It was the following day. Nagisa and Rei were called up early to have breakfast. After that, they and Nagisa's parents went to Hasetsu Castle where they were until lunch time. Then they went to town to eat before they went to the local skating rink to go skating.
"This is not going to go well at all…" Rei complained as they were on their way.
"It'll be fine, Rei-chan, you just have to focus on keeping your balance," Nagisa said.
"You're not that good on skates either, are you, Nagisa?" Nagisa's father asked in a slightly amused tone.
"When was the last time I saw you on skates?" Nagisa's mother wondered.
"I think it was while we were in Hokkaido for New Year's around ten years ago?" Nagisa said. "The others dragged me out on the ice."
"You did fall a lot," Nagisa's father said.
"He only fell once, and hit his head so hard we had to take him to the hospital," Nagisa's mother said. She was speaking in a tone as cold as ice.
"What? Really?" Nagisa asked.
"I suddenly feel like turning the other way," Rei commented in a mutter.
"Don't worry, it was that one time. Nagisa was both inexperienced and careless." Nagisa's father tried calming Rei down.
"That is true. Just skate with care and adjust to the ice. Don't go too fast right away. If you just do that, then you should be fine, Rei-kun," Nagisa's mother said.
The advice somewhat helped. Rei felt a little more calm as they reached the skating rink and entered. There was on one inside aside from the woman at the desk.
"I'm sorry," the woman said as she saw them. "We are actually closed for another hour," she said.
"Why?" Nagisa's mother asked, slightly curious.
"Well… the rink has been reserved until then," the woman said.
"By that figure skater?" Nagisa's father looked at Nagisa's mother.
"Katsuki Yuuri?" Nagisa's mother asked.
"Katsuki Yuuri?" Nagisa asked. "Rei-chan, wasn't that Phichit's friend?"
"Didn't Phichit just call him Yuuri?" Rei asked. "I don't think he ever stated his surname."
"Uh… I don't remember," Nagisa said, giving up on trying to recall the conversation from the day before.
The doors to the entrance opened once more and someone came rushing in.
"Are they done?" the person who had just entered asked.
"There's still another hour left of the practice if you want to join," the woman said.
"Ah! What a relief!" The person said, and it was then Nagisa and Rei turned around to look at him. Both were surprised when they recognized the Thai boy whom they had just been talking about.
"Phichit-san?" Rei asked.
It was only then Phichit noticed them as well and he smiled. "Rei, Nagisa," he said, recognizing them.
"Nagisa, you didn't give up your full name to a stranger did you?" Nagisa's mother asked in a strict tone.
"No, I only gave up my first name," Nagisa replied before turning back to Phichit. "Your friend is that figure skater representing Japan?" he asked.
"Yeah," Phichit replied happily. "As I said yesterday, his name is Katsuki Yuuri. I thought you knew whom I was talking about!"
"Not all people keep up with figure skating," Rei said.
"Hold on a minute," the woman said. "You know those two, Phichit?" she asked.
"Yeah," Phichit replied. "We met in town yesterday."
"Could we watch Katsuki-san practice?" Nagisa's mother asked.
"Watch both of us skate!" Phichit said. "And bring skates of your own."
He waited for them until they were all ready to walk in with him. Rei, Nagisa, Nagisa's parents and Phichit all put on their skates before heading in to stand by the rink where a figure skater was currently practicing his next short program. A little away from the entrance, the coach was watching with a soft smile on his lips. The coach turned his head as they entered and waved while placing a finger on his lips, signaling for all of them not to make a single noise. He didn't seem to mind that Phichit had brought a group of strangers. So that was why no one said a word and barely dared to move a muscle until the music finished and the skater stopped moving.
"That was amazing Yuuri!" the coach exclaimed.
"Beau-beautiful!" Rei muttered while wiping a stray tear from the corner of his right eye.
"It'll be a challenge next time we compete," Phichit said.
"Huh, Phichit-kun?" Yuuri asked, turning his head to look at Phichit, and then he saw the people the Thai boy had brought with him. "What did you bring them for?" he asked.
"Remember those guys I met yesterday whom I talked with about figure swimming?" Phichit asked.
"It's called synchronized swimming," Yuuri corrected while skating across the rink to leave it.
"That's what I said, Nagisa-kun," Rei said, irritated.
"Minor detail," Nagisa replied.
"Anyways, these are the ones, Rei and Nagisa," Phichit presented Rei and Nagisa to the Japanese figure skater and his Russian coach.
"Ah, nice to meet you," the coach walked over. "I'm Viktor Nikiforov, Yuuri's coach and the one Phichit asked to make a choreography." He introduced himself.
"But Viktor, you don't even know how synchronized swimming works, do you?" Yuuri asked. He had now left the ice and was walking up to them.
"It should be fine. I know the way they score is the same as in figure skating and the rest can be found on the internet." Viktor smiled without showing a single worry about the small lack of knowledge he had.
"None of us know anything about synchronized swimming, so we should all study up on it," Rei said.
"We probably should. By the way, I'm Katsuki Yuuri," Yuuri introduced himself. "Who are you?"
"I'm Hazuki Nagisa and that's Ryugazaki Rei," Nagisa introduced himself and Rei. While they were talking, Nagisa's parents withdrew themselves to give them some space.
"And you two were going to participate along with three more?" Viktor asked.
"Yeah," Nagisa said. "And Phi-chan and Yuu-chan with three other figure skaters if possible."
"Yuu-chan?" Yuuri muttered in a questioning way.
"Nagisa-kun, they're still strangers…" Rei whispered, concerned.
"Hmm…" Viktor thought about the matter Nagisa had spoken of just before. "Finding more figure skaters shouldn't be the biggest problem." He said.
"Who would you ask?" Yuuri wondered.
"Yurio seems like a good choice, wouldn't you say?" Viktor asked. "I'm sure, if we just ask, there are someone who will want to join us."
"But we are all busy with training," Yuuri said.
"We'll just find some time when everyone can come," Nagisa said. "Rei-chan and I have school too."
"Are you two still in high school?" Yuuri asked, slightly shocked. "Then shouldn't you be focusing on studying?"
"We're on break now, we can also just plan this to take place during our summer break in August." Nagisa argued.
"In August sound good," Viktor said. "I should be able to find people, study up and make a choreography by then." He then stopped to think. "But where would be an ideal place to do it?" he asked with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Rei-chan and I have almost free access to the pool at our school. If we can get Haru-chan and Mako-chan to go along with the idea there shouldn't be any problems in us using that."
"The school we are attending is located in the town Iwatobi in the prefecture Tottori." Rei explained. "But Nagisa-kun, I don't think there are any hotels in town."
"They can just stay at Haru-chan's place," Nagisa decided without thinking.
Yuuri walked up to Rei and leaned in closer to whisper something. "Is he always like that?" he asked.
"Pretty much," Rei whispered back.
"Then it's settled. We will be at Iwatobi station on August 1st, as early as possible," Viktor said, and with that, it was decided that five swimmers and five figure skaters would combine their talents to perform the art of synchronized swimming.