What is normal to them? Chisaki thinks one day. What is normal, anyway? Does normal mean children rising out of the sea, their shimmering skin flashing as they sprint towards school, frowning and laughing and muttering mutinously about Uroko-sama really needs to stop flirting with Manaka - Is that normal? Does normal refer to the way a gently smiling Kaname ducks Sayu and Miuna's heads underwater at the piers and point out the colourful, flickering fishes down below? Does normal imply Manaka imitating the sound of the curse Uroko once put on her knee?
What is normal?
Tsumugu slips his hand in hers and looks upwards at the sky. Chisaki pretends that he's not blushing furiously, and that she's not blushing even more furiously, and that everything is -
Normal.
Was there ever a normal between them?
She doesn't know.
She shuts her eyes and listens to the rolling song of the sea. It washes through her, making her heart sparkle like the way sunlight did when she tilted her head upwards under the ocean. She opens her eyes and nudges Tsumugu gently, pressing a finger to his cheek.
Chisaki giggles when he grunts, ducking away from her gaze.
Hikari calls out grumpily, hands on his hips. He's just taken Manaka into his arms and cannon ball-dived into the ocean, and now is treading water with lazy ease. He flashes her a mischievous grin that used to make Chisaki's heart flutter like a butterfly, and waves at them.
"Come on, let's go swimming," he hollers, and Sayu screws up her face.
"Not now," she complains, putting her hands on her hips. "I mean, we're all wearing swimsuits underneath our uniforms, but - eep!"
She squeals suddenly as Kaname picks her up and jumps.
"KANAME!" Sayu shrieks, and Miuna laughs: then, plunges right in after them.
Is this normal, as well?
Then, Tsumugu realizes something.
"Where's Manaka?" he asks, and Hikari's grin turns deviously naughty.
"PUSH 'EM IN, MANAKA!" he shouts eagerly, and she does, grinning from behind Chisaki somewhat apologetically.
Before Chisaki knows it, she's soaring through the air, screaming in excitement and - well - panic, but soon enough, Tsumugu's strong arms circle her and they land with a deafening crash into the ocean she loves so much.
Thank God it wasn't winter, is all Chisaki can think as bubbles cloud the water. In the deepening blue she flashes Tsumugu a smile, trying not to flush pink, and he returns it. His hands pull her up to the surface and suddenly, they're breathing in salty, humid summer air, and everyone's splashing and yelling. Manaka's giggling next to Hikari, apologizing endlessly to her and Tsumugu, Sayu and Miuna are seeing how long they can hold their breaths underwater - though Sayu claims Miuna is so cheating, Miuna is chuckling through denial, Kaname is giving Sayu that look, and all is well with the world.
"You know what," Chisaki says to Tsumugu, as a particularly noisy shriek escapes from Sayu, whom Kaname has just pounced upon, water flying in all directions - "I don't actually think we need normal."
And Tsumugu - just as if he understood her thoughts, and he might as well have - smiles, nods, and flicks his arm casually, sending up a giant wave of water cascading over her indignant but pleasantly warm face.