After everyone had been allocated a pair, the swimmers were gathered at the side of the pool. Once the cameras and film crew had scattered around the edges of the room, it was easier to see pool…as well as the mishmash of inflatables floating inside of it.
"What do you think all of that is?" Makoto whispered.
"No idea," Haru replied.
"SWIMMERS OF TOKYO," Hideaki announced. Aika jumped beside Haru at the sound of his voice. I welcome you…TO THE HORRIFYING OBSTACLE COURSE OF BLOOD, DEATH AND CHILDREN'S TEARS."
"The what?!" Sayuri squeaked.
"Just the obstacle course is fine," Kaida snapped.
"Party pooper," muttered Hideaki.
"An obstacle course?" Haru asked, bemused. All he saw was an abused pool.
"Alright, listen closely, everyone," Kaida said. "You'll be competing in your pairs." She began gesturing to the objects in the pool. "You see that floating slide over there? You'll swim breaststroke towards it. Climb up the one side, then slide down the other. Next, swim backstroke to those tunnels and crawl through them. Then it's butterfly to the hoops. Pass through all three of those…"
"…and you'll race your most magnificent freestyle to the diving board, where you'll leap off the into the water for the grand finale!" Hideaki finished. "The fastest team wins!"
A series of "oohs" and "aahs" bubbled up from between the swimmers.
"Seems simple enough," Aika mused. She winked. "Ready to kick some ass, Haru?"
"If you want." Aika giggled.
"What's so funny?"
"I still think you're strange." Haru tilted his head, unsure of how to respond, but was saved the trouble of doing so by the sound of a whistle.
"On your marks," Kaida began, "get set…GO!"
The swimmers launched themselves into the water. Aika swam as fast as she could, trying to catch up with Haru, but stopped when she realised that he was (inevitably) swimming freestyle.
"HARUKA! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SWIMMING BREASTSTROKE!" she yelled. Haru heard her call, but didn't register it, too caught up in his beloved water. With mild surprise, he realised that Sayuri was only a little way behind him. However, he couldn't place Makoto.
That changed when the time came to swim backstroke and Makoto managed to catch up a little. Aika matched his stroke, and almost managed to keep pace with Haru when they were swimming butterfly; he could see why it was her speciality. He could guess that Sayuri's was breaststroke.
He and Aika easily completed all of the obstacles, and as he neared the edge of the pool for the final challenge, he heard an excited shriek. "Haruka, we're almost there!" Aika called. "We're about to be first!" She plunged her arms into the water.
Haru was about to follow, when a sign on the wall caught his eye.
"Mackerel Swimming Pool…" He gazed at it in wonder.
The picture decorating the sign had to be the most delicious fish he had ever seen.
"Eh?!" He was drawn out of his reverie as Aika grabbed him by the hand, dragging him to the poolside. "Now is not the time to be thinking about fish!"
Haru allowed himself to be pulled along reluctantly as he stared longingly at the sign. Then, he heard Aika groan beside him. They were now near the back of the line leading up to the diving board, the last obstacle of the course. Aika looked as though her ghost had left her body.
"You okay?" Haru asked.
"Oh, could you at least pretend to be sorry?!" she snapped.
"Sorry." Aika sighed dejectedly as the boy in front of her turned his head at the sound of Haru's voice. It was Makoto. He beamed at them.
"Haru! Aika!" he greeted. "What are you doing here? I thought you two were ahead of us."
"Not that it matters now, another group's already won," Aika grumbled. "But yeah, we were ahead of you. Until Haruka started making googly eyes at that sign."
"Sign?" Makoto followed Haru's gaze to the fish. "Haru, what did you do?" he sighed.
"It's a good fish." Makoto was about to respond when he realised that they had reached the front of the line. "Hey, Sayuri!" he called. "It's out turn next." Sayuri nodded.
"Right!" There was no fear in her eyes as she climbed deftly up the ladder to leap into the water.
"So brave…" Makoto murmured. His eyes glinted with determination. Then, he climbed the ladder as well.
A little while later, Haru found himself frowning when he realised that Makoto was taking an awfully long time to jump off. What was going on? Concerned, he climbed the ladder after him. He could hear Aika following close behind.
"Makoto." Makoto glanced around at the sound of his voice. "Don't be afraid of the water."
"Ah, don't worry Haru, I'm not," Makoto said quickly, his smiled somewhat panicked. "It's just…high, that's all."
"I'll jump with you."
"It's okay, you don't have to do that." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was about to jump when Haru took his hand, carefully balancing on the board.
"Together then." Makoto's cheeks coloured, and for a moment he stared at their interlocked fingers.
"Haru…" he breathed. Then, he furrowed his brow in determination. "Right!"
"On three," Haru began. "One…two…three." He felt Makoto's frame leave the board at the same time as his. Then, the pool enclosed him, and Haru surfaced to a smile from Makoto before he shook his hair of the water.
"Thank you," Makoto said warmly. "That...that really helped a lot." Haru looked away, blushing lightly. Then, Makoto lifted his eyes to Aika. "Hey, Aika! You coming?" he called.
"I WOULD HAVE BEEN THERE SOONER IF YOUR BOYFRIEND HADN'T LEFT ME BEHIND!" Aika yelled back.
If Makoto was red before, it was nothing compared to how he looked now.
Aika giggled before striding up to the edge of the board. However, before she leapt off, she stopped. Her hands began to shake and her pupils dilated. Haru stared at her.
The fear in her eyes was far more evident than it had been in Makoto's. Something else was wrong. However, before he could ponder the issue any longer, Aika slipped, falling from the board to crash into the pool.
"AIKA!" Haru spun around at the sound of Sayuri's panicked voice as rushed past him to attend to her friend. He shot a glance at Makoto: something's wrong. Quickly, they followed Sayuri.
As they got to her, Aika surfaced, coughing water from her lungs.
"Aika," Sayuri whispered. She hugged her tightly. Aika sighed.
"I'm fine, Sa-chan, don't worry."
"Are you okay?" Aika glanced up in surprise; Haru's genuine concern was unexpected. Then she grinned.
"Relax, fish-man. I just…spaced out I guess." Haru frowned. There wasn't just fear in her eyes…there was sadness too. "Besides, forget me!" she exclaimed, drawing him out of his thoughts, "What was that out there?!"
"What was what?"
"You only swam freestyle!"
"So?"
"So!" She paused for a moment…then smiled. "Actually, yeah…so who cares? We had fun!"
She lifted her hand for a high-five. Though taken aback, Haru obliged.
"NANASE!" Haru looked up to see Hideaki towering above him.
"What is it?"
"Couldn't you have at least tried the other strokes?!" he moaned.
"You know I only swim free." Hideaki stared at him, then sighed.
"I don't know why I bother with you sometimes." Haru flinched as he clapped him on the back. "You gotta learn to be a team player! Step up your game."
"Good job out there today, everyone!" Kaida called, interrupting Haru's likely scathing retort. "You can go back to your rooms for a bit — I think you've earned a break! We're going to be practicing some kicking in the pool in a few hours, so I want everyone well-rested."
"Oh, I cancelled the pool time for the kicking exercise," Hideaki said casually.
"You did what?!"
"I cancelled it. They won't have time for all of that — they'll all be too busy getting ready for the celebration!"
"What celebration?"
"Why, a ball of course."
"A BALL?!" Haru could see a vein pulsing at her temple.
"Yes, a ball!" Hideaki proclaimed. "Think of it: the mystery, the atmosphere, the romance!" He paused to see Kaida holding an imaginary phone to her ear. "…What are you doing?"
"I'm just on the phone with the eighteenth century. It wants you back."
"Oh, hush," he complained. "Balls are the epitome of modern society! You're such a child."
"ME a child?" Kaida yelled. "You organised an entire ball without my consent, how's that for childish?"
"Well, you see…"
"I don't wanna hear it!" she hissed. "This is for that ridiculous reality TV show, isn't it? Besides, I don't want my girls going to a ball organised by you, understood? I won't allow it."
Haruka glanced around at the cameras with a sense of unease. He tended to forget they were there.
"B-but…" Hideaki stammered.
"They're not going, and that's final! And you'd better keep yourself in check because if you continue to undermine my authority, I won't hesitate to back out of this thing entirely."
"But...but Kaida…look at their faces…" Haru frowned. A fair number of the swimmers did actually seem disappointed by the idea that they might be left out of a ball. Kaida's face softened.
"Oh, alright." Hideaki's eyes widened. "But ONLY if our swimmers agree." He hesitated.
"I'd say that's fair…" He raised his arms. "Let's put it to a vote: sleep…or party?"
"PARTY!"
Kaida stared at the crowd for a few moments, then sighed and relented. "Then I suppose I can't begrudge you a little fun. But, you'll have to work extra hard to make up for lost time, okay?" She started as Hideaki grabbed her shoulders and shook her from side to side.
"THANK YOU KAIDA ,THANK YOU, THANK YOU, OH THANK YOU, YOU AMAZING WOMAN!"
"You have two seconds before I break your face."
Hideaki leapt away quickly. "Yes ma'am!" he squeaked. After regaining his compusure, he winked. "Right then, swimmers! I want you ready by seven! And make sure you're in your pairs…because you'll be opening the dance!"
"Dance?" Makoto asked.
"You're kidding, right?" Aika groaned.
Sayuri looked as though she was going to die on the spot. "D-dance? But I can't dance!"
"Don't worry Sa-chan, I'll teach you!" Aika grinned.
"You can dance?"
"Well, not exactly, but…"
"Then how are you going to teach me?!"
Haru gazed at the scene before him as they continued arguing, somewhat disturbed. Makoto's features were also dusted with uncertainty. He looked towards the sky. Something felt different.
Something big was going to happen tonight.
He could feel it in his bones.