory as he was in a major tournament. Some people found that annoying, he wished he could stop himself.

Laning was about momentum, he wasn't going to let up. Once again, he led the charge, moving back and forth, biding his time, and once the cooldown ended, he Aggresively tower dived, going after the last enemy standing with everything he had, tapping all his keys in rapid succesion. He had the kill, but the tower killed him.

"You got at least 12 seconds before Smurf gets here" he said to Sara. "Come on girl, all on you. Get that tower!"

He stood up from his seat, watching his teammate's screen with a frantic tap-tap-tap of his shoeless feet.

"We won't catch them twice like that, this is it Flame! All or nothing!"
 
The burst of action counted the key moments in milliseconds, such small windows of opportunity where even the ping mattered, not that such a thing was a problem in that house, and soon, in the blink of an eye, the duo took the first blood. That extra income could set them ahead, allowing to compensate for the missed creep score, but even if Flame played aggressively, Playmaker certainly honored his name deciding on a tower dive. Pantheon's passive was wondrous, but not enough to make the champion survive his summoner's play, so that left just Leona and a bunch of minions to bang on the tower.

Her attack was nothing of note, but with the fight and pulling enemy minion aggro to themselves, their wave wasn't just healthy, but joined by another wave, this one with a cannon minion soon after. "I know! I know!" she shouted, trying to shield herself off her hectic partner. Smurf came back to the lane, and with Flame focused on the tower she managed to kill her quite soon, as she wanted to use every last second of her time banging on the structure. That attack had managed to pull minion aggro to her, to the melee ones were chasing her instead of hitting the tower, but the ranged ones were still not pulled from their mindless target.

Even if her screen was grayed out, Flame didn't move an inch from her mouse and keyboard, looking at the screen intensely, as the minions shot pellet after pellet against the tower while Smurf did her best to clean them off. It was a matter of seconds before the wave was cleaned, but the last minion with the last shot made it, making Sara bounce off her seat and cheer.

"Yes!" she yelled, sending her chair rolling on its wheels several feet behind, turning around to find Cody closer than expected and hugging him as they had won something of note. The moment went through soon enough, with Sara breaking the hug and muttering a quiet 'good job', standing in front of Cody.

"Interesting choice, we didn't adapt" Mayu noted, fiddling with her blue hair. She didn't look too bummed for losing, but the girl was quite hard to read, as she seemed in deep thought.

"Meanie!" Yuki whined, approaching Sara from behind, banging on her back softly with her tiny fists. She didn't look too sad either, but she had a big pouting face.

"What's with all this noise?" a somewhat hoarse voice protested. Entering the room with a black t-shirt that covered her to mid thigh, Owada Makoto, a.k.a. Tomboy entered the room. "I was up late and..." Makoto started, finally noticing the newcomer. "Who is the guy? Moon isn't around, so he's not one of her toys" asked, looking at him but addressing her teammates with the question.
 
She was light enough for him to pick up, so he did, spinning once before placing the redhead down on her feet again. It was more than just a silly 2 v 2 match, it was the first impression and it will set the tone of his relationship with the girls, and so far, at least 3 of them will think he's not just some guy with nothing to offer them.

When Tomboy came along, Cody tried (his best) to calm down and present a dignified first impression, but he just can't kill his grin. It was quite a boon to have the girls all so unique, he was terrible with remembering faces, and if it wasn't for their vastly different hair colours, he might have mistook one short haired Japanese girl for another.

"Hey, I'm Cody" he said, wondering if he should bow or shake her hand, he went for the handshake, deciding that it might seem pretentious for a foreigner like him to adopt Japanese culture without knowing too much of it. "Big fan of your work!"

Naturally, being a jungler, Cody watched Tomboy's games more than any of the other girls, learned a few things from it even, but in the end, she was also the one he had the most to teach.

"If Moon is here, how about we head out for dinner and talk about schedule?" he asked "My treat!"
 
Makoto went from a sneer to being baffled, as the man not only introduced himself nonchalantly, but also declared himself a big fan of hers. For a moment she didn't know what to do, finding herself overly conscious of wearing just a t-shirt, as long as it could be, over her boyish briefs. "A... fan?" she stood there without shaking his hand, part hiding her embarrassment, part putting out her tough persona.

"He's our new coach" Mayu stated from her computer where she had returned to, seemingly focused on some kind of wiki of the game, looking at the damage per level of the skills of Leona in one tab, Pantheon in another, busy making math on her head.

Yuki was still pouting and saying nothing, while Sara had turned her attention to the young one, crouching before her, patting her head and whispering something in her ear.

"Don't get ahead of yourself" Makoto barked, sounding a bit more sure of herself now that she wasn't surprised anymore. "What makes you think that you are qualified to be our coach?" she asked, looking at him awfully defiant to be a Japanese girl that was smaller and younger than him. "Besides Moon isn't even here-" she added as they heard the door open and close.

"If this is a meeting either I'm overdressed or someone should get some pants" Moon had entered the room and looked at Makoto, carrying a couple of bags that looked from fashion boutiques, her bare feet covered with pantyhose beyond what the long black skirt covered, hinting at it with a cut on one side. Her ivory blouse was a tad too open, showing a healthy amount of pale cleavage, something that could be attributed to the warm day outside.
 
He expected defiance, so Tomboy's reaction did not surprise him at all. She was a teenage girl, sure, but she was a proffesional e-sport athlete, why shouldn't she have some pride in her skills? He would have done the same when he was her age.

"Look, I know you think I need to prove myself first, so-"

He didn't finish his sentence as the last member of the team appeared. In the rather conservative society of Asia, Cody would assume that Moon would be considered daring in the way she dressed. He was American, exposed skin does not faze him. It gave him a few improper thoughts, sure, but he's a healthy red blooded male, what was he supposed to do?

"Alright...Let's make a deal then, team dinner in an hour? You guys can pick the venue"

He was more nervous about their choice of restaurant than the need to win them over. The latter would be easy if he had enough time, but he feared that they might pick something too exotic for his taste. Japanese food's popularity meant that even a young man from the midwest like him would have tasted the more common dishes, but then there's always those videos about people eating live octopus..
 
With Cody's presence in their home and Moon's retorts, Makoto looked anything but happy. "Fine, we'll talk it over dinner" she barked, storming back into the house, presumably to her room.

"How fun!" Moon said with a playful smile, but her expression made hard to read her thoughts. "Lets go to a barbecue place, how was it..." she proposed, having trouble with the Japanese word for those kind of establishments.

"Yakiniku" Yuki helped her with the word, nodding and showing a shine in her eyes, peeling them from the computer screen. "We can go to Tatsujin" she added.

"What do you think Yuki? Do you want some meat?" Sara was obviously sweet talking the young one out of her sore losing, and it seemed to work. "We normally order food home, but Tatsujin is just a couple blocks away" she said, sighing seemingly worried about something. "I'm going to check on Makoto, explain things. She's our captain after all" Sara followed Makoto's footsteps inside the huge place.

Mayu took Yuki to her room as well, walking around holding hands, leaving just Moon and Cody in the training room.

"Makoto doesn't know who you are, but Sara will told her soon enough, Playmaker" she said, almost a song, her English sounding a hint melodic. "Can't wait to see her face" she added, who knew why. "Now come with me, I'm guessing that the kids didn't show your room yet" added, taking her shopping bags with one hand and Cody's right with the other, guiding him through the large house. The doors had small signs on them, from the heavily decorated one of Yuki's room, to the plain ones that marked the bathrooms, every room but one was somehow marked. "Here we are" Moon left Cody in front of the unmarked door. "You can rest a bit and get changed, nothing fancy but no shorts please" she said, poking at the tip of his nose before disappearing into her own room.
 
The room was larger than he expected. Small, for American standards, spacious by Tokyo's. It had a low bed instead of a futon (for which he was thankful) and was designed in an industrial, minimalistic style so popular nowadays. Western aesthetics, Eastern functionalities, just like the city itself. Cody liked it quite a bit. He walked around the room on his bare feet, feeling the cool, smooth concrete against his toes and decided he had it quite good. His own room back home had been a cluttered mess, filled with old memorabilias and things he had refused to let go of, but this new room felt like a new start for his journey and that was refreshing.

On the other side of the room, was a bookrack, tall and filled with many japanese books, it hinted that this place was once lived in by someone, or that someone decided that the books would provide a good aesthetics for the room. He picked one up and was reminded just how hopeless his Knowledge of Kanji is, so he looked for one that were written in Hiragana or Katakana. To his dissapointment, the only ones that weren't written in Kanji were either children stories or books for tourists.

"I really should start brushing up on my Kanji.." Cody muttered.

Settling down really didn't take long, he placed his laptop on the only desk in the room (with a rigid wooden chair not meant for long gaming session), stored what little article of clothings he brought with him in the closet, and it was done. The rest of the things he needed, he would have to obtain in the city.

He noted that he had his own bathroom. It was probably the best choice, sharing a bathroom with 5 teenage girls would be impractical overall. The bathroom shared the stark aesthetics of the bathroom, but was oddly spacious, with plenty of empty spaces. A brief shower later and he was ready to go.

"Nothing fancy, but no shorts" he repeated to himself, going for jeans and a blank black T-shirt that fits his frame nicely, layering it with his jacket just in case it got cold. Then, he went down to meet everyone else.
 
Once Cody was back at the entrance, he could see that the girls were already there or arriving at the same time, all of them ready to go out. Moon was wearing a different black skirt over pantyhose once more, having changed her white blouse for an sleeveless red one. Makoto was wearing a boyish outfit that basically added some cargo pants and an army jacket to the same band t-shirt she was wearing before, completing it with boots. If Tomboy haven't done much, Sara had changed her whole outfit. Out of the jeans and team t-shirt, she was now wearing a plaid skirt above the knee and a bone white blouse with short sleeves with some black flat shoes. Yuki's outfit was a puffy white and pink dress full of frills that didn't reach gothic lolita status but it was quite close to it. Finally, Mayu was wearing navy shorts with a Gundam t-shirt and Converse sneakers, both white. It seemed that no one else followed Moon's fashion standards, although Sara was trying it.

"I didn't know who you were" Tomboy admitted, coming close to Cody. "Sara told me that you are Playmaker... so I'm fine with you being the coach. For now" she tried to show a tough image, but it was clear that her talk with Sara had been productive.

"I'm hungry..." Yuki whined, tugging at Mayu's clothes.

"We are ready, lets go" Mayu commented, showing a faint smile, seemingly uncomfortable with the idea.

Moon was talking to Sara about clothes, giving the redhead recommendations about outfits and such, so it was Makoto the one to lead the expedition out of the enormous apartment and out to the street.

"Tatsujin is just a few blocks away" Makoto commented, spearheading the group along Akihabara. As many places in big cities, and Tokyo was no different, most people moved around the big streets and avenues, while Makoto seemed to favor the quieter and smaller alleys to guide them, maybe it was just a shortcut, but it could be something else. The city bustled around them, uncaring and unmoved, as they just were a colorful part of the millions wandering around its streets. "It's just around the corner, a pretty private place on the first fl-" Makoto explained to Cody while Sara and Moon were a bit ahead, as a yelp on the back of the group interrupted her.

Some twenty something year old Japanese man had seemingly recognized the bunch, and was asking Mayu for a picture. The dude in question seemed a harmless nerd with a Ryze t-shirt under a half open flannel shirt, and was keeping his distance, but for some reason Mayu was frozen in the spot unable to do anything and in the verge of tears.
 
Akihabara at night was ridiculously bright. Out of all the places Cody wanted to see, Akihabara was embarassingly close to the top. Anime culture was never a big passion of his, but even he had heard of the crazy and bizarre world of Akihabara, where maid cafes were the least unusual establishments to be found amongst far weirder shops that seems to cater to very specific audience.

The first sign that he was in the center of a unique culture was how openly pornography was sold. He saw books and videos sold by the street, or in a mini market. There was even a billboard for a video game that he assumed (and it was a rather safe assumption) was a hentai game, large and displayed in the open.

"Akihabara is really something else" Cody muttered in English. He was so lost in his awe that he was unaware of how much he stood out, a Gaijin walking around surrounded by five young women. The reverie broke when he noticed the scene with Mayu and a few men who came across as League fans.

"Hey, Mayu, everything ok?" he asked, walking over and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Sup man, Ryze main huh?" he asked the guy with a friendly smile.
 
As Cody put his hand in Mayu's shoulder he could feel how tense she was, how scared, as the blue haired girl scurried behind Cody. Judging for his appearance and demeanor, the lonely guy was just a regular league fan, but he seemed a bit startled by the presence of the tall foreigner talking in English at him. "Ryze. Yes. Picture?" the shy looking fellow managed to mutter with a thick accent.

Makoto, who moments ago was at the front of the march with Moon, appeared by Cody's side. She started to talk in Japanese aggressively at the guy, the delinquent voice she was making turned understanding her difficult, but the gist of it was that he had to go or she would do terrible things to his groin. "I though we would be safe moving through alleys..." Makoto hissed, angry at the situation as the guy just ran away from the group. For a moment she looked at Cody frowning, as she was going to berate him about something, but stayed silent.

"Tatsujin is just around the corner" Sara reminded them, a trembling Mayu was hugging her while Yuki looked sad and Moon was scouting the street. "It's ok, we are almost there..." she continued to caress her tinted hair, as Mayu was getting slowly calmer.

...

Once inside the building, the restaurant on the second floor seemed a calm place, elegant without being stuffy. The tables had their characteristic built in grill in the middle, to cook the meat as the dinner progressed. A waiter, who seemed to recognize the girls, and greeted them gently, guided them to a table. Sara took Mayu to the bathroom, to talk with her and help her freshen her face, and while Moon was chatting with Yuki about her outfit, Makoto sat next to Cody. "Mayu was attacked by a fan months ago, it was nothing serious but she had been scared of them ever since" Makoto explained as briefly as possible. She didn't add any further details, but at least that explained the reaction.
 
From Alabama to Japan, the one thing that never changes was that barbequed beef is king amongst food. Cody can hear the sizzle of meat on grill, crackling as the fat burn and pop. This was the perfect way to end the day and he was sure that this place will be a regular for him and the girls, it was close, it smells wonderful and it seems the staff already knew them.

"This Tatsujin place is really nice" he said in English, then catching himself and repeating it in Japanese. "Kono basho wa hontōni īdesu"

The waiter brought them a plate of mushrooms and Wagyu to start them off. Being a red blooded American, Cody knows quite a bit about steak, and this was exceptional meat. The marbling was very prominent and the cut was nicely done. The story was that Japanese farmers gave their cows beer and massages daily to fatten them up before the slaughter, it almost sounded like a good life if you ignore the end part of it.

When Makoto came along, the young man turned his attention to her calmly. It sounded crazy to him that some of the fans would go so far, it really was a part of being a celebrity he never liked.

"Hope the guy's in jail now" he said, playing with his glass. "Maybe we should..you know, find a way to go about unnoticed?"
 
"It's rarely an issue" Makoto admitted. "I mean, all of us go around just whenever, I don't mind the fans, if it happened to me I'd kick his balls up to his head. Hell, Moon barely stays at home" she added, glaring at the Korean player who just wriggled her fingers back as a greeting. "But unless Mayu knows who people are, she doesn't react well to them approaching her. Specially if male. Even more so if fans" she explained. "We have tried talking with her, but she doesn't open to us, not even Yuki" Makoto lamented, feeling the weight of the responsibility of the team.

"Just because you are the captain doesn't mean you can or should fix everything by yourself" Moon pitched in, a surprising addition since they had seemed to behave like cat and mouse until that moment. After that she returned to talk with Yuki, clearly trying to keep her in high spirits despite the distasteful incident.

"I'm fine, I was just... startled. Haven't slept much" Mayu tried to play down her panic attack, returning with a better face to the table, Sara nodding behind her. The redhead looked at Cody, and carrying her finger to the lips she gestured silence, apparently protecting Mayu from pushing the issue there, in front of everyone.

"It smells amazing!" Sara chanted, sitting at the table. "You started without me! That's cheating!" she added with a fake pout, the table relaxing with her antics. Even Mayu managed a small smile before starting to eat.

The food was amazing, but the best thing was the impromptu nature of it, the service bringing more stuff, making it as the dinner went, the diverse company around the table. Moon talked about how busy Shibuya was that day while she shopped, Mayu and Yuki were chatting about how to stop being cheesed on the bottom lane like they had been, while Makoto and Sara seemed prone to idle talk and look at Cody.
 
This was the first time he sat down with everyone at once, and he was happy that they all seemed to get along so well. Some teams can barely stand each other, and even though this one clearly have their own differences, Cody can tell they enjoy one another's company. If all goes well, they might even accept him as one of their own. It shouldn't be too hard, they all have at least one simmilar interest, two for Sara who he caught glancing over every now and then, he'd smile at her but she would look away.

'Adorable' Cody chuckled to himself, deciding not to tease her too much. There was food before him, he focused on that.

"Hey, good call on picking Tatsujin, Yuki!" Cody said while moving a piece of meat from the grill to her plate.

"And since we're all here, I wanna talk about my plan for our training"

He stopped for a moment to make sure the beef wasn't burnt, it would be such a waste, and he didn't want to miss out.

"Ok, so this is gonna sound a bit out there, but hear me out...We're cutting two days off from weekly practice..and in their place, we're hitting the gym"
 
"Mff" Yuki just nodded and covered her mouth full of food, as Cody's compliment had caught her unaware. The cute girl was overdressed in her puffy attire, and looked almost like a noble born lady or another age, but she behaved a bit child like at the table, eating more than she could chew. Then Cody announced that he wanted to talk about his training plan, so everyone's eyes were suddenly at him, the motions around the dinner table coming to a halt.

A chorus of surprise exclamations in several languages echoed around, from Sara's loud "Whaaat?" to the varying degrees of pitch and duration of the "Nani?" that Makoto, Yuki and Mayu uttered. Moon seemed surprised as well, but she said nothing and just looked at Cody with a frown, the first time she had been caught off guard since they had met.

"That's riduculous!" Makoto raised her voice, hitting the table with her hand. Leaning back on her seat she took a gulp of her glass of beer, somewhat of an oddity compared to the rest of her teammates since she was the only one of legal drinking age. "I guess that's some kind of American joke?" she wondered, looking at him.

Yuki was whispering to Sara, seemingly clarifying if she had misunderstood the English phrasing while Sara confirmed her that no, she had heard Cody perfectly well, that he wanted them to go to the gym twice a week. Moon on her part just looked at Cody, she managed to make her frown disappear and she was back to her usual amused face of interest, even if it was a hint more tense than usual.

"I hate exercising" Mayu confessed. She was still a bit low since the incident on the alley, looking down on her food, fiddling with it.
 
He expected some resistance but nothing this dramatic. Cody had always been an outdoorsman, he enjoyed getting physical, these girls seem to not feel the same way. He can't blame them, most league players he know would much prefer sitting down in front of the computer all day long than hitting the gym.

"Now just..um..listen, wait a minute, Makoto, why are they serving you beer?!" he blurted out as the table descended into chatter. It was somewhat hypocritical of him, seeing as he too found ways to get access to alcohol in his teenage years, but he was supposed to be the adult in the room.

"Just listen..look..Video gaming is about focus, about your mind, no? Being in better physical shape is scientifically proven to help you with focus" Cody said. "This is something many teams in America has implemented, I'm just asking you to give this a shot, if after a month you don't feel like it helps, we don't have to continue"

It was a rather short time, but it was a compromise. He can't force them too hard on this.

"We won't even do the hardcore things, no weight training, just some cardio, calisthenics...Maybe even some martial art training, if you're up for it?"

In his mind, it was going to help Mayu.
 
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