Chapter 2 And it Shines over all…

Akito had hinted to his folks that the team was a little different and our first session of the year brought home just how different it was going to be. Up to now we had all been using issued leotards that the school got cleaned for us. That evening Miss Ryoji presented us all with three sets of leotards.

One set was plain, for practice, one set was a dark blue with spangles that looked like dragon teeth for our individual performances. The other was for our team outfit and was flame red with yellow fire design that would certainly make us stand out. These were to be taken home and looked after. Oh Joy! She pointed out that we lads had a double thickness at the groin to hold us in and the top was padded so that we fitted in with the girls, all of who were starting to bud. She told us that we would be known as the Senri Flames.

Another difference that evening was that Aiko and her friends had spoken to Miss Ryoji, admitting that they had peeked on our last session and had asked her if they could be the start of our cheer squad. So it was quite a crowd there on the first evening. We all changed into our individual outfits and worked on our solo performances while the cheer squad started putting together a routine of their own. As Aiko and I went home, me carrying my bag of new outfits, she said that she was going to push the school to provide the cheer squad with similar outfits in our colours. At home I had to admit that I was, indeed, performing as a team member in an all-girl team and the bag did contain the outfits that I would wear.

My father said that he had thought that I had been hatching some devious plan since we had arrived but that he did not see this coming. I asked him to hold off until he saw us perform towards the end of term. We would be competing in an inter-school competition at the local gymnasium and the parents were to be invited. My mother thought that it was all a merry jape and that it could not do me any harm. Aiko hugged me when we were alone and told me that I was going to knock them out when they saw the performance.

The final term of the year was full on. We needed to study for the end of term exams as well as putting the finishing touches on our performance. One thing that had changed for me was that we now did our rhythmic display to music and this really made me, and the girls, far more fluid in our movements. The final pick for the full team performance was Okemia, Tamura, Hanami, Akito and me. The others still worked with us but we were the five that would be out there with our ribbons. I still needed to work on the beam in a solo as well as doing the whole set of individual floor sets. I had started to incorporate some of my previous skills into the ‘acting’ part of my routine and my ability to ‘freeze’ brought much praise from the team members.

The competition was to take place at the end of March, after we had finished the exams, and it seemed to rush up. The exams were taken in my stride as I was getting excited now about being seen in public. The competition was over three days with us doing our apparatus performance on the first, our individual floor work on the second and the third day was just the afternoon with the rhythmic displays. There were more than a dozen schools that had entered but only six had put in a rhythmic team. At the beginning of that week I found that I had done very well in my exams and then went on to take out the individual beam section. With the floor work I was placed second to a stunningly graceful fourth year girl from another school. The Flames, however, romped home in the Rhythmic Gymnastics competition.

Aiko and her cheerleaders were a different aspect of the event and laid the foundation for more teams bringing their own in following years. My parents were very happy for me and the rest of the team, so much so that my father organised a night out for the whole team and their parents at a local restaurant the following Saturday evening. When I pointed out that the girls’ parents were not aware that their daughters were performing with three guys he just decided, on the spot, that we three had better present ourselves as girls on the night, to save awkward questions. So, that week, our three mothers took three lads (plus Aiko) out to the shops to find us something to wear. Our team members had told us to make sure we went for a full Kawaii outfit and Aiko had been given the basic list of items we would need.

Both Hikaru and Akito had told their parents to keep the secret about us and the girls were all very careful to tell their parents that we were just another three girls. Up until that time we had not socialised out of school; there is not much socialising an twelve year old can do. Aiko and my mother took charge of making me look like a typical Japanese Kawaii fanatic and I was bathed and shaved and powdered and perfumed before being dressed in the full outfit from the skin out. Aiko had chosen an almost Lolita outfit for me with bows, ribbons, satin and lace galore with a long skirt and two inch heels. It was over the top but an effective disguise.

That night out it was eight Kawaii queens that fronted up at the restaurant with our parents and it was a very funny time. We all danced to the live band, ate ourselves silly, and generally had a good time. As the evening wore on I found that I had become used to having skirts swishing around my legs and the more I moved on my short heels, the more fun I had. Towards the end I found myself dancing with Okemia and, in a fit of sudden bravery, I asked her if she would go to the pictures with me. To my surprise she said she would love to and we made a date for the following Saturday evening. Of course, once word got around our group it was decided that it would be all of us going to the pictures. Akari had an older sister who would be our minder for the night.

This led to a dilemma as I had intended that I would be in my normal boy clothes for our date but having the older sister with us meant that we three would have to maintain our girl persona. That led to a quick trip to the shops for the three of us and our mothers to get another outfit as we could not be seen wearing the same thing so close together. Thus my wardrobe began to get loaded with dresses.

With the start of my second year in April we were told, by Miss Ryoji, that we had done so well that we were to get a special mention in an assembly, so that day I needed to appear in an outfit that would pass as either male or female, depending on who I was talking to. So it was colourful leggings, a rainbow top and pixie boots for me that day. Hikaru and Akito had the same problem, only Hikaru and his parents had decided that he would not be androgynous but would go to school from here on as his feminine persona and to hell with it! The assembly was a great boost for us all in the team, our other teachers now taking much more notice of us all and we were starting to be singled out for extra care. This did my grades the world of good.

In this year we developed new routines to a different music track and moved up our team performance to using balls. This is a lot more difficult but we had all been training with them for our individual routines. We all worked hard at it as the team was becoming a solid thing that bound us all together. I had been getting on well with Okemia after our ‘group date’ and we often held hands and hugged. Our kisses were somewhat chaste as neither of us had raging hormones at that time.

One of the things that changed our dynamic that school year was that there was a group from the fourth year music class who had formed a band and were to play for the school at a Saturday evening parents and teachers Christmas social evening at the end of the second term. They asked Miss Ryoji if we could do a routine on stage while they were playing and also wanted our cheer squad as well. She took Okemia, Aiko and me along to one of their practise sessions and we sat and watched as they did their complete set. Miss Ryoji said it was up to us and we said we could do it but we did all need a different outfit to our gym ones as it was mainly J-Pop music and the two girls decided that we had to be true kawaii – very cute!

So then my time became very crowded. I was trying my best with my studies, working hard on the gymnastics and now we needed to develop a dance routine for the band. I found that my dance experience meant that I had a lot of input into our routine and Masuko gave us a lot of pointers for the J-Pop dance moves. We all needed to get measured up and the girls from the domestic science class were given a special project to make our outfits. They were pretty simple – and simply pretty!

The short pleated skirt was mainly white with red flowers appliqued on. The top was a bright yellow tee shirt from the shop, enhanced with more flowers and ribbons. We needed to wear yellow tights and we all needed to buy long red boots with heels. My mother decided that I now needed to look like a pre-teen girl so we went to get me some bras and panties as well as set of false breasts that would complete the body image. She really wanted me to have the most fun I could as her ‘daughter’. The crowning glory was that I had been instructed not to get a haircut and to use the correct products on it. I now had my jet black hair down to my shoulders and needed to put it into a pony tail when I didn’t need to look like a girl. That, I must admit, was becoming less often than last year.

Marianne G 2021