The prestigious high school stood tall and proud upon the nation of Japan. Hope's Peak Academy thrived with its gifted and "Ultimate" students. Aoi Asahina, the Ultimate Swimming Pro, is a student at this prominent academy. Today felt like any other day for Aoi, aside from her friend and classmate, Sayaka Maizono, who did not meet with her in front of the school gates like every morning. Aoi only shrugged it off and went on with her day. During class, Aoi needed to take a pitstop to the women's room. The simmer was washing her hands while humming, about ready to head back to class.
That is until her melodious tune was interrupted by the bathroom door slamming open.
"AHHHH!" She screamed. She thought the door was about to fly off its hinges, and something beyond the door would strike her like a fierce warrior. As it turns out, it was a face she recognized all too well, calming her nerves. Sayaka Maizono was, in fact, at school today, standing before Asahina.
"S-Sayaka?" Aoi uttered. Sayaka realized her classmate occupied the room with her. The pop sensation's face quickly fell into disappointment.
"Aww, I was so close to nobody noticing me." Sayaka sighed. Aoi's thoughts consisted of "Where were you this morning?" and "Why in such a hurry for the restroom?" It was then the swimmer noticed something off about Sayaka. From the neck below, Sayaka's body was colored in yellow mud.
"Oh my god! Maizono, what happened to you!?" Asahina cried with concern. Sayaka instantly flustered, feeling hesitant to answer her friend's inquiry and cure her anxiety.
"I was hoping you wouldn't ask, but I suppose I'll answer. But please, PLEASE don't tell anyone!" Sayaka begged. Aoi, now more confused, lent an ear and listened to her friend.
"My normal route to school was blocked off because of a car accident, so I cut through the jungle to get to school on time," Sayaka explained. "Everything seemed fine at first, and I could even see the school rising into view, but suddenly it felt like I was walking on glue. What I didn't know was that the jungle was plagued with pools of quicksand, and I stumbled right into one."
"Wait… quicksand!?" Aoi shouted. The swimmer could only feel astonished by Sayaka's story. Quicksand was only fiction to Asahina's perception; something that only ever appeared on TV and just a myth, not something that existed in the real world.
"I know…" Sayaka blushed, feeling embarrassed. "Being in the sand was horrible, downright terrifying. I managed to free myself, but it was not easy. Now, look at me. My uniform is ruined thanks to the mud, and I came in here to clean myself off. I was doing so well sneaking by making sure nobody saw me, but it couldn't last forever," Sayaka sighed again.
"Well, at least you weren't hurt. I couldn't live with the thought of one of my best friends being consumed by the earth… or something like that," Aoi chuckled. Sayaka regained a smile and giggled along too.
"Well, I hope nobody else walks in here. I gotta clean this mud off me as soon as possible and change into my spare uniform." Sayaka stated.
"Right! I gotta head back to class. I'll see you later, Sayaka!" Aoi said, waving her friend goodbye. As Aoi roamed the halls of the academy, the story drowned all the other thoughts Aoi had on her mind. Quicksand? Seriously? That isn't something you hear about regularly, let alone someone actually falling victim to such a thing.
"I wonder what it's like sinking in quicksand now that I think about it…" She thought. Is it as dreadful as Maizono claimed it to be? What does it feel like? How fast is the sinking speed? Questions raced through the swimmer's imagination like a runaway train.
"Based on what Maizono said…" she trailed off. Asahina recalled the vast, dense jungle not too far from Hope's Peak. If Aoi could sneak by that jungle, perhaps she could sight one of those quicksand pits and seek her answers. Asahina managed to get through the school day and returned to her dorm with a stone plan. Aoi changed out of her school attire and into some clothes she did not mind ruining. She wore a simple white tank top, denim shorts, and her old black Adidas. Though she knew this was only a brief adventure, she brought a few items with her if the situation got dicey. After learning from Sayaka that escape was arduous, Aoi's best course of action was carrying a small, red backpack including a long, sturdy rope and a light blue towel to clean the mud off afterward.
After preparing for her jungle trek, Aoi set foot out of her dorms, peeking just to be sure nobody was around and marched to the quicksand-infested jungle. The walk was only a few minutes, though Aoi quickly picked up the creepy ambiance possessed by the jungle. Thick, tall trees surrounded Asahina's path, as well as overgrown bushes and shrubs. A tiny light source from the sun peered through the trees; otherwise, Aoi would walk in sheer darkness.
"I can't believe Sayaka took this way to school. She must've felt hesitant traveling through here because even I'm getting uneasy." Aoi thought. Eventually, the swimmer stumbled upon a clearing with a distinct pit possessing a bubbling, yellow liquid overriding the majority of solid ground.
"That color…" Aoi muttered. After comparing and contrasting the yellow shades from this pit to the mud Sayaka was drenched in, the swimmer deduced this must've been the pool of quicksand Maizono sunk in.
"I found it! Okay, I guess I better be careful about how I approach this." Aoi muttered. She didn't want to directly leap into the mud if it was treacherous to escape, but she knew she had to get in some way. Aoi placed her backpack to the side and took a deep breath. She removed her Adidas and, without thinking, set her right foot into the goop. The mud was a lot cooler than she expected, though it was easy to discern how sticky and slimy the quicksand was. Aoi gently placed her left foot into the pit too. At first, the muck swallowed her ankles and didn't seem to do anything more. Aoi crossed her arms in disappointment, expecting to sink almost immediately.
"Well, that was a bust.' Aoi spoke. "I don't appear to be sinking-" In a flash, Aoi ate her words as a squishy, suckling noise breached her sense of sound. The swimmer looked down and witnessed her very legs plummet into the quagmire as the mud trickled up her leg.
"Oh wow! This stuff really is quicksand!" Aoi exclaimed. But why was she so happy about this? Even though any ordinary person would become hysterical and flail about in distress, a look of delight displayed across Asahina's face. Though she was finally sinking, she did not expect the wet slurry to suck immensely slow.
"Can this stuff go ANY faster? You think with a name like 'quicksand' you would sink in a heartbeat." Aoi giggled. It was then Aoi recalled that the more you struggle in quicksand, the faster you sink. With that in mind, Aoi began flailing and thrashing about like a fish out of water, and in response, the gooey mire consumed her calves along with more slurps and burps.
"This is actually kinda fun! Hahaha! The mud feels really warm and cozy, too, like I'm succumbing to a soft, warm bed. I wonder if it's a great skin treatment. " Aoi thought. Something about the mud hugging her skin felt so therapeutic to the swimmer. As she continued struggling in the morass, the soil reached to her upper thighs and about to come in contact with her denim shorts. However, this would mean the mud wouldn't rub off her skin any longer and only her clothing.
"Well, I suppose I could just slip them off- No, Asahina, you idiot!" Aoi shouted, slapping herself in the face. Why would she strip naked just so some mud can caress her body? Though the temptation was powerful, Aoi knew it was morally wrong.
"Wait, but I'm alone, right?" Aoi wondered. She gave a glimpse of her surroundings; no sign of life seemed close by. After making sure nobody would notice Asahina's antics, she silently began removing all of her clothes. She could feel the light breeze against her chest as she pulled her tank top and even went as far as removing her bra. Her shorts weren't as easy to remove since Aoi would need to lift her feet above the quicksand, but when she tried doing that, the mud stretched and tugged on her leg like tar.
"This isn't going to work. Hmm…" Aoi tried to conjure up a better way to strip off her shorts and undergarments, but the only idea that came to mind was simply tearing them apart since they were old and flimsy anyway. She honestly couldn't care less about what happened to her clothes as she threw them over to the side, though because of how large the pit was, they ended up in another area of the silt. Still, they weren't sinking due to how light they were. Now that Aoi's body was free, she could finally enjoy her private mudbath in peace.
"Ahh, this feels wonderful! I totally need more mud baths like this," Aoi said with a blush. By this point, the bog dragged her waist-deep and showed no signs of stopping. Aoi continues wiggling with the mud rippling in response to submerge herself deeper into her relaxing spa. Every movement made her descend deeper into the squishy, snug quicksand. The athletic swimmer closed her eyes and embraced the sinking and smooth sensation of the mud as she sank further into its clutches, utterly immersed in the quicksand as if she was riding cloud nine.
"Oh, I feel like I could relax here forever and ever," Aoi thought to herself. Mother Nature continued swallowing the swimmer further. Aoi blushed at the thought of her sinking more as pleasure and bliss overrode her other emotions. The mud consumed her chest and soon reaching her breasts, Aoi still grinning and kinda curious about how deep she could sink. She was rooted in place, and the morass bubbled and slurped on her body louder the further she sank. Aoi looked down to see her breasts resting right above the surface. However, before the quicksand could devour them, Aoi felt herself stop. She stopped sinking in the bog, and her expression was swiftly met with annoyance.
"Oh, come on! I want to go deeper!" Asahina groaned while slamming her hands against the mire. Sinking up to her ribcage was not satisfactory for the swimmer. The thought shocked her, but she had the urge to fully submerge herself in the quicksand.
"No, Aoi, you mustn't! What would happen if I did?" Aoi asked herself. Suddenly Asahina's body was moving on its own because she briefly looked down at the mire, took and a deep breath, and without hesitation, plunged what remained of her body above the surface into the quicksand. Every last trace of Aoi completely vanished as all of her body succumbed to the mire and bubbles formed around the area Aoi once stood, with the bubbles growing smaller and weaker until no more appeared. After a minute of peace and silence echoing throughout the jungle, the serene vibe evaporated when a mud-coated Aoi rose from the depths of the morass, catching large deep breaths.
"Wow… I never knew… how great this stuff really was…" Asahina said in between breaths. She looked at her arms that were layered with a mud blanket, which she could only laugh at. Her laughing faded, however, when she noticed the sun was going down. She would need to leave the quicksand soon if her light source would snuff real soon. Though she really didn't want to leave her muddy paradise, at least she could come here again in the future. Asahina turned to her left with her backpack and reached out. Though it was a little strenuous, Aoi got ahold of the bag and unzipped it to retrieve the rope she stashed inside. Once she acquired the rope, she tossed the backpack back to solid ground and studied the area where she could use her rope.
A sturdy tree branch to her side was most likely her best bed. Aoi looked at the rope and then the tree and created a firm hold of the rope around the branch. The athletic swimmer began pulling herself out of the sticky mire. The quicksand did not want to stop playtime with Asahina either as it tugged on her, and the suction appeared to get intenser. Nevertheless, Aoi managed to free herself from the quagmire after a few minutes of tug-of-war. Since Aoi had been in the quicksand for such a long time, she almost forgot how to walk on solid ground as she stumbled and fumbled for a bit before regaining a steady balance.
"That was fun! I'm totally coming back here tomorrow!" Asahina exclaimed. She looked back at the pit, and that's when she recalled she stripped down her clothes earlier as her clothes were resting upon the mud.
"Oh right, I should probably cover myself." Aoi thought while blushing. Aoi retrieved her backpack and clothes, though her clothes were soiled with mud, and knew she couldn't wear them. Her towel was still in her bag, though she did not anticipate she would coat her entire body with mud.
"This towel won't be enough," Aoi spoke. Her memory told her located close to the school was a small pond she could wash herself off from. As long as nobody saw her, there was nothing to worry about. With that, Asahina wrapped the towel around her, grabbed with belongings, and made her way to the said pond.
Even though the jungle was overall quiet and showed no signs of life, excluding the colorful variety of insects, that soon changed when Aoi left the area. One of the large bushes surrounding the pool of quicksand began rustling and moving. Low and behold, Angie Yonaga, another student of Hope's Peak, hid behind the bushes, watching and listening to everything Asahina had done. When she was sure Aoi was nowhere in sight, Angie abandoned the bush and stood in front of the quagmire. "Nyahahaha! Thank you, Auta, for such a divine experience," Angie cheered before leaving.