✓ VIRTUAL AEROBICS; eli moskowitz

88. binary bros are back

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

after the girls spent some downtime with her, gioia excused herself from them to use the bathroom. she stepped out of the restroom, her attention being stolen by tory, who stood conversing with zara on the other side of the lobby.

gioia began walking over to the blonde girl, wanting to see if everything was okay with her. but as she strode, a tall figure blocked her path. gioia gazed up, immediately shaking her head. "no. no, absolutely not." she said.

"now, miss barbusca. to what do i owe this pleasure?" terry silver asked. gioia gave him a look, "what pleasure? you're in my way." she pointed out.

silver ignored her, crossing his arms over his chest. "are you feeling any better after your match? i mean, that was truly a difficult watch— seeing your teammates throw you in unprepared. who could do such a thing to their own captain? to their own girlfriend—"

"whatever you're trying to do? you can stop." gioia cut him off. "you're a failure, everyone knows that now. so, leave me alone."

"oh! so you won't take my advice, my warnings. but you'll take my money?" silver challenged. gioia's face fell and she stepped backwards with perplexity. "w-what?" she questioned, her voice softer.

"this is no way to treat your sponsor." silver said.

an exasperated sigh escaped from gioia's lips. she placed her head in her hands for a moment before using her hands to push back any stray hairs on her face. why was she surprised? why did she expect her sensei to actually do research before accepting things from her sponsor?

"i don't know what you want from me, i really don't." gioia said, tears of frustration brewing in her eyes. "i followed your lead once and you lead me to the worst point of my life. i am not doing that again."

"i'm not asking you to do anything. i'm just—just making sure you're being taken care of. the talent you have, the potential? it shouldn't be wasted." silver told her.

"it's not being wasted!" she exclaimed, her words coming out louder than she had intended. "i'm captain of my team."

"captain of the wrong team." silver said. gioia scoffed, shaking her head at his words. "you know, i know what this is. i know what you're doing. first, wyatt. now, you're trying to psych me out? just stop."

silver was surprised, the girl had truly changed since he last had seen her. she was standing up for herself. "so, you know?" silver questioned, the look of amusement evident on his face. "i was hoping for the more passionate friend of his, but he's still on parole. so, mr yukimura was a great settlement."

"you didn't even know jack!" gioia yelled out. silver just shrugged, her loud voice not affecting him. "no, but he knew you. and there was something about you that made him angry. made him strong."